TORAH PORTION TEMPLE EMANU-EL The "Hamish" Place To Be Captives Redeemed In Our Own Time Come Worship With Us Tonight at 7:45 p.m.and See What "Hamish" Really Means ; t' RABBI RICHARD C. HERTZ Special to the Jewish News We Invite You, Your Family & 10- - - ' , Friends to See What Temple - A. . . Emanu-El Has To Offer. Also, Join Us On ,e Friday, August 23, S - .,:. , ' .., . , -: - • . . . / - at 7:45 p.m. For Our Prospective New Member Shabbat Service. EMANU-EL 1( • 1 Id I \ I TEMPLE 14450 West Ten Mile Road e t, i I, -,.. Oak Park, Michigan 48237 (313) 967-4020 Rabbi Lane B. Steinger • Rabbi David Feder Rabbi Emeritus Milton Rosenbaum • Cantor Emeritus Norman Rose Ira J. Wise - Temple Educator • Ellen Goldman - Temple Administrator DON'T GET LOST IN THE CROWD Come To Our OPEN HOUSE And See What We Are All About 7:00-9:00 p.m. Thursday, August 15, 1991 TEMPLE KOL AMI 5085 Walnut Lake Rd., W Bloomfield 661-0040 Ernst J. Conrad Norman T. Roman Founding Rabbi Emeritus Established in 1966 Affiliated with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations Rabbi Tables • Desks Wall Units Bedrooms Dining Rooms • .. • •• 12 Years' Experience & Expertise in the Design of Affordable Laminate, Lucite & Wood Furniture For Appt Call 46 Muriel Wetsman FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1991 661-3838 ome verses in the sedra fairly leap from the page of the Torah and strike you with their relevancy. Such a verse is Deuteronomy 15:7. "If there be among you a needy man, one of thy brethren . . . thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thy hand from thy needy brother, but thou shalt surely open thy hand unto him and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need that which he wanted." The tradition of pidyon shuviim, "redemption of cap- tives," has long been marked by the Jewish people. In our own time, the Ethiopian Jews are the needy ones to be redeemed. Long known as Falashas, an ethnic group in Ethiopia who claim to be of Jewish origin from the days of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, the Falashas (mean- ing "to be separated") were devoted to the Jewish religion preserving their biblical way of life for 2,000 years. Abandoned to the ravages of oppression, famine and civil war, the Falashas were found mainly in Ethiopia. Because the Talmud and rab- binic Judaism did not reach the Falashas, their religion of Judaism was strictly based on the Bible. For centuries they existed isolated from modern civilization, and in recent times were discriminated against and starved in pover- ty because they were not per- mitted as Jews to own land. In 1972, the Israeli chief rab- bi ruled that the Bete Yisrael of Ethiopia were Jews and en- titled to return to Israel under the Law of Return. In 1984 and 1985, Opera- tion Moses and Operation Joshua airlifted some 8,000 from Ethiopia. The Joint Distribution Committee had run a medical facility in Gon- dar Province where many of the Bete Israel lived, but it was not accessible to many in the villages. They lived in hope that the government of Ethiopia would renew rela- tions with Israel, but th-e trapped remnant living in the Gondar region far from the capital could not be evacuated. In May of 1990, a fresh start was made. The American Association for Ethiopian Jews sent several staff people Rabbi Hertz is rabbi emeritus of Temple Beth El. to assess the situation and see what could be done for the huge numbers of Jews pour- ing into Addis Abba from the Gondar region some two hun- dred and fifty miles away. The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington was appealed to and the first American doctor came to treat Ethiopian Jews. And then came May 24, 1991. Unmarked Israeli planes arrived in a massive transit miracle flying on the Shabbat. Within thirty hours, the last Jews of Ethiopia, 14,500 men, women and children boarded the Israeli military and passenger planes in an orderly fashion. No luggage, for there was no room on the planes. No K c=( N K Shabbat Re'e Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17 Numbers 28:9-15 Isaiah 66:1-24 money; just hope as hundreds of physical bodies crammed into the planes in an un- precedented airlift that brought these Ethiopian Jews to freedom. They were jolted into the twentieth century overnight. A journey of 2,500 years was made during a 30 hour airlift! The miracle of the redemp- tion of the captives from Ethiopia has been performed, comparable to the saving of the ancient Hebrews from Egyptian bondage. The end of the beginning has come. Operation Solomon is now history. The task of gearing up for resettlement and ab- sorption in fulfilling the man- date of pidyon shuviim is the task ahead. "If there be among you a needy person, one of thy brethren . . . thou shalt sure- ly open thy hand unto him." 0 I LOCAL NEWS Bais Chabad Hosts Lecture Rabbi Elimelech Silberberg of Bais Chabad Torah Center will deliver a lecture on "The Judicial System Within Jewish Law" 8:15 p.m. Aug. 12 at the Bais Chabad Torah Center. The lecture is part of the Project Talmud Lecture Series. For information, call the Torah Center, 855-6170. (