TORAH PORTION t"' AGENCY FOR JEWISH EDUCATION RESOURCE CENTER CO-SPONSORS WITH TEMPLE SHIR SHALOM AND TEMPLE KOL AMI AN Letting Our Clergy Be Jews For Us IDEA FAIR FOR THEIR TEACHERS LEONARD WANETIK Special to The Jewish News A WORKSHOP TO CREATE NEW TOOLS AND STRATEGIES for TEACHING • • • • Jewish Identity Torah History Holocaust • Prayer • Life Cycle • Holidays • Hebrew • Israel WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1991 8:00 P.M. - 10:00 P.M. LOCATION: TEMPLE SHIR SHALOM SHARING AND SHOWCASING NEW IDEAS AGENCY FOR JEWISH EDUCATION THE RESOURCE CENTER AJE Resource Center 21550 W. Twelve Mile Rd. Southfield, MI 48034 (313) 354-1050 Jewish &fixation *work I I ill IN 0:0111 Are you looking for a quality Hebrew High School? One that will motivate your teens and interest them in contnu- ing their Hebrew studies? Consider Bais Chabad High School COURSES Monday 7:15 p.m.-8:10 p.m. TORAH The weekly Torah portion, with emphasis on Rashi and the classical commentaries. Monday 8:15 p.m.-9:10 p.m. MISHNA The study of the bedrock of Jewish laws, including logical reasoning and moralistic teachings. Thursday 7:15 p.m.-8:10 p.m. HEBREW LANGUAGE A continuation of the study of Hebrew, with emphasis on the current spoken language. Thursday 8:15 p.m. 9:10 p.m. JEWISH HISTORY Starting at 1648 — the beginning of Modern Jewish history. - SEMESTER II February May October-January All courses take place at: Bais Chabad Torah Center 5595 W. Maple Rd., West Bloomfield For registration or information call: 855 6170 or 626 1807 SEMESTER I - - 52 FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1991 - W hat is the proper role of a religious leader amongst the Jews? Is it to be an in- termediary? Is it to say the prayers and study on behalf of the congregation? The sedra Ki Tavo provides us with strong direction in this regard — the answer is a firm "no!' Each Jew is respon- sible for his or her own con- nection and relationship with God. The religious leader is there to assist, to facilitate, but not to "do" in the place of a Jew. There are two settings in Ki Tavo which prove this point. The first is the elaborate and highly structured presen- tation of the bikkurim — the first fruits. The description given in Devarim (Deuteron- omy) 26:1 onward is expand- ed upon in Tractate Bik- kurim. A group from an area would go up to Jerusalem with all of the first fruits of the village. It would be met outside Jerusalem by a delegation which would ac- company it to the Temple, where each person would go up to the Temple himself, car- rying his basket, and make the proper declaration before the priest. Even the king would carry his own basket to the Temple, not using an intermediary or agent. Nor did the priest make the declaration on behalf of the individual — it had to be made by the person bringing the first fruits. Over time, people's knowledge of Hebrew declin- ed. The learned could come to the Temple and make the pro- per declaration in the proper language, but the untutored could not. Did Judaism evolve, then, into having the priest say the proper words on behalf of the unlearned in- dividual? No. Not only were the unlearned assisted, but, in order to spare anyone em- barrassment, the priest began to say the words first for all individuals to repeat. The priest became a helper, not an intermediary, in carry- ing out a mitzvah. In like manner, we find in 27:1-8 the commandment to erect stones upon which, ac- cording to many commen- tators, were to be written at Leonard Wanetik is a member of Congregation B'nai Moshe and Young Israel of West Bloomfield. least a synopsis of Devarim. In verse 8, the explicit com- mandment is made that the writing be ba'er haytayv, "very plain" or "easy to understand." It was not to be up to the priests to tell each Jew what the law was. It was each Jew's responsibility to read and understand the law. (In later years, a m'turgeman, or translator, would translate the Torah as it was read so that each person could under- stand it in his own language.) It was, then, the leader- ship's job to help each Jew by making the law as simply understood as possible by ex- plaining it, by expounding on it, by teaching it, but not by becoming the exclusive group for observing it. Otherwise, Shabbat Ki Tavo: Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8; Isaiah 60:1-22. the commandment could be stated without the addition of ba'er haytayv. Over the last number of decades, Judaism has, for whatever reason, forgotten these roots. More and more we looked to "Professional Jews" — be they rabbis, can- tors, or educators — to do our studying, our learning, and our performance of mitzvot for us. A rabbi today is expected, in many cases, to be the bikkur cholim (visiting the sick) com- mittee, for example. He is ex- pected to be in shul regular- ly to make up a minyan, although we may be too busy. He or the cantor is expected to be our intermediary in prayer, to seek that special spark or connection with the Holy One, blessed be He, and to pass that spark on to us through a few (very few) well chosen words of wisdom. This is not authentic Judaism as described in Ki Tavo. This is not the way things were meant to be. Instead, as Ki Tavo tells us, we are required to state our own formula when we come to pray. We are required to study the stones which are written plainly for all to see. We must shoulder our own obligation to learn and to do. We must seek our own spark. Our rabbis, our cantors, our educators are there to help. We must look to them for that help and guidance. We must expect them to be able to ex-