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34
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1991
Actions Mean More
Than Lots Of Rhetoric
Long before
Nike running
shoes came into
being, Judaism
was teaching,
"Just do it."
Perhaps the
best example is
the fact that the festival of
Sukkot, which began Sunday
evening, falls only a few days
after Yom Kippur.
The best way to grasp the
significance of going from an
intensely spiritual day to a
holiday that requires
physical preparation is to
have stopped at a local
hardware store last week
and see pale, bearded Or-
thodox Jews buying supplies
for the building of their
sukkot.
If it goes against the grain
to observe men more comfor-
table grappling with
Aramaic texts than
hammers and nails inquir-
ing about two-by-fours,
that's precisely the point.
Judaism is teaching us an
important lesson: that for all
of our inner resolve express-
ed on Yom Kippur to im-
prove ourselves, the proof is
in the action, in doing some-
thing tangible.
Good intentions are admi-
rable, but they do not meet
the requirement of mitzvot.
A mitzvah must involve
deeds.
So immediately after Yom
Kippur, we are required to
build a temporary sukkah,
or hut, and make it our home
"in order that future genera-
tions may know that I made
the Israelite people live in
sukkot when I brought them
out of the land of Egypt, I the
Lord your God." (Leviticus
23:43)
We are also commanded to
acquire a lulav and etrog,
representing the four
species, to bring with us to
the synagogue, an associ-
ation with the agricultural
aspects of the ancient holi-
day.
The point is that rather
than relax after the intensi-
ty of Rosh Hashanah and
Yom Kippur, after which we
believe our sins have been
swept away and we have
been blessed with a clean
slate, we are reminded that
Judaism is a religion of ac-
tion.
That lesson is particularly
important for us to re-
member at a time when we
may have made an Israel
Bonds pledge during the
High Holy Days, or resolved
to attend synagogue more
often this year, or vowed
during Yizkor to make a
charitable contribution in
memory of a loved one, or
simply promised ourselves
that we were going to im-
prove in areas where we
have been remiss.
Sukkot and its attendant
physical mitzvot are
reminders that the time to
act is right away. Judaism
understands human nature
and the inclination to put ac-
tions aside until we have
more time. So we are
reminded that we may never
have more time than now,
and that to delay is to
default.
Squeezing Israel
Trying mightily to be ob-
jective about the current rift
in U.S.-Israel relations, I
understand that Israeli
Prime Minister Yitzhak
Shamir. has made a difficult
situation worse by defying
the Bush administration.
But the actions of the ad-
ministration defy the notion
that it could act as a fair
broker in a Mideast peace
conference.
Mr. Shamir could have
avoided this showdown with
Washington by going on na-
tional television and telling
the Israeli people his belief
in the principle that every
Jew has a right to settle
anywhere in the land of
Israel. But since the cost of
resettling hundreds of
thousands of Soviet Jews is
so high, Mr.- Shamir could
have said, he has decided to
put a freeze on settlement
development for the time be-
ing.
Such an announcement
would have saved face for
the prime minister while
satisfying the Bush ad-
ministration. But, alas, Mr.
Shathir didn't listen to me.
Still, one understands
Israel's frustration when
considering how Mr. Bush
has made Israeli settlements
the focus of his attention
rather than the continuing
Arab boycott of Israel or the
unwillingness of any Arab
country to move toward
democracy.