NOTEBOOK the right • ATTITUDE • TIME •PLACE • PRICE SAVE up pro 66 0 /0 LARGE SELECTION OF SAMPLE FURS & LEATHERS AT COST and BELOW COST! Whether it's doing a mitzvah, or making Mideast peace. GARY ROSENBLATT Editor OUR 1991 LEATHER LINE IS NOW IN STOCK 20% OFF *90 DAYS SAME AS CASH *Eff. 10-91, subject to credit approval Layaway Available Major Credit Cards Accepted Bricker-Tunis Furs E urop a FUR 8c LEATHER 6335 Orchard Lake Rd., Orchard Mall, West Bloomfield Mon.-Sat. 10 to 6 Thurs. 10 to 8 855-9200 All Furs Labeled To Show Country Of Origin Lawrence L. Stocker M.D., P.C. (313) 737-6955 6010 W Maple Suite 200 West Bloomfield, MI 48322 is pleased to announce the relocation of his practice of Ophthalmology (1/2 mile west of prior location) He will be sharing space with Robert T. Clark M.D. & Amy B. Eston M.D., P.C. 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.