RELIGION I-E L[vS CHAJES VvSCELJ\D CONCET SEES 199'1 - 1992 SEASO\ Sunday, April 5, 1992 ST. CLAIR TRIO That Day-Long Fast Is Worse Than Fish ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM Assistant Editor Sunday Salon Series in the Janice Charach Epstein Museum/Gallery F • General Admission $10.00 Senior Citizens & Students $7.00 ,Concert starts at 3:00 p.m. Pre-concert guided tour of current exhibition at 2:30 p.m. at the Emmanuelle Boisvert, Violin JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER Concertmaster, Detroit Symphony Orchestra 6600 W. Maple Road West Bloomfield Marcy Chanteaux, Cello Assistant Principal Cellist, Detroit Symphony Orchestra For Season Subscription and Ticket Information Pauline Martin, Piano call Annette Chajes at the Center 6611000. 10 Critically acclaimed Soloist and Chamber Music Artist tta nien n Det it roi PIo e 9t rit orM il Co B eill9li invites you to join us for the opening of THE HIT ENGLISH-YIDDISH MUSICAL REVUE An Evening of Nostalgia, Humor, Songs and Dances April 28, 1992 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets: $22.50 each 211 S. WOODWARD, BIRMINGHAM For tickets and information, call 13.13.W. NISSAN All ■ NISSAN Ilk /Ilk AI& NISSAN NISSAN NISSAN W w W w MP,* 2 111 2 2 2 U1 NOBODY BEATS NISSAA NISSAN BARNETT • YOUR CARING, SERVICING NISSAN DEALER! COME TEST DRIVE A 1992 300 ZX! BARNETT PONTIAC•NISSAN 14505 MICHIGAN FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 1992 to Your Savings Hot Line 846 1122 ■ ALL CARS SUBJECT Conveniently located on Mich. Ave. Bet. Greenfield & Schaefer 48 Ash, ANL NISSAN 4;P NOV 1211 552-8150 ARE PLUS TAX AND 'TITLE TO PRIOR SAIF .RICES • Mon.-Fri. 10.4 Sat. 10.3 358-4085 Franklin Plaza 29107 Northwestern Hwy. Southfield (2nd entrance from 12 Mile in rear) CLASSIFIED GET RESULTS! Call The Jewish News 354-5959 asting is a dreadful business. I make no pretense. I hate it. Yom Kippur and Tisha B'Av loom around the corner like the Golem for me. Awful. Dreadful. Frighten- ing. I start thinking about them months in advance. I've tried every strategy for beating the hunger: eat six meals' worth of food the night before or, conversely, gradually decrease my food intake for several days before the fast, to help me get prepared. Nothing works. Just about everyone knows Yom Kippur and Tisha B'Av. Fewer, I think, know the four minor fast days on the Jewish calender — one of which, the Fast of Esther, we observed last week. Now, let me bring up fish. That's right, fish. I happen to hate fish. But my mother taught me that one should always behave properly even when it's difficult. So when I'm in- vited to dinner and the host serves me fish, I eat it. Even when it's a huge chunk of the stuff, eyes intact. Positively chilling. That's my approach to fasting. I don't like it, but I do it because it's the right thing to do. Not the fun thing. Not the easy thing. The right thing. I often feel alone on fast days. Not many Jews observe them and, let's face it, misery loves company. "I'm s00000 hungry, aren't you?" I love to say. Glutton — forgive me; I couldn't help myself — that I am for punishment. What's interesting is that fast days really offer some- thing for everyone. Obviously, for observant Jews fasting is fulfilling a mitzvah, a religious obliga- tion. But fasting can hold mean- ing for non-observant Jews, as well. What Jew — even the one with the least interest in re- ligion — does not care for the homeless and hungry? Fast days offer an excellent op- portunity to help the needy. Skip lunch or breakfast or dinner and donate the money that would have been used for the meal to your favorite charity. I think the hunger hits me hardest around 4:30 p.m. I don't mind missing breakfast or even lunch. But when I see I'm going to have to skip dinner and continue the fast for some time after that, I get antsy. It's usually about that time I think of the Holo- caust. I think of Jews who were hungry not just for hours, but for months. I think of the Jews of Auschwitz and Treblinka who opted to bypass meals on fast days though they had had nothing but a crumb of bread for days before. I think of Jews who watched their children starve. And I I've tried every strategy, but now I've got a new one. become sick with myself for complaining about one day without three complete meals. Next time, why not skip going out to lunch and give the money instead to a charity, to help someone hungry day in and day out? Think of it as fish — the right thing to do. And call me when you feel those hunger pangs. I'll commiserate. The next fast day is July 19, the 17th of Tammuz. ❑ mm l LOCAL NEWS h Pesach Workshops At Bais Chabad Bais Chabad Torah Center will host two Passover workshops, 8:15 p.m. March 31 and April 6 at the Torah Center. At the first workshop, Rab- bi Elimelech Silberberg will lecture on "The Passover Kit- chen," including a discussion on koshering the stove, microwave, sink and counters. The second workshop will focus on "The Haggadah and Seder Night Customs." For information, call the Torah Center, 855-6170. Blood Drive At Adat Shalom Adat Shalom Synagogue will hold a blood donor drive 9 a.m.-3 p.m. April 5. Red Cross specialists will handle all procedures. An ap- pointment time may be scheduled by calling Edie Rubin, 661-3835. The drive is sponsored by the synagogue's Social Action Committee.