,

OPINION

Honor

Continued from Page 7

The Advantages of SmartLease
Cadillac Style .

Eldorado

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1992 Dealer Demo Sale

Sedan DeVille
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*GMAC LUXURY SMARTLEASE 30 Mantles, First pymt. plus $500 ref. sec. dep. and plate or transfer due on deify-
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MASTER

DEALER
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 1992

fallen, the humiliated, the
poor, the homeless.
We have a sacred text, but
everything depends on how
we define it, how we under-
stand the verse in Leviticus
19:18 "Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself." That
verse can be the most uplif-
ting or the most depressing.
If we limit the meaning of
"neighbor" to those within
our circle of faith and fate
alone, if the "neighbor" we
are to defend is only the one
who practices our rituals or
accepts our doctrines, the
love of neighbor is reduced to
a narrowness and meanness
of spirit.
But if we define neighbor
in accordance with the moral
spirit of Judaism that em-
braces those within and
without our theological
borders, beyond our color
and our ethnicity, we make
that verse what the rabbis
intended it to be, the root
principle of Torah.
This is an appeal to our
youth: to those who are
members of NFTY, the na-
tional Reform youth organ-
ization; USY, the national
Conservative youth organ-
ization; and NCSY, the na-
tional Orthodox youth organ-
ization — to join together
as one people, to involve
themselves in the healing
process and to relate to their
peers of other ethnicities —
Korean, Latino, black — and
their churches and youth
organizations in our com-
munity.
That activity is driven by
the Jewish mandate to
repair the world, by the re-
ligious imperative to mend
the tattered fabric of our
society. And secondarily, it
is an opportunity for Jewish
youth to know itself, to do
something Jewish together.
For Orthodox, Conservative
and Reform and secular Jew-
ish youth to meet together
for a common moral purpose
is an opportunity to heal the
denominational schisms
that tear at our own unity.
We are a people with a
long history and with much
accumulated wisdom.
Thousands of years ago our
ancestors were told to take
the blood of the Passover
lamb and smear it on the
doorposts of their homes so
that the Angel of Death
should pass over the Jewish
homes and not smite them
but smite only the vicious
enemies who sought our
destruction.
Some of the rabbis asked
why this identification
ritual was necessary. Surely
the Angel of Death sent by
God knows who is innocent
and who is guilty, which is

the Jewish home and which
the Egyptian home? The
Talmud replies "Once the
Angel of Destruction is
released it does not discrim-
inate between the saint or
the sinner, the righteous or
the wicked."
We have seen with our
own eyes the anarchy that
follows the implosion of
resentment. Rage in-
discriminately burned busi-
nesses and homes of the good
and of the bad, the looters
and the looted. The entire
community suffers. We are
all victimized.
We must come to the assis-
tance of the community. We
cannot punish the innocent
because of our disappoint-
ment with the wicked. Ab-
raham insisted that if there
were only 10 decent people,
the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah should be spared.
We must help restore
order, justice, law and com-
passion. Rabbi Hanina
declared, "Pray for the wel-
fare of the government but
for the respect of it men
would swallow each other
alive." But as Justice
Brandeis put it, "If we desire
respect for the law we must
first make the law respec-
table."
This crisis is an opportuni-
ty for greatness, the possibil-
ity of turning disaster into
triumph, hostility into
friendship. The sparks long
buried in the darkness of ne-
glect may yet be released. 11:1

1

"1 LOCAL NEWS 1'1

Family Fun Day
Set for Aug. 16

A Free Family Fun Day
sponsored by the
Neighborhood Project will be
held 2:30 p.m. Aug. 16 at In-
glenook Park in Southfield.
The park is located on 12
Mile between Lahser and
Evergreen.
The day will include pony
rides, a clown, face painting,
a puppet show, the Ron Coden
Show and a softball game bet-
ween The Jewish News staff
and the Maccabi softball
team. Craft projects for
children will be co-sponsored
by Congregation Beth Achim
and Jewish Experiences For
Families.
The event is held in
cooperation with the City of
Southfield and The Jewish
News in celebration of its
50th anniversary. Additional
parking will be available at
Congregation Beth Achim
and at the United Hebrew
Schools building.

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