Torah Pop en

JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

and

JEWISH EXPERIENCES FOR FAMILIES

presents

CHALLAMANIA

Family Fun

Stir it ... Roll it ...
Take the challah home and bake it ...

Sunday, October 25
2-4 pm

SHLOMO RISKIN

Special to The Jewish News

T

Jewish Community Center
Maple - Drake, Room 332

Design challah trivets
Make challah babies
Meet Bible heroes
Challah storytelling
Challa,h covers
and lots more ...

All families of every
shape and size welcome

$2 per family
or kosher non-perishable foods
to be donated to Yad Ezra

RSVP by October 19 to: Child Development Center, 661-1000

LEAGUE OF
JEWISH WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS
Of Greater Detroit

Cordially invites you to join us when we honor all the presidents
of our Jewish Women's Organizations

Thursday, October 22, 1992

12:30 p.m.

-Dessert will be served-

PRO GRAM

Featured Speaker

JOE WEAVER

Editorial Director of WJBK-TV2
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
27375 Bell Road, Southfield
Donation: $2.00

Evelyn Noveck
Program Vice President

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Charlotte Edelheit
President

The Entire Community is Welcome!

LU

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JOB HUNTING?

Can't seem to get interviews?

LU

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F-
LU

Changing Careers? Re-entering
the workforce? Feel you are too
old, inexperienced, not sure of
what job you want or should be
looking for? Not satisfied with cur-
rent employment?
Phone TODAY for o consultation appointment

ELLMAN & ASSOCIATES

(313)737-7252

(not an employment agency)

Greg

SHOES

ORCHARD MALL

EVERGREEN PLAZA

851 5566

559 3580

West Bloomfield

Southfield

-

High Holy Days Mark
A Spiritual Battle

-

he entire High Holy
Day period, from Rosh
Hashanah to Sukkot,
can be seen as variations on
the theme of battle — spiri-
tual even more than
physical, with ultimate vic-
tory expressed in redemp-
tion.
The Mishna teaches that
on Rosh Hashanah everyone
passes before God "like the
children of Maron," a
strange phrase difficult to
define. First we are informed
that in Babylon it was trans-
lated as a 'flock of sheep.'
Then Resh Lakish identifies
it in terms of a specific place,
the narrow ascent of Bet
Maron. Finally R. Yehuda,
quoting Shmuel, identifies it
as soldiers in the house of
King David. (B.T. Rosh
Hashanah 18a).
On the surface, these dif-
ferences are worlds apart,
but in fact there is a definite
pattern here. When sheep
are crowded into a small
area, the head of one facing
the tail of the other, their
heads turn to the ground. All
too often we find ourselves
sheepishly standing before
God on Rosh Hashanah with
downcast eyes, frightened of
divine iudament.
Resh Lakish's Bet Maron,
according to Rashi, refers to
an ascent so narrow that a
false move could plunge you
into the deep valley on
either side. With room for
only one at a time, no one
takes a step without being
utterly serious about his
directions. Sheep symbolize
meek acceptance, while
someone on a narrow bridge,
even if a fall could mean the
abyss, may nonetheless suc-
ceed in his ascent toward
freedom and redemption.
One must be very careful,
but not afraid.
Then we come to R.
Yehuda's image of the battl-
ing soldiers. Soldiers are
faithful, tough and
disciplined and, in so far as
they protect the kingdom,
they are partners with the
king, whether it's the king of
Israel, or the King of the
Universe. As soldiers in the
house of David, they must be
an elite corps; determined,
courageous, and with the op-
timistic confidence and

Rabbi Riskin is chief rabbi of
the city of Efrat and dean of
Ohr Torah Institutions of
Israel.

morale so necessary for vic-
tory.
The reality of soldiers in
battle turns out to be a
theifatic motif extending
from Rosh Hashanah all the
way through to Sukkot. Ac- 1
cording to Numbers (10:2),
the shofar was sounded
to gather the nation for
war, and this war is both an
external battle fought to
redeem the Jewish people, as
well as an inner battle,
fighting to perfect our
imperfections, so we have to
be morally and ethically
worthy if we are to succeed
strategically.
On Yom Kippur the battle c'
intensifies so dramatically
that it is impossible to eat;

Sukkot is a
magnificent
synthesis of nature
and spirit, of
agriculture and
symbolism.

one of the reasons we fast is
because the last thing a
fighting soldier is concerned
about is his stomach. Indeed,
a soldier in battle is the
ultimate existential
creature because the words,
`who will live and who will
die' — part of the Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur
prayer which includes the
children of the Maron
metaphor — are his very
thoughts as he faces the next
attack.
This theme of battle con-
tinues with the sukkah,
which can be seen as sym-
bolizing the temporary
dwellings that soldiers set
up in their camp, fra gile,
temporary structures, bbiv-
ouacs, tents in an open area
put up hastily. But now that
we can sit in these dwellings
without fear of attack means
that we have won the battle.
We are only waiting for the
smoke to clear.
And we celebrate the first
morning of our new exis-
tence with the four species,
holding the lulav, the palm
branch, high, shaking it
toward the four corners of
the earth. The midrash looks
upon the lulav as a vic-
torious sword after victory in
battle — over the enemy
from without and the enemy
from within.
We have reached the end
of the journey, we have been
through all the battles, all
the judgments. Therefore it's

1