I
During Yom Kippur,
A Contribution By Example
Those community members with synagogue af- There is no greater way to serve our God than
to help others in need.
filiations hopefully received a plastic Yad Ezra
Unfortunately the need to fill empty kitchen
bag in their mail during the past couple of
cupboards is great. We have neighbors who
weeks.
Yad Ezra, the kosher food pantry, is re- know what it is to fast more than on halachic
questing that we bring these bags filled with fast days. We still have children who aren't eat-
ing the nutritious foods that their classmates'
kosher nonperishable canned or packaged foods
to temple or synagogue when we come to Kol families are accustomed to. In August of 1992,
Yad Ezra served 596 area families with basic
Nidre services. We want to go ahead and urge
foods. Last month, the number was 808. This
all who are able to bring cans of food to syna-
gogue this Kol Nidre evening through Sunday, organization is going to be three years old in
February, and already it's an anchor of suste-
when the items will be picked up by Yad Ezra.
If that's not possible, then delivery to the Yad nance in our community. One product, in par-
Ezra office and warehouse on Harding in Oak ticular, that Yad Ezra needs is cooking oil with
a Union of Orthodox Congregations certifica-
Park would be appreciated.
By now, we all know and understand what tion that looks like an 0 with a U inside of it.
Whatever charity is your family's choice, all
these Days of Awe mean. One of the best tools
are
equally important. Writing a check at this
of learning we can give our children is to have
time
is also critical. But in the case of Yad Ezra,
them drop a bag of food into a Yad Ezra barrel.
there
are faces behind the names that benefit
They might not remember that their parents
prayed with the utmost spiritual effort this year. from your generosity. With God's help and the
Nor will they necessarily remember how checks support of this community, next year they'll
again be among the givers. Until that happens,
were written to fulfill pledges of charity.
But along with the lighting of memorial can- and even if it never happens, they must know
dles, our children will remember this physical beyond anything else that this community will
be there for them.
act of giving to mark the High Holiday season.
Letters
Pawnbroker Image
Is Unfounded
I am responding to an Aug. 27
article titled: "Innovations; Up-
scale Pawnshop Caters to High-
Profile Pros."
I must take exception to the
skewed opinions expressed by
Jewish News writer Tanya
Gazdik and Sharon Gornbein,
owner of Norman's Jewelry and
Loan in Southfield.
Faith And Repentance
At sundown tonight begins the holiest, most
solemn day of the Jewish year — Yom Kippur.
It is a day to contemplate with sometimes bru-
tal honesty how we live our lives. We spend it
in prayer and fasting, concentrating on our sins
of the previous year and committing ourselves
to change our behavior and our deepest, most
ingrained thoughts. We recall the possibilities
of our lives and of God's creation. We remem-
ber how we can cleave more dosely to God's ex-
pectations of us — and our expectations of
ourselves.
Before God, who sits "on the throne of mer-
cy," we commit ourselves to doing better and
living better. Before and with our own com-
munity in synagogue, we recite a collective litur-
gy of repentance — arrogance, cheating,
Cl) slandering others, unfairness in word and deed,
violence and many more. Some sins we may ac-
i.,
tually have committed; some we may have
= thought about committing; some we are certain
(13
we will never commit. But the litany reminds
us
L.-, of our susceptibilities: We are human, after
1-- all, and not a single one of us is immune from
the possibility of committing even the most
c,
cc
1-- grievous of sins.
,i.,
By remembering what we have done, we re-
m
.-,-, pent; by recalling the gamut of possible sins, we
I-- remind ourselves of what we are capable of do-
ing.
This process is called teshuvah — repentance
or turning. We repent for what we have been.
4
We turn toward what we can be. It is an act of
deepest inner resolution and of almost unfath-
omable optimism. For who of us is wholly sat-
isfied with who we are? And who of us would
not like to be more than what we are?
Teshuvah is based on the premise that we
can all change, that we have sufficient autono-
my and will to overcome our inertia, our habits
and our worse proclivities and edge toward
wholeness.
It also is based on the premise of the au-
thenticity— and the durability — of repentance.
Will a father's commitment to spend more time
with his children hold through the year? Will a
wife's pledge to be kinder to her in-laws last
more than a month?
We have no certainty of the teshuvah of oth-
ers. The truth is, we need to work on our own
repentance with the hope that each individ-
ual will take it upon himself to acknowledge
any sins, ask for forgiveness and improve. It
is not up to us to judge one another. If anything,
we spend too much of our internal fabric judg-
ing and too little time forgiving.
As the prophet Isaiah said, "Those who trust
in the Lord shall exchange strength [for weari-
ness]." Perhaps only by trusting in God will we
summon the faith to make our own personal
teshuvah genuine. Without such faith, our lives
— and the New Year that has just begun —
would be dismal, indeed.
The article stated that "Mrs.
Gornbein knows firsthand how
pawnbrokers got their some-
what seedy, skirting-the-law
image."
Detroit once boasted over 50
collateral loan businesses, oth-
erwise known as pawnbrokers
or pawnshops. The great ma-
jority of pawnshops were
owned by Jewish businessmen.
Many Jewish men found steady
employment through area
pawnbrokers. Some of these
men eventually went on to own
their own pawnshops and oth-
ers became successful as jewel-
ers.
Although our numbers are
smaller, Detroit is still the place
where many of the pawnbro-
kers continue to do business.
We are highly regulated and
continue to do business accord-
ing to Michigan laws.
Neal It Drilich
Commerce Township
Applauding
The First Step
As activists who have been
working for well over a decade
for mutual recognition between
the Israeli and Palestinian peo-
ples and for an end to the Is-
raeli-Palestinian conflict, we
look with great hope at the cur-
rent developments in the Mid-
dle East.
We agree with your editori-
al that, "It could be the best shot
at peace any of us will ever see
for a long, long time." The de-
monization of each side by the
other is finally coming to an
end. May the leaders of both
peoples, Yitzhak Rabin and
Yassir Arafat, have the courage
to transcend their differences
over the past as they attempt
to overcome the many obstacles
toward building a brighter fu-
ture.
Let them not be dissuaded by
the rejectionists in the Pales-
tinian camp who still fail to rec-
ognize Israel and the
rejectionists in the Jewish
world (both here and in Israel)
who still prefer a piece of land
to a land of peace.
May mutual recognition and
the Gaza/Jericho plan be the
foundation stones for the cre-
ation of a Middle East in which
Israelis and Palestinians live
together in mutual peace, se-
curity and prosperity.
Ken Knoppow
Co-Chair, Mid-East
Committee, Metro-Detroit
New Jewish Agenda
AJCommittee
Applauds Pact
We in the American Jewish
Committee applaud the steps
by Israel toward establishing a
new era of peace in the Middle
East. It is our fervent hope, now
that an important and historic
step has been made in resolv-
ing this conflict, that Jordan,
Syria and Lebanon will follow
the Palestinian example and
formally recognize Israel and
enter into peace treaties with
Israel.
We commend, as well, the ef-
forts of our own government in
convening and supporting the
Middle East peace process and
the helpful role of Norway in fa-
cilitating the Israeli/Palestin-
ian negotiations.
Keith B. Braun
Vice President for
International Affairs, Detroit
Chapter, American Jewish
Committee