with family brings a pro-
found sense of spirituality.
"I've always liked being
what I am and I bring up my
kids the same way," he says.
"I feel especially spiritual
during the holidays when
I'm with my family, and get
that sense of togetherness."
Remember the
Bielski Partisans.
One of the most stirring sto-
ries of the Holocaust con-
cerns a group of partisans
led by Tuvia Bielski, a man
author Leon Wieseltier
labeled "the only real hero I
have ever known. Gazing
steadily at the courage of
(Bielski and his) Jewish
fighters is about as hard as
gazing at the sun, so great is
the light that they cast on
the darkness around them."
Bielski headed a small
group of partisans, estab-
lished in 1942 in
Byelorussia, that would by
1944 number more than
1,200 — the largest armed
rescue operation of Jews by
Jews in World War II.
The partisans often were
freezing and hungry, con-
stantly on the lookout for
Nazi patrols, yet they never
turned a Jew away and even
managed to create some-
thing of a small city in the
forest. They made clothes,
repaired guns and created a
makeshift hospital and
school.
The Bielski Partisans are
the focus of a new book,
Defiance, by University of
Connecticut Professor
Nechama Tec.
listen to
Jewish music.
Even Meyer Lansky would
have been touched.
In his new book But He
Was Good To His Mother,
author Robert Rockaway
writes that countless Jewish
mobsters in the 1930s and
1940s — men who wouldn't
hesitate to kidnap or murder
— were moved to tears when
hearing "My Yiddishe
Mama."
Fortunately, most lovers of
Jewish music have little in
common with the likes of
Lansky. But they have
ranged from such diverse fig-
ures as Russian composer
Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov
(who encouraged his Jewish
students to cultivate their
"wonderful music") to Israeli
sensation Ofra Haza, who
incorporates traditional
Sephardic melodies into her
pop tunes.
Music is one of the things
that helps Southfield resi-
dent Haskell Adler find his
spirituality in Judaism.
"I always found spirituali-
ty through listening to the
cantor, how he interprets the
prayers," Mr. Adler says. "Of
course, it may be because my
father was a cantor (the late
Hyman Adler of
Congregation B'nai David).
"I always felt such a kin-
ship to the cantor's interpre-
tation of the prayers. I find
in them a real spiritual
calm."
Practice
compassion.
"When a man has compas-
sion for others," the Talmud
teaches, "God has compas-
sion for him."
One story that illustrates
the importance of compas-
sion is recalled on Pesach. As
the Egyptians were drown-
ing, the angels in heaven
began to sing in jubilation.
God immediately silenced
them. "My creatures are per-
ishing," He cried, "and you
are ready to sing?"
Develop a sense
of humor.
Proverbs 14:13 teaches that,
"In laughter, the pain of the
heart is eased."
"The person who can
laugh with life has developed
deep roots within the soil of
faith," says Rabbi Bernard
Raskas of Jerusalem, author
of Heart of Wisdom, pub-
lished by the United
Synagogue of America. "The
conviction that one's person-
al existence has meaning
gives him the deep serenity
that makes living a real joy."
A study by John DeFrain,
professor of family science at
the University of Nebraska-
Lincoln, shows that positive
humor helps "express close-
ness, build cohesion and
express affection" in families.
Ellis Weiner, a writer for
the TV show "Reading
Rainbow," says that laughter
can be used even in the most
difficult parenting moments.
If a child is feeling espe-
cially sullen, try forbidding
him to laugh, Mr. Weiner
said in a recent article in
Child magazine. If that fails,
try insisting, "Please! Laugh!
Just once!"
"If done with sufficient
passion and pathetic flop-
ping around on the floor, it
will work."
Challenge
yourself, your
family and friends
with an intellectual
discussion.
Rabbis have diverse opinions
on everything from what
Judaism says about abortion
to the Jewish view of capital
punishment. Instead of
watching television at din-
ner, try researching, then
discussing, something like
women and Judaism. It's
sure to make for a more live-
ly evening than reruns of
tabloid TV.
Nazi hunter Simon
Wiesenthal, in his book The
Sunflower, recounts his own
struggle with a terrible
moral question.
He recalls being led from a
death camp to a makeshift
army hospital. There, he
meets a Nazi soldier whose
head is covered in bandages.
The wounded man extends
his hand toward his visitor,
then begins his confession:
He helped participate in the
burning alive of an entire vil-
lage of Jews. Now dying, the
Nazi feels terrible remorse
for his actions. He cannot
die, he says, without absolu-
tion. He asks his Jewish
guest, a complete stranger,
for forgiveness.
Ultimately, Wiesenthal
does not answer; he leaves
the room without speaking.
If you're interested in an
intellectual discussion that
can help foster spirituality,
consider the following:
* The Torah calls the
Jewish people the "children
of God." What does that
mean? What should be the
ideal relationship between
parents and children, and
how does this translate into
the relationship that we, as
Jews, have with God?
* The Talmudic scholar
Simeon the Just said, "The
world is based on three prin-
ciples: Torah, worship and
kindness." How does the pur-
suit of these three principles
bring us to a higher level of
spirituality?
* In the Sh'ma, we are told
to "Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and all
your soul and all your
might." How do we manifest
this love of God, and to what
extent does the love of God
equal spiritual awakening?
* People often point to a
conflict between science and
religion. Yet in the Jewish
view, the study of the natur-
al world can bring us to a
higher level of appreciation
of God's creative process, and
thus to a higher level of spir-
ituality.
4:1)
Don't pass
another rainbow
without saying
these words.
Just about everybody has
learned the blessing said
over wine and bread, but
who knows the bracha one
says upon seeing a rainbow?
It is such acts which help
make the ordinary into the
extraordinary and transform
life into a sacred experience.
In the words of Rabbi Harold
Kushner, author of When
Bad Things Happen To Good
People, "Everything in God's
world can be holy if you real-
ize its potential holiness.
One of the fundamental
teachings of Judaism is that
the search for holiness, for
mitzvot you choose to follow.
The question is whether you
are interested in doing what
Jews have always done,
recapturing the feeling of
standing at Sinai, bringing
holiness into your life by
sanctifying even its ordinary
moments, especially its ordi-
nary moments."
(The bracha one recites
upon seeing a rainbow:
Baruch Atah Hashem,
Elokeinu melech haolam,
zohcher habrit, v'neeman
b'rvrito, vkayam bma'amaro:
Praised be God, master of
the universe, who remem-
the encounter with God, is
not confined to the syna-
gogue. Everything we do can
be transformed into a Sinai
experience, an encounter
with the sacred. The goal of
Judaism is not to teach us
how to escape from the pro-
fane world to the cleansing
presence of God, but to teach
us how to bring God into the
world, how to take the ordi-
nary and make it holy."
Through mitzvot, Rabbi
Kushner writes in his
newest book, To Life!,
Judaism instructs man how
to sanctify everything from
sexual behavior to eating a
meal.
"The question is not how
many of the hundreds of
bers the covenant, is trust-
worthy in His covenant, and
fulfills His word.)
(F)
list all the
positive things in
your life — from a
roof over your
head to good
health.
"Who is well off?" it asks in
Avot 4:1. "One who has the
ability to be happy with his
lot in life."