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START THE YEAR OFF ON

THE RIGHT FOOT
Saturday, September 25
9:00 p.m.

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ANNUAL SINGLES

(21 and over)

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RABBI MORTON F. YOLKUT SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

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at the

Jewish Community Center

6600 West Maple Road

.r] Door Prizes Win a ticket to see Jewish Ensemble Theatre's
"Isn't It Romantic" or a 3 month Health Club Membership
Dancing - D.J. Eric Harris
sr: Refreshments
.17 Cash Bar - Beer and Wine

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Admission is $800. Tickets can be purchased at the door.
For further information, call 661-1000, ext. 343.

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The Community Jewish High School
invites all 8 - 12 grade students to
explore issues relating to Judaism
and the Jewish people in a
dynamic environment.

OPEN HOUSE AND REGISTRATION
Sunday, October 10, 1993
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
at the
Agency for Jewish Education
21550 W. 12 Mile Road
Southfield, Michigan 48076

For more information call Tova Dorfman, Director
at (313) 354-1050

CLASSES INCLUDE:
Cradle to Grave: Jewish Life Cycle
Jewish Theater Experience
Modern/Conversational Hebrew
Holocaust through the Arts
Jewish Ethics
Jewish Heroes

8th grade Sampler for Pre and Post Bar/Bat Mitzvah

(Sessions held at Adat Shalom Synagogue)

Co-sponsored by Congregation Beth Achim, Congregation B'nai David,
Congregation Beth Abraham Hillel Moses, Congregation Beth Shalom,
Congregation Adat Shalom, Congregation B'nai Moshe
National Council of Synagogue Youth (NCSY)
In cooperation with Hillel Day School

Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results
Place Your Ad Today. Call 354-6060

Fulfilling Potential
Is True 'Return'

I

his is the period in
the year when all but
the most assimilated
among us are seized
with the desire to "come
home." There is something
about the mystique of the
High Holy Days that calls us
back to Jewish life and draws
us nearer to the soul of our
people and faith.
I am not at all sure that
what most of us experience
during this sacred season is
teshuvah in the classical
sense of contrition and repen-
tance. But in its original and
more basic meaning, in the
sense of returning, teshuvah
is not too pretentious a word
with which to convey the
state of our emotions.
It really does not matter
how far we have strayed from
our roots and tradition the
last 12 months; come these
Yomim Noraim. (Days of Awe),
we want to return. We want to
identify with our people and
rediscover our roots. But
wishing it will not make it so.
Far more is expected from us.
A famous story from
Chasidic lore underscores the
spiritual challenge of this
season. It is told about Rabbi
Zusia of Anipole, one of the
early giants of the Chasidic
movement, that when he con-
templated his appearance
before the Yeshiva Shel
Ma'ala — the heavenly court
— he said as follows: "I am
not worried if they ask why I
was not on par with the great
personalities of Jewish his-
tory. For if they ask me why
weren't you like Abraham or
Moses or Akiva or Maimo-
nides, I will answer that I was
not endowed with their
heroism, intelligence and
charisma. What does worry
me," continued the master, "is
what if they say: `Zusia, why
weren't you Zusia? Why didn't
you reach the full limit of
your own potential?' For that
question, I will have no
answer."
On Yom Kippur we must
ask ourselves that question.
Are we achieving our own
potential? Are we using„ our
own endowments to become
nobler people and better
Jews? Couldn't we do better
with what. we have? We, no
less than Zusia, must be con-
cerned about this most
fundamental of all questions.
Yom Kippur is the perfect

Morton Yolkut is rabbi of
Congregation B'nai David.

time to resolve to become
ourselves. On this day we
have a unique opportunity to
break with what we have
been, to become in the depths
of our hearts what we know
we can yet be.
And in this religious exer-
cise, we are not alone. God is
our ally. In the Midrash we
are told that God proclaims,
"Open your hearts for me like
a pin point, and I will open it
as wide as the great door-
ways." (Shir Hashirim Rab-
bah 5:3).
The Kotzker Rebbe com-
mented: "But it must be open
all the way through." That is
to say that, however minute
the opening it must pierce the
heart completely, to its very
core. So, too, must the Jews'
desire to improve and change
be complete and sincere. Only
then will God assist us in the
process. God helps those who
sincerely want to refashion
themselves, to redirect their
lives, to fulfill their own
potential, to reach their own
spiritual, human and Jewish
capacities.

Shabbat Yom
Kippur:
Leviticus 16:1-34
Isaiah 57:14-58:14
Numbers 29:7-11
Leviticus 18:1-30
Jonah 1:1-4:11
Micah 7:18-20.

This sacred season sum-
mons us to purposeful action,
to self-renewal and to regen-
eration. It assures us that the
future can be better for us,
that our agenda can change
and the pattern of our lives
can improve. May the New
Year find us prepared to
enrich the content of our
lives, to reach our God-given
potential, and hopeful that,
with His help, our endeavors
will be blessed with rich
fulfillment and with great
achievements. ❑

Until the 1920s federal
courts held that the First
Amendment limited only
U.S. government actions and
not the state's. Thus, it was
legally possible for state and
local governments to pass
laws against Jews and other
religious minorities.

