Community Views

Opinion

Jewish Spirit Can Be Found
In The Right Kind Of Service

LEV RAPHAEL SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Almost a year
ago, my mother
sank into para-
noia, terrifying
confusion and
violence that
could only be
. controlled by
heavy doses of
drugs that left
her quietly smiling and inof-
fensive. I wondered who was
really there now behind the
chemical wall that doctors felt
was the only response to her
multi-infarct dementia, a
stroke-caused disease that
looks very much like
Alzheimer's. Off drugs today,
my mother no longer recog-
nizes anyone, never speaks
and is barely present. My fa-
ther is inconsolable; my
brother and I stunned, dis-
paring.
This erev Rosh Hashanah,
sitting in services, I rebelled
as soon as I opened up Gates
__of Repentance and read about
God's power and mercy.
Mercy? How could God be
merciful when my mother
had suffered through un-
speakable and incomprehen-
sible agonies of concentration
camps and was now deprived
of her sense, cut off from her
husband of almost 40 years,
from her children, from her-
self. I felt bitter, restless, in-
censed.
The service felt like an un-
scalable cliff wall.
God
seemed intolerably far from
me that night, and I felt
weighted down by the past.
Driving away later, I knew
that there were age-old feel-
ings and questions, but the
continuity of doubt and pain
did not console me.
And then the next morning
— unexpectedly — I felt
healed.
My partner Gersh and I
went to a Rosh Hashanah ser-
vice partly led by his youngest
son, Aaron. This has been a
year of explosive growth for
Aaron as a Jew. The cata-
lysts have been his deep in-
volvement with the Greater
Lansing Temple Youth, his
attendance at several MSTY
conclaves, his time at the
NFTY Jewish Leadership
Academy at Kutz camp.
Aaron has been wondering
what God means to him, find-
ing his place as a Jew. and
not least, learning the guitar
to be a song leader. His fa-
ther and I have marveled at
his maturity and thoughtful-
ness.
So Gersh and I and about

Lev Raphael is an author and
faculty member at Michigan
State University.

30 others, mostly teen agers,

-

attended this one-hour Rosh
Hashanah service; and it was
far more than we anticipated:
dynamic, moving, passionate
and personal.
Instead of a stage and an
enormous hall, there was a
small, disheveled classroom
decorated with travel posters
for Israel and an aleph bet
chart.

Entering The Health
Care Reform Debate

RICHARD ADDRESS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Even more, the story of the
shepherd — for me — includ-
ed all those Jews who either
don't have the Jewish educa-
tion to feel fully comfortable
at a service, and those who
like me that morning, felt the
futility of words.
I was incredibly proud of
Aaron, who led services with
the other guitar players as if
he had been doing so for

T

he introduction of the Clin -
After discussing several ways
ton administration's Ion g to define "justice," Rabbi Mack-
awaited health care reform ler concluded that Tor the Jew-
can — and should — hel p ish understanding of justice,
prompt a greater awareness o f securing access to all health care
the subject in the organized Jew needed by an individual repre-
ish community. Great opportu - sents an urgent and immediate
nities exist for congregations an d obligation for contemporary
other Jewish communal agen United States society."
cies to see in the coming deba to
As the proportion of the el-
new possibilities for educatio n derly in the Jewish community
supporting basic Jewish value s increases, there will be increas-
drawn from our tradition's con - ing demands on synagogues and
cern with medicine and health . other agencies to be responsive
The linkage of Jewish tradi - to matters of cost, care, delivery
tion, medicine and health can be of services, access to the system
traced in the history of Jewis h and in certain cases, limits of
texts, from the Bible onward . care. One aspect of the debate
Our history is filled with schol - that has been raised by the pres-
ar-physicians who saw no divi - ident — and one that can have
sion between the realm of the immediate impact — is preven-
body and the spirit since both re- tion.
sponded to God's creative im -
Indeed, we can take a major
pulse. We are instructed to step toward educating our com-
cultivate habits that lead to good munity by seeing our syna-
health and vitality. Maimonides, gogues,
agencies
and
for instance, reminds us that we organizations as centers for well-
walk in the ways of God by stay-
ing healthy since we cannot have
knowledge of God if we are ill. In
this spirit did the Jerusalem Tal-
mud remind us that it is forbid-
den to live in a town that has no
physician.
Preserving good health thus
became a positive command-
ment. In light of the present
health care debate, it also be-
comes an even more important
subject for discussion and action
within our community.
Some of that debate and dis-
cussion has begun. The Reform ness. Given Judaism's tradi-
movement is part of the Inter- tional emphasis on health, it
religious Task Force on Health makes good sense that we de-
Care Reform, a coalition of over velop courses of study, seminars,
70 religious groups whose agen- workshops and support groups
da is raising the issue of health within our community that
care reform within the country's teach, from childhood through
religious community. Active for adult years, a Jewish perspec-
over a year in anticipation of the tive on health care and illness
Clinton program, it favors a sin- prevention. If we can create a
gle-payer type plan and a broad- sense of these concerns as being
based range of coverage, contemporary mitzvot based on
on-going training and universal textual tradition, then we can
equal access.
significantly influence our peo-
An interesting attempt to ple's life-styles. Likewise, the
bring Jewish traditional values idea for synagogue-sponsored
to bear in the health care dis- health fairs which link the sec-
cussion was made by Rabbi ular and the religious in a com-
Aaron L. Mackler in the June, mon program of education and
1991 Kennedy Institute Of Ethics action. The need for Jewish val-
Journal. Rabbi Mackler ad- ue-based education and action
dresses "tzedakah" as justice. will be crucial if our community
Tracing the term through bibli- is to be part of the national de-
cal and rabbinic texts, he con- bate.
cluded that "the Jewish
During the High Holy Days,
understanding of justice would we responded to the call in
require providing a 'decent min- Deuteronomy to "choose life."
imum' of health care, sufficient This impetus for life should pro-
to meet the needs of each mem- pel the Jewish community's in-
ber of society."
volvement in the health care
debate, a debate which will of-
Rabbi Richard Address is direc-
ten not be between "good" and
tor of the Union of American
"bad," but between different
Hebrew Congregations' re-
"goods." How we choose to be in-
gional office in Philadelphia
volved will go a long way in de-
and director of the UAHC's
termining how we and our
committee on older adults.
children's children will live.

We should see our
synagogues,
agencies and
organizations as
centers for
wellness.

Instead of hundreds of peo-
ple, many bored and chatting,
there were only dozens, all
singing and intent.
Instead of distance, there
was intimacy. The creative
service started with a story
about a simple shepherd who
couldn't pray, but offered up
his music to God. And that's

God seemed
intolerably far
from me that night,
and I felt weighted
down by the past.

what I felt we were doing.
The melodies of the prayers
— many by Debbie Friedman
— were warm and embracing;
and often on the point of
tears, I felt the transcendence
that I hope to feel at services.

years. He was confident,
smooth, relaxed, smiling, eyes
connecting with those in the
room again and again, voice
blending skillfully with the
other two song leaders. His
father and I were aglow with
pride in Aaron's Jewish com-
mitment and his newfound
talent.
Afterwards, I told Aaron
what a gift he had and how
this service had connected my
heart and my head. And in
words my mother would have
used, I told him he surely had
" a Yiddisshe neshomah," a
Jewish spirit.
All the parents attending
were similarly moved and de-
lighted, one commenting,
"That was the Jewish future
in there."
Melodies from the service
drifted through my head the
rest of the day, and I felt at
peace. It was totally unex-
pected, but completely wel-
come. ❑

CS,

