Opinion
Community Views
Why Be Jewish:
Top Ten Reasons
When Untimely Death
Speaks of Continuity
RABBI WILLIAM GERSHON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
RABBI EUMELECH GOLDBERG SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
A little girl an-
nounced to her
mother, "You
know that beau-
tiful work of
sculpture on the
living room table,
which you said
had been handed
down from gen-
eration to generation?" "Yes,"
replied the mother, "what about
it?" "Well, this generation
dropped it."
Young people reject Judaism
because they have no com-
pelling reason to be Jewishly in-
volved. They turn away from
the tradition of their fathers and
mothers because they cannot
answer the fundamental ques-
tion: Why be Jewish? Why lead
a Jewish life? Why is the Jew-
ish people so important? Why
can't we be a generation that
breaks the link in the chain of
the Jewish future? Why can't
we be the last Jews?
The danger to the Jewish fu-
ture is that we have not taught
our children what is unique and
worthwhile about their tradi-
tion. It is time that we address
this problem and offer our chil-
dren a Judaism that is authen-
tic and compelling. So, with
apologies to David Letterman,
here are the top 10 reasons of
"Why Be Jewish?"
NUMBER 10: You should be
Jewish because a Jew is com-
manded to pursue justice and
destroy evil wherever it lurks.
The Talmud teaches, "He who
neglects or refuses to carry his
share to help the needy, let it be
known, that he is not considered
a descendant of Abraham."
What an incredible teaching!
The Jew who does not con-
tribute to the alleviation of dis-
tress, the Jew who does not
uphold the standards ofjustice
is an intruder — he is an alien;
he is not one of us. Feeding the
hungry, clothing the naked,
helping the poor are not just
nice things to do because they
are politically correct. They
must be done because our sense
ofjustice demands nothing less.
NUMBER 9: You should be
Jewish because Judaism teach-
es that there are things in this
world to which we must say no.
Jewish values teach us to say
no to drugs, no to alcohol abuse,
no to material excess, no to the
intoxication of more. That is
why it is sinful for people like
Magic Johnson to be held up to
our children as heroes. Sex be-
tween multiple partners does
not make you a hero. It makes
you stupid and irresponsible.
Judaism provides us with the
moral code by which to save our
lives.
William Gershon is a Rabbi at
Congregation Shaarey Zedek.
A great deal of
ink has been
spilled in this col-
umn decrying the
abysmal state of
American Jewry
and the ever
quickening loss of
the majority of
the up-and-corn-
ing generation. Thrashing
through the stories frequently
leaves one with a sense that
greater spending by the Jewish
community for this institution
or the other will rectify the prob-
lem.
At the same time that I began
to pen my own thoughts, I
learned of the loss of a dear and
beloved friend. Dr. Grant
Mitchell will be eulogized this
Sunday evening in Chicago on
the commemoration of the
shloshim, the conclusion of the
30-day period of mourning.
Grant was 32 years old.
There is a reason that we are
losing our youth in the quick-
NUMBER 8: You should be
Jewish because Judaism enjoins
you to accept the universality of
humanity. We Jews are terri-
fied of particularism. No other
group is so horrified of being
parochial. Yet, on some level,
every group is parochial, as is
each person. But the Judaism
that I know teaches universal-
ity. After all, whose Bible's
words are inscribed on the Lib-
erty Bell and on the wall of the
United Nations, the very sym-
bol of the collective aspirations
of humanity? Our children need
to learn that it is their tradition
that teaches every human be-
ing is created b'tzelem elohim —
in the image of God. The
supreme Jewish value is "And
thou shalt choose life." No oth-
er single value animates the
Jewish tradition more than does
the value of life.
NUMBER 7: You should be
Jewish because you have a
home in Israel. Israel is the
homeland of our people. It is
where the prophets walked and
the great teachings of our tra-
dition and heritage derive. The
land itself is inextricably bound
to each Jew. For 2,000 years
Jews prayed for their return to
the land, to live with dignity and
security. If you have been to Is-
rael, you know the feeling of
pride, of being at home where
the majority culture is Jewish.
We love Israel because it is ours.
Visiting Israel is different from
a visit to Cancun, Paris or the
Swiss Alps. When you visit Is-
rael, even on vacation, it is more
than a vacation. It is a home-
coming.
NUMBER 6: Your should be
Jewish because our tradition
teaches "You are what you eat."
Kashrut has always been a cen-
tral tenet of Judaism and dis-
tinguished us from other
peoples. But there is a lot of mis-
understanding about the laws
of kashrut. Anyone who thinks
that the purpose of kashrut was
to avoid contamination of food
in the desert by our ancestors is
deeply mistaken. Standards of
health have nothing to do with
kashrut.
The goal of kashrut is not
healthy, but holy. Holiness
means to be separate, distinct,
elevated. Kashrues purpose is
to sanctify life. If Judaism has
anything to say to us then it
must say something about our
most basic human needs. Hu-
man beings are different from
animals. Animals eat whatever
they want, wherever they want
and whenever they want. To be
a Jew means to take an essen-
tially animalistic drive, eating,
and elevate it to a level of ke-
dusha, of sanctity.
NUMBER 5: You should be
Jewish because Shabbat de-
fends against allowing the ma-
terial world from controlling
your life. There is something to
be said about spending one day
each week not spending money
or dealing with financial con-
cerns. Many parents are dis-
mayed when their children are
concerned with what they have
versus who they are. Shabbat
and its traditions can provide a
framework to balance material
needs with the need to be with
family.
NUMBER 4: You should be
Jewish because a Jew views
each day as a miracle. If by mir-
acles you think I mean the gar-
den-variety type, like the
supernatural splitting of the
Red Sea, you are wrong. That's
not how God works; Cecil B. De-
Mille did it better. To be Jew-
TOP TEN page 8
"We must teach our
children that
responsibility to God
has been the
foundation of our
continuity."
sand of assimilation. Judaism
requires commitment and a
sense of loving responsibility. It
is a total experience of being.
Watered down to fit the comfort
level of the American milieu, lib-
eral Judaism is drowning its ad-
herents. Survival requires a
heroic response. To a communi-
ty ofJews across the country and
around the world, Grant was one
of these heroes. The brief years
of his life are an important les-
son for our'own survival.
The Rabbis compare three il-
lustrious individuals in their re-
sponse to incredible adversities.
Moshe Rabbeinu, our great
leader, was punished because he
questioned God when his intitiAl
entreaties to Pharoah, the King
of Egypt, met with a harsher
punishment for the Jews. Aaron
the Priest was greater than
Moshe, in this sense, as he re-
mained silent and accepting
even when he witnessed the
death of his two sons. King
David, however, in his Book of
Psalms, was the most heroic in
his response. Rather than com-
plaining or even remaining silent
to the incredible difficulties of his
Rabbi Elimelich Goldberg is spiri-
tual leader of the Young Israel
of Southfield.
life, he responded with uniter-
rupted glorification of God, "to
praise Your glory and never be
silenced..." With this spirit, he
watched his son build the Tem-
ple of Jerusalem, the Jewish peo-
ple coalesce and an age of great
commitment to continuity un-
fold.
Our friend Grant went
through a horrifying illness, with
an equally horrifying process to
attempt a cure. Not only did he
never complain, he questioned
only the wonders of the blessings
that he clearly enjoyed, never
ceasing to praise his Creator.
Everyone whom he touched, and
there are thousands of us, are
strengthened by what was his
unceasing resolve. As a doctor of
rehabilitation medicine, he used
a Jewish equation of positive out-
look and menschlichkeit. With a
smile and a steady wit, he
thought of a doctor as a mes-
senger of God.
The point here is that facing
his own mortality, Grant grew
stronger in his resolve to edu-
cating his children as Jews. Dai-
ly he prayed with his young
children, Chaya and Avichai.
When he was somewhat re-
gaining his strengths, I asked
Grant to serve as a rehabilita-
tion consultant to Camp Simcha,
a summer program for Jewish
children with cancers. His theme
of rehabilitation was the ideal of
life accompanied by joy, faith and
genuine goodness.
On the last day of his life, he
motioned to his wife, Jennie, to
say his favorite Psalms. Inserted
in the front of the book were the
names of other sick people whom
Grant would pray for every day.
He insisted that they be incorpo-
rated into his last prayer as well.
The very last breath that Grant
would breathe was the verse,
"Precious in the eyes of God, is the
death of the righteous."
Jewish life requires commit-
ment. For us to survive, we must
teach our children that respon-
sibility to God in every phase of
life has been the foundation of
our communal continuity. Any
group ofJews who are not brave
enough to emphasize to their
children the requirement of to-
tal dedication and focus will sim-
ply not survive. Four thousand
years of history should be a clear
enough lesson. Grant Mitchell
lived a shoft life; we miss him
dearly. But in the brevity of his
existence he served as a pro-
found model for what Torah ded-
ication and life is all about. In a
world in which more and more
Jews have never heard of the
Book of Psalms, the heroic voic-
es who never allow verses to
leave their lips are the guaran-
tors that Judaism will continue
to survive. El