Affirw, k
Days Of Opportunity
Are Only Two Weeks Away
New rabbis in town, day school renovations,
building campaigns, synagogue mergers, Jews
heading to Novi, High Holiday sermons in the
works, tickets and memberships, conferences on
Jewish education, Maccabi games in Cleveland,
UJA meetings in Jordan, school is starting again.
Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Shemini Atzeret, Yizkor.
People are already calling September the "lost
month" and in two weeks, many of us begin our
prayerful hopes for inclusion in the "Book of Life."
It's all happening so quickly. Weren't we just
buying tickets a year ago? Weren't there new ex-
ecutive directors then, new teachers and new
rabbis in town? It's almost a panic time, these
weeks before Rosh Hashanah. So many of don't
understand that now during the remaining time
in Elul is a time to begin the process of Selichot,
to assess what our year has been like in terms
of personal growth, and where we can take our-
selves in the next year.
Instead, we spend a great deal of time getting
caught up in a whirlwind of stress, of making sure
every table setting is perfect for every meal; to fig-
ure out who we'll be sitting next to in shut maybe
even to wonder if there's something wrong with
us if we're not part of the mass panic.
The message, though, should be clear. Last
year, while the table setting was perfect, maybe
life wasn't so great. Maybe last year nobody else
wore the same dress to Kol Nidre. But maybe
your soul was naked of mitzvot and acts that you
were proud of.
This is not a time of year to get caught in a
whirlwind where the walls of time only are corn-
ing together at a faster pace than we would like.
Instead, the spiritual walls should be coming to-
gether for all of us.
A UJA mission by our friends and neighbors
brought hands together between Jews and Arabs
in Jordan. Our children are competing as broth-
ers and sisters in the Cleveland Maccabi games.
Their teachers are learning to take them to
greater levels of Jewish challenge and education
during their CAJE Conference in Bloomington,
Ind.
These are wonderful ways not to end a sum-
mer but to begin an important new year, one
where our growth is measured in one's image of
self, relationship with God and with other peo-
ple. What an opportunity.
To think how fortunate we are. It's only two
weeks away.
T HE D E TRO IT J E W IS H NEWS
4
Health Care Reform
A Jewish Perspective
-
RABBI DAVID SAPERSTEIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Universal health care is a core
Jewish value, as expressed in two
central ideas:
1) An individual human life is
of infinite value and its preser-
vation supersedes almost all oth-
er considerations, and;
2) We are endowed with the
ability to become partners with
God in curing illness as a means
of fulfilling the obligation of cre-
ating a better world.
A number of basic health care
obligations may be derived from
these values:
* Physicians have an obliga-
tion to heal. As Moses Mai-
monides wrote, "It is obligatory
from the Torah for the physician
to heal the sick, and this is in-
cluded in the explanation of the
phrase, 'and you shall restore it
to him,' meaning to heal the
body."
* Patients have an obligation
to obtain health care. Our bodies
and souls belong to God, and we
er the commonalities between Jews and have to ensure that they are
cared for. Deuteronomy 4:15:
Catholics indigenous to Detroit. Labor efforts,
"You shall indeed guard your
immigration experiences, overcoming acts of dis-
souls" is the traditional source for
crimination were a few of the examples given.
When future generations read the history of the requirement that we protect
our health. From the Talmudic
1994, they'll be able to see that in a year when
passage, "Whoever is in pain,
Jews and Arabs are making peace in the Mid- lead him to the physician" (Baba
dle East, that acts of past hate and prejudice on Kamma 46B), the rabbis con-
other fronts, including the home fronts, were cluded that Jews should live in
also overcome. Both Jews and Catholics did
cities where doctors live in order
something marvelous Sunday night at Shaarey to have access to health care.
The rabbis interpreted the
Zedek. Let's not keep the event to ourselves,
verse as requiring
Deuteronomy
though. Our friends, our neighbors need to know.
preventive medicine, mandating
But most important, let's give this as a new page
in the textbooks to our children. Catholics and that each person must act to pre-
serve his or her physical health.
Jews have much to share here in Detroit. While
Maimonides understood this
words are cheap, our deeds now will prove that obligation to exercise regularly,
the blockage is indeed gone.
seek medical care when needed,
Shaarey Zedek, the Archdiocese and other
and refrain from damaging one's
area interfaith organizations had the courage
body through the consumption of
to put the words to work. It's critical for Jews, dangerous food or drugs.
* Providing health care is a
at a time when our relations with African-Amer-
icans are stressed, to continue to work to build Jewish obligation not only for the
patient and the doctor, but for so-
bridges. Again, it's not just a question of a ral-
ciety
as well. Maimonides placed
ly, a conference or a meeting. Relations improve
health care first on his list of the
with simplicty -- in a classroom or at a birthday
10 most important communal
party. No announcements need be made. As services a city should provide its
Jews, let's make it happen.
residents. In the self-governing
Removing A Blockage
Between Jews, Catholics
Dr. Eugene Fisher perhaps said it best.
A symbolic blockage between Catholics and Jews
has been removed.
This is what the director for Cathblic-Jewish
relations in the National Conference of Catholic
Bishops' Secretariat for Ecumenical and Inter-
religious Affairs told a crowd of 350 last Sunday
at Congregation Shaarey Zedek. The ecumeni-
cal program, sponsored by Shaarey Zedek, the
Detroit Archdiocese and other area interfaith
organizations, celebrated the June 15 signing of
the Vatican-Israel accord, bringing full Catholic
recognition of Israel.
So much in a positive way has happened in-
ternationally and nationally between the orga-
nized Jewish and Catholic communities.
Anti-Semitism has been condemned, channels for
discussion between the two groups have opened.
The key, though, is that Jewish and Catholic
relations have to improve away from the board
rooms and ceremonies and, instead, "on the
ground." Dr. Fisher related how he knew learned
of the Spanish expulsion of the Jews from his
Catholic education. He also charged the audi-
ence that they probably had little knowledge of
Catholic efforts to save Jewish lives during the
Holocaust.
The audience also was challenged to consid-
Opinion
Jewish communities of old, so-
cieties were organized to ensure
that all their citizens had access
to health care by competent doc-
tors.
* Comprehensive health care
must be affordable for all. Cost
containment was ensured by
prohibiting doctors from charg-
ing fees that patients could not
afford. The cost of medicine was
strictly regulated under a key ha-
lachic consumer protection pro-
vision requiring that any sale of
goods must be within one-sixth
of the actual fair market value of
the item.
Furthermore, in the recogni-
tion that chronic, long-term dis-
ease requires special rules and
procedures to cover costs, Jewish
tradition sought to prevent the
bankruptcy of patients with
chronic sickness.
In summary, Jewish tradition
regards as ethical a health care
system that provides universal-
ity of access to health care for rich
and poor alike, that contains
costs and that emphasizes pre-
ventive medicine and quality care
... Almost every national religious
group in America [has long held
the position] that a single payer
system is the most just and eq-
uitable option for health care re-
form and the best way to achieve
universal health care.
President Clinton's program
allows states to opt for single pay-
er systems; a number already
have done so with substantial
success.
While debate rages as to the
best health care program, the
movement of Reform Judaism
will remain a goad to the national
conscience, keeping the focus on
the core Jewish goals of univer-
sality, prevention, cost contain-
ment and quality care. ❑
Reprinted, with permission,
from Reform Judaism magazine,
published by the Union of Amer-
ican Hebrew Congregations.
Rabbi David Saperstein is director
of the Religious Action Center of
Reform Judaism.