1994 REGAL 4 DOOR

Power Windows,
Power Locks, Cruise,
Tilt Wheel & More!

Stock #49317

1994 CENTURY

Power Windows,
Power Locks, Cruise,
Tilt Wheel & More!

•

Stock #48971

X1

2,999*

*Plus tax, title, plates, destination fee & doc. fees. Price includes $300 Buick owner loyalty rebate. If not eligible, add $300 to price shown. All rebates
assigned to dealer.

37911 GRAND RIVER • WEST OF HALSTED • FARMINGTON HILLS

810-471-0800

BUICK

OPEN SATURDAYS SALES AND SERVICE

CONGREGATION B'NAI DAVID

cordially invites you to attend
our

SOLIDARITY SHABBAT SERVICE

on

SHABBAT, PARS HAT r HAYE SARAH
SATURDAY, OCT. 29 - 8:30 A.M.

MAPLE-DRAKE JEWISH CENTER/SHIFFMAN HALL

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Guest Rabbi Morton F. Yolkut will officiate and deliver the sermon
Cantor Usher Adler will chant the liturgy and bless the new month of Kislev
Rev. Hershl Roth and Yoel Roth will read the Torah Portion
Kiddush will be served following services
The community is invited - children are most welcome

CALL (810) 557-8210 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.

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SERIES

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„

The Book, The Cover
And What's Inside

RABBI JOSHUA L BENNETT SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

TOP READING!! Now,
look around at the people
in your life. There are
many different types of peo-
ple in this world. Skinny and
large, short and tall, yellow, red,
white, black, long-haired, young,
old. Our differences range a
gamut of styles and types. Each
person is entirely unique. Still,
we all embark on an individual
quest for a lifelong companion
with whom we can share our
uniqueness.
This mate can be a husband or
wife, friend, colleague, or soul
mate. For each of us, I believe,
someone, somewhere can fulfill
this role of partnership. Howev-
er, seldom are we able to com-
pletely understand another
person's attraction to their mate.
Every person, alone, must search
for the "right" person to be that
special partner. Somewhere
along the journey, I hope, each of
us will find a person for whom the
description "beautiful" applies.
This word has a different mean-
ing for everyone, but still we use
it often in our conversations.
It is the way we express to oth-
ers how we feel about another
person's personality. There is a
universal understanding of beau-
ty, but its definition is difficult to
create. We can, however, look to
our Torah to guide us in our per-
sonal quest.
The Torah teaches us about
Rebecca in Genesis 24:16, "The
girl was very beautiful..." The
text describes her as tovat mareh
meod. This descriptive phrase
has been translated in several
ways. For example, some com-
mentators tell us that Rebecca
was, " ... very beautiful." Simi-
larly, others explain that she is,
" ... very fair to look upon." Read-
ing these translations, it would
be very easy to see only the pshat
or plain sense meaning of this
text as a simple description of the
appearance of a new character in
the biblical story.
However, we can look deeper
into the text to see that tovat
mareh means far more than sim-
ple beauty. Rebecca's beauty is
not only apparent in her physi-
cal appearance but also in her ac-
tions. We are to learn from her
actions and speech about an in-
ner beauty which can belong to
each of us, regardless of our phys-
ical characteristics. This true
source of beauty is spoken of else-
where in Jewish tradition as well.
In Pirke Avot, we read Al tistakel
b'kankan, evlah b'mah sh'yesh bo

Joshua L. Bennett is a rabbi at

Temple Israel.

— Do not look at the vessel itself,
rather look at what is inside.
The text points to the source of
Rebecca's beauty. In the story
immediately following this verse
we see Rebecca as a generous and
caring person. Without being
asked, she brings water for Eliez-
er's camels and then brings him
water. The midrash (VR 37:4)
teaches us that it was not normal
for a slave woman to bring water
for a man but only for his ani-
mals. Another Aggadic tradition
argues that Rebecca went even
further in her act of kindness by
rebuking the other girls who were
discourteous to this stranger by
not bringing him water. Rebec-
ca was expected to water the an-
imals ... this was the duty of
young slave women, but it was
above and beyond the call of duty
for her to help a stranger. Re-
becca was inwardly motivated to
help Eliezer in an act of Gemi-
lut Chasadim. It is this motiva-
tion of the soul which illuminates
the real source of a person's
beauty.
Thus, while at first glance, Re-
becca's beauty is described sim-
ply in the words tovat mareh
meod we learn from this verse
that the true source of a person's
beauty is more than the super-

Shabbat Chaye Sara:
Genesis 23: 1-25: 18
I Kings 1:1-31.

ficial and temporary appearance
of good looks and fair skin. A per-
son's real beauty lies in the way
we live our lives—with self-re-
spect, a motivation towards gemi-
lut chasadim, and in the way we
act and speak to others. Beauty
comes from the weaving of all
these into a way of life.
Rebecca is one of the beautiful
people, but in a much deeper
sense. The Torah identifies her
as tovat mareh meod and then
moves on. At first thought, we
perceive a woman who has a soft
and young complexion and a ter-
rific figure ... the perfect matri-
arch and match for one of the
patriarchs of our tradition. In-
deed, just a few chapters later in
the Torah we find that because
of her beauty, Isaac feels com-
pelled to hide Rebecca's identity
as his wife so that he will not be
killed by men who want to have
her for themselves.
True beauty in its most obvi-
ous form is very desirable. Many
of us spend great amounts of
time, money, and energy to make

