r / - - - Community Views Opinion 'Box Of Chocolates' Is Metaphor For Life Waging a 'War' On Public Schools RABBI WILLIAM G. GERSHON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS CINDY HUGHEY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS The most popular and perform the correct regimen I think this year you should be movie of last year of mitzvot, somehow you will be asking forgiveness from me." was Forrest Gump. protected from harm, that God Then he paused. And in a softer Forrest is severely will spare you this year, you are voice he said, "But since you are limited in his cog- bound to be disappointed. God and I am only Levi Yitzchak nitive and intellec- Tragedy strikes the observant — Yitkadal v'yitkadash sheme tual capacities; but and the non-observant, Jew and rabbah — and sanc- his life, guided by gentile, rich and poor alike. If God tified be the magnified name of God ..." and the wisdom of his were to answer affirmatively he began the service. mother, is pro- every fervent and sincere prayer, As unsatisfactory as this re- foundly inspirational. then no one would ever die. sponse might appear to some, it For all of the comedic value, the Do we really believe that God is a profoundly Jewish answer. life of Forrest Gump and the wis- will reward us if we are good, and can get angry; you can feel dom taught to him by his moth- if we are bad we will be punished? You pain and resentment; you can er are strikingly religious and If that were true, then everyone shake your fist against the sky deeply Jewish in outlook. Forrest would be good; and no one would Gump speaks to the heart and ever suffer. But we know that's and yell at God. But in the end, there is a vast gulf between being soul of every person because it ad- not how the world works. God and being a human being. dresses the most fundamental Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan used Forrest Gump is right. "God is question8 of being human. What to say to his students: wro expect mysterious." is my destiny? What is my pur- the world to treat you fairly be- Ultimately, we are not privy to pose in this world? Why do good cause you're an honest person is why the good suffer and the people suffer? How can my life like expecting a bull not to charge wicked prosper. Yet, we know have meaning? you because you are a vegetari- there must be more to the mean- The answers to the questions an." You have no control over ing of life. are contained in Forrest's adages what you are going to receive. The The writing in the Book of Life and sayings, which have become world is random, in a sense, and is a metaphor for life itself. But known as "Gumpisms." These no amount of bargaining with we do the writing in the book. sayings, while ranging from the God can change that. "Each of us has signed it with our absurd to the sublime, all deeds," declares the retain the elements of a Un'tane Tokef. We seal our practical wisdom about fate for the coming year. life. Of course, we can't de- In the coming weeks cide everything. Natural we will gather for the disasters and illness are High Holy Days and re- not within our control. But cite the words of the most what we do with the life moving and poignant we are given, how we re- prayer in the liturgy, the spond to adversity and joy, Un'tane Tokef: "On Rosh that is where we put our Hashanah it is written seal on it. and on Yom Kippur it is "Life is like a box of sealed. ..." This prayer chocolates." Each of us re- sums up, in just a few ceived our box; sometimes verses, the angst of hu- its contents are sweet and man existence. We are re- sometime bitter; often- minded of our own times they are bittersweet. mortality. But the true measure of As we count another life is judged by how you year, we are mindful that live it. some of our loved ones are no However logical the answer is, During the High Holy Days, longer with us. We ask ourselves it is not enough; it fails to salve we seek to find meaning in our if, indeed, we will be celebrating the wounds of those who suffer. lives, to feel that having lived our Rosh Hashanah next year. And Upon reflection of his shrimp lives will have mattered. A per- we wonder what the new year of boat being tossed by the seas, For- son's good name depends not 5756 will bring to us. rest Gump declares, "God is mys- upon length of days but upon There is an aspect of life and terious." Forrest's statement is quality of deeds. And this is the death that is not entirely within reminiscent of that famous story ultimate message of our power. There are things told of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Gump and Un'tane Tokef. Forrest In the which are beyond our control, de- Berdichev, one of the great Cha- end, no matter what our destiny spite the desire within our hearts sidic masters. or how difficult or challenging our to fashion our own destiny. There One year, before the Kol Nidre lives, it is goodness that matters is really very little that we can service — when the service must in life. Forrest Gump may not be predict absolutely. "Life is like a begin before the sun sets — Rab- a very smart man, but he knows box of chocolates; you never know bi Yitzchak was standing silent- what love is and what goodness what you're going to get." ly as the evening approached. His demands. I've come to realize that often students and disciples became There is vast difference be- people hear the message of the nervous and uncomfortable. tween being intellectually slow Un'tane Tokef, but fail to under- "Why doesn't the Rebbe start?" and being wrong; between being stand it. They wrongly assume At the last moment, Rabbi smart and being good. Having that one observes the mitzvot so Yitzchak began to pray, "Ribbon knowledge does not automatical- that God will be predisposed to Shel Olam, Master of the Uni- ly qualify you as a good person. answer prayers. verse, each year I come before you But it is goodness that God re- If you believe that if you pray to ask forgiveness. But you know, quires most from us; and it is hard enough and long enough in this past year, I've caused no goodness that will, ultimately, en- earthquakes, no floods, no rich our lives and redeem us. Life William Gershon is associate plagues. I've made no women may be like a box of chocolates, rabbi at Congregation Shaarey widows and no children orphans. but goodness is one thing in life Zedek. God, you've done that, not me. So we can control. ❑ The Michigan of the school code. Heeding his Jewish Confer- call to arms, the Board of Edu- ence represents a cation has gone on the offensive. statewide net- Accompanied by a continuous work of 14 Jew- propaganda barrage attacking ish communities. public education, the Board has Located in Lans- indicated that it opposes the im- ing, part of our plementation of a core curricu- mission is to lum. The Board has also monitor current indicated its desire to broadly issues taking place in the State expand the charter-school con- Capitol that affect our mem- cept. The covert agenda allud- bers. ed to by opponents of Proposal Recent developments in the A is becoming increasingly overt Legislature and before the State — replacing the public-school Board of Education raise seri- system with an education ous concerns, both secular and voucher plan. religious, for members of the The threat posed to religious Michigan Jewish community. and other minorities by a vouch- Legislative initiatives that have er plan is very real. Stereotypes been introduced which erode to the contrary notwithstand- the traditional notion of sepa- ing, Jews live throughout our ration of church and state, com- state and the majority of our bined with the recent proposal children attend public schools. before the Board of Education Imagine being the only Jew (or to include the teaching of cre- other religious minority) in a ationism in public schools, are predominately Fundamentalist particularly alarming. Christian community in which As a religious minority, Jews parents receive vouchers they have for centuries suffered can use at any school, public or heavily under regimes with es- private. Because the majority tablished religions. In America, of parents in this community where government is prohibit- opt to send their children to the ed from establishing or endors- local Christian academy/char- ing a religion, we have been able ter school, there is either no to build a strong and vibrant public school or the public school Jewish community. It is this which exists is underfunded wall of separation that has per- mitted religious minorities to flourish. The Jewish communi- ty views the separation of church and state as being vital to Jewish survival and will zeal- ously oppose any efforts to un- dermine it. Equally alarming to the Jew- and substandard. Parents in the ish community is the war being religious minority are faced waged against the public-school with a Hobson's choice — either system in Michigan. The Pro- remain true to their religious posal A package, in addition to beliefs and send their children restructuring the funding of to the substandard public public schools, acknowledged school, or compromise their re- the need to improve the perfor- ligious beliefs and send their mance of our public schools. An children to the Christian char- integral part of the Proposal A ter school in order to afford their package was the development children the education they and implementation of a need to compete in an increas- mandatory core curriculum de- ingly competitive world. signed to ensure a minimum While the Michigan Jewish level of basic instruction Conference represents pre- throughout the state. The Pro- dominately small communities, posal A package also included the dangers posed to religious a charter-school provision that and other minorities by an ed- was ostensibly designed to al- ucation voucher system are not low educational experimenta- limited to small towns and rur- tion on a limited basis. Critics al areas. In large metropolitan of Proposal A warned that char- voucher areas, education funds ter schools were merely a vehi- will flow to various schools cle to allow the dismantling of formed to accommodate differ- the public-school system. ent religious, ethnic, gender and Events of the past year suggest racial groups. Given the limit- the critics are correct. ed nature of funding, battles will In January, Gov. Engler an- inevitably arise. These tiny bat- nounced that Michigan's pub- tles over funding will break lic-education system was along the same lines which broken and called for the repeal identify the schools themselves. Before long, parents will be Cindy Hughey is director of the Michigan Jewish Conference. WAGING page 8 The threat posed by a voucher plan is real.