SINAI HOSPITAL Sinai Hospital Ambulatory Services Division is pleased to welcome • Laina Feinstein, M.D. Cal Ripken Jr. As A Role Model GARY ROSENBLATT SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS R in the practice of Internal Medicine. Dr. Feinstein is fluent in the Russian language. Her offices are located at: Hechtman Health Center Internal Medicine Associates 31500 Telegraph Rd., Suite 145 Bingham Farms, MI 48025 (810) 647-1770 Sinai Health Center 6450 Farmington Rd., Suite 105 West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (810) 661-9490 To schedule an appointment, please call during normal business hours. "Inal 3 GENERMONS I HONESTY C/) LLJ I DEPENDABILIFY All Business' Are Not Created Equal. There Is A Difference. WEINfrIRAEB JEWELERS In Store Specials Everyday LU Sunset Strip 29536 Northwestern Hwy. • Southfield • (810) 3574000 Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10-5 CD CC •■•■ =i' LLJ LLJ 04 Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today, Call 354.6060 abbi Tarfon, the scholar who lived in Talmudic times, would have loved Cal Ripken Jr. True, Rip- ken is blond, 6 feet 4 and a church-going Christian; but he's also the embodiment of a work ethic espoused by rabbinic tradi- tion. And his remarkable achieve- ment of playing in more than 2,130 consecutive baseball games extends beyond the ballpark and may have a unique message for us as Jews. In setting a new standard for consistency in professional base- ball, the Orioles shortstop calls to mind the most famous teach- ing of Rabbi Tarfon, whose words are found in the Ethics of the Fa- thers: "The day is short; the task is abundant; the laborers are lazy; the wage is great, and the Mas- ter is insistent. You are not re- quired to complete the task," the rabbi added, "yet you are not free to withdraw from it." In a shortened season still un- der the cloud of last year's disas- trous strike, Mr. Ripken has done more than anyone to salvage the heroic image youngsters have al- ways had of major-league ballplayers. The Orioles short- stop didn't do this through media hype or flashy style, but simply by going out and doing his job every day as a complete profes- sional for the last 13 seasons. Most fans feel that today's players are spoiled and are paid too much money —"the laborers are lazy, the wage is great" — and that the owners are greedy — "the Master is insistent." But Mr. Ripken's professional excellence and personal modesty echo the style of Lou Gehrig, the revered New York Yankee who held the record for most consecutive games played for more than six decades. Watching Cal Ripken play takes me back to the time when baseball was more about fathers and sons than markets and shares; for despite Caps financial success, we sense that he would still be out there playing for the love of the game. You can't say that about too many ballplayers these days. More likely they check with their agents before tagging up from third on a sacri- fice fly. Rooting for a team that's far away can be tough, I've learned since leaving Baltimore two years ago. But on nights this summer that I found myself drawn to the Gary Rosenblatt is editor and publisher of the Jewish Week of New York. O's, I had my own private way of connecting. I couldn't pick up the games on any radio at home, but discovered that our car radio had excellent reception. So more than a few times I would go out to our driveway, get in the car, turn on the radio and sit there, listening to the friendly voices of Jon Miller and Fred Manfra broadcasting from WBAL, 200 miles away. And as I sat there in the still night, with the fate of the Orioles fading in the air waves, I'd smile with the memory of my dad fid- dling with the radio in our kitchen late at night, more than three decades ago. He would of- ten try to pick up his beloved Dodgers, who had abandoned Brooklyn and moved to the West Coast, where games didn't even start until 11 p.m. our time, and results wouldn't even make it into the morning newspaper. This sense of connecting our- selves to the fortunes of a team may be illogical — my mother of- ten would remind me that "Brooks Robinson doesn't mope Mr. Ripken reminds us that there are no shortcuts to long- term success. around when YOU have a bad day" — but it's a powerful lesson in caring and identifying, and a parallel that should not be lost on Jewish educators teaching young- sters about what it means to be part of "the chosen people." In embracing Cal Ripken, as so many fans have, we are almost palpably pining for the simpler times when heroes really were heroic and when cynicism was not so pervasive. In this age of the quick fix, when it is more expe- dient to buy new gadgets than re- pair old ones, when centuries-old conflicts are expected to end overnight, Mr. Ripken comes to remind us that there are no short- cuts to long-term success. That's an important lesson for an American Jewish community struggling to deal with a steady increase in assimilation and in- termarriage and a decrease in giving to Jewish philanthropic causes. In a search for answers, we sometimes latch onto various innovative ideas as a quick fix, or panacea. Cal Ripken, playing his position day in and day out with grace and efficiency, confidence and calmness, reminds us that our task is not to perform mira- cles but to keep our focus.