1 "Continuing to care from generation to generation..." High Holidays: Changing Your Vision Rabbi Boruch E. Levin Executive Director, H.B.S. I Serving the entire Detroit Jewish Community with dignity, tradition and compassion since 1916. rzx threw emonal Chapel 0111•1•111W =MIL ■■•■ (810) 543-1622 1-800-736-5033 26640 Greenfield Rd. Oak Park, MI 48237 ■■1 .11■1 1111111111•111 ■ The Board of Directors and Staff of Hebrew Benevolent Society wish the family of at (810) 557-6644 17100 W. 10 Mile r Southfield, ;\-II Shiva Trays our profound condolences on his recent passing. May his memory be a blessing and may you know of no more sorrow. Dinners Meat or Dairy Executive Director Mark E. Klinger Managing Funeral Director Robert H. Bodzin Funeral Direcior Nun NIBBLES & So Sorry is not enough. When Send a tray of candy, nuts & fruit. 737-8088 1-800-752-2133 Special Candy & Sugarfree Available Local & Nationwide Delivery DETROIT MONUMENT WORKS 14441 W. Eleven Mile Road Oak Park, Michigan 48237 YOUR NEIGHBOR — SERVING THE METROPOLITAN'AREA FOR 50 YEARS 1-810-399-2711 MONUMENT CENTER L INC. r • MonuMents and Markers • Bronze Markers • Memorial Duplicating • Cemetery Lettering & Cleaning CEMETERY INSTALLATION ANYWHERE IN MICHIGAN Call 542-8266 FERNDALE 661 E. 8 MILE ROAD 1% blocks East of Woodward 1 and SHIRLEE BLOOM WE ONLY USE KOSHER PRODUCTS 32418 Northwestern, Bet. Middlebelt & 14 855-9463 GLATT KOSHER Shiva Dinners & Trays Under the Supervision of the Council of Orthodox Rabbis 33020 NORTHWESTERN Outside Of Michigan inej c "Same Location 4S years" TO ORDER YOUR TREE CERTIFICATES CALL THE JEWISH NATIONAL FUND 101 113 RAFAEL FINANDER RABBI BORUCH E. LEVIN ■ 111:X l ■ 111111111, ■ 111.11 AIM= A Tree Has Been Planted In Honor Of or In Memory Of A Loved One By A Friend, Relative or Admirer 25270 Greenfield, Oak Park 967-1161 ike many people, I am al- ways both trying to change and avoiding change as much as I can. The con- stant tug between improvement and cherished routine makes me feel like Dr. Doolittle's two-head- ed horse, the pushmi-pullyu, for- ever charging off in two directions at once. I long to be calmer, thinner, better organized, less flustered, all together far more marvelous. Yet, I nonetheless find it hard to alter my pace, my chocolate urges, my clutter, my anxieties, and my general not-so-mar- velousness. Into that all too human mix comes the annual slow-down- and-pick-a-real-direction holiday, Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, the time for new directions and goals. The word "shanah", as in Rosh Hashanah, means — among oth- er things — change, the in- evitable upsetting of the status quo, the only yellow brick road to betterment. I know already that I cannot change all my icks and iggles, in one fell swoop (or as we say in our malaprop-loving family, one swell foop). But I think I have identi- fied the one thing I must change, and my Mom helped me do that. I have to change how I see things. In the New Year, I hope I can see the long range goal, not the short range ease. I want to fo- cus on the reason, not the rush; on the idea of health, not the thrill of ice cream; on purpose- fully raising my children instead of just getting them to be quiet right now, or else. I have to change my sights, shift my vision. And that's what Mom did, lit- erally. She goes a long way to set an example, my mother. Mom has always been a woman of insight, but until re- cently she was no longer a Remember 6,000,000 The United Jewish Social Club First and 2nd Generation Survivors invite you to its annual MONUMENTS BY BERG AND URBACH FINE MONUMENTS SINCE 1910 13405 CAPITAL at Coolidge 544-2212 OAK PARK Next to Stanley Steamer Yizkor Services Sunday, October 1, 1995-12:00 Noon Hebrew Memorial Cemetery Gratiot and 14 Mile Roads Speaker: Rabbi Leo Goldman Please urge your children to come and take part in the services woman of vision. Over the last three or four years, Mother's cataracts ripened very slowly, stealing her distance vision, then her ability to do needlepoint, then her capacity to read any but ex- tra-large print, even with thick glasses. At long last, the cataracts were ripe enough to be removed. The removal is an outpatient proce- dure, done one eye at a time with a rest of eight weeks between the first and the second. The hospital is more than a half hour from my parents' home. To avoid the drive, they spent the nights before and after Mom's first cataract removal at the beautiful lakeside home of their friend, Jane Eve, who lives near the hospital. The evening before the proce- dure, Mom and Dad sat on Jane Eve's back porch looking over the dark water. Mother caught the faint flicker of distant lights and asked, "Is that a bridge way out there?" "Yes," Jane Eve answered, "That's the Dawsonville bridge." The next night, the first cataract gone, Mother sat on the same porch, saw the bridge sil- houetted clearly against the sky, and counted the cars as they zoomed across the lake, her vi- sion clouded only by her tears. Eight weeks later, the second cataract was removed. In the words of the song, she can see clearly now . And so can I, now that she's opened her eyes—and mine for the New Year. Her brave steps back into vision made me think: if only we could repair our inner spiritual eyes the way my moth- er's surgeon repaired her physi- cal eyes. In my case — and take from it whatever serves you — I already have the physical ability to see clearly (if RI just clean my glass- es). I need the spiritual ability to see clearly, as well. I need to see the distance, to envision the fu- ture I hope for, to spend my en- ergy on things that matter, to hug longer and cook shorter, to read more and worry less, to change with Rosh Hashanah in a tangi- ble way, to dare consciously to af- fect my own life, with my own vision. The musical Godspell, while not a Jewish piece, has a won- derful song that prays to "see Thee more clearly, day by day." If I can do that with my Rosh Hashanah vision, with my heightened insight, then every- thing else I want to see — and change — becomes possible. Here's wishing you the same. L'Shana Tova.