Summer

Jacket

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44W0FaAli, N0,-

Thanks to all the Contributors
who made the recent event honoring

Dr. Seymour Gretchko

tainments are wonderful things.
But are they worth an entire
summer?
When our forebearers had
leisure time, they did not spend
it at the beach. In Eastern Eu-
rope, our ancestors had some re-
markable clubs. The names of
many of them sur-
vive. There was a
Mishnah study
group of Bered-
itchev woodchop-
pers. A Rashi
study group of
Krakow mer-
chants. Many
of our ances-
tors, no matter
their occupa-
tion, tried to
continue to
study. They
were not
averse to en-
tertainment.
But they
knew that life
is too rich to
only skim
along its sur-
face.
Beach
books are
fine, and have
their place. But
a summer of
diverting reading
alone is a waste. There
are more books published in Ju-
daism in English in our day
than in any other language at
any time in history. There are
treasure troves of books out
there to study, to savor. There
are novels and academic works,
historical chronicles and bi-
ographies, works of tender spir-
ituality and of wild stories.
Theology, poetry, plays, philos-
ophy — there is no genre where
the Jewish tradition has not pro-
duced enthralling, important
books.

Beach books are
fine, and have
their place.
But a summer of
diverting reading
alone is a waste.

Do you want to know some-
thing of what life was like in
the time of the rabbis? Behrman
House has just re-issued Milton
Steinberg's classic novel As
a Driven Leaf. Do tales of
Chasidic rabbis from ages gone
by capture your fancy? Look

for the works of Elie Wiesel,
Martin Buber and many others.
Are you intrigued by mysti-
cism? The shelves are full
of introductions, journeys, spec-
ulations. History? There are
many readable one-volume his-
tories of the Jews, including
those of Chaim Potok, Paul
Johnson and Max Dimont. Per-
haps you could spend your
summer finding out where you
came from, which is al-
ways an aid in
.... figuring out
where you
should be go-
...

Many of
us have nev-
er sat down
to read the
Bible. It is a
far more
passionate,
complex,
and adult
book than
we remem-
ber. Take
the new
Jewish
Publication
Society
translation
in hand, or
perhaps the Shocken translation
by Everett Fox, and begin read-
ing. The rollicking humanness of
the tales may shock you.
Even though it is summer,
serious study still beckons.
The Talmud translation by
Adin Steinsaltz is readily avail-
able. Perhaps this is the sum-
mer to dip a toe into what our
tradition aptly calls "the sea of
Talmud."
Too many of us allow our
Jewish education to languish.
Judaism is not child's play.
The strategy of Jewish educa-
tion ought to be to keep children
sufficiently interested so that
when they grow up they can find
out what Judaism is really
about. For it is a complex tradi-
tion that embraces the deepest,
broadest questions of being hu-
man. And it all begins with a
book.
Pirkei Avot says that every-
one should have a teacher,
and "acquire a friend." The
great commentator Rashi asks
why the word used is "acquire?"
One makes friends, but does
not "acquire" them. Rashi con-
cludes that by "friend" Pirkei
Avot is referring to a book. A
good book can be a friend and
companion. So this summer, ac-
quire more than a tan. Open up
a book that unfolds the beauty
of our tradition, and come back
relaxed, enlivened, and en-
riched.

such a great success.

We reached our goal of funding the Computer and
Rehabilitation Technology Unit for this year.

We also extend great thanks to all the purchasers
of raffle tickets. The proceeds went towards
funding the computer unit.

WINNERS:

$10,000
$1000 Heritage Travel Gift Certificate
$1000 Tapper's Jewelry Gift Certificate

Phyllis Meer
Stan and Carole Aaron
Joel and Lauren Jacob

"THE TWELVE TRIBES"

LIMITED EDMON SILK SCREEN
BY

CALMAN SHEMI

Reg. $650

SPECIAL PRICE $500
Tradition! Tradition!

Call Alicia R. Nelson
for an appointment
(810) 557-0109

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A Subscription To The Jewish News.
(810) 354-6620

