1,000 REMNA S
ON SALE!!

We're jammed in our NEW LOCATION. We've misjudged
our space and must make room!! We're clearing out our old
stock regardless of original cost!

Yigal Amir Is
Not My Problem

RABBI PHILIP GRAUBART SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

W

Take with at time of purchase-No installation available.
Cash, check or charge. Final Sale.

Hours:
Mon., Thurs., Fri. 9 to 9
Tues., Wed. 9 to 6
Sat. 9 to 5
Sun. 12-5

Mill Floor

NEW STORE!
2380 Orchard Lake Road
just E. of Loading Dock Plaza,
Sylvan Lake

COVF,RINGS

•

•

(810) 738-6554

. . .. . .. . .. T o p 2

* SALES
* MANAGER'S

"It doesn't matter how many
satisfied customers we have, if you're
not one of them!" Michael Wills

THE DETRO T JEWISH NEWS

94 Lexus GS 300 Sport Sedan 4D
95 Lexus GS 300 Sport Sedan 4D
95 Lexus GS 300 Sport Sedan 4D
95 Lexus GS 300 Sport Sedan 4D
94 Lexus LS 400 Sedan 4D
95 Lexus LS 400 Sedan 4D
96 Lexus LS 400 Sedan 4D

20

I/

No Hassle Pricing!

V All Certified Pre-Owned Cars

Include Manufactures Warrenty
1,/ All Cars Priced Below Retail
Kelley Blue Book!

ifit MAKE/MODEL

90 Lexus LS 400 Sedan 4D
95 Lexus ES 300 Sedan 4D
92 Lexus LS 400 Sedan 4D
95 Lexus ES 300 Sedan 4D
92 Lexus LS 400 Sedan 4D
92 Lexus SC 400 Sport Coupe 2D
93 Lexus LS 400 Sedan 4D

PRE-OWNED SALE!
************

Silver, V8 4.0 Liter, Auto. Trans, 54,000 Miles
Green, V6 3.0 Liter, Auto. Trans, 28,000 Miles
Silver, V8 4.0 Liter, Auto. Trans, 50,000 Miles
Beige/Tan, V6 3.0 Liter, Auto. Trans, 28,000 Miles
Blue, V8 4.0 Liter, Auto. Trans, 51,000 Miles
White, V8 4.0 Liter, Auto. Trans, 58,000 Miles
White, V8 4.0 Liter, Auto. Trans, 57,000 Miles
Beige/Tan, 6 Cyl. 3.0 Liter, Auto. Trans, 42,000 Miles
White, 6 Cyl. 3.0 Liter, Auto. Trans, 33,000 Miles
Green, 6 Cyl. 3.0 Liter, Auto. Trans, 21,000 Miles
Champagne, 6 Cyl. 3.0 Liter, Auto. Trans, 25,000 Miles
Black, V8 4.0 Liter, Auto. Trans, 30,000 Miles
White, V8 4.0 Liter, Auto. Trans, 12,000 Miles
Black, V8 4.0 Liter, Auto. Trans, 9,000 Miles

$27,115

$28,855
$32,375
$28,855

$33,210

$32,685

$22,969
$24,995
$24,998

$25,969
$25,998
$26,995

$33,805
$31,110
$32,815
$34,625
$34,205
$40,885
$46,455
N/A

$32,875
$33,888
$34,995
$45,969
$51,699

$29,950
$28,050
$21,475
$14,600
$11,750

$23,495
$22,995
$16,996
$10,969
$6,995

$29,698
$30,495

$31,988

OTHER PRE-OWNED MAKES TOO!

90
93
93
92
89

Mercedes 300SEL Sedan 4D
Black, 6 Cyl. 3.0 Liter, Auto. Trans, 49,000 Miles
Infiniti Q45 Sedan 4D
Dark Blue, V8 4.5 Liter, Auto. Trans, 38,000 Miles
Cadillac Eldorado Coupe 2D
V8, Auto. Trans, 63,000 Miles
Mercury Grd. Marg. LS Sedan 4D Maroon, V8 4.6 Liter, Auto. Trans, 48,000 Miles
BMW 325i Sedan 4D
Black, 6 Cyl. 2.5 Liter, Auto. Trans, 116,000 Miles

sE4 MiEFIDe

L..03CUL

Mon. & Thurs.
9-9 , Tues., Wed.,
Fri. 9-6, Sat. 10-4&

(810) 726-7900

M-59 (Hall Road) at Schoenherr
across from Lakeside Mall

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OL1 OF TOV \
CALLS ACCEPTED

1-800-486-5253

hat is the Yigal Amir
problem? Simply, that
there are Jewish texts
and ideas that promote
hatred toward non-Jews, and
even non-Orthodox Jews.
Yigal Amir studied the Tal-
mudic texts on the rode f, the pur-
suer, and determined that
Halachah mandated the assas-
sination of Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin.
Baruch Goldstein examined
the story of Esther, and the bib-
lical passages regarding Amalek,
and discovered that it was per-
missible to murder 40 Muslims
at prayer. And we all know that
in Judaism's vast corpus of sa-
cred writings there are a few oth-
er texts and ideas that, in the
wrong hands, could lead to fur-
ther atrocities.
This is a particularly salient
problem for Binyamin Ne-
tanyahu, who recently was elect-
ed with the support of Israel's
religious right, which - to our
great sorrow - is most vulnera-
ble to the Yigal Amir problem.
Rabbi Yitz Greenberg of
CLAL-National Jewish Center
for Leadership and Learning -
himself an Orthodox rabbi -
claims in a recent mailing to all
American rabbis that the Yigal
Amir problem (my term, not his)
is the responsibility of "the entire
Jewish people." It is, in fact, a
problem that tries my own soul,
and has kept me awake at night.
Nevertheless, after much
searching contemplation, I have
concluded that it is not my prob-
lem.
Yigal Amir represents a crisis
for a culture completely im-
mersed in Torah. Only Jews pas-
sionately committed to Jewish
texts can fall victim to Judaism's
dark side. Only Jews who ab-
solutely revere the Torah as
God's word could accept the bib-
lical injunction to slaughter
Amalek as a call to arms, or take
God's genocidal commandments
to Joshua as currently relevant.
Unfortunately (or fortunately
- depending on your point of
view), that is not my culture. And
those are not the Jews I work
with.
I, along with 90 percent of
American rabbis, am trying to
create a culture passionately

Rabbi Philip Graubart is spiritual
leader of Congregation B'nai
Israel in Northampton, Mass.,
and a columnist for the Jewish
News of Western
Massachusetts, where this
article first appeared.

committed to Torah. In fact, it is
one of the exquisite ironies of his-
tory that I spend a great deal of
my time trying to create Jews
like Yigal Amir: that is, Jews
with ardent loyalty to God, Israel
and the Jewish people.
I'm aware that religious in-
tensity has its dangers. But while
I'm trying to convince Jews to
light Shabbat candles, or affix
mezuzot, or daven shaharit, I
don't have the time - or even the
inclination - to start giving
warnings about the dark side.
Besides, every liberal Ameri-
can rabbi knows that there is vir-
tually no chance that a
dangerous killer could emerge
from our teachings. It is funda-
mentalism that breeds zealotry,
not liberalism.
My problem isn't Yigal Amir.
It's Leslie Fielder, an assimilat-
ed Jewish literary critic who
wrote recently that he was un-
concerned that none of his grand-
children will be Jewish.
I'm not afraid of passion; I'm
terrified by the absence of pas-
sion in so much of my own Jew-
ish culture. Is Yigal Amir a
bigger threat to Judaism than
Leslie Fielder? Maybe. But on a
day-to-day basis, I feel a lot more
threatened by apathy than by
zealotry. And so do most Amer-
ican rabbis.
But what about k'lal Yisrael;
what about my responsibility to
take seriously all Jewish prob-
lems, whether among Conserva-
tive, Reform, Reconstructionist,
or Orthodox Jews? What about
Yitz Greenberg's pleas for a uni-
fied effort to encourage plural-
ism?
Well, the Yigal Amir problem
demonstrates that sometimes the
notion of k'lal Yisrael is a bit of a
hoax: because in this age of wor-
ry over Jewish continuity, we've
all become aware of our limited
resources. We can use the phrase
k'lal Yisrael as a slogan all we
want, but it doesn't change the
fact that different Jewish com-
munities have vastly different
agendas and priorities.
I, frankly, don't have the time,
energy or money to mount a cri-
tique of traditional Judaism, or
to ferret out all of the dangerous
ideas lurking in our shadows. I
have enough to do creating some
modicum of Jewish intensity.
Yigal Amir is the problem of
the right-wing Orthodox in Is-
rael. He's a problem of the yeshi-
va world that bred him. Let them
handle it.
He's also Bibi Netanyahu's
problem. Let him handle it. 0

