Congregation Shaarey Zedek
invites you to attend an evening of
SELICHOT
with
MR. DANNY
SIEGEL
brilliant humorist, poet
author, lecturer
and Mitzvah Maven
Traditional Selichot Service at 11:30 p.m.
conducted by Rabbi Irwin Groner,
Leonardo Bitran and Moshe Tutnauer
chanted by Cantor Chaim Najman and the
Shaarey Zedek Synagogue Choir
directed by Mr. Eugene Zweig
NO CHARGE • COMMUNITY INVITED • REFRESHMENTS
ATTENTION
SIMCHA MEMBERSHIP
We Need You
NOW
Help Us Evaluate The Future
Of Our Organization
ATTEND THIS URGENT MEETING
Thursday, September 19, 1996 7:00 p.m.
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Call the infoline - 810-353-8025
to respond and for directions.
YOU CAN HELP PRESERVE THIS IMPORTANT ORGANIZATION
Sincerely yours,
Simcha Board of Directors
Simcha is an organization for Jewish gays and lesbians
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30
The Lord's Covenant:
Heritage And Legacy
Shabbat Nitzavim-Vayelech: Deuteronomy 29:9-
31:30; Isaiah 61:10-63:9.
RABBI IRWIN GRONER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
the sedrah ofNitzavim de- Atem nitzavim hayom — "You
scribes how Moses ad- stand this day," repeating hay-
dressed the Hebrew people om, this day, no fewer than six
before his death. It is not times with rising emphasis. It
sufficient that he deliver this ex- has been pointed out that "hay-
hortation only to the leaders or om" does not refer top the speak-
the officers. The message must er's day, but rather to that of the
be shared with the entire people. listener or reader. Whenever or
"You stand this day, all of you, wherever we read these words
before the Lord your God: your again, it is for us "this day" — the (
tribal heads, your elders and your day we must be ready to reaffirm
officials, all men of Israel. Your the covenant to the end that He
children, your women, even the may establish us as His people
stranger within your camp, from and be our God.
wood chopper to water drawer—
to enter into the covenant ...
which the Lord your God is con-
cluding with you this day ... to the
end that He may establish you
this day as His people and be
your God." (Deuteronomy 29:10-
13)
The Midrash notes the, equal-
ity manifested through the act of
covenant. The people are social-
ly stratified into "tribal heads, el-
ders and officials," but when they
stand "before the Lord your God"
they are all equal, "all the people
of Israel."
This is not all. Moses contin-
ues: "Not with you alone do I Rabbi Irwin Groner
make the covenant, but with
The covenant means that our
those who are standing here with
national
singularity is trans-
us this day before the Lord our
God and with those who are not formed into oral and spiritual dis-
tinctiveness. The covenant is
with us here this day."
How could this be? How can based on the conviction that we
one enter into a commitment that cherish ideals and truths for
would be legally binding on a whose sake it is supremely im-
third party who was not even pre- portant to stand apart.
* We are separate from the
sent?
This question was raised by a world, for the sake of the world.
*Jews are more than an eth-
number of sages in the course of
Israel's history. The solution is nic group, linked together by a
found in the concept that the variety of enemies.
* Jewish history is more than
covenant was not entered into
with the people of Israel as indi- a curious survival of an ancient
viduals, but with klal Yisrael as culture.
* Jewish religion is greater
a community, a corporate, legal
entity. The fact that Moses care- than a form of ethical monothe-
fully enumerates all sections of ism.
* Jewish culture cannot be un-
the people is proof of his inten-
tion to bind in the covenant the derstood in purely secular terms.
If we take the biblical/rabbinic
entire people, represented as the
view of the covenant seriously,
one entity known as Israel.
The entity is not confined to we view it as the response of the
one group, nor is it limited to one Jewish people, through its
generation. The covenant is, prophets and sages, to the de-
therefore, everlasting. It cannot mands of God whom it seeks to
be broken by any one generation, serve in both communal and in-
certainly not by one or even many dividual existence.
The theme is articulated and
individuals.
It is no accident that when affirmed during the High Holy
Moses addresses the people to Days. Our prayers are in the
reaffirm their commitment to the plural. Why? We pray not only
covenant, he starts out by saying, with the community around us,
but with all the generations that
preceded us.
Irwin Groner is senior rabbi of
Some questions haunt me.
Congregation Shaarey Zedek.
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