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T HE D ET RO I T J E WI SH N EWS

SAVE THIS DATE!!!

32

Congregation Beth Achim's
"Goods and Services Auction"
Sunday, November 10, 1996

Our guest auctioneer is WOMC's
"Matinee Mindy" Markowitz.
Silent Auction from 7:00pm to 8:30pm;
Live Auction starts at 8:30pm.

$18/person admission include4,wine,
snacks and sweet-table
Call Congregation Beth Achim at (810) 352-8670 for more details.

Our Faith Provides
Our Continuation

Shabbat Bereshit: Genesis 1:1-6:8;
I Samuel 20:18-42.

RABBI RICHARD C. HERTZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

W

ith the High Holy Days
behind us, we are
ready for the regular
weekly portions read
from the Torah. We now begin
at the beginning with Genesis.
The creation story in the first
chapters of the Bible contains
one of the most famous and most
important chapters in all &f
scripture; for the creation story
deals with cosmogony, the the-
ory of how the universe came to
be.
All ancient peoples had cos-
mogonies in one form or anoth-
er. Every one of the ancient
people cherished some account
telling how the world came into
being.
The Genesis story is the Jew-
ish classic. It is as vital and com-
pelling today as it was when
written thousands of years ago,
but not because it presents us
today with an accurate or scien-
tific answer to how the world
was put together.
The world of our forefathers
was a very tiny world. All they
knew was what the naked eye
could see. They were simple peo-
ple and the Bible's creation sto-
ry pushed the frontiers of
knowledge concerning the de-
velopment of life on this planet.
And there are varying interpre-
tations of the creation story.
One is the fundamentalist po-
sition held by the Orthodox,
whether they be Orthodox
Christians or Orthodox Jews.
The fundamentalist position
holds that the Bible is exactly
true. They believe that the bib-
lical account of the origins of the
universe must not be disputed.
Another interpretation of the
creation story, the figurative in-
terpretation, is used by some
who think that the actual days
of creation symbolize another
system of counting time. Maybe
one day equaled 1 million years,
not 24 hours. This argument
holds that the creation story is
to be interpreted symbolically,
describing a long period of time
represented by something called
one day.
The poetic account of the cre-
ation story is still another in-
terpretation. Ancient peoples
always wondered how our world
came to be, whence we came
from. Every ancient people

Richard Hertz is distinguished
professor of Jewish studies at
the University of Detroit-Mercy.

handed down some epic version.
They had no knowledge or ex-
perience in science, only the
heavens they could see with the
naked eye on a clear night.
Then there is the modern in-
terpretation that says the Bible
is not a science book, but a book
of religion. The Torah is not try
ing to teach astronomy or geol`-\
ogy or anthropology but truths,
great religious truths. Science is
looking for causes, dates, mea-
surements. Religion simply asks
why. Science is the study of
causes and effects. Religion deals
with human conduct.

Rabbi Richard Hertz

Actually, the basic idea
Jews is in the opening sentence,
"In the beginning God ..." Not
chance, not accident, not mira-
cles but "In the beginning God
..." Genesis is concerned not with
how the universe was created
but who created it, not what was
the process of creation but what
was the purpose of creation.
From the Jewish point of
view, the creation story refuteg
the secularist's philosophy or the
atheist who says there is no
meaning to life, that there is no
God, no, creator and, therefore,
no purpose in life.
What you believe about Gen-
esis has a great deal to do with
the moral and ethical issues of
life. If you believe the world is
just an accident, then man's life,
is really meaningless. If life has'
no purpose and everything is
simply an accident, then what
difference if you are good or bad?
"If you have no faith," said the
Hebrew prophet, "you will not
endure."

❑