January Pledge 1997
ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
A 60TH ANNIVERSARY GALA
SUNDAY AT 8:00 PM
Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra
A 60th
DETROIT
How Low Can You Go?
Omens, amulets and hexes just don't charm me.
PBS
DAVID HOLZEL SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Itzhak Perlman
hosts this all-
star concert
celebrating
60 years of
the Israel
Philharmonic
Orchestra.
Guests
include Daniel
Baremboim,
Zubin Mehta,
Isaac Stern,
and many more!
Sunday, March 9 on 56
5:30 p.m. - Israel Beyond the Horizon: A Journey From Heaven to Earth
6:30 p.m. - A Laugh, A Tear, a Mitzvah
8:00 p.m. - The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra: A 60th Anniversary Gala
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I
came back from Israel last fall
with two new key rings. I
bought them in a crowded lit-
tle shop just steps away from
the Machaneh Yehudah market
in Jerusalem.
One holds the keys I carry
around in my pocket. Attached to
the chain is a hamsa, the hand
symbol common in the Middle
East. Engraved on it is the word
m,azal — luck an eye and three
fish.. I asked the storekeeper about
the fish (to Christians it repre-
sents Jesus), and he said it stands
for God's protection because, like
fish, the Almighty never shuts his
eyes. On the reverse side is Tefi-
lat Haderech, the traveler's
prayer.
I keep the other key ring in my
desk at home. It sports a bust of
Baba Sali, the late, revered, won-
der-working rabbi of the Moroc-
cans. It also includes Tefilat
Haderech.
Better than fuzzy dice or an
Olympic keepsake, my key rings
do double duty. They're good luck
charms.
At least that's what I think
hamsa and Baba are supposed to
be.
I still wear my seat belt and
wish my car had a driver's side air
bag. Charming as they might be,
my key rings are little more than
a near-kitsch experience for me.
Something just this side of exotic
to make me wonder.
To every people there is a high
culture and a low one. The high
culture (or religion) is formal, in-
tellectual, study oriented. Soul
and emotion come from the low.
High religion alone often lacks
the spirit and spark to inspire all
but the pointiest heads. That's one
of the complaints made about in-
stitutional Judaism in this coun-
try for the last 30 years.
At best, low religion alone can
produce and attract flakes and
simpletons. And at worst?
Recently, our sister paper, the
Baltimore Jewish Times, ran a
story about Rabbi Simcha Avro-
horn Halevi Ashlag, a Chasidic Is-
raeli, who apparently cures
infertility by detecting errors in
the unfortunate couple's ketubah,
or marriage contract.
The story quotes one skeptical
New York couple who went to see
the rabbi after 14 childless years
of marriage. And do you know
what? The rabbi found a major
mistake that invalidated their ke-
tubah. Rabbi Ashlag wrote a new
contract, gave the woman a sec-
—
David Holzel is managing editor
of our sister publication, the
Atlanta Jewish Times.
and Hebrew name and in the
three years since, the couple has
had two daughters.
The nostalgic often complain
that Israel has become too mod-
ern, a rip-off of America and its
consumer mania. The week be-
fore Yitzhak Rabin was mur-
dered, the Jerusalem Report wrote
that a group of Israeli mystics
cursed him with a pulsa denura
— Aramaic for "lashes of fire" —
for his peace policies.
And recently came the news
that the helicopter crash in Israel
that took 73 lives was foretold in
The irrational is
probably the only
place left where the
possibilities seem
limitless.
the preceding week's Haftorah, or
reading from the prophets. Isaiah
7:3-4 names Sha'ar Yishuv, where
the crash took place, and men-
tions "smoking firebrands," which
can be seen as a reference to the
aircraft.
I don't think the universe is a
particularly rational place, at least
it doesn't appear so from our van-
tage point. The irrational is a fas-
cinating terrain. It's the place of
dreams, probably the only place
left where possibilities seem lim-
itless. The recent interest in Jew-
ish mysticism classes is a sign that
many Jews want at least a taste
of the irrational.
While life enriching, the irra-
tional also is where many turn
when life seems out of control, in-
comprehensible and unendurable.
They choose signs over facts, com-
plex conspiracy theories when
simple human error will explain,
and hexes and bullets over the
ballot box.
Judaism takes both the high
and low paths. We've always had
an impulse toward the lowest,
most primal aspects of culture.
King Saul turned to witchcraft
and mystics dabbled in practical
kabbalah, using the esoteric to
manipulate the material world in-
stead of aiming for enlightenment.
Magic is the refuge of the in-
tellectually shallow. I didn't ask
the Jerusalem storekeeper if my -
key rings were keys to higher
powers. Still, Pm charmed by the
folklore they spring from and the
curious, exotic shop where I
bought them. I wouldn't have got-
ten the same buzz if I had bought
fuzzy dice at Wal-Mart. Li