COLLEGE STUDENTS! You Can Receive $2500-loikards a Year's Study at a Leading - University in Israel The Many Evils Of Sticks And Stones Through the Harry 5.1 and Sarah Laker Israel Youth Scholarship Fund Shabbat Hagadol: Mezora Lev. 14:1-15:33 Haftorah: Malachi 3:4-24 Why Not You? Now Celebrating 21 Years If you live in the Metropolitan Detroit area, if you are currently attending a college or university in the continental United States, and if you have applied to a school of higher learning in Israel, you could win a full year of study at a leading university in Israel! or write to address below LAST DAY TO APPLY IS MAY 15, 1997 Co-Sponsored by Congregation Beth Achim 21100 W. 12 Mile Road / Southfield, Michigan 48076 / (810) 352-8670 SUMMER PLEASURES Summer is just around the corner and so is The Detroit Jewish News Annual SUMMER PLEASURES Supplement, -which will be published Ma y 23, 1997. SUMMER PLEASURES is UJ uJ CC LLJ 0 tize summer guide for families looking to make their summer one to remember. From ideas for exciting adventures the whole family will enjoy to golf gear, theme parties, travel tips and hundreds of other warm weather activities. This special supplement gives y our business the opportunit y to make a splash with our readers. 4 g For more information call (810) 354-6060. Talk to your Account Executive toda y! LU 42 T For Application Form or Details phone (810) 352-8670 Harry 57.T and Sarah Laker Israel Youth Scholarship Fund CI) RABBI FLOYD L. HERMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS SPACE RESERVATION DEADLINE IS MAY 7, 1997. - he Torah portion for this Shabbat is concerned with purification from leprosy. It is not an easy passage for modern Jews. It was not an easy passage for our rabbis either. In a talmudic passage (Arachin 15b), a famous rabbi interprets the word met- zora (leper) as motzi shem ra (one who brings out a bad name). Thus, the rabbis inter- pret this parsha as having to do with evil speech, with gossip, with slander more than leprosy. This interpretation makes sense for us. Speech is a powerful tool. It can also be a powerful weapon. The power to communicate, our ideas, our likes and dislikes, our passions, is one thing that sep- arates us from the animals; that makes us little lower than an- gels. It is clear that the world would not have progressed as much as it has had humans not learned how to speak, and write, and read. Healing the hurt of evil speech is not complicated. But speech can also be de- structive. Our people, among all the people of the world, know the power of speech which instills hatred. We know how powerful a lie can be. We know how destructive rhetoric can be- come. As individuals, too, we know the power that unkind words have on those around us. A sim- ple remark made, even in pass- ing, can cut to the heart of a friend, a family member. A word spoken thoughtlessly can bring hurt that takes time to heal. That old saw is not true. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, and words can also hurt me." There is too much hate-talk around in the world today — even within the Jewish world. We are so quick to read out those who do not agree with us. We are so quick to call them names — hateful names. Rabbi Floyd L. Herman is spiritual leader of the Har Sinai Congregation in Park Heights, Md. There has been too much name-calling on all sides, espe- cially of late. We are so quick to stereotype, to lump together; to label. 'Rabbi Dov Berkovits, a won- derful teacher who lives in Is- rael, reminds us that when we sit down to the seder next week and read about the wicked son, all kinds of images will likely pop into our minds. The wicked son is always somebody else. We talk about other Jews in extreme terms. Who is causing all the problems that the Jewish world faces? It's that wicked other person. It's that other group that doesn't agree with my point of view. And the wicked son has no place in the Jewish community. "Had he been there he would not have been redeemed" (Hag- gadah). Is this not evil speech, about which our rabbis teach in reference to this week's Torah portion? Of course there are limits to who may be included in the Jewish community. But before we rush to exclude, maybe we ought to try to un- derstand. Before we hurry to la- bel, perhaps we ought to dialogue. Before we call names, maybe we ought to try to get to know. Words can hurt and words can heal. The last few weeks have seen hurt inflicted upon members of the Jewish commu- nity by other Jews. They have also seen welcome words of heal- ing. The rituals for healing a lep- er described in the Torah portion are detailed and complex. The way to healing the hurt of evil speech may not be so complicat- ed. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Hes- chel of Apta teaches that one must be humble in order to be healed. That is the reason for us- ing a hyssop, a lowly plant, in the ritual. Perhaps all of us need a mea- sure of humility when we begin to think about who is wicked and who is not; when we begin to call each other names and hurtful words. May our own humility lead us to speak words of heal- ing and of reconciliation. May this be a Pesach of understand- ing, of freedom and of peace for all of us. Shabbat Shalom. ❑