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This Week's Top Stories

An Ending That Begins

Hundreds of Detroit Jews will participate in the
completion of the 7-1/2-year-cycle of learning
the Talmud.

PHIL JACOBS EDITOR

R

New Roots

JNF director Ed Rosenthal will leave his position after 16 years.

PHIL JACOBS EDITOR

H

e's a bear of a man with JNF's acting national campaign
Rosenthal did acknowledge
an ear-to-ear smile and a director. "When I took this job, the JNF funds misappropriation
lightly colored yarmulke. I was told that there were two that led to changes in the orga-
He's got that look on his places I didn't have to run to: one nization's national leadership.
face of a man who knows a great was Miami, the other was De- But he said that most of the al-
story or a joke that he can't wait troit. Ed knows how to do it. He legations against JNF were
for you to hear.
was always successful."
"baseless assumptions.
Ed
He's also a passionate
Rosenthal came to De-
"When you slander an orga-
Rosenthal:
man, someone who cares
Moving on troit 21 years ago as exec- nization on rumors, there's an
to the point of anger when
utive director of Akiva effect, and I'm sure it was felt,"
to Bikkur
people aren't being served
Hebrew Day School. His he said. "I think JNF is on the
Cholim
or helped.
new position places him in threshold of historical times,"
Hospital.
This is Ed Rosenthal.
charge of a national effort said Rosenthal. "Look, they've
After 16 years as Jewish Na- to raise some $9 million for an been through so much. It wasn't
tional Fund's Detroit executive emergency room renovation at long ago that we were worrying
director, Rosenthal has an- Bikkur Cholim. The Jerusalem- about replenishing forests
nounced his resignation. He will based hospital is known for its burned in the Intifada [Arab up-
be assuming a similar position cardiology treatment center and rising]. "Now they're talking
with the Bikkur Cholim Hospi- neo-natal services. He will take about developing the Negev. The
tal of Jerusalem. He'll be based his new post Oct. 1.
projects will include building
in the Detroit area.
JNF, meanwhile, has already dams, hot houses and other fa-
While Rosenthal was at JNFs started a search, according to its cilities to make a desert flourish.
Michigan region office (which in- local president, Neil Zalenko.
"But some of the issues from
cludes Toledo), his work aver-
"Ed has symbolized JNF and the past still remain for JNF.
aged some $1.5 million a year, made the Michigan region one We're still going to be building
way above the JNF national av- of the leading regions in the housing for immigration, and
erage of about $900,000 per city.
country," said Zalenko. "Our we're talking about a region
JNF is in some 25 American community grows great lay lead- where water is as important as
cities and has a national cam- ers and great professionals. Ed oil."
paign of $33.5 million. Its funds was one of those great leaders."
What Rosenthal said he loved
are used to pay for trees, forests,
Rosenthal leaves a JNF that about JNF was its accessibility
water-related facilities, parks, has been through its share of to the donors. He said it wasn't
roads and many other infra- controversy as it refits itself to- like most Jewish charities deal-
structure pieces of Israel's grow- wards the future. Two years ago, ing in huge donations. Here, he
ing economy.
the charity replaced part of its said, "a person who donated $10
"Ed was one of the more suc- leadership after it was reported was given a certificate and made
cessful directors we had across that not all monies raised were
ROOTS page 26
the country," said Mort Naiman, being sent to Israel.

abbi Dov Loketch of the
Southfield synagogue Agu-
das Yisroel Mogen Avra-
ham can hardly wait to be
seated next to his sons, Yehudah,
16, and Dovid, 13 in New York's
famous Madison Square Garden
on Sept. 28.
He sent for the tickets early,
as did thousands of others. The
demand for tickets is so high that
organizers are expecting 26,000
in New York City and an addi-
tional 16,000 at the Nassau
County Coliseum on Long Island.
Also, some 37 cities will be linked
by satellite, broadcasting to
100,000 ticket buyers. Locally,
the Southfield Radisson Plaza
Hotel will be the site. Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah and Agudas Yis-
roel Mogen Avraham are mak-
ing the local arrangements.
No, we're not talking about a
boxing match or a hockey game.
Beginning at 6 p.m. on the
26th of Elul, thousands of Jews
all over the world will celebrate
the completion of the reading of
the Talmud, followed
immediately by the be-
ginning of the new cy-
cle of reading. There
are groups all over the
world, including 10
here in the Detroit
area, that meet every
day to read one page of
the Talmud. It takes 7-
1/2 years — 2,711 con-
secutive days — to read
the Talmud's 44 books,
or 2.5 million words.
Some groups meet
as early as 5:30 each morning to
read the daf yomi, or daily folio.
Some learn over the telephone,
some even learn on the Internet.
The event at Madison Square
Garden, Nassau Coliseum, the
Southfield Radisson Plaza Hotel
and other locations marks the
10th Siyum HaShas of Daf Yomi.
The word siyum means comple-
tion, and Shas means Talmud,
or study.
"The Talmud is basically a
compendium of Jewish tradi-
tion," said Rabbi Loketch, 'that
incorporates all of the explana-
tions of the 613 commandments
contained in the written law, the
Five Books of Moses, the major
statements and discussions of our
belief and ethical systems as well
as a wealth of historical and bio-

graphical information about our
people and its leaders."
Every person who learns Tal-
mud each day learns the same
page or folio. Rabbi Loketch said
Jewish life as we know it is real-
ly based on the traditions con-
tained in the Talmud. There, he
said, we read about laws of the
shofar, the building of a sukkah,
customs such as Chanukah can-
dles, three matzot and four cups
of wine during Passover, mourn-
ing practices as well as many oth-
er aspects of Jewish life.
"The Talmud teaches us the
paramount ways in which we ex-
press our relationship with God,"
said Rabbi Loketch. 'The entire
ethical and social edifice of the
Jewish people, welfare for the
aged, the caring of our people,
comes from the Talmud."
At the two New York arenas,
issues of family purity will be dis-
cussed to complete the Talmud.
Then the Talmud cycle of learn-
ing will continue with the dis-
cussions of blessing-s. In this case,
the "Shema" will be
learned.
Rabbi Loketch at-
tended the last Siyum
HaShas in 1990, also
at Madison Square
Garden.
"It was unforget-
table," he said. 'We
said prayers in mem-
ory of the Six Million
[Holocaust victims] to-
gether and prayers for
all the sick and the in-
firm. And when you
hear thousands of people saying
the `Shema Yisroel' together, a
tingle goes down your spine.
"Also, you see a cross section
of generations there. You see peo- '
ple there clearly from Europe,
and you can see in their eyes that
they can't believe what is hap-
pening in there. They are over-
joyed by it.
"And then you see the younger
generations. You learn from this
that no matter what the obsta-
cles are to Jewish survival, that
as long as the Torah and Jewish
values are observed, we can, with
unity, overcome anything."
Dr. Jeffrey Goldenberg of
Southfield will also be making
the trip to New York. He learns

Continuing
the
tradition
of
thousands
of years.

BEGINS page 27