OPINION
Maybe Tonight Is A Good Time
To Have A Debate About, Or With, God
B
get people thinking: Are the Palestinians
efore the seder tonight, I have
the new Israelites — why or why not?
to do a lot of planning.
After
working so hard to help the Jews
What am I going to say to
of
the
former Soviet Union escape from
my assembled family and
bondage, are we really happy that they
guests? What pearls of wisdom will
are here? Should they really be in Israel?
bring to life the ancient words of the
And
if they should be in Israel, should
Haggadah for the ones who are impa-
we?
tiently waiting for the ritual to end and
And the Angel of Death smote the
the food to be served?
first-born of Egypt — why
What do I say to the more
were
we spared? How differ-
observant among us, and how
ent
are
we from the stiff-
do I bridge the two factions?
necked Israelites once they
The ancients who wrote the
crossed the Red Sea and
Passover Haggadah addressed
reached the desert?
the same issue. They present
Do I believe in God?
us with the wise son, the
That
last question hit me
wicked son, the simple son,
last
week
when I attended
and "he who has no capacity
the
morning
minyan at my
to inquire." And they do it in
synagogue.
That's
a place I
a hurry, right at the beginning
ALAN HITSKY go only occasionally, but I
of the seder.
Associate Editor
must enjoy it or I would
That last guy has me
never get out of bed that
intrigued, since the vast major-
early.
ity of us have the capacity to inquire.
Something struck me as I was flip-
We often, however, choose not to use
ping
through the pages of the siddur. I
that capacity.
was
looking
at the references to God in
There are extenuating circumstances,
the
morning
prayers, the personal refer-
of course. We don't want to offend with
ences,
the
joy
and total faith that our
our inquiries; we don't want to appear
simple on a topic. It is often safer not to ancestors had in their Maker.
Think about it. We are talking about
speak up, especially in front of a crowd.
a Jewish people who were rarely inde-
But the Passover seder is evolving to
pendent, who often were enslaved or
include topics of the day, questions
treated as second-class citizens, who
about God, questions about life. Those
were
dispersed to the four corners of the
questions are already in the Haggadah,
Earth,
who endured persecution and
and many seder leaders are choosing to
Holocaust.
Yet, through all of that, we
point them out, to highlight them, for a
continue
to
talk about, write about and
deeper seder discussion.
pray
to
a
God
who protects, who
I have some seder topics in mind, to
inspires, who brings us personal peace.
Come to think of it, maybe that's the
When things are on the line, it helps
reason so few people go to synagogue or
me to think that a Supreme Being will
pray. Maybe that's why we're antsy to
help make things right. I guess God is
get through the first part of the seder
my insurance policy, the same way
tonight so that we can get to the reality
some folks feel about Israel.
of Passover, the matzah ball soup and
Maybe I'd get more out of my God
the brisket.
policy if I used it more frequently for
We no longer have a personal rela-
non-emergencies. That's something
tionship with God. Such a relation-
for me to consider at the seder. After
ship would embarrass us. After all, in
all, the seder is when we explore that
this age of enlightenment and a
olden time in Egypt when God was
9,000-point Dow average, we've had
most visible to us — all those plagues
to rely on ourselves for success. How
and miracles, talking directly to
do we now admit that we need help
Moses and Aaron, swooping in to
from an outsider to succeed, to con-
defeat the Egyptians and Pharaoh,
trol our lives?
and raining down the manna to
We've lost
replace that
something here.
awful
We've lost our
matzah.
faith in a
Maybe our
supreme being,
modern atti-
in a destiny
tude is, "Hey
that is not con-
pal, I haven't
trolled solely by
seen you, and
us.
what have
There are
you done for
those within
me lately?"
the Jewish
Interesting
community
— a personal<
who have made
conversation
a deliberate
with God.
choice to live
That's some-
Sharon and Faye Gene wash their hands at the
their lives with- Jewish Federation's women's seder at Adat Shalom thing I
out God. They on April 2.
should try
honor Jewish
more often.
history; they associate with the Jewish
But now that I've suggested it
community; they feel attachment to
publicly, maybe someone else will have
Israel. Others have made an uncon-
to come up with my seder topic
scious decision. They've opted out.
tonight.
OK. I'm not that brave.
Somehow, I doubt it.
❑
LITTERS
way to "make it happen." And make it
happen he did.
Let us all recommit ourselves to
work to ensure the important lessons
we learned from Jim will continue to
be taught and will not be forgotten.
Michael P. Horowitz
ADL Michigan president
Donald H. Cohen
ADL Michigan director
Richard H. Lobenthal
ADL Michigan director 1964-96
Brit Milah
Is Spiritual
That was our son, Eli Isaac, eight days
old, pictured with Rabbis Cohen,
Nevins and Arthur Weiss in your story
on the "Bris Brigade" (March 20). Our
4/10
1998
34
excitement at seeing our
son was overshadowed,
however, by our disap-
pointment over his asso-
ciation with your lead
story on the Jewish anti-
circumcision movement
("Breaking With Ritu-
" .
al
Unlike Mrs. Ettinger,
who according to your
article recalls the bris of
her son as the "most
excruciating decision" of
her life, my wife and I
view the britot of our
son Eli, his twin brother
Benjamin and their
older sibling Joshua as the most spiritu-
al and uplifting moments of our lives.
The focus by parents such as Mrs.
Ettinger on the physical aspects of cir-
cumcision, including
" the pain to her son,
potential health benefits
or even aesthetic con-
siderations, misses the
point of brit milah
entirely. The ritual cir-
cumcision is a religious
matter, plain and sim-
ple. Absent an under-
standing of the rich and
meaningful aspects of
this tradition, the mitz-
vah of milah is nothing
more than a relatively
simple (and quick) sur-
gical procedure.
The cure to Mrs.
Ettinger's trepidation is quite simple
and straightforward, namely Jewish
education.
Rather than wasting time listening to
Norm Cohen's nonsense over a safe
house at which mother and son may
supposedly hide during a boy's sched-
uled brit (is this for real?), pick up a
copy of the ArtScroll on Bris Milah and
read it cover to cover.
Or better still, visit with Howard
Glantz, the mohel of our first child,
or Avi Cohen, the mohel of our twin
boys. Learn and ask questions about
the covenant with Abraham, the sig-
nificance of the eighth day, the role
of the sandek and the throne of
Elijah.
Each of us owes it to our sons to
grasp the fullness of brit milah. Use the
blessed occasion of the birth of a son, as
we have, as an opportunity to deepen
and strengthen your family's ties to
Judaism.
William and Michelle Sider
Huntington Woods