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(248)-356-2100 5/15 1998 70 Mir •VI DEOGRAPHY •NOW HIRING VALET PARKS RS Northwestern Highway, between 12 & 13 Mile Road that we will be believed. "What I hon- estly mean," "frankly speaking," "sin- cerely now." Weren't we serious, frank or truthful before? Each of these pre- fixes creates the impression that what has already been said is not worthy of serious consideration. One senses the deep human need not only to be RABBI IRWIN GRONER understood but also to be believed. Special to The Jewish News 4111 We all want to leap over the barriers that divide us, to enter the mind and he opening verse of this heart of another and reveal what is week's sedrah declares, "And important to us. We want to be taken God said unto Moses, speak seriously, but we are not always suc- unto the priests ... and thou cessful. shalt say unto them." The verb emor When we say that words are inade- to speak is repeated in differ- quate, perhaps we are inad- ent grammatical forms three equate. Modern man has times. God speaks to Moses; abused this glorious gift, Moses speaks to the priests-, the blessing of language. the priests speak to the peo- Judaism has affirmed from ple. its very beginning that In that communication lies sacred words have incalcu- a message. The Torah deals lable power to provide with the most basic human meaning, to establish truth, capacity. What distinguishes to inspire character. Thus, us from the rest of the animal in the rabbinic tradition, it RABBI IRWIN kingdom is the ability to use is stated that God created GRO NER language to communicate, to the world with 10 state- Spec ial to speak and to understand. The Jew ish News ments, with 10 sayings. It is a curious fact that From this perspective, the Moses, despite his impedi- very foundation of exis- ment of speech, could speak more suc- tence is sacred language, for it can cre- cessfully than modern man. He was ate a universe. heard not only in his own generation, Every word has a value in Jewish but in the generations that followed tradition. Every word we say is heard for all the centuries until now by the author of all life. We, however, In contrast, the words we hear have lost respect for the spoken word. today are of cheap currency and We say more or less what we really ino diminishing worth. In every waking mean to create an impression or to moment, the mass media bombard attain a desired result. We use words our senses with words to persuade, to for equivocation, for evasion, for sell, to stimulate, to entertain. Our aggression. We say one thing; we language is becoming devalued as it mean another. flows in a torrent over us. We have A servant of Rabbi Gamliel was notes of explanation, memos of dis- once asked by his master to bring him cussions, letters of understanding, the choicest and most precious object announcements of information; but in the marketplace. He brought him a somehow words are not adequate. tongue. Then Rabbi Gamliel said, We know that improving commu- "Bring me the least desirable, the nication is one of the most challeng- cheapest and most vulgar commodity," ing problems we face in our shared The servant again brought him a lives — in our homes, with our tongue. Rabbi Gamliel asked his ser- friends, at work and in the larger soci- vant, "Why is it you brought me the ety in which we live. same object after I asked you for those The Torah has much to tell us on opposite items?" The servant said, this theme. Words were so powerful knowing his master, "When a tongue and enduring in the biblical tradition is good, there is nothing better. When because they were sacred and revealed a tongue is bad, there is nothing the truth. worse." Consider what we do when we Words have the power to heal, want others to truly believe and take build and nurture. We also can depre- seriously what we have said. We use a cate character, create suspicion or series of verbal prefixes to make sure destroy another person's career by careless words. The Jewish tradition Irwin Groner is senior rabbi at says- that we can build a world, we can Shabbat Emor: Leviticus 21:1-24:23; Ezekiel 44:15-31. V E ET Ip lEE The newest look in carpet. Extremely durable, made of new Unproved STAINMASTERL This carpet is easy to maintain. —Reg. $32.00— Sale•• • $ 16 STAINMASTER What We Can Do With The Power Of Speech Congregation Shaarey Zedek