Shavuot Birthday Of The Jews

Shavuot is the story of spring turning into
summer and freedom ripening through law.
We call Shavuot Hag ha-Katzir, Festival of
the Grain Harvest, and Hag ha-Bikkurim, Fes-
tival of the First Fruits. For on Shavuot, which
this year starts at sundown Saturday, the sixth
of Sivan, Jews and others who yearn for rain to
water their crops may celebrate fulfillment of
the promise of spring.
On a more spiritual plane, Shavuot is the
birthday of our people — the holiday on
which we celebrate God's gift of the Torah, our
most sacred text and keeper of our rules
for living. At Mount
Sinai, God gave the
sw amit‘ief
%
Torah to Moses on
behalf of the Jews
3,200 years ago. The Jews
pledged as a people to follow
the Torah's ethically oriented
rules and, by so doing,
serve God.
The Torah's
Book of Ruth, read on Shavuot,
tells us how we live is what's
most important. A good and
holy person lives by rules that condemn evil.
For Jews, these rules are found in the Torah.
Says Rabbi Irwin Groner of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek, "Each of us must learn to fol-
low the principles of the moral law in order to
discover our own highest possibilities."
Shavuot, he said, reinforces freedom under
law: "Freedom means recognizing our own
responsibilities to the world, to our neighbors
and community, and to ourselves."
He added, "The lazy person who is morally
indifferent, who is spiritually flabby, who is

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ethically hollow, slowly surrenders his freedom.
But where you find a man or woman who,
despite obstacles and impediments, has made
his or her own opportunities to spiritualize
their life and to deepen their moral values, you
have found a free person."
Like all Jewish festivals, Shavuot is rooted in
nature. It means "weeks" and is celebrated
seven weeks after Passover, and marks the start
of the barley harvest. On Shavuot, two loaves
of bread, made from the newly harvested
wheat, were brought to the Temple and,
along with the first
W fruits, served up to
71,7 God as token gifts in
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honor of His divine
gifts.
Sharing with God is
a significant notion of
Shavuot.
Together, God and people
bring forth earth's goodness. Peo-
ple provide seed, skill and labor. God
provides sun, rain and soil. Together, God and
people make law come alive. God supplies the
law. Jews accept it. God points the way to a
righteous life. Jews live that life by obeying,
not worshipping, the Torah.
A custom of Shavuot is the all-night study
of the Torah, Talmud and other sacred and
uplifting writings (a ritual known as tikkun leyl
Shavuot). The key component of the Shacharit,
or morning service, typically held in a sanctu-
ary decorated with trees, leaves and first fruits,
is the reading of the Torah, especially the Ten
Commandments.
Shavuot — a reminder that a pious life
boasts a partnership with God. 111

IN FOCUS

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In Memory

Memorial Day services hosted
by the Michigan Jewish War
Veterans and Ladies Auxiliary
May 24 at Machpelah Cemetery
in Ferndale took on internation-
al significance. Participants
included the JWV of the Royal
Canadian Legion and the Jewish
Veterans from the Soviet Union.
The local JWV Honor Guard,
which included, above, Jack
Langer, Mikhail Friedman, Hy Goldberg and Saul Bernstein,
offered a rifle salute. Cantor Max Shimansky, below, of Con-
gregation Beth Achim, sang prayers. Rabbis Herbert Yoskowitz
of Beth Achim and Yehuda Levin of Hebrew Memorial Park
Cemetery in Mount Clemens also officiated. The event was
under the direction of the JWV's state commander, Iry Mar-
shall, and auxiliary president Florence Weber.

Ar.

LETTERS

Time To Feel Good

Only weeks before the pending summer slow-
down of organized Jewish life, the season of
honors, accolades, graduations and recogni-
tions is in full force. Virtually every Jewish
operation in our area has just had, or will soon
have, their end-of-the-program-year event. In
each, a host of individual, group and corporate
efforts will be feted.
Singling out people for meritorious acts
does not exactly fit with Jewish tradition. And
the most honored form of assistance one Jew
can give another is to do so anonymously. But
some are singled out — even when they don't
want to be.
While the plaques and moment in the spot-
light are nice, its worth remembering that there
is a greater reason for all the hoopla. Such events
showcase efforts that can inspire others to fur-
ther their own level of involvement in spreading
traditional Jewish values of helping others and
improving the world. That is the important and
lasting message of this season of accolades. It is

not meant to present another trophy, but to
necessitate more people receiving them.
Many, of course, turn down recognition.
They are the unsung heroes in our local Jewish
world, the backbone of our burgeoning Jewish
landscape. They serve breakfast at men's clubs
and sisterhoods. They organize the pickup line
at Hebrew school carpools and endure the
frustration of parents late for their next venue.
They labor over the nitpicky demands of seat-
ing arrangements at high-profile dinners where
others gain all the credit. And they answer the
telephones as well as make the near-uncount-
able number of "just a reminder" calls.
So we take a moment to recognize them, as
well as everyone else who is publicly being
thanked. We doff our communal kippah to
those celebrating these days and to everyone
who deserves to celebrate. Each inspires us to
reflect on the goals of their service, not just the
resulting awards. We look forward to more
inspiration from them and others. ❑

Why Cover
Chafets 'Warning'?

The purpose of this letter is to
comment upon your recent
article, "Bitter Winds," (Jewish
News May 22) that highlights
Ze'ev Chafets' "warning" about
the power of Israel's "religious
right."
I question why our sole Jew-
ish paper publicly airs such
divisions among our people —
divisions led to the fall of the
Second Holy Temple-2,000
years ago and to many other
calamities since then.
In fact, during the last 50
years, the Jewish proportion of
Americans has fallen from

about 4 percent to 2.3 percent
and, if present trends continue,
may soon reach 1.5 percent.
Thus, by any measure, the
assimilation of American
Judaism has not worked.
The so-called ultra-Ortho-
dox in Israel simply do not
wish to see Jews there become
a minority in the world's only
Jewish State.
Dr. Alan Reinstein
Detroit

Orthodox Slam
Was Disparaging

For the last several years, I have
been privileged to be one of
the students in Rabbi Glogow-

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