Best cathei fee a
happy, healthy

Beg tohhel fair

hditpy, healthy
Weal _ay

Best willies low a
happy, healthy.

(New- (Year

rdleast (Year

ZEE & RAYMOND J. BERNSTEIN

BERTRAM & ELEANORE
ELLSTEIN

We with our family-anb friends a very bealtbyt
happy ant' prosperous new Year.

BeAt witheA. la, a
happy, healthy
(New (Year

SAREE, STEVE, SCO1141:IRADLEY HANTLER

BOB & NORMA GOLDMAN
& FAMILY

MINNIE BERNBERG &
NETTYE COHEN

12.11DT1

nalz rum)

VITOTI

nalz

71111)'2

Rosh HaShana

.

Aaron vvilz incu 62

tv- all

to all
mg friends
alul relatives.

Iv- all
our Mends
and relatives.

and relatives.

SYBIL EISENSHTADT

BOB & JEANNETTE FELDMAN
BOYNTON BEACH, FL

DR. STEVEN & JULIE
BROWN

Milt fiCiEflik

Happy

New
Year

May the coming
ye.av be filled
with health and
happiness fop.
all °vitt family
and friends.

LOLA & MAX PINES

Happy
New
War.

R. & MRS. JEFFREY DISKIN

& FAMILY

May the New Year Urine
To All Our Friends
and Family - 11 -lealtho
Joys 'Prosperity
and Everything
Cood In Life.

May the corning
)ear be filled
with health and
happiness fop.
a ll of family
and friends.
LARRY & DOROTHY
GUTTENBERG

Happy
New

yep

t(cW

ALAN & LENORE DEUTCH-SINGER
BRAD, STEPHANIE & JUSTIN

May the coming
yeah be filled
with health and
happiness fov.
all Ot/W faViAlly
and friends.

ELEANOR & LOU HEYMAN

9/10
1999 •

28 Detroit Jewish News

HaShana that would be inserted
into the service. I was given the
challenge of writing a sermon-
ette and the honor of reading
the Torah.
We knew that it was up to us
and us alone to make the ser-
vices meaningful for everyone.
We also planned to invite non-
Jewish students and we wanted
it to be a learning experience for
them as well. Many of our ship-
mates had never even met a Jew
before and it made sense to in-
vite them. The raison d'etre of
this trip was to learn about other
cultures. What better way than
this?
That year I really had to
work at my religious participa-
tion. I had to go beyond simply
driving home from school and
showing up at home to go with
my parents. I had no choice, no
time to wonder if I were truly
up to the task.
Over the course of the week
as we created our service, mem-
ories of our individual holidays
at home began to surface. Some
of us had grown up observing
Rosh HaShana for two days;
others for one; still others came
from families who observed the
holiday only intermittently. We
talked of mandel bread and me-
chitzas. There was such a free ex-
change of experiences, I think in
part because so many of us were
incredibly homesick. Hearing
stories about one another's tem-
ples and shuts, trading tales
about eccentric uncles and ex-
ploding kishke at holiday din-
ners helped us through our
longings for home.
Magically, that Rosh
HaShana service, marking the

Jewish year 5747, was the most
meaningful one I have ever at-
tended. We students had barely
known each other two weeks be-
fore, but repeating the Shona
joined us; singing the VAhavata
united us. From the first reading
to the final Adon Olarn we be-
came a community. Just like
that. And not only were we
linked to one another, but we
felt the presence of all of our
families. We knew that on the
other side of the dateline they
would soon be awakening,
dressing hurriedly and walking
to shul or finagling a parking
spot in the synagogue's crowded
lot, praying and singing as we
were. I had new friends simply
because I was a Jew and they
were Jews; we had an unspoken
agreement that we could turn to
one another if we needed to.
I was halfway across the
world from home, but I realized
somewhere between my sermon
and the Torah reading that Ju-
daism is my home. Much in the
way a turtle carries her house on
her back, I realized that I carried
my Judaism with me wherever I
went. No matter where I am, I
thought, all I have to do is link
up with fellow Jews and I can be
home once again.
That evening, after a festive
holiday meal prepared by the
Asian chefs on board (yellow
table cloths and lots of rice, but
apples, honey, and a challah,
too), about 40 of us — some
Jewish, some not — went up to
perform Thshlich and Havdala
on the sun deck.
Water is a big image in Ju-
daism and I thought about
Noah, surrounded by floodwa-