Mulling The Millennium

A Jewish Response

We can reinvigorate our communities
through an extended Shabbat,
but _planning must begin now.

RABBI ARTHUR WASKOW

Special to the Jewish News

Accord, NY

he Jewish community, like others
in America and around the world,
faces the possibility that, early in
the year 2000, the Y2K computer
glitch may disrupt some important
services.
But we Jews should decide to
make this coming January a time
for joyful celebration of commu-
nity and sharing, no matter what
Y2K does or doesn't do. We should start preparing now for
having an extended Shabbat, in which we take a break
instead of suffering a breakdown. Our own High Holy Days
can be a time to begin communal education and the practi-
cal preparation for this "long Shabbat."
But how do we get there? How
do we stop the flow of our
daily/weekly lives to achieve
this goal? Below is a
timetable to help us as
individuals and as a com-
munity in this effort.
First we must ask our-
selves, do any risks remain?
Has Y2K been solved?
Senators Robert Bennett and
Christopher Dodd, co-chairs
of the U.S. Senate
Subcommittee on Y2K,
wrote in March 1999:
"Those who suggest that
this problem will be
nothing more than a
`bump in the road' are
simply misinformed.
Quite simply, Y2K is one
of the most serious and
potentially devastating
events this nation has
ever encountered. In
some cases, lives could
even be at stake."
The interwoven pat-
tern of computer-driven
systems, they and so
many others agree, is so
elaborate that no one can
say with certainty whether

9/10
1999

6 Detroit Jewish News

or where there will serious disruptions.
For example, the New York Times on
May 27, 1999, printed a front-page
business section article on large companies that
have concluded that they do not have the time to pre-
vent Y2K disruptions. Instead, they are preparing con-
tingency plans to contain disruption.
However, some back-up plans will not be workable.
For instance, some companies want to use emergency
electric generators if power grids in the Third World fail.
(Y2K preparation in the Third World is known to be
abysmal.) "Take all the companies planning to rent gen-
erators — there's no way in the world our industry
could supply the demand that is in the planning stages,"
said Mark Conrad, United States marketing director for
Aggrecko, the Dutch company that owns the world's
largest rental fleet of mobile generators.
Why should Americans worry about
such breakdowns elsewhere? Aside from
compassionate concern, what happens
"there will matter "here." Much of
our food, medicines for long-term
use by heart and diabetes patients,
and oil/gasoline come to us by
ship, often from Third-World
countries.
One thing is clear: if there
is trouble, the most vulnerable
— the old, the poor, the
sick — will suffer most.
Only communities can
protect them, and only by
preparing. We can see the
time we put into prepara-
tion both as buying
"insurance," a caring
response to uncertainty,
and as sharing, out of joy-
ful celebration.
Fortunately, Jews have
an extraordinary gift in
reserve. And it is a month-
long period that starts
tonight. Our own New
Year and holidays can help
heal any problems created
by the global new year/new
millennium. Rabbis can
urge congregants to prepare
for four to 10 days of sim-
ple living and community
sharing. We should plan

