"Just as the hand, held before the eye, can hide the tallest
mountains, so the routine of everyday life can keep us from
seeing the secret wonders that fill the world."
Chasidic 18th Century

HAPPY NEW YEAR

576

Y2K Grist
For The Mill

Some rabbis say sermons will explore
meaning of Christian millennium.

DIANA LIEBERMAN
StaifWriter

1

hose millennium is it,
anyway?
Not the Jewish peo-
ple's — Rosh HaShana,
which begins tonight, ushers in the
fairly sedate year of 5760, numbers
that have no special significance in
terms of computer programming or
biblical prophecies.
But, what with fears of technical
system failure, economic collapse and
lunatics trying to hasten the end of
the world, Y2K has become everyone's
concern.
Several rabbis in metro Detroit are
using the close of the 20th century as
the springboard for one or more of
their High Holiday sermons.
At Congregation B'nai Moshe,
Rabbi Elliot Pachter got the idea for
his sermon for the first day of Rosh
HaShana from the digital clocks
installed in post offices, clocks that
inexorably count the seconds, minutes
and hours left until Jan. 1, 2000. He
will explore how we can make valuable
use of the time available to us in this
world.
New Year's Eve 1999 falls on a
Friday night, Rabbi Pachter noted.
"Whatever others may be doing," he
said, "I'll be home lighting candles
with my family."
On the second day of Rosh
HaShana, Rabbi Pachter will focus on
the mitzvah of bicur cholim, visiting
the sick, both in the larger sense:, of
creating a caring community, as wc-il
as reviving a bicur cholim committee
at B'nai Moshe.
Rabbi Sherwin Wine of the
Birmingham Temple said he would
give five talks over the High Holidays.
His general topic is "The End of the
20th Century"
"The 20th century for Jews has
been one of overwhelming transforma-
tion," Rabbi Wine said. "It included
the Holocaust, the founding of the

State of Israel ... I will be discussing
what happened, what we can make
happen and the implications."
At Temple Emanu-El, Rabbi Joseph
Klein's sermon for erev Rosh HaShana
has the arresting title, "Barney and the
Millennial Messiah." He will explore
the philosophy — and fallacy — of
expecting the Messiah at the turn of
the century
On Saturday, he will abandon the
millennium theme in a talk entitled
"Rejecting The Trial," in which he will
compare Franz Kafka's novel with the

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Emanu-El's
Joseph Klein:
"Barney and the
Millennial Messiah."

biblical binding of Isaac.
For his Yom Kippur sermon, Rabbi
Klein plans to discuss strategies to cre-
ate accessible and inclusive congrega-
tions in a sermon he calls "Synaplex or
Neighborhood Shul?"
On the first night of Rosh HaShana
at Young Israel of Oak Park, Rabbi
Stephen Weil will address the two
ways a human being can communicate
with God: intellectually through
prayer, and emotionally through the
sound of the Shofar.
However, he, too, will tackle the
millennial theme, with a second-night
sermon on the challenges that face
Orthodox Jews in the 21st century.
Rabbi Dannel Schwartz of Temple
Shir Shalom will examine the conse-
quences of this summer's shooting at
the Jewish community center in sub-
urban Los Angeles.
"One of the consequences of the
L.A. shooting is to the psyche," Rabbi
Schwartz said. "People are afraid to

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