is Week

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Mitzvah/

Divine Providence

Yiddish Limericks

R

A Pilgrim heard Plymouth Rock vain,*
"I stand here in wind and in rain,
In bleak desolation
Forlorn isolation,
And frankly, alain vee a shtaire*

abbi Dovid Polter spends his days, evenings and
weekends bringing as much of the Jewish com-
munity to residents of non-Jewish nursing facil-
ities as time will allow.
Once a month for the past year, the rabbi has visited 90-
year-old Joseph Goldberg of Trenton as part of his role as
community chaplain for the Jewish Community
Chaplaincy Program of Jewish Home and Aging Services.
Rabbi Polter described Goldberg, the only Jewish resi-
dent at Applewood Nursing Center, as having "no family
and no contact with anything Jewish."
When Goldberg told Rabbi Polter that he had not been
to his parents' gravesites in many, many years, the rabbi
offered to arrange a visit. Then Goldberg
added that he wasn't sure where they
were buried. Rabbi Polter and Otto
Dube, funeral director at Ira
Kaufman Chapel in Southfield,
started a search. Locating the sites
in the Beth Abraham Cemetery in
Ferndale, Dube offered to make the
hour-long drive with Goldberg
and a nurse.
Meeting Rabbi Polter at the
cemetery, the three helped Goldberg,
in a wheelchair, to the gravesites.
The rabbi said a "prayer for the
deceased" and then offered to read
Goldberg's father's tombstone. It
read: "Hyman Goldberg, Dec. 25,
1949," followed by the Hebrew
date, "the 5th day of Teves."
"It took me a second to real-
Rabbi Dovid Polter
ize that the day we were at the
cemetery was actually his father's
50th yahrtzeit," Rabbi Polter said, shaken.
"It was just amazing for Joe — he was just ecstatic
and was also very impressed," said the rabbi. "I think it
is a message of hashkacha prateet, Divine providence. It
is not coincidental that he and his father were brought
together at his yahrtzeit — how beshert [meant to be] it
was. I believe Joe and his father — either or both —
must have had special merit to be able to connect one
last time, and have a 50th reunion." CI

— Shelli Dorfman,
Staff Writer

Honor family and
friends on your
special occasion
with a gift
to JARC

* cry
** (literal) alone like a stone
(idiomatic) utterly alone

— Martha Jo Fleischmann

quotables

A loving way to
celebrate a simcha

"It is a terrible sign of intellectual and
religious confusion."

— Elliott Abrams, author of "Faith or Fear:
How Jews Can Survive in a Christian
America," on dual-faith decorations for
intermarried couples that include Christmas
tree ornaments painted with menorot and
yule lights with Stars of David.

A meaningful way
to help people with
disabilities in our
community

Elliott Abram

"The essence of who we are is not phys-
ical. The essence of who we are is not
spiritual. The essence of who we are is God's gift to us."

• Use JARC place cards
which indicate your
support of JARC

-7- Rabbi Karyn Kedar, author of "God Whispers: Stories of
the Soul, Lessons of the Heart," at the Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield as part of the Jewish Women
Speaker Series.

• Present each guest
with an elegant

Home Sweet Home

"There is a Jewish saying that, 'If you save one life, you
save the world.'"

— Ron Johnson, a 48-year-old non-Jewish British janitor,
on why he donated a lung to a 10-year-old Israeli girl suffer-
ing from cystic fibrosis, after reading about
her plight in a London newspaper.

"Now I am a
yeshiva graduate!"

— New York Gov. George
Pataki, while raising his
diploma after Dr. Norman
Lamm of Yeshiva University
read a citation conferring
upon him an honorary doc-
torate.

tribute with your
unique message.

• Use household or
p other useful items in
your centerpieces and
donate them to JARC.

• Ask your guests to
mark your simchas with
a contribution to JARC.

• Recognize your
honoree with a special
gift to a JARC home in
his or her name.

George Pataki

GRAPEJEWZ BY Mendel

RABBI, THAT WAS A
GREAT TALMUD
CLASS!

THAMKS, FRANK

I'VE NEVER

5-ruPle2

TALMUD BEFORE,
NOW TH AT I

HAve,1 Feet

• Or your own idea –
we love to create
new opportunities!

ON, .900 MEAN

GREAT!

TusT A FEW
To KNOW? THOUSAND

THERE'S MORE

SO THE
00' LL BE

50 FULFILLED! ENROLL,NO
(JOUR
WeEKC..Y TALMUD
CLASSES ?

JE-AR'S WORTH

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To discuss how to
enhance the beauty of your
important day, call JARC at

14

248-352-5272

•

28366 Franklin Road
Southfield, MI 48034
, jarc@jarc.org

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JARC Does It With Heart

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