For Openers •

One Size
Does Not
Fit All

A Beloved Gatekeeper

I Yiddish Limericks

S

I A man told his wife, "You don't get it.
Don't tell me, 'Stay calm and don't sweat it.'
Unzereh mentshen
1 We thrive upon tension.
I If we're not ahf shpilkehs ** — forget it."

halom Ralph has been "opening up the gates of
heaven" at Congregation B'nai Moshe for 51
years. Every weekday at 7 a.m. and on Sundays
at 8:30 a.m., he walks five minutes to the West
Bloomfield synagogue to unlock the doors and welcome
those attending the daily minyan.
As the longtime ritual director, the West Bloomfield
resident has taught hundreds of bar/bat mitzvah students,
prepared and served thousands of minyan breakfasts and
fulfilled pastoral duties at funerals,
unveilings, shiva homes and hos-
pitals. Though he's officially
retired, he still does much of
the work, all the while mak-
ing worshippers feel corn-
fortable at services with his
quick smile, humorous ()lie-
liners and steady stream of
hard candy fished out of his suit
pockets.
A native of Poland who
immigrated after World
War I to Palestine, then
to Philadelphia and final-
ly Detroit, Ralph says the
synagogue is his home.
Shalom Ralph
"I talk to people, make
a joke, make them laugh
and feel comfortable," he says.
To most of the congregation, Shalom Ralph symbolizes
all that is good about the synagogue. He also represents a
feeling of continuity, linking the present congregation to
the past. For these reasons, the board voted to dedicate an
alcove in the main lobby in Ralph's honor. The alcove will
serve as a place to display memorabilia and history of the
synagogue. Fund-raising for the alcove has begun.
"Mr. Ralph is an essential element in our past and pre-
sent," says Len Wanetik, board president. "There are very
few situations today in which there is continuity of peo-
ple or tradition. Mr. Ralph represents that continuity. In
addition, what an organization is today is the result of
everything in its past, together with its present and future
... understanding where we've come from is critical in
understanding not only where we are but where we can
be." ❑

GRAPEJEWZ

— Martha Jo Fleischmann

* (literal) our people
(idiomatic) Jews
** on pins and needles

Quotables

"The Syrians think they can
get the Golan and send us a
receipt by fax."
— Israeli novelist Amos Oz,
on the lack of trust felt by
many Israelis toward Syrian
President Hafez al-Assad.

"Mr. X sells shoes. We sell
pork and other processed
meat. Pure and simple. It's
I business."
— Gavriel Eichenwald, facto-
! ry manager at Mizra, which is
Israel's largest pork processing
I plant. Its customers are immi-
x grants from the former Soviet
Union and foreign workers.

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Amos Oz

"For many of them, it's the first time the-y've ever been in a
minyan — or even prayed at all."
— Rabbi Nehemya Wilhelm, a fervently Orthodox spiritual
I leader, who tends to the religious needs of Israeli and Jewish
I tourists and residents in the Thai capital of Bangkok.

"We designed a product that was kosher and we didn't even
know it."
-
— Ian Cooper, of the New Zealand appliance firm Fisher and
Paykel, whose two-drawer Dishdrawer runs on independent
wash systems certified kosher by an Orthodox rabbi in Los
Angeles.

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