The most important thing about our shoes is what goes into them. Give them the best. '" SPECIAL COMMENTARY Reading The Journalism Parsha Atlanta A Gr e g SHOES Orchard Mall Orchard Lake Rd., N. of Maple W. Bloomfield 851-5566 "Serving the Community for 44 Years" Swing on over to pages 115-142 of the JN SourceBook. You'll find hundreds of listings and ads to help you make your simcha the best it can be! Visit our v1 ebsite at 1V11 W.illSOUICebOOk.00111 YOU 71 be amazed what youkfind. Sourc Bill Nagler, M.D. www.dietresults.com Lose weight with Injections Medical Acupuncture 4/14 2000 52 Appointments (734) 422-8040 Mail Order (800) 511-9769 16311 Middlebelt, Livonia bout this time last year, I was the news editor at the why we have it on the front page of this issue of the Jew- ish Times. It is our biggest story. I was raised as a thor- oughly assimilated non-Jew. I can trace my father's Jew- ish family back to Witelshofen in Bavaria at the turn of the 18th century, and I know that until the passage to America they were observant. But my • father wasn't raised Jewishly and nor was my mother, although her father was Jewish and possibly obser- Detroit Jewish News, the sister paper to the Atlanta Jewish Times and I was wondering what we might do for coverage of the holiday. I approached the matter journalistically. I called a JONATHAN friend, a rabbi, to ask what FRIENDLY was the basic question: What Special to are you doing special for the Jewish News Passover? The sly devil didn't hesi- vant. tate for a moment — "We're reading In any event, I went to an Episco- the Song of Songs." pal school — which is often enough That's the trouble with asking sen- to keep a young man from develop- sible questions of rabbis. They give ing a lot of religious feeling one way you answers you have to think about. or another. At home we certainly I've been thinking about his answer didn't mark Passover, or Rosh for a year. Finally I'm beginning to get it. HaShana, or Yom Kippur. Christmas was a distinct moment, but it was Reporters are trained to seek the the secular exchange of gifts that new and the unique. We like opening gave it meaning. sentences that contain "st" words, like So I come to thinking about "biggest, newest, longest, most." Our Judaism rather late in life. When I ideal is an event that has never hap- started at the Detroit job, I was quick- pened before and probably won't hap- ly dubbed "The Newish Jew at the pen again. Jewish News." Some people complain that we are My newsroom boss in Detroit has always after the bad stuff, the stories been actively showing me how to about how something went wrong. cultivate my neshama, my Jewish But that's not really the case: what we soul, and he's making some limited seek is the different. In practice, that headway with his appeals to tikkun often means how events have departed olam (repairing the world). Many from the norm. journalists are, at heart, incurably What we don't usually seek is romantic. They believe that by continuity. We think you don't need telling readers about the events and us to tell you that the sun rose again this morning, that the 17 children in issues of their community they are contributing in some small way to Mrs. Siegel's class continued their making that community better. For study of biology or that nobody got us, it counts as repairing the world hurt delivering the seats for the new — although we affect a gruff skepti- theater at the Jewish Community cism that does not readily treat our Center. acts as mitzvot. Our standard definition of impor- A year ago the rabbi thought to tant news can sometimes blind us to teach me a lesson, and he succeeded. the best stories — as the rabbi so But, with all humility, I note that the politely pointed out. traditions of journalism inform The fact that we as a people have Passover just as Passover should been on the same page for 3,000 years inform journalism. is extraordinary. Can you think of What, after all, could be more another human ceremony that has deeply journalistic than the opening been observed for so long and that line for Wednesday night's seder: still is so deeply felt, whether as a reli- "Why is this night different from all gious moment or as a family one? other nights?" Passover actually fits the definition My answer is that what makes this of news as what is unique and mean- night different is that it has been the ing-filled. It ought to be on the front same for longer than any other page of a lot of newspapers. That's moment in human history. Hey, stop the presses and get me Jonathan Friendly is interim editor of rewrite. I've got a great story here. ❑ the Atlanta Jewish Times.