Torah Portion
TEMPLE BETH EMETH
IJ
2309 Packard Road, Ann Arbor,
48104, (734) 665-4744. Rabbi:
Robert D. Levy. Chazzan: Ann
Zibelman Rose. Services: Friday 8
p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. Family ser-
vice once a month at 7:30 p.m.
replaces 8 p.m. Friday service; call
for specific dates.
BETH ISAAC SYNAGOGUE
2730 Edsel Dr., Trenton, 48183,
(734) 675-0355. Services: Friday
7:30 p.m. Congregational leaders
conduct services throughout the
year.
TEMPLE BETH ISRAEL
801 West Michigan Ave., Jackson
49202; (517) 784-3862. Rabbi
emeritus: Alan Ponn. Cantorial
soloist: Evette Lutman. President:
David Eizelman. Services: Friday 8
p.m. Saturday 10 a.m. the first
Saturday of the month.
TEMPLE BETH ISRAEL
2300 Center Ave., Bay City, 48708;
(517) 893-7811. Rabbi: Harvey
Markowitz. President: David
Gildstein.
TEMPLE EMANU-EL
14450 W. 10 Mile Road, Oak Park,
48237, (248) 967-4020. Rabbi:
Joseph P. Klein. Cantor: Norman
Rose. Services: Friday 7 p.m., 9
p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m.
Erev Rosh Hashanah services: 7
p.m., 9 p.m.; Saturday: 9 a.m., chil-
dren's service, 10:30 a.m.
TEMPLE ISRAEL
a.m. at Mercy High School,
Farmington Hills. Sunday, 10 a.m.
at the temple.
CONGREGATION
SHAAREY ZEDEK
1924 Coolidge Road, East Lansing
48823, (517) 351-3570. Rabbi:
David A. Lyon. Visiting cantor:
Pamela Jordan Schiffer. Services:
Friday 7:30 p.m. Saturday 8:30 a.m.
TEMPLE SHIR SHALOM
3999 Walnut Lake Road, West
Bloomfield, 48323, (248) 737-
8700. Rabbis: Dannel Schwartz,
Michael L. Moskowitz. Cantorial
soloist: Penny Steyer. Services:
Friday 7:30 p.m.; Saturday 11 a.m.
Rosh Hashanah services: Friday, 8
p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m., children's
service, 3 p.m., youth service 3 p.m.
CONGREGATION SHIR TIKVAH
3900 Northfield Parkway, Troy,
48084, (248) 649-4418. Rabbi:
Arnie Sleutelberg. Services: Saturday
at 10 a.m.
SEPHARDIC
SEPHARDIC COMMUNITY
OF GREATER DETROIT
5570 Drake Road (Drake and
Walnut), (248) 788-8069, (248)
788-1006. Rabbi Sasson Natan.
Rosh Hashanah services: Friday, 7
p.m., Saturday, 9 a.m., 7 p.m.;
Sunday 9 a.m.; Tashlich, 6:20 p.m.
TRADITIONAL
B'NAI DAVID
5725 Walnut Lake Road, West
Bloomfield, 48323, (248) 661-
5700. Rabbis: Harold S. Loss, Paul
M. Yedwab, Joshua L. Bennett,
Marla Hornsten. Rabbi emeritus:
M. Robert Syme, Cantors: Harold
Orbach, Lori Corrsin. Services:
Friday 7:30 p.m., 8 p.m.; Saturday
10:30 a.m.; weekdays 7:30 a.m.;
Sunday 9 a.m.
5642 W. Maple Road, West
Bloomfield, 48322, (248) 855-
5007. Cantor: Ben-Zion Lanxner.
Services: Saturday 9 a.m., Sunday
8:30 a.m. Gustav Berenholz will
chant the Haftorah. Rosh Hashanah
services: Saturday, 8 a.m., 7 p.m.
Sunday, 8 a.m., 7 p.m.
TEMPLE KOL AMI
MINTANS
5085 Walnut Lake Road, West
Bloomfield, 48323, (248) 661-
0040. Rabbis: Norman T. Roman.
Rabbi emeritus: Ernst J. Conrad.
Rosh Hashanah services: Friday 7:30
p.m. at the temple; Saturday 10
YEHSIVAT AKIVA
21100 West 12 Mile, Southfield,
48076 (248) 386-1625. Services:
During the school year, morning ser-
vices at 7:30 a.m.; afternoon services at
2:40 p.m. The community is invited.
The Sounds of Silence
Define Shofar On Shabbat
Shabbat /
Rosh Hashanah, Day 1
Genesis 21:1-34
Numbers 29:1-6
I Samuel 1:1-2:10
breath of life, and the human became a
living soul." (Genesis 2:7) What is a
living soul? In his translation, commen-
tary, Targum Onkelos renders ruach
memalela — a speaking spirit.
Now just as human speech allows
profound communication, the absence
of speech is not simply lack of commu-
nication. There are two possibilities
which emerge from silence: a neutral
acquiescence, or a positive decision not
hen Rosh Hashanah falls
to utter a sound.
on Shabbat — as it does
Just as the sound that a human being
this year — the sounds of
creates is different from the sound that
the shofar are silenced.
an animal can create, so too is the
Many find it disconcerting that the very
silence of a human being different than
symbol of Rosh Hashanah, the shofar,
the silence of an animal.
will not be blown on the first
When a human being
day of Rosh Hashanah.
wills himself into silence,
Moreover, the shofar
choosing to hold his
sound is identified with
tongue, that act of will is
God's compassion and love.
of profound importance
How may we understand the
— and may itself convey a
absence of this most pro-
profound message.
found symbol — especially
The shofar sound on Rosh
according to the Talmudic
Hashanah is our protest to
opinion that this silence is
God for having created an
Biblically ordained?
imperfect world. The
(Leviticus 23:24)
Sabbath is a glimpse of a
In order to interpret this
perfect world, a redeemed
phenomenon of silence, we
RABBI SHLOMO
world
of peace and har-
must review the relationship
RISKIN
mony, the world which is
of the shofar to Rosh
Special to the
supposed to be.
Hashanah when the festival
Jewish News
When Rosh Hashanah
falls out on a weekday. Rosh
comes out on the Sabbath,
Hashanah celebrates the cre-
the contrast between the world as it is
ation of the world. But what kind of
and the world as it is supposed to be is
world did God create?
too great a dissonance to bear. To cry
Obviously a world not yet complete
out could lead to blasphemy, to a defi-
or perfect, a world of darkness as well as
ance on the level which rio one — nei-
light, of chaos as well as order, of evil as
ther humans nor God — would want to
well as good.
see occur.
Wherever we turn, we're confronted
And so when Rosh Hashanah occurs
with apparent inequity, tragedy, pain.
on
Shabbat we opt to remain silent —
Hence many Hassidic masters under-
and give expression to the sounds of
stand the broken, staccato sound of the
silence which we hope will exalt the
shofar as a human demonstration or
Almighty and inspire Him to perfect
piercing sob-cry in the face of a world
and complete the world in His Divine
which is fundamentally a vale of tears.
Kingship. ❑
Now the human being certainly has
the right — even the obligation — to
protest unfairness and evil. Indeed,
what distinguishes humans from the
Which, for you, would be more
rest of creation is the human ability to
disconcerting: not hearing the
communicate — his/her desires, emo-
shofar on Rosh Hashanah, or
tions and ideas.
hearing its loud reminder of life's
"Then the Lord God formed the
imperfection on Shabbat? How
human from the dust of the ground,
does
one reconcile the world as it
and breathed into his/her nostrils the
is and the world as it was meant
Shlomo Riskin is chief rabbi of Efrat,
to be? Is a silent protest ever as
Israel, and chancellor of Ohr Torah Stone
effective as that of a horn's blast?
colleges and graduate programs.
Conversations
9/29
2000
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