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 R3i