SPECIAL COMMENTARY

Where History And Religion Collide

Philadelphia
able to the needs of a far-flung dias-
n the traditional Yom Kippur
pora was completed.
liturgy, there is a point where
But even those of us who would
confession stops and a short his-
blanch at the notion of a return to
tory lesson begins.
killing animals to express our devotion
Toward the end of the Musaf, or
to God cannot fail to be moved by the
additional service, heard in the early
language of the Avodah service.
afternoon, the prayers turn to the
"All this took place when the Sanc-
memory of the Yom Kippur
tuary was firmly estab-
services held in the Holy
lished. The high priest min-
Temple, which stood in
istered, his generation
Jerusalem until its destruction
watched and rejoiced," the
by the Romans in the year 70
liturgy relates. "Happy the
C.E.
eye that saw all this; our
With exquisite detail, the
soul grieves at the mere
section of Musaf known as
mention of it."
the Avodah (the Order of the
The grief of most Jewish
Temple Service) describes the
souls at the memory of this
preparations and the cere-
loss is today perhaps more
JONAT HAN S.
monies that surrounded the
atavism than raw emotion.
TOB IN
yearly entrance of the Kohain
Yet the memory of the great
Specia I to
Gadol (the High Priest) into
sanctuary atop the hill in
the
Jewish News
the Holy of Holies, where he
Jerusalem still has the
would perform the ritual by
power to fascinate and
which the sins of the Jewish
enthrall us.
people would be expiated.
Thus, as we approach Yom Kip-
To modern ears, the description
pur in the year 5761 — 1,930 years
of this rite is somewhat foreign.
after the destruction of that sanctuary
Normative Judaism changed in the
and 33 years since Jerusalem was
aftermath of the fall of Jerusalem.
reunited and the Temple Mount and
Sacrificial worship was abandoned
the Western Wall below it were
and the evolution of Judaism from
returned to the Jewish people — it
what historians call a "Temple cult"
can hardly be considered surprising
to a synagogue-based religion adapt-
that this most powerful symbol of pre-
diaspora Judaism has become the
Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor
focus of the endgame of the Middle
of the Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia.
East peace process, as well as the place
He can be reached via e-mail at
where last week's frightening bout of
jtobin@jewishexponent.com
bloody Palestinian rioting began.

I

since the El Al plane returned us to
Michigan. I am back to all my familiar
surroundings, family and friends. Yet I
wake up every morning ready and
motivated to hike through the hottest
desert, float in the Dead Sea, visit Yad
Vashem, excavate ancient ruins, grab a
falafel for lunch or hop on a bus drive
to the destination of the day.
I guess I decided to write this letter
to publicly thank the Jewish Federa-
tion of Metropolitan Detroit and the
leaders of the Teen Mission 2000
("Feeling More Jewish," Sept. 22, page
106) for providing the experience that
I had this summer. You gave me the
opportunity to visit a land where my
people live amongst our people's cul-
ture and history. I got to be part of
that.
My experience in Israel is one like
no other I have or will experience

again. How many are lucky enough to
go to a foreign country with 300 other
teenagers, 80 of whom were friends
you spend Monday nights with every
week? Thank you a hundred times; I
have found my home away from
home.

Jenn Robinson

West Bloomfield

Cemetery Coverage
Renewed Interest

On behalf of the Jewish Genealogical
Society of Michigan (JGSMI), I
would like to thank you for the won-
derful articles you printed about Beth
Olem Cemetery ("Historic Jewish
Cemetery," Sept. 15, page 73; "Hid-
den Eternity" Sept. 22, page 6; "Pause

A New National Drama

Where once the Har Habayit (the
Temple Mount) was the scene of a
national drama of repentance enacted
by a high priest, last week the temerity
of an Israeli politician to stand on the
same ground was the launching point
for yet another Jewish psychodrama in
which Jewish feelings of guilt, whether
justified or not, would play a major
role.
It was the threat that Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak might make
good on proposals to divide Jerusalem
and hand the Temple Mount over to
the United Nations or to the Palestini-
ans that led Arik Sharon, the leader of
Israel's Likud opposition, to pay a
brief visit to the site last week as he
symbolically reasserted Israel's sover-
eignty.
In the eyes of the world media, the
U.S. government, Europe and the
Jewish left — not to mention the
Islamic world — Sharon's walk to the
Temple Mount was an intolerable
provocation.
To Israel's critics, it was more
than enough excuse for the ensuing
rampage of Arab violence that shook
Israel. And when Israeli forces
defended themselves against hysteri-
cal mobs seeking to avenge Sharon's
"insult," many Jews felt guilt for the
deaths of the rioters, though few on
the other side seemed penitent for
the Jewish blood that was shed or
for the disruption of pre-Rosh
Hashanah prayers at the Western

To Remember," Sept. 29, page 18).
Your articles not only piqued
curiosity in Beth Olem, but helped us
to spread the word about the memori-
al service that we hosted on Sept. 24.
Our event was a huge success, largely
because of the coverage in the Jewish
News.
More than 150 people came out on
a blustery day to honor the memories
of their own ancestors and of the
Detroit Jewish community. Due to the
sponsorship of the General Motors
Foundation, we were able to make this
day special. We lit candles, gave the
cemetery the beauty of a new tree
from JGSMI, donated a bench for
resting and an urn filled with stones,
learned about the history of the ceme-
tery and searched for our relatives'
graves. Through all of this, we heard
the meaningful prayers of Rabbi

Wall by Arab rock throwers.
Yet, even if Israel were to adopt the
advice of the Clinton administration
and opt to "share" Jerusalem with the
Palestinian Authority, these events
illustrate how difficult it is to compro-
mise on issues where history and reli-
gion come into play.
For all of the pragmatic and securi-
ty-oriented rhetoric spouted by Israeli
leaders from both left and right, the
disposition of the site where the First
and Second Holy Temples stood
appears to be one point where diplo-
macy takes a back seat.

Mocking Jewish History

Palestinian Authority leader Yasser
Arafat and his leading aides have all
publicly mocked the idea that the
Temple Mount — which Arabs call
the Haram al Sharif and which is
home to a mosque and a monument
built to assert Muslim superiority
over the defeated Christians and Jews
— has any historical connection to
the Jews or even to the biblical Tem-
ple.
The •osh Hashanah Intifadah," as
the Israeli press has dubbed it, takes its
place in a long line of incidents
stretching back to the earliest days of
the Zionist enterprise (i.e., 1920,
1929, 1990), in which assertions of
Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem have
been met with horrifying Arab vio-
lence.

HISTORY

on page 44

Stephen Weiss and Cantor Ralph
Goren, and enjoyed the active partici-
pation of the Jewish War Veterans of
the United States of America.
Beth Olem was beautifully mani-
cured, thanks to the hard work of
Andy Phythian of Birmingham's
Clover Hill Memorial Park, and his
crew. We sat on chairs and heard the
service through a speaker system, both
donated by Ira Kaufman Chapel in
Southfield. We were also protected
from the weather by a tent donated by
Wilbert Vault Co. of Detroit. We
hope everyone who came will come
again and those who didn't come this
year will come another time.

Pam Gordon

event chair
Jewish Genealogical Society of Michigan
Orchard Lake

10/6
2000

43

