MACCABI GAMES .•=4:
TRYOUTS & MEETING

The 2001 Maccabi Youth Games will be held August 19-24 in Mon-
mouth, New Jersey and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the following
sports: boys baseball, boys basketball, girls softball, boys soccer,
girls soccer, girls basketball, girls volleyball, in-line hockey, table
tennis, bowling, chess, dance, golf, gymnastics, racquetball, swim-
ming, tennis and track and field. The games are for Jewish teens who
will be age 13-16 as of August 1, 2001. The sites are chosen where
the best competition is for each sport.

MEETING AND SIGN-UPS FOR ALL SPORTS

A parent and/or athlete should attend.

Sunday • March 4, 2001

4:30 PM in the Handleman Hall at the
D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building (Maple/Drake JCC)

These Sports Will Have Tryouts As Indicated

EVENT

DATE

TIME

PLACE

Boys baseb&i

March 11 & 18

1-3 PM

Maple JCC Gym

Girls softball

March 11 & 18

3-4:30 PM

Maple JCC Gym

Boys soccer

March 11 & 18

3-4:30 PM

Maple JCC Gym

Girls soccer

Mar. 25 & Apr. 1

3-4:30 PM

Maple JCC Gym

Girls volleyball

Mar. 8 &15 & 22

6:00 PM

Maple JCC Gym

Boys basketball 13-14

March 11 & 18

4:30-6 PM

Maple JCC Gym

Boys basketball 15-16

March 11 & 18

4:30 -6 PM

Maple JCC Gym

Girls basketball

Mar. 25 & Apr. 1

4:30-6 PM

Maple JCC Gym

Table tennis

Mar. 25 & Apr. 1

4:30-6 PM

Maple JCC Gym

In-line hockey

Now-every Monday

7-8:30 PM

Maple Hockey Ctr.

For more information please call Karen Gordon at 248-539-9757

www.maccabidetroit.com

LABOR ZIONIST EDUCATION FLED

Honors

Torah Portion

To See The Face Of God,
Just Look Around You

intellectual apprehension rather than
physical sight (section I, chapter 4).
But other commentators imply that a
mortal may indeed see God. Rashi says
that Nadav, Avihu and the 70 elders
"looked, glimpsed and wer -liable for
death." Rather than spoiling the festivi-
ties of this day, God delayed their pun-
ishments, which were meted out later.
They must have seen' something if the
sentence was death! -
hat does God look like?
What can it mean to see God? We
This question appears to
can see objects, yet God can never be
be outrageous, even hereti-
objectified. It is true that the Bible and
cal. After all, just last week
we read the second command-
the mystical traditions are rife
ment, which prohibits any
with anthropomorphic
depiction of God. This does
imagery. But, following
not mean, however, that seeing
Maimonides, we read these
God is impossible.
images as metaphors of divine
As God explains to Moses,
attributes rather than the
"You shall not see My face, for
incarnation of God.
a man may not see me and
What then does it mean to
live." (Exodus 33:20). It is pos-
see God? Something real must
sible, but mortally dangerous,
happen. The parshah says that
to view God.
the elders saw God. What did
RABBI DANIEL they see? The verse explains
Yet danger does not banish
NEVINS
this vision quest from the
that they saw God's throne, "a
Special
to the
heart's desire. The Torah,
pavement of sapphire, like the
Jewish News
Psalms and Songs of Songs alle-
very sky for purity."
gorically depict great longing
The Talmud Bavli (Sotah
in the believer to see God's "face."
17a) uses this text and a verse
from Ezekiel to explain that tekhelet, the
Indeed, several passages in the Bible pre-
serve shadowy records of moments
blue used in the tallies fringe, is the
color of the sea, which is the color of the
when humans somehow did see some
aspect of God.
sky, which is the color of God's glorious
throne. In the Talmud Yerushalmi
Mishpatim includes one such myste-
rious passage. After a ceremony celebrat-
(Brakhot 1:3) Rabbi Meir adds that after
looking at the techelet fringe, "You shall
ing the revelation of God's laws, Moses
see Him" (ure'item oto — you shall per-
and Aaron ascend Mt. Sinai again
ceive God's presence).
together with Aaron's sons Nadav and
Avihu, and the 70 elders of Israel. "And
What then does it mean to see God?
A great deal. If you live the mitzvot,
they saw the God of Israel: under His
then you shall see their impact with
feet was the likeness of a pavement of
your eyes; and then you will see God's
sapphire, like the very sky for purity. Yet
presence made manifest.
He did not raise His hand against the
What then is the danger? We must
leaders of the Israelites; they beheld
remember not to worship the mitzvot
God, and they ate and drank." (Exodus
themselves --- they are not God. That
24:10-11)
would be idolatry and mortally danger-
The ancient Aramaic translations
ous. But the mitzvot do allow us to per-
soften the verse, reading that they "saw
ceive God by making us holy like God.
the splendor of God." The medieval
What are we really looking for?
commentator Abraham ibn Ezra states
Our task is to see the divine image
that they experienced a prophecy, not a
within us, to burnish it through the
direct image of God's essence.
discipline of Torah, and thereby to
Maimonides argues that there is no
connect our soul to its origin, to the
physical image of God to be seen. In the
Holy God of Israel.
opening paragraphs of his Mishnah
Torah, Maimonides states that God is
not constrained by any physical limits,
therefore, there is no way for anyone,
even Moses, to "see" God. In his Guide-'
for the Pelplexed, Maimonides expands
What is the image of God that is
this reasoning, explainina that whenever
embedded within each human
a verse refers to "seeing" t' God, it means
being? What does yours look

Shabbat Mishpatim:
Exodus 21:1-24:18;
30:11-16;
Numbers 28:9-15;
II Kings 12:1-17.

lir

.

Helen & Norman

NAIVIARK

in recognition
of their many years of
service to the
Commtinity and Israel

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER
MEMBER OF ISRAELI KNESSET

COLETTE AVITAL

SUNDAY, MARCH 11 • 11:30 am - Brunch
The Westin Southfield

For information

call 248-967-317O

Conversations

Daniel Nevins is a rabbi at Adat
Shalom Synagogue.

like?

