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I
hand.
f you are my age or
The situation in Israel
older, you remember
today is much less dramatic.
exactly where you were
There is no mass attack, no
when John F. Kennedy
huge army to defeat. Israel is
was assassinated in 1963.
not even officially at war. As
You also remember exactly
a
tourist, you can stroll in
where you were when you
downtown
Jerusalem and
first learned that the Arab
Tel Aviv and notice nothing
nations had attacked Israel on
out of the ordinary, except
that fateful Yom Kippur day
for the lack of other tourists.
in 1973. You were in shul.
Israel is no longer the under-
RABBI PAUL
Like millions of other Jews
dog in the conflict and,
YEDWAB
throughout the world, you
therefore, is no longer
Special to the
were praying for your own
attracting
the sympathy of
Jewish News
soul, your own sins, your own
the
world
media.
"missings of the mark." Then,
It is a situation we, as Jews,
suddenly, with those tense
might be led to avoid or ignore, but we
announcements from the bimah, we
must not. Israel needs us again, very
were suddenly one, suddenly united as a
much
as it did in 1973. It needs our
single body, praying not so much for
attention,
our prayers and our support.
ourselves anymore, but for our brothers
The
economic
toll on the country
and sisters in Eretz Yisrael.
alone
has
been
devastating.
The drop in
We opened our hearts in prayer, and
tourism,
combined
with
the
increasing
later we opened our checkbooks in sup-
water shortage, has created an incredible
port. We did everything that we could
strain on Israel's economy. Add to that
do to be of service, to help, to lend a
the increased security costs and you have
a recipe for disaster.
As the High Holidays approach, Israel
needs us once again. If you can travel
there, please do so. You will find yourself
both safe and embraced. And as we pre-
pare to open our hearts in prayer, let us
open our checkbooks as well. The
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit will help to make sure that your
dollars are funneled into the social needs
of the Israeli people at a time when their
resources are being funneled into self-
defense.
This year, we pray, the announce-
ments from the bimah will concern
themselves with sisterhood bake sales
and upcoming youth group activities.
Do not be lulled into apathy. You are
needed and, as a people, we are still one.
t_J
Rabbi Paul Yedwab is a spiritual
leader at Temple Israel.
Resanctifying Life
HunterDouglas
5528 Drake at Walnut Lake Rd, W. Bloomfield
248-661-3840 • www.windowsandwalls.com
M, Th 10.6 • T, W, F 10-5 • Sat 10-4
•1.-ARRAS
Where Were You When
tr
SPECIAL BENT FLORIST
734 - 454 - 7 0 77..
rgent!
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• The message of
repentance must be seen
as urgent, rather than
casual if we, as individu-
als and a community, are to experi-
ence the power of the Days of Awe.
- God's presence suffuses all of cre-
ation, yet our culture has become
too noisy, too preoccupied, too cal-
lous to notice. Our year has been
punctuated by gunfire and we are
saddened and shocked by the level
of violence directed at our Israeli
brothers and sisters in malls, restau-
rants and neighborhoods.
After the smoke clears, a perni-
cious after-effect lingers: The sense
that human life is cheap, arid, that
murderous rage can be expected in
our open society.
But life is not cheap! Every per-
son is made in the likeness of God,
and each has a holy spark that must
be nurtured. This insight is the
linchpin for the whole process of
repentance. Holiness, kedushah,
must become our goal in the way
we treat other people, and
place in this world. One
in the way we see our own
question must be, "Have
potential.
I used my life this year to
If life is holy, then we
master holiness within
absolutely must cease
and around myself%"
demeaning and hurting
Beyond meditation, we
the people around us.
have our liturgy. Many
After all, they are creatures
see the prayer book
J
of God.
as a massive jumble of
Elul is the time to revisit
foreign phrases that fail
our confrontations and to
to evoke a "spiritual"
seek to make amends. This
reaction.
But the words
RABBI DANIEL
is a powerful form of
were
written
by people
NEVINS
teshuvah, or repentance.
aflame
with
passion
for
Special to the
If life is holy, then we
God.
Before
we
even
-open
Jewish News
must respect the capacity
that book, we must try to
deep within ourselves to be
hear God's still, small
good, to connect to God. While
voice within us. Once we feel this
this notion may be self-evident, it is
potential for holiness in our own
not easily realized. I recommend
spirit, we can be open to the spiri-
that everyone spend some time on
tual outpourings of our sacred tra-
the High Holidays meditating on
dition.
the state of his or her relationships
Every day, we should fulfill
and on their spiritual state of being.
mitzvot and say the appropriate
Services are generally long, so some
blessings. The words asher kidshanu
of this meditation can occur then.
bmitzvotav mean that God has
But it is also important to walk or
sanctified our lives with the com-
sit outside and to evaluate one's
mandments. This blessing must be