KEEP SOUTHFIELD STRONG...VOTE FOR
MAYOR FRACASSI
I am perscnally proud of our mayor for his concern and
commitment to ensure the fiscal responsibility of our city and
that there be sufficient resources for all necessary services to
protect our citizenry.
I strongly urge each of you who are residents of the City of
Southfield to cast that vote for Donald F. Fracassi, so he can
continue to protect and defend Southfield and its citizens to
ensure that we remain the "all American city" which Southfield
has become during his tenure as mayor.
Very truly yours,
mark
Mayor Fracassi & Jerusalem Mayor
Ehud Olmert
Mark E. Schlussel
"An Israeli company has now located their North American
office in Southfield because of Mayor Fracassi boosting
Southfield at d the Jewish community."
lark Zwick
Vote
Mayor Fracassi
Tuesday, November 6
"Don Fracassi's integrity, leadership ability and dedication to the City of Southfield and its citizens is
unparalleled."
Mr& akszie.
President, Melody Farms Dairy
"Fracassi has poured his heart and soul into the community."
Detroit Free Press, 9/15/2001
Fracassi has served his city well."
Detroit Free Press, 8/21/2000
"Southfield should keep Fracassi; he's doing fine."
The Oakland Press, 2001
"FRACASSI DESERVES YOUR SUPPORT"
"He, like the city, has weathered the changes, Fracassi represents stability, which is good for a city
that continues to change."
Southfield Eccentric, 9/6/2001
ENDORSED BY
• Mayor Ben Colley, City of Hazel Park
• Mayor Michael McDonald, City of Wixom
• Mayor Dante J. Lanzetta, Jr., City of Birmingham
• Mayor Barbara Iseppi, City of Clawson
• Mayor Nancy Bates, City of Farmington Hills
• Mayor Ronald F. Giliham, Mayor of Huntington Woods
• Mayor Frank Brock, City of Lathrup Village
• Mayor Edward C. Swanson, City of Madison Heights
• Mayor Ralph A. Castelli, Jr., City of Pleasant Ridge
• Mayor Pat Sommerville, City of Rochester Hills
• Dr. Alexander Bailey, Superintendant, Oak Park Schools
• State Rep. Robert Gosselin, 42nd District
• Peter Cristiano, Councilman (retired)
• Councilman Jonathan Brateman
• Councilwoman Sylvia Jordan
• Tom Turner, retired Sec. - Treas. AFL-CIO
• Walter Mabry, Rep. Council of Carpenters
•
• Patrick Devlin, Greater Detroit Bldg. & Const. Trade Council
• Seafarers International Union
• International Union of Operating Engineers Local 324
• The Oakland Press
• The Southfield Eccentric
• United Steel Workers of America
• Laborers Local Union 1191
AMONG THE MANY FRIENDS OF MAYOR FRACASSI
Mike George • Stan Arnold • Sam Davis • John Berry • Dr. Jeffery
& Karen Goldenberg • Sabina Heller • Mark Schlussel • Dr. Leon
& Rae Herschfus • George Blair • Bobby Holmes • Felix Seldon
• Allen Ishakis • Dr. Robert Brateman • Harvey Bronstein
• Dr. Larry Brown • Jack Kelly • Bernard Cohen • Steven Klausner
• Gil Mains • George Weiss • Jack Mastan • Herschel Wrotslaysky
• Warren & Muriel Zweigel • Jack Zwick • Vic Hanson • Dean &
Barbara Pichette • Paul Sherizen • Artie Fields • John & Dorothy
Devine • Bernie & Ilene Feldman • MORE NAMES ON REQUEST
* Professional instructions
* Classes for all skill levels -
beginner to expert
* Special program for the younger
skiers (ages 6-10)
* Small classes
* Adult classes too!
* Charter buses Saturday & Sunday
Community
Torah Portion
Abraham Models Complex
Faith For His Descendents
ture; within the process is tradition
and authenticity; without it lies the
realm of chaos.
The determination of when to
comply with precedent and when to
confront it with change is a subtle
and divisive process. On any compli-
cated matter, people of principle and
he figure of Abraham in
commitment will disagree. Err in
this week's Torah portion
either direction, and our faith can
is a study in dramatic con-
become characterized as either calci-
trasts.
fied or self-serving.
Here is Abraham boldly challeng-
Consider a pressing modern
ing God to spare Sodom and
dilemma such as the reconciliation of
Gomorrah, implying that the "Judge
gay rights with traditional
of all the Earth" is on the
Jewish law; we find our-
brink of killing a communi-
selves torn between submis-
ty of innocent people. Yet
sion to the ancient cate-
just a few chapters later, the
gories of tradition and the
very same Abraham word-
assertion of contemporary
lessly accepts God's corn-
moral sensibilities. The
mand that he sacrifice his
Torah and three millennia
singularly beloved son,
of our sacred literature
Isaac.
define sacred families as
Why doesn't he protest
exclusively heterosexual.
on his own behalf, or at
Yet it seems unjust to
least on behalf of his wife or RABBI DANIEL
doom
gay and lesbian Jews
son? Couldn't he have mus-
NEVINS
to
lives
of either celibacy or
tered even one argument to
Special to the
inescapable
sin. Other
save the life of his long-
Jewish News
movements have resolved
anticipated heir? What was
this dilemma to their satis-
Abraham thinking during
faction. I find myself on the horns of
the three-day silent march to Mt.
the dilemma, bound to be true to my
Moriah?
tradition and also to be compassion-
Many midrashim, both ancient
ate to my fellow Jews. No one ever
and modern, rush in to explain the
said that religious faith was simple!
mysterious faith of Abraham. Some
The splendor of Abraham is that
of these are more compelling than
he somehow steered his way through
others; none completely explains the
the many conflicting dilemmas that
perplexing contrasts in Abraham's
are chronicled in this parshah. He
behavior that are evident in this
did not become the father of our
powerful parshah.
faith for no reason; in his religious
The Talmud says mdasei avot
complexity, Abraham continues to
siman rvanim, the deeds of the
lead us by example. Always, he is
ancestors are a guide to their descen-
known as the exemplar of chesed, or
dants. Rabbi David Hartman views
kindness, as demonstrated by his
the tension within Abraham between
hospitality in the parshah's opening
submission and assertion to God as a
scene. His magnanimity of spirit is
preview of rabbinic law (Halachah).
the connective tissue which allows
Just as Abraham vacillates between
Abraham's
disparate faith to remain
submission and assertion before God,
coherent and intact.
so too the Talmudic rabbis vacillate
May we, the progeny of Abraham,
between submission (e.g. the unre-
have the integrity and the kindness to
solved case of the mamzer, an illegiti-
grow in our faith such that the
mate child) and assertion (e.g. the
covenant will remain ever stronger
prozbul, a rabbinic loophole that
between our own children and God. 0
allowed loans to the poor by circum-
venting a biblical decree).
This halachic dialectic can seem
either revolutionary or obsequious,
depending upon the issue at hand. It
is not true that where there is a will
there is a way, that the rabbis can
How do you decide when to
make kosher whatever they like. The
confront a neighbor or colleague,
halachic system has rules and struc-
and when to allow their moral
Shabbat VaYeira:
Genesis 18: I -22:24;
II Kings 4:1-37
T
Conversations
Daniel Nevins is a spiritual leader at
Adat Shalom Synagogue.
11/2
2001
68
failure to pass in silence?