EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
The Way We Live
I t was billed .as a spiritual warm-up for four weeks
of adult Jewish study.
We came to the Jewish Community Center in
West Bloomfield last week — 600 strong, repre-
senting every stream of Judaism — in search of a spark
to sharpen our focus on learning through Detroit Jewry's
Seminars for Adult Jewish Enrichment (SAJE).
We got it, too. _
Giving the third annual Shiffman Family Lecture,
Rabbi Eddie Feinstein of Valley Beth Shalom, a
Conservative synagogue in Encino, Calif, did his best to
bring us back to our spiritual roots as
Jews.
Exuberant, provoking and uplifting, he
quickly-pinpointed our problem: that, in
the face of assimilation, apathy and igno-
rance, we've lost our spiritual way.
"When Jews seek spiritual wisdom," he
said, obviously irked, "we inevitably go
everywhere but to our own traditions to
ROBERT A. find it."
SKLAR
SAJE, which began on Tuesday, is
Editor
meant to be a midwinter commitment by
adults to bolster their Jewish identity. For
some, it's a once-a-year commitment to learning. For
many, it's a commitment to more study.
With more than 500 registrants in each of
its four years, SAJE is the largest Jewish adult
education program in metro Detroit. Program
sponsors are the Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit, the Detroit Jewish News
and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit's Alliance for Jewish Education and
Agency forJewish Education.
What is faith? It's knowing, even when times are tough
or evil is lurking, that "tomorrow is another day" and "has
possibilities for oneness," he said.
It's knowing the "world will break your heart" and shock
you with its deadly fury.
And it's knowing that, in . its brokenness, "the world can
be made whole again."
History has proven that. The Shoah and its aftermath —
how a Jewish state emerged within three years of Hitler's
death camps — is just one example.
What moved me most was the rabbi's stirring account of
his family's near-death experience with an earthquake in
1999. The family home jumped "seven feet off its founda-
tion and we had a clearer view than we wanted of the San
Fernando Valley"
This wasn't somebody adrift in hyperbole, but someone
who had found "oneness" under the broken pieces and
who had found inspiration to make his part of the world
'whole again.
"We're agents of God to make it one," he said.
He was saying that, as Jews, we must resolve to partner
with God to mend, heal and fix — ourselves, our family,
our community, the world. And we must do so -because it
is right, not for gain.
"Judaism teaches to live big heroically, to take on a bro-
ken world and make it better, more significant," he said.
Setting A Standard
"Ah-hah!" I thought, as I put his talk, "A Brief
History of Chutzpah: Our Ability to Say 'Yes'
to Life," into context. He had just reinforced
what SAJE, taught by a volunteer faculty of
clergy, communal professionals and lay leaders,
is all about.
Sure, it's about adults learning Jewishly, but
it's
also about them demonstrating to kids that
Be A Hero
it's good to study their heritage — that it's not
Cults, Jews for Jesus, Buddhism — too often,
only fun, but also a way to become "one" with
they're more appealing than Judaism. I guess,
God and make the world a better place.
to a lost soul, they seem more inviting and
Rabbi Feinstein
The ultimate reward of living an exemplary
engaging.
life,
Rabbi Feinstein said, is the privilege of
Can we combat these tempting lures? "Yes!"
saying: "My life was good, my life mattered.
exclaimed Rabbi Feinstein, who teaches in the
My life made a difference. I'm proud of what I did."
Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the University of
Tasting the spiritual nuggets from. Rabbi Feinstein's
Judaism in Los Angeles.
thought-provoking message brought to mind the 18th-cen-
He then talked about living as a Jew "at one with God."
tury chasidic master, Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, who said:
Don't fret, he said. You don't have to be a talmudic scholar
"Faith makes you truly alive. It fills every day with good
to grasp the secrets to a "good" Jewish life. They resonate
when troubles come, as theY surely will. Take comfort in
in common texts like the Shabbat siddur, the Passover
your faith."
Haggadah and Purim's Megillat Esther.
SAJE is a spiritual road that adults can take to a deeper
"Breathe their meaning," he urged.
faith
in God, a road they can share proudly with their kids
What they teach, he said, is that we must live heroically.
and
grandkids.
That's our God-giver' purpose for being. "If you don't live
That's why I was happy for Bloomfield Hills' Cis Maisel
your life with purpose," he said, "you live it by accident."
Kellman, who in 1999 endowed SAJE with a generous gift.
As Rabbi Feinstein spoke passionately about faith, it
"This is what I had hoped SAJE would do — bring us
became evident why Harlene Appelman, director of
together," she said as she settled in for the Shiffman Family
Federation's Alliance for Jewish Education, had insisted
Lecture
in the JCC's Handleman Hall.
he be the keynoter at SAJE's Jan. 10 kickoff event. He
As
I
left
the JCC, I pondered Rabbi Feinstein's send-off.
really does, as she said, "treat every single person he
It
was
perfect
for a spirited group of adults ready to learn.
comes in contact with as if they truly were created in the
When bad things happen, he said, you shouldn't ask,
image of God."
"Where is God?" but rather, "Where am I?"
I was intrigued by how he defined faith: a trust in God
Clearly, as he put it, "It takes courage to be a Jew."
that "the world is worth living for."
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