Synagogues

•

Torah Porti

Left: Rabbi Lauren
Berkun inspires adult
learners at an Eilu
vEilu beit midrash.

Above: Cathy and Dr
Rene Lichtman of
West Bloomfield.

Far left: Jeff
Lupovitch works with
Rabbi Scott Bolton of
Hillel Day School of
Metropolitan Detroit
to study texts from
Purim and Yom
Kippur.

k tt•b .\ , ,

DIANA LIEBERMAN

Copy Editor/Education Writer

Two Thursday night learning sessions, each running from 7:30-9 p.m., remain in the spring
beit midrash offered by Eilu v'Eilu. They are: March 7: "The Archeology of the Passover
Haggada" with Rabbi Lauren Berkun and March 14: "Haggadah Insights" with Rabbi Lee
Buckman of the Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit. Cost is $10 a session. For more
information, call (248) 593-3490, e-mail: learn@eilulearn.org or Web site: www.eilulearn.org

hat could Yom Kippur, the most sacred of Jewish
holidays, have in common with Purim, the most
frivolous?
This was the question posed by Rabbi Lauren
Berkun Feb. 21 at the first of four Purim-Passover discussion
groups sponsored by Eilu v'Eilu, the adult study program of
Detroit's Conservative movement.
The 15 students explored original texts for the answers in true
beit midrash (house of study) fashion — each reading a portion of
text with a partner and discussing their insights with each other
and then with the group as a whole.
' The classes, which take place 7:30-9 p.m. at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek's Laker Center, continue each Thursday through
March 14.
Rabbi Berkun, Midwest rabbinic fellow of the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America, said Purim poses unusual chal-
lenges for adult students, who are used to associating the holiday
with costumes and groggers.
"On the surface," she said, "it's a kid's holiday. But some rabbis
argue that it's the most theologically profound of all."
By examining text, class members discovered that both Yom
Kippur and Purim involve the picking of lots, determining fate by
chance. Thus, both holidays show the vulnerability of life.
Robert Levine of West Bloomfield pointed out that both holi-
days also emphasize the role of teshuvah, repentance. Just as we fast
to show repentance on Yom Kippur, he said, so, too, did Esther
and all the Jews fast before she approached King Ahasuerus to ask
him to save the Jewish people.
Jeff Lupovitch of West Bloomfield summarized the difference
between the two holidays by saying, "On Yom Kippur, I have to
live well because I might die tomorrow. On Purim, I have to live
well, because I didn't die yesterday." ❑

3/1
2002

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