EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
A Teacher, A Thinker
t was a nice evening in Jerusalem, so Rabbi Berel
Wein and his wife, Jackie, a former Detroiter,
decided to walk home after visiting some friends
on March 9.
,
Parents to four and grandparents to 29, they were
within 90 yards of where they live when they heard the
boom, then the wail of sirens.
A suicide bomber had struck once more, this time at
the Moment Café.
The toll, like that of so many other savage attacks in
this latest Palestinian uprising, reverberated through the
Jewish world.
Inside the crowded garden cafe in the
Rehavia neighborhood of Israel's capital
city, the attacker detonated the explo-
sives strapped to his body, killing himself
and 11 young adults. More than 40 were
wounded.
At least 520 Israelis have died in the
20-month intifada, largely at the hands
ROBERT A. of suicide bombers and gun-toting
snipers aligned with Palestinian leader
SKLAR
Yasser Arafat.
Editor
"They will not break us," Rabbi Wein
told a parlor meeting of 50
guests Sunday at the Bloomfield Township
home of U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn and
his wife, Lois. "The Jewish people are made of
iron. Otherwise, we would not be here. We
have promises that the Lord made to us."
The meeting was a fund-raiser for Rabbi
Wein's 6-year-old Destiny Foundation, which
offers multimedia products to build Jewish
identity and transmit our heritage. But it was
as much a consciousness-raiser.
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for the Jewish people, not only of those fortunate
enough to live in Zion. It is a test of the Jews in Paris,
Strasburg, Berlin, Durban, London and Detroit."
He added: "We are a special people who are held to
special standards, who cannot afford the errors of either
judgment or morality that others can, and always seem
to, make and get away with. The Lord expects much
from us and, therefore, we have to respond in kind."
I then settled back on the sofa, eager to soak in all the
knowledge I could from this lawyer-turned-rabbi, whom
I had first heard on his audiotape series, "Travels
Through Jewish Heritage."
Standing Strong
This week is the anniversary of the Six-Day War in
1967. "Then, we were on the verge of a second
Holocaust, God forbid," Rabbi Wein said. "Egypt's
Gamal Abdel-Nasser said, 'We're going to drive the Jews
into the sea.' Jordan's King Hussein, before he turned
over a new leaf, told the Arabs they should pick out the
apartments they wanted in Tel Aviv. And the United
Nations immediately withdrew its forces.
"But Israel, somehow with a great pre-emptive-strike,
proved its mettle spiritually and morally, as well as mili-
tarily and physically. Thirty-five years later, it's the same
story."
Torah unites the Jews of modern Israel,
whatever their country of origin or reli-
gious upbringing, Rabbi Wein said. "It's the
inheritance of the Jewish people. It's your
Torah as much as mine. It has no label on
it.
He called the embattled state "a place
where a Jew can be a Jew.
"It's vibrant and productive," he said.
"We have a gross national product that's
bigger than all the Arab states combined if
you factor out the oil. There is so much
Common Bond
goodness in the community, even in the
In his invigorating 25-minute talk, Rabbi
worst of circumstances."
Rabbi Wein
Wein — teacher, historian, scholar and
Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld of Yeshiva Beth
columnist — stressed the role of Divine inter-
Yehudah in Southfield studied under Rabbi
vention. He spoke passionately about Israel, a tiny dem-
Wein at Yeshiva Shaarei Torah in Suffern, N.Y. He
ocratic nation of 5.5 million Jews in the Arab-dominat-
called his mentor a "hope-filled realist" who teaches
ed Middle East.
"that the hand of God guides history, so we don't have
"We have to stand up for Torah — for what's Jewish,
to be afraid of the future."
for what's moral, for what's ethical and for what's right,"
Rabbi Reuven Spolter of Young Israel of Oak Park,
he said before signing copies of his latest book, Faith er
who took part in a recent unity mission, confirmed
Fate, The Story of the Jews in the Twentieth Century.
Rabbi Wein's "sense of strength and positiveness about
"We have to smile and not frown, we have to be
what is going on in Israel.
inclusive and not exclusive, and we have to feel we are
"You see what kind of miracle the country is," he said.
brothers and sisters, as we are. We're in this together.
"We have to thank God every day there is a state of
And the Lord of Israel is in it with us. All of Jewish his-
Israel."
tory shows His guiding hand upon us. The fact that
I echo Southfield's Janet Snider: "We tend to think
there's the State of Israel is only because of God."
that whatever is happening now is happening for the
Throughout history, Rabbi Wein said, Jews have been
first time and that we're the only generation to have
measured by their relationship with Israel, their home-
dealt with it. That view is so limited. Rabbi Wein puts
land. Joshua led the Jews into the Land of Israel, but it
things in perspective so we know that we'll survive
took 350 years before they had a central government.
because we've survived for thousands of years."
"Everybody did their own thing. There were civil
We'll continue to survive because, somehow, we
wars between tribes, the people just couldn't get their
always find the will and a way to beat evil.
act together," said the Chicago native, who made aliyah
As Rabbi Wein put it: "We'll be strong, we'll strength-
about 10 years ago.
en each other and we'll see it through. We'll be able to
If you look at Israel today through a prism of the past,
build a Jewish nation and a Jewish state that the world
"we're not so bad off," he said. "We've been there
will recognize and appreciate, that we all will be proud
before."
of and that will be the true inheritance for the genera-
Israel's core test is to survive, he said — "the same test
tions that follow us." ❑
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