Torah Portion The Shema Is 'For Real,' And So Is Our Quest To Know God Jewish connector that ties parent to child. The Shema is for real. That is obviously and experientially true. But God, knowing God, is another matter altogether. We can never "know" God; we can never touch think that my earliest memory the infinite with our finite minds. of religious school is learning We can never know what it means the Shema for my consecra- to say that God is "one," a unique tion service. singleness that defies the reality of Not understanding what it our complex and multifaceted meant, I only knew that it was world. important for me to say it and be The Shema, is, indeed, part of the group saying it. for real; it has a tangible Our Torah reading for this reality in my world and a week contains both the Ten measurable affect on my Commandments and Jewish existence. But Shema-rAhavtah. We roll Eloheinu? I can . never truly, the Shema paragraph into really, know "our God," the mezuzot on our door- nor can I ever fully com- posts, and into the leather prehend what it means to boxes of tefillin. We mark say God is echad, is "one." our homes with it; we bind The Shema is a state- it to our bodies when we meat of the challenge that RAB BI JOSEPH pray. I knew, even as a is the essence of the Jewish KLEIN child, that the Shema was quest. Ours is a constant Sp ecial to the supposed to be important struggle to touch the Je wish News to me because of the Infinite from within the solemn reverence with finite confines of our which everyone regarded it. hearts and minds and lives. We From childhood on, we carry the remind ourselves of that quest with Shema like a verbal membership words from our Reform siddur, card — a reminder, whenever we Gates of Prayer: pull it out from its pocket-place, "Days pass and the years vanish, that we belong to a larger and very and we walk sightless among mira- special group. Because it was so cles. Lord, fill our eyes with seeing, early incorporated and integrated and our minds with knowing; let into the very soul of our Jewish there be moments when Your being, we tend to take it for grant- Presence, like lightning, illumines ed, knowing it for what it is, rather the darkness in which we walk. Help than for what it says or for what it us to see, wherever we gaze, that the means. bush burns unconsumed. And we, There is a story told about a stu- clay touched by God, will reach out dent who learned the Shema from for holiness, and exclaim in wonder: hearing it (as we all did), but never How filled with awe is this place, quite got the Hebrew words right. and we did not know it!" 0 He recited "Shema is for real' I don't know Eloheinu; I don't know Echad." For all its childlike charm, there is a lot of truth in that mis- quote! Something indeed tells us that the Shema is "for real," that those Is there a better way to translate words we so easily repeat are intrin- Shema than with the verb "to sically important to our Jewish hear"? We are, after all, asking selves. It's "for real" because of its our people to do more than sim- effect on us personally and commu- ply "hear." Perhaps the Shema nally; because it has been our state- should not be translated at all, ment of faith for 3,000 years; but left in Hebrew altogether. In because it links each generation to what ways might that be to our the one that precedes it and to the advantage? How is it that we can one that comes after it; and because come to "know" God, and where it is the single most significant might you suggest for someone Joseph Klein is rabbi of Te7; --)le to begin the search? Shabbat Vaethanan: Deuteronomy 3:23- 7. 11; Isaiah 40:1-26 I Conversations Emanu-El. WANTED The Jewish Community Center's 51st Annual Jewish Book Fair is looking for local authors to participate in the LOCAL AUTHOR FAIR Sunday, November 10 • 11 a.m.-3 p.m. D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building Euge ne & Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus Books must be published between November 2001 and November 2002 and be written by a Jewish author or have Jewish content. Deadline for submission is Friday, Aug. 30. Send submissions to: Community Center • Attn. Book Fair 6600 West W Maple Road • West Bloomfield, MI 48322 • FAX: (248) 432-5552 For additional information, call Elaine Schonberger, director, Jewish Book Fair, (2481432-5577. J CC Center of Our C 771e ommumolorN ears ;. c.. Enhance the Look and Feel of Your Home with Aluminum Glass Railings For Your Free Estimate or Consultation Call Our Experts at: 248 GLOSS COMPEIMY 353-5770 Visit our Southfield Showroom: 22223 Telegraph Road (S. of 9 Mile Rd) Zee ate Vea Seel *Met Ve4e/ Necessary Clothing should be Now Accepting laundered & on hangers. Spring & Summer -Open 7 Days Fashions & Accessories Fast Turnover No App ointment CONSIGNMENT Ceottfri- Highland Lakes Shopping Center 42947 W. 7 Mile Rd. - Northville - (248) 347-4570 Buy direct 40% off A 248-358-7655 Order to your exact specifications American Express • Visa • Master Card KnoliStudio 7/19 2002 71