Spirituality Torah Portion/Synagogues The Revolutionaries Shabbat Ki Tessa: Exodus 30:11-34:35; I Kings 18:1-39. T his momentous, pivotal Torah portion begins on Sinai's heights. God gives Moses the Tablets of the Covenant — two mirac- ulously crafted tablets of stone, "writ- ten with the finger of God." Suddenly, the narrative sweeps us down to the base of the mountain, to the shame and disgrace of the sin of the golden 0 ts calf. Nowhere else in Scripture does God reveal Himself to mankind as intimate- ly as He does in Ki Tessa. We read from it, in fact, on every fasting day on our religious calendar, Yom Kippur except- ed. Here, speaking all but face-to-face with Moses, God reveals His greatest "secrets," His inherent qualities of compassion, faithfulness and patience with His creatures, His infinite capaci- ty for mercy, justice and forgiveness. Michael Dallen, a native Detroiter, is the author of "The Rainbow Covenant." This is what observant Jews study the Midrash, the ancient rabbinic com- when we really need and seek Divine mentary, was that they didn't obliterate forgiveness. it in the first place. We needed a lot of forgiveness after People tend to think of religion as a this disaster with the idol. Indeed, says staid, conservative force, but Israel and the Talmud, "There is not a misfortune its religion were both born of revolu- that Israel has suffered since which is tion. God turned Egypt upside down, not partly a retribution for the sin of humiliating its gods and leaders, raising the calf." Our ancestors slipped up, the slave above the slave-master. horribly Islam's Koran speaks Finally, He annihilated its contemptuously of their fail- army. ure and so do the Christian Israel emerged not just as Scriptures. Israel, so recently a people, an ethnic group, "betrothed to God" at Sinai, nor merely a religion. We are turned away "to play the har- both, a nation and a sacred lot," the Talmud says, "within society, a people with a mis- her bridal canopy." sion. Two quick observations: 1) God created the Jewish We call the idol a calf, deri- people to serve Him as a sively; but it was probably a holy, revolutionary "kingdom bull: The Egyptians believed of priests," a "light unto the MICHAEL that Osiris, god of the dead, nations," to help liberate DALLEN inhabited and chose to be mankind from every kind of Special to the represented by Apis, the body evil. Jewish News of a bull. Idolatry, the worship of 2) The "mixed multitude" any god but God, is the root of foreign peoples who had fled from of all evil, the Torah teaches. To put Egypt with Israel, encamped alongside the idea into political terms, idolatry is Israel, had their own attachment to this counter-revolutionary. It is the betrayal cult. Our tradition says that only a few of God, the basis of all tyranny. It con- Jews — a few thousand, at most — tradicts the whole point and purpose of rallied around the idol. the Exodus and Sinai, including the The bigger problem, according to Jewish people's covenant with God. Keeping Kosher Any fish that has both fins and scales is kosher and parve, including salmon, tuna, flounder, sole, halibut, whitefish, sardines and rainbow trout. However, they must be cleaned and prepared with kosher utensils. Sponsored by Lubavitch Women's Organization. For information on keeping kosher or for help making your kitchen kosher, contact Miriam Amzalak at (248) 548-6771 or e-mail• miriamamzalak 1 @j uno com CONSERVIVITVIB holidays: 8:15 a.m., 5 p.m. ADAT SHALOM SYNAGOGUE BETH ISRAEL (FLINT) 29901 Middlebelt, Farmington Hills, 48334, (248) 851- 5100. Rabbis: Daniel Nevins, Herbert Yoskowitz, Rachel Lawson Shere. Rabbi emeritus: Efry Spectre. Cantor: Yevsey Gutman. Cantor emeritus: Larry Vieder. Services: Friday 6 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m., 6:15 p.m.; weekdays 7:30 a.m., 6 p.m.; Sunday 8:30 a.m. Men's Club Shabbat. AHAVAS ISRAEL (GRAND RAPIDS) 2727 Michigan St SE, Grand Rapids, 49506-1297, (616) 949-2840. Rabbi: David J.B. Krishef. Cantor: Stuart R. Rapaport. Services: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 7:30 a.m.; Friday, 7 p.m.; Saturday, 9:30 am. 2/24 58 BETH ISRAEL (ANN ARBOR) CONGREGATION 2000 Washtenaw Ave., Ann Arbor, 48104, (734) 665-9897. Rabbi: Robert Dobrusin. Services: Friday 6 p.m.; Saturday 9:30 a.m.; weekdays 7:30 p.m.; Sunday 5 p.m. CONGREGATION BETH SHALOM 31840 W. Seven Mile, Livonia, (248) 477-8974. Cantor: David Gutman. President Larry Stein. Vice presidents: Marlin Diskin, Al Gittleman. Services: Friday 8 p.m.; Saturday 9 am. 14601 W. Lincoln, Oak Park, 48237, (248) 547-7970. Rabbi: David A. Nelson. Cantor: Samuel L. Greenbaum. Ritual director: Rev. Samuel Semp. 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Cantor: Earl Berris. Services: Friday 5:30 p.m.; Saturday 9 am., 5:30 p.m.; Monday-Friday 7 a.m., Monday-Thursday 6 p.m.; Sunday and legal holidays 9 am.; Sunday 5:30 p.m. Bat mitzvah of Doree Kreitman, daughter of Kevan and Barbara Kreitman. DOR CHADASH U. OF MICH. - Here, in the midst of their own camp, Israel tolerated this Golden Calf. Revolutions don't succeed by cod- dling the enemy. The threat had to be put down. Once Moses returned to lead the people, it was. Yet it took his leadership to rally enough of them to do so. More than 140 generations have gone by since Israel burst forth from Egypt. Our duty now as then is to make ourselves — as individuals and as a people — holy, by learning what God wants of us and then doing it. One of the many lessons this por- tion teaches is that in the face of dire threats to God's honor and our own national integrity we can't afford to wait passively for a Moses to rush down to us from Sinai. Conversations Does "revolutionary" help describe the Jewish people's role in history? Did Moses smash the Tablets of the Covenant to keep them from becoming objects of idolatry? How does refusal to worship or believe at all in God compare to worshipping a false god? Services: Saturday 9:30 am. A liberal, egalitarian congre- gation serving the tri-cities area. Religious and Hebrew education programs for children and adults. INDEPENDENT U-M Hillel; 1429 Hill St., Ann Arbor 48104, (734) 769- 0500. Rabbi: Jason A. Miller. Co-chairs: Naomi Karp, Perry Teicher. Egalitarian Carlebach-style service 5:30 p.m. Fridays. Monthly Shabbat morning service. Monthly Shabbat Minchah-Seudah Shlishit. Check Web site for times www.umhillel.org AHAVAT SHALOM ISAAC AGREE DOWNTOWN SYNAGOGUE (313) 882-6700. Rabbi: Nicholas Behrmann. Cantorial soloist Bryant Frank. 1457 Griswold, Detroit, 48226, (313) 961-9328. Chazan: Cantor Usher Adler. Baal Kriah: Howard Marcus. Cantorial soloist Neil Bards. 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