Spirituality
MUSICAL CELEBRATION from page 99
"The concert
will be a look at
changes taking
place in Jewish
music and where
we're headed,"
Cantor Berris said.
"It will be almost
historical in nature,
beginning with a
few Yiddish songs
Cantor Berris
and leading into
traditional Jewish
songs, slightly altered to make them
more modern, and then some more
modern music that maybe many haven't
heard yet but are being used in the
Conservative movement in other cities."
Greenbaum of Congregation Beth
Shalom, Central Region United
Synagogue Youth board member
Rachel Jacobson and Cantor Chaim
Najman of Congregation Shaarey
Zedek.
While Rubin acknowledges the
initiatives taken by many local
Conservative synagogues to host
alternative, Friday night musical serv-
ices, he hopes they are only the
beginning.
Maintaining that they are not trying
to make changes, just additions,
Rubin's co-chair Linda Goodman said,
"We are not looking to impose any-
thing on anyone. We don't, in any way,
want to change what already exists, but
I would love to see an alternative musi-
cal service that makes me feel uplifted
and joyous."
Goodman, who is a member of
both Adat Shalom and B'nai Jeshurun
in New York, said, "I need to feel a
spiritual jolt, but I know that what
suits me doesn't necessarily suit the
next person."
Said Rubin, "We are just trying to
show some of the different musical
venues taking place within the
Conservative movement. And besides,
even the Second Temple rocked and
rolled with music." ❑
duration, the rabbi added.
desire to be valued and
Connecting the past with
respected. And from the
the future for youth can give
older generation's sense of
the elderly a sense of build-
history, valuable life lessons
ing for the future and pro-
can be passed on.
vide•meaning in their lives.
The rabbi recalled he
"Without a past, we have no
learned a profound lesson
future," he said.
from listening to his mother-
But what about seniors of
in-law talk about the Great
.
diminished physical or men-
Depression of the 1930s.
tal capacity who must rely
She related how some men
Rabbi Go ttlieb
greatly on their offspring?
who lost their fortunes com-
"Don't take revenge on a
mitted suicide — leaving
parent who's dependent," said Rabbi
their wives and children to fend for
Gottlieb. "Create a sense of the need to
themselves. These men, she said, were
be needed in elderly parents — that
totally unaware of how money — and
they're valued."
not family — had become the most
Even the infirm have something to
cherished thing in their lives.
contribute, he added, because God
Rabbi Gottlieb encouraged bonding
wants the service of all people according
between youth and their grandparents.
Schools should invite the elderly to con- to their capabilities. "We must value the
mitzvot an elderly person can do —
vey their wisdom to students
"Older people are survivors," he said. exactly the same way we value the
mitzvot that a teenager does or that a
"Compared to my father, I can't believe
50-year-old does.
how easy my life has been. I'm in awe
"When a person is losing powers,
of him."
does he still have goals?" asked the
Like everyone, older people need a
rabbi. "A goal of six months or a week
sense of meaning in their lives, even
is a genuine goal. You have hopes and
when their futures seem of limited
dreams. Treat the person as having a
future until the end."
In his three-day visit sponsored by
Ohr Somayach Detroit, Rabbi
Gottleb spoke on a different topic to
each of the 11 audiences including
four local Jewish high schools: the
Jewish Academy of Metropolitan
Detroit in West Bloomfield, Yeshivat
Akiva and Yeshivas Darchei Torah in
Southfield and Beth -Jacob School for
Girls in Oak Park. On March 3, he
addressed a lunch and learn at the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit in Bloomfield Township and
that evening addressed couples at
Keter Torah Synagogue in West
Bloomfield.
On Saturday evening March 5,
Rabbi Gottlieb spoke on "Love and
Marriage" to a crowd of 100 people at
Machon L'Torah in Oak Park. It was
the first event of the Jewish Cafe pro-
gram for the Russian Jewish communi-
ty. Many in the audience had recently
heard the rabbi address a convention of
Russian Jews in St. Louis and enthusias-
tically invited him to speak to them on
his visit to Detroit. ❑
Cantor Mordecai will again perform
Sephardic and Chassidic music.
"At the end of the concert we will
invite all the clergy present — rabbis,
too — to participate in a song every-
one will know," Cantor Berris said.
"We are hopeful the community
will come and see how other cantors
are making people feel holy with their
variety of music," Bob Rubin said.
"We hope they — and their clergy —
will come away knowing of new possi-
bilities for some exciting alternatives.'
Earlier in the day, workshops and
breakout sesssions include groups led
by several local individuals: Cantor
Berris, Cantor Dubov, music educator
Beth Greenapple, Cantor Sam
For a full list of offerings,
see JNOnline.com
Zaydie Knows Best?
Honor the elderly and build a bridge to the future.
DAVID SACHS
Senior Copy Editor
A
n elderly person who has lived
through history is a repository
of wisdom, said Rabbi Dovid
Gottlieb, a yeshivah scholar from Israel.
That's why he believes that those who
follow the Torah's commandment to
honor one's parents will gain a wealth of
insight in return.
Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb, senior lecturer
at Ohr Somayach International in
Jerusalem, visited Detroit last week,
speaking at 11 venues including a
March 4 Zebulon Society breakfast
meeting for business people at Congre-
gation Ohel Moed in West Bloomfield.
Rabbi Gottlieb, a New York native
who made aliyah 25 years ago, earned
his doctorate in philosophy at Brandeis
University in Waltham, Mass., and was
a professor of mathematical logic at
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
He spoke on "Honoring Our Parents in
Their Golden Years."
Rabbi Gottlieb said that people of all
ages, especially the elderly, have the
same basic needs — including the
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2005
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