RETIREMENT LIVING

—

Words Are Powerful;
Use With Kindness

"I was lonely at home;

I missed laughter. My

move to The Park at

Shabbat Devarim:
Deuteronomy 1:1 - 3:22;
Isaiah 1:1-27.

Trowbridge was a

wonderful experience.

The entire community is

warm and gracious, and I

was welcomed like royalty.

I like everything about

The Park at Trowbridge

— the wonderful staff,

food, transportation,

entertainment, friends and

eat.

Save up to
annually'.
$5,999

neighbors. And now I can

choose to be by myself or

surrounded by friends. I've

never had it so good."

'24'10.4f*

a

Letter written by
Marian B. — resident

c*52-9

cr

, 24111 Civic Ceir.
Southfield MI 48033

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36 July 19 • 2007

Life!

TORAH PORTION

"It's wonderful
to be surrounded
by friends."

Beal the

1-
110

W

ords are magical things.
finding the most appropriate word for
More than a means of
the situation? Do you waste words? Or
communication, it is
are you deliberate in your speech?
through words we create, we discover,
These questions take me back to the
we connect.
childhood rhyme: "Sticks
It was through words
and stones can break my
that God created the world.
bones but words can never
It was through words that
hurt me:' It's just not true.
Moses led the people to the
The fact is, words do hurt
Promised Land. Through
and sometimes the taunt-
words, we can access the
ing and mean-spirited
very essence of ourselves.
comments stay with us for-
As Jews, we are a people
ever. It's hard to heal from
who cherish words — we tell
Rabb i Marla
those kinds of wounds.
H or nsten
stories, passing them from
Another childhood
generation to generation.
Specia I to the
maxim: "If you don't have
Jew's h News
Through words we share our
anything nice to say, don't
personal experiences, feel-
say anything at all" It's a
ings, relationships, and connect with
good lesson for all of us. And, perhaps
those of generations past and hope-
the opposite is true as well. If you have
fully those of the future.
something nice to say, make sure you
Words are, in fact, the setting for
say it loud and clear so that we can all
this week's Torah portion, the first of
hear.
the Book of Deuteronomy, Devarim,
The truth is, words are very power-
meaning words. It is named "words"
ful. We can use them to put people
because, composed primarily of fare-
down or we can use them to build
well speeches from Moses, it begins
people up. We can use them produc-
saying, "These are the words that
tively, writing or calling our national
Moses spoke to the people Israel:'
leaders. We use them to express our
With this as his introduction, Moses ideas, as communication, as protest
recaps the events of the wilderness.
and as support.
It is somewhat ironic that the final
To be sure, our words represent the
book of the Torah is filled with Moses' people that we are; they shape our
speeches, for he was the one who first
relationships; and ultimately, they can
resisted God's call to leadership, ratio-
effect change in the world.
nalizing,"I am not a man of words!"
Every one of us has the power of
But, over the past 40 years or so, he
words. Let's make sure that we use
has proven himself to be the opposite,
them correctly, kindly and with under-
the quintessential man of words—rec- standing. Let's use words to make the
ognizing their importance, communi-
right kind of statement, to help create
cating the essence of what it means to
the world we want to live in and the
be the people Israel.
world we want to pass on to future
generations. II
But like the rest of us, even Moses
has to be careful with his words. Every
word of the Torah is chosen because
Marla Hornsten is a rabbi at Temple Israel
of its particular meaning and impli-
in West Bloomfield.
cation. The wrong word might have
changed the course of history. It is
Conversations
with this in mind that I am motivated
If words are so powerful, how
to examine my own words and ask
can
it be true that actions speak
you to examine yours. Ask yourself
louder
than words? How else can
how careful are you when you speak?
we
use
our words to better the
Do you say the first thing that comes
world?
to your mind — or do you think first,