Opinion

NAPPY as to YEAR
Dry Bones 2009
- 5710

Editorials are posted and archived on thejewishnews.com

Editorial

Easing Childhood Hunger

osh Hashanah is a
time to re-evaluate
the universe that
God created along with our
place in it.
As a community, we are
implored to delve into our
hearts and ask ourselves a vari-
ety of questions. Are we send-
ing the right messages to our
children? Are we providing for
our families? Have we become,
in Ghandi's famous words, "the
change we wish to see in the
;world?"
These questions spin through our heads
Zuring the High Holy Days; but when
another year passes us by and we ask our-
selves the same questions without much
'sign of improvement — that is when we
know that a change must be made. Asking
the question is the first step; making a
:change is the next.
As Jews, we use Rosh Hashanah as a
sort of stop sign on the road of life — an
opportunity to examine, assess and make
changes on both a personal and communal
level. Federal lawmakers must do the same

thing on a regular basis.
The federal Child Nutrition
Reauthorization Act of 2004
expires on Sept. 30, 2009 — just
a few days after Rosh Hashanah.
This year, lawmakers must
ask themselves a number of
questions to understand how
the Child Nutrition Program
can best address the needs of
the hungry and how nutri-
tious meals can be provided to
children in school on a daily
basis. The Child Nutrition Act
supports a series of programs,
including the School Breakfast
Program and the National School Lunch
Program, that provide daily nutritious
meals to school children in need. Every five
years, lawmakers work together to model
improvements and reauthorize the federal
Child Nutrition Program.
In 2008, President Obama set a goal to
end childhood hunger by 2015. Let this
Rosh Hashanah be the year to set that goal
into motion. This year, ask yourself how
you can become part of the solution. Ask
yourself how you can help prevent these
children from increasing the mounting

negative statistics.
There is no reason to
wait — good things
can be accomplished
every day.
Throughout the
High Holy Day sea-
son, I challenge all of
us to speak and act
from our hearts. We
turn the pages of the
machzor and listen
to the clarion call
of the shofar as it is
blown to welcome the
New Year. But what
happens when there
are no more pages to
turn and the blasts of the shofar have been
silenced?
The formalities of Rosh Hashanah have
come to a close and how do you feel?
Speaking and acting from your heart can
make all the difference. Contact your local
legislators and promote the reauthorization
of the Child Nutrition Act and help put an
end to childhood hunger.
As the Jewish community continues to
grow and strengthen, our hearts do the

DryBonesBiog.com

same. Eshanah tovah u'metukah — a good
and sweet New Year and please ask yourself
the simple question this year: What can I
do to help? E

Joel E Jacob of West Bloomfield is chair-
man of Los Angeles-based MAZON: A Jewish

Response To Hunger.

Reality Check

From Soup To Toasts

I

odd custom of holding conversa-
tions with relatives and friends
while standing smack dab in the
middle of the sanctuary doorway
8thma.
-
1 Practicing
so that everyone wishing to leave
in
i Egypt more than 800 years
. A
must squeeze around them.
this
great
Jewish
sage
and
physician
felt
ap,
A small thing, to be sure. But
at an excellent remedy for this affliction
we curmudgeons thrive on small
was chicken soup.
things.
At this point, the gallery is supposed to
I've decided that it must be a
f i out: "Well, it couldn't hurt:'
subliminal act Doorways, after
1 Maybe it comes under the heading of
real verities. But it does seem odd that the all, open in both directions, to the
same cure your bubbie would have suggested past and to the future, and that is
was already on the books with the Rambam. what we are asked to contemplate
. Maybe it struck me because of the time of during this season. To station
one's self there is to have a foot in
ar, preparing for the High Holy Days that
both dimensions.
ark the passage of our lives. Unchanging.
On the other hand, it could be sheer due-
deep source of comfort and tradition to
criftify and bind us to all the generations that lessness.
Uplifted, inspired, ready for some honey
have preceded us and all that will follow.
and
challah, the crowded doorway is an
We reflect and recall the times when
annoying
impediment that dispels the aura
ancient pools of wisdom provided comfort
of
the
day,
and I've been meaning to speak
and hope. So why not chicken soup? It's a
out
about
it
for years. So there! I said it and
start
There is, however, a bit of holiday symbol- I'm glad.
ism that I'd like to address. And that is the

recently came across a reference to a
medical treatise written by Maimonides
in which he suggested a treatment for

The other troublesome variety is the end-
Less Is More
less anecdotal rundown from the guy who
One more thing, since techni-
decided he was just going to wing it. That
cally we're still wrapping up
probably seems like a hilariously spontane-
annoyances of the old year. That
ous idea but usually falls somewhat short in
is an important piece of advice
the delivery.
I'd like to convey to all young
One immediate due something untow-
men who are likely to be asked
ard
is happening is when the volume level
to serve as a groom's best man
in
the
room starts to drown you out. Of
sometime in the future.
course,
when one is in thrall to the bril-
My advice is threefold. Ninety-
liance
of
one's own wit, it may be hard to
eight percent of the people in the
pick
up
on
that. Thrown crockery is another
room do not care what you have
giveaway.
to say. So make it short, shut up
I know this sounds harsh, the rant of
and sit down.
a
humorless
old sod. But someday you'll
At the last few weddings I
thank
me
for
it; when you're standing up
attended, the best men seemed to
there,
knowing
you've lost the audience,
be possessed by demons. Vulgarity is a word
having
no
idea
how
you're going to fin-
that has almost passed out of the language.
ish
the
toast,
dimly
aware
that people will
The best man's speech may, in fact, be one of
blame
you
when
dinner
doesn't
get served
its last refuges.
until
midnight.
An irresistible compulsion to explore
But Happy New Year anyhow. fl
the lower levels of taste and propriety with
a quick rundown of the groom's taste in
Internet porn probably should have been
fought off by the toast-giver. It wasrft and the George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor614@aoLcom.
silence was appalling.

th‘

September 17

a

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