Opinion
Dry Bones
A MIX OF IDEAS
YOUR UN ME
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Season To Rejoice
S
fully, we can see the light and majesty of
ukkot is called zman simcha-
the universe.
teinu, the time of our joy. This
Let me share with you a powerful
is more than a title or sugges-
tion. It is a religious obligation to rejoice teaching from Rav Joseph Soloveitchik,
of blessed memory, one of the greatest
during this time.
It might seem strange to
rabbis of the last century, and
beyond. He writes, "The 'catch'
require happiness in the
to the mitzvah of sukkah is
fall. The summer is ending.
to sit in a small booth and
Days are getting shorter. We
yet to feel that you are not
have less free time. Perhaps
limited by it. On top of the
it would make more sense to
booth, Hashem Himself is to
require zman simchateinu in
be found. But not all can peer
the spring when we look for-
through the schach, the roof
ward to warm, lazy days.
covering.
The Jewish calendar teaches
"One must focus and
us a powerful lesson for look-
Rabbi Aaron
concentrate
to see what lies
ing at life. It is easy to be
Berg man
beyond
the
surface
of the
happy during pleasant times.
Comm unity
schach,
especially
when
the
It is a greater challenge to find
Vi ew
schach is so thick only rain
happiness when things are
can pass through it.
difficult. Sukkot reminds us
"In essence, man's entire life is one
that joy is always possible as long as we
small sukkah. The individual, indeed
are aware of the marvels of the world,
mankind as a whole, sits in a small
even when things are not going exactly
insignificant booth. Yet he thinks his
the way we want.
little booth is the whole world; there is
The roof of the sukkah is imperma-
nent. It allows in rain. It usually does
nothing beyond his own little universe."
not have windows and usually allows in
Sukkot reminds us that there is a
little light. Nonetheless, if we look care-
world beyond ours. There is a world
TODAY'S LW
Wald) COWAN
THE ETHIOPIAN
ARMY
that God created for us, in which we
can learn, perform the commandments,
enjoy our families and friends and have
a relationship with God.
This season, and every season, can be
zman simchateinu, the time of our joy, if
we allow it to be. I 1
Aaron Bergman is a rabbi at Adat Shalom
Synagogue in Farmington Hills.
Reality Check
Spare Me The Facts
I
recently was loaned a copy of a new
biography of Satchel Paige, one of the
towering figures in baseball history.
Although deprived from competing in
the big leagues because of racism during
his prime years, he still managed to pitch
briefly at that level and even got
into the 1948 World Series with
Cleveland.
That date is important.
Because this book contains one
of the silliest errors I have ever
come across in a work released
by a major publisher.
On page 210, author Larry
Tye has Cleveland owner Bill
Veeck bringing in Joe Louis
to give Paige a pep talk before
starting a game.
According to Tye, "the black
world heavyweight champion
... two months earlier had
knocked out German strong-
man Max Schmeling just 124 seconds into
their bout at Yankee Stadium."
32
October 1 • 2009
The only problem with that statement
is that Louis fought Schmeling ... not
two months before ... but a full 10 years
before, in 1938. That date was the source
of its enormous social and political sig-
nificance.
The Nazis seemed to be
advancing everywhere. Hitler
was holding Schmeling forth
as the perfect Aryan speci-
men who would destroy Louis.
The controlled fury with
which Louis, instead, anni-
hilated Schmeling made him
an authentic American hero,
raising morale all across the
country.
This was one of the most
famous sports events in
American history. Getting it so
wrong not only in its time but
in its meaning is baffling.
Publishers such as Random
House are supposed to employ editors and
fact checkers who flag down mistakes as
egregious as this. If they got this wrong,
what can be trusted in the rest of the
manuscript?
But in a world where a piece of comic
book garbage like Quentin Tarantino's film
Inglourious Basterds can take in $100 mil-
lion at the box office, what can you expect?
I am sure that thousands of people who
saw that picture came away convinced that
Hitler and his high command were killed
by a bomb in a Paris theater.
Especially younger people, who aren't
even sure in what century World War II
occurred. Or why. Or where.
But how can they be blamed when even
ostensibly responsible writers in main-
stream media seem to treat facts as mere
inconveniences. New York Times columnist
Maureen Dowd, for example, heard words
that were never uttered.
When South Carolina Republican
Congressman Joe Wilson shouted "You lie"
at the president last month, Dowd wrote
that she heard "Boy" as the unspoken con-
clusion to the man's stupid outburst.
It may be that Dowd is so exalted in big
time media circles that she now thinks
she is Joan of Arc, listening to voices that
urge her to find the greater truth. Last
time I looked, however, that's really not the
way journalism is supposed to work. You
report what is said, not mystic revelations.
Wilson obviously is a boor who may
have had one or two too many over din-
ner that night. But the subject was health
care, not race. If you succeed in bending
the subject back toward race, however, all
criticism of Barack Obama on any issue
becomes impermissible.
Then to make my weekend complete
that asinine Curse of Bobby Layne story
... the malediction that never happened
... was reported as unquestioned fact by
the Fox Network's national broadcast team
during the Lions game.
Isn't there a price for careless stupidity
anymore? Fl
George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor614@aol.com.