Spirituality TORAH PORTION Lech Lecha: An Improbable Journey Parshat Lech Lecha: Genesis 12:1- 17:27; Isaiah 40:27-41. A BC World News tern of many people who announces, left Haran and headed "Michelle Obama to Canaan. Canaan was has traced her family tree on the route to Egypt and her roots lie in slav- and Egypt was in ancient ery. From the low country times what Manhattan is cabins of South Carolina to us today, a destination to the White House, it for opportunity. has been an improbable If Abraham can get journey. to Canaan, if Michelle Rabbi Tamara The words descend on Obama can get to the Kolton me like rain after a long White House, then think Special to the drought. They bring sur- of the enormous potential Jewish News prise, relief and the pos- for change that defines sibility for transformation. Sitting us today. Surely, we can figure out alone in my living room watching health care. Maybe we can even put the newscast, I find myself over- an end to the brutality of famine. whelmed with emotion and I begin If we are to survive as a species to weep. with nuclear weapons and toxic I weep for all waste, we are the children who going to need to have been bruised continue to "Lech and abused in Lecha' "to go body and spirit. forth:' into new I weep for their possibilities for a fathers who tried better world. We to protect them are going to need in vain. I weep to pull off many for their mothers more improbable and their grand- journeys. mothers who were Perhaps raped and humili- Michelle Obama is ated. the beginning of Most of all, I many new stories. weep for the grati- Perhaps gen- tude that I feel erations from now because of this people will trace story and what it represents. their roots back to us and be proud Is it possible that we have broken of what they discover. the barrier of hate? Is it possible This is the work that will define our that we, as a society in the United generation. States, have grown from a place of deep fear of the other to acceptance Tamara Kolton is rabbi at the Birmingham and even appreciation? It indeed has Temple in Farmington Hills. been an improbable journey. This week's Torah portion is Lech Lecha, which literally means "Go forward" or "You will go:' In the Conversations text, Abraham takes his family and Are we proud of our deeds as leaves the place of his birth. He is we "go forth" into the future? promised a new land where he will In terms of race relations, have prosper and be part of a great gen- we as a country reached the eration. "Promised Land"? In fact, he is following an ancient trade route that mirrors the pat- If Abraham can get to Canaan, if Michelle Obama can get to the White House, think of the enormous potential for change that defines us today. 40 October 29 • 2009 Listen To JPS Audio Bible On Podcasts And iTunes Philadelphia, Pa. — For the first time, the new JPS translation of the Jewish Bible, the JPS Tanakh, is available in audio format. Produced and recorded for the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) by JBI International over the course of 12 months, this groundbreaking project — known as JPS Tanakh: The Jewish Bible, audio version — features 60 hours of readings by 13 narrators. They included stage and TV actors, radio personalities, teachers and voiceover talents. Special guests such as actor and singer Theodore Bikel, TV and Broadway actress Tovah Feldshuh, and best-selling authors Bruce Feiler and Rabbi Harold Kushner also contributed their talents. "For many years JPS had been hoping to produce an audio version of its Bible. The 1917 JPS translation is in audio, but not the 1985 transla- tion, which is the version everyone reads today:' says JPS COO and pub- lishing director Carol Hupping. "We were delighted when JBI agreed to record for us. It was the only organization we considered working with because of its new, state-of-the-art studios and, more importantly, because of the expert care its staff would give to every aspect of production: the right mix of voices, timing, sound, and pronunciation of all those Hebrew names! "Like so many important projects, the work was more involved than anyone anticipated. But it was worth it; the JPS Tanakh Audio Bible is sure to become a classic." Beginning with the new cycle on the holiday of Simchat Torah, JPS features free podcasts of the weekly Torah readings all year long on its Web site: www.jewishpub.org/books/ audiobible. In addition, the entire audio Bible will be available soon for purchase through the JPS Web site, Audible and iTunes, and through many public libraries' online access programs. JBI, the world's largest library of talking books of Jewish inter- est for the visually impaired, blind, and reading-disabled of all ages and backgrounds, will offer the entire recording free to the visually impaired and blind. More informa- tion on the JBI Library is available at www.jbilibrary.org . JPS, a nonprofit organization, is the oldest publisher of Jewish works in English, including the JPS Tanakh. Yeshiva U. Talmudic Scholar At Young Israel Of Oak Park Rabbi Hershel Schachter, a noted talmudic scholar and rosh yeshivah (head of the rabbinical school) at Yeshiva University in New York, will speak at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, at Young Israel of Oak Park. His talk is open to the entire community. Rabbi The rabbi's topic Schachter is "Honest to God: Living Our Lives with Integrity." Schachter, who became an assistant to the late Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik at age 22 and the youngest rosh yeshiva at RIETS (Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary) at age 26, will visit Detroit for the weekend. His stops include a talk for parents and chil- dren at Yeshivat Akiva in Southfield at 8:30 a.m. Sunday and a 10:30 a.m. discussion that morning at Young Israel of Oak Park about the halachic implications of genetic engineering. Schachter is known for his ability to translate complex legal ideas for a lay audience. Aside from his duties at RIETS, Schachter, 68, also serves as head of RIETS' Marcos and Adina Katz Kollel (Institute for Advanced Research in Rabbinics), holding the institution's Nathan and Vivian Fink Distinguished Professorial Chair in Talmud. He is the senior halachic authority in the kashrut division of the Orthodox Union and a prolific writer and lecturer on subjects rang- ing from Jewish divorce to conver- sion. Tickets for the Saturday evening event, sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Steven Cohen in memory of their fathers, are $20, and include mela- vah malkah, a light meal to usher out Shabbat. RSVP by Nov. 3 by call- ing Young Israel of Oak Park at (248) 967-3655. The synagogue is at 15140 W. 10 Mile, just east of Greenfield. Schachter's visit is co-sponsored by the National Council of Young Israel.