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Me Walk For Israel.
R affle will be conduct
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the
day of the walk and announced th
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same day. Must be present to win.
Join us Pre-Walk for a Run!
Walk for
Israe
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20th Anniversary of
Federation's 1993
Michigan Miracle
Mission I!
Seed 'Em
Parshat Emor: Leviticus 21:1-24:23;
Ezekiel 44:15-44:31.
R
FREE Kosher
Lunch
Celebrating AU Michigan
Miracle Missions- Participants
Come Walk for Israel!
• 8:00 am - Run starts (from Temple Shir Shalom)
• 10:30 am - Walk Programs Start/Open to the Public
• 11:00 am - Lecture by Steven Pomerantz, Associate Executive
Director of JINSA, former Assistant Director of the FBI
• 12:00 pm - Kosher Lunch (no charge)
• 1:00 pm - Walk Starts
DETROIT
JEWISH NEWS
Community-wide Event
Hosted by Temple Shir Shalom
(3999 Walnut Lake Rd., corner of
Orchard Lake and Walnut Lake Rd.)
Proud Sponsor
Convenient nearby parking & shuttle service available.
WWW.WALKFORISRAEL.ORG
Silver Sponsor
1111
Ford Motor Company Fund
Co-Sponsors*
Temple Shir Shalom
Adat Shalom Synagogue
Friends of Israel
Scyllaweb
The Detroit Jewish News
Zionist Organization of
America Michigan Region
Chaldean American Chamber
of Commerce
Amy & Andre Douville
Jiffy Signs Inc. &JS Printing
jbrooksdesign, inc.
B'nai B'rith Great Lakes Region
Volunteers for Israel
Stand With Us-Michigan
Jewish Community
Relations Council
Jewish War Veterans
Art Fishman
Anne & Euge Greenstein
Akiva Hebrew Day School
Birmingham Temple
Suretta & Alan Must
B'nai Israel Synagogue
Congregation B'nai Moshe
Congregation Beth Ahm
Temple Beth El
Greater Detroit Chapter of
Hadassah
Hillel Day School
*As of 4-20-13. For latest sponsorship list visit our
website. Additional sponsors are welcome.
Jewish Federation of
Metro Detroit
Fran Bell
National Council of
Jewish Women
Temple Emanu-El
Temple Israel
Temple Kol Ami
Frankel Jewish Academy
Republican Jewish Coalition
Hillel of Metro Detroit
Michigan Israel
Business Bridge
Jewish National Fund
Holocaust Memorial Center
Anti Defamation League
Ad Design Dona red
Congregation Beth Shalom
Habonim Camp Tavor
Sternberg & Associates
American Friends of Magen
David Adorn
Tamarack Camps
A.R.T. of Michigan
Michigan Board of Cantors
Michigan Friends of the IDF
Hiller's Markets
American Friends of Rambam
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
Michigan Board of Rabbis
AIPAC
Jewish Community Center of
Metro Detroit
by
jbrooksdesign>
824740
58
April 25 • 2013
eap!
eviewing this week's Torah
portion makes me wish I
were a monk in a Jewish
monastery growing grapes for my
own sweet little kosher-
for-Kiddush liqueur I'd call
"Boruch-dictine."
The Torah reading fea-
tures a run through the
Jewish holidays, but specif-
ically in relation to the sea-
sonal harvest — an empha-
sis on Judaism's essentially
agrarian nature.
Our forefathers were
shepherds. Our land is
famous for its prize-win-
ning pomegranates — and
our national generosity all stems from
the Torah's laws about tithing fruits.
Why, we even refer to Paradise as a
"Garden," to the study of Kabbalah as
a stroll through the "Orchard."
Perhaps it's time rabbis started
wearing overalls.
The reason is that Jewish spiritual-
ity works like a farm. In the simple
metaphor, we plow and sow seeds
(the hard work necessary to create
a channel for success), we scan the
skies for rain (the blessings needed
from above) and we reap whatever
results.
But the metaphor doesn't stay sim-
ple for long as the real focus is on the
smallest part, which is the seed.
Even science talks in terms of the
"miracle" or "magic" of the seed.
Held in hand, the seed seems noth-
ing more than a tiny inanimate chip;
but this tiny seed, tossed into the
ground, slowly starts to grow and
grow tall, branching outwards, sky-
wards, sprouting buds and blossoms
that soon give way to fruit, fruits
that dangle from its many branches.
In the mind's eye, contemplate the
seed, then that arching fruit-laden
tree. From here to there, all that was
required is letting go.
A Spiritual Orchard
The famous biblical phrase,
"Be fruitful and multiply:'
means more than a bunch
of baby carriages; it's also
a spiritual mission. A seed
produces a tree; the tree, a
fruit; the fruit more trees,
and on and on indefinitely.
A seed becomes a tree,
an orchard, a forest. And
that's Judaism: It works just
like these seeds.
I often think of our great mystics as
spiritual "Johnny Applebaums," sow-
ing goodness and light wherever they
go, happy of heart and full of great
faith that every seed planted grows
and grows.
It is part of the essence of spiritual
meaning and depth that we may
never see with the physical eye what
ultimately grows from our little seeds.
The fruits may grow in today or 100
years from today; in this world, or the
next ...
It is a romantic image, yet, I sug-
gest, a healthy, instructive and true
one. Torah is a bag full of spiritual
seeds. Open it up, reach in, grab a
seed and sow it.
Reach in again, only this time
take a handful and spread them with
faith and love throughout your life.
Great things will surely grow. As the
Psalmist sings, "They who sow in
tears shall reap in joy."
That joy is a promise.
❑
Boruch Cohen is rabbi of the Birmingham-
Bloomfield Chai Center in Bloomfield Hills.