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Sinai Medical Staff Foundation

2000 Southfield Town Center Suite 1780
Southfield, MI 48075-1313
(248) 353-0150
Fax: (248) 353-7843

Parshat Chukat, Shabbat Rosh
Chodesh: Numbers 19:1-22:1, 28:9-15;

Isaiah 66:1-66:24.

D

ayenu!" Each Seder, though I
love the song, I find its pres-
ence peculiar.
I am unconvinced by its major
premise, that we would have found
each of God's actions on our behalf in
the Exodus to be sufficient
in its own right.
Human nature is to want
more, to want what can be
next. As a gift, as an entitle-
ment, as an achievement,
as a means to power, as a
means to match others. The
fire of our yetzer hara, our
evil inclination, is stoked.
Despite its best intentions,
the Torah hierarchy filled by
prophets, priests and princ-
es, at times, feeds the beast
of this malicious discontent.
We need go no further than last
week's parshah, Korach. We try so hard
to distance ourselves from Korach
and his band of rebels because they so
closely pattern our yetzer hara gone
awry. Korach and his rebels want more
than they already have, are determined
to pursue it and cleverly align their
efforts with a larger declared mission
of the Israelites — to be holy.
Moshe sees Korach for who he is,
disguising his power grab, ambition
and discontent within the cloak of
communal values and mission. Moshe
says to Korach, in essence, dayenu.
Ha'mi'at mee-kem, "Is it not enough for
you:' that God has set you apart with
the privileges of being a Levite, and
now you want more?
Jewish tradition is quite aware of
the dangers inherent when we focus
on what comes next. The rabbis state
famously in Pirkei Avot, "Who is the
rich person? The one who rejoices in
his lot:' By celebrating what we have,
by acknowledging each step achieved,
we maintain the humility needed to
go forward — aligned with communal
needs and aspirations. Rejoicing in our
lot, we keep the yetzer hara at bay. It's
not an easy line to tread.

laws of the Torah, in helping us walk
this middle road. In this parshah, with
the ashes of a red heifer, a priest brings
ritual cleanliness to a person who has
come into contact with a dead body —
and becomes unclean in his own right.
Though the chok of the
red heifer applies only
to Temple times, we still
immerse ourselves in many
chukim today, l'shmah, for
their own sake, with humil-
ity and obedience, solely as
a demonstration of faith in
God and our tradition.
Though some chukim
(think kashrut) have
identity-based and ethical
byproducts, these byprod-
ucts are just that. We don't
ask why, what they do for us or where
they lead us.
The chukim take us out of our-
selves, away from our ambitions, out
of the grasp of the yetzer hara and our
desires to manipulate the tradition for
our own advantage. The chukim put
the integrity of the tradition and the
community front and central.
We live in a wonderful Jewish com-
munity in Detroit — blessed by coop-
eration, buy-in to common purpose,
the interdependency of institutions
and, more than anything, a broad
sense of commitment to the commu-
nity for its own sake.
The spirit of chok thrives here,
whereas the naked ambition and
manipulation of Korach withers. We
do a good job stilling the stubborn
instinct to self-aggrandizement and
jointly celebrating the achievements of
our interconnected parts.
These are blessings and enor-
mous achievements — not the real-
ity in most Jewish communities.
Maintaining a high-quality community
requires our unconditional and self-
less dedication. It is a constant work in
progress, a challenge we cannot abdi-
cate even for a moment as we address
the challenges of the day and those
ahead.

❑

Unexplained Laws
Enter parshat Chukat and the role of
chukim (chok in singular), unexplained

Mark Robbins is the rabbi of B'nai Israel
Synagogue in West Bloomfield.

Officers and Directors
Robert S. Michaels, M.D.-President
Marc Feldman, M.D.- Vice President
Gaylord D. Alexander, M.D.
Secretary/Treasurer
Lary Goldman, M.D.
Leon Hochman, M.D.
Susan Silk, PHD

Harold Willens, M.D.
Marty Levinson, M.D.
Lewis Clayman, D.M.D., M.D.
Teresa Thompson, PHD
Jay Levinson, M.D.
Foundation Manager
Robert Karbel, PLLC

ANNUAL REPORT

The Sinai Medical Staff Foundation is pleased to report that
during its fiscal year July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014
it made and paid out grants as follows:

Jewish Federation Camp Tamarack
Medical supplies for summer camp

$20,000

Hebrew Free Loan-loans to medical, dental
and nursing students

30,000

National Bone Marrow Transplant Link. Support
of transmittal of information regarding its programs

7,500

Planned Parenthood- Split between assistance LGBTQ
and new prenatal health outreach and education

38,000

Jewish Family Service-assistance to persons with
preventable chronic diseases including heart diseases,
obesity and diabetes

40,000

Karmanos Cancer Centers Cord Stem
Cell Bank Research

25,000

Henry Ford health System-mobile unit to assist children
in Detroit who don't have access to medical services

40,000

University of Michigan Department of Neurology,
Sinai Scholar's Fund (fifth and final installment on
pledge of $250,000 in 2009) for research into field
of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and
Parkinson's. Additionally, for its fiscal year commencing
July 1, 2014, the Foundation made a pledge of $250,000
payable over five years to the University of Michigan,
Department of Neurology for further research into
the field of neurological diseases.

50,000

For more information regarding the Foundations,
please visit our website at
www.sinaidetroitmedicalfoundation.org

Respectfully submitted,

Robert A. Karbel, PLLC
Foundation Manager

1926230

June 26 • 2014 45