Prayerful from page 32
Guest Column
Life's Whirl
Shifting Tracks
Dr. Jen Green, Cantor Michael
Shema Yisrael: Here, 0 Israel, first
Smolash's wife, wrote the verse
published in 1998, spurred the rise
of full-color siddurim with themed
All Week We Serve," about how
Shabbat "serves our spiri-
facing pages. Rabbi Yedwab
tual selves" following a
explained how "creating
week when the "hectic
prayer books has been an
important and cherished
flow never stops:'
In "We Call Each Other
part of my rabbinic career:'
To Worship," Smolash
He speculated this would
reflected on the Barchu,
be his last, at least on paper.
"After all," he said, "in 15
the Call to Worship, and
how it unites the congre-
years,
prayer books will be
Dr. Jen Green
gation "with one breath,
very different than they are
one song, one voice:'
today. Like our PowerPoint
Rabbi Joshua Bennett's
siddur, they will be beamed
At Midnight I Rise"
onto the walls of our sanc-
encourages us to con-
tuaries or perhaps displayed
tinually thank God for
on computer tablets, elec-
everyday miracles and
tronic eyeglasses or even
implants wired directly into
the sweetness of a child's
soul:'
the brain:'
Rabbi Marla Hornsten's Cantor
Renee and Martin Laker
"You Didn't Have To
dedicated the first edition
Smolash
Command Me" is about
of Shema Yisrael: Hear, 0
loving God because
Israel in memory of their
of Divinely inspired
fathers. The next edition
was in memory of their
trust and respect — for
example, God being "kind
mothers and also a grand-
when the world wasn't"
daughter. In the dedica-
or "the spark of light in
tion note of Shema Yisrael:
the dark when I needed
Hear, 0 Israel, the West
to find my way" — not
Bloomfield couple summed
because God commanded
up their siddur trilogy:
to be loved.
"May this siddur connect
In explaining the spark
us in prayer with those who
for her "Standing At The
came before us, with those
Water's Edge," Stephanie
who sit among us and with
Michaels, wife of
all those yet to follow:'
"Praying as a congrega-
Cantorial Soloist Neil
tion, as a community, is
Michaels, told congre-
gants the Michaels' home
powerful: Renee told the
IN. "It reminds me that I
is filled with song.
Rabbi
am part of something larger
"There is a lot of music, Hornsten
whether it's coming from
and more expansive:'
a guitar or a piano or our
Added Martin: "We have
had many blessings. Our
voices, or now those of
our two children," she
parents taught us well about
said. "But sometimes, the
remembering those bless-
best music we can hear
ings and sharing our good
is when we can actually
fortune with those around
silence those instruments
us:'
and step outside or lis-
Congregant Suzan
Stephanie
ten at the window to the
Curhan of West Bloomfield
Michaels
found exhilaration in a
percussion of the rain or
the sound of the waves —
prayer book dedication
where so many of the
those sounds in life that
are music of their own:'
authors read their spiritual
offerings.
Rabbi Jennifer Lader's
"Light Changes Each
As she put it: "The
Day" is about transitional
prayers became more per-
moments for youth —
sonal for me. As I read
"where they are in a
the Hebrew, as I pay more
liminal state between
attention to the chronology
Rab bi Lader
of the service, I am inspired
childhood and adulthood,
trying to figure out what
to interpret the prayers
Jewish identity means:' Such a
as an individual. That makes the
prayer is ideal for b'nai mitzvah
experience more relevant to me as
celebrants.
a Jew."
"
❑
Are University Professors
Teaching The Whole Truth?
S
omething became very clear to me after
I believe that lack of objectivity is contribut-
a recent discussion with my daughter, a
ing to the polarization in our society and our
sophomore at University of Michigan.
larger societal dysfunction. If professors can't
Like most of us, she trusts her professors to
model objectivity, how can we expect politicians
teach "the sacred truth:' Yet I have made recent
to do so?
discoveries that reveal college professors oper-
I recently encountered a University of
ate under various constraints, and they may
Michigan professor of Arabic literature, (who
even have personal political agendas that give
himself was not of Middle-Eastern heritage)
untruthful, unbalanced messages. The
who told me outright that the
results are university students don't have
"birth of the Israeli state was a
a chance to get a balanced point of view
disaster ... Jews could have a
and it's likely that many are being misled.
homeland, just not there."
Case in point: My daughter took a
It made me wonder whether
class on the "Arab-Israeli Conflict" but
he uses his classroom as a bully
finished unaware of the waqf, the central
pulpit?
reason for the conflict. Waqf is an Arabic
People of various political
word for land that has been conquered
persuasions study Arabic, not
for Islam or has ever had a prayer room
just Israel-haters. Might they
standing on it. That land becomes an
by influenced or even intimi-
endowment for only Muslim owners, in
dated by his attitude? Does
perpetuity. Most strikingly, the concept of
anyone care?
waqf is not specific to Israel. It covers lots
It's time for everyone, espe-
of lands, from Spain to Houston, Texas
cially university students and
and beyond. And yet my daughter never learned their parents, to realize that professors are not
that word or that concept.
all sacrosanct purveyors of the "truth." There are
The Hamas Charter states: 'All of Palestine
many political agendas floating around and, to
[which includes Israel] is an Islamic Waqf...
use an old-fashioned term, "charlatans" pulling
no part of it can be given away by any nation or
a professorial paycheck.
king:'
Thus, the Hamas Charter states that no
Ruth Katsnelson of West Bloomfield holds a master's
Jewish sovereign Israeli state can exist, thereby
degree in social work from Wayne State University
making a two-state solution impossible. No
in Detroit. She is a Jewish educator and a retired
student completing this class should walk away
school social worker.
without that knowledge.
Historically, universities have
been political places, where free
thought and emerging ideas take
hold. But what about professors who
have political agendas, who deliver
half-truths and deliberate misin-
formation, even making statements
that are easily refuted after a quick
fact-check?
They deliver lectures to crowds
of people, knowingly making false
statements. They must think they
won't be caught because everyone
is supposed to believe the "expert"
with the Ph.D after his/her name.
POLITICALCARTOONS.COM
DRYBONES.COM
According to the website
insidehighered.com, 80-90 percent
of professors in the liberal arts
(humanities/social sciences) are
politically liberal to moderates; 9
percent are conservative. How then
does a student get the other point of
view, honestly presented for the sake
of academic balance?
As a professor from Oakland
University recently told me,
"University cultures are all for diver-
sity, except for diversity of thought."
❑
Dry Bones
November 6 • 2014
33