SEPTEMBER 17 • 2020 | 5
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Jewfro
New Year’s Rockin’ Ease
I
have previously persuasively
argued that the greatest gift
the Jewish people ever gave
the world was summer camp. In
the anguished absence of camp
— shoutout to
the HW Backyard
Boys for their
Saved by the Bell-
caliber scheme —
we still have some-
thing invaluable to
offer this year.
The opportunity
to end it early.
Let the fresh wheels and neon
lights of 5781 transport us away
from the bottomless pothole that
is 2020, just as Olivia Newton
John magically ushered in the
(19)80s on roller skates. While
the Jewish New Year does not
relieve us of our civic duty in
November — or whatever comes
after murder hornets — we need
not wait to pop out the Nintendo
cartridge and blow off the grime
that has made this such a glitchy
year.
Which brings me to the sage
advice I offer for anyone seek-
ing to overcome the paralyzing
entropy of this angry, ill, cynical
world.
Lapidary.
Go polish rocks. That may
sound like a Depression-era
insult at first, but you, pally, are
no afternoon farmer.
The two steps to rock polishing
are 1. Get rocks. 2. Polish the
rocks.
Unlike, say, reasonably priced
mid-century modern furniture,
rocks are not hard to find. Rocks
are everywhere. If you had
“shoreline erosion” on your Bad
News Bingo board for 2020, take
as consolation the outstanding
geological diversity resulting
from the changing water levels.
Rocks that had been encased
in the earth since the ice age
sparkled along the shore of Lake
Michigan, free from zebra mus-
sels and indifferent to the much
larger rock that is presumably
hurtling toward Earth.
I did not violate the Michigan
law limiting removal of any rock,
mineral or invertebrate fossil
from state-owned land for per-
sonal or non-commercial hobby
use to 25 pounds per year. But I
came close.
We’
ve all been there — you
fill your fanny pack with rocks
whose colors and patterns catch
your eye, only to lose interest
once they’
re dried off, dull and
scratching up your Laser Discs.
Don’
t throw them out, espe-
cially if you live in a glass house.
That Petoskey Stone is 350 mil-
lion years old. It feels the same
way about dinosaurs — maybe
dismissive, maybe unaware —
that you do about TikTok.
Let’
s talk about grit. You should
be proud of the resiliency that
has fortified you during these
trying times. You can’
t buy grit.
Unless you are talking about
sandpaper, in which case you
need to buy the right kind.
As units of measurement go,
grit is it. Grit would make SPF
blush ... make Richter quake
in his boots … make olive oil
clutch its pearls. Far removed
continued on page 6
continued on page 6
Ben Falik
Petoskey Stone exceeding 25 pounds where the stairs used to be
BEN FALIK
Guest Column
A Call for Unity, Moderation and Action
E
lul is the last month of the
Jewish year leading up to
Rosh Hashanah. It’
s a time
of self-examination, self-improve-
ment and repentance. A return
to righteousness
and justice made
all the more nec-
essary during this
unprecedented and
tragic COVID-19
pandemic.
Unfortunately,
righteousness and
justice in this world are waning,
not waxing, at the moment. To
our horror, we’
re witnessing ever
increasing acts of antisemitism
and racism. Authoritarianism is
on the rise while democracies
across the world are struggling.
Fear and hate is killing people
every day here in the U.S.
Humans regress to tribalism
when they are afraid; evolution
encourages this instinctual behav-
ior. After all, a tribe that is cohe-
sive and unified in mission is best
able to defend against external
threats. Nevertheless, we need
to fight against this isolating and
harmful tribal instinct. We must
rise above it.
Tribalism based on fear and
hate is weakening this great
nation. Knowingly or not, our
media sources and social media
platforms are allowing extremists
and foreign intelligence agencies
to weaponize hate and fear to sow
discord and violence. This unset-
tling trend is likely to worsen as
the November election approach-
es.
What can we do? For a start,
break out from tribal isolation.
This doesn’
t mean abandoning our
religious, community or political
affiliations. Rather, we need to
take action as ambassadors of
goodwill and resist the false per-
ceived safety of isolationism.
This requires stepping out-
side our virtual silos and echo
chambers. Reading or viewing
only a single news source is liter-
ally killing us. Critical thinking
requires consideration of different
perspectives, not just those that
reinforce our way of thinking.
Engage and work with people
holding opinions different from
our own. Build wider, not nar-
rower tents, and create or partici-
pate in educational programs that
present multiple perspectives. I’
m
not advocating for false relativism
but rather for more education
and knowledge. How else can we
learn and grow?
I currently have the honor
of serving as president of the
Jewish Community Relations
Council/AJC Detroit. Our orga-
nization’
s mission is to represent
the Metropolitan Detroit Jewish
Seth Gould