 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

