52 | OCTOBER 19 • 2023 J
N

MAZEL TOV!

HOW TO SUBMIT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Mazel Tov! announcements are welcomed for members of the
Jewish community. Anniversaries, engagements and weddings
with a photo (preferably color) can appear at a cost of $18
each. Births are $10. There is no charge for bar/bat mitzvahs
or for special birthdays starting at the 90th.
For information, contact Editorial Assistant Sy Manello
at smanello@thejewishnews.com or (248) 351-5147 for
information or for a mailed or emailed copy of guidelines.

Allyson Joy
Berman,
daughter of Amy
and Jared
Berman, will
lead the
congregation in prayer as a
bat mitzvah at Temple
Israel in West Bloomfield on
Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. She
will be joined in celebration
by her brothers Benjamin,
Blake and Jacob. Allyson is
the loving grandchild of
Laura Berman, Steve
Berman, and Carolin and
Greg Sedlar. She is the
adoring great-grandchild of
Janet and the late Samuel
Neier, and Carlin and the
late Katty Gordon.
Allyson is a student
at Hillel Day School of
Metropolitan Detroit in
Farmington Hills. Her most
meaningful mitzvah project
was volunteering with
Gleaners’ Livingston Victory
Garden.

Hannah Rachel
Rodner, daugh-
ter of Lori and
Darren Rodner,
will be called to
the Torah as a
bat mitzvah at Temple
Israel in West Bloomfield on
Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. She
will be joined in celebration
by her brothers Joshua and
Zachary. Hannah is the lov-
ing grandchild of Judith and
the late Thomas J. Fox, and
Eileen and Harold Rodner.
She is the adoring great-
grandchild of the late Anne
and the late Jack Koenig,
the late Lenke and the late
Salamon Fuchs, the late
Ann and the late Max
Weingarden, and the late
Betty and the late Paul
Rodner.
She is a student at South
Hills Middle School in
Bloomfield Hills. Hannah’s
most meaningful mitzvah
project was making and
selling bracelets to raise
money for Send a Kid to
Tamarack, an initiative that
provides scholarships for
kids to attend summer
camp.

NOV. 18, 2022
Proud parents, Brian and Sasha Goodrich
of Venice, Fla., and big brother Noah
joyfully announce the birth of beautiful
baby girl, Asher Jordan Goodrich. Thrilled
grandparents are Dr. Richard and Jessica
Fields, (formerly of West Bloomfield now residing in
Sarasota, Fla.), and Robert and Karen Goodrich.

SPIRIT

A Strong
Commitment
W

e are all familiar, at
least with the basic
elements, of the
story of Noah. God’s outrage at
humanity’s evil, the great flood
which destroyed the
world — and the gift of a
rainbow, a symbol of the
Divine promise never to
destroy the Earth again.
These days it’s hard
not to feel as though
that promise is standing
on shaky footing. What
does it mean to hold
fast to a promise that
the Earth will never
again be destroyed in
a year of record heat,
brutal hurricanes,
sweeping wildfires and horrific
earthquakes? How can we
avoid asking, is God doing
this, and if so, why?
For generations, our
tradition’s great scholars have
asked if natural disasters,
ironically referred to in legalese
as acts of God, are, in fact,
Divine retribution for human
immorality. Their response is
overwhelmingly no.
In her reflection on the
question, Rabbi Laura Geller
points to a Talmudic story
which reads, “Suppose a man
stole a measure of wheat and
sowed it in the ground, it is
right that it should not grow,
yet the world pursues its
natural courses …” In other
words, the events of the natural
world are not dictated by the
acts of humankind.
I would like to offer a twist
on the narrative. While the
consistent refrain of our rabbis
has decoupled human behavior
from Divine response, it has
not dismissed humanity of our

responsibility to be stewards of
the Earth.
In the early chapters of the
Book of Genisis, time moves
quickly. Though we are now
already encountering
the destruction of
civilization, just last
week we read about the
unfolding of creation,
and we’re charged
l’shomro u’lavdo, to guard
and protect the earth,
a task we are falling far
short of accomplishing.
Throughout the
early narratives of the
Torah, we learn of a
host of incredible gifts
and commitments
that God makes to the world
as a whole and the Jewish
people in particular. No gift
is more powerful than that of
free will, the ability and the
responsibility to act in the
world.
Though there has been
much debate over the past
decade, according to the Pew
Research Center, today there
is near unanimous consent
among scientists as well as
a majority of the American
public that climate change is a
threat to human life.
In the covenant established
in Parshat Noah, God says,
“Never will I again destroy the
world as I have done.”
Covenants are in their
essence a two-way relationship;
and so, just as God has
promised not to destroy the
world, so, too, must we hold fast
to the same commitment.

Rabbi Ari Witkin is the Director of

Leadership Development at the Jewish

Federation of Metro Detroit.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi Ari
Witkin

Parshat

Noach:

Genesis

6:9-11:32;

Isaiah 54:1-

55:5.