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.