40 | FEBRUARY 1 • 2024 J
N
MAZEL TOV!
Traison 90th
L
arry Traison will celebrate
his 90th birthday on Feb. 26,
2024. He was married to the
late, beloved Barbara for 67 years.
Larry is the loving father of Steve
(Janice) Traison, and the late
Sheri Traison (Jeff) Devries; proud
Papa to Danny (Courtney Asker)
Devries, David (Nina) Devries,
Elizabeth (Ari Witkin) Traison,
Rachel Devries, Rebecca Traison
and Randi (Michael Steinberg)
Traison; adoring Big Papa to
Hadar, Shayne, Raviv, Benjamin and Sivan. Larry still goes
to work daily at Walker Printery, which turns 100 this year.
Kline-Kaplow
L
ois and Robert Kaplow of
Farmington Hills are delight-
ed to announce the marriage
of their daughter Dr. Julie Kaplow
to Dr. Mark Kline, son of Elsie
Kline and the late William Kline.
Julie is executive director of the
Trauma and Grief Centers at the
Hackett Center for Mental Health
in Houston and the Children’s
Hospital New Orleans, and
Professor of Psychiatry at Tulane
University School of Medicine.
Mark is senior vice president, chief medical officer and
physician-in-chief at Children’s Hospital New Orleans
and professor of pediatrics at Tulane University School of
Medicine and Louisiana State University.
A celebration of their marriage will take place in May in
Houston.
Hunter Joseph Borenstein, son of Pamela
Carberry, and William and Shawn Borenstein, will
lead the congregation in prayer as a bar mitzvah
at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield on Saturday,
Feb. 3, 2024. He will be joined in celebration by
his brothers Zach, Chandler, Andre, and his sis-
ters, Karissa and Kaylin. Hunter is the loving grandchild of
Mildred and the late John Carberry Sr., and Stella Ann and
Sam Borenstein.
He is a student at South Hills Middle School in Bloomfield
Hills. Hunter’s most meaningful mitzvah project was raising
money for the Arthritis Foundation in honor of his mother
and Granny Carberry.
SPIRIT
Strength in Unity
T
he Torah portion this
week is the most sig-
nificant portion of the
year as it contains the episode of
Hashem speaking to the Jewish
people and transmitting the Ten
Commandments. According
to the Oral tradition, the
entire nation of Israel
underwent a collective
conversion at Mount Sinai
and formally became
Jewish.
The Talmud relates that
before Hashem offered
the Torah to the Jewish
people, He offered it to the
other nations of the world.
Every one of them had
some reservation about
some aspect of Torah: One
nation balked at the idea
of banishing murder (“we are
warriors”), another at the rules
of sexual morality, another at
honesty in business and so on.
But our ancestors who stood at
Mount Sinai declared that they
accepted Torah unconditionally.
Antisemitism throughout the
world has reached epic propor-
tions. Interestingly, the Talmud
states that the word “Sinai” is
related to the Hebrew word sin’ah
which means hatred. Our sages
explain that antisemitism was
sparked when we became a cho-
sen nation at Mount Sinai, due
to our willingness to accept His
authority unconditionally.
We were charged to be “a light
unto the nations” and the con-
science of the world — some-
thing that much of the world
dislikes … So antisemitism is
not really related to Jews being
rich or poor, communists or
fascists, rulers or parasites — the
ultimate cause of antisemitism is
what the Jewish people represent
in the world.
To receive the Torah at Mount
Sinai, the Jewish nation had to
first reach an unprecedented
state of unity. Rashi makes the
point that at Sinai the nation of
Israel was like “one person with
one heart.
”
When the Jewish nation left
Egypt, they were frag-
mented; but they managed
to resolve their differences
by the time that Torah was
given. It’s noteworthy the
final major event preceded
the giving of Torah was
the battle against Amalek,
an evil nation that
attacked without prov-
ocation and was guilty
of atrocities against our
people. Amalek’s vicious
behavior finally brought
Jews to the realization that
they needed each other for sur-
vival. Even more, they were able
to sense they all truly came from
the same Divine source and they
then bonded as one.
History repeats itself. Despite
the divisions that exist among
us, Hamas, the Amalek of our
time, has woken the Jewish
people to the realization that we
are one and there is far more
that unites us than the superfi-
cial differences that divide us.
It is heartwarming to see how
Jews from the four corners of
the world are unified in helping
Israel, both materially and spiri-
tually, to overcome the enemy it
now faces.
Our ancestors were able to
defeat Amalek soundly; so, too,
may we merit that the brave sol-
diers of the IDF, supported and
protected with all our prayers,
good deeds and resounding
unity, deliver a decisive defeat to
Hamas.
Rabbi Elimelech Silberberg is a rabbi
at Tugman Bais Chabad Torah Center in
West Bloomfield.
TORAH PORTION
Rabbi
Elimelech
Silberberg
Parshat Yitro:
Exodus
18:1-20:23;
Isaiah 6:1-7,
67-5-6.