The OJC the Ohio Jewish chronicle. (Columbus, Ohio), 1994-09-22

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The Ohio Jewish Chronicle  ,
Serving Columbus and the Central Ohio ,
j ' Jewish Community since 1922,    ■•
.VOLUME 72
NUMBER 39
SEPTEMBER 22,1994
17 TISHREI 5755
Peace back on track
page 2
Israel Bonds to hqnor
Dr. Dorothy Rubenstein
page 2
Rabbi runs for his life
page 3
4&titiwtee.'
to -Jews on Tin Pan Alley'
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Ary Schottenstein named
Beth Jacob youth director
page 8
Year begins for CTA's first
high school grad class
'       : ,'       page 17
EARLY DEADLINE
The deadline for the Sept. 29 OJC
is noon on Thursday, Sept. 22.
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By Rabbi Jerome M. E.p»„„.
A story is told about the
Seer of Lublin, whose followers danced joyously on Rosh
Hashanah. How could they
behave in such a manner on
this most solemn and serious
day?
According to the Rebbe, his
hasidim were rejoicing in the
knowledge that they had already been inscribed in the
Book of Life. And what of
those who were, not quite so
confident? They, too, were
dancing, relying on their feet
to carry their prayers into
Heaven.
At first glance, this story
seems childish, even fantastic.
Upon closer examination, however, the story conveys a
strong message about the power of joy in our tradition.
Simchat Torah — which
this year will be celebrated on
Wednesday evening, Sept. 27,
and Thursday, Sept. 28 — is a
day for unbounded rejoicing.
Like the hasidim of Lublin, we
can demonstrate our confidence that our prayers have
been heard and that we have
been inscribed in the Book of
Life. In addition, while we are
still in this optimistic frame of
mind, we come to the end of,
the yearly cycle of Torah reading and immediately begin the
cycle anew. This, too, is a reason to celebrate. Overwhelmed
by the richness of our Jewish
tradition, we have a unique
opportunity to dance around
the Torah and raise our voices
in song.
Two compelling reasons to
rejoice. Yet, surprisingly, in
many of our synagogues today, we find that it is only the
children who dance and sing.
When our children look at
their parents, what do they
see? If the parents are there at
all, they are standing on the
side, watching their children
engage in joyous (sometimes
raucous) activities. Even when .
the adults take turns carrying
the Torah around the synagogue, they are often unsmiling, fulfilling an obligation
rather than savoring this
choice moment when they
may express pride and pleasure in their heritage;
How unfortunate — not
only for the children and for
our collective Jewish future
but for ourselves, as well. Sim-
chat Torah is more than the
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- and it does more than simply
mark the end and beginning of
the annual cycle of Torah
reading. Simchat Torah is, according to Jewish mystical tradition, a Wedding, it celebrates
the marriage between God
(the hattan, or groom) and the
kallah (or bride), the Jewish
people.
The seven hakafot (circuits)
we make around the syna-
TURE
es the power of joy
we help but dance and sing at
so special a simcha as the wedding between God and the
Jewish people?
When children attend a traditional Jewish wedding, they
see their parents smile and
laugh, sing and dance. On
Simchat Torah, however, they
quickly come to realize that
the adults have attended simply to accompany their children. Worse (but inevitably)
gogue with the Torah are reminiscent ofthe circles traced by
the bride around the groom
during the traditional Jewish
wedding ceremony. The use of
a huppah is also a common
element of the traditional
Simchat Torah celebration,
further reminding us of a wedding. The Torah itself, of
course, is the ketubah, the
wedding contract, marking the
covenant between God and
the Jewish people. How can
they may infer that this is a
"children only" holiday —
one that they, too, will lay
aside as they grow older.
A wedding, on the other
hand, is preceived as a celebration of all the guests, and
when we receive an invitation;
we make every effort to attend. Chances are, our children will remember the wedding festivities for a long time
and will look forward to attending another one. Indeed,
they will probably want a wedding just like the one they attended. So it is with Simchat
Torah. So it is with all of Jewish tradition.
When children see their parents unmoved by emotion,
they too will fail to dance and
sing. Like their parents, they
will not appreciate the sheer
joy ofthe Jewish tradition, the
simcha of Torah. What does
this mean for Jewish observance? It means that if Shabbat is acknowledged grud-
ingly, rather than joyously,
our children will not choose
Shabbat observance as something they wish to emulate. If
synagogue attendance and
holiday celebrations are not
marked by a full measure of
joy, we will not experience
them fully and our children
may not see any reason to celebrate them at all.
Jewish tradition has a variety of distinct components, „
many of which we treat with
"benign neglect." How many
of us — outside of Israel —
have truly mastered Hebrew,
the classical language of our
people? How many North
American Jews are frequent
travelers to the Jewish State?
How many modern Jews have
incorporated Torah study into
our otherwise busy schedules?
Yet, even those who minimally fulfill these obligations and
derive a certain amount of intellectual satisfaction from
these pursuits'may find their
emotional, needs unsatisfied.
Ih the words of a modern
commercial, singing and dancing may offer "immediate relief." No special training is required, only a desire to let
oneself go, to allow oneself to
become fully immersed in the
joy of the moment. And as we
joyously celebrate our Jewish-
ness, so too will our children,
and their children, and their
children. Simchat Torah marks
a beginning. Once again, we
have a chance to recommit
ourselves to God, as a community and as individuals. The
cycle starts anew. Have a good
time at the wedding.
Rabbi Jerome Epstein is the
executive vice-president of The
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the association of Conservative congregations in North America.
JDC sends second medical team to Goma
Responding to the urgent
need for medical care for the
thousands of Rwandan refugees in Goma, Zaire, the
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) has
sent in a second medical team
to the Kibumba refugee camp.
The initial five-person medical team, lead by Dr. Richard
Hodes of New York City, was
sent over Aug. 4.
Forming the second medical
team also working with. Dr.
Hodes are: Dr. Arthur Fost of
Verona, N.J.: Dr. Richard Ad-
let of Vero Beach, Fla.; Nancy
Carrow Lawson of Maple
Grove, Minn.; Debra K. Fi-,
scher of Maple Plain, Minn.,
and Ellen Neiman from Los
Angeles, Calif. Lawson and Fischer are paramedics and Neiman is a registered nurse.
According to Dr. Hodes,
each doctor or nurse takes out
one or two helpers and a translator to the camps, each day.
The logistics of the day's
schedule are planned by the
local medical staff in partnership with the International
Rescue Committee.'
Two mobile medical units
were sent to Goma and over
100,000 units .of antibiotics
are also being sent to treat
thousands of cases of dysen
tery, meningitis and other
types of diseases. A feeding
program has also been established for malnourished children, sustaining them with
powdered milk and formula.
Calling by satellite phone
from Goma, Dr. Hodes stressed
that those refugees strong
; enough to get to the hospital
can survive, but the weakest
die in their huts or out in the
open. "We spend each day going from homemade hut (a few
branches with a tarp over it) to
hut or family to family with
local chiefs, seeing the sickest
people. We treat people every
day who would otherwise die
where they are," said Dr.
Hodes.
Dr. Hodes describes the dismal surroundings in Goma:
"Imagine a Woodstock lasting
50 miles; over a million refugees Hying over 20 miles from
a water source; the stench of
dying bodies, cholera and
you have some idea of what,
it's like here."
The relief projects are being
supervised by JDC and are
carried out in partnership with
the" African-American Institute, a multi-racial, multi-ethnic organization that works in
Africa.
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