6 —THE BULLETIN — Thursday. July 12,1990
RememberJhe Sabbath, to keep It holy . rr Fourth ComrnFndment. Exodus 208
Friday, July 13,8:57 p.in. Sedra Pinchas Havdala Shabbat ends July 14, 10:05 p.m.
Beth Hamidrash (Sephar-dic Orthodox), 3231 Heather St. Rabbi D. Bassous. Daily 7 a.m.; Shabbat, Sunday and public holidays 9 a.m.; Fri. 7:30 p:m. (Summer)/Sat. sunset. 872-4222 or 872-1201.
* * *
Beth Israel (Conservative), 4350 Oak. Rabbi W. Solomon, Rabbi R. Cahana, Cantor M. Nixon, Torah reader D. Rubin, Choir S. Pelman. Daily 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.; Fri. 8:15 p.ih.; Sat. 9:15 a.m. and 6 p.m.; Sun. 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. 731-4161.
Candlelighting
Friday, July 20,8:50 p.m.
Sedra Matot/Masei Havdala Shabbat ends
July 21,9:56 p.m.
Temple Sholom (Reform), 7190 Oak St. Rabbi P. Breg-man, cantonal soloist A. Gutman. Morning minyans; Moh. and Wed. 7:15 a.m.; Fri. 8:15 p.m.; Sat. 10:30 a.m. 266-7190.
Friday, July 27,8:41
Sedra Devarim Havdala Shabbat ends
July 28,9:46 p.m.
Friday, August 3,8:31 p.m. Sedra Vaetchanan Havdala Shabbat ends
August 4,9:37 p.m.
From Pages
tells a story. "It*s not just a black box that houses an exhibit. It makes a statement,'* she said.
Arthur Rbsenblatt, head of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, suggested that James Treed be hired as chief architect for the project. After three months of study. Freed had made little progress. He decided to visit Poland and many camps to gain deeper insight into the undertaking.
"The entire experience was extremely moving for Jim. He was bora in Essen, Germany and remembered Kristal-Inacht and nioving with his laniiiy to New York shortly afterwaixls. Going^ back after all those years had a profound effect on him. It was there that his ideas consolidated. It comes out very clearly in the design," Lewison pointed out.
-She commented that the project has been a rebirth for
Beth Tikvah (Conservative), 9711 Geal Rd., Richmond, Rabbi M. Cohen, Torah reader J. Schwartz. Fri. 8 p.m.; Sat. 9:30 a.m. 271-6262.
Chabad-Lubavltch (Chas-sidic), 5750 Oak. Rabbi Y. Wineberg. Daily 7 a.m. and sunset; Fri. sunset; Sat. 10 a.m.; Sun. 9 a.m. and sunset. 266-1313.
♦ * *
Eitz Chaim (Orthodox), 8080 Francis, Richmond. Rabbi A. Feigelstock. Daily minyan 7 a.m.; Fri. 8 p.m.; Sat. 9 a.m. and 8T):m.; Sunday 9 a.m. 275-0007.
♦ * *
Emanuel (Conservative), 1461 Blanshard, Victoria. Sat. 9:30 a.m. 382-0615.
♦ * ♦
Har Er (Conservative), North Shore JCC, 1735 Ingle-wood, West Van. Rabbi I. Balla, cantonal leader R. Edel. Fri. 8.00 p.m.; every other Sat, 9:30 a.m. 922-8245 or 922-9133.
Louis Brier Home (Orthodox), 1055 W. 41 Ave. C. Kornfeld, D. Kornfeld, Moe Frumkin, R. Rosenberg. Daily 4:30 p.m., Fri. 6:30 p.m.; Sat. 9:15 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. 261-9376.
♦ ♦ ♦
Or Shalom (Traditional Egalitarian), 561 W. 28th, Rabbi I. Marmorstein. Saturdays, 10a.m. Monthly Friday bneg Shabbat. 872-1614.
Schara Tzedeck (Orthodox), 3476 Oak. Rabbi M. Feuerstein, Rabbi S. Strauss, Torah reader Rev. J. Marci-ano. Daily 7:15 a.m. and sunset; Fri. sunset; Sat; 9 a.m. and sunset; Sun. 8:30 a.m. and sunset. 736-7607.
DEATHS —
GERALDINE SMITH June 27
As another 0ii//af/n community service feature, Deaths will be published weekly as they are registered:—THE PUBLISHER.
JBrNewall Monuments
Hebrew Inscriptions Our Specially Established 1909 Personal attention paid to ALL ORDERS Fraser and 35th 327-1312
PINCHAS
EFRAT, Israel — RECENTLY ONE OF ISRAELIS LEADING SAGES, a man in his 90's, revered throughout the yeshiva's world as the pre-eminent Talmudist from the previous generation, spoke at the annual meeting of a political party whose two Knesset seats spelled success or defeat for the major parties struggling to put together a government.
Most of what Rabbi Eliezer Shach said in Yiddish was either ignored or misunderstood, but one sentence, one theme, rang out above others: "Are these Jews?" he asked rhetorically, referring to the kibbutzniks who eat and raise, rabbits and pigs in violation of a fundamental tenet of Judaism.
Much of the country perceived such rhetoric to be audacious and proyocatiye; voices rose up in defense of the small-in-number but tremendously influential kibbutzim.
The elite of the nation, people said, builders of the land, the original pioneers, self-sacrificing soldiers laying down their lives on the battle-front. RISKIN
And the "kibbutznikim" themselves, interestingly enough, insisted that they were'not only Israelis, but that they were also Jews.
In light of this week's portion, Pinchas, the spiritual ancestor of all zealots, it's appropriate to ask if Rabbi Shach's question was justified — rhetoric with a purpose or was it merely a sharp barb that eventually backfired?
Zealots in defense of zealotry are quick to point out that G-d Himself praises Pinchas, and it is due to the speed and accuracy . r of his javelin's thrust that the plague in which 24,000 had already died, ends when it does. Doesn't this mean that there should be more Pinchases in our society?
We read at the end of last week's portion that after Balak's attempts to persuade the prophet Balaam to curse the Jews failed, harlotry and idol worship do the job that Balak, king of Moab, couldn't do.
Suddenly hordes of Jews, tempted by the Midianite maidens, are off worshipping Baal Peor, sacrificing to and bowihg down before strange gods and revelliitg in the atmosphere of sexual abandon.
Enraged, G-d commands Moses to assemble the heads of the nation to hang those who've joined with Baal Peor, and as Moses gathers judges tpjnete out judgment, an Israelite man, (unnamed now but shortly identified as Zimri, a prince of the tribe of Simeon), takes a Midianite woman in the sight of the entire congregation, shamelessly flaunting his passion.
Unable to bear the sight of this arrogant betrayal of one's G-d and one's people, Pinchas, grandchild of Aaron, spears both Zimri and his Midianite mate to death with one thrust of his javelin.
The opening words of our portion this week record G-d saying to Moses: **Pinchas . . . has turned My wraih away from the children of Israel, in that he was zealous for My sake among them, that I consumed not the childrenof Israel in My Jeal' jousy ..^(Numbers 25:12-13).
Why, indeed, does theJTorah praise Pinchas as a hero, and what distinguishes his behavior from thosre of genuine fanatics?
Pinchas is unique. Acting alon^, he doesn't sneak up on the offenders in their weakest moment aided by a band of zealotsto kill as many of the violators his fury will allow.
Instead his action emerges from a place of spontaneous, momentous rage: nothing is calculated in advance, and in looking at Zimri we must conclude that here is a man out of control, zealously irrational. Otherwise it would be suicidal to do what he does knowing to what extent G-d's rage had been kindled.
Another would have tried to hide, sneaking off in the dark of night and not the glare of noon, but Zimri abandons everything for his moment of pleasure. Nothing mattered: not Moses, not G-d, and not the Jewish people.
Even more to the point, Zimri willingly was sacrificing his Jewish future for his lust, since Jewish law declares that the child follows the religion of the mother. For the sake of his passion; he cut himself off from his Jewish heritage. Thus Pinchas' response is a mirror-image of Zimri's own
obsessive lust. Pinchas asks no questions, seeks no search warrants, doesn't wait until nightfall, but plunges unabashedly ahead,
When G-d finally halts the plague it's not because Zimri was killed; his death would not have been enough to soothe G-d's rage.
But Pinchas' zealotry as the only possible answer to Zimri's zealotry. Ojie countered the other, one swallowed the other, and G-d rewards Pinchas with aV. covenant of peace: and he shall have it, and his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his G-d, and made atonement for the children of Israel,.. "[Numbers 25:12-13),
Pinchas'javelin has been used throughout theages to justify the activities of the zealous protectors of certain codes. But I believe that Halacha makes it clear that what was right for Pinchas is not necessarily right for anyone else. Pinchas was responding to a person who, in effect, had cut himself off from the Jewish people. But have the non-observant kibbutzniks severed themselves from their people?
Maimonides writes in Chapter 3, Par. 2 of ih& Laws of Rebellious Jews that denial of the Oral Law effectively places one in the category of the sect of the 'iftiftim, 'those who've cut themselves from the Jewish people and are worthy of death.
But Maimonides quickly points out in the following paragraph that these categorizations apply only to those original Jews who created devious theologies antithetical to the tradition. But their children and grandchildren suckled on these alien' ideas cannot be condemned.
Maimonides sees them as innocents acting against their will because they never had a choice; and even if they're exposed to traditioifal Judaism later on in life, they cannot be considered willful transgressors. , . >
More lecen^iy We havi^ of Rabbi David Tzvi Hof-
fman, the leading halachic authority in Germany in the early part of this century. In his ^Nork Melamed Vho-il, (part I, Responsum28) he refers to the Talmudic stateinent that *., .a desecrator of the Sabbath is like an idol worshipper,* fEruvin 69b].
Citing such Sages as Rabbi YaakovEttlinger, (1798-1871) that desecrating the Sabbath no longer places one in the category of idol-worshippers, he rules that even Sabbath desecrators may be included in a m/nvan.
This reasoning is most significant: From Mishnaic times, going as far back as 100 B.C.E. until the middle of the 18th century, he argues, virtually 99 percent of the Jewish people were Orthodox, defined by punctilious observance of the law, and therefore the punctilious desecration of the Sabbath in public meant that the desecrator wanted to separate himself from the Jewish people.
But by the time Rabbi Hoffmanwas asked to rule on the question of the minyan, the majority of Jews had fallen away from Orthodoxy. And violating the Sabbath laws in public no longer meant separating oneself from the Jewish people.
Moreover, no less eminent an ultra-Orthodox authority than the world reknowned Hazon Ish (Rav Isaiah Karelitz) ruled, in his notes to the Codes of Jewish Law, that every Jew today who transgresses is within the category of "one who has not yet been chastised."
Since the Talmud declares that we do not have religious leaders nowadays able to give proper chastisement: ("If one says to another, ^Remove the flint from between your teeth, *he can reply: *Remove the beam from between your eyes*Eruvin 16b).
If this is the case, argues the Hazon Ish, even a public Sabbath desecrater cannot be judged as a willful transgressor, and remains a Jew with respect to all laws of Judaism.
Interestingly enough, the Passover Haggadah depicts one of the four children as wicked (the rasAa). However, the wicked child is not one who eats rabbits or publicly desecrates the Sabbath, He is rather one v/ho**excludeirhimself from the Jewish people"^ Hence, we must be idoubly careful not to exclude any Jew — who sUIl considej-s himself as such, from the Jewish people. ■ ~
Today's generation of kibbutzniks-falls into the Maiiiioni-dean category of the innocent suckled on ideologies antithetical to Judaism.
And these individuals have participated in wars for the preservation of our State and our Nation, have laid their lives on the line because of their Jewish commitment.
Zimri and the 24,000 who died in a plague were part of the generation which saw the Torah given on Sinai. He knew that cohabiting with Midianites, worshipping idols, or bowing down to Baal Peor were a mockery of the,Ten Commahdmehts.
He scorned Jewish law and willingly sacrificed his Jewish future. In this context, Pinchas] javelin was justified.
But when it comes to Zimri's children and grandchildren, innocents raised in a Moabite-drenched atmosphere, and especially those who, even if unobservant, were willing to fight for
SHABBAT SHALOM-Page 14
Freed, a *'reawakening of his Jewishjdentity and roots."
The structure it^elfLewison described as a limestone building. The towers wrapped around it represent camp guard towers. The huge ehtrahce way represents German bureaucracy — inside is a village. Brick walls encased in steel make reference to the gas chambers which often got so hot they exploded.
The interior holds an atrium partially lit by a skewed, twisted skylight. It traverses the hall diagonally in a warped fashion, representative of the exposed, bent steel found in bombed-out buildings of the era.
Themes reflected in the design include bureaucracy, the facade of German elegance, and good and evil.
"Jim's responses to the image of the building are remarkably visual and clear. In fact, he has been criticized for being too literal," she said.
According to Lewison the architectural design is a delib-V erate attempt to evoke images not commonly seen in North America; images that kindle memory of those who lived through the Shoah; and images for others who will respond to these concepts.
Long staircases at the end of hallways resemble train tracks receding endlessly into the horizon. In certain areas, stairs are fashioned of steel, movement is constricted.
The Hall ofHemembrance is marked by a cracked granite wall. Of this Freed wrote, "We intend to take hammers and , goAt|t Witb them. I don't want; to iniake a drawing. I want to go ahead and smash it."
Freed doesn't want the building to look perfect or too 'worked over.' "I want it to be a little raw still."
He wants to do something that deals directly with the emotions: "Now, who's going to see this museum? People . who don't even know what the Holocaust is.
"It is; not meant to be an architectural walk, or a walk through memory, or an expression of emotion, but all of this. I want to leave it open as a resbnator of einotions. Odd or quiet is not enough. It must be intestinal, yisceral; it must take you in its grip."
Video shows
OldCity
CLARKSBURG, N.J. —
Jerusalem: Gates of Time, a new video from the Israel Film Service, explores the challenge of Jerusalem to preserve the spirit of the past while moving into the future. This video describes this quest by architects, city planners and archeologists.
Jerusalem's Gates, which in many cases antedate the Wall of Suleiman the Magnificent of the 16th century, provide the backdrop in this video.
The video includes rare historical footage of the city in contrast to Jerusalem today and in 1967 after its liberation. This moving video concludes with the poignant hope that when the closed Gate of Mercy is reopened, according to legend, the Messiah will appearand peace will come to the world.
Information: Alden Films, Box 449, Clarksburg, N.J. 08510.