NEWAU. MONUJyiElftS
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Hebrew Inscriptions ^ OurSpedalty
Established 1909 \
Personal attention pakfto . ALL ORDERS
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5096 Fmar Street, at 35tb Ave.
604-327-1912
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Remember the Lx}uls Brier Home and Hospital In your will
with a bequest to the
Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation
Telephone: 604-261-5550 Fax: 604-261-5565 www.kMJisbrier.coin
DEATH ANNOUNCEME^a'S
IRVINE E. EPSTEIN SEPT. 3
For Unveilings Announcements
Call Cynthia at 604-689-1520
Torah Porti
on
A time for introspection
To perfect tiie world, we must start with ourselves.
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN TORAH COLUMNIST
YomKippur Efrat
The Jewish calendar is divided into two hohday periods: the Passover-Shavuot season that highlights the birth of the Jewish nation and our religio-legal heritage of Torah, and the Rosh Hashanah-Yom Kippur-Sukkot season that emphasizes the creation of the world and the sacred character of nature as well as that of the 70 gentile nations. But Yom Kippur, the centrepiece of this period, focuses on the nationalistic purification of Israel and our re igious rituals of the Holy Temple sacrifice. Why does it shift our attention from uni-versalism to particularism?
The answer is to be found in the Torah reading of Rosh Hashanah. One would expect us to celebrate the anniversary of the creation of the world by publicly reading the first verses of Genesis. Indeed, the yearly cycle of Torah portions is nearing its end with the advent of Rosh Hashanah, so it would be in accordance with the pattern of the portions to celebrate our New Year by intoning, "In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1) Instead, we turn to the birth of Isaac on the first day of Rosh Hashanah and the binding of Isaac on the second. Why?
The vision of Rosh Hashanah is that we must perfect the imperfect world created by G-d, that we must accept responsibility as G-d's partners to cause the wicked of the earth to turn to ethical monotheism. Rosh Hashanah invokes the "macro" by praying for the time when "every creature will know that You (the G-d of love and compassion] created it..." But the macro is comprised of many "micros": re-create the world by re-creating yourself, redirect the world by re-directing your family towards the G-dly ideals of loving-kindness, truth and peace. Indeed, on the Sabbath of Repentance we invoke the figure of Elijah the Prophet, herald of redemption, declaring that his most awesome challenge and greatest accomplishment will be to turn the hearts of the parents to the children and the hearts of the children to the parents.
It is told that a devoted disciple of Rav Yisrael Salanter, , founder of the ethicist (musar) movement in Judaism, told his teacher of his desire to leave Lithuania to spread the ideals of perfecting one's ethical characteristics to the Jewish communi-
ty in Berlin. His teacher's reply was, "Are all of the people so perfect in our town of Salant that you can afford to go off to Germany? And are the people on your block so perfect that you can afford to teadi in another part of town? Are the members of your family so deeply involved with ethidsm that you can begin to preach to strangers? Are you yourself so morally developed that you can allow yourself to motivate others?"
The second day's Torah reading, the binding of Isaac, continues this theme. Mount Moriah, the scene of the binding, is the most sacred locus in the Jewish tradition. Although the Torah was given on Mount Sinai, Moses ascended that mountain alone. Abraham ascended Mount Moriah with his son Isaac, making it a familial rather than an individual experience. Moreover, G-d gave the Israelites the gift of Torah on Mount Sinai, while Abraham and Isaac were willing to present G-d with a sacrifice on Mount Sinai.
Rosh Hashanah provides the universal vision and its Torah reading explains the steps we must take to get there: sacrifi-dally dedicating oneself and one's family to the ideals of ethical monotheism. Yom Kippur is the Rosh Hashanah Torah reading applied in practice.
Individuals retreat for a 24-hour period firom the the majestic macrocosm of the world around them. They imderstand that often by retreating we advance. They devote a complete day to personal introspection and self-creation. As G-d revealed to Abraham and Isaac, when He demanded that Abraham not trick his son or do him any harm, the most profound sacrifice lies in living for G-d rather than in dying by His name. And so, we fast on Yom Kippur, mindful that by so doing we all become veritable Isaacs.
Hopefully, Yom Kippur enables people to recreate themselves in dedication to G-d's will. As the day nears, we read the Book of Jonah - which reminds us of our obligation to reach out to the world, even to ouir enemies, and teach them G-d's will. And if the Day of Forgiveness has succeeded, we are ready to confront the world of nature and nations on Sukkot, prepared to sanctify every aspect of creation to the glory of G-d.
Shabbat shalom. □
Rabbi Shiomo Riskin is chief rabbi of Efrat, Israel, and dean of Ohr Torah institutions in Israel.
Candlelighting:
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Build a temporary home for just $101
KYLE BERGER REPORTER
Amie Shuchat had a dream. For the first time, he decided, this year he was going to build a sukkah. After doing a little browsing on the Web, he foimd a simple set of plans for an eightrfoot-by-scven-foot kosher sukkah and headed to Home Depot to collect everything he needed to get the job done.
As he searched for, then wrote down the number of each bin that held the many items he would need, he realized that once he had done this legwork, there was no reason for anyone else to have to go to the same trouble.
A sukkah similar to ttie one Ctiabad of Riclimond is supplying plans for to anyone interested.
"It dawned on me that thousands of Jews might build a sukkah if they could just figure out how to do it simply without a big fuss," he said. "Once I got home, I scanned [the receipt] into the computer and fired ofTa copy of the plans to Rabbi Baitelman of Chabad, who approved the design and liked the idea of helping others expedite the construction of their own sukkah."
Shuchat's efforts have since turned into a new sukkah building program in conjunction with Chabad of Richmond that has already been promoted to thousands of families around Greater Vancouver via an e-mail flyer.
For $101, tax included, all of the materials, with the exception of the schach (bushes), can be purchased. Chabad will provide the list of materials, the construction plans, a copy of the receipt fi-om Home Depot and advice if you run into any problems along the way, all free of charge.
As well, for a taxable donation of $200, arrangements can also be made for a group of what Shuchat calls "buildniks" to come to your home and construct the sukkah for you. All proceeds will go to either Chabad of Richmond or the Richmond Jewish Day School.
For more information about the sukkah building project, call Shuchat at 604-275-0513 or e-mail succah@chabadrichmond.com. Anyone interested in volunteering to help build other sukkot can e-mail Shuchat directly at ashuchat@telus.net. □