6 — THE BULLETIN — Thursday, June 20,1991
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Rememberihe Sabbaih,to keep It holy,. , Fourth Commandment, Exodus, 20:8 Isabelle
Candlelighting ~^ DaVlClS
Friday, June 21,9:04 p.m. Sedra Chukat Havdala Shabbat ends June 22,10:10 p.m.
Fridayv June 28,9:04 p.m. Sedra Balak Havdala Shabbat ends June 29,10:10 p.m.
Beth_ Hamldrash (Sephar-dic Orthodox), 5231 Heather St. Rabbi D.Bassous. Daily 7 a.m.; Shabbat, Sunday and public holidays 9 a.m.; Fri. 7:30 p.m.; Sat. sunset. 872-4222 or 872-1201.
Beth Israel (Conservative), 4350 Oak St. 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.m.. Sat, 9:15 a.m; and 6 p.m.; Sun. 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. 731-4161.
Beth Tikvah <Conserva-tive), 9711 Geal Rd., Richmond. Rabbi M. Cohen; Torali readers D. Saiiiiders and T. Wplinsky. Mon. aiul ThiirSi minyah 7 a.m.; Fri. 8 p.m.; S&tw 9:30 am: 271-6262;
Chabad-Lubavitch (Chas-sidic), 5750 Oak St. Rabbi Y. Wineberg. Daily 7 a.m. and sunset; Fri. sunset; Sat. 10
a.m;; Sun. 9 a.m. and sunset. 266-1313.
Chabad of Surrey Community Centre (Chassidic), 210-6950 Nicholson Rd., Delta. Rabbi M. Altein, Sat. 10 a.m. 596-9030.
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Eitz Chaim (Orthodox), 8080 Frances Rd., Richmond. Rabbi A. Feigelstock. Daily minyan 7 a.m.; Fri. 6 p;m.; Sat.' 9 a.m. and sunset; Sunday 9 a.m. 275-0007.
Emanuel (Conservative), 1461 Blanshard, Victoria. Rabbi V; Reinstein. Sat. 9:30 am. 382-0615.
Har El (Conservative),^ North Shore JCC, 1735: Inglewood Ave., West Van. Rabbi I. Balla, cantorial leader R. Edel. Fri. 8 p.m.; every other Sat. 10 a.m. 922-8245 or 922-9133.
CHUKAS TRANSCENDING RATIONALITY and DEFYING RATIONALITY
The Torah portion of Chukas takes its name from the word, chukas, supra-rational, Divine decree, that appears at the outset of this portion and which refers to the laws of the Red Heifer.
The word cAuto itself is etymologically related to chakikah, to engrave and hew out. What is the connection between supra-rational Divine decrees and engraving and hewing out?
Miizvos are divided into three general categories: Eidos arc command ments that serve as a testimony and
CARDOFTHANKS
( wish to express my thanks to my many friends for their warm expressions of kind^ ness and contributions made in memory of my Husband
NAT
Special thanks to
Rabbi Bassous for being so caring and thoughtful during Nat's illness^ and to the Chevra Kadisha.
Barbara Hersh
remembrance of important Jewish events. Mishpatim are laws that are dictated by human intellect as well as by Divine intellect. CAiiikOTt are decrees that have no rational explanation.
A Jew instinctivly desiresto perform G-d*s will. Thisdesire emanates from the Jewish soul that completely transcends intellect. This instinct most often finds expression in the performance of Chukhn commandments.
When a person performs Eidos and Mishpatim the souFs essential desire does not reveal itself in its entirety since the intellectual aspect of these mitzvos somewhat conceals the souKs purely supra-rational desire to fulfill G^*s will. CAiii^, however, do not haye the **excess baggage** of logic aiid intellect. Therefore, performance of the Chukim reveals the souPs essence.
J.B. Newail Monuments
Hebrew Inscripfions Our Specially Established 1909 Personal attention paid to ALL ORDERS Fraser and 3Sth 327-1312
YIZKOR
In deepest sorrow, I remember the 45th Yahrtzeit of the 43 Jewish martyrs who were brutally murdered in the KIEICE POGROM, in Poland after the Second World War.
JULY 4, 1946
Holy is their memory.
Louis Brier Home (Orthodox), 1055 W. 41st Ave. C. Komfeld, D. Kornfeld, Moe Frumkin. R. Rosenberg. Daily 4:15 p.m.. Sat. 9:15 a.m. and4:15 p.m. 261-9376. . ♦ . ♦ .. ... * ■
Or Shalom (Traditional Egalitarian), 561 W. 28th Ave. Rabbi 1. Marmorstein. Sat. 10 a.m.; monthly Fri. Oneg Shabbat. 872-1614.
Schara Tzedeck (Orthodox), 3476 Oak St. Rabbi M. Feuerstein, Rabbi S. Crandall, Cantor A. Katzir, 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.
Temple Sholom (Reform), 7190 Oak St. Rabbi P. Breg-man, cantorial soloist A. Guttman. Morning minyans; Sun. 9:30 a.m.; Mon. and . Wed. 7:15 a.m.; Fri. 8:15 p.m.; Sat. 10:30 am. 266-7190.
dead at 65
Isabelle Davids died at Shaughnessy hospital May 24 at age 65.
Bom in Canada and educated in Lethbridge, Alta;, the former Isabelle Goldenberg married William (Billy) Davids on Dec. 27,1948. The couple came to Vancouver in October 1981.
A housewife, Mrs. Davids was a member of Hadassah-WIZO and the National Council of Jewish Women in Calgary. She played golf at Richmond Country Club and at Canyon Country Club in Palm Springs, Calif.
Mrs. Davids is surviyed by her husband Wil^am, son Perry S. Davids and daughter Shelley Barsky, all of Vancouver, and brother Sidney Goldenberg of Edmonton.
Funeral services were held May 26 at Schara Tzedeck chapel, with interment in the cemetery. Officiating were Rabbi S. Crandall, assisted by Cantor A. Katzir.
Chevra Kadisha was in charge of arrangements.
The connection between Chukim and engraving lies in the fact that the superiority of Chukim over Eidos and Mishpatim is isimilar to the superiority of engraving over writing. ,
Writiiig is^ccompltshedjby joining ink to {^^p^^ ink and the letters formed^by it rmain a separate entity from the paiper upon which they are written, they therefore conceal that part of the paper upon which they are written.
However, engraved letters^, e.g., letters engraved into a gemstone, are composed of the very substance upon which they arc engraved. They therefore do not conceal at all the substance upon which they are engraved.
Since intellect conceals the sours essence the performance of JSIk/os and Mishpo' tim is similar to writing, in that the intellect conceals the sours essential desire to fulfill G-d*s will just as written letters conceal the paper upon which they are written.
Chukim, however, are performed in a wholly supra-rational manner; there is nothing about them that would tend to obscure G-d's will and desire. They are therefore likened to engraved letters that do not conceal at all the material upon which they are engraved.
Chassidus explains that there are actually two forms of ei)g^i;aving and hewing out: letters engraved in a normal fashion! and letters that are formed by hewing the mate-riafclear through.
In the formei^manner the-engraved letters in some small way do impede upon the ^ brilliance of the gemstone in which they are engraved and
in this they are somewhat similar to written letters; in the latter manner this impediment does not exist at all.
Within fe/te*^ find twonianiier ot Chukim: those t^t haye some J^ela-tionship to intellect— s .to an lengrayed Iptter; or; • cAiiiSuill subh as^^^^ t^^ commandment of the Red Heifer that has no relationship at all to intellect similar to a letter that is formed by hewing the stone out through and through. '
We thus understand that the performance of those Chukim that have some relationship to intellect lacks the degree of esseiitial revelation found in the performance of the chukah of the Red Heifer, since intellect conceals the soul's essence.
It is only in performing the latter form of decree, where intellect does hot impede ai all, that the souPs essence is, revealed in all its glory.'
found dead at 57
NEW YORK
Novelist
Jerry Kbsinski, who survived the Nazi occupation of his native Poland before writing Being There and The Painted Bird, was found dead at 57.
Kosinski was found in his bathtub with a plastic bag over his head, and the death was being treated as a suicide, said a police spokesman. Police said a note was found near the body.
W. COOPER, Vancouver
DEATHS
CONNIE GOLDSTEIN
''^.JuheS;;.'
Asi another filtf//«f/fieomm unity service feature. Deaths will be published weekly as they are registered,—THE PUBLISHER.
NEW YORK — Lola Kra-marsky, former national president of Hadassah from 1960 to 1964, has died at her Manhattan home at 95.
Active in the organization for much of her life, Kra-marsky's particular concerns were with Youth Aliyah, which rescues and rehabilitates displaced children, and Hadassah-Hebrew University MedicalCentre in Ein Kerem.
EFRAT, Israel --WHO AMONG ?US^^^^^^^ change so that we can live fuller, richer, more meaningful lives?
And certainly if theire is one source we tiirn^t^ that we tan change, that source is the Torah.
Otherwise our relatibnshipto it would be limited to the role of archivist or Hebrew scholar or anthropologist. .. But inthis week's portion we come across an incident which may be wrongly understood as saying that nothing has changed for the Jewish peoplevand if it hasn't eharig^d for them should it change for us?
The basic narrative span of the last four books of the Torah covers forty years^^^^o^^ jouriiey: Forty yearsis a long time, but it hpkls out the hofpethat^ person could make significant chatigies in 1^^^
even do that;^ what hope is there to escaped one's mark of slaver)^ - - ^ Back in Exodus, when the Red Sea was
miraculously split to atllow the safe passage of. the Jews from the pursuing Egyptians, the ^P'^'^'^ moment was so ecstatic that Moses and the Israelites sang the Sftjroli (unique song) to G-d:
"iwiising to G-dfor His greatvictory,iHorse arid his rider he threw iiUo the sea. My stren^giharid song^^ delivermice. y ,**
The words and the occasion are somagnificent that Miriam takes up the drum in her hand and **allthe womenfottowedher with song and dance,. ^-[ExodmlSiZlJ,
After such exalted language emerging from the souls of the people, one might expect redemption around the comer; b^ the next recorded incident describes the panic the Jews feel when they can't find water. And when they finally reach water after a trek of three days in the desert, the water is bitter, causing the people to complain to Nfoses;*'WP^^ shall we drink?"
G-d reveals how to isweeteii the waters, but four verses later the complaints are still pathetically wretched. *7/only we had died by G'd's hand inEg)^r^
this is the same nation which only recently biirst into the Slrmi^ And how strange and ironic that after being savedfroiii the sea, it's water lyhich threatens totindothem.^^^^^^^^
UiitiHhis weel^s p^ is nojSAmiA ag^in in^,^^^^^^^
TbrSh^^ndiilie^^ that the first^iiruA transpire at the begini-: hing of the forty years and the second at the end of the forty years, creates a sense of syniinetry.
This second^i^raJkisshort: ''Sprm^i^y, Owett, sing yet unto it The wett, iidtich the priiwes dug, which the rwble^ people delved, with the scepter, and with their staves" [Numbers 21:17-18],
Durihg thecdurse of these forty years, the Jewish people have been through all the ups and downs that a nation could be through on a voyage from slavery to freedom.
And now that they've arrived at a point where Shirah is appropriate, we might assume the syminetrical arrangement of aShira at the beginning and a 5lrira at the end is intei^^ed to serve as a milestone. Look where we've come from, and look how much we've achieved during these forty years.
Except for one problem: the Jews are still complaining. And if there is symmetry here in terms of the Shira, there is also symmetry in terms of their coihplaining. Forty years later and it's still the problem of waten^ ^ ^-^^^
"And there was no w^ the congregation; and they assembled themselves together against Moses... Whydidyou bring GhI's.congregation t^^^^^ livestock should diefiWhy did you take us out c^ bring us to this terriblepiace?,.. There is not even any water to drinkyf20:3/.
Is it possible that after all these years nothing has changed? If this were true, what a tragic waste! Haven't the Jewish people learned anything? ItVtte same problem^ mess.
Instead of maturing into Adults, they keep asking the^^^ question: **Why did we ever leave Egypt? Why did you take us out to die in thie desert?" ,
It's called nagging, plain old kvetching. Is it possible that the purpose of the symmetry between the two Songs is to show that little has changed?
We could argue this if it were true that complaining about food and'water is the greatest sin of the people.
But it's not. Aicve/cltdoesnH necessarily reveal thedepths of a person's-character. The fact is that a person cannot survive jwithout food and water, and deprived of basic comforts we tend To idealize a previous existence even if that means Egypt.
At least slaves know the time of day they receivetheir breads and soup. Certainly, complaining is not the gesture of a priestly nation, but giventheextreme situation, we can understand their motives, v
But there is one sin which is greater than all the others combined, so great that it gets written into the collective unconscious of the Jewish people: the day when the scouts bring back the negative report aboutthe Promised tand is carved in infamy forever.
Everything but this is pardonable. And because the Jews were not ready — or able — to engage in battle for Israel, they were doomed to forty yearsin the desert, forty years without water, forty years of complaining.
But this week's Shira alerts us that a significant change has
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