4—THE BULLETIN—Friday, December 14th, 1973
pact on
K4I our lives
THE MATERIALS from which we glean the story of Chanuka create for us a picture of a valiant, glorious effort on the part of Judoh Maccabee and his followers to ochieve freedom for their people.
What we cannot find in those materials ore the behind-the-scenes events, the impact of that war on the lives of the Jews of the time. We con only read between the lines.
So it was with the recent war in the Middle East. Those of us who waited, nervously, for each news announcement, knew that every battle meant new deaths, new. tragedies, new sacrifices. We read between the lines.
Now we are beginning to see the picture of the war in its fullness, each blank spot filling in, each new word adding a brush stroke to the canvas in our hearts and minds.
The following item, written by Rabbi David Polish, president of the Central Conference of Reform Rabbis, speaks eloquently. I now share it with you:
I HAVE JUST B^eEIVED word that Gideon, the son of my^-good friend Rabbi Moshe Weiler of Jerusalem, has fallen in battle. Three years ago I stood in the Rabbi's home while he conducted a minyan following the funeral of his oldest son, Adam, who had been killed at the Suez line. Now a second son.
All over the land of our people cries of grief go up by the bereaved, arid we cry with them. What kind of horrible Sabbaticals are meted out to our people - 1941, 1948, 1955, 1967, 1973?
I was told how Moshe Weiler stood at his son Adam's open grave and, delivering a eulogy with incredible strength cried out at last to the silent, leaden skies, "Enough."
What is our duty in the presence of massive death? What is our task after seeing our people endlessly crossing the valley of death? How shall we live without feeling guilty in the presence of crushing sorrow? Will buying Bonds and contributing to the UJA Survival Fund alone lighten the burden of conscience? Will political action lessen the accusation that many of us feel?
Not long after World War II it was -Abraham Heschel, I believe, who said that to his knowledge not a single American Jewish family changed its mode of life, curtailed its festivities, cut down on its celebrations while our brothers and sisters ' were led to the gas chambers.
Life and business went on as usual and we incurred great guilt for the sin of callousness, even though we may have been generous with our money and our time. But we were also exceedingly generous with our sensual impulses. We denied ourselves nothing.
champagne flowing and bands blaring while the pall of death hangs over us? Can we justify going to Las Vegas and squandering money? Can we justify gorging ourselves, luxuriating in vacations far beyond the call of decency?
What synagogue can permit personal or congregational affairs which in their disregard of the norms of modesty can only be called lewd?
We are all bereaved, everyone of us, and "Shloshim" is not yet over.
Anyone who does not feel himself a mourner at this time, who refuses to be deprived of his gratifications, is a lost Jew.
' ■ ' ^■
I would hope that Bar-Mitzvah functions will become subdued and modest, simple family and close friends' affairs which would reflect the fulfillment of a Jewish mitzvah rather than a plunge into a Pagan rite. I would hope that every family would cut down on the empty pomp and thoughtless abandon of weddings which today would be a desecration of our grief and a taunting of the dead.
NOW WE STAND once more in the presence of death. The American Jewish community must raise funds and indulge in political action if we are to endure. But we will have to do something else if we want to justify our existence. This is a time for every Jewish family to examine its way of life and to test it against the ordeal which our brothers and sisters in Israel are undergoing. I would hope that every family, however rich, would share in Israel's agony, not only by giving of their substance, but by changing their style of life to comport with the heavy heart of this tormented people.
Can we continue with lavish and mindless Bar-Mitzvah affairs? Is it conscion-able to have multiple-thousand dollar wedding parties in ornate ball-rooms, with
THIS DAY, on which I learned of Moshe Weiler's agony, a sensitive member of my congregation called to aska "shaila." Should she go through with her son's Bar-Mitzvah luncheon? I advised her that it should be just that — a plain lunch for family and friends, not mere hangers on, that it should be held in the synagogue without the frequent trivial trimmings. Incidentally, her family has contributed generously to the emergency fund.
Families that do not contribute and still flaunt their social extravagences, sin beyond measure.
We will have to learn that our responsibilities are not only to Israel but to ourselves, by which I mean that we will not endure in this land unless we begin to nurture and cultivate our own inner beings as Jews. To "give charity" and still persist in pursuing a gross and empty existence is tosentence ourselves to another kind of death, the extinction of the Jewish soul, while the band plays on.
My friend, Moshe Weiler, I did not expect to write of yet another bereavement in your home. Oy lachem. Oy lanu. Woe is you. Woe is us.
And now I learn that the son-in-law of my friend Zalman Abramov, Knesset member and a friend of Moshe Weiler, has fallen.
How can we rejoice in mindless festivities?
Moshe, Zalman, if I forget you. . .
BY HENRY LEONARD
Toronto tests 'hate' act
TORONTO — Charges laid recently under the Hate Literature Act against two Western Guard Party members will be a deterrent against the rash of racist slogans appearing around Toronto, hopes a Canadian Jewish Congress official.
Ben Kayfetz, CJC, Central region executive-director, told reporters:
"We trust that this will be a test of the hate propaganda act and that it will help put an end to the anti-Jewish and anti-Black hate scrawling appearing in public and private places."
Police charged Gary Miller, 19, and Armand Siksna, 30, with
Thought tor the Week
from the TALMUD
People say: before a man is dead, his successor is ready.
Baba Batra. 91.
"public incitement of hatred" fo wording on construction boardi at Shallmar Blvd. and Bathurs St.
Both face up to two years imprisonment if convicted unde the act, which is being invoke-for the first time.
— DEATHS 1973 —
ISRAEL LEVINE December 3
At another Bulletin community service feature. Deaths will be Bub-lishcd weekly as they arc registered.—THE PUBLISHER.
Endorsed Appeals
Men's and Women's Youth Aliyah Campaign Dec. 15-Jan. 31, 1974
Social Calendar
Peretz School Parents Aux. Bazaar............Dec. 18
B.I. Sisterhood ..-......Dec. 19
Youth Aliyah Lunch.. Jan. 9 NCJW Rhoda Cohen Meeting ......................Jan. 15
B.I. Sisterhood Tri-
Sisterhood Lunch.. Jan. 16 J.C.C. Arts & Crafts
Fair.................. Jan. 16 & 17
B.L Seminar Adult Ed.
^ Dr. L. Shub -...........Jan. 19
Mr. & Mrs. B.B.Y.O.
Tea...............................Jan. 27
JCF&C Board of
Directors....................Jan. 30
Endorsations are published as a Bulletin community service. Errors or omissions can be corrected only by Jewish Community .Fund & Council/ Ph. 267-8101.—THE PUBLISHER.
Remember The Sabbath
o uv u , V. JEWISH CALENDAR
Sabbath begins, Light Candles, (LUACH) 1973
Friday, Dec. 14 3:54 Chanuka............................Dec. 20
Sedre Vayeshev, Genesis 1974
Sabbath ends, Havdalah xu B'Shevat Feb. 7
Dec. 15, 4:54 Purim ..............................Mar. 8
Friday, Dec. 21, 3:56 Passover ..Apr. 7
sedre Miketz Genesis f^^^ZZZI^^
Sabbath ends, Havdalah holidays begin the preceding evi,
Dec. 22, 4:56 at sundown.
m jmsH wtmim Buium
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Friday, Dec. 14, 1973
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