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Jerusalem gets ready
for Day of Atonement
by Dvora Waysman
(WZPS)—When sunset approach
es in Jerusalem, on the eve of the
Day of Atonement, a stillness over
takes the whole city. There are no
traffic noises—not even muted ones
for the whole House of Israel,
observant or not, refrains from
desecrating this most holy day of
the Jewish calendar.
The synagogues, just as all over
the world, are filled as the plain
tive, haunting notes of Kol Nidre
usher in Yom Kippur—the Day of
Atonement.
The service in the synagogue on
this day revolves around the idea
that on the first day of the year
(Rosh Hashana) it is inscribed, and
on the Day of Atonement the decree
is sealed, what will be our fate for
the coming year, including who
shall live and who shall die and by
what means; but, we are told:
“Penitence, prayer and charity
avert the severe decree.”
Penitence simply means saying
one is sorry and repenting, for
Judaism does not admit that any
human being is free from sin or
infallible. We have no institution
like the papacy...even the most
outstanding rabbis enjoy only the
authority of the Torah they inter
pret and can be subject to error.
We all do wrong because we are
human. Penitence begins with re
pairing in full any injury one may
have done to a fellow man. Only
then can we expect forgiveness
from our Creator.
Prayer, the second component
of atonement, has its own laws. A
Jew is expected to pray three times
a day and in a certain way, and not
just when the spirit moves him,
although spontaneous prayer is also
encouraged. There are different
kinds of prayer, but the most fre
quent is a petition to grant a par
ticular request. Such prayers are
not always answered in the way the
petitioner hopes, especially when
one’s attention is focused just on
one’s own needs and desires. The
chief value of prayer is when the
mind of the worshipper is on the
act of praying, not the request to be
granted. The Hebrew word for
prayer is tefillah, from the root
palal, meaning to judge or inter
cede. An important element in Jew
ish prayer is kavannah (concen
tration) and it is said that prayer
without this inward direction of
the mind is like a body without a
soul or a husk without a kernel.
The third element necessary “to
avert the severe decree” is charity.
It is such an important Jewish pre
cept that a whole section of the
Shulhan Arukh (the Code of Jew
ish Law) is devoted to giving char
ity and all its ramifications. We are
told (Yoreh Deah 247-259) that
God has compassion on whoever
has compassion on the poor; that it
is a religious obligation to give as
much charity as one can afford;
and that every person is obliged to
give charity—even a pauper who is
himself supported by charity.
By contrast, Jews are told always
to try to avoid being the recipient
of charity and that it’s better to live
a life of pain than to be supported
by others. Maimonides codified
eight degrees of charity, the lowest
being when the giver is glum and
resentful for being asked to give.
The highest degree of charity is
when one gives a loan or a job so
that the poor person can adequately
support himself. Judaism totally
endorses social measures aimed at
the abolition of poverty and help
ing others to lead productive lives
of happiness and dignity.
Perhaps the reason why Jews
who observe almost nothing else
still flock to synagogues on the
Day of Atonement can best be
illustrated by Rabbi Nahman in
Bratslav’s parable of the shepherd
and the sheep. The shepherd plays
his flute while his sheep graze and
seek water. As long as the sheep
e Southern
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No. 38
The Western Wall will be the scene of the offering of many prayers for forgiveness of sins and reconciliation
with God and fellow humans on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
hear the shepherd’s music they are
safe. And as long as the shepherd
can hear his sheep baa-ing, he can
help them if they get into trouble.
But when the sheep stray so far
that the shepherd cannot hear their
call for help, then they are indeed
lost. # /
When darkness descends on Jeru
salem, as the long day of praying
and fasting draws to a close, it
reaches its final crescendo with a
blast of the shofar—the ram’s horn.
Saadia Gaon cited 10 reasons why
we sound the shofar, the most
ering of the Exiles—calling Jews to
return to their Land, Eretz Israel:
"A nd it shall come to pass in that
day, that a great horn shall be
blown; and they shall come that
were lost in the land of Assyria. ”
Isaiah 27:13
Bar mitzva in Cracow
marked with pain, joy
by Kevin Freeman
important one being for the Ingath-
‘School days, school days... 7
Children lead their parents into Torah Day School on opening day, From left, Robert and Brenda
Jacobson with daughter Rachel, and Ayala Malka with her father, Rabbi Ilan Feldman. See story, page
19.
NEW YORK (JTA)—The Recon
structionist rabbi who accompan
ied Eric Strom and his family to
Poland for the first bar mitzva
celebration in Cracow in some 35
years described the visit with mixed
emotions.
“I think the experience had lots
of pain as well as joy,” said Rabbi
Emily Korzenick, in a telephone
interview from her home in Scars-
dale, N.Y. While visiting the rem
nants of the once thriving Jewish
community of Cracow she said “we
were also seeing memorials to that
which was.”
At the same time, Korzenick
appeared to brush aside the signifi
cance of the dispute which erupted
among Orthodox rabbis here over
the prospects of having Korzenick
participate in the services in an
Orthodox synagogue in Cracow.
“I had not come there to make
waves,” she asserted.
Korzenick accompanied Eric
Strom on his journey to Cracow
for his bar mitzva, an idea that
developed after a visit there last
April by a group of Federation of
Jewish Philanthropies trustees and
leaders on a GJA-Federation Cam
paign of New York trip.
While on that trip, an elderly
woman of the Cracow Jewish com
munity asked the Federation lead
ers to “Send us a bar mitzva. Send
us life.” Arrangements were made,
and on Sept. 2, 13-year-old Eric,
his 9-year-old sister, Holly, his
parents, Barry and Margery Strom,
three of his four grandparents,
Korzenick, and Auschwitz survi
vor Edward Blonder, departed for
Poland.
There was some controversy over
the selection of the Remu Syn
agogue in Cracow. The Rabbinical
Council of America issued a state
ment saying “it would be a betrayal
of Jewish history” if the Jews of
Cracow allowed a Reform or Con
servative rabbi to officiate in the
synagogue, the oldest in Cracow.
The site was changed before the
Saturday, Sept. 7 bar mitzva, either
under Orthodox pressure or to
accommodate larger crowds—some
150 persons attended the services—
to the 130-year-old Temple Syn
agogue. Korzenick took her place
on Saturday morning with the other
women sitting in a separate section
of the balcony.
She emphasized thai they had
not prepared themselves to con
front the Orthodox rabbi, Nachum
Elbaum, a New York businessman
and travel agent, who along with an
unidentified cantor arrived in Po-
See Bar mitzva, page 24.