Newspaper Page Text
Page 18 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 21, 1986
Synagogue Directory
Candle Lighting Time: 5:14 p.m.
Ahavath Achim (Conservative), 600 Peachtree Battle Ave.,
N.W., 355-5222. Arnold Goodman, rabbi; Dr. Harry H.
Epstein, rabbi emeritus; Marvin Richardson, asst, rabbi; Isaac
Goodfriend, cantor. Daily services, 7:15 a.m. and 6 p.m.; Fri
day, 6 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.; Saturday 8:35 a.m., Minha, 7:30 p.m.
(followed by kiddush); Sunday, 8:30 a.m., 6 p.m.
Anshe S’Fard (Orthodox), 1324 North Highland Ave., N.E.,
874-4513. Label Merlin, president; Nathan Katz, rabbi. Satur
day, 9 a.m. (followed by kiddush).
Atlanta Hillel (Non-denominational), Drawer A, Emory Uni
versity, Atlanta 30322, 727-6490. Zvi Shapiro, rabbi; Dr.
Aaron Shatzman, program director. Friday, 6 p.m. (followed
by dinner, Oneg Shabbat).
Beth David (Reform), Meeting at 869 Cole Dr., Lilburn, But
ton Gwinnett United Church of Christ. Mailing address, P.O.
Box 865, Snellville 30278, 662-4373. Student Rabbi Daniel
Schiff. Harry Bloch, cantor. Friday, 8 p.m.; Call for Sun
day/Hebrew school hours; bar/bat Mitzva classes available.
Beth Jacob (Orthodox), 1855 LaVista Rd., N.E., 633-0551.
Emanuel Feldman, rabbi; Han Daniel Feldman, asst, rabbi-
educational director. Daily morning minyan, Monday and
Thursday, 6:50 a.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 7 a.m.;.
Daily evening minyan, 5:30 p.m. (Class in Halacha nightly
between Mincha and Ma’ariv); Friday 5:30 p.m.; Shabbat
morning, 8:30 a.m. (followed by kiddush); Shabbat evening,
5:10 p.m. (Talmud group one hour prior to Minha, followed by
Shalosh Seudot); Sunday, 8 a.m. (followed by breakfast).
Beth Shalom (Conservative), 3147 Chamblee Tucker Rd., 458-
0489. Leonard H. Lifshen, rabbi, 451-9414 (h). Friday, 8 p.m.,
followed by Oneg; Saturday, 9:30 a.m., (followed by kiddush).
Beth Tefillah 5065 High Point Rd., 843-2464. Rabbi Yossi
New. Friday, 6:15 p.m.; Saturday, Torah discussion, 9 a.m.,
service 9:30 a.m. Kiddush will follow.
B'nai Israel (Reform), P.O. Box 383, Riverdale, 30274, 471-
3586. Meeting at Christ Our Hope Lutheran Church, 2165
Hwy. 138, Riverdale. Student Rabbi Debbi Pipe-Mazo. Fri
day, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 10:30 a.m., services and religious school.
Hebrew school, Wednesday.
B’nai Torah (Traditional), 700 Mt. Vernon Hwy., Atlanta,
30328, 257-0537. Juda H. Mintz, rabbi. Morning services,
Monday and Thursday, 6:50 a.m.; Sunday, 9:30 a.m.; evening
services, Tuesday and Wednesday, 6 p.m.; Friday, 8 p.m.;
Saturday morning, 8:45 a.m. Kiddush follows Friday and Sat
urday services. Shabbat evening Minha, Shalosh Seudot, Hav-
dalah begin at the candlelighting time of the week.
Etz Chaim (Conservative), 1190 Indian Hills Pky., Marietta,
30067, 973-0137. Shalom Lewis, Rabbi. Friday, 6:30 p.m.;
Saturday, 9:30 a.m.; Torah study, 10:15 a.m.; Monday and
Thursday, 7 a.m.
Jewish Home 3150 Howell Mill Rd., N.W., 351-8410. Nathan
Becker, chairman. Religious Committee. Friday, 7:30 p.m.;
Saturday, 9:30 a.m. Relatives and friends of residents are
welcome.
Kehillat Chaim (Reform), Office: 141 W. Wieuca Rd., N.W.,
Suite 202-A. Atlanta, 30342, 252-4441. Harvey J. Winokur,
rabbi. Friday, Northwest Unitarian Congregation, 1025 Mt.
Vernon Hwy., 8:15 p.m.
Kol Emeth (Reform), P.O. Box 71031, Marietta, 30007-1301,
3822 Roswell Rd., Suite 6, Marietta, 30062. Steven Lebow,
rabbi. Friday, 8 p.m.. Chestnut Ridge Christian Church, 2663
Johnson Ferry Road. For information, call Marsha Friedberg,
973-3533.
Or VeShalom (Sephardic), 1681 North Druid Hills Rd., N.E.,
633-1737. S. Robert Ichay, rabbi. Friday, 6:30 p.m.; Saturday,
8:45 a.m.; Sunday, 8:30 a.m.
Reform Jewish Students Committee, Drawer A, Emory Uni
versity 30322, 727-6496. Beth Fleet, director. Shabbat service, 6
p.m. Nov. 21 and Dec. 5, Turman.
Shearith Israel (Traditional), 1180 University Dr., N.E., Atlanta,
30306. 873-1743. Judah Kogen, rabbi. Weekday Minha,
Sunday, Thursday, 5:40 p.m.; Weekday mornings, Monday,
6:50 a.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 7 a.m.; Thursday,
8:30 a.m.; Friday night, 5:15 p.m., Saturday, 8:30 a.m. and 5
p.m. (followed by Minha and Havdalah); Sunday, 9 a.m.
Temple Emanu-EI (Reform), 1580 Spalding Dr., Dunwoody
30338, 395-1340. Barry R. Friedman, rabbi. Friday, 8 p.m.;
Saturday, 10 a.m.
Temple Sinai (Reform), 5645 Dupree Dr., N.W., 252-3073.
Philip N. Kranz, rabbi; Sid Gottler, Cantor. Friday, 8:15 p.m.
(except Novembcr-May, when first Friday of the month is at
7:30 p.m.); Saturday, 10:30 a.m.
The Temple (Reform), 1589 Peachtree Rd., 873-1731. Alvin
Sugarman, rabbi; Samuel Weinstein, assoc, rabbi. Friday, 8:15
p.m.; Saturday, 10:30 a.m.
Yeshiva High (Orthodox), 1745 Peachtree Rd., N.W., 873-
1492. Rabbi Herbert Cohen, dean. Weekday services, 8 a.m. at
the AJCC: Minha, 2:10 p.m. Community Beit Midrash meets at
Beth Jacob Synagogue Sunday-Thursday, 8 p.m.
United Jewish Congregation of Rockdale-Newton (Tradition
al): Services at 7 p.m. Friday evenings, at Oxford College
Chapel.
iiMtittiiiomimtiH
SIILOMO RISKIN
Shahbat slialom
EFR AT, Israel: If we trace the
course of events from the birth of
Ishmael to the death of Abra
ham, we may discern a possible
blueprint for the history of the
Jewish people down to this very
day as we sit embroiled in a
struggle of biblical proportions
with the Arabs.
It begins with the marriage of
Abram and Sarai. At first they
were not blessed with children.
Sarai suggests to Abram that he
take as a second wife, her ser
vant, Hagar the Egyptian. “Per
haps I will be built up through her,”
Sarai says, intending to adopt
the child.
But the minute Hagar becomes
pregnant, Sarai complains to her
husband that Hagar despises her.
She’s your maid, responds Abram,
do whatever you want. So “Sarai
dealt harshly with her,” Scrip
ture continues—and Hagar flees,
and an angel of the Lord finds
Hagar by a fountain in the wil
derness and promises her the
world, as it were. “I will greatly
multiply your seed—and they shall
be too many to count.” Name the
baby Ishmael, the angel says,
“because the Lord has heard your
affliction.”
Concludes the commentator
Nachmanides, “Sarah our mother
acted sinfully in ill-treating Hagar,
and also Abram in permitting it;
therefore, God heard her afflic
tion and gave her a son who
became the ancestor of a fero
cious race that was destined to
deal harshly with the descend
ants of Abram and Sarai.”
Exactly what kind of a son will
it be? Says the text, “...a wild ass
of a man: his hand shall be
against everyone and everyone’s
hand against him...” Says Rashi,
“He will love the desert and hunt
animals.” Says the Ibn Ezra, “He
will be free among men and will
attempt to be victorious over all
with his brute strength, with his
force.” And yet, “He will dwell in
the face of all his brethren,” says
the angel, meaning that the seed
of his brothers and his own seed
will one day dwell together.
That’s the vision before Ish
mael is born. What happens after?
Abraham and Sarah become
the parents of Isaac and although
Sarah is happy at the birth of her
son, the joy is marred by the
mockery Ishmael is making of
her family. “Banish this slave-
Vayera
woman and her son,” Sarah im
plores her husband. God tells
him to listen to his wife, and so
Abraham takes some bread and
a jug of water and gives it to
Hagar, who now leaves the house
of Abraham a second time. She
and the boy wander in the desert
of Beer Sheba, but since it seems
to her that Ishmael will die, she
stays a distance away from him,
unable to bear the torture of
watching his slow death. Fortu
nately, however, an angel of the
Lord calls out to Hagar from the
heavens. What is with you, Hagar?
Don’t be afraid. God has heard
the sound, the voice, the cry of
the child where he is.
It’s a story that seems to fore
shadow one of the most difficult
incidents in the Bible—the almost
unexplainable request that God
makes of Abraham only one
chapter later, in this week’s
portion.
“Take your son, your favored
one, Isaac, whom you love, and
go to the land of Moriah, and
offer him there as a burnt offer
ing...” Commentaries throughout
the ages have wrestled with the
significance of God’s command
and have attempted to explain
how a God of love and compas
sion could request from his faith
ful servant Abraham that he take
that son for whom he had longed
so greatly and bind him to the
altar.
The narrative parallels between
the binding of Isaac and the
expulsion of Ishmael are clear.
Just as an angel of God calls out
to Hagar from the heavens and
promises that Ishmael will live,
so, too, at the conclusion of the
story of the binding of Isaac
comes a deus ex machina, an
angel of God calling out at the
last moment from heaven, “Don’t
extend your hand against the
child.” And just as at the end of
Hagar’s agony there is a blessing
for Ishmael and his descendants,
at the end of the binding of Isaac
there’s a blessing for Isaac and
his seed.
Hence, among the myriad of
interpretations for the story of
the binding of Isaac, I would add
the possibility that God’s com
mand to Abraham comes as a
punishment. Not as a punish
ment for having banished Ish
mael— because God Himself re
sponded to Sarah’s desire by
telling Abraham to listen to what
ever she says—but as a punish
ment for sending Hagar and Ish
mael out of his house with merely
a loaf of bread and a jug of water
and not with “gold and silver,” as
the Midrash suggests he should
have given.
In response to the uncharac
teristic stinginess of Abraham
toward Hagar and Ishmael, caus
ing her to watch her beloved son
suffer to the brink of death, God
forces Abraham to raise his knife
and watch his truly beloved son
bound at the altar, ready to die.
If it may appear that my inter
pretation tends to be too sympa
thetic toward Ishmael, especially
in the light of what his descend
ants have done to Isaac’s, a pow
erful Midrash seizes the words
“God has heard the voice of the
lad where he is" and depicts a
trial opening up in heaven at that
moment.
The question before the heav
enly court is: Should God hearken
to the cry of Ishmael or ignore it?
The life of the lad hangs in the
balance. Argues the prosecuting
angel before the Almighty, don’t
listen to Ishmael’s cry. Look at
what the children of Ishmael will
do later to the children of Isaac.
Let Ishmael die now! Responds
the Almighty, that’s not how I
operate. What’s happening to
Ishmael at this moment? Is he
crying sincerely right where
he is now? Has he truly repented?
If so, then no matter what the
future holds in store, his death is
not warranted. And so the angel
says to Hagar, “Rise and lift up
the lad, and strengthen your hand
in his because 1 will make of him
a great nation.”
Later, “Abraham breathed his
last, dying at a good ripe age, old
and contented...” Isaac and Ish
mael, his children, buried him,
says Rashi, quoting the Midrash,
and “he allowed Isaac to walk
before him in the funeral proces
sion. Abraham was contented
because he saw both of his chil
dren reunited with Ishmael yield
ing to the greater leadership of
Isaac while at the same time
remaining a great nation, with
even 12 princes as his progeny,
paralleling the 12 tribes of the
Children of Israel. It is, I believe,
a picture of the future, a prayer
of hope beyond today’s headlines.
Organizations
Na’Amat USA
Golda Meir Chapter
The Golda Meir Chapter of
Na’Amat USA will host an Oneg
Shabbat at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov.
22, at the home of Mrs. Edward
(Gertrude) Krick.
Max Robkin will review the
book “The Jewish Connection”
by M. Hirsch Goldberg.
Hostesses for the luncheon are
Lil Cohen, Pearl Hacker, Ger-
tude Krick and Sophie Wilson.
For reservations and more in
formation, call Mrs. Krick, 875-
5713 or Mrs. Cohen, 938-7797.
Members and friends are invited.
* * *
Women’s ORT
North Suburban Chapter
Members of the North Subur
ban OR I Chapter are again spon
soring and staffing the Music
Box Cart at Perimeter Mall. The
cart, located on the upper level at
the top of the escalator, is open
during mall hours through Dec.
31.
A wide variety of music boxes
are available for all-occasion gifts.
Jewelry boxes and wooden orna
ments are also for sale.
Chairpersons are Carol Brull
and Sherrie Eisman. All proceeds
will go to support the vocational,
technical and scientific education
programs of ORT.