"Southeasterfi'Vl/ginit Jish'News
DIALOGUE
.... , , J , j ,
October 30, 1998
Events Jewish
By Hehm shine - •
Di, dogue Ctqson
In addition to the typical to
ri,
teria that include proposals on economics,
education, taxation, and social welfare
• goals, Americans are now also lrd
are quintessentiatly also Jewish concerns,
what better place to air those issues than in
our Jewish newspaper.
Many rabbis gave "High HtJiiday sermons on
Hekm Sonermhina these issues, not.from a political standpoint,
but specifically to present the underlying
g'sues within a Jewish framework. These sermons, though based
• guidennes
moral and ethical questions that will
arise in the future,
Vcth this in mind, I have asked the rabbis throughout South
Hampton Roads to allow the Southeastern Virg
Atonement and repentance
By Dr. Lawrence A. Furman
Rabbi Ohef Sholom Temple
If you hear the word "apolo-
gy" or the word "atonement" or
the word "forgiveness" in 1998,
of course the first thing you think
about is the current situation in
Washington We can't avoid
thinking of it. It's everywhere we
look. everywhere we turn our
attention. In a virtually unprece-
dented moment in America's his-
tory, our President has gone on
national television, before us and
before the entire world, to ask for
forgiveness. He sought the words
of one of the prayers of our own
Gates of Repentance, as he spoke
at the White House Prayer
Breakfast a few weeks ago.
"Apology" and "atonement" and
"forgiveness" have" become
buzzwords in the autumn of
1998.
So we in the Rabbinate feel
strongly that it is important for
American Jews, in fact, for all
Americans, to look at the whole
concept and practical application
of "forgiveness," to examine
Rabbi Dr. Lawrence A. Furman
what it is! Forgiveness. atone-
ment that's why we're here,
after all. That' s why Yam Kip-
pur appears every year on our
calendar -- as a reminder to us
that as long as we live on the
earth as human beings with
human frailties and failings, we
will need both to apologize and
to accept apology. We will need
both to atone and to acknowl-
edge atonement. We will need
both to ask for -- and to grant
forgiveness• So, we'd best learn
how to do both.
But we're nothing if not a
pragmatic people, made more so
by the events of our lives and our
lifetimes• And one of the ques-
tions in each of our hearts is
"Why? .... Why should I say I'm
sorry? Why should I ask for for-
giveness?" And conversely,
"Why should I extend forgive-
ness to another?"
One reason is that holding on
to hurt only begets more hurt
not for the one who originally
inflicted the hurt. but rather, for
the one who refuses to let it go.
Many of us are guilty of this. and
we all suffer the consequences of
being unable to release old hurts.
This same scenario is being
played out to varying degrees in
Washington today. There are
those who will not accept the
President's apology, who want
more and more detail, more and
more contrition, more and more
censure, more and more punish-
ment. For some of us, there can
never be enough repentance.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
OPINI( )N
WINNER OF 16 VIRGINIA AND 24 NATIONAL PRESS AWARDS
"These are no ordinary times"
By Dr. Ira Langstein struggle is that no side can achieve all that it wants; it
With the Wye River Accords now signed amid a
flurry of Washington pageantry, one must take pause
and digest these recent breathtaking events. The sur-
real images of the Israeli prime minister calling his
nemesis Yasser Arafat his new partner in peace, of
the Hashemite King Hussein assuming the role of
elder statesman a mere eight years after siding with
Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War, and the seam-
less remark of President Clinton that we have to
"hurry this thing along ... it's almost Shabbat,"
underscore the fact that these are no ordinary times.
Israel and the Palestinians are moving into uncharted
territory, and each step toward the future must be
taken deliberately and carefully.
Though the cynics and skeptics on both sides are
carefully crafting their rejectionist rhetoric, there is
good reason to be optimistic about the prospects for
peace. Maintaining the current state of tension
between Israelis and Palestinians requires enormous
societal energy, and it is clear that both populations
are tiring of hostilities. A recent poll demonstrated
that the majority of Israelis wanted Prime Minister
Netanyahu to negotiate a peace with their Palestinian
neighbors with whom, for better or worse, they are
inextricably linked.
It is also inconceivable that the majority of Pales-
tinians want to continue, the bloody struggle with
Israel indefinitely. The painful and most sobering
aspect of negotiating peace between those locked in
follows, however, that both sides must achieve
enough of what it wants. The Wye River Accords, if
Prime Minister Netanyahu and Yasser Ararat are to
be believed, does just that, and thus one more step on
the uncharted road to peace in the Middle East has
been taken.
By drawing such disparate figures as Ariel Sharon
and Yasser Arafat into its vortex, the Wye River
Accords have further marginalized the enermes of
peace, The killers in Hamas will act like wounded
animals, dangerously striking out in an attempt to
obliterate the current interlude of detente with acts of
blood and terror. Moreover, the right-wing Jewish
settlers in the disputed territories, by the insistence of
divine right for the land they occupy, are no more
useful to peace than are the confused Muslim clerics
dotted throughout the middle east who spout their
own theocratic vitriol. Israel must be ready and vigi-
lant, and must tolerate no obstruction, from without
or within, to the road to peace it has set for itself.
The concept of nation-states is a recent one, hav-
ing evolved in the wake of the Enlightenment, and
thus the notion of nationalism, that driving energy
which moves populations to selfishly position them-
selves, is rather novel. We must all recognize that the
geographic boundaries that delineafe populations are
artificial, fluid constructs. Occasionally, the irrespon-
sible and poorly-thought rearrangement of these bor-
ders, such as has occurred in the Balkans, can lead to
CONTINUED ON PAGE 17
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Herbert Zokermart T! , t,a,!-er
Candle Lighting
October 30/Cheshvan 10
Light candles at 4:52 p.m.
November 6/Cheshvan 17
Light candles at 4:45p.m.
Teshuva and compassion
By Rabbi Israel Zolerman
Congregation Beth Chaverim
Chairman, Community Relations Council
Rabbi Israel Zoberman
Judaism has taken the
reasonable approach that
most of us are not sinners
nor saints, but human beings
who occasionally stray from
our innate drive to do what
is right•
The underlying assumption
is that we can recognize our
failings and work to correct
them. The God of Israel
welcomes the admission of
human shortcomings and
appreciates earnest effort to
turn our lives around. Thus
the rabbis instruct us that
those who repented stand on
higher ground than even the wholly righteous• Namely, those
who consciously struggle to improve their ways merit more than
those who are not faced with the awesome challenge of change.
Change is at the heart of the High Holy Days' theme of
reaching into the vast universe within us to examine the course
of our lives. How significant it is that the arduous process of
change applied to trying circumstances, with its complex
dynamics truly challenging those involved, becomes a sacred
enterprise with the highest of stakes.
Recalling the-anniversary of the world turns into an
opportunity as well as an obligation to highlight the conviction
that the moral dimension the Creator endowed humanity wif.h is
a prerequisite for safeguarding the treasures of life on earth. We
enhance or diminish God's stature and standing, along with the
body of a wondrous creation, depending upon our human
conduct. While on Rush Hashanah we affirm the world's
grandeur, on Yam Kippur we cite its blemishes, not with a sense
of resignation, rather with a resolve to engage in cleansing
Teshuva. particrpating with God in mending the broken
fragments of life's realities.
We do well to remember that none of us is perfect, and to
various degrees, we are all in need of renewed healing. Instead
of pointing a blaming finger at others, let us focus on our own
ways, serving as a noble example. Though our fragile egos do
not always allow us to reach out to embrace someone else in
CONTINUED ON PAGE 19
