January 18, 2008

Vol. LXXXVII No. 19 Omaha, NE

Celebrating 87 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa

President Bush in Middle East: Urges peace as part of broader vision

by RON KAMPEAS RAMALLAH, West Bank (JTA) -- The thorny question of Israel's West Bank settlements has dogged the U.S. president's overarching message during his eight-day tour of the Middle East: Democracies must unite to confront terrorism.

In language that is unusually blunt considering his warm relations ith Israel, Bush has made clear his frustration with Israel's failure so far to deal with outposts, or unauthorized new settlements.

“In terms of outposts, yeah, they ought to go,” Bush said, standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Israeli President Shimon Peres, left, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert welcome President George Ehud Olmert Jan. 9 after a W. Bush to Israel last week at the start of his eight day trip in the Mideast.

Credit: ISRANET day of meetings. “Look, I mean, we’ve been talking about it for four years. The Middle East and diminishing the influence of Iranian agreement was, get rid of outposts, illegal outposts, and theocrats. His sole speech in the region will be in Abu Dhabi Sunday, when he will press his case for greater libthey ought to go.”

In response, settlers said they would expand two exist- erties in the region -- in the emirate that faces Iran across ing outposts and pledged to add another. Whether they the Persian Gulf.

For years, Israel, pro-Israel groups and neoconservahad done so in the day since Bush made his pledge was tives have been telling Bush that promoting stability in not clear, but Bush was able to view outposts Thursday the broader Middle East was not necessarily contingent on his way to talks with the Palestinian Authority. One, on Israeli-Palestinian peace. near Beit El was fronted by a sign -- in place long before If he ever believed that message, it is clear he is now the Bush visit -- that stated: "We have returned to our retreating from it.

With just a year left in his presidency, home established 3,800 years ago. he is eager for a legacy better than the Iraq morass.

Bush needs progress in Israeli-Palestinian peace to Continued on page 2 nudge forward his twin visions of democratizing the

11 Shevet, 5768

January 18, 2008

Gary Kaplan elected to national URJ Board

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Gary Kaplan, a past president of the Temple Israel Board of Trustees, was elected to the national board of the Union for Reform Judaism at the organization’s Biennial Convention in December in San Diego.

Kaplan, a lifelong member of Temple Israel, is excited about his new role within the Reform Movement. “This is an amazing time for the country’s largest Jewish movement,” he noted. “We experience the power of new and old music and ritual to move us in our worship.

Our children experience the unique connections of our camping movement. We recognize the strength of those intermarried families who are committed to raising their children in our tradition and have long striven to fully include and ordain women, gays, and lesbians.”

Kaplan, a partner at Grace-Mayer Insurance agency, also noted the emphasis on “Tikkun Olam, both within our congregations and in the broader community. Our national leaders have the insight and courage to support Continued on page 2

Gary Kaplan, newly elected URJ Board member, attended the Reform Biennial in December in San Diego with other members of Temple Israel, including Temple President-elect Jan Schneiderman, center, and Sally Kaplan.

Kirshenbaum, Yanney, and music help Chabad celebrate 20 years in Omaha and Nebraska communities a wonderful organization. Its energy is

by ANNETTE VANDEKAMP-WRIGHT spent doing good deeds and spreading for Chabad of Nebraska “Mitzvahs and Music” is the theme of Mitzvot; not only in Omaha, but the the upcoming Chabad gala planned for world over. The same can be said about the Yanneys and the Kirshenbaums.

Sunday, April 13.

Chabad of Nebraska will be honoring These are not people who sit around Maxine and Joe Kirshenbaum and Gail and Mike Yanney at a event, to be held at KANEKO, a brand new creativity center located in downtown Omaha.

In addition, Chabad will be celebrating 20 years of involvement in Omaha and surrounding areas.

Event Chairman Tippi Denenberg has her hands full masterminding everything; she and an army of volunteers are making sure that things will run smoothly.

Denenberg explains, “It’s important to put societal emphasis A man of many talents: Rabbi Mendel Katzman tests out the where it belongs, and that acoustics at KANEKO, the chosen venue for April 2008's is on the reinforcement of Chabad Gala. Supervising is Daniel, son of Steve and Tippi all that is good. Chabad is Denenberg.

Inside

complaining about how bad the world is; they are ‘up and at it’, doing something to improve the world, help out others, and make a real, lasting difference.”

Denenberg is excited about the location, as well as the entertainment currently in the planning stage. KANEKO is an elegant new venue that occupies threequarters of a block in Omaha’s Old Market area, and celebrates creativity in the arts, sciences, and philosophy.

“KANEKO is going to rival the Aspen Institute,” Denenberg adds. “It is built to be a creative center, not a banquet hall.

We are so lucky to have this exotic locale -- to have cocktails among Jun Kaneko’s ceramic sculptures and ‘Dongos’, which will provide us with a great ambiance for the event. Also, we are bringing in worldclass musical entertainment from Russia and Italy.”

Denenberg is relying on the expertise of Hal France, a sought-after conductor who has conducted productions across North America and Europe to ensure that the evening will have excellent entertainment. Not only does France have the final word on the entertainment, he has shown his dedication to the project

This Week: Winter fiction: pages 4-5

See Front Page Stories & More at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’ Opinion Page see page 12

Kripke Library part of Let’s Talk About It series: Page 3

by bringing a piano to KANEKO, to test the acoustics.

He is just one of many extremely talented people making the Chabad Gala a reality, according to Denenberg. “It will be a fun but tightly run event. Our Program Director, Debbie Denenberg, is a former Broadway producer. We are planning to offer cocktails, dinner, and of course, our program, while keeping in mind that April 13th is a Sunday,” she says. “Guests of honor at this time number the many friends of the Yanneys and the Kirshenbaums. The entire community is invited to attend and ticket information can be found at the Chabad website: Ochabad.com.”

Denenberg continues, “This is a ‘never before’ event. It is a synergistic conflagration of honorees, location and entertainment. The location isn’t even finished being built yet! Also, there isn’t a person in town that hasn’t somehow been positively affected by these honorees. This gala will bring together all factions of Omahans in the spirit of Tikkun Olam -repairing the world,” Denenberg says.

“It makes me realize there is hope for the world -- and it begins in Omaha.”

Coming Next Month: Simchas and Celebrations: Feb. 8 America Decides: Lee Terry, John McCain: Pages 6-7

Warm reception for musicians and composers: Page 9

Page 2

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

January 18, 2008

Bush urges peace as part of a larger vision Welcomes Gary Kuklin to our new Omaha office Please contact Gary for any of your Commercial Real Estate needs.

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gary@garykuklin.com

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CLIP & SAVE

CALENDAR OF EVENTS FRIDAY, JANUARY 18 Friedel No School/In-Service Chabad House One Shabbat, One World Parent/Toddler Class, 9:30 a.m. at Temple Israel Visions Luncheon Meeting, noon BBYO Kallah Weekend at 4H Camp, 5 p.m.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 19 Chabad House One Shabbat, One World

C Sisterhood Shabbat, 9:30 a.m. at Beth El L BBYO Kallah Weekend, 5 p.m.

I SUNDAY, JANUARY 20 P Reading the Rambam, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel

C L I P

Bible Study Group, 10 a.m. at Beth El

& BESTT Tu B’shvat Family Program, 10 a.m.

Visions Film Streams, 11:30 a.m.

Beyt Shalom Religious School, 1:30 p.m. at JCC Tu B’Shevat Seder, 5p.m. at Beth Israel

S A MONDAY, JANUARY 21 V Friedel Academy No School/Martin Luther King Day E JSS Senior Luncheon, 9:30 a.m.

& S A V E

The Life of Joshua, Son of Nun, 7 p.m.

Derech Torah: Judaism 101, 8 p.m.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 22 Friedel Jewish Academy Tu-B’shvat School Activity WOW Parsha, Prophets and Prayer, 9 a.m. at Chabad Eye on Israel, noon BESTT student Tu B’Shevat Seder, 4:15 p.m.

BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

Parshah Roundup, 7 p.m. at Chabad The Many Faces of Extremism, 7 p.m. at Beth El WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23 Rabbis & Presidents Meeting, noon BESTT student Tu B’Shevat Seder, 4:15 p.m.

C Campaign Leadership Mission Meeting, 7 p.m.

L The Art of Jewish Stenciling, 8 p.m. at Beth El

I THURSDAY, JANUARY 24 P Women of the Torah, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel

Kaplan elected to national URJ Board C L I P

Adult Study with the Clergy, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel

& Center for Jewish Education Board Meeting, noon Insights and Values from the Torah, noon at Beth El Yiddish Group, 1 p.m.

Women’s Book Group, 1:15 p.m. at Beth El LOVE Auxiliary Board Meeting, 7 p.m.

Class with Rabbi Gross, 7:30 p.m. at Beth Israel

S A V E All events held at the JCC unless otherwise indicated. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the accuracy of events. To keep calendar accurate or for questions, call Marlene Hert at 334-6437.

FOR A COMPLETE LISTING, VISIT THE FEDERATION’S WEBSITE: www.JewishOmaha.org (click on calendar)

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Continued from page 1 driving through checkpoints,” he said. “I can also Israeli foreign ministry officials said they re-delivered the understand that until confidence is gained on both sides, message in meetings, telling Bush that nudging Arab why the Israelis would want there to be a sense of secustates toward accommodating Israel was perhaps more rity. In other words, they don’t want a state on their borachievable in the short term. der from which attacks would be launched. I can underBut Bush wants the outline of an agreement in hand stand that. Any reasonable person can understand that.” before he leaves office in a year.

Abbas, standing beside Bush beneath portraits of himSpeaking Jan. 10 in Ramallah, standing alongside self and his late predecessor, Yasser Arafat, beamed -Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Bush and understood. was unequivocal: Palestinian independence was not as “We are fully satisfied with the outcome that we intractable a goal as some would have it. reached through this visit of Mr. President George “Now, look, there are some in the world who don’t Bush,” he said. “All the issues are in agreement. We are believe in the universality of freedom,” he said. “I agreed on all topics. All topics are clear.” understand that. They say, like, freedom is okay for some Bush also urged Israel to clear the way for a Palestinian of us, but maybe not all of us. I understand it, but I security force. reject it. I believe in the universality of freedom.”

“By any obvious measure, the Palestinian security He added, “I believe, deep in the soul of every man, forces are improving,” he said at the news conference in woman, and child on the face of this earth is the desire the “Muqata,” the P.A. headquarters leveled by Israel to live in a free society. And I also believe free societies during the second Palestinian intifada from 2000-2004 yield peace. And, therefore, this notion of two states liv- and rebuilt in part with U.S. assistance. ing side by side in peace is based upon the universality of “My message to the Israelis is that they ought to help freedom, and if given a chance, the Palestinian people -- not hinder -- the modernization of a Palestinian secuwill work for freedom.” rity force,” he said. Israel has prevented P.A. security Later in the day, he reiterated that view, summarizing forces from receiving some equipment. It wants assurhis two days of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

“The establishment of the state of Palestine is long overdue,” the U.S. leader said at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. “A peace agreement should happen and can happen by the end of this year.”

Bush reiterated calls for the parties to adhere to the “road map” peace process he launched in 2003, calling on the Palestinians to stop terrorist attacks and create a secure environment for Israel. And he called on Israel to end settlement expansion and remove illegal outposts.

He said the parties must address all the core issues. On borders, he reiterated one of the principles of his 2004 letter to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, saying “any peace agreement will require mutual adjustment to the Israeli children welcome President Bush on Jan. 9, 2008 upon his arrival at the 1949 line.” This was widely seen at the residence of Israeli President Shimon Peres.

Credit: BPH IMAGES/POOL time as an acknowledgement that Israel would retain some of the areas beyond the 1967 ances that the force is fully professional, noting the borders. involvement in the past of some P.A. troops in attacks on At the same time, he said a Palestinian state must be Israel. contiguous.

Bush’s message on the outposts was a jarring moment Bush also said the Palestinian refugee issue should be in an Israel trip that has otherwise between a love fest addressed by “new international mechanisms, including between Bush and Olmert. The Israeli prime minister compensation.” appeared so taken aback that he rushed -- in Hebrew -Bush said that the agreement “must establish Palestine how much he trusted Bush and how he would act soon as a homeland to the Palestinian people just as Israel is a on the settlement issue. homeland to the Jewish people.”

“Thank God I can conduct political negotiations with Bush did not let the Palestinians off the hook during George Bush at my side as one of my partners,” Olmert his visit. While in Ramallah with Abbas, the president said, elevating the United States’ status from arbiter to said he understood why Israelis want to keep in place the peace partner. “Thank God we can conduct political roadblocks and checkpoints that frustrate Palestinian negotiations when the largest and most important travel. power in the world, and the most important for us, is “I can understand why the Palestinians are frustrated headed by such an important friend of Israel.”

& S A V E

Continued from page 1 the peace movement in Israel. Around the world, new Reform congregations are growing in places as diverse as Minsk, Milan, St. Petersburg, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Jerusalem, and the Western Galilee.”

In addition to Kaplan, Jane Rips, also a past Temple Israel president, has been a member of the approximately 225-member URJ Board, composed of Americans and Canadians, for more than 10 years, having served as a vice chairman of the Union, a member of the executive committee, chair of the joint URJCCAR (Central Conference of American Rabbis) Outreach Commission, chair of the 1999 Orlando Biennial and the 2005 Houston Biennial, and a host of other committees. Currently, she is chair of the Committee on Special Needs Camping.

“Last year, the Union had its first ever camp for families with children on the autism spectrum, and we hope to greatly expand our programming in the coming years,” Rips said.

Rabbi Aryeh Azriel has been a CCAR appointee to the URJ Board for the past two years.

Twice in the past, Kaplan has been “fortunate to work with URJ President Eric Yoffie. As a teen,

Temple sent me to NFTY (National Federation of Temple Youth) Leadership Training where I found myself on Eric’s program committee. He was a dynamic leader even then.” Twenty years later, Kaplan’s path again crossed Rabbi Yoffie’s at a URJ-sponsored retreat for new congregational social justice committee leaders.

Prior to his election, Kaplan, along with his wife, Sally, participated in a new leadership group, offered by URJ to bring new leadership to the national levels of the Union.

Among the challenges adopted at the Biennial are strengthening Reform congregants’ ties to Saturday morning Shabbat worship services by, for instance, encouraging members to examine what the command to rest might mean in a 24/7 culture where few people are involved in manual labor. Another is the need to reach out to Muslims who are trying to build an ethical and balanced Muslim life in modern America.

“Meeting these challenges can have a huge impact on our personal lives and on the chances for peace in the world,” Kaplan pointed out. “As a member of the Board, I look forward to joining Jane Rips and Rabbi Azriel and to supporting Rabbi Yoffie’s work.”

January 18, 2008

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 3

Military option against Iran is ‘still on the table’ Council Bluffs Public Library to host

by LESLIE SUSSER that Iran had stopped its clandestine milJERUSALEM (JTA) -- Neither Israel itary nuclear program in 2003, the offinor the United States has eliminated the cial said: “This is one of the areas our military option against Iran, according to countries and establishments, including a senior Israeli official.

Briefing journalists Jan. 10 on President Bush’s talks in Jerusalem, the official said that while both countries preferred diplomatic and economic measures, they did not “remove any option from the table.”

“I don’t want to speak for the president, but when we say all options are on the table, this is not just words,” the Israeli declared, underlining his country’s seriousness.

The official said that Bush President Bush meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Credit: PPO/BBH Images had acknowledged both in Abbas in Ramallah on Jan. 10. public and in private the danger posed by the intelligence establishment, are workthe Iranian nuclear weapons’ program. ing in very close cooperation. We don’t “Iran was a threat, Iran is a threat and wait for any special event before passing Iran will be a threat if the international on information. I assume that the presicommunity does not come together and dent knows whatever we do.” prevent that nation from the developBush’s upcoming visit to the Gulf ment of the know-how to build a nuclear region, Saudi Arabia and Egypt would be weapon,” Bush declared at a joint news very significant, the official said, as it conference Jan. 9 with Prime Minister could help strengthen the moderate Arab Ehud Olmert. coalition against Iran. He said pressure While Bush’s meetings with Olmert and from the moderates “will hopefully turn Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud into meaningful influence on Iran’s calAbbas have focused mostly on the Israeli- culus regarding its nuclear program.”

Palestinian issue, Iran is high on the agenThe official confirmed that Israel and da for Israel and the United States. the United States had discussed the Bush began his mission to the Middle ongoing rocket attacks on southern Israel East in Jerusalem on Jan. 9. After meet- from Hamas-controlled Gaza, and said ings with Israeli and Palestinian officials, the Americans recognized Israel’s need to he was headed to the Persian Gulf states, take military action in response.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

The United States “understands Israel Asked whether Israel had shown the has the right, and that sometimes it has president any intelligence contradicting no choice but to take action to defend the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate itself,” he said.

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“Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature” reading and discussion series

by GARY KATZ Administrator, Kripke Jewish Federation Library Council Bluffs Public Library will host a free five-part reading and discussion series called “Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature -- Identity and Imagination.” The series explores Jewish literature and culture through scholarled discussions of contemporary and classic books on a common theme.

The library’s series will explore the theme of Modern Marvels: Jewish Adventures in the Graphic Novel. The library is one of over 250 libraries nationwide receiving grants to host the series developed by Nextbook and the American Library Association (ALA).

Local support for the series is provided by UNO’s Dr. CC and Mabel L. Criss Library and Kripke Jewish Federation Library.

The first program will explore A Contract With God: And Other Testament Stories by Will Eisner and will be held on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2 p.m. The discussion will take place at the UNO Dr. CC and Mabel L. Criss Library. The first two programs will be held there and the other programs will be held at the Council Bluffs Public Library.

For details or to register, please visit http://www.cbpl.lib.ia.us or contact

Lynn Friesner, 712.323.7553 ext 135, and/or lfriesner@cbpl.lib.ia.us.

“We are delighted to have been chosen to host this unique series that will allow patrons a chance to discuss themes in Jewish literature with fellow community members and with the help of a well-qualified scholar,” said Barbara Peterson, Council Bluffs Public Library Director.

Additional books will be discussed once per month at the library. These books are The Complete Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman, Feb. 17; Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer: Stories by Ben Katchor, March 30; The Quitter by Harvey Pekar, April 13; and The Rabbi’s Cat by Joann Sfar, May 18.

Dr. Joan Latchaw, Graduate Supervisor, English Department, University of Nebraska-Omaha, will lead a discussion of the book at each session. Dr. Latchaw was the scholar for the “2006 Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature Series, A Mind of Her Own: Fathers and Daughters in a Changing World” and “2007 Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature Series, Neighbors, The World Next Door.”

For more information, contact me at the Kripke Federation Library, 334.6462 or gkatz@jewishomaha. org.

Page 4

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

January 18, 2008

Winter fiction to warm your heart -- and chill your imagination attend the local university and remain immigrant world is not monolithic. Her able morality. They are happy with themBOOK REVIEW with her current boyfriend, whose life is work is a welcome addition to this selves. They have renounced the vain

by RABBI RACHEL ESSERMAN The Reporter (Binghamton, NY) Winter has arrived and the weather is perfect for ... Oops, sorry, I nearly blew it. In part one of this review, I said I wasn’t going to write anymore weather related openings. It’s just that the four books I’m reviewing have nothing in common except for having either Jewish content or a Jewish author. One work explores the lives of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, another is a pastoral tale that takes place in France just prior to World War II. The third is a thriller that looks at the connection between religious zealotry and terrorism, and the fourth, a chick-lit mystery, features one of my favorite detectives, Sophie Katz.

The Last Chicken in America The latest entry in the Jewish Russian immigrant genre is Ellen Litman’s The Last Chicken in America: A Novel in Stories (W. W. Norton and Company).

Unlike the satirical works of Gary Shteyngart and Anya Ulinich, Litman focuses on relationships, writing bittersweet tales of love, which also show just how difficult it can be to live in a foreign country.

Readers who enjoyed David Bezmozgis’ Natasha and Other Stories will find similarities between the two books, particularly since both contain interconnected stories.

However, Litman’s work is not a derivative. What stands out is her particular take on the many different ways people adjust to their new lives.

For example, when Mikhail Abramovich Liberman, the elderly Russian who is the main character in “What Do You Dream of, Cruiser Aurora?”, travels to America to live near his daughter, he feels lost. What is he supposed to do each day after he eats breakfast? His daughter expects him to make new friends, not an easy task for someone still mourning the loss of his wife two years before. If not for his neighbor, Mira, he might never leave his apartment.

Yet, is going to the JCC for senior meals and trips really what he wants?

Several stories speak of those torn between remaining within the Russian community or joining the larger American world. “When the Neighbors Love You” features a teenager who wants to escape, to do something more than

going nowhere. Unfortunately, even with the help of a friend, she finds it impossible to plan for a different type of future.

Even those who do escape may find themselves drawn back to the communal fold, which is one reason why, in “Home,” Masha is reluctant to attend her friend Lariska’s wedding. Masha worries that like her friend, she, too, will settle for second best, unable to find her place in American society. Masha is also the narrator of my favorite story, “The Last Chicken in America,” which shows the careful way she and her parents learned to navigate American culture during their first month in the United States.

The best part of Litman’s work are her descriptions of immigrant life, some of which show “what’s wrong with immigration. Those who could be your friends at home here become cautious competitors. Parents envy their children. Sisters become dangerous -- all that private information they can unleash at a strategically chosen moment. It’s about surviving. Immigration distorts people.”

Readers learn to discern the difference between those born in this country and those who have immigrated. For example, in the JCC “lunchroom, Russian seniors were clustered to the right. You could recognize them immediately: men in ill-fitting brown trousers, women in cotton dresses and knitted cardigans, all of them purchased a long time ago and altered repeatedly. Lips pursed sternly, faces stiff. Compared to them, the Americans (mostly women) looked like careless parakeets -- bright, excessively painted, and cheerful.”

Yet, the former Soviet Union also never felt like home to many of these characters. One college student remembers a boy she liked at her Russian high school, one who “was crossing himself by the icon of Nikolai the Miracle Worker. He had a silver crucifix under his shirt, which probably meant nothing, except it was what nationalistic patriots wore in those days, when they were on TV at midnight and talked of planned pogroms. No, I didn’t miss Russia.” These Jewish characters were never truly members of the Russian society or culture.

Although “The Last Chicken in America” claims to be a novel in stories, that isn’t quite true. The stories leave too many gaps; although some of the same characters appear throughout the book, I didn’t know them the same way I would if this were truly a novel. However, I don’t think it’s necessary to pretend these works are part of one piece. Litman’s strength is in showing the different ways people have adjusted, how the Russian

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Russian immigrant genre.

Fire in the Blood The story of Irene Nemirovsky’s life is so dramatic that it’s easy to overlook her literary contributions. A member of a Jewish family that immigrated to France during the Russian Revolution, Nemirovsky sought to be part of the French literary world, ignoring her Jewish heritage until the French police arrested her and sent her to Auschwitz where she died in 1942. Until the last minute, she expected her conversion to Christianity and her literary standing in France to save her from the Nazis.

She also continued to write while waiting for her fate to be decided, producing the marvelous Suite Francaise, the manuscript which was found in a suitcase by her daughters, but who put off reading it for decades for fear of the emotions it would raise. Now another manuscript, also written in the last years of Nemirovsky’s life, has been published.

The plot of Fire in the Blood (Alfred A. Knopf), which takes place in a small French village years before World War II, may seem an odd choice for someone in Nemirovsky’s situation. Silvio, the narrator, has returned to his hometown after spending years traveling abroad.

Although he wants only to sit in his small home enjoying his solitude, his family seeks to include him in their lives. To his dismay, he finds himself being treated as a confidant by his niece, discovering passions and secrets the villagers would prefer to remain hidden. These revelations remind him of his own past and force him to relive emotions he thought were dead and buried.

Although at times Fire in the Blood seems a sketch rather than a full fledged novel, parts of it are very powerful, especially its ending which is shocking in its truthfulness. Nemirovsky explores the way people perceive their emotions and how this perception can change over time.

For example, Silvio projects his personal feelings onto his neighbors, noting that “when older people get together there is something unflappable about them; you can sense that they’ve tasted all the heavy, bitter, spicy food of life, extracted its poisons, and will now spend 10 or 15 years in a state of perfect equilibrium and envi-

attempts of youth to adapt the world to their desires. They have failed and, now, they can relax.

In a few years they will once again be troubled by great anxiety, but this time it will be a fear of death.” Silvio is happy that his age protects him from what he calls “fire in the blood,” the powerful force of passion that “devours everything and then, in a few years, a few months, a few hours, it burns itself out. Then you see how much damage has been done.”

Yet, to his dismay, Silvio learns that forgotten memories can return and forcefully remind one that while the fire may not always flame brightly, it can never be forgotten.

Although Fire in the Blood cannot compare to the power and depth of Suite Francaise, it is still a remarkable piece of work. Although it does not directly speak to the dilemma Nemirovsky faced in Nazi-conquered France, it raises the idea of how hidden passions can change one’s world, including the passion known as anti-Semitism.

Who By Fire, Who By Blood Jon Papernick risks a great deal by making Matthew Stone the main character in his thriller Who by Fire, Who by Blood (Exile Editions). I found Matthew an unpleasant, unattractive, depressing mess. This is understandable considering the family in which he grew up: His mother disappeared from his life 14 years earlier and his father, a famous lawyer and judge, was a demanding, unloving parent. Matthew’s life situation is difficult: After dropping out of graduate school to live with his dying father, he is at a loss for what to do now that his father has died. To make matters even more complicated, his mother reappears, claiming that her exhusband threatened to have her killed if she contacted Matthew.

Matthew finds himself being courted by the FBI and by a right-wing pro-Israel group, both of which are interested in his late father’s activities in Israel and the U.S. Looking to somehow redeem himself in his late father’s eyes by following his example, he seeks answers from a charismatic rabbi who promises to provide his life with meaning.

Although the plot unfolds slowly, the twists and turns the novel takes make it Continued on page 5

January 18, 2008

Winter fiction Continued from page 4 worthwhile to keep reading. The first 100 pages emphasize Matthew’s relationship with his father and the tortured path he follows to discover what he should do in life. A stranger at his father’s funeral speaks words that resonate: “You’re never rid of [your father]. He’s always there, an indelible print you can’t wash off.”

Matthew also relates to the biblical story of Isaac, which explains the relationship between fathers and sons. He “imagined Isaac’s permanent anxiety and distrust and guilt, his feelings of failure and disgrace before his awesome father, bound on the altar beneath the bright blade. [Matthew] finally understood why the Jews, descended from the patriarch Isaac, were such a neurotic people born from this frightening act of faith, a psychological wrecking ball that echoed through the millennia.”

Matthew is drawn into the religious world, which gives him the approval he sought from his father and which provides his life with the structure it lacked.

Who by Fire, Who by Blood is not your average thriller. Its theological discussions, particularly about the religious foundation of the State of Israel, make for intriguing and convincing reading, that is until the ultimate outcome of that reasoning is explored.

However, what makes the novel work is the intricate, carefully layered plot, some details of which took me completely by surprise. I still can’t say that I liked Matthew Stone by the end of the book, but by that point my feelings seemed irrelevant. If you’re looking for an intelligent thriller, Who by Fire, Who by Blood may be a perfect fit.

Obsession, Deceit and Really Dark Chocolate It’s very difficult for me to write a review about Obsession, Deceit and Really Dark Chocolate by Kyra Davis (Red Dress Ink), the latest book in the Sophie Katz chick-lit mystery series. What I really want to do is write: “I loved, loved, loved this book! It’s so hysterical I nearly fell off my chair laughing! My only complaint is that I want more of Sophie now!”

However, that would be unprofession-

al, particularly since I would really like to use multiple exclamation points at the end of each sentence, something my editor frowns on.

In Obsession, Sophie once again finds herself involved in a murder investigation, this time when Eugene O’Reilly, the husband of a friend, is killed in a drive-by shooting. The fact that Sophie was just in a bar trying to seduce him, with the expressed permission of his wife, complicates the matter. It seems that something may be wrong with the political campaign he was running for congressional hopeful Flynn Fitzgerald, a right-wing candidate.

Sophie decides to investigate the campaign, mostly to distract herself from the fact that her on-and-off relationship with private investigator Anatoly Darinsky is in an off stage, due to the fact that he is unable to commit to even being called her boyfriend. Of course, Sophie gets in over her head and has to recruit Anatoly to help, which makes for some very funny and very sexy scenes.

While Davis writes excellent mysteries, it’s her humor that makes these books special. For example, when Sophie describes the satisfaction she gets out of helping solve murders, she notes that “solving crimes was often an enjoyable activity. Kind of like playing Clue with live psychotics.” Well it wasn’t a lot of fun when people were trying to kill her, but the rest wasn’t so bad.

Unfortunately, the very funniest parts of Obsession, Deceit and Really Dark Chocolate can’t be printed in a familyfriendly newspaper. Suffice to say, I may never be able to look at stuffed animals the same way again. Those who already love this series won’t need me to convince them to read this latest book.

For those who haven’t: If you like chick lit and humorous mysteries, you’ll find this “Obsession” a real treat.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 5

COMING 02.2008

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COMING 02.2008

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ORGANIZATIONS YOUNG ENERGETIC SENIORS Enjoy the fun with Yesterday’s Kids Barbershop Quartet on Monday at the JCC. Lunch is served at noon for $7 per person; the program will begin at 12:30 p.m. Join us for bingo Miles Remer at 10 a.m. Call Dee Dee at 330.4272 for transportation. For information, call Maggie Conti at 334.6521.

LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Come to the Yiddish meeting at the JCC on Thursdays, 1-3 p.m. If you have any Yiddish books to donate, please call Anne Skolkin at 343.1638.

VISIONS Reminder: Visions Luncheon Meeting is Friday, Jan. 18, 12:30 p.m., at the Venice Inn at 12:30 p.m. Cost is $11 per person. Mike Silverman will install the new officers for 2008. For information, call Harry Alloy at 697.8709.

Got the winter blahs? Join Visions for a Sunday afternoon movie and early-bird dinner on Feb. 3 at the Film Streams.

The featured film is The Savages, staring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Linney and Philip Bosco. There will be a school bus leaving from the JCC promptly at 12:45 p.m. Please be at the JCC by 12:30 p.m. Following the movie, stop at Jason’s Deli for dinner “on your own”

Cost for transportation and theater ticket is $11 (for members of Film Stream the cost is $9). Send reservations and checks to Visions to Doris Alloy, 11317 Harney Plaza Circle, Omaha, NE 68154 by Jan. 25. Questions? Call Doris at 697.8709 or Sissy at 292.8062.

The Omaha Community Playhouse presents Company on Sunday, Feb. 24 (meet in the lobby at 1:30 to pick up tickets for the 2 p.m. show). Company features a brilliant and energetic score containing many of Steven Sondheim’s best-known songs including “Another Hundred People,” “The Ladies Who Lunch,” and “Being Alive”. Dinner follows the show at Grisanti’s (on your own). Make check payable to Visions and send to Betty Sanford at 9205 Western Ave. #127, Omaha, NE 68114. For information, call her at 399.2001.

B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS John Christensen will speak at Breadbreakers on Wednesday, Jan. 23, noon, at Regency Lodge, according to Gary Javitch, chairman. Christensen, newly appointed UNO Chancellor, will speak on “The Challenges Ahead.”

All men and women in the community are invited to attend. Cost is $12 for a complete lunch and $3 for beverage service only.

Home+ Garden Publishing Date:03.14.08 | Space Reservation:02.29.08 | Camera Ready Deadline:03.05.08

Contact your advertising representative to advertise in these very special editions.

Call Allan Handleman at 402.334.6451 or email:ahandleman@jewishomaha.org

Page 6

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

January 18, 2008

An advocate for Israel AMERICA DECIDES 2008

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Lee Terry, senior member of the Nebraska delegation of the United States House of Representatives, addressed the B’nai Brith Breadbreakers at their weekly meeting right after the first of the year. Terry, a Republican, has served five terms, since 1998. He considers his position as a congressman a high honor and realizes it is a tremendous responsibility.

He believes that service to one’s country is a way of life and he has demonstrated this philosophy by being a strong advocate of energy independence. “In order to make our economy really grow, we cannot be beholden to other countries for fuel. I think that we need to look ahead and focus more on renewable fuels.”

He says, “When we look at all of the issues that I’m going to talk about -- countries like Pakistan and Iraq, it all dovetails together our dependence on others for fuel.

It puts limits on what we are able to do in our foreign policy, and jeopardizes and endangers our economy.

And it limits our ability to compete in a world market. It is my criticism of our current administration that in every State of the Union Address, there’s talk about energy independence but refusal to put any extra dollars into it!”

would suggest there has been almost a 180 degree turn.

We are experiencing the least number of military and civilian deaths since 2003. And, it appears that the government there is getting stronger and a lot of things have come together; Al-Qaeda has overplayed their hand in Iraq.”

Terry believes that with their aggressive civilian attacks, car bombs, suicide bombers in the markets and populated areas, they have killed far more Muslims than they have United States military.

Said Terry, “The populous started to turn on them and as that happened, they came to the United States for help. Through that cooperation, we’ve been able to do a better job of cleaning up areas like Falusa, Ramadi and even Baghdad.”

According to Terry, the number one goal of AlQuaeda is to have a geographical area rich in oil to control. Their stated ideals have taken a great hit. Therefore they no longer have strength in Iraq.

Terry says, “The assassination of Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of Pakistan, and a new tape released

by Osama bin Ladin are significant happenings. Bin Laden said that Sunnis have to rise up and fight because they are the ones who are helping us most. And, bin Laden also said they have to eliminate the State of Israel.

He put much more emphasis on that statement than at any time in the past.”

The congressman then asked, “Why is he doing this? I don’t think that it would surprise anyone that AlQuaeda or bin Ladin was directly behind Bhutto’s assassination. It’s number two in his list of goals to destabi-

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RAFUL - WHINSTON

Having survived Mr. Mitchell, Mrs. Kaslow, Mrs. Riekes, and the rest of her UTTO teachers, Larry and Dinah Raful are pleased to announce that Sarah is engaged to be married to Josh Whinston, a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles (although her parents would have preferred a lawyer!). Josh is the son of Robin and Eric Whinston of San Diego.

Sarah is the Associate Director of Wilshire Boulevard Temple Camps, two Jewish summer camp programs in Malibu, California.

Yes, her years at Herzl Camp stayed with her, and she even still sings some songs with her campers that Corey Kirshenbaum taught her at JCC camp! The wedding is planned for March, 2008, at the outdoor chapel at the camp, located high atop a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Sarah received her college education at the University of Illinois, where she became good friends with Hillel Director Alan Potash. (She wonders what ever became of him?) She spent her junior year at the Rothberg Program at Hebrew University, although much of the time she was eating rugelach. She worked for Hillel for three years following graduation, and then moved to Los Angeles and obtained a dual degree, earning an MA in Jewish Communal Studies at Hebrew Union College and a Master of Public Administration at USC. She has worked for WBT Camps for three years.

Josh earned his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the youngest of three Whinston children, with an older sister Wendy, and an older brother, Adam. He is an accomplished guitar player and song leader, and will serve as a cantor intern this summer at Congregation Rodef Shalom in Marin County. He graduates in May, 2009.

Sarah’s sisters, Anna and Leah, will of course show up and do a whole lot of dancing at the wedding. Sarah’s grandparents Susy and Bob Raful and Roz Maurer are pretty darn ecstatic about the whole thing. Unfortunately, Josh’s grandparents are deceased, and Sarah’s grandfather Abe Maurer, who passed away in April, 2007, will be greatly missed at the simcha. May their memory be a blessing for this young couple.

Photos from left: Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE Second District) chats with Alan Unger, left and Aaron Weiner, and Press Before going to Washington, Terry was an Omaha attorney who served on the Omaha City Council and was president. He was a member of the Omaha/Douglas County Building Commission. He and his wife, Robyn, have three sons: Nolan, Ryan and Jack.

In eastern Nebraska, he has been active in political and charitable activities by being a board member of the American Diabetes Association. Annually, he hosts a “Swing for the Cure” golf tournament.

Throughout his career, Congressman Terry has voted for bills that would strengthen America and the relationship between America and Israel. According to his peers, “He is a man of integrity and character.” He addresses the group on a regular basis and, in more recent times, seems relaxed and comfortable with them.

In Congress, Terry serves on the Committee on Energy and Commerce which deals with consumer protection, telecommunications, finance and trade and business related legislation. It is said to be one of the most influential committees on the Hill and he is the first Nebraskan to serve on it in 24 years.

He spoke briefly about The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE). “I can’t talk about classified portions, but I can give you my observations on some of the things I have picked up. Let’s start with our discussions of Al-Qaeda. The epicenter of what occurs in Iraq, Israel, Afghanistan, Pakistan starts with al-Qaeda and their franchised operations around the world,” he said.

“The nucleus, or the ‘hub’ has grown weaker.

However, the number of associates or “wannabes” has grown. It’s important to understand what their objectives are in order to see what has occurred in the last weeks or months. Their first objective is to get America out of Iraq so that they can control them.”

Terry added, “That’s why they have put such effort into Iraq. They want to set up their own operations and spread their philosophy. Their number two objective is to destabilize moderate Moslem countries and increase the power of the fundamentalists or extremists.”

Their third objective is to eliminate the State of Israel, he noted.

“Last January, we had lost total control of Iraq. We had the highest number of deaths and it looked like things had gone out of control. As we sit here today, I

Advertising Manager Allan Handleman, right, at a Breadbreakers meeting earlier this month. lize moderate Muslin countries and allowing the extremists to get a stronger foothold in the leadership of those countries. But if you think about what Bhutto stood for, it was against everything that Al-Qaeda wants. She was a woman who wanted democracy and made it a major point in her campaign to eliminate terrorists.”

He added, “Bin Ladin is now focusing on the destabilization of moderate Muslim countries and the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state. We should be very concerned and my opinion is that in order to solidify his Muslim support, bin Ladin has to do things against Israel. I predict that we will see Al-Qaeda directly involved with incidents within Israel.”

He shook his head and said, “Because of Iraq, bin Laden is having a real problem with his credibility with his franchisees. He will have to make it up some way and his tape states that it might be with the attempted elimination of the State of Israel.”

Steve Riekes, Omaha attorney changed the subject and asked Terry about recent statements from a Republican presidential hopeful saying he is the better candidate because he is a “Christian leader.”

Terry responded, “That was disturbing. Saying that you are a better candidate because you are a Christian is a disturbing trend. However, the politics behind that statement is that one candidate is getting more of the evangelical Christian vote and the one who made the statement is trying to move some of the vote. I thought that it was ‘over the edge.’”

Another question was about a possible Independent ticket with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel. Terry said, “I think that if they run, it will take votes away from the Democrats.

If I was strictly a party guy, I’d say, ‘Run Bloomberg, run!’”

Terry added, “The world scene is a very turbulent one.

It is dynamic and complicated. There are millions of pieces of the puzzle that need to be put together and I think that the coming elections will be about who will be the best leader to help do that.

He closed by saying, “A leadership that embodies world knowledge and understanding of other cultures is what we need. And who that is, I don’t yet know! I think that it will be the number one issue as we go into November.”

January 18, 2008

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 7

McCain’s Jewish support spans the political spectrum AMERICA DECIDES 2008

by BETH YOUNG WASHINGTON (JTA) -- John McCain’s reputation as a maverick holds true in the Jewish world, where his list of allies spans the political spectrum. His long-term support for Israel and human rights issues along with his willingness to cross party lines has won him allies among conservative Republicans, independent Democrats and even some liberal Jews.

Topping his list of Jewish supporters is U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), the independent Democrat who made headlines by endorsing the presidential bid of his Republican colleague from Arizona.

A U.S. senator from Arizona since 1986, McCain developed a reputation for breaking with his Republican colleagues. Most famously he joined with Russ Feingold, a Jewish Democrat from Wisconsin, in passing the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act in 2002.

In a recent poll of American Jewish opinion, McCain ranked behind former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as the second-favored Republican. He scored a 32 percent favorability rating among Jews in general and 49 percent among Republicans, according to the American Jewish Committee survey.

Lieberman’s backing of McCain has led to mutterings among political insiders over the possibility of a McCainLieberman ticket in the general election. It would be Lieberman’s second bid for the vice presidency; he was the first Jew on a viable ticket when Al Gore picked him as a running mate in 2000.

Both McCain and Lieberman support the Bush administration’s position on the Iraq war and have taken a hard-line approach to Iran. “I think it’s helped McCain a lot,” Ben Chouake, president of the pro-Israel Norpac and a member of McCain’s finance committee, told JTA in December, referring to Lieberman’s endorsement.

But McCain has drawn support from staunch Republican and politically conservative Jews as well.

Among them is Mark Broxmeyer, the national chairman of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. Last month McCain named Broxmeyer, a New York property developer, the chairman of his Jewish advisory committee. JINSA has been among the most consistent supporters of the Bush administration’s Iraq policy.

McCain at times also has drawn Jewish support -- if not political backing -- from left-wing Jews. The U.S. branch of Rabbis for Human Rights met with McCain to

support his 2005 amendment to a defense appropriations bill that prohibits inhumane treatment of prisoners, including those at Guantanamo Bay, and also narrowly defined acceptable interrogation practices. He endured five-and-a-half years of torture at the hands of the Viet Cong after the Navy bomber he was flying was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967. McCain remained in the Navy until 1981, when he was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

McCain repeatedly has cited Israel’s 1999 ban on torture in refuting claims that it is a helpful tool in combating terrorism.

His relationship with Bush has changed over the years.

John McCain addresses the Republican Jewish Coalition’s GOP forum, Oct. 16 in Washington. Credit: Courtesy of RJC Bush and McCain sparred fiercely in the 2000 presidential campaign, and the senator toyed with a vice presidency offer from Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic candidate in 2004.

That marginalized McCain among some party faithfuls, leading McCain to initially tamp down his criticisms of Bush in this campaign.

Recently, however, he reversed that policy, including a few barbs in his speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition candidates’ forum in October -- all the more notable because the RJC is a redoubt of Bush loyalists.

Noting reports of the success of the surge of ground troops in Iraq, McCain reminded the RJC crowd that his was a lonely voice advocating additional troops in 2004. “I was criticized by Republicans because of my disloyalty,” he said.

McCain also said he did not trust Russian President Vladimir Putin’s role in contributing to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“I looked into Putin’s eyes and I saw three letters -- a K, a G and a B,” he said, referring to Putin’s earlier career as a spy. Bush had famously said that he looked into Putin’s eyes and saw a good soul.

The crowd ignored the barbs; almost every questioner started by saluting McCain’s military service.

Fred Zeidman, a Texas venture capitalist and political fund-raiser, has long been a McCain ally and is also very close to Bush. Zeidman agreed that McCain was earning respect in the party as his policies appeared to be vindicated. Winning the New Hampshire primary with 37% of the Republican votes didn’t hurt either.

“He has been steadfast in his beliefs and his opinions, but there has been a shift in the administration toward things McCain has been supportive of all along,” Zeidman said.

According to campaign contribution reports, McCain has raised $35,900 from individual board members of the Republican Jewish Coalition, surpassed only by Giuliani’s $58,750.

McCain drew criticism last fall after he told beliefnet.com that he would prefer to vote for a candidate who shared his Christian religious views.

Republican Jewish leaders said McCain’s offhand remarks needed to be put in the context of his longstanding support for the Jewish people.

“While members of the Republican Jewish Coalition would not have expressed themselves in the manner Sen. McCain did, a full reading of the entire interview shows Sen. McCain unequivocally reaffirming the separation of church and state and recognizing the Judeo-Christian values upon which this country was founded,” the coalition said in a statement.

McCain’s biggest credential may be the longevity of his career, Zeidman said.

“John McCain is the only candidate that has a 20-year demonstrated history of unequivocal support for the State of Israel,” he said. “I think it’s fascinating to watch the world evolve back toward John McCain. To see him back in the front of this race is a credit to the citizens of this country.”

Exhibit opens on Holocaust refugees in the tropics “Sosúa, The Dominican Republic: A Refuge for the Holocaust in the Tropics” can be viewed in the Pennie Z. Davis Gallery for Holocaust Education at the JCC through the end of February. In addition to the exhibit, the Institute for Holocaust Education has recently acquired a bronze sculpture, “Out of the Flames” from Annette Fettman, for its permanent collection.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

January 18, 2008

Beth El, Lauritzen Gardens to co-sponsor community-wide Tu B’Shevat celebration to four stations representing each of the

by JILL BELMONT four seasons. At each station, plants Beth El Publicity Coordinator It may be cold outside, but spring will indigenous to Israel will be on display, be in the air at Lauritzen Gardens on songs will be sung, poems will be read Sunday, Jan. 27, 1:30-3 p.m., as Beth and fruits and nuts of that particular seaEl and the botanical center team up for son will be tasted. In addition, throughthe third year in a row to co-sponsor a out the afternoon, children will be treatspecial community-wide Tu B’Shevat cel- ed to fun arts and crafts activities, cookie ebration. This one-of-a-kind, family decorating and seed planting in the visifriendly event, will be held at the tor center’s classrooms.

Gardens’ visitor and education center, Other highlights during the event located at 100 Bancroft St. include a video about Israel and trivia game Tu B’Shevat marks the beginning of led by JCC Sh’liach Zohar Winer at 1:30 spring in Israel, and is also known as the p.m., and an entertaining puppet show for New Year for Trees. This holiday, which all ages, performed by Rivkah and Abe Sass celebrates nature’s gifts, is the perfect at 2:30 p.m. in the great hall. time to highlight the importance of preserving nature, as well as to discuss questions of ecology and the spirit of living in cooperation with the world.

“This event is such a wonderful way to celebrate the holiday which reminds us of our connection to earth,” said Beth El’s Rabbi Mordechai Levin. “In this era of global environmental threats, Tu B’Shevat reminds us how Community members of all ages enjoyed art activities and seed fragile and complex our planting at the 2007 Beth El/Lauritzen Gardens holiday event.

Admission during this special commuecosystem really is. Judaism sees nature as a product of the Divine. We are the cus- nity-wide event is free, generously undertodians of the earth, and we are com- written by an anonymous donor. manded to respect and care for our Activities and crafts will be underwritten

by Beth El. A fun-filled, unique afterworld.”

Beth El volunteers will lead the after- noon is promised for all: don’t miss this noon’s festivities, including walking tours festive Tu B’Shevat celebration!

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Catch a meatball, strike it lucky at OTYG spaghetti dinner and auction

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Forecasters are predicting rain precisely on Sunday, Jan. 27, 5 p.m. In fact, it’ll be raining meatballs at the annual Omaha Temple Youth Group Spaghetti Dinner and Auction at Temple Israel that evening.

In addition to a plate full, OTYG has received numerous auction items including UNO Maverick hockey tickets plus a parking pass, Creighton Blue Jay basketball tickets, Husker football tickets, gift certificates to the Cheesecake Factory, El Basha, and Sanctuary Day spa, facials, manicures, and pedicures, a gift basket to Omaha Steaks, a five-course gourmet dinner for six, and a one-year membership to the Nature Conservancy plus a guided tour of your choice with Dr. Mace Hack, the state director of the Nebraska Chapter.

The silent auction starts at 10 a.m. at Temple. The live auction with auctioneer Steve Danon continues after the spaghetti dinner.

Diners wishing “to adopt a receipt,” can choose from a variety of tickets that will be posted on a bulletin board in the Temple lobby. All donations are tax deductible.

Sarah Bleicher, president of OTYG, emphasized that “the annual spaghetti dinner is our biggest fundraiser! It’s important, because it not only supports Temple’s youth groups but Camp

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She added, “It’s great that the community can help to support us and these camps. It’ll be fun not only for OTYGers but for those who come for a great meal!

If they bid the right amount, then who knows? They could end up with a great (theme) basket or even one of those coveted parking spots!”

Reservations are due now. Spaghetti chefs Len Burrell, Barry Grossman, and Justin Cooper will be in the kitchen to prepare for “It’s Raining Meatballs.”

Dinner is $7 for adults (13 and older), $4 for three- to 12-year-olds, and free for children under three. You also can reserve a table for 10 for $80.

Call the Temple office at 556.6536 or e-mail Youth Director PJ Wiesner at: pwiesner@ templeisraelomaha.com.

Auction proceeds support OTYG, Junior Youth Group, and Club 56.

Donations are also made to Camp Rainbow and Camp Coholo for seriously ill children.

A babysitting room will be available during the live auction.

Spaghetti Dinner and Auction committee members are Ashley Bernstein, LaShanna Bernstein, Haley Burns, Hannah Ferer, Susan Freeman, Julie Sadofsky, Sarah Sadofsky, Bleicher, and the rest of the OTYG Executive Board.

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January 18, 2008

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 9

Chilly night gives way to warm reception for Jewish composers

Close to 150 people braved a cold evening to listen to sophisticated compositions by emerging and young composers last week in a competition sponsored by the Karen Sokolof Javitch Music Fund of the Foundation of the

Jewish Federation. From left: Susan Rothholz, left, Janey Dann and Javitch confer on the program. Winning first place were Carmel Raz of Israel, for her composition, Adom, and Arielle Galler-Rabinowitz for Soul on Fire. Two

IN THE NEWS Joanna Y. Kay has earned the degree of Master of Science in Forensic Anthropology from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, England.

She is the daughter of Leslie and Helen Kay and the granddaughter of Lily Kay. Barbara Pocras Kenyon, Business and Personal Coach with Kenyon Coaching, has recently earned a Coach Certification with the International Coach Federation (ICF). The ICF developed the Code of Professional Standards to preserve the integrity of coaching. Barbara is a graduate of Coach U and she holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling.

Barbara and her business partner/husband, Allan Kenyon, offer in-house coaching to businesses that want to i m p r o v e employee motivation and teamwork. They also provide individual coaching by telephone to people from around the globe who want to reach their personal or professional goals more quickly. Their clients include entrepreneurs, business leaders, professionals, sales people, college students, retirees, and people in transition.

The Kenyons have written a book, Fire Up Your Life Now: 25 Secrets for Creating the Life You Really Want, which will be available in April. The couple also present a motivational workshop called ‘Fire Up Your Life Now!’ To learn more, visit www.KenyonCoaching.com or call 402.423.6777.

Former Omahan Jeff Noddle was named Executive of the Year by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.

Noddle transformed Supervalu Inc. in 2006 when he led the firm’s $17.4 billion acquisition of Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons Inc. At the time, the deal was considered the biggest leveraged-buyout ever. It vaulted Supervalu’s annual revenue from $19 billion to $44 billion and quadrupled its employee count from 50,000 to 200,000.

Noddle was born in 1946 in Omaha, Neb. He’s the youngest of three sons (the late Harlan Noddle, and Allan

Noddle) of Robert and Edith. Robert was a Lithuanian immigrant and Edith’s family had emigrated from Russia.

He earned a degree in business with a minor in marketing at University of Iowa. Right out of college he spent a few months in the Illinois National Guard and then worked at a Chicago glass factory.

At age 24, Jeff Noddle decided to return to Hinky Dinky, where his brothers also were working. He was hired into a separate division called Supermarkets Interstate, which was about to be acquired by J.C. Penney Co. Inc. of Dallas.

In 1976, Supervalu was a small, but growing, regional distributor. Noddle started his career with them in Champaign, and rose through the ranks of Supervalu’s Illinois division and then in 1985, at age 38, he was relocated to oversee the distribution business in Fargo, N.D. By 2000, he was named president and chief operating officer, and in 2001, he was picked to become CEO. By the time he moved to Supervalu’s headquarters, his brother Allan said it became clear he would become an influential leader in the company.

Allan Noddle is a 30-year veteran of the food industry, as well. He is former president and CEO of Giant Food Stores in Carlisle, PA, and was an executive with Royal Ahold, a Netherlands-based food retailer. He was the first American to serve on Ahold’s corporate board.

Caroline Juster, a sophomore at Westside High School, was selected to play with the 2008 Young Lions All-Star Band. The Young Lions Band performed in concert with the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra and internationally reknowned Washington D.C. trombonist, Matt Niess last week in Lincoln. Caroline also plays with the Metropolitan Area Youth Jazz Orchestra (MAYJO) and the Omaha Youth Symphony and was recently selected as principal trombone for the 2007 Nebraska All-State Orchestra.

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“small world” stories emerged. Bonnie Levinger was waterfront counselor at Lake Seneca Camp in upstate New York when Jonathan Comisar was a camper. Janina Galler, mother of twins Arielle and Danielle

Galler-Rabinowitz, lived next to Rabbi Benjamin Groner and his family in New Orleans where he had moved after serving Beth Israel. Suzanne Singer, left, congratulates composers Jamie Klenetsky and Raz.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

January 18, 2008

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Beth Elâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual Kadima Shabbaton to treat kids to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Judaism, the Good Lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; relax which was also good because you were with your

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Jewish comrades. The Shabbos morning was very interCombining friendship and fun, rest and renewal, Beth active and there was a discussion afterwards. Being Elâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kadima Shabbaton is an always anticipated event for newer to this community, I have to say it was a great the synagogueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sixth-to-eighth graders, and this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience.â&#x20AC;?

His twin brother, Ezra, also enjoyed last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proretreat promises to be another memorable weekend.

This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Shabbaton, planned for Friday-Sunday, gram, sharing that, â&#x20AC;&#x153;My experience with the Kadima Feb. 1-3, will once again take place at the 4-H campsite Shabbaton was excellent! Cantor and the staff incorpoin Gretna; this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theme, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Judaism, the Good Life,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; rated Judaism and Torah teachings in fun and interestwill focus on the many wonderful things Judaism offers ing activities.â&#x20AC;? to individuals and families, as well as both the Jewish and Ezra also offered a tip of the hat to the Shabbaton general communities. organizers, remarking that, A relaxed Friday night servâ&#x20AC;&#x153;Believe me, it is hard to keep ice and brief Shabbat morn30 teens occupied and having a ing service will prepare the great time together!â&#x20AC;? way for Shabbat afternoon, Another past Shabbaton highlighted by learning and attendee, seventh grader Naomi activity sessions led by Beth Zipursky, recalled that, â&#x20AC;&#x153;My Elâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Education Director Judy favorite activity was when our Rubin, Youth Director group had to make a commerRobert Mosenkis, Cantor cial to present to the rest of the GastĂłn Bogomolni, BESTT kids. You got to be creative and teacher Andy Greenberg, and have fun. I am going back Zohar Winer, the JCC because I had a lot of fun and all Shâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;licha. High school assisof the activities were cool, too.â&#x20AC;? tants will also help facilitate On Friday, Feb. 1, 3:45 activities during the weekend. Naomi Zipursky, left, worked on an art project with p.m., Shabbaton participants will meet at Beth El for an oriIn addition to fun and games Shabbaton assistant Liatte Dotan. and educational activities, attendees will help to create a special arts and crafts project to be given to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

Following a lovely Havdalah service marking the end of Shabbat, Kadimaniks will be treated to an exciting evening at Thunder Alley in Elkhorn, for bowling and laser tag.

Adeev Potash, an eighth grader who will participate in this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s retreat, praised last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s program, saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;My experience with the Kadimah Shabbaton was a great and intellectual one! There were always activities going on, but there were also some times to chill and

entation session led by members of the synagogueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s USY high school youth group; the bus will depart for Gretna at 4:15 p.m. On Sunday, parents may pick up their children at Beth El at 12:30 p.m.

Cost of the retreat is $75. Application forms are available at the synagogue office; they may also be found online at www.bethel-omaha.org/kadima.shtml. For more information, contact Judy Rubin at 498.0904 or eddir@bethel-omaha.org, or Robert Mosenkis, at 492.8550, or youthdir@bethel-omaha.org.

This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kadima Shabbaton has been underwritten by the Lazier Singer Fund and the Dan Gordman Fund.

Rabbisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; birthday celebrations at Beth Israel

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by MARY BORT for Beth Israel Synagogue Birthday cake, dinner and merriment! Come to Beth Israel on Feb. 1-2 for the birthday celebrations of Rabbi Jonathan Gross and Rabbi Myer S. Kripke. The community is invited to attend.

On Friday, Feb. 1, 6:15 p.m., there will be a Shabbat birthday dinner following Kabbalat Shabbat. Beth Israel Sisterhood is sponsoring the dinner in honor of the 30th birthday of Rabbi Gross. Birthday cake, of course, will be the dessert.

For planning purposes, reservations are required for Rabbi Jonathan Gross the dinner.

The cost for the meal is only $8 for adults and free for children ages 12 and under.

To keep the cost low for the dinner, Sisterhood members will help prepare the meal on Thursday, Jan. 31 and Friday, Feb. 1.

There will be a special Seuda Shlishit on Saturday, Feb. 2, 5 p.m., in honor of Rabbi Kripkeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and Rabbi Grossâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; joint 124th birthday.

Kripke turns 94 this year.

Rabbi Myer S. Kripke This event is sponsored by the Jewish Federation.

To make reservations for the dinner or to volunteer to help prepare the meal, please call the synagogue office at 556.6288.

The National Touring Company of the Cameron Mackintosh/Really Useful Theatre Company, Inc. production of Andrew Lloyd Webberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Harold Prince, celebrated its 15th anniversary last month, when it reached performance number 6,139 during its fifth Chicago engagement at the Cadillac Palace Theatre.

Now Phantom is coming to Omaha, from Jan. 30Feb. 24, sponsored by Omaha Performing Arts.

Based on the classic novel by Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera tells the story of a masked figure that lurks beneath the catacombs of the Paris Opera House, exercising a reign of terror over all who inhabit it. He falls madly in love with an innocent young soprano, Christine, and devotes himself to creating a new star by nurturing her extraordinary talents and by employing all of the devious methods at his command.

For ticket information, call 402.345.0606 or 402.422.1212.

The Omaha Symphony staff and musicians will help Cub Scouts learn about music on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2 p.m., at the Holland Performing Arts Center, 13th and Douglas Sts. The fun will begin with a performance of â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Magnificent Time Machineâ&#x20AC;? by the Omaha Symphony, followed by workshops and dinner for the Scouts at 3:15 p.m. at the Redick Plaza Hotel, 1504 Harney St. Workshops are provided at no cost, but Scouts and chaperones must purchase tickets to the show to participate.

Cub Scout Day at the Omaha Symphony is designed to provide an opportunity for Cub Scouts to earn both their Music Belt Loop and Music Academic Pin through the live concert experience, a workshop with the Omaha Symphony staff and musicians and a little work at home.

To register for Cub Scouts, call 402.431.9BSA (9272).

BIRTH Robyn and Jason Jensen announce the Nov. 25 birth of their son, Isaac Matthew.

He is named for his grandfather, Max Frank.

Grandparents are Marsha and Ron Frank, and Carol and Roy Jensen.

January 18, 2008

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 11

Omaha Performing Arts Presents

y B t h y e l M n O u sic d e L One of the few chamber orchestras in the world that performs without a conductor

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

Thursday, January 31, 2008 | 7:30 p.m.

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Natalie MacMaster She’s Celtic.

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Saturday, February 2, 2008 | 8:00 p.m.

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PHOTO: Steve Sherman

with nikolaj znaider

Page 12

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

January 18, 2008

Anti-Semitism gone? Think again Last month, vandals in New Jersey toppled and damaged some 500 gravestones in a Jewish cemetery in New Brunswick, NJ. Four teens were arrested.

Last week, nearly 60 headstones at the Westlawn Cemetery in Northwest Chicago were spray-painted with anti-Semitic graffiti.

Swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans such as juden ras (German for “Jews out”), “Aryan Power” and a Star of David hanging from a gallows were found on headstones, according to JTA. Anti-Semitic comments have been made by politicians in Russia and the Czech Republic, not to mention every Arab or Muslim state in the Middle East. Even while President George Bush was making nice in Israel and the Palestinian territories, PA President Mahmoud Abbas was giving a speech about statehood in front of a Palestinian flag that showed a state of “Palestine” in place of Israel.

What a surprise.

No matter how much Jews are integrated into a community, we still need to educate our non-Jewish neighbors about who we are and what our presence contributes to the health of the whole city, and what happens when Jewish communities are destroyed, its members murdered or driven out.

One way Omaha’s Jewish community does that is through the Institute for Holocaust Education. A division of the Plains States Region of the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Federation’s Community Relations Committee, the IHE is more than just a repository of Holocaust materials.

The IHE, under the supervision of its director Beth Seldin Dotan, has trained more than 400 Nebraska public and private school teach-

ers how to teach the Holocaust in their classrooms. Using the Echoes and Reflections curriculum (for which Omaha was one of only four national test sites), teachers learn how to integrate literature and history, film and art, documentaries and photographs into lesson plans.

Want to find out what was going on in the film world when Jews were dying in the gas chambers? The Echoes and Reflections website offers a myriad of materials, timelines, biographies, interviews and more on that very subject. Developed in conjunction with Yad Vashem and constantly updated, there is probably no other curriculum as comprehensive and valuable to teachers, students (and their families), as well as members of the general public.

This is, of course, just the tip of the iceberg.

The IHE also works with the Catholic Archdiocese in another ground-breaking project, Bearing Witness. And when the ADL participated in the 18th anniversary of the March of the Living in May of 2005, more than 200 Catholic educators who had been trained how to use the Holocaust in their classrooms, were an important part of the nearly 50,000 people who attended. Ongoing work with the Archdiocese continues not just through the IHE, but with the ADL’s Project Interfaith, an outreach project run by its director Beth Katz.

Project Interfaith works with the Muslim community as well and coordinated a visit by the last Muslim survivor of Auschwitz, Sami Jalilov, which the IHE sponsored. Under-

standing that Muslims suffered alongside Jews is an important connection to make and builds relationships.

Education doesn’t happen in a vacuum, however. It occurs when longstanding institutions like the ADL-CRC and its specialized departments work with the general community to develop common ground, form partnerships and raise funds (and consciousness) together. Having another player on the scene -- the National Holocaust Education Fund -is a welcome addition to the ADL/CRC’s groundbreaking work.

The benefits of Palestinian economic collapse

BEHIND THE H EADLINES

by DANIEL PIPES Western financial aid to the Palestinians has the perverse and counterintuitive effect of increasing their rate of homicides, including terrorist ones. I offer two pieces of perhaps even stranger news about the many billions of dollars and record-shattering per-capita donations from the West: First, these have rendered the Palestinians poorer.

Second, Palestinian impoverishment is a longterm positive development.

To begin, some basic facts about the Palestinian economy, drawing on a fine survey

by Ziv Hellman, “Terminal Situation,” in the Dec. 24 issue of Jerusalem Report: • Palestinian per year per-capita income has contracted by about 40 percent since its $2,000 peak in 1992 (before the Oslo process began) to less than $1,200 now.

• Per-capita Israeli income, 10 times greater than the Palestinians’ in 1967 is now 23 times greater.

• Deep poverty has increased in Gaza from 22 percent of the population in 1998 to nearly 35 percent in 2006; it would be about 67 percent if not for remittances and food aid.

• Direct foreign investment barely exists, while local capital mostly gets sent abroad or is invested in real estate or short-term trading.

• The Palestinian Authority economy, Hellman writes, “is largely based on monopolies in various industries granted by PA officials in exchange for kickbacks.”

• The PA’s payroll is so bloated that the cost of wages alone exceeds all revenues.

• A dysfunctional judicial system in the PA means armed gangs usually decide commercial disputes.

Unsurprisingly, Hellman characterizes the Palestinian economy as "in shambles.”

Such shambles should come as no surprise, for as the late Lord Bauer and others have noted, foreign aid does not work. It corrupts and distorts an economy; and the greater the amounts involved, the greater the damage.

One telling detail: at times during Yasir Arafat’s reign, a third of the Palestinian Authority’s budget went for “expenses of the President’s office,” without further explanation, auditing, or accounting. The World Bank objected, but the Israeli government and the European Union endorsed this corrupt arrangement, so it remained in place.

Who truly cares for Palestinians must want their despair to come quickly, so that a skilled and dignified people can move beyond its current barbarism and build something decent.

The Paris conference for the “Palestinian state” raised $7.4 billion in pledges on Dec. 17, 2007.

Indeed, the Palestinian Authority offers a textbook example of how to ruin an economy by smothering it under well-intentioned but misguided donations. The $7.4 billion recently pledged to it for the 2008-10 period will further exacerbate the damage.

Paradoxically, this error might help resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. To see why, consider the two models, hardship v. exhilaration, that explain Palestinian extremism and violence.

The hardship model, subscribed to by all Western states, attributes Palestinian actions to poverty, isolation, Israeli roadblocks, the lack of a state, etc. Mahmoud Abbas, the PA leader, summed up this viewpoint at the Annapolis conference in November: “the absence of hope and overwhelming despair feed extrem-

ism.” Eliminate those hardships and Palestinians, supposedly, would turn their attention to such constructive concerns as economic development and democracy.

Trouble is, that change never comes.

The exhilaration model turns the Abbas logic on its head: the absence of despair and overwhelming hope, in fact, feed extremism.

For Palestinians, hope derives from a perception of Israeli weakness, implying an optimism and excitement that the Jewish state can be eliminated.

Conversely, when Palestinians cannot see a way forward against Israel, they devote themselves to the more mundane tasks of earning a living and educating their children. Note that the Palestinian economy peaked in 1992, just as, post-Soviet Union and post-Kuwait war, hopes bottomed out to eliminate Israel.

Exhilaration, not hardship, accounts for bellicose Palestinian behavior. Accordingly, whatever reduces Palestinian confidence is a good thing. A failed economy depresses the Palestinians’ mood, not to speak of their military and other capabilities, and so brings resolution closer.

Palestinians must experience the bitter crucible of defeat before they will drop their foul goal of eliminating their Israeli neighbor and begin to build their own economy, polity, society, and culture. No short-cut to this happy outcome exists. Who truly cares for Palestinians must want their despair to come quickly, so that a skilled and dignified people can move beyond its current barbarism and build something decent.

The huge and wasted outpouring of Western financial aid, ironically, brings on that despair in two ways: by encouraging terrorism and by distorting the economy, both of which imply economic decline. Rarely has the law of unintended consequences worked so imaginatively.

Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum; visit his website at: www.DanielPipes.org.

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January 18, 2008

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 13

In ’08 presidential campaign, professions of faith proliferate

AMERICA DECIDES 2005

by RON KAMPEAS WASHINGTON (JTA) -- One presidential contender suggests he might be unwilling to vote for a Muslim.

Another airs a commercial calling himself a “Christian leader.” A cable television anchor presses candidates to answer whether they “believe every word” of the Bible. And, finally, the Mormon in the race seeks to quell questions about his religion by insisting that Jesus is his savior.

Candidates in past election seasons have certainly talked up religion: In 2000, for example, Al Gore remarked that he often asked himself “What would Jesus do?” and George W. Bush named Jesus as the political philosopher who most influenced him. That’s not to mention Joseph Lieberman’s focus on his Jewish faith and insistence that the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not from religion.

But some observers are saying that the intersection of politics and piety in the 2008 presidential race seems more frequent, detailed and, often, exclusionary.

Some examples include Republicans John McCain commenting about being more comfortable having a president with a Judeo-Christian background, Mike Huckabee fusing his pastoral and political personas, and Mitt Romney defending his Mormon faith. Then there was CNN’s Anderson Cooper offering a Bible quiz.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, has seen his faith become an issue, helping to erode his early front-runner status in Iowa, especially among some evangelical Republicans who see Mormons as apostates.

On Dec. 6, in a speech at the George Bush presidential library in College Park, Texas, Romney said his Mormon faith would have no bearing on how he governs, but added that he believes that American public life acknowledges a “Creator.”

“We should acknowledge the Creator as did the Founders -- in ceremony and word,” Romney said. “He should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the

teaching of our history, and during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places. Our greatness would not long endure without judges who respect the foundation of faith upon which our constitution rests.’” Romney made a point of insisting that he believes “Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind,” but ruled out further discussion about the specifics of his faith.

Romney’s approach drew a mix of reactions from prominent Jewish figures.

The national director of the AntiDefamation League, Abraham Foxman, cited Romney’s speech as an example of how far the American political culture has internalized religious tests as a standard since John F. Kennedy delivered his famous speech during the 1960 campaign in which he addressed the potential of his becoming the first Roman Catholic president.

“Kennedy basically says ‘don’t not vote for me because I’m religious,’ whereas Romney says ‘vote for me because I’m religious,’” Foxman said.

Rabbi David Saperstein, who directs the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center in Washington, praised Romney’s rejection of a religious standard for office as “a primer for electoral candidates to study in getting the use of religion in our elections right.”

Saperstein, however, noted an inherent contradiction in the speech: Romney affirmed his belief that Jesus is the son of God. “If it were wrong to explain his Mormonism because candidates should not talk about their religion, then it was wrong to offer this assertion of faith, which served little purpose other than as a political ploy: to reassure observant Catholics and Protestants -- most of all conservative Evangelical Protestants -that he shared their core belief,” Saperstein wrote on his blog.

Jewish Republicans said they were not worried about the religious rhetoric in this election cycle, noting that expressions of faith had also cropped up in the campaigns of Democratic candidates such

... the intersection of politics and piety in the 2008 presidential race seems more frequent, detailed and, often, exclusionary.

To the Editor: The article in the Jan. 4 Jewish Press about the Orthodox community embracing the idea of a McCain-Lieberman ticket seems like an oxymoron.

Here in Arizona John McCain has been known to refer repeatedly to America as a “Christian nation.” Why would a nice Jewish boy want to be part of that ticket?

Something to think about.

Mickey Greenberg Scottsdale, AZ

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whiff of the presidency,” the NJDC said this summer after Huckabee first surged in polls. The organization also produced a cartoon portraying Huckabee as a caveman, in reference to a debate in which the Arkansan in response to a direct question said he did not believe in evolution.

Bud Hockenberg, an Iowa lawyer and Republican leader in the state, said it would be wrong for Jewish Republicans to view Huckabee strictly through a church-state lens. Huckabee also was making a strong foreign policy case, he said.

“He’s been focusing on the Saudi influence on foreign policy,” Hockenberg said. In the Nov. 28 CNN-YouTube debate, Cooper asked Giuliani, Huckabee and Romney whether they believed every word of the Bible. Giuliani acknowledged that he did not; Huckabee said he did, as did Romney. Yet Cooper repeated the question only for Romney, holding the book aloft. “Does that mean you believe every word?” Cooper said, although Romney had already answered, “Absolutely.”

Romney looked stricken. “You know -yes, I believe it’s the word of God, the Bible is the word of God,” he said.

Susan Estrich, a Jewish liberal pundit on Fox News and the director of the Dukakis presidential campaign in 1988, published a column last month that seemed to defend the focus on the candidates’ religious beliefs.

“Has there ever been a candidate who did not present himself, or herself, as a person of faith?” she wrote. “Would we have confidence in them if they didn’t? If they believed in a ‘religion’ that many of us found offensive, can we really claim that it would have no bearing on our support of them? The personal is political, and that applies to a person’s religion.”

Estrich went on to say, “it is because of my religion, in the end, that I think it is wrong to hold Mitt Romney’s against him.” “It is not because religion has no place in politics, but because no message of the Judaeo-Christian tradition is stronger than the Golden Rule that I believe Gov. Romney should be judged based on his qualifications and not his faith,” Estrich concluded. “And when I see all those rabbis, that’s what I plan to tell them.”

$10,000 Sokolof Teacher’s Award

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR To the Editor: This year, the individual income tax packages mailed to taxpayers do not include any tax credit forms and certain other forms due to late tax law changes involving the alternative minimum tax (AMT) “patch.” Copies of these forms (www.irs.gov/formspubs/) are available on IRS.gov. Taxpayers who e-file should update their tax software to ensure that they are using the updated forms.

Christopher Miller IRS Media Relations

as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

“We’re not concerned,” said Suzanne Kurtz, a spokeswoman for the Republican Jewish Coalition. “They are expressing their views that faith is important in their lives as others from across the political aisle have done.”

That does not mean Jewish Republicans are letting their guard down, she said. “What we do need to watch for is that candidates do not impose their personal views on others,” Kurtz said.

“Religious tolerance and respecting the right of others to practice their faith as they see fit is what is important.”

During the RJC candidates’ forum in October, a delegate assured Romney that if there was one constituency who sympathized with his minority religion status it w a s Republican Jews.

The delegate, Jonathan Lange of Los Angeles, drew long applause for his remark as well as Romney’s thanks.

Most troubling for some has been the campaign of Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor. In an ad that helped make him competitive with Romney in Iowa, Huckabee describes himself as a “Christian leader” -- a title that ostensibly refers to his earlier career as a pastor but was viewed by some as a subtle swipe at Romney’s Mormonism.

“Forget the implications of the idea that being a ‘Christian leader’ is some special qualification for the presidency,” Charles Krauthammer, a conservative columnist wrote Friday in the Washington Post. Had Huckabee run such an ad against Lieberman, Krauthammer said, “it would have raised an outcry. The subtext -- who’s the Christian in this race? -would have been too obvious to ignore, the appeal to bigotry too clear.”

The National Jewish Democratic Council has seized on Huckabee’s surge in the polls, an acknowledgment that a Southern fundamentalist makes the group’s job of maintaining a Jewish Democratic majority a lot easier than perhaps Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and a Catholic who refuses to make religion an issue in his campaign.

Democrats “should be concerned whenever an extreme candidate gets a

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Just write a letter nominating an outstanding Jewish teacher currently teaching K-12 in the Omaha metro area. Include teacher’s school, your reasons for nominating this person, and your name and phone number. Send before February 18 to Janet Henthorn at Jewish Federation Foundation, 333 S.132nd St., Omaha, NE 68154 or jhenthorn@jewishomaha.org.

Questions,call her at 334-6551.

Page 14

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

January 18, 2008

Candlelighting Friday, Jan 18, 5:04 p.m.

Synagogue Listings B’nai Israel Synagogue 618 Mynster St. Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com

Beth El Synagogue Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California Omaha, NE 68154-1980 492.8550 www.bethel-omaha.org

Beth Israel Synagogue Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific St. Omaha, NE. 68154 556.6288 BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org

Beyt Shalom An Affiliate of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation 3012 S. 119 St. P.O. Box 390352 Omaha, NE 68139 660.2395 www.beytshalomomaha.org

Chabad House An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 S. 120th St. Omaha, NE 68144-1646 330.1800 www.OChabad.com email: chabad@aol.com

Congregation B’nai Jeshurun South Street Temple Union for Reform Judaism 2061 S. 20th St. Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 435.8004 southstreettemple.org

Offutt Air Force Base SAC Memorial Chapel 301 Lincoln Highway Offutt AFB, NE 68113 294.6244

Rose Blumkin Jewish Home 333 S. 132 St. Omaha, NE 68154

Temple Israel Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 7023 Cass Street Omaha, NE 68132-2651 556.6536 templeisrael-ne.org

The Neighborhood Minyan 1317 No. 57 St. Omaha, NE 68132 551.6609

Tifereth Israel Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Blvd., Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 423.8569 www.tiferethisraellincoln.org

B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE FRIDAY: Services followed by Oneg, 7:30 p.m.

Lied Lodge in Nebraska City. For information, call the office.

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Services conducted by Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Cantor Gastón Bogomolni.

FRIDAY: Musical Shabbat services, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Morning services, 9:30 a.m. led by members of the synagogue’s Sisterhood; Junior Congregation (3-7), 10 a.m.; Minha/Ma’ariv, 5:10 p.m.

Sitter Service is available during Friday night and Saturday morning services, on a drop-in basis, at no charge.

WEEKDAY SERVICES: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.; weekdays, 7 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.

ADULT EDUCATION SUNDAY, Bible Study Discussion Group, 10 a.m.

THURSDAY: Rabbi Levin’s Insights and Values from the Torah, noon; Women’s Book Club, 1:15 p.m.

THE MANY FACES OF EXTREMISM: Mini-course led

by ADL Director, Alan Potash, Tuesdays, 7-8 p.m. during January. Cost: $18. For information, contact the office.

BESTT: Tu B’Shevat Family Education Program, Sunday, Jan. 20, 10 a.m.-noon, for primary-grades students and their parents.

SHABBAT TUNES AND TALES: Saturday, Jan. 26, 11:15-11:45 a.m. Monthly Shabbat sing-along program led by “Miss Patty” Nogg is open to all Jewish children (up to age five), their parents and grandparents.

TU B’SHEVAT AT LAURITZEN GARDENS Beth El and Lauritzen Gardens co-sponsor community-wide Tu B’Shevat family celebration, free of charge, on Sunday, Jan. 27, 1:303 p.m. at the Gardens’ visitor and education center, 100 Bancroft St. (See full story on page 8.)

KADIMA SHABBATON Feb. 1–3, for sixth-eighth graders. For more information or to register, contact Robert Mosenkis at 492.8550, or youth dir@bethel-omaha.org. (See full story on page 10.)

YOUNG FAMILIES’ SHABBATON Friday-Sunday, Feb. 22-23 at

Office Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fri., 8:30 a.m-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Jonathan Gross.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 5:04 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m. free babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Children’s Classes, 9:45 a.m. with Torah Parade; Kiddush is sponsored by congregants celebrating their January birthdays; Mincha, 4:45 p.m., followed by Suedat Shlishit; Havdalah, 6:10 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; “Reading the Rambam” with Rabbi Oxman, 9:45 a.m.; Rabbi Gross’s teen class, 10 a.m.; Tu B’Shevat Seder, dinner and Bracha Bee, 5 p.m.

WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: Women of the Torah class, 9:30 a.m.; Rabbi’s Gross’s weekly class, 7:30 p.m.

Rabbi Gross will be leaving for the Team Lifeline Marathon in Florida. Leon Shrago will teach the weekly evening class.

BEYT SHALOM FRIDAY: Shabbat in the Home.

SATURDAY: Tu B’Shvat seder, 5 p.m.

SUNDAY: Religious School, 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the JCC.

CHABAD HOUSE Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: Services, 7 a.m.; Shabbat and Me, 4:45 p.m.

SATURDAY: Maamar class, 9 a.m.; Service, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush luncheon follows the service.

SUNDAY: Service, 8:30 a.m.

WEEKDAYS: Services, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: Maamar Kabbalistic Insights for Women, 12:15 p.m.; Halacha, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY: W.O.W. Parsha, Prophets, and Prayer, 9 a.m.; Parshah Roundup: Weekly Torah Portion Class, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Kabbalah Circle, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY: Jewish Thought, 12:45 p.m.

All events and programs are open to the community. For more information or to register, call the office or visit our website.

CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN Services conducted by Rabbi Ilan Emanuel.

FRIDAY: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m., led by Rabbi Emanuel, with oneg following.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. all led by Rabbi Emanuel; Game Night, 6 p.m.

SUNDAY: LJCS students meet at South Street Temple, 9:30 a.m.-noon for Tu B’Shevat Storyteller; Hallah High, 10 a.m.noon at South Street Temple; Temple Annual Meeting, 4 p.m.; Winter Lecture Series, 7 p.m. at Unitarian Church. The topic is “Emerging Africa, Development, Democracy, and Enviromental Change” with Prof. Robert Hitchcock, Chair of Anthropology at Michigan State Univeristy.

WEDNESDAY: Hebrew classes (grades 3-7), 4-6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel; “The Jewish Americans” on NET 1, 9 p.m.

ADULT EDUCATION SUNDAYS, 7 p.m. Intro to Judaism, led by Rabbi Emanuel.

TUESDAYS, Jan. 22, 7-8 p.m. “Lincoln and King: Prophetic Leadership in American History” will be taught by Dr. Scott Stanfield.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Steve Riekes.

THURSDAY: LOVE Board of Directors Meeting, 7 p.m. in JCC Social Hall.

TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Shabbat Comes to You at, 4 p.m. at Remington Heights.

Rabbi Aryeh Azriel will lead the service; Shabbat Shira Service, 6 p.m. Rabbi Aryeh Azriel and Cantor Wendy Shermet will lead the service along with Kol Rina.

SATURDAY: Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:15 a.m.; Morning Service, 10:30 a.m.; Dru Beach, daughter of Mona Jones and Ron Beach, will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah.

SUNDAY: No Religious School.

SITTER SERVICE: Available Wednesday evenings during Family School hours, Friday

evenings service except when there is a Tot Shabbat, Saturday mornings when there is a B’nai mitzvah, and Sunday mornings during Religious School. Advance reservations and a $5 donation appreciated. Young children, including infants, are welcome.

TUESDAY: Hebrew Lunch & Learn, 12:15 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Grades 3-6, 4 p.m.; All School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Family School Tu B’shevat Seder, 6 p.m.; Grades 7-12, 6 p.m.

THURSDAY: “Adult Study with the Clergy” with Cantor Shermet, 10 a.m.

NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN FRIDAY: Minyan, 5:04 p.m.

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m.

TIFERETH ISRAEL Services conducted by Nancy Coren, Lay Leader. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

MONDAY and THURSDAY: Minyan, 9 a.m. Contact the office to arrange for a minyan.

FRIDAY: Services, 6 p.m. with a Shabbat dinner following.

SATURDAY: Morning service, 9:30 a.m. followed by kiddush lunch and Talmud study; Game Night, 7-10 p.m.

SUNDAY: LJCS students meet at South Street Temple, 9:30 a.m.-noon for Tu B’Shevat Storyteller; Hallah High, 10 a.m.noon at South Street Temple.

TUESDAY: Women’s group, 7 p.m. Miriam Wallick will present “How to live with someone who is hearing impaired.”

WEDNESDAY: Men’s Lunch Group will meet at the Knolls, 12:30 p.m. Contact Yale Gotsdiner at 423.7066; Hebrew classes (grades 3-7), 4-6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel.

ADULT EDUCATION MONDAYS, 7-8:30 p.m.

Hebrew Reading Crash Course One Day Review and Module II If you know your Aleph-Bet, why not try Adon Olam?

To submit obituaries: E-mail to the Press at jpress@jewishomaha.org; fax to 402.334.5422, or mail to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154, or online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements.

Gan Israel Camp to host reunion for winter campers If you’re looking at this space, so are others!

YOUR AD CAN GO HERE...

to reserve space, call

Allan Handleman, 402.334.6451

by SHEVI KATZMAN Uniting its Omaha branch’s winter and summer camps, Gan Israel Camp will be hosting a reunion. Filled with spirited, fun and proud Jewish campers remembering their camp experiences, the reunion will take place on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2-4 p.m., at the Chabad House.

Estie Katzman, the head counselor of Gan Israel Camps in Omaha hopes that “the reunion will help refuel the campers’ Jewish pride until the next camp session begins in July.”

The campers will relive some of

the camp spirit by lining up to attend the reunion based on the sing some camp favorites like feedback I’ve received from the “Everybody say ‘Ah’!” and “Hi, My Name is Joe”. The program will include some of the regular camp schedule as well as the creation of a memory photo collage for campers to take home.

Katzman notes, “I expect most of Camper Sarah Kutler works hard to perfect her candlethe campers to stick created in the Shabbat lessons at CGI Winter.

past sessions. Camp has an incredible positive energy and I want the kids to feel that at the reunion.”

At the recent December winter camp, the Shabbat theme was imbued with fun, creativity, and left the campers with an appetite for more camp days and reluctance for the session to close.

The event is free and open to children in the community ages four-12 whether they have attended camp or plan to attend in the future. A surprise activity is being created exclusively for this event.

RSVP to Chabadoffice@cox.net or to Carol at 330.1800.

Pulverente MONUMENT CO.

January 18, 2008

The first expulsion

SPARKS FROM THE WORD

by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parashat BeShalah Jewish history, as even a casual observer notes, includes a series of expulsions of Jews from different countries, especially from Spain in 1492.

But here is the first of them all: Pharaoh, who had had a bellyful of demands to “Let My people go!”, could not stomach it any longer.

He decided not simply to let them go, but to kick them out. This idea is involved in the less than usual infinitive of the word to send out: it means not to send out, but to push out, indeed to boot out.

Thus, even before Israel had become a people, it had experienced what was to be a pattern: to be the subject of hatred in the ancient pagan world and then to suffer from “Christian love” for long centuries, indeed until our own time. Now the Muslims have taken over and added a new twist: shove the Jews and all of Israel into the sea.

Stick around and we shall see.

Note the phrase “The wandering Jew” which was common in the Middle Ages and up to our time. It was not that the Jew wandered, but that he was expelled from country after country. Fortunately he carried his religion and culture with him, including the respect for life and the love of God and man.

U.S. Attorneys to describe role in Iraq at “The Trial of Saddam Hussein”

by GARY JAVITCH The chaotic trial of Saddam Hussein made history.

Arguably one of the cruelest dictators in the 20th Century, Saddam was called to account before the Iraqi Special Tribunal in Baghdad, consisting of five Iraqi judges.

After a trial that lasted just over a year, the Iraqi leader (1979-2003) was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to die by hanging. He was executed on Dec. 30, 2006.

The assistant U.S. attorney who represented American interests at the trial was Creighton Law graduate Robert Cryne.

Cryne, a U.S. Attorney for the Department of Justice and his colleague, Jerry McNinch, an expert on terrorism, will appear in a special presentation for the Jewish community on Wednesday, Jan. 23, 7-9 p.m., at the Jewish Community Center.

When he appeared before several Jewish groups late last year, Cryne received great praise for his insightful commentary on what it was like in Iraq during that time period. He will reprise his earlier comments, describe current policy and distinguish between the Shia, Kurdish and Sunni tribes. McNinch will discuss concerns about terrorism.

“Cryne has the uncanny ability to make clear all the confusion that surrounds the discussion about Iraq and Iran in a great power point presentation,” Al Abramson, an observer at one of those presentations remarked.

The program is free and open to the community. It is sponsored by B’nai B’rith Henry Monsky Lodge, the Anti-Defamation League Center for Jewish Education, and the National Coucncil ofJewish Women.

The speakers will provide “off-the-record” remarks and will include abundant opportunity for questions.

To Submit Announcements to the Jewish Press: Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press with attached photos in .jpg or .tif files to jpress@jewishomaha.org; faxed to 402.334.5422, or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154 (with photos we will scan and return).

Forms are available through Omaha and Lincoln synagogues, by contacting The Jewish Press at 402.334.6448, or by e-mailing: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org.

Readers can also submit other announcements -- births engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies or obituaries -- online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements. Deadlines are normally eight days prior to publication, on Thursdays, 9 a.m. Check the Jewish Press, however, for notices of early deadlines prior to secular and Jewish holidays.

DEATHS SANFORD I. BROPHY Local business owner Sanford “Sandy” Isadore Brophy died Jan. 9 at the age of 78. Services were held Jan. 11 at Temple Israel Cemetery.

After serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, his business career began in 1954 as the owner of Markel Cleaners.

He also was a COIT franchisee and past owner of Contract Interiors. As a volunteer, he served of the boards of the Jewish Community Center (where he was named to its Athletes Hall of Fame), Together, Inc., and Millard Rotary.

An All-State basketball player in San Diego, he lettered at the University of Oklahoma and was active in fastpitch softball into his 40s.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Barbara.

He is survived by his children, David Brophy, Debra and James Andrews, Lawrence and Karen Brophy; stepchildren., Jeffrey and Carrie Ramnes, Teri and Joel Schwarck; brother, Jerry Borofsky of Tulsa, OK; sister, Pauline Carmel; sister and brother-in-law, Evelyn and Bernie Arbesman, all of Baltimore; six grandchildren; and close friend, Joan Kaiman.

Memorials to Together, Inc., of Omaha, 1616 Cass, Omaha, NE 68102.

JEAN PRIESMAN SELO Former Omahan Jean Priesman Selo died after a long illness Jan. 12 in Sun City, AZ. She was 87. Services were held Jan. 14 in Sun City.

She was preceded in death by her first husband, Ernest Priesman.

She is survived by her husband, Dr. Rudolf Selo, formerly of Council Bluffs and Omaha, of Peoria, AZ; her sons and daughters-in-law, Harlan and Rhoda Priesman of Lincoln, Alan and Elaine Priesman of Houston; daughter, Kim Dyer of Gilroy, CA; stepdaughter, Elaine Selo of Ann Arbor, MI; stepson and daughter-in-law, Richard and Margaret Selo of Lafayette, IN; grandchildren, Corey and Kristin Priesman of San Francisco, CA; Jason Priesman of Austin, TX, Andy Priesman of Houston, Brett and Josh Dyer of San Francisco, Jamie Priesman of Scottsdale, Sara Dyer of Tempe, AZ; stepgrandchildren, Daniel and Lauren Selo of Nashua, NH; Elizabeth and Jeremy Winchester of Chicago; two great grandchildren; a step-great-grandchild; and sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Sally and Maynard Telpner, of Ashland, OR. Memorials to charity of choice.

ABRAHAM D. (DAVID) KATZ Lt. Colonel (retired) Abraham D. (David) Katz, 81, died recently in Richmond, VA. A veteran of WWII, Korea and Viet Nam, Colonel Katz served with the 82nd Airborne Division and was a recipient of the Bronze Star. Burial took place at Arlington National Cemetery.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Charlene.

He is survived by son Larry Katz, Hopewell, VA; son and daughter-in-law Jerry and Susan Katz, Richmond, VA, and grandchildren Alexander and Lauren Katz; brother and sister-in-law Dr. Lewis and Shirley Katz of Storrs, CN; Michael and Betsy Katz, Highland Park, IL; and sister and brother-in-law, Ozzie and Don Nogg.

Memorials to Rabbi Alexander Katz Fund at Beth El or charity of choice.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 15

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CORRECTIONS The Open House for the new addition of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 20, has been postponed until late February. See upcoming editions of the Jewish Press for details of the rescheduled event.

In last week’s Jewish Press, several names were mispelled in the Bat Mitzvah announcement; Dru Sara Anne Beach, daughter of Mona Jones and Rod Beach, has two brothers, Wil and Jack.

PASSOVER ISSUE REMINDER The Jewish Press will publish “Israel@60: a salute to Israel’s 60th birthday” on April 18. If you’ve lived, learned or visited Israel -- on a teen trip, a mission, or on your own -- see your story and photos in this special issue!

Send story in the body of your e-mail with attached .jpg or .tif files to: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org or send hard copy with photographs to: The Jewish Press Passover issue, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154 by Feb. 29.

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Page 16

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

January 18, 2008

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