Endowed by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA January 22, 2016 12 Shevat 5776 Vol. 96 | No. 19
Scholarship and grant money
This Week
2016 Annual Campaign totals
A night of Israeli wine Page 5
by MARK KIRCHHOFF Center for Jewish Life Looking for some help in covering the cost for residential camp, JCC summer camp, Israel programs, the Child Development Center, Friedel Jewish Academy or youth group activities? Are you interested in some funding for undergraduate, graduate, vocational, technical, professional or yeshiva studies that would stretch those post-high school dollars a bit more? Thanks to the generosity of our community, a variety of funding sources are available to Omaha’s Jewish families to assist with the financial burden. During the past year, the Center for Jewish Life awarded more than $269,000 in scholarships for the camp, Israel, Friedel, the CDC and college. More than $23,000 has been provided for teens participating in youth group conventions and programs. There was also $26,500 in Jewish Experience Grants awarded for the summer of 2015. And including the recently returned Omaha Teen Trip participants, a total of $43,400 has been paid in the past 12 months for Israel Experience
Camille Metoyer Moten
Voice of Beth EL: Esther Katz
Inside Next Month Simchas+Celebrations See Front Page stories and more at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on Jewish Press
by OZZIE NOGG Camille Metoyer Moten, local award-winning actress and singer, brings her special blend of music and motivation to the Jewish Community Center on Friday, Jan. 29. During the presentation - Get Your Sexy Back -- Camille will speak about aging with grace and purpose while sharing her inspiring personal journey. The performance, which includes Camille’s delightful vocals, begins at 1:30 p.m. in the JCC Theater and is open to the community at no charge. “Sexy can mean lots of things,” Metoyer Moten said, “but mostly it means exciting and interesting as well as physically attractive. Too often we let society dictate how we feel about ourselves. I’m going to talk about keeping in touch with who you are and appreciating where you’ve come from. The fact that we are ‘seasoned’ members of society should make us more valuable.”
Grants. When one adds up those totals, we are talking real money, making a true difference to families in Omaha. Continued on page 2
Poker, anyone? Page 7
Point of view Synagogues In memoriam
Get Your Sexy Back
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by SHERRIE SAAG for Beth El Synagogue Esther Katz, Beth EL congregant and Director of Dance and Cultural Arts at the Jewish Community Center, moved to Omaha in 2003 from Philadelphia after a very atypical Jewish upbringing. Her story is unusual and unique. She shares it, in part, because stories connect us to each other, and when we share our life stories with others,our audience feels they get to know us as authentic people. This is the broad concept behind Voices from Beth El, a storytelling series from Beth El Synagogue where Esther is a happy participant.
Esther Katz Esther was raised in an interfaith family where, as she explains, “My mom was the first interfaith family in her synagogue and my dad was the first interfaith family in his church.” Her religious education began 35 years ago when her mother’s Rabbi, her father’s Priest and the Board presidents met to decide how she would be raised. “Out of that meeting came the decision I would be raised
Jewish but understanding the Christian faith,” Esther said. She went to Hebrew school and church, celebrating all the Jewish holidays, but also Christmas. She recalls her least favorite memory: “Every year, between Passover and Easter, we would have an egg hunt, but I wasn’t allowed to eat any of the chocolates, because they weren’t kosher!” Esther also recalled regular holiday visits to her father’s family, devout Episcopalians, in South Texas. Her Mom would hand out gelt and dreidels. “She brought our menorahs all the way from Philly,” Esther said. Interestingly, she said, it was her Dad who helped with her Torah portion. “He was a real Renaissance man, he loved learning Hebrew.” Yet, she met her future husband Phillip Katz in a more conventionally Jewish way -- in Israel while Phillip was on a Birthright trip, and she was participating in an advocacy program through Hillel. When Phillip started law school at Creighton University, Esther soon followed him to Omaha, teaching in Dundee. Continued on page 3
A native Omahan, Camille grew up in a home where the recordings of Dinah Washington, Nancy Wilson and Carmen McCrae provided inspiration. While studying at Xavier University in New Orleans, she sharpened her jazz singing skills and soloed with the Xavier Jazz band, accompanied by Ellis Marsalis, father of Wynton. The training paid off. Often described as Omaha’s most versatile singer, performing in styles ranging from opera to musical theater, jazz and gospel, Camille Metoyer Moten has made a lasting mark on the local musical scene over the past 30 years. She has performed at every major theater in the city, as well as with Opera Omaha, and garnered Omaha Playhouse Best Actress Awards for portrayals of Eva Peron in Evita and Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. When speaking of Metoyer Moten, Omaha Playhouse Music Director Jim Boggess said, “l just love working with that girl. She breaks my heart when she sings.” Along with her musicianship, Camille’s faith-based, spiritual Continued on page 2