Sponsored by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Endowment Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA
CJL features Nicky’s Family A sense
February 8, 2013 28 Shevat 5773 Vol. 93 | No. 21
This Week
of pride by MAX POLACK Summer in Israel is like no other. What really made this summer the best summer ever was NCSY Kollel. In NCSY Kollel you get a sense of accomplishment that you cannot get by going on a “regular” Israel program. In a “regular” Israel program you may spend two or
Mystery and intrigue Page 3
Winton rescued children leaving Prague, from the film Nicky’s Family. by MARY SUE GROSSMAN Associate Executive Director, Center for Jewish Life A mid-year add-on to the annual Omaha Jewish Film Festival will feature the film Nicky’s Family on Sunday, Feb. 17, beginning at 5 p.m. in the Jewish Community Center Theater. Immediately after the film, a short discussion will be led by Dr. Waitman Beorn. Dr. Beorn is the Louis and Frances Blumkin Professor of Holocaust and
Remembering the March Page 7
Genocide Studies at UNO. Dinner, by reservation only, will be after the discussion and will include soup, assorted meat or veggie wraps, chips, fruit salad, dessert and beverages. Nicky’s Family tells the nearly forgotten story of Nicholas Winton, an Englishman who organized the rescue of 669 Czech and Slovak children just before the outbreak of World War II, taking them across Hitler’s Germany to Britain. Winton, now 102 years old, did not speak
about these events with anyone for more than half a century. His exploits probably would have been forgotten if his wife, fifty years later, had not found a suitcase in the attic full of documents and transport plans. The story only emerged in 1988 when the BBC broadcast a thrilling show about the first meeting of approximately one hundred of the rescued children with their secret rescuer about whom they had Continued on page 3
The Tel Aviv bicycle scene Court decision on anti-Semitic tweets emboldens activists Page 12
Inside Point of view Synagogues In memoriam
Next Month The Passover Issue See Front Page stories and more at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on Jewish Press
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by CNAAN LIPHSHIZ AMSTERDAM (JTA) -- A short ride on a luxury wooden bicycle can take much longer than expected in south Tel Aviv. The roads are fine, Maxime van Gelder says, “but people keep asking you to stop and take their picture with the bike.” Van Gelder, the 22-year-old marketing director for the two-year-old boutique Dutch bicycle maker Bough Bikes, http://www.boughbikes.com/, was in Tel Aviv this month to help establish the city as the company’s fourth international market, after New York, London and Berlin. Bough, based in the city of Alkmaar, manufactures the distinctive bikes entirely from sustainably grown French oak and sells them for about $1,600 a pop. Van Gelder ended up leaving three bikes with Caspar Veldkamp, the Dutch ambassador to Israel, whose
An Israeli soldier riding her bicycle past a graffiti-painted wall in Tel Aviv, Credit: Serge Attal/FLASH90/JTA 2012. staff was to try them out before they were formally unveiled at the embassy’s annual Holland Day event on Jan. 28. “I know bikes and I know Tel Aviv and the advances the city has made, so I know it has the potential of being an ideal arena for us,” van Gelder told JTA. Bough isn’t the only European bike maker to notice the growing demand for high-quality, luxury bicycles in Tel Aviv, whose residents are relying increasingly on bikefriendly developments that have reshaped the flat, congested metropolis into a world-class bicycle city.
Dozens of miles of bike lanes now wind along the iconic Rothschild and Arlozorov boulevards in central Tel Aviv; along the city’s broad beach promenade; and most recently along Sheinkin Street, the epicenter of the city’s vibrant cafe culture. In 2011, Tel Aviv joined some 100 other cities in launching a municipal bike-sharing service. “We in Israel have always turned for inspiration to Europe’s bicycle culture, and to Holland and Denmark in particular, so it’s very exciting and perfectly logical that they are now looking back,” said Continued on page 2
Max at the Western Wall during his last day in Israel. three weeks touring the beautiful country, which, don’t get me wrong, is great in itself, but you do not get the full Israel experience. When I first heard about Kollel, I heard that it was a learning program, and here is what I, and probably most others, thought. You wake up, daven, learn, eat, daven, learn, eat, daven, sleep. When in reality it is much more than that. On Kollel, you really develop a love for learning. This is partially because there are no tests, but also because a group of the best Rabei’im on the planet are pulled together from across the globe just for you. They work hard to make the summer what it is by making the learning in depth so that you have to think about what you are learning for enormous amounts of time, sometimes hours, to figure something out. You would think this would be frustrating, when in reality, it gives you a sense of accomplishment and pride. Located in Moshav Beit Meir, a 25 minute drive to Yerushalayim, it is in a prime location to go to the Kotel and other places in and around Yerushalayim very often. We took advantage of this opportunity. On Tisha B’av everyone in Kollel took a bus to the city, and we met at the Kotel. There, all 200 plus of us sat in front of the Kotel and started singing. If a group did that in America, people would walk right by and think that you are crazy. At the Kotel, though, not only did most of the people stop, but they came to sing with us. We spent about an hour out there, and at the end we all stood. When we sang the final song, everyone had their Continued on page 6