February 15, 2008

Vol. LXXXVII No. 23 Omaha, NE

Celebrating 87 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa

9 Adar I, 5768

February 15, 2008

‘Truman & Israel’ exhibit opens in Kansas City

by RICK HELLMAN “Truman & Israel” comprises two side-by-side Editor of the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle exhibits -- “Inside the Decision” and “Portrait 2000.”

To mark the 60th anniversary of President Harry S. The latter is an exhibition of 50 photo portraits and Truman’s recognition of the fledgling Jewish state of short biographies of local Holocaust survivors, created Israel in 1948, the Truman Library in Independence, by the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education in MO, opens a special new exhibition Museum this month Overland Park, KS. “Inside the Decision” tries to send examining that world-altering decision. viewers back to May 1948, with all the tensions and “Truman & Israel” opens to the public today, Friday, pressures then coming to bear on the president.

Feb. 15 and runs through April 13. That much is cerIn May 1948, with neighboring Arab countries vowtain. What’s still up in the air is the exact date and the ing to go to war against them, Jewish leaders in Palestine identity of a keynote declared the existence of speaker for a special event the new state of Israel. at the library, planned on Eleven minutes later, or about the May 14 President Truman anniversary of Israeli declared America’s de independence. facto recognition of the The library, working in new Jewish state, thus cooperation with the giving Israel diplomatic Jewish Federation of legitimacy and political Greater Kansas City, had support and paving the invited President George way for other nations to W. Bush to speak on the follow suit. current state of Middle “The decision to recEast peace prospects. ognize Israel was one of However, said KC the most difficult of Federation CEO and Truman’s presidency,” Executive Vice President said Michael Devine, Todd Stettner, the White Truman Library executive House sent word last director. “It is also conmonth that Bush would sidered to be one of the not be coming to most significant foreignIndependence, in May. policy actions in the hisHe is, however, expected Michael Devine is president of the Truman Library and Museum in tory of the United States.

Credit:Mark Coffey, KC Jewish Crhonicle The Truman Library is to return to Israel at that Independence, MO. time. pleased to be able to draw on its collection to offer an Which leaves the local organizers still searching for a inside look at the dramatic days and hours leading up to keynoter. Details will be publicized as soon as possible, that decision.”

Stettner said.

Continued on page 2

Truman’s decision focus of conference in Israel

by RICK HELLMAN Editor of the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle From the rooftop of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus in Jerusalem, the challenge spreads out before the viewer.

“You can see the new city, and then you look to the Old City and you see the Wall and the mosques on the Temple Mount,” said Executive Director Naama Shpeter.

“You see the Mount of Olives and the hills of David. You see the Judean desert and the Harry S. Truman Arab villages and development towns -- Jewish settlements -- next to each other, and you understand it’s not an easy job.”

Shpeter hopes more Heartland residents get a chance this year to see the view from her office and to know the work the institute does to advance peace. She was in Kansas City last month to meet with Truman Library and Museum Executive Director Michael Devine about an international symposium the two have been working on for nearly two years. The hope is that a delegation of Kansas Citians, Omahans and other American Truman devotees will join Devine and take part in the event, timed to coincide with Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations taking place May 29-June 1.

The conference is titled “Harry S. Truman, the State of Israel, and the Quest for Peace in the Middle East.”

Continued on page 2

RBJH opens new wing

The reality we face in Sderot

by OZZIE NOGG After months of anticipation, the New Addition of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home will be unveiled at an Open House on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2-7 p.m.

“We want people to drop by anytime that’s convenient,” said Mike Silverman, RBJH Executive Director. “There's no planned program, no set agenda. You’ll

the Voice of Israel … “No Damage, No

by NOAM BEDEIN CEO, Sdero/Western Negev Regional News Service Injuries, a few were treated for shock”…

“Over 250,000 Israelis now live under this is Sderot reality.

Watching a five-year-old boy who was the threat of the kassam missiles.”

Head of Israeli Military Intelligence crying after he saw his mother blown to the Israel Knesset Parliament away from the explosion of a kassam that Defense and Foreign Affairs hit directly into his play room, where he Committee, Jan. 1, 2008 was playing on his computer with his fiveSince the first day of January until Jan. year-old neighbor… Witnessing both 20, more than 430 Kassam missiles and boys evacuated to the ambulance, both mortars were launched towards Sderot, shivering with shock ... this, too, is the Western Negev and Ashkelon, Sderot reality.

Continued on page 4 according to the IDF spokesman.

In 2007, more than 2300 missiles and mortars were launched towards Israel from Gaza.

How many thousands of kassam missiles will be launched in the year 2008 towards Israel?

Living through 200 rockets in the past few days launched towards Sderot … Hearing the screeching siren- “Red Color-Tseva Adom’ every time a rocket is launched…Running for cover in the 15 seconds left … Hearing the whistle, and a few seconds later an enormous explosion … And listening to A Sderot home received a direct hit Jan. 17 from a kassam Credit: ISRANET that laconic newscast on fired from nearby Gaza.

be free to look around on your own, and staff will be available to answer any questions you might have. All of us -- the Blumkin Home professional staff and Board of Directors -- are very excited about the new addition and eager to share the excitement with the community.”

According to Josh Gurock, Blumkin Home Administrative Intern, visitors will be able to check out resident rooms, bathrooms, the dining room and kitchen, the sunroom, spa, TV lounge and nursing stations.

“We know everyone will be impressed with the residential feel of the spaces,” Gurock said.

“The carpeting, the contemporary overhead chandeliers, the warmth of the natural wood tone cabinetry all make the addition feel very welcoming and comfortable.

It’s exactly the kind of place one would be proud to live in and happy to visit,” he added. For more information on the Blumkin Home’s New Beginning or the Open Blumkin Home residents will soon be using the dining room in House, call 330.4272.

More photos on page 3 the new addition, where tables now stand on their heads.

Inside

This Week: Part II: Monsky and Flanagan: Pages 6-7

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

Beth El Sisterhood sponsors annual Karin Levine health lecture: Page 3

Coming This Month: Women’s Health: Feb. 29 America Decides 2008: The fight for Jewish votes: Pages 8-9

RBJH intern brings big-city experience: Page 16

Page 2

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 15, 2008

Care Consultants for the Aging

‘Truman & Israel’ exhibit opens in Kansas City Groucho Marx; Continued from page 1 • Original maps of the region used by the Truman Exhibition highlights “Inside the Decision” features multimedia stations Administration to follow the United Nations debate and that offer perspectives from those closest to Truman at other events associated with the end of the British manthe time, including the president’s longtime friend and date in Palestine and the partition of Palestine; • Harry Truman’s original, handwritten diary entries former business partner Eddie Jacobson, who pleaded with Truman to meet with Jewish leader Chaim and letters to Bess Truman in which he makes candid assessments of the personalities and policies associated Weizmann.

Among the many original artifacts and documents with his decision to recognize Israel.

“It’s largely correspondence, but there are some phoincluded in the exhibit are: tos, as well,” said Devine. “We have the hand-edited • President Truman’s Cabinet chair; copy of the press release • An Israeli war standard “Truman & Israel” may be viewed with regular museum Truman read and approved from Israel’s War for admission, which is free for children 5 and under, $3 for before it was set out.

Independence (1948-49); youths 6-18, $7 for adults and $5 for senior adults 62 and “There aren’t that many • A portion of the original older. To schedule group visits of this and/or the permanent artifacts related to Israel, manuscript for the book exhibits of the Truman Presidential Museum & Library, call other than the Torah scrolls to Exodus, presented 816.268.8221. that were given by Chaim President Truman in 1960 For all other information, call 800.833.1225 or visit Weizmann to Truman some by the author Leon Uris; www.trumanlibrary.org. time after the recognition.

• A copy of Hitler’s Mein The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum is open Monday But most of what we have is Kampf, originally given to through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays, 12-5 p.m. photographs of the key playDr. Robert Ley, head of the It is located at 24 Highway and Delaware Street in historic ers, as well as documents.

German Labor Front of the Independence, MO. The Harry S. Truman Library and Our staff at the library put Nazi Party; Museum is one of 12 presidential libraries administered by this exhibit together.”

• President Truman’s the National Archives and Records Administration.

Devine said the staff has statement offering “de also put together a companion, traveling version of facto” recognition to Israel, May 14, 1948; • Correspondence between President Truman and “Inside the Decision” for exhibition this spring at the several prominent people who had offered him advice Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the on the issues of displaced persons and the recognition of Advancement of Peace at Hebrew University in Israel; among them were Eleanor Roosevelt and Jerusalem.

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Truman’s decision focus of conference in Israel

Mavericks vs. Bowling Green Friday & Saturday • February 15 & 16 7:05 p.m. • Omaha Civic Auditorium Tickets: 554-MAVS • gomavs.unomaha.edu

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CLIP & SAVE

CALENDAR OF EVENTS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15 Parent/Toddler Class, 9:30 a.m. at Temple Israel International Kabbalat Shabbat Service, 5:45 p.m.

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17 Reading the Rambam Class, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Bible Study Group, 10 a.m. at Beth El No BESTT Classes (President’s Day Weekend Beth El Sisterhood Annual Karin Levine Health Symposium, 1:30 p.m.

Beyt Shalom Religious School, 1:30 p.m. at JCC Jewish Literature Identity and Imagination, 2 p.m.

& S A V E

C L I P &

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18 Friedel Academy No School - Presidents Day JSS Senior Luncheon, noon No BESTT Classes (President’s Day Weekend) Derech Torah: Judaism 101, 8 p.m.

S A V E

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19 Friedel Academy No School - Teacher Curriculum Day WOW Parsha, Prophets and Prayer, 9 a.m. at Chabad BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

Yachad Vocational Skills Class, 6 p.m.

Parshah Roundup, 7 p.m. at Chabad Board Meeting, 7 p.m. at Temple Israel CJE Eye on Israel Evening Edition, 8 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20 JCC Board Meeting, 7 p.m.

C L THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21 I Friedel Academy Science Fair P

C L I P

&

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S A V E

Women of the Torah, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel Adult Study with the Clergy, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Insights and Values from the Torah, noon at Beth El Book Discussion Group, 1 p.m. at Kripke Library Yiddish Group, 1 p.m.

Women’s Book Group, 1:15 p.m. at Beth El ADL Youth Leadership Mission Meeting, 7 p.m.

Class with Rabbi Gross, 7:30 p.m. at Beth Israel Understanding Jewish Mysticism, 8 p.m.

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)

This Space For Rent Call Allan Handleman 334-6451

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Continued from page 1 Then there are the international -- including Arab and Palestinian -- political leaders who have been invited for the conference’s second day, devoted to the ongoing search for peace, but whom Shpeter declined to identify for fear of jinxing their participation.

Also, a display of historic Naama Shpeter is the execdocuments related to utive director of the Harry S. Truman’s recognition of Truman Research Institute Israeli independence, pre- for the Advancement of pared by Truman Library Peace at Hebrew University. and similar to one going on display there this month, will be shown at Hebrew University during the symposium.

Balancing act This May marks not only Israel’s 60th birthday, but the Truman Institute’s 40th birthday, Shpeter said. She said the upcoming seminar would differ from the one 30 years ago by focusing on the international dimension of

Truman Institute conference and tour The conference takes place on two days -- Thursday, May 29, and Sunday, June 1 -- at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

At the academic symposium on Thursday, panels of experts will deal with such topics as “Why did Truman Support the Establishment of Israel?”, “Israeli Statehood and International Actors” and “Re-assessing the Factors Behind Truman’s Decision.”

That night, a festive dinner for attendees will celebrate peace “through sight and taste and colors and music,” said Executive Director Naama Shpeter.

After taking Friday and Saturday off for Shabbat, the event concludes on Sunday, June 1, when government ministers, ambassadors and elected officials from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Arab nations, Europe and the United States have been invited to participate in a forum on the prospects for peace in the Middle East. President Shimon Peres has been invited to give the keynote speech.

The institute has reserved a bloc of rooms at Jerusalem’s Dan Panorama Hotel at a special rate (About $900 for six nights, including full breakfast) for conference attendees.

Conference registration is $480, and individuals are expected to make their own air and ground travel arrangements.

In conjunction with the Jewish Community Relations Bureau/American Jewish Committee and the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, the Truman Library has planned a schedule of tours and other activities around the conference for American attendees. For more information, call Alex Burden, executive vice president of the Truman Library, 816.268.8243.

Truman’s decision to immediately recognize Israel’s May 14, 1948, declaration of independence.

“We will have speakers from all over the world … talking about the situation in 1947 and ‘48,” Shpeter said.

“They will discuss Truman’s attitude toward Europe, Britain and the U.S.S.R. in terms of the declaration of the state.”

“We will be looking at new materials that have become available in the last couple of decades, including some hand-written notes from Harry Truman and Truman’s 1947 diary book that was only discovered a few years ago,” said the Truman Library’s Devine. “Also, we have material that is now available in European archives, in Jewish archives and in the old archives of the Soviet Union.”

Balancing an academic symposium with an event designed to draw broad public participation is in keeping with the Truman Institute’s mission, said Shpeter.

She noted the institute does regular public opinion polling on peace topics, working in cooperation with a Palestinian Arab counterpart. Last year it invited Martin Luther King III to discuss how religious leaders can contribute to peacemaking.

“It’s not just that they are researching; they do things,” Shpeter said of the institute staff. “We go to the public; we go to decision makers. We feel that’s the way we are advancing the peace. It’s so important that it shouldn’t be kept behind academic doors.”

Shpeter, a former journalist and fifth-generation Jerusalemite, said she was awed by the chance to visit Independence, Mo. “Being here, seeing the treasures of the president -- his home, his library --I felt very proud to be part of it. … and Israel might not have been established without Truman,” Shpeter said. “So both parts of my life -- my work with the institute and being a citizen of the state of Israel --- might not be without Truman.”

Only Holocaust survivor elected to Congress dies at age 80 LOS ANGELES (JTA) -- Just a month after Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) announced his retirement from Congress, he died Feb. 10 from cancer of the esophagus. In his 27 years in the U.S. Congress, Lantos said he had two constituencies -California’s 12th District, encompassing parts of San Francisco and its suburbs, and the ghosts of the Jews who perished in his native Europe. Lantos’ “unique position as the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress gave him the moral authority to speak out on behalf of those who had no one to speak out for them,” said William Daroff, the Washington director of United Jewish Communities, the federations’ umbrella.

February 15, 2008

Beth El Sisterhood sponsors second annual Karin Levine Health Symposium “These topics were

by JILL BELMONT chosen because autism Beth El Publicity Coordinator and hyperactivity disorBeth El’s Sisterhood will ders seem so prevalent in sponsor its second annual our pediatric populations Karin Levine Health at the present time,” Symposium on Sunday, Feb. 17 from 1:30-3:30 Lainof remarked, adding p.m. at the synagogue. that “vaccine rates for The symposium, created children need to be to provide education and improved and more inforcurrent information about mation needs to be disimportant health topics, was seminated about the new established in memory of vaccines available.”

Beth El congregant Karin Among those healthKarin Levine Levine, who died in 2005 at care professionals who age 49, following a 15-year battle with will offer presentations during the aftercancer. noon are: Dr. Gary Lerner, Chief of Sisterhood President Caryn Rifkin Medicine at Children's Hospital and explained that she and the organization’s Medical Director of Children’s board wanted to honor Levine’s memory Developmental Clinic; psychologist by establishing an annual symposium, “in Aveva Shukert, PhD; Kris Walters, a psythe hopes of creating a forum offering chologist from Kids Inc.; Teri McGill, up-to-date information and guidance Metro Region coordinator of the about a myriad of health issues. We Nebraska Autism Spectrum Disorders hoped that panel discussions presented Network; and Gail Werner-Robertson, by community experts would help fami- founder of the GWR Sunshine lies get straight answers to help them Foundation, which offers support for make informed decisions. families with autistic children. In addi“Karin’s presence is still missed in our tion, information about vaccines will be community,” Rifkin added. “She was an provided by the Metro Area inspiration to us as to how to live a full Immunization Task Force. life through family, education, volunteerAll speakers will address their respective ing and living a joyful life.” This year’s topics, and then participate in a questionsymposium will focus on “Raising answer session. A reception will follow Healthy Children.” According to event the conference. chairman Carole Lainof, topics to be disThe entire community is welcome to cussed include autism, Attention Deficit attend, free of charge. For more informaDisorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity tion, contact Lainof at 293.0321, or via Disorder, bonding issues, vaccinations, as e-mail at thelainofs@cox.net, or Caryn at 334.7216 or well as a number of other issues of inter- Rifkin CRGR6175@aol.com. est to parents.

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RBJH opens new wing

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 15, 2008

The reality we face in Sderot Continued from page 1 This is what Israelis who live near the border with Gaza continue to face: • 190,000 are under the threat of these missiles today, including Ashkelon, Netivot and 20 Kibbutzim and Moshavim; 45,000 Israelis are daily bombarded by these missiles.

• Officially 20,000 residents, of a normal population of close to 24,000, are left in Sderot, although there are those who say that it is probably less than 17,000 residents.

• Each and every resident of Sderot has experienced an explosion of a rocket/missile in the past few years.

Israeli police survey damage to a house hit by a Kassam rocket that lightly injured two children in Sderot on Feb. 6, Credit: Brian Hendler 2008.

The feeling of helplessness once the siren goes off, seeing young soldiers who were sent to ‘protect’ Sderot running and covering their heads with their hands, their weapons useless … Feeling that my only weapon is my video-camera to try and document this weird reality so that some one would be willing to watch and listen … this is Sderot reality.

Driving around Sderot, with no seat-belt because the seconds spent unfastening it might cost me my life… hearing the siren go off, jumping out of the car and running for cover to the closest bus stop shelter, while holding the hands of a grandmother and her grandchild, until we reach the bus stop, which is already crowded with parents and their children on their way to school…this is Sderot reality.

Trying not to panic in front of the children, thinking to myself that a direct hit on this bus stop would be a death trap since only two months ago there was an investigative report showing bus stops/bomb shelters are not qualified as bomb shelters since they are built with less than five inches thickness of cement, when the requirement is nine inches to withstand a direct hit.

And now there are 52 lethal bus stop shelters like these scattered around the town where dozens of people take cover from the missiles...this is Sderot reality

Ten missiles exploded in Sderot one Thursday morning, while children were on their way to school and kindergarten. My younger sister Liora, who moved to Sderot to work with the children, described their panic. As they ran to the shelter she grabbed three young children and escorted them to the safe room and started to sing out loud so they wouldn’t hear the missile exploding near by.

That safe room contained 25 children. This was their only activity room where they have been spending their playtime. For safety, they are not allowed to play outside. This, too, is Sderot reality.

Two sisters, ages 2 and 12, were lightly injured by shrapnel when a Kassam rocket struck a playground in Kibbutz Be’eri, in the western Negev. Hamas, who claimed responsibility for the attack, fired further rockets into Sderot a short while later. Israel Air Force planes hit several targets overnight in response to the earlier Kassam attacks last Copyright: ISRANET week.

Hearing from families I know, as they all sleep together with parents and children in one bed, with the fear of the siren going off and no shelter to run to, since 752 homes in Sderot have no shelter or safe room … this is Sderot reality.

On the 18th of January, there was a memorial in Sderot’s cemetery, for Ella Abukasis, who was murdered when she was only 17 three years ago by a direct hit from a kassam rocket that hit her as she huddled over her younger brother, who was 11-years-old at the time.

Will there be any ending to this terrorism of missiles being launched towards civilian neighborhoods?

How can Israel defend its own citizens, with out being condemned, when 97 percent of the targets of Gazan missiles hit our civilian population, while the Gazans fire their missiles from behind the human shields of their own civilian population?

What about the hundreds of tunnels dug beneath the “Philadelphi corridor” in which Egypt routinely delivers ammunition, army equipment, terrorists and cash to Gaza?

When will Israel hold Egypt and these Palestinian terror leaders personally responsible for the suffering of the people of Sderot?

When will Sderot reality change?

Beth El’s Kadima youth group enjoys “Judaism, the Good Life”

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Members of Beth El Synagogue’s Kadima youth group were treated to “Judaism, The Good Life,” during its annual Shabbaton several weeks ago. Held at the 4-H Camp in Gretna, the retreat offered attendees opportunities to participate in a variety of learning and activity sessions led by Beth El’s Rabbi Mordechai Levin, Education Director Judy Rubin, Youth Director Robert Mosenkis, BESTT teacher Andy Greenberg, and JCC Sh’licha Zohar Winer.

During the weekend, the seventh and eighth graders also created a special arts and crafts project for the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

Following a discussion on Saturday afternoon, the teens, along with Rabbi Levin joined together to bid farewell to Shabbat during a moving Havdalah service.

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February 15, 2008

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 5

Temple Israel to host discussion on Nebraska death penalty

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator A Head Start teacher in Lincoln, Mark Weddleton has facilitated open discussions on the death penalty among civic groups, faith community gatherings, and on college campuses across Nebraska.

“Working with young children living in poverty, I see everyday the toll the cycle of crime and violence takes on our community,” he said as he explained how he got involved in the effort to end the death penalty.

“Over 16,000 people are murdered in this country every year. We need to find effective solutions to this tragic situation, setting aside political agendas to find out what really works,” he urged.

Weddleton, state field organizer for Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty (NADP), will join State Senator Brad Ashford; and Rabbi Aryeh Azriel on Sunday, Feb. 24, at Temple Israel to discuss Nebraska's death penalty. The community is invited to participate in a conversation which will follow breakfast prepared by the Pancake Man at 9 a.m.

According to NADP, most states with the death penalty have higher murder rates than neighboring ones without it.

Countries like Canada that have ended the death penalty have experienced a drop in violent crime. NADP also claims that the death penalty is used arbitrarily.

Most likely to be sentenced to death are the poor, African Americans, and Latinos.

The organization also argues that it costs two to six times as much to execute a person than to imprison someone for life.

An article in the Jerusalem Post recognized that “Jewish law allows for the death penalty, but sets numerous conditions that must be met before an execu-

tion can be allowed to go forward. The standards are so strict that executions under Jewish law were rare. Since 1959, the Reform Movement ... (has) officially opposed the death penalty. In 1996, the Rabbinic Assembly of the Conservative Movement approved a resolution opposing the adoption of any new death penalty laws and urging the abolition of existing laws. And in 2000, the Union of Orthodox Congregations of America endorsed a call for a nationwide moratorium on executions pending a comprehensive review of how the penalty is administered in American courts.”

Currently, 36 states have a death penalty. However, death sentences in the United States have dropped by 60 percent since 1999.

Senator Ashford, elected three times by District 20 voters in Omaha to the Unicameral, is the chairperson of the Judiciary Committee and a member of the Education and the Committee on Committees. An attorney and businessman, Senator Ashford is a member of the Nebraska Bar Association.

According to NADP, the American Bar Association has stated that problems in state death penalty procedures justify a nationwide execution freeze. A Myers Research poll in the spring of 2007 showed that life without parole is steadily replacing the death penalty as the preferred punishment for murder in Nebraska. Fifty one percent of Nebraskans supported life in prison without parole as an alternative to the death penalty while 42 percent opposed it in the poll results. The Unicameral came within one vote of advancing a bill that would have ended capital punishment in the last session.

Eye on Israel: Evening Edition” offers panelist insight into current events

by MOR SHEINBEIN Administrative Assistant, Center for Jewish Education If you want to stay current on the Middle East and issues facing Israel and enjoy some verbal jousting, don’t miss a special panel discussion during Eye on Israel: Evening Edition on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 8 p.m., in the Kripke Jewish Federation Library.

Panelists will include: Dr. Guy Matalon, executive director of the Center for Jewish Education, and Dr. Moshe Gershovich, Associate Professor, Department of History, UNO. Eye on Israel is an interactive forum, discussing current events affecting Israel and the Middle East. The program regularly meets every other month on Tuesdays, noon to 1 p.m. in the Kripke Jewish Federation Library.

“I hope that the evening event will allow people who work during the day and thus cannot attend at the regular

times to get connected with the news and involved in what's going on,” said Gershovich. “Since this is the only ‘Eye’ in February, this session will also give us a chance to cover new developments before we resume the regular schedule in March.”

The discussions at the “evening edition” will prove very timely. The on going attacks on Sederot and the towns and Kibbutzim near the Gaza strip, the Vinograd Report and the effect it will have on the Israeli government, the Primaries for both the Democratic and Republic parties in the United States and the lack of a fence between Gaza and Egypt. All of the above have an effect on Jews in Israel and Jews in America.

The program is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the CJE at 334.6445 or mgrossman@ jewishomaha.org. Eye on Israel is sponsored in part by the Herman and Mary Meyerson Endowment Fund.

ORGANIZATIONS YOUNG ENERGETIC SENIORS Join us at the JCC on Monday with special musical guest Robyn Lensch.

Lunch will be served at noon at $7 per person. The program will begin at 12:30 p.m. Try your luck with bingo at 10 a.m. with Miles Remer. For transportation call Dee Dee at 330.4272. Call Maggie Conti at 334.6521 for reservations for the day trip to Ameristar Casino on Feb. 28 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.

B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Roger Dixon will speak at Breadbreakers on Wednesday, Feb. 20, noon, at Regency Lodge, according to Gary Javitch, chairman. The Executive Director of the Qwest Center, will talk about the Olympic Swim Trials and more. All men and women in the community are invited to attend. Cost is $12 for a complete lunch and $3 for beverage service only.

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

Page 6

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 15, 2008

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Part II Two men shared path to social justice and to interfaith harmony Relationship still shows the way 60 years after their deaths

by LEO ADAM BIGA (Editor’s note: Part I of this series, which ran in last week’s Jewish Press, described the initial meeting of Henry Monsky and Father Flanagan, the founder of Boys Town, and how their friendship grew into the creation of this famed institution, which recently celebrated its 90th anniversary. Part II follws the men as Boys Town expands and the legacy of interfaith cooperation left by these two great leaders.)

Monsky’s association with Flanagan modeled his belief in interfaith outreach. That’s why this prominent Jew served on the Catholic Commission on American Citizenship and the National Catholic Welfare Conference and on the boards of other non-Jewish organizations, including the Community Chest, the Boy Scouts, the Nebraska Conference of Social Work, the Church Peace Union and the Urban League.

Even though Boys Town is not Catholic per se, the fact a Oliver Pollak Catholic priest has always headed it lends it that church’s imprimatur. That was even more true during Flanagan’s regime. As far as the general public and media were concerned, the priest and Boys Town were synonymous, making it a de facto Catholic ministry. That’s why the identification of a noted Jew like Monsky with Boys Town was a model for how Jewish-Catholic relations could proceed both on a personal level and in regard to issues.

“They were men of different faiths,” writes Omaha historian Oliver Pollak. “Both had faith, particularly faith in the next generation .... No doubt exists that Monsky and Flanagan were men of great faith whose concern for troubled youth transcended parochial boundaries.”

Every time Monsky’s involvement with Boys Town made headlines, as it did when at Flanagan’s invitation he gave the commencement speech for the 1942 graduating class, it illustrated the possibility of Jewish-Catholic unity. Monsky’s address to the 90 eighth grade and high school grads emphasized sacrifice at a time of war: “You are, indeed, fortunate to have been taught here at Father Flanagan’s Boys Home ... that life has significance, that life is purposeful ... Thus conditioned, it is expected that you have the necessary equipment to assume and discharge adequately your share of the greater responsibility which each of us must bear in the present crisis...Not unlike other chapters in our nation’s history, the record of these difficult days will be resplendent with the glorious achievements of youth.”

Ties between the home and the Jewish community were strengthened by the Flanagan-Monsky bond.

When elected to the Boys Town board of trustees in 1929, Monsky replaced another Jewish leader, Rabbi Frederick Cohn, of Temple Israel.

Just as Monsky’s link with Boys Town generated Jewish outreach with the Catholic community, Flanagan’s link with Monsky led to a close relationship between B’nai B’rith and Boys Town. Flanagan addressed several B’nai B’rith gatherings, including those in Omaha, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. He spoke before the Jewish Ladies Auxiliary of the B’nai B’rith lodge in Detroit. He was the keynote speaker for the Jewish Children’s Home of Rhode Island, the Young Men’s Jewish Council for Boys’ Clubs in Chicago and the National Conference of Christians and Jews in Minneapolis.

Evidence suggests Flanagan and Monsky recommended each other for interfaith engagements and appointments, and took satisfaction in doing so.

A 1939 letter from Monsky to Flanagan refers to an invitation for the priest to speak before “a very substantial group of Jewish people in Chicago, which I am sure will give you a very acceptable audience ... If acceptance of this invitation is possible, of course, I would appreciate it.”

The Monsky letter also mentions “reports” about

Flanagan’s appearance before another Jewish group “have pleased me very much. I am happy to note the great demand on the part of my co-religionists, and particularly B’nai B’rith lodges, for the message of Father Flanagan’s Boys Home.”

In another letter to his friend Monsky describes the positive feedback a Flanagan appearance before a B’nai B’rith group in Phillie elicited, adding that members expressed “pleasure in the fact that we appeared to be very good friends.”

The BT-BB relationship is one that continues 60 years after the two friends’ deaths.

“The B’nai B’rith historically brings its sports banquet speakers to Boys Town to meet our children” and to do media interviews, said John Melingagio, Boys Town director of public relations. “Their members also have individually or collectively done charitable activities ranging from donations of funds, services or needed items to mentoring or Henry Monsky creating opportunities for our children in the community,” “I just can’t shake the feeling when we do that, that the two friends are looking down and smiling at the successful legacy of their dreams,” said Gary Javitch, president of the Omaha B’nai B’rith Henry Monsky Lodge #3306.

Melingagio added its only natural for Boys Town and the Jewish Community Center, where the local B’nai B’rith is headquartered, should be on good terms as the organizations are neighbors. Each extends open invitations to the other for various programs and activities.

Boys Town and the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society at the JCC work cooperatively to update the FlanaganMonsky exhibit.

Temple Israel’s Rabbi Aryeh Azriel said JewishCatholic relations ebb and flow but the “special relationshp” Flanagan and Monsky exhibited serves as an example of how people of two faith groups can interact in constructive ways. He would like to see more such comradeship and collegiality today in serious interfaith dialogues.

Examples of interfaith work abound locally.

Monsky’s alma mater, Creighton University, has a tradition of being welcoming to Jews and promoting Jewish studies. Monsky was invited to make the 1925 commencement address at Creighton. Jews Rodney Shkolnik and Larry Raful were longtime deans of the Creighton Law School. CU’s legal aid center is named after Milton Abrahams. The university is home to the Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization, a post held by Leonard Greenspoon. CU’s Kripke Center, named for Rabbi Myer Kripke and his wife Dorothy, promotes understanding between the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faith communities.

Despite its strong WASP roots, the University of Nebraska at Omaha hosts: the Rabbi Sidney H. Brooks Lecture Series in honor of the late Omaha religious leader who worked for social justice and unity; and the Leonard and Shirley Goldstein Human Rights Lecture Series in honor of the Omaha Jewish couple long active in the Free Soviet Jewry movement.

Additionally, Rabbi Azriel of Temple Israel has served on the United Catholic Social Services board and chairs the clergy committee for Omaha Together One Community (OTOC), a faith-based social action group.

He’s won recognition for his human relations work, including a Black/Jewish Dialogue initiative he led.

These efforts to be inclusive rather than exclusive and to foster fellowship rather than division coincide with the work of Project Interfaith. The Plains States Region of the Anti-Defamation League based in Omaha, established a program directed by Beth Katz, which brings Christians, Jews and Muslims together to share the gifts of their respective faiths. Katz has traveled to the Vatican and to Israel with interfaith groups.

“Fostering healthy interfaith relations...often begins with relationships. Friendships like the one Monsky and Continued on page 7

February 15, 2008

Two men shared path Continued from page 6 Father Flanagan enjoyed help humanize the other, enabling us to identify and appreciate the values common to both faiths while also allowing us to explore and hopefully to respect our differences,” Katz said.

Similarly, Beth Seldin Dotan runs the Institute for Holocaust Education at the ADL/CRC. The Institute’s Bearing Witness project trains Catholic educators to teach the Holocaust in their high schools. She works closely with the Archdiocese of Omaha on project curricula. Sam Fried’s new Heartland Holocaust Education Fund supports college-university teaching about the Shoah.

Tolerance is at the core of all these exchanges. Rarely have two men demonstrated the tolerance Monsky and Flanagan did. Their relationship grew out of fondness and, more fundamentally, respect.

As leader of B’nai B’rith Monsky emphasized the Beth Seldin Dotan need for unity -- both among Jews and the general American population, a theme that resonated strongly with Flanagan and his ideals for Boys Town and the nation. In his speech at the 1945 B’nai B’rith banquet honoring Monsky, Flanagan said: “I consider racial and religious prejudice one of the greatest and most insidious of all ills that attack our social life today ...This grand and noble organization over which our honored guest is the international president is to be commended for its far-reaching influence toward bringing to public attention ... the urgent need for greater unity and amity among the various nationalities and creeds ... This is the mission that Mr. Monsky set out to do as a young man ... How well he has done this, you and I know ... God bless you, Mr. Henry Monsky.”

Wherever their mutual interests intersected each man embraced the other. The welfare of troubled youth was their common meeting ground. And so Monsky involved Flanagan in his work with the National Conference for the Prevention and Control of Juvenile Delinquency. A 1946 letter from Monsky to Flanagan outlined the conference’s latest resolutions and activities and requested his feedback.

“Will you please, at your earliest convenience, send me your comments upon the foregoing ... It was gratifying to work with you in the formulation of a program which has unlimited potentialities for service to the nation.”

Even as the men’s interests broadened beyond Nebraska’s and America’s borders they remained tethered in a way that only best friends do.

Rose Blumkin Jewish Home resident Esther Schwartz

Segel was Monsky’s secretary for his three terms as international B’nai B’rith president. She can attest to the hectic schedule he kept flitting across the U.S. by train and plane for meetings, speeches, et cetera. His travel itinerary and business correspondence were so great, she recalled in 2003, she sometimes worked 18-hour days to keep up with it all. Flanagan’s scheduled was no less hectic.

Monsky was away attending to one of his causes, a meeting of the American Jewish Conference (Congress) in New York City, when he died of a cerebral hemorrhage on May 2, 1947. At the time he was speaking about Jewish unity.

“It was such a tragedy that he died so young and with so many plans for the future of Jewish people,” Segel told a reporter in 2003.

News of Monsky’s death reached Flanagan via telegram while abroad on a war orphan mission. In a letter to Daisy, Flanagan described the circumstances Beth Katz of his final meeting with his friend and what the loss meant to him: “The news of his death coming to me while I was in Tokyo, Japan was a great shock. Before leaving on that trip he prepared my Last Will and Testament. Little did I know ... that this was my last business with my friend and legal advisor. His death was one of the great sorrows of my life.”

Flanagan died in Berlin, Germany on May 15, 1948, almost a year to the day Monsky died. A wire from B’nai B’rith officials to Flanagan’s successor at Boys Town, Father Nicholas Wegner, noted the special regard Jews held for Flanagan: “His warm friendship with our late President Monsky exemplified (the) spirit of brotherhood which we fervently hope will someday encompass all people. Your loss is ours as well.”

Each was mourned by thousands in services that attracted dignitaries from all fields. Testimonials, dedications and commentaries praised them as great men and leaders. In recognition of the special place Boys Town held in the life and work of Monsky and Flanagan, condolences and memorial contributions poured into the home, including many from B’nai B’rith lodges.

Monsky is remembered today by Boys Town in various ways. A street bears his name (and that of his law partner William Grodinsky), as does a donor recognition level. Then there’s the “Men of Vision” exhibit.

Similarly, the Omaha B’nai B’rith lodge is named for Monsky. Photographs, paintings and a bust of Monsky reside at the JCC, where Monsky’s legacy looms large.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 7

Phantom proves popular despite a 22-year run

THEATER REVIEW

by CAROL KATZMAN The music is glorious; the sets are elaborate and the costumes opulent. That was the general consensus of theatre goers when Phantom of the Opera made a return visit to Omaha, opening on Jan. 30.

The longest-running show on Broadway, Phantom was conceived by that master of musicals, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Composer of Cats, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (a teenage Bryan Greenberg had the lead in Camp Herzl’s production in the early 1990s), Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita to name a few, Webber scored a home run 22 years ago when Phantom opened in London. It moved to New York two years later and has entertained more than 80 million in audiences around the globe since then.

Webber’s music is legend. Taking one refrain -- in this case from “The Music of the Night” --Webber repeats in throughout the show in other signature pieces (think “Angel of Music”, “All I Ask of You” and “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again”). You could almost hear musical refrains from Evita as well and the cast did a marvelous job of conveying that.

While Jason Mills gives a softer, almost heartfelt performance of the Phantom than did the original star, Michael Crawford, the show was stolen by two women: Sara Jean Ford as the ingenue Christine Daae and Kim Stengel as Carlotta Guidicelli, the opera star Christine replaces on the orders of the Phantom. Other fine performances were turned in by Greg Mills as Rauol (Christine’s boyfriend) and Rebecca Judd as Madame Giry (the ballet instructor). By the way, Kim Stengel has performed as Carlotta more than anyone else -- an astonishing 4000 performances!

It’s not easy for an opera like this (it really is more opera than what audiences think of as a Broadway musical) to hold its own against newer shows like Jersey Boys, Avenue Q and Spamalot (which premiered in Omaha in November). With audiences that expect fast-moving scenes and quick dialog, not to mention scores of memorable songs, Phantom recalls the days of the “grande” musical, when leading ladies and gentlemen performed bigger-than-life characters with voices that could project to the back of the house.

Phantom did just that here, which is why it keeps getting standing ovations from oh-so-generous Omahans.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 15, 2008

Clinton wins N.Y. Jews, faces fight elsewhere AMERICA DECIDES 2008

by BEN HARRIS

percent of the Jewish vote there and Obama 44 percent. John Edwards, who withdrew from the race on Jan. 30, won the support of 8 percent of California Jews.

On the Republican side, Jews comprised such a small percentage of voters that finding a reliable statistical snapshot of their preferences was impossible.

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Hillary Rodham Clinton scored a major victory with Jewish Democrats in New York and New Jersey in Super Tuesday voting, Barack Obama won a majority of Jewish support in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and the battle was close in California.

According to exit polls, Clinton took 65 percent of the Jewish primary vote in New York state, which she represents in the U.S. Senate, and 63 percent in neighboring New Jersey, compared to Obama’s 35 percent in New York and 37 percent in New Jersey. She captured both states in the overall voting.

But Obama made a strong Left: Presidential hopeful Barack Obama addresses AIPAC on SOURCE: AIPAC showing in Connecticut, March 2, 2007, in Chicago.

Right: Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose which he won overall, Exit poll data were reported by with 61 percent of the Jewish vote to 38 percent for Clinton. In Massachusetts, MSNBC based on polling conducted by which Obama lost overall, the Illinois Edison/Mitofsky.

Obama’s campaign has been scramsenator edged Clinton in the Jewish vote, bling for weeks to rebut various e-mail 52 percent to 48 percent.

Clinton also won the night’s biggest campaigns painting him as unsupportive prize, a majority of the 440 delegates at of Israel and falsely alleging, among other stake in California, but neither candidate things, that the Democratic candidate is could claim a majority of the Golden secretly a Muslim who refuses to say the State’s Jewish voters. Clinton took 48 Pledge of Allegiance. Some observers

have asserted that the e-mails were hurting the senator among Jewish voters, despite his generally strong performance in earlier states among white, affluent, college-educated voters.

Yet with the exception of New York, Obama fared better among Jewish voters on Feb. 5 -- in some cases substantially better -- than he did among the broader white population. In Massachusetts, for example, only 40 percent of white voters

voted against him.”

Sheinkopf says The New York Times endorsement is more likely to move Jews to the Clinton side than scurrilous claims that Obama is weak on Israel and a Muslim sympathizer. He attributed Jewish support for Obama in Massachusetts and Connecticut to the strength of Sen. Edward Kennedy’s endorsement.

“The Kennedy influence had an extraordinary impact,” Sheinkopf said, “partly for Jews that believe that secular liberalism is their religion. Kennedy’s liberalism and the impact of the Kennedy name were more influential on them than on other groups.”

Polls showed that turnout on Super Tuesday was high. The Jewish percentage of the Democratic electorate outstripped the percentage of the general votingage population in every Super Tuesday state with a significant Jewish comIsrael repertoire has grown since she became a U.S. senator, at munity.

Jerusalem’s Western Wall on Nov. 14, 2005.

In New York, Jews repSOURCE: Brian Hendler resent roughly 9 percent supported Obama compared to 52 per- of eligible voters, according to University cent of Jews. Obama also showed better of Miami demographer Ira Sheskin, but among Jews than with voters earning comprised 16 percent of voters in the more than $100,000 a year, 44 percent, Democratic primary. In Connecticut, and college graduates, 47 percent.

Jews are 3.5 percent of the electorate but “People that would believe” the e-mail made up 10 percent of Democratic priattacks “weren’t voting for him anyway,” mary voters.

Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic In California, Jews were 5 percent of consultant, told JTA. “If it had really Democratic voters, compared to 3.7 perbeen so impactful, then Jews would have Continued on page 9

The Jewish Press will publish Israel@60, on April 18, 2008. We’re calling for articles and photos from anyone who has been to Israel on a mission, teen trip or on their own, anyone who has spent a semester abroad there or a post-high school year on a program, anyone who has studied there, lived there, or lives there now.

Articles can be 500-2000 words in length (but for those who don’t feel comfortable writing, a few photos and captions are welcome, too). Photos can be real photographs or digital images e-mailed to the Press to ckatzman@jewishomaha.org, with stories as attachments (in Word) or mailed to the Press at 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154.

Deadline is Feb. 29, 2008. Questions? Call Editor Carol Katzman at 402.334.6450.

February 15, 2008

Clinton faces fight elsewhere Continued from page 8 ent in Massachusetts, compared to 4.5 percent; and 9 percent in New Jersey, compared to 6 percent. With the Democratic contest still very much undecided -Clinton leads Obama by about 100 delegates in a race with 4,049 at stake -- attention will likely return to Florida, a delegate-rich state that party leaders have promised not to count toward the nomination.

Obama swept smaller states over the weekend, winning delegates in Nebraska, Kansas, Maine and Louisiana, states that do not have large Jewish popula-

The attached graphic is a map of all of the Jewish Democratic vote results from the 2008 primaries.

SOURCE: JTA Staff tions. His supporters hope he will carry this momentum into Tuesday’s primaries in Maryland (with a large Jewish population in Baltimore), D.C., and Virginia.

Only two states, New York and California, have more Jews than Florida. Exit polling showed that in the Sunshine State’s Jan. 29 primary, Clinton took 58% of the Jewish vote, compared to 26% for Obama and 13 percent for Edwards. The DNC stripped Florida and Michigan of their delegates after the states violated party rules by scheduling its primary earlier than Feb. 5.

As the race moves forward, another large state with a sizable Jewish population, Pennsylvania, is likely to gain more attention in the media and from the two campaigns. Pennsylvania is scheduled to hold its primaries on April 22.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 9

Beth El’s globetrotting cantor shares Jewish music, knowledge and tikkun olam leaders of the Jewish community (population, 70).

Last month, Cantor Bogomolni traveled to his hometown of Buenos Aires, to premiere his new CD of Jewish music, “Ta‘am Latino” (“Latino Taste”), during a concert benefiting The Tzedakah Foundation of Argentina, an organization which aids needy Jewish families. Held at the AMIA Auditorium (the Jewish Federation of Buenos Aires) Above: Cantor Bogomolni wowed his Argentinean audience and enjoyed by an audience with selections from his new CD, which offers new melodies of 300, this unique fundwith a Latin beat. The cantor was accompanied by 14 raising concert was subsiaccomplished musicians from his hometown of Buenos dized by Beth El’s Music Aires. Below: During his trip to the Dominican Republic, Fund.

Cantor Bogomolni visited the Jewish Museum of Sosua, and “Beth El’s support Luis Hess, one of Sosua’s pioneers and founder of the combrought my past and my munity’s first public school, which incorporated a Jewish present together in a woncurriculum to acknowledge its many Jewish students. (The derful way,” the Cantor school was recently renamed ‘Colegio Luis Hess.’) remarked. “By this gesture, our synagogue reached out and assisted needy Jewish people a continent away.”

During the 90-minute concert, he was pleased to note that “the audience was really warm and very participatory.” The cantor also told of a close call which almost put the concert in jeopardy.

“It was 110º at the time of the show,” he recalled, “and the electricity went out three During the trip this past October, he arranged for stu- hours before the performance. Luckily, it came on just dents to tour Sosua’s Jewish museum, the synagogue 30 minutes before we took the stage, so luckily, we were and the Jewish cemetery; he also introduced them to the able to have air conditioning!”

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Over the last several months, Beth El’s Cantor Gastón Bogomolni has journeyed to several different countries to teach about Jewish life and share Jewish music. Last fall, in partnership with Creighton University, the cantor spent time in the Dominican Republic with a group of Creighton exchange students, introducing them to the Jewish communities of Santo Domingo and Sosua.

This was the cantor’s first visit back there since he lived there in the late 1990s, serving as a spiritual leader.

“When I lived there,” he explained, “there were no Jewish leaders or rabbis -- I was the only one teaching Jewish culture.”

Page 10

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 15, 2008

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IN THE NEWS This March, 30 participants from around North America and Israel will hike from the northern tip of Israel to the Sea of Galilee on the first-ever Heschel Hazon Hike Bishvil Yisrael to benefit the Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership, based in Tel Aviv, and Hazon, based in New York.

Professor Leonard Greenspoon, Creighton University’s Klutznick Chair of Jewish Civilization will be joining the hike from Omaha. “Now I’m going to put my feet, myself, and my money where my mouth is,” says Greenspoon about the hike.

This fully-supported Hike offers the opportunity to see the stunning Israeli landscape with an inclusive and supportive community of people while learning about sustainability efforts in Israel. The Hike is also a fundraiser; participants pay a registration fee and commit to raising sponsorship that supports the innovative environmental programming of the Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership and Hazon.

This inaugural Hike begins in Ramot Naftali near the Lebanon border, passes over Mt. Meron, through Tzfat and ends four days later at the Sea of Galilee. Features of this point-to-point Hike include education about sustainability efforts in Israel, security and medical support, meals provided and luggage transportation.

“Unlike most other fundraising outdoor events, our goal isn’t simply to raise money but also to create a sense of community and to foster education about the environment,” Nigel Savage, the founder and director of Hazon, said prior to the Hike. “People sign up because they think they’re going to have fun -- and they’re right.

But once they are there, we bring them into contact with interesting people from different backgrounds. So they have a chance to learn not only about the environment but also from the next generation of pro-environment activists.”

Act II, the Omaha Community Playhouse Guild, is hosting the “Destination: World’s Fare” Benefit on Saturday, March 29, at the Playhouse. The event will start at 6 p.m. with a Patron party, followed by “General Boarding” from 7 to 10 p.m.

Guests will be traveling the world in search of the finest cuisine and entertainment, all while supporting the largest community theater in the country.

Destinations will include: Athens, Coney Island, Frankfurt, Madrid, Toyko and Venice. Each destination will feature cuisine donated by some of Omaha’s top restuarants along with exciting local entertainment.

Other activities for the evening include carnival games, karaoke, flamenco dancers, a caricature artist, beer tasting and an electrifying performance hosted by The Weisenheimers Comedy Troupe featuring some of the Playhouse’s most beloved performers.

General Chairs for the Gala are Lisa Jones and Kris Clark. President of the ACT II Guild is Susan Moyer.

For ticket information call 553.4890, ext 145, or go online at www.omahaplayhouse.com.

You don’t have to live in Hollywood to experience the magic and excitement of Oscar Night. Metro area residents can join in the festivities when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences stages its 80th Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb, 24 by attending the area’s Academy-sanctioned Oscar Night America party.

Benefiting the Midlands Chapter Alzheimer’s Association, the Omaha metro Oscar Night celebration will be held at Harrah’s Council Bluffs Casino and Hotel, beginning at 5 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at the Midlands Chapter office at 1941 So. 42 St., Suite 205, or by calling 402.502.4301.

The local audience will watch the Academy Awards telecast on large screens through the courtesy of KETV, the Omaha affiliate of the ABC Television Network, which broadcasts the Academy Awards presentation.

Metro Omaha’s Oscar Night America is sponsored by Harrah’s, First National Bank, PayPal, Alegent Health, and Star 104.5.

The proceeds from the event will benefit the Alzheimer’s Association Midlands Chapter. The Midlands Chapter serves Eastern Nebraska and Southwest Iowa by providing education, information,

and support to individuals afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease; and supports the National Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association in its research for the prevention, cure and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.

For more information or tickets to Oscar Night, visit www.alz.org/midlands or contact Jana Paczkowski at 402.502.4301 or via e-mail at jana.paczkowski@midlandsalz.org.

Grinnell College senior Hannah Wolf has been named the Midwest Conference Women’s Basketball Performer of the Week. It is the second time in the past three weeks that Wolf has earned the honor.

Wolf, a 5-foot-8” guard from Omaha, (a graduate of Millard West), posted a pair of double-doubles last week to lead the resurgent Pioneers to a pair of league victories and run the team’s overall win streak to four games.

She opened her week with 28 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block during a 67-57 win at Knox on Wednesday. She then added 20 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and four steals as the Pioneers edged Illinois College 81-80 at home on Saturday.

In addition to taking over the MWC scoring lead (21.0 ppg) and ranking third in the nation in 3-pointers made per contest (3.06), Wolf ranks in the top 10 in the conference in rebounding (7.4 rpg), assists (3.41 apg), steals (2.00 pg) and 3-point field goal percentage (.369).

She has also been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Women’s Basketball Team.

She is the daughter of Phil and Nancy Wolf.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 11

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Omaha Children’s Museum Rainbow Connector’s Guild has kicked off planning for the 2008 “For the Kids” Benefit. An Evening on the Cape will be the theme for the museum’s largest annual fundraiser that will be held Saturday, May 3 at the museum, 500 So. 20 St. Tickets for the event are $175 and $125. A cocktail hour and sneak peek auction viewing will begin at 5:30 p.m. with auction flights officially opening at 6 p.m.

Dinner and an oral auction will follow at 8 p.m.

Funds raised from the event will be used to sustain the museum’s new permanent exhibits that were renovated in 2007 as well as its ongoing programs.

For more information, call Kathy Aultz at 930.2358.

Martin L. Goldman, M.D., Creighton University professor and chair of radiology, will be the first holder of the Dr. Paul S. Mahoney Endowed Chair in Radiology and Medical Imaging as well as the first holder of an endowed chair in that department.

Goldman joined the Creighton School of Medicine in 1999 as a professor and chairman of the Department of Radiology. At Creighton, he has helped build one of the region’s leading clinical programs in radiology as well as a highly regarded radiology residency program.

Creighton’s radiology residents scored in the top 5 percent in all of North America on national written board exams in diagnostic radiology in 2006 and 2007.

“Dr. Goldman has facilitated growth in all mission areas of the department - education, research and patient care. He has promoted collaboration within and outside the department with the expressed goal of creating a ‘gung ho’ atmosphere,” said Cam E Enarson, M.D., M.B.A., Creighton medical school dean and vice president for the health sciences.

While serving as chief of vascular and interventional radiology at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Albany Medical College in New York, and University of Washington in Seattle, Goldman played a significant role in the evolution of angiography and interventional radiology. He has helped train more than 300 residents in radiology and 40 fellows in the subspecialty of vascular and interventional radiology.

A 1966 graduate of Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago, Goldman completed his medical residency at Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center in New York City and a vascular and interventional radiology fellowship at the University of Oregon in Portland.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 15, 2008

Who knew the primary season would last so long Months ago, this paper predicted nominees for both political parties would be clearly known after Super Tuesday on Feb. 5. Boy were we wrong!

Not only are Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama neck-and-neck in the delegate count on the Democratic side, but former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has no intention of quitting and handing the Republican nod to Sen.. John McCain. In the end, however, the people who are the clear winners are America’s voters.

This campaign has energized young people across the country, something that hasn’t happened since Gene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy ran for president in 1968. And because the establishment did not want to listen to younger constituents (who, by the way, couldn’t vote then until they were 18), many of them dropped out of politics after the assassination of Kennedy and party dissension which denied McCarthy the nomination.

This time around, party leaders are paying attention. Even here in Nebraska, not exactly a hotbed of Democratic party politics, close to 40,000 people turned out for party caucuses in 91 of Nebraska’s 93 counties.

So even though the field has narrowed, we’re going to stop making predictions. It appears that this season, at least, anything can happen.

Who would have thought even just a few years ago that the leading contenders would be a woman, an African-American, a former Viet Nam prisoner of war (and the oldest among the candidates) and a preacher turned governor?

It’s certainly not the (old, white) boys’ club American voters have seen in the past. But that doesn’t mean it’s worse -- or better -- for that

matter. It may have more to do with the growing sophistication of the American electorate than the eagerness of party officials to embrace candidates who look or sound a little different.

And now we wait.

Though Sen. Obama swept four small states (Nebraska, Louisiana, Kansas and Maine), larger delegate pools await the results of Tuesday’s primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. The bigger prizes, however, come March 4 with primaries in delegate-rich Ohio and Texas.

But he won’t be the only one sitting on pins and needles. Even though Sen. McCain leads Gov. Huckabee by a margin of two-to-one in the delegate count, religious conservatives are not putting aside their differences and lining up behind the front runner.

Some have even threatened to sit this election out. If they do, however, they will have no right to complain if the Democrats win back the White House.

Frankly, it sounds childish. It may affect the outcome of other races in districts where religious conservatives have a majority. But if they want to pick up their marbles and go home, so be it.

The truth is, once a candidate actually becomes president, all promises are off the table. He (or this year, she) has to face the reality of dealing with Congress. (And if you think that a Democratic President having a Democratic Congress is a picnic, recall what happened to President Clinton in 1994, two years after he took office.

The scandal-plagued Dems lost 54 seats in the House to the

Republicans.) And just wait until the next President has to face a crisis in the Middle East or anywhere else on the globe that threatens American security. Add a volatile economic market, and you have the recipe for a tough road ahead regardless of who’s in power.

Frankly, we wish all the candidates success.

As Americans, as Jews, as Nebraskans, it’s exciting to hear candidates speak about issues for a change. So the more, the merrier!

HUCKABEE

How to transfer Gaza to Egypt

BEHIND THE H EADLINES

by DANIEL PIPES “Listen to me carefully,” President Hosni Mubarak, of Egypt instructed an interviewer on Jan. 30. “Gaza is not part of Egypt, nor will it ever be. I hear talk of a proposal to turn the Strip into an extension of the Sinai peninsula, of offloading responsibility for it onto Egypt” but Mubarak dismissed this as “nothing but a dream.”

Hardly a dream. It’s a reality that surfaced since Jan. 23, when Hamas operatives breached large segments of the wall separating Gaza from Egypt. That unexpected step alerted the world that an Egyptian embargo, no less than an Israeli one, prevents Gazans from leaving their territory or trading with the outside world.

Given that Gazans have shown themselves incapable of responsible self-rule and Cairo has tacitly allowed the smuggling of arms since 2000, Mubarak needs to be made responsible for the Gaza Strip. As recent my column argued, “Washington and other capitals should declare the experiment in Gazan selfrule a failure and press Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to help.”

Hamas partially concurs: One leader, Ismail Haniyeh, hopes Gaza can “move toward economic disengagement from the Israeli occupation,” while another, Ahmad Youssef, wants the Gaza-Egypt border opened to trade and Egypt to serve as Gaza’s “gateway” to the outside world.

As Hamas promises that Cairo’s re-closing the wall on Feb. 3 will not turn back the clock, Egypt’s Muslim Brethren, a Hamas ally,

demands the Gaza border be opened.

Can Mubarak ignore these demands, popular among Egyptians? In effect, Gaza has already begun imposing itself on an unwilling Egypt.

Some Israelis wish to help it. Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, for example, holds that Cairo should take over economically. “When Gaza is open to the other side we lose responsibility for it. So we want to disconnect from it. We want to stop supplying electricity to them, stop supplying them with water and medicine.” The Israeli supreme court having ruled on Jan. 30 that the government may reduce supplies of fuel and electricity to Gaza renders a cutoff feasible.

Arab solidarity demands that Egyptian “brothers” fill in for the Israeli enemy. Once Jerusalem cuts supplies, Cairo has no choice but to furnish them.

How to achieve Gaza’s transfer?

Robert Satloff of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy suggests to me that Jerusalem announce three steps: “a date certain for the severing of Israel’s provision of water, electricity and trade access, free entry for replacement services through Egypt, and an invitation for international support to link Gaza to Egyptian grids.” Giora Eiland, a former Israeli national security adviser, would also detach Gaza from its customs union with Israel and the West Bank.

These Israeli initiatives would force the Egyptian hand. Sure, the Egyptians, with help from Fatah and even Hamas, will try to resurrect the border and put the onus back on Israel. But in the end, Arab solidarity demands

that Egyptian “brothers” fill in for the Israeli enemy. Once Jerusalem cuts supplies, Cairo has no choice but to furnish them. Economic dependence would then further involve Egypt, which has further consequences. It: • Revives the old idea of resolving the ArabIsraeli conflict via a three-way partition by Egypt, Israel, and Jordan.

• Permits Hamas to connect with its parent organization, the Muslim Brethren. Indeed, Egyptian security forces have already arrested at least 12 armed Hamas members in Egypt and other Gazans with suicide belts.

Controlling Islamist violence out of Gaza will become an Egyptian priority -- but Mubarak has coped with Islamists throughout his 27year presidency and he can deal with this new challenge in ways that Israel cannot.

• Limits the freedom for Hamas and Islamic Jihad to attack Israel. Yes, Egyptians want rockets falling on Sderot, but Cairo knows that their continuation invites Israeli reprisals and possibly a full-scale war.

To prevent Gazans from creating trouble in Egypt or attacking Israel requires heavy policing of their territory. This presumably means loosening the stringent restrictions on the deployment of Egyptian forces near the border with Israel in Annex I to the 1979 EgyptianIsraeli peace treaty. Fortunately, Egyptian security services in Gaza need be only lightly armed and the Multinational Force & Observers in the Sinai peninsula could add this monitoring duty to their tasks.

In brief, Gaza can be dumped on Egypt with confidence that the Egyptians must accept it and must impede Gazans from attacking Israel. Starting this “peace process,” though, will require uncharacteristic imagination and energy from Israel and the Western states.

Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum.

Read more at: www.DanielPipes.org.

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February 15, 2008

Not a strong horse move

by SHOSHANA BRYEN

by ROB ESHMAN We, like others, left the subject of Iraq for a while but the double female suicide bombings this weekend are an interesting counterpoint to American/coalition/Iraqi progress in securing the country.

Osama Bin Laden said that given a choice between a strong horse and a weak horse,people would naturally choose the strong horse. He was, of course, right. And he assumed that he and the Saudi-financed-Sunni al Qaeda were the strong horse (the corollary being the Iranian-backed-Shiite militias represented the strong horse on the other side of the ethnic divide) and the U.S./Israel/West were the weak horse.

What isn’t clear is why Americans ever bought into his argument. We always thought we were the strong horse, and it appears we have increasing company among Iraqis.

Osama assumed before the Twin Towers fell that Americans wouldn’t fight back. When we threw his forces out of Afghanistan and entered Iraq, he assumed that we would withdraw from the proverbial quagmire (the weak horse move) and leave him to establish his next (strong horse) base.

It might have seemed that way even to Americans: security setbacks followed our initial quick march to Baghdad; ugly political bickering ensued at home, with the Senate Majority Leader publicly calling the war “lost�; and Iraqi factions, bolstered by foreign sponsors, killing and taking revenge while the Americans appeared powerless to rein in the violence. But we stayed.

And al Qaeda overplayed its hand with its murderous rampages, enforced religiosity and attempts to overthrow the established tribal order. Destruction (weak horse) was its calling card in Iraq as it had been in Afghanistan. It was the revulsion of the tribes and their leaders that led to the uprising in Anbar and elsewhere, and their alliance with American forces that was coincident with the Surge (strong horse).

Having two women (whether affected with Down Syndrome or not, it isn’t clear) blowthemselves up in the course of blowing up other women and children in the marketplace over the weekend is not a strong horse move. The human imperative - the real strong horse - is to protect women and children and to have one’s fighting done by honorable soldiers, not the sort who put bombs on women to murder children.

The strong horse takes the long-term position.

More and more, American troops are understood to be the ones who do not engage in wanton destruction, do not undermine the social structure, and do not force their morals or mores on the local population. More and more, American troops (and their State Department counterparts in the PRTs - Provincial Reconstruction Teams) find themselves welcomed as the ones who respect, build, protect and engage the Iraqi people.

There is a long, long road to go in Iraq. But to the extent that the Iraqi people, regardless of gender/religion/ethnicity/tribe, understand the essential cowardice of terrorist organizations (would that their Palestinian cousins would do the same), they can be expected to back the strong horse. Ours.

Bryen is Senior Director for Security Policy at JINSA, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, www.jinsa.org.

Three years ago I was unloading some 50-pound bags of landscape pebbles from the trunk of my car when I felt a four-inch blade of molten steel jab into my lower back. Middle age had officially arrived, and my doctor ordered the permanent closure of Eshman Lifting and Schlepping, Inc. It was time to find younger men with stronger backs to do my dirty work.

That’s how I met Luis.

Driving out of Home Depot with more bags of rock and soil, I pulled over, and a dozen day laborers rushed to my window. I motioned to Luis and another guy, and they scrambled inside. We exchanged names, then I went back to listening to NPR -- a Weekend Edition interview with the singer Neil Sedaka about his new album of Yiddish melodies. Halfway through Sedaka’s rendition of “My Yiddishe Mamme,� Luis, who was sitting in the front seat, turned to me. “I always thought his voice had a feminine quality,� he said.

I don’t know what I expected, maybe just some thoughtless muscle by the side of the road, a Latino golem. But I was stunned. “I didn’t know he was Jewish,� Luis went on. “He must be Sephardic.� Luis, it turned out, was studying music theory at a community college. He had left southern Mexico years before, worked at a traveling circus in the United States and Canada, and eventually landed in college, where his goal was a degree in something called neuro-computer science, or, as he explained it, “the interface between the brain and computer technology.�

He was also a student of religion. Raised Catholic, he became a devout evangelical, then studied Judaism, and now, at 40, had settled into regular Buddhist meditation.

Luis was my first illegal alien, and his presence in my life forced me to rethink every aspect of a debate that never seems close to being either rational or resolved.

One thing Luis’ biography made clear to me was that if he was the first illegal immigrant I willingly and knowingly employed, he certainly wasn’t the first from whom I benefited. Furniture stripping, gardening, moving and storage, hauling, food service -- these are just a few of the jobs Luis has worked, so employers could keep the prices to us consumers lower.

Every single one of us, from CNN’s resident border guard Lou Dobbs to Mitt Romney and his I-couldhave-sworn-they-were-Swedish landscapers to Luis himself, benefits from illegal labor in our daily life, at the very least by paying less for myriad goods and services.

But I also know that one anecdote does not good policy make. Proponents of harsher anti-immigrant measures might point out to me that not all of the nation’s 12 million to 20 million illegal immigrants have clean records, study neuro-computer science and know that

Neil Sedaka is a Sephardic Jew. They make up 6 to 7 percent of the prison population (not 30 percent, as Patrick Buchanan claims). They burden social services like schools and health clinics.

Perhaps most damaging is that these immigrants take jobs that unskilled Americans could otherwise take, helping to create a permanent underemployed, undereducated class of Americans. Early this decade, as the unemployment rate of 18- to 64-year-old natives without a high school education rose from 10 to 14 percent, it fell from 9 to 7 percent among their foreign-born counterparts.

So what is a humane, nonhysterical, mutually beneficial approach? What policies can American Jews support, given their awareness of the good that hard-working outsiders can bestow and the dangers that xenophobia can wreak? Last month, in an address to the Pacific Council on International Policy, Jorge Castaneda, Mexico’s former foreign minister, outlined one set of solutions. Castaneda -- the son of a German Jewish mother and Mexican father -- said that any deal must take into account the pull of economic opportunity in the United States and the push of poverty and poor social policy in Mexico.

Mexico should agree to enforce its southern border, a thruway for migrants from Central America; stop people from leaving the country illegally; reward those who stay with better benefits; penalize families whose members emigrate; and provide development and job opportunities to those who stay.

The United States should agree to better enforcement at the border and with employers, a tamper-proof ID system and an expansive guest/temporary worker program. Two-thirds of immigrants prefer to come and go, Castaneda said, working for American dollars but living in Mexico. Tighter border controls under the Clinton administration only served to lock illegal immigrants in, not keep them out.

Finally, the United States needs to create a simple and expedited path to citizenship for the 12 million or more Mexicans and others in the country today. Just 4 percent of the population, they will eventually be assimilated into the fabric of the country -- a country that over the last decade, I might add, they helped build.

Castaneda, who is also the author of Ex Mex: From Migrants to Immigrants (The New Press, 2008), pointed out that Americans seem to favor a humane and sensible approach.

Two Minuteman-approved presidential candidates, Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo, were quickly deported from the ’08 race. Sen. John McCain, the Republican with what Castaneda calls “the most sensible and generous� point of view, is so far his party’s front-runner.

The Jewish community needs to be loud and supportive of such moderation. We can’t leave all the heavy lifting to Luis.

So what is a humane, nonhysterical, mutually beneficial approach? What policies can American Jews support, given their awareness of the good that hard-working outsiders can bestow and the dangers that xenophobia can wreak?

Rob Eshman is Editor-in-Chief of The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. He can be reached at: editor@jewishjournal.com

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February 15, 2008

Candlelighting Friday, Feb. 15, 5:39 p.m.

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

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

SUNDAY: Chili Potluck Cookoff, noon. Cook your favorite chili and bring it to share. To participate, call 323.8885.

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

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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.; USY members will help lead services; No Junior Congregation this week; Minha/ Ma’ariv, 5:45 p.m.

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.; Men’s Club meeting, 10 a.m.; Karin Levine Health Symposium: 1:303:30 p.m. “Raising Healthy Children,” will cover topics of interest to parents. (See full article on page 3.)

BESTT: No classes from Feb. 16-18.

THURSDAY: Rabbi Levin’s Insights and Values from the Torah, noon; Women’s Book Club, 1:15 p.m.; Understanding Jewish Mysticism with Guy Matalon on Thursdays, Feb. 21 and 28, 8-9 p.m. Cost is $23; fee is $18 for donors to the Federation Campaign. To register, contact the office.

YOUNG FAMILIES’ SHABBATON: Feb. 22-23 at Lied Lodge in Nebraska City. For information, call the office.

SISTERHOOD HAMANTASCHEN SALE: through Feb. 21. Cost is $6.25 a dozen. Order forms in the office, or send a check -- made out to Beth El Sisterhood -- to Beth El, 14506 California St., Omaha NE 68154.

Pick-up is Sunday, March 16, 11 a.m.-noon, or at the Purim Carnival, Sunday March 23, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

HIDDUR MITZVAH ART PROJECT: Sunday, Feb. 24, 24 p.m., sponsored by Sisterhood, in conjunction with the Gary

Rosenthal Collection. All projects must be pre-paid by Feb. 15; for information, contact the office.

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE 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, 5:39 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 Sisterhood; Mincha, 5:15 p.m., followed by Suedat Shlishit; Havdalah, 6:42 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.

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

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

BEYT SHALOM FRIDAY: Shabbat in the Home.

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.

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

SUNDAY: Service, 8:30 a.m.; Mishpacha Mornings, 10:15 a.m.; Children’s Service, 10:30 a.m.

WEEKDAYS: Services, 7 a.m.

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

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

Kabbalah WEDNESDAY: Circle, 7 p.m.

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

All events and programs are open to the community.

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

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

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

SUNDAY: LJCS Grades 3-7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; Gan Simcha-2, 9:45 a.m.12:15 p.m. at Temple; Hallah High, 10 a.m.-noon at Temple; Pulpit Committee, 10:15 a.m.; LJCS “Hoops for Hunger”, 11:30 a.m. for Grades 3-7 at Tifereth Israel; Winter Lecture Series, 7 p.m. at Unitarian Church: “Oil Resources and Human Rights in Africa” with Prof. Joseph P. Akpan.

TUESDAY: Women’s Lunch, noon at Magnolia Resturant in the Haymarket. If you need a ride or have questions, contact Stephanie Dohner at 435.0140 or dohners@mindspring.com; Board of Trustees meeting, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Hebrew classes (grades 3-7), 4-6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel.

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

MONDAYS, 7-8:30 p.m. at Tifereth Israel. Hebrew Reading Crash Course One Day Review and Module II .

THURSDAY, Feb. 21, 12:30 p.m. Jews in the News, led by Rabbi Emanuel.

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

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Andy Greenberg.

TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Parent/Toddler Class, 9:30 a.m. led by Joan Cooper; Shabbat Service, 7:30 p.m. Rabbi Eric Linder and Tami Field will lead the service.

SATURDAY: Sparks Beneath

the Surface, 9:15 a.m.; Shabbat Service, 10:30 a.m.

SUNDAY: No Religious School.

TUESDAY: Hebrew Lunch & Learn will not meet this week; Executive Board Meeting, 6 p.m.; Board of Trustees Meeting, 7 p.m.; Book Club, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Grades 3-6, 4 p.m.; All School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Family School, 6 p.m.; Grades 712, 6 p.m.

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

Friday, Feb. 22: Learners Shabbat Worship Service, 7:30 p.m. Members of the “Know Thy Service: A Guided Tour” class will practice what they’ve been learning. Come early for a Gourmet Israeli Dinner at 6 p.m. Cost is $15 for Adults and $10 for children 12 and under. Please RSVP by mail by Monday, Feb. 18.

NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN FRIDAY: Minyan, 5:30 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.

SUNDAY: LJCS Grades 3-7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; Gan Simcha-2, 9:45 a.m.12:15 p.m. at South Street Temple; Hallah High, 10 a.m.noon at South Street Temple.

TUESDAY: Womens’ Lunch will meet at Magnolia’s in the Hay Market, noon. If you need a ride, call Marcia Kushner.

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.

New Reform siddur to be introduced at Temple Israel

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator It’s been more than 30 years since the North American Reform Movement has introduced a new siddur. The Union Prayer Book of 1892, the first official siddur of the Reform Movement in America, was succeeded by the Gates of Prayer, a compilation of 10 themed services, in 1975.

A new siddur has been in the works since 1985. After years of discussions and trial runs, the resulting text, Mishkan T’filah, published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis, will be introduced on Friday, Feb. 22, 7:30 p.m., at the Shabbat worship service at

Temple Israel.

Prayers previously removed from the prayerbook have been reinstated; references to traditional texts from medieval times to the present abound; stage directions and traditional choreography of prayer are provided; and Hebrew plays an unprecedented role. Even the name of the siddur is in Hebrew, unlike its two predecessors.

At the same time, the siddur reaffirms some of the ideological mainstays of the Reform Movement: its concern for tikkun olam (making the world a better place) and its inclusive approach to gays and lesbians and intermarried couples.

Members of the class, “Know Thy Service: A Guided Tour”

facilitated by Rabbi Eric Linder and Cantor Wendy Shermet at Temple, will participate in the service.

Steve Wigodsky, who took the class, recalled that “the Union Prayer Book was around when I started reading, and then they had Gates of Prayer, and now we’re going to have a new prayerbook. I wanted to know how it differs and what it’s all about.” The class, part of the Hermene Zweiback Center for Lifelong Jewish Learning at Temple, “was an opportunity to understand how the service is organized which was of interest to me.” He added that he’s gained “a lot of understanding of how (the siddur) is organized and how prayers and songs

are used differently at different times. It’s very special to me to hear these differences,” noting that he “enjoyed the class very much.”

Mel and Lois Epstein took the class “to gain knowledge and a better understanding of the significance of why we do some of the gestures we do in the service and help us get more understanding and meaning out of the services,” Mel Epstein explained. “We have a better understanding of where the traditions came from and why they were relevant then and relevant today.”

“I’m curious about the service,” said Jenn Kirshenbaum. “I know there are prayers, and they are led Continued on page 15

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February 15, 2008

Lux Et Veritas

SPARKS FROM THE WORD

by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parashat Tetzavah Our weekly Torah reading opens with a word about the lights that Israel was to provide in the Sanctuary.

Because the light was to be from pure olive oil, the Midrash on the Sidra (Shm.R. 36) allows itself many reflections about olives and what Israel must do if it is to be compared to olives.

But the Midrash reverts to thinking about light itself and marvels that Israel is privileged to offer light to God, when in fact He/She lights up the whole world.

Perhaps we should follow the Midrashic thought no further and, instead, analyze where it has already led us.

It has led us to a whole, basic theological foundation of religion. It disturbs us more than a little to realize that there is nothing, nothing that we can do for God. Ancient Israel offered sacrifices -- which, obviously, God did not need or use. In our day, we offer prayers, in carefully ordered services or in spontaneous bursts of emotion. We know it is all for ourselves, not for God. At one point (Shm.R. 36.2), an ancient master said that life offers no greater feeling of joy than in the thought that our sins are forgiven. The whole enterprise of religion of for ourselves, not for God. What then, is religion all about? It is orienting ourselves to the world. It is helping ourselves to understand the role of humanity and our infinitesimally tiny worth in the vastness of the cosmos. If some cosmic accident destroyed all human life in a flash, would the heavens care? Would the cosmos even yawn?

But all of that is irrelevant. What is relevant is that we must satisfy ourselves. The pious lighting of the Sabbath candles, for example, is deeply pleasing to the woman who lights them. While she is praising God, she is silently blessing her family. The ceremony ostensibly is for God ... but the blessing rebounds to her family.

(Editor’s note: this column originally appeared in the March 9, 2001, issue of the Jewish Press.)

Israel Economic Minister opens NASDAQ market

Israel’s Economic Minister Yair Shiran, center, and a delegation of 15 Chief Financial Officers from Israel, presided over the Opening Bell at the NASDAQ stock exchange in New York City earlier last week. The CFOs were in New York to learn more about the opportunities and challenges presented by the U.S. market. The fourday visit was organized by the Israel Economic Mission Credit: Shahar Azran and the Israel Export Institute.

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.

DEATHS LAWRENCE KAUFMAN Lawrence B. “Larry,” Kaufman died at the age of 59.

Graveside services were held Feb 7 at Golden Hill Cemetery.

A lifelong resident of Omaha, he worked in the grocery business from age 12 until his retirement in 2004.

He was preceded in death by father, Bernard “Barney” Kaufman, and sister, Ellen Sue Kaufman.

He is survived by his mother and step-father, Rose and Jacob Rosenberg.

RALPH KATZ Ralph M. Katz died at age 89. Services were held Feb. 8 at Beth Israel, with burial at Temple Israel Cemetery.

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, he served in the U.S. Army during World War II, rising to the rank of major.

He is survived by wife, Frances; son and daughter-inlaw, Gordon and Patricia Katz and granddaughter, Emily, all of Newton, MA. HARL M. WEISS Harl M. Weiss died at the age of 78. Services were held Feb. 8 at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

He was preceded in death by his brother Charles Weiss; sister and brother-in-law, Lee and Earl Wigodsky.

He is survived by nieces and nephews, Steven Wigodsky, Cathy Christensen, Bruce Wigodsky and Janey Mason.

ETTA SUGARMAN MEHLINGER Former Omahan Etta Sugarman Mehlinger died Jan. 26 at the age of 87 in Encino, CA. Services were held Jan. 29 in Mission Hills, CA. She is survived by her husband, Malcolm Mehlinger of Encino; daughters and sons-in law Marti RosenAtherton and John Atherton, Carole and Rick Horwitz of Charlottesville, VA; son and daughter-in-law, Grant and Melanie Rosen of Salinas, CA; daughters and sonin-law, Linda Mehlinger Palius, Van Nuys, CA, Diane Mehlinger Woodburn and Jamie Woodburn of Maui, HI; grandchildren, Jennifer Forman-Wright, Scott Forman, Jeremy and Rachel Horwitz, Nina and Julia Rosen, Dana and Lauren Palius, Michael and Jonathan Haynes; and two great-grandchildrens.

Memorials to Jewish Family Service, Beth El Synagogue, Project Harmony or charity of choice.

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Page 15

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GEORGE JACK WEISE George Jack Weise died on Feb. 8. Services were held Feb. 12 at Golden Hill Cemetery.

A letter carrier for 40 years, he served as a decoder in the Air Force during World War II, stationed outside of London.

He was preceded in death by his sister Lillian Lerman.

He is survived by his brother, Dr. Philip Weise of CA; nephews and aunts in Minnesota, California, Oregon, and Arizona.

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FANNIE SHERMAN CHUNOVIC Fannie Sherman Chunovic died Feb. 6 at the age of 100.

She and her first husband Max Sherman, who preceded her in death, started Sherman’s Indiana Supply Company in Whiting, Indiana. The store remained open more than 70 years until 2007, when their son and daughter-in-law, Jack and Toby Sherman of Munster, IN, sold the business.

She is also survived by her children, Annette and Leo Fettman, and Irvin and Marlene Sherman of Las Vegas; 11 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; and seven great-great grandchildren.

Memorials to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

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New Reform siddur at Temple Continued from page 14 in a certain order.” She wondered why and wanted to know why some are said “every time. Where did everything come from?” she asked. She learned that some prayers help “warm up” the worshippers for Shabbat and that “certain prayers are done Friday nights, Saturdays, and during the week. You can tell what day it is by the melodies.” She thinks the new siddur “is great. There’s so much on a page -- Hebrew, transliteration, an explanation in English, a story about the passage.”

Cantor Shermet expects that “it will take some time

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

for our community to adjust” to Mishkan T’filah, but it’s “important to remember one basic fact: the prayer content remains the same! The service Hebrew is a constant ... What will look different are the ... page layout, type-setting, choice of English readings and poetry, and in some cases, the actual order of prayers. Also new is the inclusion of readings and commentary on the bottoms of pages. This adds to the understanding of and enjoyment in the service.”

She emphasized that the most important aspects of prayer are what people “bring to the process and being together as a community.”

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Page 16

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 15, 2008

RBJH intern brings big-city experience and finds big life changes

by ANDREA BARTMAN for JSS/RBJH Josh Gurock grew up in New Jersey, but says he’s always known that a smaller community was for him. He speaks fondly of his school days in New York City and meeting his wife, Amanda, who is an Omaha native.

Gurock received his Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Yeshiva University in New York, but brought his schooling and his business experience with him to Omaha three years ago, a city he says has made him “Midwest spoiled.”

His business background is now being utilized, and his skills put to the test, as the new Administrative Intern for the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

Gurock, 26, began working for the Home in November and has since become engulfed in all there is to do, and to learn, about long-term and short-term healthcare and community outreach services. Under the tutelage of Mike Silverman, Executive Director of Jewish Senior Services, Jewish Family Service and the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, Gurock has been introduced to how very busy a skilled-care facility can be.

In fact, the Home, which has a celebrated history of care for the Omaha Jewish community, is quite a bustling and state-of-the-art place to spend your days; especially with the current building project underway. Thanks to his background with Enterprise rent-a-car, Gurock is prepared to keep pace with everything Silverman can throw at him.

After completing his schooling, marrying and having his first child, daughter, Leah, Gurock went to work for Enterprise Rent-a-Car as a Management Trainee. “I passed all of my basic man-

agement exams out of New York, which was a great training ground, and then I asked to go to Omaha. The training in New York was fantastic and then you can go out to the Midwest where that training will help you move through the ranks.” He expresses how he and his wife’s decision to move their young family to Omaha was one that gives his kids the kind of life he always envisioned.

His last position with Enterprise was as the Branch Manager for their Council Bluffs location, but with the birth of his twin sons, Max and Jacob (now sixmonths-old), he needed to make a change that would provide him the opportunity for a future career, but also more time at home with his growing family.

“I liked working for Enterprise because I liked the challenges and I was learning a lot, but at the end of the day making money was most important. Here, every day you enjoy, because you know you’re working for people,” he comments.

He learned of Silverman’s quest to find an appropriate intern candidate for the Home -- one that would come ready to learn the business, but give back as well in the form of a “get the job done” attitude and the skills for multi-tasking within every department. Gurock landed the job and has been hard at work since.

According to Silverman, the training not only with the Blumkin Home, but with Jewish Senior Services and Jewish Family Service as well, provides a more rounded training for Gurock in all aspects of service to the community and how the work of all three agencies is ultimately tied together.

In preparing for an intern to come on board, Silverman asked each department

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Josh Gurock to list the things that they could use assistance with; things they’d like to see done or improved, but haven’t had the resources available to make happen. This list became Gurock’s daily work, in addition to the 40% of his day spent shadowing Silverman on every facet of the job of a Nursing Home Administrator and lending a hand with outreach efforts through JSS. This list of tasks is helping Gurock develop his management skills and is benefiting the Home by providing the time and know-how to complete some unfinished projects. Among those projects are the development of a catering menu for the Home, working alongside Mike Aparo, director of Food and Environmental Services, which will provide information on what can be prepared for the public, along with photographs of the presentation of each item.

Gurock is also working on policies and procedures for the nursing staff as well as lending his assistance at Jewish Family Service for various projects including an upcoming event for JFS entitled: “Are you an ask able parent?”

Nationally known speaker, Dr. Sol Gordon, will make the presentation on Wednesday, March 5, 6:30-8 p.m., at the JCC. On the subject of working for Silverman, he has this to say: “I’m tougher on myself than he could ever be. I’m the type of guy that holds my self accountable for every thing that I do.”

Silverman, after all, leads by example and cares immensely for the quality of what he’s creating around himself, his staff and, most importantly, the residents of the RBJH. “He chooses the best people and expects the highest level,” says Gurock, “and the result is that they function at that level.”

Gurock is pleased to be a part of the team at the RBJH and it’s obvious he’s ready to tackle whatever task is brought to him. “The reward of being able to work for the community enticed me here.

I didn’t like the extreme competitiveness of being in a for-profit world,” he says.

His future, for now, includes two years as an intern at the Home, with plans to begin taking classes for his Nursing Home Administrator’s license through the state, as well.

There’s obvious ambition and drive in this young man, but a sense of commitment and caring for his community as well. So keep up the good work (and the pace) at this Home where something is going on every moment of the day!

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