Vol. LXXXVII No. 24 Omaha, NE
Unique mezuzot featured at Blumkin Home open house
Celebrating 87 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
16 Adar I, 5768
February 22, 2008
Sderot protesters bring Tel Aviv to standstill
by OZZIE NOGG A fused glass mezuzah designed and executed by local artist, Larry Budwig, will be affixed to the door post at the main entrance of the new addition to the Rose Blumkin Home during an Open House on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2 p.m. Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, Rabbi Jonathan Gross and Rabbi Mordechai Levin will take part in the dedication ceremony; the open house runs until 7 p.m.
Three of the mezuzot which will be placed on resident room doorways in the new addition at the Blumkin Home. Budwig’s late wife, Kirsten, was a nurse at the Blumkin Home from 1993 until her death in 2003 at the age of 36. “Kirsten always wanted to work with the elderly,” Budwig said. “Her first job, right out of nursing school, was at the Blumkin Home. She loved it there. Our whole family did. On Sundays, if Kirsten was Continued on page 3
Residents of the beleaguered town of Sderot brought Tel Aviv traffic to a virtual halt when they blocked the main freeway that runs through the center of the city. They were protesting the government's handling of the crises over the constant barrage of Kassam rockets hitting the town on an almost daily basis. An estimated 150 residents, many wearing red to symbolize the ‘red alert’ when a rocket is detected, marched towards the Defense Ministry and called for the Prime Minister and Defense Minister to resign. After several hours, traffic in Tel Aviv started moving again, but the protesters Credit: ISRANET moved back to Jerusalem with the aim of disrupting traffic in the capital.
Beth El welcomes professor/ Noted educator reaches out Mitzvahs and Music bring author as scholar-in-residence to youth as Beth Israel scholar internationally acclaimed by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator He is a renowned scholar, teacher and author -- and at the end of this month, Dr. Neil Gillman will spend a special Shabbat weekend with the Omaha Jewish community as Beth El welcomes him as its scholar-in-residence. Dr. Gillman, the Aaron Rabinowitz and Simon H. Rifkind Professor of Jewish Philosophy at the Jewish Theological Seminary, will share his wisdom with the community on Friday-Saturday, Feb. 29 and March 1; the community is invited to hear his presentations. A regular contributor to the ‘Sabbath Week’ column in Jewish Week, a weekly newspaper in New York, Dr. Gillman is also the author of several essays and books, including Sacred Fragments: Recovering Theology for the Rabbi Neil Gillman Modern Jew (winner of the 1991 National Jewish Book Award in Jewish Thought), Conservative Judaism: A New Century, The Way Into Encountering God in Judaism, Gabriel Marcel on Religious Knowledge, The Death of Death: Resurrection and Immortality in Jewish Thought, and The Jewish Approach to God: A Brief Introduction for Christians. His most recent book is Traces of God: Seeing God in Torah, History, and Everyday Life. In addition, he served on the Commission on the Philosophy of Conservative Judaism, which produced Emet Ve’Emunah, the first statement of principles for Conservative Judaism. Online lectures by and interviews with Dr. Gillman can be found through Beth El’s website at www.bethel-omaha.org/scholar.shtml#podcasts. The community will have several opportunities to hear to Dr. Gillman during his stay in Omaha: at a dinner on Friday night following 6 p.m. Kabbalat Shabbat services, Continued on page 2
Inside Opinion Page see page 8
by MARY BORT for Beth Israel Synagogue Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom will visit Beth Israel for Shabbat, March 8. A dynamic and exciting educator in the Los Angeles community since 1985, Etshalom will give a sermon during morning services and during Seuda Shlishit and lead a program after Havdalah. His visit is sponsored by Bruce and Linda Potash in commemoration of the yahrzeit of their son, David Potash. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Etshalom attended Yeshivot Kerem B’Yavneh and Har Etzion. He received ordination from the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Itzhak Kolitz, and from Rabbi Alman Nechemiah Goldberg. Etshalom’s ability to reach out to today’s youth and share with them his passion for Jewish learning and Jewish life has enriched many young lives. He serves on the faculties of the Yeshiva of Los Angeles and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Etshalom also is the Chair of the Bible Department at the prestigious Yeshiva University High Schools of Los Angeles. In the summer, he serves as the rabbi for Camp Moshava in Canada. Rabbi Etshalom’s curricular materials are used at numerous middle schools and high schools. His adult education courses are extremely popular. Etshalom has written a series of online e-mail classes on the Bible through the facilities of Project Genesis. He also is the author of the book, “Between the Lines of the Bible.” According to Bruce Potash, “I lived in L.A. and have known Rabbi Etshalom for years. He’s a very bright guy, knows his stuff and knows how to get his points across. He’s an up and coming rabbi. Rabbi Etshalom is also a terrific educator who is great with young people.” Potash added, “His background, education and expertise are impressive. Linda and I are delighted to sponsor his visit.” Saturday morning services begin at 9 a.m. Following services, there will be a Kiddush sponsored by the Continued on page 2
This Week: Coen brothers to direct Chabon novel: Page 7 See Front Page Stories & More at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’
‘Yes We Can’ now heard in Hebrew: Page 2
musicians to Omaha for Chabad Gala by DEVRA BRAM for Chabad House On Sunday, April, 13, 5:30-8:30 p.m., the Omaha community will have the opportunity to hear two talented international musicians perform at Chabad’s 20th anniversary gala: Mitzvahs and Music. The celebration will take place at KANEKO in downtown Omaha and honors Maxine and Joe Kirshenbaum and Gail and Mike Yanney for their work in the community.
Marcelo Guzzo Stanislav Ioudenitch Music will be a key component of this program. Tippi Denenberg, the event chairman, is delighted to announce that Hal France, renowned conductor and musical director, will oversee the musical program. About the program Hal France said, “The evening will come to a spectacular end with two distinguished musical performances by the 2001 Van Cliburn Gold Medal winner, pianist Stanislav Ioudenitch and the gifted Uruguayan baritone, Marcelo Guzzo. This is a great opportunity to hear two young world-class talents up close in an exciting new venue. I’m looking forward to hearing some great music and seeing some electric performances from these two young stars.” Continued on page 2
Coming Next Week: Women’s Health Film review of Diving Bell, up for four Oscars on Sunday: Page 5
Op-ed: Interfaith dialog is a two-way street: Page 9
Page 2
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
February 22, 2008
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by JACOB BERKMAN NEW YORK (JTA) -- In what is likely to be remembered as the first YouTube presidential campaign, perhaps the most talked about video has been singer Will.i.am’s celebrity-dotted homage to the “Yes We Can” mantra of Barack Obama. The video features splitscreen images of several prominent celebrities, past and present, singing along side clips of Obama’s victory speech in South Carolina. For those listening closely and with an ear for Hebrew, it’s one of the lesser known, albeit just as eyecatching, performers who stands out: Israeli-born actress Maya Rubin. Twice in the video, Rubin can be heard saying “kein anu yech- Israeli-born actress Maya Rubin can be olim” –- Hebrew heard saying “kein anu yecholim”-for “Yes We Can.” Hebrew for “Yes We Can” in a Barack The video was Obama YouTube video. Credit: Courtesy of released as the Teitelbaum Artists Group Obama campaign was laboring to rebut assertions that he is unfriendly to Israel and an e-mail campaign falsely painting him as a closet Muslim who attended a radical Muslim school, took his oath of office on the Koran and refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance started circulating in the Jewish community. Was Rubin’s Hebrew cameo part of the campaign’s effort to shore up Obama’s standing among Jewish voters? No, director Jesse Dylan told JTA, insisting that he hadn’t even known about the smear campaign when he put up $10,000 to cover the costs of the two-day shoot. “We just thought it would sound nice to have Hebrew,” said Dylan, whose father, the Hall of Fame singer Bob Dylan, became a legend with his politically themed music. “There was no intention on anybody’s part,” he added. “I am a Jew myself and was unaware of the e-
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22 Temple Israel Shabbat Comes to You, 4 p.m. at Remington Heights Beth El Young Familes Retreat, 5 p.m. thru Feb. 23
C L I P
Mishpacha Mornings, 10:15 a.m. at Chabad & Sisterhood Family Art Project, noon at Beth El
Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing, 1 p.m. Beyt Shalom Religious School, 1:30 p.m. at JCC S Visions Playhouse and dinner, 1:30 p.m. A Yachad, 1:30 p.m. at the Kripke Library V Gan Israel Camp Reunion, 2 p.m. at Chabad E
& S A V E
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25 JCC Executive Committee Meeting, 7 p.m. Derech Torah: Judaism 101, 8 p.m. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26 WOW Parsha, Prophets and Prayer, 9 a.m. at Chabad BBYO Council Elections, 6 p.m. Yachad Vocational Skills Class, 6 p.m. Parshah Roundup, 7 p.m. at Chabad WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27 Passover Mini-University, 6:30 p.m. at Temple Israel C AIPAC Nebraska Council Dinner, 6:30 p.m. L I THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28 P Women of the Torah, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel
C L I P
Adult Study with the Clergy, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel & Insights and Values from the Torah, noon at Beth El
Yiddish Group, 1 p.m. S Women’s Book Group, 1:15 p.m. at Beth El A LOVE Auxiliary Board Meeting, 7 p.m. V Class with Rabbi Gross, 7:30 p.m. at Beth Israel
&
S A V E All events held at the JCC unless otherwise indicated. The Jewish Press is not E responsible for the accuracy of events. To keep calendar accurate or for questions, call Marlene Hert at 334-6437. FOR A COMPLETE LISTING, VISIT THE FEDERATION’S WEBSITE: www.JewishOmaha.org (click on calendar)
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mails, and that was never a thought.” Rubin, whose Hebrew line is now being used on proObama campaign signs, said the video has played well with Jewish people she knows. “People love it,” she says of her appearances in the video. “It was very subtle, which I think is even more cool.” The fledgling actress was born in Jerusalem, served in
A “Yes We Can” poster in Hebrew is portrayed at a Havdalah service, rally and fund-raiser for Barack Obama by D.C. Credit: Ari Appel Jews for Obama on Feb. 9. the Israeli army and moved to the United States in 1998 to pursue her career. Rubin, 28, starred in the Showtime movie “Milk and Honey,” has had guest spots on “CSI: NY” and appeared in several commercials. She convinced Will.i.am, who has cited Anne Frank as one of his inspirations for the video, and Dylan to use her on the video based on her work on an unreleased Jewish rap album called “Chutzpah” she cut with some friends. Speaking of her desire to be in the pro-Obama video, she said, “I believe what he says and think he is an inspiring politician. He’s probably one of the most inspiring politicians that I have seen in my lifetime.” Though Rubin, who returns to Israel about once a year, studied political science at Tel Aviv University in Ramat Aviv, she says her knowledge of the other candidates in the presidential election is a little thin and that she is not fully steeped in Obama’s policies. But she trusts him on Israel based on what she has read from information sheets she was given by Obamaites. “It sounds like he is aware,” she said.
Mitzvahs and Music bring internationally acclaimed musicians to Omaha
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23 Ga’aton, Western Galilee Performing Arts, 7:30 p.m. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24 C L Reading the Rambam Class, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel I Bible Study Group, 10 a.m. at Beth El P BESTT Grade 3 Family Siddur program, 10 a.m.
Israeli-born actress supplies Hebrew for hot political video
Continued from page 1 Ioudenitch, was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and has grown into one of the music world’s most promising young artists. He has collected top prizes at several international competitions, including the Van Cliburn, Busoni, Kapell, Palm Beach Invitational and the New Orleans International. Hal France commented that “The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition tests young virtuosos of the piano at the very highest level. Winning the Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn is a parallel achievement to winning gold in figure skating at the Olympics.” Ioudenitch has performed to critical acclaim in cities throughout Europe, the United States, Turkey, South Africa and China. Guzzo, a gifted baritone, was born in Uruguay and was declared the “Best Uruguayan Lyric Voice of 2001” at the Giuseppe Verdi International Singing Competition. He has performed in numerous concerts and recitals throughout the United States, Israel, Uruguay, France, Spain and Italy. About Guzzo, Hal France said, “Marcelo Guzzo returns to perform at KANEKO after making his debut this year at New York’s Lincoln Center. His concert last year at the
Holland Center had people talking about his ability to engage and thrill an audience.” The entire community is invited to attend this program. Ticket information can be found at Ochabad. com or by calling 402.330.1800.
Noted educator reaches out to youth Continued from page 1 Potashes. After Rabbi Etshalom gives the d’var Torah during Seuda Shlishit, a program with him will follow Havdalah. The community is invited to attend all of these events. Etshalom resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Stefanie. They have five children. For more information, contact the Beth Israel office Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom at 556.6288.
Beth El welcomes scholar-in-residence Continued from page 1 he will address, “God: How Can Modern Jews Speak About God? What Can We Say About God? How Do We Know Anything About God?”; during services on Saturday morning, he will discuss “Prayer and Liturgy: What Happens When We Don’t Believe the Words of the Prayer Book?”; and during a special Kiddush luncheon following services, he plans to speak about ‘The Afterlife: Jewish Views on Life After Death.” Finally, on Sunday morning, the Beth El Synagogue Talmud Torah (BESTT) faculty will be treated to a special presentation by Dr. Gillman.
Cost of the Friday night dinner is $16.50 for adults, $10 for children ages 6-12, and free for children 5 and younger. Saturday’s luncheon is free of charge and reservations are not necessary. In addition, free babysitting will be available on both Friday night and Saturday morning, by reservation only. Dinner reservations are needed by Feb. 25; please send a check – made payable to Beth El -- to Beth El, 14506 California St., Omaha NE, 68154, or contact Margie Gutnik in the office, or at programming@bethel-omaha.org. This weekend has been made possible by a donation from the Ilse and Marcel Kahn Family Endowment Fund.
February 22, 2008
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 3
Unique mezuzot featured at Blumkin Home open house Continued from page 1 mission for the special working, I’d bring our entryway mezuzah. young daughters to the According to Fox, “One Home to have lunch with of us mentioned Larry’s her. The kids would bop name and we all immediin and out of resident ately said, ‘Perfect.’” rooms, visiting and getBudwig’s mother, Susan Rothholz, said, “Larry is ting suckers. We got to coming at his Judaism know everybody. After through his art. I think Kirsten’s death the staff at it’s terrific that he’s able the Home was like family to express himself this to me. They were so supway. And the fact that his portive,” Budwig said. girls will be able to look at “Even today, when the mezuzah and say, ‘My people meet me and they daddy did this,’ and feel realize Kirsten was my proud, is very meaningKirsten, they’ll say, ’Oh ful. I’m proud of him, my gosh. She took care of my dad.’ The Blumkin Selma Shamberg, left, shows her mezuzah choice to RBJH staff too.” Additional mezuzot for Home is a terrific place. Shane Kotok and Shelly Fox. It’s an honor for me to create something as permanent resident rooms and common areas in the new wing were purchased by Kotok and Fox from the gift shops at as this mezuzah for the new addition,” he added. Mike Silverman, RBJH Executive Director, along with Temple Israel, Beth El and Beth Israel Synagogues. Shane Kotok, Director of Admissions and Community “We’re honored to have been given the chance to Outreach, and Shelly Fox, Admissions and Social choose the mezuzot, this symbol of a Jewish home,” Worker, decided Budwig was the logical artist to com- Kotok said. “We selected them with care and love. They
are very beautiful, very special, and each is unique -- just like our residents.” And which mezuzah goes on which door? “Residents who are moving into the new addition looked through the selection and picked out their own mezuzah,” Fox explained. “The Home has suffered many losses recently. It’s hard on the staff and hard on the residents. But giving the residents a say in this next step, watching them pick out their own mezuzahs, hearing them say, ‘Ah, this one. I like this one,’ was uplifting for them and for us.” Both Kotok and Fox mentioned the sense of excitement they feel in the halls of the Home. “There’s a buzz in the air,” Kotok said. “Everyone -- staff and residents -- we’re ready for this new beginning.” Fox added, “After all these months the day is almost here. In a couple weeks, residents will actually be living in the new wing. We’re a little anxious, a little nervous, but we’re really looking forward to the move.” According to Silverman, Sunday’s open house has no set agenda. “Stop in whenever it’s convenient,” he said. “You’re free to look around on your own, and staff will be available to answer any questions. We’re very excited about the new addition and eager to share the excitement.” During the Open House, soft drinks will be available and fresh, home baked cookies will be served.
Come in pjs for next Bedtime Storytelling session at Chabad by SHEVI KATZMAN for Chabad House “Whenever you feel lonely at night, know that Hashem is always with you,” read Jeremy Wright last Sunday evening to a group of children and their parents at the Chabad House chaired by Kim Goldberg, Linda Saltzman and Annette van de Kamp Wright. Jeremy Wright began reading as the children were seated around him looking at the pictures of the story projected on the wall. Before the story, children prepared pillowcases with the Shema prayer written on them and grabbed some fruit kabobs as a bedtime snack, prepared by Annette van de Kamp Wright and Natasha Kraft; at tables abundant with kid-friendly finger foods. Jonathan Bram, son of Devra and Ross Bram, colored his case using a rainbow pattern. When Jonathan goes to bed each night, he will be reminded to say the Shema after looking at his beautifully decorated pillow. Isabella Wright, who had
been listening very intently to the story, responded to the question “Who is everywhere?” with a bellowing “Hashem!”
where while pointing their pom-poms in all directions. Ellen Platt, who came to the event with her daughters Josie and Ruby, noted that “It was so relaxing!” Omaha storyteller Nancy Rips will be back by popular demand to present two engaging Jewish stories on March 2, 6-7 p.m., at the Chabad House Bedtime
Alex Kraft, left, and Dina and Ari Saltzman, all in their pajamas, listen attentively as Jeremy Wright reads a bedtime story.
Ruby Platt shows off her pillowcase project to Rabbi Mendel Katzman during Bedtime Storytime at Chabad last week.
The children recited the Shema together and sang about Hashem being every-
Storytime event. Another story-themed creative craft will be created by the chil-
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dren to take home. The event is chaired by Devra Bram and Sarah Wiseman. Bedtime Storytime is a program of Mishpacha University at Chabad House. Dedicated to inspiring young families and offering degrees in Jewish love and learning, MU touches children and adults with warmth and knowledge and is evolving as a hip hangout for parents and kids. Shani Katzman, founder of Mishpacha University, explains “One of our goals in this program is to raise the awareness within the children of G-d and their relationship with Him. The story we chose to read focused on the relationship with G-d as their protector. We also included doing mitzvahs like kissing the mezuzah and reciting the Shema to show that mitzvos also strengthen our relationship with G-d.” The program is open to all children in the community ages eight and under, along with their families, and is free of charge. Reservations are appreciated and can be made by calling Carol at 330.1800 or e-mailing me at: shevi@ochabad.com.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
February 22, 2008
Put on your best nighties for Havdalah in Pajamas at Temple Last year, Brodsky led havdalah at Temple before a by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator crowd of pajama-clad children, babies to third graders “It was such a great success last year that we had to and their older siblings, in the Milder Center. Even bring Steve Brodsky back and do it again!” insisted some of the parents slipped into their pajamas for the Elyce Azriel, director of religious education at Temple event. “Stretching out” Shabbat with songs and his guiIsrael. Brodsky, singer, songwriter, performer, centurial tar, Brodsky started with a niggun, a simple melody soloist, and music educator in the Denver/Boulder, with no words, and he concluded havdalah with Colorado, Jewish community for many years, returns to “Eliyahu Hanavi,” welcoming the coming of Elijah, the prophet, and “Shavua Omaha for “Havdalah in Tov,” to wish everyone Pajamas” on Saturday, a good week. March 1, 5 p.m., at Brodsky has perTemple Israel. formed at Temple Havdalah is “a great before this, the latest time for families to gather was last year. In fact, and say good bye to along with Rabbi Josh Shabbat and look forward Zweiback, who grew up to the new week ahead,” at Temple Israel, they believes Brodsky who started a Jewish rock ‘n works for Union for roll band which gave its Reform Judaism (URJ) first performance at Books and Music, the Temple in 1991. umbrella department for This year, the chilURJ Press, Transcondren and their families tinental Music Publicawill design havdalah tions, and Sounds Write Steve Brodsky, who led Havdalah in Pajamas at Temple Israel last boxes to take home. A Productions. According to Brodsky’s year, will return for more family fun on March 1. nutritional dinner buffet website, his original songs are widely used by syna- will be served after the havdalah service. There is no gogues, camps, and youth groups across North America charge, but please call 556.6536 to make a reservation. and have appeared on numerous compilations of Jewish All Jewish families with young children are welcome to music. A member of the band, Sababa, Brodsky lives in attend. Havdalah in Pajamas is sponsored by Temple Israel Denver and has been producing and leading “Shabbat Unplugged,” a joyous musical Shabbat worship experi- Religious School and Women of Reform Judaism. ence at Temple Emanuel for the past seven years.
Take a break from cooking: head to Beth El for a delectable deli dinner by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Put down the pots, pans and oven mitts, and let Beth El’s Hazak organization make dinner for you. During its delicious annual Deli Dinner on Sunday, March 9, 5:30- 7:30 p.m., 14506 California Street will be the address of the best deli in town, so grab your friends and family, and either dine at the synagogue or take dinner home. A variety of sandwiches will be offered, from corned beef to pastrami, and even pb&j for the kids. Prices range from $5 to $9.50; all meals include sides, beverage and dessert and must be ordered in advance. The Hazak group, made up of congregants 55 years and older, enjoys sponsoring this feast because “it’s a nice thing to do before Passover,” said organization president Jim Wax. “You can have a little nosh and do a little socializing before we get serious.” Wax noted that at last year’s deli dinner, about 180 meals were prepared; he’s hoping to top that number at next month’s event. He also emphasized that the dinner’s proceeds have been used to support the synagogue in a variety of ways, such as purchasing wish-list items including a movie screen and video projector. This year’s proceeds will go toward the purchase of a digital meat scale for Beth El’s kitchen. All orders are required by March 3. Send a check – made payable to Beth El -- to Tootie Simon, 8725 Izard St., Omaha, NE 68114, and be sure to specify which sandwich(es) you’re ordering. For more information, contact Gloria Goodman at 333-3351. Don’t wait too long and find yourself in a last-minute (kosher) pickle -- place your order today!
The art of Purim: making Mishloach Manot by GARY KATZ Library Administrator Spend the morning creating Mishloach Manot packages with artist Julie Philips on Monday, March 17, 9:30 a.m., in the Kripke Jewish Federation Library. Adults will be able to design and fashion their own whimsical Mishloach Manot packages for free. “Each year we get a little more creative and inventive making Mishloach Manot packages,” Philips says, “so watch out!” Adults will be able to make three packages for free; all supplies and contents will be provided. Purim is a fun-filled holiday, and the mitzvah of sending Mishloach Manot to friends on Purim is one of the four designated mitzvot for this holiday, the others being reading/hearing the Megillah, eating a festive
Lena Bogomolni, standing right, made baskets at last year’s Purim event. at the Kripke Library. meal and giving money to the poor. The tradition of sending Mishloach Manot to friends and relatives began with Queen Esther and Mordechi.
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These gifts customarily have at least two different foods or drinks that do not have to be cooked or prepared by the person receiving the basket. Adults can bring their children to watch a video on Purim -- “The Animated Book of Esther” -- while making their packages. Please call me at 334.6462 to make a reservation or email at gkatz@jewishomaha.com. This program is part of the Kripke Jewish Federation Holiday Enrichment Series. Upcoming programs include: Passover, April 8, 7 p.m., and Shavuot: Flowers and Ruth: June 2, 7 p.m. The series is presented by the Center for Jewish Education through the Kripke Library and is sponsored by the Special Donor Advised Fund of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation.
Sunday, March 9th, 6 p.m. Johnny Carson Theatre 801 Riverside Blvd., Norfolk, NE $15 GA Advance, $17 GA Door, $20 Reserve Seating Tickets available at the Abbey Christian Store. Call at 402-379-0712 or go to www.itickets.com to order GA tickets online. Brought to you by FaceDown Productions, www.facedownproductions.com
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February 22, 2008
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 5
Reflections of silver, beneath the rain EVERY SHOE ON SALE! the man to life with a restless intelligence and sardonic BEST SELECTION OF FILM REVIEW sweetness. “Jean-Do,” the great lover of women, charms RUNNINGSHOES, by LYN PAYNE Associate Editor of Heritage Florida Jewish News American reviews of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le Scaphandre et le Papillon), and of the autobiographical book by Jean-Dominique Bauby on which it is based, have called the story “amazing” and “a triumph of the human spirit.” I can’t agree. These bland cliches and the flabby thinking behind them only insult director Julian Schnabel’s fully realized portrait of Bauby, editor of French Elle, earthy and intellectual and greedy of life, “a family man and a free spirit” and “a stranger to failure” whose sudden stroke at age 43 left him entombed in his own body, a victim of the rare “locked-in syndrome.” Last month, Schnabel (Basquiat, Before Night Falls) won a Golden Globe for his technically dazzling and meticulously paced direction, and “Diving Bell” was named best foreign film. And it’s up for an Academy Award this Sunday, Feb. 24, in the categories of cinematography, editing, writing, and for Schnabel -- directing. The original French lyrics of chansonnier Charles Trenet’s La Mer that frame the opening and closing credits set the mood in a way their peppy English translation (“Somewhere Beyond the Sea”) never could. “Reflets d’argent ... des reflets changeants, sous la pluie.” “Silver reflections, changing reflections, underneath the rain” describes well the shifting, drowning, hall-of-mirrors effects of Janusz Kaminski’s brilliant cinematography, and the shattering rearranging of Bauby’s world it depicts. “Mr. Bauby, keep your eyes open.” “You’re waking from a long sleep,” the doctor says. “Can you hear me?” “I hear you,” you say. But after you struggle to make them understand, it sinks in with cold fear: They can’t hear you. You can’t move your lips to speak. Through some of the most accomplished directing, acting and camera work ever captured in a film, you have now become Jean-Dominique Bauby. A finger approaches your The film, The Diving Bell and right eye, pokes. To avoid the Butterfly, was based on septic poisoning, he’ll be Jean-Dominique Bauby’s book. sewing it shut. The visceral horror of this scene is equal to that in Luis Bunuel’s 1929 classic Un Chien Andalou, when we see the razor slice the eyeball. But when you live inside Schnabel’s film, you see, as lash by matted lash disappears, your own eye swallowing the darkness. Bauby is paralyzed as a block of stone. All but his left eye, his memory, and his imagination. Blink once for yes, twice for no. Take that further to an alphabet system communicated by blinking at the right letter on the frequency chart. Spell out word by painstaking word. And so he begins his ascent to reconnect to those he loves. Mathieu Amalric wasn’t the first choice for the role of Bauby. But Johnny Depp got shanghaied by the third Pirates of the Caribbean, and Amalric (who played Louis, the hero’s shady intelligence contact, in Munich) brings
even after we at last see his face, twisted like a creature “out of a vat of formaldehyde,” reflected along a length of window. Emmanuelle Seigner plays his ex-love Celine, the mother of his children. Blonde and lovely in her white trench coat, she comes to the naval hospital encased by the sand and scrub of the little seaside town and simply loves him. Seigner is almost unbearably heartbreaking and human when Celine hides her tears and her pride and interprets Bauby’s blinks to help him communicate with his latest obsession, Ines, who cannot bear to see him and will only talk to him by phone. “Each day I wait for you,” he spells out to her, through Celine. He teases and banters with his ministering angels, therapists Henriette and Marie, and with his assistant Claude (played with luminous self-effacement by Anne Consigny). Claude becomes his writing hand as he dictates, blink by blink, the book that will after his death unfold as the film we are watching now. Max von Sydow, as Jean-Do’s father, Papinou, is beautiful as only certain aristocratic old Northern European men can be-or is it because he’s ripened before our eyes in one rich film persona after another? The film is thoroughly French in its repudiation of sentimentality, its defiant refusal to lapse into “the feelgood movie of the year.” And in this elegance of refusal lies its subtle power. Amalric, as Jean-Do, shows us a past of appetites enjoyed, and the black despair of living inside the underwater “diving bell” of his own body. He also slaps us in the face with the Jerry Lewis-like absurdity of the whole thing. After a rude joke at the expense of the priest (the late and much-missed JeanPierre Cassel) who wants him to make the pilgrimage to Lourdes, Jean-Do giddily unreels the place in his mind as the tinplate tourist trap he experienced with an old lover. In another bit of irony, he tells himself the tale of a man locked in his own body who suddenly jumps to his feet and erupts, “Sh--! It was all a dream!” For a split second, we believe, wanting the easy miracle. The dreamer wakes crumpled inside his prison. But the French are realists, and the butterfly of the mind is as real as the diving suit that weighs down the body. “Had I been blind and deaf,” Jean-Do wonders, “or did disaster make me finally human?” Delicate collages of mountains brimming with snow and landscapes rich with possibility merge into intimate miniatures of blossoming flowers and butterflies. “My mind to me a kingdom is,” wrote the English poet, and we become subjects in Jean-Do’s inner realm. His nightly excursions take him to the pyramids via an old movie travelogue, to an alternate history as a matador waving his cape in the ring, to visit with Ozymandias, “king of kings,” and to his own childhood when Papinou took him to Berck-sur-Mer, in the north of France near Calais -- the same place where the ruins of his body now lie. For most of the two hours in the theater, I was underwater, struggling for breath; the world was a series of broken mirrors endlessly arranging and rearranging. “A text doesn’t exist until it is read,” says Bauby in the film. When everything else is gone, the words remain, and his words now live within me. Outside, the night air chilled the surface of my skin, the stars were astonishingly steady and sharp in the sky and the world came into focus. I knew that, even though they were sleeping under the rain, somewhere close by there were butterflies.
Temple youth groups meet new friends in Omaha and St. Louis by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Taking a cue from Temple Israel’s adult education theme, “Know Thyself, Know Thy Neighbor,” Omaha Temple Youth Group (OTYG) President Sarah Bleicher, a senior at Brownell-Talbot, and Nadia Al-Alabsy, a junior at Central and a member of the Omaha Muslim Youth Organization (OMYO), arranged “Know Thy Neighbor” for Jewish and Muslim teenagers. “I was impressed with what everybody had to say, how opinions were changed, and the impression that people were left with,” Sarah reported. They started with mixers and then listened to short descriptions of the two religions. “After that, we dove into discussing the situation with Palestine and Israel. Nadia and I led the discussion, and everybody shared their thoughts and ideas. After some intense moments, we decided to switch and have everybody play devil’s advocate,” Sarah explained. “Members of OTYG argued in favor of Palestine while members of OMYO argued in favor of Israel. It was very interesting and offered new perspectives. We, of course, had a few fun games in there, too!” Susan Freeman also attended and said she “definitely
enjoyed” it. “It was a great learning opportunity,” and she met “a lot of cool people. I hope we continue to hold programs with (OMYO) and maybe get the third youth group from the Episcopal Church involved too. I think these are great chances for us to learn about new cultures, make new friends, and have fun!” Sarah noted that OTYG is planning more “Know Thy Neighbor” educational and fun events with OMYO and some Christian youth groups. While OTYG members have been getting to know their neighbors, Junior Youth Groupers (JYG) have been making new friends, too; 15 seventh and eighth graders went to St. Louis in January for a JYG Chavurah. “It was really fun,” according to Jordan Jensen, 14. She and fellow JYGers started with a mixer, enjoyed Shabbat -especially the song session, made their own Facebook pages, learned about the week’s Torah portion by “acting out Moses crossing the Red Sea,” and visited the City Museum. Jordan said she felt even closer to her Omaha friends after the chavurah; although she was shy about meeting kids from other cities, she now wants to see those new friends again.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
February 22, 2008
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by MARY BORT nurses of oncology, as well as other trained staff, to meet for Beth Israel Synagogue the needs of these special children. The camp is designed Last month, more than 10,000 runners took part in to create a carefree, upbeat environment for each and the ING Miami Marathon. One of those who ran the every child. 26.2 mile course was Beth Israel Synagogue’s own Another factor that motivated Gross to undertake a Rabbi Jonathan Gross. Gross ran for the not-for-profit marathon was due to his impending 30th birthday. “A organization, Chai Lifeline. good friend of mine shares his birthday with me,” said “There were 240 of us running for Chai Lifeline,” said Gross. “We decided to give ourselves a birthday gift -- a Gross. “We raised over a million dollars.” clean bill of health. So we set the goal to train for the According to Chai Lifeline’s website, the organization marathon. When I first started training in August, I is “dedicated to helping children suffering from serious couldn’t run a half-mile. Working up to running 26.2 illness as well as their family members. We offer a com- miles makes you proud of yourself.” prehensive range of services “The race was on a Sunday, to address the multiple so for Shabbat there was a needs of patients, parents, big Shabbaton for runners, and siblings ... From the families and spectators,” moment of diagnosis, stated Gross. “I got to meet through the arduous families who have ill children months and years, in good who have benefited from times and bad, thousands of Chai Lifeline.” families have discovered that “The experience of running Chai Lifeline is a friend for in the marathon was amazlife.” ing,” continued Gross. “It One of the reasons Gross was wonderful to run with decided to run for Chai the Chai Lifeline team. Lifeline was because of Beth There were thousands runIsrael’s High Holiday ning in the marathon. When Chazzan, Rabbi Ari I would see someone in a Dembitzer. “Ari is the Chai Lifeline shirt, there was Director of Camp Simcha, a sense of camaraderie as we Chai Lifeline’s flagship proran the race. It was fun the gram.” explained Gross. whole way. And, the spectaCamp Simcha is a place for tors make it worthwhile too, children who are seriously as they cheer you on. It was ill, giving them the opportugreat to cross that finish line nity to have fun and experiafter running each step of ence the joy of being a kid, the way. I would like to parin spite of their illness. The ticipate in the marathon camp includes doctors and Rabbi Gross participates in his first marathon. again next year.”
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
ORGANIZATIONS JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA Don’t miss the Kibbutz Gaaton Dance Group, Saturday, Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m., at the JCC. Part Three of the Partnership with Israel Performing Arts Series, tickets are $7 for adults; children and students admitted free. WALK-IN, DROP-IN For those members going to the Ameristar Casino on Thursday, please meet at the JCC by 8:45 a.m. For information call Maggie Conti at 334.6521. LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Come to the Yiddish meeting at the JCC on Thursdays, 1-3 p.m. If you have any Yiddish books to donate, please call Anne Skolkin at 343.1638. VISIONS Reminder: For those members going to the Omaha Community Playhouse to see Company on Sunday, Feb. 24, please meet in the lobby at 1:30 p.m. to pick up tickets. Questions? Call Betty Sanford, 399.2001. B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS With a PowerPoint presentation on “The Perils of Politics in the Globalization of Democracy”, Professor Tom Goutierre will speak at Breadbreakers on Wednesday, Feb. 27, noon, at Regency Lodge, according to Gary Javitch, chairman. All men and women in the community are invited to attend. Cost is $12 for a complete lunch and $3 for beverage service only.
Omaha Performing Arts welcomes Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO) to the Peter Kiewit Concert Hall at the Holland Performing Arts Center on Saturday, Feb. 23, 8 p.m. Founded in 2002 by Irvin Mayfield, a GRAMMY nominated and Billboard award-winning trumpeter and composer, NOJO is the only major performing and presenting jazz institution based in post-Katrina New Orleans. In addition to founding the non-profit organization, Mayfield also serves as the current artistic director for the group and the officially appointed Cultural Ambassador for the City of New Orleans. The 16-member band made their first recording in 2003, entitled Strange Fruit, which was critically acclaimed in The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune. Striving to expand audience awareness of New Orleans and the cultural experiences the city offers, Mayfield and NOJO have traveled internationally with their big band tour, “New Orleans: Do You Know What it Means.” Tickets, priced from $19-$40, may be purchased through Ticket Omaha online at www.ticketomaha.org, by phone at 402.345.0606 or toll free at 866.434-TKTS (8587), and in person at the Ticket Omaha box office at the Holland Center, 13th and Douglas. How is this publication thinking about the future?
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From
February 22, 2008
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 7
Coen brothers set to bring Chabon’s ‘Sitka’ to the screen by BEN HARRIS NEW YORK (JTA) -- In some ways, it’s a most natural shidduch. There’s Michael Chabon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist whose best-selling 2007 book, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, marked a turning point in the author’s growing exploration of Jewish themes in his fiction. And Joel and Ethan Coen, the maverick filmmakers whose Jewish sensibility has been evident in countless of their movies, but who have yet to fully actualize their Semitic humor in a fullblown Jewish film. Until now. Late last week, the Guardian revealed that the Coens had agreed to write and direct the film adaptation of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. “Naturally, I am over the moon about this,” Chabon wrote in an e-mail to JTA. “They are heroes of mine.” And to many others.The Coen brothers have developed a cult of fanatic followers that have sustained their unique brand of filmmaking despite generally modest returns at the box office. Their biggest success to date, last year’s No Country for Old Men, was nominated for eight
Oscars, but the brothers, sons of a pair of Minnesota professors, have only rarely been embraced by mainstream audiences. Just as Munich generated excitement over the coming together of a beloved Jewish filmmaker (Steven Spielberg) and a renowned Jewish writer (Tony Kushner) to make a film of Jewish interest, the Coen-Chabon collaboration is sure to stoke the imaginations of Yiddishists and Jewish film buffs alike. And also like Munich, it’s sure to engender some controversy, too. Set in Sitka, a fictional Yiddish semi-state in Alaska created to shelter Jewish refugees after Israel’s lost war of independence, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is a noirish crime novel in the tradition of Raymond Chandler. Sitka is a place filled with Yiddish pimps and prostitutes, drug addicts and degenerates. Where the Chasidic kingmakers are the scheming villains, and the hard-living detectives turn out to have hearts of gold. The plot turns on the murder of the wayward son of a Chasidic rebbe, a drugaddled chess prodigy found dead in his room at a seedy hotel. Meyer Landsman, the hard-boiled homicide detective inves-
tigating the murder, gets more than he bargained for -- as noir detectives always do -- when he uncovers a plot by Jewish zealots to ignite a war in the Middle East and retake Jerusalem. Richly conceived and phenomenally detailed, Chabon’s Sitka is home to just the sort of improbable characters that populate Coen brothers films. It is the Coen brothers, after all, who gave the world “The Dude,” the hero of their 1998 film The Big Lebowski, a blissed-out stoner and bowling devotee who finds himself negotiating the return of a bimbo wife from her supposed kidnappers. And their love of genre films, particularly screwball comedies and film noir, seems perfectly suited to a novel that contains distinct elements of both. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union was released to critical acclaim in 2007. But among some Jewish writers, the book created a sense of unease, and even barely suppressed outrage, some of which is sure to resurface when the film is released. Claiming Chabon was sending a clear anti-Zionist message, Ruth Wisse, a noted Yiddish scholar at Harvard University, demolished the novel in a withering essay in Commentary magazine, calling it a “sustained act of provocation,” among other denigrations;
Commentary’s editor-in-waiting John Podhoretz and journalist Samuel Freedman offered similar criticisms of the novel. A decidedly less scholarly view was expressed in a New York Post story, headlined “Novelist’s Ugly View of Jews.” One can only imagine what these critics will have to say once the Coen brothers, with their Jewish fluency and twisted sense of humor, get their hands on Chabon’s prose. The upcoming film is being produced by Scott Rudin, who reportedly bought the rights to the book five years ago, before it was even completed, and the film is not expected before mid-2009. But industry skeptics are rightly wary. The film version of one of Chabon’s earlier novels, the award-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, has been reported to be in the works for years, with direction by another famous Jewish filmmaker, Sydney Pollack. But regardless of whether the film version of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union ever sees the light of day, the news alone has been enough to set the blogosphere on fire with overheated speculation. “This is the greatest fit ever,” one Israel-based blogger heaved. “I can’t picture any other director tackling this book and doing it right. What a great fit. Yiddish Noir!”
Temple teens have fun for a good cause by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Omaha Temple Youth groupers spent weeks preparing for their biggest fund raiser of the year, “It’s Raining Meatballs,” their 2008 Spaghetti Dinner. Thanks to donations such as tickets to the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials, a Royals baseball, Creighton basketball, and UNO hockey games as well as Omaha Prior to the Spaghetti Dinner, youth group mem- Halsted and Brenna Robinson take a break from Grace Hack, and Chloe Ginsburg are all smiles Steaks, a gourmet dinner bers pause for last minute instructions. Max serving. Hannah Ferer, left, Rachel Saferstein, while clearing the tables. for six, and a day at a Hannah Perry, a seventh grader who Lake Waconda summer house, OTYG has worked on the dinner in the past. And it’s a lot of fun to be with my friends raised $18,000. They’ll donate part of Like this time, “I pretty much served, from youth group.” After being “a part belongs to Junior Youth Group, checked the proceeds to Camp Rainbow and bussed, whatever they needed me to do of it” during her high school years, Sarah coats during the dinner. “It was pretty Camp CoHoLo, summer camps for chil- like make signs and decorations,” she added, “It’s almost like a tradition.” And fun,” she explained, “mostly ’cause all my said. “It’s a good cause to raise money for she knows that next year, she’ll miss it. “I friends were doing it plus I got a free dren with life threatening illnesses. meal, and the spaghetti was good!” Sarah Sadofsky, a high school senior, Camp Rainbow and Camp CoHoLo. will! I really will!”
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
February 22, 2008
Raindrops, er, rockets, keep falling on our heads ... We’re so used to hearing the news about rockets falling on Sderot that most of us don’t even pay any attention any more. Despite that fact that several people have been killed or badly injured in recent weeks, the news media seems to focus more on the “barbaric conditions” under which the Gazans live (as spouted by Karen AbuZayd, the United Nations High Commissioner on refugees during a visit last week). Of course she doesn’t relate that Israel has continued to allow food and medical supplies and other humanitarian needs to pass through check-points. Nor does she explain that power outages were caused by Hamas which shut down the generators, even as Israel was supplying two-thirds of Gaza’s electricity. No, it’s all Israel’s fault. Always. Whether it’s the assassination of longtime wanted terrorist Imad Moughnieh in Damascus or the explosion at a house in the El-Bureij refugee camp last Friday, killing five and injuring 60, it all gets blamed on Israel. (To be fair, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights did say on Monday that “There is no evidence to confirm that the explosion was caused by rocket or aerial bombardment by Israeli forces,” according to IMRA, Independent Media Review and Analysis.) Rockets have not only fallen on Sderot, but on Ashkelon, nearby Sapir College in the Negev, on Kibbutz Be’eri, and just this week, on a clinic in Shaar Hanegev and on a moshav in the Merhavim Regional Council, an area that Natan Kirschner, Chairman of the community’s executive committee, said, “is not adequately prepared. The newer homes have secured rooms, but the older ones do not; their bomb shelters are very old and in bad shape.” “Since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in
mid-June 2007, 771 rockets and 857 mortar bombs have been fired at Sderot and the western Negev,” according to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s latest assessment. “Rocket fire began in 2001,” the MFA continues. “As of the end of November 2007, there has been a total of 2,383 identified rocket hits in and around the western Negev settlements.” But that’s not all. “Between 2001 and November 2007, more than 2,500 mortar shells were fired. In the absence of Israeli targets after the disengagement there was a sharp decrease in the number of rockets fired. However, since April 2007, terrorist organizations have begun to make greater use of mortar shells, especially Hamas,” the report from the MFA adds. “In recent months the fire has been aimed at IDF forces operating in the Gaza Strip and along the security fence, at the crossings and at the Israeli settlements close to the security fence, such as Netiv Ha’asara, Kibbutz Kerem Shalom and Kibbutz Nahal Oz.” So what is Israel supposed to do ... sit back and wait for Hamas (thanks to Iran) to develop longer range rockets and mortars? Should they evacuate the moshavim and kibbutzim along the border with Gaza? How far into Israel
should they pull back ... to Tel Aviv and Be’er Sheva? And what about Ashkelon (a major port and site of a large power plant)? Should Israel abandon that city as well? Where does this craziness end? At some point, like now, Israel needs to step up protection of its people. Cutting off Gaza is not enough. Closing the border is not enough. While we’re not suggesting the IDF take Gaza back (and Egypt doesn’t want Gaza either, showing just how much love they have for their Arab brethren), it appears that a military option is the only one left. We can’t say we’re happy about that, but the residents of Gaza have had more than two years to show they can govern themselves like a civilized country of the world; it’s obvious they can’t. Israel has no choice; it can either protect its citizens or abandon them.
The previous Thursday, Orthodox rabbinic leaders in Israel and the United States had called on their followers to recite Psalms and, where possible, convene the special prayer service recited on Yom Kippur Koton, or “minor Yom Kippur,” as the day before a new Jewish month begins is called. For the month of Adar I this year, that day fell out on Feb. 5 -- the same day as the celebratory parade for the New York Giants in Manhattan. The rabbis’ request for special prayers came from what they perceive to be a confluence of crises in the Holy Land -- dangers to Jews “from both within and without.” The danger without is self-evident: the mounting threats to Israel emanating from Iran and the vipers’ nest of Palestinian terror groups, along with a larger world (and a world body) largely indifferent to it all.
In this corner, so to speak, were a teeming mass of wildly jubilant human beings, enraptured by how some young men managed to run and throw and catch an oddly-shaped ball somewhat better than another group. In the other were a few dozen (joined, to be sure, by many thousands around the world) humbly asking for G-d’s mercy. Something more, though, than the differential struck me. I couldn’t help but wonder if something synchronistic, maybe even meaningful, lay in the fact that the day designated by the rabbis to pray for the welfare of Israel’s Jews turned out to be the one on which New Yorkers celebrated the Giants’ win -- in the fact that what was Yom Kippur Koton for some happened to become a joyous celebration-day for others. Maybe I was being overly imaginative, but what occurred was that the celebration on Broadway was really, at its core, over how a situation that seemed all but lost -- with an adversary seen as unbeatable and the longest of odds being placed on triumph -- was turned on its head at the last minute. As it happens, that’s quite an Adar thought. The joy that the Talmud says is appropriate for the just arrived Jewish month derives from the subtle miracle of the Purim story, where all seemed increasingly hopeless yet, after Jews’ prayer and repentance, turned out just fine. The odds were long ones, but they didn’t end up reflecting the ends. For believing Jews, the ends of history are clear, as improbable as they might at times seem. So perhaps it’s not too fanciful to hope that the confluence of parade and prayer the first week of February proves to be a good sign -- for a positive response to the latter. Rabbi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America and can be reached at: Shafran@agudathisrael.org. This column is courtesy of Am Echad Resources.
Odds and ends
FOCUS ON ISSUES by RABBI AVI SHAFRAN Alighting from the Staten Island ferry at Manhattan’s southern tip on my way to work earlier this month, I was greeted by a phalanx of stern-looking police, padded with Kevlar and armed with assault rifles. Then, suddenly, from behind me, came a loud, hoarse shout, echoed by the roar of hundreds of voices. Before me, a small army fell into formation, front guard carrying large flags, troops marching dutifully behind, determinedly heading north on Broadway. It was post-Super Bowl Tuesday, and Agudath Israel’s national offices lie a few minutes’ walk up the celebrated boulevard, along the parade route they call the Canyon of Heroes. After making my way through the gathering crowd (the parade’s start was still two hours away) and the peddlers of timely trinkets, past the rows of police scooters and motorcycles, the early inebriated and the cordons meant to keep celebrants from celebrated, I arrived at our offices. The front entrance to the building was blocked; I entered though the back, on another street. After attending a long staff meeting, having just settled in at my desk, I was startled by a swell of loud, raucous cheering from the street. Thirteen stories below. Through closed windows and across a good-sized reception area. Here be heroes. A bit later in the day, after the confetti had settled, blanketing the ground, and the thousands of revelers had gone their ways, I heard a different sound in our offices. It came from the large room that serves as our synagogue for weekday afternoon services.
... the celebration on Broadway was really, at its core, over how a situation that seemed all but lost -- with an adversary seen as unbeatable and the longest of odds being placed on triumph -- was turned on its head ... The danger within was an attempt to tamper with the Israeli haredi community’s educational system, and political deliberations “that could place entire populations of Jews into grave danger, G-d forbid -- including those in the Holy City of Jerusalem.” While the Yom Kippur Koton service in our office synagogue lacked the decibels of the earlier, larger gathering along Broadway, it had its own power, born of Jews’ heartfelt pleas with their Creator to forgive their sins and protect His people from harm. Even for a connoisseur of contrasts like me, Tuesday’s provided a notable one.
(Founded in 1920) Howard K. Marcus President Carol Katzman Editor Richard Busse Managing Editor Allan Handleman Advertising Manager Robyn Belgrade Sales Associate Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Managing Editor Barbara Kirkpatrick Bookkeeper Anne Muskin Editorial Intern Jewish Press Board Bobbi Leibowitz, Vice President; Stan Mitchell, Secretary; Scott Meyerson, Treasurer; Joanie Jacobson, Immediate Past-chairman; Susan Lehr; Jamie Meyerson; Carin Parcel, George Quittner; Eve Randone, Melissa Schop; Michael Siegel, Michael Sigmond; Jim Simon; Nancy Skid; and Dorothy Spizman. The role of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to involve Jews in meeting Jewish communal needs locally, nationally and in Israel. Centers of Excellence of the Federation are: Community Relations, Jewish Community Center, Center for Jewish Education, Jewish Family Service, and Jewish Senior Services. The Jewish Press is an agency of the Jewish Federation. Highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: www jewishomaha.org; click on ‘Jewish Press.’ Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole. The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment. Editorial The Jewish Press is an agency of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Deadline for copy, ads and photos is: Thursday, 9 a.m., eight days prior to publication. E-mail editorial material and photos to: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org; send ads (in .TIF or .PDF format) to: rbusse@jewishomaha.org. Letters to the Editor Guidelines The Jewish Press welcomes Letters to the Editor. They may be sent via regular mail to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154; via fax: 1-402-334-5422 or via e-mail to the Editor at: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org.. Letters should be no longer than 250 words and must be singlespaced typed, not hand-written. Published letters should be confined to opinions and comments on articles or events. News items should not be submitted and printed as a “Letter to the Editor.” The Editor may edit letters for content and space restrictions, but should be printed as soon as possible to ensure timeliness. Letters may be published without giving an opposing view. Information shall be verified before printing. All letters must be signed by the writer, but the name can be withheld at the writer’s request. No letters should be published from candidates running for office, but others may write on their behalf. Letters of thanks should be confined to commending an institution for a program, project or event, rather than personally thanking paid staff, unless the writer chooses to turn the “Letter to the Editor” into a paid personal ad or a news article about the event, project or program which the professional staff supervised. For more information, contact Carol Katzman, Jewish Press Editor, 402.334.6450. Postal The Jewish Press (USPS 275620) is published weekly on Friday for $33 per calendar year U.S.; $40 foreign, by the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Phone: 402.334.6448; FAX: 402.334.5422. Periodical postage paid at Omaha, NE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154-2198 or e-mail to: jpress@jewishomaha. org.
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Page 9
Other People’s Prayers Interfaith dialogue must be based on the principle that respect is a two-way street
BEHIND THE H EADLINES by JONATHAN S. TOBIN In 1263, the great Spanish scholar Rabbi Moses ben Nahman, better known as Nahmanides, was summoned to Barcelona by King James I of Aragon to engage in a rather stressful form of interfaith dialogue with representatives of the Dominican and Franciscan religious orders. Their debate is known to history as the Disputation of Barcelona. The purpose of those who initiated the event (principally, an apostate Jew) was to compel the conversion of Spanish Jewry to Christianity. Guaranteed freedom of speech, Nahmanides, the sole Jewish representative in the proceedings, gave as good as he got in a free-wheeling medieval rhetorical brawl, in which both sides made it clear how little they thought of their opponents’ faith. Though given a reward by the king for his performance, Nahmanides was eventually forced to flee the country because of the church’s anger. In particular, Pope Clement IV sought to punish the rabbi for his courageous defense of Judaism. Catholic Revival Flash forward 745 years, and the lessons of the Disputation still stand. Public arguments about matters of faith can be a dangerous game whose outcome often serves the purposes of those who wish to spread intolerance rather than knowledge. Though the context of the present day couldn’t be any more different than the circumstances of 1263 Barcelona, many Jews appear to be thinking about interfaith relations with this piece of sad history still in mind. The latest irritant in Catholic-Jewish relations is the result of the church’s revival of an Easter Week devotion in which believers are asked to pray for the
conversion of the Jews. As part of an effort to break down divisions within Catholicism that had grown up around the abandonment of the Latin Mass, last year Pope Benedict XVI allowed the saying of the Tridentine rite. The prayer, which was dropped by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, spoke of Jewish “blindness” and asked the Almighty to “remove the veil from their hearts.” Shocked by this reversion to language that was part of a long history of the teaching of contempt for Judaism, Jewish leaders asked the Vatican to reconsider the move. Earlier this month, the Vatican responded by issuing a new version of the prayer which eliminated the lines about blindness” and the “veil” over Jewish hearts, but did not omit the call for conversion. ... it is not for Jews The Jewish reaction to this to tell Catholics move was what to say in their anguished. The prayers, any more Anti-Defamation League than it is legitimate wrote a letter to for them to go back the pope asking to trying to censor that he further the Jewish liturgy ... amend the prayer. The Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist rabbinical movements are all expected to add their pleas soon. In response, Cardinal Walter Kasper seemed to express bewilderment at the sensitivity of the Jews. He told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, “I don’t understand why Jews cannot accept that we can make use of our freedom to formulate our papers.” His point was that the prayer “reflects the faith of the church, and furthermore Jews have prayers in their liturgical texts that we Catholics don’t like … one must respect differences.” While the cardinal’s statement illustrates the slippery slope down which this sort of dispute can soon lead to hurt feelings on
all sides, he is, of course, right. Catholics are free to believe whatever they want about the universal truth of the doctrines of their faith. The same right must also apply to everyone else when it comes to their opinions about their own religions and everyone else’s. Problems arise not from believing these different things, but how we act on those differences. On that score, it is important for Jews to understand that the Catholic Church has, in recent generations, moved light years away from the spirit of the Disputation of Barcelona. Under the inspired leadership of Pope John XXIII and later Pope John Paul II, the Vatican discarded the teaching of contempt for Judaism, and introduced new curricula in their schools and churches based on respect for Judaism and recognition of past persecutions. As for proselytizing, unlike many Protestant denominations, the church has dropped campaigns to specifically target Jews for conversion. Yet Jewish groups still fear that if the Vatican, in seeking to mollify its own liturgical conservative wing, moves away from the spirit of Vatican II, it will mean that Catholics no longer embrace John Paul II’s beliefs that taught Catholics to think of Jews as their theological older brothers whose legitimacy should not be questioned. That fear is genuine and it is based, in no small part, on the legacy of churchbased missionizing that was rooted in compulsion and oppression of Jews. But as Cardinal Kasper told Vatican Radio in another interview, the revised prayer “does not mean we are embarking on a mission” to convert Jews. Rather, they are just expressing their faith. Jews and Catholics may have many things in common, but they do not accept the fundamentals of each other’s religions. No less than in 1263, Christians believe theirs is the true path to salvation. Jews still disagree. In societies where religion rules all, such as most of the Islamic world, such theological dif-
ferences are just as much a matter of life and death as they were in Barcelona during the Disputation. Agreeing to Disagree But in free societies such as our own, we can merely say, “vive la difference” and leave it at that, knowing none of us will be the worse for wear as a result of our contrasting views about the nature of eternity or divinity. Genuine interfaith dialogue is not rooted in agreement, but rather, on agreement to disagree. The trick is to do so in a civil manner, and to avoid public attacks on each others faiths that can only lead to discord and prejudice. So while it is all well and good for Jews to hope that the Catholic Church never chooses to deviate from the path of John Paul II, it is not for Jews to tell Catholics what to say in their prayers, any more than it is legitimate for them to go back to trying to censor the Jewish liturgy as they once did. Respect is a two-way street. Rather than seek to turn Benedict’s revival of the Tridentine mass into a major issue, what we need to to do is to stop worrying about Catholic prayers, and instead continue the work of bringing the two faiths closer together in defense of Western freedoms. This a moment in history when the greatest challenge to religious freedom is not coming from the traditional sources of reaction within Christianity, such as those that sought to punish Nahmanides for defending Judaism at Barcelona. Instead, our challenge comes from forces within Islam that have already sought to censor the beliefs of Pope Benedict for defending the West. Their goal is to dismantle the entire edifice of tolerance that Jews and Christians have worked so hard to create. Given that reality, this is not the time to pick fights over other people’s prayers. Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia. He can be contacted via e-mail at: jtobin@jewishexponent.com.
Warsaw: The new Jewish destination people and government much like what I had experienced in Germany during the early ’90s -- the government was supportive of America and Israel, the people were hungry for democracy and capitalism. I am not saying that anti-Semitism has vanished. One by RABBI BRIAN LURIE only has to read “Difficult Questions in Polish-Jewish j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California Dialogue,” co-published by the American Jewish Many Jews hear the word “Poland” Committee and the Forum for Dialogue Among and are filled with visions of anti-Semitism. I understand Nations, to be disabused of that notion, but there is a that perspective. dramatic difference from my trips in the ’70s. In the late ’70s, I traveled twice to Poland, both times Most notably, today’s Poland is democratic and more with Jewish federation missions. Each trip revolved sympathetic to Israel and Jewry than most of Europe. around visits to Auschwitz-Birkenau -- experiences that Since the fall of communism in 1989, Poland is home to are among the most emotional and up-setting times of a phenomenal rebirth of Jewish life and culture that my life. I felt confusion, anger receives support from American For much of the 900 years and impotence. donors, led by the San FranciscoIn this gray communist sociebased Taube Foundation for depicted in the museum, Poland ty, all Poles looked anti-Semitic Jewish Life and Culture, as well as to me. I wore a yarmulke was the center of all Jewish the Polish government. throughout my time there to For a number of years, I have creativity. Its lessons about show that we had survived, and been concerned that the as a challenge to all around me. pluralism, tolerance, multiculturalism Holocaust will forever be the cenFrom Poland we went to Israel. and diversity ring true today. tral point in Jewish history. The message was simple: from Though the Holocaust is our the Holocaust to rebirth, from nadir, the Jewish people should be committed to life as almost unquenchable evil to light and hope. our central purpose, rather than death. Despite how I never thought I would go back to Poland. powerful the Holocaust mentality of victimization But I returned last month at the urging of Bay Area phi- remains, it must not trump our commitment to living lanthropist Tad Taube and Jerzy Halbersztadt, the direc- and improving this imperfect world. tor of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. I went The reason for my journey was to talk to the profesfrom Israel to Poland on El-Al. That the order of my trip sional leadership of the Museum of the History of Polish was reversed was a harbinger of the whole experience. Jews, and talk we did. I was preconditioned to appreciWarsaw was its customary winter gray, but not as cold ate the museum’s efforts, but my reaction to what the as I was warned it might be. My room at the Novotel planners were doing thrilled me. Centrum Hotel was brighter and more user-friendly The professionals at the museum -- especially Barbara than the one I had just left in Herzliya Petuach. In dis- Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, head of the international team cussions with many Poles, I found the attitude of the that is producing the 40,000-square-foot core exhibit --
BEHIND THE HEADLINES
have captured 900 years of Polish Jewish history in the most exciting and unusual ways. I do not have the space here to describe all the imaginative methods her team has used to present those 900 years. Halbersztadt wrote about the project: “In sum, our museum will take its place internationally as a bold and innovative example of what a museum can be and do in the 21st century. It will provide a rich visitor experience with a unique learning environment that is informed by a progressive approach to informal education, civic engagement and dialogue.” After my many meetings, Halbersztadt took me to the site. The museum will face the Rappaport Memorial, which depicts the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Standing there, I realized that this place and this museum will become one of the key destinations for the Jewish people. Already 40,000 Israeli youth visit Poland every year; it will become a major educational center for this young population. Moreover, I believe that tens of thousands of American Jews will come to Warsaw to experience this place. This also will become a key educational center for Polish youth. Yet one should not see the museum with a view only to the past, but as a place that offers insights for the present and future. For much of the 900 years depicted in the museum, Poland was the center of all Jewish creativity. Its lessons about pluralism, tolerance, multiculturalism and diversity ring true today. I see the symbol of this place as the phoenix -- from ashes we are reborn anew, a strong and dynamic Jewish people. P.S. The January day I left Warsaw, it was bright, warm and sunny. Rabbi Brian Lurie was formerly the executive director of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and head of the United Jewish Appeal. He is currently a volunteer in the Bay Area and in Israel.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
February 22, 2008
Candlelighting Friday, Feb. 22, 5:47 p.m.
Synagogue Listings B’nai Israel Synagogue 618 Mynster St. Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com
Beth El Synagogue Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California Omaha, NE 68154-1980 492.8550 www.bethel-omaha.org
Beth Israel Synagogue Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific St. Omaha, NE. 68154 556.6288 BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org
Beyt Shalom An Affiliate of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation 3012 S. 119 St. P.O. Box 390352 Omaha, NE 68139 660.2395 www.beytshalomomaha.org
Chabad House An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 S. 120th St. Omaha, NE 68144-1646 330.1800 www.OChabad.com email: chabad@aol.com
Congregation B’nai Jeshurun South Street Temple Union for Reform Judaism 2061 S. 20th St. Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 435.8004 southstreettemple.org
Offutt Air Force Base SAC Memorial Chapel 301 Lincoln Highway Offutt AFB, NE 68113 294.6244
Rose Blumkin Jewish Home 333 S. 132 St. Omaha, NE 68154
Temple Israel Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 7023 Cass Street Omaha, NE 68132-2651 556.6536 templeisrael-ne.org
The Neighborhood Minyan 1317 No. 57 St. Omaha, NE 68132 551.6609
Tifereth Israel Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Blvd., Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 423.8569 www.tiferethisraellincoln.org
PERSONAL I am so grateful to my family and friends in the Jewish community for helping me celebrate my 90th birthday by sending me birthday cards, flowers, gifts and telephone calls. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Ida Halperin
B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE FRIDAY: Services followed by Oneg, 7:30 p.m.
BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Services conducted by Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Cantor Gastón Bogomolni. YOUNG FAMILIES’ SHABBATON: Feb. 22-23 at Lied Lodge in Nebraska City. For information, call the office. FRIDAY: Musical Shabbat services, 6 p.m. SATURDAY: Morning services, 9:30 a.m.; Minha/ Ma’ariv, 5:55 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.; Third grade Family Siddur Program,10 a.m.-noon. (On Friday, Feb. 29, fourth and fifth grade classes will participate in Shabbat services.) Hiddur Mitzvah Art Project, 2-4 p.m., sponsored by Sisterhood, in conjunction with the Gary Rosenthal Collection. 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, 8-9 p.m. Cost is $23; fee is $18 for donors to the Federation Campaign. To register, contact the office. SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE: On Feb. 29 and March 1, Dr. Neil Gillman will serve as Beth El’s scholar-in-residence. (See full article on page 1.) MEN’S CLUB SPEAKERS’ SERIES: Sunday, March 2, 10 a.m. The community is invited to hear Shane Osborn, Nebraska State Treasurer. No charge to attend; a complimentary breakfast will be served.
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, 5:47 p.m. Shabbat dinner will follow. After dinner, Rabbi Dr. Johnny Krug will lead a discussion, “Lev Banim: Where We
Were, Where We Are, Where We’re Going.” Babysitting will be available. 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 Howard Gendelman and Bonnie Bloch; Sisterhood’s Cholent Cook-Off will take place during Kiddush; vote for your favorite; Mincha, 5:30 p.m., followed by Suedat Shlishit; Havdalah, 6:57 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. with Rabbi Krug. 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.; Gan Israel Camp Reunion, 2-4 p.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. WEDNESDAY: Kabbalah 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
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.
ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME FRIDAY: Shabbat Comes to the Blumkin Home, 2:30 p.m. led by Beth Israel Members. SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Marvin Parilman.
TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Shabbat Comes to You, 4 p.m. at Remington Heights; Learner’s Shabbat Service, 7:30 p.m. Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, Rabbi Eric Linder and Cantor Wendy Shermet will lead the service. SATURDAY: Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:15 a.m.; Shabbat Service, 10:30 a.m. SUNDAY: Pancake Man, 9 a.m. Cost is $5 per person, no charge for children three and under; Teacher Learning Coffee,
9:30 a.m.; Book Club, 10 a.m.; Panel on Death Penalty, 10 a.m. led by Mark Weddleton, State Senator Brad Ashford, and Rabbi Azriel; Grades k-6, 10 a.m.-noon; Cradle Roll, 10:30 a.m. with Rabbi Linder. Please RSVP to Temple or mkube@ templeisraelomaha.com; Adult Education Meeting, noon. TUESDAY: Hebrew Lunch & Learn, 12:15 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.; Passover MiniUniversity, 6:30 p.m. (See full article below.) THURSDAY: “Adult Study with the Clergy” with Cantor Shermet, 10 a.m.; Religious School Steering Committee Meeting, noon. Friday, Feb. 29: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. led by Grade Three with dinner immediately following.
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.
Temple Israel Passover class to separate fact from movie myth
BAT MITZVAH Cleo Rogers, daughter of Mimi Rogers and Scott Farkas, will become a Bat Mitzvah on S a t u r d a y, March 1, at Temple Israel. A seventhgrade Honor Roll student at Kiewet Junior
Emanuel, with oneg following. SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. all led by Rabbi Emanuel. SUNDAY: LJCS Grades 3-7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; Grades 1-2, 9:45 a.m.12:15 p.m. at Temple; Hallah High, 10 a.m.-noon at Temple; Winter Lecture Series, 7 p.m. at Unitarian Church: “Revitalizing African Relationships in Education: a rare opportunity” with Prof. Janet Poley. 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: LJCS Hoops for Hunger, 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 . TUESDAY, Feb. 26, 7 p.m. The Dead Sea Scrolls, led by Dr. Sidnie White Crawford, Chair man of UNL’s Classics & Religious Studies Dept.
High School, her interests include dance, reading and spending time with her friends. Cleo has a four brothers, Jordan Farkas, Forrest, Max and Issac Rogers. Grandparents are Jerry Farkas of Boyton Beach, FL, the late Evan “Bunny” Farkas, and the late Wilma and Frank Rogers.
DEADLINE NOTICE Please send all articles, photos and ads to the Press by Thursdays, 9 a.m., for all regular issues. Early deadlines will be announced in advance. Questions? Call 334.6448.
by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator “A Passover Mini-University: Fact vs. Myth” will explore what really happened when Moses led the Children of Israel across the Sea of Reeds. Rabbi Eric Linder, Cantor Wendy Shermet, and congregant Stephanie Grossman, known for her creative seders, will recount the historical events of the great miracle that brought freedom to the Hebrew slaves. On Wednesday, Feb. 27, 6:308 p.m., Rabbi Linder and Cantor Shermet will guide participants
along a path that opens up the possibilities of a seder filled with learning, laughter, and song that your family will remember with joy and renewed understanding of the real Passover story as opposed to the movie versions. Grossman will demonstrate the art of imaginative and artistic Seder table setting. Register by e-mailing Program Director Rosie Zweiback at rzweiback@templeisraelomaha.com or call her at 556-6536. This class is an offering of the Hermene Zweiback Center for Lifelong Jewish Learning and is open to the community.
February 22, 2008
Don’t blow those horns!
SPARKS FROM THE WORD by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parashat Ki Tissa Our Sidra begins with the census of the people and goes on to more interesting things. This is the Sidra in which the people, afraid that Moses, who had climbed the mountain, would never come back, created a god who could be worshiped because he could be seen. This is the Golden Calf. I had always wondered whether the Bible was poking a little fun at the Golden Calf, aside from the disdain of worship of visible idols. In the Middle East, pagans worshiped bulls, not calves. The bull was a symbol both of strength and power on the one hand and fertility on the other. Bull-worship was common in the ancient Near East. The Bible calls this one a calf, having a little joke about this pagan worship, quite aside from its disdain of it. The Israelites are ordered to destroy pagan worship in the land. It offers no apologies for this intolerance.
Pet/House Sitter From this point of view, tolerance is not always a good thing. It depends what you choose to tolerate. And the Children of Israel are ordered to make no covenants with the indigenous people -- pagans -- lest they induce you, the Bible says, to follow their practices. This is the Sidra that led to Michelangelo’s statue of Moses with horns protruding from his forehead. The Text says that when Moses came down from the mountain, his face was radiant, was shining so much so that he had to wear a veil when he appeared before the Children of Israel. But the word for radiance has the same root letters as the word for horn (k-r-n) and the Vulgate translator did not distinguish the two and pictured Moses as descending from the mountain with horns. Somewhere in 19th century America, a farm woman met a Jew for the first time and looked him up and down, commenting that she thought that all Jews had horns. On the calumnies that stem from this misreading of scripture: children of the devil, servants of Satan and such. Be sure to wear a big hat, with no built-in holes for protrusions! (Editor’s note: Rabbi Kripke was unable to dictate a column for this week’s issue. This column originally appeared in the Feb. 21, 2003, issue of the Jewish Press.)
Applications, scholarships now available
Conservative Yeshiva offers college students Jerusalem summer by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator The Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem is offering an exciting summer of study this July and August, offering college students the opportunity for intensive study of the classic texts of Judaism, including Rabbinic literature, Bible and philosophy. This program is geared to students of all levels, backgrounds and interests, and includes Hebrew speaking and reading skills. Courses are built on the traditional model of chevruta, or learning one-on-one with a partner; and shiur, seminar-style classes. Two sessions will be offered this summer: from June 29 to July 17, and July 20 to August 7. Encouraging students to learn more about and participate in this innovative program, Beth El Synagogue’s Rabbi Mordechai Levin commented that, “This is a great program for Jews of all backgrounds who are interested in Jewish learning in an open-minded and egalitarian environment, and who want to experience life in Israel during its 60-year anniversary.” The Yeshiva also recently announced the establishment of its Legacy Heritage Communal Scholarships, available to Jewish communal professionals including community educators and youth advisors; Jewish community center, Federation, and Hillel personnel; plus synagogue administrators, educators and officers.
DEATH RUVIM TURETSKY Ruvim Turetsky died at the age of 85. Services are Friday, Feb. 22, 10 a.m., at Beth El Cemetery. He was preceded in death by wife, Roza. He is survived by his sons and daughters-in-law, Lazar and Margaret Turetsky, and Boris and Lucy Turetsky; and three grandchildren, Anna, Eugene, and Deborah. Memorials to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.
According to the yeshiva’s website, these scholarships offer a unique opportunity for leadership development: for example, study in Jerusalem enables participants to use Hebrew daily and gives context to the study of Jewish texts; participants gain personal learning enrichment and have opportunities to reflect on engaging and strengthening their home communities; special sessions for scholarship recipients enhance participants’ Israel experience, focus on Israel advocacy, and facilitate further leadership development. The Legacy Heritage Communal Scholarships cover tuition and provide up to $2,000 toward flight, housing and expenses. Applications for the summer program are available now and must be submitted by March 25. For more information, contact Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb or Rabbi Gail Diamond at yeshiva@uscj.org, or visit www. uscj.org.il/yeshiva/summer.php
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
February 22, 2008