February 23, 2007

Vol. LXXXVI No. 24 Omaha, NE

Low expectations are met at Olmert-RiceAbbas summit

by LESLIE SUSSER JERUSALEM (JTA) -- No one expected this week’s tripartite American-Israeli-Palestinian summit to make any startling breakthroughs. For days spokesmen for U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had been lowering expectations.

Rice initially envisaged the Feb. 19 summit as a grand festive opening of three-way talks on the establishment of a Palestinian state. But the agreement between the radical Hamas and the more moderate Fatah to establish a Palestinian unity government that probably won’t overtly recognize Israel altered the focus.

Rice and Olmert used the summit to make it clear to Abbas that the United States and Israel will boycott the new Palestinian government unless it meets the international Quartet’s three benchmark conditions: recognition of Israel, acceptance of previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements and renunciation of violence.

Continued on page 3

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, center, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, left, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas shake hands at the start of their summit meeting Feb. 19, in Jerusalem.

Credit: Matty Stern/BPH Images/JTA

Celebrating 86 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa

5 Adar, 5767 February 23, 2007

Air Force life is good says Lieutenant at Offutt

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Maxwell Air Force Base in Temple Israel Montgomery, Alabama; Randolph Air Force Base in Communications Coordinator A box housing a Torah San Antonio; and has been serves as an ark. The worshipat Offutt since April 2005. pers wear camouflage He’ll be back there in February and doesn’t know yarmulkes. Tallit and even the where he’ll be stationed prayerbook are published by after that. the Department of Defense.

Committed to the Air “And it’s a good one!” insistForce through 2010, Beha ed First Lieutenant Jonathan said that after that, “Lynn Beha referring to the siddur.

The “Ark supposedly has and I will have to decide.” been around since World War The young couple met in West Lafayette, Indiana, II,” he added. where she grew up and Lt. Beha and his wife Lynn have been members of where Purdue is located.

Lt. Jonathan Beha Temple Israel since the spring While he was at the training of 2005. But the 26-year-old Air Force officer has been school in San Antonio, Lynn was in Austin, about an stationed in the Middle East, with occasional visits at hour away. She began conversion classes after they home in Omaha since July 2006. He is not permitted to became engaged. specify his location for security reasons.

Later, she completed her Jewish studies with Rabbi An electronic warfare officer, Lt. Beha said he doesn’t Aryeh Azriel and Rabbi Craig Marantz at Temple Israel know how many personnel on his base are Jewish, but in Omaha. Jonathan and Lynn were married in June they can do “anything they want as long as it doesn’t 2005 in West Lafayette.

Being away from Lynn is “the hardest part” of his interfere with their job. We celebrate all the Jewish holidays, put up a sukkah with the help of some non-Jewish career path, admitted Beha. Otherwise, “we have it pretchaplains, go to services on Friday night, and attend ty good. We’re not getting shot at on base. We’re flying Torah study group on Monday night,” said the Edina, into combat,” and so he thinks about security, but “I don’t worry about it. We sleep in dorm style buildings Minnesota, native.

After graduating from Purdue University, Beha joined in small rooms, two to a room.”

The cafeteria “is as good as you can expect for cafetethe U.S. Air Force, because “it seemed like a good thing to do. I’ve always had an interest in it. It’s a good way ria-style food. It’s really pretty good! I probably eat healthier there,” he added. If he kept kosher, “there are to serve and a good opportunity.”

The Air Force sent Beha to a school in San Antonio , kosher MREs (meals ready-to-eat). There’s always TX, for nine months to learn navigator training and elec- something else if pork or shellfish are served.” tronics warfare. From there he was transferred to Continued on page 3

YouTube appeal for Purim baskets for troops exceeds expectations

by RACHEL MAURO WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Imagine what Esther and Mordechai could have accomplished with YouTube.

A New Jersey synagogue has seized upon the latest Internet technology to send the Purim message to far-flung U.S. Jewish troops and raise funds for gift packages, or mishloach manot.

The YouTube message, performed as a good-natured spoof of an Oval Office address, has exceeded expectations.

In conjunction with the Jewish Chaplains Council, headquartered in New York, Kehilat Kesher, a modern Orthodox shul in Englewood, N.J., has sent more than 150 Purim gift packages to Jewish servicemen and women in Afghanistan. The synagogue originally projected funds for about 100 packages.

Donations have come from across the country, according to Kesher president David Polinsky, who plays the president in the YouTube comedy short It may be the first time the phrase “my fellow Americans” has been coupled with “mishloach manot.”

“Because it takes quite bit of time to ship overseas, we sent several thousand dollars worth of goods” that were “special requests from the chaplains from Iraq and Afghanistan,” Polinsky said.

As funds continue to arrive, he said,

Inside Opinion Page see page 12

“we will be w w w. k e s h shifting to ernj.org. s e n d i n g The packPesach packages were ages, to keep assembled sending stuff earlier this over dependmonth by ing on Freilich and requests as two other money is congregants, raised.”

Jocelyn Jonas So far, the and Tovit synagogue S c h u l t z has raised Granoff. than more Freilich kept $4,000. in e-mail conJewish soltact with a Kids at Kehillat Kesher, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in diers sent chaplain and Englewood, N.J., write cards for Jewish soldiers in Iraq and requests for lay leader Afghanistan as part of their mishloach manot project. items such as abroad, Army Credit: Kehillat Kesher rugelach, Specialist gefilte fish and Jewish reading material, Gavin Melvin, stationed in Iraq, and Polinsky said.

Rabbi Shmuel Felzenberg in Afghanistan.

They also requested more secular prod“My husband is in the Navy Reserve ucts like movies and magazines, syna- and I am just always thinking of things gogue trustee Phyllis Freilich added. that can be done, little things I can do to Children from Kesher’s junior congre- make things easier for people in the miligation and Kol Haneshama, a tary,” Freilich said of her role in suggestConservative synagogue also in ing the project.

Englewood, wrote letters to the soldiers.

Freilich’s husband, Benjamin, a history Participants sent money for care pack- buff who has designed his office to ages through an online PayPal account resemble the Oval Office as a backdrop accessible on the synagogue’s website, for the YouTube short. Other members

This Week: Monthly Calendar for March: Pages 8-9 See Front Page Stories & More at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’

Author warns of the Golems among us: Page 2

also contributed including Uri Rottenberg, owner of New Year Video, and Michael Dube, who played the Secret Service agent standing behind Polinsky tugging at a disembodied phone cord.

“I had been wanting to use this medium to promote something worthwhile for a long time,” Michael Granoff, vice president of Kesher, wrote in an e-mail from Israel, where he was attending a conference. “So the six of us took an evening at the Freilichs and ran a number of takes, had a great time, and got the piece filmed (as well as did a few different scripts others of which may be used in the future). Uri did a great job weaving in the presidential touches.”

The YouTube promotional video is located at www.youtube.com/ watch?v=cDCJHJeWkzQ. “We are thrilled with the response” with “more than 600 hits and climbing daily,” Granoff said. “In less than a month, the program, and the publicity it has attracted have already brought a new family to live in our community and brought Kesher to the awareness of three others who have or are planning to visit us for a Shabbat.”

Polinsky added that the community is trying to “get the message out there to keep in mind our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Coming Next Month: Home & Garden Issue on March 9 More hamantaschen recipes for Purim : Page 10

Kids follow the Pied Piper of tzedakah: Page 16

Page 2

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 23, 2007

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The variegated twists of Burlington, Vt.-based author Marc Estrin’s books resemble his crazy quilt life. On a winter Omaha visit to promote his new novel, Golem Song, his third work of satiric fiction to take up Jewish themes, this educator-turned-artist-turned-activistturned-minister-turned-author referred to the divergent career paths and wide-ranging interests that inform his work.

While here Estrin gave a talk, “Golem Stalks the World,� at the Millard Branch Public Library.

His talk keyed off his new book, which uses the golem figure from Jewish folklore as a metaphor for the destructive behavior individuals, groups and nations project as a way of mitigating their fear of The Other.

The golem tale arises from the legend of Rabbi Yehuda Leow of Prague, Czechoslovakia. Using Kabbalastic magic, the rabbi is said to have fashioned from clay a golem, which in Hebrew means unfinished matter, to serve as the hulking protector of the Prague ghetto from anti-Semitic pogroms. Some accounts say after the rabbi animated the golem with life and unleashed it to do his bidding, it wreaked indiscriminate havoc, forcing the rabbi to destroy it. Other versions say the golem is still intact, asleep, in a synagogue attic, and needs only be awakened to again defend Jews.

In Golem Song, protagonist Alan Krieger believes blacks pose a threat to Jews and convinces himself he is the chosen one to be both golem and rabbi in eliminating the perceived threat. Estrin’s point is that once a golem is unloosed on civilization it invariably becomes an unchecked invitation to disaster. Beware of false messiahs.

By making Krieger a paranoid Zionist, Estrin does not mean to minimize the fear caused by anti-Semitism, only how dangerous playing the golem card is. “Certainly historically anti-Semitism has been a tremendously persistent reflex on the part of people who need scapegoats,� he said by phone from his home. “On the other hand, Jews in Europe and America have never been as successful and secure. There might be some (antiSemitic) grumbling at the edges of the less-enlightened populations, but it’s not anything with power. The Jews can count on there not being a pogrom in the United States or in any European country, even if every once in a while some neo-Nazis paint a swastika on a synagogue.

That is the sign-making of very, very tiny minorities who are almost entirely dismissed and despised. “The idea that there’s an existential threat against Israel seems to me to be propaganda. Israel has the fifth strongest army in the world and it’s the only state with nuclear weapons that has the U.S. behind it. Israel can defy the U.N. and international law with impunity...so, you know, they’re hardly about to get pushed into the sea just because Ahmadinejad (the Iranian President) doesn’t like them or there’s a Holocaust� denial “conference in Iran.�

As Estrin sees it, anti-Semitic threats are “largely overblown� today and “being used in some cases very cynically.� By the same token, he said “the current behavior of the Israeli government� with respect to its aggressive military actions against Lebanon is really threatening to Jews and Judaism all over the world.�

Estrin’s Omaha talk expanded on his notion of “golemism� to suggest golems are all about us, as in the extreme measures the U.S. is taking in its fight against terrorism in Iraq, in Afghanistan and at home. “To me, as an American, the biggest golem around is us,� he said. He’s troubled by the infringements of freedoms permitted by the U.S. Patriot Act and military commissions that allow authorities to run roughshod over personal rights and liberties, not to mention waging war.

With the U.S. and Israel imposing their will in everwidening and more violent ways in the name of “selfprotection,� Estrin said the question is whether nationalism of the American and Zionist kind is, in-and-of itself, bound to lead to golemism. “Well, that’s a great question,� Estrin said. “I think if you look at it kind of empirically it would seem to be the

case that nationalism is a kind of golem-generating phenomenon. Nationalism is, I think, a big problem.�

He said golemism is “not necessarily a purely reactive cycle�, but one calculated for geopolitical ends. “That is, a lot of this stuff is scripted. The fear the Bush administration is out to create, and which then gives it permission to do all of these invasive things, is part of a plan.

It’s not because they’re afraid, it’s because they see it as in their best interests to create fear.�

Estrin, an ardent Green Party member, sees future international conflicts being fights over “scarce resources.� He feels diplomacy is the only response to avoid war. He advocates “some kind of planetary government and planning and policies that use resources wisely and don’t pit one region against another or one set of people against another.�

He believes “U.S. policy and Israeli policy are beginning to shiver a little bit� in the wake of recent developments that has these powers second-guessing themselves. But in terms of a new American strategy emerging that is less reactionary and more conciliatory, he’s pessimistic. “So far I don’t see any evidence the people in power or the people coming into power have any intention� of changing course, he said. “I’m not in any way persuaded the change-over to a Democratic control of Congress means much more than a hill of beans. They (Democrats) have this same goal of U.S. dominance in the world and keeping the military as strong as it is.�

Estrin said the golem tale poses ample moral-philosophical dilemmas that resonate with us today. He said implicit in the story is the question -- Who gets to create life from nothing? -- and a cautionary warning against man “overstepping bounds� in the name of science or national interest. As Estrin said, it may be “some things may belong only to God.� The issue of hubris mirrors that raised by Mary Shelley’s masterful Frankenstein, which was published after the golem legend first appeared.

The impulse for Estrin’s own book came from a bizarre phone call he got one night from a male acquaintance with a history of mental illness. The caller demanded Estrin get him a high powered rifle with a telescopic sight so the man could shoot blacks. When Estrin refused, the man cursed him out in an antiSemitic tirade.

While the caller was deranged, Estrin said a quite real black-Jewish tension existed in the mid-’90s, when he fielded the disturbing call, making the man’s rant seem more plausible.

For example, Estrin said Carl Rowan, the late syndicated black columnist, had just published a book then called The Coming Race War in America: A Wakeup Call. There are some very sharp, funny exchanges in Golem Song that touch on black-Jewish animosity. It was a time, too, when ethnic cleansing was a reality. The call and its wider implications inspired Estrin to make Alan Krieger “a compilation of all the wackos I’ve known and loved and hated,� he said. The author has known his share in a lifetime in which he’s packed several lives into one.

Before he ever took up writing, Estrin careened from one endeavor to another, going from scientific researcher to theater director to college professor to Unitarian minister to peace activist to medical assistant.

These different paths took him from one coast to the other. Besides a penchant for taking the road less traveled, the one constant in his life has been music. He’s a trained cellist who still performs with the Vermont Philharmonic Orchestra and other groups. He’s also enjoyed a 36-year relationship with the politicallycharged Bread and Puppet Theatre. Wherever he’s gone, he’s expressed his politics, making whatever field he’s involved in a forum for his strong views.

His politics first merged with his art and activism when he staged a production of Bertolt Brecht’s anti-war play A Man is a Man for the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop. That led him to guerrilla or street theater, where he found expression for his opposition to the Vietnam War. He was, he said, “a funny kind of hippie� who embraced the counter-culture’s critical but eschewed its drugs and music.

A native of a then-all-Jewish section of the west Bronx, Pelham Parkway, near the botanical gardens and zoo he often visited as a child, he grew up in a family and culture that fed his intense curiosity and fierce independence. His parents, Jack and Vera, were Communists. His father, a high school history teacher, was an American Federation of Teachers organizer.

As a kid Estrin accompanied his dad on the sound truck for Henry Wallace’s failed 1948 Progressive Party Continued on page 7

February 23, 2007

Olmert-Rice-Abbas summit Continued from page 1 Still, the summit was not without its achievements: It clarified what the Palestinian side needs to do to get the yearlong international economic boycott lifted; it broached new ideas for advancing the peace “road map”; and it made clear that peace talks with Abbas, a Fatah leader who does accept the three benchmark conditions, would continue even if the new Palestinian government does not follow his lead.

What happens next will depend on how skillfully the parties maneuver in trying to advance their often disparate agendas.

Will Fatah be able to use Hamas’ support of the unity government to move the process forward, or will Hamas be able to exploit a Fatah fig leaf to have international sanctions lifted without making any political or ideological concessions? Will Abbas be able to move the talks toward the two-state final peace deal he wants, or will Hamas limit him to no more than the long-term cease-fire it seeks?

In cutting the national unity deal with Fatah in Mecca in early February, Hamas had two major priorities: ending weeks of dangerous internecine fighting with Fatah before it escalated into full-blown civil war and getting the international boycott on the Palestinians lifted.

For Hamas, the problem is how to get the boycott lifted without making ideological concessions -- like recognizing Israel. The solution has been to give Abbas a free hand to negotiate in the hope that progress will entail at least a gradual easing of the sanctions.

The classic Hamas strategy is based on the assumption that time is on the side of the Palestinians. Hamas leaders argue that the regional balance is tilting against Israel

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 3

Story-time Mondays are in the Kripke Library

and that the Palestinians will prevail.

Therefore, they oppose a two-state solution and seek a long-term cease-fire, or hudna, which they hope will lead to the lifting of the international boycott and enable their militia to build up its power for another round against Israel.

Some Fatah spokesmen, however, detect a looming transformation in Hamas thinking. They argue that the Mecca agreement heralds a movement toward Abbas’ position that violence against Israel is counterproductive and that Hamas may be ready, under certain circumstances, to consider the merits of a two-state solution.

And if that is the case, Abbas may be given license to go all the way. In any event, Abbas hopes to use the negotiations to transform the everyday life of Palestinians and so restore Fatah’s political dominance. His goal in the ongoing talks with Israel and the U.S. is to get a negotiation framework for a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace deal in place so he can offer the Palestinian people a “political horizon.” He also wants Palestinian prisoners released and Israeli army roadblocks in the West Bank lifted.

In Monday’s summit, Abbas reiterated the importance of these gestures in the struggle for Palestinian opinion and, in return, promised that the new Palestinian government would do all it could to release the abducted Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit and stop Kassam rockets being fired over the Gaza border.

By improving his image among the Palestinian people, Abbas hopes he and Fatah will be able to win new elections.

When they come, he wants to be able to say that Fatah can deliver on statehood and large-scale foreign investment, whereas Hamas can only offer more suffering.

JCC Child Development Center preschoolers enjoy a Story-time with Library Assistant Cheryl Lerner. Enjoy stories and refreshments the second and fourth Monday of the month in the Kripke Library. The next story time is this Monday, Feb. 26, 11 a.m.

Air Force life is good Continued from page 1 “I do a lot of working out,” on nonflight days, Beha said. The 24-hour gym on base has a basketball court and weight room. There’s also a movie theater which doubles as a big briefing hall. The movies are free and Beha occasionally gets to watch his favorite pro-team, the Minnesota Vikings, as well as other sports in the theater.

“Realistically speaking, anything you need -- magazines, clothes, movies, video games, books, snacks, and greeting cards -- are well stocked at the base exchange,” Beha mentioned.

His days are spent working out and working on his masters degree in business Bellevue administration through University. He is in frequent touch with Lynn via email and can call her twice a week. “It’s really a routine. Everyday is

Tuesday.”

Beha’s closest friends are the people with whom he works. He is not aware of any anti-Semitic feelings. He hasn’t been given any advice as a Jew serving overseas. “We’re all briefed on how to act when off base so as not to offend.” That includes not crossing your legs, or giving a thumbs up, or walking with a woman.

On Jan. 6, Beha ran a marathon (26.2 miles) in three hours, 39 minutes. His purpose was to raise money to purchase additional High Holy Day prayerbooks. There aren’t enough to go around at his base.

Temple Israel supported his efforts by donating all contributions made to the Temple tzedakah box from January to November.

“Your Jewish life won’t change in the Air Force,” Beha concluded, “other than working on holidays. It’s a good life, absolutely.”

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 23, 2007

Cultural Learnings of Borat Make for Glorious Purim at Temple Israel

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Committed to outreach and interfaith dialogue, Temple Israel has invited a journalist from Kazakhstan to share the congregation’s Purim celebration on Saturday, March 3, 7:30 p.m. You may have heard of the gentleman, Borat Sagdiyev, from his recent movie, Borat, when he visited the United States to learn more about American culture.

What better holiday than Purim to portray the true nature of Jewish practices (pause….) not! But that shouldn’t hinder Borat who filmed a fake documentary by invading society dinners, rodeo crowds, a drunken frat party, and church services. Temple’s Purim Spiel, usually a spoof in itself, should dispel any misconceptions Borat has about Jews and Jewish beliefs. At the very least, he’ll know that the Jews of Shushan survived despite the nasty tricks Haman tried to inflict on them.

This year’s Purim celebration, rated PG-13 and not recommended for young children, will begin with Borat’s rendition of “Hatikva,” the Israeli national anthem. In the spirit of mutual understanding, Temple will follow a common Kazakhstan custom of wearing costumes. If you forget your costume, it has been reported that Borat will model his green bathing suit which is an act that should be avoided at all costs!

Everyone is requested to bring an appetizer to share which, according to Kazakhstan custom, will be judged for a prize. High five!

----------------------------For the kids, they’ll get their chance to make noise at the Megillah reading on Sunday, March 4, 11 a.m., at

the prayer assembly. “Chosen,” a children’s song-anddance group associated with the AIDS Orphan Education Trust (AOET), representing African children who live in extreme poverty and who have AIDS or whose family and friends have AIDS, will perform at the prayer assembly.

A respected organization in Africa, AOET has expanded from Uganda where it started to Kenya, Zambia, the United States, and Canada. AOET provides education for children whose parents have died or are dying of AIDS; training for AIDS widows and for families willing to adopt orphans; medical care for AIDS patients and their families; AIDS testing, education, and counseling.

For his Bar Mitzvah tzedakah project, Grant Glazer is collecting school supplies for AOET and hopes to accumulate 1,500 ball-point pens (regular ones with a cap, like Bic), wooden pencils, standard pink erasers that fit on top of pencils, and approximately 1,000 70-page spiral notebooks. Grant will accept monetary donations, but only at his house. He is hoping someone will donate money to pay for the shipping costs to Uganda.

After the prayer assembly, according to Queen Esther, everyone is welcome to try his or her luck at the Purim Carnival at noon. Pre-kindergartners and their parents get a sneak preview at 11:30 a.m.

A new feature at the Purim Carnival this year is a candy walk. Winners will take home a big bag of sweets. But no one will go home a loser. Cotton candy, snow cones, and games galore will tempt every sweet tooth in the room. For the more athletically inclined, inflatable basketball and soccer and even Gorilligans Island will offer exciting competition. Lunch will be available, too.

Celebrate Purim at Beth Israel

by MARY BORT for Beth Israel Synagogue It’s that time of year! Time to pull out those costumes and groggers, make some hamentashen and get ready to celebrate Purim. The community is invited to join in the festivities at Beth Israel on March 3 and 4.

According to Executive Director, Beth Cohen, “This year’s Purim costume theme is ‘On the Red Carpet.’

Think of celebrities walking down the red carpet at an awards show; dress up as your favorite television or movie celebrity or character. We’re anticipating some very creative costumes at our Purim celebrations and will be giving out costume awards.”

On Saturday, March 3, 7:30 p.m., there will be a Megillah reading, followed by an ice cream social.

Costume awards will be given for: Best Actor-Adult, Best Actress-Adult, Best Actor-Child, Best ActressChild, Best Ensemble-Family or Group. There will also be the “Huggie” Award for New Rising Star, for chil-

dren under the age of two.

Purim celebrations on Sunday, March 4, 9 a.m., will begin with Shacharit and a Megillah reading, followed by another Megillah reading at 10 a.m. A Megillah reading and Purim seudah (meal) will be held at 5 p.m.

The cost for the meal is $8 for adults, $4 for children ages four to 12, and free for children ages three and younger. Following the meal, there will be children’s crafts and activities. There will also be a special Purim spiel, “American Idol Auditions from Shushan!”

“You’ll see a wide range of entertainment, with music and funny scenes, at the Purim spiel,” said Cohen.

Purim kicks off Beth Israel’s annual food drive. Please bring non-perishable donations to the synagogue between Purim and Pesach. All food that is collected will be donated to the Jewish Family Service Food Pantry.

To make reservations for the Purim Suedah, please call the office at 556.6288.

Beth El’s Purim festivities to Include food, fun, prizes ... the whole Megillah

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Purim at Beth El Synagogue is a holiday not to be missed, and everyone - young and not-so-young - is invited to join in the upcoming celebration!

On Saturday, March 3, 6:45 p.m., come to the kidfriendly Family Megillah reading (the short version), and don’t forget your costume -- the wackier, the better! The evening will also feature the synagogue’s USY members, who will present a special Purim shpiel, plus a costume parade, during which every child will receive a delicious prize.

Following the Megillah reading, everyone is invited to stay afterward to chat with family and friends during our always popular ice cream social and hamantaschen treats. The full Megillah reading will take place at 8 p.m. in the chapel, then again at 8 a.m. the following morning during Purim Shacharit.

More fun is on tap for all attending the synagogue’s annual BILU USY Purim Carnival, planned for Sunday, March 4, 11:15 p.m. to 2 p.m. According to Youth Director Robert Mosenkis, there’s much new under the sun this at this year’s event, themed a “Purim Pirate Extravaganza:” in addition to great game booths, a silent auction and multi-prize raffle, two costume contests will take place, one for kids under 18, the other for those 18 and up, so nobody has an excuse to be caught without some zany Purim attire! Also, those 18 and up can join in on an exciting poker tournament for $5, and folks of all ages can participate in on-going Purim-style Bingo games for $2 per playing card. All game winners will be awarded fabulous prizes, Mosenkis noted.

“The Purim carnival is USY’s biggest fund-raiser of the year, with proceeds being used for conventions and travel expenses, as well as donated to several charities selected by USY members,” Mosenkis said. “Please support our teens - you’ll have a great time in the process!”

Game tickets are five for $1; four for $1 the day of the carnival; individual meal tickets are $6, and raffle tickets are $1 each - buy 10 and get one free. Patrons may also take advantage of the combo packages being offered: a combo pack (one meal and 10 game tickets) is $7 in advance, $8.50 the day of the carnival; or the Family Pack (including four meals, 50 game tickets and 11 raffle tickets) is $40.

Ticket orders are being taken now: checks -- made payable to Beth El USY may be sent to Beth El Synagogue, 14506 California St., Omaha NE 68154.

For more information about the carnival, contact Mosenkis at 492.8550 or youthdir@bethelomaha.org.

JAKE J. SCHREIBMAN FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP Scholarship Award The Schreibman scholarship is for a student’s freshman year only, and can be used at the college of choice. The amount of the award varies according to each student’s needs in regard to tuition, fees, housing, and books.

Eligibility All Jewish seniors attending any high school in the Greater Omaha Metropolitan Community.

Application and Criteria A letter regarding the application process along with a checklist of criteria and contact information regarding questions can be personally picked up at any of the following: Beth El, Temple Israel, and Beth Israel. Inquire at the receptionist desk or request to speak to the educational coordinator.

Deadline The application packet must be completed and delivered to Beth El, Temple Israel, or Beth Israel no later than March 7, 2007. Applications received after this date will not be accepted. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 5

Beth El fourth graders learn importance of tzedakah during Stephen Center visit pare children for what they’ll experience,” she said.

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator “They were so fascinated and pleasantly surprised, and their questions were deep, Beth El fourth graders learned thoughtful and profound. The first-hand about the importance Stephen Center has a warm atmosof tzedakah and caring for their phere and the children felt welfellow human beings during a comed there by the residents and recent trip to the Stephen Center, the staff. They saw that the resia homeless shelter and substance dents were all well cared for; they abuse facility located at 27th and also saw that their contributions ‘Q’ Streets. were making a difference in peoAccompanied by their religious ple’s lives.” school teacher, Margo Riekes, Alec Epstein noted that “lots of the students learned about the us have things in our lives that mitzvah of giving, by delivering other people don’t - we have to to the center a large box filled feel fortunate.” with toiletries, baby formula, Benny Dietrich said he learned clothing and other essential items that no matter people’s life cir- all purchased by the students. cumstances,” we’re all equal; we’re The box, which sports sayings all regular people. The people at regarding tzedakah on all four the shelter are just as important as sides, includes messages from the anyone else.” children such as, “Don’t be greedy - give;” “Charity Cures Summing up the thoughts of his Haertaches” (sic); “Giving to classmates, Jacob Levy remarked Holding up their messages about the importance that “I felt good because we Others is Good!”

The visit had a powerful impact of giving, BESTT fourth graders surround their helped other people.” on the children, who discussed classroom tzedakah box, once filled with items Riekes expressed satisfaction that what they learned during a recent for Stephen Center residents. her students came away from the class time. Sammy Lieb shared experience understanding that, “Going to the Stephen the importance of giving, Center made me feel how lucky generosity and compassion.

I am to have a home and not Pointing to her favorite just a room. The center really quote pasted on the side of gives the people there a start on the class’s tzedakah box, she a good life.” read, “You shall not harden For Sarah Kutler, the visit was your heart nor close your important “so we could see hand from your brothers how needy people live, and see and sisters in need.” The if people were actually loved box, now empty, will remain and they were.” According to in Riekes’s class, to be filled Riekes, the children had preonce again by her students conceived notions about shelter Max Weiner, left, Jacob Levy, Elissa Wiener, and Jessica who have learned -- as well residents, such as wearing rags Shandell and her mother, Diane, carry donated items into as experienced -- how their and their and not having enough to eat. the Stephen Center. generosity “They didn’t know what to expect - you really can’t pre- tzedakah affect the lives of so many others.

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by MARY BORT for Beth Israel Synagogue As winter turns over to spring, Passover arrives to bring a sense of hope and liberation. While it may seem too soon to think about Passover, there are a number of Pesach-related deadlines that you should note on your calendar. Beth Israel can be your “Pesach Central” this year, offering Shmurah Matza, “to go” food for Passover meals and a traditional second seder.

To get ready for your Seder, you can order some Shmurah Matzah. Each one-pound box has about eight whole matzahs, at a cost of $18. Orders must be placed

by March 2. “We’re grateful to Helene Shrago and Bag n’ Save for coordinating our Shmurah Matzah orders,” said Beth Cohen, Beth Israel’s Executive Director.

You can also order a wide range of foods through “Pesach To Go!” that you can use for your seder dinner and for other meals throughout the holiday. No need to spend time in the kitchen; you can order entrees, side dishes and desserts for Passover.

“Our annual ‘Pesach To Go!’ has become so popular,” noted Cohen. “Passover is a busy time, and having this delicious homemade food makes things much easier for everyone. You can focus on enjoying the holiday without worries about cooking.” Orders must be placed

by Thursday, March 15, and will be available for pick up on Monday, April 2.

Beth Israel will host a traditional second Seder led by Rabbi Jonathan Gross on Tuesday, April 3, 8:30 p.m., and the community is invited. The cost is $36 for adults, $12 for children ages four to 12 and $5 for children under the age of four who will be eating dinner.

Reservations are needed by Thursday, March 15.

To place your food orders or make reservations for the second Seder, please call the office at 556.6288.

28, noon, at Regency Lodge, according to Gary Javitch, Chairman. Karen Verdirame, has lost more than 130 pounds and is still working at it. She is a motivational speaker and you will find her story fascinating. 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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LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Come to the Yiddish meeting at the JCC on Thursdays, 1-3 p.m. The Yiddish Group is now officially a zamler (collector) for the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA. For more information, please call Anne Skolkin at 343.1638.

VISIONS Reminder: Visions Board Meeting is Friday, March 2, 9:30 a.m. in the Blumkin Home conference room.

Visions Luncheon Meeting is Friday, March 16, 12:30 p.m., at the Venice Inn. Join us for musical entertainment by Derek Ventura. Cost is $10. Send reservations to Tootie Simon, 8725 Izard St, Omaha, NE 68114, by March 9. For questions, call Jim Wax at 393.4442.

As a joint project with Jewish Family Service, Visions is assisting JFS with the purchase of Passover items for Jewish families in need. Please make check payable to JFS. Donations can be brought to the March luncheon meeting or mailed to Betty Kolnick, 1031 Hillcrest Dr., Omaha, NE 68132.

Join us for a tour of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Union Station in Kansas City on Monday, April 30. Cost is $74. Send reservations to Betty Sanford, 9205 Western Ave., #127, Omaha, NE 68114 by Feb. 26. For information, call her at 399.2001.

Make all checks payable to Visions.

Social, Character and Academic Development in a Nourishing Environment Friedel Students: • Interact frequently and comfortably with adults – • residents of the Rose Blumkin Home and numerous • visitors to Jewish Omaha • Enjoy unique cultural programs – museum field trips, • participation in Jewish community events • Get swimming lessons at the JCC • Communicate in Hebrew with their sister school in Israel • Take part in an annual science fair • Learn to be independent and self-directed, easing the • transition to middle school

Come see for yourself! Entire community invited.

Open House Wednesday, March 7, 7 p.m.

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Page 6

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 23, 2007

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Hadassah founder named to National Women’s Hall of Fame

by GLORIA SHUKERT JONES Hadassah Publicity Coordinator Hadassah’s founder, Henrietta Szold, will be inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame on the weekend of Oct. 6-7, 2007, in Seneca Falls, New York, the birthplace of the American Women’s Movement.

Szold will share this honor with eight other Hall of Fame inductees, five of whom, including Szold, are historical figures.

In addiction to Szold, they are: Master chef Julia Child, philanthropist Catherine Filene Shouse, end-of-life activist Dr. Elisabeth Kubler Ross, and suffragist Martha Coffin Wright.

The other inductees, representing more contemporary fields of endeavor, are Dr. Eleanor K. Henrietta Szold Baum, an engineer; Swanee Hunt, a social reformer; Winona LaDuke, an environmental advocate; and Dr. Judith Pipher, an astronomer.

These nine women will join the 217 already inducted into the NWHF, the first national membership organization recognizing and celebrating the accomplishments of great American women. The NWHF was founded in 1969 in upstate New York, in a town that was the site of the first Women’s Rights Convention in 1848.

According to Hadassah National President June Walker: “Henrietta Szold was a towering figure, not only in Jewish history, but for the history of this country, and she richly deserves this honor. The life and deeds of our founder have always served as a beacon and source of inspiration to Hadassah members everywhere.

With this formal recognition, we -- along with the entire Jewish community and all Americans -- can take great

BIRTH Kim and David Stern announce the Feb. 6 birth of their daughter, Sophia Marie.

She has a sister, Samantha.

Grandparents are Shelley and Skip Stern and Betty and George Girillo.

Great-grandmother is Susie Girillo of Hamdon, CT.

IN THE NEWS Beth Friedman has been promoted to Director of the Business Office at Nebraska Methodist College. As Director, she will manage and supervise all services and operations of the business office. She has worked at Methodist Health System for 12 years.

Former Omahan Harry Friedman has been honored yet again -- this time by National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE). At a dinner in Las Vegas last month, he was one of the honorees for the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award, named for the late NBC chief of programming.

Friedman, who got hooked on the medium of television when his parents purchased one of the first tv sets in 1950, is the well known executive producer of two of the highest rated shows in syndication: “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!”. A graduate of Central High School and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he started his career in Kansas City before moving to Los Angeles and landing a writing job on “Hollywood Squares”.

According to Robert Edelstein who interviewed Friedman for Broadcast and Cable Magazine, “His outof-the-box thinking has kept both series grounded and yet ground-breaking...and his novel audio clues are genius.”

Feldman continued, “Friedman’s success has been no mean feat; he has kept both series on top of the ratings, year after year, through a mix of fearless ideas, respect for the structure of each show and a profound appreciation for his staff. He is humble, self-effacing and generous, a producer in the Tartikoff mold.”

“We look to honor people who display passion and creativity, who love the business and who are visionary,” said NATPE President/CEO Rick Feldman, about the innovators the organization chooses to honor.

pride in her achievements.”

Henrietta Szold was an educator, social pioneer, editor and visionary in modern American and Jewish history.

She was born in Baltimore, MD, at the outbreak of the Civil War. The oldest of eight daughters of Hungarian immigrants, who had recently arrived in the United States. she quickly understood the importance of education and its empowerment.

In 1889, she opened a night school for new Americans to learn English and civics. When the City of Baltimore took over the program nine years later, it had more than 5,000 Jewish and non-Jewish graduates. With this project, Szold initiated the concept of night school in America, and also created a model for immigrant absorption in the United States. Her ability to develop working models that could be employed by others was an innovative gift that would serve her community throughout her lifetime.

In 1912, following a life-changing trip to pre-state Israel, Szold witnessed widespread poverty and disease, which led to the founding of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. She moved to Israel in the mid-1930s and became the first director of Youth Aliyah, which brought thousands of children from Europe to Israel on the eve of World War II. Szold died in Jerusalem at the end of the war.

Though Szold’s achievements were many and varied, her greatest legacy is Hadassah, which promotes health education, social action and advocacy, volunteerism, Jewish education and research, Young Judaea and Israeli connections. For more information, please visit www.hadassah.org Incidentally, in March, Hadassah will celebrate its 95th birthday, along with Women’s History month. An upcoming community-wide event sponsored by the Omaha Chapter of Hadassah, is to be announced at a later date.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT SNAP! Productions presents the Omaha premiere of Doug Wright’s I Am My Own Wife, March 8-April 1 at 3225 California St. This gripping and moving drama tells the true story of playwright Doug Wright’s encounter with Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, an East German transvestite who survived the two most repressive regimes of the Western world -- the Nazis and the Soviet-dominated Communist dictatorship. In this highly theatrical journey, Wright is driven to uncover the secrets of a woman whose very existence seems an impossibility.

Winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2004 Tony Award for Best Play, and a host of other awards, I Am My Own Wife, include the complete set of original miniature furniture used in the Broadway production and prior workshops of this play, created by Omaha resident Paul Pape.

Curtain times are 8 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 6 p.m. on Sundays. The April 1 performance will be at 2 p.m. Reservations may be made by calling 402.341.2757 or on the SNAP! website: www.snap productions.com. Tickets are $15 and $12 for students, senior citizens, and TAG members.

A new comedy short, Fishy, directed and produced by former Omahan Laurie Epstein, will be showing next week as part of the Omaha Film Festival. Fishy is a dark comedy about an eight-year old boy who begs his mom for a dog, but is given a fish instead. The film was written by veteran comedy scribe, Steve Koren (who’s written for Seinfeld, Bruce Almighty, and Click). The film will screen at the Westwood Cinema at 124th and West Center (behind Office Depot) on Friday, March 2, 6 p.m., and Saturday, March 3, 9 p.m.

A 1996 graduate of Burke, Laurie is the daughter of former Omahans Steve and Judy Epstein of Las Vegas.

She has lived in Los Angeles since 2000 where she’s worked as a director’s assistant on various TV and film productions, including: Monk, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation Kazakhstan.

For more information on Fishy, visit: www.fishythemovie.com. For more information on the Omaha Film Festival, visit: www.omahafilmfestival.org.

Call for artists for Field Club of Omaha Art Sale Saturday, April 7. Contact Joe at joelieben@yahoo. com or 676.127 for entry form and information; deadline is Feb. 28.

February 23, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 7

Author warns of the Golems about us What to do when family members Continued from page 2 said, when his friends were bar mitzvahed presidential campaign. His dad was and he wasn’t. He rues not learning become observant caught in the Peekskill, NY riots that erupted when anti-Communist and antiSemitic rioters attacked concertgoers who came to hear civil rights champion Paul Robeson perform.

Life for “a diaper Red baby,” as Estrin calls himself, meant plenty of discussions at the family dinner table, where he was expected to join in the fray.

“Our kitchen Mark Estrin table at dinner was discussions and arguments and I now realize that’s probably a pretty typical Jewish thing and comes out of Talmudic thinking and Talmudic habits...examining the details of everything.”

Being in a Jewish enclave Estrin said “was like living in an Eastern European shtetl. All of those things you read about in the great Yiddish writers were in my neighborhood. And so you never even really thought about being Jewish. That was just the world. There were no contradictions. There was no diversity. There was nothing to compare it with.” His Jewish identity only became an issue, he

Hebrew.

He said he eventually identified himself “a New York Jewish intellectual,” but with no discernible Jewish habits beyond engaging in discourse. He said his Jewishness was “invisible” until his first novel, Insect Dreams: The Half Life of Gregor Samsa, found critics identifying him as “a Jewish writer.”

“I had never thought of that at all,” he said. He consciously explored Jewish themes with his next novel The Education of Arnold Hitler, whose living-out-loud Jewish protagonist encounters the gamut of human experience as a consequence of his loaded name. Estrin takes up the problems inherent in Jews acting as the chosen people.

The author said he didn’t know he was writing a book about a golem until well into the project that became Golem Song.

His novel is one in a long line of books, films and operas to retell the golem legend. Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer and Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Chabon are among those whose work has revisited the golem. Estrin said his next novel Tsim-Tsum has no apparent Jewish themes, but he’s curious to learn if readers see Jewish threads he cannot.

Golem Song is an Unbridled Books title.

You can find out more about Estrin and his work on his web site, web.mac. com/mestrin.

To order a gift subscription to the Press...

Send a check for $33, made out to the Jewish Press, to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154.

For more information on how to connect your out-of-town relatives and friends, call 334.6448.

by MARY BORT for Beth Israel Synagogue Are you someone who has become more observant of Jewish laws that pertain to keeping kosher? Or perhaps you have a loved one or friend who has decided to fully adhere to Shabbat and holiday observances. What do you do if you want to share a meal with one another?

That’s where Beth Israel’s Author Azriela Jaffe guest lecturer, Azriela Jaffe, can help. Jaffe, author of What Do You Mean, You Can’t Eat in My Home?: A Guide to How Newly Observant Jews and Their Less Observant Relatives Can Still Get Along, will speak about these and other issues on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 7:30 p.m., at the home of Zoë Riekes, 13319 Nicholas St. “When families diverge in regard to how they observe laws of keeping kosher and other related issues, it can become complicated for everyone,” explained Rabbi Jonathan Gross. “Sharing a meal is an activity that is integral to any family.

How do we do that if family members observe Jewish law differently?”

Rabbi Gross added, “If one family member strictly follows Shabbat observances, how does the entire family handle these observances? How does a newly observant Jew work with his or her fami-

ly to maintain a peaceful home? Azriela’s book opens the door to the kind of dialogue that is needed in order for everyone to feel more comfortable.”

Jaffe grew up in a secular Jewish home.

In her 30s and 40s, she became more religious and is now an Orthodox Jew. While she and her husband are observant, she has maintained her relationship with her parents and other family members who are secular. Jaffe draws from her experiences to shed light on how newly observant Jews can get along with their less observant relatives. She is the author of a dozen books, among them Two Jews Can Still Be a Mixed Marriage.

“We’re pleased to be able to bring Azriela to Omaha,” said Gross. “She has a lot to say about keeping kosher, holidays, Shabbat and other life events, with an emphasis on respecting one another.

Regardless of where you fall on the ‘observant spectrum,’ you’ll certainly gain insight by coming to her lecture.”

The venue for Jaffe’s lecture, at the home of Zoë Riekes, is one which will provide a unique opportunity for those who attend. “We’re grateful to Zoë for offering her home for this event. Rather than seeing Azriela in a large lecture hall, you’re going to be able to experience her talk in a more intimate setting,” stated Gross. “If you’re interested in hearing her speak, be sure to call and make your reservation soon, since seating is limited.”

Jaffe’s books are available at the synagogue at $20 each. To make reservations, please call the office at 556.6288.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 23, 2007

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All events held at the Jewish Community Center unless otherwise noted. This calendar does not include all community events. For a complete listing, visit the Federation’s website: www.jewishomaha.org (click on calendar). To keep calendar accurate, call Marlene Hert at 334-6437. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the accuracy of the below events.

www.martinizing.com/omaha

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24 Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:15 a.m. at Temple Israel THURSDAY, MARCH 1 Women of the Torah class, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel Adult Study with the Clergy, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Getting More Out of Prayer, noon at Beth El Torah on Wheels, noon at Grace-Mayer Insurance Jewish Thought, 12:45 p.m. at Chabad House Yiddush Group, 1 p.m.

USY Lounge night, 6 p.m. at Beth El Advanced Parshah Study, 7:30 p.m. at Beth Israel Purim Class with Rabbi Gross, 7:30 p.m. at Beth Israel FRIDAY, MARCH 2 Purim Student Celebration at Friedel Jewish Academy Visions Board Meeting, 9:30 a.m.

CDC Purim Spiel, 11 a.m.

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Advanced Parshah Study, 7:30 p.m. at Beth Israel Kosher Kitchen with Rabbi Nadel, 8 p.m. at Beth Israel FRIDAY, MARCH 23 Faith, Medicine & Maimonides with Dr. Nuland, noon Temple Israel Shabbat Comes to Blumkin, 4 p.m.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 23, 2007

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the filling and the dough is better integrated in the

by BATSHEVA POMERANTZ (IPS) Purim wouldn’t be the same without haman- smaller size,” says Benny Mahalla of the marketing divitashen, the triangular pastries with dollops of fillings sion. “Customers prefer the more traditional date and ranging from poppy seeds to nut blends. While Purim poppy seed fillings but we also produce chocolate, which cuisine developed differently in the various countries is almost as popular. Halva filling is appreciated by those where Jews lived, the most popular tidbit today is the with more refined tastes.”

Berman’s markets its hamantashen in chains and grothree-cornered hamantashen.

The word hamantashen is in itself an amalgamation of ceries throughout Israel and recently started exporting meanings, reflecting the original filling. Hamantashen is them to Switzerland.

Israel’s largest bakery, the Angel Bakery, was founded made up of two Yiddish words -- mohn (poppy) and tashen (pockets). It is said that because these cookies in Jerusalem in 1927. Hamantashen are produced about two months before Purim so clients in the sounded like Haman, the villain who was U.S. can receive them in time for the fesintent on destroying the Jewish people tival. during the Persian Empire, they came to “The production process includes both be called hamantashen (Haman’s pockmachine and manual work,” says Yigal ets). The three-cornered treat symbolizes Khayat, deputy manager and head of the three-cornered hat said to have been Angel’s pastry shops. “The machine preworn by Haman when he was senior advipares and cuts the crisp dough into circles. sor to King Achashverosh.

We then add the filling with a special In Israel, hamantashen are known as implement and close the circles manually.”

Oznei Haman (the Ears of Haman).

“The most popular filling is poppy According to the Midrash, Haman’s seed, followed by date and chocolate,” schemes against the Jews were backfiring, explains Khayat. “Halva, blueberry and with his arch-foe Mordechai rising to nut fillings are appreciated by customers power. Haman went to see the king and entered his house bent over with shame and A variety of hamantashen from looking for unique flavors but the tradithe Roladin bakery. tional fillings appeal to our ultrahumiliation -- literally with clipped ears.

IPS photo. Orthodox customers.”

Poppy seeds were used to flavor breads, Unlike Herby’s and Berman’s, Angel customers prefer cakes, rolls and cookies in Europe and the Middle East and for many years -- until fillings, over time, became the larger of the two sizes that they make. A twist on the more varied --were the most popular filling for haman- traditional hamantashen is prepared only a week before tashen. This may well be because Queen Esther is said to Purim. These are the extra large hamantashen made with have eaten only poppy seeds during her three-day fast yeast dough. Each one weighs a hefty 5.5 oz.

Roladin, founded in 1987 by brothers Avi and Kobi while praying for Haman’s decree to annihilate the Jews Hakak, concentrates on hand-made products using only to be revoked.

Hamantashen are available in Israeli shops and bak- top quality, natural ingredients, with no additional flavor eries about a month before the brief Purim holiday. enhancers. An unusual feature of this bakery is the They are an essential part of the mishloah manot (“send- Roladin Visitors Center, set in the heart of the Sharon ing of portions”), which are prepared and sent to family region’s orange groves. This is particularly popular durand friends on Purim and are a highlight of the holiday. ing Purim when visitors of all ages get to view the 10Some add a few individual hamantashen to the meter observation window -- through which Roladin’s mishloah manot plate, while others give an entire box in bakers can be watched preparing hamantashen -- the decorative packaging with a bottle of wine or some giant ovens, each of which bakes 120 trays of goods other edible item, thus fulfilling the obligation of giving simultaneously, and the huge mixers which stir 265 lbs. of flour at a time. The tour ends at a large table where a minimum two portions to one person.

Mothers and children sometimes bake hamantashen the ingredients for making hamantashen await. The pasfrom scratch but Israeli bakeries offer an assortment of try chef provides personal, hands-on guidance in correct preparation methods hamantashen for every taste.

Although, the Sages point out that Purim is not all Herby’s Bakery is owned by Herby Dan, a native of Memphis, Tennessee. He started his baking career in about food, drink and festivities and does actually have a Memphis, finishing the early shift at a bakery before deeper spiritual meaning, most Israelis are intent on polrushing off to court as a lawyer. After moving to Israel ishing off the hamantashen and mishloah manot before and leaving behind his law career, he fulfilled a dream in embarking on Pesach preparations!

An easy recipe for hamantashen: 1989 by opening Herby’s Bakery in Beit El near Jerusalem. Today he starts baking hamantashen around 4 oz. margarine (1 stick) Tu b’Shevat, a month before Purim. Herby’s haman- 1 egg yolk tashen are known for their fine-textured dough with a 1/4 cup sugar 1 tsp. baking powder home-made flavor, filled with various fillings.

In a poll of bakeries conducted two years ago by the 1 packet vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp. sugar moistened Jerusalem Post, Herby’s hamantashen came in first place. with vanilla and left to dry overnight) “We make hamantashen with date, chocolate, strawberry 1/4 cup orange juice and blueberry fillings,” said Dan. “Apricot is particularly 1/4 cup oil popular.” Marketed in Jerusalem and its surroundings, 2 cups flour Herby’s offers two sizes of hamantashen, regular and Combine the ingredients to make a soft dough. Roll out small. “Although there’s more labor involved in baking to the thickness of your choosing. Cut into circles with the the smaller size, people like them because they’re cute.” rim of a cup or glass and place a teaspoon of filling in the Berman’s Bakery, founded 130 years ago in Jerusalem, center. Form triangles by folding the sides inwards towards is known for its bread and baked goods throughout the middle. Bake at 350º for about 30 minutes, until goldIsrael. Its customers also prefer the smaller haman- en brown. (Alternative fillings: date spread with added tashen. “They’re crispier and the proportion between cinnamon for flavor, poppy seeds, halva and nuts.)

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ADL Malashock Project helps educators sort fiction from fact

by BETH KATZ Director of the ADL Malashock Project for Interfaith Affairs Are students allowed under the law to pray in public schools, and if so where and when? What is the difference between teaching religion and teaching about religion? Is Hanukkah as major a holiday for Jews as Christmas is for Christians? Who is a reputable speaker in Omaha on Islam?

Year round, educators in public schools struggle with how to manage the questions and issues that arise when teaching a religiously diverse student body. The AntiDefamation League’s Malashock Project for Interfaith Affairs has developed a training for public school educators that offers guidance and best practices for dealing with these complex issues.

The Malashock Project trained more than 45 educators from the metro area recently. The day-long training began with par ticipants examining their own religious Participants in last month’s training for pub- identity and lic school educators heard from representa- a t t i t u d e s tives of Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and about reliLatter Day Saints (Mormon) faiths. gion and how their identity and attitudes may impact their interactions with students and colleagues. This section was followed by an overview of the legal parameters of dealing with religion in the public schools presented by Alan Potash, ADL Plains States Regional Director.

Participants heard from representatives from the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) communities about basic beliefs and what accommodations might be made for students from those traditions. The training concluded with a presentation on best practices for teaching about religion in a public school and strategies for making schools more inclusive for a religiously-diverse student body.

The Malashock Project for Interfaith Affairs has trained more than 150 educators since it launched in April 2006 it is one of the few organizations in the country to offer training on these issues. Training will be offered in Wichita, Kansas, on April 30, and in Omaha on May 9. If you are interested in learning more or registering, contact me at bkatz@adl.org or 402.333.1303.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 11

Mother of all Purims JOURNAL ENTRY FROM ISRAEL

by TEDDY WEINBERGER If you receive a decent Jewish education in America, you are taught that Purim in Israel is a two-day holiday, with Jerusalem (a walled city from the time of Joshua) celebrating on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Adar, and the rest of the country (and world) celebrating on the 14th day of Adar.

It wasn’t until I got to Israel, however, that I found out that Purim ranges anywhere from a four-day holiday to a six-day holiday (as is the case this year-what I call the Mother of All Purims). Rather than a quick hit-andrun type of Purim, therefore, as the holiday was for me in the States, Purim in Israel never seems to end: tiring for parents, paradise for kids, and a big bonus for Israeli skiers who can jet over to Europe and take advantage of low, off-peak rates and short ski-lift lines.

(A hint for those who are curious: The variation in the length of the Purim holiday has to do with the fact that Shabbat observance is incompatible both with certain aspects of the celebration of Purim and with the Fast of Esther. I would like to elaborate, but if I do, my editor will get mad at me for boring the majority of you.)

All of Israel gears up for Purim. Many countries have masquerade-type holidays, and this is Israel’s. Several weeks before Purim, radio ads broadcast the sorry tale of a harried mother who struggles in vain to come up with costumes for her kids (with a solution provided by the advertiser’s huge selection of Purim outfits). And a month before Purim, all the bakeries of Israel start selling hamantashen (the traditional three-cornered cookie) stuffed with poppy seeds, chocolate, date-nut filling, etc.

In Israel, the process of getting caught up in the Purim spirit is facilitated by the social dynamics of the state.

This was forcefully epitomized for me a few years ago when, five weeks before Purim, my 10-year-old neigh-

bor Shuli knocked on our door. She wanted to know if she could borrow my son Elie’s policeman costume for Purim. A perfectly reasonable request, but remarkable since Shuli happens to be Christian (yes, we have some token gentiles in Givat Ze’ev).

Purim is thus one of those test-cases for seeing what it means to live in a country whose majority culture is Jewish. With the exception of the Arab population, all children in Israel celebrate Purim. Outside of Israel, Purim is largely relegated to the synagogue, and tens of thousands of “unaffiliated� Jewish children do not even know what they're missing.

The 12th day of Adar is special because on this day all the children of Israel come to school in costume.

(Although this year it’s going to happen on the 10th day of Adar -- Feb. 28 --because the Fast of Esther had to be moved from Saturday March 3 to Thursday March 1.

Oops--I said that I was going to spare you.)

The streets are filled with hundreds of beautiful Queen handsome Mordecais, regal King Esthers, Ahashveroshes, and evil Hamans. I have to admit that something unusual happens to me when I see all those children parading around the streets of Israel.

To be sure, it’s easy to be affected by kids in costume (the tension between their small features and their oversized costumes is often poignant), and yet when I see Israel’s Purim kids I don’t just think: “those kids are really cute.� More than on any religious or national holiday, more than when I see all those flags on Israel’s Independence Day, or the many “booths� of Sukkot, or experience the eerie quiet streets on Yom Kippur, more than all of this, when I see those kids walking around in costume, bringing life to the characters from the ancient Book of Esther, I think: Here is Hitler’s real defeat.

Here is wonderful, joyful and incontrovertible evidence that the Jewish people lives, that Am Yisrael Chai.

Happy Purim!

Teddy Weinberger and his wife, former Omahan Sarah Ross, made aliyah to Israel with their five children 11 years ago and live in Givat Ze’ev. He can be reached at: weinross@netvision.net.il.

Rabbi Weisser returns to open Tree of Life Center for Spiritual Growth

by CAROL KATZMAN Editor of the Jewish Press Cantor and then rabbi for 14 years at B’nai Jeshurun in Lincoln until 2002, Michael Weisser has returned to Nebraska. From 2002-05, he served as rabbi of Beth Shalom Synagogue in Auckland, New Zealand ,and then spent 2006 on sabbatical. At the urging of his three children who live in Nebraska, he’s returned to establish the Tree of Life Center for Spiritual Growth.

According to Rabbi Weisser, the Center “offers various types of spirituality rooted in Jewish tradition and welcomes all people. There are periods of meditation,

classes, Sabbath experiences followed by a program and social time. As the program of the Center develops, Jewish educational opportunities will likely become fixtures of the ongoing program.�

Rabbi Weisser added that “the Center is not and does not intend to be in competition with the existing Jewish entities in Lincoln, but offers an alternative for those (primarily the unaffiliated) who might wish to engage in Jewish spirituality in an open, friendly, welcoming and spiritual environment.� He will also be available to officiate at weddings for the unaffiliated and those who are interested in discussion of interfaith issues.

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Page 12

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 23, 2007

You can’t argue with demographics Fifteen years ago, a national survey undertaken by the then-titled Council of Jewish Federations shocked the Jewish world with a report of a 52% intermarriage rate. About six years ago, another report “corrected” the numbers and indicated the rate was slightly lower, but the damage had been done.

Federations and synagogues across the country expanded budgets, planned programs, hired professionals and went after interfaith couples and families with a vengeance. On the flip side, many couples of Jewish origin felt neglected, accusing the organized Jewish world of paying more attention to outreach than “inreach.”

The Reform movement, under the leadership of the late Rabbi Alexander Schindler, went so far as to create a whole department dedicated solely to outreach, a term that has now become singularly associated with programming for the intermarried.

Sadly, that department and all its professionals were eliminated in a series of budget cuts a few years ago. however, many local synagogues picked up the shortfall and hired their own professionals to create outreach on a smaller, and often more human scale.

Was it worth it? The millions of dollars spent on outreach -- and the apparent neglect of inreach? And where do we go from here?

According to the graphic below on this page, the chances of the next generation intermarrying are higher if the parents did. So there’s no arguing with demographics...intermarriage -whether we approve or not -- is here to stay.

Two guests opinions in this week’s Jewish Press have varying opinions and differing suggestions for the future.

Demographer Steven Cohen based his comments on his research on the latest survey, underwritten by philanthropist Michael

Steinhardt (the same donor who helped to get birthright israel off the ground -- the free 10day trip to Israel for 18-26 year-olds who had never been on a peer trip before). Cohen says “there’s nothing new here,” and reminds those interested in Jewish communal life that the numbers and rate of intermarriage will continue to grow. But he does have a caveat: the chances of intermarriage are lowered by a number of variables -- Jewish association (i.e. membership in the Jewish Community Center or synagogue), attending day school, Jewish camp, participating in a Jewish youth group or going on a trip to Israel.

None of these are guarantees, however. So what do we do individually --and collectively?

First of all, we can’t ignore it. We must keep the door open to couples already intermarried and those involved in interfaith relationships.

Conversion is always an option, but as Rabbi Aryeh Azriel once said, “We can’t leave converts dripping at the mikvah door.” That means, even after conversion, we have to reach out (hence the term “outreach”) and let converts know we’re here to answer questions and help them through firsttime Jewish events (i.e. B’nai Mitzvah, weddings, and yes, funerals).

Secondly, while none of the pulpit rabbis in Nebraska will conduct interfaith weddings, the door has been opened wide for these couples to participate in Jewish life. And not just in synagogues, but at the JCC, the Federation and all its agencies.

Of course, now that Temple Israel is engaged in ongoing discussions with the Episcopal Diocese and a new Muslim group, we’re not just talking

about Jewish/Christian/secular couples; Muslim/Jewish couples could add a whole new dimension -- and another set of problems.

Some pundits have declared that in another generation, there will be two Jewish worlds: one halachically Jewish world, the other composed of descendents of intermarriage.

Will the old United Jewish Appeal slogan, “We Are One” will be inaccurate? Will the two worlds overlap at all? What will happen to communal institutions -- and our relationship to Israel? If communities “shrink”, how will this affect funding our institutions? In this day and age, can we -- should we -- close out the world?

How do we impose standards for being Jewish if we ourselves are not willing to live up to them?

Stop looking at intermarriage through rose-colored glasses Jewish identities today are more varied, fluid and mobile than ever. But with this said, we need to recognize that as a group, intermarried Jews are far less active in Jewish life -- however one measures it -- than inmarried Jews.

The large gaps cover number of Jewish friends, raising one’s kids as Jews, belonging to synagogues and JCCs, living with Jewish neighbors, attending worship

than success.”

Sure the Baltimore Jewish population study reports that 62 percent of children in intermarried homes are being raised as Jews, but the rate in San Diego is 21 percent and apparby STEVEN M. COHEN ently less than 40 percent nationwide. Just 15 percent to 20 percent of intermarried couples NEW YORK (JTA) -- Not many are synagogue members, as compared with 60 years ago, it was taken as axiomatic that interpercent of inmarried couples. marriage constitutes a significant threat to While Jewish religious engagement is steady Jewish continuity. For individual families, we or rising, Jewish connections and “collective understood that more often than not, identity” trends are clearly declining. the children of the intermarried would While the inmarried are leading more be raised as non-Jews. And since interintensive Jewish lives, the intermarried as a marrying Jews have fewer children, and group remain much less engaged. Every because most of their children won’t time we hear of an intermarried child who identify as Jews, intermarriage implied maintains an active Jewish life, we must fewer Jews in the next generation. remember that the more Jewishly engaged The community responded admirably, -- people reading this column, for example albeit inadequately, to this challenge.

-- raise children with the best chances of For many good reasons, it expanded maintaining Jewish continuity, even when funding for day schools and trips to they out-marry.

Israel. Synagogues and JCCs became Thus, some Jewishly engaged parents more welcoming and accepting of interassume that the wonderful experiences of married families. It supported a variety their Jewishly committed intermarried of “Jewish outreach” efforts aimed at children must be a sign that we’re “winbringing families closer to Jews and ning the battle.” In reality, most intermarJudaism by teaching Jewish practices ried Jews come from weak Jewish educaand values. In contrast, “interfaith out- Findings from the report, A tale of two Jewries. tional backgrounds, often with only one reach” seeks to make all mixed-married Credit: JTA modification of graphic from A tale of two Jewries Jewish parent. couples feel more accepted, even when they services celebrating Jewish holidays, giving Some outreach advocates say intermarriage choose to celebrate Christian and Jewish holi- one’s children a Jewish education, caring is a fact, feeding the fatalistic view that there’s days in the same household. about Israel, giving to Jewish causes and their nothing that can be done to influence the rate.

Social scientists, myself included, have chart- own assessment of the importance of being Yet there’s much that is being done to affect ed -- and implicitly celebrated -- the growing Jewish. the rate. and exhilarating diversity of Jewish identities, When we ask intermarried Jews, “how Some sociologists claim we can find evicommunities and innovation. Since the early important is being Jewish to you?” as a group dence of high rates of Jewish commitment days of American Jewish sociology and its they score far lower than inmarried Jews. among the intermarried as a group, if only we founder, Marshall Sklare, of blessed memory, Some news from the field has been encourag- measured properly. But on no measures do the we have documented the rises, falls and rises of ing. But for every report of a apparent success, intermarried outscore the inmarried.

Jewish identity over the life course. we have an overall pattern of, let’s call it “less Continued on page 13

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

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Rose-colored glasses Continued from page 12 Some speculate that because Jewish identities are fluid, or because the intermarried have become so numerous, the intermarried as a group may well move toward significant Jewish engagement. Yet no study shows the gap narrowing. Jewish identities are changing -- but the basic import of intermarriage is not. San Francisco, for example, reports that from 1986 to 2004 observance patterns by the inmarried climbed, while those for the intermarried fell, further widening the gap between inmarried and intermarried.

The Steinhardt Foundation/Jewish Life Network published my study, “A Tale of Two Jewries: The Inconvenient Truth for American Jews,” to refute the wishful thinking and false optimism that has grown up around the intermarriage question. (See www.jewishlife.org/pdf/steven_cohen_paper.pdf.) For anybody who’s been reading and writing the scientific analysis over the last few years, there’s nothing new here. It simply reminds us that intermarriage continues to grow in number; that most intermarried couples raise nonJewish children; and that the children of the intermarried overwhelmingly marry non-Jews.

While the inmarried are leading more intensive Jewish lives, the intermarried as a group remain much less engaged.

However, Jewish education -- e.g., day schools, youth groups, Jewish camps, Israel trips -- lowers intermarriage. So does Jewish association, such as experienced by living in areas with Jewish neighbors, attending universities with large Jewish student bodies, and participating in Jewish cultural events, spiritual communities and social justice activities.

I also highlight the growing conviction that we have to do better at promoting conversion, making conversion the ultimate objective of outreach efforts. “A Tale of Two Jewries,” is an advocacy piece. It was not written for the intermarried, nor as a guide for how to engage with the intermarried. Neither was it written in the cautionary style favored by the academy. It is meant to communicate. It is meant for the Jewish policymaking community -- the philanthropists, those who advise them, the federations and other agencies that are making critical funding decisions.

It says intermarriage poses a grave threat to the numbers of communally identifying Jews. But it also says that you can make a difference. You can invest in Jewish education. You can support growing efforts by Jewish young people in social justice, culture and spiritual communities. You can launch experiments to convert more non-Jews to Judaism, such as by paying for community rabbis dedicated to helping prospective converts embark upon Jewish journeys.

You can do all this and more. Or you can watch the Jewish population start to contract as my generation of baby boomers begins leaving this world for the next, to be replaced -- or not -- by a numerically much smaller cohort of Jewish descendants.

The choice is yours.

Steven M. Cohen is a professor of Jewish social policy at the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 13

Don’t write off the intermarried: A case for community outreach

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

by EDMUND CASE and MICAH SACHS NEWTON, Mass. (JTA) -- Charles Dickens’ classic A Tale of Two Cities begins with the famous opening line: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Sociologist Steven Cohen’s new study on intermarriage has a similar title, but a different spirit. Ignoring positive recent evidence from Boston and elsewhere that more intermarried families are raising their children as Jews, Cohen’s “A Tale of Two Jewries” sees only the worst of times when it comes to intermarriage.

It is uninformative to compare the Jewish behaviors and attitudes of inmarried couples with all intermarried couples, as Cohen does. Sadly, one-third of intermarried couples are raising their children in another religion. It necessarily follows that intermarried couples, taken as an undifferentiated whole, are less Jewishly engaged than their inmarried counterparts. Cohen sets up a straw identity chasm between inmarried and all intermarried families, and then knocks down intermarriage as “the greatest single threat to Jewish continuity” -- the soundbite headline for which his paper will be remembered.

What is productive is to compare the Jewish behaviors and attitudes of inmarried couples with those of intermarried couples who are raising their children as Jews. When sociologists Benjamin Phillips and Fern Chertok made that comparison in a 2004 paper titled “Jewish Identity Among the Adult Children of Intermarriage: Event Horizon or Navigable Horizon?” they found greatly reduced gaps.

A child’s Jewish identity is determined not simply by the fact that the parents are intermarried but largely by the environment the family creates, and in particular by their decision to raise the children as Jews. Phillips and Chertok conclude that “Tarring all intermarriages with the same brush” makes the loss of Jewish identity “a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

The logical conclusion for policymakers to draw from an analysis that focuses on “two Jewries” is to write off the intermarried and support only increasing the Jewish engagement of the inmarried. In contrast, the logical conclusion to draw from an analysis showing that intermarried families raising their children as Jews are closer to inmarried families in their Jewish engagement is to support encouraging more interfaith families to raise their children as Jews.

Cohen concludes in “A Tale of Two Jewries” that Jewish education experiences “work.” In that respect he undoubtedly is correct, but measuring their success by the degree to which they reduce intermarriage is a serious mistake. Cohen acknowledges that Jewish education experiences “exert salutary effects even in the event of intermarriage. ... [They serve] to further chances of Jewish continuity [including] by increasing the likelihood that the mixed married couple will raise its children exclusively in Judaism.” It would be far

wiser to publicize the success of Jewish education experiences on that basis.

The reason is that recruitment -how to promote the use of Jewish education -- is the “true challenge,” as Cohen says. But Jewish education can’t be “sold” to the intermarried on the basis that the experiences will reduce the chances that their child will intermarry. “Send your children to our day school/camp/etc. and they won’t succumb to intermarriage, the greatest single threat to Jewish continuity’’ is not a message that resonates with parents who did intermarry and who are raising their children as Jews.

Promoting those experiences on the basis that they increase the chances that the children will make the same Jewish choices as those parents did -- that is a message that is credible, open and inviting. Half of the children who identify as Jews today have one Jewish parent. Transformative Jewish education experiences -- day schools, camps, youth movements and Hillel, Israel travel and study, and intensive adult education -- could have twice the impact, for little extra investment, if they attracted interfaith families and their children.

The timing of Cohen’s paper is particularly unfortunate because after the recent finding that 60 percent of Boston’s interfaith families are raising their children as Jews, policymakers and funders have a very clear road map to follow to seek comparable results everywhere: Fund the Reform movement’s outreach staff and programming, as the Boston federation does, and foundations do in San Francisco.

Every Union for Reform Judaism regional office could have a substantial outreach effort like those cities.

Back the efforts of Rabbi Charles Simon’s Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs and its pioneering kiruv work in the Conservative movement. Spur the JCC world to explicitly communicate the message that the JCCs welcome everyone in the Jewish community including interfaith families, and to have at least a part-time professional devoted to offering outreach programs in the JCCs. Support independent outreach organizations.

Fund more evaluations of the impact of outreach programs -- every one of the few done to date shows increased Jewish engagement after participation.

The Jewish community has an opportunity to make this the best of times concerning intermarriage, not the worst. Seeing intermarried families as a separate, inferior portion of our population, as Cohen does, leads to a dead end; intermarried families, like anyone else, will not affiliate with a group that demeans them and offers little programming to welcome them. The key to Boston’s successful targeting of interfaith families is not the actual outreach programs; those flowed from a communal choice to adopt a welcoming and inclusive attitude toward interfaith families and to respond to intermarriage positively. Which shall we be: two Jewries or one?

Edmund Case is the president and publisher of Interfaithfamily.com; Micah Sachs is its online managing editor.

A child’s Jewish identity is determined not simply by the fact that the parents are intermarried but largely by the environment the family creates...

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Page 14

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 23, 2007

Candlelighting Friday, February 23, 5:50 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

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

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE FRIDAY: Musical Kabbalat Shabbat service, 6 p.m. BESTT fourth and fifth graders will participate in the service.

SATURDAY: Morning services, 9:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation (3-7), 10 a.m.; K’tantan (grades K-2), 10:45 a.m.; Kiddush is sponsored by Beth El; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 5:55 p.m.

W E E K D AY S E R V I C E S : Sundays, 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.; weekdays 6:55 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

TOT SHABBAT & LUNCH: Saturday, Feb. 24, 11:15 a.m.noon, led by Esther Katz. Lunch will follow: $5 for adults; free for children six and younger. RSVP for lunch by contacting the office.

SUNDAY: Bible Discussion Group, 10 a.m.; Living Hebrew, 10 a.m., with Susi FrydmanLevin; “The Weekly Parasha: It’s All About Me?!,” 10 a.m., led by Andy Greenberg; “Jewish Pot Pourri,” 11 a.m., led by Frydman-Levin.

THURSDAYS, noon: Rabbi Levin leads Getting More Out of Prayer: Insights into the Siddur.

BESTT: Third grade family program, 10 a.m. to noon.

SISTERHOOD HAMANTASHEN SALE: Orders will be ready for pick-up in the social hall on Sunday, Feb. 25, 11 a.m.noon, or March 4, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

HAZAK PROGRAM: Sunday, 1:30 p.m. (note time change); presentation by Irwin Goldenberg on healthy living. Cost: $3.50 per person. For more information, call Gloria Goodman, 333.3351.

NOTIONS OF THE AFTERLIFE: Four-week minicourse scheduled for 7 p.m. every Wednesday in March at Beth El, led by Dr. Guy Matalon. Topics include concepts such as messianism, resurrection of the dead, immortality and non-existence.

Cost is $23, discounted to $18 for donors to the Federation’s Annual Campaign. To register or for more information, contact Margie Gutnik in 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,

5:50 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 Jack and Bette Kozlen in honor of their anniversary; Mincha, 5:30 p.m. followed by Suedat Shlishit with Gemara class; Havdalah, 6:52 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Rabbi Nadel will teach “Unmasking Purim: The History behind the Purim Story,” 9:45 a.m.; Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m.

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

MONDAY: Hebrew Reading Crash Course, 7:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Author Azriela Jaffe will speak about her book, “What Do You Mean You Can’t Eat in my Home?” at 7:30 p.m. at the home of Zoë Riekes.

Seating is limited. Please make reservations with the office.

THURSDAY: Women of the Torah class, 9:30 a.m. Rabbi Gross will teach, “The Whole Megillah: A Scholarly Look into the Book we Read on Purim”; Advanced Parsha Study, 7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY, March 2: Deadline for ordering Shmurah Matzah for Passover. Matzah comes in onepound boxes (about 8 whole matzahs) for $18 per box.

BEYT SHALOM FRIDAY: Shabbat in the Home.

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

FRIDAY: Service, 7 a.m.; Program for Students, 5:25 p.m.

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

SUNDAY: Service, 8:30 a.m.; Living Torah, 9:30 a.m., 20minute video broadcast; Mishpacha Mornings, 10:15 a.m.

WEEKDAYS: Minyan, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: W.O.W. Purim Craft Shop: It’s All In the Packaging, 10 a.m.; Maamar Kabbalistic Insights for Women, 12:15 p.m.; Halacha, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY: W.O.W. Prayer Circle Tehillim & More, 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.

Events and programs are open to the community. For information or to register, call the office.

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

FRIDAY: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m. led by Rabbi Emanuel with oneg following provided by Cindy and Rick Kohn.

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

SUNDAY: LJCS K-1, 9:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. at B’nai Jeshurun; Grades 2-7, 9:30 a.m.noon and Hallah High, 10 a.m.noon at Tifereth Israel; Winter Lecture Series, 7-9 p.m. at Unitarian Church, 6300 ‘A’ St. Topic is “Christian Environmental Worldviews and the Implications for Climate Change Policy” with Prof. Janel M. Curry, Dean of Research and Scholarship, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI. WEDNESDAY: Hebrew class (grades 2-7), 4-6 p.m. at TI. THURSDAY: Board of Trustees Meeting, 7 p.m.

ADULT EDUCATION “Judging Judges -- New Approaches to Reading the Bible,” on Sundays, Feb. 25, and March 18 and 25, from 7-9 p.m.

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

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m., led by Alan Shulewitz.

TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, Rabbi Eric Linder, and Cantor Wendy Shermet will lead the service; Iftekhar Hai will give the D’var Torah on “Jewish Values in Islam.”

SATURDAY: Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:15-10:15 a.m.; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m.; Ben Hale, son of Debbie and Pat Hale, will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah.

SUNDAY: Teacher Learning Coffee, 9:30 a.m.; Religious School (K-6), 10 a.m.-noon.; Cradle Roll, 10 a.m.; Grade 2 VIP Seder,

10:30 a.m.; Congregational Conversation, 10 a.m. to discuss the Temple Israel Building Project and the Tri-Faith initiative.

TUESDAY: Adult B’nai Mitzvah, 6:30–8 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Grades 3-6, 46 p.m.; All School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Family School, 6-8 p.m.; Grades 712, 6-8 p.m.; Tapestry Workshop, 4 p.m., explores art materials and the possibilities of creating the Temple tapestry one block at a time. A suggested minimum donation of $18 is appreciated; Jewish Notions of the Afterlife, 7 p.m. Contact Program Director Rosie Zweiback, 556.6536 or rzweiback@templeisraelomaha.c om, to register. Fee is $18.

THURSDAY: “Adult Study with the Clergy” with Rabbi Eric Linder, 10-11:30 a.m.; Torah on Wheels, noon at Grace Mayer Insurance. Contact the Temple office at 556.6536 for reservations. Cost is $6.

IT EEZ TIME FOR PURIM SPIEL AND DISCO, Saturday, March 3, 7:30 p.m. Featuring a special guest from Kazakhstan.

Bring an appetizer to share, wear a costume, and disco dance like Borat. High Five!

NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN FRIDAY: Minyan, 5:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m.

TIFERETH ISRAEL Services conducted by Rabbi Royi Shaffin.

Minyan, MONDAY and THURSDAY, 9 a.m.

FRIDAY: Services, 6:30 p.m. with a Shabbat dinner following.

SATURDAY: Weekly Parashah class, 8:30 a.m.; Morning service, 9:30 a.m. followed by Shabbat lunch and Talmud class.

SUNDAY: LJCS K-1, 9:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. at B’nai Jeshurun; Grades 2-7, 9:30 a.m.noon and Hallah High, 10 a.m.noon at Tifereth Israel.

WEDNESDAY: Men’s Lunch Group meets at the Knolls, 12:30 p.m. Call Yale Gotsdiner at 423.7066; Hebrew class (grades 27), 4-6 p.m. at TI. ADULT EDUCATION Monday evenings, 7-9 p.m.

Halakhically Speaking: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Jewish Way Of Life But Were Afraid To Ask with Rabbi Shaffin.

Expert on bioethics to share reflections on Maimonides

by CHERYL KRUID Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland will be speaking on “Faith, Philosophy and Medicine: Reflections on Maimonides” as a part of the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues and the annual Myer & Dorothy Kripke Lecture Series next month at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

This event, on Thursday, March 22, 7 p.m. at the Lied Center on the campus of UNL, is sponsored by the E.N. Thompson Forum and the Norman and Bernice Harris Center for Judaic Studies

and is free and open to the public.

Nuland is Clinical Professor of Surgery at the Yale School of Medicine and Fellow of the university’s Institution for Social and Policy Studies. He serves on the executive committees of Yale’s Whitney Humanities Center and its Interdisciplinary Bioethics Project.

Prof. Nuland is a graduate of New York University, and the Yale School of Medicine, from which he received his M.D. in 1955.

After training in surgery at the Yale-New Haven Hospital, he

practiced and taught there for three decades. He considers the bedside and operative care of more than 10,000 patients to be the most rewarding work of his career. He continues to teach bioethics and medical history to undergraduates and medical students.

Dr. Nuland is the author of eight books, including Doctors: The Biography of Medicine and The Wisdom of the Body.

He is also the author of How We Die, a reflection on the modern way of death, which was on the

New York Times best-seller list for 34 weeks. This book won the National Book Award and was a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize and the Book Critics Circle Award.

Other events include a Pre-Talk on March 22, 6:30 p.m., at the Lied Center, a lunceon on Friday, March 23 at the Jewish Community Center, and a followup discussion to be held at St. Paul United Methodist Church, Lincoln, on March 23, 7 p.m.

(Dr. Nuland’s film will be shown at 6 p.m. prior to the discussion.)

February 23, 2007

On giving and giving and giving

SPARKS FROM THE WORD

by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parashat Teruma There is no doubt that Moses was the greatest fundraiser in history. You thought I was about to say “the greatest religious genius” or something like that?

Yes, that too.

Moshe Rabbeinu was certainly a master teacher, but think for a moment about fundraising.

Our Sidra opens with the Lord’s command to Moses to ask the people to build a tabernacle --a mishkan -- a “holy place.” so that He might have a special space among the people . (Not that the Lord needs it; the people needed it as a symbol of God’s presence.)

Very well. The gifts were not to be in checks or stock certificates with large capital gains. The gifts were to be in kind -- gold, silver, copper, semi-precious stones, fine fabrics and animal skins, oil, special spices and acacia wood.

We will not busy ourselves with questions about how a slave people fleeing into a desert had all those things at hand. The text says that they brought it all. And now the sanctuary, with all its furnishings and appurtenances and sacred vestments for the priests (running into the next Sidra, Tetzaveh) were constructed, prepared, devised by skilled workmen, artisans and artists.

When all these accounts are finished, the text tells us, quite matter-of-factly, that Moses had the word passed

around that enough material had been brought.

Bring no more!”

What fundraiser have you ever heard of who said, “Bring no more!”? Now and then, we hear of the leader of this fund or that who says, delightedly, “We have reached our goal, and more!” But no one ever says, “Bring no more!” No one, except Moses.

Dorothy and I spent a winter (at the Seminary’s request) in Palm Beach, largely a series of golf courses and places for golfers to live. Well-to-do vacationers expected (lo! American-Jewish life!) one campaign to follow another all winter long, and they weren’t disappointed. Jewish life is such that Jews accept the needs and expect the “drives.”

When we get back to the text, we are chagrined at what happened when Moses disappeared in the mountain of God for 40 days. The people, uneasy at the disappearance of their leader for so long, gave gold, again, and quickly, to construct a Golden Calf. They proclaimed, “These are your gods, O Israel.”

Much is to be said about idolatry that space restrictions prevent from discussing here. But this must be said: Gifts for the Lord’s sanctuary and gifts for idolatry! Where is the common sense? Where is discriminating responsibility?

Do we too not need these questions? Do we put our monies in the best possible places? Do we waste some of our gifts in scams? Do we identify causes with permanent value, causes that support what we cherish? Do we build sanctuaries or Golden Calves?

We need to give generously, but we need to think.

(Editor’s note: this column originally appeared in the Feb. 19, 1999 issue of the Jewish Press.)

BERNICE HARRIS Bernice Harris, who was born in Omaha in 1919, died in San Diego, CA, on Feb. 8.

She is survived by her husband, Norman Harris, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Orphaned when she was a young child, Bernice and her sister Sylvia (Silverman) Klass were raised by their grandparents. Bernice and Norman met in 1938 and were married in June 1941. During World War II, except for 1942 when her husband was overseas, she

worked for the U.S. War Department until Norman was discharged in early 1946.

A teacher, an artist, a decorator, and a writer, Bernice also collected American Indian pottery and ignited her husband’s interest in it. Much of the pottery is displayed at the Harris’s home in San Diego where they have lived since 1965. Some of the collection was donated to a permanent exhibit, “Magic in Clay,” at Morrill Hall, Nebraska’s largest natural history museum, at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

In 1993, Bernice Harris was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Nebraska for her support of various projects, educational endeavors, scholarships and endowments. The Harrises founded the Norman and Bernice Harris Center for Judaic Studies at UNL in 1991 and established scholarships for graduate students involved in cancer research, and for students enrolled at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing.

Memorials to the University of Nebraska Foundation or the Norman and Bernice Harris Center for Judaic Studies at UNL.

History conference features panel on Jewish Omaha

by DR. MOSHE GERSHOVICH Associate Professor, UNO Missouri Valley History Conference Program Chairman History enthusiasts, scholars, and students from across the metropolitan Omaha area, Nebraska, the Midwest, and the nation are invited to participate in and celebrate the 50th Annual Missouri Valley History Conference (MVHC). The History Department of the University of Nebraska at Omaha has been hosting the event since 1958. It is one of the largest and oldest history conferences in existence in the country.

The conference will be held Thursday-Saturday, March 1-3, at the Embassy Suites Old Market/ Downtown, 555 So. 10 St. All areas of history will be discussed in the conference’s 52 panel discussions.

One panel which readers may find particularly interesting is “Aspects in the History of Jewish Omaha,” Friday, March 2, 8:30-10:30 a.m. The panel will

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DEATHS JULIUS FROOM Julius Froom died at the age of 95. A memorial service was held Feb. 15 at the Blumkin Home chapel.

He was preceded in death by his sister and brother-inlaw, Minnie and Phil Freeman.

He is survived by his cousins, Harold and Linda Mann, Maurice and Rosalie Meiches, and Lucille Frohm, and many nieces and nephews.

Memorials to the Julius Froom and Minnie and Phil Freeman Endowment Fund at the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

include two papers; the oral history of Jewish South Omaha and the life of Rose Blumkin. Those interested in attending only that panel may purchase a $10 “OnePanel Pass” at the MVHC registration desk in the hotel.

Fred Donner, professor of history at the University of Chicago and notable scholar of early Islamic history, will be the featured speaker at the March 2 MVHC luncheon. His talk is entitled: “New Views on the Origins of Islam.”

An extensive book and media exhibit, featuring several commercial publishers and university presses, as well as regional historical museums and societies will also be on display at the conference. For more information or to receive a copy of the program, contact me at: 544.3175 or via e-mail at: mgershovich@mail.unomaha.edu.

You can also find the program online at www.unomaha.edu/mvhc/program.php.

IRS PUBLIC auction: 11 parcels of real estate including 6 parcels of unimproved farmland. For more information go to www.irsauctions.gov or email steven.d.hopkins@irs.gov, 651-308-5260.

HEATSOURCE1 OUTDOOR wood furnaces. Used, refurbished, or new now available at great savings! Heat your home, shop, or business with a Nebraska made product. 1888-628-3533.

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LLAMAS FOR sale: Pet show quality; also Llamas for wool production. Call 1-800-7356812, ask for Randy or visit our website: www.rtcllamaranch.com.

1969 MUSTANG mach 1 428 to be auctioned at the 26th annual Cox Collector Car Auction April 20 and 21, Branson, Missouri. For consignment information: www.bransonauction.com, 800-335-3063.

PUPPIES, www.petdoctorlincoln.com. Favorite breeds arriving daily. Vet checked and guaranteed. Call 402-464-9448. Pet Doctor, 66th and “O”, Lincoln, NE. HOT TUB buyers. Buy direct from builder, save $1,500 to $2,000. For Price List and $1,000 discount coupon call 1-800-869-0406. Spas, 2645 “O” Street, Lincoln, NE, goodlifespa.com.

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DISTRIBUTORS NEEDED: Teeco Water Services is seeking distributors for Cedar Springs drinking water. Processed and bottled near Stanton, NE. Call Tim at 888-4395030.

TOWN OF Lusk is accepting applications for Police Chief. Salary based on experience, exceptional benefit package. Contact clerk’s office at 307-334-3612 for application package. EOE. COSMETOLOGISTS, NEW stylists. Nail techs welcome. Salary guarantee plus commission, 12 year career plan, flexible hours, hiring bonus. Six positions. The Mane Event Spa Salon, Cozad, 308-784-3330.

MASTER PLUMBER needed, Kearney area. Must have valid drivers license. Holiday pay, vacation and retirement. Training on new technology, Warren-T Drain Cleaning and Plumbing, 308-338-5259.

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Page 16

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 23, 2007

Easy to see why kids follow the Pied Piper of tzedakah

by CAROL KATZMAN Editor of the Jewish Press Danny Siegel has logged more miles, spoken to more groups, and written more books about tzedakah and mitzvah projects than anyone on the planet. The “tzedakah guru” was back in Omaha last week for his umpteenth appearance, this time at Temple Israel.

Speaking in his own inimitable style, Siegel engages a group of 100+ kids and their parents as part of a Family School presentation on making mitzvahs. But before beginning on his list of “400 things we need to cover,” Siegel tells the group he was recently diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

And though it would have been helpful to have been diagnosed years ago, he adds, being ADD has also helped him reach thousands of kids (and adults) across North America.

His enthusiasm for changing people’s lives through mitzvah work is infectious.

“How many kids have parents who are doctors?” he asks, counting dozens of hands that shoot up. Then he adds, “Not too long ago, a boy asked me, ‘Does a rabbi count?’ And I thought for a minute about how many times I had asked that question over the years. So, now I’ll ask you again: How many kids here have parents in ‘helping’ professions?” More hands shot up this time: children of nurses, social workers, and yes, rabbis.

Siegel turns his attention to a large doll with a special attribute and Abby Schondelmeyer is the lucky recipient.

“What’s different about this doll,” Siegel

asks Abby, who answers, “She can hug.”

The doll, sold in Jerusalem, has Velcro on her hands, enabling the “huggee” to hang the doll around her neck or on her back. Siegel explains that it was created in the aftermath of the suicide bombings in Israel, for little kids who “needed someone to hug.”

Siegel’s “hugs” come in many forms...from handing out dollar bills to kids who promise to purchase a plant for an elderly resident of a nursing home “so they’ll have something to take care of,” to collecting donations to purchase the well known book, Good Night Moon, for kids in hospitals and shelters.

“Did you know that this book is almost never given to book drives?” Siegel smiles. “Why? Because everyone loves it, so they keep it. Well, what about buying it for those who really need it?”

Hands shoot up and six kids promised to buy the book and give it to Rabbi Aryeh Azriel (Temple’s senior rabbi who is sitting in the back) to distribute.

Next: cell phones for victims of domestic violence. “You have a week to bring them in and give them to Rabbi Azriel,”

Above: Tzedakah guru Danny Siegel helps Abby Schondelmeyer “wear” a doll that hugs. Siegel urges kids to get involved in mitzvah projects at Temple Israel’s Family School last week.

Siegel says. “If you can’t find the charger, bring the phone anyway. And if you can’t find a phone, bring the charger!”

He gives the same instructions for infant car seats. Sister Ann Brooks in Jackson, Mississippi, who is also a doctor, taught Siegel “that if, at the end of the day, all we do is save four babies from being hurt or dying in car accidents, that in itself would be a good reason for my visit here. And where will you bring them?”

“Rabbi Azriel’s office,” the crowd answers.

At this point Siegel hands out brochures and photos. Some are before and after photos of teens who donated their hair to Locks of Love, an organization that collects at least 10” of hair to make wigs for children with hair loss from

chemotherapy or disease. At least a dozen hands shoot up of those who have done this mitzvah.

Then come the brochures for Therapeutic Horseback Riding in Israel and camping trips for the disabled and dozens of other worthwhile projects. In the end, Siegel has obtained commitments from nearly everyone in the Temple sanctuary to take on a new mitzvah or raise tzedakah funds for a new cause -- from the $200,000 raised by two Massachusetts Bat Mitzvah girls selling bracelets for tsunami relief to Grant Glazer’s Bar Mitzvah project to donate pens, pencils and notebooks to African school children.

Siegel has been running his Ziv Tzedakah Fund (www.ziv.org) for more than 25 years. He started with $955 to give away on a summer trip to Israel. The fund, which has passed the million-dollar mark, means “radiance or light” or as Siegel notes, “When you donate your hair or give someone a plant or raise money for people who need it, you’re a Mitzvah Hero; you light up someone’s life.”

Siegel, who has two new books out -Giving Your Money Away: How Much, How To, Why, Where, and To Whom, and Who Me? Yes You! Danny Siegel’s Workbook -- closes his presentation asking about what could be done with crayons to make them “mitzvah crayons.”

“Give them to sick kids in hospitals!” says one young participant. “Collect them for shelters,” says another. “Get them from restaurants that leave them on the tables for us to use,” adds a third.

And where should we bring all these crayons?” Siegel asks.

“Rabbi Linder’s office,” Rabbi Azriel answers with a smile.

Send Passover Greetings This year’s Passover Edition is The Blumkin Home at 25: A New Beginning You can send your greetings through these very special ads that will run in our annual Passover issue.

Each ad can be personalized with your name, the names of your children or your grandchildren.

Just fill out the form below and send or bring it to the Jewish Press office.

But hurry these ads will only be accepted through March 5, 2007.

Passover Greetings Form Name ___________________________________________________________________________________ Address _________________________________________________________________________________ City ____________________________________________ State ____________ Zip ____________________ Check the size of ad you would like: ❍ A ❍ B ❍ C Use the lines below to list your family members names you would like on your Passover ad.

A $

36

B

Passover Greetings from Your names go here

Passover Greetings from

$

47

Your names go here

C Passover Greetings $

70

__________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________

Please send a check for the amount listed along side the different sized ads or you can drop the form and payment off at the Jewish Press office in the JCC. Jewish Press, 333 South 132 Street, Omaha, NE 68154

from Your names go here