February 24, 2006

Vol. LXXXV No. 24 Omaha, NE

Celebrating 85 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa

26 Shevat, 5766 February 24, 2006

THE FALASH MURA’S FATE

Ethiopians Wait to Immigrate as Israel, U.S. Jews Plan Their Future

by URIEL HEILMAN ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (JTA)--Just outside the gates of the Jewish aid compound in this city, a shantytown of decrepit tin shacks, overcrowded homes and debris-filled byways beckon the reticent visitor.

Barefoot children stumble amid the flotsam, part of the milieu of stray dogs, mule-drawn carts and mendicants that comprise the dusty street scene in this part of Addis Ababa.

Here, among the fetid smells and homes fashioned from scrap metal, live several thousand Falash Mura -Ethiopians linked to Jews whose progenitors converted to Christianity but who now are returning to Judaism in a bid to immigrate to the Jewish state.

They’ve come here and to slums in the city of Gondar from their rural villages, abandoning their farms and occupations as blacksmiths, potters and weavers to live near the aid compounds and, more importantly, to be close to the Israeli officials in whose hands their fate rests.

Every month, some 300 of the luckier ones are selected to be taken to Israel.

Once there, they are granted Israeli citizenship, taught Hebrew and Judaism while residing in absorption centers. In due course, they are provided with about 90 percent of the funds they need to buy

Falash Mura in Gondar, Ethiopia, wait in line on Jan. 24, for food distributed daily by a program funded by the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry.

Credit: Uriel Heilman/JTA a home. ate poverty by way of a visa to Israel -- has It is a generous package, and one that stalled plans to end mass Ethiopian immihas more than a few Israelis and American gration to Israel by the end of 2007.

Jews concerned there will never be an end The Israeli Cabinet decided back in to Ethiopian aliyah.

February 2003 to bring up to 26,000 This fear--and stories of Ethiopians per- Falash Mura remaining in Ethiopia to petrating deceit to escape Africa’s desper- Israel. A year ago, Israel agreed to expe-

Helicopters, Sergeants, and K-9 Units all Part of CDC Safety Week at JCC

by LYNN BATTEN the most prevalent is JCC Publicity Associate teaching the children to As the entryway swelled associate emergency perwith groups of 2-4 year sonnel with the services olds, Sergeant Shayna they provide rather than Ray stood in the front of the fearful situations in the room ready to address which they are often the crowd. She, along required to work. Giving with other members of the children an opportuthe Omaha Police nity to meet law enforceDepartment, visited the ment officers in a fun and Pennie Z. Davis Child relaxed atmosphere is one Development Center earof the ways the CDC staff lier this month in order to attains this goal. The kick off the CDC’s Safety hope is that providing the Week. children with such an Once the children setencounter will allow them tled into their seats, to personally identify with Sergeant Ray began her the officers and replace Sergeant Jeff Theulen, a member of the air support unit of the presentation with an their fears with a sense of Omaha Police Department, spoke to children, teachers and parintroduction and explanafamiliarity. ents at the JCC’s Child DEvelopment Center. tion of her duties as a After Sgt. Ray finpolice officer. After a brief show and tell of the items on ished her presentation, two new visitors entered the her belt, Sergeant Ray fielded questions from the audi- room. Deputy Ted Fitzsimmons of the Douglas County ence. As the topic of conversation turned to emergency Sheriff’s Department K-9 Unit and his dog Gizmo procedures and when to call 911, she turned the ques- introduced themselves to the crowd. Gizmo sat at the tions back on the crowd. side of Deputy Fitzsimmons as the children learned “It has to be a pretty big emergency, right?” she stat- about his duties as a police dog. From searching for ed. “We don’t call 911 when mom asks us to make our drugs to searching for missing persons, the children bed.”Her response, met with giggles from the children, learned that the purebred German Shepard in the room illustrated just one of the ways in which she was making was not so much a scary creature as much as he was safety fun. another helpful element of the Omaha Police Force.

Safety Week is observed with many goals in mind, yet Continued on page 2

Inside Opinion Page see page 12

This Week: Monthly Calendar: Pages 8-9 Kotok, Bundy Wow Crowd with Stories from Iraq: Page 3

Nebraska Congressman Visits Israel, Iraq: Pages 6-7

dite the pace of aliyah for the 20,000 the state was told remained, setting in place detailed procedures for an operation that would double the rate of aliyah to 600 persons per month, bringing all those eligible by the end of 2007.

But so far none of the plan’s key phases have been put in motion, a fact many attribute to the disappearance of the plan’s key political champion: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

“Sharon was the engine behind this. He pushed this through. He took the decisions. He set the timetable,” said Ori Konforti, the senior official in Ethiopia for the Jewish Agency for Israel, which is responsible for immigration to Israel.

“Now there is no engine for this.”

A 36-hour visit last week to Ethiopia by a delegation of some 70 American Jewish federation leaders aimed to change that.

The goal of the five-day trip to Ethiopia and Israel was to motivate federation leaders to go out and raise money needed to reach the multi-million dollar goal.

UJC’s hope is that moving forward on that pledge will prompt Israel to begin expediting Ethiopian aliyah.

“The money needs to be there, and all the rest flows,” Howard Rieger, President and CEO of UJC said in an interview.

“Frankly, I think we came to the concluContinued on page 4

Israeli TV Anchor to Highlight Showing of 10 Days in Gaza

by MARY SUE GROSSMAN Administrator for The Center for Jewish Education He has covered two Intifadas. He was targeted and injured from a Molotov cocktail. He was on-screen, live from the scene, throughout all the unfortunate terror attacks and bus explosions. He has covered all the investigations in recent years of Israeli politicians, including those of Ariel Sharon. During the summer’s pullout from Gaza, Moshe Nussbaum he reported live from settlements starting with the operation’s first day.

Moshe Nussbaum is senior correspondent for police, crimes, and internal security affairs for Israel’s Channel 2 News. After 10 years of radio journalism with the Voice of Israel, he became one of the founders of Channel 2 News TV in 1993, the first private television station in the country. After only two years of broadcasting, it was during Rabin’s assassination coverage that Nussbaum helped make CH2 the top news provider in Israel, with ratings not seen in Israeli broadcasting before.

The Center for Jewish Education will welcome Nussbaum to Omaha for the showing of 10 Days in Gaza on Wednesday, March 1, 7 p.m. in the JCC Continued on page 7

Next Month: Home & Garden Special Issue on March 10 Move Over Hamantaschen!

Gifts for Purim: Page 11

First Reports Roll In from Omaha’s Decathalon: Page 16

Page 2

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 24, 2006

Tony Kimball P REMIER E NTERTAINER

402/339-3535 800/843-3866 7877 “L”St.• Suite 2 www.cmusic.com

Our DJs Make The Difference!

North America’s Most Popular Disc Jockey Service

CBSHOME Real Estate congratulates Kimberly & Gary Kuklin Top Performers 2005 All Company Top Referral Agents – Jan.

Please contact us for all your real estate needs.

Gary

Kimberly

402.880.1887 402.241.5955 gary@garykuklin.com kimberly@kimberlykuklin.com

WHY NOT DO IT THE EASY WAY?

NORM’S

DOOR SERVICE GARAGE DOOR SPECIALISTS SALES AND SERVICE COMMERCIAL • INDUSTRIAL RESIDENTIAL

6200 South 90TH St. at 90th & Washington

Omaha, Nebraska

402/331-8920

DON’T MISS THE DEADLINES FOR SCHOLARSHIP & GRANT APPLICATIONS! March 1, 2006 Sokolof Scholarships March 15, 2006 Academic Excellence Scholarship Undergraduate & Graduate Studies Scholarships April 1, 2006 Jewish Summer Residential Camp Scholarships Jewish Community Center Camp Scholarships Jewish Experience Grant Applications

Fund Helps Meet Ever-Increasing Cost of Summer Camp

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Foundation Public Relations Coordinator Sherman Neff considered Jewish summer camp a place for discovering interests, practicing leadership skills, and strengthening Jewish identity. Neff, who died in December 2003, “believed in Jewish summer camping as an ideal background for creating long-term friendships while sharing experiences that contribute to physical, intellectual, and spiritual maturity,” said his wife, Jeanie Neff, in a Jewish Press interview last year. He felt his own camping experiSherman Neff ences “contributed to his development as a responsible, independent Jewish adult,” she added. He was happy to see his grandchildren, Andrew and Katherine Rubin, enjoy Jewish camping.

Jeanie Neff knew it would please her husband “to assist other children to have similar opportunities” so she established the Sherman Frederick Neff Camp Scholarship Fund to provide assistance for youth to attend Jewish summer camps.

“To maintain and strengthen Jewish identity, it takes many different opportunities and programs such as Jewish day school, synagogue religious school, youth group--and that’s a financial burden,” pointed out Guy Matalon, executive director of The Center for Jewish Education. “If we add summer camp, it’s even more expensive. We’re fortunate to have in our community, financial support like the Sherman Neff Fund, for resi-

CDC Safety Week Continued from page 1 could be heard in the disThe integration of various tance. Soon Abel One, one of officers, such as Deputy six OPD helicopters, was Fitzsimmons and Gizmo, directly overhead and ready into the CDC environment to land. also provided a valuable aid Once grounded and secure, for the teachers. Having Sergeant Jeff Theulen, a members of the community member of the air support visit the CDC garnered the unit of the OPD, exited the attention of the children and aircraft and walked over to put a special emphasis on the address the group. Sgt. topic of safety. To suppleTheulen then talked about ment this focus, many addieverything from safety to tional areas of safety were science as he explained his focused on throughout the job and what makes his heliweek. Topics such as copter fly. stranger dangers, what to do Sgt. Shayna Ray demonstrated the tools of her trade--a pair As his presentation drew to if separated or lost from an of handcuffs! Ray was last year’s JCC Volunteer of the Year. a close, the children were adult, and when to ask for police assistance, were incor- placed into small groups and taken up to get a close look porated into the CDC classroom curriculum. at the helicopter. Some peered into the cockpit, while othBack in the entryway, Sergeant Fitzsimmons and ers reached out to touch the helicopters shiny exterior, litGizmo finished up their presentation as the children erally giving them another hands-on lesson in safety. began to bundle up in their jackets. The grand finale was To view additional photos from the CDC Safety Week, about to take place outdoors on the soccer fields adja- go to www.jccomaha.org and click on the Photo Gallery link.For more information about the Pennie Z. cent to the CDC. Once outside, the children huddled in the parking lot Davis Child Development Center, contact Corey with their eyes focused on the sky. The roar of an engine Kirshenbaum, CDC Director, at 334.6415.

Beth Israel Celebrates Birthday of the Trees

by MARY BORT for Beth Israel Synagogue A well-attended TuB’Shevat celebration at Beth Israel included a seder, dinner, a Bracha Bee (where kids demonstrated their knowledge of brachot by answering which bracha is recited over different foods), a Tu

Applications can be printed from the Jewish Federation of Omaha website at www.jewishomaha.org.

Select “The Center for Jewish Education” and then go to the “Scholarships & Grants” page.

Applications can also be obtained by calling 334-6445 or via email request to scholarships@jewishomaha.org For any questions, please call 334-6445.

dential camps,” he said.

Aveva Shukert, chair of The Center’s Financial Aid Committee, agreed that “ camp becomes increasingly more expensive every year. We all want our kids to go to camp. Numerous studies show that kids who go to camp have a stronger foundation as Jewish adults.” “Without these scholarship opportunities, many children in our area would be unable to attend camp,” added Mary Sue Grossman, agency administrator. “Camps are very expensive, and it becomes difficult for some families to afford overnight residential camps.”

April 1 is the deadline to apply for camp scholarships for summer 2006, Grossman noted. She urged parents whose children could benefit from assistance to go to the Jewish Federation website at www.jewishomaha .org and click on The Center for Jewish Education, then scroll down to Scholarship and Grant Opportunities which includes all the information needed to apply for a scholarship. Information is also available by calling her at 334.6445.

“Don’t be reluctant to apply,” Grossman advised. “It is a totally confidential process, and the committee members want to make it possible for kids to go to camp.” Shukert encourages others to establish funds by contacting Marty Ricks, Executive Director of the Jewish Federation Foundation at 402.334.6440. “We can always use more funds to help more deserving Jewish young people attend camp, college, take trips to Israel, attend Friedel Jewish Academy and the Jewish Community Center’s Child Development Center.”

“During these financially challenging times, more and more families can use the financial assistance,” explained Matalon. “By providing children in our community many opportunities to experience Judaism with their peers, we’re strengthening our future.”

Above: Kids display their new copies of Where Does Food Come From: A Bracha Discovery Book. Right: Families work together to create a “Tu B’Shevat Tree.”

B’Shevat activity for youngsters (they created a “tree”), and distribution of Where Does Food Come From: A Bracha Discovery Book to each family. This event was part of Beth Israel’s “Parents Are Teachers” program, funded through a grant from the Orthodox Union.

February 24, 2006

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 3

Kotok and Bundy Wow Crowd with Stories of Iraq Experience

by CAROL KATZMAN Editor of the Jewish Press A photo of a marine giving the “one finger salute” to the Iraqi city of Ramadi has become an icon to military men and women (and their families) all over the globe.

That photo (and hundreds of others) taken last fall by Omaha World-Herald photographer Jeff Bundy, and the eloquent stories of reporter C. David Kotok describing the lives of American soldiers--in and out of combat-was the subject of a an hourlong presentation Sunday to a crowd of nearly 250 in the JCC auditorium. “Marines are not that fond of journalists,” said Kotok, “but (because of that photo), we’re treated great!”

In an effort to keep their readers from being numbed by the stories of casualties, editors at the W-H sent an email request to reporters and photographers for a sevenweek stint in Iraq. When Bundy and Kotok were chosen, they admitted they didn’t consider themselves courageous--especially when it came to telling their mothers (who were in the audience Sunday, along with their wives). “In this building,” Kotok joked, “I’m known as Shane’s husband.

“There appeared to be a sameness to all the stories coming out of Iraq,” Kotok continued. “We were becoming immune to the slow drumbeat (of war).”

So, after a few weeks of training, Bundy and Kotok joined the ranks of the “embeds”, journalists embedded with a platoon or batallion. Their goal was to show readers back in Nebraska what these “citizen soldiers...neighbors, relatives, friends” were facing. “We wanted to put a human face on this story,” Bundy said. “These are men and women who are watching their children grow up on webcams,” Kotok added.

They focused on the first National Guard unit to serve in a combat position since the days of World War II--the 167th Cavalry of Nebraska’s National Guard. And to get the crowd at the JCC in the mood, Bundy showed a patrol of the streets of Ramadi captured on video by an American soldier. Bundy related the GI’s conversation with him about the patrol: “There are no speed limits in Iraq. You drive as fast as the slowest Humvee will go.”

Ramadi has been described as “the most dangerous city in the most dangerous province in the most dangerous country in the world.”

That description proved apt on the journalists first day

BARRY S. GROSSMAN JEROME P. GROSSMAN Attorneys-at-Law

Wills & Guardianships • Personal Injury Debt Relief Assistance • Family Law

Reporter C. David Kotok, below, with photographer Jeff Bundy, at the mike in the right photo, showed slides and a video of their seven-week stay in Iraq to a crowd of about 250 Sunday at the JCC. The two spoke for more than an hour.

on the job. Though they had trained for several weeks (Kotok even admitted he went to the gym before leaving for Iraq) so they would “at least know how to open the door and get in an out of a Humvee without putting the lives of the soldiers who were with us,” their worst fear was “doing something stupid that got a soldier killed,” Kotok noted.

Equipped with the same body armor as the troops, they arrived on a day when five soldiers had been killed.

On patrol with a QRT (Quick Response Team) of the EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) unit, soldiers just 60 yards away yelled for Kotok and Bundy to get down as Bundy photographed the captain of the unit.

EOD’s Gunnery Sgt. Michael Burghardt signaled IED, an improvised explosive device, and then it exploded.

Bundy’s first thought was “First day on the job and we see someone get killed.” But, Burghardt started wiggling his feet and the unit realized he was alive. While he suffered second and third degree burns and some shrapnel injuries, Burghardt insisted on walking away, so “his incoming unit wouldn’t see him carried out on a stretcher.”

That’s when he “flipped the bird” to Ramadi--and Bundy had the presence of mind to capture it. That defiant photo has been e-mailed around the world as hundreds of marines, former marines and their families have left comments on websites, ranging from “OoooRah” to “That’s a marine I’d be proud to serve with!”

The journalists convinced their editors that WorldHerald readers were adult enough to handle it and the photo along with others, as well as Kotok’s stories, have been submitted to national and international contests.

As Bundy’s photos run in a slide show, Kotok continued describing their experiences, first in Kuwait, a place

that wouldn’t exist except for the fact that “it has oil and a deep water port,” and then at the airport in Baghdad. “Sen. McCain has said you’ll know things are better in Iraq,” Kotok smiled, “ when you can get a cab from the airport to your hotel!”

Stopping at Al-Assad, a base that once served Saddam Hussein’s military, the journalists note the transformation to an American-style camp. In fact, it’s called “Camp Cupcake” by more than a few people, because of its air conditioned gyms, Burger King and big screen tvs, where the 167th Cav is based.

Regardless of the jibes by outsiders, Kotok and Bundy were respectful of the men and women serving in the armed forces. They were even more impressed with the medics. Interviewing and photographing members of Nebraska’s 313th Medic group, Kotok noted that these soldiers go where ambulances and the Red Cross will not. “Everyone’s in combat in Iraq,” he added.

That may be one of the reasons the only Iraqis with whom the journalists could speak were young boys.

Older Iraqis, even those sympathetic to Americans, shy away from the troops in fear of being labeled collaborators by the insurgents. The Iraqi boys, on the other hand, see an American soldier carrying a soccer ball, and they’re all over him, crying out “Meester, meester, football, football!”

Asked about the performance of Iraqi troops, Kotok responded, “It’s a race. Can we get the Iraqi forces up to snuff before pressure here causes us to pull out?

“If we withdraw,” he responded to another member of the audience, “we could wind up with a Kurdish state destabalizing Turkey, a Sunni state run by insurgents and a Shi’ite puppet state of Iran.”

Bundy agreed, noting that the troops rarely talk politics. “Soldiers are there to defend their brothers.”

“You think G-d is far away in a place like this,” Kotok said. “But you stay with a soldier for hours, hearing him curse and then watch him fold his hands and bow his head in prayer before eating.” In fact, Kotok spent Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur near the Jordanian border, facing West to Jerusalem, instead of East from Omaha.

As to the whether his experience changed his position, Kotok insisted, “I went over confused; I came back confused.” And when asked if the two would go again, Bundy smiled, but was emphatic: “Since our mothers are in the audience, I’d have to say no!”

The Phil and Ruth Sokolof Jewish Teacher Award

A shared office.

206 Keeline Bldg. • 319 S. 17th St. • Omaha, NE 68102

402/345-5922

D e s i g n H o m e s , Inc. oday Call T Free For A u re & B rochH ou r 1/ 2- CD : V ideo

8 0 0 -6 6 2 7 -9 9443

RYO T AC D f T IN 8 L O s EC dIR ATES! Ranches, Split Foyers, Tri-levels, ST

2-Storys, Cape Cods, Lofts & More!

Stock Model Every Design Home is built to state Special! code--same as “site-built” homes!

100 homes in Lennox Furnace, Kohler Plumbing, inventory with R-50 Ceilings & R-25.5 Walls Standard!

SPECIAL DISCOUNTS!

www.designhomes.com

Letters of Recommendation for The Phil and Ruth Sokolof Jewish Teacher Award will be accepted until March 2, 2006.

The recipient of the award will receive $10,000.

To be eligible, a teacher must currently be teaching in the Omaha metropolitan area, preferably in K-12.

Please send your letter to: Jewish Teacher Award Committee Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation 333 S. 132 Street Omaha, NE 68154 For additional information, please contact Janet Henthorn at 334-6551.

Page 4

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 24, 2006

Ethiopians Wait to Immigrate Continued from page 1 sion on this subject that we need to hold up our share of the bargain, so to speak, and by moving forward and taking this action--which we very much plan to implement--at least we’ve carried out our responsibility,” Rieger said. “Will the government carry out theirs? I hope and expect they will.”

Even if the millions for Ethiopian aliyah is raised quickly, the lion’s share of the burden of absorbing the Ethiopians will continue to rest squarely on Israel. On average, each Ethiopian immigrant costs the state approximately $100,000 over the course of his or her lifetime, according to Israeli government estimates. And more money for Ethiopian immigration means less money for Israel’s other pressing needs.

“It’s very difficult to absorb them, and there are so many poor Israelis who need help, too,” said Nachman Shai, director general of UJC Israel. “This will happen, but it will take time.”

Money will not solve some of the most significant problems that have riddled Falash Mura aliyah since its inception in the early 1990s, after the final group of practicing Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel en masse in Operation Solomon in 1991.

The conundrum of Falash Mura aliyah is tied up with the questions of how many potential immigrants exist among Ethiopia’s 70 million citizens, how to stymie unqualified Ethiopians from emigrating to Israel and the cost of absorbing the immigrants.

The most important piece of the puzzle, by many accounts, is nailing down the final list of who is and who isn’t eligible for aliyah. That would enable Israel

and American Jewry to close the chapter -and facilitated their aliyah in Operations on mass Ethiopian aliyah and get a real Moses and Solomon in 1984 and 1991-sense of the total cost and scope of the Israel turned away the Beta Israel who had abandoned Judaism generations ago project.

Without such a list, officials fear, the when their ancestors converted. These number of Ethiopians seeking to emi- people are called Falash Mura.

Israel’s policy on the Falash Mura grate to Israel will continue to grow and there will be no end to Ethiopian aliyah. changed in the 1990s, largely due to “If you ask me today how many people advocacy by American Jews and vocal are waiting for aliyah, I can’t tell you how many,” acknowledged an Israeli Interior Ministry official working in Ethiopia.

The Interior Ministry is the Israeli government body charged with determining who is qualified to immigrate to the Jewish state. “It’s hard for us to bring an answer. People are still in the villages who have not yet come,” the official said.

In the hovels of Addis Ababa and the A Falash Mura family stands in front of their hut in the countryside mud-and-straw tukuls near Gondar, Ethiopia, in March 2005, where they live while waitof rural Ethiopia, it’s ing to emigrate to Israel.

Credit: Uriel Heilman/JTA difficult to sort out exactly who is and who isn’t Falash Mura. protests by relatives of the Falash Mura The Ethiopians seeking to emigrate who had made it to Israel. today call themselves Beta Israel, a caste In the countryside of Gojam province, designation associated with the smithing the Falash Mura can be found in clusters trades the Ethiopian Jews -- known pejo- of mud-and-straw huts built amid eucaratively as Falashas--traditionally per- lyptus trees. In one village, a pair of formed during centuries of prohibition women are bent over incipient clay pots, against land ownership. their mud-covered hands shaping the wet While the Jewish state decided in the earth into new jugs. Not far away, a few early 1980s to welcome Beta Israel who dozen men work barefoot in the field, had kept their Jewish faith and identities- cutting hay for the roof of their church.

Though they pray in a Christian church and hang pictures of the Virgin Mary in their home, these people call themselves Beta Israel. Many of them have relatives who have gone to Gondar and Addis, some of whom have made it to Israel.

Those who have left their villages and gone to live in the cities, closer to where Israel’s representatives in Ethiopia work and live, say they have ceased their Christian practices. Some of them don yarmulkes while in the Jewish aid compounds, many take lessons in Judaism and all hope that embracing the Jewish faith will help get them to the Jewish state.

Abeyna Worku, 33, came to Gondar from the nearby village of Alefa four years ago. Most of Alefa’s residents have left for Gondar, but some 200 remain in the village, he said.

“Most of my relatives are in Israel and I want to join them,” Worku says. “Israel is good since it’s the promised land from our grandparents.”

It is difficult to prove the Jewish heritage of these Ethiopians, most of whom were practicing Christians until they were told they needed to embrace Judaism to be eligible for aliyah. As a result, they are not petitioning to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return, which grants automatic citizenship to anyone with a Jewish grandparent.

Rather, Israeli officials are verifying whether the Falash Mura qualify for aliyah under Israel’s Law of Entry, a humanitarian law designed to enable relatives of Israelis to immigrate to the Jewish state. So rather than having to come up with documents proving they are Jews, which nobody in Ethiopia has, these Ethiopians are trying to prove they are the immediate relatives of Ethiopians already in Israel.

The eligibility verification process for Ethiopian aliyah is slow and painstaking, and it is plagued by the problems of trying to verify who is related to whom when

there are no birth certificates or written records. It also requires running an operation simultaneously in Israel and Ethiopia and weeding out the liars from the truthtellers among people who know that demonstrating one’s ties to Jewish kin is a way to get a free ticket out of Africa, automatic Israeli citizenship and access to a broad array of social services in Israel.

More than 75,000 Ethiopians have immigrated to Israel since the early 1980s.

Because it is so costly to absorb these immigrants in Israel, this means the stakes are extremely high both for Israel and for the Ethiopians seeking aliyah.

At the moment, it is American Jews like the federation leaders on the mission here that are trying to grease the wheels of the aliyah operation.

“I think the government plan that was approved was a good plan, and I think it needs to be implemented,” said Barry Shrage, head of Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies.

“The worst thing that happens is they take them out and there’ll be another 20,000,” Shrage said. “But I’m not going to be suicidal if in the end it’s 40,000.”

That sort of attitude is precisely what worries officials in Israel, who will have to bear the burden of absorbing the immigrants.

Some of the Falash Mura’s advocates-namely, a few American Jews and Ethiopian family members and community leaders already in Israel--accuse the Israeli government of indifference or racism in dragging its feet on accepting these Ethiopians as immigrants.

There are Ethiopians who have been waiting in Addis Ababa and Gondar for as long as eight years, impoverished by the loss of their livelihoods in their move to the city, susceptible to the HIV-infected prostitutes that ply their trade on the city’s streets at night and dependent on assistance like the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s feeding program for young mothers and their babies.

For their part, many Israelis, including some Ethiopians, blame the Falash Mura’s advocates with creating this state of ongoing misfortune. These critics say groups like the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry (NACOEJ), which has been the primary advocacy and aid group for Ethiopian aliyah in the last decade and receives funding from Jewish federations, created a crisis of internal displacement in Ethiopia by maintaining their aid compounds.

By doing that, NACOEJ has tacitly or intentionally given Ethiopians with no knowledge of their Jewish lineage the expectation that they will be able to get to Israel if they move to the cities, and turned communities of self-sustaining farmers and craftsmen into aid-dependent internal refugees, impoverished and condemned to a hardscrabble urban life.

NACOEJ rejects such arguments, saying that if not for their work, not only would Beta Israel migrants starve in the cities while awaiting aliyah, they also would be far less prepared for life in the Jewish state once they arrived there.

This claim is belied, however, by the current situation in Addis, where the community continues to survive despite the closure of NACOEJ’s compound there some 18 months ago following legal troubles. Those troubles prompted Ethiopia’s Justice Ministry to bar the group from operating in Addis.

Privately, some Jewish officials herald this as a positive development, because NACOEJ’s advocacy has helped swell the Continued on page 5

February 24, 2006

Local UJC Leader Chairs Mission to Ethiopia wherever we can.”

by CAROL KATZMAN Mission participants in Editor of the Jewish Press Ethiopia visited programs Omaha’s Joel Alperson run by the American chaired a mission to Jewish Joint Distribution Ethiopia last week in a Committee (JDC), the whirlwind five-day factJewish Agency for Israel finding mission. Rep(JAFI), and the Ethiopian resenting the United National Project (ENP)-Jewish Communities/ UJC’s major overseas Jewish Federations of partner agencies --that North America and their feed, educate and attend overseas partner agencies, to the medical needs of the 100-member delegaEthiopian Jews and pretion accompanied a pare them for their evengroup of Ethiopian “Falas tual immigration to Mura” making aliyah to Israel.

Israel. Some 20,000 Falas Mura remain in the UJC Mission leaders welcome a group of 150 new Falash Mura A portion of Omaha’s country. arrivals in Israel at Ben Gurion Airport on Feb. 8.

Credit: UJC annual campaign dollars is allocated each year to “It is our job as part of the Diaspora to get them to Israel and adequately inte- the JDC and JAFI, for use in Israel and other countires grate them into the Israeli mainstream,” said Joel where Jews are in need, such as the former Soviet Tauber of Detroit, MI, former Chairman of the UJC Union, home to thousands of elderly Holocaust surexecutive committee. “Our job will not be done until vivors.

In a dramatic and emotional chapter of the mission, that happens.”

According to the UJC, the mission traveled from Tel delegation members accompanied nearly 150 Ethiopian Aviv to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, to the Jews as they joined an overnight Ethiopian Air flight northwest Ethiopian city of Gondar, back to Addis from Addis Ababa to Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, where the new immigrants took their first steps on Ababa and finally to Israel.

Alperson said the new immigrants’ lives “were being Israeli soil.

Tauber addressed the immigrants moments after their changed in the most dramatic way possible, as they finally were traveling to the land of which they had only dreamed. arrival: “We saw with our own eyes the effort and the Still, they seemed not anxious, and had a pervasive calm courage of all of you in leaving your homes and waiting about them. It was as if this was meant to be, and it was. for permission to come to Israel. We are thrilled that In the most real sense, we are changing and bettering lives, you are here and you are not alone.”

Ethiopians Wait to Immigrate Now, Goldberg said, “The compounds have to be closed. What I would like to see is all of them come in a weekend,” Goldberg said of the Ethiopians awaiting aliyah. “If you can prepare everything in Israel, you don’t have to wait and bring out 600 a month. You can bring them all out. I’m going to push for it.”

One thing seems certain: The longer it takes to close the chapter on mass Ethiopian immigration to Israel, the more olim, or immigrants, there will be.

That infuses the current push to speed up the aliyah process. And for the first time in a long time, it seems that many of the necessary ingredients are in place to accelerate the aliyah of the Falash Mura and write the last chapter on Ethiopian immigration to Israel.

The Jewish Agency has trained 40 to 60 workers to take over the aid compounds in Gondar and Addis from NACOEJ, which has promised to cease its advocacy work for Ethiopian aliyah once the expedited aliyah process begins. Israel’s Foreign Ministry signed a deal with the Ethiopian government last fall on An Ethiopian baby, part of a group of 150 new Falash Mura arrivals, waves an coordinating the aliyah eligibility verifiIsraeli flag in Ben Gurion Airport on Feb. 8.

Credit: Brian Hendler/JTA cation process, and Israel’s Finance “We’ll take these 20,000 and then there’ll be more,” Ministry says it has allocated an extra $45 million for the said one senior American Jewish organizational official accelerated aliyah operation in 2006. who asked not to be identified. “This could be 1998 all But Israel’s government has not yet given the green over again.” light to begin the operation, and nobody is quite able to In 1998, Israel’s government held a ceremony at Ben- say why.

Gurion Airport welcoming what then-Prime Minister The Interior Ministry blames the Finance Ministry.

Benjamin Netanyahu heralded as the last planeload of The Finance Ministry says it is waiting for the governFalash Mura to arrive in Israel. A month later, 8,000 ment to decide on an exact date. In one sign of the mismore people poured into NACOEJ’s compounds in handling of this issue by the Israelis, a spokesman for Addis Ababa and Gondar demanding to be taken to Israel’s Foreign Ministry declared two weeks ago that Israel. The number soon swelled to 14,000. the expedited aliyah already had begun. It had not.

This time, having learned some of the lessons of 1998, Many observers say the accelerated aliyah will not Israel plans to have the Jewish Agency take over the commence until the prime minister himself gives word.

NACOEJ compounds, which provide food aid, schoolTwo weeks ago, Israel’s acting prime minister, Ehud ing and some employment but are not residential. The Olmert, canceled a meeting in Israel with the American goal is to shut the compounds down as soon as the cur- delegation that had visited Ethiopia. By all accounts rent group of immigrants, now estimated at 13,000 to Ethiopian aliyah is far down the list of priorities for a 17,000, are brought to Israel. state dealing with a comatose prime minister, upcoming Acknowledging that U.S. Jewish federations had a role elections and a new Hamas terrorist state on its in keeping the compounds open in 1998, Robert doorstep.

Goldberg, Chairman of the UJC, said, “In some way, Meanwhile, the Falash Mura continue to wait in we’ve encouraged these people to come. Nobody’s per- Ethiopia, their fate in the hands of faraway Jews in New fect. We do our best, and we have the best of intentions.” York and Jerusalem.

Continued from page 5 number of Ethiopian petitioners seeking to immigrate to Israel. Both these American Jews and officials in Israel worry that once the Falash Mura now in Gondar and Addis emigrate, thousands more will show up and demand to be taken to Israel.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 5

2006 Omaha Farmers Market in Omaha·s Old Market (May thru October) If you have: Produce - Flowers Herbs - Crafts - House & Bedding Plants Eggs - Fruit - Honey - Ethnic Foods

Reserve your space now!

Write: Omaha Farmers Market, c/o Sarah Schoenfeld, P.O. Box 31134, Omaha, NE 68131-0134 or call (402) 345-5401 Attend the vendor meeting: Mon., March 6th at 7:00 p.m.

Westside Community Conf. Center, 3534 So. 108th, Omaha

CALL 1-800-7-PARENT

From a few hours a week to around the clock care, Right at Home’s trained caregivers can assist you with light housework, meal preparation, laundry, medication reminders, shopping, errands and local transportation. Home Health Aides can provide hands on medical care. Skilled Nursing visits are available.

To find out how we can help you maintain your lifestyle in your home, please contact Right at Home for Licensed Medical & Non-Medical Home Care

11949 Q St., Ste 100 • Omaha, NE 68137 402/697-7537 • 877/697-7537 www.rightathome.net/omahametro

Maintaining Independence is an Option.

For thousands of Nebraskans, it’s not about religion and it’s not about politics.

It’s about hope.

Get the facts on medical research and its potential to improve our quality of life. www.nebraskansforresearch.org

Sun, Sun, Sun, Here We Come Snowbirds Please let the Jewish Press know in advance when you are leaving and when you are returning.

Sometimes several papers are sent to your “old” address before we are notified by the Post Office.

Every time they return a paper to us, you miss the Jewish Press and we are charged 70¢! Use the form on page 6, call us at 402.334.6448 or email us at jpress@jewishomaha.org.

Page 6

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 24, 2006

World Famous Artist

Be a role model;

Yaacov Agam

the person you want your kid to be.

Two signed original coordinating Agamographs for sale: Four Seasons A/B and Four Seasons A/B/D. 12’’X12’’ MUST SEE!!!

What stronger anti-drug message is there?

For more information call: 1-800-648-4444 http://www.prevlink.org

Call 402-651-7063

EVERY SHOE ON SALE! BEST SELECTION OF RUNNINGSHOES & TRACK SPIKES Sale Runs March 1-12, 2006

Lincoln RUNNING COMPANY

Downtown Lincoln • 1213 Q Street • (402) 474-4557 In-stock only • FREE Shipping

HEART BYPASS SURGERY?

ORTHO-EVRAÂŽ BIRTH CONTROL PATCH

A new study shows that a drug often used in the operating room during heart bypass surgery doubles the risk of kidney failure, stroke, or heart attack. If you or a loved one may have been affected, call us now for more information.

The Ortho-EvraÂŽ Birth Control patch has been linked to blood clots. If you or a loved one had a pulmonary embolism, stroke, DVT or heart-attack while using the Ortho EvraÂŽ birth control patch, call us now.

Hollis Law Firm, P.A.

Attorney Lee Hollis is licensed in KS, but associates with experienced attorneys throughout the United States.

800-701-3672

7202552: ,6 7+( ),567 '$< 2) 7+( 5(67 2) <285 /,)( KRZ ZLOO \RX VSHQG LW"

:,// <28 +$9( 7+( ('8&$7,21 $1' 6.,//6 <28 1((' 72 7$.( $'9$17$*( 2) $ 7+5,9,1* -2% 0$5.(7" 25 :,// <28 6(77/( )25 /,)( ,1 7+( 6/2: /$1(" $7 -2% &2536 <281* 0(1 $1' :20(1 $*(6 &$1 /($51 6.,//6 ,1 ž &20387(5 '$7$ 352&(66,1* ž &+() )22' 6(59,&(6 ž &1$ &0$ /31 +($/7+ 2&&83$7,216

ž ž ž ž

75$163257$7,21 &20081,&$7,216 &216758&7,21 75$'(6 :(/',1* $1' 27+(5 6.,// $5($6

-2% &2536 :,// 3529,'( 5220 %2$5' 0(',&$/ '(17$/ &$5( 63(1',1* 021(< &/27+,1* $//2:$1&( &+,/' &$5( $66,67$1&( %2186 021(< )25 $&+,(9(0(17 $1' 3/$&(0(17 $66,67$1&(

-2% &2536 7+,1. $%287 ,7 &$//

MOVING? Please give us the following information: Name ________________________________________________ Old Address __________________________________________ City, State, Zip _________________________________________ (Or attach your mailing label)

Name ________________________________________________ New Address __________________________________________ City, State, Zip _________________________________________ New Phone ___________________________________________ Effective Date _________________________________________ If moving out of town, please check one: â?? Discontinue Press â?? Bill Me â?? Full-time College Student â?? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Snowbirdâ&#x20AC;? date of return _____________ Mail this coupon 3 weeks in advance to:

The Jewish Press 333 South 132nd Street Omaha, NE 68154 or see page 12 for email address and Fax number

Human Resources Manager Memorial Health Care Systems in Seward, Nebraska is looking for a detail-oriented, process-minded HR practitioner to manage employee benefits and compensation (including bi-weekly payroll), workersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; compensation, and employee relations. The incumbent is responsible for regulatory oversight of the HR function and works closely with the CEO to ensure compliance with legal reporting and filing deadlines.

Seward is a beautiful bedroom community located 25 miles west of Lincoln. MHCS is an integrated health care provider with three rural family practice clinics, a 25-bed, state-of-the-art Critical Access hospital and a 115-bed longterm care facility.

We offer a pleasant, positive work environment with competitive wages and benefits. Send resume and references to Memorial Health Care Systems, attention Roger Reamer, 300 North Columbia Avenue, Seward, NE 68434, or rreamer.mhcs@alltel.net MHCS is an EEOC/AA Employer

Quality Care by Quality People

Congressman Recounts Recent Trip to the Middle East

by GARY JAVITCH going well. Those (results) could turn on them.â&#x20AC;?

Special to the Jewish Press He speculated on why Hamas won the election. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My If you had wondered where the third district con- understanding--and my understanding is very limited--is gressman stood on issues affecting Israel, you can rest that one of the attractions Hamas had was that they felt assured that he supports the Jewish state. In a 35-minute that there was a lot of corruption in the previous governphone interview from his Washington office with the ment. And therefore, the Palestinians thought they could Jewish Press last week, Representative Tom Osborne (R- trust Hamas and Hamas could be fair. Again, that will be NE) made a number of observations about his something that we will have to see. Supposedly, that was December trip--his fourth to the Middle East. some of the motivation that was given for that vote.â&#x20AC;?

His bi-partisan fact-finding trip with five other conDo you think that Israel should be required to give up gressmen took place during the week of Dec. 19 and more land in the search for peace? began in Tel Aviv. It included stops in Kuwait, Baghdad â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not an expert on these affairs; I would assume and at a U.S. military hospital in Germany.

Israel made a significant concession in pulling out; I First Stop: Israel would suppose it would be reasonable to expect a show While initially scheduled to meet with Prime Minister of good faith on the part of the Palestinians as well to Ariel Sharon on the first leg of his journey, the third- reciprocate. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not astute enough to say what that term congressman arrived shortly after the Israeli leader would be. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sure someone who is more adept and suffered a stroke. Instead, he visited with Yoram Ben knowledgeable of that area should have some ideas.

Zeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ev, the Israeli foreign minister for North American There is no question that Sharon made a fairly signifiaffairs. Osborne stated that Ben Zeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ev â&#x20AC;&#x153;had good per- cant gesture in good faith.â&#x20AC;? spective; he is widely read in U.S. newspapers and is quite interesting.â&#x20AC;?

They had talked about the pullout from Gaza and Osborne remarked, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I know that was very difficult for Sharon and Israel to do. His motives were very good.â&#x20AC;?

With Sharonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stroke, he is â&#x20AC;&#x153;out of the picture at least for now. That certainly leaves a void or a vacuum there.â&#x20AC;?

Commenting further on his talk with Yoram, Osborne added the minister â&#x20AC;&#x153;didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel many Americans had a real good perspective on what U.S. presence in Iraq and Afghanistan has done and will do for the Middle East. Yoram,â&#x20AC;? Osborne related, â&#x20AC;&#x153;pointed to Libyaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about-face and discussed the significant changes in Lebanon that occurred after we went into Iraq. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In Iran and Syria, large numbers of people within those countries are looking at changes that have occurred in Afghanistan and Iraq; they are thinking if The Honorable Tom Osborne visited Jerusalem as part of a congressional trip that happened there, why couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it hap- to Israel and Iraq in December. This is a view overlooking the Old City walls. pen here? U.S. influence is far-reaching,â&#x20AC;? he said, paraphrasing the ministerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s remarks.

If the congressman from the rural, agricultural district The congressman was asked if he would be receptive felt a little unsure about his specific knowledge of Israeli to going to Israel on a trade mission if he were elected and Palestinian affairs, he demonstrated no such reserve in as governor. He replied in the affirmative, explaining his observations when the interview turned toward Iraq.

Iraq that he would be glad to explore agricultural and busiIt comes as no surprise what the representativeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s posiness relationships with the country. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Certainly any trading partner (with Nebraska) would tion is on the Iraq war. Republican Tom Osborne supbe welcome,â&#x20AC;? he said. Osborne noted that in prepara- ports it and offered some insights into his position. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am not saying that Iraq is not violent or that every tion for the trip, he had done some research to see if anything jumped out immediately that he could discuss thing has gone smoothly; there have been some really in those areas. He observed that â&#x20AC;&#x153;If over a period of difficult things (being undertaken there),â&#x20AC;? Osborne time, we could find something mutually beneficial, I commented.

Still, â&#x20AC;&#x153;On balance look how quickly we established would pursue it.â&#x20AC;?

(I wanted to go further into what he would do, if representative government in those two countries,â&#x20AC;? he elected as governor. However, he was talking from his pointed out, referring to both Afghanistan and Iraq. congressional offices, and asked me to pursue only areas â&#x20AC;&#x153;And if you compare (that) to our own country and our related to foreign policy so he could avoid any conflict own revolution--itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been amazing--when you see people who were that far away from any representation at of interest with his campaign for that office.) all, come that far in just a matter of three years.â&#x20AC;?

Hamas Because he assessed the war situation in a more upbeat The recent victory by Hamas in the Palestinian elections invited some additional questions. Did he have a way than his opponents, he was asked, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Then are firm view of the role the U.S. should play if Hamas par- Americans not â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;getting itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; as far as Iraq is concerned?â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go quite that far as to say that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not getticipated in the new government? Did he, for example, back Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s position that the U.S. would not negoti- ting it,â&#x20AC;? he replied. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Obviously if our only perception of NYC was what we saw on television or in the newspapers, ate with Hamas? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yes, I certainly do,â&#x20AC;? he insisted, â&#x20AC;&#x153;unless for some rea- we might have the feeling that its mostly occupied by son Hamas renounces their previous policies, which they gangsters and violence. There is a natural tendency to pubhave refused to do. As long as they remain either a ter- licize the violent and that which is very negative. It takes a rorist or an organization with strong terrorist ties, our toll; pretty soon that is the perception. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is no question that the motivation for going decision not to have a relationship with them is sound and (Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice has articulat- into Iraq was maybe not well founded. Some of the assumptions we had regarding WMD (Weapons of Mass ed that strongly. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If Hamas continues to adopt a stance that they have Destruction) appeared to be either non-existent or they taken for several years now, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re certainly threatened were very quickly disposed of. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Having said that, I was present at the Pentagon on with reduction or absolute denial of foreign aid by many European countries and the United States. I would several occasions when they call members of Congress imagine because Palestine is currently a very poor over there and they would show us satellite photos from nation, that that would certainly make things very diffi- outer space. They pointed out where the anthrax or cult. As you know, there is quite a difference between ingredients for nuclear weapons (were). I had no reason being a terrorist or quasi-terrorist organization and gov- to believe that Rumsfeld or others were lying to us; I erning. On the one hand you can throw rocks and think they were going on the best intelligence they had. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was the best intelligence the European Union had bombs and be destructive, but when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in charge and have to make things work, I would imagine the sup- and that was why we had the 18 resolutions from the port they enjoyed in the election could easily deteriorate UN--because everyone shared that info.â&#x20AC;? because the economy is falling apart and things are not Continued on page 7

February 24, 2006

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 7

Congressman Recounts Recent Trip Continued from page 6 Osborne also offered an explanation as to why the intelligence was so weak.

“Throughout the 90s, we eventually reduced the amount of intelligence we had particularly on the ground and various parts of the world, relying heavily on Iraqis to interpret whatever intelligence that we had. And, of course, many of them wanted to get rid of Saddam Hussein. So I’m not sure we were getting a real accurate interpretation of a lot of that data that we were collecting.

“I know that I was over there not long after we first went in and took over Baghdad. I went into Saddam’s bunkers that he had underneath one of his palaces.

For a long time no one knew that it was there and I saw all the chemo/biological suits--the protective suits and all the lengths they had gone to provide protection for chemical-biological-nuclear attack.

“It just didn’t seem logical that they would have had all that equipment if they had not actually had some WMD somewhere. But, I guess we may never know-at least they certainly were not there when we went in there and started looking for them.

Holding Firm in Iraq What about getting out of Iraq? “To pull out prematurely would be a terrible mistake. Because number one, we would have broken our word to the Iraqis. We told them after the first Gulf war, we would not leave them dangling. And, obviously, anyone who has cooperated with us--if we leave them unprotected-then people are going to get killed. Then we’ll invite some type of Civil War. “Secondly, we will have had 2200-2300 young people who have died over there.

(If we left immediately, that) pretty much

would (mean forces will be they would) used as suphave died in port or backvain. And I up. And so think that it’s not going would be to be quick or tragic. And easy, but we then thirdly, will see a we will have drawdown pretty well over the next shown terroryear or two. ists everyAnd I think where that if it’s important wait they that it must long enoughbe done in blow -and orderly fashenough peoion and that ple up--that Iraq be secure we will even- Rep. Osborne toured the Old City of Jerusalem, including before we tually back Judaism’s holiest site: the Western Wall. leave.” down. I think Osborne that is a very bad message to send terror- concluded his assessment, saying, “I’m ists. So I think it’s important that we not probably cautiously optimistic. What leave until we are satisfied it is reasonably stable.

“Almost from day one, we said we wantContinued from page 1 ed 270,000 Iraqis trained and equipped.

Theater. Following the film, Nussbaum At the present time we are 200,000will discuss the coverage of an event that 225,000 trained, and training about divided a nation and gave Jewish sol10,000 per month--so we are at least diers the difficult task of evicting Jewish four-to-five months off from reaching settlers from their homes. This 90that target. That doesn’t mean that in minute film was compiled from CH2 four-to-five months that we will be totalcoverage of the dramatic evacuation of ly out of there.

Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip.

“Most Americans don’t realize that of the During that time, CH2 had over 20 18 provinces, currently 14 of them are news crews on the ground covering the deemed safe enough where you could walk historic events. down the street or maybe go to a restau“Moshe Nussbaum is a personality rant. Four of them are still dangerous. Lots known throughout Israel, similar to the of areas are totally under Iraqi control with anchors known from network television no Amer-ican backup. in the United States,” says Dr. Guy “As time goes on, we will have more Matalon, Executive Director of The and more Iraqi control and American

Israeli TV Anchor

Michael’s Buy Trux Truck Sales 63rd & Cornhusker Hwy Lincoln, NE

Michael Knopp 1-402-466-8388

gives me most reason for encouragement: I have talked to soldiers who almost universally are proud of what they have done. You don’t see the Vietnam syndrome--where people are hanging their heads. Of course, the American public has been very supportive of our soldiers, too. That’s been very important.

“A number of soldiers are in their third or fourth tour; generally people don’t volunteer to go back unless they see something significant happening.

“Soldiers have told me ‘two wars are being fought; one on the nightly news and the war they are actually fighting.’

They asked me to come home and talk to people abut what I’ve seen.”

Finally, as the interview concluded, Osborne confirmed what everyone was thinking about a topic we didn’t have time to discuss: Iran. “It’s a wild card right now; that’s scary; that guy is something else.”

Now Nationwide

Michael Geller 1-701-238-7825

Center for Jewish Education. “His calm, concise reporting style is a quality greatly appreciated throughout the region. Channel 2 is considered the top news station in Israel and we are very fortunate to have him visit Omaha.”

Nussbaum lives in Givat Ze’ev in Jerusalem, is married and the father of three. He served as a combat soldier in the Yom Kippur and Lebanon wars. He received a bachelors degree in international relations and a masters in communications from Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

This event is open to the community at no charge. For any questions, please call 334.6445.

g i n y o j En ard w e r e h t . e m i t e f i l a of

All Sizes

Professional Services...

1-800-869-0384 If We Don’t Have It, We Will Find It!

2006

Beautiful Environment... includes library, activities center, beauty and barber shop, exercise room and much more.

All Kinds

Class of

Remington Heights Retirement Community exclusively offers:

providing weekly housekeeping and laundry, dietician and nutrition services, activities, transportation and more.

High School

Seniors

Assisted Living Service...

High School Seniors...

We will be pulishing our annual Graduation Teen Age on June 9, 2006. To be included, we need your graduation photo and the following information.

assistance with activities of daily living provided on site.

Affordable Retirement...

Name ___________________________________________________________

all services included in one low monthly rental.

Parent(s)’ Name(s) _______________________________________________

Peace of Mind...

Current High School ______________________________________________ College you plan to attend _______________________________________

12606 West Dodge Road Omaha,NE 68154

Send by May 12 to: The Jewish Press | 333 So. 132 St. | Omaha, NE 68154

(402) 493-5807

Remington Height’s 24-hour staff emergency call system means assistance is just seconds away.

Page 8

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 24, 2006

Your Look...

Your Lifestyle Hairstyling Manicuring Pedicuring Waxing

A Full Service Salon for Men+Women

Countryside Village Pacific at 87th | 392-2039

February 24, 2006

EL ALAMO

“Best Mexican Food”

ENTERTAIN

FIRST CLASS WITH

HONEYMAN RENT-ALL The Party Place Nachos • Guacamole • Tacos • Fajitas Burritos • Shrimp • Enchiladas Combination Dinners Carnitas • Tostadas Tamales • Arroz Con Pollo • Machaca MEXICAN BEER Corona • XX • Bohemia • Tecate • Carta Blanca Open for Lunch and Dinner 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

4917 South 24th St. • 731-8969

FOR THE FINEST IN ENTERTAINING ACCESSORIES, HOW CAN YOU THROW A PARTY AND NOT INVITE US?

This paint your own pottery and mosaics studio specializes in unique gifts made by you! Select from over 100 items including several Judaica pieces!

A great place for birthday, group, or no-occasion parties!

7828 Dodge St. 402-392-1166

for RELIABLE & RESPONSIBLE FABRICARE 5213 Leavenworth

2301 Lincoln Rd.

4963 So. 155th St.

214 N. 114th St.

8728 Pacific

4028 N. 132nd St.

• Tables • Chairs • Linens • Skirting • China • Glassware • Champaign Fountains • Chafing Dishes • Party Canopies • Wedding & Church Displays • Dance Floors • BBQ Grills • Coat Racks • Candelabras • Margarita Machines • Chocolate Fountains

10910 ‘Q’ St.

2214 N. 90th St.

1810 N. 144th St.

108th & Center

5624 Ames

2541 S. 174th Plz.

11226 Wright Circle

14430 W. Center Rd.

Our Visit room w o h S

14450 Eagle Run Drive 402-408-2529

(1 Block South of 114th & Center)

333-2882

Wed Di ding & S splays upp lies

ROMA

UPCOMING TRUNK SHOWS AT OMAHA LOCATION Ecco Friday,March 3 Finn Saturday,March 18 Dansko Saturday,March 25 Dunham & Aravon Friday,March 31 Mephisto Saturday,April 8

Comfortplus

356 Black Alligator Made in Spain,has full length removable orthotic footbed.

1010 S.74th Plaza Omaha • 392-2952 On the North Side of Pacific at 74th

6450 O Street Lincoln • 466-7463 North Side of O Street

Monday-Friday 9-6 • Saturday 9-4:30 • Phone orders welcome

Adult Day Center Trust your loved one with our experienced care team in a nurturing, home-like environment 3615 North 129th Street • Omaha,NE 68164 Eagle Run Square Monday - Friday,7 am to 6 pm

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25 Jewish Film Festival, 7 p.m.

Beth Israel Sr. NCSY Steak and a Movie, 8 p.m.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26 Adult Education, 10 a.m.-noon at Beth El Adult Education, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Workshop for Children at Risk, 12:30 p.m. at Beth El Sunday Story Time, 2 p.m. at Kripke Library Jewish Literature Discussion, 2 p.m. at Temple Israel Mr. AZA, 3 p.m.

Travelin’ Toddlers Mad Science, 4:30 p.m., at Beth Israel Spaghetti Dinner, 5:30 p.m. at Beth Israel Jewish Film Festival, 7 p.m.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27 Derech Torah Class, 7:30 p.m.

Jewish Press Meeting, 7:30 p.m.

SUNDAY, MARCH 5 The Jews and the Zoo, 9 a.m. at Beth Israel Pancake Man, 9 a.m. at Temple Israel Nashir Choir, 10 a.m. at Beth El Adult Education, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Adult Education, 10 a.m.-noon at Beth El Hazak Movie & Box Lunch, 12:30 p.m. at Beth El Parent Teacher Workshop for Children at Risk, 12:30 p.m. at Beth El Barn Girl Art Reception, 1 p.m.

WRJ-O Friendship Tea, 2 p.m. at Temple Israel

SATURDAY, MARCH 11 Adult B’nai Mitzvah Ceremony, 9:30 a.m. at Beth El BBYO Chaim Weizmann Sweetheart Dance, 7 p.m.

MONDAY, MARCH 6 JSS Senior Luncheon, 10 a.m.

Decathlon Spelling Bee, 7 p.m. at Temple Israel A History of Israel, 7 p.m.

NCJW Book Club, 7 p.m.

Derech Torah Class, 7:30 p.m.

MONDAY, MARCH 13 Purim Megillah Reading, 6 p.m. at Chabad House Yachad, 6 p.m. at Temple Israel for Purim Purim Family Dinner & Service, 6 p.m. at Temple Israel Megillah Reading & Dinner, 6 p.m. at Beth Israel Megillah Reading, 7 p.m. at Beth El Derech Torah Class, 7:30 p.m.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28 Women of Worth Prayer Circle, 9 a.m. at Chabad The Guy & Bob Show, noon Federation Executive Committee Meeting, 5:30 p.m.

BBYO Chapter Elections, 6 p.m.

Beth El Rosh Chodesh Group, 7 p.m. at the CDC A History of Israel, 7 p.m.

Federation Board Meeting, 7:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1 Belly Dancing, 7 p.m. at Beth El History of Jewish Omaha, 7 p.m. at Beth El 10 Days in Gaza film with Moshe Nussbaum, 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY, MARCH 2 Adult Education, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Rabbi Levin Study Class, noon at Beth El Yiddish Group, 1 p.m.

Basic Judaism, 7 p.m. at Temple Israel Cantor’s Concert, 7 p.m. at Beth El OTYG & WRJ-O Board Meetings, 7 p.m. at Temple Israel FRIDAY, MARCH 3 NCSY, BBYO, USY & OTYG Shabbat Across America, 5:30 p.m. at Beth Israel

TUESDAY, MARCH 7 Women of Worth Prayer Circle, 9 a.m. at Chabad ADL “Diaries of Humanity” Docent Training, 10 a.m.

ADL Manhigim Institute, 4 p.m.

BBYO Chapter Installations, 6 p.m.

Adult Education, 6:30 p.m. at Temple Israel

SUNDAY, MARCH 12 Nashir Choir, 10 a.m. at Beth El Adult Education, 10 a.m.-noon at Beth El USY Purim Carnival, 11:30 a.m. at Beth El Purim Carnival, noon at Temple Israel Adult Education, 3 p.m. at Temple Israel ARTZA Kickoff, 5 p.m. at JCC

TUESDAY, MARCH 14 Women of Worth Prayer Circle, 9 a.m. at Chabad Cirque De Purim, 5 p.m. at Chabad House Purim Seudah & Dinner, 5:30 p.m. at Beth Israel BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8 Mishloach Manot, 9:30 a.m. at Kripke Library ADL “Diaries of Humanity” Docent Training, 10 a.m.

WRJ-O Baking, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel PATTER, 10:30 a.m. at Beth El Belly Dancing, 7 p.m. at Beth El Bad Boys of the Bible, 7 p.m.

Board Meeting, 7:30 p.m. at Beth Israel

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15 PATTER, 10:30 a.m. at Beth El Rabbis and Presidents Meeting, 11:30 a.m.

Bad Boys of the Bible, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY, MARCH 9 Thursday Story Time, 10 a.m. at Kripke Library Adult Education, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Rabbi Levin Study Class, noon at Beth El Yiddish Group, 1 p.m.

JWI Sweetheart Day, 1:30 p.m. at the Blumkin Home Open House & Science Fair, 6 p.m. at Friedel Basic Judaism, 7 p.m. at Temple Israel Pre-Purim Class, 7:30 p.m. at Beth Israel

THURSDAY, MARCH 16 Walk-in Drop-in, 10 a.m.

Adult Education, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Rabbi Levin Study Class, noon at Beth El Yiddish Group, 1 p.m.

Book Discussion Group, 1 p.m. at Kripke Library Executive Board Meeting, 5:30 p.m. at Friedel Board of Directors Meeting, 7 p.m. at Friedel FRIDAY, MARCH 17 Beth El USY Kadima Kinnus, March 17-19 Visions Luncheon Meeting, 12:30 p.m. at Venice Inn SATURDAY, MARCH 18 Tropical-Salsa Night, 8 p.m. at Beth El

FRIDAY, MARCH 10 CDC Purim Parade in the JCC Gym, 9 a.m.

Temple Israel Shabbat Comes to You, 4 p.m.

445-4460

TUESDAY, MARCH 21 Women of Worth Prayer Circle, 9 a.m. at Chabad BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

Women of Worth Art Exploration, 7 p.m. at Chabad Board of Trustees, 7:30 p.m. at Temple Israel WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22 PATTER, 10:30 a.m. at Beth El ADL Interfaith Seder, 6 p.m.

Belly Dancing, 7 p.m. at Beth El NCJW Board Meeting, 7 p.m.

Bad Boys of the Bible, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY, MARCH 23 WRJ-O Donor Tea, 9 a.m. at Temple Israel Adult Education, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Yiddish Group, 1 p.m.

ADL Teacher Workshop “Diaries of Humanity,” 4 p.m.

WRJ Donor Tea, 7 p.m. at Temple Israel FRIDAY, MARCH 24 Tot Shabbat & Dinner, 6 p.m. at Beth El SATURDAY, MARCH 25 Men’s Club Shabbat Honoring Ray Goldstein, 9:30 a.m. at Beth El BELLS, 12:30 p.m. at Beth El Jewish Film Festival, 7 p.m.

Caring, Confidential, Committed

Chef Hattam Catering Any Occasion Informal - Elegant Fixed & Custom Menus Available

MONDAY, MARCH 27 How to Kasher Your Kitchen for Pesach, 7 p.m. at Beth Israel A History of Israel, 7 p.m.

Derech Torah Class, 7:30 p.m.

TUESDAY, MARCH 28 Women of Worth Prayer Circle, 9 a.m. at Chabad Federation Executive Committee Meeting, 5:30 p.m.

BBYO Council Elections, 6 p.m.

Adult Education, 6:30 p.m. at Temple Israel Federation Board Meeting, 7:30 p.m.

Chef John Hattam chefhattam@cox.net 556-6718 708-3474

Graduate 1986

“Pst. Have you heard?

There’s a new dentist in town.”

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29 PATTER, 10:30 a.m. at Beth El Belly Dancing, 7 p.m. at Beth El Bad Boys of the Bible, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY, MARCH 30 Walk-in Drop-in, 10 a.m.

Adult Education, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Kindergarten Round-up, 10:30 a.m. at Friedel Rabbi Levin Study Class, noon at Beth El Yiddish Group, 1 p.m.

JFS Love & Logic, 6 p.m.

Beth El Rosh Chodesh Group, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY, MARCH 31 Scholar-in-Residence Mark Washofsky, 7:30 p.m. at Temple Israel

Kirk J. Davis D.D.S., P.C. 15615 W. Dodge Rd. • Omaha, NE (Southwest Corner of West Dodge Road)

CELEBRATIONS ARE OUR BUSINESS We believe that special occasions deserve special attention.

Count on us for memorable events that exceed expectations • Weddings • Anniversaries

climate control HEATING AND AIR CONDITIONING

FURNACE SPECIAL OFFERS

SIX MONTHS SAME AS CASH

• Bar/Bat Mitzvahs • 12,000 sq. ft. of flexible event space accommodates up to 250 guests

Dundee Realty Co.

SALES • RENTALS • MANAGEMENT Listing and Selling–Omaha and surrounding areas

Residential and Commercial Real Estate

Howard Weiner Dik Weiner 4645 Dodge • 553-2121

• On-site planning and catering professionals For information, Call the sales department at 402/496-0850 ext. 143

Crowne Plaza® Omaha Old Mill 655 North 108th Avenue Omaha, NE 68154

59

Dundeal

Artisan Italian Ice Cream European Desserts

Pepperwood Village 156 th & Dodge

MONDAY, MARCH 20 JSS Senior Luncheon, 10 a.m.

Hadassah Board Meeting, 1 p.m.

How to Kasher Your Kitchen, 7 p.m. at Beth Israel A History of Israel, 7 p.m.

BEAM Meeting, 7 p.m. at Beth El Derech Torah Class, 7:30 p.m.

Youth Commission, 7:30 p.m. at Beth El

SUNDAY, MARCH 26 Nashir Choir, 10 a.m. at Beth El Adult Education, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Adult Education, 10 a.m.-noon at Beth El How to Tovel Your Dishes, 10:30 a.m. at the Mikvah Third Grade Consecration, 11 a.m. at Beth El Shiptuznick Teen Mitzvah Day, noon Workshop for Children at Risk, 12:30 p.m. at Beth El Adult Education, 1 p.m. at Temple Israel Yachad at Bellevue Little Theatre, 2 p.m.

Sunday Story Time, 2 p.m. at Kripke Library Jewish Literature Book Group, 2 p.m. at Temple Israel ARTZA/SHIPUTZNICK Dinner & a Movie, 4 p.m.

HAZAK Deli Night, 5 p.m. at Beth El Live from the 92nd Street Y, 7 p.m.

392-0645

402/614-WEST (9378)

Call

Panini Salads • Soups

SUNDAY, MARCH 19 Nashir Choir, 10 a.m. at Beth El Adult Education, 10 a.m.-noon at Beth El Hebrew Club with Uri Levin, 11 a.m. at Beth Israel Jewish Federation Newcomers Brunch, 11 a.m.

Visions Lunch & Show, 11:30 a.m. at Mahoney BESTT Chaverim at Family Fun Center, 1 p.m.

Adult Education, 1 p.m. at Temple Israel

95 CE NA $ FUR UP E LL UN FA T

FOR A

12039 Blondo • Omaha, NE • 402/498-9770

330-0200 392-0400

March

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.

402-496-3379

Stationery B’nai Mitzvah & Weddings Anniversaries & Special Occasions

12800 West Center Road

Personal Bookkeeping Service

SATURDAY, MARCH 4 Beth El Tot Shabbat & Lunch, 11 a.m.

invitations collectibles and gifts unique gift baskets

Ask an Enterprise Banker about our latest CD Special and let us help put your money to work for you!

Sandra R.Nogg,Inc.

SHOE CENTER

Certified Pedorthists On Staff

CD Rates N.A., MEMBER F.D.I.C.

For Home Delivery, call

Spring Fling!

S

www.martinizing.com/omaha

• Discount prices, both charged and delivered • Medicines, Herbals and Natural Vitamins • Accepting HMO & Insurance Cards

Metro area: 733-3216 • www.phexpress.com

n e

210 Regency Parkway

• North Omaha • South Omaha • Council Bluffs • • City-wide Delivery • Discount Prices •

Serving Our Community

nal o i t sa

5102 N. 156th St.

The pharmacy that specializes in home delivery!

BRUCE GOLDBERG, Pharmacist

Page 9

FOR A LIMITED TIME!

That Potter y Place of fering an assor tment of Judaica Potter y

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

On Any TRANE Unit

Financing Available

• Save $10 with any service call • Ask about our Yearly Service Plan

Call Today For a FREE No Obligation Estimate

334-1818 West Omaha 558-1555 Central

MXcgXb ;\c`m\ij :ljkfd\ij%

100 Off First Mailer $

8Zk`m\ Zfejld\ij i\cp fe k_\ ]Xd`c`Xi Ycl\ MXcgXb \em\cfg\ ]fi mXcl\j k_Xk dXb\ c`]\ \Xj`\i Æ Xe[ dfi\ ]le

:Xcc MXcgXb Xk +') **'$',.. ]fi [`i\Zk dXib\k`e^ jfclk`fej

Page 10

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 24, 2006

Israeli Pen Pals Create Fun and Exciting Real World Learning Situations

IN THE NEWS The Creighton University Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Harris Center for Judaic Studies announce the 19th Annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium, to take place in Omaha on Sunday, Oct. 29 and Monday, Oct. 30, 2006. The theme is “‘I Will Sing and Make Music’: Jewish Music and Musicians throughout the Ages.” The Program Committee seeks proposals from presenters in a wide variety of fields, and there is no limit on topics.

For information, please contact Leonard Greenspoon, Klutznick Chair, at 280.2304 or ljgrn@creighton.edu.

Joshua and Justin Eveloff, sons of Mark and Dannette Eveloff and the grandsons of the late Sam and Leona Eveloff, have opened an innovative new business called The Internet Car Lot on 4095 So. 84 St. Already serving customers in Omaha and from across the nation, Josh and Justin sell and buy any new and used vehicles ranging from Jaguars and Cadillacs to Chevys and Fords for their customers on eBay. A licensed dealership also sells boats, jet skis, ATVs and motorcycles. Its services entail detailed photography including pictures of the vehicle, placement and monitoring on eBay along with all paperwork. They can be reached at 991.1112 or Josh@TheinternetCar-Lot.com or Justin@TheinternetCarLot.com.

During the fall semester at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), Beth Israel’s Rabbi Jonathan Gross taught “Literature of Judaism,” a class offered by UNL’s Norman and Bernice Harris Center for Judaic Studies. On Jan. 27, Gross was among those honored for their contributions to students when the UNL Teaching Council and UNL Parents Association honored faculty and staff at an annual recognition ceremony.

“It was a great honor to receive such an award,” said Gross. “I put a lot of thought and preparation into the class, and it’s nice to know the students appreciated it.”

The UNL Parents Association annually solicits nominations from the parents of UNL students. Parents are asked to nominate a UNL faculty or staff member who has made a noteworthy impact on their student’s life.

Those who are nominated receive a certificate of recognition during the annual ceremony.

Gross was particularly honored that a parent nominated him to be recognized for his contributions to UNL students. “That the student found my class stimulating enough to ‘bring it home’ and talk about it with his or her parents is very rewarding,” explained Gross. “Just like at shul, it is my hope that what I talk about during a service will become a continued topic for our congregants.”

The 49th Annual Missouri Valley History Conference (MVHC), hosted since 1958 by the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Department of History, will be Thursday-Saturday, March 2-4, at the Embassy Suites Old Market this year. Philip Khoury, professor of history and the Kenan Sahin dean of the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Science at MIT, will give the March 3, keynote: “The Arab World: What Went Wrong and How Can We Make It Better.”

“Dr. Khoury’s subject is both timely and important,” said Moshe Gershovich, associate professor of history at UNO and program coordinator. “We are delighted to have someone of his stature at the conference.” w wwww.plantationgeraniums.com w. p l a n t a t i o n g e r a n i u m s . c o m Visit images of ofthe the 2004 2006 varieties! varieties!

Visitour our website website for for full-color full-color images

Large Fancy GERANIUMS ONE Plant Fills a 14" Planter We Compromise Compromise Nothing We Nothing --Guaranteed Guaranteedtotobebethe the Best Geraniums Geraniums You Best You Can CanFind!

Find! 35 32 Varieties!

Varieties!(15 (15New) New) Reserve Your Favorite Colors Now & Pick Them Up at Planting Time! (Order Early! Many varieties sell out quickly.)

Jumbo Transplants and Large Hanging Baskets also Available.

remain in touch for life! Being a

by ELYCE AZRIEL Temple Israel Middle/High School part of the Partnership 2000 Director Pen Pal Network can also be a Wouldn’t it be fun to have way to gain valuable underan Israeli pen pal? We are standing of the world, and an delighted to introduce Israeli appreciation for cultures and students from Gordon lifestyles very different from Elementary School in Akko, our own.

Israel, to make friends with Establishing pen pal relationour fourth and sixth graders ships is not only a great learnat Temple Israel’s Religious ing tool, it is a time proven, fun School as part of Omaha’s and innovative way to become Federation Partnership 2000. Fourth-grade pen pals from Gordon School in Akko sent educated about other cultures, The pen pals are close in age Rosh Hashana greeting cards to fourth-graders at Temple practice communication skills, and most correspondence is Israel’s Religious School. The cards were displayed on the learn a foreign language, start in English, although we Jewish Federation of Omaha’s Partnership 2000 bulletin an international coin/stamp encourage using the Hebrew board in Temple Israel’s main hallway. collection, or just make a friend that our students know. The from a faraway place. Using Gordon School students are so anxious to learn about our snail mail, it is possible to trade anything light and flat students, their lives and our country. Many pen pals enough to fit inside an envelope!

Make Mishloach Manot: Baskets for Purim

by MAGGIE GERBER for The Center for Jewish Education Come spend the morning creating Mishloach Manot packages with the amazingly talented local artist, Julie Phillips, on Wednesday, March 8, 9:30 a.m. in the Kripke Jewish Federation Library.

Purim is Judaism’s most dramatic, fun-filled holiday, and the mitzvah of sending Mishloach Manot to friends on Purim is one of the four mitzvot designated with the celebration. The other mitzvot are reading and/or hearing the Megillah, eating a festive meal, and giving money to the poor.

“These boxes will be incredible!

I’ve been inspired by designer Tracy Porter, and can’t wait to share her ideas while enhancing this mitzvah,” says Phillips.

Participants will be able to design and create their own packages. Creative supplies and food items will be available so each participant will leave with a sample. And best of all, the entire program is free!

The tradition of sending Misloach Manot baskets of food to friends and relatives began with Queen Esther and Mordechi as an example of how each person, especially on Purim, should reach out and embrace fellow Jews. These gifts customarily have at least two different foods or drinks that do not have to be cooked or prepared by the person receiving the basket.

Children of all ages are also welcome to attend and will watch a Purim video in the Children’s Section of the library entitled The Animated Book of Esther.

Please call me to make a reservation or if you have any questions at 334.6462 or e-mail: mgerber@jewishomaha.org by March 2. This event is presented by The Center for Jewish Education.

STICK WELDERS NEEDED For Tank Construction in Nebraska. * Starting pay $12-$16 * Benefits * Full-time * Motel Paid * Testing in Hastings, NE * Travel Pay

ORGANIZATIONS LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Come to the Yiddish meeting at the JCC Hall on Thursdays, 1-3 p.m. Call Anne Skolkin at 343.1638.

VISIONS Reminder: Visions Board Meeting is Friday, March 3, 9:30 a.m., in the Blumkin Home conference room.

Visions Luncheon is March 17, 12:30 p.m., at the Venice Inn. Cost is $9.50 per person. Our guests are coauthors Bill Ramsey and Betty Schrier. They will discuss their forthcoming book on David Kaufman, Holocaust Rescuer. Send reservation with full payment to Tootie Simon, 8725 Izard, Omaha, NE 68114 by March 10.

For information call Jim Wax at 393-4442.

Join us for lunch and a show at the Mahoney State Park on Sunday, March 19, 11:15 a.m. The cost is $23 per person includes transportation, buffet lunch, theater ticket, tax and gratuity. The show is Don’t Dress for Dinner. This comedic play has been a smash hit all over the world. Send form with payment to Rose Pitlor, 827 Dillon Drive, Omaha, NE 68132 by March 8. For information call Ethel Goldston at 393-7358.

We’re “Goin to Kansas City” with Elite Tours on June 6-7. Cost is $180. Send reservations with full payment to Anne Skolkin, 1010 Regency Parkway #302, Omaha, NE 68114 by April 20. Make all checks payable to Visions.

BREADBREAKERS After a flawless 15-minute space flight in July 1961, Mercury Astronaut Gus Grissom splashed down in the Atlantic. Then all hell broke loose for the second American to be launched into space. The hatch blew off; the Liberty Bell 7 took on water and sank 16,000 feet.

Scott Hazelrigg, Executive Director of The Strategic Air and Space Museum, will describe the secrets revealed when “The Lost Spacecraft-Liberty Bell 7 [was] Recovered” 38 years later at the Wednesday, March 1, noon meeting of Breadbreakers at the Regency Lodge.

Cost is $11 for lunch and $3 for beverage service only.

JEWISH WOMEN INTERNATIONAL JWI’s Sweetheart Day at the Blumkin Home has been rescheduled to Thursday, March 8, 1:30 p.m.

HIRING FLATBED DRIVERS! Don’t miss this opportunity! Werner offers the most miles, top pay and great home time. We have immediate openings for Flatbed Drivers. Dedicated runs available. Call Today!

1-800-346-2818, ext. 508

FREE 888-310-7187 402-466-3332 • TOLL

PHONE ORDERS WELCOME! 5201 Bluff Rd., Lincoln NE • Mon.-Sat. 9-6, Sun. 10-4 From I-80 exit 405; 1 mile north to the yellow flashing light, turn left 1/4 mile on Bluff Road.

CHRIS KLUG

2002 SNOWBOARD OLYMPIC MEDALIST Liver Recipient

“My Olympic medal was my dream, but it was an organ donation that made my dreams come true.”

LEARN MORE.

(800) 718-LIFE www.nedonation.org

1-800-962-8110 or scuifawn@clarks.net

One Call, One Low Price* for over 170 Newspapers!

Place your 2x2 display ad in over 170 Nebraska newspapers and get your message to over 900,000 readers. Statewide coverage for less than $4.85 per publication*. Regional ads also available in Central, Northeast, Southeast or Western Nebraska. Other sizes available upon request.

Call this newspaper or 1-800-369-2850 for more information.

Nebraska 2x2 Display Ad Network

www.werner.com

EOE

JOURNEYMAN PLUMBER

Experienced service plumber. Up to $1,000 hiring bonus. Full benefit package plus competitive wages.

ServiceOne 9335 J Street Omaha, NE 68102 Phone: 402-344-4800 X17 Fax: 402-344-4799 EOE

Out

Dining

February 24, 2006

Move Over Hamantaschen!

by FELISA BILLET Hamentaschen? Sparkling grape juice? Again?

With a little foresight, rev up the Purim spirit by sending distinctive and unique made-to-order gifts, perfect for friends and family you won’t see on the holiday.

We combed the country in search of the most delicious and outrageous eats. All are just a phone call away and can be delivered anywhere in the United States. From homemade chicken soup to barrel-cured pickles, we narrowed our pickings to these delectable results. Each gift is guaranteed to bring Purim cheer--and lots of smiles.

Grandma’s Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul Here’s a gift that will warm your body and soul.

Grandma’s Chicken Soup (Call 87.SEND.SOUP, www.grandmaschickensoup.com) delivers homemade chicken soup right to your doorstep.

Brother and sister team Betsy Maselek and David Poritzky use their family’s recipe to make chicken soup just like your grandmother made, full of chicken, vegetables and lots of love. Each container is frozen fresh and arrives in a specially insulated box.

The kosher soup packages, which are certified under the Vaad Harabonim of Massachusetts, start at $36.50 and include a half gallon of chicken soup with matzo balls and noodles. Add-ons such as an oversized mug, a fleece blanket, and challah are some of the extras that bring this gift over the top.

Pizza Party Thanks to the ingenuity of brothers Eddie and Ari Fishbaum, you can have kosher pizza delivered any day of the week, anywhere.

Literally.

Throughout the world, Broadway’s Jerusalem 2 (800.969.NY.PIE, supplies www.flyingpizzas.com) hungry mouths craving a slice of New York pizza. One taste and you’d know why customers from Mexico, Russia, and even Japan are raving.

Each 18” pie is divided into eight slices, specially sealed, and delivered via Federal Express. Pies begin at $19.95, including delivery. Gift pies arrive with melt-inyour-mouth cinnamon rugelach. As the only pizza currently available on Ebay, a recent buyer summed up the flying pizza experience in seven words, “Excellent pizza.

Fast service. Will order again.”

Nuts For Popcorn The folks at Popcorn Zone (888.877.CORN or www.popcornzone.com) really know their kernels.

Utilizing the best ingredients such as real cheddar cheese, Vermont maple syrup, and Callebaut chocolate, they offer 35 different flavors, and the selection is growing.Their unique flavored glazes keep the popcorn fresh for up to two months. Certified under the O.R.B., the Popcorn Zone is the largest manufacturer of kosher popcorn in the world. Pick a limited-edition decorative tin or keepsake box and then choose your flavors.

Feeling patriotic? Their cherry, vanilla, and blueberry popcorn took center stage at the recent presidential inauguration. Send their chocolate dipped popcorn balls ($21.95) for an unsurpassable gift.

The Perfect Stash The Stash Tea Company (800.800.8327 or www.shopstashtea.com) is famous for its hand-crafted tea blends. Whether you drink their Chocolate Peppermint herbal tea made from Oregon peppermint or their Orange Spice Tea, a fusion of black tea, cinnamon and Valencia orange peels, Stash has converted double-espresso addicts into tea aficionados.

With over 200 different varieties (all are certified through the KOF-K), you’ll have a hard time choosing your favorite. To ease your decision, this beautiful black felt-lined mahogany stained tea chest is the ultimate gift ($39.95). With 80 foil wrapped tea bags in assorted flavors, you will taste the quality that makes Stash one of the leading tea purveyors in the world.

Beyond Bagels While you can buy a bagel in every grocery store, the

only place to find an authentic bialy is in New York’s Lower East Side. With the convenience of modern-day shipping, now you can bring bialys ($7.20/dozen) straight to your kitchen. The undisputed best bialy comes from the old-fashioned brick oven of Kossar’s Bialys, (877.4.BIALYS or www.kossarsbialys.com) certified under the Central Rabbbinical Congress of the USA. The oldest bialy bakery in the United States, Kossar’s has been handcrafting its bialys, bulkas, pletzels and sesame sticks for over 75 years. From the mixing of the dough to shaping the bialys’ flat surface, every aspect is handmade.

Spice it Up Need cinnamon? Garlic? Szechuan peppercorns from China? At The Spice House (888.488.0977), located in Milwaukee, WI, and certified under the Kosher Supervisors of Wisconsin, aromas abound while the varieties of spices are endless. In the mail-order catalogue, browse through their enormous collection of hand-prepared spices, herbs, extracts, and blends.

While their Saigon Cinnamon and High Bulk Index Garlic Powder are kitchen staples, the merchants also create signature blends (Maple Sugar Seasoning and Caribbean Calypso are our favorites).

For an unforgettable gift, they offer sets ranging from four to ten glass jars of assorted spices and blends. The Great Baker’s Assortment ($39.95) is one of the best presents you can give to anyone who loves to bake.

Creamy, Dreamy Cheesecake The vote is in. Junior’s is the world’s most famous cheesecake.

Shop online (www.juniorscheesecake.com) to view Junior’s mouthwatering selection of creamy, dreamy cheesecakes, certified through the OU. From their Original, fashioned for what all New York-style cheesecakes aspire to be, to their award-winning Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake, each choice is better than the next. Their Four-Flavor Sampler ($32.95) is the best way to enjoy their most popular flavors: Original, Raspberry Swirl, Chocolate Ganache, and Cherry Crumb Cheesecake. Junior’s guarantees perfect delivery. Each 8” cheescake arrives in a special, protective, container, insuring freshness.

A Barrel of Pickles Nothing stirs up memories as much as familiar smells.

When customers walk through the door of the Pickleicious store in Bergen County, NJ, they almost always share a pickle memory or story with owner Robyn Brown Samra. For those who can’t experience the store first hand, www.pickleicious.com, offers the finest selection of barrel-cured pickles, olives, and specialty kosher products on the internet.

Their hot and spicy pickles pump up the heat while their full-sour pickles ($10 a quart) deliver big sour taste. And if you send your own personal pickle story you receive a free quart of pickles with your order.

A Fairytale of Chocolate Founded by childhood friends, David Kravetz and Elaine Spitalny, Fairytale Brownies (800.324.7982 or www.brownies.com) began in a friend’s catering kitchen using Kravetz’s mom’s 49-year-old secret family recipe. Now the largest mail-order brownie company in the United States, Fairytale makes more than two million brownies a year.

Belgian chocolate, Grade AA butter, and farm-fresh eggs combine to create dreamy and decadent brownies sure to satisfy the most discriminating chocolate lover.

Certified through the Greater Phoenix Vaad Hakashrut, the brownies come in 12 flavors and in a variety of gift packages. Whether you savor their Magic Morsels ($26.00), bite size brownies; or their Sprites ($26.00), half-size brownies, each one is a fairytale come true.

Felisa Billet is a freelance foodwriter living in Long Island, New York .

A History of Israel Class Starts Next Month

by MARY SUE GROSSMAN Administrator for The Center for Jewish Education Israel was established less than 60 years ago and the history that has evolved since May of 1948 has been intense, varied, and always fascinating. Join Dr. Moshe Gershovich in learning--or refreshing--your knowledge of Israel’s history and gain a better insight of the changes in Israel today. “A History of Israel” will be held on March 6, 20, 27, and April 10, 7-8 p.m.

“Dr. Gershovich, an Associate Professor of Middle East History at the University of Nebraska Omaha, is well qualified to teach this course,” states Dr. Guy Matalon, Executive Director of The Center for Jewish

Education. “His strong ties to Israel and his knowledge of Middle East history will provide a unique perspective on the class.” “‘I am very excited about the opportunity to share my interest in and familiarity with the history of Israel with members of our community,” says Gershovich. “Because all of us are deeply concerned about the future Jewish identity of Israel, we need to study and understand its past.”

Class will be held in the CJE classroom at the Jewish Community Center. Tuition is $18 and advance registration is requested. To register, please contact me at 334.6445 or via e-mail at mgrossman@jewishomaha.org.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 11

When you patronize these fine establishments, tell them you saw their ad in the Jewish Press.

Asian Fusion Menu Take Out Available Open 7 Days a Week 11 am to 1 am Serving Lunch and Dinner

Now Open!

8029 W Dodge Rd. | Suite C | Omaha, NE 68114 | 402.502.7888

THE GREEK ISLANDS 3821 CENTER • 346-1528 Greek Specials Daily Greek Beer & Wine Homemade Pastries Dine In/Carry Out Party Room We Cater Too! Full Service Bar Mon.-Thurs., 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Sun., 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

bob monkey’s Noodle Zoo Extra-ordinary Sandwiches, Salads & Pasta

Zoo Something Different Greek Chicken Foccacia Herb Crusted Chicken Noodle Bowl New Orleans Muffaletta Fajita Chicken Salad Kids under 12 eat free every Wednesday!

When ordering from the Kids Menu and with the purchase of 2 Adult Entrees.

180th & Pacific • 330-4846

Chocolate Fountain Serves up to 400

Gelato | Smoothies | Ice Cream Cakes & Pies

Try Our Catered

Call Us For Your Next Event Bar/Bat Mitzvahs | Weddings | Graduations | Parties Rockbrook Village | 108th & W. Center Rd. 402.399.2010 | www.javanice.com

eli D e h T at

Spirit World 7517 Pacific Omaha, NE 68114 391-8680

Bring in this ad and receive a

Free Fountain Drink with the purchase of any Sandwich or Entre – Eat in only – One coupon per person. Not valid with any other offers.

Page 12

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 24, 2006

Will the Real Hamas Please Step Forward?

Earlier this week, the terrorist arm of Hamas placed several cartoons on its website.

According to Palestinian Media Watch--a group that monitors Palestinian newspapers, tv, radio and internet--the cartoons depict a six-pointed Jewish star over which is superimposed a nuclear explosion. And you thought there was no humor in the Arab world.

This occurred just after the so-called “moderate” of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was chosen as the new Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority.

Think a nuclear explosion is farfetched?

Think again. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported that “in what appears to be the first acknowledgement by any high-ranking Iranian official that Iran has attained nuclear fission production capability, Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary-General Ali Larijani, who is in charge of Iran’s nuclear talks, said on Feb. 6 that Iran had attained nuclear fission production capability.”

Ten days later, extremist clerics from Qom had issued what the daily called “a new fatwa,” which states that “shari’a does not forbid the use of nuclear weapons,” according to MEMRI. Despite any unrealistic hopes for a peaceful coexistence with Hamas, the terrorist group continues to say one thing to the English world and another to Arabic speakers.

The covenant of its Islamic Resistance Movement (translation: terror wing), states

that “Israel will exist, and will continue to exist, until Islam abolishes it, as it abolished that which was before it.”

It continues: “the Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas] set out to play its role, marching onward for the sake of Allah. Hamas joins arms with all those who wage jihad for the liberation of Palestine...who sacrificed their lives for the land of Palestine, from the time when the Prophet’s companions conquered it until the present.” And finally: “The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinct Palestinian movement that is loyal to Allah, adopts Islam as a way of life and works to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.”

This cannot be mistaken for an olive branch.

So how does Hamas relate to Iran?

Iran’s government is under the control of President Ahmadinejad, who has publicly described the Holocaust as a hoax at the same time insisting that Europe should bear the responsibility for resettling the Jews who came to Israel after World War II. In fact, MEMRI reported that “members of the fundamentalist militaristic faction do not hesitate to state Iran’s policy regarding Israel, and since coming to power, have interpreted this actively and belligerently. They publicly call for Islam to annihilate Israel,

in the context of a broader world view that reflects the all-out historic existential, moral, and cultural struggle between the Islamic world and the West. In this struggle, Israel, or Palestine, is merely one front line today.”

Today the settlements of Gaza, tomorrow the eastern part of Jerusalem...and the day after, Hamas will be after Tel Aviv and Haifa.

Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Committee, the Jewish Federation of Omaha or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole.

The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content.

The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment.

Who’s One of Israel’s Best Friends? The Answer is Surprising: Poland

BEHIND THE H EADLINES

by TAD TAUBE SAN FRANCISCO (JTA)--The newly elected president of a European country, in his first interview for that country’s largest newspaper, compared himself to Ariel Sharon to explain the policies he intends to pursue.

His country has troops on the ground in Iraq, close military ties with Israel and a voting pattern on Middle Eastern issues in the United Nations that rests halfway between those of the European Union and the United States.

Over the last 15 years, each of its presidents paid state visits to Israel, reciprocated by his Israeli counterparts, as have several of its prime ministers and foreign ministers. Israel events at this country’s major universities draw large and positive audiences, while the rare antiIsraeli demonstrations are so small they do not even make it to the local media. And in that European country, the United States retains its position of “most-liked” in all public opinion polls. That country is Britain, right? But when was the last time that a British college had an Israel day? And come to think of it, don’t they have a queen, not a president?

That country is Poland. Ever since the fall of communism, the country so many Jews love to hate has consistently pursued a proAmerican and pro-Israel policy.

In fact, this--and economic liberalism--has been the only consistent feature of Polish politics, with its dizzying swings of public mood. In the latest about-turn this fall, the Poles voted into office a conservative, nationalist and strongly pro-Catholic party, with ties to the right. And yet it was that party’s victorious presidential candidate, Lech Kaczynski, who compared himself to Ariel Sharon--probably the only European leader ever to do so.

The declarations made by Kaczynski--who makes his first official state visit to Washington last month--did not come out of the blue.

Previously, as mayor of Warsaw, he was instru-

mental in the city’s decision to allot substantial municipal funds to the building of a Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, intended to become one of the continent’s largest Jewish museums. He also brought about close cooperation between the Polish capital and Tel Aviv.

As minister of justice in a previous conservative government, he decisively pushed for the full disclosure of the World War II-era massacre at Jedwabne, where a community of Polish Christians murdered their Jewish neighbors. And at a recent meeting with Jewish leaders, top advisers to the prime minister stated that the government’s policy on Jewish and Israeli issues will remain positive.

“We do not intend to give in to European political correctness on Israel,” one of them said. Nor is there any talk of loosening ties with the United States-- even if Poland has been called “America’s Trojan horse inside of the European Union.”

Therefore it seems that the Kaczynski administration will follow in the footsteps of previous post-Communism Polish governments. The first foreign policy decision of the new democratic Polish Parliament in 1989 was to re-establish diplomatic relations with Israel, broken off by Eastern Bloc countries (excepted Romania) in 1967 on Moscow’s orders.

Though the Czechs, not the Poles, became the first ex-Communist nation to send an ambassador to Tel Aviv, this was due to the fallout from a statement by then prime minister of Israel, Yitzhak Shamir, who had said that “Poles suckle anti-Semitism with their mothers’ milk”--hardly an encouraging gesture.

Still, Warsaw was second, after Prague--and in the meantime, became a main transit point for Soviet Jews leaving Russia for Israel. The Hungarians backed off after a terrorist attack.

The Poles did not, though terrorist threats were--and remain--aplenty.

In 1991, the mustachioed Solidarity heroturned-president--Lech Walesa--made a state visit to Israel, the first ever by a Polish leader,

(Founded in 1920) Joanie Jacobson Chairman Carol Katzman Editor Richard Busse Managing Editor Allan Handleman Advertising Manager Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Managing Editor Terri Greenwood Advertising Executive Barbara Kirkpatrick Bookkeeper Jewish Press Committee Howard K. Marcus, Vice-Chairman; Bobbi Leibowitz, Secretary; Scott Meyerson, Finance Chairman; Fred Tichauer, Immediate Past-chairman; David Herzog; Jamie Meyerson; Stanley Mitchell; George Quittner; Linda Saltzman; Joe Shyken; Michael Siegal; Nancy Skid; Dorothy Spizman; and Melany Weinstine.

The role of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to involve Jews in meeting Jewish communal needs locally, nationally and in Israel. Centers of Excellence of the Federation are: Community Relations, Jewish Community Center, Center for Jewish Education, Jewish Family Service, and Jewish Senior Services.

The Jewish Press is a constitutional committee of the Jewish Federation.

or by the head of a former Soviet Bloc state.

Addressing the Knesset, he asked forgiveness for evils committed by Poles against Jews in the past, and assured Israelis that modern Poland is a friend they can trust. Thereafter, commercial and cultural relations boomed (Israeli investments in Poland today amount to some $2 billion), youth exchange followed, and military ties came soon after.

Today the Polish army is buying Israeli Spike missiles, while security services maintain a close cooperation. And though expectations by some Israeli politicians that Poland, after joining the European Union in 2004, would become “Israel’s ambassador” to the continental bloc may have been overly optimistic, statements by the Polish ambassador to Israel condemning Palestinian terror have provoked howls of outrage from some of his European colleagues--and denunciations sent directly to Brussels.

Though sincere intent to compensate for evils of the past is a significant motivation for this consistently pro-Israeli policy, it probably would not have happened without the country’s intense pro-Americanism.

Jews had reason aplenty to think bitterly of the Poland that was, and therefore mistrust the Poland that is. There is indisputably still social anti-Semitism in the country, even if local Jews say they feel safer wearing a yarmulke on the streets of Warsaw than on the streets of Paris. But mistrust is one thing, willful blindness another.

No country on the European continent today is both as strongly pro-American and pro-Israeli as is Poland. Sure, the Poles do it partly because they believe it is in their national interest. But one would be hard pressed to find a sounder basis for a friendly partnership.

Tad Taube, a San Francisco businessman born in Poland, is President of the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture and of the Koret Foundation.

Ever since the fall of communism, the country so many Jews love to hate has consistently pursued a pro-American and pro-Israel policy.

Editorial The Jewish Press is a Constitutional Committee of the Jewish Federation of Omaha.

Deadline for copy, ads and photos is: Thursday, noon, eight days prior to publication. E-mail editorial material and photos to: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org; send ads (in .TIF or .PDF format) to: rbusse@jewishomaha.org.

Letters to the Editor Guidelines The Jewish Press welcomes Letters to the Editor. They may be sent via regular mail to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154; via fax: 1-402-334-5422 or via e-mail to the Editor at: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org..

Letters should be no longer than 250 words and must be singlespaced typed, not hand-written.

Published letters should be confined to opinions and comments on articles or events. News items should not be submitted and printed as a “Letter to the Editor.”

The Editor may edit letters for content and space restrictions, but should be printed as soon as possible to ensure timeliness. Letters may be published without giving an opposing view. Information shall be verified before printing.

All letters must be signed by the writer, but the name can be withheld at the writer’s request.

No letters should be published from candidates running for office, but others may write on their behalf.

Letters of thanks should be confined to commending an institution for a program, project or event, rather than personally thanking paid staff, unless the writer chooses to turn the “Letter to the Editor” into a paid personal ad or a news article about the event, project or program which the professional staff supervised. For more information, contact Carol Katzman, Jewish Press Editor, 402.334.6450.

Postal The Jewish Press (USPS 275620) is published weekly on Friday for $31 per calendar year U.S.; $36 foreign, by the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Phone: 402.334.6448; FAX: 402.334.5422.

Periodical postage paid at Omaha, NE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE or e-mail to: 68154-2198 jpress@jewishomaha. org.

Nebraska Press Association

National Newspaper Association

February 24, 2006

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 13

March Election Promises Plethora of Candidates, Lists, Issues, Angles

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

by LESLIE SUSSER JERUSALEM (JTA)--The upcoming Israeli election promises to be one of the most important since 1967, and could decide the fate of most of the territory Israel captured in that year’s Six Day War. It also could help consolidate Israel’s place in the Middle East--and have significant ramifications for resources allocated to education and the fight against poverty.

Given Israel’s system of proportional representation, dozens of parties will vie for power. So who are the main players? What do the various parties stand for? What are the key issues?

And how does the system work?

The players: The main players are the three leaders with genuine prime ministerial aspirations: • Ehud Olmert, 60, Kadima Party leader and acting prime minister. A Knesset member at the age of 28, Olmert has held the health, trade and industry and finance portfolios, and served a decade as mayor of Jerusalem.

He is a lawyer with degrees in philosophy and psychology. He will try to convince voters that he is the true heir of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

• Amir Peretz, 53, leader of the Labor Party and former boss of the Histadrut trade union federation. Peretz was born in Morocco, came to Israel at age four and became a Knesset member in 1988 after serving as mayor of the southern border town of Sderot.

With no ministerial experience or academic qualifications, his primary task will be to convince voters that he has the makings of a prime minister.

• Benjamin Netanyahu, 56, Likud Party leader and former prime minister. The son of a history professor, Netanyahu was born in Jerusalem but spent his formative years in the United States, where he attained a degree in business administration from MIT. The most experienced of the three candidates, he has served as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, foreign minister, finance minister and prime minister.

Despite his qualifications, Netanyahu starts the race at a serious disadvantage: His term as prime minister is widely regarded as a failure, he is blamed for reviving the economy in recent years on the backs of Israel’s poor and for causing the split in the Likud by making Sharon’s position as party leader intolerable.

The electoral system: Since the founding of the state in 1948, Israeli politics has suffered from inherent instability. Trying to hold together a society of veterans and immigrants, religious and secular, Ashkenazi and Sephardi, with a significant Arab minority, Israel opted for a system of proportional representation.

The upshot was a plethora of parties, unwieldy coalitions and 31 governments in 55 years. In the late 1990s, in an effort to strengthen the central government, Israel instituted a system of direct election of the prime minister.

The new system granted voters two ballots--one for prime minister and the other for the party of their choice --but instead of a more stable government, it produced greater fragmentation. After choosing their candidate for

prime minister, many voters used the second ballot to vote for small, single-issue parties, decimating the larger, nationally oriented parties like Labor and Likud and leading to even more unwieldy multiparty coalitions.

By the time the last election came around, in January 2003, Israel had restored the old system, but with two significant changes designed to promote stability: The first, “constructive no-confidence,” stipulated that winning a simple majority in a no-confidence vote no longer was enough to force a sitting prime minister out of office. Instead, it would take an absolute majority of 61 Knesset members in the 120-member Parliament, and they would have to unite around an alternative candidate for prime minister.

The revised system also made it more difficult for small parties to make it into the Knesset, raising the parliamentary threshold from 1.5 percent to 2 percent, or some 70,000-80,000 votes.

Just over five million registered voters will be eligible to cast their ballots March 28 in hundreds of polling stations, usually school rooms temporarily converted for the purpose.

An 80 percent turnout, not uncommon in Israel, will mean four million votes cast...

The 2006 elections will operate according to this revised version of the old system. Israelis will vote with a single ballot for the party of their choice, and each party will win a number of Knesset seats directly proportional to its share of the vote. Parties that fail to garner at least 2 percent of the vote will not get any seats.

The leader of the party most likely to be able to form a new government--invariably the party that wins most seats--will be invited by the president to begin coalition negotiations.

The parties and the issues: • Kadima: Formed by Sharon in November when he split from the Likud, its overarching policy thrust is to continue the process of separation from the Palestinians that was started by the withdrawal from Gaza and the northern West Bank last summer. Kadima spokesmen say this should be by agreement with the Palestinians but imply that if not, there will be more unilateral withdrawals.

• Labor: To make up for Peretz’s lack of experience, Labor will highlight its list of Knesset candidates. On foreign affairs and defense, it will argue that its approach is similar to Kadima’s; but it will assert that the main threat to Israeli society is the growing gap between rich and poor, which it alone intends to address.

• Likud: To avoid appearing too right-wing or irrelevant, Likud will gravitate toward the center, emphasizing that it too seeks separation from the Palestinians.

Netanyahu says the difference between Likud and Kadima or Labor is that the latter parties would withdraw to the pre-1967 borders, whereas he would move the separation fence deeper into the West Bank and hold on to the Jordan Valley.

• Shinui: The third-largest party with 15 seats in the last Knesset, the secular, centrist Shinui may disappear from the political arena without having achieved any of its major goals: army service for Yeshiva students, civil marriage and equality between the various streams of Judaism in Israel. After bitter personal clashes, the party is on the verge of splitting in two, and polls show that neither wing would cross the 2 percent threshold.

• Tafnit: A new centrist party led by former National Security Adviser Uzi Dayan. Running on an anti-corruption ticket, it too seems unlikely to win enough votes to cross the threshold. Talks between Tafnit and some Shinui breakaways so far have failed to produce a merger.

• Shas: The fervently Orthodox Sephardi party will campaign for a restoration of religious values and an end to alleged discrimination against religious and Sephardi Jews, but without the secular challenge posed by Shinui, it will find it more difficult to mobilize support. It also may see some of its traditional Sephardi voters migrate to Labor because of Peretz’s Moroccan roots.

• United Torah Judaism: A sectoral party that appeals to haredi, or fervently Orthodox, Ashkenazi Jews, and is capable of forming a coalition with parties of the left, right or center.

• National Religious Party: A right-wing, Zionist religious party that appeals to non-haredi Orthodox Jews. Much of its support has tended to come from Jewish settlers, but the party now is playing down its Greater Israel philosophy and emphasizing the need to strengthen Jewish identity through Jewish education.

Polls show it hovering close to the minimum threshold.

• National Union: A one-issue, Greater Israel prosettler party. Its Moledet wing advocates the voluntary transfer of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip to third countries.

• Yisrael Beiteinu: A right-wing party with a large Russian immigrant base, it proposes land swaps with a future Palestinian state that would leave many Israeli Arabs on the Palestinian side of the border.

• Meretz: The most dovish of the Zionist parties, it emphasizes its readiness to withdraw to the pre-1967 borders and divide Jerusalem in the context of an agreement with the Palestinians.

• Arab parties: The Communist Hadash party, the secular Balad and the Islamicist United Arab List are dominated by Israeli Arabs and claim to represent Arab interests and rights. But their main focus has been on regional politics and Palestinian claims, leading many Israeli Arabs to say that this time they will vote for Zionist parties like Kadima and Labor that might do more to address local Israeli Arab concerns. The result could be some Arab parties not making the threshold.

• Special interest parties: In previous elections, oneissue parties for everything from the legalization of marijuana to the banning of taxes have run, but usually failed to make it to the Knesset.

The timetable: Candidate lists had to have been presented to the Central Election Committee on Feb. 8 or 9. That will leave a bit less than seven weeks from that date--a little more than four weeks from today--for all-out campaigning that will include billboards, newspaper ads, public meetings and party political broadcasts.

Just over 5 million registered voters will be eligible to cast their ballots March 28 in hundreds of polling stations, usually schoolrooms temporarily converted for the purpose. An 80 percent turnout, not uncommon in Israel, will mean 4 million votes cast and one Knesset seat per 33,000 votes--assuming a party crosses the minimum threshold.

The morning after, the coalition-building will begin.

The kind of coalition that the winner puts together-left-leaning or right-leaning, with religious parties or without--will offer a clue to the policies the new government is likely to adopt.

Reach your target market in the Jewish Press!

Advertisers love our demographics!

Our readers read the Press 43% cover-to-cover 48% are in the prime 35-54 age bracket 48% have incomes of $75,000+ 39% plan to purchase a car this year 43% plan on buying new home 43% furnishings or electronics 57% are making travel plans 64% are investors

Call Allan or Terri for rates for the award-winning WeeklyJewish Press or for upcoming special issues...

March 10 Home & Garden April 7 Passover May 5 Mother’s Day May 26 Senior Living June 9 Father’s Day/Graduation

Allan Handleman

Terri Greenwood

402.334.6451

402.334.6559

Advertising Manager

ahandleman@jewishomaha.org

Sales and Marketing Associate terrigreenwood@jewishomaha.org

Page 14

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 24, 2006

Candlelighting Friday, Feb. 24, 5:51 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 nebraskajudaism.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.tiferethlincoln.org

PERSONAL Mary Fellman’s 89th birthday is March 2! Send greetings to: Mary Fellman, c/o Sholom Home East, 2 Joseph, Rm 211, 1554 Midway Parkway, St Paul, MN 55108-2415.

FRIDAY: Services followed by Oneg, 7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY, March 10: Purim Celebration; Speaker Michael Sigmond will discuss Jewish Consumer Issues. Purim dairy dinner will follow. Let us know what you will bring; call 323.8885. The community is invited.

reservations, e-mail Margie Gutnik: programming@bethelomaha.org.

HAZAK MOVIE AND LUNCH Sunday, March 5, 12:30 p.m.

Cost is $6 per person.

Reservations and check to Natalie Rubin, 2004 So. 138 Ave. Cir., Omaha, NE 68144.

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

FRIDAY: Musical Kabbalat Shabbat service, 6 p.m., in the chapel; Tot Shabbat, 6 p.m., followed by a kid-friendly dinner in the West Court. Cost: adults, $5; children six and under, free.

SATURDAY: Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation (3-7), 10 a.m.; K’tantan (K-2), 10:45 a.m.; Evening Service, 6 p.m.

ADULT EDUCATION SUNDAY, 10 a.m.: Bible Discussion Group, Living Hebrew, Adult B’nai Mitzvah class, and The Blessing of Good Parenting, (babysitting is available); Nashir Choir, 10-11 a.m.; Jewish Pot Pourri Class and From Your Heart to God’s Ears, 11 a.m.

THURSDAYS, noon: Rabbi Levin leads Discovering the Talmud: Lessons for Everyday Living.

WEEKDAY SERVICES: Sunday, 9 a.m./5:30 p.m.; Weekdays, 6:55 a.m./5:30 p.m.

PATTER: Wednesdays, 10:30 -11:45 a.m., for parents and toddlers, 18 months-age three.

BESTT WORKSHOPS Sessions address bullying and other types of child victimization, Sundays, Feb. 26, March 5 and 26, 12:15 p.m. There is no cost.

To register, contact Judy Rubin.

WOMEN’S ROSH HODESH GROUP Tuesday, Feb. 28, 7 p.m., at the JCC Child Development Center, for “Fun Jewish Things to Do with Kids and Grandkids!”

For reservations, contact Andee Scioli at ascioli@ fslf.com, or Joanie Jacobson at 554.0500 or ohjoan413@aol. com.

CANTOR’S CONCERT Thursday, March 2, 7 p.m., featuring Jewish rock icon Rick Recht. The community is invited to attend “Rock ‘n’ Roll for Your Jewish Soul”--for ticket prices contact the synagogue office.

SATURDAY TOT SHABBAT March 4, 11 a.m.-11:45 a.m., followed by lunch for participating families. Cost: $5, adults; children six and under, free. For

Office Hours: MondayThursday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fridays, 8:30 a.m-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Jonathan Gross.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 5:30 p.m.; Beth Israel hosts the Omaha Jewish Student Union for Shabbat Dinner, 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Free Babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 10:30 a.m.; Kiddush sponsored by David, Sandy, Amy and Nina Gross and Laura, Avi, Joe, Atara, Ike, Jake, and Judah Greenbaum in honor of the anniversary of Rabbi Gross’s Bar Mitzvah; Mincha, 5:30 p.m.; Havdalah, 6:52 p.m.; Senior NCSY “Steak and a Movie” at Shami Jacob’s house, after Havdalah.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Contact the office for Mincha/ Ma’ariv time; Travelin’ Toddlers invites older friends for Mad Science at Beth Israel, 4:30 p.m.

(2-5-year-old and school-age programs), followed by spaghetti bar dinner, 5:30 p.m. Cost is $5 per person and free to kids attend Mad Science.

WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m; Contact the office for Mincha/Ma’ariv time.

THURSDAY: Advanced Parsha Study, 9 p.m.

Make reservations to attend “The Jew and the Zoo” on Sunday, March 5, an interactive tour of the zoo, led by Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt. Tour for preschoolers is at 9:30 a.m., followed by family tour, 10:30 a.m. If you are not a zoo member, free day passes are available if you make reservations with the synagogue by Feb. 27.

B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

BEYT SHALOM SATURDAY: Shabbat at the Blumkin Home, 9 a.m.

FRIDAY: Services, 7 a.m.; Ima & Me, 10–11:30 a.m.

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

SUNDAY: Services, 8:30 a.m.; Torah Studies, 10-11:30 a.m. The Exodus Series, exploring themes of leadership, liberty, law, and growth; Chabad Cheder and Aleph Champ, 10 a.m.-noon.

WEEKDAYS: Minyan, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: Halacha, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY: Women of Worth Prayer Circle, 9 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: Kabbalah Circle, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY: Jewish Thought, 12:45 p.m.; Torah Tots (ages 35), 4:15 p.m.

For information about programs or to register for classes, the office or visit: call www.nebraska-judaism.com.

TEMPLE ISRAEL

Services conducted by Rabbi Ilan Emanuel.

FRIDAY: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m., led by Rabbi Emanuel, with oneg 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: Gan Simcha, grades 2-7, and Hallah High 9:30 a.m.noon, at Tifereth Israel; grades K1, 9:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. at B’nai Jeshurun; Fundraising Committee Meeting, 10 a.m.; Purim Spiel Rehearsal, 1-3 p.m.; Winter Lecture Series, 7 p.m. at Unitarain Church, 6300 ‘A’ St.; the topic is “Modern Politics of China” with guest speaker, Andy Wedeman.

WEDNESDAY: Hebrew class (grades 2-7), 4-6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel.

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

THURSDAY, 7 p.m. Music Education, led by Mark Miller, Holly Hefflebower, and Elaine Monnier (first and third Thursdays of the month).

Shira FRIDAY: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m.; Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, and Cantor Wendy Shermet will officiate.

SATURDAY: Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:15-10:15 a.m.; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m.

SUNDAY: Teacher Meeting, 9:30 a.m.; Religious School (K-6), 10 a.m.-noon.

TUESDAY, Feb. 28: Family School and Dinner, 5:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, March 1: Religious School, 3-6, 4 p.m.; Informal Dinner, 6 p.m.; Middle/ High School, 7-12, 6:30 p.m.

ADULT EDUCATION SUNDAY, Feb. 26: Beyond the Aleph Bet, 10:15 a.m.

JEWISH BOOK TALK at Temple Israel on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2 p.m. Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska is the second selection in the five-part Jewish Literature Book Discussion Group in partnership with the Council Bluffs Public Library. Register for “Let’s Talk About It,” at lfriesner@ cbpl.lib.ia.us or 712.323.7553, ext. 132.

THURSDAY, March 2: “Adult Study with the Clergy” with Rabbi Azriel, 10-11:30 a.m.

HAMANTASCHEN BAKING: Sunday, Feb. 26, 10 a.m. in Temple’s kitchen. Last year, 900 were made for the congregational Purim dinner. Contact Allison Latenser at alatenser@ yahoo.com to RSVP. Rolling pins not required, but helpful.

CRADLE ROLL: Sunday, Feb. 26, 10:30 a.m. in the Milder Center. Parents (and grandparents, too!) are invited, along with their children (infant to pre-k age) to play and learn together with other families who have young children. In order to make sure there are supplies and snacks for all the children, please RSVP to Ann Osborne, at 933.4954 or annoz13@cox.net.

March 2: THURSDAY, Women of Reform Judaism, Omaha Board Meeting, 7 p.m. at home of Cindy Goldberg.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE

NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN

CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN

FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.

CHABAD HOUSE

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME

Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Services, 9 a.m., led by Marti Nerenstone and Beyt Shalom Congregation.

What’s Jewish About Winter?

More than 31 preschoolers and their parents from throughout the Jewish community experienced a fun afternoon of arts and crafts, music and baking during “What’s Jewish About Winter?” sponsored by Beth El Synagogue. Left photo: program participants enjoy a Tu B’Shevat tale, read by event facilitator Helen Epstein. At right, Leslie Eades helps her daughter, Emma, with an art project.

FRIDAY: Minyan, 5:45 p.m.

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m.

TIFERETH ISRAEL Services conducted by Rabbi Royi Shaffin. Minyan, MONDAY & THURSDAY, 7 a.m., followed by breakfast.

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

SATURDAY: Parashat Hashavu’a class, 8:30 a.m.; Morning service, 9:30 a.m., followed by Shabbat lunch and Talmud class.

SUNDAY: Gan Simcha, grades 2-7, and Hallah High, 9:30 a.m.noon, at Tifereth Israel; grades K1, 9:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. at B’nai Jeshurun.

WEDNESDAY: Men’s Lunch Group will meet at the Knolls, at 12:30 p.m. Contact Yale Gotsdiner at 423.7066.

WEDNESDAY: Hebrew class (grades 2-7), 4-6 p.m.

February 17, 2006

Law Must Be Specific

SPARKS FROM THE WORD

by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parashat Mishpatim Until the previous Sidra, the Text has been largely an account of travel and aspiration. In the previous Sidra, we were awakened to the realm of law when we are confronted with the Ten Commandments.

In our present Sidra, attention is given to necessary explanations of what is implied in the Ten Commandments. It has been pointed out, for example, that in our own terms, “No Speeding” as a rule for drivers requires that the law direct the driver to different situations: the speed on the interstate, the speed on two-lane highways, the speed on main streets in cities, the speed in neighborhoods and family housing, including children playing on the streets, and still different speeds in areas close to schools.

Our Sidra therefore gives individual laws for specific situations. We note that slavery is not abolished, but is sharply regulated. Rabbinic law, later, involved the owner of the slave with so many restrictions to preserve his humanity that one who bought a slave actually bought himself a “master.”

In an ancient society that included the death penalty, the Torah sharply limits it in our Sidra. It is to be noted that in rabbinic law, later, there were so many limitations that it made the death penalty all but impossible.

The Text goes on to problems in agricultural life, including losses and injuries from animals. If you are asked to keep someone’s animal for another, perhaps the animal will be destroyed, injured or stolen. Are you responsible? Does it make a difference if you are paid or simply asked to care for the animal for a friend?

Our Sidra includes miscellaneous laws, including religious law. There is, for example, the famous quote, “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk,” which led to mountains of derivative law as Israel’s life and thought continued.

Our Sidra concludes with the account of Moses’ mounting, at God’s command, to the top of the mountain for further instruction. He remained there for 40 days and nights--which leads us to the next Sidra.

Bill Ramsey and Betty Shrier Preview New Book

by ALLEN KURLAND for B’nai Israel Synagogue David Kaufman has become a standard of excellence as his selfless, caring story is being written by local authors, Betty Shrier and Bill Ramsey, who uncovered the marvels of this while Jewish hero researching Midwestern history. Their investigation into the little-known generosity of this man found that he assisted more than 250 families escape the Nazis William Ramsey and Betty unthinkable atrocities.

Shrier spoke at B’nai Israel on Now in their efforts to Feb. 10. write an accurate account of this noble philanthropist, Bill Ramsey and Betty Shrier have undertaken an immensely difficult and satisfying project. They spoke at B’nai Israel Synagogue on Feb. 10 about their soon to be published book about Kaufman.

The next speaker in the Second-Friday-of-the-Month Speaker Series will be Michael Sigmond. He will speak on Jewish Consumer Issues. The entire community is invited, March 10, 7:30 p.m. An Oneg will follow services and this special presentation.

To Submit an Obituary Notice: Send full name, age, date of death, location of service and burial site, as well as other pertinent information to the Jewish Press via e-mail: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org; fax, 402.4.5422; or mail, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68114.

Obituaries--as well as engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies, and births--also can be submitted at the Jewish Federation’s website. Just go to: www.jewishomaha.org, click on Jewish Press and click on “Submit Announcements.”

DEATHS STUART E. FRIED Stuart E. Fried died Feb. 19 after a long illness. He was 90 years old. Services were held Feb. 21 in the chapel at Beth El Cemetery.

Fried served in the Pacific in WW II in the Leyte and Okinawa campaigns and was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He was associated with M.Venger & Sons vending division for many years.

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Phyllis Fried; son, Richard Fried of Denver, CO; daughter and son-inlaw, Ellen and Henry Kopp of Jacksonville, FL; granddaughters, Lauren Kopp of Tampa, FL, and Jessica Kopp of Jacksonville; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Ruth and Walter Sinton of Houston, TX; and sister-inlaw, Lois Sinton of Largo, FL. Memorials to Beth El Synagogue, Rose Blumkin Jewish Home or charity of choice.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

PEOPLE WHO READ NEWSPAPERS ARE

Page 15

Pulverent e MONUMENT CO.

Frank L. Ciciulla Jr.

STUDENTS WITH BETTER GRADES It all starts with Newspapers.

60 Years Experience With Jewish Lettering and Memorials

1439 So. 13th

341-2452

ROSE LEE COHEN Rose Lee Cohen died at the age of 87. Services were held Feb. 21 at Golden Hill Cemetery.

She was preceded in death by husband, Harry.

She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Carl and Isabel Cohen; daughters and sons-in-law, Marilyn and Richard Ivers and Helen and John Burns; grandchildren, Michael and Jeremy Ivers, Joshua Cohen, Haley Burns, Howard and Walker Whitney; sisters, Yetta Levitch of Kansas City, and Mary Eisenberg of CA; and brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Don and Bernice Cohen.

Memorials to the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, or VNA Hospice Program.

LINCOLN CENTER Tifereth Israel Presents Another ARTrageous Evening of Art

by BARBARA KENYON for Tifereth Israel Synagogue More than 250 pieces of artwork will be available for auction Saturday, March 11, 7:30 p.m., when Tifereth Israel will be holding its fifth annual ARTrageous Evening of Art. The collection includes works of upand-coming artists from Latin and South America, Europe, and Asia, as well as those by established masters. Agam, Behrens, Chagall, Dali, Delacroix, Kinkade, Lautrec, Miro, Neiman, Picasso, Raad, Rockwell, Scott, and Vasarely are among the artists whose works will be auctioned. Various media such as oils, enamels, engravings, batiks, silkscreens, watercolors, drawings, and three-dimensional cast paper will be available.

All of the pieces are framed and much of the collection is in the $50-$250 price range. There will be some pieces from the “Collector’s Corner”, valued at $350$5000. Two paintings will be given away that evening, one of those being a piece by the Israeli artist Patricia Govenzensky.

Statewide Classified ADVERTISE STATEWIDE for $195/25 word classified ad. Over 170 newspapers with circulation of more than 400,000. Contact the Jewish Press at 334-6448 or call 1-800369-2850.

BANKRUPTCY: FAST relief from creditors. Statewide filing. Affordable rates. Call Steffens Law Office, 308-872-8327. We are a debt relief agency, which helps people file bankruptcy under the bankruptcy code.

LOG HOME Dealers wanted. Great earning potential, excellent profits. Protected territory, lifetime warranty. American made - honest value. Call Daniel Boone Log Homes, 1888-443-4140.

ALL CASH candy route. Do you earn $800 in a day? Your own local candy route.

Includes 30 machines and candy all for $9,995. 1-888-755-1356.

HOT TUB buyers. Buy direct from manufacturer, save $1,500 to $2,000. 30 models $2,495 to $3,995. Free video and price list. 1-800-869-0406. Good Life Spas, 2645 “O” Street, Lincoln, NE 68510.

1968 HEMI Barracuda to be auctioned at the 26th Annual Cox Collector Car Auction, Branson, Missouri, April 21-22-23. Consignment or bidding information: 800-335-3063, www.bransonauction.com.

FREE HOME/farm power. Cancelled order. Manufacturer must sell: 6 only, on-off grid wind turbine systems. Government programs. 5 year warranty. www.emarkelectric.com.

1-800-973-WATT, leave message. Sacrifice.

STEEL BUILDING sale! Sentinel Building Systems. Agricultural, commercial, specialty. Free quote & estimated erection costs. www.sentinelbuildings.com, 800-327-0790.

WOLFF TANNING beds. Buy direct and save! Full body units from $22 a month! Free color catalog. Call today! 1-800-842-1305, www.np.etstan.com.

DETENTION OFFICER: Phoenix, Arizona. Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. $14.99 per hour. Excellent benefits. No experience necessary. Contact 602-307-5245, 1-877352-6276 or www.mcso.org. 400 vacancies, including civilian.

EXPERIENCED CASE IH tractor or combine technicians. Good pay and benefits. Send resume to Fairbanks International, PO Box 556, Holdrege, NE 68949 or call 800-3564145.

TECHNICIAN POSITIONS available. Minimum of 3 yrs. agricultural equipment experience required. Apply on-line at www.kanequip.com or call Randal at 888-456-2041.

NEBRASKA CITY seeks Clerk-Treasurer responsible for municipal operations. Five years experience required, $45,845-$50,829. Cover letter, resume, references and salary history by March 22 to: Clerk-Treasurer Search, 1409 Central Avenue, Nebraska City, NE 68410. EOE.

Admission is $5 in advance and $7 at the door. This price includes complimentary spirits, hors d’oeuvres, and desserts. Checks for reservations, payable to Tifereth Israel, can be mailed to me at: Barbara Kenyon, 6229 Barbara Lane, Lincoln, NE 68512. All guests who have reservations in by March 1 will receive two free raffle tickets for the Patricia painting.

On Sunday, March 12, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m., there will be a “Take a Second Look” for those who cannot be there Saturday evening. For more information, please call me at 402.423.2678.

CORRECTION The Beth El Women's Rosh Hodesh group’s Feb. 28 meeting, “Fun Jewish Things to Do with Kids and Grandkids” at the JCC Child Development Center, is planned for adults only; all Beth El attendees are welcome to bring guests. For more information, call the synagogue at 492.8550.

DRIVERS-REEFER: Average $1.40 per mile. No experience? On the road training available. Late model assigned equipment. Great benefits. 800-771-6318. www.primeinc.com.

OWNER-OPERATOR/Company Drivers: Tired of being on the road weeks at a time?

Bennett Truck Transport, a manufactured home transport company needs owner operators to transport homes in the Midwest. We have late model toters available for leasepurchase. Home weekends and most nights. Requirements: 23 years old, 2 years commercial experience, a clean MVR and a class A CDL. We pay to train. For more information please call Darien at 1-888-774-3348.

O/Os & Company drivers wanted! Flatbeds & Van. 48 states. Home weekly. Invest 5 minutes, call 1-800-228-9842 “For drivers with high standards,” Fremont Contract Carriers. Since 1966. www.fcc-inc.com.

SMALL BUSINESS looking for dependable OTR flatbed truck driver. Call 507-2402279.

OLD GUITARS wanted. I’ll pay to $10,000+ for old Fender, Gibson, Martin, Gretsch and National guitars, Fender basses and Gibson banjos. 1900-1980. Call Dave, 800-2168936.

DEER HUNTERS: Looking for land to lease or pay trespass fee for hunting. Must be reasonable. 1-877-641-2627, flandissr@hotmail.com.

Page 16

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

February 24, 2006

Let the Games Begin! mon, bowling and a spelling bee.

For more information about times and dates, contact the participating synagogues.

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator The Jewish community’s first Winter Decathlon was kicked off last month with a fun-filled dodgeball game at the Jewish Community Center. Decathlon events, scheduled throughout February and into March, were organized to bring together congregants from each synagogue for some good-spirited fun. Activities have included Mah Jongg, billiards, poker, Pictionary, a walk-a-thon and ping pong.

Upcoming events include backgam-

Photos from top left: Beth Israel members showed up en masse to have some fun during the Decathlon’s kick-off event of dodgeball, held at the JCC. Members of Beth El’s dodgeball team get ready to hit their mark (all in good fun, of course!). Beth El’s spirited Pictionary team clowned around after the evening’s competition.

Members of Temple Israel’s Pictionary team used their artistic skills in an effort to win an exciting round of Pictionary.

Yachad Goes Bowling, Attends Tu B’Shevat of the rainy season and the start of the

by DUANE J. PIEPER A day filled with activity, camaraderie new growing season in Israel. The invitaand celebration for Yachad members started off with a trip to Maplewood Lanes for one of the oldest games in the world.

Archaeological artifacts found in Egypt by Flinders Petrie date the game of bowling back to 3200 BCE! The first written mention of a bowling-like sport can be traced to the year 1366 in England. During this period it was literally the game of kings. The English, Dutch Lisa and Jill Salomon team up with Elaine Marcus on and German settlers all Yachad’s bowling excursion to Maplewood Lanes brought their own version of the game to tion to attend this celebration and opportunity to tour the four seasons, sponsored the New World.

These diehard Yachad fans are part of the by Beth El, gave one a real appreciation 100 million people in more than 90 coun- for the gift of trees and it’s tasty fruits.

Yachad’s next event at the VSP Club on tries who love the game of bowling, making it the most popular and universally Sunday, Feb. 26, 12-2:15 p.m., sponloved form of recreation on the planet. sored by Jewish Family Service, will cenTraveling on to the next event on a ter around the preparation for another cold, blustery afternoon, it was nice to Israeli holiday, Yom Ha’Atzmaut. The arrive at Lauritzen Gardens and step into members will be making items for their this balmy, color-splashed, flower-filled booth at the upcoming May 7 event. world to celebrate Tu B’Shevat, the New Please RSVP with JFS and leave a mesYear for trees. This holiday marks the end sage for me at 334.6491.

Purim Story Time Goes on the Road!

by GARY KATZ Let’s celebrate Purim together--join the Kripke Jewish Federation Library staff for a lively and animated Purim story time on Sunday, March 12, 2 p.m., at The Bookworm (in Countryside Village, at 87th & Pacific).

Purim is the most festive of Jewish holidays, a time of prizes, noisemakers, cos-

GAUCHER DISEASE

tumes and treats. The Festival of Purim commemorates a major victory over oppression and is recounted in the Megillah, the scroll of the story of Esther.

Story time is a great opportunity to spend time with your children and enhance their interest in reading!

Questions? Please call the library at 334.6462.

4th Annual

Jewish Omaha Film Festival

Approximately 1 out of every 450 within the Ashkenazi Jewish population has Gaucher disease

The symptoms may become apparent at any age and they include:

EASY BRUISING AND BLEEDING BONE PAIN ●

FATIGUE EASILY FRACTURED BONES ●

DELAYED GROWTH ENLARGED SPLEEN AND LIVE R ●

February 25 & 26 7 p.m. • JCC Theater

Panel Discussion February 26 Co-Sponsored by B’nai B’rith 90 minutes. Hebrew with English Subtitles The consequences of this disorder can be debilitating. For more information on Gaucher disease, treatment, and testing, contact your doctor or please call and ask for Information Packet 9.

RGD/US/P145/01/04

1-800-745-4447 www.genzyme.com

Sponsored by Avy L. and Roberta L. Miller Foundation

by Lindsey-Miller Lerman

Presented by

Jewish Community Center • 333 S. 132nd Street • Admission $5.00 For more information call 334-6462