March 16, 2007

Vol. LXXXVI No. 27 Omaha, NE

Celebrating 86 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa

26 Adar, 5767 March 16, 2007

AIPAC gathering gives candidates chance to sound off on Middle East

by RON KAMPEAS WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Call it the first primary.

Ten months before New Hampshire voters render their tone-setting verdicts in the race for the next president of the United States, candidates from both parties and their proxies wandered the halls of American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference assessing their PIQ -- pro-Israel quotient.

This will be the last chance to reach them before primary season begins in January. This presidential campaign is expected to be the most expensive race ever. Ten Nebraskans attended the conference, the largest delegation ever.

The conference of the powerful proIsrael lobby addressed an array of challenges facing Israel, but dealing with Iran carries a special urgency as its nuclear program continues apace.

Dick Cheney’s message to AIPAC was typically blunt: You want to take on Iran?

It’s a package deal with Iraq.

“My friends, it is simply not consistent for anyone to demand aggressive action against the menace that is posed by the Iranian regime while at the same time acquiescing in a retreat from Iraq that would leave Israel’s best friend, the United States, dangerously weakened,” the vice president admonished the 6,000 delegates attending the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s policy forum

on Monday.

Cheney’s appeal is part of Bush administration efforts in recent months to shore up support for the Iraq war in quarters it once took for granted: Republicans in Congress, the Christian right and now the pro-Israel community.

His message was not received enthusiastically: Only about one-third to onehalf of the audience in the cavernous

Live from NY’s 92nd Street Y Series to feature Tom Brokaw

by RACHEL BLUM JCC Jewish Program Director Tom Brokaw is a popular television journalist, currently working on news documentaries for NBC. He served as sole anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw from 1976-82. After an early position in Sioux City, Iowa, Brokaw’s career in broadcast news began in earnest in 1962 when he worked here in Omaha.

He will be featured on Sunday, April 1, 6 p.m., in the “Live from NY’s 92nd Street Y Satellite Broadcast Series” in the JCC Theater.

Brokaw had previously been anchor of NBC News’ Today from l976-82 and had worked in a series of increasingly prominent assignments for NBC news.

Brokaw’s distinctively Tom Brokaw smooth style and boyish charm have made him a well-recognized star throughout the shifting stakes in television news in the 1980s and 1990s.

Continued on page 2

Inside Opinion Page see page 12

Credit: AIPAC

Sen. Barack Obama addresses AIPAC on March 2, 2007, in Chicago.

Washington Convention Center hall applauded politely.

Behind Cheney, some AIPAC board members sat stone-faced, including Amy Friedkin, a past AIPAC president who is close to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a fierce critic of the administration’s handling of the war.

The presidential candidates have been

reaching out to the pro-Israel community in large forums and small in recent months, from regional AIPAC conferences to Israel’s Herzliya policy conference in January. Most recently, U.S. Sens.

Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) addressed local AIPAC events in New York and Chicago.

AIPAC rushed Obama’s Chicago appearance forward to March 2, partly so the candidate could set out his Middle East policy before the AIPAC conference.

There is bipartisan consensus on much of the AIPAC-endorsed agenda, though a subtle fault line is emerging on Iran policy.

Virtually all of the candidates speak of maintaining a military option as a means of preventing Iran from achieving a nuclear weapons capability, but Democrats favor a greater degree of engagement while Republicans favor cutting off the Islamic Republic entirely.

AIPAC won’t count out engagement, but makes it clear that it should occur under the most restrictive circumstances as long as Iran resists nuclear transparency.

“AIPAC firmly believes that diplomatic, economic and political sanctions are the critical instruments in the effort to persuade Iran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons capability,” Josh Block, AIPAC’s spokesman, told JTA. “AIPAC is not in principle opposed to engagement with Iran, and given Iran’s Continued on page 3

Yachad task force to hold open meeting

by LISA LIEB Federation Communications Director In an ongoing effort to meet the needs of Omaha’s developmentally disabled Jewish community, the Yachad taskforce will hold an open meeting on Sunday, March 25, 1:45 p.m., at the JCC, beginning with refreshments; the meeting will start promptly at 2 p.m. Every family with a developmentally disabled loved one is urged to attend and offer input so the task force can address the special needs of our community.

Yachad, which literally means “togetherness,” is designed to bring people with special needs into the mainstream of Jewish life. Sponsored by Jewish Family Service (JFS), Yachad provides social, cultural and religious programs to members of the Jewish community with developmental disabilities.

“Yachad is made up of a fantastic group of individuals who are good examples of how to live life to its fullest no matter what your abilities may be,” said JFS Director Karen Gustafson.

The mission of the Yachad task force is to study current and prospective programs and services, and make recommendations to the Jewish Federation of Omaha board of directors based on their findings.

“Yachad has increased their visibility in the past two years, thanks to the hard work and dedication of program coordinator Duane Pieper,” Gustafson said. “Now that more people are aware of Yachad members through their ongoing activities with the synagogues and other Jewish organizations, it is time to make sure that Yachad members have the same opportunities as anyone else to fully participate in everything our Jewish community has to offer.”

When it came time to choose a chairman for the Yachad Taskforce, Federation President Norman

This Week: Purim in the Heartland: Pages 8-9 See Front Page Stories & More at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’

Peres on road to promote new biography: Page 4

Sheldon called upon Eunie Denenberg. “Eunie was a natural choice to chair this task force,” said Sheldon.

“She has demonstrated over the years her passion, dedication and ability to get things done.”

“When I’m asked to do something for the Federation I know I’m going to have such terrific support, and that makes the task so much easier,” Denenberg responded.

Eunie Denenberg “Anybody who’s been involved in the Federation knows that it’s just a joy to work with the people there.”

The first Yachad task force meeting was held last week.

Committee members learned more about Omaha’s developmentally disabled community, services currently being provided and opportunities for future growth.

Denenberg is enthusiastic about her task force members.

Lay people serving on the task force include: Gail Veitzer, Brett Atlas, Andi Willensky, Jonathan Rockman, Doug Wolfson and Deb Salomon.

“These people were asked to serve because they are thoughtful, caring people who understand how living in a terrific community includes using one's talents (and time!) to keep that community terrific,” Denenberg said.

Continued on page 2

Coming in Two Weeks: Passover Issue, March 30 “Passover in the Aisles” comes to Omaha: Page 5

Documentary challenges media coverage of Israel: Page 11

Page 2

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 16, 2007

Series to feature Tom Brokaw

“Mom, you say you are fine, but how are you really doing?”

Continued from page 1 He moved from Omaha to Atlanta in 1965 to report on the civil rights movement, then joined NBC in Los Angeles as a reporter and anchor in 1966. From the West Coast, Brokaw moved to Washington, eventually becoming NBC’s White House correspondent during the Watergate era.

In 1976 and 1980 he was a member of NBC News’ team of floor reporters for the Democratic and Republican conventions. In 1984 and 1988 he served as anchor of all NBC News’ coverage of the primaries, national conventions, and election night, a role he repeated in 1992. In the fall of 1987 Brokaw scored a number of high profile successes, interviewing Mikhail Gorbachev in the Kremlin, Ronald Reagan in the White House, and in December 1987 moderating a live, televised debate from Washington among all declared candidates for the Presidential nomination from both parties. He also moderated the first debate among the declared Democratic candidates for President in December 1991.

Brokaw’s opportunity to serve as anchor arose when, after being courted by ABC, NBC countered by teaming him with Roger Mudd, (apparently attempting to replicate the Chet Huntley-David Brinkley pairing) and the two went on the air as co-anchors in April l982.

Mudd was soon dropped by NBC, and Brokaw took over as sole anchor in August 1983.

At CBS Dan Rather had replaced Walter Cronkite in 1981, at ABC Peter Jennings, who had anchored from 1964-67, returned to that position in 1983, and thus a three-man race was put in place which continues to structure the national nightly news.

When each of the networks was bought by large conglomerates in the mid-1980s, (ABC by Capital Cities, CBS by Laurence Tisch’s Loews Corporation, and NBC by General Electric), network news divisions

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became cost-accountable in new ways that also impinged on the importance of the anchor. While budgets and staffs were cut, promotional campaigns were expanded, and increasingly, the center of those campaigns was the persona of the news anchor, who became a virtual corporate symbol.

Brokaw has been one of the most well-recognized participants in the trend toward expanding the role of the news reader into a prominent position of creative control and celebrity. Along with Rather and Jennings, Brokaw has emerged in the 1990s as a kind of living logo, the image taken to be representative of an entire news organization.

Brokaw will be interviewed by Jeff Greenfield, CNN’s senior analyst and contributor to Judy Woodruff ’s “Inside Politics,” the nation’s first program devoted exclusively to politics. Greenfield also contributes regularly to other network programs, including American Morning and News Night with Aaron Brown. Most recently, he was host of CNN’s Greenfield at Large, a multi-forum program dedicated to the most relevant issues of the day.

Greenfield has garnered a number of awards, including the 2002 Quill Award for Professional Achievement and three Emmy Awards for his contributions to Nightline’s South Africa specials in 1985 and 1990 and for a 1992 prime time special on Ross Perot.

The 92nd Street Y Series is funded in part by the Leonard and Shirley Goldstein Supporting Foundation and this broadcast is co-sponsored by the Henry Monsky Lodge of B’nai B’rith and the Gary Javitch Family Foundation. Tickets are $5, and may be purchased in advance by contacting Cindy Reed, JCC Registration Associate, at 334.6419. For more information about the broadcast, please contact me at 334.6404 or rblum@jccomaha.org.

Yachad celebrates Purim CLIP & SAVE

CALENDAR OF EVENTS FRIDAY, MARCH 16 USY Kadima Kinnus at Lake Doniphan Conference & Retreat Center, Excelsior Springs, MO through the 18th Visions Luncheon, 12:30 p.m.

Friday Night Live!, 5 p.m. at Beth Israel

C L I P

SATURDAY, MARCH 17 Men’s Club Shabbat, 9 a.m. at Beth El Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:15 a.m. at Temple Israel Tot Shabbat Services and Lunch, 11:15 a.m. at Beth El Out of Sight Saturday Overnight, 6:30 p.m.

SUNDAY, MARCH 18 & The Living Torah, 9:30 a.m. at Chabad House Class with Rabbi Nadel, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel S Adult Education, 10 a.m.-noon at Beth El A 4B’s (Behaving, Belonging, Believing, and Bagels) with Rabbi Steve Leder, 10:30 a.m. at Temple Israel V E Nashir Community Jewish Choir, 11 a.m. at Beth El BESTT 3rd Grade Consecration, 11:15 a.m. at Beth El Interfaith Architectural Tour, 1p.m. at St. Cecilia’s

C L I P & S A V E

MONDAY, MARCH 19 Women’s Book Group, 1 p.m. at Beth El Hadassah Board Meeting, 1 p.m.

Judging for Tribute to the Rescuers Essay Contest,5 p.m.

Jewish Film Series, 7 p.m. at Beth El Derech Torah: Judaism 101, 7:30 p.m.

C L I P & S A V E

TUESDAY, MARCH 20 Eye on Israel, noon at Kripke Library BBYO Council Elections, 6 p.m.

Intro to Jewish Ethics, 6 p.m.

CDC Sign Language Class, 6 p.m.

BESTT Board Meeting, 7 p.m. at Beth El Parshah Roundup, 7 p.m. at Chabad House Board Meeting, 7:30 p.m. at Temple Israel Sisterhood Spirits & Spirituality, 8 p.m. at Beth Israel WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21 Abba, Eema and ME, 9:30 a.m. at Beth El NJHS Meeting, 4:30 p.m. at JCC Kabbalah Circle, 7 p.m. at Chabad House Passover Cooking with Zohar, 7 p.m. at the CDC Notions of the Afterlife, Part 2, 7 p.m. at Beth El All events held at the JCC unless otherwise indicated. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the accuracy of events. To keep calendar accurate or for questions, call Marlene Hert at 334-6437.

FOR A COMPLETE LISTING, VISIT THE FEDERATION’S WEBSITE: www.JewishOmaha.org (click on calendar)

This Space For Rent Call Terri Greenwood 334-6559

C L I P & S A V E

by DUANE J. PIEPER other the reason for the Purim, the Feast of celebration. It’s not only Lots, is one of the most giving baskets of goodies joyous and fun-filled holto those we love, but also idays on the Jewish cala time to remember the endar. It commemorates sweetness of God’s love a time when the Jewish for his people and how people living in Persia He has saved the Jewish were saved from extermination time and again nation. This year Yachad from their enemies. The participated in the Purim saga of Esther and celebration at Beth Israel Mordechai embodies lesSynagogue. Following sons of good deeds, the Megillah reading, courage, love, commitwhich Jeff Steinberg parment, and faith. It is a ticipated in, the memstory for all seasons with bers joined the congrean eternal message of Yachad members Nancy Isler, left, Lisa Salomon, Jeff Steinberg, gation in a sumptuous, hope, one to be rememGrace Isler, Alan Friedman, and Jillian Salomon join Rabbi festive meal. After the bered and cherished Jonathan Gross, back right, for a Purim Spiel at Beth Israel. meal a special live perthroughout the year. formance of “American Idol Auditions from Shushan” Yachad will take this message of hope and God’s graced the stage and provided opportunities for home- faithfulness into their next event as they begin prepargrown thespians and laughter. Yachad hopes to audi- ing for Yom Ha’Atzmaut, celebrating the birth of the tion next year to express their appreciation for the gift State of Israel. They will gather at the JCC on March of life. The evening culminated with prayers and songs 18 to create items which will be displayed and sold at their booth in the Community Room on April 22. of joy.

This holiday was an opportunity to remind each Call 334.6491 for further details.

Yachad task force Continued from page 1 ing concerns about their adult children,” added Professionals serving on the task force include Mike Kotok. “This older population faces the crucial issue of Silverman, executive director of the Rose Blumkin what will happen when they are no longer around to Jewish Home and Jewish Senior Services; Karen take care of their children with special needs.” Kotok Gustafson, director of JFS; Shane Kotok, director of encourages this population to attend the meeting as community outreach for JSS; and Julee Katzman, assis- well. Transportation can be arranged by contacting her tant director of the Jewish at JSS at 334.6529.

Yachad Task force Open Meeting According to Denenberg, the Federation.

The March 25 meeting is open meeting provides an Sunday, March 25, 1: 45 p.m. open to relatives, caregivers opportunity to hear directly and all who have an interest in Refreshments, followed by meeting, 2 p.m. from the families Yachad the needs of the developmen- at the Jewish Community Center serves about what they are tally disabled population. looking for from the Jewish “There might be people out there we don’t know community. Based on their findings, the Yachad Task about yet, who haven’t benefited from the services and force programs that could be so helpful to them. We hope will provide recommendations to the board to help word will get to these people, and we hope they’ll chart Yachad’s future budget, programs and services. come forward and attend,” Denenberg noted.

For questions about the task force, call Julee “We are aware that there are older adults with grow- Katzman at 334.6428.

March 16, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 3

AIPAC Conferece -- the first primary?

Continued from page 1 consistent pattern of delay and deception, AIPAC believes diplomatic efforts should not slow the necessary and continued imposition of biting economic and political sanctions,” Block said. “By increasing the pressure on the Iranian regime, the international community can continue to create the circumstances most likely to lead to Iran abandoning its illicit pursuit of nuclear capability.”

Making sanctions rather than negotiations the “critical instrument” of engagement with Iran is the hallmark of Bush administration policy. It’s significant that Cheney, the administration’s toughest Iran strategist, addressed the AIPAC conference for the second year in a row.

It’s a difference that spills down to the candidates. Republicans talk almost exclusively of sanctions. In the scenario they outline, engagement appears almost absurd.

“When the president of Iran calls for Israel to be wiped off the map, or asks for a world without Zionism, or suggests that Israel’s Jewish population return to Europe, or calls the Holocaust a myth, it is clear that we are dealing with an evil man and a very dangerous regime,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in a satellite address to the Herzliya conference.

Appearing at the same event in person, Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential candidate, belittled parallels to engagement with the Soviet Union during the Cold War as “wishful thinking.”

“The Russians were never suicidal,” he said. “This cannot be said for a regime that celebrates martyrdom.”

In contrast, Democrats emphasize engagement as much as they stand by the

military option as a last resort.

“While we should take no option, including military action, off the table, sustained and aggressive diplomacy combined with tough sanctions should be our primary means to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons,” Obama said in Chicago on March 2.

Clinton also endorsed engagement in her AIPAC appearance last month, her first foreign policy event since her presidential announcement. “I’m not sure anything positive would come out of it,” but it’s worth testing, she said.

Democrats must take into account a base that is wary of military engagement in the wake of the Iraq quagmire.

John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator, talked a tough line in his own satellite address to the Herzliya conference -- and has been walking back from it since, repeatedly endorsing engagement. “We’re not negotiating with them directly,” Edwards lamented to the liberal American Prospect magazine last month.

“We’re not being smart about how we engage with them.”

It’s not just that three-quarters of American Jews -- more than any other religious group -- now think the Iraq war was a mistake. That’s partly due to perceptions that the war’s failure has emboldened Iran and its nuclear ambitions, which AIPAC considers the gravest challenge to Israel.

Cheney’s speech was jarring because the tone of this year’s meeting was to have been emphatically bipartisan -- even more than normal for AIPAC, the powerhouse lobby that prides itself on crossing party lines.

The keynote speech Tuesday, before delegates ascended to the Capitol to lobby for tough sanctions against Iran, was deliv-

ered by Pelosi and Rep. John Boehner (ROhio), who otherwise agree on little.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney addresses AIPAC's annual policy conference in Credit: AIPAC Washington on March 12.

Cheney, who stopped just short of accusing Democrats of sedition at Monday’s AIPAC conference, hardly struck a bipartisan tone. Of Democrats who voted for congressional resolutions opposing the war, he said, “They are not supporting the troops, they are undermining them.” Addressing proposed timetables for withdrawal, he said, “When members speak not of victory but of time limits, they are telling the enemy to watch the clock.”

Cross-party support for Iran’s isolation is a theme of the conference.

Speaking at the session Cheney opened, AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr told delegates that the next day they would lobby for new legislation, the Iran Counterproliferation Act of 2007, proposed by Reps. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the top Democrat and Republican on the House

Foreign Affairs Committee.

The bill would expand existing sanctions against third parties that deal with Iran and restrict the president's ability to waive the sanctions by citing national security considerations. Kohr also outlined plans to get state employee pension funds in 10 states to divest from companies that deal with Iran.

Cheney’s tepid reception -- barely two or three standing ovations during his speech -- was in sharp contrast to the sustained applause he earned last year, or even the sharp applause the mere mention of President Bush’s name still conjures at this event.

To be sure, AIPAC delegates deeply appreciate the unprecedented support the Bush administration has shown Israel. The administration's high marks -- isolating the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, the steadfast support for Israel during last summer?s war against Hezbollah and the tough U.S. posture against Iran -- were noted by AIPAC President-elect David Victor, who introduced Cheney. Indeed, Cheney’s references to those issues earned him his strongest unfettered applause.

AIPAC never explicitly supported or lobbied for the Iraq war, but some in the pro-Israel community once saw the war as an effort that would more closely align the United States and Israel against a common enemy: Arab and Muslim radicalism.

Those views are now unraveling with the ongoing violence in Iraq.

Alluding to Iran, former Lincolnite Rabbi Morris Allen of Mendota Heights, Minn., said, “We in the Jewish community have to be very careful about getting caught up in extraneous platforms. We risk losing our effectiveness on our core issues.”

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Page 4

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 16, 2007

Launch of his book in N.Y. symbolizes Peres’ long career Peres, now the vice prime minister, offered something

by BEN HARRIS NEW YORK (JTA) - The event at Manhattan’s 92nd for everyone, hawks and doves.

He called President Bush’s decision to depose Iraqi Street Y was billed as the launch of a national tour to promote the publication of Shimon Peres’ official biog- President Saddam Hussein “very courageous,” while raphy, the life story of the last active Israeli politician urging sanctions as the preferred method of containing whose career extends back before the establishment of Iran’s nuclear aspirations.

He defended Israel’s security fence as a “very effecthe state.

In fact, however, the tour had kicked off two hours tive” means to deter terrorists while promising that one earlier last month at a reception in honor of Peres at day “the wall will disappear and bridges will be built.”

And he called the 2005 Gaza withdrawal a success France’s stately consulate opposite Central Park.

That Peres, 83, a renowned Francophone, would while praising the evacuated settlers as pioneers.

Peres’ declaration of admiration for Bush drew choose to launch his book tour at the consulate of a foreign government instead of one of New York City’s applause. Saying “people need to live together as they most venerable Jewish cultural institutions says some- are” drew even more.

He talked of a “silent revolution” brewing among thing about the circles in which he has mingled most Israeli Arabs and comfortably in nearly six Palestinians, and predictdecades of public life. ed that their pursuit of After all, his success in higher education forging a military alliance 19,000 are enrolled in with France in the 1950s, Israeli universities, Peres when Peres was directorsaid -- will shift their general of the Defense focus from making war to Ministry, was integral to making wealth, a process Israel’s security in the in which Peres has an early years of the state. unshakable faith.

The partnership brought “Since the Second World Israel not only advanced War, everything of imporjet fighters but support in tance was done by the building its nuclear reaceconomic locomotives, tor at Dimona. not by military attacks,” Still, despite having served in nearly every Shimon Peres, left, campaigns for his party before Israeli elec- he said. “Politics is about Credit: Brian Hendler/JTA borders - it’s very hard to high political office in tions, in Tel Aviv in March 2006.

Israel, Peres has been more widely admired abroad than change. Economics is about relationships, which are at home. In Israel he is infamous for losing elections, very easy to change.” most recently his stunning loss to Moshe Katsav in the If Peres is, as Ben-Zohar described him, an “incurable 2000 Knesset vote for the presidency. optimist,” it’s partly because of his remarkable immuniIn a conversation with his biographer, Michael Bar- ty from the past.

Zohar, in the Y’s wood-paneled auditorium, Peres glid“I don’t have the slightest interest in the past,” Peres ed over such difficult moments in his career, focusing on said. “I tell our children, ‘Don’t study history, it’s waste his early successes as a globe-trotting defense envoy and of time. You can’t change it.’” his vision of a new Middle East that can overcome past For Peres, the only thing that really matters is the grievances. future. Asked about his greatest accomplishment, the Peres regaled the audience with tales of his meetings octogenarian replied, “The one I shall achieve tomorwith Jimmy Hoffa (“He was very honest with us”) and row.”

President Kennedy (“He had a very sharp mind”); of negotiating arms deals at the Tropicana Club in Havana; To order a gift subscription to the Press... and learning to drink whiskey at Harvard University.

Send a check for $33, made out to the Jewish He also showed off his legendary gilded tongue and Press, to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154. his ability to manipulate difficult questions, a talent he For more information on how to connect your honed during years navigating the diplomatic storms of the Middle East. out-of-town relatives and friends, call 334.6448.

entrance testing for grades 1-6 Saturday, March 24 9:00 a.m.

Contact Julie Adams, Director of Admissions, at 556-3772 or juadams@brownell.edu for information.

Beth Israel Sisterhood’s new group for women: “Spirits & Spirituality”

by MARY BORT for Beth Israel Synagogue After a hectic day of raising children, going to work or keeping busy with all the other usual activities we experience during a weekday, women in the community now have a new opportunity to enjoy a relaxing and educational evening with one another. Women are invited to attend “Spirits & Spirituality,” a new group for women of all ages, sponsored by Beth Israel Sisterhood. The monthly meetings will be held on Tuesdays, 8 p.m.

According to Beth Israel’s Executive Director, Beth Cohen, “These meetings are a chance for you to connect with other women as you explore Judaism, from a uniquely feminine perspective. Sisterhood has designed ‘Spirits & Spirituality’ to be a time for you to enjoy wine and light refreshments, while you also learn about a new topic each month.”

Na’ama Nadel will lead the monthly “Spirits & Spirituality” gatherings. “We’ll explore different topics each time,” said Nadel. “The first topic will be about marriage, and personal roles and roles in the community, which is something I’m interested in, and think that it relates to many of us. Future topics will come from what interests women, and what participants would like to discuss.”

“I see ‘Spirits & Spirituality’ serving dual roles, with about a half hour for class time along with time for women to socialize and visit with one another,” continued Nadel. “This will be an opportunity for those who can’t attend weekday classes to study Judaism, while also having a chance to visit and unwind.”

“One of the things we’re trying to do is provide a broad range of opportunities for women to learn and socialize,” explained Sisterhood Board member Julee Katzman. “We already have our Sisterhood Luncheons that feature guest speakers, as well as other special events. ‘Spirits & Spirituality’ is another avenue to further meet the needs of our members, and we’re excited to bring this program to the community.”

The monthly gatherings will be held at the homes of different members. The first “Spirits & Spirituality” will be held on Tuesday, March 20, 8 p.m. The inaugural meeting will be hosted by Lesley Gendelman at the home of Bonnie Bloch. Future meetings will be held on April 17 at the home of Sharon Kirshenbaum, and May 15 at the home of Sara Gross.

To RSVP, please call the office at 556.6288.

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March 16, 2007

Finding Passover -- and the Jewish community -at the supermarket?

by LISA LIEB Federation Communications Director With the goal of reaching out to unaffiliated Jews in our community, the Jewish Federation, in cooperation with all three synagogues and Chabad, is sponsoring “Passover in the Aisles,” on Sunday, March 25, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Bag ’n Save, 7646 Dodge St. “The Jewish Outreach Institute has sponsored this program in other cities around the country, and has had great success in finding Jews where they are prior to Passover – in the grocery store aisles,” said Janie Murow, Federation Community Development Director.

“We are looking forward to participating this year and hope to reach people who may not be aware of the many programs and services available to them in the Omaha Jewish Community.”

Throughout the day, volunteers will be located near the Pesach foods display, answering questions about the holiday, as well as handing out informational brochures containing Passover wisdom and synagogue events from Omaha-area rabbis. “Passover in the Aisles is part of a growing concept known as public space Judaism, taking programs to where people are instead of waiting for them to walk into a synagogue or the JCC,” Murow explained. “Passover is one of the most widely celebrated holidays among all Jews, and therefore an ideal opportunity to reach them while shopping for matzah and other Passover food.”

Murow hopes to make contact with unaffiliated Omaha Jews, who often make their initial attempts to connect with the Jewish community during holiday time. For those new to Omaha or who haven’t made a connection to the Jewish community yet, they may not be aware that Bag ‘n’ Save has such a large selection of Passover food. Murow hopes that news of Passover in the Aisles will help get the word out.

“Outreach is such a vital part of what we do,” Murow said. “We want people to know that Omaha has a strong, vibrant Jewish population, with plenty of opportunities to get involved.”

Passover in the Aisles is the newest of a growing number of Community Development programs offered through the Jewish Federation of Omaha, such as Shalom Baby gift baskets, Newcomers’ gatherings and the Opportunity Omaha college internship program.

For more information, contact Murow at 334.6566.

Information about Passover events throughout the community can be found at www.jewishomaha.org.

Blue or green? Wood or carpet?

Blumkin Home’s new decorating committee weighs options

by OZZIE NOGG

If you can’t decide whether to paint your bedroom red pepper or pumice, consider the challenge facing Kim Noddle, left, Nancy Noddle, Silvia Roffman, and Ducky Milder, who -as members of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home interior design committee -- must decide the decor for 68 resident bedrooms and baths. The foursome is being guided by Kimberly Overton, Associate, and Director of Interiors for Leo A. Daly Company, and Mike Purdy of Purdy & Slack, Architects. How do four women, each with a personal sense of style, come to agreement? “We have to put our own taste aside and do what’s best for the residents,” Roffman said. At a recent paint, fabric and carpet selection meeting, the group picked three different yet complementary color-ways for Blumkin resident rooms. According to Overton, “The committee really examined the issue of how the elderly perceive color and patterns, and made choices that will appeal to residents -- both men and women -- in a wide age range.

The look is classic. There’s nothing institutional about it.”

Later this month the group will consider decorating options for the RBJH activity spaces and commons areas. “We can’t wait for the next meeting,” Ducky Milder said. “Being part of this process is very exciting.”

Top Israeli reporter to introduce documentary

by GARY KATZ Library Administrator Being Jewish in Israel is easy. Being Jewish in the United States is considerably more challenging. Home to the second largest Jewish community in the world, maintaining a Jewish identity in America can be difficult.

On Sunday, March 18, 7 p.m., the Center for Jewish Education will welcome Israeli reporter, Yaron Deckel, looking at Jewish America. In the JCC Theater, Deckel will present his award-winning documentary, Jewish Identity in the USA, which presents a unique look at the U.S. Jewish community through the eyes of an Israeli.

Deckel is considered one of Israel’s leading political reporters and commentators, and has served as Washington bureau chief for Israel’s Channel 1 since 2002. He has also covered the trials and tribulations of Israeli politics since 1985, including five general election campaigns. He is known for having had unprecedented access to all the major players in this ever-changing arena, from aides and parliamentary assistants to virtually all the top politicians (including all the prime ministers) in the past 17 years.

Jewish Identity in the USA won the prestigious 2006 B’nai B’rith World Center Award for Journalism award.

In their decision to grant the award, the committee wrote: “The award is hereby offered in recognition of Yaron Deckel’s work through journalism, to educate the Israeli public about the Jewish Diaspora and the relationship between Israel and Jews. The documentary offers an engaging insight into the world’s second largest Jewish community in light of growing assimilation, intermarriage and erosion of Jewish identity, alongside examples of renewal and innovation.”

A dessert reception will follow the free presentation.

For more information, please call 334.6462 or email gkatz@jewishomaha.org.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 5

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Snow day doesn’t stop repairs on home in Lincoln

by SARAH KELEN for Congregation B’nai Jeshurun On the morning of Feb. 25, Lincolnites woke to a covering of new snow that had fallen overnight. Despite the wintry conditions, the Social Action Committee of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun (the South Street Temple) didn’t take time off for a snow day!

Shortly after 9 a.m., committee members gathered to paint the interior of a South Lincoln Habitat for Humanity house. The house is this year’s Lincoln Faith Build house, with donations and labor coming from a number of area religious congregations.

The plumbing and electrical work was not yet finished when it was time to paint, but fortunately the heat was on, so painters could keep warm while they worked. Earlier in the week, Mark Calidonna had volunteered to prime the whole house, so it was ready when Alan Frank, Aaron Hoagland, Kyle Hoagland, Sarah Hoagland, Sarah Kelen, Lori Merliss, Elaine Monnier, Nancy Myers, Barb Straus, and Amy Zlotsky showed up to give it a fresh coat of paint.

The Temple volunteers painted the living room, kitchen/dining area, bedrooms, hallway, and bathroom of the new house, using paint purchased by donations from B’nai Jeshurun congregants.

Collecting donations to cover the costs of paint was the Hanukkah Social Action project in December. As part of that campaign, Nancy Muehling, director the the Lincoln/Lancaster County chapter of Habitat for Humanity spoke at a December Shabbat service to educate the congregation.

Although the Temple has been involved in previous years, this year had the strongest congregational support in both dollars raised and participants who contributed their time and effort. Congregants donated more than $1,000.

Elaine Monnier, who has painted a previous Faith Build house as well as this one, says that working on the house is “a great opportunity to chat with fellow congregants in a situation that lends itself to learning something new about others and to helping strangers in a concrete way. It’s always great to see what’s been accomplished” by the end of the day.

The house will be home to a refugee family of Iraqi Kurds. The family has two young children, ages one and three-years-old. The parents have lived for about seven years in Lincoln, where they met. They are currently living in a two bedroom apartment, and their new house will allow more room for the children as they grow up, as well as providing them with secure and affordable housing into the future.

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Temple teens take a night off for tikun olam and gemilut chasadim

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator When Temple Israel’s new Middle/High School was named T.A.G. - You’re It!, each letter in the new name was selected to reflect the Reform congregation’s mission statement. Part of that statement is to improve our community through tikun olam, repairing the world, or gemilut chasadim, acts of loving kindness.

That’s what Director of Education Elyce Azriel had in mind when she designated a Wednesday evening last month as a tikun olam experience.

“The tikun olam day was putting into practice Danny Siegel’s mission -to do good for others,” A z r i e l explained.

“Danny’s to visit Temple Israel the prior week began the Sarah Sadofsky decorated visors for kids who s t u d e n t s ’ will attend Camp CoHoLo and Camp Rainbow. quest of responsibility toward one’s fellow human beings -- all that was missing was the act.”

Steven Vinci, a seventh grader, went with other seventh and eighth graders to Quality Living which provides care and treatment for individuals and their families who are facing the challenging effects of traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and other severe disabilities.

“We talked to individuals, and they had interesting stories,” he said. “This guy was a huge Nebraska fan. He was a really nice guy, and he talked about meeting Johnny Rogers. It was fun for me to go there, because it let some light in on their day, and it gave them some new people to talk to,” Steven remarked. “It made me feel good, like I did a mitzvah.”

Yaniv Azriel, also a seventh grader, was motivated to write a letter after the visit to Quality Living. “Dear Neil,” Yaniv began. “…I first met you at a place called Quality Living…where people that have had brain damage go to live. When I walked into Quality Living…you…a collie…greeted me. I could tell right away that you were special…you knew that you are there keeping the residents company. All of them seemed to adore you.”

Yaniv noticed when the residents wanted to give the dog a hug. “I had never seen anyone so happy in my

whole life!” He decided after seeing how comforting the dog was with the residents to “save up my money and get a nice dog that I can come to Quality Living with and show the guests. Thanks for making such an impact on my life!”

Ninth and tenth graders visited the Open Door Mission, which provides emergency services, long-term rehabilitation and recovery, transitional housing, and outreach, where they listened to a speech about the Open Door Mission and had a tour of the facility.

Temple ninth and tenth graders got a tour of the Open Door Mission on Tikun Olam Day. “We saw the rooms that families stay in,” s a i d Amanda Bucher, a tenth grader. “It made me feel fortunate and sad.

We have cell phones and iPods and they only have one Jacob Lehr, left, and Steven Vinci visited with small room a resident of Quality Living. for a whole family,” the 16-year-old observed.

Back at Temple Israel, the upper classmen made visors, journals, and frisbees for campers of Camp Rainbow near St. Louis, Missouri, and Camp CoHoLo near Gretna. Both camps are for children who suffer from cancer and blood disorders.

“I went to visit Camp CoHoLo,” said Ashley Bernstein, a 16-year-old junior. “I really enjoy being there. I get a sense of brightening up their day,” she explained. “It gives me one of the best feelings in the world to make somebody happy.”

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Camp Ramah promotes summer fun in a Conservative Jewish environment

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Applications are currently being accepted at Camp Ramah, the camping branch of the Conservative Jewish movement. Located 15 miles north of Eagle River, Wisconsin, Ramah offers a four-week session for children entering fifth grade from June 14 to July 9; a fourweek session for children entering sixth grade, from July 11 to Aug. 6; and an eight-week session, from June 14 to Aug. 6, for seventh through 11th graders.

Camp Ramah offers a full range of activities which integrate Jewish values and observances into the daily camp experience. Activities include swimming, hiking, sailing, radio, drama, dance, photography, arts and sports. Campers also participate in Hebrew language and Jewish studies, plus sessions focusing on synagogue skills. Following the tradition of the Conservative Jewish

movement, all meals are kosher and Shabbat is observed.

Ramah also offers a Tikvah Program, specially geared to children with learning difficulties, social problems and communication disorders including Asperger’s Syndrome. This year’s Tikvah Program offers two sessions: the full eight-week session from June 14 to Aug. 6, and the month-long “A Taste of Tikvah” (session dates not announced). Tikvah provides an overnight summer camp experience that integrates Judaism with traditional camp activities.

According to the Ramah web site, this specialized program emphasizes social development and Jewish learning through individualized experiences and inclusion in general camp programs as much as possible.

For more information, call 312.606.9316, ext. 221, email registrar@ramahwisconsin.com , or visit the camp website at www.ramahwisconsin.com.

A Jewish concert on Easter Sunday

by SUSAN ROTHHOLZ Chairman, Sokolof Javitch music events Easter Sunday used to be a quiet day for the Omaha Jewish community. But no longer. Following in the tradition of the concert with Cantor Gastón Bogolmoni and Jonathan Rathsam in 2006, there will be another concert at the Jewish Community Center on Sunday, April 8, 3 p.m., featuring the cantor and Marti Epstein, daughter of Omahans Helen and Tuffy Epstein.

Marti Epstein is a Professor of Composition at the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston, and has per-

formed with the San Francisco Symphony, the Radio Symphony of Frankfurt and the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, She is a prolific composer and has been a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center.

This special, concert, brought to Omaha by the Karen Sokolof Javitch Music Appreciation Fund, will follow the presentation of the Phil and Ruth Sokolof Honor Roll Merit Scholarships to two high school seniors, two students in the health care field; the Outstanding Jewish Teacher award; and the Music Appreciation Fund scholarship. Join the winners and musicians at a festive reception after the concert.

March 16, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 7

Beth Israel Passover preparations Celebrate Pesach with family and friends include food drive and Pre-Pesach meals during Beth El’s annual community seder

by MARY BORT for Beth Israel Synagogue Preparations for Passover can be a daunting task as you clean your home from top to bottom, working to eliminate chometz. When your home is finally ready for Pesach, but the holiday is yet a few days away, what do you do? You want to enjoy pre-Pesach meals, yet you can’t use your kitchen. And what about chometz that you weren’t able to eat?

Beth Israel offers you some solutions with a series of pre-Pesach meals and a food drive.

Three Pre-Pesach meals are scheduled during the days before Passover, including “Paysie’s Pre-Pesach Pasta and Pizza Party” on Thursday, March 29, 6 p.m.

Dinner will be provided for a contribution to the Matza Fund. According to Rabbi Jonathan Gross, “We are so grateful to Paysie Shyken for making the arrangements for this dinner. It’s a great idea to encourage donations to the Matzah Fund, better ensuring that those in need, both in Israel and in Omaha, can make Pesach.”

There will also be a Pre-Pesach Shabbat dinner on Friday, March 30, following Kabbalat Shabbat at about 8:15 p.m.

Cost is $12 for adults, $6 for children ages four to 12 and free for kids under the age of four.

On Saturday, March 31, there will be a Pre-Pesach lunch following morning

services at approximately 11:30 a.m.

Cost is $8 for adults, $4 for children ages four to 12 and free for children under the age of four.

For planning purposes, please make all reservations for the meals at least five days prior. A $2 charge will be added to late reservations.

Reservations are still being accepted for Beth Israel’s traditional Second Seder led

by Rabbi Gross on Tuesday, April 3, 8:30 p.m., and the community is invited to attend. The cost is $38 for adults, $14 for children ages four to 12 and $7 for children under the age of four who will be eating dinner.

As you do your Pesach shopping and cleaning, keep in mind the Food Drive going on through Pesach. The Food Drive, a great opportunity to get rid of chometz, will benefit the Jewish Family Service Food Pantry. While all donations are appreciated, JFS has specifically asked for the following goods: canned fruit, jarred spaghetti sauce, paper goods, cleaning products and personal hygiene products. You are also welcome to donate grocery store gift certificates that families in need can use to purchase baby food, formula and perishable items. Drop off your donations at the office.

To make reservations for meals, or for more information about the Food Drive, please call 556.6288.

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by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator In keeping with the generations-old tradition of joining loved ones to celebrate the festival of Passover, Beth El will host its annual community Seder on the second night of Pesach, Tuesday, April 3, 6 p.m. Everyone in the Jewish community is invited to come together as Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Cantor Gastón Bogomolni lead the commemoration of the Exodus and celebrate the Jewish people’s journey from slavery to freedom. Carole Lainof is serving as chairman of the holiday event.

“A warm, joyful evening is being planned, filled with singing and meaningful concepts from the Haggadah to reflect modern slavery and freedom,” Rabbi Levin said. “We look forward to sharing our celebration with the community.”

Attendees at the Seder will have dinner choices including meat, fish or vegan selections. For reservations received by March 26, cost of the Seder is $20 for adults, $15 for seniors (who are paid

members of Hazak), $15 for children six to 12, $6.50 for children under five, and free for all children younger than 2. After March 26, the cost will increase to $25 for adults, $18 for children 6-12, and $9.50 for kids five and younger (children younger than two may still attend at no charge). The price includes a three percent contribution to Mazon, the Jewish Response to Hunger.

Take advantage of these early-bird prices and make your reservation today.

To RSVP, please contact Margie Gutnik at 492-8550, or programming@bethelomaha.org.

Prior to the holiday, Rabbi Levin will present a special class on Sunday, March 25, 11 a.m., offering ideas for “Creating Lively Passover Seders.” This class will offer attendees an opportunity to participate in a hands-on, step-by-step guide to making a seder, said the rabbi, adding that while the class is geared to parents of school-age children, all adults in the Jewish community are welcome to attend. There is no charge to attend; to register, contact Gutnik in the office.

EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press office will be closed for the first two and last two days of Passover, Tuesday and Wednesday, April 3-4, and Monday and Tuesday, April 9-10. Early deadlines for all ads, photos, news and announcements are at 9 a.m., as follows: Issue Deadline Issue Deadline April 6 Monday, March 26 April 13 Monday, April 2

Page 8

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 16, 2007

Purim around the Heartland

Photos from top left: Balloon maven Eadie Tsabari and friends enjoy Beth El’s ice cream social, which followed the Family Megillah reading. Winning the “Best Ensemble” award at Beth Israel for their The Wizard of Oz costumes were Bonnie Bloch and Howard Gendelman as the Wicked Witch and a Flying Monkey ... and Lesley Gendelman and Miles Ehrenkranz as Glenda the Good and the Mayor of Munchkinland. It was a “high five” Purim celebration at Temple Israel on Erev Purim; Borat (a.k.a. Rabbi Eric Linder) from Kazakhstan sang his own version of “Hatikva” after being invited to the bimah by Rabbi Aryeh Azriel. After a prayer assembly on Sunday, the two rolled out the megillah for the children to see. Is it Max Kohll, winner of “Best Actor” for a child, for his impersonation of Rabbi Gross. Could it be Darth Vader? No, it’s Beth Israel’s Rabbi Jonathan Gross?

“Chosen,” a children’s song-and-dance group associated with the AIDS Orphan Education Trust (AOET), representing African children who live in poverty and who have AIDS, performed an energetic routine before an enthusiastic audience at Temple Israel. Leah Simpson, five, and her dad, Jim, were all smiles at Temple’s carnival, organized by Louri Sullivan, Kimberly Robinson, and Jennifer Glazer. Rachel Kricsfeld and her brother, Sammy, were mesmerized by Beth Seldin Dotan’s fortune-telling skills during Beth El’s carnival. Mace Hack and Rabbi Linder joined other adults for dancing and appetizers following Temple’s Purim spiel. Scott Kirshenbaum and son Jacob perused goodies at the Beth El Purim carnival, helped by volunteer M’Lee Hasslinger. Emily Giller took some time during the Beth El carnival to paint fellow USYer Dan Canfield’s face.

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Purim in the Heartland

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READ IT AND E AT Reviewed by LOIS FRIEDMAN L’Chaim! To your health this Passover.

This book from the Cleveland Clinic, named one of America’s best hospitals and the number one hospital for cardiac care, is for everyone to inspire their overall health and untangle the confusing and contradicting array of dietary advice. They advise that “a sound diet and healthy lifestyle will always be the bedrock of cardiovascular health.� The goal of this book is to put the power of cardioprotection, which is protection from heart and vascular disease, in your hands.

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Alternative healing to be explored during Beth El women’s Rosh Hodesh meeting

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator With the help of guest speaker Ardyne Solomon, alternative therapies for pain relief will be explored during Beth El’s Women’s Rosh Hodesh meeting, planned for Thursday, March 22, 7 p.m., at the home of Margo Riekes, 12917 Heavenly Dr. Riekes’s co-hosts for the evening will be Joanie Jacobson and Patty Nogg.

Solomon, a licensed massage therapist, will discuss and demonstrate a variety of non-traditional methods to tackle stress and alleviate problems such as migraines, plus neck and back problems. “Ardyne Solomon’s reputation precedes her,�

Jacobson commented. “For years I’d heard her name associated with healing people. It’s only been recently that I’ve become one of her clients, and everything good I’ve heard about her is true. She’s incredibly knowledgeable, articulate, soft-spoken, professional,

caring, kind and forthright. There isn’t a person in Omaha who is hurting who couldn’t benefit from something Ardyne has to say or can do.�

Jacobson, who benefited from craniosacral therapy and acupuncture after being hit by a car in 1992, sings the praises of non-traditional therapies. “Alternative therapies are not hocus pocus,� she said. “Not only are they centuries old, they’re also non-invasive and nonmanipulative. “I’ve never understood why people who are hurting or are physically limited due to chronic pain, won’t try alternative therapy. It can’t hurt you. At the very least, it won’t help whatever ails you. “If you are hurting, suffer from chronic pain or are just plain frazzled from day-to-day life, do yourself a favor. Come and hear Ardyne Solomon.�

The meeting will begin with refreshments and social hour; the formal meeting beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Reservations may be made by contacting Jacobson at 554.0500 or ohjoan413@aol.com.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 16, 2007

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On advertising in the Jewish Press.

Julie and Joe Wynn, owners of both the Lewis Art Gallery and Personal Threads Boutique, say, “We want to be in the Jewish Press. That’s our target market and it’s the vehicle that’s generating sales of art, framing and unique knitting supplies.”

Where Your Advertising Works Call Allan Handleman at 402/334-6451 or email: ahandleman@jewishomaha.org Call Terri Greenwood at 402/334-6559 or email: terrigreenwood@jewishomaha.org

ORGANIZATIONS YOUNG ENERGETIC SENIORS Members will meet Monday at the JCC. Join us for Bagpipe Highland music and demonstration by Dennis Miller. Lunch will be served at noon at $6 per person.

Miller will perform at 12:30 p.m. Try your luck with bingo at 10 a.m. with Miles and Eileen Remer. For transportation, call Dee Dee at 330.4272. Call Maggie Conti at 334.6521 for reservations for Ameristar Casino on March 29.

LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Come to the Yiddish meeting at the JCC on Thursdays, 1-3 p.m. The Yiddish Group is now officially a zamler (collector) for the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA. To donate books, please call Anne Skolkin at 343.1638.

VISIONS Join us for the tour of the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at Union Station in Kansas City on Monday, April 30.

Cost is $74 Send reservations to Betty Sanford, 9205 Western Avenue, #127, Omaha, NE 68114 by March 26. For information call Betty at 399.2001. Make check payable to Visions.

B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Rachel Jacobsen will speak at Breadbreakers on Wednesday, March 21, noon, at Regency Lodge, according to Marty Ricks, Chairman. Jacobsen is the Executive Director of Film Streams, Inc. and will discuss

her new theater opening up in NoDo (North Downtown). All men and women in the community are invited. Cost is $12 for a complete lunch and $3 for beverage service only.

Jewish Senior Services sponsors a spring concert Warm up with a Spring Concert by the Metropolitan String Quartet on Thursday, March 22, 7 p.m. in the JCC auditorium.

There is no admission fee. The quartet has played many concerts in the Midwest including programs across Nebraska through the Nebraska Arts Council Touring Program. In addition to providing music for many celebrations such as weddings and receptions, they have played for President Bill Clinton, First Lady Barbara Bush and Senator Hillary Rodham-Clinton. The Metropolitan String Quartet will entertain from their repertoire of Broadway classics, Jewish selections and Classical and Celtic favorites. For information, call Maggie Conti at 334.6521.

IN THE NEWS Howard J. Kaslow, a partner in the firm of Abrahams Kaslow & Cassman LLP, has been selected by his peers to be recognized in The Best Lawyers in America 2007 for Corporate Law. Kaslow is one of a distinguished group of attorneys who have been listed in Best Lawyers for more than 10 years.

Published since 1983, The Best Lawyers in America is widely regarded as the preeminent referral guide to the legal profession in the United States. The lists, representing 80 specialties in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., are compiled through an exhaustive peer-review survey in which thousands of the top lawyers in the U.S. confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The current 13th edition is based on more than 1.8 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.

Abrahams Kaslow & Cassman LLP has been one of Omaha’s most respected business law firms for more than 60 years, having been established in 1944 when Creighton University law school graduates, Milton R.

Abrahams and Ben E. Kaslow, combined their legal practices.

On Thursday, April 12, 7 p.m., award-winning fiction writer Steve Stern will give a reading at the Great Plains Art Gallery, 12th and Q Sts in Lincoln. This event, co-sponsored by the Harris Center for Judaic Studies and the Creative Writing Program at UNL will be free and open to the public. Stern is the author of many books and two-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award.

In advance of his appearance, read Stern’s work and discuss it on Sunday, April 8, 1:30 p.m., at B’nai Jehurun. Gerry Shapiro, Professor of English at UNL, will lead a discussion of this story, “Hyman the Magnificent,” available in the South Street Temple office. This story is included in his collection, A Plague of Dreamers.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Combining all-time favorite Elvis Presley songs with a surefire rock’n’roll story, All Shook Up, the musical that took Broadway by storm last season, will ride into the Orpheum Theater for a limited engagement of five performances beginning Friday, March 31. The clever book is by Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change), with direction by Tony Award-nominee Christopher Ashley (The Rocky Horror Show), and features 24 Presley classic hit songs including “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Burning Love,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” “It’s Now or Never,” and “Don’t Be Cruel.”

Tickets range from $28 to $58 and may be purchased in person at the Ticket Omaha Box Office at the Holland Center, 1200 Douglas St., or by calling Ticket Omaha at 402-345-0606. Tickets also are available at TicketMaster, 402.422.1212 or www.ticketmaster.com.

The visually spectacular artVenture returns to the Hot Shops Art Center on Friday, March 30, 7 p.m. This fourth edition of artVenture, an art auction benefit for Girl Scouts-Great Plains Council, will be more impressive than ever featuring 72 professional artists and more than 165 art pieces up for auction. Among the artists are members of the local Jewish community: Beth Brown Gershovich, Patricia Dunn and Marcia JoffeBouska.

A majority of the art for artVenture was created by professional artists working with various media: glass, bead work, sculpture, painting, collage and mosaic to name a few. Collectors of fine art are sure to find something outstanding at this auction.

The event includes a silent auction and also features gourmet food and desserts by Taste Restaurant and Catering, and an upscale martini bar compliments of

FutureBrands. Tickets are $75 and can be purchased by calling 402. 558.8189, ext. 240. Find an art preview at: www.gpgirlscouts.org/give/artventure_index.html.

The Omaha Symphony welcomes cellist Johannes Moser and conductor Edward Gardner for spectacular MasterWorks concerts at the Holland Performing Arts Center, Friday and Saturday, March 23 and 24, 8 p.m.

One of the world’s great young cellists, German-born Johannes Moser first came to international attention in 2002 when he won the 12th Tchaikovsky Competition.

His United States debut came in 2005 with the Chicago Symphony -- where he was greeted with standing ovations and described as “greatly gifted” and “heroic” by the Chicago Tribune. For his performance with the Omaha Symphony, he will be performing Elgar’s Concerto in E Minor for Violoncello and Orchestra.

Single tickets range from $15 to $75 and are available at 402.345.0606, 402.342.3560, www.omahasymphony.org or at the box office, 1605 Howard St. The 20th Annual Greater Omaha Orchid Society Orchid Show will be held at Lauritzen Gardens on Saturday, March 31 and Sunday, April 1, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. It is the first time an exhibit like this with a juried show has been held at Lauritzen Gardens. Ask local orchid experts all of your orchid questions, and gain beneficial knowledge on these beautiful plants. Learn about requirements for these special flowers such as light, moisture, temperature, air movement, humidity, problems and pests, potting media, fertilizing and repotting. A dozen orchid vendors from all over the country will be selling a wide array of orchid varieties. Find the perfect variety that fits your specific growing environment.

March 16, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 11

French documentary challenges media coverage of Israel FILM REVIEW

by MICHAEL FOX In 2003, dismayed by-if not disgusted with-television and newspaper coverage of the second intifada in particular and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general, French filmmakers Jacques Tarnero and Philippe Bensoussan produced a vociferous rebuttal.

Their persuasive and well-researched documentary, Décryptage (or “Deciphering”), is a dense exposé of the biases in French media. The film offers a high-level-especially by American TV standards-practical and philosophical analysis that relies primarily on interviews with serious journalists, historians and intellectuals.

The filmmakers’ main concern was that the anti-Israeli news slant was contributing to the rising tide of anti-Semitism in France. The film is four years old and the specific cases it explores may have receded into distant memory, but it remains an exceedingly valuable program for American viewers.

Décryptage had its U.S. television premiered last week on the Sundance Channel. Check local listings for upcoming showings; it runs next on Friday, March 23, 1:15 p.m.

While the documentary has more on its mind than simply bashing the media or critiquing Palestinian PR gambits, it does shred what’s left of Yassir Arafat’s dismal reputation. A section of the film focuses on the offers made by Ehud Barak at Camp David and rejected by Arafat, including a shared Jerusalem that would serve as the capital of both Israel and

Palestine. The conclusion of one proIsraeli analyst is that the Palestinians are never forced to suffer the consequences of negotiating in bad faith, and therefore are never motivated to talk in good faith.

Décryptage takes both the Palestinians and the media to task in the example of Ariel Sharon’s 2000 visit to the Temple Mount, which was widely reported as the

[his] ground against President Clinton, and rejected American conditions in the very heart of America.”

Bensoussan, who put out a film called Autopsy of a Lie: Holocaust Denial in 2000, and Tarnero devote chunks of this film to two other incidents that were spun 180º. In the first case, a Palestinian boy named Mohammed Al-Dura was

A scene from Jacques Tarnero and Philippe Bensoussan’s Décryptage. This AP photo, which ran in dozens of newspapers across the country, was misidentified as an IDF soldier beating a Palestinian. In fact, the soldier was rescuing a Jewish student who had been atatcked by a Palestinian mob. AP did correct the caption, but it was printed in the back pages of most papers. provocation that triggered the intifada. caught with his father in a crossfire The filmmakers make the case that between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian Sharon’s visit was merely a handy excuse. gunmen, and killed. The footage shot by A Palestinian diplomat is shown giving a TV cameraman from a particular angle, a public, outdoor speech in Beirut where if viewed with a particular agenda, he declares, “The intifada was planned seemed to indicate that the soldiers were since the return of President Arafat from the guilty and callous party.

The headline in the French press was the talks at Camp David, where he stood

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“The War That Kills Children,” while the Arab media and Palestinian educators endlessly replayed the TV clips to inflame the masses and radicalize children.

Décryptage uses maps to pull back and provide the relative positions of the principals, and argues that the boy was a tragic casualty of war but hardly a target.

By way of contrast, the film examines the coverage of the murders of Kobi Mendel and Yossi Ish-Ran, two Israeli boys who were stoned to death in a West Bank cave. They were identified in newspaper headlines as “young colonists,” a term that neatly flipped them from victims to aggressors, and headed off any sympathy the reader may have been disposed to feel.

The press’ motives in making the Palestinians look better and the Israelis worse are open to conjecture, but historian Denis Charbit of the University of Tel Aviv espouses one theory. “It’s difficult to be a Westerner in regard to what happened in 1939-45,” he notes, so “somehow people would be delighted to see Jews take on the role of the bad guy.

Somehow it’s a way of feeling more comfortable with this past that won’t go away.”

Décryptage, which is dedicated to the memory of Jewish journalist Daniel Pearl, has an unmistakable point of view but can’t be dismissed as merely a screed.

Although it will confirm some American Jews’ worst fears about the French media, it is not a knee-jerk apologia for the Israeli government.

It is a diligent and deeply felt piece that, even four years later, is well worth catching.

Michael Fox, a frequent contributor to the Jewish Press, writes film reviews from his home in southern California.

Page 12

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 16, 2007

Memo to the Palestinians: “We’ve had it” Enough is enough. You’ve missed every opportunity since 1948 to have a state of your own and you’re blowing it again.

The Israeli government evacuated Gaza more than a year-and-a-half ago and you’ve demonstrated that you can’t govern -- witness the internecine bloodshed between Hamas and Fatah and hundreds of your co-religionists killed and wounded. And, instead of at least attempting to normalize relations with your neighbor, you continue to lob rockets at Sdereot and Ashkelon, not to mention trying to sneak suicide bombers through the checkpoints.

Steven Erlanger writes in the March 12 New York Times, about the “children of the second intifada...largely cut off from the world and segmented by barriers and checkpoints.”

But whose fault is that?

You continue to teach your children violence: the textbooks you supply to your children’s schools label Jews and Israelis as “pigs and monkeys.” A tv show based loosely on “Sesame Street,” called innocently “The Children’s Club,” shows a little girl dressed in battle fatigues singing of “Palestinian revenge” and young boys wielding toy machine guns, calling for Israel to be “wiped out.”

According to Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), “In the schoolbooks it is clear that when they teach about ‘Palestine’, they are not teaching about the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The books mention over and over again that Israel’s very existence is being challenged. For example, ‘Palestine’s war ended with a catastrophe that is unprecedented in history, when the Zionist gangs stole Palestine … and established the State of Israel.’”

There are no maps of Israel as a sovereign state in any Palestinian textbook, no mention of the Holocaust, and you educate your children to welcome death through “martyrdom.”

Most Western mothers hope their children will grow up to become doctors or lawyers, marry well and have happy, healthy children.

But you Palestinian mothers? You praise your children when they blow themselves up and take innocent women and children with them.

Shame on you and shame on your government for not making this a criminal act.

But what can we expect when your leaders also are criminals.

PMW reports that “Fathi Hamad, Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, demanded the kidnapping of more Israeli soldiers in order to force Israel to free the [Palestinian] prisoners.”

This is how “civilized countries” behave? Can you imagine if the United States government learned that the Mexican government was planning a heinous act like this?

And it’s not limited to murder and mayhem. You want a state, but you can’t manage the billions donated to you by the United States and European Union. Josh Mitnick reports in the Sunday Telegraph that “in the 14 months since Hamas won elections, Palestinian finances have descended into such chaos that there is now no way to confirm whether aid is going to its stated purpose, according to

Salam Fayyad, who is poised to start his second stint as treasury chief once the rival Hamas and Fatah factions finalize a ‘unity’ government.”

Your own citizens have no faith in you -- not in Hamas, not in Fatah. In interviewing young people for his March 12 piece in the Times, Erlanger learned that 50% of your young people between the ages of 18 and 30 “would leave if they could,” according to pollster Nader Said. He added that when the IDF controlled Gaza that figure was under 20%.

Not only have we in the West had it with

are created “in the image of G-d.” As a result, we are charged to show “honor for the dead” by consigning human bodies, in as undisturbed state as possible, to the earth – even, if necessary, if it means forfeiting the performance of another commandment.

And then there is the related, fundamental Jewish belief that there will come a time when the dead will live again. Although the idea of the resurrection of the righteous may be surprising to some, it is one of Judaism’s most important teachings.

The concept, the Talmud teaches, is subtly evident in the Written Torah’s text; and fully prominent in the Torah’s other half, the Oral Tradition. The Mishna, the Oral Tradition’s central text, confers such weightiness to the conviction that it places deniers of the eventual resurrection of the dead first among those

(Hebrew: “etzem”) that is not destroyed when a body decays and from which the entire person, if he or she so merits, will be rejuvenated at some point in the future.

The idea that a person might be recreated from something tiny -- something, even, that can survive for millennia -- should not shock anyone remotely familiar with contemporary science. Each of our cells contains a large and complex molecule, DNA, that is essentially a blueprint of our bodies; theoretically, one of those molecules from even our long-buried remains could be coaxed to reproduce each of our physical selves. (Intriguingly, the Hebrew word “etzem” can mean not only “bone” but also “essence” and “self.”)

Burning, in Judaism, is a declaration of utter abandon and nullification. Jews burn leaven and bread before Passover, when the Torah insists no vestige of such material may be in their possession. The proper means of disposing of an idol is to pulverize or burn it.

Needless to say, G-d is capable of bringing even ashes to life again (as the ashes of the Nazis’ crematoria victims will surely demonstrate one day, may it come soon). But actually choosing to have one’s body incinerated is an act that, so intended or not, expresses denial of the fact that the body is still valuable, that it retains worth, indeed potential life.

The new Israeli crematorium’s owner, in fact, describes himself as an atheist, as do most if not all of his customers. One, a teacher in Jerusalem, gave eloquent expression to her reasons for choosing cremation, telling the Jerusalem Post: “I was not sanctified in my lifetime so my grave won’t be sanctified either…

I believe that there is nothing after death…”

That is the philosophy underlying the choice of cremation. It is the antithesis of the beliefsystem called Judaism.

Rabbi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America and can be reached at: Shafran@agudathisrael.org. This column is courtesy of Am Echad Resources.

A crematorium recently opened for business in Israel, for the use of citizens who want their remains reduced to ashes.

A decade ago, just over 20% of Americans who died were cremated. In 2005, the rate had risen to 32%. The Cremation Association of North America confidently forecasts that by 2025 more than half of Americans will choose to have their remains burned rather than interred.

While no one knows what percentage of American cremation-choosers are Jewish, there is little doubt that, at least among Jews with limited or no Jewish education, or who became estranged from Jewish observance, cremation has become acceptable, if not a vogue. And now, the Jewish State has it own facility for burning human bodies.

Yet the fact that the establishment is the first of its kind in Israel does bespeak an essential Jewish attitude toward the services it provides.

Some Jews recoil from the idea of cremation because the Third Reich incinerated so many of its Jewish victims.

Others, and many non-Jews, disdain the burning of human remains because of infamous cases where crematory owners, after accepting families’ payments, presented them with urns of animal ashes, turning a further profit from the sale of the bodies entrusted them to brokers who then conducted brisk businesses of their own selling body parts.

Judaism’s inherent abhorrence for cremation, however, predates and supersedes both Nazi evils and ghoulish crimes. The roots of the Torah’s insistence on burial of human remains lie elsewhere.

Judaism’s opposition to cremation is sourced in the Torah’s statement that humans

Burning, in Judaism, is a declaration of utter abandon and nullification.

Jews burn leaven and bread before Passover, when the Torah insists no vestige of such material may be in their possession. who “forfeit their share in the world to come” (Sanhedrin, Chapter 11, Mishna 1). As the Talmud comments thereon: “He denied the resurrection of the dead, so will he be denied a portion in the resurrection of the dead.”

That our bodies are invested with such importance should not be startling. Not only our souls but our physical selves, too, possess inherent holiness. Our bodies, after all, are the indispensable means of performing G-d’s will.

It is through employing them to do good deeds and denying their gravitations to sin that we achieve our purposes in this world.

And so, Jewish tradition teaches, even though we are to consign our bodies to the earth after death, there is a small “bone”

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A burning issue

FOCUS ON ISSUES

by RABBI AVI SHAFRAN

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March 16, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 13

Revisiting the Power of Faith: Film reminds us that combining religion and politics can make a righteous cause

BEHIND THE H EADLINES

by JONATHAN S. TOBIN To listen to some who claim to speak for American Jews, the greatest danger facing our republic is the rise of a religiously based conservatism that threatens to overturn the separation of church and state.

This has been a familiar argument for the last two decades as most liberal Jews that is to say, most Jews -- viewed an increasingly assertive Christian right as its chief antagonist.

The source of much of this angst that has helped keep the majority of Jewish votes securely in the pockets of liberal politicians has not been so much the actual issues on which most Jews disagreed with conservative Christians.

Rather, the really scary thing for most Jews has been the fact that American evangelicals were being propelled into the political arena by their religious beliefs.

After centuries of viewing religious Christians as the most likely source of anti-Semitism, the Jewish community’s intuitive reaction to public expressions of Christianity was to view them as inherently dangerous.

Nothing, not even the fervent support for the State of Israel that consistently comes from these same Christians, is enough to calm the fears that the mixing of faith and politics engenders.

No Abstract Vision Given the persistence of this debate, perhaps this is an apt moment to reexamine the role of faith in democratic politics with a recently released film as the starting point.

The movie is Amazing Grace, which depicts the long struggle by English parliamentarian William Wilberforce to end the British slave trade.

Arriving on the 200th anniversary of the House of Commons’ vote to outlaw the slave trade in 1807, the film tells of the triumph of Wilberforce and the abo-

litionists. For 20 years, they persisted despite repeated defeats at the hands of a large and wealthy pro-slavery camp. This faction was funded by West Indies sugar planters whose money enriched the British Empire, as well as corrupt members of Parliament.

But this film is not merely the history of a good cause. It is primarily the tale of how religion can improve, rather than pervert, politics.

Any telling of Wilberforce’s story must come to grips with the fact that his primary motivation wasn’t an abstract vision of the injustice of slavery, but one based almost entirely on his evangelical Christian faith.

The title of the film comes from the popular Christian hymn written by John Newton, a former slave ship captain who repented and later mentored Wilberforce.

Newton penned the famous lines that spoke of how faith --the “amazing grace” that Christianity conferred upon his troubled soul - had turned his life from one of bestial crime to service in the cause of freedom. One need not embrace this faith to recognize and honor the good wrought by this vision.

The anti-slavery forces prevailed because they were fueled by a spirit of religious revival that spread, as historian Simon Schama has written, “an army of righteousness” across the political landscape of Britain. Wilberforce ultimately won (slavery was itself abolished throughout the British Empire in 1833, shortly before Wilberforce’s death at the age of 74) primarily because the arguments he and his friends made spoke to the core of the faith of a people and its government.

Many conservatives believe that this message is one for our own time, and right-wing pundits have gone out of their way to both praise Amazing Grace as cin-

ema and to urge Americans to take its example to heart.

Indeed, the filmmakers themselves have created a website (www.theamazingchange.com) to promote their movie’s values and to sensitize viewers to the fact that slavery still exists in SubSaharan Africa (primarily in Muslim countries like Sudan), as well elsewhere in the form of the exploitation of women and children. The site urges its viewers to emulate Wilberforce not only in his saintly principles but as activists and to create their own “Clapham Circles” (the name by which Wilberforce and his allies were known) to work to better the world.

Though some would dismiss this as mere marketing, one wonders whether critics would be happier if the film had a deal with for MacDonald’s Wilberforce action figures?

Yet for all of the hoopla from conservatives about its celebration of faith, the film’s greatest failing is that it shortchanges the pervasive influence of religion in Wilberforce’s life.

Though lip service is paid to his decision to do the work of God via politics, the theme is not developed enough to make this as clear as it should be. Ioan Gruffudd’s Wilberforce is driven to do good, but his portrayal does little justice to the real person whose life was a testament to the power of faith.

Given the obvious intent of the filmmakers to raise this issue, their failure to follow through speaks volumes about their fear of turning off viewers with secular sensibilities.

Good Intentions That said, the film would probably have a much greater impact if its quality matched its good intentions. Though blessed with a handsome cast and sumptuous costumes, filmmaker Michael Apted would have done better to have commissioned a better script than the convoluted mess that spills onto the screen.

...this film is not merely the history of a good cause. It is primarily the tale of how religion can improve, rather than pervert, politics.

Though I suppose we must forgive it for its numerous conflations of characters and events in order to simplify things, it fails the basic test of maintaining a coherent narrative. The film travels back and forth throughout Wilberforce’s career with a flexibility that recalls Kurt Vonnegut’s method in Slaughterhouse Five. But while being “spastic in time” may have worked for that fantasy, it fails here, especially since it must surely confuse even that small percentage of the audience that may already know the history.

Stuffed with righteousness but lacking in power or sweep, the film careens amiably along to its conclusion in the manner of a a flat-line historical pageant or a mediocre “Masterpiece Theater” serial.

But its shortcomings as art should not divert us from Wilberforce’s heroic example and its influence on Christians and Jews today. The truth is, modern Jewry has long embraced Wilberforce’s faithbased activism on issues from civil rights to freedom for Soviet Jewry. Those nonOrthodox Jews who regularly speak of tikkun olam or a Divinely ordained mandate to “repair the world” are, ironically, most likely to fear evangelicals who revere the same tradition.

Amazing Grace can, at the very least, remind us that a person whose faith leads him or her to politics is actually more likely than not one who fights to make society a better place. The spiritual light that opened the eyes of men like John Newton and William Wilberforce may not be that of our own religion, but it’s one we should nevertheless honor. We should also understand that many contemporary Christians, including those conservatives whom many of us wrongly despise, are their spiritual descendants.

Rather than fear them, let us look to our own faith to seize every chance to embrace a common spiritual mandate to banish the darkness that pervades a still sinful world.

Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia. He can be contacted via e-mail at: jtobin@jewishexponent.com.

Hebron

JOURNAL ENTRY FROM ISRAEL

by TEDDY WEINBERGER The Jews of Hebron were recently in the news again. A Jewish woman named Yifat Elkobi was videotaped spewing venomous curses at her Arab neighbor. For many American tourists the powderkeg that is Hebron is invisible. Hebron to them is the holy Me'arat Hamachpela, the Tomb of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs. Despite making aliyah in 1997, I have not been to Hebron for 25 years. To me, Hebron has come to represent Jewish lawlessness, hatred, violence and child abuse.

I didn't always think of Hebron in these terms. In the spring of 1979, when I was a high-school student spending the second part of my senior year in Israel, I became very friendly with a family from Kiryat Arba (the major Jewish settlement in the area with a population of about 6,500, founded in 1971 adjacent to Hebron). Back then you didn't have to think twice about taking a stroll (unarmed and alone) down the hill to worship at the Me'arat Hamachpela.

Of course, back then there were no Jews living in Hebron. But the status quo that existed for 22 years (since the 1967 Six Day War) changed in May of that year, with the occupation of a building called Beit Hadassah by a Jewish group of 10 women and 40 children.

Today, there are approximately 400 Jews and 30,000 Arabs living in the Hebron area surrounding the Tomb.

The business district there is now nothing but a ghost town (thus reported the Haaretz newspaper in the wake of the January hate incident). In order to protect the safety of the Jews of Hebron, the army has made normal commerce impossible by restricting traffic and access in the area.

It doesn't matter to me who is at fault.

It is absolutely clear that Jews cannot live in even peaceful hostility in Hebron.

The Jewish residents also contributed their share to the exodus, sending their children to break the wares of Arab merchants and to wreak havoc on their vegetable and fruit stalls. As a senior police official told the YNET news service about Hebron's Jews: "We see time and again a cynical use of children for carrying out crimes because they are minors."

When an adult incites their child to violence, or even when that adult conveys to their child that certain acts of violence against civilians are acceptable, I believe this constitutes a kind of child abuse.

There are those who would argue as follows: The story of the Jews of Hebron is the story of the State of Israel writ small. Where would the State of Israel be today if its founders were concerned about how its neighbors would accept it? And it's no coincidence that the struggle in Hebron revolves around a Jewish holy site, as does

the struggle over the area containing the Western Wall.

The Arabs intentionally target Jewish holy sites for either destruction or for appropriation as a Muslim holy site in an effort to demonstrate that the Jewish people do not have the claim to this land that they say they have.

I am aware of this argument but I don't accept its "all or nothing" charge. Not everything done in the name of living near a Jewish holy site is acceptable.

I am sure that the Jews of Hebron would say that the Arabs have been the ones to incite the Jews, that the Arabs never could tolerate the Jews in Hebron (in fact, the current Jewish settlement in Hebron owes its legal standing to an attack on the Jewish squatters in 1980 that left six dead).

But you know what? It doesn't matter to me who is at fault. It is absolutely clear that Jews cannot live in even peaceful hostility in Hebron.

I am ashamed at what the Jews of Hebron are doing -- supposedly in my name, supposedly to protect one of my holy places. I say to them: go back up the hill to Kiryat Arba. I don't want you and your children spewing hatred and violence in the name of the peaceful resting place of my ancestors.

Teddy Weinberger and his wife, former Omahan Sarah Ross, made aliyah with their five children almost 12 years ago and live across the Green Line in Givat Ze’ev. He works in the Department of Zionist Education for the Jewish Agency for Israel and can be reached at: weinross@netvision.net.il.

Page 14

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 16, 2007

Candlelighting Friday, March 16, 7:14 p.m.

Synagogue Listings

B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

B’nai Israel Synagogue

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

618 Mynster St. Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE

Beth El Synagogue Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California Omaha, NE 68154-1980 492.8550 www.bethel-omaha.org

Beth Israel Synagogue Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific St. Omaha, NE. 68154 556.6288 BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org

Beyt Shalom An Affiliate of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation 3012 S. 119 St. P.O. Box 390352 Omaha, NE 68139 660.2395 www.beytshalomomaha.org

Chabad House An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 S. 120th St. Omaha, NE 68144-1646 330.1800 www.OChabad.com email: chabad@aol.com

Congregation B’nai Jeshurun South Street Temple Union for Reform Judaism 2061 S. 20th St. Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 435.8004 southstreettemple.org

Offutt Air Force Base SAC Memorial Chapel 301 Lincoln Highway Offutt AFB, NE 68113 294.6244

Rose Blumkin Jewish Home 333 S. 132 St. Omaha, NE 68154

Temple Israel Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 7023 Cass Street Omaha, NE 68132-2651 556.6536 templeisrael-ne.org

The Neighborhood Minyan 1317 No. 57 St. Omaha, NE 68132 551.6609

Tifereth Israel Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Blvd., Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 423.8569 www.tiferethisraellincoln.org

Tree of Life Center 2925 Prairie Road Lincoln, NE 68506 613.7443 email: treeoflife.rabbimichael @yahoo.com

If you’re looking at this space, so are others!

YOUR AD CAN GO HERE...

to reserve space, call: Allan

Handleman, 334.6451, or Terri Greenwood, 334.6559.

FRIDAY: Musical Kabbalat Shabbat service, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Men’s Club will participate in Morning services, 9:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation (3-7), 10 a.m.; K’tantan (grades K-2), 10:45 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 11:15 a.m., followed by luncheon for Tot Shabbat families: no charge for children six and younger; $5 for all others. RSVP to Margie Gutnik; Kiddush is sponsored by Beth El; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 6:20 p.m.

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

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

THIRD GRADE CONSECRATION: Sunday, March 18, 11:15 a.m., in the sanctuary.

JEWISH FILM SERIES: Monday, March 19, 7 p.m. Cost is $6 per session. For more information, contact Margie Gutnik.

NOTIONS OF THE AFTERLIFE: next session is March 21, 7 p.m., led by Dr. Guy Matalon.

ABBA, EEMA & ME: Play group for children birth to three, and their parents, Wednesday, March 21, 9:30-11 a.m. For information, contact Margie Gutnik.

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

WOMEN’S ROSH HODESH GROUP: Thursday, March 22, at the home of Margo Riekes, 12917 Heavenly Dr. (See full article on page 9.)

TOT SHABBAT: Friday, March 23, 6 p.m., followed by kid-friendly dinner. Dinner cost: free for children, six and younger, $5 for all other attendees. To RSVP, contact the office.

HAZAK LUNCH ‘N’ LEARN: Saturday, March 24, following Shabbat services. (See full article on this page.)

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Office Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fri., 8:30 a.m-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Jonathan Gross.

FRIDAY: Friday Night Live! with concurrent children’s and adult Kabbalat Shabbat, 5 p.m.; Shabbat Dinner follows services, 6 p.m.; “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” A “game show” for kids ages six and up follows dinner.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.

Free babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Children’s Classes, 9:45 a.m. with Torah Parade; Kiddush is sponsored

by Bruce and Linda Potash in commemoration of the yahrzeit of David Potash; Mincha, 7 p.m. followed by Suedat Shlishit with Gemara class; Havdalah, 8:15 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; “Reading the Rambam” with Rabbi Nadel, 9:45 a.m.; NCSY Radio show live call-in from Omaha, 4 p.m.; Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m.

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

TUESDAY: Sisterhood’s new “Spirits & Spirituality,” 8 p.m., a new group for women of all ages, hosted by Lesley Gendelman at the home of Bonnie Bloch.

WEDNESDAY: Board of Commissioner’s Meeting, 6:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: Women of the Torah class, 9:30 a.m.; Advanced Parsha Study, 7:30 p.m.; “The Kosher Kitchen: Extreme Passover Edition,” 8 p.m. at the home of Shami Jacobs.

BEYT SHALOM FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:30 p.m. at the synagogue.

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

FRIDAY: Service, 7 a.m.

SATURDAY: Maamar class, 9 a.m.; Service, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush luncheon follows the service SUNDAY: Service, 8:30 a.m.; Living Torah, 9:30 a.m., 20minute video broadcast.

WEEKDAYS: Minyan, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: Maamar Kabbalistic Insights for Women, 12:15 p.m.; Halacha, 7 p.m.; W.O.W. Craft Shop -- “Plates of Freedom,” 7 p.m. Create your own hand-painted Seder plate and learn what goes where.

TUESDAY: W.O.W. Prayer Circle Tehillim & More, 9 a.m.; Parshah Roundup: Weekly Torah Portion Class, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Kabbalah Circle, 7 p.m.

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

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

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

FRIDAY: Shabbat Evening

Service, 7:45 p.m. led by Rabbi Emanuel, with oneg following provided by Judy McKeighan.

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

SUNDAY: LJCS Grades 2-7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; K-1, 9:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. at South Street Temple; Hallah High, 10 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel.

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

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

THURSDAY: Dr. Sherwin Nuland will speak on “Faith, Philosophy and Medicine: Reflections on Maimonides, as part of The E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues, 7 p.m. at the annual Myer & Dorothy Kripke Lecture Series at the UNL Lied Center.

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

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

TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Shabbat Service, 7:30 p.m. Rabbi Linder, and Cantor Shermet will lead the service.

SATURDAY: Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:15-10:15 a.m.; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m.; Bailey Newman, daughter of Karli and Jody Newman, will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah.

SUNDAY: Teacher Learning Coffee, 9:30 a.m.; Prayer Assembly, 10 a.m.; Religious School (K-6), 10 a.m.-noon; Four B’s: Behaving, Belonging, Believing and Bagels, 10:30 a.m. “Raising Mensches in a World of Excess” with Rabbi Steve Leder. Get the tools and insight on bringing up children as caring and contributing community members. There is no charge to attend.

TUESDAY: Excutive Commit-

tee Meeting, 6 p.m.; Board of Trustees Meeting, 7:30 pm.; Adult B’nai Mitzvah, 6:30–8 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Grades 3-6, 46 p.m.; All School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Family School, 6-8 p.m.; Grades 712, 6-8 p.m.

THURSDAY: “Adult Study with the Clergy” with Cantor Wendy Shermet, 10-11:30 a.m.; Religious School Steering Committee Meeting, noon.

SHABBAT COMES TO YOU: Friday, March 23, 4 p.m. at the Blumkin Home

NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN FRIDAY: Minyan, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m.

TIFERETH ISRAEL Services conducted by Rabbi Royi Shaffin.

Minyan, MONDAY and THURSDAY, 9 a.m.

FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m. followed by a light oneg.

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

SUNDAY: LJCS Grades 2-7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; K-1, 9:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. at South Street Temple; Hallah High, 10 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel.

WEDNESDAY: Men’s Lunch Group meets at the Knolls, 12:30 p.m. Call Yale Gotsdiner at 423.7066; Hebrew classes (grades 2-7), 4-6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel.

TREE OF LIFE CENTER Services conducted by Rabbi Rabbi Michael Weisser.

FRIDAYS: Sabbath Experience, 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAYS: Havdalah: Rites of Separation, 6:30 p.m.; following Havdalah Drumming Meditation until 8 p.m.; following Drumming Social Time until 10 p.m.

MONDAYS: Sitting/Silent Meditation, 6 p.m.; Teachings/ Discussion, 7:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAYS: Sitting/ Silent Meditation, 6 p.m.; 8 Weeks to Mindfulness Class, 7:30 p.m.

Beth El’s upcoming Lunch ’n Learn to feature Omaha Public Library’s Rivkah Sass

by JILL BELMONT immediately following Shabbat Beth El Publicity Coordinator services.

If you’d like to learn more “As the tools of our world change and people about the Omaha increasingly access Public Library, be their information via sure to check out an online resources, the upcoming lunch ‘n’ question about the learn event at Beth El, relevancy of the featuring Rivkah Sass, public library freexecutive director of quently arises,” Sass the city’s library syssaid. “Is the public tem. Sass, who overlibrary as an institusees the W. Dale tion dying? Is it releClark Library and its Rivkah Sass vant in a community nine branches, will address “The Omaha Public like Omaha where many people Library: Irrelevant or Indispens- can afford to buy books and love able?” on Saturday, March 24, to Google?”

Sass remarked that during the lunch ’n learn, she will explore these and other issues about the changing role of Omaha’s oldest educational and cultural institution.

The community is welcome to attend; cost is $9.50 for adults, $6.50 for children six to 12, and free for children five and younger. Reservations are needed by March 16 and may be made by mailing a check to Natalie Rubin, 2004 So. 138 Ave. Cir., Omaha, NE 68144.

For information, call Gloria Goodman at 333.3351. This event is sponsored by Hazak.

Pulverente MONUMENT CO.

March 16, 2007

The Sanctuary is Completed

SPARKS FROM THE WORD

by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parashat Vayakhel-Pekude Shabbat HaHodesh These last two Sidrot of the Book of Exodus happen to be on the same Sabbath as the third of the four special Sabbaths prior to Passover. In this third special Sabbath, Shabbat HaHodesh, we welcome the month of Nisan (which begins Monday night), in which Passover occurs (on the 15th of Nisan or, this year, on Monday evening, April 2). It is the month of the birth of the Jewish people.

The two Sidrot by themselves describe the final events in the construction of the Sanctuary of the wilderness.

In a very real sense, this Sanctuary also marks the birth of the Jewish people.

For a Sanctuary, a place of worship, becomes a center of attention and thus, a center of the spiritual growth of a people which, until now, has been amorphous. It is the Sanctuary which gives goal and purpose to a people. It defines the people’s inner hopes and inner desiderata.

It is because of this that people have been so zealous with their religions over the centuries and so willing to give their blood where necessary to maintain their religious integrity.

We think of the Pilgrims who were among the first Americans. We think of Bilu, the Jews who were among the first to settle in unsettled Israel, although it is fair to say that it was religio-national rather than simply religious ideals which motivated them. The whole land seemed to them to be a religious Sanctuary.

I remember that when I was a small boy, I was mildly shocked to hear my teacher say that he was about to leave, not for Jerusalem, but for a small town whose name I did not know. He then pointed out to me that the whole land is holy; the whole land is a Sanctuary.

There was destruction in the land of Israel, both in 722 and in 586 BCE, and Solomon’s Temple and a second temple were both destroyed, the last destruction being in the first century of our era. But it is one thing to destroy a building, and it is quite an other to destroy the Sanctuary that remains in the hearts of worshippers.

And it is in these spiritual, not physical Sanctuaries that the presence of the Lord is felt.

(Editor’s note: this column was originally published in the Jewish Press on March 8, 2002.)

EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press will be closed the first two days of Passover, April 3-4; The deadline for the April 6 issue is Monday, March 26, 9 a.m. Questions? Call 402.334.6448.

DEATH ESTHER BLOOM Former Omahan Esther Bloom died in Phoenix on March 7 at the age of 85. Burial services were March 9 at Paradise Memorial Gardens in Scottsdale.

She and her husband Milton moved to Phoenix in 1990; he died there in 1999.

She is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, Sheila and Walter Moravec of Phoenix and Nancy and Larry Wintroub of Scottsdale; brother, Louis Bloom of Las Vegas; and grandchildren Sarah and Jonathan Levin and Benjamin and Lindsay Wintroub.

Memorials to the Alzheimer’s Association, 1028 E. McDowell Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85006, or the American Cancer Society, 2929 E. Thomas Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85016.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

60 Years Experience With Jewish Lettering and Memorials

Page 15

1439 So. 13th 341-2452

Frank L. Ciciulla, Jr.

LEGAL NOTICE OPEN RANGE COMMUNICATIONS INC. We are a prospective applicant under the Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program being administered by the Rural Development, Utilities Programs (RDUP), United States Department of Agriculture. We are required, as a prospective applicant, to announce our intent to provide broadband services (200 kilobits upstream and downstream) in the State of Nebraska in the following communities/counties: Washington, Bee. Incumbent broadband service providers have 30 days from the date of this Legal Notice to inform RDUP if they are currently providing broadband service in these areas or if they have a commitment to provide service in these areas. Incumbent broadband service providers should submit to RDUP, on a form prescribed by RDUP, the number of residential customers receiving broadband service in the proposed service area, the rates of data transmission, and the cost of each level of service or proof of commitment to provide service in the proposed service area. A map should also be provided showing the boundaries of your service area in relation to the communities above. A Legal Notice Response Form can be obtained from RDUP’s website at www.usda.gov/rus/telecom.

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, 402.334.5422; 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 of Omaha’s website. Just go to: www.jewishomaha.org, click on Jewish Press and click on “Submit Announcements.” Guidelines are located on the Jewish Press home page.

Rabbis ‘decaffinate’ the Hagaddah

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The Center for Jewish Education gave a taste of what a new Haggadah can do to enrich Passover at “It’s Not Your Maxwell House Haggadah Anymore” in the Kripke Library.

Rabbi Mordechai Levin, left, Rabbi Jonathan Gross, and Rabbi Aryeh Azriel spoke about their favorite Haggadot and special memories of Passover. Nancy Rips read selections from her forthcoming book on Passover experiences, relating favorite memories she has gathered from famous Jews like Alan Dershovich and Rabbi Harold Kushner. She shared a letter from the Jerusalem Zoo that while matzah is very bad for birds, the primates love it! The library has a display of various unique Hagaddot available for checkout and orders are being taken for purchase of Haggadot.

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Temple welcomes HUC Scholar for a weekend of “Incredible Stories”

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator “There are incredible stories about how famous rabbis became learners,” pointed out Dvora Weisberg, associate professor of rabbinics and director of the Beit Midrash at Hebrew Union College (HUC)-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. What makes the stories so interesting, she added, is that those rabbis “did not study until adulthood.”

As a scholar-in-residence at Temple Israel, FridaySunday, March 23-25, Dr. Weisberg will reveal some of those stories in a weekend devoted to “God, Torah, and Israel: Stories from our Early Rabbis.” She’ll give the d’var Torah at Shabbat worship services, March 23, 7:30 p.m. about the search for ‘truth’ in rabbinic stories; discuss stories about Torah study on March 24, 9 a.m., and explore rabbinic stories about God on March 25, 9 a.m.

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Dr. Weisberg has written extensively about gender issues in rabbinic texts. She has published articles such as “Desirable but Dangerous: Rabbis’ Daughters in the Bavli,” “The Widow of our Discontent: Levirate Marriage in the Bible and Ancient Israel,” and “Men Imagining Women Imagining God: Gender Issues in Classical Midrash.”

In addition to telling stories about rabbis, writing, and her work at HUC, Dr. Weisberg enjoys reading history and mysteries, doing crossword puzzles, and needlepoint “and making great challah.” She and her husband, Rabbi Neal Scheindlin, who is chairman of the Jewish Studies Department at the Milken Community High School in Los Angeles, have two sons, Micah, 17, and Noah, 12.

The community is invited to learn with Dr. Weisberg throughout her weekend residency, funded by the Hermene Zweiback Center for Lifelong Jewish Learning.

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AG TECHNICIANS needed at JD dealership in Osceola. Send resume to Plains Power and Equipment, P.O. Box 278, Osceola, NE 68651, or call Richard at 800-667-2051.

SERVICE MANAGER needed at world-class John Deere dealership. Modern facility.

Equipment knowledge and management experience preferred. Superior wages, benefits, incentives. Send resume to Vacin, 1093 Road W, Clarkson, NE 68629.

OTR FLATBED drivers wanted. Nice equipment, good miles, home 6 to 8 days/month. $.40/mile. 507-240-1080 DRIVERS: NO more waiting! You can drive with the best today! Excellent compensation package. Grand Island, NE and terminals in Rensselaer, IN. Class A-CDL/6 months OTR experience required. GICC, 877-367-4422, www.gicc.chiefind.com.

DRIVERS! ACT now! 21 CDL-A drivers needed. 36-43cpm/$1.20pm. $0 lease new trucks. CDL-A + 3 months OTR. 800-635-8669.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 16, 2007