Vol. LXXXIII No. 28 Omaha, NE
American Jewish Archives Director to Bring Voices of Jewish Past to Life by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Rabbi Gary Zola, Executive Director of The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and associate professor of the American Jewish Experience, will bring the voices of the Jewish past to life when he pays a visit to Omaha next week. He will lead a discussion on “Great Voices in American Rabbi Gary Zola Reform Judaism” when he joins Adult Study with the Clergy on Thursday, March 25, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel. If you’ve ever wondered what it might have been like to sit in Carnegie Hall listening to renowned Jewish leader Stephen Samuel Wise or to hear the eloquence of Abba Hillel Silver, Joachim Prinz, Nelson Glueck, or Jacob Rader Marcus, then you are welcome to attend this opportunity to hear digitized recordings of these voices of Reform Judaism from the American Jewish Archives collection. Visuals are added. “These are the voices that you may know of by reputation but have never actually heard!” said Rabbi Aryeh Azriel. Rabbi Wise, who came to the United States from Budapest as an infant, established the Jewish Institute of Religion, a rabbinical seminary dedicated to liberal ideals. In 1950, it merged with the Hebrew Union College. A gifted orator and administrator, Rabbi Wise gained distinction for his views on social reform and Zionist affairs. Rabbi Zola is originally from Chicago and a graduate of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He earned a Master of Arts Degree in counseling psychology from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, as well as a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters in 1981 and a Master of Philosophy from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in 1988. He was ordained at HUC-JIR in 1982. Studying with American Jewish historians Jacob Rader Marcus and Jonathan D. Sarna, Rabbi Zola received his Ph.D. from HUC-JIR in 1991 in American Jewish history. He will introduce Temple Israel’s adult education topic for next year, “Celebrating 350 Years of Jews in America.” On Wednesday, March 24, Rabbi Zola will meet with Temple Israel ninth graders and their parents during class as part of their studies on Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Judaism. His topic is “Rabbi Wise and his Impact on Reform Judaism and Zionism.” The American Jewish Archives obtained old reels of Rabbi Wise’s speeches and transferred them to a video with pictures and stories. Elyce Azriel, director of Temple’s Middle and High School, has seen Rabbi Zola’s presentation and said he “brings life to a dynamic leader of Reform Judaism.”
YOM HASHOAH Holocaust Remembrance Day will be commemorated on Wednesday, April 21, 7 p.m., at Temple Israel. The evening will include a candlelighting ceremony and a keynote presentation by Julie Kohner, a second generation Holocaust survivor, who will present “Voices of the Generations.” In Lincoln, a statewide commemoration will be held Sunday, April 18, 4 p.m., at the State Capitol.
Inside
Celebrating 83 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
26 Adar, 5764 March 19, 2004
Morocco: Caught Between Arabia and Allies in the West
Scouts at the DEJJ Jewish youth center in Casablanca, Morocco, greet a visiting American Jewish delegation which travelled there in February 2004. See story on Page 6 Credit: Michael Arnold/JTA
Omahan Wins Prestigious Newspaper Award by JOAN K. MARCUS Former Omahan Brian Joseph has been part of an investigative reporting team that has won one of journalism’s most prestigious awards--The George Polk Award. The award, established in 1949 to memorialize the CBS correspondent who was slain while covering a civil war in Greece, has become one of America’s most coveted journalism honors. At age 23, Joseph is the youngest person to have ever received the award. He is currently a city hall reporter for The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, California. Some of the biggest names in reporting have won the Polk Award, including: Jimmy Breslin, Thomas Friedman, Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, Howard K. Smith and Edward R. Murrow. Announcement of the annual George Polk Award winners is publicized around the country and, sometimes the award itself makes news by citing a controversial Brian Joseph story or unusual outlet. Brian grew up in Omaha and lived here until he went away to college at the University of Missouri. His parents, Dr. Les and Sharon Joseph always thought their son would be interested in journalism. However, young Brian thought that he wanted to be a scientist. It wasn’t until his sophomore year at Central High School that he decided to take a journalism class. “It sounds corny,” he admitted, “but during the course of that one class period on the first day of my sophomore year, I had what you might call a moment of clarity. I saw myself becoming a reporter and devoting my life to journalism. “It has been my obsession every day since!” His first journalism lecture was about ethics and how reporters have tremendous responsibility to write the
truth because readers assume what they read in the newspapers is true. “That resonated with me,” he added. Friends say that Joseph has always been “ridiculously outgoing.” He has never known a stranger--despite his parents’ insistence that he not speak to them! Since he was a child, he loved to read and write and was always aware of current events. For his three years at Omaha Central High School, he ate, slept and breathed The Central High Register. Teacher Matt Deabler at Central became one of Joseph’s closest friends. Deabler appointed Brian to be a reporter, but the sophomore was soon promoted to be Executive Editor of the newspaper and became Editor during his senior year. Over the course of his high school career, he won more than 50 local, regional and national awards. Joseph lauds Central High as being the most valuable in his training as a journalist. “I learned the fundamentals of interviewing, reporting and story structure,” he insisted. “Most importantly, I learned how to handle deadline stress and the pressure of a newsroom. “The Register is not a high school newspaper. It’s a professional paper staffed by students in a high school.” After graduation from Central, Brian attended the school of journalism at the University of Missouri at Columbia. In 2002, after only three-and-a-half years, he received a bachelor’s degree in journalism, with an emphasis in newspaper reporting and writing-specifically investigative reporting. While at Mizzou, he worked on The Missourian, a newspaper that covers the city of Columbia, Missouri. While still in college, Joseph had five newspapers internships, two at the Omaha World-Herald, one at The Lima News in Ohio, The Modesto Bee in California and The Seattle Times. As an intern in Seattle, he met lead reporter, Duff Wilson. Since Joseph was interned on the metro desk, he had to cover fires, robberies and other police and fire beat events. However, he began to “bug” Wilson about “Really, really, wanting to work with him!” Continued on page 7
Coming Next Month: Passover Issue Publishes on April 2 and Our Mother’s Day Gift Guide on April 30 Lincoln Center-Harris Center Lecture: Page 4
Morocco: Caught Between Arabia and the West: Page 6
More of Purim Around the Heartland Page 10
Two Views on The Passion: Pages 12-13