Vol. LXXXIX No. 26 Omaha, NE
Celebrating 89 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
Remembering a great friend: Truman Clare
Opinion Page see page 12
by RON KAMPEAS WASHINGTON (JTA) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s attempt to reassure Israel of American steadfastness survived a steadfast Middle East tradition of selfsabotage. Biden’s intended message in a much ballyhooed speech Thursday -- that the United States would stand by Israel in thick and thin -- was unequivocal. Yet it was clear that he and his speechwriters tweaked the text to encompass references to the Israeli settlement building and Palestinian incitement that almost marred his trip. Biden started by reaffirming the “unbreakable bond” between Israel and the United States, as he had following his arrival earlier this week. The bond was “impervious to any shifts in either country and in either country’s partisan politics,” he said to applause.
Caption: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden in Jerusalem, March 9, 2010. Credit: Avi Ohayon/Flash 90/JTA
Judy Meisel to speak at Yom HaShoah Commemoration
Inside
to the child’s death at the hands of the guard. Every day, along with the other female prisoners, Judy was awoken and forced to stand at attention for hours. During the long and tiring roll call, people were selected for work or for death. Judy feared that no one would survive the harrowing conditions and that no one would be left as a witness. Miraculously, at the last moment, Mrs. Meisel was saved from entering a Nazi gas chamber with her mother. After the shock of her mother’s death and escaping her own demise, she searched for her sister in the camp infirmary. Through numerous grueling events, including a death march, Judy and her sister were saved and taken to Denmark. They were certain that they were the only Jews left in Europe until the day a large boat returned to Copenhagen from Sweden where 90% of the Danish Jewish population had residing after an unprecedented rescue by the Danish people and the support of the Swedish people. Today, Judy lives as a witness to the events of the Holocaust. She will share her experiences as a Holocaust Survivor and Civil Rights Activist with the Omaha community at the Yom HaShoah Commemoration on Wednesday, April 14 at 7 p.m. at Temple Israel. She will also address the Lincoln community at the State Capitol Holocaust Commemoration on Sunday, April 11. “We are honored to have Mrs. Meisel come to Omaha and to Lincoln as our guest speaker for Yom HaShoah,” stated Beth Seldin Dotan, Executive Director of the Institute for Holocaust Education. Chairman of the committee, Bob Cohen remarked that “the Yom HaShoah Committee came to a unanimous decision to Continued on page 2
He added that it was critical for the international community to understand the bond. “Every time progress is made, it’s been made when the rest of the world knows there’s no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel’s security, none -- no space,” the vice president said. Biden’s speech was an opening salvo in rolling back Israeli and Jewish insecurities stoked by President Obama’s speech last summer to the Muslim world. Jewish community leaders in the United States and some Israeli leaders were unsettled by Obama’s sharp parallels in that speech between Israeli and Palestinian suffering. And some objected to how Obama emphasized the sequence of the Holocaust and the establishment of Israel. The concerns were exacerbated a few weeks later when Obama met with the Jewish leadership and said he would make public disagreements with Israel. The White House, which insisted Obama had emphasized the Holocaust to scold the Arab world for allowing its denial to flourish, was frustrated by Jewish unhappiness with a speech that was supposed to have been about outreach to Arabs and Muslims -- a point that Biden made in his remarks Thursday. “We’re absolutely convinced this approach will improve not only our security but, as a result, your security,” Biden said of outreach to the Muslim world. Nonetheless, it was clear that Biden took care to hit all the marks that Obama missed in his Cairo speech. “Incitement against Israel continues, as do the attacks on the legitimacy of Jewish ties to this ancient land,” he said, a deliberate nod to Israeli anger that Obama had not referred to the Holy Land’s Jewish religious roots in his Cairo address. Earlier in the speech, Biden recalled his working-class Irish-Catholic dad “who often spoke passionately about Continued on page 2
This Week: Community Calendar Page 11 See Front Page Stories & More at: www.jewishomaha.org; click on ‘Jewish Press’
Teen shows how to make a difference through philanthtopy Page 3
March 19, 2010
Breaking down the Biden speech
by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Over the years. Clare was active in the Knights of Editor of the Jewish Press Columbus, Creighton University, and the Jewish Truman Clare, a devout Catholic and a longtime sup- Community Center, which he and Rosemary joined in porter of the Omaha Jewish Community, passed away 1960. Truman was a member of several committees, and on March 1, 2010 in St. worked for years on the Petersburg Beach, Fl. Both Israel Bond campaign. In Truman Clare and his wife 1982, he was awarded the Rosemary grew up in City of Peace Award by the Lincoln, Nebraska, and were tate of Israel for the work he married in1944. During the had done within both the same year, Clare earned his Jewish community, and the business administration community at large. In degree from UNL, and 1984, Clare and his wife eventually his Master’s in went to Israel to attend the 1948. In between those two international Bond conferaccomplishments, he manence. aged to squeeze a third: Clare was also active in the active duty in France and annual Federation camGermany, with the 70th paign, and served as tax Infantry Division, from advisor and legal counsel to December 1944 to May of the Jewish Federation of 1946. By the end of World Omaha Foundation. In War II, he had been promot1985, the Federation named ed to Captain. him Humanitarian of the Clare then enrolled at Year, “for being a friend, an Creighton Law School. associate, and a supporter of Followng his graduation, he the Jewish community of was invited by Aphraim Omaha.” Truman Clare Marks, a prominet Jewish There are many within the trial attorney, to become a partner in anew firm. Clare Jewish community who remember Truman Clare as a was a member of the Bar Associations of Omaha, generous and dedicated friend and supporter. One such Nebraska, and Iowa, as well as the American Bar person is Marty Ricks, current Executive Director of the Association. He belonged to the Nebraska Society and Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation. the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Continued on page 15
by BETH SELDIN DOTAN Institute for Holocaust Education Director, ADL Plains States Office She was born in Josvainai, Lithuania on Feb. 7, 1929 and was the youngest of three children. In July 1941, at the age of 12, her entire family was taken to the Kovno ghetto. Conditions in the ghetto included overcrowding, very little food, fear and sickness. Hunger was overwhelming for everyone. Young Judy was blond, blue-eyed, and spoke Lithuanian, and she soon took on the role of smuggling food to her family. At night she would creep through a hole in the barbed wire fence which surrounded the ghetto to risk her life by smuggling bread in Judy Meisel her underclothing and under her arm. During the day she worked as a slave laborer at a factory which produced rubber boots for the German Army. In June of 1944, along with her mother and sister, Judy was transported to the Stutthof concentration camp. Judy’s brother was sent to Dachau. When they arrived at Stutthof, they were told to undress, change into a striped uniform and wear wooden clogs. One of the first things Judy witnessed at the Stutthof camp was a guard harassing a woman who was attempting to hide her infant under her dress. The mother was forced to give up her child, and Judy was unfortunately eyewitness
4 Nisan 5770
Coming Next Week: Passover Issue The Four Sons Part II: The Wicked Son Page 4
Weiss backs away from ‘rabba’ title for women Page 16