Vol. LXXXV No. 28 Omaha, NE
Celebrating 85 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
24 Adar, 5766 March 24, 2006
After Experience of Holocaust, Jewish Groups out Front on Darfur
Exhibit Showcases 85 Years of Jewish Press History
by DAVID J. SILVERMAN and RACHEL SILVERMAN WASHINGTON (JTA) -- One genocide nearly annihilated the Jewish people. Another has made them into leading voices in the struggle against human cruelty. The ongoing atrocities in Sudan, which have killed an estimated 300,000 black Muslims and left millions more homeless, have galvanized a community that knows the lessons of persecution all too well. “We know what it means to be victims of those who want to wipe another people off the face of the earth,” Rabbi Robert Levine, President of the New York Board of Rabbis, told roughly 150 rabbis last week at a Darfur rally in New York City. “It was only two generations ago when we looked around and wondered, where was everyone?” Continued on page 4
by CAROL KATZMAN Editor of the Jewish Press Gently turn the fragile pages of the 1924 bound volume of the Jewish Press and you’ll find the dedication of the old Jewish Community Center on 20th and Dodge. Fast-forward and you’ll come across the opening of the new facility 50 years later on 132 Street. Along with other major events in the history of this Jewish community--like the birth of the State of Israel in 1948 and successive wars in ’56, ’67 and ’73--120 front pages of Omaha’s weekly Jewish newspaper are to be displayed in a unique exhibit opening next month. Collaborating for the first time with the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society (NJHS), the Press will also showcase 72 front pages from Passover and New Year editions published since 1968. The exhibit is co-chaired by former Jewish Press President Silvia Roffman, and NJHS Vice-president Midge Bowers, and their husbands, Larry Roffman and Bill Bowers. In the Gallery of the Jewish Community Center through mid-May, the exhibit opens Sunday,
Protesters attend a rally of rabbis representing all four major denominations of American Judaism against the genocide in Darfur, near the United Nations in New York City Credit: David Scull on March 13.
April 9, 3-5 p.m., with a wine and cheese reception. The project began nearly a year ago with grant-writing, measuring the gallery walls in the JCC, exploring options of scanning and photographing pages, and the all-important research. “The research was probably the most difficult part of putting together this exhibit,” said Renee Corcoran, NJHS Executive Director. “In addition to fragile and missing pages, our team of volunteers had to learn how to use the microfilm reader and printer in the Kripke Library. Aministrator Gary Katz was very helpful, but we still wound up with more front pages than we could possibly use for the exhibit.” Corcoran and volunteer Nan Katz culled through the more than 200 front pages originally selected by the team of researchers to find those most suitable for framing and displaying. “Remember,” added Press chairman Joanie Jacobson, “these had to be visually interesting as well as historically important. So, a small item on a 1941 front page about Jews in Europe being forced to wear a yellow Star Continued on page 8
Cream of the Crop: One Woman’s Remarkable Journey in the Free Soviet Jewry Movement Part I: The Education of Shirley Goldstein by LEO ADAM BIGA EDITOR’S NOTE: In this extended, two-part Jewish Press exclusive, freelance journalist Leo Adam Biga tells the remarkable journey of Omahan Shirley Goldstein in the Free Soviet Jewry movement and how this historic campaign changed her life and is remembered today. In Part One: The Education of Shirley Goldstein, learn about how this “typical” housewife became politicized and educated in the movement is explored. Next week in, Part II: Activist, Humanitarian, Philanthropist, discover the lengths Goldstein went to in her human rights activist work and the generosity displayed, then and now, by her and her husband, Leonard “Buddy” Goldstein. Housewives and Students and... They were housewives and students and teachers...They called America and many other Western nations home. Galvanized by the plight of Soviet Jews, this army of everyday citizens, together with activists inside the former Soviet Union, formed a grassroots human rights movement that began modestly enough but grew in force. Activists within the movement wanted nothing less than to make the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics stop its systematic persecution of oppressed minorities. What made the task so daunting is that the target of this action was an authori-
Inside Opinion Page see page 20
tarian super power engaged in an ideprovides a useful insider’s look ological Cold War with the West. at how the movement evolved Nothing suggested this intractable and operated. juggernaut would ever bend. Like many who got involved But bend it did. in the fight, she found in it a Some say the freedom movement higher purpose. As she put it even contributed to the Soviet state’s recently, “What does one do with their life?” Serving others eventual collapse. It’s one of the great became a calling. “And I’ve triumphs over tyranny in human hisloved every minute of it,” she tory. added. And Omaha’s own Shirley Her politicalization and Goldstein played a part in this epoch. activism mirrored that of others But she could only do it after she who came to the cause. transformed herself from causal “Shirley was typical of the observer to in-the-trenches activist. middle class women who norIn a remarkable journey, she went mally would not take any part from zero political involvement to in politics as such. They were fervent militant. Once caught up in really concerned to do somethe movement, she devoted much of thing to help the Soviet Jews. her time to it, as she has to other They felt it very deeply. I have a causes since then. The experience great deal of admiration for changed her life. Shirley Goldstein. She was a “It opened up a whole new world,” leading light for giving morale Goldstein said. and financial assistance to Her diverse work on behalf of refuseniks and for helping them Soviet Jews found her, variously: get out, and she did a great deal meeting refuseniks and dissidents in for those who managed to get Russian apartments or hotel suites; Soviet Jewry activist Shirley Goldstein dons a t-shirt in preparaout to resettle in Nebraska,” lobbying U.S. government leaders tion for the March on Washington in 1987. said Michael Sherbourne, a back home to voice criticism of Soviet London-based activist who fed human rights violations; discussing and picketing on the streets, almost anyGoldstein information from contacts in conditions and strategies with world where, the latest Soviet transgressions. statesmen and fellow activists at conferShe saw and did so many things in the the Soviet Union. ences in Washington, D.C., and overseas; course of her involvement that her story Continued on page 16
This Week: Purim Around the Heartland: Page 10 Newman Foundation Funds Eight Programs: Page 2
Temple Israel Takes Lead on Save Darfur Campaign: Page 4
Next Month: Passover Issue on April 7 Part II: Unmasking UNRWA Staff Come in for Scrutiny: Page 19
See Front Page Stories and more at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’