March 27, 2009

Vol. LXXXVIII No. 30 Omaha, NE

Celebrating 88 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa

about the developments of the Holocaust Center in Japan. Those who see it will take away the face of another individual who was lost in the Holocaust -- a girl who was like anyone’s neighbor, friend, student or child.”

Artistically, the integration of multi-media presentation and artwork from the Theresienstadt ghetto (including pieces created by the real-life Hana) will add dimensions that will draw viewers closer to this tragic tale. Music by the Omaha Conservatory of Music will be incorporated into the production, with classical pieces and original arrangements by pianist Emily Meyer, a member of the Jewish community.

Hana’s story has a multitude of messages about youth, humanity and the tragic loss of life during the Holocaust that supports the IHE’s year-long educational efforts which will conclude in November 2009, with Brundibar -- a large-scale production of a children’s opera that had been performed in Theresienstadt IHE is collaborating A photo of Hana, her mother, and her brother George, (who were killed at Auschwitz) was found with the Omaha Theater years later in a suitcase recovered by a Japanese educator who opened a Holocaust Center. Company, the Omaha The play is based on a novel telling the true story of a Conservatory of Music, and the American Japanese Japanese educator who opens a small Holocaust Center Citizen’s League to bring Hana’s Suitcase to the Omaha in Japan. He obtains a suitcase from Auschwitz that stage. The show will be directed by Fran Sillau, a teachbelonged to a girl named Hana. Imprisoned at the ing artist at the Rose Theater.

“I feel it is important to teach each generation about Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, she was later the horrific events of the Holocaust,” stated Sillau. murdered in Auschwitz.

The challenging script of Hana’s Suitcase is set in pres- “Hana’s dream was to be a teacher; her dreams have ent day Japan and Europe during the Holocaust. come true all these years later with the presentation of According to IHE’s director Beth Seldin Dotan, “The her story.” audience will not only walk away with understanding Continued on page 4

by ILANA WEISS It’s not always easy to teach about children in the Holocaust.

But the Institute for Holocaust Education (IHE) has planned a year-long effort, including staging the Omaha premier of the play Hana’s Suitcase in April at the Jewish Community Center, to help children understand the gravity of this genocide from the perspective of one child.

The new traditional Haggadah

Inside

Joseph Soloveitchik, while Schechter has put out two new volumes, including one with a lengthy survey of ancient Passover rituals.

“The Haggadah has been reinterpreted in every generation,” said Dr. Joshua Kulp, who authored the historical essay at the back of The Schechter Haggadah. “I think that by studying the origins we come to understand where the customs that we’re observing today and where the text comes from. For me, it brings greater meaning.”

With upwards of threequarters of American Jews attending a seder -- more than who light Chanukah candles or fast on Yom Kippur, according to the most recent National Jewish Population Survey -Passover is likely the most Continued on page 6

This Week: Monthly calendar for April: Pages 8-9

See Front Page Stories & More at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’ Opinion Page see page 16

March 27, 2009

Community to observe Yom HaShoah

Open a suitcase, discover a lost world

by BEN HARRIS NEW YORK (JTA) -Why is this Passover different than all other Passovers?

On most Passovers, it is the liberal Jewish denominations that seek to reinterpret the holiday traditions, often viewing them through the prism of contemporary struggles for civil rights and environmental preservation.

But this Passover, it is the more conservative wings of the Jewish community that are offering a fresh read on the Haggadah.

Both the Orthodox Union and the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, a spiritual home of some traditionalists within the Conservative movement, are touting new offerings in time for the holiday.

The OU has released a Rabbi Mathew Berkowitz created this image to accompany new Haggadah based on the the song “Who Knows One?” in the Haggadah he wrote and writings of the late Rabbi illustrated.

Credit: The Lovell Haggadah

2 Nisan, 5769

PBS documentary on Jerusalem delivers with controvery: Page 4

by SHERRIE SAAG Center for Jewish Education Yom Hashoah VeHagevurah -- literally the “Day of remembrance of the Holocaust and Heroism” is commemorated on the 27th day of Nisan. The Omaha community will come together this year to mark its observance with the Community Yom HaShoah Commemoration Service on Wednesday, April 22, 7 p.m. at Beth El Synagogue.

The service will begin with the lighting of the Shoah memorial candles. Lighting memorial candles, reciting the Kaddish and attending educational programs are common observances throughout the world. Beginning in the early 1960s in Israel, a siren sounds twice throughout the country, once at 8 p.m. on erev Yom HaShoah and again at 11 a.m. the next morning, stopping traffic and pedestrians for two minutes of silent devotion. On this day, which officially is April 21, all Israeli radio and television programming are somehow related to the Yom Hashoah observance and most entertainment venues are closed in respect to the solemnity of the day.

“The overwhelming theme that runs through all Yom Hashoah observances is the importance of remembering -- recalling the victims of catastrophe and insuring that such a tragedy never happens again,” said Dr. Guy Matalon, executive director of the Center for Jewish Education. “The very fact that Jews identify with their faith, practice their religion and are able to embrace the observance of the Shoah today illustrates triumph over tragedy. Our community-wide observance is one of the most important educational events of our agency,” added Matalon.

Continued on page 2

State to commemorate Yom HaShoah at Capitol Rotunda

by GARY HILL Holocaust Remembrance Day was created by an act of Congress in 1980 to remember its victims and remind Americans of what can happen to civilized people when bigotry, hatred, and indifference reign.

The Holocaust took the lives of more than 11 million individuals; slightly more than half that number was Jewish. We commemorate the deaths of all.

It is particularly important that government takes a leadership role in remembering Yom HaShoah because those targeted for death and enslavement were people whom the government in At last year’s commemoration in power believed either Lincoln, Yale Gotsdiner assists inferior or in opposition VFW State Commander Hugh to their philosophy.

Morris light a memorial candle.

The annual Nebraska Holocaust Commemoration will be held in the Rotunda of the State Capitol on Sunday, April 19, 3-4 p.m.

Continued on page 2

Coming Next Week: Passover Issue Connect with you ancestors on their home turf: Page 10

Blessing on the sun comes once in 28 years: Page 13

Page 2

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 27, 2009

Community Yom HaShoah

Please join us as we Look Back at Yesterday, Honor Rose Katzman Today, Build to the Future Sunday March 29, 2009 1 p.m.

JCC Auditorium

The event is free and open to the community.

Bring your friends and family.

NJHS Oral History Video featuring 30 members of our Jewish Community Wish Rose Katzman and her family a very happy 100th birthday Reception in Rose’s honor following the video

Continued from page 1 The featured speaker for this year’s community event will be Bonnie Gurewitsch. An archivist and curator at the Museum of Jewish Heritage -- A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, her current exhibition, “Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow: Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges,” just opened at the museum.

As an educator and oral historian for more than 30 years, she has participated in several national projects including Steven Speilberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. She is also author of the book, Mothers, Sisters and Resisters: Oral Histories of Women Who Survived the Holocaust.

Toba Cohen-Dunning is chairman of the Yom HaShoah Committee and recently read Gurewitsch’s book. According to Cohen-Dunning, “‘Mothers, Sisters and Resisters’ is one of our generation’s great testimonies of survival. It is a tribute to not just the 25 women featured in the book, but the millions who were a part of one of the word’s worst tragedies. We are very fortunate to have such an important historian visit our community for Yom HaShoah. Her interviews and research will encourage all of us to remember and honor those no longer with us. I encourage our community to take a moment and remember on April 22 at Beth El.” A teen event will be held prior to the Commemoration Service, at 5:30 p.m., with the educational program to run from 6-6:45 p.m. “Café Dilemma”, coordinated by Tamar Halevy and Beth Seldin Dotan, will confront real questions with community survivors. For questions on the teen program, call 334.6403 or 334.6575.

The Yom Hashoah event is presented by the CJE and sponsored by Beth El, Beth Israel, Temple Israel and the Institute for Holocaust Education. For questions regarding Yom HaShoah, please call 334.6445.

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Continued from page 1 Though nothing in the last half century has matched the organized and officially sanctioned extermination, the world has continued to allow genocides, ethnic cleansings and politically motivated incarcerations.

This year’s chair, Pam Gannon, said the one-hour program would feature two choirs, as well as Nebraska Holocaust survivors and the winners of the Nebraska Schools poetry contest. In addition, several Nebraska schools which have contributed to the Nebraska Holocaust Memorial, located at the Wyuka Nebraska State Cemetery, will be recognized.

The public is invited to attend this important and moving event. Coordinating transportation from Omaha is Beth Seldin Dotan, director of the Institute for Holocaust Education, who can be reached at 402.334.6567 or bdotan@adl.org. For more information, contact Marcia Kushner in Lincoln at 402.423.5959 or kete3@aol.com.

Secret emigration effort for Yemenite Jews imperiled

by URIEL HEILMAN NEW YORK (JTA) -- A secret operation to take imperiled Jews out of Yemen could be in jeopardy after news of the effort was made public.

Since a Yemenite Jew was murdered in December by a Muslim in the northern city of Raida, Jewish organizations have stepped up their efforts to take the approximately 280 remaining Jews in Yemen out of the country.

Anti-Jewish hostility appears to be on the rise there, following the launch of Israel’s military operation in Gaza three months ago. Yemen’s president has taken several steps to protect the Jews in his country.

About three weeks ago, the Jewish Agency for Israel announced that it had brought 10 Jews to Israel.

Meanwhile, the United Jewish Communities has been working behind the scenes to arrange for the immigration of some 113 members of the Yemenite community to the United States. The operation was a joint effort that included the Satmar community of Rockland County, N.Y. -- the community has ties to Yemenite Jewry and is determined that they preserve their traditional religious practices -- as well as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, FEGS, UJA-Federation of New York and the U.S. State Department.

But after Israel’s daily Ma’ariv published an account last week of the UJC’s effort, Jewish organizational officials involved in the operation said they were worried the Yemeni government would clamp down on Jewish emigration -- especially to Israel -- possibly to placate Arab critics.

“We’re concerned this will endanger this operation and will strand the Jews there,” one Jewish organizational official said of the publicity.

For its part, the Jewish Agency, which was the first group to go public with its effort to spirit Yemenite Jews out of the country, issued a harsh condemnation of the operation to bring the Yemenites to the United States.

“We vehemently oppose the immigration of Jews, wherever they are, to the United States, including the group of Jews from Yemen that is not going to the State of Israel,” the Jewish Agency said in a statement. “The place of all Jews from the entire Diaspora -- and included in this are the Jews of Yemen -- is in their homeland, Israel.”

U.S. Jewish organizational officials said they simply were following the wishes of Jews in Yemen who had expressed a preference to immigrate to America.

“Our efforts were aimed primarily at trying to get them to Israel,” Joe Berkofsky, a UJC spokesman, told JTA. “Some did not want to go to Israel; they wanted to go to the States,” He added, “Our primary mission is to help Jews in need and save Jewish lives. And if some want to come to the United States and that’s going to save their life, that’s what we need to do.”

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March 27, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 3

U.S., Israel on the same page on Iran time line

by RON KAMPEAS WASHINGTON (JTA) -- A number of recent news reports on Iran policy have emphasized the differences between U.S. and Israeli intelligence estimates of when Iran will go nuclear. More striking, however, is that both nations agree that it could happen in less than a year.

They differ only in over how long Iran almost certainly will have a weapon: Israel estimates Iran will inevitably go nuclear within two years, while the Americans say it could take until the middle of next decade.

“I’ve been with my Israeli counterpart a number of times, and by and large we see it the same way,” Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Charlie Rose of PBS last week.

“We’re in agreement and have been for, oh, the better part of the last six months or so. There was a time that we weren’t, but we’ve actually worked pretty hard to understand where we both are. And so I think generally we’re in agreement.”

In the same interview, Mullen said the window for an Iranian nuclear capability was “sort of 2010 to 2015.” That overlaps with Israeli predictions of a capability by next year, and Mullen added for effect: “2010 isn’t very far away.”

Mullen was responding to reports in The New York Times and The Washington Post that the two allies were at odds on how to deal with Iran. The analyses were based on separate but parallel events: U.S. Senate testimony by Adm. Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, and a presentation by Amos Yadlin, the director of military intelligence, to the Israeli Cabinet.

“We assess now that Iran does not have highly enriched uranium,” Blair said March 10.

Pressed by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Blair elaborated.

“The nuclear weapons program is one of the three components required for a deliverable system, including the delivery system and the uranium,” he said. “But as for the nuclear weapons program, the current position is the same -- that Iran has stopped its nuclear weapons design and weaponization activities in 2003 and did not -- has not started them again, at least as of mid-2007.”

West and the Washington administration in order to move forward towards the creation of a nuclear bomb.”

The analyses, despite the media flurry, were not incompatible. Yadlin specified low-grade uranium and Blair acknowledged that the Iranians were close to having enough for a bomb. Blair specifically was discounting reports that Iran was able to manufacture the highly enriched uranium and offering a holistic view, taking into account Iran’s capacity to deliver weapons. Yadlin was saying simply that the Islamic regime had crossed the threshold of manufacturing enough uranium for a bomb and was not speculating about delivery.

Within days of Mullen’s pronouncement of close Israel-U.S. cooperation, Adm. Mike Mullen, left, told PBS host Charlie Rose that Israel and the U.S, his Israeli agree on more than they disagree when it comes to Iran’s suspected nuclear counterpart, Credit: Department of Defense weapons program.

Lt. Gen. Gabi Three days later, according to Ynet, the Ashkenazi, was putting it to the test in Israeli news Web site attached to Yediot Washington meetings with Gen. James Achronot, Yadlin told Israel’s Cabinet Jones, President Obama’s national securithat “Iran has crossed the technological ty adviser, top Pentagon brass and Dennis threshold, making its potential military Ross, who shapes Iran policy at the State nuclear ability a matter of making it their Department. strategy to create a nuclear bomb. Iran Subtle differences in the Hebrew and continues to collect hundreds of kilo- English official accounts of Ashkenazi’s grams of low-grade uranium, and hopes meetings were telling. to take advantage of the dialogue with the “Throughout the day, the Chief of Staff

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met with the National Security Adviser, Gen. James Jones, with whom he discussed professional matters such as Iran’s nuclear plans, the security situation along Israel’s northern border, weapons smuggling, as well as the situation in the Palestinian Authority and the Gaza Strip after operation ‘Cast Lead,’” said the statement put out Monday by Israel for the foreign media.

The Hebrew statement, put out by Israel for domestic consumption, said Iran was the “foremost” issue that Ashkenazi discussed.

The English statement called Ross a “special adviser for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia,” while the Hebrew version called Ross “an adviser on Iran.”

Ashkenazi reportedly outlined for Ross contingencies under which Israel could attack Iran, reiterating it was not on the table for now. Coincidentally, a paper from the Center for Strategic and International Studies published this week said that such an attack was doable, if difficult, both through an air attack and by long-range missiles.

The report, by Abduallh Toukan, said that such an attack would “give rise to regional instability and conflict as well as terrorism.”

Such a consequence clearly worried Mullen, too, even though it is not on the immediate horizon.

“What I worry about in terms of an attack on Iran is in addition to the immediate effect, the effect of the attack -- it’s the unintended consequences. It’s the further destabilization in the region,” Mullen said. “It’s how they would respond. We have lots of Americans who live in that region who are under the threat envelope right now.”

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 27, 2009

PBS’ “Jerusalem” delivers history without controversy

ist (and first megachurch preacher, as one historian After the destruction of the second temple in 70 A.D. describes him). The already-sacred spot where Abraham by the Romans, and the end of the revolt three years went to sacrifice Isaac, Mt. Moriah, soon became the city later at Masada, Jews were expelled from Jerusalem. This

by MICHAEL FOX of Jerusalem. tragedy inspired the Amidah, the three-times-a-day The next key figure (after Moses) was the warrior king prayer asking God to rebuild Jerusalem and restore King The most surprising aspect, frankly, of the engaging David who, seeking to unite the 12 tribes, took David’s throne. two-hour PBS documentary, Jerusalem: Center of the Jerusalem, made it the capital and drew up plans to build No Jews lived in Jerusalem for the next 500 years, until World, is how casually yet completely it sidesteps contro- an edifice to house the Ark of the Covenant. It was left the Muslims gained control of the city and allowed 70 versy. to Solomon to carry Jewish families to move in. The Crusades brought the Even a viewer with only a out the job, and his Christian army to Jerusalem for a bloody battle that superficial awareness of the temple stood for more ended with the massacre of the defeated Muslims along Middle East has to wonder than 400 years until with the comparatively small group of Jewish inhabitants. going in how American pubthe Babylonians conOver the ensuing centuries, Jews trickled back into lic television would confront quered Judah, and Jerusalem, although it can’t be said that the chosen peothe combustible triumvirate N e b u c h a d n e z z e r ple prospered. They were supported by Jews in the of religion, power (or war, if destroyed it along with Diaspora, who considered them “the guardians of the you prefer) and land.

Jerusalem. synagogue, the poorest of the poor, the penniless One can only conclude It was Herod who princes.” from producer-director rebuilt the temple, on a Andrew Goldberg (Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century) Andrew Goldberg’s decision vast mount. When moves crisply through the shifting sand dunes, avoiding to condense the last 150 A scene from “Jerusalem”, courtesy of TwoCats Productions Jesus, an iconoclastic the pedantry of arcane history. But no one will mistake years into the final five minutes of screen time that avoid- Jew, came to Jerusalem, he was hailed as the Messiah by his Jerusalem: Center if the World for adventurous filmmaking political hot buttons was an explicit goal. All we can followers (although the belief that he was the son of God ing or, for that matter, a road map to resolving current say is, mission accomplished. tensions. was not a Jewish concept).

It’s a bit unfair, actually, to mock the program’s evasion of the messy present, for it’s clear from the outset, and from the travelogue format, that there is no urgent grams for students, teachers public-affairs agenda propelling host Ray Suarez (of Continued from page 1 and the general public in Support for this project “The Newshour with Jim Lehrer”) and company fororder to teach the lessons of ward. This is simply a lucid, generous-to-all rendering of has also been provided by the Holocaust and their history for its own sake, filtered through three religions the Esther K. Newman applications to life and socieyet wrested free of the emotion and dogma that colors Memorial Fund and the ty today.

Special Donor Advised Fund most views of the Holy City.

In addition to two public Jerusalem: Center of the World airs Wednesday, April of the Jewish Federation performances, the IHE will Foundation, the Ann 1, 9 p.m. on PBS. (Check local listings.) host nearly 1,000 students at Conceived and presented as a chronological view that Woskoff Schulman Memorial three school-only performdraws on extant Biblical studies, archaeological analysis Fund, Midland Lutheran ances. Many of those stuand historical research, the well-paced program evinces a College and the Samuel and dents will also participate in a catholic point of view. It shifts from Judaism to Bess Rothenberg Memorial pre-viewing workshop entiChristianity to Islam as Jerusalem successively shifted to Endowment Fund. Also, the Nebraska Arts Council, a The teacher who brought the suitcase to the Japanese tled “Hana’s Suitcase: From the forefront of each religion over four millennia.

It has a surprisingly relaxed tone, exemplified by state agency, has supported Holocaust museum and a student stand in front of one of the Page to Stage” led by Sillau.

Performances will be open to Suarez’s white chinos and interviews conducted out- the production through its photos from the exhibit. doors in the open air rather in the experts’ stuffy offices matching grants program funded by the Nebraska the public on Thursday, April 23, 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 26, 3 p.m. at the JCC. or libraries. The documentary also embraces occasional Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The IHE, founded in 2000, is a division of the Plains Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students under 18. moments of lightness with cameos by Indiana Jones, Mark Twain and (perhaps less amusingly) the Queen of States Office of the Anti-Defamation League and pro- For more information or to purchase tickets call vides a central location in Nebraska for the development 334.6576, email iweiss@adl.org or visit www.

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“Jerusalem” begins with Abraham, the first monothe- and dissemination of educational resources and pro- ihene.org.

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The Four Sons: 2009

Part 2: The Wicked Son

by OZZIE NOGG The Four Sons are familiar characters in the Passover narrative.

According to our sages, the questions they ask reflect their different personalities -- knowledgeable, self- even though we were not there. Similarly, absorbed, unsophisticated, unaware -- we must feel the burdens of those with traits all of us share to some degree. In limited resources who live among us this, and upcoming editions of the Jewish today.

Individuals or families who call JFS for Press, we will reframe the questions asked by the Four Sons to reflect current issues assistance have questions, too. They often in our community -- specifically those find themselves in an unanticipated financial bind. They need help, relating to Jewish Family At our Seder tables, as but don’t know what to Service -- as well as our ask for, or what kind of responses to the ques- we tell the story of our help the agency is pretions. And just as with the liberation from slavery to to offer.

Haggadah, in the telling freedom, let us remember pared Example: The family of we will learn.

Mr. and Mrs. G. was in Last week we spoke of those in our community serious debt. The minithe Wise Son and his who remain burdened. mum balances due on question: “Why does our Let us remember the their credit card payments community have a Jewish words of Deuteronomy. If were off the charts, and Family Service? What is its there is a needy person there was no way they purpose, mission and could stay afloat. When goal?” The answer, simply among you, open your Mr. and Mrs. G. put: to strengthen and hand and lend him approached JFS for help, preserve life in the Jewish sufficient resources for the staff did a thorough community and the com- whatever he needs. assessment of the case to munity at large through financial assistance, counseling and other determine the best way to help the family move forward. vital human services.

First, the staff offered some basic budgThis week we address the Wicked Son. For purposes of our discussion, let’s call eting and money management strategies him overindulged. Self-absorbed. A child that would help Mr. and Mrs. G. become (or an adult, for that matter ...) with little -- and stay -- debt free. Next, thanks to community donor gifts, JFS was able to concern for others.

In the Haggadah, the Wicked Son asks, give the family sufficient funds to cover “What is this service to you?” Or put their current bills. In return, Mr. and another way, “What does any of this have Mrs. G. agreed to dispose of their credit to do with me?” He sees no connection cards and live on the money they earn. between himself and what happened to Today, the family is self-sufficient and our ancestors in a faraway time and place. needs no further assistance.

When discussing a case like this, it’s The Wicked Son of the Haggadah wants no part of the Passover traditions and easy to ask, “Why didn’t they make better feels the holiday rituals should be financial decisions in the first place?” We observed by other Jews, not by him. could also ask, “Why should I help bail He’d rather stand by and watch, not par- people out who were irresponsible with ticipate in the continuation of Judaism or their money? What’s in it for me?” Then again, if the shoe was on the other foot its practices.

- if we were in a desperate situation -how would we want others to treat us?

The answer to these questions is found in Jewish tradition which emphasizes our responsibility to one another and to the world.

In Judaism, each of us is supposed to Switching scenarios from the Haggadah think of ourselves as having more than we to the work of Jewish Family Service, the need. Giving to others is a way to self-absorbed son asks the same question. acknowledge the blessings of abundance "What is this service to you? What does and to express gratitude for what we any of this have to do with me?” This son, have. Furthermore, Judaism teaches that living in ease and comfort, sees no con- it is not what we have, but what we do nection between himself and others -- in that makes for a meaningful life.

At our Seder tables, as we tell the story this case, to others in our community less of our liberation from slavery to freedom, fortunate than he.

To those who question the necessity of let us remember those in our community JFS, the answer echoes the words of the who remain burdened. Let us remember Haggadah. “Always remember that we the words of Deuteronomy: ‘If there is a were slaves in Egypt. Therefore, you shall needy person among you, open your not oppress a stranger, for you know the hand and lend him sufficient resources for feelings of the stranger, having yourselves whatever he needs.’

This is the mission of Jewish Family been strangers in Egypt.” The Haggadah teaches that each of us must feel the per- Service. To learn how you can support sonal impact of the Exodus from slavery, the agency’s work, call 330.2024.

The Four Sons

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 27, 2009

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Continued from page 1 Raton, FL. Berkowitz spent more than four years producobserved of Jewish holidays. So it’s hardly a surprise that ing a new translation and commentary in addition to origthe Haggadah, the traditional guidebook for the inal art works inspired by the popular Moss Haggadah, evening, is among the most frequently reinvented. produced by the artist David Moss in the 1980s.

“It underscores the nexus of serious Jewish learning But while past years have seen volumes produced that read the Exodus story through a distinctly contemporary and the visual arts,” Berkowitz told JTA. “I decided in lens, the new spate of Haggadahs is far more oriented this project, I wanted to create a Haggadah that was both toward traditional sources, in particular excavating cer- substantive in art, and use the art to start a discussion tain writings, themes, artworks and rituals that have been seder night.”

Though Berkowitz’s cast off or forgotten over the years. original works are deeply The Soloveitchik Haggadah, titled rooted in traditional The Seder Night: An Exalted sources, the Haggadah is Evening, is the first production of not deaf to contemporary the newly minted OU Press, which issues. The language is was established this year in part to gender neutral, in keeping disseminate Soloveitchik’s unpubwith the liberal Jewish lished writings and lectures. practice, and is written Edited by Rabbi Menachem with a “questioning conGenack, the OU’s head of kashrut sciousness,” as Berkowitz supervision, the volume culls writes in the introduction.

Soloveitchik’s lectures, notes and It also reflects modernteachings to present a dense and learned commentary on the seder’s This illlustration originally appeared in a volume by day concerns pertaining Joseph Schlesinger in the early 20th century. to the State of Israel. The various components.

Credit: The Schechter Hagaddah Haggadah finishes with But while Soloveitchik is revered in part for breathing life into Modern Orthodoxy, with its Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, and tempers the marriage of ritual observance and engagement with the traditional liturgy urging God to “pour out his wrath on broader world, the Haggadah is a pointed, if inadver- the nations” with a version asking him to “pour out his tent, rejoinder to those who would re-imagine the seder love.”

“I definitely see it as part and parcel of this notion of in purely contemporary terms. “The Rav’s teachings emphasized the centrality of Torah study to the seder meaning and modernity,” Berkowitz said.

Of course, the liberal Jewish world will not be entirely night,” Genack writes in the introduction.

According to Genack, part of the challenge in produc- silent at this year’s seder. Rabbi Peter Schweitzer, who ing the Hagaddah was in making the famously erudite leads the City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in Soloveitchik accessible. Readers will ultimately decide if New York, has published “The Liberated Haggadah,” a he succeeded, but the Haggadah is not for the faint of secular Haggadah with a number of new rituals that heart. Many pages have but a few lines of text accompa- depart significantly from the traditional service.

Schweitzer has introduced an orange to the seder nied by lengthy commentary.

By contrast, the two Schechter Haggadahs are both plate, a symbol of openness and inclusivity that stresses heavily infused with artwork. Kulp’s Haggadah includes the holiday's universal message. The plagues have been three sections: the traditional seder night service, a collec- modernized to reflect the concerns of the day, including tion of more than 100 illustrations collected by Schechter AIDS, hunger, poverty and racism. Supplementing the President Rabbi David Golinkin, and a historical com- traditional seder-ending songs, several of which mentary by Kulp, a professor of Talmud and Jewish law. Schweitzer re-wrote as secularized anthems, is the Civil Some of the old illustrations were intended to help par- Rights era stalwart “We Shall Overcome.”

“As secular Jews, we want to claim the holiday for ourticipants observe particular rituals of the seder night. For instance, the tradition of reclining at the table was foreign selves in a way that makes sense to us when the miracles to European Jews who were accustomed to eating at a don’t necessarily work,” Schweitzer said. “Our position table, unlike earlier Jews who may have sat on the floor would be that we chart our own destiny. And we are free or on cushions which more easily lend themselves to the in each generation to define our own Jewish identity.”

Secular Jews reject the historicity of the Exodus story; practice. In one European Haggadah from the 15th cenbut the very fact that so many Haggadahs are now availtury, a man is depicted lying awkwardly on a table.

“The history of the night is also the history of the able, both traditional and contemporary, is, Schweitzer books and the pictures that make up the night,” Kulp said, a modern reflection of the holiday’s ancient message. said. “Those things, I think, go together.”

“The diversity of Haggadahs,” he said, “is itself an The other Schechter release, The Lovell Haggadah, was produced by rabbi and artist Matthew Berkowitz of Boca expression of freedom.”

Spring cleaning at Friedel

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by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT When I was little, I practically never cleaned my room.

My mother let me get away with it because she had better things to do with her time, and because I agreed to keep my door closed. Both of us are firm believers in the adage “if you can’t see it, it can’t freak you out.”

Although we were both happy with this arrangement, I now struggle with my own daughter’s mess: I can’t help but feel like my clean-up karma is off balance when I try to make her do something I never did.

Unfortunately, she never keeps her door closed, and on a daily basis I am confronted with what could very well go down into history as the place where toys go to die. It’s a hurricane disaster area, a nuclear waste facility, and a city dump all rolled into one. I could just hang up a warning sign and walk away, were it not that I am still a novice in the walking-away department.

No, I have a better plan: I’ll do it myself. I am faster, and I am more effective because I clean with a trash bag in my hands.

Since I have no emotional attachment to every single piece of plastic, I can simply eliminate the mess by depositing stuff in said bag. The thing is, if you throw away 80% of their toys while your kids aren’t looking, they will never notice. Therefore, I always clean my daughter’s room while she is in school.

I fill bag after bag at lightning speed; dolls she’s stopped playing with, Barbies without heads, clothes that no longer fit, pieces of paper from who knows where, old homework: it all goes in the bag.

Then, if I feel like it, I sort and divide into piles. What can still be used gets donated; the rest goes in the trash.

Of course, this results in a perfect room for my daughter, but present me with piles of donations that need to be hidden from sight until I can find the time to get rid of them. If my daughter sees what I dispose off, she’ll rebel; key is to accomplish all this without her ever knowing.

This really only shifts the problem from her room to mine. I have to admit; this occurs all over my house.

Items get shuffled from here to there and only rarely do things really become organized.

Every year, I have high hopes that this time I will accomplish a successful spring-cleaning, but what happens is a sort of spring ‘shifting’.

This year, however, I have help from an unexpected source: my daughter’s school is having a rummage sale.

On Sunday, April 26, 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., Friedel Jewish Academy’s PTO will be selling all sorts of things that are trash to one, and treasure to another. They will take used clothing, linens, jewelry, kitchen items, but they especially need toys, they told me.

I can help with that. Lise Sasson is the brain behind it, and if I liked her before, she’s my favorite person in the world now. Finally, a place to take things without feeling guilty (did I really pay $24.99 for that? Why?), because someone else will get a lot of use out of the things I don’t want, and the benefits go to the school.

This year I won’t just be cleaning out my closets; I’ll be cleaning them out with a purpose. Now all I have to do is make sure on April 26, I don’t carry any cash, and my daughter doesn’t come anywhere near the school that day.

The Academy’s rummage sale will take place in the Friedel Commons area. For information on how to donate, please call Mary Jane Tweedy at 334.0517

March 27, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 27, 2009

Temple members getting involved in their social justice to-do lists

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator When Dr. Ron Wolfson spoke to the High Holy Day crowd at Temple Israel about four months ago, he said, “God doesn’t depend on angels. God depends on you to be an angel.” Professor of Education at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles and dean of the Center for Jewish Education, Wolfson, who grew up in Omaha, kicked off Temple Israel’s newest social justice project when he was here in September for Rosh Hashanah.

Thanks to a gift from Janice and Bob Batt and the Slosburg family, every Temple household received a copy of Wolfson’s 2007 book, God’s To-Do List, 103 Ways to Be an Angel and Do God’s Work on Earth. Based on a survey sent by Temple’s Social Justice Committee, headed by Rabbi Eric Linder and congregants Mimi Silverman, Patrick Jensen, Shari Hess, and Gary Kaplan, a To-Do List was mailed with Wolfson’s book. The To-Do List suggests ways to volunteer and to donate and events to attend.

More than 30 different volunteer opportunities on Temple’s To-Do List included places such as the Food Bank, public schools, Jewish Family Service, the Urban League, the Stephen Center, and the Community Bike Shop of Omaha.

Other choices are attending candidate and issues forums, participating in book clubs, becoming an organ donor, keeping teens healthier, donating to Nothing but Nets which protects African children from malaria, hosting a tri-faith dinner, taking part in a Black/Jewish Seder, and participating in a National Human Rights Shabbat.

“I went to Chandler View Elementary

School one morning and worked in the extremely worthwhile. I was anxious to kindergarten class,” related Susan meet the candidates and hear their views Rothholz. “One by one, the children sat about current issues. The event “was well with me and showed me their picture organized,” Josephson added. journals and told me the stories of each “I have participated in small ways previpage. The shy ones opened up, the artis- ous to God’s To-Do List, but Ron’s sertic ones were so proud of their pictures, mon and the presentation of the opportuand the story about not having money to nities to the congregants inspired me to stay in their homes and having to move add some new things to my year,” were so sad. I’m going back the first Josephson said. “By adding a few things Tuesday of every month.” Rothholz to my To-Do List, it just formalized the commitment thanked Shari for me. I am Hess for sugespecially gesting the looking forproject. ward to helpRothholz ing with the also attended Passover JFS a luncheon in project” November delivering featuring Dr. food and Ken Cowan packing baswho gave an kets on overview of March 31. cancers affectShe also ing women wants “to and then conlearn more centrated on breast cancer. Shari Hess, left, and Susan Rothholz interact with children about those Cowan is at Chandler View School in Bellevue, making a difference in in need in our larger comthe director the children’s lives as well as their own. of the Eppley Cancer Center and the munity, so the Omaha Women in Need Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer program,” focusing on helping women and Allied Diseases at the University of who are facing hardships, appealed to her.

Josephson, who also volunteered to Nebraska Medical Center. Rothholz described the program as “eye opening!” become an organ donor and donated She also signed up to host a tri-faith din- food for the hungry on Yom Kippur, a ner, attend the National Human Rights long standing social justice project at Shabbat, deliver Hanukkah gifts for Jewish Temple Israel in which the majority of the Family Service, and learn more about congregation participates, noted that keeping teens healthier, all among the “many of our congregants are involved with social justice in their own unique choices on Temple’s God’s To-Do List.

Judy Josephson attended the candidates ways. This project gives us all a chance to forum in October and said it “was review even more opportunities. Each

Class of

2009

High

School

Seniors

small effort to help someone else adds up to many touches of kindness in our community. If we all make an effort to add a few new things each year, we will all add to the impact that our congregation can make in Omaha and the world.”

Todd Hutton helped provide a nutritious meal for dozens of disadvantaged members of the Omaha community at the Stephen Center on Christmas Day. “I’ve volunteered in the past there,” he mentioned. “My personal interest is to try to continue with the work John Dacey started. He was the one who got me interested in it, and I want to honor John’s efforts by continuing to volunteer there.” Dacey was active as a social justice leader at Temple prior to his death in June of 2008.

Volunteering at the Stephen Center “gives a person an opportunity to experience and to see first hand the needs within our community of individuals who, by virtue of their current circumstances, aren’t able to enjoy and participate in activities during the holiday season which seem for many of us to be almost routine,” according to Hutton. “My experience has been that the men, women, and even the children who are there express great appreciation for our volunteer efforts.”

He also senses that for the Temple members who volunteer at the Stephen Center “it seems like a natural thing for them to do. I think that it’s one of those things you can participate in and take more from it than the effort required to put into it.”

As Ron Wolfson, who returns to Temple on April 24 to evaluate progress on the To-Do Lists, explains: “When we do these ‘to-do’s,’ we discover the source of meaning and purpose for our lives.”

High School Seniors...

We will be publishing our annual Graduation Teen Age on June 5, 2009. To be included, we need your graduation photo and the following information.

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Temple recognized for outstanding social action involving congregation, religious

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Temple Israel has been selected by the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism as an honorable mention recipient of the Fain Award, which recognizes outstanding synagogue social action programming.

According to a press release from the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), “The award is among the premier honors available to congregations within the Reform Movement.”

Temple was selected for its social justice project, God’s To-Do List, introduced during Rosh Hashanah to the congregation by Ron Wolfson, Fingerhut Professor of Education at American Jewish University in Los Angeles.

As adult members and families participate in activities such as adopting schools in the Omaha area, helping students fill out college scholarship applications at the Urban League, volunteering at The Stephen Center, hosting Tri-Faith dinners, participating in a basketball tournament to raise funds for malaria prevention in Africa, speaking out for human rights, and signing up to be organ donors, Elyce Azriel, religious education director at Temple, wanted the Religious School to participate too.

with acquired brain injuries. Rabbi Aryeh Azriel led a discussion with the students and introduced them to some of the residents.

“We talked to people who live there who have disabilities and can’t live alone,” explained seventh grader Hannah Miller, 12. “I thought it was a really nice place for them to live. One said he was in the Special Olympics.” Hannah returned with her dad, Michael Miller, and some cousins from Chicago during Thanksgiving break “to talk and provide some company.” She just “thought it would be a nice thing to do.”

Ninth graders went to the Omaha Food Bank. Alexis Slutzky admitted that “at first, I wasn’t very excited. I didn’t know what we were going to do. But I actually had a really good time.” Along with her classmates and people from other organizations and churches, the students separated food, packaged it, and labeled it. “A Food Bank worker talked about how it’s organized, where it goes, and how (the Food Bank) started. Trucks go to homeless shelters and organizations. I met lots of other people, and it felt really good to help others, and the community, and the economy. I wasn’t just thinking of myself. I would love to go back!”

Fifth graders talked with Rabbi Eric Linder and viewed a movie about the Omaha Food Bank. Gavin Rogers,

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Temple Israel second graders Alec Folsom, left, and Sydney Yudelson, visited the Nebraska Humane Society with their All grades from kindergarten through twelfth, are getting involved in God’s To-Do List. Some grade levels take part in class projects complemented by all-school projects such as collecting school supplies for Liberty Elementary, food for the Jewish Family Service (JFS) pantry, and donating swimsuits, pool toys, sun block, and towels to Girls Inc. There are baskets in the entrance foyer at Temple to put donated items.

Three grocery shopping carts full of school supplies from Religious School families were donated to Liberty School. Leora Azriel, a fourth grade teacher at Temple, is doing her practicum at Liberty School as part of earning her college degree in education. As a Chapter 1 school designated for federal funds due to students who come from a low income area, Azriel organized a winter wear drive that collected 75 coats and other winter clothes.

Leora made the connection with Girls, Inc. on behalf of Temple Religious School, because many of the girls who go to Liberty School also participate in Girls, Inc. Every class studies Torah, is involved in Avodah (worship), and participates in Gemilut Chasadim, improving the community through tikun olam (repairing the world) which is precisely where social justice comes in.

Middle School students dedicated a day to promoting school tzedakah activities such as collecting food for the JFS pantry and donating new books for young children, games, and gift cards for JFS’s Project Dreidel.

Seventh and eighth graders also went to Quality Living, a residential rehabilitation program for people

classmates who study kindness to animals as part of their gemilut chasadim curriculum. ten, learned how “important it is to donate food for hungry people.” The students were given a tour and stocked shelves. “It was kind of nice to know that the people who are hungry get the food,” Gavin observed.

“It made me think about donating food and how much it can help,” prompting conversation with his parents.

Second graders, who study kindness to animals as part of their gemilut chasadim curriculum, visited the Nebraska Humane Society.

Elyce Azriel emphasized that “even people in Omaha are in need. It’s important to absorb this mindset as a youngster. It’s also part of Reform Judaism. Treating others, no matter what their economic situation, as you want to be treated is a tenet of Reform Judaism.

Tzedakah doesn’t always have to be in the form of a check,” she added.

Rabbi Marla Feldman, director of the Commission on Social Action of URJ, explained that “congregations that win Fain Awards exemplify the passion for social justice that is at the very foundation of Reform Judaism.” She praised the recognized congregations for bringing “hope and healing to their communities.”

Established in 1983, the Fain Award is presented every two years to congregations that have successfully involved large numbers of congregants in their programs and have developed genuinely innovative and/or particularly effective projects. The awards will be presented at the Consultation on Conscience, the biennial public policy conference of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in April.

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March 27, 2009

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by SCHELLY TALALAY DARDASHTI Family historians are no longer content to merely search through dusty archives or gather information from Internet sites, but are actively planning trips to the “old country” to follow their ancestors’ footsteps. Destinations include Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, Spain, Morocco, the Caribbean and wherever Jews lived, as well as Israel.

Some root-seekers make it a family affair, strengthening the connection from past to present and future with a life-cycle trip such as B’nai Mitzvah, anniversaries or other milestones.

These time travelers don’t have to do it on their own either, as many businesses are now catering to this category.

The First Step The first step is to find your roots. You can’t travel there if you don’t know where “there” is, so be prepared for some research. Can you answer these questions?

• What do you know about your family?

• Have you done basic research to determine the original family name and towns of interest?

• From where did your ancestors immigrate?

• When did they arrive?

• Where was the ancestral homestead and where is it today?

• Are you looking for a custom-tailored roots adventure with private guide/interpreter/driver, or a general group bus tour?

• Are you interested in archival visits and meeting the town’s mayor?

• Will an informal, low-key “see the sights” trip be more to your liking?

If your family came from a large city and your plans are simply to see Jewish and general sights, this is easy to arrange. However, if you’re trying to access the ancestral “dot on the map,” make sure to add plenty of time.

There’s something else: If this is a B’nai Mitzvah trip, do you want to celebrate the event during the trip? This may be meaningful to both your child and the family, but it requires advance planning.

Sephardic families with roots in Barcelona, for example, will find help at the restored medieval Adret synagogue in the old Call, where the local Progressive synagogue ATID holds monthly services away from its main north Barcelona location. An increasing number of lifecycle events have been held since restoration, including weddings and numerous B’nai Mitzvah.

Check services offered by various companies; make sure you’re comparing apples and apples and not apples and broccoli. Some are all-inclusive, including flights, meals, individualized research and guided visits, while others may be simply land packages concentrating on archives and village visits with some Jewish and general touring.

Armed with town names, research them on JewishGen (www.jewishgen.org) and through various geographical special interest groups. Subscribe to discussion groups and ask questions about your proposed visit.

Many experts have taken such trips and are happy to share information.

Scout Shabbat rescheduled

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Family Shabbat worship services at Temple Israel on Friday, April 3, 6 p.m. will honor three adults involved in Boy Scouts and a Tiger Cub. They were to be recognized at a February Shabbat service, but due to particularly inclement weather that night, the ceremony was postponed.

In conjunction with national Scouting Shabbat, Charlie Sullivan and Bennett Ginsberg, members of Temple Israel and of the Boy Scouts Mid-America Council Board of Directors as well as Belinda Johnson, who works at the Mid-America Council office, will be honored with the Shofar Award during services.

Adam Cooper-Kahn, age nine, will receive his Maccabee emblem which recognizes young Scouts who have demonstrated religious growth. Third graders will participate in the worship service as well.

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Contact your local Jewish genealogical society (find the closest group at www.iajgs.org) for more information on roots travel; their libraries may hold useful books. Here are some practical sources, but check for others at Amazon.com or your local bookstore for more: • Ruth Ellen Gruber’s National Geographic Jewish Heritage Travel, updated/expanded 2007 edition of the original 1992 edition. Gruber, a journalist, author, and travel expert, details many fascinating sites in villages, hamlets and cities. Resources are for Austria, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia.

It offers practical travel information, language guides, local addresses and current details.

• The annual Jewish Travel Guide -- in conjunction with the U.K.’s Jewish Chronicle -- provides excellent information for global destinations, along with local resources. Hadassah Magazine’s Jewish Traveler: Guide to the World’s Jewish Communities, by Alan M. Tigay, is more general.

• Community-specific books include The Jewish Guide to Italy by Anne Sacerdoti; The Complete Jewish Guide to France and The Complete Jewish Guide to Britain & Ireland, both by Toni L. Kamins, and Ben G. Frank’s A Travel Guide to Jewish Russia & Ukraine.

Here are some other resources: Barcelona’s Progressive congregation, ATID, can help with lifecycle arrangements. Also www.urbancul tours.com, run by Argentinean expatriate Dominique Tomasov Blinder, is a good source of information and planning assistance. Barcelona is ideally located for day trips in the region to other towns that had major Jewish communities, pre-Expulsion, in 1492.

JewishGen’s ShtetlSchlepper service offers both a general overview and detailed shtetl and archival visits in its 2008 schedule to Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine (land-package only). For more: www.jewishgen.org/ShtetlSchleppers.

Israeli travel company Gil Travel (www.giltravel.com) offers trips to Germany, the former Soviet Union, Italy, Czech-Romania, Spain and Turkey. These are general, but include Jewish touring, Shabbat dinners and services.

Kosher Expeditions (www.kosherexpeditions.com) is a good resource for observant travelers. In much of Eastern Europe, kosher food is difficult to find and special arrangements are required.

For the serious genealogist, try a custom tour by certified genealogist Miriam Weiner’s Routes to Roots Foundation, which offers trips to Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. Her services can encompass every detail (and cost accordingly). See www.routestoroots.com Last but not least, respected genealogist Stan Diamond of Montreal offers a Code of Behavior for researchers visiting foreign lands, at www.jewishgen.org /InfoFiles/CodeOfBehavior.html.

A freelance journalist, Schelly Talalay Dardashti writes Tracing The Tribe -- The Jewish Genealogy Blog, in conjunction with JTA. A former Jerusalem Post/Metro Israel journalist/editor, she wrote the paper’s Jewish genealogy column (1999-2005) and continues to write genealogy-focused features. She writes a monthly Jewish food column for North American papers and on Jewish/general travel, food/traditions, Iranian at: Jewish topics.

She can be reached dardasht1@yahoo.com.

Monkey see, monkey do

All dressed up in their Purim costumes, kindergarteners perform their version of “Monkey see, monkey do” during the costume parade at Friedel Jewish Academy.

To order a gift subscription to the Press at a discounted price for the rest of 2009: Send a check for just $32, made out to the Jewish Press, to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154. For more information on how to connect your out-of-town relatives and friends, call 334.6448.

March 27, 2009

AMERICA DECIDES 2009

Editor’s note: All candidates running for public office in eastern Nebraska were notified about this special Primary Election issue; only two messages to the voters were received. The Jewish Press does not endorse either political parties or candidates running for election; however, it is the goal of this newspaper to inform our readers on topics of interest.

An interview with one of the candidates running for Omaha Mayor has already been published; two more will be pub-

OMAHA CITY COUNCIL JEAN STOTHERT Thank you for letting me tell you about me past several years and we are in the process of and my plans for Omaha should I be elected transforming our city and the image we present to citizens and visitors alike. We also have a this spring.

First, I believe we all have a duty to give back host of challenges to keep the momentum to the community in various ways depending going. Omaha needs to balance our desire for on our time and talents. I have done this for the responsive city services with a tax rate that past 10 years by serving on the Millard School keeps us competitive in attracting jobs and Board. In addition, I serve in leadership posi- young people to our city.

Economic growth, public health and safety, tions on many local non-profit and charitable organization boards where our work makes a improving our tax climate, controlling crime and improving delivery of city services are difference in our community every day.

My professional background as a nurse and some of the main topics I have been addressnurse manager further illustrate my commit- ing with residents as I have been going door-toment to helping people, especially those who door the past several months.

Finally, I have demonstrated my ability on the find themselves with dangerous and serious school board to work in a cooperative manner health situations.

I will bring to the City Council a strong con- on all issues, even when I disagree with others. cern for community, proven service on behalf That approach is important to Omaha and you of others and actual elective service with rele- have my pledge on it. vant experience.

I would appreciate your vote -- and please Omaha has experienced strong growth the check out www.jeanstothert.com.

Charles Arnold, also known as “Uncle Chuck”, has a grandson in Omaha who is having his Bar Mitzvah in August 2009. Uncle Chuck currently lives in Washington and we are seeking donations to pay for his transportation costs to Omaha, where he intends to remain. If you would like to make a donation, please contact Steven J. Lustgarten at 402/346-1920 or 402/333-6811.

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Page 11

OMAHA MAYOR HAL DAUB

Nebraska’s Primary election is April 7 lished in coming weeks (assuming both are in the run-off in the general election, slated for Tuesday, May 12.). Our general election special issue publishes May 8.

It is not too late to register to vote or to obtain an absentee ballot (the primary is scheduled for the day before Passover; the first seder is Wednesday evening, April 8.) For information about voting in Douglas County, visit the election office at 225 No. 115 St.; call 402.444.VOTE or e-mail: questions@votedouglascounty.com.

In Lancaster County, visit 601 No. 46 St in Lincoln; call 441.7311, or e-mail: dshively@lancaster.ne.gov.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

A former four-term U.S. Congressman, Hal Daub served as Omaha’s Mayor from 1995 through 2001, a period of economic growth and planning where he was a leading force behind numerous downtown redevelopment initiatives and projects, including the Qwest Center Omaha, that continue to spark development and new jobs throughout the metropolitan area.

He is campaigning to return to the office of Mayor in order to continue Omaha’s economic momentum and address the issues that are at the forefront of citizens’ minds: violent crime, police and fire department pensions, overall city finances, the condition of our neighborhoods and the loss of Omaha’s AAA bond rating.

“Meeting these challenges as Mayor will require the wisdom of experience, strong leadership skills and a vision for our future,” Daub says. “Working together, I believe that four years from now, we will be able to say that Omaha is a safer, cleaner, healthier city that beat the recession – and grew in the process.”

Daub believes government must solve its problems on the spending side and not expect Omahans to pay more taxes. “My record shows six consecutive property tax cuts while mayor, and I will do everything in my power to continue that trend.”

At the same time, work must be done to continue Omaha’s economic progress.

“We need to make the city attractive to new businesses and citizens,” Daub says. “We have to promote what makes Omaha special. Our people. Our strong work ethic. Our commitment to diversity, and our history of achievement.”

Daub envisions renewed economic growth for our city through a variety of initiatives and exciting ideas.

“These include ensuring that our neighborhoods are clean and safe, increasing our downtown area’s livability with new retail and entertainment attractions, and expanding recreational and leisure activities,” he says. “A vibrant city attracts jobs and people.”

IN THE NEWS Magda Peck, Sc.D., professor of pediatrics and public health for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, was selected for the John C. MacQueen Lecture Award for her innovative work in the field of maternal and child health (MCH).

The award is one of the most prestigious honors given by the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP), one of the nation’s leading public health groups advocating for quality health care for women, children and families. Dr. Peck was honored on Feb. 24 at the 2009 AMCHP annual confer-

ence in Washington, DC. The John C. MacQueen Lecture Award is named in honor of Dr. MacQueen, the former director of the Iowa Child Health Specialty Clinics, the state’s program for children with special health care needs.

“To join former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and Children’s Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman on the list of MacQueen awardees was a tremendous honor,” Dr. Peck said.

In 1990, Dr. Peck founded CityMatCH, a national public health organization headquartered at UNMC.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 27, 2009

Freeman affair sheds sunshine on ‘night flower’ Steve Rosen

by RON KAMPEAS my work,� he said in an interview with JTA, referring to WASHINGTON (JTA) – The night flower is back, the government, which Rosen has claimed in motions and he’s liking the light. forced AIPAC to fire him. “My involvement with Steve Rosen, the former AIPAC foreign policy chief, is Middle East policy is something I not only did for 23 at the center of Middle East policy attention nearly four years at AIPAC but 20 years before AIPAC. When I was years after his indictment on charges of handling classi- offered the opportunity to participate again, it’s only fied information. He wrote a blog post highlighting past human to be very pleased and to have a structure in controversial statements which I could contribute.� by Charles “Chas�

The notion of Rosen taking a lead role Freeman, the putative in felling such a senior appointment is chairman of the National all the more remarkable given his Intelligence Council. recent profile.

Rosen then alerted Rosen defiantly continues to routinereporters to the posting, ly attend think-tank sessions on Middle and that launched a East policy, as well as a few on free process that ultimately led speech that have dealt directly with his Freeman to reject the job. case. It is only over the last year or so Freeman’s defenders, that the Jewish community and State who thought his tough Department mandarins who attend views on Israel’s settlesuch events have stopped taking frantic ment policies would bring pains to avoid his eye contact, and a breath of fresh air in the begun to return his toothy grin and new Obama administrawarm hellos. tion, were appalled.

For years, those who arrived late at a “A newly elected crowded event and wanted a seat could President of the United be certain of finding one next to States vs. a guy on trial for Rosen. espionage,�

MJ “Good for him,� said Tom Dine, the Rosenberg of the Israel Blog by Steve Rosen led to a campaign forcing the former AIPAC president who hired Policy Forum wrote on putative chairman of the National Intelligence Rosen and now consults with the Israel Credit: Lloyd Wolf Policy Forum, a group that skews left his blog at Talking Points Council to reject the post.

Memo. “A new definition of chutzpah is born!� of Rosen on Israel policy. “For some people it would Rosen is charged under the 1917 Espionage Act, but ruin their lives. He still has spunk and it’s good to see.� not for spying. The section cited in the indictment deals Dine said he wasn’t surprised to see Rosen’s return to only with handling sensitive information. the game.

Rosen is no stranger to charges of chutzpah -- and “Pleasantly amused is more like it,� he said. worse. But when he was one of the top figures at the The climate might be more conducive for Rosen’s reAmerican Israel Public Affairs Committee, he made a emergence. The judge in his case has openly criticized point of wielding his brashness away from the limelight. the government’s arguments as deeply flawed and Every conversation, every lunch with a journalist would severely restricted prosecutors’ options in making the begin with a perfunctory “This is all off the record.� His case. There is a rare unity on the left and the right that reputed motto, recorded by Jeffrey Goldberg in a 2005 the Bush administration overreached in bringing the New Yorker profile, was “A lobby is like a night flower: charges under a section of the espionage law that has It thrives in the dark and dies in the sun.� rarely been invoked, and never successfully.

No longer.

Rosen and his co-defendant, Keith Weissman, Rosen says he wrote the “night flower� memo 30 AIPAC’s former Iran analyst, are charged with receiving years ago, before he joined AIPAC, and now disavows it. classified information in a conversation and relaying it to His experience with AIPAC has taught him that it is colleagues, reporters and Israeli diplomats. necessary to lobby in the open, he says.

Rosenberg also has said the case should be dropped, And now he has plunged himself into blogging at despite his own loathing for Rosen, with whom he Daniel Pipes’ Middle East Forum, and says he welcomes clashed decades ago when they were both employed by the work after four years of languishing in the limbo of AIPAC. Still, he says, Rosen’s role in the Freeman matpre-trial motions. His trial is set to begin June 2. ter seems untoward. “They not only took away my income, they took away “Whether he is found innocent or not innocent,

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AIPAC itself made the decision that his behavior was beyond the pale enough that it terminated his employment,� he said. “Being indicted under the espionage act of 1917 doesn’t mean you’re necessarily guilty, but it’s nothing to be proud of.�

Pipes dismissed the repeated references to Rosen’s indictment cited by Freeman defenders. “We do have a tradition of innocence until proven guilty,� he said. “He is not formally restricted from speaking out on these issues. Why would I want to censor him?�

Doug Bloomfield, another former AIPAC senior staffer who clashed with Rosen decades ago, said Rosen was smart enough to pick in Freeman a figure who was vulnerable for a fall, not just for his long published commentary on Israel but also for his friendliness to the Chinese and Saudi oligarchies. “I thought Steve played it very cleverly,� said Bloomfield, who now corresponds with Rosen via email. “He planted his seed in a very fertile field.

Freeman was his own worst enemy, but Steve exploited it.�

Bloomfield chided organizations that claimed credit for Freeman’s withdrawal, including the Zionist Organization of America and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. “They’re not clever enough,� he said. “When it comes to this, Steve outmatches them.�

Pipes, who is based in Philadelphia and a consistent critic of Israeli concessions to the Palestinians, describes Rosen as an insightful analyst to whom he turns to critique his own analyses. “It’s pretty intense� is how he describes their daily exchanges, “with me pitching him the thoughts for his blog and asking for his advice because he has a wealth of experience in a very important area.�

Pipes and Rosen would not explain how Rosen is paid for his work, but an internal Middle East Forum solicitation used Rosen’s role in the Freeman case to fundraise. “Only someone with Steve’s stature and credibility could have made this happen, and on the basis of a mere 445-word comment,� says the e-mail, signed by Pipes.

Freeman and his defenders seize on such material to demonstrate that Rosen was in cahoots with a powerful lobby seeking to quash any dissent from an Israel policy that aligns with Likud, Israel’s right-wing party, and its allies. “Within a day or two the Steve Rosen and Daniel Pipes crowd began piling on� is how Freeman put it in an interview with The Nation.

Rosen scoffs at the notion of him and Pipes being part of a “crowd� or of any effort coordinated with AIPAC. Continued on page 13

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March 27, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 13

Beth Israel to observe special solar event

Freeman affair sheds sunshine on ‘night flower’ Continued from page 12 “Some of the people who have been blogging I never met, and I’m not allowed to talk to people from AIPAC,” Rosen said, referring to the lobby’s ban on staff dealings with Rosen or Weissman as long as they are under indictment. Indeed, Rosen is suing AIPAC, JTA revealed last week, for defamation based on its published reasons for firing him and Weissman.

Rosen would not comment on the lawsuit.

Bloomfield wondered whether the suit and the Freeman campaign were of a piece, saying that by raising his profile, Rosen was showing AIPAC that he was still capable of instigating a clamor -- a talent that conceivably might be turned against his former employer.

“He not only knows where Allowing William Leonard, the skeletons are buried, he the former “classification put a lot of them there,” czar” at the National Archives, to testify for the Bloomfield said.

Rosen, whose commentary defense at the trial of two forskews to the left of Pipes -- mer AIPAC staffers is one of overall, Rosen praises the several recent blows to the Obama foreign policy team - prosecution.

Credit: National Archives - is unapologetic. The Freeman remarks he highlighted were not taken out of context, Rosen says, but were part of a long public record.

Rosen, known in his AIPAC days for his prodigious recall, identified Freeman as a pro-Saudi critic of Israel as soon as he read of his appointment in The Cable, Foreign Policy magazine’s online column monitoring U.S. foreign policy.

“He was known as a hard-line critic of Israel who has been turning out advocacy material -- not analysis, but advocacy material -- for years,” Rosen said.

“He was quite well known, he was the AIPAC of the Arabs,” he said, referring to Freeman’s capacity heading the Saudi-funded Middle East Policy Council. “To see him painted as an analyst is very odd. He is an ideologue.”

Defenders of Freeman, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, have depicted him as a sharp contrarian

whose analytical abilities were valued by Adm. Dennis Blair, the national intelligence director.

“We know Chas to be a man of integrity and high intelligence who would never let his personal views shade or distort intelligence assessments,” said a letter to The Wall Street Journal from 17 former ambassadors, including at least one, Sam Lewis, who is involved in pro-Israel advocacy.

In interviews, Freeman has said overall he admires Israel more than he criticizes it. He and his defenders posit a coordinated effort aimed at demonstrating proIsrael muscle early in the administration.

“While AIPAC has attempted to avoid the appearance of being involved in any way in the attacks on Freeman, Rosen has taken a leading role,” Max Blumenthal wrote in his Rosen expose in The Daily Beast, an online news and opinion site.

AIPAC did not take a formal position on the Freeman appointment, and Congress members who pressed for Freeman’s withdrawal have said they did not hear from the lobby. Its spokesman, Josh Block, has emphasized in a number of forums that Rosen does not speak for AIPAC. The group’s officials reportedly provided reporters with background on Freeman only upon request.

Rosen insists his approach was just-the-facts. His original blog post, titled “Alarming appointment at CIA,” quoted Freeman at length. Among lawmakers who pressed Blair to rescind the appointment, a number cited Freeman’s Israel views.

Others claimed he had financial ties to China and Saudi Arabia, which Freeman has vehemently denied. Still others cited his defense of how China deals with dissent: Freeman’s statements on China led U.S. Rep Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the U.S. House of Representatives speaker, to become his most powerful detractor.

Other senior lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee contacted Blair privately based on concerns over Freeman’s China ties and views.

Rosenberg, of The Israel Policy Forum, wondered whether ultimately he and other Freeman defenders had unwittingly colluded with Rosen. “People like me who opposed the effort to dump Freeman liked giving Rosen all the credit in order to discredit the effort,” he mused.

“And he liked taking the credit.”

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4OM3WARTZENDUBs

spring moves ahead each year. The OU Guide noted,

by MARY BORT “This cycle continues for 28 years until the first day of Beth Israel Synagogue “G-d made the two great lights: the greater light to spring returns to the beginning of Wednesday. When this rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night … And occurs, we celebrate God’s creating the world as the it was evening and it was morning, a fourth day” -- earth, sun and day of the week all align as they did on the week the world was created 5769 years ago!”

Genesis 1:14, 19.

It is worthwhile to note that the recital of Birkat Every 28 years the sun returns to the exact position, at the same time of the week, which it occupied at the time Hachamah on April 8 of this year, 5769, is particularly unique in that it will occur on Erev of creation at the beginPesach. This is an unusual coincidence ning of the fourth day. A that has been determined to have hapspecial blessing is recited pened only 14 times since Creation. to mark the event -- the “I was a little boy at the last Birkat blessing is called Birkat Hachamah -- a major Jewish event in Hachamah, “the sun 1981,” said Rabbi Jonathan Gross. “I blessing.” Beth Israel was too young to remember the siginvites the community to nificance. I remember learning about join with them on the it in school and thought that 2009, Jewish Community the next Birkat Hachamah, seemed so Center campus in their far away. Yet, here we are.” observance of this special He added, “This is so exciting for solar event on Wednesday, April 8, Artscroll Publications has released an updated ver- everyone who has looked forward to sion of Bircas HaChammah, an analysis of a rare this for so long. For most of us, we 6:45 a.m. might expect to encounter this up to According to the prayer said over the sun once in 28 years.

Orthodox Union’s (OU) Educational Guide describing three times in a lifetime -- or maybe four if you live to be this celebration, “Jewish tradition dictates that the sun 112. This is perhaps the rarest of Jewish celebrations.”

For Rabbi Gross personally, it is really exciting. “I’ve was created on a Wednesday, Yom Riv’I, which was the first day of spring. This occurs every 28 years…The last been looking forward to Birkat Hachamah for over 20 time Jews experienced Birkat Hachamah was in 1981. years. I think that can be particularly exciting for kids; Imagine all that has happened since! In the past 28 years, that they’ll be excited about this idea and will remember there have been 10,227 sunrises. There are 2.32 billion this day. This is part of why we wanted to be sure to more people on the planet. NASA has sent off 124 shut- include children in our celebration.”

To mark the day, Beth Israel is partnering with Friedel tle missions. All of the Harry Potter books have been written, published and read by millions. We’ve been Jewish Academy. This once-in-a-generation event will begin when everyone, including Friedel students and busy.”

The solar year is slightly longer than 365 days. It actu- their parents, will meet at the JCC Pavilion. Led by ally takes 365 and days for the earth to orbit the sun. As Rabbi Gross, the group will say the bracha at sunrise, explained in the OU Guide, “That is why we need a cal- 6:56 a.m. This will be followed by shacharit in the endar that is adjustable, and why we have leap years Riekes Museum, inside Friedel, and breakfast.

“For millions of years the sun has served us faithfully,” every once and a while…the integrity of the calendar is essential to keep our seasons in line with our months. If stated Gross. “To come out once every 28 years to celewe didn’t do this, your great-grandchildren would be brate seems very worthwhile. Don’t kick yourself for missing this amazing opportunity. You’ll have to wait 28 celebrating Pesach in the middle of the summer.”

Because of the cycle of the solar year, the first day of years for the next one!”

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Page 14

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 27, 2009

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1 Rabbis & President’s Meeting, noon Tough Jews, 6:30 p.m. at Temple Israel “Hana’s Suitcase” Rehearsal, 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY, APRIL 2 Adult Study with the Clergy, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel JCC Maccabi Games Meeting, noon Temple Israel Torah on Wheels, noon Jewish Ideals and Ethics, noon at Beth El Yiddish Group, 1 p.m.

Parsha Club for Kids, 3:40 p.m. at Chabad JFS Love & Logic, 6 p.m.

“Hana’s Suitcase” Rehearsal, 7 p.m.

Temple Israel Theology Cafe, 7 p.m. at Barnes & Noble FRIDAY, APRIL 3 Visions Board Meeting, 9 a.m.

CDC Passover Model Seder for the Fours, 11 a.m.

Tot Shabbat and Dinner, 6 p.m. Beth El SUNDAY, APRIL 5 Reading the Rambam, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Adult Education, 10 a.m.-noon at Beth El Model Matza Bakery, 10 a.m. at Chabad House Visions Trip to Mahoney, 11 a.m.

Artza 09 Pre Trip Meeting # 5, 1 p.m.

“Hana’s Suitcase” Rehearsal, 3 p.m.

MONDAY, APRIL 6 YES Luncheon, 10 a.m.

Kabbalistic Insights for Women, noon at Chabad Executive Board Meeting, 5:30 p.m. Friedel “Hana’s Suitcase” Rehearsal, 6:30 p.m.

Board of Directors Meeting, 7 p.m. Friedel Derech Torah: Judaism 101, 8 p.m.

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SUNDAY, MARCH 29 Reading the Rambam, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Adult Education, 10 a.m.-noon at Beth El WRJ Book Sorting Day, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Talmud Torah Pre-Kindergarten, 10 a.m. at Beth El Teen Class with Rabbi Gross, 10 a.m. at Beth Israel Mishpacha Morning, 10:15 a.m. at Chabad Talmud Torah 3 year old program, 10:30 a.m. at Beth El Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing, 1 p.m.

NJHS Oral History Program & Reception, 1 p.m.

Deli Night, 5 p.m. at Temple Israel

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TUESDAY, APRIL 7 City of Omaha Primary Elections, 8 a.m.

Parsha, Prayer and Prophets, 9 a.m.

Chabad House Mishnah Club, 3:45 p.m.

BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

ADL Youth Leadership Mission Meeting, 6:30 p.m.

“Hana’s Suitcase” Rehearsal, 6:30 p.m.

Rabbi Mizrahi’s Class, 7:45 p.m. at Beth Israel WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8 Ta’anit Bechorot - Fast of the First Born Holiday Community Birkat Hachama Service, 6:45 a.m.

Friedel Erev Passover 2:30 p.m. Dismissal RBJH Passover Seder, 6 p.m.

Communal Seder, 7 p.m. at Chabad THURSDAY, APRIL 9 Friedel Spring/Passover Break Pesach Holiday Community Second Seder, 6 p.m. at Beth El Second Seder, 6 p.m. at Beth Israel RBJH Passover Seder, 6 p.m.

FRIDAY, APRIL 10 “Hana’s Suitcase” Rehearsal, 3 p.m.

SUNDAY, APRIL 12 Reading the Rambam, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Adult Education, 10 a.m.-noon at Beth El Talmud Torah Pre-Kindergarten, 10 a.m. at Beth El JCC Shiputznick Teen Mitzvah Day, 12:30 p.m.

Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing, 1 p.m.

“Hana’s Suitcase” Rehearsal, 3 p.m.

MONDAY, APRIL 13 Federation Executive Meeting, 6 p.m.

“Hana’s Suitcase” Rehearsal, 6:30 p.m.

Federation Board Meeting, 7:30 p.m.

Derech Torah: Judaism 101, 8 p.m.

TUESDAY, APRIL 14 ADL/CRC Board Meeting, noon Mishnah Club, 3:45 p.m.

BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

NCJW Board Meeting, 7 p.m.

Rabbi Mizrahi’s Class, 7:45 p.m. at Beth Israel WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15 JCC Maccabi Games Meeting, 5 p.m.

OTYG Chocolate Seder, 5 p.m. at Temple Israel THURSDAY, APRIL 16 Adult Study with the Clergy, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel JCC Maccabi Games Meeting, noon Jewish Ideals and Ethics, noon at Beth El RBJH Passover Luncheon, 12:30 p.m.

Yiddish Group, 1 p.m.

JFS Love & Logic, 6 p.m.

Annual Moshiach Feast, 7 p.m. at Chabad “Hana’s Suitcase” Rehearsal, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY, APRIL 17 NFTY Spring Conclave “Hana’s Suitcase” Rehearsal, 3 p.m.

Tot Shabbat and Dinner, 6 p.m. at Temple Israel SATURDAY, APRIL 18 BBG Beau Dance, 6 p.m.

SUNDAY, APRIL 19 “Nothing But Nets” Community Event BESTT 6th/7th grade Minyan, 9 a.m. at Beth El Reading the Rambam, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Talmud Torah Pre-Kindergarten, 10 a.m. at Beth El Adult Education, 10 a.m.-noon at Beth El Teen Class with Rabbi Gross, 10 a.m. at Beth Israel Mishpacha Morning, 10:15 a.m. at Chabad JSS/RBJH Volunteer Recognition Program, noon Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing, 1 p.m.

“Hana’s Suitcase” Rehearsal, 3 p.m.

Sunday Night Dinner, 6 p.m. at Beth Israel MONDAY, APRIL 20 YES Luncheon, 10 a.m.

Jewish Book Club Meeting, 10:30 a.m.

Kabbalistic Insights for Women, noon at Chabad Maccabi 2009 Kickoff, 6:30 p.m.

Derech Torah: Judaism 101, 8 p.m.

TUESDAY, APRIL 21 Friedel Yom Ha’Shoah Student Remembrance Parsha, Prayer and Prophets, 9 a.m.

Chabad House Mishnah Club, 3:45 p.m.

BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

“Hana’s Suitcase” Tech Rehearsal, 6 p.m.

BESTT School Board Meeting, 7 p.m. at Beth El Board of Trustees Meeting, 7 p.m. at Temple Israel Rabbi Mizrahi’s Class, 7:45 p.m. at Beth Israel

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22 Spice and Spirit Cooking Club, 9:30 a.m. at Chabad “Hana’s Suitcase” Tech Rehearsal, 6 p.m.

Yom HaShoah Commemoration, 7 p.m. at Beth El THURSDAY, APRIL 23 “Hana’s Suitcase” Performance, 10 a.m.

Adult Study with the Clergy, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Jewish Ideals and Ethics, noon at Beth El Dorothy Kaplan Book Group, 1 p.m. at Kripke Library Yiddish Group, 1 p.m.

Parsha Club for Kids, 3:40 p.m. at Chabad JFS Love & Logic, 6 p.m.

Beth El Women’s Rosh Hodesh Group, 7 p.m.

“Hana’s Suitcase” Performance, 7 p.m.

LOVE Board Meeting, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY, APRIL 24 Beth El Kallah USY “Hana’s Suitcase” Performance, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Visions Luncheon Meeting, noon SATURDAY, APRIL 25 OTYG/JYG Tri-faith Scavenger Hunt, 6:30 p.m. at Temple Israel SUNDAY, APRIL 26 Friedel Rummage Sale, 9 a.m.

Reading the Rambam, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Adult Education, 10 a.m.-noon at Beth El JCC Maccabi Games Meeting, 10 a.m.

Talmud Torah Pre-Kindergarten, 10 a.m. at Beth El Teen Class with Rabbi Gross, 10 a.m. at Beth Israel Mishpacha Morning, 10:15 a.m. at Chabad Talmud Torah Nitzanim program, 10:30 a.m. at Beth El Four B’s, 10:30 a.m. at Temple Israel Mishpacha University Graduation, 11 a.m. Chabad “Hana’s Suitcase” Performance, 3 p.m.

MONDAY, APRIL 27 Nebraska Annual AIPAC Event, 10:30 a.m.

Kabbalistic Insights for Women, noon at Chabad Yachad Meeting, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY, APRIL 28 Friedel Yom Hazikaron Commemoration Parsha, Prayer and Prophets, 9 a.m.

Chabad House JSS/RBJH Board Meeting, 11:30 a.m.

Mishnah Club, 3:45 p.m.

BESTT Yom HaAtzmaut actvities, 4:15 p.m. at Beth El BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

Yom Hazikaron Commemoration, 7 p.m.

Yom Hazikaron Service, 7:30 p.m. at Beth Israel Rabbi Mizrahi’s Class, 7:45 p.m. at Beth Israel WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29 Friedel Jewish Academy Yom Ha’Atzmaut BESTT Yom HaAtzmaut actvities, 4:15 p.m. at Beth El JCC Maccabi Games Meeting, 5 p.m.

Tough Jews, 6:30 p.m. at Temple Israel THURSDAY, APRIL 30 Adult Study with the Clergy, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel School Directors’ Meeting, noon JCC Maccabi Games Meeting, noon Jewish Ideals and Ethics, noon at Beth El Yiddish Group, 1 p.m.

Parsha Club for Kids, 3:40 p.m. at Chabad

All events held at the Jewish Community Center unless otherwise noted. This calendar does not include all community events. For a complete listing, visit the Federation’s website: www.jewishomaha.org (click on calendar). To keep calendar accurate, call Marlene Hert at 334-6437. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the accuracy of the below events.

March 27, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 15

The Pesach symbol on a cake plate

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by SYBIL KAPLAN There is no blessing, there is no special plate. There isn’t even a bracha over it! Can you guess this wellknown part of Pesach?

It’s sponge cake.

Sponge cake comes in two types: angel food and true sponge. Angel food cake has cream of tartar, an acid ingredient, which used to be combined with baking soda and salt to make a form of baking powder before baking powder was produced commercially.

Cream of tartar is what gives the angel food cake the pure white color, and it also creates an acid reaction in the batter.

Sponge cake has a more delicate cousin referred to as sunshine cake. Most people, however, refer to the Passover version as sponge cake.

Sponge cake is usually baked without shortening or butter or baking powder but with lots of eggs. Its lightness and texture comes from careful handling and the air beaten in the eggs. Recipes with nine to twelve eggs are not uncommon.

The aim of making a sponge cake is to beat the maximum amount of air into the yolks and whites while handling them as little as possible to retain the air. Egg yolks should be room temperature when beaten. An electric or rotary beater gives better results than whipping by hand. Since there is no baking powder, the main rising factor is the air plus steam.

In making a sponge cake, it is important that the yolks are beaten until light and thick, and the whites must be beaten until they are stiff but glossy. Essences such as vanilla, lemon or orange rind add special flavor to sponge cake.

The best pan for a sponge cake is a tube pan with removable rim. Thus the central tube gives support to the batter. The pan should also be ungreased. A preheated 350º oven is the best heat for baking a sponge cake.

When the cake is done, the pan should be inverted to cool for about an hour and a half. Before removing the cake from the pan, the sides should be loosened with a knife. It is best not to try to cut a fresh sponge cake with a knife. Use a divider with prongs instead, and slide back and forth gently.

Zell Schulman in Let My People Eat offers these additional tips to keep your sponge cake from falling: have the eggs at room temperature and use only large eggs; don’t add sugar until the egg whites begin to hold small, soft peaks; beat the egg whites until good and stiff but not dry; and never make a sponge cake on a wet day!

When choosing a special cake for Pesach, try one of these.

ORANGE GLAZED SABRA SPONGE CAKE 1/2 cup unsalted margarine 2/3 cup sugar 1 t. orange rind

2 T. Sabra liqueur 3 eggs separated 2 T. sugar 1/2 cup potato starch 6 T. orange juice 3 T. Sabra Liqueur 4 t. orange rind Preheat oven to 325º. In a bowl, cream margarine and sugar. Add 1 t. orange rind.

Add 2 T. Sabra and egg yolks.

In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff, gradually adding 2 T. sugar. Add to creamed mixture gently then stir in potato flour. Pour into greased tube pan and bake in 325º. oven 45 minutes to one hour.

In a bowl, combine orange juice, 3 T. Sabra and 4 t. orange rind. While cake is still hot, punch holes around cake with a toothpick and pour over glaze.

MIRIAM’S BANANA CAKE This comes from one of my closest friends whom I left behind in Overland Park, KS, who is a really creative cook.

7 separated eggs 1/4 t. salt 1 cup mashed bananas 3/4 cup potato starch 1 cup sugar 1 cup chopped walnuts Preheat oven to 350º. In a bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry then refrigerate.

In another bowl, beat egg yolks until thick and lemon colored. Gradually add sugar and salt, beating continually.

Fold in bananas and potato starch. Fold in egg whites then nuts. Turn into an ungreased tube pan and bake in 350º oven 45-50 minutes. Invert pan to cool.

This recipe comes from The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews by Edda Servi Machlin.

PAN DI SPAGNA Pan di Spagna (bread of Spain) is also called Pasta Reale and was made in the matzah bakery with the same flour that was used for matzot.

6 eggs separated 1/8 t. salt 1 cup sugar 1/4 cup fresh orange juice 1/2 cup Passover cake meal 1/4 cup potato starch Freshly grated rind of l large lemon Preheat oven to 350º. In a small bowl, beat the egg whites with salt until soft peaks form.

In a larger bowl, place egg yolks, sugar and orange juice and beat until frothy and lemon colored.

Combine the cake meal with potato starch and gradually add to the egg-yolk mixture, beating until the batter is smooth. Add the lemon rind and fold in the egg whites.

Pour into an ungreased tube sponge-cake pan with removable bottom, and bake in preheated 350º. oven for one hour. Remove from oven and invert pan over a wire rack to cool before unmolding. Makes 8-12 servings.

Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, food writer, and compiler/editor of nine kosher cookbooks including The Wonders of a Wonder Pot, Israeli Cooking on a Budget, Kosher Kettle and What’s Cooking at Hadassah College Jerusalem. She lives in Jerusalem.

ORGANIZATIONS B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS The last of the mayoral candidates Hal Daub, will speak at Breadbreakers on Wednesday, April 1, noon, at Regency Lodge, according to Gary Javitch, chairman.

Investor Alan Parsow manages millions of dollars and like almost all investors, he, too, had a down year. But he did come away with great insights on the upcoming market challenges. On Wednesday, April 8, noon, he will share advice on how to reposition yourself for the balance of the year. All men and women in the community are invited. The programs are free. An optional buffet lunch is $13; beverage service only is $3. For more information or to get on the email list, contact Lois at 334.6443 or bnaibrith@jewishomaha.org.

JEWISH SOCIAL SERVICES JSS extends a Big Welcome to a Passover Luncheon on Thursday, April 16, 12:30 p.m. at the JCC auditorium. Leave the cooking to us! Cost is $10 per person.

Entertainment by Anna Mosenkis and Lev Schechtman.

Send reservation to Maggie Conti, 323 So. 132 St, Omaha, NE 68154 by April 8. If you need transportation, call Maggie at 334-6521. Make check payable to JSS.

LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Yiddish brings us closer to our roots! Come join us every Thursday, 1-3 p.m., at the JCC. For information call Anne Skolkin at 343.1638.

VISIONS Reminder: Visions Board meeting is Friday, April 3, 9:30 a.m. at the JCC.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Opera Omaha is holding auditions open to middleschool through college ages for the fall production of Brundibár on April, 4, 7-10 p.m. at its office, 17th and Farnam. Produced by Opera Omaha in conjunction with the Institute for Holocaust Education, Brundibár was first performed by the Jewish inmates of Terezín concentration camp during World War II. Performances will be morning and afternoon Nov. 2-6 with an evening performance on Nov. 7 at the Rose Theater.

Please send an e-mail of your interest by April 2, to: opera@operaomaha.org, or mail to: Opera Omaha, 1625 Farnam St., Suite 100 Omaha, NE 68102.

Page 16

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 27, 2009

Real dialogue demands real honesty In less than two weeks, Jews all over the world will celebrate Passover, commemorating freedom from slavery and oppression. A few days later, Christians will acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah. Though there is no Muslim holiday this year in April, it is one of the three Abrahamic faiths and deserves a place at the table.

We encourage members of various faith groups to listen to one another. However, since coverage of the Tri-Faith dinner event will not be in the Jewish Press until April 10 (as the April 3 issue is our annual Passover special), we have some questions we hope the three speakers will clarify. In fact, we hope to get answers at the 20-minute press conference being offered by the group prior to the dinner.

We’re curious as to why Dr. Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America, (ISNA) describes Wahhabism, the rigid Muslim sect financed by Saudi Arabia, as “a reform movement” even though Wahhabi clerics, more than any other sect, are the proponents of violent jihad (as opposed to the spirital kind) against the West and Israel.

And we’d like to know what her organization’s current links are to the Muslim Brotherhood, founders of the ISNA in 1981, and Hamas, still described as a “terrorist organization” by the U.S. State Department.

Is the ISNA a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and its goals of instituting Shari’a law and a worldwide caliphate? What about Hamas and its terrorist tactics against the state of Israel?

Speaking of Hamas, we’d like to question Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Episcopal Church’s president, who during the Gaza incursion in January, “challenged the Israeli government to call a halt to this wholly disproportionate escalation of violence” and said, that “her primary concern was getting “vital humanitarian assistance to the suffocating

people of Gaza.”

Where does she stand on Israel’s right to defend itself? Is she unaware that it was Hamas terrorists who stole humanitarian aid from United Nations truck convoys? Or that Gazans who fled through the border to Israel were being treated in Israeli hospitals? Or that Hamas operatives were firing rockets at Israel from U.S. schools (which the U.N. finally admitted)?

And to Rabbi Peter Knoebel, the head of the CCAR, the Reform rabbis’ group, we’d like to know how well he knows his fellow panelists?

Is he comfortable with their views on Israel?

Or is he just planning on ignoring their statements and groups’ connections?

Obviously, we have no quarrel with people of different faiths talking with one another.

We’ve reported such ventures in the Press and offered encouraging op-eds to that end. And we understand that they will not agree on everything.

The point is to find common ground and areas on which each faith group agrees in order to work on various projects and programs together.

But in order to accomplish that, there must be basic honesty and respect.

In fact, we have a suggestion to all three leaders and we hope they’ll consider making a joint announcement Friday night: call for Hamas to release Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held prisoner by Hamas since October of 2006, nearly two-and-a-half years!

The Israeli government has done its share by releasing

hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have blood on their hands from terror attacks they committed on Israeli civilians. It’s beyond the time for Hamas to release Shalit.

And if Mattson, Jefferts Schori and Knoebel all make a joint statement to the press demanding nothing less, then we’ll know that Episcopalians and Muslims are serious about engaging in meaningful dialogue with the Jewish community.

To that end, we still wonder how Dr. Naser Alsharif can remain on the TriFaith Initiative board while signing an anti-Israel boycott petition (as reported by this newspaper on March 13). It seems to us that he’s trying to have it both ways -- similar to Yasser Arafat, who used to tell the English-language press he was in favor of peace talks with Israel while insisting in the Arabic press that he would stand for nothing less than retaking Israel “from the river to the sea.”

How honest is that?

FOCUS ON ISSUES

by Edgar M. Bronfman

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Professor Jonathan Sarna recently wrote an article titled “Lessons from the Past” encouraging the Jewish community to hold onto its core values in spite of the current economic downturn. He recommended maintaining our emphasis on innovation and creativity, re-engaging smaller donors and increasing transparency within our organizations.

Gary Wexler commented that if Michael Steinhardt, the megaphilanthropist, had put forth the recommendations, “by now the BlackBerrys, e-mails, instant messages, phones and blogs would have been buzzing, the committee meetings set, the professionals sent scurrying and the communal electricity popping.”

While I am not Michael Steinhardt, I believe that Sarna’s message is an important one.

Based on my own experience serving the Jewish community, one of Judaism’s greatest strengths is its ability to evolve to fit the needs of its diverse community. The Jewish community must not lose sight of this core value simply because the stock market has fallen.

Judaism has always been a tradition of multiple perspectives. Historically it has been said that the Torah has 70 faces. Today, with countless ways to define oneself as Jewish, the number of Jewish perspectives has multiplied exponentially. Our diversity, although sometimes challenging, gives the Jewish community great strength and depth.

It has been our ability to incorporate many perspectives and adapt to the ever-changing needs of our community that has enabled Judaism to

The diverse needs of the Jewish community will continue to evolve in the future, regardless of the state of the economy. professionals seeking a place of worship and community, leaders such as Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum and many others around the country created open and inclusive independent minyanim serving as community centers of prayer, education, social action and culture for contemporary Jews.

As I write in my recent book, Hope, Not Fear, many Jewish leaders have bemoaned the phenomena of younger Jews not joining traditional Jewish institutions as a sign of decline in North American Jewish life. The fact that young Jews are not affiliating in the “traditional” way indicates there is something wrong with our institutions, not that there is something wrong with our youth. We have to let go of the old ways of defining what it means to be an “involved Jew” and begin to look to the kind of involvement

Jewish Press Board Michael Sigmond, Vice President; Stan Mitchell, Secretary; Michael Siegel, Treasurer; Howard K. Marcus, Immediate Past-chairman; Marc Brodkey; Andie Gordman; Michael Kaufman; Bette Kozlen; Susan Lehr; Jamie Meyerson; Andy Ruback; Jim Simon; Nancy Skid; and Dorothy Spizman.

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

Guidelines and highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: www jewishomaha.org; click on ‘Jewish Press.’

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

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

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

Editorial The Jewish Press is an agency of the Jewish Federation of Omaha.

Deadline for copy, ads and photos is: Thursday, 9 a.m., eight days prior to publication. E-mail editorial material and photos to: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org; send ads (in .TIF or .PDF format) to: rbusse@jewishomaha.org.

A time to innovate remain relevant for thousands of years.

With the evolving face of America at large, it is no surprise that the Jewish community also has ever-corresponding, shifting needs. Talented, innovative individuals have stepped up by creating organizations and projects, and pushing a culture of change that serves these evolving needs.

For example, when Hillel was no longer relevant for students on college campus, Richard Joel revitalized and rebranded Hillel, re-conceptualizing the role it could play for students on campuses; Joel’s vision for Hillel was the reason I signed onto the leadership of Hillel.

When traditional synagogue communities were not meeting the changing needs of young

(Founded in 1920) Bobbi Leibowitz President Carol Katzman Editor Richard Busse Managing Editor Allan Handleman Advertising Manager Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Managing Editor Barbara Kirkpatrick Bookkeeper

that today’s Jews are seeking.

Innovation has the power to bring about hope and renaissance within the Jewish community.

New ideas infuse life into the Jewish community and empower Jews of all ages to become personally invested in Judaism. It does not take an established organization or a reputable name to come up with a unique and relevant Jewish initiative. In fact, smaller start-up organizations are often better equipped to intimately reach local, niche communities in a way that larger organizations cannot.

I was happy to see recently from The 2008 Survey of New Jewish Organizations that I am not alone in thinking that innovation and renaissance occur through both large-scale programs and smaller initiatives. Within the last 10 years, more than 300 Jewish organizations have been created to serve what they see as unmet needs within the Jewish community.

Despite their diverse agendas, it is inspiring to see all of these organizations working to make the Jewish community a better place. Together these organizations serve the multiple perspectives of our unique Jewish community and each represents an important piece of our collective Jewish identity.

The diverse needs of the Jewish community will continue to evolve in the future, regardless of the state of the economy. While it is important for those in the position of influence, like Michael Steinhardt and myself, to encourage innovation, it is up to all of us, as members of the Jewish community, to make sure that these creative leaders have the support they need to be successful. We need to make sure that the bleak economic forecast doesn’t diminish our optimism for a bright future within the Jewish community.

Bronfman is president of the Samuel Bronfman Foundation

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

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March 27, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 17

When lobbies collide

Obama’s Palestinian ‘stimulus’ plan should provoke the next round of combat between pro-Israel forces and their foes

BEHIND THE H EADLINES

by JONATHAN S. TOBIN

With a new Israeli government about to be put in place, supporters of the U.S.-Israel alliance are preparing for possible conflict between the soon-to-be Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama. But their battles won’t be the only fight concerning Israel in Washington this year. Nor will it necessarily be the nastiest.

Instead, the real action may concern the coming conflict between two groups that, though both proclaiming themselves “pro-Israel,” in fact represent very different points of view about U.S. foreign policy. One is the coalition of groups led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that sees their purpose as supporting the government of Israel no matter who may lead it. The other is composed of critics of the Jewish State who believe pressure on Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians in the best form of friendship.

The most conspicuous member of the latter group is the lobby group J Street which sees itself as a Jewish model along the lines of the moveon.org activist group that helped transform and propel the American left to victory in the last two election cycles. Having labeled AIPAC as a creature of the Republicans and in thrall to the Christian right, J Street and its fellow travelers, such as the more establishment-oriented Israel Policy Forum, entered 2009 expecting to use their connections in the Obama administration to change the way Israel is discussed in Washington.

Their belief that the main obstacle to peace was an Israeli refusal to make fur-

ther concessions on territory and settlements to the Palestinians seemed to be more in sync with the return of Clinton administration veterans to positions of influence now that the Democrats are back in power. As a result, J Street’s leadership anticipates making progress towards their long-term goal of supplanting AIPAC as the voice that the White House and Congress take most seriously when measures concerning Israel are debated.

But despite these advantages, the Obama era got off to a rough start for J Street. Almost alone among Jewish groups, the left-wing lobby conspicuously opposed Israel’s recent counter-offensive into Gaza and did so in its customary self-righteous style which sought to brand all those who differed as opposed to peace. This stand reinforced the group’s image as extremists and exposed their posturing about being more representative of American Jewish opinion than AIPAC as fraudulent.

Nevertheless, in the aftermath of the Gaza fighting, J Street was undaunted.

Obama’s naming of George Mitchell as his Middle East envoy seemed to vindicate the left’s call for more U.S. intervention in the moribund peace process. And the prospect of a Netanyahu-led coalition in Jerusalem may also increase their influence. Since the Likud leader is deeply unpopular in official circles in Washington, J Street can look forward to being able to put AIPAC at a disadvantage since it will find itself obligated to defend his government as a matter of course.

Yet the first real fight of 2009 over Middle East policy may not concern Netanyahu or even the more controversial elements of his cabinet. Instead, the collision of the “pro-Israel” lobbies may have more to do with the Palestinians than any-

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

To the Editor: I report, with sadness, that after 51 years of doing Braille for schools, churches, individuals and others, the decision has been made to disband the Omaha Volunteer Braille Services.

It was a very difficult decision, and not one made in haste. I’m sure that many people are aware that the original Braille group, which started at Beth El, included Bernice Wolfson, Doris Cohn, Pauline Guss, Esther Graetz, Elinor Whitman, Beth Brodkey and Ann Shulman. Our services have been offered to Omaha and small towns nearby; schools were the main service.

In the mid 1980s, Anna Wiesman became president of the group; she continued as president, Braillist and teacher for nearly 15 years. After her tenure, I took over as president.

Our group had funds left over in its treasury and the group voted to donate them to Radio Talking Book and the Nebraska Foundation for the Visually Handicapped.

It has been my pleasure to work with some of the finest people one could ask for. Braille is very difficult to learn. The people who did learn over the years gave of their time as volunteers and asked for no regard except the satisfaction of helping the visually impaired.

I salute all of them.

Eileen Remer, president Omaha Volunteer Braille Services

HOLIDAY CLOSING NOTICE The Jewish Press will be closed Thursday-Friday, April 910 for the first two days of Passover and WednesdayThursday, April 15-16, for the last two days of the Jewish holiday. There is no regular news in the April 3 Passover issue.

Questions? Call 402.334.6448

thing the Israelis themselves are doing.

The announcement that the United States would donate approximately $900 million to help rebuild Gaza was not initially considered controversial. Yet mindful of its pledge not to deal with the terrorists running Gaza and to support the Palestinian Authority, the administration promised the money would not go to Hamas. Instead it would be funneled through the P.A. and its highly respected Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as well as through humanitarian groups.

But this plan was unrealistic. Fayyad soon resigned ending the brief experiment in trying to have a Palestinian leader who was actually interested in developing their economy. His problems illustrate how misguided groups like J Street were about the Palestinians’ willingness to make peace. Palestinian politicians who don’t kill Jews are not as popular as those who do. But even with Fayyad, the P.A. has no power in Gaza.

As for humanitarian outlets in Gaza, the prime recipient of such money would be the United Nations Relief Works Agency, the U.N. body whose sole purpose is to not only help the Palestinians but to perpetuate the misery of those still classified as refugees from the 1948 Israeli War of Independence and their descendants.

UNRWA is heavily infiltrated by Hamas operatives. Aid given to it would either be directed to Hamas-oriented causes or stolen outright by the group.

The prospect of nearly a billion dollars in U.S. taxpayer funds being poured into Gaza with much of it likely to wind up in the hands of terrorists is not likely to go without protest. Indeed questions are already being asked about whether the aid should be conditioned not only on complete accountability about their use but on more general policy questions such as the cessation of rocket fire on southern Israel and the release of kidnapped Israeli

soldier Gilad Shalit who has been in the Hamas since June 2006.

Recently, Nevada Democrat Rep. Shelly Berkley wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking that restrictions be placed on the disbursement of these funds. If, as anticipated, this move is supported by other members of Congress of both parties and some pro-Israel groups, we can expect a serious debate on this point in which J Street and its allies will seek to portray such conditions as being anti-peace.

Indeed, this conflict may well resemble similar arguments in the 1990’s during the heyday of the doomed Oslo peace process when efforts to point out that the billions being poured into the hands of Yasser Arafat and the P.A. were not only being stolen -- but were being used to finance anti-Israel incitement as well as terrorism -- were dismissed by the Clinton administration and the Jewish left as “anti-peace.” This time, the realization that the U.S. is funding to what amounts to a massive “stimulus” package for equally dubious Palestinian recipients may inspire opposition that is even more broadly-based.

If so, we will have another chance to see if J Street’s strident advocacy of appeasement of a Palestinian leadership that is as unlikely to promote peace as Arafat is as popular as they imagine it to be. As was the case a decade ago with Arafat no amount of blather about peace and investing in hope will whitewash the reputations of terrorists. Nor will the current ascendancy of fellow liberals in Washington be enough to grant legitimacy to a “pro-Israel” group whose main efforts are geared toward undermining solidarity with the Jewish state.

Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of Commentary magazine. He can be contacted via e-mail at: jtobin@ commentarymagazine.com. Read Commentary on-line at www.commentarymagazine.com.

News flash: Fatah doesn’t recognize Israel

FOCUS ON ISSUES

by SHOSHANA BRYEN According to Mohammad Dahlan, former Fatah Security Chief and current “special advisor” to Abu Mazen, Fatah has never recognized “Israel’s right to exist” and said Hamas shouldn’t either.

“For the one thousandth time, I want to reaffirm that we are not asking Hamas to recognize Israel’s right to exist. Rather, we are asking Hamas not to do so because Fatah never recognized Israel’s right to exist,” he said in a Palestinian television interview cited by The Jerusalem Post. It was the PLO, the umbrella organization, which did so, he said, not Fatah the subsidiary, and Fatah is not bound by the decision.

So? “Well,” say the indignant, “Israel can’t possibly make peace with people who don’t recognize its right to exist.

The U.S. demands; Mrs. Clinton demands; I say, DEMANDS that Hamas renounce violence and recognize Israel in order to have a Unity Government with Fatah so the U.S. can pour in a billion U.S. tax dollars, put the onus of ‘making peace’ on Israel and get to the Two State Solution.”

It is time to repeat the mantra of an American general. “Don’t tell me what to do, tell me what you want to have done.” Find the end game and then decide how to use resources to get there. In this case, however, the United States is promoting two mutually exclusive end games: a Hamas-Fatah Unity Government and the socalled Two State Solution.

For the first, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Fatah is conceding points to what it considers the senior player.

To have unity, one side has to give up the contested

issues; Fatah, being weaker, did so.

That was inevitable result of the United States, Israel and Egypt elevating Hamas to the role of central political player without whom nothing can be done, after Israel had enormously degraded its role as central military player with whom nothing can be done.

In that sense, Hamas won and Fatah lost the Gaza war, and as Machiavelli wrote, peace is the set of conditions imposed by the winner on the loser of the last war.

Peace/unity between the two is a function of Hamas's conditions. But that is inconsistent with the administration’s vision of the Two State Solution: a secure Israel living next to a unified democratic Palestine.

The current reality is either that Fatah accepts Israel’s legitimacy and Hamas doesn’t so there will be no Unity Government, or to believe Dahlan, there is unity in their rejection of Israel. In neither case will a Unity Government accept the legitimacy of Israel’s sovereignty in the region.

Furthermore, a Unity Government under Hamas is inconsistent with the American determination that Hamas not receive U.S. taxpayer dollars. A Unity Government under Hamas is inconsistent with the American training of Palestinian security service/military forces loyal only to Abu Mazen and fighting “terrorism” against both Fatah and Israel.

The incoming Israeli government, led by Likud, has said that the Two State Solution is not presently feasible, putting it on the path to direct confrontation with the U.S. It would be wise of the Obama Administration to review its inconsistent policies on unity and statehood, and try to find common ground with Israel on security and economic development for the Palestinian people and for Israel.

Shoshana Bryen is the Senior Director for Security Policy at JINSA, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs in Washington, D.C. To read more, visit www.jinsa.org.

Page 18

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 27, 2009

Candlelighting Friday, March 27, 7:27 p.m.

Synagogue Listings B’nai Israel Synagogue 618 Mynster St. Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com

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

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

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 323 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

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B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE FRIDAY: Services followed by Oneg, 7:30 p.m.

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Services conducted by Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Cantor Beth Schlossberg.

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

SATURDAY: Morning services, 9:30 a.m. Members of Men’s Club will lead services; Junior Congregation (3-7), 10 a.m.; Kiddush is sponsored by Men’s Club; Minha/Ma’ariv, 7:35 p.m.

WEEKDAY SERVICES: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.; weekdays, 7 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.

SUNDAY: Bible Study Discussion Group; and Navigating our Services with Joy led by Susi Frydman-Levin, 10 a.m.; The Mitzvah Club led by FrydmanLevin; and Synagogue skills class led

by Cantor Schlossberg, 11 a.m.

HOW TO ENRICH YOUR SEDER: Special pre-Passover class for adults, led by Rabbi Levin on Sunday, 10 a.m. No charge to attend, but please RSVP to Margie Gutnik at programming@bethel-omaha.org.

NITZANIM: Sunday, 10 a.m.

This month’s theme: Passover.

Participants will learn about the Haggadah and the holiday. For more information or to register, contact Judy Rubin at 498.0904, or eddir@bethel-omaha.org.

THURSDAY: Rabbi Levin’s Jewish Ideals and Ethics for Everyday Living, noon.

TOT SHABBAT: Friday Apr. 3, 6 p.m. for services and 6:30 p.m. dinner. For reservations made by Wednesday, April 1, cost is $5 per person; after that, cost is $10. No charge for children 6 and younger. RSVP to programming@bethel-omaha. org or call the office, 492.8550.

COMMUNITY SEDER: Second night of Passover, Thursday, April 9, 6 p.m., Reservations received by March 30, cost is $20 for adults; $15 for Hazak members and children six to 12; $6.50 for children 2-5; no charge for toddlers younger than two. After that, cost will be: adults, $25; Hazak and children 6-12, $18; children 2-5, $9.50.

RSVP to the office.

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 and Rabbi Yitzchak Mizrahi.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m. free babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Children’s Classes, 9:45 a.m. with Torah Parade; Kiddush sponsored

by Sisterhood; “Guard Your Tongue”, “The Great Midrash” and “Advanced Parshah Study for Kids” (ages 10 and up) one hour prior to Mincha, 7 p.m., followed

by Seudah Shlishit; Havdalah, 8:27 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Reading the Rambam, 9:45 a.m.; Rabbi Gross’s Teen Class, 10 a.m.; Kids’ Crafts with Miss Andreea, 5 p.m.; Sunday Night Dinner, 6 p.m.

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

TUESDAY: Mishnah Club for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders, 3:45 p.m. at the Blumkin Home; Rabbi Mizrahi’s Weekly Class, 7:45 p.m.

THURSDAY: Women of the Torah class, 9:30 a.m.; Rabbi Gross’s weekly class, 7:30 p.m.

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

FRIDAY: Services, 7 a.m.

SATURDAY: Maamar class, 9 a.m.; Service, 9:30 a.m.; Youth Minyan, 10:30 a.m. MiniMensch title will be awarded; Kiddush lunch follows; join Rabbi Katzman from 12-1 p.m.

SUNDAY: Service, 8:30 a.m.; Mishpacha Mornings, 10:15 a.m.

For more information or to register, email Estie@ ochabad.com; Globa Unity Lecture withRabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, via live webcast at 1:30 p.m. Visit www.UnityLecture. com for more information.

WEEKDAYS: Services, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: Kabbalistic Insights for Women, 12:15 p.m.

TUESDAY: W.O.W. Prayer, Prophets, and Prayer, 9:15 a.m.

THURSDAY: Jewish Thought, 12:45 p.m.; The Parsha Club for Level I beginners, ages 5-6; and Level II for ages 7-9, 3:45 p.m.

Please contact shevi@ochabad. com for a pass.

All events and programs are open to the entire community.

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

FRIDAY: A Kearney Shabbat Weekend: Potluck Dinner, 6:30 p.m. at the Country Inn & Suites followed by services and a dessert oneg. There will be no services at South Street Temple.

SATURDAY: Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. led by Robert Friedman.

SUNDAY: No LJCS Classes.

WEDNESDAY: Hebrew classes (grades 3-7), 4-6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel.

THURSDAY: Board of Trustees, 7 p.m.

Lincoln Public Schools Yom Hashoah Speaker Series: The next speaker is TJ Leyden on April 8, 10 a.m. at Lincoln Southeast, followed by “The Lost Boys of Sudan” on April 15, 9:30 a.m. at Lincoln North Star, Bea Karp on April 30, 1:30 p.m. at Lincoln Northeast, and Jen Marlowe on May 7, 1:30 p.m. at Lincoln Southwest.

ANNUAL COMMUNITY PASSOVER SECOND NIGHT SEDER, Thursday, April 9, 6 p.m. at South Street. RSVP to the office or stemple@neb.rr.com by Friday, April 3. If you can help cook, set up, or serve, please contact Lori Merliss 328.0414 or lorimerliss@msn.com.

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

Seder, 10:45 a.m; Children’s Choir Rehearsal, noon. Lunch is provided for choir members and younger siblings; Deli Night, 5 p.m.

Carryout service will be available.

Please contact the office, or mkube@templeisraelomaha.com.

WEDNESDAY: Grades 3-6, 46 p.m.; All School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Family School, 6 p.m.; Grades 712, 6 p.m.; Tough Jews, 6:30 p.m. with therapist Jeremy Wright. To register, contact Wendy Goldberg at Temple or wgoldberg@ templeisraelomaha.com.

THURSDAY: “Adult Study with the Clergy” with Cantor Shermet, 10 a.m.; Torah on Wheels, noon at Sullivan Homes (15757 Spencer St). RSVP with the Temple office. Cost is $6; Theology Café, 7 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 144 and West Center with Rabbi Azriel. Call Wendy Goldberg at Temple or wgoldberg@templeisraelomaha.com.

Grade 3 Family and Scout Shabbat, Friday, April 3, 6 p.m., led by third graders. An oneg hosted by third grade families will follow. (See full story on page 19.)

C O N G R E G AT I O N A L SECOND SEDER, Thursday, April 9, 6 p.m. Cost is Adults, $21; children in sixth grade and younger, $10; children two-yearsold and younger, no charge.

Check payable to Temple is your reservation and is due by April 3.

Cost after April 3 is $25 for adults and $13 for children in sixth grade and younger.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME

NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Jim Polack and David Herzog.

TIFERETH ISRAEL

TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Dinner in Abraham’s Tent: Conversations on Peace, 5:30 p.m. at Qwest Center. Register at www.trifaith.org, or by calling the Tri-Faith Initiative, 934.2955; Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. led by Sharah Schondelmeyer at Temple.

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

SUNDAY: Teacher Meeting, 9:30 a.m.; Grades K-6, 10 a.m.; WRJ Book Sorting Day, 10 a.m.

Please contact Danielle Gordman, dsgordman@cox.netor 343.1435, or Wendy Goldberg, wgold berg@templeisraelomaha.com or at the office; Grade 2 VIP Model

FRIDAY: Minyan, 7 p.m.

Services conducted by Nancy Coren, Lay Leader. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

MONDAY and THURSDAY: Minyan, 9 a.m.

FRIDAY: Services, 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Morning service, 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush lunch and Talmud study.

SUNDAY: No LJCS Classes; Bring your family and dairy picnic lunch to the Watch home, 8502 West Schultz in Wood River at noon. To carpool meet in the synagogue parking lot at 10 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: Men’s Lunch Group will meet at the Knolls, 12:30 p.m. Contact Yale Gotsdiner at 423.7066; Hebrew classes (grades 3-7), 4-6 p.m.

B’NAI MITZVAH Andy and Tommy Rochman, sons of Sayaka and Dan Rochman, will become B’nai Mitzvah on Saturday, April 4, at Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, VA. Andy is a eighth-grade student at George Mason High School. He was a member of the stage crew for the school musical, Brigadoon.

He also attends the Washington

Japanese Language School.

His interests include playing the violin, reading Japanese and English books, listening to Jpop music, and cooking. He studied the koto while living in Japan, and he competed in the Intermediate School Math Open competition.

Tommy is a sixth-grade student at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School and the Washington Japanese Language School. He plays the flute in the Henderson school band.

His interests include playing basketball, inline skating, skiing, reading fantasy and science fiction books, traveling to mountains and

beaches, drawing, and painting.

For their mitzvah project, the young men helped make sandwiches for the homeless at Temple Rodef Shalom.

Grandparents are Marcia and Jack Cohen and Dick Rochman.

March 27, 2009

A symbol of worship

SPARKS FROM THE WORD

by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parashat Vayikra As we open the third of the Five Books of the Torah, we find ourselves in a world that we no longer recognize. The people are devoted to worship in a manner that is completely foreign to the way we think of worship in our time.

To put it simply, Vayikra emphazises worship by animal sacrifice.

We should not be surprised at this method of worship, since it was all but universal in the ancient world.

Remember that Abraham, to prove his loyalty to his God, was prepared even to sacrifice his son.

Whether or not the chapters about the Akeidah were meant to protest human sacrifice, the offer of animal life on an altar did not cease. To repeat: this method of worship was all but universal in the ancient world.

We must not misunderstand. The sacrifice was not meant to be wasted. After the necessary portions were offered to God (the parts that humans did not usually eat any how), the rest of the sacrificial meat was con-

sumed by the people who offered it.

Thus, the sacrifice was minimal and formal. In those ancient days when, so to speak, animal life did not grow on trees (or appear shrink-wrapped in the supermarkets), but was a rare treat, food was not to be wasted.

Thus the sacrifice was only a symbol of the dedication and loyalty of the worshipper.

What it amounts to, looking at it from a different angle, is the relunctance of ancient Israelites to take life, even animal life. To be sure in Genesis, the creation of humanity by the Holy one included the right and privilege to lord it over vegetable and animal life.

Again, to repeat, the whole Book of Leviticus (Vayikra) is looked upon as historical, rather than a code of diections on how to proceed in life.

It is to be noted that in the very middle of this book, thus in the very middle of the Torah, we have the wonderful chapters of Kedoshim, which focus on human lust and greed and the development of a sense that life is made to be holy and moral.

We may be born with appetite, but we must not forget that as children of God, humanity is to be guided more by moral and ethical sense than by bodily and physical demands.

Thus, although Vayikra seems to be devoted to animal sacrifice, we must interpret it to see that human beings are meant to be ethically sensitive and morally enlightened.

Pulverent e

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Beth Israel helps community prepare for Pesach

by MARY BORT Beth Israel Synagogue Pesach 5769 is just around the corner. Are you prepared for the holiday? Beth Israel is here to provide the community with assistance during preparations, and will hold services during Pesach. Additionally, there will be a second seder at the shul.

If you are searching for special items for your Pesach seder, look no further! The Sisterhood Gift Shop has everything you need for your Seder table. Handembroidered matzah covers from Israel, hostess sets, seder plates, children’s Passover sets and much more are available at the shop. The Gift Shop is open on Sunday, March 29 and Sunday, April 5, 10 a.m. to noon or items may be purchased through the synagogue office.

Pesach product guides, from both the Orthodox Union (OU) and the Chicago Rabbinical Council (CRC), are available in the synagogue office. You can also visit the OU and CRC websites: www.ou.org and www.crcweb.org.

One of the basic preparations for Pesach is to insure that every Jew has the financial ability “to make Pesach.”

As you prepare for your seders, it is also time to open your hearts and support those in need. Through the Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund, money is discreetly distributed to the needy to provide support during the holiday and throughout the year. If you would like to make a donation, please send your check to the synagogue,

DEATHS LIEB ETUS Reb Lieb Etus died on March 23 at the age of 96.

Services were held March 25 at Beth El Cemetery.

He was born in Russia, remained a faithful Jew and came to Omaha in 1993, where he became active at Chabad of Nebraska.

He is survived by his wife, Myra; daughter, Manya; sons, Marat and Grisha; grandchildren, Lucy, Igor, Kostya, and Slava Etus; and a great-grandson Memorials are requested to Chabad of Nebraska.

DEVORA URKOWITZ The wife of a former rabbi at Beth Israel Synagogue has died in Houston, TX. Devora Urkowitz died March 17 at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the age of 50.

Services were held later that afternoon at Congregation Beth Yeshurun.

A master teacher and director of Judaic Studies at Beth Yeshurun Day School, she won the Irving L. Samuels Outstanding Teacher Award for Judaic Studies from the Jewish Federation of Houston’s Bureau of Jewish Education. She also served as president of Houston’s Jewish Educators Council.

She is survived by her husband, Rabbi Mark Urkowitz; son and daughter-in-law, Tzvi and Michelle Urkowitz; sons, Ariel and Eitan; daughter, Atara; parents, Rabbi Joseph and Juliette Radinsky; sister, Dena Radinsky; brother and sister-in-law, Elie and Naomi Radinsky; grandmother, Lillian Radinsky.

Memorials to charity of choice.

payable to Beth Israel, at 12604 Pacific St., Omaha, NE 68154.

While it is preferable to eat or give away all chametz -food and beverages forbidden during Pesach -- sometimes one may have remaining chametz that may be sold to a non-Jew. The sold chametz is the non-Jew’s property until after Pesach ends, when the rabbi repurchases it for the community. Beth Israel has forms available in the office. Rabbi Gross will be available in his office after minyan each day during the week prior to Pesach, or by appointment. Meet with Rabbi Gross or mail/fax the form to the office no later than Tuesday, April 7.

Chametz must be burned or nullified before noon on Erev Yom Tov, Wednesday, April 8. Burning of Chometz at Beth Israel will take place at 11:30 a.m. The earliest seder time on April 8 is at 8:32 p.m.

On Thursday, April 9, the first day of Pesach, Shacharit is 9 a.m. and Mincha will be at 7:45 p.m. Beth Israel will host a traditional family seder, led by Rabbi Gross, at 8:30 p.m. All children with reservations for the second seder will be contacted by Rabbi Gross to be given a part. Cost is $36 for adults, $12 for children ages four to 12 and $5 for children under the age of four who will be eating dinner. Reservations are needed by April 1.

Friday, April 10 is the second day of Pesach. Shacharit is 9 a.m. and Kabbalat Shabbat is at 7 p.m.

For a complete schedule of Pesach services, please call the office at 556.6288.

PASSOVER CLOSINGS & EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press will be closed Thursday-Friday, April 9-10 for the first two days of Passover and Wednesday-Thursday, April 15-16, for the last two days of the Jewish holiday. There is no regular news in the April 3 Passover issue.

Questions? Call 402.334.6448 The deadline for all ads, synagogue schedules, articles and photos is 9 a.m. as follows: Issue Deadline April 10 Thursday, April 2 Monday, April 6 April 17 April 24 Monday, April 13

To Submit Announcements to the Jewish Press: Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press with attached photos in .jpg or .tif files to jpress@jewishomaha.org; faxed to 402.334.5422, or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154 (with photos we will scan and return).

Forms are available through Omaha and Lincoln synagogues, by contacting The Jewish Press at 402.334.6448, or by e-mailing: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org.

Readers can also submit other announcements -- births engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies or obituaries -- online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements. Deadlines are normally eight days prior to publication, on Thursdays, 9 a.m. Check the Jewish Press, however, for notices of early deadlines prior to secular and Jewish holidays.

College Student... Retiree...

Stay-At-Home Mom or Empty Nester interested in

Good Money...

Draw Against Commission...

Flexible Schedule...

Tuition Assistance or

FREE Omaha Special Event Tickets?

Call Advertising Manager Allan Handleman - 334.6451 or email:ahandleman@jewishomaha.org

Make Money On Your Own Time!

Statewide Classified ADVERTISE STATEWIDE for $210/25 word classified ad. Over 175 newspapers with circulation of more than 400,000. Contact the Jewish Press at 334-6448 or call 1-800369-2850.

ADOPTION: AN act of love. We admire your courage. Your baby will be given a loving, secure future. Expenses paid. Please call Michele/Bob, 877-328-8296.

LOVING COUPLE looking to adopt. Will provide love, laughter, education, & security.

Large home, great community. Relatives nearby. Call Valerie & Larry, 1-888-902-4453.

30TH ANNUAL Nebraska Mennonite Relief Sale, Quilt & Craft auction, Fri. - Sat., April 3 & 4, Hamilton County Fairgrounds, 310 A St., Aurora, NE. www.nebraskamccsale.org.

SELL YOUR classic car, truck or motorcycle online. Call this newspaper or call 800-3692850 to place your ad on the national www.midwestclassiccars.com web site for only $25.00. Your ad runs until your vehicle is sold!

BANKRUPTCY: FREE initial consultation. Fast relief from creditors. Low rates.

Statewide filing. No office appointments necessary. Call Steffens Law Office, 308-8728327. www.steffenslaw.com. We are a debt relief agency, which helps people file bankruptcy under the bankruptcy code.

ALL NEW Happy Jack Xylecide anti-fungal shampoo treats ringworm and bacterial skin infections in dogs & horses without steroids. Orscheln Farm & Home stores. (www.happyjackinc.com).

HOT TUBS, walk in bathtubs, InfraRed saunas, direct from factory pricing, call 1-800869-0406 for price list and pictures. We deliver. Town Center Showcase, Lincoln, NE. RESTAURANT EQUIPMENT Outlet; new & used restaurant equipment. See www.Chillmasters.biz for more info; Sioux City, IA, 1-800-526-7105.

WANTED TO buy: Original Indian artifacts. Call Russ at 805-432-0054.

100% RECESSION proof! Do you earn $800 in a day? Your own local vending route.

Includes 25 machines and candy, all for $9,995. 888-755-1356.

ELBA PUBLIC School with a 4-day academic week is accepting applications for the following positions: Art K-12, Elementary, Music. Send letter of application, resume, and credentials to: Gary Klahn, Elba Public School, PO Box 100, Elba, NE 68835, EOE. GOT A job? Get one at www.westernksjobs.com.

HIGHLY EXPERIENCED Ag Salesman wanted. Highly profitable specialty products.

Commission only - very profitable. Call K. Crisp. Cell: 870-955-2582. Fax: 731-376-0124.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

March 27, 2009