Vol. LXXXII
No. 30
Omaha, NE
24 Adar 2, 5763
March 28, 2003
SPECIAL PRE-PASSOVER FOOD ISSUE--MORE NEXT WEEK!
A Perfect Birthday Gift by JOAN K. MARCUS Paula “Pinkie” Nieden Hansen will celebrate her 47th birthday this weekend and she only wants one gift--good health--something that she hasn’t had since 1970 when she was diagnosed with Focal Segmental Glomerulo Sclerosis, a gradual reduction in kidney function. She also needs a new kidney. She hopes for a kidney from a living donor that would be a match for her-and to raise awareness that donors need not wait until they die in order to save lives. Hansen is the administrator of Congregation Tifereth Israel in Lincoln and is able to do the job because of the love and patience of the congregation. “They just accept what I can and can’t do. The support of the people there really helps me to Paula “Pinkie” Nieden live my difficult life.” Paula (nicknamed “Pinkie” for her great grandfather, Pincus) was born in Lincoln and admits that she had lots of fun until she was in seventh grade, involved in USY and BBYO. But, she began to develop fevers and ran a temperature every three weeks or so. The family pediatrician put her on an antibiotic for a time and the fever would subside. However, a few weeks later, it would come back. Finally, her parents, Max and the late Eleanor Nieden, took her to the hospital with a105º temper-
ature. It was then that doctors discovered excess protein in her urine and suggested that she be taken to The Mayo Clinic. In June of 1970, she was diagnosed with FSGS-her kidneys weren’t pulling poisons and waste out of her body. The disease is genetic but not hereditary. She was treated with a variety of experimental techniques and was able to lead a fairly normal life as a teenager. However, high blood pressure is another side effect of FSGS and she has taken medication for that since she was a child. Doctors at that time thought that bed rest would help Pinkie to prolong her kidney functions, so she was limited in her activities. During her teenage years, her kidney function had already diminished to about 50%. She was also referred from Mayo to get follow-up treatment at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. “I knew I had a kidney disease and that I had to take care of it,” Pinkie admitted. “I needed to have it checked often. I also knew Hansen all along that I could never have children and that eventually I be on dialysis and need a transplant. But I wasn’t sick a lot.” The only thing Pinkie had to keep an eye on was making sure she took her blood pressure medication and didn’t eat any “seriously salty” foods. UNMC always had medical students who tried to explain to teens about their disease. “We were always encouraged to ask questions and that was pretty unusual back in the 70s. (Continued on page 8)
Holocaust Commemorations Set for Lincoln and Omaha Cantor Fettman to Speak at Capitol Rotunda
Hidden Children Subject of Omaha Yom HaShoah
by MARCIA KUSHNER Yom HaShoah State Chairman Cantor Leo Fettman, cantor emeritus of Beth Israel Synagogue and a Nazi concentration camp survivor, will be the keynoter speaker for Yom HaShoah, the Nebraska Holocaust Commemoration Tuesday, April 29, 7:30 p.m. Cantor Fettman, who has spoken on the Holocaust in many communities of Nebraska as well as national, is a remarkable person and brings to any discussion of the Holocaust a depth of knowledge based on his own experience and years of reflection and study. “The Holocaust didn’t start suddenly, and it wasn’t the work of a lone madman,” he explained. “Rather it was the inescapable culmination of centuries of hatred and bigotry.” This year’s theme is “Never Again--For Anyone!” This annual message is not just a memorial for the past, it is a rallying cry for justice in the present and into the future. In a separate ceremony, Nebraska survivors of the Holocaust will light candles in memory of the victims. Each year an additional candle is lit to commemorate those who, at the risk of their own lives, sheltered and rescued victims of the Holocaust. For his humanitarian work, Reverend Donald Coleman Sr., formally of Mad Dads, will light this candle. (Continued on page 15)
by PAM MONSKY Federation Communications Director Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Memorial Day will be observed Wednesday, April 30, 7 p.m. at Beth El Synagogue with a service open to the entire Omaha Jewish community. The service includes special readings and prayers from each of the rabbis and cantors, a moving candle lighting ceremony led by community members who are survivors of the Holocaust and a keynote presentation by Walter Reed, a nationally known Holocaust speaker and one of the “Hidden Children of Chateau La Hille,” a group of 100 children from Germany and Austria who survived the war in France and were protected by the Swiss Children’s Aid Society. In addition, six high school students will be awarded prizes for their essays submitted to the Anti-Defamation League’s contest: Tribute to the Danes and Other Rescuers . The Herbert Goldsten Trust provided the monetary awards for the students, which include one first prize of $1,500; two second prizes of $750 each, and three third place prizes of $500 each. The students’ essays were selected from more than 270 submissions from several area high schools. (Continued on page 15)
Ben Wiesman to Be Inducted at Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame Event by CAROL KATZMAN, Editor One of Omaha’s most successful real estate developers, Benjamin Wiesman, is among the leaders to be inducted in to the Omaha Business Hall of Fame next month. The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce will honor him at a dinner at the Holiday Inn Convention Center Ballroom on Thursday, April 10, 6 p.m. Other honorees include: C.R. “Bob” Bell, Ben Wiesman former President of the Chamber; architect Stanley How, Kenneth E. Stinson, chairman and CEO of Peter Kiewit Sons, Inc.; and--posthumously, Father Edward Flanagan, founder of Boys Town, and J. Wendell Thomas, founder of Thomas Funeral Home. Jan Goldstein, Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Omaha, described Wiesman’s commitment to the community this way: “Ben’s lifelong roots in Omaha and his visionary outlook bring strength to the leadership of our Jewish community. He has the ability to look at ‘the big picture’ whether it’s the impact of a commercial development on a neighborhood or imagining what the role of our synagogues will be in a not-too-distant future. “We share our pride with the Wiesman family in Ben’s accomplishments,” she added. Wiesman’s company, Wiesman Development, has been an innovator in the field for nearly 50 years. From his beginnings as the owner of apartment buildings and duplexes in midtown, Wiesman branched out into “turnkey” operations--handling all aspects of a project from design to construction to furnishing. During the recession of the 1970s, Wiesman maintained his commitment to downtown Omaha, purchasing and rehabbing old buildings. Later, Wiesman would devote his company’s attention to purchasing architecturally significant buildings-such as the Flatiron, the Ballantyne, and renovation of the Ford Plaza. In 1999, he was awarded the Visionary Pioneer Award from Downtown Omaha. With the development of Omaha’s new convention center, “Downtown is once again becoming a focal point for social and business activities,” he noted, “fueled by museums, the arts, and a renewed commitment to a strong financial and office community.” But it was marketing where Wiesman distinguished his company from others. He created the first world-wide 800 number for the Whirlpool Corporation which paved the way for Omaha to become the capitol for telemarketing and reservation centers. In the 1980s, a study by a national hotel consulting firm noted that Wiesman had developed more than 60% of the hotel reservation centers in the United States. His custom-designed facilities include clients such as giants First Data Resources, Hewlett (Continued on page 15)
INSIDE: Monthly calendar ........................... pages 10-11 Yair Dalal to perform, Alicia Ostriker to speak in Lincoln .................................... page 14 Passover Recipes from Australia ...... page 16 Purim Around the Heartland ...... pages 18-19