2 | The Jewish Press | March 30, 2018
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Jbl bagels & business series presents: Harley Schrager of The Pacesetter Corporation Gabby blair Staff Writer, Jewish Press The Jewish Federation of Omaha is pleased to present the Jewish Business Leaders’ Bagels and Business breakfast featuring guest speaker Harley Schrager, retired President, COO and co-owner of the Pacesetter Corporation. An Omaha native, Schrager has been recognized for his excellence in both business and community service and has made significant contributions Harley Schrager to Omaha and the greater metropolitan area. Schrager became President of the Pacesetter Corporation at age 29 and along with his brother Phil Schrager successfully built it into the nation’s largest, independent, direct sales home improvement company. In 1988 he founded and sponsored the Pacesetter Youth Baseball Organization, a city-wide, select, professionally-coached baseball experience for youth. Harley’s dedication and passion for sports and baseball contin-
The Rational Bible
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Continued from page 1 completed: “I hope many people learn to take the Torah more seriously,” he said. “It’s not a book of religious fairy tales and it’s not a book that was only written for those who lived prior to our modern times. There is reason to the stories and the laws of the Torah: it need not be understood as a faith document alone. Even an atheist can be informed by the explanations in this commentary. More than that, I believe people will learn valuable life lessons from it. This is why I chose to get involved: this commentary makes a remarkable case for the importance of adhering to these values.” In his preface to The Rational Bible: Exodus, Joel delves deeper into his motivation to take on a project of such massive scope: “Who would have guessed that I would not only find myself reading a brilliant explanation of what I have come to regard as the greatest book ever written, but that I would also have helped to make this work possible? My Sunday school and Hebrew school teachers certainly would not have guessed. Given my awful grades and even worse behavior, they’d be shocked. My grandfather, an Orthodox rabbi, would also be shocked. He had given me a five-volume set of the Torah when I was a teen, but whenever he would open one of those volumes, he would hear the binding crack. He knew I hadn’t even touched the books.” He goes on to say that his story is hardly unique and most of us know he is correct in that assessment. Maybe we hear the weekly Parsha, maybe we are aware of where we are on the calendar, but how many of us sit down and really read, verse by verse, trying to find meaning in these old words that can guide us in today’s world? Yet, that meaning is there: rabbis the world over look to the Torah every day and extrapolate how we are supposed to act in the modern age. Dennis Prager’s commentary addresses that disconnect between when the Torah was written and the time in which we live quite thoroughly. One of the most valuable and inspiring aspects of Judaism has always been the invitation it extends to the reader and practitioner to ask questions. This volume, likewise, does not simply offer explanations and commentary to be ingested, it encourages the reader to engage and think critically of the text of the Torah. Verse by verse, it extrapolates by asking questions and bridging the gap between the centuries. These are not fairy tales, these are not ancient stories that no longer apply: meaning can be found here and now. “Why didn’t God give the Ten Commandments to the first Human Beings?” Prager poses. He also addresses the moral importance of remembering while discussing the pharaoh who “did not know Joseph.” He delves into the history of blood beliefs, calling them “a great source of cruelty:”
ued as he served on the Omaha Sports Commission and the Executive Committee of CWS of Omaha Inc., for 25 years. In 2001 he became the youngest inductee into the Omaha Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame and has been honored to serve on the boards of many not-for-profit organizations, including Children’s Hospital, Children’s Museum, the Jewish Federation Foundation (President), and Girls, Inc., (President). For these efforts and others, he has received numerous awards including National Council of Christians and Jews (NCCJ) Humanitarian of the Year. Come join us for coffee and a bagel and learn with us at The Happy Hollow Country Club (701 S 105th Street, Omaha) on Wednesday, april 18 from 7:30-8:30 a.m. Reserve your space today by contacting Steve Levinger before april 13 at 402.334.6433 or slevinger@ jewishomaha.org. Please be sure to mark your calendars for these future JBL Bagels and Business events: July 25; 7:30-8:30 a.m. at Happy Hollow Country Club: Rachel Jacobson, Executive Director at Film Streams. JBL Events are free with paid membership of only $100 per year. Come, be a part of JBL and help us continue to build and strengthen the legacy of Jewish businesses in Omaha. For more information, or to become a sponsor, please contact Steve Levinger at 402.334.6433 or slevinger@jewishomaha.org or Alex Epstein at 402.505.7720 or aepstein@omnepartners.com; join online at http://www.jewish omaha.org/about/community-programs-and-events/jewish-busi ness-leaders/.
“Those who are not part of the right group are deemed worthy of persecution. The Torah, in contrast, did not place much value on blood ties. As Joseph Telushkin points out, Jacob is regarded as the third patriarch of the Jewish people, but his twin brother, Esau, who did not share Jacob’s religious beliefs, is not even regarded as a Jew. In Exodus (19:6) God tells the Jews to be a holy goy (national unit), not a holy am (blood group or ethnicity). The Hebrew bible holds, and later Judaism held, that anyone of any blood can become a Jew— just like the first Jew, Abraham, who was not born a Jew, but became one later in life.” “This book should have been written 50 years ago,” Joel said. “Or even longer than that—too many Jews have walked away from their Jewish communities because of poor religious educational experiences and the even poorer answers they were given to their religious questions. I believe, even on the part of unaffiliated Jews (and secular gentiles, for that matter) there is an unfulfilled hunger for meaning. Religious teachers and organizations need to do more to dispense the kinds of lessons which will help to bring people back to their religious communities. I believe this book will go a long way towards making that happen.” The Rational Bible: Exodus does not propose new meaning to the Torah. Instead, it reminds us that that meaning has been there all along. The Rational Bible can be pre-ordered from Amazon now at https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Bible-Exodus-Den nis-Prager/dp/1621577724.
Sokolof lecture Continued from page 1 The Jewish Federation of Omaha and the UNO Schwalb Center are excited to host Mr. Siegel and hope you can join us for this fascinating and unique opportunity. For more information about this and other events, please contact the Schwalb Center at uno schwalbcenter@unom aha.edu or 402.554.2788.