April 3, 2009: Passover Edition

Vol. LXXXVIII No. 31 Omaha, NE

Celebrating 88 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa

9 Nisan, 5768 April 3, 2009 2 Sections

Page 2

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

Do we really need group therapy?

You betcha!

In these perilous times -- of job losses, bank failures, government spending out of control -of threats to Israel and Western civilization -- of anti-Zionist hate language at the United Nations, in Europe, and on college campuses -of continuing violence in Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and now in Mexico -- we all desperately need some reassuring laughter!

When the Jewish Press board of directors came up with the idea for this Passover issue, none of us knew how bad the economy was going to be -- but we knew we had to do something to bring a smile to the faces of our readers. And what better way to do that than to feature the men and women who have leaned on one another for friendship, compassion, advice and sometimes group therapy!

Whether they’re playing poker or Mah Jongg together, riding bikes or bowling, these groups display the heart and soul of the Midwest. They laugh and cry together, spend Jewish holidays and Shabbat dinners with one another, and have been there for one another (and for the Jewish community) through good times and bad.

Jewish Omaha (as well as Council Bluffs and Lincoln!) reached deep for courage they didn’t know they had to get through the Depression, World War II, and earlier recessions of inflation, long lines at the gas pump and doubledigit jobless claims. One difference about today’s woes, however, is the constant barrage of news: from 24-hour cable networks to the internet. In 1982, we didn’t know life was that bad! Today, we do.

(Hmm -- maybe one way to combat this onslaught is to turn off the tv and computer for, say, 25 hours -- like during Shabbat!)

And that brings us to another message from

the Jewish Press -- our future.

Many of you have e-mailed, called, written or stopped by this office to express your support for the regular print delivery of our weekly community newspaper.

We are gratified to know that many of you “love to hold something in my hands to read” and that others think “the Press is essential for maintaining a sense of Jewish community, especially for ‘non-observant’ Jews.” Others “look forward to reading the Press” and insist they “would hate, hate, hate it if we didn’t receive the ‘Jewish Press’ every week in our mailbox!”

Your support is very important to us, whether it’s letters like these, purchasing advertising, or making financial contributions.

However, we do have to explore other options. And one of those, as you well know, is expanding our presence on the web. The good news is, we hope to use the services of a local website developer to launch a new, interactive, independent, fully functional website this summer!

Features will include: national and international news of interest to the Jewish world that is updated on a more frequent basis; more photos from local organizations, synagogues, the Federation and its agencies that we cannot publish in the print version due to space restrictions; and new features -- from recipes posted by our readers and art projects for the Jewish holidays to podcasts of lectures and devrei Torah. Even the groups in this issue will be able to schedule their get-togethers using a special section just for them!

Not all the features will be rolled out at once, but in the coming months, readers will learn the details of this exciting new venture.

Of course, we’ll still be publishing the Jewish

Press in print -- we just don’t know yet how often. Much of that will depend on you -- the reader. Are you telling our loyal advertisers that you saw their ad in the Press? Are you purchasing their goods and services? The more you do, the more likely advertisers will continue to use the Jewish Press to get their messages to what we consider a very special target market!

The other factor in this equation is, of course, the economy. The faster it turns around, the more our advertising will increase and the more our Jewish Federation will have the funds it needs (in campaign contributions and assets in the Foundation) to subvent our agencies.

Regardless of the impact of this economy, we are doing our very best to bring you the news each week. That’s due in large part to the hard work of our caring and skilled Board of Directors, our staff and volunteers.

Each of these special people deserves a heartfelt “thank you very much” for their devotion to this newspaper.

From Advertising Manager Allan Handleman, who is wearing out shoe leather to reach current and new advertisers, and the talented Richard Busse, our amazing and creative Managing Editor, to our honest and efficient Bookkeeper Barb Kirkpatrick, and our web and production whiz Assistant Managing Editor Lori Kooper Schwarz, the Press gets written, created, produced and published -and delivered to your mail box each week. We couldn’t do all this without them -- or without our loyal and expert volunteers: Deborah Platt, Dottie Rosenblum, and Suzanne Singer.

So: don’t worry, be happy! And have a healthy, peaceful -- and prosperous -Passover! Chag Pesach Samayach!

Carol Katzman, Editor Bobbi Leibowitz, President

Photos on the front cover, from top left: Don Osborn, left, Brian Eades, David Maciejewski, Jeff Schrager, Jason Epstein, Adam Yale, Mike Schop, John Glazer, Dan Epstein, and Steve Levinger are members of the JCC’s “Chicken Basketball” pick-

up game; Flora Telpner is an original member of the Council Bluffs Mah Jongg group that has since moved to Spirit World in Omaha; Brian Breslow displays the “Star City Cyclepaths” sweatshirt of a group of (former!) bike riders in Lincoln; Marti

Nerenstone leads members of (the now disbanded) Congregation Beyt Shalom in a Sukkot sing-along; Jerry Gordman and Nate Schwalb are part of a chess club that meets every Shabbat afternoon (except when the Huskers are playing!).

(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 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.

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April 3, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 3

Saying goodbye to Congregation Beyt Shalom

adherents to rediscover the richness of tradition, but also recreate new observances made necessary by contemporary life.

For Alice Weiss, Reconstructionist Judaism fulfilled a need to become more involved.

“I was eager to include the whole family in the learning process, not just from books, but by doing and practicing,” she said. “I wanted to learn Biblical Hebrew to be able to read Torah, and Beyt Shalom offered us those opportunities, while enabling me to make a contribution to the community.”

Weiss found what she was looking for and more when, eventually, she became Beyt Shalom’s President and religious school director.

“We were so small, everybody had to contribute to our community in some way, shape, or form, including the children,” she remembers.

“Both my daughters led certain parts of the Shabbat and High Above: Alice Weiss, a former president of Beyt Shalom and vol- Holiday services, as did unteer educator, works with students in the congregation’s reli- most of the other gious school. Below: Beyt Shalom members often led Shabbat teenagers. Every year for services at the Blumkin Home; here they entertain residents Yom Kippur, I read from with a Purim schpiel and costume parade. the Torah, and I was recruited at times to read during our B’nai Mitzvah services. It was just something you did for each other, and for the community.

Marti Nerenstone, our lay leader, mentored us, and deserves much credit for all the help he offered, as does Rabbi Myer Kripke, our rabbinic advisor.”

In fact, Rabbi Kripke considers himself an adherent of Reconstructionist thought and Developed during the 1920-40 period, learned from Mordechai Kaplan during Reconstructionist Judaism is the brain- his days at the Jewish Theological semichild of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan and his nary in New York City. son-in-law, Ira Eisenstein. Kaplan, born There are three components to the in 1881 in Lithuania and initially Reconstructionist movement. First of all, ordained as an Orthodox rabbi, believed there is a synagogue, overseen by the that Jewish practice should be reconciled Reconstructionist Federation; second, a with modern thought. rabbinical college, and finally, an associaKaplan’s theology held that in light of tion of rabbis. While Reconstructionist the advances in philosophy, science, and rabbis function as community leaders, history, it would be impossible for mod- counselors, and teachers, they are not the ern Jews to continue to follow some of sole authority when it comes to making Judaism’s traditional theological claims. decisions that affect the congregation as Reconstructionism is the first major a whole. movement of Judaism to originate in “Rabbis have a vote, but not a veto,” North America. Since its inception, according to Deanna Liddy. Liddy is a Reconstructionist congregations have retired psychology professor, formerly sprung up all over the country, as well as employed at the University of Nebraskain Canada, the Czech Republic, and the Omaha, and, like Weiss, came to Beyt Netherlands Antilles.

Shalom looking for a place where she Its membership is most heavily concen- could find an intellectual as well as a spirtrated in New York, Pennsylvania, and itual home.

California.

Judaism, so “I had a very diverse upbringing,” Reconstructionists believe, is the entire Liddy said, “with an orthodox, Yeshivacultural legacy of the Jewish people. This educated father, and a mother who came means that, while spiritual insights and from a Labor background. My parents religious study are central, an equally eventually settled on raising their chilimportant role is played by creative dren as Conservative Jews, but I always expression through art, literature, and felt there wasn’t enough room to quesmusic, as well as by the relationship with tion things.”

Israel.

She added, “My father didn’t think Although there is a strong connection girls needed a Bat Mitzvah, although he to the collective Jewish history, later changed his mind. When I started Reconstructionism emphasizes the place high school, I acquired an intellectual of Jews in contemporary society. This taste, I found out how useful it was for means responding to current societal me personally to discuss issues, to ask needs, as well as an increased awareness many questions, and to be open to a variof the problems faced by that society. ety of opinions and viewpoints.”

Reconstructionist Judaism enables its Continued on page 4

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT During the mid 1990s, Alice Weiss and her husband were looking for something different in a synagogue.

“We had been members of another congregation, and didn’t really find our niche. I, for one, wanted more ritual observances on a warm, intimate, and informal basis,” she said.

Weiss and her family finally found that niche at Congregation Beyt Shalom, a Reconstructionist Synagogue, housed first in Council Bluffs, and eventually in Omaha.

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Shabbat Shalom

by JOAN K. MARCUS They come from all walks of life. You might think that they have nothing in common. There’s a doctor, a lawyer, a grocery store manager, an accountant, a teacher, a nurse and a couple of musicians. The one thing they do have in common is that they’ve all attended the Kabbalat Shabbat service at Beth El Synagogue on Friday evenings.

It certainly isn’t a formal group. After the service, (which ends promptly at 7 p.m.) dinner participants stand around the chapel door and ask, “Where are we going?” There is usually a discussion that lasts no more than five minutes; then everyone agrees and departs for the restaurant. Word spreads quickly about the location of that week’s Shabbat dinner.

New or infrequent members of the group are always asked, “Are you joining us?” There are no dues or entrance fees into the group, which consists of Beth El Jewish seniors, ranging in age from 62 to 80-something!

O c c a s i o n a l l y, someone’s “kids” join the group.

However, they are the first to admit that the “kids” are now in their 40s and 50s! Members who Esther and Jim Wax are not able to drive at night are shuttled by those who can.

According to one of the charter members, Alan (Buddy) Goodman, “Basically, the group started about nine years ago. We were at services on Friday night and mentioned that we were going to eat here or there. It started growing with people our age, looking for the fellowship. Our kids are all grown.”

He explained, “My wife Gloria and I had been going to services, but others started coming, and we just invited them to come along with us. We absolutely look forward to going and, if we don’t, we feel funny. It’s part of togetherness for people of our age.”

Goodman continued, “We didn’t even know some of the people, but the group can have as few as four and be as large as 20 or more. Because our kids aren’t here, this is Shabbat dinner with our friends. The food is a very small part. I think that attendance at Friday night servic-

es has increased because of this. Going to the musical service and the dinner afterwards is important because the members want to be together.”

Alan and Gloria have lived in Omaha since 1973, when according to Alan, “Somebody offered me a job here when I needed one.” Goodman, a CPA, said, “At the end of two years, Gloria and our kids didn’t want to leave. Today, I absolutely adore Omaha -- particularly Jewish Omaha because it’s home!”

Dr. Jim Wax remembers that he and his wife, Esther, began coming when Cantor Gaston Boglomoni started to conduct the musical service. “It’s fun to be with friends. Ssometimes we pick a place before we go into services, and it changes when we come out.”

The Waxes have lived in Omaha for 49 years, since Jim

Tootie Simon and Sol Schwartz arrived for his residency in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital. Esther is well-known as a pianist for ballet classes and as an accompanist for soloists and programs.

They have been members of Beth El for 17 years. They were married in 1957, and have four children, 15 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Art Stein came to Omaha from Sioux City 54 years ago because he was dating Lorraine Peltz. Stein recalls coming to Omaha each weekend on an airplane when the fare was $6.60. He finally decided that it would be cheaper and easier to move to Omaha so Laurie and Art were married in 1956.

He was the store director of the Baker’s at 72nd and Blondo for 19 years. In 1981, he became the director of Electronic Services. They have four adult sons and 10 grandchildren.

Continued on page 5

Saying goodbye

Dirk V. Block Elizabeth Stuht Borchers David A. Christensen Howard N. Epstein Ari D. Riekes Steven J. Riekes John J. Velasquez

Kelli J. Watson Steven M. Watson David P. Wilson Harold M. Zabin Of Counsel: Wallace Hopkins

Continued from page 3 These different viewpoints include, but are not limited to, the role of women in the Shabbat and High Holiday services, same-sex marriage, and the creation of life cycle rituals. For instance, the movement has created rituals for the marking of a member’s retirement, leaving home for college, menopause, and weaning. The reason is that these are times when members of the congregation are in particular need of communal support.

The Reconstructionist movement has since its inception ordained women, and was the first Jewish community to hold a formal Bat Mitzvah ceremony -- Kaplan’s daughter was the first. Prayer books are gender neutral, and members are expected to fully support egalitarian principles.

“I think of the early years at Beyt Shalom as our ‘academic phase’,” Liddy says. “We were deeply into adult education, and studied together a lot. We then saw the growth of our school, and became very involved in teaching our children.”

In spite of the intellectually and spiritually stimulating community that both Weiss and Liddy found at Beyt Shalom, the congregation eventually could not continue.

“It is such a pity that the community is losing the only Reconstructionist Synagogue,” Liddy says, “because we were so vibrant for so many years. We ran a great school, we had fantastic adult education, we produced many B’nai Mitzvah, we brought back old traditions and created new ones. We were a caring community, we were welcoming, made great food, and sang a lot.”

She added, “We also had a very special relationship with the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home for many years, and conducted services there regularly. Unfortunately we lost members over the years. Many of them moved

away from Omaha, and a few were burnt out because the level of involvement was very high. Had we been able to convince a rabbi to come to Omaha, we might have continued. As it was, the entire load fell on our shoulders, particularly those of religious leader Marty Nerenstone.”

The small group had seen the difficulties mount up over the past few years. “We committed to stay together until our last four students completed their B’nai Mitzvah,” Liddy noted. “Over the summer of 2008, we finally decided to disband.”

Weiss agreed, noting, “The reason to move on was simple; most of us had been congregational leaders in some way for so long, and we just got tired.

Unfortunately, we had difficulty attracting new members on a continuing basis, so there was no ‘new blood’ to take over that leadership role. I’m sad about it, and feel the loss of Beyt Shalom deeply. At the same time, I have learned an enormous amount about what it means to live a Jewish life, and we as a family have maintained the rituals we began 14 years ago.”

She added, “I’m not sure what comes next for my family and me, but I feel forever grateful for the enriching experience that was given to us by Beyt Shalom.”

Although Beyt Shalom will not continue in a formal setting, not all has to come to an end.

“Beyt Shalom has been my Jewish home for many years,” Liddy explained. “We will certainly continue as an informal Havurah. I think that many of our values, such as gender equality, giving tradition a voice and not a veto, and tolerance for different points of view, have become much more mainstream in American Judaism today, and I’m grateful for that.”

Anyone interested in finding out more about the informal Havurah, can contact Alice Weiss at aweiss824@ aol.com.

April 3, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 5

Shabbat Shalom Continued from page 4 Milton and Judy Brookstein Katskee come to Shabbat dinner every Friday because “these are some of the nicest people in Omaha. We can all visit with one another without airs or pretenses.

One time, we all decided where we were going to eat and -- then it changed! But, Laurie and Art had already gone ahead to the other place. When I remembered them, I was mortified and I called them.

They weren’t even mad. As a matter of

hand, really liked Judy and chose to serenade her with the Central Marching Band (of which he was the drum major) as she entered the building each morning!

In later years, they were reintroduced at the suggestion of their mothers. They were married in 1963 and they have two adult children and three grandchildren.

Joe and Beverly Bernstein Frank are faithful members of the dinner group, too. Joe came to Omaha from

been away from here for two months in my whole 83 years.”

He graduated from Central High and from the University of Nebraska as a chemical engineer. After five years, he decided that he wanted to do something else and he went into the insurance business where he stayed for 55 years. His wife, Sylvia Hurwich Schwartz, died in 2002. They had two daughters and two grandchildren.

Sol smiles and says, “I come to dinner

group after Mickey died because she enjoys the friendliness.

Dolores (Dee) Siegel Goodman is a retired registered nurse. She has lived in Omaha for her entire life and was married to Harold Goodman. She has three grown sons and two granddaughters.

“Sometimes, I’m tired and I think about not going to services on Friday night. But if I don’t go, I can’t be with my friends for dinner afterwards. I cook for myself but this is the time that I can

Joe and Bev Frank fact, they laughed! That’s the way we are -- comfortable with each other. No one holds a grudge!”

Milt went on to say, “We look forward to the Friday night service. It is uplifting and dinner afterwards is a good break for the week. Judy cooks all week and Friday is a time to spend with friends.”

Judy and Milt grew up in Omaha and both graduated from Central High School. Milt emphasizes that Judy didn’t like him in high school and they had only a couple of dates. He, on the other

Milt and Judy Katskee Connecticut in 1936 when his father took a job as a government meat inspector. Before their retirements, Joe worked in the laboratory of the Corp of Engineers and Bev was a receptionist at Avery Optical Company. They were married in 1956 and they have two adult children and three grandchildren.

On the night that I spoke with the group, Sol Schwartz and Tootie Kohn Simon were the “boyfriend and girlfriend” in attendance. Sol says, “I was born and raised in Omaha and I’ve only

Dee Goodman with this group because I want to be with Tootie!”

Tootie added, “Sol was in the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home for 11 weeks after he broke his ankle. My husband, Mickey, had been there and, when he died in 2006, I went back as a volunteer, I met Sol and I guess he’s my boyfriend now!”

She grew up in Omaha and graduated from North High School. She and Mickey have three grown children and five grandchildren. She joined the dinner

Art and Laurie Stein have companionship. Most of us have known each other for at least 30 years and some of us from clear back in high school.”

Alan Goodman summed up the situation by saying, “Omaha is home. We never saw things like this when we lived in other cities. The Shabbat night dinner is very important to Gloria and me. We have gone to shul on Friday nights in snow and sleet because we don’t want to miss it. Things like this are a very important part of Jewish Omaha.”

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

Checkmate, mate

by LISA LIEB Bound together by a love of the game, a friendship for one another, and a 7-1 preference of Coke over Pepsi, a group of eight men gather each Saturday at 3 p.m. to play some spirited games of chess.

Founded more than 35 years ago by Steve Riekes and Larry Zacharia, the “Saturday Afternoon Chess Club” also includes Jerry Gordman, Cary Grossman, Rich Juro, Dick Roth, Nate Schwalb and Bob Zuber. Most have been part of the group for years, and many played tennis together before that. Former longtime members of the group include Stan Widman and former Omahan Marty Wolf.

several years ago after being invited by tennis partner Nate Schwalb. Dick knew most of the members already and quickly fit in with the group.

A former sheriff and secret service agent who was assigned to help protect a number of U.S. Presidents, Dick claims he’s never had to use his law enforcement skills on Saturday afternoons -- though he keeps his mace on-hand should the need arise. One chess player reveals that the group is sometimes jokingly referred to as “The Sheriff and Seven Jews.”

Like the other men Rich Juro began playing chess many years ago. Rich grew up just a few blocks from chess legend Bobby Fischer, who inspired him to play.

Now living in Florida, Marty offers insight from the group’s early days. “We were young, Jewish, good friends and competitive as all get out,” he declares. “We enjoyed each other's company and we followed Coach Vince Lombardi’s dictum that winning is not the most important thing -- it’s the only thing.”

Fast forward to a Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago…random comments emerge as the games progress.

“You’re in trouble now,” one participant informs his opponent. “Are you sure you want to do that?” someone queries with a twinkle in his eye. “I’m opening you up like a can of worms,” another player taunts as he moves in for the kill. “All right, so the score is now 4,000 to 3,”

Dick Roth and Larry Zacharia shake hands after their game.

Cary Grossman is the chess group’s newest member, having participated for the past two to three years. Asked how he found his way in, he recalls a Bar Mitzvah at Beth El. An active member of the synagogue, Cary was on the bema that day to present the gifts to the Bar Mitzvah boy.

“I had learned the boy liked to play chess and mentioned I was a chess player too,” he recalls.

Regular attendee Steve Riekes was at services that day and told Cary about the group. Cary’s passion for the game and ability to banter made him a welcome addition.

His mastery of the game and lack of seniority can occasionally prove hazardous -- requiring Cary to play two games at once when an odd number of players show up.

Dick Roth, the only non-Jewish participant, joined

Cary Grossman plays against Nate Schwalb and Bob Zuber.

Too easy a target to resist, one player pipes up with the question, “So what happened to your game?”

As they reminisce about past victories, misadventures, and who’s most often guilty of taking back moves (Bob’s and Steve’s names keep popping up), the group recalls a Berkshire Hathaway meeting five or six years ago.

The U.S. Chess Champion was featured in an exhibition match, which involved playing six games at once blindfolded. The champion easily won five of his six games; the only game he lost was to Bob Zuber.

As the afternoon progresses and new games begin, someone is heard offering to play blindfolded in a nod to that match.

So what is it about chess that’s so compelling for these men?

Steve Riekes and Rich Juro match wits on a regular basis. his opponent retorts. Indeed, competitiveness would seem to be a critical part of the equation.

It comes as no surprise that once a week isn’t often enough to satisfy the appetites of these avid chess players.

The men are always on the lookout for fresh victims, whether challenging players online, at the Bagel Bin or taking perverse satisfaction in defeating a grandchild or two.

Each week, one of the players hosts the chess group at his home. Refreshments are provided, and the men nosh and drink Coke products while they hone their strategies. Even the wives have been known to catch the competitive fever, and remarks fly as to which hostess has consistently provided the best treats. “Linda has always provided the best snacks,” hostess Linda Gordman declares.

Continued on page 7

Wishing Your assover P is illed F withHealth and Happiness.

April 3, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 7

More than Bridge: Friendships hold widows together

by JOAN K. MARCUS would use their vacation time to drive to Des Moines, In 1973, a group of prematurely widowed young Grand Island and Kansas City. “I remember the trip to women formed a Bridge group, with Ruth Render Grand Island to visit the Stuhr Museum and then to (Stein) as their leader. It was an unwritten rule that, in South Dakota for the Corn Palace weekend. Bridge order to join, you had to be widowed. became secondary and we were building on long-term Ann Rosen Kaiman, Blanche Staenberg Wise and relationships,” added Jess.

Sylvia Katzman Jess were the “charter” members and the “I was only 43 years-old when my husband died. And group grew from there. Doris Ban Fox (Cohn) and until Ruth (Render Stein) got us together, I didn’t do Lucille Zelinsky were also part of the original group. very much. It’s very unusual to stay friends with couples Audrey Greenberg Cohen, Esther Shapiro Meiches, when you no longer have a husband. They try but it’s not Shirley Berman and Lucille Zelinsky joined later. the same. When you become a widow, life becomes very On the day that I spoke with the now “more mature” different.” women, Ann, 87, Sylvia, 87, Charlotte Nogg Slutzky Blanche added, “I had two teenagers to raise and I Koom, 88, and Esther, 87, and Blanche --the youngster didn’t have that much time.” at 77, were in attendance.

The women all enjoy each other because they are all “After we formed this group, thank G-d we had independent. If they do choose to go out with couples, friends who were all in the same position. We all had the they insist on paying their own way. Going with each same discussions,” other alleviates any probKaiman explained. lems.

“If we didn't have anyEsther remembers, thing to do on Saturday “Before Herb died, we night, we would get went to a party and we together and play bridge picked up Ann. On the and go out to eat. None way home, she told me of us dated, so it was easy that she wasn’t going to for us to get together. go with couples anymore Some of us had known because she felt uncomeach other even before we fortable. She said that she were married. We had would drive her own car even gone to high school the next time. After Herb together. It’s easy to died, I understood what know everybody when she was saying.” you have grown up in The widows group consisted of, back row: Sylvia Katzman Jess, According to Blanche, left, Blanche Staenberg Wise, Charlotte Nogg Slutzky (Koom), Ann “Until you walk in someOmaha!”

In 1991, at the insis- Rosen Kaiman, and front row: Audrey Greenberg Cohen, and one’s shoes, you can’t tence of Lucille, they Lucille Zelinsky. understand what we planned a Caribbean cruise. Much laughter arose when mean. We became confidantes with each other. If we had they spoke of the fun that they had on the trip. a problem, we could talk about it without it being spread “When we got to Puerto Rico, we picked up this guy around.” who became our guide. He showed us all around. When In the past 35 years, families have grown up and the he asked if we wanted some gentlemen at our table, we ladies all have grandchildren. Charlotte has three chiltold him, ‘no!’ We were having too much fun on our dren, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. own. I celebrated my 70th birthday and we had a ball,” Ann has three sons and four grandchildren. Esther has Kaiman recalled. two children, two grandchildren and four great-grand“We all got along on that cruise and whenever we trav- children. Blanche has two sons and three grandchildren. el together, we may discuss, but we’ve never argued Sylvia has four children, three grandsons and one greatabout anything. We talk about everything -- including granddaughter. politics.”

Esther shared a story: “When Herb died suddenly and Sylvia, who has been a widow since in 1964 when her the shiva ended, my kids had left and I was sitting at my husband Lou died, remembers that everyone in the dining room table. It was the first time I had ever been group had children who were still in high school and completely alone. The phone rang and it was Sylvia. She college when the group formed. Although younger, and some other women were bringing dinner over. I still Blanche, then a Hebrew school teacher at Beth El remember what they brought -- lasagna and salad. I will Synagogue, was invited to join the group because she never forget their kindness because it got me over that had taught all of their children. first awful day. This is the kind of relationship that we “We made dinner at home and we saved a dime a week have here!” at first,” Jess said. Then, it went to a quarter and a dolThey all agree. “We’re friends but we aren’t attached lar so that we could go out to dinner once in a while. We at the hip. If we need anything, we can call each other. went to fancy restaurants for special occasions. Later, we We discuss our finances, politics and many other things,” put in five dollars so that we could save up to take trips Kaiman said. together.”

“It’s a warm and friendly feeling we have when we’re After their children were off to college, the women with each other,” added Jess.

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Checkmate, mate Continued from page 6 who’s winning that day.

In the early days there When all is said and done, was an annual hostess what’s the biggest factor that award. This particular ritbrings these men together week ual wisely ended after just after week? one year, which may be “Camaraderie,” says one. one reason for the “Desperation,” jokes another. group’s long-term suc“Steve’s humor and acute political analysis,” says Steve cess. (though Jerry seems dubious).

Of course, there are a Marty may have summed it up few things that take best of all. “Chess is the only precedence, even over game in the world in which the chess. Family obligations total destruction of your oppo-- travel schedules -nent is the sole objective,” he Jewish holidays -says. “Fortunately, we all like Nebraska football.

During football season Steve Riekes, standing left, studies a game in progress: Bob each other, so we can accept chess is often suspended Zuber, seated left, with Cary Grossman (back to camera) and being destroyed on a Saturday during home games, Nate Schwalb (hidden). afternoon.” where many of the members can be found cheering the And so each week new battle lines are drawn and conCornhuskers on from the stands. During away games the quests are made -- rejuvenating the Saturday Afternoon chess group resumes; whether or not they watch the Chess Group for the week ahead.

Nebraska game while they play typically depends on

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April 3, 2009

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The Bagel Bin “boys�

by BERT LEWIS I think it’s fair to say much of the Jewish community is aware that every Monday a fairly sizable group of men meet for lunch at the Bagel Bin. They belong to the segment of our society now being labeled, “The Greatest Generaton.� If you’re familiar with this term, you know we’re talking mostly about men anywhere from 80 to maybe 97 years of age.

When our local daily paper writes about the greatest generation, they pay homage to the old timers among us who went to war as young men (and a few women), then came back to marry the home town girl and raise a family. Many went into the family business; others became professionals in law or medicine or the arts.

Whatever their chosen field, they devoted themselves to doing the best job they could and now, they look back and find it’s somehow 60 years later!

What are our heroes doing now, after all those decades? Most are retired, some “semi-retired� -- it was explained to me “that means I still go into the office every day, but mostly I check the accounts, read the morning paper, drink coffee and call somebody to make a lunch date. After lunch I go home.�

That’s semi-retired for some. Many don’t go to the workplace at all anymore, for a variety of reasons. Regardless, these people are all going to eat lunch every day. And that takes us back to the “once upon a time� part of this story: the men who eat lunch on Mondays at the Bagel Bin. Let me set the scene for you, starting about 11:15 in the morning. It’s fairly quiet, maybe one or two people sitting, drinking coffee, reading the paper, visiting with a friend. Gradually, a little activity begins to stir ... people behind the counter start moving things as though getting ready for something. Then, a delightful young woman named Chris Dunn starts creating one long table from many separate small tables, and arranges chairs neatly in place.

I ask innocently if she’s expecting a crowd and she tells me “Oh yes ... it’s Monday and I’ve got a big group of men who meet here for lunch.�

She proceeds to tell me about them, explaining how some come in alone, some are picked up by another one of the faithful. It gets a little busy all at once and I remark, “I’ll bet it’s a bit hectic.� And she responds, “Oh no, I just love it. I love taking care of them ... I look forward to Mondays!�

Suddenly, she looks out, sees a car pull up and says “Here comes Bernie.� Sure enough, Bernie Altsuler comes in the door and heads for the counter.

Though I know these men, I let Chris explain the program as it plays out. She recognizes Nate Shukert as he comes in, and greets him warmly. It’s true; she knows them all, having done this on Mondays for the past 13 years.

She doesn’t know when it all started, but for the 13 years she’s been on the job, they’ve been her Monday lunch party. She knows what they eat, how they like it fixed, who likes the bagels cut this way or that, who takes their coffee with or without. And she giggles when Stan Silverman comes in and says

to me “That’s Stanley. He likes his halvah.�

She’s right. When most are wiping away the crumbs, Stan goes to the counter and comes back in a few minutes with a plate of halvah and a plate of sweet rolls cut into very small pieces. “This is dessert�

Chris explains, and while it isn’t clear whether or not it’s forbidden for some, everyone takes a taste.

I came (uninvited) to lunch, to visit, to get a list of who’s who, to find out the origins of the weekly meeting and to generally check it out. I put out a piece of paper and a pen and asked the men to sign it, with their age, so I could get a real understanding of who these guys are.

They quickly got into the spirit of the “list� -- each admonishing the next arrival to “sign in�.

The next question was “what for�, then my presence was explained and I was rewarded with big smiles, warm hellos, and jokes. Perfectly acceptable because I’ve known most of them for more years then seems possible. And if I didn’t know them, I knew their wives. After all, this is my hometown, too, and we’re all sabras, if I may borrow the Israeli term for native born.

With very few exceptions, (a couple of Council Bluffs guys), it says Omaha, Nebraska, on the birth certificates of every one of us. My friend Irv Yaffe comes in, greets me warmly and sits down to become my interviewee. This was certainly appropriate, since Irv was one of the original six who formed the group.

Irv told me it happened because he and Bernie Meyers, Buddy Goldstein, Stuart Muskin, Norm Rips and Joe Vetro were all tennis players at the old Highland Country Club. They played tennis because they couldn’t play golf on Mondays, but when they were finished playing, they were looking for lunch.

According to Irv, they tried a few places but weren’t too pleased until they came to the Bagel Bin. They found they could get a nice lunch and at the same time feel comfortable relaxing and shmoozing in a place where the aroma of fresh bread and bagels was very pleasant.

Irv says in the early days when there were just the six of them, mostly they talked and kibbitzed about old times on North 24th Street, but as the group grew, so did the topics.

Now, he says, “Mostly we talk about football!� (Of course football. What else would 18 to 20 Jewish men in their 80s and 90s talk about?) Many of these people went to the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, so naturally there was only one subject up for discussion. One subject, that is, after the recent election.

This seems the appropriate place to name the men who came to lunch on that particular Monday and added their names to the list: They included: Bernie Altsuler, Nate Shukert, Irv Yaffe, Leo Meyerson, Chris Krasne, Stuart Simon, Stuart Muskin, Kevee Kirshenbaum, Buddy Goldstein, Harold Bernstein, Stan Silverman, Ed Malashock, Pete Milder, Mace Jabenis, Leonard Lewis, Bae Epstein and Ernie Wintroub.

There are others who come when health and/or other circumstances allow, such as Sol Parsow (who has since died) Continued on page 9

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.

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 April 17 Monday, April 6 April 24 Monday, April 13

April 3, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 9

The Bagel Bin “boys” Continued from page 8 and Jerry Gross, and Joe Kirshenbaum who winters in California, plus Roland Lewis whose other address is Florida. If I’ve omitted the name of anybody who should have been included, please forgive me. And let me know.

I’ll see the error gets corrected.

cern for one with problems.

I’ve not been present when a tiny citizen comes in with his young mom who says, “Run over there and give Poppy (or Zayde) a kiss,” but I’m told when the child finds the right Poppy, the rest look on and kvell. The lucky ones have grandchildren and great-grandchildren living

Irvin Yaffe asked his son-in-law to take a picture of the ‘Bagel Bin Boys’ during a Monday lunch group get-together on July 2, 2007. Seated clockwise from left are: Harold Bernstein, Harold “Bae” Epstein, Pete Milder, Stuart Muskin, and Rolie Lewis; standing in the back are: Kevee Kirshenbaum, Ed Malashock, “Big Joe” Kirshenbaum, Leonard Lewis and Irv Yaffe.

Credit: Robert Baumgardner These are really great guys, with a tight grip on friend- here, within hugging distance. Of course many more have ships lasting for all those decades. They’ve seen each other to depend on visits from out-of-towners. through thick and thin, (whether hair or business).

Regardless, an unexpected visit from somebody’s grandThey’ve known each others’ families, most probably knew child must surely be a joy for all those grandpops. the parents of their pals. They’re close enough for friendOh yes, everyone knows about the Monday Bagel Bin ly ribbing and teasing, and caring enough to display con- Lunch group. Actually, you might think of them as being

among the elders of our Jewish community.

These are the guys who remember which family was in this business and which was in that industry, who made it and lost it, and who pulled himself up from nothing and made it big! And they know the phonies too ... oh yes, don’t kid yourself. They may be old, but certain memories are fixed permanently.

I suppose there are many places these men could meet for their weekly session, but the Bagel Bin has made them feel so welcome I doubt they’d want to. When they walk in and head for the counter to give their order, usually the person taking it already knows. She knows who likes the coffee refilled often and who wants to take home a bread.

Even though we have many fine places in Omaha, we don’t have much in the way of Jewish delis, so the Bagel Bin takes on a special importance. And as long as you like a dairy lunch and if you want kosher, head for the Bagel Bin. So that’s the story of the Monday lunch group. They remind me of the joke about the man who goes to a restaurant where the clientele are mostly very senior citizens. He says to his friends, “They card you when you arrive -- if you aren’t at least 85, they won’t let you in!”

Well, we can end this story with our own version of that tale. The lunch group ranges in age from the baby, Kevee K who is 85 to the elder statesman, Leo Meyerson at 97.

I’m told however, that no matter what your age, you can come in and have lunch with the guys on Mondays.

As I review what I’ve written about this collection of some of the well-known men of our Jewish community, I hope I’ve done a good job of explaining that seemingly unique quality they display. It no doubt has to do with how long they’ve all known each other, how similar many of their lifetime experiences have been, how many of them played basketball or something else at the old JCC. Whether one had been a lawyer or a doctor or your kosher butcher, or one of the guys who owned and operated a business, it doesn’t matter much at this point.

They’ve worked, they’ve accomplished, they’ve raised families, they’ve contributed to the strength of their community; I might go so far as to suggest they’ve been a large part of what makes us the kind of community we are.

They are who they are -- husbands, brothers, dads, grandpas, uncles. Old friends from way back when.

Oh yes, one more thing: they’re the Bagel Bin Monday Lunch Group!

Wishes Everyone a Happy Holiday and Peaceful Passover

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.

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Page 10

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

The word used most often at this lunch is: “Whaaaaaaat?”

by OZZIE NOGG Occasionally, Abramson continued, It’s noon. A group of guys -- oldies- “Leonard Lewis would be having lunch but-goodies -- sit around a table at the by himself at the Highland, and after finVillage Inn. ishing his meal he’d come to our table “Well,” says one, “my nephew the and kibbitz. We felt so sorry for him we accountant just got a job with Deloitte.” asked him to join us. It was perhaps the “No kidding,” says another. “Your greatest moment of Leonard’s life.” nephew moved to Detroit?”

That brand of needling, but goodThus goes the conversation during gatherings of the Friday Lunch Bunch, where the average age is on the sunny side of 84, and digital aids from Beltone don’t enhance sound as advertised. “Still, it’s good to get together every week,” said Bucky Greenberg.

“Where else can you not hear four conversations simultaneously.”

According to unofficial historian Alvin Abramson, the Lunch Bunch started almost 30 Left: Members of the Friday lunch bunch include: Kevee years ago with a group of Kirshenbaum, left, Sol Kutler and Don Nogg, and right: Alvin friends who’d been ZBT Nogg, left, Bucky Greenberg and Harold Bernstein. (Leonard fraternity brothers at UNL. natured, humor gives the Friday Lunch “The founding fathers, not to be con- Bunch an appealing Borsht Belt flavor. All fused with Adams, Jefferson, and that’s missing are rim shots. The welcome Franklin,” Abramson quipped, “were mat is always out, and the membership Stan Malashock, Dave Rice, Kevee selection process reminds one of the ox Kirshenbaum, Jerry Rosen and me. At that drank the water that quenched the one time Don Vann, Sherm Sperling, fire that burned the stick that beat the Warner Frohman and Mel Bornstein were dog that bit the cat, etc. etc., from in the group. We’d meet at different Passover’s Chad Gadya. To whit: restaurants or at Highland Country “Joie Simon asked Bornstein if Mort Club.”

Zuber could join the gang. We agreed

that he could,” Abramson said. “To keep Mort company we included his brotherin-law Harold Bernstein. When Stan Malashock moved away, Ed Malashock took his place. Then Manya Nogg asked me to invite Alvin. Then here comes Bucky Greenberg who brought along Don Stern and Sol Kutler and next comes

Malashock reconnect with the group when they visit the old home town.

“Unfortunately,” Kevee said, “we’ve lost a lot of good friends who are no longer there. Still, it’s a very congenial group.”

At this point in our narrative, an aside is in order. The Friday lunch dress code borders on grunge, and rumor has it that the arrival of Kutler -ever dapper -- threw the group for a sartorial loop.

“Kevee says I make him sick when I come to lunch in a good looking suit, shirt and tie,” Kutler said. “But, gee whiz. I don’t want everyone in the restaurant to think we’re all a bunch of schleppers.”

Kutler, it seems, is also responsible for an uptick in generosity. “After a few months I felt brave enough to ask how much Lewis, Joe Kirshenbaum and Don Stern were not at lunch when tip everyone was leaving. the paparazzi pounced.)

One dollar! I was so embarrassed. For a measly Don Nogg -- who we have to accept one dollar tip the waitress was filling orders because he’s a legacy -- and then Ernie so complicated they would cross a rabbi’s Wintroub shows up at the Village Inn, eyes.” When Kutler suggested a minimum takes a table near us, and now he’s a two dollar tip, no one dissented. member. Then Jay Chasen comes in and Moving on ...

Bucky invites him to sit down with us, Now retired from business or profesand so it goes.” sional life, Friday Lunch Bunch members Kevee Kirshenbaum’s brother, Joe, lives spend their leisure in predictable ways. in California much of the year, but is a They golf, swim, bike, read, fish, attend regular attendee when in Omaha. Lee movies and sporting events, watch TV, White, Sherm Sperling and Stan Continued on page 11

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“Whaaaaaaat?”

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 11

May your Passover be filled with peace and prosperity.

Continued from page 10 exercise, play ping pong, Casino and bridge, volunteer, and remain active in Rotary, B’nai B’rith and religious services. Kutler often chauffeurs his wife, Cheri, to the beauty shop. Both Alvin Nogg and Eddie Malashock do household chores, and Malashock confesses to “driving myself crazy trying to master a computer.”

Several of the men (while splitting what few hairs are left) could be considered semi-retired, since they still keep their hand in, work-wise.

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Greenberg offers estate, retirement and charitable planning services. Don Nogg delivers flowers part-time for HyVee. Kutler drops in at his dental clinic several times a week, and Lewis maintains an office at Sol Lewis Engineering where he now serves as a self-described Cheer Leader. Most members of the Lunch Bunch put napping high on their list of priorities.

“With so much spare time,” Lewis says, “I sleep a lot.

I have perfected the art of idleness.”

Through the years, discussion topics remain constant -sports, family, politics, investments, their exploits in World War ll, the latest obituaries and hospitalizations plus the all-time favorite: reminiscing about the olden days (described, affectionately, as Council Bluffs-y gossip).

Typically, three or four separate conversations go on at once. On the Friday I sat in with the guys, those to my right traced arcane Jewish geography, dredged up ancient who-dated-whom statistics, and debated, “What ever happened to what’s-her-name, so-and-so’s half sister who was related to who-ziz second wife?”

Those to my left focused on life’s passages, as in, “Is he/she still alive?” and, “I understand there’s a full house at the Home now.” Two men across from me, more interested in the here and now, groused, “Why does this place only have strawberry and grape jam?”

According to Kirshenbaum (dubbed the group’s Director for Life), “It’s sometimes hard to get a word in, but I keep showing up.” Forty-five minutes later, with lunch orders still A.W.O.L., the banter grew Marx Brothers-ish.

“Somebody go in the kitchen and see where our food is.”

“I already forgot what I ordered.”

“I feel like I ate already. You mean I didn’t eat already?”

“I’ve been here so long they should bring me the dinner menu.”

When the food finally arrived, lunches included a waffle topped with scoops of vanilla ice cream. The waitress, as usual, brought separate checks. (The tips, you already know about.)

So, what brings the Lunch Bunch back each Friday?

Class of

2009

High

School Seniors

rounded out the group on the day they were interviewed.

The opportunity to schmooze with men from a variety of backgrounds with whom they might not otherwise socialize. The friendly give and take, which some admit they don’t remember from one day to the next. The fun.

“At this stage of life, when one is no longer involved in the day to day challenges of a business or professional life, maintaining outside contacts with friends and acquaintances is a healthy activity,” Malashock said.

Though no rigid rules govern the group, Abramson and Kirshenbaum always sit by each other -- a sacrosanct arrangement no one dares disturb. And while the Village Inn is home base, the feast can be moveable when circumstances dictate.

“Back when I worked in Lincoln as a Director at the DMV,” Abramson said, “and served on Governor Ben Nelson’s cabinet, the fellows thought I was lonely, so one Friday the whole gang drove down to have lunch with me at the Cornhusker Hotel.”

The affection among the men is unabashed.

“I’ve known most of the members almost all my life,” Don Nogg said. “Many are my older brother Alvin’s age and knew me as a kid. All the different conversations are fine with me because each week I can be involved with a different group within the group. Almost nothing important ever comes up, but there’s a lot of laughing, a lot of good feeling, and the time we spend together is a high spot in my week. If one of the guys doesn’t show up, everyone wants to know where he is. I’ve come to feel possessive about the group.”

Kutler considers the guys, “the nicest, really classy, intelligent yet haimish fellahs. I couldn’t be happier.

Even if our conversations aren’t profound or life changing, I always come home feeling good.”

For Leonard Lewis, the “Why go?” question is easily answered.

“We all have something in common,” he said. “Our relationships go back ages. We went to Central, to UNL, we share memories. I go to the Friday lunches for the same reason some people go to shul -- to be part of a community. We don’t have heavy discussions, but I’ve discovered that these guys have more depth to them than what’s visible. It’s important to get together even if we don’t talk at all.”

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

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by LISA LIEB bowlers. Chops Bowl on 13th Street was their first weekOne spring evening more than 20 years ago, David ly spot, an ideal location back in the days when a numGoldberg, Todd Simon, Tom Vann and a few of their ber of the men lived in the Old Market area. friends got together to go bowling. The day was a After moving on from Chops Bowl, the men’s next Tuesday; the location: Chops Bowl … the time: 9:22 regular gathering place would be the Ranch Bowl on p.m. Though they didn’t know it at the time, a new tra- 72nd (of course, there’s now a WalMart on that site). dition had commenced -- soon to be dubbed the Omaha This site worked out quite well until one memorable Young Jewish Men’s Bowling League Association evening when an altercation took place. A young man (OYJMBLA). who worked behind the Much has changed since front desk was too busy that first outing in 1988. chatting on the phone to The membership has promptly attend to their grown considerably largneeds. The group had er. Weekly invitations are been on the receiving end now sent by email rather of his poor customer servthan fax. And the meeting ice skills on previous occaplace is most often a local sions. So one member tavern, with bowling tak(who ironically had just ing place every four or graduated from Dale five weeks. One ritual, Carnegie’s “How to Win however, has remained Friends and Influence sacred: the activities take People” course) lost place at 9:22 p.m. patience, broke a pencil The OYJMBLA (AKA and hurled it at the young TuesPM, its more comman -- thus putting an mon moniker) is an eclecabrupt end to the group’s tic group. More than 80 Above: One recent meeting place for OYJMBLA was the Red Eye at Ranch Bowl days. members are on the cur- 84th and Center, with Jeff Gordman, left, David Goldberg and Ted As the group dynamic rent email list, which is Friedland. Below: John Lehr, left, and David Radler at the Red Eye. continued to evolve over comprised of men who the years, bowling evenvary tremendously in age, tually became a less prevabackground and attenlent activity. The men dance. A typical Tuesday would more often choose showing includes 10-15 to meet for drinks, seekmen, some of whom ing out different venues rarely miss a week, others each week in which to who are monthly attenrelax, enjoy each other’s dees, and a handful who company, and discover make their appearances new aspects of Omaha’s just a few times a year. nightlife.

One constant has been Each week, David has David Goldberg, who is faithfully coordinated the described as the Tuesday evening activiOYJMBLA’s heart and ties. Often the evenings soul. have themes, which can When asked about the lead to unexpected dis9:22 p.m. start time, coveries. Such was the David explains that this was originally a strategic decision case with the memorable Seedy Bar Series, in which the (and much more interesting than 9:30 p.m). Having no men discovered Nino, a unique bar owner who is also a interest in the constraints of joining a league, the men magician, wrestler, boxer, inventor and poet. chose a time when the leagues would be through for the For members of the OYJMBLA, the weekly fun begins night, thus relinquishing the lanes back to the casual well before Tuesday night, when David sends out his email invitations. As seen in the sample(s) at left, the Hey Men: emails are both informative and entertaining (and that’s Time to don your sunscreen, oven-mitts and not even including the humor du jour, which appears in every invite but was deemed unsuitable for print). heat safety glasses for some backyard fun at The men periodically host gatherings at their homes; Tom’s fire-pit/backyard, pyro palace! Tom has they’ve held several Dads Nights and they’ve sponsored agreed to ignite both fire pits for an all out flame a number of family activities. One such event was an fest. Don’t forget to bring your own incendiary Annual Car Show which took place in 2006 and 2007. devices for added fun.

The men brought their families to check out some amazing cars, enjoy a barbeque and cap things off with an Food, fire and beverages for all. Tom’s wife has Oreo Cookie Bar (a John Lehr creation). promised some goodies from Mediterranean Perhaps the future will bring even further expansion Bistro. Please bring fluids. 9:22 p.m. into different activities and venues. Perhaps it will bring the OYJMBLA full circle back to its roots (as foreshadowed by two members who were spotted purchasing In celebration of the fall harvest, a bounty of new bowling balls and shoes just a few weeks ago). But events for your evening pleasure: whichever direction it heads, members of the OYJMBLA are likely to follow David’s lead on many more Tuesday 1. At the recommendation of Ted Friedland, night adventures to come – beginning promptly, of rock music aficionado, some bowlers will be course, at 9:22 p.m.

attending the BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE concert at Slowdown. Details: 8 p.m., $20 2. For adamant Democrats, Joe Pepitone recommends “Turn Nebraska Blue,” a fundraiser for Jim Esch for Congress. Details: Blue Sushi/Old Market, 416 So. 12, 5-8 p.m., $50. Personally, I’m still waiting for Lee Terry to provide us with an accurate weather forecast.

3. For the average lazy, undecided, ambivalent bowler unwilling to spend $70 on unknown entertainment, go to: STRAIGHT SHOOTERS BAR. 9:22 p.m. Pool, darts and beverages. Maybe some food and a hot bartender if we're lucky.

Otherwise we might need to import our own.

OYJMBLA attends the auto show.

April 3, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 13

The Oy Luck Club

by TONY ENDELMAN Every third Monday of my adolescence, my father, Randy Endelman, would take me out for dinner -- usually to a Chinese restaurant or someplace featuring unusually large salads. We’d sit down across from each other and casually discuss the weather or my report card, while I guzzled down a succession of 16-ounce Dr. Peppers. Then, we’d savor our meals silently, clean our plates, and leisurely recline in our chairs, content by crammed bellies and the unmistakable, oddly soothing ambiance that can only be found in a moderately busy restaurant.

least a few hours, any sense of calm would be out of the question.

A Mah Jongg game, at least those with which I’m familiar, can fill even the largest home with a truly unpleasant combination of noises: the click-clicking of Mah Jongg tiles, the jingling of pocket change, and the ceaseless chatter of loving, jovial, Jewish mothers. For my father and me, going to dinner was simply a way of retaining our sanity.

The ladies would arrive in a cavalcade of high-end sport utility vehicles at 7 p.m., coincidentally, around the same time my father and I would leave for dinner. After

Left: This Mah Jongg group has also travelled to Las Vegas twice, catching shows in between games: Dora Shefren, left, Pam DePorte, Penny Endelman, Debbi Josephson and Jayne This monthly outing was not some noble attempt by my father to bond with his son, nor an attempt by me to swindle something from my father, as I was once known to do. It was a decision by both of us, a mutual understanding, and a much-needed excuse to get out of the house.

Because, every third Monday, my mother, Penny, serves as host for her weekly Mah Jongg game.

My mother, incidentally, never appeared to be offended by our absence. In fact, in her own subtle way, she seemed to encourage it. “Just FYI,” she would say to my father and me, while gathering plastic cups and bottles of diet soda. “The ladies are coming tonight.”

“We know,” my father would respond with a chuckle.

“We’ll be out of here.”

Truthfully, we had no choice but to leave. While my father and I each preferred to spend a relaxing, shirtless evening in front of the television, we knew that, for at

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attentively totes around from game to game, as though it contains a bounty of top-secret, classified documents.

To the layman, which I am, Mah Jongg seems like a bizarre jumble of shapes, symbols, and secret codes impossible to decipher.

The game, which infiltrated America about a century ago, originated in China and has a number of variations.

The tiles are intricately decorated with paintings of flowers, depictions of bamboo, and Chinese lettering, each playing a different role within the game.

By all accounts, Mah Jongg commands the players to exercise a significant amount of strategy, skill, and calcu-

Ruback. Right: But even in Vegas, Ruback, Endelman, Josephson, DePorte and Shefren managed to squeeze in a few Mahj games!

knocking gently on the front door, they’d enter at their own discretion, and walk to the kitchen, excitedly greeting my mother with a friendly “hello” and a gentle hug.

If my father and I hadn’t already left, we’d make sure to fill the ladies in on our lives, while they selected their beverages for the evening. Then, my father and I would put on our coats, as the ladies retreated to the living room, where they’d prepare their seats for the hours ahead.

A Mah Jongg game requires each player to have his or her own Mah Jongg set, typically consisting of dice, chips, and 144 tiles. Seemingly, many sets are handed down from generation to generation; indicative, perhaps, of the game’s tradition.

My mother’s set, which she cherishes deeply, was once her mother’s, and has been in existence longer than I have. The components lie snugly inside the original, darkly colored, durable briefcase, which my mother

lation. Somehow, though, four ladies that collectively have trouble operating a cell phone, appear to play the game with a surprising degree of ease.

To the ladies in my mother’s Mah Jongg group, however, Monday nights signify much more than the opportunity to win a handful of dimes and quarters from their counterparts. As far as I know, they may not even be playing the game correctly.

But, these women have known each other for decades, with Judaism as just one of their countless common bonds. For them, getting together to play Mah Jongg is hardly about Mah Jongg, and mostly about getting together.

Replace the beer and Doritos with pink lemonade and low-fat trail mix, and one of my mother’s Mah Jongg games is, in many ways, similar to the late nights I spent in college with great friends, playing our own version of Continued on page 14

Page 14

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

The Oy Luck Club

Continued from page 13 and other current events. We are all avid Poker around a cheap, wooden coffee readers, constantly passing around table. books. And, our group loves food and “It’s really just a fun, social thing to cooking, so we share our favorite recipes do,” explains my mother. “We put and restaurants, as well as what’s good games together based on existing friend- to buy at Costco.” ships and word of mouth. And, we talk Like those of any enduring friendship, about everything.” the similarities among its participants are My mother’s Monday night group, what have sustained my mother’s Mah which is still intact, has been playing Jongg group for so long. together for more than 10 years, with a “Some groups I have played in were few additions and deletions along the way due to varying circumstances.

“We have all known each other for a very, very long time,” describes Jayne Ruback. “In many instances our children have grown up together and are still friends today. We share the good times and the bad, births and deaths, job changes, retirement, weddings, Left: A serious (?) game of Mah Jongg takes place every Monday with just about any- Dora Shefren, left, Debbie Josephson, Penny Endelman and Pam thing you can think of. Now we get to formed just because people wanted to discuss the best part of our lives, grand- learn how to play Mah Jongg,” describes children!”

Debbi Josephson. “That was all we had “I’m proud to say that we don’t just in common. Then, over the years, we spend our time gossiping,” says Dora formed friendships and bonded through Shefren, another loyal member of the other common denominators that we group. “Our conversations run the full discovered later. And, on the flip side, gamut.” some groups I have played in fell apart “We do talk about what’s going on in because there were not enough common the Jewish community,” adds Ruback. factors to hold them together.”

“We discuss U.S. politics, the economy, But, the common factors between the

ladies in my mother’s group have led to more than just small, periodic spikes in sales at Costco.

“When we discuss all of the things that we do, it is not just to share, vent or gossip,” explains Josephson. “We’ve learned a lot from each other. By sharing so much, we often discover new ways to cope with or handle certain situations better. I’ve learned ways to just generally improve my life.”

on Monday night, my mother has become part of another Mah Jongg group, which meets every other week during the afternoon.

“We prepare lunch in my group that meets every other week,” says my mother. “I enjoy that because I get to try new recipes and make things your dad typically won’t eat. And, for Hannukah this year, we did a gift exchange. I brought immersion blenders for the other women in the group. We really had a ball.”

Now, my sister, Jamie Meyerson, who, every third Monday of my adolescence was away at college, has returned to Omaha, become a wife and mom, and joined a group much like that of my mother’s.

Though she plays Shanghai, another peculiar Chinese pastime, my sister DePorte. Right: Penny, Pam and Dora wait for their fourth to take her shares with her seat and finish play. group the same And, if meeting weekly isn’t enough to bond that has kept my mother’s Mah exhibit the strength of their friendship, Jongg game together for so many years. the ladies have taken their love for each And, while I am now an adult, no other and Mah Jongg across state lines. longer living under my parents’ roof, I “We’ve taken two trips to Las Vegas still make certain to avoid my mother and together, without our husbands,” the ladies on Monday nights. Not for my describes my mother. “We took in some benefit, but for theirs. Because, as I’ve shows, some shopping, and a little gam- learned, they deserve that time together, bling. And, we played Mah Jongg in our to bond as they so magically do. pajamas all night long.”

As for my father; well, I guess he’s on In addition to playing with the ladies his own.

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April 3, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 15

A common thread that stretches all WOLFSON USED CARS the way from Nebraska to Arizona Wishing All

by BERT LEWIS If you’ve been paying attention, you now know about It doesn’t matter much where you live when it comes the men’s groups of former and present Omahans who to the practice of meeting a friend or friends for lunch. meet weekly for lunch in Scottsdale. A great bunch of In Arizona, just like in Nebraska, there are groups that guys, most of whom you probably know, or at least get together to share conversation and food, whether knew at one time. But we are an equal-opportunity pubbusiness or pleasure related. Most always, there’s a com- lication, so there’s no way we’d leave out the ladies. mon thread that connects the group, whether it’s memJust as the men have gathered themselves into a coubership in a social club or business organization, a com- ple of lunch groups, so have the women. The Friday mittee or a board of directors. No matter, they have Ladies who once were mostly Omahans are my connecsomething in common to talk about. tion.

There are no doubt many organized “lunch groups” I can remember coming to Scottsdale years ago and here in Scottsdale I don’t know about, but there are being taken as a guest by my friend Velma Sacks, meetthree that I do. The first one is a small group of men ing a nice group of women from various places, and of who meet every Monday, at the same place each time, course renewing acquaintance with the Omahans who for a little lunch and a lot of conversation. had become residents.

The nucleus of the group are former Omahans who Like the men, the distaff side isn’t a very formally moved here some years ago. They were probably structured organization. For example, who’s coming brought together by the late Kenny Sacks, or so several isn’t such a haphazard guess as with the men. That’s of the current members recall. because we take turns being in charge, and she who’s the Kenny (and his wife Velma) had “mom” that week selects an appropriThis group includes visitors ate place (one that will take reservamoved to Scottsdale and soon found other transplanted Omahans. The here for a short time in the tions) where we’ll meet. men who became the transplanted On the Friday of the meeting, the Monday Omaha lunch group were, in winter and those who own hostess gets there a little early, checks addition to Sacks: Jimmy Cohen, homes and come to spend out the details and is on hand to welJerry Gitnick and Marlon Somberg. everyone as they arrive. After the whole winter season. The come Marlon is the source of information lunch, when the bill is presented, she’s regarding this group, so from this only requirement seems to the one who usually adds it up and point we’ll rely on his memory. He be the Omaha connection. divides by the number present. Even and Margie have been Arizona resisteven -- none of that “she had chickdents for some 16 years and Marlon says the group was en on her salad and that’s extra” stuff some people like active when he was first invited to join. to play. No, no. Do the math; pitch in your share and From the original four, the group has grown and the wait while the “hostess” adds it up to see if it’s right. numbers change weekly, depending on who’s in town.

The group itself is always interesting. The conversation This group includes visitors here for a short time in the may be about the current best sellers, or who just won a winter, and those who own homes and come to spend Senate seat, or even how the administration in Israel is the whole winter season. The only requirement seems to handling things. Now and then we hear about a future be the Omaha connection. And, while I doubt anyone simcha being planned -- maybe a wedding or a baby pays much attention to age, most of these fellows seem shower or a bar or bat mitzvah. We hear about the to be somewhere in their 70s and knew each other ’way goings on of this synagogue or that temple and comparback when. isons regarding voice quality of the new cantor at yet In addition to the original Somberg, Gitnick and another congregation.

Cohen crew are David Goldstein, Stuart Kutler, Steve And, lest the men think we’re picking on them when Rosenblatt, Howard Krantz, Larry Kavich, Allan Noddle we refer to their health discussions as organ recitals, we and Leonard Lewis. The late David Friedland was a fre- too have plenty to say about who was just diagnosed with quent guest and is remembered fondly by all the regu- what. I’m not poking fun here ... quite the contrary. lars.

We’re a group who can perhaps be referred to as So they meet for lunch and they’re all original “women of a certain age” and we won’t go into that age!

Omahans. What do they talk about?

We are old enough to have met the enemy, and learned Marlon assured me they cover a variety of topics, it takes on different disguises, but suffice it to say, most including sports, business, Wall Street, politics and of us know more medical jargon than first year med stuOmaha politics, too. Or somebody might mention a dents. We know who the current hotshots are in most recently-seen movie that gets well-reviewed, as maybe a specialty fields and which hospital not to go near as a particularly good television program might, or a current- patient. ly popular book or author.

Yet when we’re sharing that over-sized veggie burger The fact is, these guys are mostly retired, although a with the woman sitting next to us, we’re not just talking few are still working, but they have many interests and about jewelry and clothes. We’re also likely to be talking enjoy the camaraderie of their contemporaries. Some are about children, grandchildren and even great-grandchilgolfers or tennis players but if they aren’t participants in dren. And this won’t surprise you -- now and then picsports, certainly they’re spectators. And they’re young tures are passed around the table to admire a new arrival, enough and mostly in good enough shape to not spend or a new bride or somebody special. much time talking about health.

I can assure you of one thing: when the Friday ladies There’s nothing formal about this group. They don’t are together for lunch, there’s conversation. Don’t listen issue invitations; they go to the same restaurant every for that pin to drop -- no way you’ll hear it. single Monday, and they never know for sure who’ll be The names of the women who originally came from there, since it depends on who might have recently Dallas or Sheboygan or Milwaukee or Minneapolis, arrived in town. Attendance is really a matter of “who won’t mean much to you, but the following I know shows up.” you’ll recognize: Gigi Osten, Lyra Ann Monasee, Velma On a Monday when only four show up, they enjoy Sacks, Saranne Gitnick, Margie Somberg, Sandra each other’s company as much as if there are 10 of them. Belgrade, Sue Meyers, Mona Crandall, Mickey Obviously, it’s not a complicated formula. They aren’t Greenberg, and this writer. dressed in suits and ties -- certainly not in Arizona!

And if one of the regulars happens to have a friend in Things are much more informal for this bunch who are town visiting, she’s there too. (except for a few) just hanging out and doing whatever I don’t know who started the whole idea of these they might feel like. group meetings, but they’re very nice and it’s certainly a When they disband for the day, each heads for his own good way to stay in touch with what's going on in car and that’s that for another week. I can’t speak for all Omaha if you happen to be spending the winter away! of them, but I know the participants must all look for- In fact, I’d say it’s a really pleasant break in the week, to ward to each meeting. So many are retired and while a sit down with other women and catch up, so to speak. few volunteer, there’s plenty of free time to fill.

Whether it’s about health or Social Security, it’s nice to Maybe lunch meetings like this serve more than one hear what others think about the very things we wonder purpose --- I mean, enjoying a Reuben Sandwich and a about. cold drink with an old friend is a pleasant way to have I know for a fact how much my women friends enjoy lunch, but sitting around and shmoozing about where such meetings. I can tell when we’re dispersing, by how the Dow-Jones closed yesterday? That’s what’s called long people stand in little groups in the parking lot, for enjoying retirement. one last little word, before saying goodbye.

------------------------------------------------------------------ Continued on page 16

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

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A common thread Continued from page 15 If you’ve already read about the former Omahans now living in Scottsdale who like to get together for lunch, you might be interested in this story. It could be called “the other Omahans.” Actually, they are a group who also are former Omahans, plus the visitors who come from Omaha to escape winter!

There’s a little overlap from the Monday group, but while those guys are exclusively Omahans, this bunch who meet on Fridays, are a mixture of Omahans and men from various other cities. Also, the Friday fellas are shall we say, a bit more senior. Those who are now permanent residents of Arizona are mostly completely retired, having put in their time in successful business careers. Those

Unfortunately, health is discussed because most of these men have already been introduced to many of the special areas of medicine today. Many have or have had the same problems and can compare notes and procedures, medications and therapies. There can often be heard, according to my unimpeachable source, an ongoing organ recital when these guys are together.

Plus, and this is perhaps more interesting, the discussions regarding religion are probably those most enjoyed. One guy may suddenly say, “My friend Iz says you aren’t supposed to do thus and such ...”

That can invite a question instantly: “According to who or what source?”

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are the guys who now have more than enough time to do whatever they choose.

There’s not a lot of physical sports activity, since health issues dictate exactly how many holes of golf a person might be up to; and slamming a tennis ball across the court takes some energy also.

Happily, a few of these men are very content to sit at a bridge table and match wits with others who love the game. But that isn’t what we’re talking about here.

This is the “Friday lunch” bunch.

This isn’t a very structured group since after all, it’s social, not business. The men have a permanent place (which has, of course, changed over the years) where they meet, and like the Monday meeting, nobody takes roll call. Whoever shows up is greeted by the others who got there first. Nobody calls in advance to see whether or not somebody is planning to be there -- it doesn’t seem to matter. If an appointment doesn’t interfere, it’s lunch with the guys.

I have it on good authority the topics of conversation are usually varied and often spirited enough for some good natured arguments. There’s always plenty to discuss regarding politics, the activities on Wall Street, the economy in general and the two biggies: religion and health!

together.

There are congregants of each of the branches of Judaism in addition to Chabad devotees present. Some remember their earliest teachings; some do not and some didn’t have much to begin with, but everybody has an opinion!

Whatever it is they’re talking about isn’t the important thing here -- it’s the men, of course. The Omahans are the ones we’re writing the story about, so let me list them: Syd Osten, Sol Crandall, Howard Krantz, Jerry Gitnick, Marlon Somberg, Leonard Lewis, Dave Meyers, Mort Greenberg. And often, during the winter months, when one of these permanent residents has a visitor from Omaha, that guy shows up too.

Whoever is there, and no matter if the topic is the upcoming bar mitzvah of a grandchild or how many Jews in America keep kosher, the men enjoy the weekly meeting enough to have kept it going for a very long time. Nobody seems to really know exactly how long, but a lot of years.

The non-Omahans are an integral part of this group and I don’t think anyone pays much attention to the fact that it was thought to originally be an Omaha only bunch.

It’s Friday lunch -- you coming?

FOLLOWING THE SUN Snowbirds

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April 3, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 17

“Chicken” Basketball scores points among JCC morning group

by GARY JAVITCH “Chicken” basketball is not for the “lily-livered,” “pusillanimous”, “spineless” or the “unmanly.” But it could be for the chicken-“hearted,” the chicken-“livered,” or even the chicken-“pox” -- all depending on your sense of humor, as this article will explain below.

In actuality, chicken basketball is a twice-a-week pickup game held at the gym in the Sokoloff Fitness Center at the Jewish Community Center. This informal “league” meets on Tuesday and Friday mornings.

for guys like Adam Yale, Joe Goldstein, Adam Kirshenbaum and Kevin Clark. Others, like John Glazer and me, play mostly for the camaraderie,” Silverman said.

“It’s a gentlemen’s game. We call our own fouls.

“Although there have been some arguments, I can’t recall there ever being a fist fight.

It’s just not that intense. It’s just a pickup game at the JCC,” Mike observed.

Silverman, executive director of Jewish Social Services (including the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home as well as Jewish Family Service), spelled out the origins of “The Chicken.”

He always liked chicken and during his college days he recalled the amazing number of different names Left: Brian Eades, left, Jeff Schrager, Matt Kirshenbaum, Rob King, Kevin Clark, tries to dribble by Adam Yale in JCC pickup game as Mike Silverman attempts to applied to the and Mike Silverman yuck it up on the court before a game. Right: Joe Goldstein maneuver around Jeff Schrager in the background to get a pass. chicken served in Your skill level determines whether the game is more because while the group is very welcoming to all, not the dining halls. There was “Chicken Kiev” and for camaraderie or more for fun. More than likely, it’s for just anyone can get a shirt. The jersey has to be earned. “Chicken Alfredo,” for example.

Silverman provided background on that aspect. “Some Accordingly, each player who earns a jersey gets to both.

“Anyone can join in,” explained Mike Schop of the 18 people join the league but don’t have a commitment to choose a chicken-related nickname for the back of his or so members of the league. “I love it.” And with great it. They play for a little while, then they drop out. We are shirt. A few choices came from a food category.

As illustrations, John Glazer picked “Bouillon”; Joe modesty, he revealed, “My skills are not the most looking for someone who will be there almost all the advanced. But it really doesn’t matter. It’s a great time time -- I’m talking about more than three or four Goldstein selected “Popeye’s”; Adam Yale took to get together and joke around and do it in a healthy months,” Mike continued. “Until they earn that shirt, “Gizzard” and Mike Silverman settled on “Noodle way,” the project manager for First National Bank the players play in regular short-sleeved tees,” Silverman Soup.” Others opted for a different theme, for example, added. with Jeff Schrager picking “Pox” and Steve Levinger added.

The game is not all about talent, either. “No one has deciding on “Salmonella.”

Mike Silverman, along with John Glazer, founded the group a little over six years ago. Silverman stated that excessive talent,” Silverman continued, “except maybe Continued on page 18 “Mike Schop was also heavily involved in starting the Chicken League. He was knee deep in terms of getting everything going.”

Obtaining a shirt “John Glazer sends out the emails and he designed all three versions of the much-coveted “shirt.”

Jeff Schrager, another veteran of the group added, “The shirt has an aura.” Perhaps that is

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

“Chicken” Basketball scores points

exercise and great camaraderie: It’s a way University standout. She left after playing It was left to Mike Shop to put the Continued from page 17 to identify with “community.” for one summer, with a concern she league into perspective. “Mike Silverman Leaving your warm bed The morning the pictures for the story According to an email blurb about might get injured and be unable to con- was the driving force behind the gatherwere taken on Feb. 27, the air tempera- ‘Bowling Alone’, it is “a groundbreaking tinue playing in college.” ing. It’s become a close knit group, but ture stood at about 20º. So what would book based on vast new data, [in which] Although not an intense competition, always welcoming to newcomers who cause a man to leave his warm bed around Putnam shows how we have become several players in the league did achieve show up. They become regulars, just like 5:15 a.m. to face that kind of frigid air? increasingly disconnected from family, some recognition. According to Glazer that.”

For Silverman, a part of it was the exer- friends, neighbors, and our democratic two chicken teams have won the JCC At one point, Schop discussed the cise. “It’s sometimes poker group. “It grew a pain in the butt to along side of the basketget up at 5:15, but I ball group, but it just really look forward to faded away. We last played it. If I don’t get the about a year ago.” exercise, I’m just not Marty Ricks, about 15 the same person.” to 20 years older on averAnother part of it age than many of the was the camaraderie. chicken group, consid“Besides the basketered himself “the elder ball,” Mike added, statesman” among the “we used to play poker guys. He did not poker, but as that play basketball. “We use tapered off, we found to play cards monthly; that a number of us then it went to bi-monthliked the movies and ly and then it stopped.” began going there Schop provided insight together. We started on that turn of events: doing things that we “Most of the poker playliked in common and ers liked to play ‘dealer’s that was fun.” choice.’ The poker game, He added, “From too, was just a friendly all that, we have get-together. At the same grown strong friendtime, ‘Texas hold-em’ ships and the Jewish poker was becoming community has gotmuch more popular, but ten stronger because it was at a different level of those friendships. I of experience than most never would have wanted to play.” known these guys, if Marty added in the same not for this league. It Members of the JCC’s “Chicken Basketball team include, top row: Mike Silverman, left, Mike Schop, Jason Epstein, Steve Levinger, and light spirit. “There was a helped us expand our Adam Yale; middle row: Joe Goldstein, Rob King, Dan Epstein, David Maciejewski, and Scott Semrad; bottom row: John Glazer, Matt 50-cent limit in the Kirshenbaum, Jeff Schrager, Kevin Clark, and Brian Eades Not pictured: Don Osborn, Scott Wilson, Tommy “Longpants” Stein, and Jon games. I was such a lousy circle of friends.”

Lucoff.

Silverman, who poker player,” Ricks said, came to the community to head the structures -- and how we may recon“that I only looked forBlumkin Home more than six years ago, nect.” ward to the food.” explained the ‘league’ as all about build“This league is a way that we can satisSilverman joked that ing friendships and strengthening our fy our need to get together in off hours,” former poker player (and group.

Yale said.

Advertising Manager at Adam Yale agreed with Mike’s assessWhile Adam’s comments were the Jewish Press) Allan ment. “I think the chicken games are “a thoughtful, indeed even cerebral, John Handleman used to lose blast!” he said. Adam grew up in Omaha, Glazer’s were oriented more to the social so quickly, that I once suggested that he should left, and returned a few years ago. “Since side of the group. “One of the best parts skip playing and just write I moved back here, it’s a good way to get of this has been the chance to meet peoa check directly to me.” back with some social activities. I’ve made ple and develop friendships with people The pickup basketball a lot of new friends through my involve- that I otherwise wouldn’t have met,” game has four players to a ment,” he explained.

Glazer indicated. “On some mornings, team. You win when you “A generation ago, it was a lot easier to there is a 25-year range of ages among score 15 points. The have gatherings where you could hang the players. Yet no one takes the game During a time-out, Mike Schop, left, Mike Silverman and Adam “extras” rotate in after out with people regularly. Now every- too seriously.” thing is so family focused that it is And referring to himself, he smiled, “It Yale proudly display each of the three versions of the Chicken each game. On good days tougher to do that.” is a fun way to get exercise and compete, Basketball League shirts designed by John Glazer. Schop wears they get in four games the first iteration of the logo, while Yale sports the latest model. during the 6 a.m. to 7 He added, “You ought to see the book especially for an old, short guy.”

‘Bowling Alone’ (by Robert Putnam).

Glazer also talked about the variety of “Three-on-Three” tournament. But in a.m. time slot. Maybe it is a “guy thing.”

The author talks about a world that is far people who have rotated in and out over keeping with the humorous and self-dep- But rain or shine, cold or warm, for about less ‘communal,’” Yale observed. the years. “We have had two rabbis par- recating side of those interviewed, he an hour every Tuesday and Friday mornIn referring to the book, Yale touched ticipate and even had one woman. That quickly noted, “I’m not in the tourna- ing, you’ll see this band of brothers on another reason some might have was Laura Spanheimer, the former ment category, unless you are going to enjoying the friendship, the exercise, and the “competition.” joined the group, besides it being good Marian High School and now Creighton measure hustle.”

April 3, 2009

Page 19

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Getting to know you takes precedence at Mah Jongg

appeals so much to Jewish women, but I think it gives us a certain identity, or perhaps it’s because our mothers and grandmothers played it, and left us this legacy.

On the other hand, it’s interesting to note that most of the general population has never heard of the game, let alone played it.

Also, while Mah Jongg was never intended to be gender specific, I’m not aware of any men who regularly play it in Omaha. However, in looking over the National Mah Jongg League bulletin, distributed annually to registered Mah Jongg players, it appears there are men’s and couples’ clubs in some of the other cities. The League is the membership advocate for all Mah Jongg groups, nationwide, and publishes new cards with different tile configurations every year to keep the game interesting and sharpen our skills.

Our group was started approximately 15 years ago by Charlotte Kaplan, of blessed memory, and was originally intended as a class to teach people how to play, The Tuesday Mahj group at the JCC is a mix of natives like Georgia Ann or brush up on the Steinberg, left, newcomers like Myrna Grumer, and “youngsters” like game. The club Julie Stein. began meeting on In our Tuesday group, to which I Wednesday afternoons, but over the belong, we take the game somewhat years, changed to Tuesdays at 12:30 seriously, even though the stakes aren’t p.m. high. The most we can lose is $3.50. But According to Maxine Noodell, the game definitely is our focus, and spokesperson for the group, Kaplan there is little room for conversation. Not knew a woman at the Blumkin Home that we don’t have fun -- we definitely who wanted to play Mah Jongg. At the do. same time, Noodell and Georgia Ann However, there is a time for playing Steinberg talked about joining a group, and a time for catching up on the latest and that’s how ours eventually came into news. Before and after the game, there is existence. Soon others heard about it plenty of congenial interaction, but once and joined. Most of the original memthe tile walls are built, we just try to see bers, have since passed away, moved out who will win. During a game, other than of the city, or lost interest. players naming their discards, all you can Steinberg has played with the group hear is the clicking of Mah Jongg tiles. ever since it started. She is the president Our members are very diverse; hence, of the Omaha Chapter of Hadassah, and the reason I’ve occasionally dubbed our former president of both Beth Israel club, “Maj-podge”. We have players Sisterhood and Amit, formerly Mizrachi who are grandmas and great-grandmas, Women. and others who are young moms. We I’ve been with the group for about have some who are “regulars” and can three years, and when I joined, we be counted on to be at a game at any played in the conference room of the given time. Then there are the “occa- Blumkin Home prior to the current sional players”, who come once in a remodeling. When that started, we while. When all else fails, there are the moved to the JCC, and only played “subs”, who fill in when we need to there on the first and third Tuesdays. complete at least one table.

On alternate weeks, the group would Ideally, we like to have two tables of meet at the Old Country Buffet, at one four players each. Sometimes we only of its two locations in Omaha, and have five, so one person sits out at each would first have lunch and a social hour hand, and we alternate. If we have six, prior to the game. This past year, we’ve we play two tables, three-handed. When played every week at the ‘J’, since the we are really in a bind, we’ve occasional- room is reserved for us most Tuesday ly invited to sub for us, one of several afternoons, unless there are special Blumkin Home residents who like to events scheduled there. play. So every week has different attenOur present membership includes: dees.

Steinberg, Noodell, Harriet Klopper, Mah Jongg, which originated in Selma Sadofsky, Myrna Grumer, Julie ancient China, was originally played by Stein, Susan Lucas, Frances Gottlieb, men. The exact year it came into being is and myself. This past year, we were up for debate. Some say it was during deeply saddened by the loss of Charlotte the time of Confucious, and others claim Kaplan, Frieda Krizelman, and most it was much more recent, like in the recently, Marilyn Treller, all of whom 1800s. also played regularly. Idella Gaer occaThe game became very popular in the sionally subs for us, and we’re always 1920s and interest has not waned. It’s happy to have her. hard to say why this particular game Continued on page 20

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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Any other verbal exchange is usually kept to a minimum, as the players studiously concentrate on winning a hand.

Sometimes you’ll hear, “Maj” or “Mah Jongg”, uttered victoriously, as one of the team members has assembled her tiles in the exact order of the many wining possibilities on the card.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

Getting to know you takes precedence

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Continued from page 19 passing interest in social justice issues, and cited titles of This has been a rather turbulent year for our club. In books she has read and a movie she’s seen that addressaddition to losing our three beloved members, several es this subject. others had experienced injuries resulting in bone fracSusan Lucas is the only non-Jewish player, and was tures, because of falls in their homes. Our attendance has introduced into our club by Noodell, a close friend. A been sporadic over the winter months, due to illnesses, former school teacher, she also has a lot in common with severe weather, or vacationing out of state. Thus, some Sadofsky, who is also a retired educator. Lucas plays Mah of our games have had to be cancelled.

Jongg in another club on alternate Tuesdays. She has a “Friendship and socialization are the aspects of our warm and friendly personality and fits right in with our being together,� says Noodell. “We talk about whatever group, and has become familiar with our Jewish holicomes to our minds and we laugh a lot.� She added, days, customs and expressions. especially when during a recent game, someone acciden“I’m Jewish by association,� she said, laughing. tally flipped a coin, and it Julie Stein, our landed in a glass of water youngest member, is the on the table. daughter of Esther and “Family is an important Dr. Jim Wax, and has topic to all of us, “she three school-age children. continued. “Our children Julie’s attendance at our and grandchildren are all games is determined by here, and we derive much her kids’ school vacations nachas from them.� or activities. We don’t see Noodell is a member of her during the summer Hadassah, and attends months or other times Temple Israel. She has during the year when also participated in plays school is out. at the Papillion-LaVista My teammates will Theater, solos in small attest to the fact that I’m music groups, and sings not an ace Mah Jongg in the synagogue choir at player, and in fact, lose South Street Temple in many more games than I Lincoln. For recreation win. While I find the game and fitness, she swims at challenging, I also look the JCC pool. forward to socializing with Myrna Grumer, a com- More members of the Tuesday Mahj group are: Harriet Klopper, both long-time, and new parative newcomer to our left, Idella Gaer, and Selma Sadofsy; other members, not pictured, friends. Noodell attended group, says, “I’m from include: Maxine Noodell, Susan Lucas, Frances Gottlieb, and Gloria Central High School the New York City by way of Shukert Jones. same time as I did, and we Florida, and I have a very pronounced New York accent, are acquainted with many of the same people. Klopper so I usually omit the “Florida� time. It saves a lot of worked for the State of Nebraska and knew both my husexplaining.� band and me during our employment there. I have also She further commented, “When my husband passed known Steinberg and her family for many years. away 17 years ago, I needed a big change, so off I went For this issue of the Jewish Press, we were also encourto Florida. But I loved New York. It has a vibrant edu- aged to submit Passover recipes. When Noodell said she cational and cultural atmosphere. However, Florida’s cli- had a recipe for gefilte fish, I envisioned the old-fashmate has much to offer. I made friends and was active ioned way of preparing it, where you purchased fresh and busy there. In 2007, I moved to Omaha to be near carp from the fish market, brought it home, cut it up, my daughter, Jori, and her family. I got used to the dif- took out all the bones and the skin, and attached one of ferent weather. After all, I did live in New York most of those cumbersome grinders to the edge of a table top in my life. When I moved here, my daughter’s friends order to grind the fish by hand. See her recipe below.

This was the way my mother and grandmother made introduced me to some women my age, so I had a social not only the fish, but also chopped liver and the dried life right away, which was very fortunate.�

Through her contacts, Grumer eventually found her fruits for strudel. The process was messy and painstakway to our Mah Jongg group, and was warmly wel- ing, but the end result was always well worth it.

Noodell, who admits to still having one of those relic comed.

Her son, David, lives in Long Island, New York, and grinders, now has a scaled-down recipe for the dish she has three children. Jori is married to Joseph Kravitz, and says is “the easiest of all gefilte fish recipes.� See it below. “It’s a far cry from the way it used to be made, but the both are active in Beth El -- Joe with the Men’s Club, and Jori who volunteers bookkeeping services for the taste of this popular Passover mainstay is so similar you’d synagogue’s sisterhood and gift shop. Jori also loves to never guess how simple it is. In later years, my mother bake and donates her time and baking skills there as well. made a mock gefilte fish out of tuna, and it tasted so Grumer also notes that she “loves the close-knit authentic, no one could tell the difference. No bones, no atmosphere of Omaha and the fact that families live close grinding, no hassle! Unfortunately, I never copied the recipe, but if anyone has it, I’d be delighted if they by, having aunts, cousins, in-laws in the same area.�

She added, “Jewish organizations are so important would share,� she said. Noodell also contributed a recipe because they bring issues such as Israel and the Jewish for a delicious Passover apple cake.

Noodell and I both agreed that our Mah Jongg club people to the public eye, hopefully educating the world on the necessity of having a Jewish state. And our Jewish not only provides an enjoyable social outlet, but is also holidays remind us of our culture and keep us bonded.� one of many links connecting us to the Jewish commuAn avid reader, Grumer appears to have more than a nity. It just doesn’t get any better than that!

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 21

Hava Nagilah: Let’s rejoice and be happy

by OZZIE NOGG are deceased,” Charlotte said. “I will always miss them.” from Gilah. I still use it, and each time I do I remember Once upon a time, our community was blessed with a Currently, Eunie, Caryl, Helga, Pris, Charlotte, Sylvia him. He was one of my favorite people, my idea of a dear gift shop named Gilah. The shop was opened in 1971 by and I make up the attendance at monthly Gilah get- and wonderful father.” two sisters -- Charlotte Zipursky and Sylvia Jess -- and togethers.

The monthly meetings rotate among the Gilah Girls’ their sister-in-law, Ruth Katzman.

The bond shared by the women goes back to the time homes. “When Charlotte hosts the gang,” Caryl said, The Hebrew word, gilah, means joy, and the store did they spent together at the shop during the 1970s and “she’s commissioned to serve her decadent mac and indeed bring great pleasure to its customers. Gilah was a ‘80s. “My co-workers were fun and intelligent. so when cheese, which we all love.” source of things uncommonly beautiful, all Otherwise, the menu is typically soup or from the land of Israel. The shop itself was a a light salad. Through circumstances too small gem, and to receive a gift from Gilah -convoluted to explain in this story, an artwork, jewelry or unique Judaica -- was reaOmaha World Herald camera crew once son for rejoicing. spotted Helga at the Farmers’ Market buyThe shop closed in 1986, but a group of ing locally grown arugula, frisee, radicchio, women who once worked there still find joy dandelion greens and chard for an upcomat Gilah. Here’s the story. ing Gilah lunch. The paper sent a crew to Eight years ago, while wintering in Helga’s apartment, photographed the salad California, Sylvia and Charlotte -- both avid preparation and stuck around to eavesdrop needlepointers -- visited a yarn studio in on the conversation.

Palm Desert. “I remember that when Sylvia “It was a surprise for the ladies,” Helga and I walked in we saw a group of women said, and the group garnered some shortsitting around a table with their needlework lived notoriety when pictures plus an article in hand, chatting and obviously enjoying subsequently appeared in the OWH Living themselves. ‘What a good idea is that,’ we Section. thought.”

Though a few of the women do bring Sylvia did more than think it. “The needlework to lunch, the format is less women,” Sylvia said, “looked so ‘freilach’ -sewing bee and more round table discusso happy -- I wanted to duplicate the scene sion, governed by self-imposed rules: and create a sewing group when we returned 1). No gossip, though the latest family to Omaha.” Whom to invite was the quesnews is acceptable; tion.

2). No talk of illness, unless a Gilah Girl “I didn’t want anyone to feel left out,” knows of someone who is ill, in which case Sylvia explained, “so I decided it would be the information is shared but not dwelt on; easier to ask just the women who had worked and with us at Gilah. We’d call ourselves the 3). One conversation at a time.

Gilah Girls. That way, I could easily explain An article about Israeli fashions at Gilah, featuring Helga Lincoln Patterson, appeared in the These limitations make for lively discusto my other friends why they weren’t part of Omaha World-Herald in 1972. sions of current events, politics, books, the group.”

Sylvia ‘recruited’ the Gilah girls to get back together, it movies, feelings, travel, food -- even religion -- and, The original Gilah staff, besides the three owners, seemed a happy decision for us to see one another again according to Charlotte, “We do make an effort to keep included Esther Canar, Audrey Cohen, Eunie on a regular basis. I call myself Gilah’s token WASP,” everyone involved. Chalk it up to our natural good manDenenberg, Caryl Greenberg, Shirley Fogel Greenberg, Wheeler continued. ners.”

Mickey Katzman, Doris Katleman, Charlotte Slutzky “At the shop I was tutored in all things Jewish, and Eunie always marvels at “how many balls we can jugKoom, Mary Jo Lambert, Helga Lincoln Patterson, that education was a wonderful, enriching experience. gle, while constantly trying to keep lashon hara -- harmShirley Rosenberg, Pris Wheeler, and this writer.

Meyer Katzman, the father of the owners, entered my ful speech -- out of the conversation. Our Gilah gals are Ruth Katzman now lives in Florida, Shirley Rosenberg life during those years. He visited the shop often and smart, up-to-the-minute and interesting people.” in California, and Charlotte Koom couldn’t join the always made a point of talking to me, as if to reassure me Or as Sylvia put it, “There are no dummies in our Gilah Girls because of other commitments. “Mickey, that I was ‘okay’ in his world of Jewish life,” she added. group.”

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

Hava Nagilah Continued from page 21 ‘Jewish life’ makes strong, good people, Unlike a book club with an assigned and these people are my Gilah friends. I topic and leader, or a card group where love them and respect them and I always the game is the main reason for coming come home feeling my day was well together, Gilah is more like an old-fash- spent.” ioned salon -- defined (by For Caryl, “Having Pris, Wikipedia and other a non-Jew, as part of the sources) as “a periodic, group adds a special dimenunstructured gathering of sion. We all care deeply stimulating people under the roof of a gracious hostess, partly to amuse one another and partly to exchange ideas and increase their knowledge through open-ended conversation.” This description would sound lofty to the Gilah Girls, but the general meaning applies.

“We have wide interests and different points of view,” Pris said, “so we all want to hear what others have to say. Sometimes I learn. Sometimes I share, and many times I just listen with gratitude for the interaction the day has provided on many levels. I treasure all the friendships I gained at Gilah, and feel enriched by the opportunity to be part of their lives, Above: Gilah patrons snapped if only occasionally. I’ve up the work of Calderon, an learned so much about the Israeli ceramic artist. These Jewish faith, the impor- Bedouin women playing flutes is tance it puts on family and typical of his style. Right: This on individualism.” initial ad in the Jewish Press, in She added, “Gilah has 1971, promoted Gilah’s selecgiven me the opportunity tion of Israeli art, jewelry and to know how living the fashion.

about one another. It’s a pleasure to get together and learn from one another.”

Do the Gilah Girls march in lock step?

Hardly.

“I don’t always agree with what’s discussed,” Helga said, “but I love being with long time friends. It’s very comfortable. The chitchat -- whatever comes up -- some months are stimulating, other times just being there is sufficient.

I look forward to every meeting.”

Eunie agrees.

“Gilah lunches are my chance to regularly see friends with whom I have a common history though not necessarily a common point of view in all matters.

The common history -- our being involved with Gilah years ago -means we've experienced together many of the high and low points in one another’s lives. I cherish my friends and welcome the opportunity to

be with them, catch up with them, disagree, become exasperated with and admire them. We’re all survivors in different ways and draw strength from one another.”

And the sisters who began the whole shebang?

“I look forward to our meetings with the same anticipation I have for a family reunion,” Charlotte said. “I may not speak to each of the others from one month to the next, so it’s important to catch up on other’s lives and woes and good times. Part of the beauty of lifelong -- or at least very long relationships -- is the trust and the sincere interest that develops. These women enrich my life.”

For Sylvia, being part of a congenial group makes her happy. “We’re different, yet so much alike. We have our lighter moments, but the group has lasted because the women of Gilah think deeply and appreciate an exchange of ideas. I like being with smart women, and when our opinions differ, no one takes exception -or at least they don’t say so in the group.”

When the Gilah discussions first began, there was talk of having an assigned topic at each meeting. Sylvia shot the idea down. “I’m at the stage in life when I don’t want to prepare or study,” she said.

“I want no topic to bone up on. Right now, I’m auditing everything. What I do now is not for credit but just for the enjoyment of the time spent.”

“I do believe we’re all grateful to be alive and with it,” Charlotte added. “It makes for good companionship. I only know that once a month I’ve had a really good afternoon, and when it’s my turn to play hostess, even having to make mac and cheese is a joy.”

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Bluffs when she married Zeph Telpner (he died three years ago). She is a graduate of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and a former Omaha and Council Bluffs teacher. For 20 years, she worked at Woodmen of the World Life Insurance as their fraternal benefits examiner. She has four children and two grandchildren.

Edythe Bubb Krasne remembers, “My parents and Flora’s in-laws were friends when we were young. So we’ve seen our families grow up and marry. We’ve also seen our friends move away or die and we had to invite others to join our group. We try to focus on happy things rather than think about those who are no longer with us.”

Krasne has lived in Council Bluffs her whole life. She went to high school there and attended the University of Iowa at Iowa City. Before her marriage to Lloyd Krasne, she was a key punch operator at the Federal Land Bank in Omaha. She and Lloyd have three children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Ilene Pachman doesn’t remember how many years she has been playing in the group. She was invited because she was friends with Tepperman.

Born in Omaha, Pachman has lived here all of her life except for some years that she lived in Fremont.

(All of the women teased that they screened possible members before they were invited to play with the group.)

In addition to playing Mah Jongg, Pachman, a Flora Telpner, left, Edythe Krasne and Ruth Weiner are part of a long-standing Mah Jongg group former bookkeeper, that originated in Council Bluffs; the women now play at Spirit World in Omaha. enjoys doing artistic However, when I asked why they were playneedlework and spending ing, I got a resounding, “Because it’s fun!” time with her children, According to Telpner, “We began playing in grandchildren and, as she each other’s homes at night because we had says, “Beautiful, smart kids and our husbands would babysit while great-grandchildren!” we went out, at least once a week, for Mah Ruth Weiner, origiJongg. As a matter of fact, the set that we are nally from New York, playing with today is the one that my fathercame to live in Omaha 33 in-law, Ben Telpner, bought me 53 years years ago when her husago!” band, Art, was in the milShe added, “My mother-in-law, Sylvia itary. Prior to moving Telpner, was the one who actually taught me here, she worked at Dun how to play. Some of the other former memand Bradstreet in New bers included Lee Eveloff and my sister-inYork City in their Human law, Sally, who no longer lives in Council Resources Department.

Bluffs. Later, we switched to Saturdays; we After arriving here, would have lunch in each other’s homes. she met Sissy (Harriet Edythe had been playing in another group Katelman) Silber who was and then she she switched about 45 years Ruth Weiner is the “newcomer” of the group, originally from Council having arrived in Omaha 17 years ago. ago.”

Bluffs. “I was taken with the warmth and hospitality of the people here, but we left to go back east when my husband got out of the military,” Weiner explained. “He couldn’t find a job and we kept remembering how much we liked Omaha.

So, we moved back about 17 years ago!”

Weiner performs community service work with a group called Altrusa International, organization of professional women of all ages. She volunteers within the Bellevue area, mainly with literacy and women’s issues.

Ruth also works with abused and neglected children through the juvenile courts. She has a step-daughter and two grandchildren.

The girls profess that they do their socializing while they eat their lunch.

“We try not to talk too much while we’re playing. In between, while we’re mixing the tiles, we talk about stuff like politics, our kids and other things. We’ve played together for so long that, naturally we’re interested in each other, our health and our families,” Krasne said.

“The best part of Mah Jongg is that you play your Though not a native of Council Bluffs, Ilene Pachman was own hand. It isn’t like bridge where you have a partner, invited to join so long ago she “doesn’t remember!”

Weiner explained. “In ‘Maj,’ you make your own deciAfter Elaine moved to Omaha, the group moved their sions and try to play a defensive game. You try to figure game to Omaha. “We would play at her house or a hotel out what the other people need before you throw out a or restaurant. We’ve been doing that for quite a number tile. I tried to learn to play Bridge but I couldn’t.” of years. And, we’ve all been close friends for many years She added, “You really have to focus and I like to chit-- in addition to playing together,” she noted. chat. We like to get together with this group just Telpner grew up in Lincoln and moved to Council because it’s fun!”

by JOAN K. MARCUS Flora Shrier Telpner, Sally Telpner and Elaine Tepperman began playing Mah Jongg together in Council Bluffs, 53 years ago. The day that I met with them, Flora and Edythe Krasne were the only two Council Bluffs members present. Ilene Pachman has become a permanent member and Ruth Weiner labels herself as “a sub.”

But the former Council Bluffians now meet in Omaha at Spirit World Deli.

I tried not to interrupt their game as they traded the tiles back and forth and began setting up their racks.

They organized their hands, glanced at their cards and then all began to complain. All agreed that they had bad hands and would never win. The afternoon was full of complaints about the tiles.

Page 23

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Page 25

The sisterhood of the traveling Mahj group

by OZZIE NOGG For the record, National Women’s Friendship Day was created in 1999.

Annually since then, several states (including Nebraska) issue Governors’ Proclamations wherein they acknowledge that friendships are central to the wellbeing of women; that women friends create a climate of care and support that strengthens them in times of need and in times of joy; and therefore all citizens are urged to join in the observance of Women’s Friendship Day on the third Sunday in September.

One measly day a year? That’s small potatoes for Bonnie Horwich, Susan Rothholz, Suzanne Singer, Rocky Stern and me. We celebrate our friendship every week at the Mah Jongg table. (Let me say, parenthetically, I’m a lucky duck to be part of this group and also a member of the Gilah Girls, about whom I write in another interview ...)

So. It took a few years and several different incarnations before we five women became a tile team.

Originally, Bonnie explained, “Barbara Kushner, Betsey Tully and I -- plus a fourth woman whose name I can’t remember -- got together in 1990 to play Shanghai.”

Barbara and Betsey eventually moved on to other pursuits. Molline Cassman played with us until she fell under the spell of duplicate bridge. The group’s composition continued to shuffle and reshuffle along with the Shanghai cards, and though neither Susan, Rocky or I remember the exact date we entered the picture, Suzanne clearly recalls when she joined the group.

“It was in the winter of 1996, shortly after my husband died after a very difficult battle with Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

The timing was so perfect for me. Having a planned night with friends was a great thing to look forward to. From the beginning I knew I would find under-

me that day. It made no sense to me for a very long time. I felt like a total dunderhead. Happily, my table mates showed remarkable patience, and I’m convinced that our ability to be patient with one another is a hallmark of our collective friendship.)

On the rocky Oregon coast during one of their Mah Jongg get-aways are: Bonnie Horwich, left, Suzanne Singer, Rocky Stern, Susan Rothholz and Ozzie Nogg. standing at my Mahj group,” she “Over the years,” Susan said, “we’ve all explained. matured and become more accepting of Bonnie’s mother, Reba Kuklin, facilitat- each others quirks, and of our own.” ed our switch from Shanghai to Mah Though the official Mah Jongg card lists Jongg. One day we piled into the car and specific payoffs for winning hands, our fivedrove to Lincoln, where Reba then lived, some chose a different tack. “We’re the so she could explain the mysteries of only group I’ve ever heard of that doesn’t winds and cracks and soaps and bams. play Mahj for money,” Susan said.

(The game made absolutely no sense to “Instead, we each put $10 in the kitty every

week -- if you miss a game you still ante up -- and after about 18 months we’ve collected enough to take a trip that creates wonderful memories we all can share.”

Those memories include fabulous food, gallery walks and serious shopping in Portland, Santa Fe and Sarasota, plus a backstage chat with Mandy Patinkin in Chicago, the Gay Pride Parade in Washington, D.C., and encounters of the up-close kind with half-naked drag queens during a bacchanalian Key West Carnival.

(Now, to be perfectly candid ... even though we don’t pay off like other groups, we do keep a scorecard. Of sorts.)

“When you win a game,” Suzanne explained, “a penny is put into a plastic cup that has your initials on it. At the end of the night we total up our pennies, and I swear we get as much joy from four or five cents as we would if we’d won five dollars.

Other Mahj players think we’re nuts.”

Some game nights we’re all business.

Rack ‘em up and keep things moving.

Other game nights we’re more chatty, sharing family news, a bit of gossip.

But whatever the mood, certain conditions always obtain. When we play in Susan’s kitchen, Bonnie invariably needs more light. When we play at Rocky’s condo (she has these wonderful, funky chairs), Bonnie needs a telephone book under her feet -- otherwise they don’t touch the floor.

When we’re at Bonnie’s, her cat plays with our hair and knocks the pennies on the floor. At Suzanne’s, the phone rings a zillion times with reminders of yet another community obligation or committee meeting.

Continued on page 27

Page 26

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

Full house

by GLORIA SHUKERT JONES Since the 1960s, a group of men has been meeting every other Tuesday night to play poker, taking turns being host at their homes. According to Elliot Brown, the historian of the club and one of its long-time members, the original founders were Maury Schwartz, Morry Hoffman, Jack Duitch and Norman Milgram.

The players who are still living, but no longer part of the group, include Schwartz, now a resident of Illinois, who formerly taught at Temple Israel. When Schwartz moved to Illinois, Hoffman replaced him as the education director at Temple. Hoffman now lives in Minneapolis.

Norman Milgram, presently the dean of the Social Science Faculty in Ariel, Israel, has quite an impressive academic record in conjunction with his career. Prior to his move to Israel in 1971, he earned a B.A. at Harvard College, and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Boston University.

He served on the faculty at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and Temple University in Philadelphia. From 1971 to 1991, he was engaged in research and intervention in stress and coping, as Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology at TelAviv University, and had done extensive publishing in the field. He visited with Jean Duitch on her recent trip to Israel.

Brown described the late Jack Duitch, “as brilliant man, although very reticent about his achievements.”

Duitch, along with his wife, Jean, operated Levenson Chemical Company, which was started by Jean’s father.

“Jack gave tips over the radio regarding pest control,” Brown stated.

To the best of Brown’s recollections, other long-time members, now of blessed memory, were: brothers Sam and Max Bittner, who were involved in the scrap metal business; Sid Speigelman, who operated Matthew’s Book Store until it closed; Clayton Block, an engineer at Western Electric; Bud Bernstein, who started the AllAmerican Advertising Specialties and operated that enterprise for many years; Marvin Kaplan, who was also in the scrap metal business.

The late Howard Ruback, whose father started a grocery store in Oakland, Iowa, in a building that still bears the Ruback name in large letters, was also a long-time member. He eventually moved to Omaha and founded the Food City grocery stores. Other members included Milton Jacobson, who worked at the old Kilpatrick’s Department Store, and Joe Ginsburg, a youth advisor at Beth El for many years, and a recipient of the Federation’s Humanitarian of the Year award in 1994.

Brown, at 80, who considers himself “alive and well,” is still an active member of the group.

Present membership in addition to Brown, includes:

Stan Mitchell, Les Kay, Tuffy Epstein, Harold Kosowsky, Morey Birenbaum, Steve Tipp and Roger Tederman.

“When one of the guys can’t make it, Brent Spivak or Jerry Katskee sub for us,” Brown explained. He refers to the group as “The Occasionally Regular Every Other Tuesday Poker Club.”

Tuffy Epstein recalls being invited to join the poker group at least 20 years ago by Jack Duitch. “At the time, I was the youngest member of the group,” he said, “Now I am one of the oldest members.”

Epstein added, “No two of us have the same occupations, but we have many interests in common: curious minds, political affiliations, and opinions. Most of us are Beth El members, but that is definitely not a prerequisite.”

As he remembers it, Epstein then gave an interesting chronology of the membership from the time he joined, citing each member’s occupation and/or interests including his own, and how each recruitment led to another.

Stan Mitchell, left, Tuffy Epstein, Les Kay, and Elliot Brown.

“At the time I became a member, the others were Howard Ruback, Max Bittner, Jack Duitch, Joe Ginsburg, Morey Birenbaum and Elliot Brown. I was very flattered to be asked to join because those guys had intellects I admired, and none were educators. I was teaching junior high instrumental music and playing shows, private parties and night clubs. I think I brought a different mindset to the group.,” Epstein recalled.

“I recruited Stan Mitchell and Harold Kosowsky who worked respectively as an educator and a retired banker,” Epstein continued. “Harold is my first cousin. Stan was Educational Director of Beth El. He then recruited Les Kay after Joe Ginsburg died. Joe was active in Beth El as a youth advisor for many years. He was not one of the original members, but was in the club for a long time until his death. Les is a soon-to-be retired business man.

Les recruited Steve Tipp and Brent Spivak. Steve is a dentist and Brent is a computer expert. He is also relatively new to the Omaha community, and plays wonderful jazz piano. He and I have collaborated on a few gigs.

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Catching his breath, Epstein added, “Steve recruited Roger Tederman, a business owner. Brent is the youngest member of the group, and Elliot and Morey are the oldest. So everyone in the group, as you can see, has diverse and interesting bios,” Epstein smiled.

Epstein has been known for his musical talents and versatility ever since Central High School, and is no stranger to those who regularly frequent some of the music venues.

Morey Birenbaum volunteers as a reader for the blind at Radio Talking Book on a weekly basis. He also assists Brown at the “Living Well With Diabetes” support group’s monthly meetings. Birenbaum is also a volunteer director for AARP in Omaha. He manages the Information Center, a busy place providing tax information, monthly programs, advocacy and other assistance to seniors.

Stan Mitchell is a native of Massachusetts, and moved to Omaha 35 years ago. He was the Director of Education at Beth El for 20 years, eight or nine of which were spent directing the United Talmud Torah of Omaha (UTTO), which combined the schools of both Beth El and Beth Israel Synagogues.

Mitchell says, “I love to sing and write song parodies, and I’m a diehard fan of Boston Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots and Bruins.” He is now retired and enjoying the sunshine in Sarasota, FL, during Omaha’s winters. He would probably be easy to spot in a crowd, because he says he has a “trademark handlebar moustache.”

Here’s a rundown on the mechanics of the poker game itself, according to Brown: “We start at 7:30 p.m., and play until 9:45. Then the last hand is showdown, with enough most nights to make us come out even, if we've lost earlier,” he said, and added, “The most you can lose is $5, and if you go on charity, you can still play, but you can’t bet.”

He emphasized that playing for high stakes is not the priority of the game, but rather the companionship.

Brown also recalled that the group used to wear visors at the game, “to make us look like gamblers with high stakes,” he said, “but eventually, we did away with the visors.” He credited Maury Schwartz with the idea.

Mitchell recalls that he took Jack Duitch’s seat at the poker table at the invitation of Tuffy Epstein. “As you know, it’s a friendly and informal poker game, with players telling others what hand they have when they can’t figure it out for themselves,” he explained, “Or if they can’t see the cards sufficiently, or remember the particular game or its rules.”

Mitchell also stated, “There’s the usual joke telling, including ‘I’ve already heard that one’ and/or ‘You told it wrong.’ We talk about Jewish issues, national and international politics and the stock market.”

Continued on page 27

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Full house

today, fit and trim, he works out regularly at the Sokoloff Fitness Center at the JCC. He attributes his present health to diligent self-care, monitoring blood sugars, watching his diet and staying active.

He reports occasional setbacks, however. “One time last year, the poker game was at my house. And as the guys were pulling into my driveway, the Rescue Squad was leaving. The guys were worried that I wouldn’t be able to play poker, but we did manage to play that night.

However, the guys are aware that sometimes I have very low blood sugar. I had missed supper that particular day.”

Brown recently celebrated his 80th birthday, by taking a ride in a hot air balloon.

He is a staunch advocate of the Diabetes Education Center of the Midlands, located in Frederick Square, on 84th, south of Center, here in Omaha, and an active volunteer at this organization since his retirement in 1991. He was in Stan Mitchell, left, Tuffy Epstein, Les Kay, and Morey Birenbaum are the office supply part of a long running poker group. business for many Brown also mentioned the treats he’s years, and affiliated with Midwest prepared for his club members, which Business Products. include, salsa, bean dip, banana bread and Although this poker club has seen many pumpkin pie, all low calorie and healthful changes in membership over time, it is versions of these dishes, a few of which he still going strong since its inception, nearindicated he would share in the Passover ly 50 years ago. recipe section of this issue. While they are There is a great deal of karma among served year round, they have also been these men, which transcends the desire to adapted for Passover use. just play poker. They In addition to experineed and thrive on the menting with recipes, camaraderie and social another of Brown’s hobinteraction, which is bies is gardening, and he important at any age, but considers his floral disbecomes even more so plays the showpiece of his when people are in their neighborhood. I had to golden years. agree, after he emailed me Following each game a picture of those magnifand having lots of goodies icent blooms the way they to munch on, the players looked last summer. never just jump up and go Brown indicated he was home. Generally, they’ll diagnosed with insulinsit around and engage in dependent type 1 diabetes their gab sessions for a at age 18. Although at the while. time, he wasn’t given a Or as Brown puts it, very good prognosis, he’s When he’s not playing poker, Eliot “We solve all the probdefied the odds, and Brown enjoys hot air balloon rides! lems of the world!”

Continued from page 26 As in most clubs, there is focus on the foods and snacks served at these gatherings. According to Brown, “You’ll find everything from latkes to mock liver paste, salsa dip, pumpkin pie, banana bread, fresh fruit, and the frozen wonders from Sam’s and Costco. There’s also popcorn and other nosherei.”

He specifically bragged about the mock liver paste prepared by Alice Kosowsky.

“It’s delicious, and one of my favorites.

She gave me the recipe,” he said. “It’s got nuts and onions, and tastes just like (regular) chopped liver.”

The sisterhood of the traveling Mahj group Continued from page 25 (At my place, Don’s TV watching can mess with our concentration. Sorry, honey). And wherever we play (repeat, wherever), the temperature is an issue.

“One of us is freezing,” Susan said, “while another is having hot flashes, even though we're all too old for them.”

It’s nice to know that at least once a year, women around the country are encouraged to celebrate their precious friendships. Clearly, our Mahj Jongg gang needs no gubernatorial proclamation to remind us how much we truly do support and strengthen one another.

“I have no siblings,” Rocky said, “so my friends are my support system. They give me comfort and joy. We have grieved together over the loss of spouses, parents, siblings, children and friends. We’ve shared the ups and downs of job reversals, illnesses, surgeries, menopause and mood swings. We’ve celebrated birthdays and anniversaries together and shared the joy of weddings, the birth of grandchildren.

We know one another’s secrets, hopes, fears and innermost thoughts. The longer

we’re together, the closer we become, and the more able we are to overlook each other’s warts and wrinkles. ” “As I get older,” Bonnie said, “I realize how the women in my life have become incredibly more and more important, for sharing laughter, tears, good times and bad. There’s nothing like a good friend to help you over the rough spots and to rejoice in the celebrations.”

Suzanne added, “We don’t dwell on things, but we know we can cry if we need to and then say, ‘Let’s get on with it.’”

And for Susan? “This is my ‘therapy’ group. Over the years we’ve all had our share of pain or frustration, and this is where we can vent. We let one another complain and whine, but not for too long. We’re free to say almost anything we want without judgment. Of course, there are times when we get ticked off at each other, but somehow we move past those times without injury. Our loyalty to one another is a given. When I’m surrounded by these friends, I feel safe.”

(To this I add, ditto. And amen.)

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physicians, an ophthalmologist, the manager of an office equipment store and a television producer, and a retired dairyman. The one woman member of the group, Sylvia Hermanson, is a journalist. Her partner, Larry Rosenfeldt, is a retired professor.

Attorney Bob Evnen says, “We have a broad range of views and politics. There are Conservative, Reform and unaffiliated Jews. We know and like each other -- and sometimes we argue.”

Allan Kenyon, a personal business coach, helps people who are stuck and want to “jump start” their lives or businesses. Whether they’ve moved or been forced out of their jobs, he tries to guide them in the right direction.

“I’ve been in this group for about 15 years. We sometimes meet at the synagogue or at somebody’s house,” Kenyon explained.

“Meeting with this group is a good break and helps us to relax. We let our wives and dogs sleep at home while we come down here and solve the world’s problems. It’s the kind of a thing where you can let down your hair and not worry about what anyone is thinking about you.

You need this in your life.”

Steve Seglin, an attorney, agrees, “We started out as a means of exercise and we turned into more of a social group. It kind of reminds me of a small town coffee shop where farmers get together.”

Lincoln bikers, back row: Charlie Coren, left, Harlan Priesman, Steve Seglin, Jeff Payne, Lou The men are sympathetic Halpern, Bob Hudkins, Mike Edholm, Alan Kenyon; seated: Bruce Breslow, Herb Friedman, toward each other. Sadly, Larry Rosenfeldt, Sylvia Hermanson, and Gary Hochman. several of the people in the They greeted one quiet member, Bruce Breslow, who group have lost their jobs because of the downturn in sat down with his coffee. “When Bruce speaks, we all lis- the economy. Although they joke about them being one ten! We didn’t know that he could speak for five years, of the 573,000 people who joined the unemployment but when he says something, he makes the greatest rolls that month, this group will do anything they can to observations!” several members commented. Bruce, a help one another find jobs. Perhaps coming each Sunday retired milkman, smiled but chose not to speak. for coffee gives them a chance to air their feelings withLater, Bruce said, “I think we originally started out having to worry about what people think of them. because the men would drop their kids off at Sunday Mike Edholm, the only bachelor of the group and a School, go for a bike ride, have coffee and then pick up cartoonist, comes to the group to draw. He handles pubtheir kids. As the years progressed, we've gotten older lic relations and marketing for the School of Music and and there is less of the bike riding and more discussion the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He doesn’t ride a and solving of the world’s problems. I keep my political bike but he comes to “hang out” with the guys. “These views in the background because I don’t want to get guys are a great bunch to hang out with and they are my whipped!” friends,” he said.

There were probably between 15 and 20 men at the Jeffrey Payne, a periodontist and a faculty member of coffee house when I spoke with them. Herb Friedman, the UNL College of Dentistry, comes for coffee and for an attorney, told me that the group started more than 30 the friendship and conversation. years ago. “Jeff Mellen, Harlan Priesman and my son “We moved to Lincoln in 1991 and I’ve been coming Charlie, now 40, and I used to ride our 10-speed bikes here most of those years. Some of us have biked in cold on Sundays. The group kind of grew,” Friedman said. weather,” he added. “This group is almost something Priesman loves to ride but finds it hard to separate the religious because nearly everybody shows up each riding from the coffee klatch afterwards. “The ride is an week.” excuse to be outside when the weather is nice. But, lets Bob Hutkins teaches microbiology at UNL and Larry face it, the coffee and the social aspect is the destination. Rosenfeldt is a retired professor who came to Lincoln When you’re biking, you can't talk to each other. When because his “better half,” Sylvia works at the Lincoln you get here, we sit down and talk,” he noted.

Journal-Star. She and Larry live near downtown and join “Years ago we actually rode out to Wilderness Park and the group only for the conversations.

“I also broke the gender barrier!” she jokes. took some fairly strenuous bike rides. Many of us would “We’re relatively new in town and we’ve been coming ride during the week. Somewhere along the line, we decided that we’d stop for coffee. It developed into a to this group for about three years. My doctor, lawyer ‘coffee klatch’ as much as anything else. I no longer ride and accountant all come here,” she added, “and it has a bike, but I work out and usually come for coffee on been great. We get professional advice on all kinds of Sunday. There are probably 15 or 20 people who float in things. Mainly, they all came after they dropped their kids at Sunday school.” and out of the group.”

She smiled, “Pretty soon, their kids will have to drop Being Jewish isn’t a prerequisite. They have taken rides to Eagle, Nebraska, and even rode all the way to Council them off here for coffee. They’ll be too old to drive!”

They all agree. In our father’s generation, this would Bluffs. They have had nice long rides, short “sprints” and hope to continue. However, the destination is have been a formal men’s club. But, that really doesn’t exist anymore. This group of bikers were ahead of thei always the coffee house and discussion at the end.

The beauty of the group is that they are men (and one time.

And, if the economy keeps up the way it is, more and woman) from all walks of life. There are several attorneys, businessmen, retired professors, a periodontist, more people will be riding!

by JOAN K. MARCUS They talk about politics and everything else. They argue, get angry and worry about each other.

What group is this? The Lincoln Bikers’ Group.

Some of them no longer ride, but they always meet on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. They literally take over a Haymarket Coffee House for a few hours. The men range in age from 46 to “about” 72. (There was a great deal of “discussion” on the Sunday I met them as to who is the oldest.)

Subjects range from politics to legal and medical issues. This group is probably the closest thing to a Jewish Men’s Club as possible in a small community like Lincoln. And they’re a boisterous group that doesn’t hesitate to comment on the weather, either.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 29

Thursday night Maj: Just like family

by GLORIA SHUKERT JONES Talk about a “spread”! The kitchen table was heavily Friedman continued. “ Then Lynne Saltzman and They may not be related, but the Thursday night Mah laden with all kinds of treats; fruit, miniature pumpkin Phyllis’ sister, Gayle Tichauer, joined. Both Gayle and Jongg players couldn’t be closer if they were sisters. Over pies, cheese, marinated asparagus stalks, dips, chips -- Phyllis moved to sunny Arizona, where they play Mah Jongg with other former Omahans. Then Debbie and the years, they have formed an alliance not only for the every kind of munchies imaginable. enjoyment and camaraderie of Mah Jongg, but also for Friedman is very creative with her relish trays, and the Hollie joined. This group has become family to me. We sharing the joys and sorrows of life’s inevitable milestones. assumption that food and conversation go hand-in- like to have six in the club, so we have a better chance at Says Sheryl Friedman, long-time member, “My daugh- hand, and considered necessary adjuncts to the game, scheduling at least four for a game. However, we also ter is almost 35 years old, and we’ve been playing since was certainly evident. Not only did I make several trips love having all of us together, and when that happens, before her Bat Mitzvah.” to the kitchen for refills, but was also invited to play a two sit out each game.”

Saltzman indicated that even if there are not at least When I called Lynne Saltzman for information about couple hands of Mah Jongg with them. I even won one four players, there are a couple of other people they can the group, she graciously invited me to sit in on one of of the games. call to substitute. But for the most part, there are genthe Thursday night sessions, thereby providing an erally enough for a table of four. opportunity to meet and talk to all six of the players. I “We celebrate birthdays, and have a Hanukkah gift eagerly accepted. But at the same time, I was hoping exchange, and we also go out to eat with ‘kitty’ money they would not let my presence interfere with their that we put in every week, and Helen has been our accugame and I worried that that they would resent having rate and faithful treasurer all these years,” Friedman to answer questions. said. “We have several special mahj events, including, However, any hesitation was quickly dissipated when playing in Lynne’s succah during Succot, I usually do Thursday night rolled around and Saltzman, who even Hanukkah, M’Lee does Halloween.” offered me a ride, wheeled into my driveway in a bright At this point, all the ladies chimed in and commented yellow sports car. that Halloween was not a Jewish holiday, and they all “Just move that stuff out of the way,” she said, gesturstarted laughing. ing toward a pile of papers on the passenger seat. After “But the Mah Jongg (game) that I personally rememthis rather informal first meeting, we were totally at ease ber most,” Friedman recalled, “was when I called the with one another. girls who had already gathered at the home of whomevThe warmth and hospitality I encountered at the er was hosting, and I told them I was not going to be Friedman home, the hostess that evening, was amazing.

The group welcomed me, a total stranger, as though we Thursday night Mahj, seated: Lynne Saltzman, left, Hollie Fineman, there, because we were at the Med Center with my had known one another all our lives. Every one of the Debbie Roitstein; standing: Helen Kay, left, Sheryl Friedman, and daughter, who was having emergency surgery. So the girls picked up all the goodies-- I don’t know what they players came up and introduced herself to me. There M'Lee Haslinger. were handshakes and hugs. I could readily see how they Friedman explained how she joined the club: “ I was a did with the set -- but they came to the Med Center and all became friends and how those friendships have comparative newcomer to Omaha, and I put an ad in the sat with me and my husband while we were waiting for endured the test of time.

Jewish Press, using all Mah Jongg terms, such as: ‘I’ll my daughter to come out of surgery.”

She added, “That’s the kind of group this is. We have All the members were present that evening: Hollie bring the ‘flowers’ to your ‘west’ Omaha home, no Fineman, M’Lee Hasslinger, Helen Kay, Debbie ‘joker-ing’. I got two phone calls, one from a group of celebrated our children growing up, simchas, good Roitstein, Friedman and Saltzman. They each take turns ladies who played during the day, but I worked during times, bad times, births, deaths -- we have truly become hosting the game at their homes, and they try to play the day, and one from Phyllis Silberstein. Phyllis had a family. We’ve done everything you do in life together.”

I began to see that this was not just your typical Mah every other Thursday night, but Friedman said, started a group by teaching them how to play. I wasn’t “Sometimes it’s Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on there at the beginning. M’Lee, Helen and Elisse Collis Jongg group. In fact, the game seemed to be just anothwhether it’s Yom Tov or something else that’s going on. were the original players, and Phyllis was thrilled because er reason for these ladies to congregate. The game itself We might go a month without a game, and other times, I already knew how to play, so she didn’t have to carry was pretty low key, with lots of laughter. It definitely was the instruction part by herself,” Friedman said. not what you’d call a tournament-type, where the it’s three weeks in a row.”

“Elisse dropped out and moved out of town,” Continued on page 30 I found myself enjoying the company and the food.

A small sanctuary According to tradition, each Jewish home is considered a mikdash m’at.

A small sanctuary.

A place of beauty, hospitality, safety and peace, where human needs are expressed and met.

By every measure, the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home reflects those values.

Over the next year, the Blumkin Home New Beginning building project will be completed.

The facility and all it contains have been dramatically transformed.

Equally important, this new mikdash m’at is built on a foundation of compassion and generosity, where each Resident is considered special and treated with respect.

Passover is a time to recall the past and look forward to the future.

As the Residents of the Blumkin Home celebrate the festival in their new mikdash m’at, they also celebrate the Omaha Jewish community that made this renewal possible.

Page 30

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

Just like family

Continued from page 29 club member tells of one instance during focus has to be strictly on the game itself. that particular week that made her happy.

This one was relaxed and friendly, and It could be something as exciting as an seemed at times to be merely a backdrop upcoming event, or as simple as finding a for a social evening, interspersed generous- desired item on sale. ly with snacks and schmoozing. There was But with the world in the state that it’s lots of talking, joking and laughter in, it is really heartwarming to hear things throughout the entire evening, even while in a more positive vein than what you get games were in progress. by the media, and to realize there are still “I remember a long time ago,” Saltzman said, “when we had little kids, we rented a hotel room and had a marathon Mah Jongg, like all night. It was a lot of fun. We needed to get away.”

Friedman added, “Things were a lot simpler then. Life was not as complicated as it is now. This was in the dead of winter, so no one had to drive home. We stayed overnight, and everyone had breakfast.”

About to enjoy the fruits of Sheryl’s labor (shown larg“It was fun, like a pajama party,” er at right) are Debbie Roitstein, left, M'Lee agreed Saltzman, “then we’d take Hasslinger, Sheryl Friedman, Hollie Fineman, Lynne a break, get into the hot tub or Saltzman, and Helen Kay. something. We just had fun.”

And it is this writer’s assumption that little things that make people appreciative there was also plenty of food to go around. and bring them joy.

I asked if they thought this group Some of the “happiness” stories includwould go on forever. ed: A grandson that was to be in a com“Absolutely!” Saltzman exclaimed. mercial; a spouse’s good report from a Friedman said, “I’m the oldest in this doctor; learning new punches in a selfgroup, and I made them promise they defense class, and other safety measures; a would bring the set to the Blumkin painkiller that worked; and a surprise visit Home and play there with me.” from an out-of-town daughter.

Saltzman quipped, “Maybe we’ll even As I observed these ladies’ obvious join you there.” closeness to one another, I was reminded “I love these ladies,” Friedman said, of a theme song from a TV sitcom back in “And I love getting together with them the ’50s, starring Joan Davis, which went for kibbitzing and noshing, even if a lot of something like this: Maj doesn’t get played.”

“Friendship, friendship, just a perfect One charming new tradition this club ‘blendship’ -- when other friendships observes really impressed me. As they are have been forgot, ours will still be hot.” seated around the Mah Jongg table, each That says it all!

Passover recipes for “group therapy” PINEAPPLE MATZOH KUGEL Contributed by Sheryl Friedman 6 eggs beaten 2 matzoh broken 1/4 tsp. salt 4 T melted butter or margarine 1 cup sugar or Splenda for Baking (may reduce to taste) 1 can unsweetened crushed pineapple drained Mix all ingredients. Bake at 350º in 8 x 8 pan for 40-45 minutes.

Dress it up by putting pineapple rings with maraschino cherries in the center on the bottom of a round pan. When you flip it out on a plate, it looks like a pineapple upside-down cake. Enjoy!

BONELESS CHICKEN BREASTS Submitted by Lynne Saltzman Mix 3 tablespoons oil with package of onion soup mix.

Coat 3 pounds of boneless chicken breast cut-up pieces with mixture and broil for 10 minutes per side.

Serve hot, or save for a cold lunch to take to work or school with raw vegetables and fruit.

Add remaining ingredients.

Cover and cook for five to eight minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve hot.

APPLE MATZA TORTE Contributed by Georgia Ann Steinberg 8 apples, pared and grated 8 eggs separated 3/4 cup sugar 1/4 tsp. salt 1 cup matza meal 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 cup chopped almonds or other nuts 1 tablespoon orange juice Beat egg whites with salt until very stiff.

Add sugar gradually. Add beaten egg yolks. Mix and add the dry ingredients, orange juice, nuts, and lastly, the apples.

Bake in a springform pan from one hour to 11/2 hours in a 350ºoven. Let cool. Serve with your favorite sauce.

Continued on page 31

STIR-FRY ASPARAGUS Submitted by Lynne Saltzman 2 pounds fresh asparagus 3 Tablespoons of oil 1/2 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons water Cut asparagus into one-inch diagonal pieces.

Heat oil in pan and stir asparagus for one minute.

Happy Passover!

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Passover recipes

Continued from page 30 PASSOVER APPLE CAKE Contributed by Maxine Noodell Peel and thinly slice 3 lbs. of apples, (approximately 6 or 7) Mix 1/2 cup sugar with 1 tsp. cinnamon and 2 1/2 tsp. lemon juice and set aside Mix together: 6 eggs 1 cup of oil 2 cups of sugar 2 cups matza cake meal 2 Tbs. corn starch Pinch of salt Grease a 9 x 13 pan. Put in part of the batter; add the apples put in the remainder of the batter.

Make topping with 1/2 cup of nuts, 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.

Add topping and bake at 350º for one hour and 15 minutes. Cool in pan. Freezes well and can be made ahead of time.

JANE BRODY’S MOCK LIVER PATE Courtesy Alice Kosowsky (Harold’s wife) Contributed by Elliot Brown 3/4 cup petite french green lentils 3 cups water 1 1/2 tbsp. extra oil 1 very large onion peeled quartered sliced (2 cups) 2 hard boiled egg whites, chopped fine 5 whole walnuts, shelled and chopped fine 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp.fresh ground black pepper Cook lentils in the water 20 to 30 minutes, until soft.

Drain and put into mixing bowl.

While the lentils cook, heat the olive oil over medium low heat , add the onions and brown for at least 30 minutes, stirring often.

When onions are caramelized, chop fine and add to the lentils. Add the remaining ingredients; stir and mix thoroughly.

The secret is to slowly caramelize the onions while the lentils cook. Makes about two cups.

(Note: Sephardim are allowed to eat rice and legumes during Passover.)

ELLIOT’S BANANA BREAD One stick of butter, or you may substitute 1/2 cup applesauce 3/4 cup Splenda or sugar 2 or 3 eggs 2 cups matzah cake flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 3 large ripe bananas 1 tsp. vanilla 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts.

Preheat oven to 350º. Grease a 9x9x5 baking pan.

Cream the butter or the applesauce and add splenda or sugar until it is light and fluffy.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 31

Get Yarn Therapy at Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition. Sift baking soda, salt and matza cake meal together.

Add to the creamed mixture, mixing all well.

Fold in the bananas, vanilla and walnuts.

Add 1/2 tsp. each of cinnamon and ground cloves Pour all into the pan. Bake at 350º oven about 55 minutes. Be sure to test for doneness and place pan upside down on rack to cool.

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PASSOVER CHIFFON CAKE Courtesy of Judy Katskee 9 eggs, separated 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/4 cup matza cake meal juice of 1 orange 3 tbsp. cocoa 1/4 cup Passover wine Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Beat egg yolks with sugar until thick.

Add the rest of the ingredients to egg yolk mixture.

Fold into egg whites.

Bake in an ungreased 10-inch tube pan at 325º for 1 hour. Invert the pan to cool.

FESTIVE FRUIT AND NUT KUGEL Courtesy of Judy Katskee and adapted from the April 1990 Good Housekeeping magazine 1 cup matza farfel 2 16-oz. cans sliced peaches 1/2 10-oz package of pitted dates (about 1 cup) 1 stick + 1/4 stick margarine 8 large eggs 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg 1/2 cup sugar + 1 Tbsp of sugar 1 8-oz container of plain yogurt 1 8-oz container of cottage cheese 1/2 cup walnuts 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon 1 sm. can crushed pineapple, drained Preheat oven to 350º. Grease a 9x13” baking dish.

Reserve 1/4 matza farfel for topping.

In a large bowl, combine remaining farfel and 11/2 cups warm water; set aside.

Drain peaches; cut each slice into 3-4 pieces. Slice dates.

Reserve 1/2 cup peaches and 1/4 cup dates for topping.

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt 1/2 cup margarine (1 stick); pour into another large bowl. With wire whisk, beat in eggs, nutmeg and 1/2 cup sugar.

Stir in yogurt, cottage cheese and remaining peaches and dates. Fold in soaked farfel until blended. Pour mixture into casserole. Sprinkle with reserved peaches and dates.

For topping: in same small saucepan, melt 2 tbsp. margarine (1/4 stick); remove from heat. Into margarine, stir in chopped walnuts, cinnamon, 1 Tbsp. sugar, and reserved farfel. Sprinkle evenly over kugel.

Bake 40-45 minutes until slightly puffed and set. Serves 16.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Coconut, almond, chocolate and more

by SYBIL KAPLAN Sugar free. Banana. Chocolate chip.

The varieties are endless for this little sweet whose Italian (or perhaps French) origins relate to the fine paste which is its basic ingredient, almond paste, as well as ground almonds, sugar and egg whites.

Of course it’s macaroons, associated with Passover. The word macaroon comes from the French macaron and that from the Italian word maccherone, an Italian word for a tubular pasta which was the same color as the almond paste in macaroons.

Barbara Revsine (Chicago Tribune, April 16, 2008) writes in “Macaroon Migrations” that its origins go back to an eighth century French monastery. Others say it was probably Italian Jews who adapted the cookie for Passover based on one developed by Italian monks.

My research tells me that French macaroons are dense, chewy and flat; Parisian ones are light which sandwich a creamy filling; American macaroons use coconut, not almond paste; and Italian ones, called amaretti, sometimes flavored with bitter almonds, are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside and are made with almond flour, egg whites and sugar.

How macaroons became associated with Passover is logical. Almonds are Middle Eastern and mentioned in the Bible. The basic ingredients of ground almonds, sugar and egg whites, as well as coconut, would fit the requirements for a flourless Passover dessert.

In The World of Jewish Desserts, Gil Marks writes that Ashkenazic macaroons were called makarondelach, and confirms that Ashkenazic Jews got the idea for the flourless cookies from the Italian Jews. He also writes that among Sephardim, there is a denser and softer cookie called marunchinos, also made with almond paste and egg whites, and eaten for Passover.

Faye Levy suggests in her book, 1000 Jewish Recipes, that macaroon cakes baked in a springform pan are a Passover tradition.

At the cooking school in Paris where she studied, she was taught to bake macaroons on a paper-lined baking sheet with a little water poured under the paper before removing the macaroons. In this way, they remain moist. Another secret to keeping them moist is to prepare Italian meringue with sugar and water boiled to a syrup then poured in a thin stream onto stiff egg whites.

Claudia Roden, in The Book of Jewish Food, writes that Jews of Iran and Iraq make macaroons in a Turkish turban style and add bitter almonds, cardamom and sometimes rose water. Jews of Turkey and the Balkans add rose water. Moroccan Jews make a similar pastry dredged in confectioners’ sugar and serve them in paper cups.

Here are some interesting ways to make macaroons for Pesach.

CLASSIC ALMOND MACAROONS - 20 1 1/2 cups blanched almonds* 1/4 cup sugar 2 egg whites 1/4 tsp. almond extract 3/4 cup sugar 4 tsp. confectioners’ sugar Preheat oven to 325º. Line a cookie sheet

with waxed paper or parchment paper.

Grind almonds finely with ? cup sugar in food processor. Add egg whites and almond extract and blend 20 seconds. Add 3/8 cup sugar and blend 10 seconds, add remaining 3/8 cup sugar and blend 10 seconds.

Wet hands, roll 1 Tablespoon dough between palms into a smooth ball. Place on cookie sheet and continue until all dough is used. Flatten each to 1/4-inch high. Brush each with water.

Sprinkle confectioners’ sugar on top. Bake in 325º oven 25 minutes until very light brown.

Remove cookie sheets from oven. Lift one end of paper and pour 2 Tablespoons water onto the cookie sheet.

Lift the other end of the paper and pour 2 Tablespoons water onto cookie sheet. Tilt sheet to spread water. When water stops boiling, remove macaroons from paper with a spatula and cool on a rack. *To blanch almonds: Place water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add almonds and boil 10 seconds.

To test if done, remove one almond with a slotted spoon, press with thumb and finger; if skin slips away from almond, it is done, otherwise boil a few seconds longer.

Drain and peel. Spread in a single layer on paper towels and pat dry. When dry, grind.

CARROT MACAROONS-24 1 cup blanched almonds 1/4 cup sugar 1 egg white 1/4 lb. grated carrots 2 egg whites Pinch salt Pinch cream of tartar 1/4 cup sugar Preheat oven to 350º. Line cookie sheets with foil and butter foil. Food process almonds with 1/4 cup sugar in food processor 10 seconds. Place in a bowl. Add one egg white and carrots; mix well.

Beat 2 egg whites with salt until they are frothy, Add cream of tartar and beat until they hold soft peaks. Add 1/4 cup sugar. Add one quarter to carrot mixture then fold in remaining whites.

Drop batter by tablespoon onto cookie sheets. Bake in preheated 350º oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to racks and cool.

MINI CHOCOLATE MACAROONS-40 3 egg whites 2/3 cup sugar 1 cup coconut, shredded or flaked 4 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, melted 1/4 cup oil Preheat oven to 325º. Grease cookie sheets.

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks appear.

Add sugar and beat a while longer.

Place coconut, unsweetened baking chocolate and oil in a mixing bowl. Fold in egg whites.

Drop by teaspoon onto greased cookie sheet.

Bake in preheated 325º oven 30 minutes.

Transfer to rack to cool.

A former resident of Overland Park, KS, 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 and contributes to Jewish newspapers across North America.

April 3, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 33

Omaha’s own ROMEOS

by JOAN K. MARCUS because he was in the R.O.T.C., he ended up in the They call themselves “The Romeos.� It’s not what you United States Army. think; it stands for Retired Old Men Eating Out! “They wouldn’t allow me to be deferred and I didn’t They have met for so many years that they can’t even want to be in the Army. So, I enlisted in the Navy and I remember when they started. The Tuesday I met them ended up in Farragut, Idaho, in boot camp. Then, they for lunch at a local coffee shop, there were only four, but sent me to Balboa Park in San Diego where I worked in they told me that, in past years, their numbers have the maternity ward. I took care of babies and pregnant swelled to 10 or even 14 men. women,� he laughed.

Bob Katleman, Bud Greenspan and Norm Zevitz were “Since they figured out that I was a pretty good corpsthe first to arrive. Some of the other members who did- man, they switched me to the Marine Corp and transn’t come that day were Maury Meiches, Sol Kutler, Sy ferred me to Camp Pendleton, where I went through Schneider, Danny Goodman, Russ Kaplan, Norm boot camp again. After that, I was sent to Hawaii, the Roffman and Morrie Bresel.

Solomon Islands and Guadalcanal. I wound up in They perused the menu and discussed whether or not Okinawa.� the food would look like the pictures. One man commented that he didn’t even know the restaurant existed. “I thought we were going to Hooters!� he said. They all laughed. Food didn’t seem important because it was time for a political discussion.

Omaha born Harry Alloy seems to be the spokesman for the group. At 81, Alloy is dapper, alert and welldressed. He reminisced as he told me that the group was originally started by Milton Parker, now deceased.

Friendships among some of the men go back more than 75 years, when their mothers were friends as young women.

Alloy was office manager at Wilson Meat Packing for many years. He graduated from Central High School in 1945 and went on to Omaha University. He graduated by going to night classes. After his retirement from Bob Katelman, left, and Bud Greenspan are two of the members Wilsons, he held several other accounting positions. of In 1952, he married the former Doris Noodell. They the Romeos -- “Retired Old Men Eating Out.� have two married daughters, Wendy Manvitz, a homeThankfully, after the bombs went off in Nagasaki and maker and a community volunteer and Shelly (Rochelle) Hiroshima, Zevitz said, “they didn't need me anymore Fox, a social worker at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. so they sent me home in 1945. I wanted to go back to Doris and Harry have four grandchildren. school, but my mother was sick and I had to go to work.

Zevitz was friendly and offered to tell me about his In 1951, I met Dorothy Schwartz, a young woman who youth. He bragged to be the oldest one in the group at had been orphaned. She was living with Sylvia Ross and 85. He was born in Fremont and came to Omaha in I met her at the JCC. I was too shy to ask Dorothy out.

1929, where he went Rosewater Grade School and grad- Maury Meiches offered to ask her out for me.� uated from South High School in 1941. Then, he Norm worked as an optician for the Rips family for entered pharmacy school at Creighton University and, over 50 years. He and Dorothy have two children,

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Bob Katleman, 81, worked at Vickers Manufacturing Company for more than 40 years, operating hydraulic equipment. He was born in 1927 in Sioux City and later moved to Omaha. He graduated from Technical High School in 1945. “They were still drafting even though the war was over so, I joined and stayed in a couple of years. Then, I got out, got the job at Vickers, and, in 1956, I married Esther Berman,� he said.

Katleman, a soft-spoken man, looks forward to the weekly lunches. Although he doesn’t say much, he likes to listen to the conversations. He and Esther have two children, Debi Smedlund, a social worker at Methodist Hospital and a son, Steve Katleman, who is a businessman in Virginia. They have two grandchildren.

Bud Greenspan is the comedian of the group with his dry sense of humor. After he told me a corny joke, he spoke of his growing up in Omaha. Born in 1926, he went to Dundee Grade School and Tech High before swtiching to Central because his parents wanted him to have some college preparatory.

He graduated from Pratt School of Individual Instruction in 1944 and went into the United States Air Force. On June 8, 1944, two days after “D Day,� his instructor came into the room and announced that there was no need for more pilots. Thus Greenspan ended up in the Infantry. He joked, “I didn’t care for that job!�

He was stationed at Camp Walters in Texas and was then sent overseas to New Guinea and the Philippines.

He was a rifleman in the Infantry. “I’ve had other jobs that I’ve liked better. When I got out in December of 1945, my parents had moved to Minneapolis. I went there, but didn’t like the cold in the winter and the mosquitoes in the summer. I had already had two attacks of malaria and Minneapolis wasn’t for me,� he explained. “So I took a job traveling as a salesman and that’s when I came through Omaha and met my wife, Rosalie Garrop,� he added.

Continued on page 34

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

Finding hope at Passover

by H. ERIC SCHOCKMAN, PH.D. When I was a child, it was difficult to make sense of a holiday like Passover. I found its contrasts unsettling. Kids take their emotional cues from the adults around them, but I couldn’t understand how I was supposed to feel.

Was it a time for deep sadness or profound joy? Why did we feast like kings and queens when the story being told was one of hardship and struggle? And what good were strange items like haroset and horseradish root as a centerpiece on the

holiday table?

Nuance is lost on a 10 year-old boy; to me, these things were just lumps on a plate, and their relevance to my life was as hard to fathom as the notion that anyone would wander around for 40 years when they could just get in the car and drive.

As I got older and the grown-up world slowly revealed its mysteries, Passover’s dueling themes of suffering and redemption became significantly less abstract.

That one occasion could spark many, and even conflicting, emotions, suddenly had

Omaha’s own ROMEOS Continued from page 33 They were married in 1950 and have two sons and four grandchildren.

Bennett started a business in Houston, called “Family Tree DNA.” Using cheek swabs to test DNA, he traces family heritages and backgrounds.

Jim, an actuary, lives in the Los Angeles area and owns Harry Alloy Greenspan and Associates, a financial firm. He develops methods of deferring income until retirement.

The “Romeos” enjoy their weekly get together. Each week, they try a new restaurant. Zevitz says, “Looking forward to being with this group every week is keeping me alive. It’s like being

with family. We talk about politics, our experiences, Judaism and many other things.”

They all take a minute to remember some of the men who used to come for lunches.

They named Milt Parker, Wally Elkon, Joe Frank, Lee Sommer and Manny Kreitstein, just a few of those who have died.

Norm Zevitz But the sadness only lasted a minute. They had problems of the world to solve and choices to make from the menu. I teased them and said that they were all octogenarians.

Greenspan quipped, “Is that contagious?”

Have a Happy & Joyous Passover realpeople | realstyle

the ring of truth. And what once appeared as colorless lumps on the seder plate were now symbols rich with meaning.

This year, as we stand, teetering, at the edge of a financial abyss, those symbols are even more potent than ever. First, the haroset. Our ancestors performed backbreaking work in the blistering sun, slaves to brick-and-mortar buildings that ruled their existence.

Today we have our own crisis of bricks and mortar, and the resulting economic fallout spells a new kind of slavery for millions of foreclosed-upon families nationwide.

Next, the shank bone. In ancient times, the Paschal sacrifice allowed Jews to offer thanks for their everyday blessings. But with mounting job losses and a tanking stock market, today we are the lambs at the slaughter, sacrificing our comfortable lifestyles and mortgaging our children’s future.

When it comes to saltwater and maror, the parallel is not hard to find. Hebrew slaves in Egypt knew first-hand that life could be harsh and unforgiving; it’s a lesson so many of us are learning in all kinds of personal and painful ways.

As our businesses slow down and our budgets tighten up, we understand what it means to shed bitter tears of sorrow, anger and fear. These tears also allow us to grieve for what we have lost which brings us to the egg, in Judaism a traditional food of mourning.

We can’t help but feel a sense of emptiness and longing for the world we knew; as Bob Dylan so aptly put it, “The times, they are a-changin.”

In the midst of all this gloom, we would

r1 0 0 e v o g n i t a r C eleb ng t o t he i v i g f o s r a ye unit y! m m o c h s i J ew

be remiss not to heed the message of another seder symbol: the karpas, or green vegetable. Even during the darkest days of winter, we know that spring is just around the bend, bringing with it new growth, blossoming opportunity and fresh hope for better times ahead.

The power of Passover is its ability to recognize what I could not as a young child: that joy and sorrow are merely two sides of one coin, and that where one must go, the other inevitably follows.

These are uncertain times. Hunger and poverty are on the rise, and may well get worse before they get better. But Passover reminds us that nothing is forever; the tide will eventually turn. Our challenge in the meantime is not to despair, and to find the wherewithal to keep moving forward. This Passover, as we relive the tragedy of Egyptian slavery, let us not forget the euphoria of Exodus.

Eric Schockman is the president of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger.

Find out more on the web at: www.mazon.org.

PASSOVER CLOSINGS & EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press will be closed ThursdayFriday, April 9-10 for the first two days of Passover and Wednesday-Thursday, April 1516, for the last two days of the Jewish holiday. 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

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by MARK MIETKIEWICZ This Wednesday, April 8, Jews around the world will have the opportunity to do something they haven’t done since 1981 and won’t be able to again until 2037 -- make a blessing. Not just any blessing but a blessing on the sun.

Birkat HaChamah or the “The Blessing of the Sun” is recited every 28 years or once every 10,227 days when, according to Jewish tradition, the Sun returns to the position it occupied at the beginning of the fourth day of Creation. It’s always a Wednesday (the fourth day of the week) and always on the vernal equinox, (the first day of spring when day and night are equal.) [tinyurl.com/ chamah02] The blessing itself is quite brief: “Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who reenacts the works of creation.” For a relatively brief blessing that is recited so infrequently, there is a surprising amount of discussion and even controversy.

First of all, doesn’t Rosh Hashanah mark the creation of the world? And secondly, doesn’t spring begin in March?

As for Rosh Hashanah, apparently there is a dispute in Jewish tradition about whether the New Year falls in Tishrei or six months earlier in Nisan. The Gemara concludes that although we count the years from Tishrei, when we calculate the moon and sun’s cycles, the halachah is that the world was created in Nisan. [tinyurl.com/chamah04] The Chabad site adds somewhat cryptically that “All agree that the world was created in Tishrei, but that G-d conceived the idea of creation in the month of Nisan.” [tinyurl.com/chamah03] As for the question about the first day of spring, it gets quite complicated but much of it is due to the legacy of the switchover from the Julian to Gregorian calendars. [tinyurl.com/chamah10] To make matters even more interesting, this year’s Birkat HaChamah falls on Erev Pesach just hours before the first Seder. If you didn’t have enough on your mind with the cleaning and chametz and the cooking, there’s this, too!

This year’s timing has created some buzz on the Internet with claims that the final redemption (Geulah) is imminent since this is only the third time in history that this blessing falls on the eve of Passover. Proponents say the only other times this has happened is when the Israelites left Egypt and in the time of events recorded in Megillat Esther.

Unfortunately, this does not seem to be true. After performing some fancy calculations, the author of the Keitzmeguleh blog concludes, “The incidence of Birkat HaChamah with Erev Pesach is rare, but not unheard of. It last occurred only a few cycles ago in 5685 (1925).

Persistence with a good Hebrew Calendar program will show you that this has happened between 5-10 times in the last thousand years (sorry, it’s been a while since I checked). We simply cannot say that the third time is the Geulah.” [tinyurl.com/chamah09] The Berachot.org site lists some of the Jewish laws associated with this special blessing: • A minyan of 10 is not needed, but being part of a large group is preferable.

• A blind person should either hear the blessing from someone else and answer

amen or say it by himself without saying G-d’s name.

• The Shecheyanu blessing is not recited. Some people have the custom to wear a new shirt and then say shecheyanu on the clothing. [tinyurl.com/chamah01] And what happens if after 28 years of anticipation, you wake up to cloudy skies?

• If the sun is covered with clouds for the entire first three hours of the day, the blessing may still be said so long as the sun’s outline can been seen through the clouds or if any part of the sun is visible.

• If the sun is completely obscured by clouds -- and one is not able to say it before three hours into the day, he may say the blessing without G-d’s name.

If you prefer not to wait another 28 years to recite this blessing, you’re in luck. It is also recited upon seeing lightning, very tall mountains or the Mediterranean Sea. [tinyurl.com/cha mah07] Several sites have prepared the text for downloading -- some with commentary.

The Kehillaton site has done a great job at creating a six- page document with Hebrew alongside English translation. [tinyurl.com/chamah12] Yeshiva.org.il has prepared two versions: one for Jews of Ashkenazi and Sephardic origin [tiny url.com/chamah15] and another for Edot Hamizrach including Jews from Iraq. [tinyurl.com/chamah17] As well, you can download a comprehensive 95page booklet which has compiled original sources documents from the Shulchan Aruch, the Talmud and elsewhere. [tiny url.com/chamah13] Massekhet HaChamah was prepared on behalf of Conservative movement’s Commission on Social Justice and Public Policy. The 68-page document is a collection of halakhic and aggadic texts dealing with the sun. Since this year’s Birkat HaChamah coincides with Passover’s Fast of the Firstborn, the brochure also includes a block of text which when studied releases firstborns from the obligation to fast. [tinyurl.com/chamah14] There are also some very good online classes that take advantage of audio and video to highlight relevant section from Mishneh Brurah [tinyurl.com/chamah 31] and the Rambam. [tinyurl.com/cha mah25] Most of these sites point out that the Birkat HaChamah ceremony concludes with the familiar Aleinu prayer which describes how idolatry should be removed from the earth. [tinyurl.com/ chamah18] As many sites point out, Birkat HaChamah must NOT be considered sun worship. “The blessing is addressed to G-d, the creator of the sun -and all else. Jewish tradition absolutely forbids worshipping or praying to any entity other than the one G-d -- and numerous times the Bible singles out the sun as one of those entities we may not worship!” [tinyurl.com/ chamah22] The last time Birkat HaChamah was observed was on April 8, 1981. It seems that a group of early birds rose for a spectacular view of the rising sun (and New York City) as they congregated atop the Empire State Building at 5 a.m. The invitation to the event has been preserved online. [tinyurl.com/chamah30] A JTA report quotes an account in The New York Times from the time, participants raised their hands in prayer, asked for healing for individuals and the earth, and released 70 balloons. At the conclusion, some worshipers joined in the singing of a Hebrew version of “Let the Sun Shine Continued on page 37

April 3, 2009

Page 37

Flavors of Slovenia

Birkat HaChamah: The blessing of the sun

Continued from page 36 In” from the rock musical “Hair.” [tinyurl.com/chamah29] If anything, this year’s event will be getting even more attention as many people emphasize the importance of caring for and respecting the environment. Rabbi Arthur Waskow points out that on Shabbat HaGadol prior to Birkat HaChamah, we will be reading from the

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

by Heike Milhench (Hippocrene Books, $24.95)

healing in its rays,” or according to Waskow, “a healing from the use of solar energy and the other sustainable sources of renewable energy.” [tinyurl.com/ chamah26] If you are planning to spend Passover in the holy city of Safed, you will also have the opportunity to participate in the Birkat HaChamah Festival. The weeklong celebrations kick off with at a April 8 sunrise ceremony at precisely To mark the day, Beth Israel is partnering 6:17 a.m. at the Citadel of with Friedel Jewish Academy. The observance Safed hosted by the city’s chief rabbi, Rav Shmuel Eliyahu. will be held on Wednesday, April 8, 6:45 Over the course of the next a.m., in the Jewish Community Center’s week, there are poetry readings, workshops and displays of Pavilion behind the CDC. solar ovens. The site This once-in-a-generation event will include alternative also has directions for related Friedel students and their parents, and will be crafts such as building a Jewish led by Rabbi Jonathan Gross. The group will Star Sundial [tinyurl.com/ chamah28] and a Solar Ner say the bracha of Birkat Hachamah at sunEternal Flame.

Tamid, rise, which is at 6:56 a.m. This will be fol[tinyurl.com/chamah27] One particularly intriguing lowed by Shacharit in the Riekes Museum, festival project is the series of inside Friedel, and breakfast. mirrors that have been installed For more information, call Beth Israel at along mountain top ridges in Israel. As the sun rises, this will 556.6288 or Friedel at 334.0517. initiate a series of solar reflecProphet Malachi, “who 2,500 years ago tions “ultimately uniting Safed and spoke forth a vision of the future, at once Jerusalem -- two sister cities in their holy and existence.” ominous and hopeful.” Ominous when expression the prophet foretells “That day is at hand, [tinyurl.com/chamah11] Mark Mietkiewicz is a Toronto-based burning like an oven.” In Waskow’s interpretation, this alludes to a “global climate Web site producer who writes, lectures crisis – the overheating, scorching, burn- and teaches about the Jewish Internet. He ing, of the earth.” And hopeful, when we can be contacted at highway@ read that a “sun of justice shall arise, with rogers.com.

READ IT AND E AT Reviewed by LOIS FRIEDMAN Discover the salt of Slovenia, described as “salt is the sea that could not return to the sky”. The Piranske Soline brand of all-natural hand harvested sea salt from Piran employs “the same traditional methods and tools that have been used there for over seven hundred years” ... where it dried in the Mediterranean sun from the waters of the Adriatic Sea. The cookbook features over 18 stories describing various aspects of Solvenia (part of the former Yugoslavia) ... ghosts, castles, golf, folk tales. “The Slovenian Seashore: Worth Its Salt” tells of the importance of salt and Secovlje, the setting of some 2500 acres of deserted canals, dikes, pools and abandoned saltpans where salt was once mined.

Slovenian wines from 120 vineyards (6070 million bottles are produced annually) enjoy an impressive reputation and also have a brief story.

Filled with proverbs sprinkled here and there: “Eat plenty at New Year, or go hungry all year long” are more than 125 recipes for Horseradish (Hren) you could make for Passover, a chicken soup, Strudel ... you could make a dough that can be stretched from Ljublana to the Danube or use phyllo pastry, Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage (Prislijeno Rede e Zelje) and more in eight chapters.

Fresh local ingredients are emphasized to make regional specialities and traditional dishes... many influenced by the flavors of the surrounding countries which once dominated this gem of an area. The recipes have numerical instructions and range from ones with a few simple steps like the recipe below to more complicated creations as in Walnut Potica (Orehova Potica), a rolled yeast bread filled with a variety of fillings with 20 steps.

Enjoy an armchair journey through the region. Sprinkle on a little of the authentic salt, have a glass of their wine and sample this recipe (fresh plums, pears or peaches can be used) for Passover. Dober Tek! (B’tayavon!)

BAKED FRESH FIGS WITH VANILLA ICE CREAM (SVEZE PECENE FIGE Z VANILIJEVIM SLADOLEDOM) 8 fresh figs (or two per person) 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar (optional) 1 cup vanilla ice cream Wash the fruit and cut them in half. If you are using plums or peaches, remove the pits.

Place the fruit, skin side down, on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sugar, if desired.

Bake the fruit at 325° for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the fruit is slightly roasted, but not dried out.

Remove from the oven. Place the fruit on a dessert plate. Top with vanilla ice cream.

Serves four.

Lois Friedman can be reached at ReadItAndEat@yahoo.com.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

Si, Esther, Mexican works for Passover menus, too

by LINDA MOREL sparked a curiosity about her religion that NEW YORK (JTA) -- During Passover, continued to grow the more he learned most American Jews forgo the zesty tacos about Jewish rituals. and tortillas they savor all year. But what From the beginning he was intrigued if someone knew how to prepare Mexican food without flour or leavening? What if his recipes were served during the holiday’s eight days in an upscale restaurant?

“Several years ago I began experimenting with the infusion of Mexican ingredients and Jewish foods,” says Julian Medina, chef and owner of Toloache, a contemporary Mexican bistro in Manhattan’s theater district.

He started small, offering clients guacamole with matzah instead of the usual chips. Then his creativity blossomed into a complete holiday menu, featuring chipotle-braised brisket and matzah ball soup seasoned with aromatic herbs and jalapeno Julian Medina says he still can't believe the Passover menu at his Manhattan bistro Toloache has become so popular. peppers.

Credit: Courtesy Julian Medina Why would a chef from Mexico City who had dazzled clients at by each holiday’s traditional fare, as he Maya and Pampano, two of Manhattan’s tasted the foods his future mother-in-law best Mexican restaurants, turn to Jewish prepared. It wasn’t long before he started cuisine for inspiration? seasoning Jewish recipes with the flavors Although Medina was born a Catholic, of his youth. he converted to Judaism. Six years ago, Medina explored Jewish cooking, both when he was dating the Jewish woman Sephardi and Ashkenazi. who would become his wife, he started “This is what chefs do when exposed to spending holidays with her family. It cuisines that excite them -- they conduct

research to develop new recipes,” he says.

“Food is never static. It changes every day.”

His Matzah Tostada recipe was influenced directly by Sephardic cuisine, as were the Matzah Tortillas that accompany his brisket, a signature dish of Ashkenazi fare.

Many of his recipes benefit from the marriage of both cuisines.

While Julian’s Matzah Ball Soup bears the stamp of Ashkenazi cooking, it is seasoned with cilantro and jalapeno and finished with a squeeze of lime. His Roasted Halibut recipe is served with a Passover Cauliflower Pancake reminiscent of a latke made from cauliflower rather than potatoes.

Soon after Medina opened Toloache, which is named for a flowering plant used in Mexican love potions, several friends asked him to serve a Passover menu at the restaurant. Typical of many New Yorkers, they adore fine dining but were not inclined to cook. Yet that didn’t stop them from craving seder foods, which they knew Medina would bring to a new level.

He responded by offering a dazzling Passover menu at Toloache, from first course through a dessert of Matzah Pudding with Roasted Bananas.

Four years ago, 10 people were his first holiday patrons, arriving with friends, family and kosher wine, Medina recalls.

“I wanted them to feel at home while celebrating Passover,” he says.

Word traveled and customers flocked to Toloache for Jewish foods with a piquant twist.

“I still can’t believe the menu has become so popular,” says Medina,

explaining that articles about his Mexican-Jewish fusion cuisine have been published in The New York Times, among other New York newspapers and magazines.

On the first and second nights of the holiday, some customers bring kosher wine and read the Haggadah, performing an entire seder. Others simply relish Passover food Mexican style. During Passover week, nearly 100 people order holiday fare at Toloache as an alternative to cooking at home.

“People can adapt our Passover menu in any way they want,” Medina says.

While the kitchen at Toloache is not made kosher for Passover, Medina’s recipes conform to the Passover laws of kashrut. By sharing his recipes, Medina has offered home cooks the option of turning one of the holiday’s eight nights into a celebration of Mexican Jewish food.

With his Passover menu becoming so popular at Toloache, Medina now offers Rosh HaShanah and Chanukah dishes infused with Mexican spices.

Medina’s wife suspects that at some point the Medina family was Jewish.

Some early settlers in Mexico who had emigrated from Spain were Conversos, Jews forced to convert to Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition.

Perhaps the Medina family had been Conversos. The origin of their name is Hebrew and Arabic. Several Jewish families in Spain have carried the surname Medina. In the Spanish province of Cadiz, in the city Medina-Sidonia, it was customary among Sephardim to be named for the city of origin.

Continued on page 40

Out

Dining

April 3, 2009

“Wheels to Meals” group merges exercise, food and sociability

by GARY JAVITCH For Susan Rothholz who designed the group’s Tshirts, it’s more about the exercise. For Jerry Freeman, the founder and one of the organizers of Wheels to Meals, it’s also about the social activities that are an outcome of the rides. And for Dick Rochman and Rocky Stern, it’s as much a combination of the ride, the food and the social opportunities.

The Wheels to Meals group became so popular that even the Omaha World-Herald did a story on them. And why not, besides getting together for “The ride,” the group has also raised thousands of dollars for charity, primarily Multiple Sclerosis.

The Biking Craze The group started when bicycling was a fad and gaining numbers all across the country. According to Jerry Freeman, “We started biking around 1985. Arnie Stern, Jack Cohen and I started riding. We would meet in Elmwood Park and then ride downtown on city streets, finally returning to Elmwood.

on their cars. The group members would then unload their bikes and off they would go.

To add a little humor to the ride schedule, Jerry would often nickname the riding tours by paraphrasing a movie title. He once changed the name of an old Claudette Colbert-Henry Fonda movie (1939) called Drums Along the Mohawk to “Drums Along the Nishnabotna.”

“The group numbered about 60 at one point,” according to Jerry. Not all of them, however, came on each trip.

Good thing, too, because Jerry did recall creating a little bit of chaos on more than one riding trip when a large group of riders got off the trail and wanted to eat. “The servers were a little overwhelmed,” he smiled.

While the touring was a lot of fun for the mostly Jewish group, riding was not for everyone for a variety of reasons, including the lengthy schedule, the sometimes bad weather, and, well, it wasn’t all downhill! Dick Rochman, another rider and much later Rocky’s riding side-kick, noted that a good number of riders lasted about a year and then gave it up.

The group “membership” numbers have varied. (There are no dues.)

Rocky added, “The group became very social. We took some wonderful weekend trips and rode on trails in Wisconsin and M i n n e s o t a , Missouri and Iowa, to name just a few destinations.”

She and Dick thought overall “It was just great exercise. It was a very fun social group and we had some very good times. Those few of us left standing still do have good times but,” noting that the Part of the biking group includes: Dick Rochman, left, Rocky Stern, Suzanne Singer, Jerry Venger, group has really Jerry Freeman, Eunie Denenberg, Dodi Redler, Susan Rothholz, and Joanne Freeman. aged, “we have lost “Biking was really a ‘craze’ then. The city had some a lot of riders over the years,” they lamented. bike trails, but there was nothing that went into the Turning back to the still very active group, she country. We had to go on city streets. That was ok when recalled, “I remember one trip I called the ‘railroad we were younger, but now, that’s a little dangerous,” ride.’ At one point we pedaled for a mile in total darkJerry, who will be 80 in May, observed. ness using flashlights. It wasn’t a covered bridge, but a The group meets on Wednesday nights. There really is tunnel. There was water dripping inside the tunnel. It only one requirement if you want to join. You must wear was cold and wet, but it was quite interesting, coming a helmet. (And of course, have a bike.) “We would start as it did on a hot summer’s day. We have had some arriving about 5:30 p.m. and get going at 6 p.m. We’d wonderful trips out in the country, along with the then ride till 8 p.m.; we got home by nine o’clock, hav- cows.” ing gone for about a 20-mile round trip.

A group that popular had to have a T-shirt. So Susan After awhile, it also became a social thing. “Many of us Rothholz designed a clever logo on a turquoise shirt. knew each other before we started riding, but we cer- Using the group name “Wheels to Meals, she put each tainly became better friends as a result. When you’re rid- word on a separate line, all centered. On the first line, ing side by side, you talk about topics ranging from the “e-e” in “Wheels” took the form of a two-wheeled minor gossip to world affairs. bicycle. On the third line, with in the word “Meals,” the “Eventually someone came up with the idea to meet “e” has the shape of a hamburger. The words are written somewhere at a restaurant,” Jerry said. “And we thought in white lettering. it would be more fun with meals.”

Susan joined the group in 1990 with her (now late) Rocky Stern, a rider who got involved because of her husband. “When I ride, I do it for the exercise. (now late) husband Arnie, explained the food part in Sometimes I just ride hard. I really like that. It’s not as more detail. “All of these rides involve a meal. That’s half much the social part for me. I have ridden in Kansas City of the fun. We called our riding ventures ‘Dump ‘n’ and Lincoln, among other places with the group.” dines,’” she added, jokingly referring to the nondescript Rides were not restricted to Wednesday. The group little cafes the group sometimes stopped at when they often met on Saturday and Sunday, too. And on holidays traveled to some smaller towns. like Memorial Day and Labor Day, picnics would be held Jerry Freeman usually arranged the itinerary of the after the breakfast ride. On those occasions, sometimes group. They would drive their vehicles out to the loca- the kids and grandkids would come. tion with the bikes safely secured on the racks mounted Continued on page 40

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Mexican works for Passover menus 2 tablespoons red onion, chopped 1 lime Preparation: Cook the carrot and zucchini in the chicken soup. Serve 2 matzah balls per bowl with some chicken soup, carrots and zucchini. Garnish with a teaspoon of red onion and a squirt of lime. Yield: four servings.

Contionued from page 38 Regardless of his family origins, these days Medina celebrates Passover like most Jews around the world -- at home.

“I cook dinner with my wife’s mom,” he says, explaining how he learned Jewish cooking by standing at her side in the kitchen. “Now we plan the menu together.”

Medina’s mother-in-law likes how he has tweaked her recipes and approves of the foods he has added to the family repertoire.

“Passover is always a special occasion,” Medina says. “There is something awe inspiring about repeating the story of the ancient Israelites journey from slavery to freedom, from Pharaoh’s tyranny in Egypt to the Promised Land.”

The holiday is even more meaningful now that Medina is the father of a yearold daughter. While she is too young to recite the Four Questions, she’s already tasted matzah tortillas -- served with chipotle salsa, of course.

The recipes below are by Medina.

Ingredients: 2 pounds brisket Kosher salt to taste 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons garlic cloves, chopped 1 onion, chopped 6 plum tomatoes, cut in quarters 1/2 tablespoon cumin 1/2 tablespoon dry oregano 1 bottle red wine 4 cups of water

JULIAN’S MATZAH BALL SOUP Chicken Soup Ingredients: 3 quarts of water Salt to taste 1 whole chicken, skinned and cut into 8 pieces 1 carrot, cut in squares 2 stalks of celery, cut in pieces 1 onion, cut into quarters 3 cilantro leaves 1/2 jalapeno, seeded and cut into pieces Preparation: In a stock pot, bring the water and salt to a boil. Add chicken and remaining soup ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.

Skim the fat. Strain broth and set aside.

(Use caution when handling hot soup.)

MATZAH BALLS Ingredients: 2 large eggs 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1/2 cup matzah meal 2 tablespoons chicken broth Kosher salt to taste Preparation: Mix all matzah ball ingredients together and let mixture rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. With wet hands, roll into 8 balls. Do not over roll. Add matzah balls to soup and simmer for 5 minutes. Check seasoning. If necessary, add kosher salt.

Finishing Touches Ingredients: 1 carrot, peeled and cut into a 1/4 inch dice 1 zucchini, cut into 1/4 inch dice

3 tablespoons chipotle pepper puree (available in supermarkets) 1 bay leaf Garnish: 1 red onion, chopped and 1 avocado, cut into six slices Preparation: Season the brisket with salt. In a roasting pan, heat the oil until it’s smoky hot and sear the brisket well all around.

When the brisket is seared, transfer it to a platter. Lower the flame and saute the garlic, onion, tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients (except the garnish). Season and let the mixture cook for 10 minutes.

Return the brisket to the roasting pan.

Cover and cook in a 350º oven for 1 1/2 hours, or until very tender. Cool brisket to room temperature. Slice the brisket and reheat in the same sauce. Serve 2 matzah tortillas (recipe below) per plate, filled with braised brisket and garnished with chopped red onion and a slice of avocado.

Yield: six servings.

Contionued on page 41

BRISKET CON CHIPOTLE (Braised Brisket with Tomato and Chipotle)

“Wheels to Meals” Continued from page 39 Jerry noted that, “We still have the picnics at Lake Manawa or parks along the river. The beauty around the countryside is magnificent. You can really take pleasure in looking at the beautiful streams, lakes and trails. In Iowa, one of the great trails is ‘The Wabash Trace,’ for example.”

Whether their involvement in the riding group was primarily for the exercise or the food, all the bikers could easily agree that there was one major aspect of the entire venture that was a real plus and that is “It’s great camaraderie” With winter snow and slippery conditions disappearing, Dick has something very exciting to look forward to.

“Spring is here. Rocky and I took our bikes in to get tuned up. We are ready to go,” he said.

Separately, Jerry, Rocky, Dick and Susan ticked off a list of members.

Besides those already mentioned, an incomplete list of still-active members includes Steve and Dodi Redler, Jerry Dann, Jack and Marcia Cohen, Fritz and Molline Cassman, Joanne Freeman, Eunie and Norman Denenberg, Jerry Venger, Don Nogg, Suzanne Singer, Sandy and Renee Kasner.

A partial list of not-so-active members includes: Jerry Rosinsky, Donald Stern, Bonnie and Justin Horwich, Bernie Meyers, Ozzie Nogg, Janey Dann and Gary and Barbara Goldstein.

April 3, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 41

Mexican works for Passover, too

Contionued from page 40 MATZAH TORTILLAS Ingredients: 2 cups matzah cake meal 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup warm water 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus additional oil for frying Preparation: Place the matzah cake meal, salt, warm water and 1 tablespoon oil in a bowl. Mix ingredients very well with your hands, until you form soft dough. With your hands, form 1 1/2-inch balls. Roll balls between plastic wrap to form a tortilla shape. Preheat additional oil on a nonstick griddle or pan on a medium flame. Fry the matzah tortillas until browned.Yield: 12 tortillas.

MATZAH TOSTADA YUCATAN STYLE (Crispy matzah tortilla, achiote smoked sea bass salad and horseradish-jalapeno salsa) Smoked Sea Bass Ingredients: 1/4 cup rice vinegar 1/4 cup orange juice 1/4 cup olive oil 1/2 pound smoked sea bass or any white fish Salt to taste Preparation: In a bowl, mix the rice vinegar and orange juice. Emulsify the olive oil by whisking it into vinegar mixture. Toss liquids with smoked fish and season well with salt. Place fish mixture -- covered -- in the refrigerator for about two hours.

MATZAH TOSTADITAS Ingredients: 2 cups matzah cake meal 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup warm water 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus additional olive oil for frying Preparation: In a bowl, mix the matzah cake meal, salt, warm water and 1 tablespoon of oil very well with your hands, until you form soft dough.

With your hands, form 1 1/2-inch balls.

Roll balls between plastic wrap to form a tortilla shape.

Using 2 tablespoons of oil, preheat a nonstick griddle or pan on a medium flame. Place matzah tortillas on griddle.

Cook on both sides, until they are nice and soft. Then pour additional olive oil into a frying pan. Preheat oil to 300 degrees. Fry the tortillas in oil until crisp.

SALSA Ingredients: 1/2 small red onion, diced 2 tablespoons fresh horseradish, grated 1 small seedless jalapeno, chopped 2 tablespoons lemon juice 2 tablespoons orange juice 1/2 tablespoon honey Salt to taste Preparation: Mix the onion, horseradish and jalapeno, lemon juice and orange juice with the honey. Season well with salt.

Serve the smoked fish with matzah tostaditas, topped with the horseradish salsa.Yield: six servings

ROASTED HALIBUT, PASSOVER CAULIFLOWER PANCAKE AND HIBISCUS CHIPOTLE GLAZE PANCAKES Ingredients: 1 cup cauliflower 2 whole eggs 1/2 cup matzah meal Kosher salt to taste Butter or margarine for frying Preparation: Steam cauliflower until tender. Puree with eggs, matzah meal and salt. Place some butter or margarine in a frying pan on a medium flame. Ladle 3-inch round pancakes into pan and fry them. Set aside.

SAUCE Ingredients: 1/4 cup hibiscus flowers (found in

the tea section of supermarkets) cup sugar 1 tablespoon chipotle pepper pure or jalapeno, chopped 2 cups of water 1 orange peel, zested Kosher salt to taste Preparation: In a saucepan, add all the ingredients and reduce to 3/4 of a cup. Blend all ingredients and strain through a colander. Check seasoning and keep warm.

1/2

ROASTED HALIBUT Preparation: Sear 4 six-ounce halibut fillets until golden brown and cooked through.

To serve, place a pancake on each plate and drizzle with the hibiscus sauce. Place a halibut fillet beside pancake. Yield: four servings.

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The Jewish Federation of Omaha jewishomaha.org

Page 42

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

Sedering with kids JEWISH P ARENTING

by SHARON DUKE ESTROFF

Passover Seders and antsy kids traditionally go together like matzah balls and chicken soup. Fortunately, it’s perfectly possible to prevent the fifth question (are we done yet?) and the eleventh plague (restless natives) from showing up at our Pesach celebrations this year. Taking into account that every family has different comfort levels, objectives and degrees of observance, here are some tips toward creating a fun and meaningful Passover seder that promises to captivate the interest of all kinds of kids - wise, wicked, simple and just plain unable to ask: That’s the Ticket. Prior to the big night, make “matzah tickets” out of index cards. Award the tickets to children throughout the seder for reciting the Mah Nishtanah, answering tricky Passover trivia questions, helping little brothers and sisters make Hillel sandwiches and oodles of other desirable Seder behaviors. At the end of the evening let ticket-holders redeem their winnings for Passover related prizes (i.e. stickers, candies, plastic frogs).

Keep the Karpas Coming. Grumpy kids and hungry tummies go hand in hand. A steady flow of karpas (a.k.a. carrots and celery) and kosher for Passover salad dressing for double dipping, will keep your kids happily crunching away until it’s time for the main course.

Give out Goody Bags. Keep your junior seder participants happy and occupied with special plague goody bags. While you can purchase already prepared “bags of

plagues” at Judaica stores and online for around $12 a piece, you can accomplish the same thing at the dollar store for a fraction of the price. Try plastic sunglasses for darkness, toy frogs, wild beasts and insects (lice and vermin); kosher for Passover marshmallows for hail, red dot stickers for boils; and band-aids for blood.

Don’t Passover the Books. Visit a library or bookstore and stock up o n Passover themed books.

Scatter t h e m around the table for children to peruse during the longest stretches of the Seder. A few surefire hits are: Shlemiel Crook’s by Anna Olswanger, Wonders and Miracles by Eric Kimmel and Uncle Eli's Passover Haggadah by Eliezer Segal.

Have an Afikomen search party. It’s always the same story at my house: The big cousins find the afikomen and the little cousins get upset; the little cousins get a prize anyway and the big cousins get upset. By making the afikomen hunt a team effort rather than a competition, we can do away with such griping. Use postit notes to lead the search party from one destination to the next (i.e. “Go to the place where Elijah will enter”, or “Pharaoh had frogs jumping in his bed”,

see if there are any jumping in yours”).

The clues should ultimately lead the pack to the illusive dessert of honor. Be prepared with inexpensive “afikomen finder” rewards for the whole crew.

Take Plague Breaks. Help kids stay focused and fidget-free during long Seders by periodically letting them get their wiggles out. Should your children’s attention start to stray from the task at hand, call for a “plague break” and instruct all antsy guests to jump like frogs or run in place like wild beasts.

Have a Matzah Match.

Before t h e seder, w r i t e matched pairs of Passover words on i n d e x cards. For example, write “Hillel” on one card and “sandwich” on another; “ten” on one card and “plagues” on another.

Keep going -four/questions; matzah/ball; Elijah’s/cup -- until you have enough cards to secretly stash one under every guest’s plate. Sometime before dinner, tell everyone to lift their plates, look at the card and track down their matching half. (Hint: For children too young to read -- or to understand the match mentality -- cut cards in half using varying puzzle cuts and write one word on each half. When kids find a card that “fits” theirs, they’ll know they’ve found their match).

Put a spotlight on stories. The true

purpose of the Seder is to pass down the Passover story from generation to generation, but why stop there? Ask a few of your senior guests to come prepared to share stories about Seders past. When kids get antsy, pass a play microphone to a family patriarch or matriarch and let the storytelling begin.

Perform a little Elijah magic. Give little skeptics something to think about by making Elijah’s wine magically disappear.

Secretly place some super absorbent polyacrylamide crystals (sold in gardening or craft stores as Aqua Crystals or Hydro Gel) in the bottom of an opaque Elijah cup. Just before you welcome the prophet, let your children see you fill the cup with “wine” (a.k.a. water with kosher for Passover food coloring). By the time you finish singing “Eliyahu Ha Navi” the liquid will be solidified. That’s when you turn the cup upside-down and reveal tada – Elijah drank every last drop! (Hint: A pre-Seder practice round will help ensure a successful liquid/crystal ratio.)

Keep an eye on the big picture. Sure, planning a kid-friendly Seder is liable to take more work than simply bribing our kids to behave with a pound of chocolatecovered macaroons, or locking them in the playroom with a babysitter for the night. But we’ll know our efforts have been well worth our while when our fidgety children one day do the same for our fidgety grandchildren.

Sharon Duke Estroff is an internationally syndicated Jewish parenting columnist, award-winning Jewish educator and mother of four. Her Jewish parenting book, Can I Have a Cell Phone for Hanukkah? (Broadway Books, 2007) is available everywhere books are sold. Read more at: www.sharonestroff.com.

April 3, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 43

Manischewitz promises a Passover with Tam Tams

by SUE FISHKOFF moves through the grinding and sifting process in about SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) -- They’re baaack. Duly 20 minutes. The milled flour is kept dry in moisturechastened by the Great Tam Tam Crisis of spring ‘08, resistant bins, usually for no longer than a few days, until the Manischewitz Company went into overdrive and will it can be transferred to a tanker truck for the three-hour have plenty of the crunchy six-sided unleavened crackers journey to Newark. available this Passover season.

Rabbi Yoel Lowenstein, mashgiach at the flour mill for “Absolutely,” declared the company’s former CEO the past four years, has a work schedule that often begins Bruce Bossidy last November. in the middle of the night.

Bossidy joined the country’s first and still largest When a newly washed tanker truck arrives at the mill, matzah-making concern in January 2008, when he crawls inside the enormous steel tank with a flashlight Manischewitz was in dire straits. Quality standards to check for moisture. He runs his hand along the curved weren’t being met, and the 120-year-old kosher manu- sides, peers at the floor and feels carefully under the facturera subsidiary of R.A.B. Holdings, was having jagged metal rim before crawling out and climbing the trouble filling orders. Bossidy spent much of his year stairs to the loading platform. The truck pulls up underwith the company cleaning house, bringing in new man- neath, and Lowenstein watches as nearly 50,000 pounds agement, and getting the new matzah production line of flour is pumped at high speed into the intake valve on up and running at the company’s year-old, $15 million the tanker’s top. At one point Lowenstein leaps down facility in Newark, N.J. and scoops out a few plastic bags of flour, which the drivBut the clock ran down and early last year, Bossidy was er will carry to Newark to be checked for moisture levels. forced to cancel Tam Tams for the first time in 68 years.

When the tanker is full, Lowenstein stretches plastic The outcry was immediate; Jewish consumers coast to wrap over the 18-inch valve opening to seal it tight, coast mourned the absence of the beloved cracker. replaces the heavy metal hatch and closes it with a yellow Stories ran not only in the or blue Orthodox Union Jewish media but The New plastic seal that looks like a York Times and New York large twist tie. Then he runs Daily News, and on NPR. around to the back of the The blogosphere exploded tanker to place similar plastic with anger. A black market seals on the discharge valves, sprang up, with one from which the flour will be Michigan rabbi offering pumped out. The seals can three boxes of the previous be removed only by another year’s crackers on eBay; bidmashgiach after the truck ding started at $10. arrives at the company’s This April, however, there Newark plant. If even one will be more than enough to seal is compromised during go around. All flavors of the journey, so is the flour’s Passover Tam Tam crackers integrity. will be available except for A truck carrying Passover Tiny Tams, which were not Schmura matzah comes off the conveyor belt at the flour to Newark once had a made because of complica- Manischewitz plant in Newark, N.J. flat tire and the impact blew Credit: The Manischewitz Company out one of the seals. The tions with the die cut used to create them. Bossidy also promised a sufficient amount 50,000-pound load had to be discarded. of Passover matzah; last year saw shortages of the unleavAfter the flour arrives in Newark in the early to midened holiday bread in the Northeast and along the West morning, the mixing and baking process is timed to the Coast during the eight-day holiday. second. Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz, longtime head mashManischewitz makes an array of kosher products. It giach at Manischewitz and a worldwide authority on was founded in 1888 as the country’s first commercial Passover production, enjoys showing visitors around the matzah bakery and matzah remains central to its mission. plant, pointing out the state-of-the-art matzah baking Like most kosher food manufacturers, Manischewitz’s line he helped design. busiest season is Passover. Fifty percent of its business In the mixing room, Horowitz shows the double ketinvolves kosher-for-Passover food, particularly matzah, tle system imported from Israel. Flour is dumped down which is an extremely labor-intensive product. a chute into one kettle before water is added through a As one of two sacramental foods required at the seder thin yellow tube. The mixture is agitated until it forms a table, along with wine, production is carefully controlled sticky dough that is extruded onto a conveyor belt to to ensure that water only comes into contact with the begin its short run to the ovens. flour for less than 18 minutes. Longer than that and, Five batches of dough are mixed every 14 minutes. according to rabbinic authorities, leavening begins.

Then an alarm sounds, the kettles are rotated automatiIn industrial production, a mashgiach, or kosher cally and the first kettle is thoroughly cleaned while the supervisor, must watch the flour from the time the wheat process repeats with the second. is milled until water is introduced to the flour during the Before each batch of dough hits the conveyor belt, one mixing process. At that point the dough is given even of two mashgichim monitoring the mixing system grabs closer supervision to make sure it is completely baked in an egg-sized amount called the “hallah” and throws it in a bin for later discarding, according to Jewish law. The less than 18 minutes.

At Manischewitz, Passover matzah begins its life in a rest of the dough moves over and under a series of metal wheat field in one of the Mid-Atlantic states; the exact rollers that press it into thinner and thinner sheets, until location is a trade secret. Red winter wheat is the pre- the dough is one-fourth of an inch thick. A final perfoferred variety for unleavened bread because it is low-pro- rating roller scores it into matzah-sized squares and adds tein; protein in the dough produces air pockets that tiny holes to keep it flat during baking.

The dough hits the 700-degree oven about 14 minutes cause it to rise during baking.

The wheat is harvested and brought to another undis- after the flour and water are first mixed. The legal limit closed location, a family-owned flour mill in rural west- is 18 minutes, but the company gives itself some wiggle ern Pennsylvania, where it is stored for up to three weeks room. If the system breaks down and the dough does before being ground into flour. A single wheat kernel Continued on page 47

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

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JOURNAL ENTRY FROM ISRAEL

by TEDDY WEINBERGER The Passover season in Israel goes into full force right after Purim, that is, one month before the holiday. Israeli employers are encouraged to purchase various gifts for their employees, and consumers are encouraged to buy anything and everything in honor of the holiday.

While it usually makes more economic sense to clean your car, or refrigerator, or sofa rather than to buy a new one, this does not stop the advertisers, and indeed many Israelis do use this festive period for special purchases. Thus, I don’t think it was a coincidence that, three weeks before the holiday, I noticed that workers were installing central air-conditioning at my neighbor’s house down the block.

An early sign of the coming of Passover in the States-giant Passover sections at major supermarket chains in the big cities -- is not as prominent here. At my local Publix supermarket in Miami, for example, they started getting ready for the holiday four weeks in advance.

Here, Passover takes over my local grocery store only the week before the holiday. On the other hand, you don’t have the urgency to stock up on Passover goods that you have in the States (where you often have to be sure to buy all you need before the holiday starts -Publix began breaking down its Passover section on the first day of Passover). In Israel, Passover items are in ready supply throughout the holiday.

Israeli children are given more than ample time to prepare for the holiday, to the great dismay of many Israeli parents. Regular public schools, religious and secular, typically recess eight days before Passover. In ultra-Orthodox schools (especially for the girls), the Passover vacation often begins two weeks before the holiday.

Left on their own, I have found that my children do utilize this period to prepare for a holiday -- only it’s the holiday of Lag Ba’omer rather than Passover. After the weeks-long preparation for the holiday of Purim (which means hoarding all the fireworks they can possibly get their hands on), the next focus of child energy seems to be the bonfires of Lag Ba’omer.

Toward this end, children spend up to eight weeks gathering wood in all possible forms. (It’s a good idea not to leave your old wooden chairs out in the open during this period!)

Before Passover, there are opportunities for children to have more enriching experiences than wood-gathering: many of the youth movements offer multi-day hiking trips at this time.

A few years ago, my two younger kids went on an overnight trip to the Golan with B’nai Akiva. After they got back, we did coax them into doing some Passover cleaning, though they complained all the while that we were making them lose out on all of the really good wood for Lag Ba’omer.

But the truth of the matter is that since Passover is the formative national experience in Judaic memory, sleeping on the shores of the Kinneret with your Zionist religious youth group is also a kind of preparation for the holiday. It was a way for my children to viscerally connect to this land, the Promised Land of the Exodus story.

And this connection to the land is, of course, one of the reasons why we moved here in the first place.

Happy Passover!

Teddy Weinberger made aliyah 11 years ago this summer with his wife, former Omahan Sarah Ross and their five children, three of whom are currently serving in the IDF. He can be reached at weinross@netvision.net.il.

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April 3, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 45

Seders focus on freedom, hunger, the Earth ly -- because it opened up the seder to modern-day causes.

by AMY KLEIN LOS ANGELES (JTA) -- On April 5, 1968, Arthur While it has become common at seders today to tie Waskow was walking to his house in Washington, D.C., Passover’s freedom from slavery theme to contemporary among rioters and armed guards. It was a neighborhood issues -- feminism, homosexuality, war, the economy, the under curfew, the night after the Rev. Martin Luther environment -- the original Freedom Seder in King Jr. was killed.

Washington and its Haggadah spawned generations of Waskow, who had been involved in the civil rights non-traditional seders in which the Egyptians serve only movement, spent the week ferrying food, medical sup- as a metaphor for what enslaves the Jews. plies and doctors from the “Every Haggadah before that one had white neighborhoods to told the story of the liberation of the the black neighborhoods. ancient Israelites from slavery under The next week was Pharaoh -- period,” Waskow says.

Passover.

By weaving the Jewish story with the “I was walking home struggles for freedom of black America past the army and my and other cultures, races and religions, kishkes began to say, ‘This “it has sparked for many people the creis Pharaoh’s Army,’” ation of many seders and Haggadot recalls Waskow, now a devoted to various aspects of liberation,” rabbi. he says.

Back then he was hardly On March 29, 40 years later -- 40 being a practicing Jew, and that a significant as the Jewish number symnight, for the first time, bolizing rebirth -- Waskow’s Shalom he really thought about Center, a Reconstructionist activist what freedom meant at organization, sponsored a new Freedom the Passover seder.

Seder for the Earth in Washington at the “I found myself proShiloh Baptist Church. foundly moved that this Like the original Freedom Seder it was Cover for the Haggadah for the Freedom Seder for discussion of liberation interfaith, multiracial, multicultural and the Earth being run by the Shalom Center. didn’t only apply 3,000 rooted in the ancient Passover. But Credit: The Shalom Center years ago to ancient instead of slavery, it will highlight what Israelis but to other generations as well,” he said.

Waskow calls “climate catastrophe.”

Frightened and inspired, Waskow went on to write a Like the 10 plagues that destroyed Egypt and its ecolnew version of the Haggadah using passages from King, ogy, the environment now suffers many dangers, such as Henry David Thoreau, Alan Ginsberg, slave owners and global warming -- or “scorching,” according to Warsaw ghetto literature, combining it with the tradi- Waskow” -- drought and hunger. Other groups across tional Haggadah -- his own tattered bar mitzvah copy. the country will hold Freedom Seders for the Earth and The next year, on April 4, 1969 -- the anniversary of use the new Haggadah, Freedom Seder for the Earth: King’s assassination -- he used it at his first “Freedom Facing the Plagues and the Pharaohs of Our Generation Seder,” where some 800 people -- blacks and whites, or they may just use the new Haggadah.

Jews and non-Jews -- gathered to celebrate freedom on Omaha’s Temple Israel, for example, will host its annual Black/Jewish Seder on Tuesday, April 14, 6 Passover. p.m. Linking the holiday of Pesach with the history and “That night changed my life,” Waskow says.

It changed the lives of many others, too -- albeit indirect- culture of the African-American community, the seder

has always been a joyous celebration about the journey to freedom. Call 556.6536 to reserve by April 3.

Karpas, the seder tradition of dipping a vegetable or sprig in salt water to signify the salty tears of slavery, begins in the Freedom Seder with this prayer: “If we cannot take joy in the return of spring, how can we be happy in utopia? The Song of Songs brings us the springtime when flowers rise up against winter, the juices of love arise from the depths of depression, and the night-time of history gives way to the sunlight of Eden, the garden of delight.”

Yachatz, the seder ritual of breaking the matzah, begins with this prayer: “Why do we break this bread in two? Because if we hold on to the whole loaf for ourselves, it remains the bread of oppression. If we break it in order to share it, it becomes the bread of freedom. In the world today, there are still some who are so presseddown that they have not even this bread of oppression to eat. There are so many who are hungry that they cannot all come and eat with us tonight.”

Hunger is another contemporary issue being raised at seders today.

Many modern-day causes that organizations are promoting for Passover -- such as the Jewish World Watch’s awareness-raising about Darfur, the Jews United for Justice Labor Seder for D.C.’s day laborers and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society’s “Progress by Pesach,” a national Jewish campaign promoting humanitarian immigration reform -- hunger especially in this economic climate needs urgent attention.

That’s why the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the national public affairs arm of the organized Jewish community, is co-sponsoring the Child Nutrition Seder with Mazon, a national nonprofit Jewish agency that fights hunger. The seders, which are being held at more than 20 locations across the United States, are timed to raise awareness of the child nutrition re-authorization bill in the U.S. Congress that funds the federal government anti-hunger programs and is being drafted now in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Organizers of the Child Nutrition Seder hope that participants will lobby their representatives, who will vote Continued on page 47

Best Wishes for a happy Passover and a celebration of freedom with family and friends.

Page 46

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

Matzah stuffing: Could it be tradition?

by LISA KEYS JewMama NEW YORK (JTA) -- Back in college, an acquaintance of mine had a one-line answer to the intermarriage debate: “If you want to have a Passover seder in your house, marry a Jew,” he said. “Period.”

Though I can’t remember the context of his declaration, it’s a phrase that’s stuck with me through the years. That’s not because I’ve spent much time worrying about intermarriage; it’s because I’ve become a little bit obsessed with Passover.

Or make that my idea of Passover.

Inspired, I think, by that comment, I decided I wanted Passover to be my holiday.

I pictured myself the matriarch of an extended family gathered around my (imaginary) large dining-room table -perhaps in my imaginary country house - enjoying a Passover seder together. Just as people travel a bazillion miles in bad weather to enjoy the cliche of being “home for Christmas,” my family would be home for Pesach.

There was just one problem with my pastoral vision: stuffing. Rather, the lack thereof.

In my family, stuffing is what makes a holiday worth celebrating. (Familial camaraderie? Ha! That’s got nothing on pulverized corn flakes pushed into a turkey carcass.) The family recipe is one my grandmother got from her sister’s mother-in-law. It’s a recipe she’s been making for more than 50 years, she says.

For whatever reason, my mom’s doesn’t taste quite as good -- and mine’s even worse. But that’s never stopped me from trying -- except on Passover, that is, when stuffing has no place at the seder table.

(And don’t suggest I try matzah stuff-

ing. To me, that’s the culinary equivalent of a skirted swimsuit: You’re not fooling anyone.) And though I always go all out for the seder and it’s accompanying foods, without the stuffing the holiday just seems a little empty.

When it comes to Jewish holidays, food isn’t just about sustenance or a sensory experience; it’s about tradition and remembrance. And while many Passover foods take this responsibility literally -like the bitter herbs that represent the bitterness of slavery -- without a go-to family recipe, I’m having trouble seizing hold

traditions, but I think it’s so important to create them,” she says.

At her seder Nathan relies on a mix of family staples as well as new recipes. But she reminds me it’s not just about the food -- it’s the preparation, too. Every year Nathan hosts a “gefilte fish-in” for her friends prior to the holiday.

“We bring our pots and pans, we bring our fish, we mix the fish, we discuss everything,” she says. “It’s so much fun.”

Of course, many families have Passover traditions that have nothing to do with food. At Nathan’s seder it’s customary for the “kids,” many of whom are grown, to put on a play about the Passover story.

“The kids go upstairs, raid my closet, wear my clothes,” she says. “It’s hysterical.”

And in the Passover chapter of her book Cooking Jewish (Workman, 2007), Judy Bart Kancigor says her family’s tradition is to have all the participants date and sign their names in the back page of the Hagaddah they What's a seder table without a family dish? used. It’s fun, she writes, to Credit: reutC/Creative Commons watch how children’s handof Passover. Is embracing Passover a mat- writing has changed over the years.

Both of these scenarios fit well with my ter of finding a really great dish, or is it fantasy Passover. The problem is, though, something more than that?

For answers, I turn to author and that the dinner’s still not quite right. I need something that my (imaginary) Jewish cooking expert Joan Nathan.

“It’s really important to have repetitive grandkids will be raving about 50 years foods; we need something repetitive in from now. Even the crowd pleaser that is our world to make memories,” she tells matzah ball soup causes conflict here: I me. “Otherwise, what memories will we prefer the super-fluffy, cloudlike versions; my husband prefers dense and chewy golf have? Of carry-out sushi?”

In the absence of a family tradition, balls.

As I thought about this, I remembered Nathan suggests I start my own.

“As a parent, I think it’s hard to create how some good friends have raved,

repeatedly, about the apricot chicken that Alice Schweiger, a freelance writer who lives on the Upper West Side, serves at her seder.

“It’s a sure-fire hit,” Schweiger tells me.

“Out of the foods that I serve, there’s always something that somebody doesn’t like. This is the one thing that everybody likes.”

Schweiger, a new grandmother with two adult children, says this recipe has been her seder staple for about five years.

“I always say that I’m going to make it during the year," she says. "I never do, so that makes it more special.”

New traditions can start at any time, Kancigor assures me. For years, she says she always cooked brisket -- until she obtained a recipe for spicy Moroccan lamb shanks from her ex-sister-in-law.

That’s now her family’s go-to dish, she says.

Not surprisingly, both Nathan and Kancigor advise me to scour cookbooks for a sure-fire recipe of my own. Nathan suggests I look to the season for inspiration with “recipes that are signs of spring.” For her part, Kancigor assures me that tasty matzah stuffing is not an impossibility.

Finding that perfect recipe is a matter of trying, borrowing and reinventing, Kancigor says.

“Most of the foods we serve on Passover are picked up from somewhere else,” she tells me. “The history of our food is the history of our ancestors. As you look at the seder table, it represents our Jewish history. You can see how we’ve traveled through the centuries.”

I now recognize that family food traditions follow that same trajectory: They Continued on page 47

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Seders focus on freedom, hunger, the Earth Continued from page 45 on the bill after congressional recess ends April 20.

“President Obama pledged to end childhood hunger by 2015,” says Hadar Susskind, the Washington director of the JCPA. “We’re having these seders to get the Jewish community and the faith community to push for robust programs.”

Out of 34 million Americans who are “food insecure,” as the JCPA calls them, 12 million are children -- and these figures are before the current economic crisis’ results are known.

“Passover is such a good vehicle because slavery is a metaphor for a lot of different things, like the slavery and the servitude of hunger,” Susskind said. “People can’t be free if they don’t have food.”

The Child Nutrition Hadaggah, Let all who are Hungry Come and Eat: A Seder Dedicated to Child Nutrition and Hunger Awareness, includes things such

as the four cups of wine for effective activism in eradicating hunger (Education/Awareness; Make it Personal; Advocate; Organize) and the halach ma’anya, the traditional Bread of Poverty prayer, followed by the Mazon Passover Reflection: “One day, God, may it be Your will that we live in a world perfected, in which food comes to the hungry as from heaven, and water will flow to the thirsty as a stream. But in the meantime, while the world is filled with hunger, empower us to stand on Your behalf and fulfill the words of Your prophet: ‘to all who are thirsty bring water,’ and ‘greet those who wander with food.’ This Passover, bless us that we should sustain the hungry.”

H. Eric Shockman, president of Mazon, says at Passover, “You can do something beyond the seder, beyond the family. This is a critical way to implant the glorification of the Jewishness of our tradition. We cannot be content in a spiritual sense if there are hungry people.”

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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Manischewitz promises Tam Tams Continued from page 43 not reach the oven in time, it must all be thrown out and the entire line taken apart and re-kashered. That happened once last year, wreaking havoc with the schedule.

When the hot, baked matzah emerges from the oven, it moves through a roller-coaster conveyor belt to cool, is wrapped into cellophane packages and boxed by hand, two packages per box. The boxes are stacked and moved out for delivery.

Manischewitz begins making Passover matzah immediately after Labor Day and its manufacture continues until late February. During the five-month season, up to 20 mashgichim work on the product. This year for the first time the factory is using only kosher-for-Passover flour year-round, even for its daily matzah. Although the flour is more expensive to produce, it costs the company much less than shutting down the entire plant for four or five weeks every summer for re-kashering. Now the annual kashering takes about a week.

During the height of the Passover production season, one or two truckloads of flour arrive at the Manischewitz plant every day, about 500,000 pounds a week.

Nearly 76 million sheets of matzah are produced each year, enough to circle the globe -- if one wanted to waste perfectly good matzah in such a foolhardy way.

Matzah stuffing Continued from page 46 mirror who we are, where we’ve been and with whom we’ve shared memories.

On Valentine’s Day, for example, my husband and I always make sushi rolls. We’ve happily folded baby Leon into the tradition, who gobbled them up.

Thanksgiving is now traditionally held at my house.

And every year, my sister’s longtime boyfriend brings his family’s stuffing, a rich concoction made with cornbread, leeks and cheese. I used to think it an extravagant -- unnecessary, perhaps -- addition to the Thanksgiving spread, but now I look forward to tasting his stuffing almost as much as my grandmother’s.

Aside from an open mind, it doesn’t take much to start a new Passover tradition, I realize. And, just maybe, I’ll give one of Kancigor’s matzah stuffing recipes a try.

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Passover Greetings

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

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GIFT GUIDE

Children’s books for Passover -- and beyond

by SYBIL KAPLAN Quick -- need something to keep your children entertained before, during and after the Passover seders next week?

Here are a few books that should do the trick.

The Yankee at the Seder by Elka Weber, Ten Speed Press, $16.99 hardcover, 40 pp.

Narrating this book is 10-year-old Jacob Josephson, who lives in Confederate Virginia with his parents and sister Minna and grandfather. The Civil War has ended, and General Lee has just surrendered, and Passover begins that night.

Suddenly a Yankee soldier walks by and asks for a taste of the matzah. Mrs. Josephson comes out to greet him and invites him to their seder.

Corporal Myer Levy is from Philadelphia and as a Union soldier, he appreciated the southern family sharing their Passover with him.

The real story is told at the end of the book.

Elka Weber was a history teacher and this is her first children’s book; she lives in New Jersey. The oil painting-illustrations are by Adam Gustavson, illustrator of 13 other children’s books, painter and teacher in New Jersey.

Children eight and up, and their parents too, will find this moving story, based on a real person, very interesting and a good source for some lively discussions on the issue of freedom.

Sun’s Special Blessing by Sandy Wasserman, Pitspopany Press, $17.95 hardcover.

Once every 28 years something special happens. The sun returns to the position it was when the Universe was created.

In this work, Mr. Jacobs, the thirdgrade teacher explains the idea to his class, in particular to two students, Adam and Talia. He explains that 28 years before, when he was a student, they buried a time capsule and the class is going to dig it up now.

After exploring its contents, Jacobs introduces how this class will celebrate the occasion with the Birkat HaChamah (Blessing of the Sun).

The author explains in the end notes the special prayer recited every 28 years, this time during the month of Nisan.

Sandy Wasserman is a teacher in New York. Paper cuts over painted backgrounds provide the illustrations by Ann D. Koffsky, a children’s book illustrator who lives on Long Island, New York.

This is a fascinating book for children 8 and up to learn a whole new aspect of Judaism. It is also a great idea for either a family or a class to create a time capsule and bury it for 28 years!

A Mitzvah for Zelda by Susan Wigden, Pitspopany Press, $12.95 paperback, 32 pp.

Zelda Zebraman is a real lovely old lady with a special hobby—knitting keepot.

But Zelda doesn’t just knit any keepot.

She knits keepot according to the head needs of her friends?

Do you have a flat head? A round head?

A wide head? A narrow head? A head with bushy hair?

See what kind of keepot Zelda knitted and what happened to Zelda when she became too old to knit.

Susan Wigden lives in Staten Island, New York and now writes children’s stories. Iosi Salem was born in Israel and raised in Argentina and apparently he lives in Israel where he works as an illustrator, designer and animator. His use of bright colors and his particular style make the characters like caricatures.

Young children should find this a very amusing book.

The Cherry on Top by Chaya Feigy Grossman, Felheim Publishers, $16.99 hardcover, 79 pp.

Children’s cookbooks are always fun to read but this kosher one is designed in a particularly nice way. It is filled with lovely, tempting, mouth-watering color photographs.

Originally, these recipes appeared in a cooking column for young people in Binah Bunch Magazine (a weekly children’s magazine from Brooklyn).

The table of contents not only lists the topic and the page, but there is a lovely color photograph as well. So we have an introduction to the 43 totally kid-friendly kosher recipes. Then there are pages of comments and definitions, preceded by an illustrated cupcake.

Each recipe has a comment, a box with ingredients, a box with “you will need,” and directions, enhanced by a photograph of the finished product.

There are 19 cookie recipes, as well as a recipe for three cakes, cupcakes, two popcorn recipes, doughnuts, pretzels, potato pancakes, two pie recipes, a candy recipe, one beverage, three fruit desserts, ice cream, knishes, cheese Danish, pancakes, pizza, pasta and two salads.

This is simply a wonderful work which all moms and dads and grandparents of children eight and up should definitely buy. It is a great investment!

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 and contributes to Jewish newspapers across North America.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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B’nai Israel Synagogue Council Bluffs, Iowa National Register of Historic Places A Century of Tradition

National Council of Jewish Women Omaha Section

You’re always welcome at B’nai Israel!

NCJW extends its warmest wishes to the Jewish community for a Joyous Passover.

Young Seniors with Vision

Best Wishes for a Kosher and Happy Passover

618 Mynster Street, Council Bluffs

323-8885

An organization of Jewish Social Services

New Members Welcome

Wishes everyone a peaceful and fulfilling Passover

The Rabbi, Staff and Volunteers

Chabad House

Beth El Sisterhood

League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home Auxiliary

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JEWISH WAR VETERANS of AMERICA Epstein Morgan Post 260 Department of Iowa & Nebraska

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and peaceful Passover.

FREE membership to all active-duty personnel Contact: Jay Benton, Commander 250-6133 We welcome any and all new members

A Happy and Healthy

Passover to the Community

wishes its friends in the Jewish community A Passover filled with good health,happiness and peace.

May Passover bring special joy to you and your family.

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Best Wishes for a Happy Passover

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

Candlelighting Friday, April 3: 7:34 p.m.

Wednesday, April 8, 7:39 p.m.

Thursday, April 9, no earlier than 8:41 p.m.

Synagogue Listings

B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

B’nai Israel Synagogue

FRIDAY: Services followed by Oneg, 7:30 p.m.

618 Mynster St. Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE

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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Office Hours: Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

FRIDAY: Musical Kabbalat Shabbat Service, 6 p.m.; Tot Shabbat, 6 p.m., followed by dinner hosted by Les and Helen Kay and their grandson, David.

Dinner is $10; no charge for children six and younger. Open to all families in the Jewish community.

RSVP to programming@ bethelomaha.org or call the office.

SATURDAY: Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation (3-7), 10 a.m.; Kiddush sponsored by Beth El; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 7:45 p.m.

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

Sitter Service is available during Friday night and Saturday morning services, on a drop-in basis, at no charge.

SUNDAY: Bible Study Discussion Group; and Navigating our Services with Joy led by Susi Frydman-Levin, 10 a.m.; I Am a Jew, led by Andy Greenberg; The Mitzvah Club led by FrydmanLevin; and Synagogue skills class led by Cantor Schlossberg, 11 a.m.

BESTT: Students will be on Passover/Spring Break from April 4-11. Classes resume April 12.

COMMUNITY SEDER: Thursday, April 9, 6 p.m., Cost: $25 for adults; Hazak members, $18; children 6-12, $18; children 2-5, $9.50; no charge for children younger than two. To RSVP, contact Margie Gutnik in the office.

SHABBAT TUNES & TALES: Saturday, April 11, 11:15–11:45 a.m.; Sing-along and stories for children up to age five and their parents, led by “Miss Patty” Nogg. Open to all families; no charge.

PASSOVER WEDNESDAY: Shaharit/Siyyum B’khorim, 6:30 a.m.; Minha/ Ma’ariv, 5:30 p.m.

THURSDAY, First Day: Shaharit, 9:30 a.m.; Minha/ Ma’ariv, 5:30 p.m.; Community Seder, 6 p.m. at Beth El. FRIDAY, Second Day: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Kabbalat

Shabbat, 6 p.m.

SHABBAT MORNING LIVE: Saturday, April 18, 10:30 a.m.-noon, led by Esther Katz; for 4-8 year olds and their favorite adult(s). This month’s focus: Israel. No charge to attend, but RSVP to the office.

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Office hours: MondayThursday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fridays, 8:30 a.m-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Jonathan Gross.

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 the Kohll family; “Guard Your Tongue”, “The Great Midrash” and “Advanced Parsha Study for Kids” (ages 10 and up) one hour prior to Mincha, 7:15 p.m., followed by Seudah Shlishit; Havdalah, 8:35 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Reading the Rambam, 9:45 a.m.; Rabbi Gross’s Teen Class is on Pesach break; Gift Shop open, 10 a.m.-noon, for all your Passover table ware and hostess gifts.

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

TUESDAY: Mishnah Club for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders, and Rabbi Mizrahi’s Weekly Class are on Pesach break; Search for chametz not before 8:31 p.m.

Yom WEDNESDAY-Erev Tov: Pesach-To-Go available for pick-up, 8:30 a.m.-noon; Chametz may be eaten until 10:52 a.m.; Burning/nullification of chametz should be done before noon; Burning of chametz at Beth Israel, 11:30 a.m.; Mincha, 7:45 p.m.

THURSDAY-First Day of Pesach: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Pesach Kiddush sponsored by Sisterhood; Mincha, 7:45 p.m.; Second Seder at Beth Israel, gather at 8:30 p.m.

FRIDAY/Second Day of Pesach: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Kiddush sponsored by Sisterhood; Kabbalat Shabbat, 7 p.m.

CHABAD HOUSE Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman.

FRIDAY: Services, 7 a.m.

SATURDAY: Maamar class, 9

Large print Haggadot available The Jewish Heritage For The Blind announces that they have extra large type Haggadahs for the visually impaired at NO COST. Please contact main office at 718.338.4999 or fax request to 718.338.0653 or e-mail request to jewishheritage@gmail.com.

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.

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 April 17 Monday, April 6 April 24 Monday, April 13

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.

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.

WEDNESDAY: Shacharit, 7 a.m. Taanit Bchorot Siyum followed by refreshements; Birkat Hachama (Blessing for the Sun), 8:30 a.m. at the JCC; Chametz may be eaten until, 11:15 a.m.; Burn chametz before 12:20 p.m.; Seder, 7 p.m. at Chabad House.

THURSDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Priestly Blessing, 11:30 a.m.; Kiddush luncheon to follow davening.

FRIDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Priestly Blessing, 11:30 a.m.; Kiddush luncheon to follow davening.

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

FRIDAY: Snacks, 6 p.m. hosted by Lori Merliss; Early Family Shabbat Service, 6:15 p.m. led by Rabbi Emanuel.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. all led by Rabbi Emanuel.

SUNDAY: LJCS Matzah Factory, 9:30 a.m.-noon. Gan Simcha through Grade 7 meet at Tifereth Israel for a “Matzah Factory” presentation by Chabad; Hallah High, 10 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel.

WEDNESDAY: LPS Yom Hashoah Speakers Series, 10 a.m.

TJ Leyden will be speaking at Lincoln Southeast High School; upcoming events include “The Lost Boys of Sudan” on April 15, 9:30 am 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. No LJCS classes.

THURSDAY: Community Passover Second Seder, 6 p.m.

RSVP by Monday, April 6.

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

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. led by Nancy Rips and Andy Greenberg.

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m.

led by Andy Greenberg asssisted

by Aaron and Naomi Zipursky.

PASSOVER WEDNESDAY, April 8: First Seder, 6 p.m., led by Andy and Carole Greenberg.

THURSDAY, April 9: Services, 9 a.m. led by Rabbi Maximo Shechet; Second Seder, 6 p.m., led by the Zipursky family: Jim, Sally, Aaron and Naomi.

FRIDAY, April 10: Services, 9 a.m. led by Rabbi Shechet.

TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Grade 3 Family and Scout Shabbat, 6 p.m. Third grade class will lead the service. The congregation will observe the annual Scout Shabbat for Boy Scouts of America. An oneg hosted by our third grade families will follow.

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

SUNDAY: No Religious School.

SITTER SERVICE: Available Wednesday evenings during Family School hours during adult education, Friday evenings except when there is a Tot Shabbat, Saturday mornings when there is a b’nai mitzvah, and Sunday mornings during Religious School. Advance reservations and a $5 donation are appreciated.

Young children, including infants, are welcome.

WEDNESDAY: No Family, Religious or Middle/High School.

THURSDAY: Passover Morning service, 10:30 a.m.; Congregational Seder, 6 p.m.

Adults, $21; children in sixth grade and younger, $10; children two-years-old and younger, no charge. Check payable to Temple Israel is your reservation and is due in the office by Friday, April 3. The cost after April 3 is $25 for adults and $13 for children in sixth grade and younger.

NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN FRIDAY: Minyan, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m.

There will be no serices held during Passover, resuming April 24.

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

FRIDAY: Services, 6:30 p.m.

LJCS service.

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

THURSDAY/FRIDAY, April 9-10: Services, 9 a.m.

To submit B’nai Mitzvah announcements: 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. Forms are available through Omaha and Lincoln synagogues, by contacting The Jewish Press at 402.334.6448, or by e-mailing the Editor at: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org.

You can also submit other announcements (births, engagements, obituaries) online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements.

April 3, 2009

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 51

Index of Advertisers Advertiser Page A Permanent Solution .................................................. 28 A+ Hypnosis Wellness Center ...................................... 39 Abacus Consulting ....................................................... 19 Abrahams, Kaslow & Cassman LLP .......................... 27 Acura of Omaha .......................................................... 16 Alegent Health ............................................................. 44 All Makes Office Equipment Co. .................................. 21 All Seasons Home Improvement Company ................. 43 Allens ........................................................................... 31 American Friends of Magen David Adom ..................... 25 American National Bank .............................................. 47 American Tile & Marble Company ............................... 15 AmSan Nogg Paper & Chemical .................................. 44 Anderson O’Brien Gallery ............................................ 37 Anti-Defamation League .............................................. 49 Associated Counseling Professionals ............................. 4 B’nai B’rith Henry Monsky Lodge ................................ 49 B’nai B’rith Youth Organization .................................... 24 B’nai Israel Synagogue ................................................ 49 B’nai Jeshurun Synagogue .......................................... 28 Badger Body & Truck Equipment Co. ........................... 22 Bag ’N Save ................................................................. 32 Bailey, Jane A., M.D. .................................................... 28 Belgrade Family ........................................................... 31 Bergman Incentives/Bergman Jewelers ........................ 7 Bernina Sewing Centers .............................................. 16 Beth El BILU USY ......................................................... 24 Beth El Sisterhood ....................................................... 49 Beth El Synagogue ...................................................... 49 Beth Israel NCSY ......................................................... 24 Beth Israel Sisterhood .................................................. 49 Beth Israel Synagogue ................................................. 49 Bloomfield Forum ........................................................ 46 Branching Out ............................................................. 37 Broadmoor .................................................................. 27 Broadmoor Market ...................................................... 36 Brodkey’s ..................................................................... 31 Brownell Talbot ............................................................ 33 Camp Sabra ................................................................ 38 Canfield’s Sporting Goods ........................................... 31 Care Consultants for the Aging ..................................... 15 CB Richard Ellis/MEGA ............................................... 10 Chabad ....................................................................... 49 Christel’s ...................................................................... 11 Clinical Cosmetics - Angel Bell ..................................... 19 Cohen Family ................................................................ 4 Crowne Plaza .............................................................. 26 Dance Shoppe ............................................................ 27 David Morton Food Marketing ..................................... 43 Enterprise Bank ............................................................. 3 Eye Essentials .............................................................. 33 Family Enrichment, Inc. ............................................... 21 Frankel, Zacharia ............................................................... 15 Fraser Stryker Law Firm ............................................... 21 Friedel Jewish Academy ................................................. 7

Advertiser Page Garden Café ................................................................ 35 Gordmans ................................................................... 45 Grace/Mayer Insurance ................................................ 9 Grubb & Ellis/Pacific Realty ......................................... 40 Hadassah .................................................................... 49 Hap Abraham Catering ................................................ 39 Harris Center for Judaic Studies at UNL ...................... 26 Hiller Electric ................................................................ 51 Hockenbergs ............................................................... 27 Honeyman Rent-All ...................................................... 28 Horizon Dental Center ................................................... 4 Hy-Vee ......................................................................... 52 Ideal Water ................................................................... 11 Industrial Packaging Corporation ................................... 5 Interim Homestyle Services ......................................... 22 Jacobson Fish Co., Inc. ............................................... 33 Janine McClintock Studios ........................................... 41 Javitch Family .............................................................. 33 Jet Linx ........................................................................ 18 Jewish Community Center ............................................. 3 Jewish Federation of Lincoln ........................................ 34 Jewish Federation of Omaha ....................................... 41 Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation .................... 36 Jewish Press ...................................................... 2, 24, 48 Jewish Social Services ................................................. 29 Jewish War Veterans .................................................... 49 John A. Gentleman Mortuaries ...................................... 8 Kohll’s Pharmacy & Homecare .................................... 33 League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly ................... 49 Leisure Life Sports ......................................................... 9 Lerner Company .......................................................... 19 Lion’s Automotive Upholstery ...................................... 23 Louie M’s Burger Lust .................................................. 12 Lynn Roberts International ........................................... 20 Malashock Jewelry ...................................................... 23 Malbar Vision Centers .................................................. 11 Marathon Realty Corporation ......................................... 7 Mark Sanford Group .................................................... 20 Marks Clare & Richards ................................................. 4 Marriott Regency Hotel ................................................ 36 McGill, Gotsdiner, Workman & Lepp, PC, LLO. ......... 30 McGrath, North, Mullin & Kratz, PC, LLO .................... 37 MDK & Associates ....................................................... 11 Medico Insurance Company ....................................... 32 Mid Con Systems Inc. ................................................. 37 Mid-City Jewelry & Loan ............................................... 16 Midwest Ear, Nose, & Throat, P.C. ............................... 48 Mulhall’s ...................................................................... 37 N. Pitlor & Son, Inc. ..................................................... 41 Nan C .......................................................................... 28 National Council of Jewish Women .............................. 49 Nebraska Democratic Party ......................................... 34 Nebraska Furniture Mart ............................................. 23 Nebraska Jewish Historical Society .............................. 49 Nebraska Press Statewide Classifieds .......................... 51 Nelson, Senator Ben and Diane .................................. 30

Hematology&OncologyConsultants,P.C. Joseph D. Verdirame, M.D., F.A.C.P. • James R. Commers, M.D., F.A.C.P. Abraham P. Mathews, M.D. • Inaganti M. Shah, M.D., Samer Renno, M.D. Nebraska Clinics 6901 N. 72nd Street, Suite 2244, Omaha, NE 68122 • 402-572-3535 Blair - 402-426-1239 • Columbus - 402-562-2261 • Norfolk 402-644-7550 Iowa Clinics 800 Mercy Dr., Suite 10, Council Bluffs, IA 51503 • 712-388-2810 Denison - 712-263-1608 • Red Oak - 712-623-7226

Advertiser Page No Frills ......................................................................... 5 Nobbies ....................................................................... 43 Noddle Companies ...................................................... 16 Omaha Compound Company ..................................... 40 Omaha Steaks ............................................................... 3 Omaha Surgical Center ............................................... 13 Omaha Temple Youth Group ........................................ 24 Omaha Trans Video ..................................................... 21 One Drake Place .......................................................... 34 Parsow’s ...................................................................... 17 Pasta Amore ................................................................ 35 Pear’s Gourmet Coffee .................................................. 7 Peterson Brothers Realty Co. ....................................... 43 Pulverente Monument Co. ........................................... 28 Purdy and Slack Architects .......................................... 42 Regency Court ............................................................. 17 Regency Lodge .............................................................. 8 Remington Heights ........................................................ 6 Republic National Distributing Company ..................... 39 Roberts Dairy .............................................................. 44 Rockbrook Floors ......................................................... 32 Rockbrook Village ........................................................ 35 Rossi ........................................................................... 35 Rotella’s Italian Bakery ................................................. 20 St. Joseph Villa ............................................................ 10 St. Peter & Paul, St. John Nepomucene & Holy Trinity Catholic Churches .................................................. 37 St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church ........................ 46 Sanctuary Day Spa ........................................................ 5 Schwalb Realty ........................................................... 13 Scott Conference Center .............................................. 30 Security Equipment, Inc. .............................................. 10 Security National Bank ................................................ 35 Seim Johnson Sestak & Quist LLP ................................ 8 Senior Market Sales, Inc. ............................................. 13 Sol’s Jewelry & Loan ................................................... 43 Sonny Gerber Auto Sales ............................................. 40 Sound Environment ..................................................... 35 Sparks Computerized Care Care .................................. 47 Spirit World .................................................................. 12 String of Purls .............................................................. 31 Suburban Newspapers Inc. ......................................... 23 Swartzbaugh Farber .................................................... 47 Sweet & Associates ...................................................... 22 Temple Israel ............................................................... 49 Terry, Congressman Lee .............................................. 46 Tier One Bank .............................................................. 31 Tifereth Israel Synagogue ............................................... 9 University of Nebraska Medical Center ......................... 14 Valentino’s ................................................................... 12 Wiesman Development ............................................... 33 Winery ......................................................................... 12 Wolfson Used Cars ...................................................... 15 Young Seniors with Visions .......................................... 49 Zio’s Pizzeria ................................................................ 39

NEBRASKA FATHER OF THE YEAR AWARD Nominate your father today at www.FatheroftheYear.net

The 2009 Nebraska Father of the Year award will be presented at a luncheon on June 18th.

Entries are due May 1, 2009 Sponsors:

www.chne.org

Questions? Contact Christian Heritage at 1-866-381-KIDS Register for the luncheon at www.FatheroftheYear.net

You’re invited to join us for our upcoming events: Wed., April 1, 3:30 p.m.

“The Humorist Trickster“ Canned soup for admission Thurs., April 2, 6:00 p.m.

Country Bill, Country Music in the Beautiful Theatre Tues., April 14, 10:30 a.m. SPA DAY!!

Neck Wraps & Hand Massages!

Thurs., April 16, 10-2 p.m.

Cancer Treatment for Seniors Seminar by Leukemia & Lymphoma Society RSVP required: 344-2242 Thurs., April 30, 6:15 p.m. Taylors & Martin Performs Favorite Folk songs from the 20’s & 30’s in the Theatre

Walnut Grove

153rd & Q - Omaha Please RSVP by calling (402) 861-1611

the freedom to enjoy life

Fri., April 3rd at 6:15 pm Taylors & Martin(TraditionalAmerican, Folk, and Ageless songs) Tues., April 14th at 3:00 pm McClellan Singing Sisters (Singing Southern Gospel Songs) Thurs., April 23rd at 3:00 pm Luigi Waites & Friends (Show Tunes of the past)Audience Participation Tues., April 28th at 5:00 pm Birthday Celebrations, Music by Joe Taylor

Maple Ridge

167th & Maple - Omaha Please RSVP by calling (402) 614-3160

•No entrance fee •Fine dining/resort-style living •On-site banking •Month-to-Month Rent •Beauty Salon •Fitness Center with Whirlpool Spa •On-Site Managers •24/hr. professionally staffed •Weekly Housekeeping•150 Seat Theatre •Spacious Apartments with Kitchens www.RLCommunities.com

ANNUITY OWNERS COULD PAY UP TO 40% TO THE IRS IN TAXES Many annuity owners are positioned to lose a significant portion of their annuity’s value to taxes, and most are not even aware of the problem.

The IRS is not required to notify annuity owners about an exemption to the tax code that could save thousands of dollars in income and estate taxes.

A complimentary booklet is available that shows current annuity owners how to avoid mistakes and possibly save thousands! This complimentary booklet creates an awareness around the most costly annuity owner mistakes and provides tips and strategies to help you make the most of your hard-earned assets.

Call (866) 336-9530 today to get your no-cost, no-obligation copy of the 16-page “Guide to Avoiding Common Annuity Mistakes” and learn how to potentially:

• Avoid paying unnecessary taxes • Increase your retirement income by properly handling your annuity • Avoid mistakes that could cost you or your beneficiaries thousands of dollars Carl V. Wyllie Heartland Financial Group Registered Representative of and securities offered through QA3 Financial Corp, Member FINRA/SIPC. Heartland Financial Group & QA3 are not affiliated companies.

Call (866) 336-9530 today for your complimentary 16-page booklet!

Statewide Classified

HILLER ELECTRIC COMPANY

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.

Residential & Commercial

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING in over 175 newspapers. Reach thousands of readers for $210/25 word ad. Contact the Jewish Press at 402-334-6451 or call 1-800-3692850.

Complete Electrical Service Phone: 339-0524

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

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

LOOKING FOR the classic car, truck or motorcycle of your dreams? Go to www.midwestclassiccars.com. It’s your Midwest connection to classic vehicles for sale. Need to sell a classic vehicle? For only $25, your ad with photos will run until sold! Call this newspaper today for more information or call 800-369-2850.

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).

BUSY SMALL Engine, boss snow plow, landscapers supply business. Sales, service, warrantee center in Lincoln. Turnkey, priced below inventory cost for quick sale. 308250-2461, 402-416-9781.

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. 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.

PICKUP TRUCK & commercial truck drivers needed. Deliver RV Trailers and commercial trucks and buses to all 48 states and Canada. Log on to www.RVdeliveryjobs.com.

Page 52

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 3, 2009

EMPLOYEE OWNED

A happy and blessed

PASSOVER to you and your family.

5150 Center St.• 553-2664 • 50th & Center | 10808 Fort St. • 493-2089 • 108th & Fort | 11650 South 73rd St., Papillion • 597-5790 • Shadow Lake Towne Center 3505 L St. • 731-6107 • Stockyards Plaza | 3404 Oak View Dr. • 697-0811 • Oakview | 7910 Cass St. • 384-8668 • Peony Park | 9707 Q St. • 339-3047 • Applewood 747 North 132nd St. • 493-2911 • Westridge | 8809 West Center Rd. • 384-9072 • 90th & Center | 180th & Q St. • 896-4168 • Welch Plaza 156th & Maple • 493-0390 | 1706 North 16th St., Council Bluffs • 328-9762 • North 16th Street | 1745 Madison Ave., Council Bluffs • 322-9260 • Mall of the Bluffs