April 3, 2015: Passover Edition

Sponsored by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Endowment Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA April 3, 2015 | 14 Nisan 5774 | Vol. 95 | No. 29 | 3 Sections

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A2 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015

Inside story (Founded in 1920) Andrew Ruback President Annette van de Kamp-Wright Editor Richard Busse Creative Director Jessie Wees Advertising Executive Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Editor Thierry Ndjike Bookkeeper

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Welcome to our Passover issue

A

re you done cleaning your kitchen and selling your Chametz? I hope so, because Pesach is here. Time to take a little break and sit back to read (part of) the Passover paper. The theme this year is “Newcomers,” and we’ve compiled a somewhat random group of profiles of community members who were not born here, but have made Omaha their home.

Some came here for a job or college, some because their family moved here, some because they married someone from here and this is where they decided to make a home.

One of the most exciting aspects of Omaha (speaking as a non-native myself) is the fact that there are families who have been here for generations, who seem related to half the community, but who at the same time welcome newcomers with an ease that is absolutely admirable. Being new in Omaha is easy, and that is something that can’t be said for every place I’ve ever lived. People invite you to dinner, introduce you around, and before you know it, Nebraska gets under your skin.

You figure out not all winter coats are created equal, become super adept at avoiding potholes, and start paying attention to the Huskers. You learn that an excessive amount of orange cones in the road means spring has arrived, you know the ingredients of a Runza, and you finally master the art of small talk.

You come to believe it is perfectly okay to drive a huge SUV and still complain about gas prices, and when anyone in your extended family mentions the Reuben sandwich, you proudly proclaim that it was invented right here. Most of all, you get used to the fact that people are nice. You even come to expect it, and when you visit your old home, you are a little taken aback when the waitress or bus driver is cranky and doesn’t say good morning.

People in Omaha have figured out that meeting new people and welcoming them into the community is fun, and it is good for everybody. A constant influx of new people means that our community is exposed to new ideas, different opinions and surprising customs. Without new people, a community runs the risk of stagnating, and who needs those cobwebs? Welcoming the stranger is more than a phrase, it needs to be practiced daily. Thankfully, in Omaha it is.

What better time to choose such a theme than Passover, when we all remember being strangers? I thank the Jewish Press Board of Directors for coming up with this topic. It’s not that easy to think of something new every year.

Other people to thank: first off, those of you who agreed to be interviewed for this issue. I know it can be a bit intimidating, and I’m grateful every time someone takes the plunge and says ‘Yes.’ Your time and energy is very much appreciated.

Thank you to the writers: Ozzie, Gabby, Sybil, Lois, Teddy and Sherrie: I know how hard you work, and it shows. (Are you ready for the Rosh Hashanah issue?)

Thank you to the proof readers: Deborah, Dottie, Jody, Margaret, Silvia and Suzanne, not just for Passover, but for always, always being ready and willing to read these pages and save us from embarrassing typos and grammar mess-ups.

The Jewish Press staff: Richard, Lori and Jessie: you’re my Mishpacha. I love working with every single one of you.

Thanks, naturally, to you, the reader for being so loyal. I know you have limited time, and we are grateful you include us in your weekly reading.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who advertises with us. In a time when many claim newsprint is dead, you stand with us in saying it isn’t. We so appreciate your support, and we hope to work with you for many more years.

Of course, there are many more people without whom this paper wouldn’t be possible. Usually, I stop thanking people before I mention everyone,

because the list is so long. Also, we don’t want this to start sounding like an Oscar speech. But, as a Jewish Federation paper, we are in constant contact with almost every department on this campus as well as the synagogues, Chabad, and other Jewish organizations in the community. So maybe, just this once, you’ll forgive me if I thank a few extra people.

Jordana Glazer helps us budget, Thierry Ndjike does our bookkeeping, Alan Potash has done a fabulous job transitioning from esteemed colleague to valued CEO, and Julee Katzman has given me more good advice throughout the years than I can remember. To the synagogues and Chabad, Friedel Jewish Academy, the NCJW, B’nai B’rith, the NJHS, BBYO and my co-directors: Mike, Beth, Mark, Liz, Howard, Marty, Margie and Karen: Thank you for all you do, because without you, we wouldn’t have anything to put in the paper. (Yes, you can have the front page, as long as you don’t miss the deadline).

And if I forgot anyone, well, that’s on me.

We wish you all a happy Passover.

Chag Sameach!

Annette van de Kamp-Wright Jewish Press Editor

April 3, 2015 | The Jewish Press | A3

From Georgia to Omaha

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT n the day Temple Israel’s Rabbi Josh Brown and I were scheduled to meet, we found ourselves in the middle of round two of a February snowstorm.

After some emailing back and forth about whether the roads were drivable, and a minor miscommunication (I showed up at his office, he showed up at mine) we managed to sit down together and talk about what living in Omaha has been like.

Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Rabbi Brown is not really super-new to our city: together with his wife Carrie and daughter Hannah (now 4-1/2) he moved here in 2011. He joined the Temple Israel clergy, and the family has since welcomed Noah (2) and Ezra, who was born on Jan. 12 of this year.

How different is life with three small children?

Not as different as you’d expect, since Ezra is still so small. Mostly, it means one pair of hands is always occupied with holding him, which makes everything a little more challenging, but it’s not a drastic change. The funny thing is, I can’t remember what it was like before we had kids. It must have been easier to leave the house in the morning, but in exchange we now have this full house and it’s so much fun! We have our own little troupe; Hannah and Noah are old enough to play together. Carrie and I always wanted a loud and busy house, and we have gotten exactly that.

Where did you expect to end up?

I actually thought I’d end up in the Pacific Northwest. I interned in a little town called Yakima, in Washington State, and I love the area. I love Portland, I love Seattle. There’s a place called Bellingham, which is just beautiful.

What has surprised you the most about Omaha?

How connected people are to the world in general, and how different people approach sports. For instance, in many places rooting for one football team automatically means rooting against the “other team,� but here, it’s all love for the Huskers, and there is no rival to hate.

How are you a good fit for Temple Israel?

In Atlanta, I attended an Episcopal school, because the public schools were just becoming too violent: there were metal detectors and everything. It gave me a positive experi- Middle: Georgia Bulldogs helmet; bottom: front: Hannah, left, Ezra and ence with interfaith, just at the time that I was Carrie; back: Noah and Rabbi Josh Brown.

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developing my own identity. The Tri-Faith initiative that Temple participates in really speaks to me.

Do you own a Husker shirt?

Of course! Although, I am also a Georgia Bulldogs fan, and their colors just happen to be the same as the Huskers, red and white. They have played the Huskers twice since I’ve been here. I wore my Bulldogs shirt and everybody just assumes I was wearing red for the Huskers, because they didn’t look too close at the logo.

What do you think about Mike Riley, our new coach?

He’s so new; I have no opinion yet. He does seem very different, and very diplomatic.

What is your favorite way to spend Shabbat?

Going on a bike ride with my family, on a nice spring day.

What do you miss the most, living in Omaha?

I really wish we had mountains!

Shall we skip talking about the Nebraska weather?

Yes! If you had to explain Omaha to someone who’s never been here, what are the three things you would mention first?

I would tell them Omaha has big city food, small town friends, and virtually no traffic.

What is your biggest hobby?

I absolutely love camping, especially in National Parks. I have a National Parks pass, and my goal is to visit each and every one in the entire country. I love being out in the wilderness, especially when you get to the point where there are no roads.

What is the best movie ever?

That’s a tie between the original Star Wars movies and When Harry met Sally.

What inspires you?

Great writing inspires me, and people who dream big and are willing to take risks in the process. When people act against everyone’s assumptions and take initiatives that shouldn’t but do succeed.

Which food will you never eat?

There is this Russian dish called Kholodets, it’s a type of meat jelly, it’s chilled and I will never ever eat that.

What is your biggest pet peeve?

Pessimism.

How has living here changed you?

What has affected me the most is that people here think big, they believe things can happen and do not settle for mediocrity. As a society, we sometimes value efficiency more than we value real success. Somehow, that is not true for Omaha; I have met many people here who believe anything is possible.

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A4 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015

Transplants help Omaha grow

by GABBY BLAIR hree times. I have lived in Omaha three separate times. I joke that our family is like a flock of homing pigeons, returning to this city, in the center of the country, every three to five years. We never plan on returning to Omaha when we move; however, as the saying goes “Man plans and G-d laughs!” Upon our most recent return, this time from Seattle, I was surprised to come across many others in our community who have a similar story. Often, it seems that native Omahans return after blossoming into adult life. The allure of being closer to “home”, coupled with starting a family seems to draw back a population who were eager to leave this place upon graduating high school or college as young adults. With them come spouses and children to enhance our own families and community. However, more surprising to me is the return of individuals who are not native to Omaha. Whether these folks initially came to town with the military, for a job, or for schooling, I have met a surprising number of people who, for one reason or another, chose to come back to Omaha after pursuing opportunities elsewhere.

So, what is the draw for these folks?

Perhaps, it is because of positive press over the past few years, in which Omaha has consistently ranked in the top 10 places to live based on various factors. High scores in affordability, commute times, security, economy and surprisingly to some, the Arts, seem to attract a wide demographic of people. Maybe we have increased visibility from being the home to the Oracle of Omaha himself, Mr. Warren Buffet, or the recent

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The Lucoff Family

ranking of our Henry Doorly Zoo as number 1 in the world; an impressive feat. Perhaps it is something more than statistics and rankings. In our family’s case, it is because Omaha really became our home. My husband is a native, and we have family here.

The city is a comfortable, family-friendly place to return to, and it offers almost everything we need community-wise.

To explore how Omaha is so good at attracting and keeping transplants, I decided to check in with a few families that have decided on making Omaha their home. I inquired about what brought them to Omaha, if they had any family ties to the city, and what strikes them the most about this place, positively or otherwise. I also encouraged them to share what they wished they could have brought with them from their previous homes. Here is a look at some of the wonderful transplanted families that help enhance and grow our community!

“We moved here from New York because of my husband’s job at UNMC and were pleas-

antly surprised with Omaha,” explains JCC Nutritionist, Silvia Herskopf. “It offers a great quality of life, it is very affordable, quiet, and it has a very nice Jewish community for our kids to grow up in. We were very excited that Omaha had a Jewish day school, since that was very important for us. Overall, Omaha is a wonderful city to live in.” Herskopf goes on to add, “If we could change something, it would be the weather, of course! We also miss the availability of Jewish food and the sheer numbers of Jews in New York, especially at the university, at work, and just in the streets in general. On the other hand, we like being part of a close Jewish community in Omaha.

We are members of Beth El Synagogue, active members of the JCC, and our kids go to the CDC and Friedel. We have found in Omaha, our home, and we have been lucky to meet wonderful people and make new friends.”

“We were living in Minneapolis prior to moving to Omaha,” explains Erika Lucoff.

“We had always wanted to live near my brother (Josh Friedman) who moved to

Omaha from New York so his daughter could be treated at UNMC. We liked the city and my husband Phil moved here in October 2007 for a job.” Lucoff goes on to explain that she, and the couple’s two sons, both Friedel students, joined him the following March. While Lucoff misses the many interconnected lakes and waterways that add to the visual beauty and scenery of Minneapolis, she is happy with the home they have made in Omaha. “We have made great friends, we are members of Beth El and spend a lot of time at the JCC, which is like our second home. It is a great facility!”

Originally from Elizabeth, NJ, Danni Christensen came to Omaha three years ago with son Doniven and husband Michael, an Omaha native. “We made the move to Omaha from Newport News, VA to help care for my ailing father-in-law. After his passing, we decided to stay and make Omaha our home.” They enjoy having Mike’s family in town, and Danni feels it Continued on page A5

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Green M&Ms and the Fighting Illini

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT andice Wong Friedman is the wife of Dusty Friedman, and together they have made Omaha their home. Dusty grew up here; he is the son of Amy and Sandy Friedman.

Where did you and Dusty meet?

We met in 2004 after college in Chicago. We didn’t go to the same college, but were both at a Big-Ten college party at a bar -- yes, we met at a bar!

Where were you born, where did you grow up?

I was born in Evanston, Illinois and grew up in Highland Park, Illinois What do you do for a living?

I’m an Art Director/ Designer at a local advertising agency.

Can you tell us about your education?

I was always interested in art and took art classes throughout my childhood and in high school. I studied Graphic Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and also had the opportunity to study abroad for six months in London at Central Saint Martins.

Did you ever expect to end up in Omaha?

I definitely didn’t expect I’d end up in Omaha, but it’s surprised me. There are some amazing people here and lots of warm, welcoming hearts.

What has surprised you about this part of the country?

The people are friendly, public transportation doesn’t really exist, you drive everywhere, everyone loves the Huskers and their loose meat Runzas!

What is your favorite book and why?

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.

While I read this many years ago, it's still memorable. The story is entertaining with a mishmash of a coming of age

story, Dominican history and touches of sci-fi and fantasy.

How do you like your matzoh balls? Large or small?

Large.

What do you think the perfect Shabbat looks like?

Familiar faces sitting around the dinner table with delicious food and singing familiar songs.

What do you feel passionate about, and why?

I’m passionate about my family and my friends.

While Dusty’s side of the family is here in town, most of my family is in the Chicago area. It’s really important to me to stay connected and keep a close relationship with them.

Beach or mountains?

Beach When you watch the news, what do you pay attention to?

The weather! And the world news.

What do you think are three essential qualities each human being should possess?

Charity, empathy and creativity.

Which color M&M's do you eat first?

Green.

What do you think of the new Husker football coach? Do you own a Husker shirt yet?

I can’t say I know much about the new coach at all. When I do go to a game, it’s usually for the tailgating and the bright red hot dogs. I do own a Huskers shirt, although I'm loyal to my alma mater. I sported my Illini shirt at the Illini/ Nebraska game this past season.

Finally... how was your honeymoon?

The honeymoon was fantastic. We went to Costa Rica and stayed at a beach resort in the Guanacaste area and then went inland to the Arenal volcano. We had so much fun relaxing, paddle boarding, jet skiing, ziplining and meeting people from all over the world.

Transplants Continued fron page A4 helped ease her transition to a new city. “Before our move, I had never been to Omaha and was surprised by the depth of the arts scene here. I also love that traffic is virtually non-existent and everything is within a 20-minute drive from any location in the city.” She was initially apprehensive about moving to the Midwest and was uncertain what she would find in the way of a Jewish community in Omaha. “In that respect, I was pleasantly surprised by the population and heart of the Jewish Community, the availability of a day school, and the quality and size of the Omaha JCC.” The hardest part about moving to Omaha for Christensen was leaving behind her small, tight-knit Jewish Community in Newport News, which she describes as being “more like a large family rather than a small congregation.”

Lastly, I spoke with Fran Edwards who, thanks to her husband’s position with the military, has been stationed in Omaha not once, but twice. “I was so worried about coming here the first time,” Edwards recalls. “We had a choice between Omaha and Washington D.C., and I was upset that we were not going to D.C.. After all, being in Omaha for a Navy position... seemed kind of weird, as there is no ocean here!” Edwards goes on to say “I knew nothing about Nebraska and was unsure if there was a Jewish community in Omaha. At that time, we had a 2 and 4 year old and I really wanted them to attend a Jewish day school. I

did a little research, made a few calls and ended up speaking with former Omahan Yaffa Schuller who put me in contact with Friedel Jewish Academy and another military family, the Adlers, who all really helped ease my mind and our transition! Within three weeks of arriving in Omaha, I realized my dread was unwarranted and I really loved Omaha. I was so surprised how quickly I took to this city. While we have no actual family here, the central location puts us within a day’s drive of both my husband’s family and my own, and we made some great friends in Omaha.” After a three-year stay, the family was stationed in Italy, followed by a three-year stay in Washington State. “I remember crying as we drove out of Omaha, sad to be leaving such a great community behind, likely to never return. I was so upset,” recalls Edwards. “While we really enjoyed the time spent in Italy and Washington, we kept close ties to our family of friends in Omaha. When orders again came to transfer us, and Omaha was on the list of choices, we jumped at the opportunity to come “home”. It was great to fold back into the community, to have friends and to return to some place so familiar. It made the transition particularly easier for the older children who had kept in touch with their friends,” explains Edwards, who is the mother of six. While she admits that the winters here get a bit long for her liking, Edwards feels “There is just something special here -- it is called the “Heartland” for a reason!”

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A6 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015

Read it and eat

L

Happy New Year from Dan & Usha Sherman

et your fingers do the walking in these two new cookbooks featuring a wonderful array of recipes to add to your Passover preparations or start new traditions. Each of these cookbooks LOIS FRIEDMAN features ideas for those beginner or experienced Seder preparers!

The New Passover Menu by Paula Shoyer (Sterling Epicure, $24.95) The familiar celebration of Passover is eight days. Paula Shoyer celebrated Passover for five months... writing this cookbook, developing 165 “modern and global” flavor recipes from breakfast through desserts (15 are gluten-free) all the while conforming to the “very stringent food restrictions.”

Freedom from Passover Food Oppression introduces the celebration of “the Exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and features the universal theme of triumph over oppression.” Shore’s goal is to help the users of this cookbook not feel like “Israelite slaves,” to set them free and to please creative cooks. The Passover Pantry explains Kitniyot (grains, legumes and seeds), Gebrokts (matzoh mixed with liquid), suggests substitutes, i.e. using potato starch for corn starch, Preparing for Passover by selling or burning Chametz (any leavened food or food that has come in contact with leavened products, utensils and equipment, too) and includes her family ritual/tradition the night before Passover, searching the house and gathering bread with a feather into a paper bag and burning it outside! The Seder chapter covers everything about the table and Seder plate followed by sections for an updated Ashkenazic and international Seder menu, and menus for Shabbat, Yom Tov, French dairy, Italian Vegetarian, BBQ dinner and easy chicken meal.

Headnotes and sidebars add details... a fun cold soup of salt water combined with the hard cooked eggs, a Shoyer family experience, and her preference for matzo ball mix with her variations and a chicken meatball substitute, and this recipe on a recipe card from her recipe box that she relates to

those of us of a certain generation who still have recipe cards in boxes!

A variety of flavors fill the chapters...

Spaghetti Squash Fritters, Coconut Schnitzel, Seder Plate Salad, a quinoa (a new addition to the Passover pantry) dish, Kale Caesar, Potato Gnocchi with Pink Sauce, and for dessert a Date and Pistachio Roll and a Torrone Candy that’ll make your mouth water. Most of the dessert recipes have many steps and well detailed instructions. This foolproof, glutenfree recipe takes advantage of using 4 cups of whatever fruit is on hand - apples, pears, peaches, plums apricots and any type of berry.

EASY FRUIT CAKE Prep Time: 10 minutes, Bake time: 45-50 minutes, Advance Prep: May be made 2 days in advance; cake is best reheated Equipment: Measuring cups and spoons, 9x13-inch baking pan, medium bowl, silicone spatula, whisk 1 tsp. oil for greasing pan 4 cups chopped fruit or mixed berries 1 1/2 cups ground almonds (see note below) 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup potato starch 5 large egg whites Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with oil and press in a piece of parchment to cover the bottom and sides. Scatter fruit on the bottom of the prepared pan.

Place the ground almonds in a medium bowl. Add the sugar, potato starch, and egg whites and whisk well.

Scoop the batter over the layer of fruit as best you can (the batter will not cover all the fruit).

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the top is browned. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 12-15.

Note: “You can buy nuts already ground, with the skin or without. I have a coffee grinder dedicated to grinding nuts. You can also use a food processor, as long as it can reduce the nuts to a fine grind, almost like a powder, when you need almond flour for baking. If you grind nuts for too long, you will end up with nut butter.”

The instructions are clear, the photographs are delicious. Be inspired to begin or add to your Passover favorties and memories.

Lois Friedman can be reached at ReadIt AndEat@ yahoo.com.

SWEET POTATO TZIMMES Prep Time: 15 minutes, Cook Time: 1 1/2 hours, Advance Prep: May be made 3 days in advance Equipment: Cutting board, knives, vegetable peeler, measuring cups and spoons, large heavy saucepan, silicone spatula, 9x13-inch baking pan 2 cups apricot or orange juice 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp. peeled and chopped fresh ginger 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 1/4 tsp. black pepper 3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick slices

cup dried apricots cup pitted prunes Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large heavy saucepan over medium heat, bring the juice, broth, oil, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and pepper to a boil. Add the sweet potatoes and stir. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 15 minutes, stirring often. Transfer the sweet potato mixture to a 9 x 13-inch baking dish, add the apricots and prunes, and bake, covered for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake for another 40 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender and beginning to brown.

Serves 8.

1/2 1/2

April 3, 2015 | The Jewish Press | A7

Making small talk

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT f the people featured in this issue, with the exception of the clergy, Liz Feldstern is probably one of the more familiar names. Succeeding Beth Dotan as the Executive Director of the Institute for Holocaust Education, she had some very big shoes to fill when she first moved from Jerusalem to Omaha. We’ve all seen her do a remarkable job over the past two years, but there are a few other things we’re curious about.

What does she like to do when she and husband Yonatan are not working? What does she think about Omaha? And being the Exec of the IHE, what does that actually mean?

Can you tell us about your children?

Yishai is five and a half, and he is in Kindergarten at Friedel Jewish Academy. Gila is at the CDC and will be four on Passover. She was actually born half an hour before the Seder!

Where were you born?

New Jersey. I lived there until I finished my BA. In 2004, immediately after graduating, Yonatan and I got married and moved to Jerusalem.

When you were little, you wanted to be a...

My parents always said I should be a lawyer because I liked arguing, but I was actually more interested in singing and baking. As it turns out, I am terri-

ble at both.

What is your favorite book and why?

Anything without grammatical mistakes! I’m really not picky (some would call it well-rounded). I have loved Romeo and Juliet since freshman year at high school, but I’m also happy to curl up with Faye Kellerman or a Danielle Steele novel.

What does it mean to be the Executive Director of the IHE?

Haroset I get to teach, learn, plan programs, hold events, have meetings and help people every day. I interact with people ages 12 through 92. The best thing about my job is that I get to do so many different things. At the IHE, we work with survivors, but we also work with public schools, private schools, universities, museums and government offices. We even gave a “briefing” at the Offutt Air Force Base.

Could you do this job anywhere else?

Maybe, but people wouldn’t be quite as nice or as generous.

Can you think of anything about Omaha you really had to get used to?

Making small talk with strangers was new to me, although I’ve actually grown to like it. Other things that come to mind: polite drivers, trying to remember how every member of the Jewish community seems related to everyone else, and that the warmest part of the day is around 4 p.m. I still don’t understand that.

Pick three things to take with you on a one-year sabbatical to a deserted island: An extra fluffy pillow, a laptop, and one year’s supply of Chinese food.

If someone gave you an open ticket, where would you fly to?

I would like to see a rainforest.

What inspires you?

People who know what they want and go for it, and songs that are meant for belting out in the car.

by SYBIL KAPLAN hat Passover Seder symbol is common to all communities but is not mentioned in the Biblical passage which enjoins us to eat the paschal offering, matzah, and bitter herbs? Haroset.

We define haroset loosely as a paste of fruit, spices wine and matzah meal, symbolic of the mortar used by the Hebrews when they were slaves in Egypt.

The word is of unknown origin but may be from the word heres, meaning clay, because of its color. The custom of eating haroset is thought to have come from the time of the Babylonians who dipped food in relishes or sauces to add flavor.

Some years ago, I surprised all my seder guests by serving both the Ashkenazic version and a different Sephardic version which everyone loved and wanted in future years.

The New York Times Passover Cookbook, edited by Linda Amster, wrote that the Iraqi version is one of the oldest and most time-consuming recipes, dating back to the Babylonian exile of 579 BCE. Made into a jam from dates, grapes, pomegranate and bee honey, it was a sweetener in the ancient world and is still used by Iraqi, Burmese, Syrian and Indian Jews.

The Talmud says haroset must be sharp in taste and similar to clay in substance and color; thus there are variations according to communities.

Most Ashkenazim do not follow the sharp and pungent idea whereas Sephardim do. Ashkenazim tend to use apples, chopped almonds, cinnamon, red wine and perhaps matzah meal. Sometimes other nuts are used.

Sephardim and those from Middle Eastern countries tend to use fruits that grew in Eretz Israel in Biblical times such as grapes, figs, dates, almonds and pomegranates. Israelis often turn haroset into a dessert by adding bananas, dates, orange juice and sugar.

Abraham Chill, author of The Minhagim (customs) writes that each ingredient symbolizes something different from the Egypt experience: the whole mixture stands for the mortar used by the Jews in making bricks. Wine is Continued on page A8

W

From my family to yours, we wish you a happy and healthy Passover holiday.

Paid for by Jean Stothert

A8 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015

Haroset Continued from page A7 for the blood of the Jewish infants thrown into the Nile.

Almonds are used because the Hebrew word for almond, shaked, is also a word that means to accelerate, so G-d accelerated the end of slavery. Apples are used because it was said Jewish women gave birth to their babies under apple trees in order to avoid detection by the Egyptians. The cinnamon resembles the color of the bricks they made.

In her book, The Jewish Holiday Kitchen, Joan Nathan states that haroset is “one of the most popular and discussed ritual foods served at the seder.” She says the fruits and nuts refer to verses in Song of Songs mentioning an apple tree and the garden of nuts; the red wine recalls the Red Sea. Because the maror or bitter herb is so strong, some say the real purpose of haroset is to allay the bitterness. As part of the ritual seder, the haroset and maror are placed between matzot to make a sandwich which is said to have been invented by the first century C.E. Rabbi Hillel, hence, Hillel’s sandwich.

Different Jewish communities have variations on the ingredients. Jews from the Island of Rhodes use dates, walnuts, ginger and sweet wine. Jews of Salonika, Greece add raisins. Other Greek Jews use walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, raisins, cinnamon, cloves and red wine and spread it thickly on matzah. Turkish Jews include orange.

A Moroccan told me she used some of the seven ingredients from the Bible in her haroset -- dates, almonds, nuts, pomegranate seeds, figs, wine and cinnamon.

“The Food Maven,” Matthew Goodman, once wrote in The Forward that Moroccan Jews sometimes make haroset paste and roll it into balls. He says this is a legacy from Jews of Medieval Spain who made the balls of apples, dried fruit, almonds, cooked chestnuts, sugar and cinnamon but no wine and then drizzled the balls with white vinegar before serving.

Jews of Venice use chestnut paste, dates, figs, poppy seeds, walnuts, pine nuts, orange peel, dried apricots, raisins, brandy and honey.

Jews of Bukharia use nuts, almonds, dates, raisins, apples and wine.

Egyptian haroset contains dates, nuts, banana, apples, wine, cinnamon and pomegranate seeds.

An Iraqi woman told me instead of haroset as we know it, they would buy a special date honey and sprinkle chopped nuts on top.

Matthew Goodman, “The Food Maven” of The Forward, confirms this, explaining its foundation is date syrup called halek, made by boiling dates, straining the liquid and then reducing it over a low flame until thick. In fact, halek is one of the earliest of all sweeteners and may be the reference in “land flowing with milk and honey,” because bees did not appear until later. Chopped walnuts or almonds are then added to the syrup. Jews of Calcutta also follow this custom.

A Dutch woman told me they make a chunky mixture with more apples and less nuts plus cinnamon, sugar, raisins and sweet wine.

Jews from Surinam in Dutch Guiana use seven fruits and coconut.

Following the injunction to have a sharp taste, Persian Jews use dates, pistachio nuts, almonds, raisins, apples, orange, bananas, pomegranate seeds, sweet wine, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, vinegar and black pepper.

CLASSIC ASHKENAZIC HAROSET 6 chopped apples 1/3 cup chopped nuts 1/4 cup raisins 1 tsp. cinnamon 2 tbsp. sugar 1/4 cup red sweet wine Combine apples, nuts and raisins.

Add cinnamon, sugar and wine.

Depending on your preference, this can also be made in a food processor.

Yields 3 cups.

Likewise, Yemenite Jews use dates, raisins, almonds, nuts, figs, dates, sesame seeds, apples, pomegranate seeds, grape juice, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and black pepper.

Jews from Afghanistan pound haroset in a mortar with a pestle and use walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, apples, sweet wine, pomegranate seeds, dates and black pepper.

Another Sephardic woman told me she combines almonds, dates, apples, orange juice, ginger and cinnamon then forms the mixture into tiny balls about the size of a large olive. The head of the family then mixes these balls with vinegar to resemble the mortar.

One exception I have found to Ashkenazim following the strictly sweet version was a friend whose father’s family

came from Galicia. He recalled their haroset was made from apples, nuts, wine, cinnamon and horseradish.

Whatever way you make haroset, be inventive and make several different kinds to serve like these.

DATE HAROSET 1/2 cup seeded, finely chopped dates 1/2 apple, grated 1/2 cup chopped almonds 1/8 cup red wine 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. ginger Combine dates and apple.

Add nuts, wine, cinnamon and ginger.

Makes 6 servings.

SEPHARDI HAROSET 1/2 cup chopped dates 1/2 cup chopped raisins 1 cup chopped walnuts 1/4 cup chopped almonds 1/4 cup red wine 2 tbsp. lemon juice 1/8 tsp. cinnamon Combine dates and raisins.

Add walnuts, almonds, wine, lemon juice and cinnamon.

Form into balls.

SPICY HAROSET 12 figs 1 1/2 cups pitted dates 2/3 cup raisins 2 seeded oranges 2/3 cup almonds 1/2 cup dry red wine 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper 1 tsp. cinnamon In a food processor, coarsely chop figs, dates, raisins, oranges and almonds. Try to keep the fruit chunky unless you prefer it more pureed. Pour into a bowl.

Add wine, pepper and cinnamon and blend.

Yields 3 1/2 cups.

A mutual choice

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT ebbie grew up in Anaheim, California, and yes, that’s very close to Disneyland. Her sons, Nathaniel with his wife Nancy, and Micah, who is engaged to Katie, live in Seattle. Her daughter, Abby, recently graduated from college. Debbie is the Director of Lifelong Learning at Temple Israel and has a degree in Child Development from California State University at Fullerton.

In addition to her teaching experience in public schools, she has worked in several Jewish Day Schools as a teacher and Judaic Studies Coordinator.

What attracted you to Omaha?

I was blessed to be in a position to think about where my journey would take me next, and I think Omaha and I made a mutual choice. I was looking for a community that had a

good quality of life and cold weather. I knew this would be a wonderful place, and I am excited about what is happening here in our new building.

Why do you like working with children?

I love it because it is so refreshing to see Debbie Massarano things through their eyes (not that I’m old, mind you). Children see the world in amazing ways, and they help me think differently.

Continued on page A9

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The big answer to the Passover Seder questions

A

s I sometimes do for a holiday message, I turn here to the words (freely translated) of my friend and teacher Rabbi Lior Engelman for this year’s Passover column.

An ultimate answer TEDDY to the Seder’s ques- WEINBERGER tions is deeply embedded in the Passover Haggadah: It’s not us, it’s Him! The redemption of Passover did not occur because of us. We did not rebel against the Egyptians, we did not fight against them.

The Holy One Blessed Be He fought for us and we were silent. We were not deserving of this redemption. At the beginning, our forefathers were idol worshippers. God took Abraham and just chose him. God’s choosing the people of Israel in Egypt did not derive from any external justification, since we too worshipped idols, and yet with His divine choice (that is beyond our explanation) God chose precisely us.

On this night of the Seder we get in touch with the realization that something great is happening in the world and it does not depend upon a choice that we make in our lives. A nation came into existence that was chosen by God for a great mission. Whether we want it or not, that’s the way it is. We were willed by God to go into Egypt, and against our will (if need be) we will go out from there. Those among us who indeed want to go out will sing; those who do not, will cry -- but in any case we will leave

Egypt. It’s an event that takes place without any connection to the question of whether we wish to take part in it or not.

Tonight, even if we will not be worthy of redemption we will be redeemed. Even if we are idol worshippers like the Egyptians themselves, the King of Kings will Pass Over us and not slay us. It’s not us, it’s Him. The Master of the Universe chose to create a people for Himself. A creation that we cannot deny. He gave us the ability to choose within certain parameters, but we cannot change our mission. The covenant that was created between us and Him is bigger that all of the choices and all of the passing events.

All that remains for us to do is to praise, glorify, exalt, and adore God. And to know: That in the final redemption the rules change. No longer miracles. No longer haste. No longer God who does everything for us. We will need to take part in the redemption of ourselves, we will need to want it, because our faces are turned to a precious Land (“eretz chefetz”). And yet, we will always speak of the first redemption, because only someone who has from the beginning experienced in a complete way this eternal covenant of the creation of Israel, will find the strength to make the right choice and to work toward the future redemption.

Teddy Weinberger made aliyah in 1997 with his wife, former Omahan Sarah Ross, and their five children. Their oldest four, Nathan, Rebecca, Ruthie and Ezra are veterans of the Israel Defense Forces; Weinberger can be reached at weinross@ netvision.net.il.

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Debbie Massarano Continued from page A8 I rarely see you without your guitar.

Why is that?

When I was 12 years old, I went to camp, and it’s the reason I sit here today. I learned how Jewish music feeds the soul in a very spiritual way. I took my own guitar with me to summer camp when I was 16, and I’ve been carrying it around with me ever since. It’s very important to me to connect Jewishly through music.

If you could play a duet with anyone, whom would you choose?

My children, because they all three play an instrument.

What is your favorite Jewish holiday?

Passover! I love the food, I love sitting down for a long meal and talking about freedom and our own personal Egypts. I like the smell of Passover.

If you could listen to only three songs for an entire month, which songs would they be?

Debbie Friedman’s Psalm 23, the High Holiday Avinu Malkeinu, and Kimberly Rew’s Walking on Sunshine.

Who was your favorite movie star when you were 16?

Bobbie Sherman -- the heartthrob of all teens at the time.

What does the perfect Shabbat look like for you?

The perfect Shabbat starts with baking challah on Friday morning, a large group of friends and family around the table, some torah study and a Shabbat nap.

What are your hobbies?

I like to knit, and I play the flute in the Iowa Western Concert Band. I also love to play Bridge.

If you could go anywhere in the world on a trip, where would you go?

I would go to Salonika (aka Thessaloniki, ed.) because that is where my family is from. My grandfather moved to the United States from Greece in 1921. I would love to someday go see where he came from.

What motivates you to get up in the morning?

My job at Temple Israel, because I believe in the continuity of the Jewish people, and because I really believe I can contribute and make the world a better place.

What have you brought with you to Omaha?

An educational vision, a spark of energy, enthusiasm and excitement for Jewish education.

What can we wake you up for in the middle of the night?

You can wake me up anytime if you really need to talk.

What is the most confusing thing about Nebraska?

“No Right Turn on Red” signs.

What is your favorite food and do you know how to make it?

I’d have to say potato latkes, and I make really good ones. I shred the potatoes, and then I puree them. Every year for Hanukkah, my family and I have a complete latke gorge. I used to make a whole meal, with side dishes and everything, but everyone just ended up standing around the kitchen waiting for the latkes. Finally we decided to skip the rest of the food, and only go for latkes. Which is why it’s a good thing we only do it once a year!

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friendly Seder

by ABBY SHER (JTA) knew when we got to the drawing of the sad-looking lamb that I had exactly one page before showtime.

As the youngest daughter and cousin on both sides of my family, reading the Four Questions was always my job at the Passover Seder. Since my severe obsessive-compulsive disorder compelled me to recite everything exactly right, the job was so nerve-racking to me that I often started panting days before.

For some children, the Seder means delicious jellied candies and afikomen hunts. For others it can mean terrifying public reading and unbearable amounts of sitting still at the table. And for those with disabilities -- whether psychological, developmental or language-based - it’s clear this night is different from all other nights. But can somebody slow down and please explain why?

According to the U.S. Census, 18.6 percent of Americans (approximately 1 in 5) have a disability. Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation, which promotes and funds inclusion in the Jewish community, estimates that two million Jews are among that 18.6 percent. Many disabilities are undetectable to the naked eye, but whether it’s a child with Attention Deficit Disorder who finds it hard to sit still at the table or an adult in a wheelchair who cannot get to the table, guests with disabilities often require some modifications in order to feel welcome and included at the Seder.

Fortunately, such modifications are not difficult and can make the Seder more enjoyable for everyone. After all, who hasn’t at least occasionally experienced Seder table boredom?

Meredith Englander Polsky, cofounder of Matan, a New York nonprofit that advocates for Jewish students with disabilities, says the Seder is “the perfect opportunity for inclusion” because it involves multiple senses and learning styles: “taste, touch, acting things out, singing, speaking and listening.”

Here are some tips: 1. Give a sneak preview!

Talk to children beforehand about what exactly the Seder will look like.

They can also help prepare the Seder plate: a great opportunity to sniff the bitter herbs, taste the charoset or even crumble the matzah.

Both Matan and Gateways, a Boston program that helps Jewish day schools and congregational schools be inclusive of students with disabilities, have numerous downloadable materials on

their websites, including “Seder trackers” and Passover Bingo cards that spell out the order of events in bright pictures. Gateways has just published a colorful new Haggadah designed specifically for children with disabilities. Another possibility: Passover toys,

a slave by carrying a heavy bag of books over his or her shoulder and pretending that it is bricks.

Split the sea: Hold up blue sheets and have children walk through them.

Play out the plagues: Act out the plagues such as jumping like frogs or

Meredith Polsky’s father-in-law, Mark, with his grandsons Hayden Polsky, holding Credit: Jodi Cohen the matzah, and Bobby Cohen in the background. like matzah juggling balls or plague finger puppets, which can be found in many online outlets and Judaica stores.

On the educational website www.challahcrumbs.com, Devorah Katz suggests creating your own family Haggadah with your favorite photographs.

Whatever you choose to bring to your Seder, make sure everyone feels welcome to participate.

2. Set the mood.

Ilana Ruskay-Kidd, founder and head of The Shefa School, a pluralistic Jewish day school for children with language-based learning disabilities, suggests conducting the first part of the Seder in the living room. It’s a much more relaxed environment than sitting at the table, and guests can get up and walk around if they need to, or even have a few snacks. Matan’s Polsky says it’s also good to set aside a “quiet space” to relax for guests who become overwhelmed by crowds or noise.

3. Lights, camera, action!

The maggid (recitation of the Hagaddah) is the longest stretch of time for children to be at attention, so it’s imperative to make it exciting and interactive. Some suggestions from Polsky and Ruskay-Kidd: Pyramid building: You can set up stations in your home or on the table.

Use Legos, Lincoln Logs, MagnaTiles or any other building materials you find. A delicious option: try minimarshmallows and toothpicks.

Everyone gets to build a pyramid that can later be gobbled up for dessert.

Schlep: Ask children to act out being

Bob Freeman

falling over like cattle. Download Matan’s visual Ten Plagues so everyone can see them and debate whether they’d rather be a grasshopper or a locust. You can “paint” the doorways with a paintbrush and water so the Angel of Death knows to pass over.

Cut to the chase: If guests are getting too hungry or restless, it’s best to skip a few pages or cut to the songs. The maggid can be two minutes or two hours, but the message will only resonate if people are engaged. As Rabbi Dan Goldblatt of Beth Chaim Congregation in Danville, Calif., told Jweekly in 2000: “I encourage people to be freed from the tyranny of the Haggadah.”

4. Intermission.

Giving everyone a break is vital to the Seder experience. Ruskay-Kidd says, “We don’t want our kids to experience enslavement during the Seder.”

After the intermission (and before things start getting messy with the Hillel sandwich, etc.) is a great time to get people seated at the table.

5. Invite questions.

The Passover Seder is full of timeless questions, and there is no one right answer. Encourage everyone to pose a question.

Polsky points to the maror as a jumping-off point. She asks everyone to name something “bitter” they would like to fix in the world and how they plan to do it.

Rabbi Josh Feigelson, director of Ask Big Questions, a Hillel initiative to provoke positive change through conversation, encourages hosts to thank and Continued on page A11

Troy Meyerson

April 3, 2015 | The Jewish Press | A11

Meet Nate Shapiro

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT ate Shapiro is, by his own admission, a “pretty laid back guy.” Born and raised in Wayne, Nebraska, he didn’t have to travel as far as some of the other people featured in this issue.

His parents and brother were all born out East, and so Nate is the only one in his family who, he says, “Truly bleeds Husker red.” He tried to answer all the questions as truthfully as he could but worries that he sometimes comes off as sarcastic, and wants you all to know he doesn’t mean it that way. He can probably stop worrying; when I was looking for names for this issue, several people mentioned how awesome Nate is, and “He has to be part of the Passover paper!”

Nate Shapiro And so, here we are. It’s time to get to know Nate Shapiro a little better.

When did you come to Omaha and why?

I came to Omaha to go to graduate school at UNO. What are three goals you have in life?

1. Send my children (which I don’t have) to summer camp; 2. Graduate from my MPA program, and 3.

Memorize the Gettysburg Address.

What do you really wish Omaha had that it doesn’t?

Free parking!

What is your favorite Jewish food?

Gefilte Fish.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Me, but better.

Which Jewish holiday is, in your opinion, the most underappreciated?

Shabbat.

What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

Drop out of college to join the Israeli Defense Force.

Wait; what?

A lot of people ask me why I did that. Depending on who they are, I have a variety of answers. To fellow Jews, I usually rattle of the usual Zionist spiel (which I believe in, for the most part.) To strangers, I talk about being bored in college, smoking too much pot, and wanting to do something in my life that I could be proud of while growing up a little. To intimate friends, I mention a girl who broke my heart, causing me to do the cowboy thing and run away. As time passed, I realized it was a com-

bination of all those things.

I became aware this was an option in 2006 when I attended the Brandeis Collegiate Institute. I met some Israelis who I could really talk to, and the moment I realized joining the IDF was an option, I wanted to do it. My parents weren’t in favor, so I put the idea in the back of my mind; finally, I decided that if I didn’t go over there to stand with my brothers and sisters, I would regret it for the rest of my life.

I developed a study abroad program (UNL didn’t have one) and made the arrangement with the army while I was studying in Haifa. I subsequently drafted for 18 months in the Nahal Brigade, finished my service, and then returned home. It was a good experience, and I returned a better person.

However, I was there during Operation Cast Lead, and still wonder what all of that was for. I made a lot of friends, lived a very simple life for a while and felt like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. I miss all of that.

Okay, lighter question. What are your hobbies?

Rearranging decorative letters in the Hobby Lobby displays, brewing beer, and playing with my cat Moshe.

Which article of clothing will you never, ever wear?

A flat cap.

Do you have any pet peeves?

Meetings that run late. People who don’t fact-check stuff they post on social media, and the fact that Family Circus (a terrible comic) gets to be a circle on the comics page and everything else has to be a square.

Who do you admire?

Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

What is the best lesson you’ve ever learned?

In high school physics I learned that straws work because you create a low-pressure system in your mouth and the relatively higher atmospheric pressure pushes the liquid up in the straw.

What inspires you?

The music from Les Miserables.

What can we wake you up for in the middle of the night?

A tornado warning, but that’s it.

What do you listen to in the car?

KIOS FM 91.5, your home for news, jazz, and so much more!

Which place you have never been to do you dream about visiting?

Easter Island. Those big stone heads have always fascinated me. What do they mean? Where did they come from? It boggles the mind.

Disabilitiesfriendly Seder Continued from page A10 engage the questioner. On the Ask Big Questions website, he writes: “Questions, when asked genuinely and coupled with real listening, are... seed-bearers of conversation and mutual understanding, of empathy and community.”

Passover toys, such as these Ten Plagues finger puppets, can help engage children in the seder.

Credit: Traditions Jewish Gifts 6. Get loud!

Whatever makes everyone join in singing is the way to go. Polsky notes that Who Knows One can be difficult for people with disabilities because there are so many verses and it is frequently sung fast.

Download Matan’s visual version of Who Knows One so everyone can follow along; percussionists and yodelers encouraged. Shouting is a form of singing, too.

In fact, Ruderman, of the Ruderman Family Foundation, says there’s an old story about a boy in Eastern Europe who couldn’t read or write. He came to the High Holidays services and kept on shouting in the synagogue while people were trying to pray. Many of the congregants wanted to have him kicked out but the rabbi stopped them and said, “Just listen. He’s expressing his prayer in the purest way.”

I think of this boy and his direct connection to faith.

I think of my younger self, trembling in my seat, reciting Mah Nishtanah under my breath.

I think of the two million Jews estimated to have disabilities who will hopefully be participating in the seder this year. And I promise this: I won’t be the youngest at the table this year, but I do intend to be the loudest.

Most likely off-key too.

Abby Sher is a writer and performer living in Brooklyn. She is the author of Amen, Amen, Amen: Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn’t Stop Praying (Among Other Things) and Breaking Free: True Stories of Girls Who Escaped Modern Slavery. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and Elle magazine, among other publications.

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April 3, 2015 | The Jewish Press | B1

Meaning and purpose: Rabbi Steven Abraham

by OZZIE NOGG abbi Steven Abraham (middle name: Eric) moved from New York City to Omaha in late summer of 2011. He and wife Shira have two children: Three-year-old Naama Yocheved and Leor Ezra, who is one. He was born in Washington D.C. and currently serves as the Rabbi at Beth El Synagogue.

What did you want to be when you were little?

I wanted to be a baseball player. I played catcher and third base through high school. I always loved baseball, but more than anything else it was a way to connect with my grandfather. His favorite player was Cecil Travis, who played for the Washington Senators. When my grandfather passed, I purchased an autographed picture and baseball of him as a way of keeping my grandfather’s memory alive. I keep those mementos as well as my grandfather’s “old” baseball glove in my office.

What is your favorite book? Why? As A Driven Leaf, by Rabbi Milton Steinberg.

It speaks to every generation and is an amazing work of historical fiction.

Describe the different things you do during your work day.

I see my job as connecting people to their faith, to their history and community. The title that job gets in the Jewish community is Rabbi. From my experience people sometimes believe, falsely, that Judaism resides inside the synagogue, when in fact the synagogue, while important, is merely a place for us to come together. I believe people want, and deserve, to know how Judaism speaks to them in 2015.

How does teaching an adult ed class, Hebrew School, counseling couples as they prepare to be married, visiting members of our community at the hospital, etc. benefit those I come in contact with... because people want to live a life that has meaning and purpose. Judaism is a lens through which to look at the world that gives our lives meaning and purpose.

Can you think of anything about Omaha you really had to get used to?

Everyone knows each other. When I came to Omaha and started meeting people for coffee, it became a huge help that everyone knew each other, because they would recommend other people I should

meet. It was also funny, as I would meet someone for lunch on Monday and they would know who I’m having coffee with on Wednesday. It’s a small world, and while that can be tough at times, I think it allows us to get things done that larger communities may have more difficulty with.

What are your hobbies?

Spending time with family and friends, watching sports, running.

Would you please explain how you came to running marathons?

I was out of shape. I spend a lot of time at the office, and synagogues are breeding grounds for delicious treats (that happen to not always be so healthy). I wanted to be more active, and so I went out and tried to run. My first few weeks were rough, as I could not get very far, but soon enough .5 mile became 1 and then 5 and so on. I’ll always be grateful to a few congregants who happen to also be runners and were very supportive.

I will also admit that I think running is a bit like prayer.

Like prayer, you can run alone or in a group; both can be very meaningful. Also, while not every prayer experience leaves you with a sense that you had a connection with the divine... those moments do exist. Similarly, with running, training is difficult; but when I ran the Lincoln Half Marathon in 2014, it was a very emotional/spiritual experience.

Pick three things to take with you to a one year sabbatical on a deserted island.

Family, a few good books, like As A Driven Leaf, a siddur, and Team of Rivals, which is a biography of President Lincoln. The fact that Lincoln could work with people with such different values and beliefs is a good lesson for everyone.

What does your ideal Shabbat look like?

A meaningful prayer experience at synagogue, lunch with friends (kids running around), then fall asleep reading a good book.

What do you mean by ‘meaningful prayer experience?’

Prayer for me serves three purposes, first to be in dialogue or communication with God. Second is to be in constant dialogue with ourselves, almost like a daily check-in (personal reflection), and lastly, to be part of a community. Prayer is tough. I think there is a belief that one should be able to show up and simply be moved to tears, but it’s not that easy. It is also hard to describe what it feels like when one has a meaningful prayer experience, except to say that you know it when it happens.

Regarding Shabbat, there was a recent article in the Continued on page B3

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YOUR GENEROSITY HAS TOUCHED MANY AND FOR THAT WE ARE GRATEFUL.

B2 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015

Homecoming

by GABBY BLAIR s a child, I spent a good portion of my summers visiting my Saba and Safta in Jerusalem. By visiting, I mean an extended stay of 2 to 3 months every summer, sometimes extending into the High Holidays. Some years, we would also travel over for Passover or Hanukkah. From age 7, I would fly alone and stay with my grandparents until my parents could join me. It was time to be with the family, the countless cousins, aunts and uncles would welcome us home, even though we lived apart from them, in New York. I often wish I could return to those days and pay closer attention to the details of those times. I can still see the heavy low brocade couches lining the wall and the shelves covered with old photographs in ornate frames next to the tall polished engraved teapots and small jewel-colored tea glasses, favored by Moroccans, that we would use every day.

I can almost smell the comforting aroma from steaming platters of couscous with sweet apricots, raisins and savory vegetables that my Safta Rachel would prepare. I can vividly recall the nutty sweetness of the little hand-ground, starshaped marzipan cookies that she would make for me, as she knew they were my favorite. My aunts still make these for me when we come to visit, a taste of home. I wish that, with my adult mind, I could go back and not simply watch her cook and bake but learn the recipes, recipes that she held in her head, as she was quite unable to read. Frankly, being the mother of 10 children, she likely had no time to, even had she been able. She spoke no English, so we would speak in a mix of Hebrew and French, and she would sing to me in Arabic, which was her first language, and pray with words handed down, and long memorized, by her heart. This was the same small, humble apartment with the dusty courtyard in Kiryat Menachem that my father had lived in before he immigrated to America. Now, when we go back to visit, I ask to drive by it, always amazed by how small and shabby the building is. In my memory it was so much more than the shell of what it is. While I have many fond memories of this place and the time I spent there, one of the most vivid and

earliest came back to me this winter as I traveled, with my own children and husband, in Israel. As we entered Mahane Yehuda market in the heart of Jerusalem with my sister Rachel, who bears the name of our grandmother of blessed memory, I felt the deja vu of being there as a small child myself. Different, but the same, the market was bustling with people and vendors and wares.

It had been many years since my last visit to the market.

Afterwards, I reflected back to taking the bus with my grandmother on the way to the “shuk” and inquiring about the

blue writing on an older lady’s arm as we shared the bus pole, and her quietly saying “Sketz!” the Moroccan way of saying “Hush up, now.” The lady looked at me kindly and gave a small smile as we left the bus and entered the busy streets of Jerusalem. I remembered the sights and smells and sounds; the cigarette smoke, the squawking of chickens in cages, the brightness of fabrics and earthy smell of fresh vegetables recently harvested, the haggling and hollering of peddlers and shoppers pressed together like one colorful, pulsing organism. It was always exciting to go to the shuk, so different from the shiny, swept, orderly supermarkets in New York. I stuck close to my grandmother, who would negotiate and bargain for every item that would eventually be tucked into our small wheeled push bag.

She would argue with the Arab merchants in their own language, as well as the Jewish merchants in Hebrew. She was an impressive woman, not quite five foot tall, used to hard work, and making each shekel count. She did not complain and always replied to questions with a “Baruch Hashem”. A true Esheyt Hayil. Before the return trip home, she tucked a small sweet into my hand for the bumpy, crowded ride back and with a smile said, “Good, very good?” One of the only English phrases she knew. I nodded and held close to her hand. She held it tightly and we walked to the bus stop. “I love you, ca’para zin de’yeli”, my beautiful one, the only other thing she knew in English- along with a Moroccan term of endearment- tacked on at the end.

Recalling her and our trips to the shuk, helping her clean and set the long table for shabbat, watching her thick hands knead dough with fluidity and ease, listening to her finishing her work late into the night, and her calm soulful singing of “abyadi”, an Andalusian lullaby, reminding me all these years later of the home I have in Israel. While I cannot go back to those times or relive them through my adult lens, the very heart of Israel is part of me because of her. I still visit her and my Saba, every trip back that I am fortunate enough to make. I clean their graves, now with my own children, at Givat Shaul and, together, we light small candles to put in the little door at the base of their tombs. It reminds me of who I am, where I came from and my tie to that land. It ties my children to it. It reminds me that even though I have never lived in Israel, whenever I visit, it is like a homecoming.

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The joy of a Jewish life

by OZZIE NOGG ogether with his wife and children, 17-yearold Zev and 13-year-old Zach, Michael Krausman moved from Hollywood, Florida to Omaha in 2013. Born in Brooklyn, NY, Hazzan Krausman joined Beth El Synagogue’s clergy. When he was little, he wanted to be a cantor. Sometimes, when childhood dreams come true, we all benefit.

What is your favorite book?

As a reference I would choose Jewish Liturgy by Ismar Elbogen; it’s a comprehensive history of our prayers and prayer service.

For pure enjoyment I like the Gabriel Alon Series by Daniel Silva. The excitement, drama and mystery combined with the nachas I get from reading about the strength and intelligence of Israel is great!

Describe the different things you do during your work day.

One of the wonderful aspects of being a part of the clergy of a synagogue is that no two days are exactly alike. Some of my roles in the Synagogue include: Chanting the Liturgy on Shabbat, festivals and some weekdays, preparing students for Bar/Bat Mitzvah, assigning and often chanting Torah and Haftara Readings as well as developing new Torah readers – both young and not that young, Teaching in the Religious school as well as adults, offering special services such as our Cup of Coffee with God service, visiting the sick, officiating with the Rabbi at funerals, weddings and other life cycle events, meeting with the Rabbi, fellow staff members and various lay committees and representing the Synagogue in the community through participation in programs and committees, as well as presentations at the Blumkin Home, Friedel and the CDC Could you do this job anywhere else?

I have served as a Hazzan in New Jersey, New York, Toronto and Florida.

Can you think of anything about Omaha you really had to get used to?

The winter for sure – I lived in Florida for 12 years before coming to Omaha. The courtesy and friendliness of the people, much different than what I was used to - especially drivers.

The challenge of obtaining kosher food took a while as well.

What are your hobbies?

Working out. Learning about and tasting whiskey. Apple Computers.

Pick three things to take with you to a one-year sabbatical on a deserted island.

A satellite modem and laptop with lots of batteries, a bottle of good scotch, and, most importantly, my wife.

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What do people not know about you?

I get extremely nervous when I have to sing in front of a large group of people. I used to study a style of Karate called Go Ju. If someone gave you an open ticket, and you could fly anywhere, where would you go?

Israel, and then Australia.

What does your ideal shabbat look like?

The ability to pray outside with a great group of friends, lots of good food and drink, a good book to read, a long Shabbat nap What inspires you?

The opportunity to make a bit of difference in someone’s life, especially a kid. The singing of a first-rate Hazzan.

What do you hope to bring to the Omaha community?

To communicate the joy that is inherent in our Jewish life.

Rabbi Steven Abraham Continued from page B1 community we have created, while also building new relationAtlantic (http://www.theatlantic.com/ ships and experiences. features/archive/2015/01/what-ruthA synagogue is a lot like a gym bader-ginsburg-taught-me-aboutand the clergy are in many ways being-a-stay-at-home-dad/384289/) like personal trainers. Lots of about a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader people join gyms, some attend Ginsberg, who decided to take some regularly; they have their routine time off to be a stay-at-home dad while and follow it meticulously. Then his wife pursued her medical degree. there are others who show up He mentioned that when he asked once in a while and others who some of his Jewish friends about how much time they spent with their parsimply feel accomplished carryents while growing up, one responded ing the membership card in their that the only time he saw his father was wallet. All are members, and all Shabbat. For me, Shabbat is certainly are welcome. In any of these not a day off, it is a time to reflect on groups exist a subset that is curithe past week and become energized ous, that is always asking “What for the week to come. else is out there,” “How can we What inspires you? make the experience better,” and People who don’t settle, people who “Are there new training methods want more from their synagogue. we could employ.” They love the What do you hope you are bringing gym but they want it to be the to the Omaha best. Those questions, while they Cecil Travis community? are difficult at times, inspire me.

A new vision for our Jewish community. We should ask My challenge is to build an experience that honors and ourselves: how do we honor and preserve the rituals and works for every member.

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Passover children’s books: Trains, sheep, and time travel to Sinai

by PENNY SCHWARTZ BOSTON (JTA) hen Deborah Bodin Cohen immersed herself in rabbinical school in the early 1990s, she expected to spend a year in Israel as part of her studies with Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. What she didn’t know was that a decade later, the experience of living in Jerusalem would spark her inspiration for a children’s book that has become a popular award-winning series.

Engineer Ari and the Passover Rush, Bodin Cohen’s fourth book in Kar-Ben’s Engineer Ari series, is among a trio of new children’s books for the eight-day holiday marking the Jewish exodus from Egypt.

Shahar Kober provides the illustrations.

Passover begins this year with the first Seder on the evening of April 3.

Other new books for the holiday include And Then Another Sheep Turned Up,

by Laura Gehl, illustrated

by Amy Adele, and a rare middle-reader Passover chapter book, Scarlett and Sam: Escape from Egypt, by the popular writer Eric Kimmel and illustrated by Ivica Stevanovic.

Bodin Cohen, the author of other award-winning Jewish children’s books, including The Seventh Day and Nachshon Who was Afraid to Swim, credits the idea for the Ari character to her daughter Ariana, who as a preschooler was a train enthusiast. Her daughter’s train play stirred memories of living near Jerusalem’s historic train station that dated back to the 1890s.

“I literally passed it every day,” she told JTA. Bodin Cohen, the director of congregational learning at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac, Md., realized that she could create a story of a train adventure based in historic Israel – one that would also entertain her own daughter and her friends.

Each of the Engineer Ari stories has some historical element, she points out, with extensive research and consultation with a curator of the Israel Railway Museum in Haifa.

While the book is not about Israel, it is the backdrop, one of Bodin Cohen’s goals.

“The idea of an illustrated book exposes kids to some of the beauty of Israel, the wildlife and the agriculture,” she said.

Engineer Ari and the Passover Rush Deborah Bodin Cohen, illustrated by Shahar Kober Kar-Ben ($17.95 hardcover, $7.95 paperback, $6.99 eBook); ages 5-9 Engineer Ari is a friendly train engineer, an imagined character based on Jerusalem’s early railway system that transported people and goods between Jaffa and Jerusalem dating back to the end of the 19th century in prestate Palestine. Like the previous books in the series -- for Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot and Hanukkah -- this charming tale is set at the eve of the holiday.

In the Passover Rush, Engineer Ari is in a hurry to make his last run before the start of the Seder. The sense of urgency to keep

track of time for the train schedule is a perfect pairing for the story of Passover, when the Israelites fled Egypt.

His ride to Jerusalem has neighbors offering him foods for his Seder plate, including a bowl of charoset made with almonds and dates, a traditional Sephardi custom. Ari promises that on his return route, he’ll deliver newly baked matzah in exchange. As he arrives back in Jaffa in the nick of time, he and his neighbors swap the Jerusalem matzah for the Seder plate foods.

Young kids will enjoy the fun adventure, which also introduces the elements of preparing the Passover Seder.

The cartoon-like illustrations by the Israeli artist Kober will delight young readers, with animated characters dressed in colorful native garb, and bustling scenes of city life and rolling hillsides and farms.

For some young readers, the biggest thrill will likely be the red locomotive, with its whistle cord that regularly announces “Toot, toot!”

And Then Another Sheep Turned Up Laura Gehl, illustrated

by Amy Adele Kar-Ben ($17.95 hardcover; $7.95 paperback; $6.99 eBook); ages 3-8 As a friendly family of sheep prepares for Passover, one guest after another arrives, from grandma with the macaroons and wine to uncles and friends who arrive unexpectedly. As the Seder progresses from the Four Questions to hiding the afikomen and dipping the parsley, each page brings another unexpected visitor.

Gehl’s delightful rhymes will tickle young ones. Even non-readers will join the repeating refrain, “And then another sheep turned up.” Kids will be entertained with page after page of Adele’s colorful, lively illustrations of adorable sheep having fun at Passover.

Scarlett and Sam: Escape from Egypt Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Ivica Stevanovic Kar-Ben ($15.95 hardcover, $5.95 paperback, $6.99 eBook); ages 6-9 When twins Scarlett and Sam bicker about who is going to recite the Four Questions at the Seder, their magical Grandma Mina cuts the squabbling short: “Tonight, at the Seder, we don’t just tell the story of Passover. We become part of it.”

So sets the stage for Kimmel’s time-travel Passover adventure that transports the duo to the Egyptian desert, back to the time of Moses and Aaron as they prepare to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. The Ten Plagues, Pharaoh’s palace, and the suffering and indignity endured by Israelite slaves come alive for the siblings, who manage to make a podcast of their experience.

Older readers familiar with Kimmel’s hugely popular illustrated books (Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins, Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock and The Chanukkah Guest) will again enjoy his deft humor and flair for storytelling in the illustrated chapter book that will appeal to school-age kids. It’s a terrific pairing with Kimmel’s earlier Wonders and Miracles, a lavishly illustrated Seder companion that explains and demystifies the customs and traditions.

April 3, 2015 | The Jewish Press | B5

An extended visit

by OZZIE NOGG arice Bailer and her husband Rick are renting an apartment in Omaha for one year, so they can help daughter Laura and sonin-law Michael with their baby, Abigail Rose.

They actually live in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. Laura is a physician’s assistant at an Urgent Care center in Omaha.

Did your husband come with you? What is his line of work? Or is he retired?

My husband manages software sales for Sirius Computer Solutions which has an office in Omaha. Sirius acquired MSI, which was headquartered here.

Tell me something about Omaha that was (or still is) hard for you to get used to.

We don’t have any difficulty adjusting to Omaha; the hard part for us is going back East! We’ve been very happy here. We so appreciate the friendliness and helpfulness of everyone, from the person checking out our groceries at HyVee to the staff at the Jewish Community Center. People are so much nicer than we’re used to back East! And it’s crowded in our area. We’re always fighting traffic to get anywhere. Your rush hour doesn’t hold a candle to ours, which can last all day long! And getting to the airport in Omaha is so much easier for us than driving to LaGuardia or JFK. It’s a joy to touch down in Omaha. It feels like home.

Had you ever been to Omaha before?

We came two times to visit our daughter and son-in-law while he’s been at Creighton Medical School the past four years.

What did you expect and were you happily (or unhappily) surprised by what you found in the city?

It’s just a joy to be here! People are real, genuine, and sincerely... nice. I grew up in Rochester, NY, which is near Buffalo and probably like Omaha in terms of down-home people with good family values. There are no airs out here, no phoniness, no pretense. Everyone is just... nice!

Did you have the opportunity to meet people and make friends?

Yes! We’ve made friends through Beth El Synagogue. We’ve gone to Friday night Shabbat dinners and have enjoyed all the families we’ve met. We went to Friday night services and High Holiday services. I attended special events like Beth El Synagogue book group and baking in the kitchen with other women for the Sisterhood Shabbat. I can’t tell you how much my husband and I have enjoyed the Jewish community here and how much we will miss it going back.

Were you able to take advantage of any cultural events in Omaha, discover our restaurant scene, etc., or were you pretty much in the house with the little one?

Passover Greetings “Like Miriam and the women, let us all celebrate the Exodus from Egypt and remember to do mitzvot. We are free.”

Joanie and Richard Jacobson Carrie, Eric, Ella and Emmet Voegele Maggie, Jed and Tova Ortmeyer

Wishing the entire Omaha Jewish community a very happy Passover.

We have tried out many restaurants and enjoyed the zoo. We’re so proud of its No. 1 ranking! We haven’t done much culturally, though. We need to do more.

Please share whatever details you’re comfortable sharing about your daughter’s studies, your son-in-law and his specialty, etc.

Our daughter Laura is a physician’s assistant. Our son-inlaw Michael will graduate from Creighton Medical School in May. He was accepted to a medical residency in opthalmology in Kansas City. They’ve enjoyed their four years in Omaha and are looking forward to living just 3 1/2 hours away in Kansas City.

Will you have a Passover Seder here before you head back east?

I am one of eight kids and come from a very big extended family. Having a Seder with just our little family here wouldn’t feel right! We’ll most likely be in Washington, D.C. at my sister’s house with my brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews.

If we don’t have 40 people to a Seder, it’s not a Seder!

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Details, please! Who does the cooking? Who leads the Seder? Obviously, your sister’s house is big enough to accommodate 40 people, right? (Must be great fun when the mishpacha is together.)

I have five brothers and two sisters, and my mother was one of seven kids. Growing up back in the 1950s and 1960s, not many peopled traveled. You kind of stayed in the same place, and everyone congregated at my parents’ house for the holidays. When my father passed away and my mother got older, my brother Julian held the Seders. He’d plug in a microphone, and everyone would take turns reading from the Haggadah or leading songs. It’s kind of bittersweet to remember those Seders, because so many who were gathered around those tables are gone. My cousin Suzanne, who led us in a spirited Dayenu, passed away of Early Onset Alzheimer’s last October. Now my sister Jackie’s house has become the go-to house for everyone. My sister Jackie is an amazing cook, and her house in Potomac, MD is big enough to accommodate all of us. Everyone has their specialty dish which they bring. My sister makes an amazing pineapple kugel. I bring the Rocky Road brownies. We try different kinds of charosets. It’s all so much fun with a big crowd, and I wouldn’t miss it.

Do you have a profession/job that you left in order to come to Omaha?

I have been a Hebrew School teacher for many years.

I really enjoyed that. I taught kindergarten for years, and a combined second and third-grade class when I left. I was also a journalist, freelancing for newspapers such as the Greenwich Time, Hartford Courant... and long ago for The New York Times. I’ve also written many children’s books. Nothing award-winning or famous, but a lot of books!

How did you become a Hebrew school teacher?

I became a Hebrew School teacher soon after I got married. I taught just about every grade and taught every year in Connecticut until we moved here. I try to pass on a love for Judaism and a connection to Israel. I think both are so important.

Please tell me more about your freelance writing career. Did you write hard news stories? Human interest pieces? Personal essays? Did you study journalism or creative writing in college?

I did not study journalism or writing in college. When my kids were little, I began covering high school sports. That was because the sports reporter at the local paper in Westport (CT) was the only person who showed any interest in my writing for him! I actually enjoyed it and can’t count the number of games or young athletes I’ve covered.

There weren’t many women writing about sports at the time, and it was fun. I also wrote human interest stories about Continued on page B7

B6 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015

Read it and eat Modern Jewish Cooking by Leah Koenig (Chronicle, $35) rooklyn cookbook author, writer, lover of Jewish food and traditions, Koenig’s latest cookbook is described by her fellow writer/friend as “a definitive handbook of holiday favorites and excellent classic dishes”. The Content pages list the LOIS FRIEDMAN 11 chapters: Breakfast; Salads & Spreads; Soups; Vegetables; Noodles, Matzo, Grains & Beans (including her husband, Yoshe’s favorite, Kasha Varnishkes, old-school and old-guy appeal with an obscene amount of fat, “the gorgeous slick of oil or schmaltz”); Fish, Chicken & Meat; Vegetarian Mains; Breads & Pastries; Cookies, Cakes & Other Sweets; Fillings & Extras and The Holidays (which explains the significance and symbolic foods associated with Shabbat, Purim, Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Hanukkah). 175 recipes are included in the cookbook.

Join the celebration of Jewish cuisine and Jewish holidays.

Traditional, seasonal approaches with contemporary possibilities, updates, latest techniques and choices as well as menu plans are interwoven with her family stories of Bubbe Bess, her namesake, and great-grandma Lilllian “reading” the paper at breakfast, although she really couldn’t read English, as inspiration and today’s laptop technology as necessity. Koenig selftaught her Jewish repertoire aided by her beau who became her husband, “appetizing” shops in NYC that shaped where “people hunker for smoke and brine” and thrive, and her yearning to hold tightly to tradition and breathe “new life into Jewish cuisine.” She invites you over to join the briny, creamy, tangy, crisp and soul-satisfying flavor journey.

Headnotes add stories and memories, essay pages add details. Recipes include notes, variations and numerical instructions. Delightful color photographs illustrate the array of dishes. Discover Spinach-Matzo Lasagna, Matzo Granola with Walnuts and Coconut, Ashkenazi and Sephardi Charoset and Chocolate-Dipped Figs, that I plan to add to our Passover menu that has evolved over the years... old favorites and new tweaks and twists. This recipe is “ridiculously simple to make” and you’ll be the life of the party!

B

MATZO GRANOLA WITH WALNUTS AND COCONUT cup vegetable oil cup honey 3 tbsp. pure maple syrup 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 5 sheets matzo, crumbled into 1/2-in pieces 1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped 1/2 cup coarsely shredded unsweetened coconut 2/3 cup black raisins Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together the vegetable oil, honey, maple syrup, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add the matzo and stir to completely coat.

Spread the granola on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Add the walnuts and coconut and stir to combine. Bake, stirring once, until the matzo browns and the walnuts and coconut are toasted, 10 to 12 minutes more. (The mixture will look wet; don’t worry, it will crisp up as it cools.)

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and immediately transfer the granola to a large heat-safe bowl. Stir in the raisins. Let cool completely, stirring occasionally to break up any large clumps. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Serves 6.

1/4 1/3

CHOCOLATE-DIPPED FIGS 2 oz. bittersweet baking chocolate, roughly chopped 12 dried Calimyrna figs flaky sea salt Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler set over simmering water (or melt in the microwave in a microwave-safe bowl at 30-second intervals, stirring between each interval until fully melted).

Use your fingers to reshape any figs that got flattened in their package. Dip the rounded bottom half of each fig in the melted chocolate and lay them on their sides on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle each fig bottom with a little sea salt.

Refrigerate the figs until the chocolate sets, about 15 minutes.

Serve chilled or at room temperature Note: If you can’t find the caramel colored dried Calimyrna figs, substitute smaller, darker dried Black Mission figs or your favorite variety.

Serves 4.

For a breakfast treat or anytime during Passover treat, try this recipe.

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

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April 3, 2015 | The Jewish Press | B7

An extended visit Continued from page B5 people in town for the Greenwich Time.

Later, I began freelancing for the suburban Connecticut or Westchester County sections of The New York Times, which no longer exist. I wrote about a mentally-challenged young girl who celebrated her bat mitzvah, a 13-year-old boy who got a perfect 800 on his SAT’s, and support groups for elderly shut-ins, people with celiac disease, or men with prostate cancer. It’s hard for me to remember all the stories!

When -- and why -- did you start writing children’s books? Did you get published straight out of the box, or did acceptance come slowly?

I have always wanted to write children’s books ever since I was in fifth grade. I wrote and illustrated a book right after I graduated from the University of Rochester and sent it to a few editors in NY. One editor at Harper & Row (now HarperCollins) told me it was terrible. I was crushed and didn’t write again for 10 years! Then a friend asked me to write a book about puffins for a small publisher she worked for.

Puffin’s Homecoming was my first book, and I kept writing.

One time, I left a message on the answering machine of an editor at Random House proposing a book about great quarterbacks in football history. To my astonishment, the editor called me back! That book was published for the Step into Reading children’s book line, and the editor and I are still in contact. I’ve been published many times, but I’ve also been rejected many times. My goal now is to write Jewish books for Kar-Ben. Do you call or email your friends back in Old Greenwich and tell them how much you’re enjoying your time in Omaha? If so, are they surprised?

It’s funny to hear the reactions. I told my niece’s best friend that we had joined a synagogue in Omaha and she said, “Oh. They have Jews there?” I think people are surprised how happy we are. They just can’t imagine life outside the East Coast.

It’s clear you fit right in at Beth El. Do you belong to a Conservative synagogue in Old Greenwich?

We chose Beth El because it was Conservative, which was what we were used to. We came from Temple Beth El, which is

a Conservative synagogue in Stamford, CT...

I just loved the synagogue bake-off here. It was fun! I’d never been to a synagogue where someone like Margie Gutnik said, “Come on in! We’ll have all the supplies on hand. Just come in and bake!” Hazzan Krausman’s wife was making trays full of rugelach, a new friend of mine was making thumb print cookies, and I couldn’t get over how nice the women were. All of them. It was fun digging into the big flour or sugar bins and chatting with everyone.

You mentioned the staff at the JCC. Do you go to the Health Club? What’s your connection to the facility?

I like to meet a friend from Beth El there and walk on the treadmill or around the track together. I see others from Beth El there, including Hazzan Krausman! It’s a joy.

One of 8 kids!

Anything you want to say about that?

I grew up in an amazing family, and my brothers and sisters are all mensches of the highest degree. They’re successful in their careers, but more importantly, they’re just incredible human beings. Take my younger brother Julian, for instance. He took over my father’s optical engineering business in Rochester and runs it with my youngest brother. Julian grew my father’s business fourfold, but he also revealed that he had his father’s heart and compassion.

I would call my brother Julian one of the Lamed-Vavnik, or one of legendary 36 just men on whom the world depends for its existence. He is an angel who does good deeds every day. If God presents a problem, he figures out a way to fix it for the good of His people, and he won’t give up until he does.

When our old cleaning lady, Carrie, began to falter at home, Julian found a nursing home for her. He didn’t think it was safe for her to stay in her house without care. When he saw that the staff at the nursing home weren’t attentive enough, he worked hard to get her into the Jewish Home, and succeeded. Carrie is one of the few African Americans at the Jewish Home in Rochester.

Now, Julian tries to go there at night and feed her dinner, because he sees that Carrie’s arms are too weak and slow to feed herself.

There are so many stories, and that is just one of them. And the rest of my brothers and sisters are of the same ilk!

10 ways to add some girl power to your seder

by AVITAL NORMAN NATHMAN Kveller via JTA hether you weave in one, a few, or all 10 of these tips, consider honoring the matriarchal roots of Judaism this Passover with a little girl power fun at your Seder this year.

1. Add an orange and coffee bean to your Seder plate.

The orange represents both inclusion and solidarity with women and the LGBT community. The new tradition was started

by Professor Susannah Heschel, who was inspired by women at Oberlin College in 1984 who made space on their Seder plate to represent all who were not explicitly present in the Passover story.

The coffee bean represents and honors both the bitterness and strength of juggling your work life and family life – something

we’re pretty sure you can relate to.

2. Miriam’s Cup. In addition to the traditional cup of Elijah, include Miriam’s Cup and begin your Seder by filling it up together. It serves as the symbol of Miriam’s Well – the source of water for the Israelites in the desert. Pass the cup around the table and let each guest add a bit of water from his or her own cup, establishing that the Seder is an inclusive and participatory one. Remind your guests that while we may enjoy drinking our four cups of wine, water is just as important.

Like Miriam’s Well, water sustains and nourishes us (and prevents hangovers).

3. Lighting candles.

Candle lighting has traditionally fallen to women in Jewish practice. Honor this by recognizing that the lighting of candles helps usher light into the darkness and allows us to begin our holidays peacefully.

Continued on page B8

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B8 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015

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Whether you weave in one, a few, or all 10 of these tips this Passover, consider honoring the matriarchal roots of Judaism. Credit: Nati Shohat/Flash 90 Continued from page B7 This poem, written by Hannah Senesch, is an excellent way to help usher in that feeling: Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.

Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fastness of the heart.

Blessed is the heart with the strength to stop its beating for honor’s sake.

Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.

4. The four mothers.

Speaking of those four cups of wine, you can note during your Seder that some scholars connect the four cups of wine with the four mothers: Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Leah. After all, the only thing better than one Jewish mother is four.

5. Honor the women in your life.

The four cups of wine are also excellent opportunities to honor the women in your own life, both past and present. With each glass of wine, take a moment to dedicate it to a woman who has impacted your life in some way. (Pro tip: If your own mom is in attendance, you might want to go ahead and include her.)

6. The four daughters.

While we’re familiar with the story of the four sons from the traditional Haggadah, why not also give a nod to the four biblical daughters, a wonderful addition from A Night To Remember: The Haggadah of Contemporary Voices, by Mishael and Noam Zion. The reading shares wisdom from Miriam, Tamar, Ruth and The Beautiful Captive.

7. Four alternative questions.

After reciting the Ma Nishtanah, the traditional Four Questions, take the time to ask four alternative questions, ones that feel relevant to you and your family and ignite discussion. Here’s one example to get you started: What still enslaves us as Jewish women today, and how do we seek freedom from our own Pharaohs (or Sheryl Sandbergs, if you will)?

8. Add to the story!

There are many women who play crucial roles in the Exodus story, yet they’re usually left out of the retelling. Take some time to sing their praises: Shifra and Puah: These two midwives were respected members of their community.

Despite risk of punishment, they defied the Pharaoh’s orders and continued to help deliver baby boys for Jewish women in Egypt.

Yocheved: Having gone into labor early, Yocheved kept her secret from the

Egyptians, saving Moses’ life. She then made the ultimate mother’s sacrifice by sending him down the river – her only hope in saving him from otherwise certain death. Now there’s a birth story to remember.

Batya: Pharaoh’s daughter found Moses in the reeds of the Nile and decided to raise him as her own, knowingly going against her father’s decree to kill all male Jewish babies. Without her defiance and bravery, our Passover story might have looked very different.

Miriam: One of the most well-known women in the Bible, Miriam was the brave young woman who ensured Moses was safe during his journey down the Nile River. She also was the one to bring Yocheved to Batya to be used as a nursemaid, ensuring that mother and son were never far apart. We don’t hear much about Miriam again until the exodus from Egypt, but when we do, it is her strength and song that stick with us, which brings us to...

9. Miriam’s Song.

One of Debbie Friedman’s most joyful songs, Miriam’s Song is rooted in the Exodus verse describing how Miriam led the Israelite women in song and dance after they crossed the Red Sea. “...Miriam the Prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand and all the women went after her with timbrels, dancing. And Miriam called to them: Sing to God...”

10. Wise women.

Many songs, poems and stories written by women are a perfect match for Passover; include them in your Seder along the way.

Some of my favorites: • Marge Piercy’s poem Season of the Egg. • Rabbi Rachel Berenblat (aka The Velveteen Rabbi) has a poem about what happens after the Seder.

• Rabbi Jill Hammer’s Orah Hi, a feminist version of the traditional end of Seder song Adir Hu. Avital Norman Nathman is a freelance writer whose work has been featured in Bitch Magazine (and Bitch Media), The Guardian UK, CNN.com, Ms. Magazine, The Frisky and more. You can catch her musing online about motherhood and feminism on Twitter and at her blog, The Mamafesto, which was named a Top 25 Political Blog by Circle of Moms. She is also the editor of The Good Mother Myth: Redefining Motherhood to Fit Reality.

This piece was originally published on Kveller, a 70 Faces Media property.

April 3, 2015 | The Jewish Press | B9

Dessert maven visits Israel

by SYBIL KAPLAN eeting food writer, cookbook author, Frenchtrained pastry chef, Paula Shoyer, in Israel, you are immediately caught up in the high-energy, enthusiasm of someone who is passionate about what she does.

Paula Shoyer is that person.

In between visiting her brother, attending a Bar Mitzvah with her family and seeing other relatives, she spent every spare moment researching Israeli pastry.

“The food scene here is so developed.” Ms Shoyer says

M

Sybil Kaplan, left and Paula Shoyer she asked everyone she met, “Where do you like to go to eat pastry, what is different, what is unique to Israel.”

Israel is no stranger to the 50-year old. She came when she was 16, and then she returned for her junior year from Brandeis University on the Hebrew University program. Her brother has lived here since 1985.

A few years ago, she wrote an article for Hadassah Magazine on the best pastry shops in Paris. Prior to this trip, she pitched a story to the magazine on the best desserts and bakeries in Israel.

In the short time she was in Israel, she presented a demonstration in the home of American Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, hosted by his wife, Julie Fisher, with samplings from all of her cookbooks. From The Kosher Baker, she made a fruit galette; from The Holiday Kosher Baker, she made Balkan bites and Florentine bites; and from her newest book, The New Passover Menu, she made a Linzer Torte.

Each of these books is organized in a unique way. In The Kosher Baker, recipes are organized by the amount of time they take to prepare; in The Holiday Kosher Baker, Continued on page B10

Joe Preisler

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT oe Preisler has a B.S. in Hospitality Management from Johnson and Wales in Providence, Rhode Island, and an Associate’s Degree in Culinary Art from the same institute. He followed his family to Omaha in late 2012 from Cleveland, Ohio.

He is the son of Mimi Aron and Larry Preisler, and has a sister, Jennifer Farley, who lives in Madison, WI. Joe works as a customer service manager at Hennigsen Foods, Inc. It’s time to get to know Joe a little bit better.

What made you become a customer service manager?

I have always been good with people, and with helping them and solving problems. So, this job really fits me.

There is a sense of accomplishment that comes with helping others.

What do you like to do on your days off?

I love to spend time with my girlfriend kayaking, hiking, pretty much anything outdoors. I love playing with my dogs at the park or just taking a simple walk. And when there is a rodeo or fair in town, I am there.

What has surprised you most about Omaha?

The diversity of people.

Are you a Husker fan yet?

Yes, I am a very big Husker fan! I was an Ohio state fan for many years, but gave up my fandom for the Big Red. What do you miss most, living here?

I have lived in several cities and states, and I miss the fresh fish in New

England, and the music scene in Tennessee and the warm weather in the South.

What kind of cook are you?

I do make simple meals, but when I really cook I make a three- or four course meal, with excellent

I love all kinds of music; but when I drive around in my car, I usually listen to NPR. What is the latest album you purchased?

Louis Jordan’s Greatest Hits.

Can you tell us about your dogs?

I have two AMAZING dogs: a Scottish Terrier by the name of Haggis, and an English lab named Bailey. They are my fur babies!

If you were a character in a Batman comic, who would you be?

plate presentation and LOTS of color.

What is your favorite Jewish food?

Two simple things: bagels with lox and matzah ball soup.

What music do you like to listen to?

I’d be Alfred Pennyworth, the butler.

He is a jack-of-all-trades, and Bruce Wayne’s most trusted companion.

Unlike Batman, he does not require attention to know he did his best.

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B10 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015

Marking the passage from slavery to freedom

by DASEE BERKOWITZ JERUSALEM (JTA) ransitions are never easy.

You decide to leave one place that is known to you for some unfamiliar territory. You don’t feel quite like yourself (and probably won’t for a while). You try to act like everything is fine even though you know that your whole life has just been upended. It will take time until things begin to fall into place -- when you start to integrate the “old” you into your new identity, when you can trust that your life will make sense as you take this step into the unknown.

And while we all might experience one or two of these major transitions in our lifetime (marriage, divorce, becoming a parent or moving cities), the transition for the ancient Israelites, from slavery in Egypt to freedom, was one of epic proportions.

After suffering under the oppressive yoke of bondage, the promise of redemption was palpable. With God’s guiding hand and Moses in place to lead the way, the Israelites had their matzah in hand and were ready to go.

Their transition to a new life – from being slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt to servants of God – was set in motion.

While the steps along the way may have been unsure and filled with trepidation (there’s nothing like the sound of Pharaoh’s army behind you and a sea that isn’t splitting before you to make you wonder if you made the right decision), the Red Sea did split, and faith that everything would be OK won out.

While the biblical narrative that recounts the Exodus from Egypt has power in the linear nature of its telling, the way that the rabbis ritualized that transition in the Continued on page B11

Paula Shoyer Continued from page B9 recipes are organized by the holidays for snacks and food and entertaining. In The New Passover Menu, recipes are part of menus.

Perhaps it is this particular sense of organization which is attributed to Ms. Shoyer’s background. She was an attorney and speech writer who lived in Europe.

While in Paris, she enrolled in a pastry course for fun.

This led to operating a dessert catering business in Geneva, Switzerland for two years and teaching classes in French for Jewish organizations.

When she returned to the U.S., she began teaching classes in French pastry in the Washington, D.C. area where she lived. Married with four kids, ages 20, 18 and 15-yearold twins, she now operates a pastries cooking school in Chevy Chase, Maryland, appears on radio and TV shows, freelance writes for newspapers and magazines, and develops dessert recipes for companies.

In addition to doing research, while in Israel she visited bakeries and pastry shops in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem; had two book signings, one at the home of The New York Times Israel correspondent; and made time to take the Shuk Walk in English led by this writer in Jerusalem’s Jewish produce market, Machaneh Yehudah.

Assessing the pastry scene in Israel, she commented, “I feel like there are so many more French bakeries than I remember. Israelis are also demanding healthier breads, artisan breads. There is an absolute sophistication of the bakeries, and the desserts are so appealing.”

Before she started going into pastry shops, she thought of the traditional Israeli desserts as cookies, sponge cakes, yeast cakes and rugelach. Then she discovered a lot of French pastry influence, “pastries I saw in Paris a year ago,” that she doesn’t see so much in America.

The New Passover Menu by Paula Shoyer (Sterling Epicure Publishers, February 2015, $24.95, $27.95 (in Canada), 160 pp.)

Reviewed by SYBIL KAPLAN “fifth” question for Passover might well be, how is this cookbook for Passover different from all other Passover cookbooks?

Paula Shoyer answers that. “The New Passover Menu features updated traditional dishes that provide the nostalgic pleasure of family favorites, along with a raft of contemporary recipes developed to please creative cooks who do not want to compromise their taste for sophisticated recipes during the holiday.”

Readers have the fun of choosing from eight menus, breakfast and desserts with 65 recipes and enjoying 73 magnificent, mouth-watering color photographs.

The menus and some recipes include: updated Ashkenazic seder (fresh salmon gefilte fish loaf); International seder (whole chicken with dried fruit stuffing); Shabbat (seder plate salad), Yom Tov (spaghetti squash fritters), French Dairy (seared tuna with olives and capers); Italian Vegetarian (potato gnocchi with pink sauce); BBQ Dinner (garlic marinated steak with onion jam); and Easy Chicken (crunchy

A

quinoa with sweet potatoes and cranberries).

Among recipes in The Breakfast section are glutenfree waffles or pancakes and crumb cake muffins; the desserts section includes triplechocolate biscotti, orange tea cake cupcakes, cheesecake with roasted cashew and chocolate crust, and Toronne candy.

Every recipe gives the number of servings, preparation time, cooking time, advanced preparation information, and equipment to use. If that is not enough, this is followed by an anecdote related to the recipe, which make this a wonderful read.

Ingredients are given in American and metric systems; directions are paragraphed with the first word of each paragraph in capital letters.

Shaded paragraphs for many recipes include hints and tips such as cleaning leeks, toasting nuts, cubing a whole butternut squash, slivering basil, making vanilla sugar and more.

As soon as your local bookstore or synagogue gift shop brings in The New Passover Menu -- whether you are making a seder and many Passover meals at home or going to someone else for seder or during Passover week--this is definitely the book to buy for yourself and as gifts. No creative kosher cook should be without one!

April 3, 2015 | The Jewish Press | B11

Passage from slavery to freedom Continued from page B10 Passover Haggadah is anything but linear. They transformed the raw material of the Exodus story into an associative, sometimes disjointed pedagogical tool. And in this disjointed medium of the Haggadah is the message. Transitions are not a straightforward endeavor. They are a process that can be meandering, confusing and rife with double meanings and complexities. What are the ways that our experience of Passover can shed light onto how we experience transitions in our own lives?

Embrace complexity. Eat matzah.

The most ubiquitous symbol of Passover, matzah, is in itself a conundrum. It is the bread of affliction, which reminds us of the hard bread the Israelites ate in servitude in Egypt. But it is also the food that the Israelites baked on the eve of their departure. It’s the same substance (just flour and water), but the meaning of the bread changes based on how we relate to it. When we were passive recipients of the bread it represented our affliction and reminded us of our identity as slaves, but when created with our own hands it represents the moment of our freedom.

It might have been simpler to have two different kinds of bread – a flat bread to represent slavery and a fluffier one to represent freedom. But instead, on seder night we are obligated to eat matzah and imbibe the two identities at the same time. We hold the complexity – even as we celebrate freedom, we remember our harsh past. More than that, our past serves as a moral compass and guides us not to oppress the stranger because we remembered what oppression felt like.

When we go through a transition in our lives, we recognize that we don’t negate the past to embrace a new future.

Our past experiences ground and guide us as we take steps toward a new identity.

Ask the right questions.

The Rabbis put questions and questionings at the center of the Haggadah’s telling. The nature of asking questions on Passover is in itself an act of freedom. The most powerless - the children -- traditionally ask the Four Questions. Then four children ask questions based on their own characters: the questions that everyone is thinking but nobody dare articulate.

Only free people can ask, wonder and challenge. Being able to ask good questions connects us to the bigger picture and opens doors to life’s possibilities.

Transitions are overwhelming. And when you are going through one, sometimes all you want are the right answers (I’m not sure how many Israelites asked questions when they

were leaving Egypt on that 14th of Nissan).

But the Haggadah teaches us to ask questions, even when it might feel frightening to do so. Our questions might range from the wise and rebellious to the simple, and sometimes we might find ourselves unable to ask. The questions that start with “Why did I do this?” may lead to broader ones like “I wonder what awaits me on the other side?” Keep asking.

Offer praise and thanks.

In the middle of the Haggadah, soon after Dayenu and right before we wash our hands to eat the matzah, there is a shortened Hallel (songs of praise). It is smack in the middle of the Haggadah. “Praise, O servants of the Lord, Praise the Lord’s name. May the Lord’s name be blessed now and

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The Belgrade Family forevermore.” We move away from the heady conversations about why we eat the paschal lamb, matzah and maror, and the meta-values that the Haggadah conveys with the line “In every generation one is obligated to see oneself as if one had gone out of Egypt.” Instead, we sing, dance and offer gratitude that we have made it this far.

This short Hallel stuck in the middle of the Haggadah reminds us how important it is to recognize milestones along the journey. When our tendency is to see how much farther we need to go, the Haggadah reminds us to recognize how far we have come and to give thanks.

Every day our lives are filled with transitions in small and big ways, from home to work and then back home again.

Crises (big and small) happen at these threshold points (kids have breakdowns, adults feel anxiety). These feelings are real because they reflect that we are heading into unknown territory. In our daily lives we ritualize these moments -- the goodbye kiss, the welcome home hug. And for our bigger transitions -- changing careers, moving houses, leaving a marriage or deciding to have a child -- the rituals become larger and more complex.

As we approach each of these transitions, let us move from the narrow places, our personal Egypts, to a place of openness and expansiveness of the desert. This Passover season beckons you.

Have a sweet and joyous Pesach.

Congregation B’nai Jeshurun The South Street Temple Craig Lewis, Rabbi 2061 South 20th Street Lincoln, NE 68502 402-435-8004 www.southstreettemple.org

B12 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015

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Happy Passover from

The Beth El Synagogue Board of Trustees, Congregation and Staff

A Happy and Healthy T

Passover

to the Community 333 South 132nd Street Omaha, NE 68154 402-334-6441 or 402-334-6442 www.nebraskajhs.com

As we celebrate the Exodus this Passover, Beth El Synagogue invites you to celebrate with us at our community first Seder, open to all on Friday, April 3, 6:30 pm.

For more information and reservations, Register online www.bethel-omaha.org or contact the synagogue office, 402-492-8550.

Have a Happy and Healthy Passover

National Council of Jewish Women Omaha Section

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

With Your Help We’ll Have A Great Past Ahead Of Us

April 3, 2015 | The Jewish Press | C1

Sam and Kathleen Dubrow

by OZZIE NOGG amuel and Kathleen Dubrow moved from Cleveland, Ohio, to Omaha in September of 2013.

For Kathleen, it was a homecoming; she was born here. Sam originally hails from East Meadow, Long Island. Children Jason David, four, and Leah Margaret, three, were born in Stony Brook, NY, where the family lived during their residencies. After Stony Brook they spent one year in Cleveland for additional medical training in their fellowships.

Their youngest, Megan Bella, is one year old and was born in Omaha. The questions were answered by Sam. What is your favorite book and why?

The Day the Crayons Quit. It’s a children’s book, but my kids love it, and it is a favorite of mine to read to them at bedtime. Each night I read three books to Jason and Leah together at bedtime. This usually takes place in Jason’s bedroom.

They are allowed to pick out one book each, and I pick the third. So, I routinely pick out The Day The Crayons Quit, at least once every two weeks.

What do you do for a living? Describe the different things you do during your work day.

I am an orthopedic surgeon specializing in surgery of the shoulder and elbow; Kathleen is a pediatric anesthesiologist. I provide both surgical and non-surgical treatments for patients with injuries to the shoulder and elbow.

Could you do this job anywhere else?

Yes; our jobs can be done anywhere, but we loved our time in Omaha (we both went to Creighton University School of Medicine together) and decided this would be a great place for our young family, in addition to employment options.

Tell me something about Omaha that was (or still is) hard for you to get used to.

Being far away from my parents, who still live in NY. They come to see us two to three times a year, and we go out there two to three times a year as well. Also, the diners, bagels, pizza and delis. It’s just not the same here.

What are your hobbies?

First and foremost, just being with my wife and kids, doing anything together.

Golf and Tennis.

Pick three things to take with you to a one-year sabbatical on a deserted island.

I’d bring a sand wedge, golf balls and suntan lotion. I probably wouldn’t survive too long.

Tell me something about yourself that people would be surprised to learn.

I have an identical twin brother who lives in Seattle with his wife and kids.

If someone gave you an open ticket, and you could fly anywhere, where would you go?

NY. I love my family (parents and two other brothers still live there), and will take every and any opportunity to have my children spend time there with them as well.

If you observe Shabbat, what does your ideal Shabbat look like?

We do not necessarily observe Shabbat, but we do make an effort to have a nice dinner at home with all the kids every Friday night. So ideally, all the kids would be well behaved, eat all of their dinner without any yelling or fighting... ideally. It happens from time to time!

What inspires you? What are you passionate about?

Right now, my inspiration comes from making people feel better and be happy.

Whether it is at home with my family, making my wife and kids happy and seeing them smile, or at work improving the pain or function to a patient’s shoulder. I am fortunate that my job allows me to do that, as well as having a family that thinks I can be funny sometimes.

From Generation to Generation The Rose Blumkin Board, Staff and Residents wish the community a Happy and Healthy Passover

323 South 132nd Street | Omaha, NE 68154

C2 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015

Have you not seen The Wizard of Oz?

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT liad Eliyahu Ben Shushan, who has been the Omaha community Shaliach for almost two years, was born and raised in the Israeli city of Akko. A beautiful and historic place, Akko is located in the Western Galilee and is Omaha’s twin city.

According to Eliad, his and wife Sarah’s home in Akko is about five minutes from the beach.

(I am not sure, but I think that’s an invitation to come visit once they are back in Israel. Eliad, I accept.)

While most of our past Shaliachim stayed for one year, Eliad is about to finish his second and has agreed to stay for an unprecedented third year. The support from various donors in our community has made that possible. Eliad and Sarah have four children: Nehoray, Shilat, Amitay and Ittiel.

What made you decide to come to Omaha?

After I had been accepted by the Jewish Agency of Israel as a senior Shaliach, I received a list of approximately eight to ten communities. During the same week, the chair of the Partnership, Zoe Riekes, together with the JAFI director, thought it would be a great opportunity to have me in one of the Partnership communities. That way, I could continue to be the Education Director for the Partnership, while being a community Shaliach. When they offered Omaha as an option, I was VERY happy, since I visited here twice in the past and loved the people, the schools and the community.

I have your CD in my car. How famous are you in Israel?

Depends who you ask... In the orthodox religious community, there are still pictures of my CD in some music and book stores. Two of my songs reached the first place on most of the religious radio stations in Israel.

The second CD had better PR, and I have some clips on YouTube and interviews in newspapers, and even now, once in a while my songs are being played on the Israeli radio, and not only during the religious programs.

How does music enrich Judaism?

Since the times of Moses, King David and our prophets, music has been one of the most important ways to connect to God. Music in general and specific melodies and traditional songs are things that pass from generation to generation, and this is what Judaism is all about. You cannot feel and understand the belief in God if you don’t close your eyes and “fly” with a deep and touching melody. On a more practical level, in Jewish or Israeli education I use music as one of the best tools to teach

about Israel. When people are tired from working with their brains, they need to experience learning in different ways. Music is one of the best tools, since it reaches directly into the soul and stays there!

What surprised you about Omaha?

1. People don’t get excited from severe weather!

2. People here are very calm and nice... I was prepared for people in the Midwest to be calm and nice, but in Omaha the people are really nice.

What is the best part of your job?

The freedom to be creative and to represent Israel in ways I believe people have never experienced Israel -- without filtering by the media or any other prejudices.

Another favorite part is when I take my guitar and make people happy. I cannot explain in

words the good feelings I have when I see the seniors in the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home clap their hands and sing Hava Nagila with a big smile on their face!

What is the strangest thing you have encountered in America?

People respond to tornado season as if they have never seen The Wizard of Oz. What is the first thing you do whenever you go home for a visit?

Eat my mother’s food and go to our Tunisian Synagogue in Akko.

What’s your opinion of American food?

Is “Oy, vey iz mir” a good answer?! In Israel there are so many “American Foods,” so I came prepared... But since we lived very close to our parents in Israel, we enjoyed the traditional Indian food and Tunisian food! Here, in the USA, only after two or three months we understood that we needed to learn how to make the traditional food by ourselves in order to feel “at home”... Having said that, I am so thankful for the Bagel Bin here in Omaha!

Why do you think it is important that our community has a Shaliach?

Bringing Israel to any Jewish community in the world is very important... especially now. People learn about Israel from the media, social media or newspapers and books.

You cannot compare it to a personal conversation with someone who was born and raised in Israel and is able to build the bridges and give the tools to strengthen the connections to the real Israel -- which is an amazing and wonderful and inspiring place!!! In my “Eye on Israel” program, I usually compare many media resources (Israeli and international) just to teach that Israel is not black and white and that most of the times the media has its own agenda to sell to their innocent customers a different Israel.

I think that the most meaningful time for me to be a shaliach was during the Operation Protective Edge, when Israel was in the headlines in many international newspapers every day (!!!). Boycotting Israel on college campuses became very common, and people here in Omaha needed answers about real life in Israel. During that time, I had different programs, lectures and activities, and I felt people came not only to learn or share their personal ideas, but to show their support for Israel.

Continued on page C3

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The recent retirees

by OZZIE NOGG In this we are opposites. ita and Robert Yaffe have four If I gave you an open ticket to anywhere children between them. Bob in the world, where would you go? has Angela, who is married, a We would return to Italy. We have traveled mother of two and living in to Israel nine or ten times, so that would be Columbus, Ohio; Alicia Yaffe a stopover.

What would you Cohen is also marwant to have ried, a mother with you on a of two and deserted made Aliyah island? about 12 years ago. Rita has two If I were on an children.

Her island, I would son Marc, 37, need black and practices GI red vines medicine in Omaha. Marc and his wife Caryn have lived in Omaha for about six years. Abby, 33, lives in Chicago, IL and is a high school teacher. While Bob is originally from Omaha, Rita is relatively new.

Where do you originally hail from?

I was born in Bloomington, IL. Can you share a bit about your careers?

Bob left the Douglas County attorney offices in 1986. He has spent the majority of his next career as executive director of two JCCs and two synagogues.

I worked at the JCC in Toledo, Ohio.

This is where we met. The past 15 years Robert and Rita Yaffe with Caryn Scheer, left, son I was the HR director for a packaging Marc, right and their grandchildren. and display company out of Chicago.

We retired to Omaha in August of 2014. licorice, the Sirius oldies channel and Bob Based on the combination of Bob’s incredi- constantly trying to change the channel. If ble attachment to Omaha and the fact that Bob were on the island, he would need the his mom, sister and extended family live Met Opera Sirius channel, his own library, here, I agreed it would be a good move. and me to say: “Turn it down!”

Having Marc and his family in Omaha was a What inspires you? great bonus!

What has inspired us both was Angela’s What is your favorite book? fight against leukemia three years ago. She Neither of us have favorite books. We both had an unbelievable spirit to fight and overlove to read, travel and explore. Bob has a come. She is a constant inspiration of living passion for opera. He has been listening to it each day. since he was six years old. He can remember What do you plan to bring to the Omaha his first Omaha opera experience as if it community? were yesterday. He was a freelance lecturer I am not sure yet, but I hope to find that and instructor on opera and opera history. answer in the coming years.

The Wizard of Oz Continued from page C2 I also believe that the Israeli music, whether I play it and sing it in the CDC, Friedel or in the Blumkin Home, makes people’s souls more connected to Israel.

When the music is on; the barriers are off!

What have you gained from living and working here that you couldn’t have found back home?

Preparing things in advance! This is my biggest lesson, which I learned here in Omaha. The American culture is very organized and prepared -- people know in September what they are going to do next year in August. I believe that life in Israel influences your personality. It almost forces you to be more spontaneous, flexible, with the skills to improvise most of the time. Even as a high school student, you can prepare yourself for a big exam, but if there is any threat, (Katyusha rocket for instance) your plans are changed. You are raised with this idea that only the flexible people can survive... Here, I use my flexibility and respect the need to be prepared in advance, which makes life a little bit easier.

What are your plans for your third year here?

We should have a separate interview for this question! Since my third year will be spent only in Omaha, I plan to strengthen my connections to the community, with the synagogues, the schools, the Blumkin

Home, etc. I started (six months before -talking about planning ahead) to think about special workshops and programs. I will use music, art, Israeli culture and, of course, our Partnership to bring Israel and Judaism to our lovely community, from early childhood to the seniors!

How difficult is it to get used to Israeli traffic every time you go home?

I don’t drive outside of the Western Galilee. I prefer to use the trains.

What does your family think about what you are doing here?

At the beginning, they did not understand how I could take this step and take my entire family on this adventure. Now, after almost two years, they are very supportive, and I believe they are very proud of all of us. They know about the programs we are doing in Omaha and in the other Partnership communities, and I believe that this year with all the news that came from Israel, they think it is a huge mitzvah to bring Israel to the world and strengthen Israeli education in any place in the world.

If you could change one thing about Omaha, what would it be?

Weather, Weather, Weather!!! I can enjoy the snow, and can survive the bitter cold weather (I have had my Russian hat since October), but the tornado season is something I won’t get used to... I just hear the words “tornado watch,” and I already start to sing songs from the Wizard of Oz.

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Happy Passover

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C4 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015

Happy Passover

Reflecting on new responsibilities

by ALAN POTASH CEO, Jewish Federation of Omaha

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he festival holidays of Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot, as well as Shabbat, are reminders to us that we are connected not only to traditions and rituals but also to our community. The symbols of the Seder plate are conversation starters and opportunities to engage in discussions on a variety of topics.

Passover is my second favorite holiday and the one I usually spend the most time thinking about. Passover is often referred to as the holiday of freedom as we

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remember that we were once slaves in Egypt. As we retell the story of the Exodus, we remember that we left Egypt as a community and we wandered through the desert as a community. We are no longer wandering in the desert, and we are no longer together as one people in the desert. We are one people spread out around the world.

Even though we are spread out around the world, most Jews gather around a Seder table to retell the story of our freedom. The customs and foods eaten at the Seder table are as varied as the locations where the Jewish people have chosen to settle. For American Jews with Ashkenazi traditions, we might seem as odd to a Moroccan Jew sitting at our table as it would be for us at their table -- but the stories are similar. I remember a time I was at a Seder of mostly Sephardic Jews (I made a few cultural mistakes). The stories were similar, except not in English, and the foods were very different.

Recently, Amy and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with a long overdue vacation.

We traveled to Morocco to explore Jewish history in one of the oldest Jewish communities in existence today. Granted, the number of Jews has gone from over 300,000 at its peak to under 10,000 today. Some might ask, “Why have Jews remained in Morocco?” The response we heard was Morocco has been their home for hundreds of years and there isn’t a need to leave.

We visited synagogues, cemeteries and Jewish country clubs (yes, there are two Jewish country clubs in Casablanca); seeing historic Jewish communities in Fez, Marrakech, and Essaouira that once were the centers of Jewish life but are now tourist sites. Yet, there are still vibrant communities in the larger cities (Jews who did not leave Morocco, resettled in the larger cities of Casablanca and Rabat).

I share this reflection as I begin what I think is the most important job I have ever held. As CEO of the Jewish Federation of Omaha, one of my goals is to build upon the history of our community; finding ways to strengthen and sustain

it so that a hundred or two hundred years from now people won’t travel to Omaha and say, “This is where the Jewish community once was.” Instead, they will arrive here to be part of a strong and welcoming Jewish community.

As future generations of Jews sit around the Seder table a hundred years from now, they will not have to read the words in the Haggadah, “In every generation they rise against us to destroy us, and in every generation a Divine Power delivers us from their hands into freedom.” Instead, they will say something like this: “In the past, our people feared evil would destroy us and today evil is a thing of the past.”

May the conversations at your Seder be filled with wisdom, joy, laughter and learning.

April 3, 2015 | The Jewish Press | C5

Clear skies

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT ichael Schmidt was born in Chicago, and grew up in Glencoe, a northern suburb north of the city. He went to New Trier high school in Winnetka, (which drew students from surrounding suburbs) and then attended Grinnell, a small liberal arts college in the middle of Iowa . That is where he met his wife Hannah (Wolf) Schmidt.

Their paths crossed regularly there as she played for the school’s women’s basketball team and he played for the men’s basketball team. Hannah is ultimately why Michael ended up in Omaha.

Can you share some information about your family, parents, siblings, etc?

My parents, Robert Schmidt and Barbara Steiner, both still live in Glencoe. My father is a retired CPA and my mother is an attorney, and she is still practicing law in Chicago. I have a sibling, my older brother Daniel Schmidt. He lives with his wife, Jessi McCormick, in a town called Wilmington, which is in southern Illinois. He just received his nursing degree and has started to pursue a career in nursing.

What was your first impression of Omaha?

Something that stood out to me during my first visit to Omaha was how much clearer the sky seemed than I was used to. I wondered if I happened to visit at a time when there happened to be fewer clouds than normal, but I still think the sky here tends to be more clear than other cities, at least than those that I have visited. One of my friends from the Chicago area actually made a similar comment to me the first time he visited Omaha.

When did you come to Omaha and why?

I came to Omaha in 2008 after graduating from Grinnell College. Part of the reason I came to Omaha was to go to law school. I went to the Creighton University School of Law. However, the main reason I came to Omaha was because my wife grew up in Omaha. As it turned out, while I was accepted to law school at Creighton, my wife was selected for the Teach for America

Program and was placed at a middle school in Kansas City, Missouri, for a two-year commitment. So my plan to go to a law school where I could be with Hannah did not go as I had anticipated. In the end, however, everything worked out and Hannah is now back in Omaha teaching in the Omaha

Public School District at Marrs Magnet Center and has been here since my last year of law school.

What do you do for a living?

I am an attorney. I work for a law firm called Husch Blackwell LLP in its Omaha office. I do work primarily in the areas of general corporate, mergers and acquisitions, securities and real estate.

I actually come from a family of lawyers. On my mother’s side of the family, my great-grandmother, while not an attorney, was a legal secretary; my grandfather was a litigator; my mother is a litigator, and I have an uncle, an aunt and a cousin who are all litigators. On my father’s side, I have a cousin who recently passed away who was a litigator, too.

What is your favorite Jewish food?

Potato latkes and matzo ball soup are my favorites. My mother-in-law is very good at making both.

What will you never, ever eat?

Fish. After avoiding fish for most of my life for no real good reason, I found out at a Passover Seder while in college that I am very allergic to it.

Do you have any pets?

No. Are you a Husker fan?

Yes, I became a Husker fan pretty quickly after arriving in Omaha. I think part of the reason I became a fan is that I went to a small school for undergrad that does not have a sports team I can easily follow. However, I think it is also hard not to get caught up in Husker sports because, at least during football season, all you see anywhere you go on the weekends is Husker red!

What do you tell family and friends who live elsewhere about where you ended up?

Once people visit, I don’t usually need to tell them this, but before someone has been to Omaha, I usually need to try to convince him or her that Omaha is not a flat cornfield. They usually need to see with their own eyes that Omaha is an actual city before they believe it.

What has surprised you the most about Omaha?

One of the most surprising things to me about Omaha is, despite its relatively decent size, how often it seems my wife or I run into someone we know when we are out and about.

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Let my people go to the Star Deli Night Dinner this Passover!

Contact Mike at 402-334-6522 or maparo@rbjh.com or Jennifer Addison at 402-334-6523

C6 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015

He looks just like Brad Pitt

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT abbi Ari Dembitzer (Dembi for short) was born in Brooklyn, NY, but spent most of the last decade in Israel.

Jerusalem and Kfar Adumim, to be precise. He is the son of Sharon and David and has a brother, Shmuel, who is married to Rikki and lives in Monsey, NY. Sister Adina is married to Yaakov Feinstein; they live in Baltimore. His parents, Rabbi Dembi says, “are really warm, open and kind people.” They apparently passed those traits on to him.

You recently read a front-page article about Rabbi Dembitzer’s becoming the rabbi at Beth Israel. Let’s see what else we can find out about him.

When did you first visit Omaha?

I first came during an outreach Shabbaton with JEP. After that, I became cantor at Beth Israel during the High Holidays. I did that for 13 years.

What was your first impression of this community?

A small Jewish town where people were nice for no reason.

Do you own a Husker shirt yet?

I am still looking for someone to buy me a Husker shirt.

When the Huskers win, more people come to shul.

What are the three biggest differences between Israel and the U.S.?

In Israel, we don’t have as many meetings, and there is less pressure to wear a tie. People are rougher on the outside in Israel. In Israel, we can use some of those Midwest manners!

If someone made a movie about you, who would play you?

As far as looks, I have to go with Brad Pitt. Personalitywise (as I was told recently in Omaha), I have Woody Allen’s sense of humor, but without the cynicism and the darkness.

What is your absolute favorite food?

A dish of Dembis, a.k.a. hotwings, at the Star Deli.

Can you help us with our pothole problem?

I would suggest the Wayfarers’ Prayer (aka the Travelers’ Prayer). Or maybe we should all walk more often!

What inspires you?

The music of Shlomo Carlebach and Neil Young; people who like to learn in depth.

What does your favorite Seder table look like? Who is sharing your table?

I’d like to share my table with family, including my Omaha family. There will be a lot of learning. People will ask daring questions. There will be a lot of singing and some dancing.

Then: more learning, more dancing.

Finally, there will be sunrise.

What is the best book you’ve ever read?

The Torah. My secular choice would be Ayn Rand’s 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged.

What do you miss the most?

My homeland.

What has surprised you about Omaha?

People here have incredible middot (character traits).

How do you plan to engage the twentysomethings in this town?

By sharing with them what I believe is the depth of our tradition and values.

Do you know how to play Mah jongg?

No, but I’m a fast learner.

Although, how fast I will master that will depend on how busy Beth Israel keeps me.

Do you have any dangerous hobbies? Skydiving, bungee jumping, something like that?

My mom thinks it’s dangerous, but I love snowboarding.

What is it that Americans really need to learn about Israelis?

Israelis are like falafel: hard on the outside, but soft on the inside. Israelis have an incredible strength that constantly gets tested with everything they do.

A unique matzah factory puts food on Jewish tables

by CNAAN LIPHSHIZ DNEPROPETROVSK, Ukraine (JTA) ith one eye on a digital countdown timer, Binyamin Vestrikov jumps up and down while slamming a heavy rolling pin into a piece of dough.

Aware of his comical appearance to the journalist watching, he exaggerates his movements to draw laughs from a dozen colleagues at the kneading station of Tiferet Hamatzot -- a factory believed to be Europe’s only permanently open bakery for handmade matzah, or shmurah matzah.

But Vestrikov’s urgency is not just for entertainment.

Rather, it is designed to meet the production standards that have allowed this unique bakery in eastern Ukraine to provide the Jewish world with a specialty product at affordable prices. The factory here also offers job security to about 50 Jews living in a war-ravaged region with a weakened economy and high unemployment.

Each time Vestrikov and his coworkers receive a new chunk of dough, the timers over their work stations give them only minutes to turn it into a two-pound package of fully baked matzah -- a constraint meant to satisfy even the strictest religious requirements for the unleavened crackers that Jews consume on Passover to commemorate their ancestors’ hurried flight out of Egypt.

“The faster the process, the more certain we are that no extra water came into contact with the dough and that it did not have any chance of leavening,” says Rabbi Shmuel Liberman, one of two kashrut supervisors who ensure that the factory’s monthly production of approximately eight tons complies with kosher standards for shmurah matzah.

The time limitation means the entire production line has only 18 minutes to transform flour and water into fully baked and packaged matzah.

Still, the workers are not complaining. They are happy to have a steady, dollar-adjusted income in a country whose currency is now worth a third of its February 2014 value -- the result of a civil war between government troops and pro-Russian separatists that has paralyzed Ukraine’s industrial heart and flooded the job market with hundreds of thousands of refugees from the battle zones.

“It’s hard work, sure, but I am very happy to be doing it,” Vestrikov says. “I don’t need to worry about how to feed my family. There is very little hiring going on, and Continued on page C7

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April 3, 2015 | The Jewish Press | C7

Crunching the childhood lessons of Passover

by EDMON J. RODMAN tle did they know that this lesson would teach us so much LOS ANGELES (JTA) more. Or maybe they did. Even though I didn’t understand hat did I really learn at the seder table? completely what I was doing, I did get the impression that That is, besides discovering that the white this was serious stuff, meant to be studied and not messed horseradish was way hotter than the red up, especially in front of my family. I also learned that I and that my very worldly uncles couldn’t could repeat it in front of a group of people, and remember read a word of Hebrew. feeling how good it felt to finally get it out, down to the last It’s a question “Mesubin” (reclining). My recitaworth considering as we invite tion also made me a participant: new generations of participants That was now my page in the to sit down at our seder tables.

Haggadah.

Today we have a whole I also realized that I could learn Haggadah of apps, texts and webstuff after school and my head sites that help us drain every last would not explode. drop of meaning out of our yearAnd the answers? They were in ly dinners remembering the a book, and the seder made it going-out from Egypt. But in the seem perfectly normal to read midst of all this learning, have we one before and after dinner. somehow taken for granted the I also learned from listening to childhood lessons simmered into the adults who did enjoy the seder our meal built with a set order? that it was important to read the At my family seders, which words with feeling -- “the mighty were held in my suburban hand” was awesome, the plagues Southern California home, I solemn and sorrowful. recall that little Hebrew was read My wife, Brenda, who had diffrom the red-and-yellow-covered ficulty reading when she was a For columnist Edmon J. Rodman, the seder offered a Goldberg Passover Haggadah we child, remembers at her family welcome respite from his “childhood pattern of used. Yet I also remember them seders trying to anticipate which Koufax, Gumby and all things rockets.” as a welcome break, a time that paragraph she would be asked to Credit: Edmon J. Rodman set me free for a few hours from read, so that she could prepare my childhood pattern of Koufax, Gumby and all things and not have to be “helped.” rockets.

Yes, I know it’s a Jewish value not to embarrass someone, My sister, Wendy, a school district administrator special- but we do, and however much the corrections might izing in literacy and language, who is five years older, momentarily sting, they do teach another lesson: If someremembers being uncomfortable due to the behavior of the one corrects you, you won’t die. adults: One relative refused to read anything and others parAt the seder, a child also learns how to defeat boredom, an ticipated with a mocking tone, upsetting my mother. But important life lesson, as anyone who watches cable TV can tell even in that environment, she says that besides learning to you. I remember my mother saying that “People who say they endure, she was allowed the space to sit and find her own are bored are boring.” Not wanting to fit into that category, I meaning in the proceedings. entertained myself during what seemed like forever by folI remember having lots of questions, none of them Exodus- lowing the Haggadah’s instructions. I leaned and dipped and related: Where did these dishes comes from? We didn’t use pointed and crunched hard, and when that failed, I checked them any other time of the year. Why was there plastic all out the plague drawings and thought about the weird matzah over the floor, to protect the carpet from wine spills? And sandwiches I would be finding in my lunch bag all that week. why did my big sister get to sit up near the head of the table?

Most of all, I think, a child learns at the seder that there is Was it because she had started Hebrew school and was the order in their universe. In a body that changes weekly, occuonly one at the table who could read the Hebrew? pied by interests that come and go in a flash, order is kind of The answers were there for even a simple son to see: The a relief. seder was a special time, something you prepared for as indiAs I recall, the order of our seder was quite simple: It cated by the table settings and plastic. And as for my sister’s began with my sister singing the Kiddush and me learning raised status, a little bit of knowledge gets you a better seat. what wine tasted like. The halfway point was marked by my For many of us, our first serious encounter with the seder mother’s brisket, from which I gained a taste for Jewish food. comes when an adult tells you that as the youngest, it’s your And the end? That was when my mother and uncles turn to chant the Four Questions. “Why the youngest?” was argued, the lesson being that sweet reason doesn’t always my fifth question. “Why not someone older and more expe- prevail. rienced, like my sister?”

Edmon J. Rodman is a JTA columnist who writes on Though my first-grade Hebrew school teacher and syna- Jewish life from Los Angeles. Contact him at edmojace@ gogue cantor prepped us in leading the Four Questions, lit- gmail.com.

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A unique matzah factory Continued from page C6 every job has dozens of takers because all the refugees from the East are here.”

Rolling up a sleeve over a throbbing bicep, he adds, “Besides, this way I don’t need to go to the gym.”

Despite working under pressure in a hectic and overheated environment -- the ovens at Tiferet Hamatzot remain heated for days, preventing the building from ever cooling off even at the height of the harsh Ukrainian winter -- the factory’s workers form a tight community whose social currency is made up of jokes and lively banter, mostly on cigarette breaks.

Workers like Vestrikov say they receive good wages, but production costs and taxes in Ukraine are so low that the factory can still afford to charge customers significantly less than its competitors in the West, said Stella Umanskaya, a member of the Dnepropetrovsk Jewish community and the factory’s administrational manager.

A two-pound box of Tiferet Hamatzot costs approximately $10 locally and $15 abroad compared to more than double that price for shmurah matzah produced in bakeries in Western Europe, such as the Neymann matzah bakery in France, or those operating in Israel and the United States.

Shmurah matzah, Hebrew for “guarded matzah,” is more

expensive than regular matzah because it requires manual labor by people whose task is to guard that it does not become leavened bread -- a concept derived from a verse in the book of Exodus that states “You shall guard the matzot.” Some consider it a mitzvah to consume shmurah matzah because it upholds that commandment of devoting special attention or effort to guarding the matzah.

For this reason, traditional Jewish law requires that the handling of matzah and its ingredients be done by Jews only. But the factory also employs more than a dozen nonJews who perform other tasks, including distribution.

To Rabbi Meir Stambler, the owner of Tiferet Hamatzot, this means the bakery “not only puts matzah shmurah on Jewish tables, but also helps build bridges and do mitzvot with non-Jews.”

Stambler, an Israeli Chabad rabbi who lives in Dnepropetrovsk and opened the factory 12 years ago, said his father used to bake shmurah matzah in secrecy in Tashkent, when the Uzbek capital was still part of the Soviet Union and subject to its anti-religious policies.

“Back then, matzah used to be smuggled from Israel into the Soviet Union before its collapse in 1990,” he said. “It’s just unbelievable that now, some years later, we bake matzah in Ukraine and send it all over the whole world.”

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C8 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015

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houghts of the Seder plate with the Beitzah, the roasted hard cooked egg that represents spring and fertility as well as the sacrifices made in the Temple, dipped in salt water to signify the LOIS FRIEDMAN sweat and tears of the Israelites and the splitting of the Red Sea, made this new cookbook a timely arrival.

Thoughts of eggs, eggs, eggs made this a consideration of interest to pick and choose for Passover recipes.

The Perfect Egg by Teri Lyn Fisher and Jenny Park (Ten Speed, $18.99) Consider the “most affordable, widely available source of protein” that comes in a variety of adorable sizes, shapes, colors and flavors... from the teaspoon-size quail to chicken and duck eggs, the eggs used throughout these recipes and three most popular varieties available in the United States from the family farm and backyard variety to the caged commercial growers.

The first of the book covers a primer on egg grading, decoding the descriptive labels, and Egg Info followed by Egg 101: Basics covering cooking techniques: Baked, Boiled: Pour water to a depth of three inches into a saucepan and bring to a slow boil over medium-high heat. Using a ladle or spoon, gently lower the eggs, one at a time, into the pan, taking care to keep them in a single layer to avoid crowding. Bring the water back to a slow boil and cook according to the following guidelines for the doneness you prefer: 4-1/2 minutes for soft boiled, 7 minutes for medium boiled, and 10 minutes for hard boiled. Meantime, prepare a bowl of ice water. When the eggs are ready, care-

fully transfer them to the ice water, and then let the eggs cool until they can be handled.

The ice-water bath will halt the cooking and will keep the bright yellow yolk from turning green. Boiled eggs can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days. Always store them in the shell for maximum freshness.

Coddled, French Omelet, Fried, Poached, Preserved (salted), Scrambled and Steamed; simple safety measures for carefully handling and storing to avoid foodborne illness: refrigerate at 40 degrees F or below, in their carton to prevent them from absorbing odors or coming in contact with bacteria with the large end up and use within three weeks.

Following a variety of sauces and condiments, the recipes are organized by Morning, Snacks, Afternoon, Night and Sweets. An array of breakfast offerings with exotic names includes dishes and fillings for: Egg Bhurji, Arepa de Huevo and Rancheros, Quiche with eight fillings, Peppered Pastrami Eggs Benedict and more. Snacks include Tea Eggs, Herb and Cheese Macarons (with almond meal) and this recipe for Deviled Eggs with nine variations.

Dessert offerings include Pavlova, Quindim (a Brazilian bright yellow egg custard), Creme Brulee and Frozen Custard, which is an extra rich and creamy version of the midwestern author’s many visits during adolescence to Culver’s. Her trip down memory lane includes recipes for several variations: Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Raspberry and Coconut, Straccoatella, Blackberry and Merlot and Coffee.

Delicious color photographs accompany each of over 60 recipes with well-written instructions. Now you can have your egg and eat it too!

Lois Friedman can be reached at ReadIt AndEat@ yahoo.com.

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Passover DEVILED EGGS 12 hard-boiled eggs (above) 6 tbsp. mayonnaise 2 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 1 tsp. white wine vinegar 1/4 tsp. salt pinch of granulated sugar smoked paprika, for garnish Peel the eggs and halve them lengthwise.

Scoop the egg yolks into a bowl and arrange the whites, hollow side up, on a platter. Add the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, salt and

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sugar to the yolks and mash together with the back of a fork until no lumps remain. Using a spoon, scoop the yolk mixture into the whites, mounding it attractively. Alternatively, spoon the yolk mixture into a piping bag fitted with whatever tip you prefer and pipe the filling into the egg whites. Sprinkle the tops with paprika and serve. Some of the variations: Pesto, Dill and Pickle, Three Herb, Buffalo, Sun-dried Tomato and Sriracha and Cracked Pepper.

Makes 24 stuffed eggs.

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April 3, 2015 | The Jewish Press | C9

For Passover, a clergy couple’s vegetarian seder menu

by MARSHALL WEISS The Dayton Jewish Observer/JTA egetarian food brought Cantor Jenna Greenberg and Rabbi Josh Ginsberg together. The two met as students at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, when a classmate organized a singles dinner at a kosher vegetarian restaurant in Chinatown.

Greenberg had become a vegetarian in her teens, Ginsberg in his 20s.

Now married, the two settled in Dayton, Ohio two years ago.

Ginsberg is the rabbi at Beth Abraham Synagogue, Dayton’s only Conservative congregation, while Greenberg leads the music program at Hillel Academy, the city’s Jewish day school and teaches high school Judaic classes at the Miami Valley School, a nondenominational private prep school.

Ginsberg says he neither encourages his congregants to become vegetarians nor discourages them from eating meat.

“People know I’m a vegetarian, but I don’t engage in proselytizing vegetarianism,” he says. “Jewish tradition allows that one can eat meat. I really applaud the trend of some who are trying to create ethical, eco-kashrut and small-scale slaughtering where animals are fed a better diet and treated better.”

A few times a year, Greenberg and Ginsberg have prepared vegetarian entrees alongside meat dishes for Shabbat dinners at the synagogue. They’ve received rave reviews from congregants, many of whom hadn’t tried tofu as a meat substitute before.

At home, they turn out creative vegetarian meals for their boys -- ages seven, five, and eight months. Jenna says their recipes come from experimentation, some guidance from cookbooks, and online recipes, along with suggestions from friends and family.

Here, they offer a kosher-for-Passover seder menu that suits their fast-paced, vegetarian lifestyle -- and keeps their children happy: ROMAN SOUP WITH PASSOVER DUMPLINGS This is a tasty spring alternative to the traditional matzah ball soup.

Ingredients 3 - 4 tbsp. of extra-virgin olive oil or other vegetable oil 1 small onion, chopped 1 medium carrot, small dice 1 celery stalk, chopped 6 cups chopped mixed greens: Swiss chard, spinach, kale, butter lettuce, Savoy cabbage or other seasonally available greens 6 cups vegetable broth or water salt and pepper to taste parmesan cheese Instructions Sauté chopped onion in oil until translucent over medium-

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low heat.

Add carrot and celery and cook until vegetables are softened, stirring occasionally.

Stir in 6 cups of mixed chopped greens (described above).

When vegetables are wilted, add soup stock.

Bring to a boil and then simmer for 45 minutes.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add 1 - 2 tbsp. Passover dumplings per serving.

Serve with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

PASSOVER SOUP DUMPLINGS Ingredients 2 cups mashed potatoes 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1/4 cup Passover cake meal Optional: 1 tbsp. finely chopped parsley or basil Reserve: 1 - 2 tsp. of extra-virgin olive oil Instructions Mix all ingredients, adding additional cake meal to form a dough that is pliable and not too sticky.

Bring water to a boil in a 2 - 3 quart pot.

Form small balls out of the dough and carefully slide them into the water to bring them to a boil.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the dumplings from the pot as they rise to the top and transfer to a container, adding 1-2 tsp of extra-virgin olive oil.

CAPRESE SALAD This preface to the main course tastes best when the tomatoes are ripe and sweet, and the basil is very fresh.

Ingredients 2 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes (about 4 large), sliced 1/4 inch thick 1 pound fresh mozzarella, sliced 1/4 inch thick 1/4 cup packed fresh basil 3 to 4 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil fine sea salt to taste freshly ground black pepper to taste Instructions On a large platter arrange tomato and mozzarella slices and basil leaves, alternating and overlapping them. Sprinkle salad with oregano and arugula, and drizzle with oil. Season salad with salt and pepper.

POTATO SPINACH GNOCCHI This delicious dish, created by the couple’s friend Susan Finston (author of “Dining in the Garden of Eden”) is a creative pasta alternative for Pesach.

Ingredients 2 pounds potatoes 1 1/2 cups potato starch 1 egg, lightly beaten 2 teaspoons salt 1 pound cooked, finely chopped spinach (frozen or fresh) 1/2 tsp. nutmeg Optional: 1 Cup ricotta cheese for richer gnocchi

Reserve: 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese Instructions Peel, boil and mash potatoes.

Add remaining ingredients to create the gnocchi dough, adding additional potato starch in case the dough is too sticky.

Fill a 4 - 6 quart pot with cold water and bring water to a boil.

While the water is heating, form small patties out of the gnocchi and then carefully slide them one at a time into the boiling water.

When the gnocchi rise to the top of the pot, they are ready.

Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the pot and place them in an oiled baking dish.

Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and bake at 375 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes to melt the cheese.

Continued on page C11

EGGPLANT PARMESAN This is a favorite dish year-round, even with matzah meal as the breading!

Ingredients 2 large eggplants, sliced lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick pieces salt, for sweating eggplants 4 eggs, beaten with a fork 3 cups matzah meal 4 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil 2 jars pasta sauce (any variety) 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese Instructions Preheat oven 350°F. Sweat eggplant slices, sprinkling salt, allowing time for the moisture to come out; rinse and wipe the eggplant slices. Coat eggplant slices with beaten egg, then bread with matza meal. Sauté coated eggplant slices in oil until lightly brown on both sides.

In a 9x11 ovenproof dish, layer pasta sauce, then eggplant and top with cheeses. Repeat, finishing with cheese. Bake until the cheese melts and turns golden in spots, about 30 minutes.

C10 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015

First-ever Canadian Haggadah has a distinctly north-of-the-border vibe

by RON CSILLAG TORONTO (JTA) n this rendition of the Passover story, the Children of Israel do not play ice hockey or drink kosher l’Pesach maple syrup.

But the first-ever Canadian Haggadah does have a distinctly Canuck vibe.

For one thing the Haggadah Canadienne is in three languages – English, French and Hebrew. And instead of the standard illustrations of the Israelites building the pyramids or Moses parting the Red Sea, it features archival photographs that trace the history of Canada’s Jewish community, the world’s fourth largest.

The volume offers “a Canadian perspective on our timeless story of freedom – our Jewish history as seen through Canadian eyes,” states its introduction.

Compiled by Rabbi Adam Scheier of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim in Montreal and Richard Marceau, general counsel and political adviser at the Ottawabased Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the hefty (168-page) Haggadah aims “to deepen the Canadian Jewish

identity by presenting something that’s uniquely Canadian,” Scheir told JTA. “It’s never been done.”

A unique Canadian gestalt has been brought into sharper focus for Scheier since he’s an American who came north 11 years ago. Marceau, a French Quebecer who converted to Judaism in 2004, claims a similar cultural awareness, because he was raised “on the

Interspersed with commentary from 20 rabbis across Canada, spanning all denominations, are some 100 archival pictures of Jewish life from every region of the country: William Goldbloom stands proudly before his fur-and-hide store in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, in 1921; Grizzled Jewish prospector Marco Zimmerman stakes his claim in the Yukon Territory circa 1920; a doe-eyed immigrant boy arrives from Lisbon just days before Passover 1944; visiting Israeli dignitaries are all smiles in a meeting with Canadian leaders; Canadian Jews demonstrate on behalf of Soviet Jewry in the 1970s.

The Haggadah cover shows a gaggle of children munching on matzah at the 1948 opening of a matzah factory in Montreal.

Left: Richard Marceau Credit: Richard And, of course, there’s an Marceau, right: Rabbi Adam Scheier obligatory hockey border” between moment among the book’s photos: English-speaking and Current Prime Minister Stephen Francophone Canada.

Harper hoists a Team Israel jersey on “When you have his visit there last year. people around the “There is so much flavor and so table who speak dif- much that should start a conversation ferent languages, even about what it means to live as a Jew in though they under- Canada and how deep our roots are,” stand the other, they Scheier said. are not comfortable The Haggadahs are on sale for $20 enough.” each at Judaica stores in Toronto and The two talked and Montreal and at the Canadian concluded, “Maybe we’re the ones who Amazon. Find your copy at should be on that bridge, making sure http://www.amazon.ca/Canadianthat Canadian Jews can celebrate Haggadah together,” Marceau said.

At Passover I will celebrate with my Orthodox wife and kids

by ELI MANDEL Kveller via JTA t’s Shabbat afternoon and the girls are putting on a beauty pageant in our living room. To their eight, six, four and one-year-old minds, it doesn’t take much imagination to see our modest floor as a full-fledged stage, red carpet and all. The TV has been off for the past 20 hours, in accordance with Orthodox custom.

We’re fortunate in that our kids entertain each other very well – even the baby, who is more like a pet dog to her older sisters than a playmate with a fully formed identity and equal rights. My wife, Rikki, and I are sitting on the couch, alternating between reading our books, watching the kids, chit-chatting and dozing off.

It looks like the lazy Shabbat afternoons of so many observant Jewish families, but then I do a quick check on my phone to see when Shabbat is over. My phone tells me we have a half hour more to go. I breathe a sigh of relief.

I was once observant – if not unhappily, then begrudgingly. But a year and a half ago, my increasing apathy toward the Orthodox lifestyle turned to antipathy and I stopped practicing. This naturally created an imbalance, for we had specifically built our family around a lifestyle that requires intensive participation from all parties. And here I was, just recusing myself.

I remember the moment my eldest beauty queen caught me on the computer on a Friday night, which caused her to confront Rikki, which resulted in a muchneeded family conversation on the couch.

“Do you remember Uncle Henry? He’s not frum but he loves us anyway and he let us keep Shabbat in his house.

Tatty is also not frum like Uncle Henry.”

I sat by quietly while my wife said these scary words to our two eldest Beauty Queens, then seven and five.

Continued on page C11

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Vegetarian seder menu Continued from page C9 TOMATO SAUCE FOR GNOCCHI Ingredients 2 - 3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil or other cooking oil 1/2 cup chopped onion 1 - 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 1/4 cup of parsley, chopped 1 bay leaf 2 cans crushed or stewed tomatoes 1 small can tomato paste Instructions Heat oil in saute pan, add onion and garlic and cook on low heat until translucent.

Add parsley, bay leaf, tomatoes and tomato paste.

Bring to a low boil and then turn heat down and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes.

MUSHROOM QUINOA PILAF A hearty side dish for mushroom lovers that can be served either warm or cold.

Ingredients 1 cup red, black, or mixed quinoa 2 cups water vegetable soup broth OR salt to taste medley of 3 varieties of fresh mushrooms: portabella, cremini, white mushrooms olive oil for cooking splash of balsamic vinegar 4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed Instructions Rinse quinoa. Sauté quinoa in nonstick pan for 5 minutes, tossing regularly to avoid burning. Combine quinoa with water and broth in a medium saucepan.

Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan, add the garlic.

Once the garlic is lightly browned, add the mushrooms and balsamic vinegar. Sauté until the mushrooms are well cooked.

Toss the sautéed mushrooms in with the quinoa and serve.

MELON SALAD This simple tossing of freshly diced ripe melons is inspired by the couple’s cantaloupe and honeydew-loving sons!

1 honeydew and 1 cantaloupe Dice the melons and toss together!

We Buy Gold We Pay More SolsJewelryAndLoan.net LORA BRODY’S BÊTE NOIR This recipe is inspired by the taste buds and by the baking artistry of the couple’s mothers, Linda Greenberg and Tina Strauss-Hoder.

Ingredients 1 1/3 cups superfine sugar 1/2 cup water 8 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped 2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into 10 chunks 6 large eggs, room temperature Instructions Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan, line with parchment, lightly greased. Have a larger roasting pan available for a Bain Marie.

In a medium saucepan, place one cup of sugar and the 4 ounces of water in it. Heat to boil stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove the pan from its heat source, melt the chocolate in the hot syrup, stirring to melt. Add the chunks of butter, stirring each chunk in before adding another.

Beat eggs together, with an electric beater until foamy and thickened. Stir eggs into cooled chocolate mixture, stirring until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Place a roasting pan on the middle oven rack, placing the cake in the middle of the roasting pan. Pour hot tap water into the roasting pan to a depth of one inch along the outside of the cake pan.

Avoid splashing water on the cake batter. Gently push pan into the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the cake pan and cool cake. When ready to serve, run a butter knife along the edge of the cake. Unmold the cake onto a serving plate.

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At Passover I will celebrate with my Orthodox wife and kids Continued from page C10 where ideas take precedence “But Tatty used to be over family ties. frum, right?” BQ 1 asked.

Recently we’ve begun the “Yes, but he’s not anyarduous preparations for more.” Rikki paused. “But he Passover that entails rigorous still loves us, and he’s still the cleaning, scrubbing, vacuumsame Tatty you have always ing, and a general complete loved.” overhaul of house and home.

The kids seemed to be sat“Mommy, why can’t we eat isfied with this, though it chametz (leavened bread) was clear that they were still on Pesach?” asked Beauty somewhat confused. And I Queen 2. can’t blame them: This new “Because when Pharaoh family arrangement is diffinally decided to allow the ferent than any they were yidden [Jewish people] to On Passover, the author will be observing for his family familiar with, to be sure. leave Mitzrayim [Egypt], instead of for God. Credit: Shutterstock Many friends and they were in the middle of acquaintances have told us they feel that our marriage baking their laffas and Pharaoh didn’t give them time to could no longer work and took strong positions against our finish baking them. They had to run so fast that the laffas marriage. But Rikki and I felt differently, and we perse- turned to matzah,” I answered helpfully, receiving a gratevered. Setting out on this new life was almost like getting ful look from Rikki, grateful that I didn’t throw much snark married all over again; we had to relearn to respect each into my response as I might if my kids were not in earshot. other and each other’s choices.

But of course she still worries. Though I wasn’t particularGrowing up in a yeshivish home, Rikki was trained to ly enthusiastic for Passover before I finally dropped obserrely on her husband to provide the spirituality in the home, vance, now Rikki wonders how she can rely on me to help and she was taught that it was her husband’s religious clean, participate in bedikat chametz (search for leavened devotions that would earn her a place in the world to come. bread) and make a seder worth looking forward to when I Now Rikki has learned to respect her own religious don’t even believe the stories Passover celebrates anymore? instincts. She’s learned that she could attend shul and pray, I reassure her it’ll be a beautiful Passover nonetheless, and that she could make kiddush on Shabbat, even with me, I won’t be kvetching too much about my duties. I realize her husband, at the table. And I learned that although I now that I’ll be doing it for my family instead of for God. don’t believe anyone’s listening on the other end, I could Because my family is something I’ll never stop believing in. still daven a bit when I take my kids to shul.

Eli Mandel is a graduate of Pupa cheder in Monsey, I also learned that families are whatever you make them. N.Y., the Telz yeshiva and Fairleigh Dickinson University.

During this period of change, I found myself listening to He is now recovering from ultra-Orthodoxy with his wife an episode of This American Life called Red State Blue and four daughters in Kauneonga Lake, N.Y. When he’s State. The episode talked about families torn apart by dif- not riding his motorcycle, he practices accounting as a fering opinions on politics and each person’s wish that they form of tikkun olam. weren’t so torn apart by it. The stories spoke directly to our This piece was originally published on Kveller, a 70 situation, and I didn’t want to end up like those families Faces Media property.

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At Streit’s 90-year-old Lower East Side factory, ‘the men’ turn out their last matzah batch

by GABE FRIEDMAN NEW YORK (JTA)

The Streit’s factory also used to boast a vibrant storefront with lines that spilled outside and around the corner. Today there is still a retail counter, but often it is left unmanned.

“Families have moved on, the Lower East Side has changed, so now we’ve sort of transitioned from a local bakery where people would stop by and pick up their matzah hot out of the oven in 1925 to now where 99.9 percent of our sales are wholesale to distributors who resell,” Adler says.

While his cousins helped at the retail counter, Adler, who joined the company 18 years ago after a law career, says he was always more comfortable working behind the scenes. In the factory’s freight elevator he has clearly ridden in innumerable times, he cracks a rare joke.

“You couldn’t build an elevator like this today,” he says.

“It’s passed every safety law from 1925, but not one since.”

Adler says the 30 factory employees were shocked by the news in December but are taking it “surprisingly well.” The

eated in his Lower East Side office, in front of a large portrait of company patriarch Aron Streit, Alan Adler avoids becoming too nostalgic.

“It’s like I tell my family members: none of you own a car from 1935, why do you think a matzah factory from 1935 is what we should be using today?” says Adler, one of Streit’s Matzos’ 11 co-owners.

This is the line of thought behind the imminent closing of the Streit’s matzah factory, a longtime Jewish fixture in a city neighborhood that once was home to one of the highest concentration of Jews in the country.

Streit’s, the last family-owned matzah company in the United States, announced in December that it would be permanently closing its 90-yearold factory after this Passover season because of longstanding mechanical problems and subsequent economic concerns. Sometime in April, the company will shift its matzah production either to its other factory across the river in northern New Jersey, where several other products such as macaroons and wafers are made, or to another nonManhattan location.

The greatly gentrified Lower East Side has seen its real estate values skyrocket in recent decades. Although Streit’s has not yet identified a buyer for its landmark building on Rivington Street, the property was estimated to be worth $25 million in 2008, when the company first considered shuttering the factory.

“We should’ve been out of here five or 10 years ago,” says Adler, 63, who oversees the company’s day-to-day operations along with two cousins.

“But we feel committed to the men [who work here] and we Top and above left: Streit’s storefront at the Lower East Side factory and right: a worker on feel committed to the neigh- the line at the factory. borhood, so we tried to keep this place afloat as long as we company has told them that there are many jobs available at could. We probably could’ve stayed here even longer if I the New Jersey facility, but only three employees have taken could’ve found somebody to work on the ovens.” the company up on the offer.

The ovens, identified only by “Springfield, Mass” on their Many of “the men,” as Adler calls the employees, live in side, date back to the 1930s. They are 75 feet long and are Queens and take public transportation to work, meaning continuously fed a thin sheet of dough that emerges from that a potential commute to New Jersey would be difficult. the convection heat in perfect crisp form. Streit’s does not Streit’s is working with the New York Department of Labor disclose its official production numbers, but Adler says the to help them find new jobs. factory churns out millions of pounds of matzah each year.

Anthony Zapata, who has worked at Streit’s for 33 years, However, Adler also estimates that the ovens are now and who Adler says does everything from packing matzah to about 25 percent slower than they used to be and he cannot putting out fires (“literally, not figuratively”), tells JTA that find a mechanic willing to fix them. The slower pace he is very depressed about the factory’s closing. He says the decreases matzah output and affects the product’s flavor. increased transportation costs of traveling to New Jersey But the ovens aren’t the only outdated element of the fac- would be too much for him. tory. Except for a few electrical parts added to the machin“I’m going to miss this place, and I’m going to miss everyery over the years, nearly all of the other equipment is more one in it,” Zapata says. “I’ve never had a modern job to know than 70 years old. As a result, employees’ tasks have barely what’s old, and what’s different between modern and old.” changed in over half a century — from mixing the flour in Zapata, 53, says that all the employees are friends and have small batches (in under 18 minutes to satisfy kosher require- barbecues together around the city in the warmer months. ments) to separating the matzah sheets into pieces that then “We’ll remain tight,” he says. travel up to higher floors on a conveyor belt.

Adler does not betray many emotions on the matter, but he “Nothing changes at Streit’s,” says Rabbi Mayer Kirshner, offers a bittersweet anecdote on the neighborhood’s evolution. who oversees the factory’s kosher certification.

Shortly before the company first thought of selling the propHowever, plenty has changed in the matzah business since erty in 2008, a man living in one of the condos adjacent to the Adler’s childhood in the 1950s and ‘60s, when he liked to factory complained to Adler about the noise and flour dust spend time picking fresh matzah out of the ovens. Back in coming out of the building. Adler responded to his requests the “heyday,” as Adler calls it, of the 1930s through the by blocking in and sealing several factory walls, and when he 1960s, there were four matzah factories in the New York saw the man months later, he told him what he thought would metropolitan area: Horowitz-Margareten and Goodman’s in be “good news” about the factory’s potential closing.

Queens, Manischewitz in New Jersey and Streit’s in “He said, ‘Oh, God, I don’t want condos -- there won’t be Manhattan. Horowitz-Margareten and Goodman’s were sold enough parking on this street!’” Adler recalls. “All of a sudto Manischewitz, which was bought by the private equity den he liked my noise and my flour dust. firm Kohlberg and Company in 1990. (Today it is owned by “I don’t know what they’ll do with this building now,” he Bain Capital, Mitt Romney’s former investment firm.) adds, “but people don’t like change.”

April 3, 2015 | The Jewish Press | C13

Bartenura not just for seders -or Jews

by HILLEL KUTTLER BALTIMORE (JTA) oeann Wallace sweeps down the right-hand wall of Wells Discount Liquors on a recent weekday afternoon, grabs a bottle of Bartenura Moscato without breaking stride and steams three aisles over to snag a fruity vodka she likes to mix with her wine selection.

Wallace, who works in medical billing, lives near the shop in Towson, Md., and typically each week buys two bottles of the bubbly, semi-sweet white wine -- not just for herself, she affirms with a broad smile, but for her mother and other guests to enjoy, too, after dinner.

“This,” she says of the Bartenura, “is perfect.”

Wallace, 33, expresses surprise at learning that the brand is kosher for Passover -- or kosher at all -- since she is not Jewish and such certifications don’t matter to her.

In that, Wallace typifies an unintended but lucrative market for the wine, which in recent years has caught on in a big way among African-Ameri- To Baltimore resident Joeann cans and non-Jewish cus- Wallace, selecting a kosher Moscato “is well worth it” for tomers more broadly.

Jay Buchsbaum, execu- the taste she enjoys.

Credit: Hillel Kuttler tive vice president for marketing at the New Jersey-based Royal Wine Corp., which owns Bartenura, says that the market for his Moscato is “overwhelmingly, more than 50 percent” among non-Jewish customers. As to sales figures, Buchsbaum reveals only that they are “in the millions of bottles a year.”

Indeed, at Wells Discount Liquors, which is five miles from the nearest distinctly Jewish neighborhood, Bartenura appears not in the kosher wine section but is grouped elsewhere with the 22 other Moscato offerings, Bartenura being the only kosher one.

The popularity of Moscato wines in the AfricanContinued on page C15

Midweek Passover meals with a Sephardic flavor

by SYBIL KAPLAN fter the sedarim, by midweek, you may be looking for some interesting, creative ideas for Passover dinners.

Here are some ideas I frequently serve.

A mina is a traditional Sephardic savory layered pie which is great for leftover chicken.

In Spain and Turkey, it is called mina; in Egypt, it is called maiena or mayena; in Algeria it is called meguena; in Italy, it is called scacchi. The pie is also popular among Jews from the Island of Rhodes and Yugoslavia.

A

CHICKEN MINA 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken 1/2 cup chopped scallions 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley 1/4 cup chopped mint 1/4 cup chopped dill 2 eggs 6 matzot chicken soup olive oil 3 eggs 1/2 cup tomato sauce 1/4 tsp. nutmeg Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a rectangular or oval baking dish.

In a bowl, combine chicken, scallions, parsley, mint and dill. Add 2 eggs and blend.

In another bowl, combine 3 eggs, tomato sauce and nutmeg.

Place matzot in bottom of a deep dish.

Pour enough chicken soup to soften, about 3 minutes.

Place 2 matzot in greased baking dish.

Brush with olive oil. Spread half the chicken filling on top. Add 2 more matzot, brush with oil and spread rest of chicken filling on top. Top with remaining 2 matzot.

Pour tomato sauce on top. Bake in preheated oven 45 minutes. Cut into squares to serve.

Makes 6-8 servings.

CHICKEN TAGINE A tajine is a North African, slow cooked savory stew, named after the earthenware clay cooking pot. The base is flat and circular with low sides. The cover is cone or dome shaped, which traps the steam and returns the condensed liquid to the pot, thus requiring very little liquid when cooking. In a chicken tagine, vegetables or dried fruit, nuts and spices are added.

1 cup matza meal 8 pieces of chicken oil 4 cups chopped onions 2 cups chicken soup 1 1/2 - 3 cups prunes, apricots or other dried fruit 2 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. ginger 1/4 cup lemon juice 2 tsp. lemon peel 1 cup slivered almonds Place matzah meal in a shallow dish. Dip chicken pieces in the meal.

Heat oil in a soup pot. Add chicken and brown. Add onions, chicken soup, and dried fruit and simmer until chicken is cooked.

Add cinnamon, ginger, lemon juice, lemon peel, and almonds.

Simmer another 20 minutes.

Makes 8 servings.

CHICKEN-LEEK PATTIES Leek patties known as kyeftes de prasa in Latino, kifte in Turkish, keftas or keftes in Greek are popular among Mediterranean Jews for Passover. I like to add chicken to mine.

3 cleaned leeks 1 cup chopped onions 2 cups chopped cooked chicken 2 eggs 1 cup mashed potatoes 1/2 cup matza meal salt and pepper to taste 1 beaten egg matza meal oil

Place cut-up leeks and onions in a saucepan with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.

Drain and chop. Add chicken, eggs, matza meal, mashed potato, salt and pepper and blend.

Place egg in one shallow bowl and additional matza meal in the second bowl. Take chicken mixture and make into patties. Dip into beaten egg then in matza meal for coating.

Refrigerate for a while at this point if serving later. Before serving, heat oil in a frying pan and fry until patties are brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels.

Makes 6-8 servings.

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You and a friend or loved one are invited to attend an informational class to help you understand the causes and symptoms of hearing loss and what steps to take to improve your hearing.

During this free one-hour class, Boys Town audiologists will explain: • Different types of hearing loss • Communication strategies • Treatments for hearing loss • Information about hearing aids and listening devices Two class times available!

Wednesday, February 11 – 10:00 a.m. or _ 6:00 p.m.

Boys Town National Research Hospital 14000 Boys Town Hospital Road (139th & Pacific Street, on Boys Town campus) We have a limited number of seats available.

A light snack will be provided. Family and friends are encouraged to attend this presentation.

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Please register at boystownhospital.org or call (402) 498-6520.

C14 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015

Synagogues B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE 618 Mynster Street | Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 |712.322.4705 email: BnaiIsraelCouncilBluffs@gmail.com Join us for our monthly Shabbat Speakers Series on April 10, at 7:30 p.m. with guest speaker, John Bueltel, Head of Brewer Keg Creek Brewing Company on Discovering Craft Beer and Beer Tasting. There will be “tastings” and an Oneg to follow service. All community members are invited to attend.

Larry Blass will officiate at all of the Speaker Series Services.

For information on our historic synagogue, please contact any of our board members: Mark Eveloff, Rick Katelman, Carole Lainof, Marty Ricks, Sissy Silber, Nancy Wolf and Phil Wolf.

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California | Omaha, NE 68154-1980 | 402.492.8550 www.bethel-omaha.org Services conducted by Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman.

FRIDAY: Siyyum B’khorim, 6:45 a.m.; Biur Chametz (burning chamets); Kabbalat Shabbat Service, 5:30 p.m. (earlier time for this week only); Annual Community Seder, 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Services, 9:30 a.m.; MiniMinyannaires, 10:45 a.m.; Mincha, immediately following Kiddush.

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

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 8 p.m.

MONDAY: Shacharit, 6:45 a.m.

TUESDAY: Shacharit, 6:45 a.m.; The Wonderful World of Jewish Music, 11 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: Shacharit, 6:45 a.m.

THURSDAY: Shacharit, 6:45 a.m.; Shanghai, 1 p.m.

Yom HaShoah Teen Program, Wednesday, April 15, 5:30 p.m.

Community Yom HaShoah Program, Wednesday, April 15, 7 p.m. at Beth El. All Beth El classes and programs are open to everyone in the Jewish community.

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific Street | Omaha, NE. 68154 | 402.556.6288 www.BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org Office hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and Friday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Ari Dembitzer.

FRIDAY: Shacharit, 7 a.m. followed by Siyum B’chorim; Burn Chametz, 11:30 a.m.; Mincha-Ma’ariv, 7:30 p.m.; Earliest Candle Lighting, 7:33 p.m.; Earliest Seder Time, 8:33 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Mincha, 7 p.m.; Beth Israel Seder: Introduction, Salad, Songs and some learning, 7:30 p.m.; Ma’ariv/Intermission, 8:20 p.m.; Please make your reservation. Adults $18; Children ages 4-12 $10; Candle Lighting, preparations and start of Seder (including Havdalah) no earlier than 8:35 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:30 p.m.; Havdalah, 8:35 p.m.

WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: Shacharit, 6:45 a.m.

TUESDAY: Shacharit, 6:45 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: Shacharit, 6:45 a.m.

THURSDAY: Shacharit, 6:45 a.m.; Candle Lighting, 7:39 p.m.

CHABAD CENTER An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 South 120 Street | Omaha, NE 68144-1646 | 402.330.1800 www.OChabad.com | email: chabad@aol.com Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman.

FRIDAY: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Fast of the First Born; Biur Chametz, 11:30 a.m.; Family Seder, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:30 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:30 p.m.

WEEKDAYS: Minyan and Meditation, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Candle Lighting, 7:39 p.m.; Shevi’i Shel Pesach Study, 9:30 p.m.

TUESDAY: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Candle Lighting, 7:39 p.m.; Shevi’i Shel Pesach Study, 9:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Candle Lighting, 7:39 p.m.; Shevi’i Shel Pesach Study, 9:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Candle Lighting, 7:39

p.m.; Shevi’i Shel Pesach Study, 9:30 p.m.

Pesach Farewell-Moshiach Fesast, Saturday, April 11, 7:30 p.m.

All programs are open to the entire community.

CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN South Street Temple | Union for Reform Judaism 2061 South 20th Street | Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 | 402.435.8004 www.southstreettemple.org Services conducted by Rabbi Craig Lewis.

FRIDAY: There will no services at South Street Temple so families will have the opportunity to observe Passover and the First Seder together.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m.; Community Passover Second Night Seder, 6 p.m.

SUNDAY: No LJCS Classes.

WEDNESDAY: No Hebrew classes.

ADULT EDUCATION TUESDAY: Intro to Judaism, 6:30 p.m. led by Rabbi Lewis.

THURSDAY: Beginning Hebrew, 6 p.m.; Adult B’nai Mitzvah Class, 7 p.m.

Leonard Pitts speaking in Lincoln on April 12, 1–5:30 p.m. about Eating (Jim) Crow: Divisions Created by Race & Poverty at the Interfaith Peacemaking Workshop at First United Methodist Church, 2723 North 50th Street.

Candlelighting Friday, April 3, 7:42 p.m.

Saturday, April 4, 8:35 p.m. | Thursday, April 9, 7:39 p.m.

TEMPLE ISRAEL Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 13111 Sterling Ridge Drive | Omaha, NE 68144-1206 | 402.556.6536 http://templeisraelomaha.com FRIDAY: Erev Pesach Shabbat Service, 4 p.m. *Please note the time change.

SATURDAY: Passover Breakfast and Study, 9:15 a.m.; Passover Service, 10:30 a.m.; Passover Family Seder: Let Us Make the Seder for You!, 5:30 p.m. Dinner will include matzah ball soup, roast brisket, potato kugel, salad, chocolate-dipped macaroons for dessert, and all the traditional favorites such as charoset, gefilte fish and, of course, matzah.

Kids are advised to get their detective skills ready to search for the afikoman. Reservations are a must!

SUNDAY: No Religious School.

WEDNESDAY: Grades 3-6, 4 p.m.; School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Family Night, 6 p.m.; Grades 7-12, 6 p.m.; Al Had’vash v’al Haoketz: The Honey and the Sting, 6:30 p.m. with Rabbi Jan Katzew.

THURSDAY: The Gifts of German Jewry, 10 a.m. with Rabbi Brown; OTYG Lounge Night, 6 p.m.

Concluding Passover Service and Yizkor, 10:30 a.m. If you would like to have the names of your loved ones read at the concluding service, please contact Temple Israel, 402.556.6536 or mweidner@templeisraelomaha.com, by April 6 with the names.

Third Grade Family Potluck Dinner, Friday, April 10, 7 p.m.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE

TIFERETH ISRAEL

Capehart Chapel 2500 Capehart Road | Offutt AFB, NE 68123 | 402.294.6244 FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m. every first and third of the month.

Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Boulevard | Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 | 402.423.8569 www.tiferethisraellincoln.org Services conducted by Nancy Coren, Lay Leader. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

FRIDAY: Tifereth Israel will be closed; Candle Lighting, 7:35 p.m.; First Seder; No Shabbat Evening Services.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Pesach service, 9 a.m.; Candle Lighting, 8:35 p.m.; Second Seder SUNDAY: Tifereth Israel will be closed; No LJCS Classes; Mincha/Ma’ariv Sevice, 6:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: No Hebrew classes.

The Annual Nebraska Holocaust Commemoration, Sunday, April 12 at 3 p.m. in the State Capitol Rotunda.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME 323 South 132 Street | Omaha, NE 68154 PASSOVER FRIDAY: First Seder, 6 p.m., led by Andy Greenberg.

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Jim Polack; Second Seder, 6 p.m., led by Jim Polack.

SUNDAY: Services, 9:15 a.m. led by Jim Polack.

Services will be held in the Chapel. Members of the community are invited to attend.

Ben & Jerry’s charoset and 10 more Passover ice cream ideas

by JULIE WIENER

instead just infuse the almond and coconut that form macfew weeks after Ben & Jerry’s aroons’ base into the ice cream itself. founders indicated that marijuana6. Fruit Jellies Jamboree: The iconic gooey fruity caninfused ice cream may one day join its dies mixed into vanilla ice cream or fruit sorbet offers a product line, the company’s kosher- nice mix of textures. for-Passover charoset flavor has been 7. Rocky Road out of Egypt: Wouldn’t those 40 years in generating buzz. the desert have been nicer with this confection of chocolate In case your memories of last year’s ice cream mixed with kosher marshmallows and nuts. seder are blurred by too many cups of wine, charoset is the fruit-and-nut puree that symbolizes the mortar Hebrew slaves used when making bricks to construct Egyptian cities. In making its charoset flavor, which, sadly, is distributed only in Israel, Ben & Jerry’s opted for the Ashkenazi tradition of apples and walnuts, rather than the chunky Sephardic style featuring nuts blended with assorted dried fruits.

Ashkenazi charoset is great, but why stop at one Passover flavor? If we could have 10 plagues, why not 10 ice creams? Here’s some Passover flavors we’d like to see: 1. Sephardic Charoset: Think Ben & Jerry’s ice cream truck.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons rum raisin, but with lots of spices and other dried fruits like dates and figs.

8. Red Sea: You won’t want to part with this red-velvet 2. Manischewitz Madness: Sure, it’s not yet legal to put rich chocolate. marijuana in the ice cream, but why not this potent and 9. Tzimmes: Sweet potato base with chunks of dried intensely sweet wine? We envision it as a sorbet with a kick fruit. If you don’t think a tuber can go in ice cream, rememthat could replace the four cups of wine and double as a ber this: pumpkin pie is an accepted ice-cream flavor and palate cleanser. sweet potato pie tastes a little like pumpkin pie, so why not?

3. Chocolate-Covered Matzahs and Cream: Think 10. Dayenu: All (or maybe just some) of the above flacookies and cream, but crunchier and kosher for Passover. vors combined into one more-than-satisfying flavor.

4. Macaroons and Cream: Ice cream with chunks of Incidentally, Ben & Jerry’s, Passover is not the only macaroon, and the possibility of almost infinite sub-cate- Jewish holiday. When you finish with the Pesach line, we’re gories of flavors, mixing different types of macaroon with hoping to see some Rosh Hashanah (apples-and-honey), different types of ice cream.

Hanukkah (jelly doughnuts and/or gelt, anyone?) and 5. Pure Macaroon: Forget the chunks of macaroon and Shavuot (cheesecake) confections.

April 3, 2015 | The Jewish Press | C15

Bartenura

News Editor or Reporter

Continued from page C13 ago, when retailers serving Jewish and the store, said Grandes, who said he American community apparently non-Jewish clienteles ordered it year- expects increases for Passover, too. derives from hip-hop and rap singers round, “not just with Passover in Several miles away, at Miller’s Deli in such as Lil’ Kim, Drake and Jay-Z, who mind,” Buchsbaum said. That shift the largely Jewish suburb of Pikesville, worked the beverage into Jeff Karlin expects to sell up their lyrics and music videos. to 20 additional cases of the In a way, the entertainers brand in the weeks leading up are following in esteemed to Passover. footsteps. In the 1960s and That’s over and above the ‘70s, singer-actor Sammy six-case weekly average in Davis Jr., an African sales to his mixed Jewish and American who converted to non-Jewish clientele. The Judaism, famously endorsed Moscato constitutes “my bestManischewitz -- a brand still selling wine, by far,” he said, a standard-bearer among and “flies off the shelves” kosher and kosher-foryear-round.

Passover wines.

Passover wines differ from Bartenura Moscato sales regular kosher wines in that took off about six years ago the enzymes and yeast used At Wells Discount Liquors in Towson, Md., Bartenura is disafter the “inner-city, hip-hop, along with any sweeteners or played not in the kosher section but with non-kosher millennial crowd started added flavors must be free of Moscatos.

Credit: Hillel Kuttler latching onto it,” according to chametz, the various ingrediBuchsbaum. began in the New York City boroughs ents forbidden during Passover. Still, While considered the market leader, of Queens and Brooklyn and in parts most kosher wines are kosher for Bartenura is hardly the only Moscato of nearby New Jersey.

Passover, too. that’s kosher or kosher for Passover.

“It took off from there,” he said.

At approximately $14 a bottle, Others include Dalton, Gamla, Carmel Lee Grandes, Wells’ wine consultant, Bartenura typically sells for about $3 and Golan (all Israeli); Gabriele, Borgo said Bartenura was “one of the first” in more than non-kosher Moscatos, most Reale, Sara Bee and Rashi (all Italian); America to take Moscato to greater also produced in northwest Italy’s and Teal Lake (Australian). heights at a time when “traditional Piemonte region. Royal Wine banks on Dubbed “the blue bottle” for its dis- producers” were devoting small por- customers’ fondness for the brand tinctive sheen, Bartenura is featured on tions of their vineyards to the grape. rather than price considerations alone, more than 300 strategically targeted With Bartenura’s success, other Buchsbaum said. billboards in predominantly non- Moscato growers followed suit.

Wallace, the Wells Discount conJewish sections of New York, New Previously, what Grandes calls “the sumer, is one.

Jersey, California, Pennsylvania, fun, light-style wines” consisted mainCompared to other Moscatos she’s Maryland, Washington, D.C., and ly of white Zinfandel and wine coolers. tried that are either slightly bitter or parts of the Midwest where “we have a Now Bartenura and other Moscatos are too sweet, Bartenura’s higher price is hot concentration of sales,” said taking a “big chunk” out of those sales “worth it,” she said.

Buchsbaum’s colleague, David Levy. in his store, he said.

“I would rather pay a little more for Last year, Royal ran its first national Wells sells about seven cases of something I know I’m going to enjoy television commercial for Bartenura.

Bartenura monthly -- 10 during the than be kind of iffy about one I may The company first noticed the November and December holiday sea- not like,” Wallace said. “This is the only brand’s mainstreaming about 14 years son. It’s “one of the biggest sellers” in Moscato I drink.”

Advertising index Advertiser Page A Permanent Solution ........................................ C12 Abrahams, Kaslow & Cassman LLP ..................... C3 All Makes Office Equipment Co. ......................... C10 Allens ................................................................ A10 American National Bank ...................................... A3 Anti-Defamation League ..................................... B12 B’nai B’rith Henry Monsky Lodge ....................... B12 B’nai Israel Synagogue ...................................... B12 B’nai Jeshurun - South Street Temple ................. B11 Badger Body & Isuzu Truck ................................... A4 Bagel Bin ........................................................... C10 Baker’s Supermarkets ........................................ C16 Belgrade Family ................................................. B11 Bergman Jewelers ............................................... C6 Bernina Sewing Center ........................................ B8 Beth El BILU USY ............................................... A12 Beth El Sisterhood ............................................. B12 Beth El Synagogue ............................................ B12 Beth Israel Sisterhood ........................................ B12 Beth Israel Synagogue ....................................... B12 Beth Israel Youth Programs ................................ A12 Bloom Companion Care ..................................... B11 Boys Town ......................................................... B10 Boys Town National Research Hospital ............... C13 Chabad ............................................................. B12 Chabad Camp Gan Israel ................................... A12 Cohen’s Computer Club ..................................... A11 Cohen Families ................................................... C9 Cohen Family ...................................................... C4 Colliers International ............................................ B7 Enterprise Bank ................................................... A9 Farkas Family ...................................................... B9 Frankel Zacharia ....................................................... B3 Fraser Stryker Law Firm ...................................... A10 Friedel Jewish Academy ....................................... B6 Fringes Salon ...................................................... C7 Gallagher Grace/Mayer Insurance ........................ B5 Heafey Hoffman Dworak & Kutler ......................... A9

Advertiser Page Heritage at Sterling Ridge ..................................... B2 Hiller Electric ....................................................... C2 Hockenbergs ....................................................... B4 Honeyman Rent-All .............................................. C2 Ideal Pure Water ................................................ C12 Institute for Holocaust Education ....................... B12 Interim Homestyle Services .................................. A4 Jacobson Family .................................................. B5 Javitch Family ...................................................... C2 Jewish Federation of Lincoln ................................ C8 Jewish Federation of Omaha ................................ B1 Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation .............. B1 Jewish Press ................................................ A12, C8 Jewish War Veterans of America ......................... B12 John A. Gentleman ............................................ C10 Julio’s ................................................................ B11 Kohll’s Pharmacy & Homecare ............................. B8 Kreekos, Michael DDS ......................................... C7 League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly ........... B12 Lercher & Abromowitch Family ............................. B5 Lerner Company .................................................. B4 Lifeline by Immanuel ........................................... B7 Lion’s Automotive Upholstery ............................... C4 Louie M’s Burger Lust ........................................ C10 Malashock Jewelry ............................................... A5 Malbar Vision Centers ........................................ A10 Marathon Real Estate .......................................... C9 Mark Sanford Group ............................................ B3 Marks Clare & Richards ...................................... C11 McGill, Gotsdiner, Workman & Lepp, PC, LLO. ...... C7 McGrath North .................................................... B9 Mid-City Jewelry & Loan ....................................... B7 Natan & Hannah Schwalb Center for Israel & Jewish Studies ......................................................... B12 National Council of Jewish Women ..................... B12 National Siding and Windows ............................... A3 Nebraska Cancer Specialists ................................ A8 Nebraska Jewish Historical Society ..................... B12 Nebraska Press Statewide Classifieds ................. C15

Chase County Community Hospital Medical Technologist Chase County Community Hospital (Imperial, NE) MT opportunity to work full-time in Laboratory Department. Qualifications include BS in Medical Technology and successful completion of ASCP. For more information contact Human Resources at 308-882-7234 email: jsharp@chasecountyhospital.com website: www.chasecountyhospital.com

Advertiser Page Newman Family .................................................. B3 Noddle Companies .............................................. C3 NOVA Fitness Equipment ..................................... C6 Omaha Steaks ..................................................... A9 Omaha Surgical Center ........................................ C6 Omaha Temple Youth Group ............................... A12 Omaha TransVideo .............................................. A3 Omar Arts and Events .......................................... A6 One Pacific Place-Broadmoor ............................... A6 Parsow’s ............................................................. C8 Peterson Brothers Realty Co. ................................ A8 Pulverente Monument Co. .................................. C12 Rehab Visions ...................................................... B8 Remington Heights .............................................. B4 Ricks Family ....................................................... A11 Rose Blumkin Jewish Home ................................. C1 Rotella’s Italian Bakery ....................................... C12 Russell’s .............................................................. B9 St. Joseph Villa .................................................... C9 Schwalb Realty ................................................. C12 Security Equipment, Inc. ...................................... C4 Sol’s Jewelry & Loan .......................................... C11 Sonny Gerber Auto Sales ...................................... A4 Star Deli .............................................................. C5 Stothert, Mayor Jean ........................................... A7 Suburban Newspapers Inc. .................................. A5 Swartzbaugh Farber ........................................... C11 Temple Israel ..................................................... B12 Thomas Pet/House Sitting ................................. A10 Tifereth Israel Synagogue ..................................... C4 Tritz Plumbing .................................................... B11 United Insurance Group ....................................... B8 van de Kamp-Wright Family .................................. C7 Vann Realty ....................................................... A10 Visiting Nurse Association ................................... A11 Wiesman Development ........................................ A5 Winery ................................................................ B3 Zio’s Pizzeria ........................................................ A6

Wanted — Service Technician Full time farm equipment mechanic position is available at HorizonWest Inc. in Scottsbluff, NE. We offer competitive wages, 401k retirement plan and an incentive program. There is also Health/Dental/Life Insurance, personal time off, 7 paid holidays, uniform/tool allowances and factory schooling/training.

Call: Adam or Bruce at 308-635-3727 Or toll free at 888-322-7344

Opening for a full-time newspaper editor or news reporter in a four-person news department. Job involves news and feature writing, page design, editing and photography.

The Keith County News, 4,000 circulation, is a twiceweekly newspaper with 11 full-time employees at Ogallala, Nebraska, which is located near Lake McConaughy.

May college graduates are encouraged to apply.

Contact Publisher Jeff Headley, Keith County News, P.O. Box 359, Ogallala, NE 69153, call (308) 289-1599 or email newsboy@ogallalakcnews.com.

CORN FARMERS Did you harvest or sell corn between November 1, 2013 and the present?

You may be entitled to compensation.

Call Attorney Charles H. Johnson 1-800-535-5727

BULL SALE?

Run this size ad in over 160 Newspapers for just $5.95*/newspaper!

Nova Scotia & Prince Edward Island June 30 - July 7

4th of July- Philadelphia & Baltimore July 2-6

Canadian Rockies & Calgary Stampede July 7-17

Place your 1x4 display ad in over 160 Nebraska newspapers & get your message to over 750,000 readers. Statewide coverage for just $975*. Regional ads also available in Central, Northeast, Southeast or Western Nebraska.

Other sizes available upon request.

Call this newspaper or 1-800-369-2850 for more information.

Nebraska 2x2/2x4 Display Ad Network

Coastal New England July 12-19

Baseball Triple Play July 30-August 2, 2015

Husker Football Tours vs. Miami Sept. 17-20 vs. Illinois, Oct. 2-4 vs. Minnesota, Oct. 16-18 vs. Rutgers, Nov. 12-15

Allied Tour & Travel 800-672-1009 / AlliedTT.com

Nebraska STATEWIDE CLASSIFIEDS CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING in over 170 newspapers. Reach thousands of readers for $225/25 word ad. Contact the Jewish Press at 402-334-6449 or call 1-800-369-2850.

BANKRUPTCY: FREE initial consultation. Fast relief from creditors. Low rates. Statewide filing. No office appointment necessary. Call Steffens Law Office, 308-872-8327. steffensbankruptcylaw.com. We are a debt relief agency, which helps people file bankruptcy under the bankruptcy code.

AFFORDABLE PRESS Release service. Send your message to 171 newspapers across Nebraska for one low price! Call 1-800-369-2850 or www.nebpress.com for more details.

VINTAGE VILLAGE Antique Mall, 2425 O Street, Lincoln, 402-742-0063. Storewide Sale!

April 1-15, 10-7 Daily. 56 Dealers. New selections arrive daily! Antiques, collectibles, jewelry.

RESTAURANT EQUIPMENT Outlet; new & used restaurant equipment. See www.Chillmasters.biz, call 1-800-526-7105, or stop by our Showroom to see what’s in stock for you! Sioux City, IA. CITY ADMINISTRATOR position. City of Aurora, NE, is accepting applications for city administrator. Population 4,500. Located in south-central Nebraska, Aurora is a forward-looking, proactive community with mayor/council form of government. City council has six members elected by wards and mayor is elected at large. City administrator reports directly to mayor.

Community has excellent school system, progressive library, civic center, parks and recreation facilities, golf course, museum, and nationally recognized science center. Aurora seeks city administrator with appropriate educational background and/or professional work experience.

Private sector experience will be considered. City offers an excellent benefit package; employee pension and voluntary 457 deferred compensation plans; four weeks vacation; sick leave and holidays; salary DOQ. City is an EOE. Applications accepted until 5 p.m. April 24, 2015.

Interested parties should send letter of application, resume and a complete City of Aurora application form to City Administrator Search Committee, 905 13th St., Aurora, NE 68818-2409.

Applications available at www.cityofaurora.org SEEKING HEAD groundskeeper for golf course in Schuyler, NE. No experience needed, will train the right person. For more information call 402-352-2900.

IMMEDIATE OPENING: Progressive Central Nebraska irrigated grain operation seeks experienced, self-motivated individual willing to work in all phases of corn production. Familiarity with modern GPS equipment, pivot irrigation. Nonsmoking environment. Work history, references required. Very competitive pay package, benefits. 308-529-0180, frmfarms.job@gmail.com.

PIVOT SERVICE Techs and Grain Handling Crew members, immediate opening at Northern Agri-Services. Competitive pay, minimal travel. Apply: www.northernagriservices.com or Box 976, Henderson, NE 68371.

MID-AMERICA FEEDYARD, Ohiowa, NE, hiring full-time feed truck driver & Yard Crew!

Competitive hourly wage with benefits. Drug, background tests required. 402-295-2216. Apply: www.midamerica-feedyard.com.

Or send resume to PO Box 1070 Scottsbluff, NE 69363

SALES REPRESENTATIVE: Individual is responsible for growth and continued development of Ag Equipment Sales while ensuring customer satisfaction. Fred Haar Co., Yankton, SD, 605665-3762.

Or e-mail to scottsbluff@horizonwestinc.com

BUTLER TRANSPORT Your Partner in Excellence. CDL Class A drivers needed. Sign on bonus! All miles paid. 1-800-528-7825 or www.butlertransport.com.

C16 | The Jewish Press | April 3, 2015