April 6, 2007

Vol. LXXXVI No. 30 Omaha, NE

Celebrating 86 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa

18 Nisan, 5767 April 6, 2007

Sokolof and Javitch scholarships honor five and recognize Council Bluffs teacher

by JANET HENTHORN Foundation Endowment Associate Phil Sokolof strongly believed that students should be rewarded for good character, scholastic performance, personal achievement and community service. With these criteria, he established the Phil and Ruth Sokolof Honor Roll Merit Scholarships -- four $10,000 scholarships to be Michael Crabb David Sukiennik given each year, two to senior high school students and two to students in the field of health care.

The Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation, administrator of the Sokolof Endowment Funds, formed a Sokolof Scholarship Committee. According to Suzanne Singer, chairman, the selection process was extremely difficult. “Our task in this second year was Daniel Lercher Michelle Simon equally as challenging as it was last year. We were once again amazed advanced math class at the University of at how many outstanding students there Nebraska-Omaha two evenings a week. are in the Omaha Jewish community,” she He is a National Merit Finalist and a member of the National Honor Society. noted.

He was named Westside High School’s The two high school scholarship recipiOutstanding Boy of the Year in both his ents are Michael Crabb of Westside and sophomore and junior years, and David Sukiennik of Millard North.

Outstanding Student of the Year in three Daniel Lercher and Michelle Simon are different years, once in each discipline -the winners of the health care scholarBiology, Physics and English.

He also was ships. Ilya Poluektov won the Karen selected for Cornhusker Boys’ State.

Sokolof Javitch Music Appreciation Fund While Michael has been very involved in Merit Scholarship (see sidebar at right), intramural sports and school clubs, espeand Gail Krasne Kenkel, of Bloomer Elementary School in Council Bluffs, has cially the German Club, his passion has been named the winner of the $10,000 been music. He has played alto or tenor Phil and Ruth Sokolof Outstanding saxophone in Westside’s marching band, Jewish Teacher award. (The full article concert band and jazz band. In addition he was selected to perform with the All will appear in the April 13 issue.)

State Band, All State Choir and All State Michael Crabb Michael described his senior year as Jazz Band at the Lied Center. He has challenging -- understandable considering been a member of the prestigious Varsity he is taking four advanced placement Show Choir for three years.

Michael described his summer expericlasses, four music classes and an

ences as amazing. The summer after 9/11, he participated in the student ambassador program, “People to People,” founded by President Dwight D. Gail Krasne Kenkel Eisenhower with the idea that if young people got to know each other it would promote world peace. They traveled to France, Italy and Spain.

The next year, after participating in the Burke High School German Exchange Program, Michael hosted two German students at his home and then traveled with 15 other Omahans to Germany to stay with the students that they had each hosted. Last summer he was selected to join the Midwest Honor Choir that performed in Paris, Venice and Salzburg.

With each experience, he found that his participation in the ADL’s Manhigim Youth Leadership Training Institute was extremely valuable.

As a peer tutor, he has met with a student once a week, and he has also participated in the W.A.R.R.I.O.R. program (Westside Athletes Role Modeling Respect, Ideals, Outreach and Responsibility) visiting elementary schools to model good choices and discuss scholarship and time management.

The son of Drs. Suzan and Ian Crabb, Michael has yet to make his decision on where to attend college.

David Sukiennik Not one to take it easy in the last semester of his senior year, David is taking all Advanced Placement courses. In fact, honors and advanced placement courses dot his transcript through all four years at Millard North. His academic rigor will bode well for him as his intention is to Continued on page 2

Surgery forces musician to switch instruments Ilya Poluektov, who emigrated with his family from Latvia 11 years ago, is the recipient of the Karen Sokolof Javitch Music Appreciation Fund Merit Scholarship. This scholarship was established by Phil Sokolof in recognition of his daughter Karen’s talent and appreciation for musical and theatrical arts.

Presently a student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Ilya actually began studying the clarinet in fifth grade at the Friedel Ilya Poluektov Academy under Tuffy Epstein.

During his years at Burke High School he played in the band all four years and during his senior year he took up the cello so he could play in the orchestra.

While at Burke, he also played clarinet in the All City Music Festival Band and Orchestra, the UNO Honor Band and the Nebraska All State Band. He began taking piano lessons and taught himself how to play the guitar. Ilya found he “could spend hours practicing all three instruments. I had an irresistible urge to create music.”

At UNO, he has played in the Marching Band, Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Chamber Orchestra, as well as in a clarinet quartet.

Unfortunately, in the past year Ilya underwent cancer surgery on the roof of his mouth and is no longer able to play a clarinet. With his deep passion for music, Continued on page 2

Receipients to be honored at Sunday concert (See page 3.)

Going, going...gone!

The west entrance of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home overhang was demolished within the last two weeks to make way

Inside Opinion Page see page 16

for the addition of the Special Care Unit. A new temporary entrance is located on the Home’s south side, facing the

This Week: Teen Age features the men of AZA: Page 15 See Front Page Stories & More at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’

Nebraskans commemorate Yom HaShoah: Page 3-4

JCC parking lot. See pages 10-11 for more information about the Home’s “New Beginning” community forums.

Coming Later This Month: Mother’s Day Issue, April 27 JTA series investigates the Sudanese in Israel: Page 6

State’s AG gets firsthand look at Middle East: Page 8

Page 2

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 6, 2007

Scholarships honor five, recognize Council Bluffs teacher

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS FRIDAY, APRIL 6 Visions Board Meeting, 9:30 a.m.

Tot Shabbat and Dinner, 6 p.m. at Temple Israel SATURDAY, APRIL 7 Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:15 a.m. at Temple Israel Shabbat Tunes and Tales, 11:15 a.m. at Beth El

C L SUNDAY, APRIL 8 I The Living Torah, 9:30 a.m. at Chabad House P

C L I P

Class with Rabbi Nadel, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel & Adult Education, 10 a.m.-11 a.m. at Beth El

Sokolof Awards Ceremony, Concert and Reception, 3 p.m.

S A MONDAY & TUESDAY, APRIL 10-11 V E Federation Offices Closed for Passover

& S A V E

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11 NCJW new member event, 6:30 p.m. at That Pottery Place Heartland Philharmonic, 7 p.m.

Kabbalah Circle, 7 p.m. at Chabad House

C L I P & S A V E

THURSDAY, APRIL 12 BBYO Spring Regional Convention, April 12-15 Women of the Torah class, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel Adult Study with the Clergy, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel JFS Programming Meeting, 10:30 a.m.

Getting More Out of Prayer, noon at Beth El Torah on Wheels, noon at Bergman Incentives Jewish Thought, 12:45 p.m. at Chabad House Yiddish Group, 1 p.m.

Executive Board Meeting, 5:30 p.m. at Friedel JFS Becoming a Love & Logic Parent, 6 p.m.

Bible Translation for Jews, 7 p.m. at Beth El Board of Directors Meeting, 7 p.m. at Friedel B’nai B’rith banquet committee meeting, 7 p.m.

B&A Meeting, 7 p.m. at Blumkin Home Advanced Parshah Study, 7:30 p.m. at Beth Israel All events held at the JCC unless otherwise indicated. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the accuracy of events. To keep calendar accurate or for questions, call Marlene Hert at 334-6437.

FOR A COMPLETE LISTING, VISIT THE FEDERATION’S WEBSITE: www.JewishOmaha.org (click on calendar)

This Space For Rent Call Allan Handleman 334-6451

Continued from page 1 attend medical school after graduating from college.

David is a member of the National Honor Society and has been on the Debate Team for two years. He received several debate speaker awards and was the Lincoln Douglas debate champion. He was also named senior class homecoming king.

A member of the Student Council for all four years, David served as president in both his junior and senior years. He feels this experience has enhanced his commitment to Millard North and as president, “... I have been able to develop my leadership skills ... Because of the diversity of the students in this organization, I have gained a deeper appreciation for the unique qualities that others bring.”

David served as Director of Recruitment for the newly implemented year-long Mustang Mentoring Program, where upperclassmen mentor members of the freshman class.

His leadership skills were evident in BBYO, where he became an active member of AZA #1, serving as president, treasurer and moreh, vice president in charge of recruiting and training new members and retaining older members. He also held the position of moreh on a council level.

Rachel Blum, JCC Program Director, praised David’s extraordinary involvement in his chapter and the council as a whole, helping to increase membership and member involvement.

David has also donated his time to the Shiputznick Teen Volunteer Program, sponsored by the JCC, to Habitat for Humanity and the Make-a-Wish Foundation, baking for and serving families at the Rainbow House, while their children are patients at Children’s Hospital.

The son of Marlene and Hyman Sukiennik, David has worked at Coldstone Creamery as a shift manager and is now a to-go waiter at Charleston's Restaurant. He will be attending the University of Texas in Austin this fall.

Daniel Lercher Dan, a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Minnesota College of Biological Science Honors Program, is now in his first year at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine Despite a rigorous academic load in college, he assisted in finding funding for and pursuing cutting-edge basic research on an important protein involved in cell growth and development.

Dan took an ongoing weekly observational elective in the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Program at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota with Dr. Bruce Bostrom, Associate Professor Pediatrics, University of Minnesota.

According to Dr. Bostrom, “During our time together, I found Dan to be very inquisitive, with interest in both the technical and human side of medicine ... personable, reliable and mature ... able to connect with people of diverse ages, beliefs and backgrounds...intangible personality traits that will make him successful in clinical medicine.”

Through Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minneapolis, Dan became a Big Brother to a lonely Jewish preteen from a single parent family. Even after

Javitch winner switches instruments due to surgery C L I P & S A V E

Continued from page 1 he was undeterred and made the switch from woodwinds to strings immediately. His primary instrument now is the double bass.

According to James R. Saker, Ph.D, Professor and Director of University Bands, “...I have been fortunate to have some terrific students in my ensembles over nearly 40 years...However, there are only a few students I have known who possess the passion for music and the drive and desire to make a mark in the profession that I have seen in Ilya. I predict he will become one of our most successful graduates...someone who will go into the music education world and make a significant difference in the lives of many...”

Ilya is the son of Larisa Poluektova and Alexander Poluektov.

The Jewish Press will be closed for the last two days of Passover, Monday/Tuesday, April 9-10. Photos from the Passover issue may be picked up at the Press during regular business hours.

moving back to Omaha, Dan has continued his relationship through phone calls and e-mails. Dan says, “I strive to be a positive role model in his life.”

He was also in a program that involved a Humanitarian Aid Trip to Argentina. Before going to Buenos Aires, they raised money for a relief shelter and bought supplies to give to an elementary school. He met with members of the Jewish community to learn about the ongoing effects of the economic collapse in their country.

In his first year at UNMC, he has been part of two programs in the elementary schools -- one that is geared towards smoking prevention and the other addressing healthy eating to prevent childhood obesity. His work this year has confirmed his desire to become a physician.

Dan says, “I find the intricacies of disease fascinating and the patient contact rewarding.”

Dan is the son of Dr. Minnie Abromowitch and David Lercher.

Michelle Simon Michelle will graduate from Dana College, in Blair, in May. She will then begin her three-year program in Physical Therapy at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

She has known that she wanted to be a physical therapist since her freshman year in high school. After tearing her ACL during the basketball season and enduring surgery, she went through six months of intensive physical therapy. Michelle said, “I was amazed at how my therapist was able to help me rehabilitate from this severe injury. I knew I wanted to be able to help other people in a similar manner.”

To confirm that physical therapy was what she really wanted to pursue, Michelle began work as a rehabilitation technician at Methodist Hospital while attending Dana. After spending the last four years at the hospital, she knows she has chosen the right career.

Michelle majored in science and Spanish, and even went to Argentina for an intensive 45-day training program. One of her motivations for learning Spanish was her desire to help her future patients. At present she is taking Spanish for Medical Personnel, a class created for med students from UNMC. She served as a Supplemental Instructor for General Chemistry for two years, working three nights per week helping students with study skills, reviewing content and instilling the confidence they need to do problem solving.

Besides being in the Honors Program for the past three years at Dana and on the Dean’s List for all seven semesters, Michelle is very involved in campus activities.

She was a member of the search committee for a new chemistry professor, on the Academic Affairs Committee which decided the guidelines that would be used to analyze the academic departments at Dana, president of the Science Club, and volunteer coordinator for the campus blood drive.

In addition to a very long list of other volunteer activities, she has run bingo games at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home and helped organize an international symposium at Dana to educate students about the Holocaust and the Righteous Gentiles.

Michelle’s parents are Marsha and Steve Simon.

Beth El clergy bring Passover to Remington

Jewish residents at Remington Heights enjoyed a recent visit from Beth El Synagogue Rabbi Mordechai Levin, left, and Cantor Gastón Bogomolni, who shared lively holiday songs, plus enlightening and educational insights into the celebration of Passover. The rabbi and cantor visit the Remington residents several times a year, offering presentations before every major Jewish holiday.

April 6, 2007

Concert on Sunday celebrates Sokolof winners

by SUSAN ROTHHOLZ Omaha is in for a special treat on Sunday, April 8, 3 p.m., when Cantor Gastón Bogolmolni and Marti Epstein star in a musical concert at the Jewish Community Center. Well known for his glorious voice and his joy of singing, the cantor will be accompanied by the piano virtuoso and composer Marti Epstein, daughter of O m a h a n s Tuffy and Helen Epstein.

Epstein is a Professor of Cantor Gastón Bogomolni Composition at the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston where she has taught harmony and counterpoint. She has been a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, received composition commissions from many leading artists and ensembles, and her music has been performed all over the world.

“Most composers in the late 20th and early 21st century are faced with the daunting but incredibly exciting task of creating their own musical language, which can draw from or completely break

away from past music of all styles,” she said.

Bogomolni, a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is the Cantor at Beth El. He was one of the youngest cantors accepted and inducted into the Cantor’s Assembly of USA. He has served the Jewish communities in the United States, the Dominican Republic and in Spain where he established the country’s first Klezmer orchestra -performing as its featured Marti Epstein vocalist.

Cantor Bogolmoni has sung with the Omaha Symphony and throughout Europe, Israel and the Americas.

This concert will follow the presentation of the Phil and Ruth Sokolof Honor Roll Merit Scholarships. Cantor Bogolmolni was one of the first recipients of the Javitch Music Scholarship to continue his studies at University of Nebraska-Omaha. The awards presentation and concert are free and open to the entire community; a reception will follow.

Bus transportation to Lincoln’s Yom HaShoah commemoration is available by reservation for $12 per person. It will leave the Jewish Community Center in Omaha on Sunday, April 15, 12:30 p.m., for Lincoln and return to the JCC by 6:30 p.m. This transportation is co-sponsored by the Institute for Holocaust Education, the Jewish Federation of Omaha, the Center for Jewish Education, and the Jewish Federation of Lincoln. The bus will not, however, stay in Lincoln for the opening production of The Train. For bus reservations, call 333.1303.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 3

Inspiring collaborative play among multiple Yom HaShoah events

by CAROL KATZMAN Editor, the Jewish Press The Lied Center for Performing Arts will present The Train, a collaboration between the Angels Theatre Company and the Third Chair Chamber Players.

There will be five performances in the Lied Center’s Johnny Carson Theater: April 11-14, 7:30 p.m., and a performance on Sunday, April 15, 7 p.m., following the annual Yom HaShoah commemoration at the Capital Rotunda at 4 p.m., which includes the traditional candlelighting ceremony, recitation of poetry by students from Lincoln Public Schools, and the chanting of El Malei Rachamim by Temple Israel’s Cantor Wendy Shermet.

The featured speakers for the ceremony are Bill Ramsey and Betty Shrier, who have documented the history of David Kaufman, a Grand Island businessman who personally saved more than 250 Jews from extermination in the Holocaust.

Earlier that day, a new Holocaust memorial will be dedicated at Nebraska’s state cemetery, Wyuka Cemetery, at 2 p.m. The stainless steel monument, designed by Canadian artist Morton Katz, is a three dimensional representation of the Star of David in two bronze pyramids, emblazoned with bas relief images of dehumanization, deportation, and extermination.

According to Brenda L. Weyers of the Lied Center for Performing Arts, “‘The Train’ is a moving chamber theatre production about an elderly Jewish couple living with their jarring memories of horror and sorrow after surviving the Holocaust. Both the elderly Clara and

David and their younger selves are shown simultaneously on a split stage, giving audiences a glimpse into the couple’s present and past.”

This inspirational story about survival and memory was written by Carl Slatboom and was translated by Dr. Lou Leviticus of Lincoln, who also serves as the narrator. Profiled in the Jewish Press on Jan. 28, 2005, he survived the Holocaust in the Netherlands, was hidden several times by family friends.

The now retired agricultural engineer came to Lincoln in 1974, after having lived in Israel and fighting in both the 1956 and 1973 wars. He earned his Ph.D. at UNL and was a member of the faculty; he became an American citizen six years ago. He kept his story to himself until 1996, when he was approached by Omahan Ben Nachman, who was videotaping survivors for the Shoah Visual history Foundation. Now Leviticus lectures to diverse groups from religious school students to church members.

“It is an obligation, “ he told Leo Adam Biga in 2005, “not necessarily to this generation, but to my school buddies, my parents, my grandparents and to all those people. If I don’t tell their story, what else is left of them except their names in a register?”

And perhaps translating The Train from Dutch was a cathartic experience for Leviticus. As Biga wrote in the 2005 profile, “The first anti-Jewish regulation affecting him was a 1941 law banning Jews from all movie theaters except for the single Jewish-owned cinema in Amsterdam.”

Continued on page 4

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 6, 2007

Play among multiple Yom HaShoah events Continued from page 3 Other cast members include Paul Boesing, Caitlin Hart, Andrew McGreevy, Jane Noseworthy, and Rose Leviticus. The production is directed by Judith Hart and is performed by the Angel Players.

Tickets for this performance of The Train are $25.

University of Nebraska–Lincoln students with a valid I.D., as well as youth age 18 and younger, may purchase tickets for half price. Call the Lied ticket office at 402.472.4747 or 800.432-3231 for ticket availability.

To order tickets online or for more information on any Lied Center performances, visit the Lied Center’s web page at www.liedcenter.org.

The Train is produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. Funding provided by the Woods Charitable Fund, Inc., Cooper Foundation, Lincoln Community Foundation, Karen Sokolof Javitch Music Appreciation Fund, Murray H. & Sharee C. Newman Supporting Foundation, Nebraska Humanities Council,

and Shirley & Leonard Goldstein Supporting Foundation. Corporate support provided by Sartor Hamann Jewelers.

Yom HaShoah events in Lincoln continue at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery on Monday, April 16, 7 p.m., with the 2007 Annual Wald lecture, delivered by noted professor and author, Dr. Deborah Lipstadt.

Her book, History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving, tells of the libel action against her in a British court by Holocaust denier David Irving, about whom she wrote in her 1994 book, Denying the Holocaust. The Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies and Director of the Institute for Jewish Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, she has taught at UCLA and Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Lipstadt received a bachelor’s from City College of New York and masters and doctorate from Brandeis University. She also is the author of Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust.

Author shares her mother’s story during Omaha’s Yom HaShoah commemoration

by LISA LIEB Federation Communications Director Ann Kirschner has captivated The New York Times, People Magazine, Jewish Book World and countless readers with Sala’s Gift, the riveting tale of her mother’s Holocaust experience. On Wednesday, April 18, 7 p.m., at Temple Israel, she will share her story during the Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) community event.

Sala’s Gift is the story of a brave teenager who went to a labor camp in place of her delicate sister. What was supposed to be a six-week shift turned into five years of labor at seven different camps.

Ann Kirschner Sala risked her life to keep the letters she received, hiding them during lineups, handing them to trusted friends, even burying them underground. When Sala presented the hundreds of letters and postcards she had saved to Kirschner just before undergoing triple-bypass surgery, Kirschner’s decadelong journey into her mother’s past began. “Saving the letters was her act of resistance,” Kirschner said. “What an act of heroism! This was her way of saying ‘I define who I am, not you’.”

Kirschner is University Dean of the Macaulay Honors College at the City University of New York. She began her career as a lecturer in Victorian literature at Princeton University, where she had earned a Ph.D. in English. A writer and contributor to a variety of newspapers and other publications, she has built a career as an entrepreneur in media and technology.

Kirschner views Yom Hashoah as an essential annual event. “As Jews and citizens of the 21st century, Yom Hashoah provides the forum to gather as a community and think of the tragedy of war, and the incredible importance of compassion and corrective action.”

Her focus will center on how identity is shaped by history, and what happens when family history gets played out on a global stage. “We read in textbooks about events in history, yet we rarely get a chance to see what happens on the level of the individual. This is a call to action to use history in a productive way, and to take our place as contemporary citizens who care about the people around us.”

Asked about how her mother’s letters and the enormous undertaking of writing Sala’s Gift has changed her perception of the Holocaust, she replied that the experience has brought it down to a more personal level. “I don’t think any of us can begin to imagine what it’s like for the actual survivors, but these letters are perfectly preserved time capsules,” she explained. “I hear their voices now. I hear them when I’m awake and I hear them when I’m asleep.”

With her husband’s first cousin, Jeffrey Schweid an Omaha resident, Kirschner is especially looking forward to her first Omaha trip. “I’ve always heard about the Omaha Jewish community, and I’m blown away by its vitality and range of activities,” she said.

Prior to the community event, Kirschner will speak to Omaha area Jewish teens, focusing on selected letters from her mother’s collection. “I particularly love talking to young people,” Kirschner said. “They learn about a fellow young person coming of age, and they marvel at how my mother navigated this incredibly hostile world.”

The teen educational program will begin with dinner at Temple at 6 p.m. and will conclude at 6:45 p.m. An author event and book signing will take place the following day, April 19, noon, at the JCC Kripke Library.

The Yom Hashoah commemoration is presented by the Center for Jewish Education and sponsored by Beth El, Beth Israel, and Temple Israel. Bea Karp and Nancy Kutler are co-chairmen of the committee, which also includes Toba Cohen, Katherine Finnegan, Beth SeldinDotan, Rosie Zweiback, Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, and Zohar Weiner.

Kirschner encourages parents to bring their children on April 18th, stating that “the children are our most important audience.” Questions about the Yom HaShoah community event may be directed to the CJE office at 334.6445.

April 6, 2007

From the desk of the President

FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT

by NORMAN H. SHELDON, President of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Our Omaha Jewish community has long been recognized for its vibrant Jewish life and strong Jewish infrastructure. Our annual campaign and supplemental campaigns have met our needs over the past several decades and our Federation Foundation has reached unprecedented accomplishments.

It is the challenge of the executive leadership and professional staff of our Federation to insure our continued success and our future viability. For this reason, we are always striving to remain proactive, innovative and open to new ideas.

In recent months, we have continued to explore opportunities on our campus to share resources, particularly in the agencies of Jewish Family Service (JFS) and Jewish Senior Services (JSS).

A number of years ago JSS was brought under the management of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home (RBJH) resulting in increased services and greater continuity. As a small agency, JSS was able to become part of a larger operation, thus significantly increasing its ability to meet its mission of providing outstanding service to our seniors.

In reviewing the operations of Jewish Family Service, the agency professionals and leadership have also concluded that there may be much to gain by joining, oper-

ationally, with the larger agency of JSS/RBJH. Jewish Family Service is an agency of critical importance to the Omaha Jewish community. We rely on this Center of Excellence to carry out projects of assistance and tzedaka to Jews in need, one of the top priorities of our constituency. In addition, the services, offered in areas of education, therapy, and programming for the Developmentally Disabled enhance our organization and community, further illustrating the important role of this agency.

It is, therefore, important to understand that the scope of any changes will not affect the identity of JFS. In operational areas such as Human Resources, Computer Technology and Finances, JFS could benefit from being part of a larger agency. In areas of services to our community, JFS could benefit from some of the resources which JSS/RBJH has to offer in areas of transportation, programming, and social services to name a few.

On behalf of the Federation I have appointed a task force, chaired by Adam Yale, comprised of JFS and JSS leadership along with our professionals, Michael Silverman, JSS/RHJH Executive Director and Karen Gustafson, JFS Director. This group will begin the process of review, evaluation and recommendation regarding the joining of these entities. They will be focusing on areas of operations, resources, delivery of services and governance over the upcoming months.

We are fortunate that JSS/RBJH and JFS are supported by dedicated volunteers who are committed to the goals of these agencies and making them the best they can be. I look forward to reporting to you as this project develops and sharing the details of our progress.

Hadassah to feature “Rockin’ Rabbis” Tifereth Israel, Passaic, NJ, and ran Shabbatonim for

by GLORIA SHUKERT JONES Hadassah Publicity Coordinator high school Jewish youth for several Jewish organizaYou’ve heard their words of wisdom, solace and inspi- tions. He has served as scholar in residence for communities across the country and has almost a thousand ration. Now, listen to their music!

Assistant Rabbis Eric Linder of Temple Israel and Seth readers of his weekly e-mail divrei Torah.

Nadel is also an accomplished musician and songNadel of Beth Israel will combine both vocal and instrumental talents as the “Rockin’ Rabbi’s”, at Omaha writer. He has toured nationally as a solo act and along Chapter of Hadassah’s donor luncheon. The event to be with his band, inspiring Jewish communities across held Wednesday, April 18, noon, in Beth Israel’s social North America. In 2004, he released the CD, “One Thing I Ask,” a high-energy hall, is open to the entire hybrid of rock, pop, folk, community. and blues. Critics have called Hadassah is pleased to his music, “passionate rock present these young rabbis, both of whom have had and roll for the soul.” extensive musical backCo-chairmen for this event grounds, which include conare Dora Goldstrom, Carol temporary entertainment as Schneider and Andi well as teaching.

Wilensky. The planning Rabbi Linder joined the committee consists of Temple clergy in 2006. He Goldstrom, Phyllis Zabin, was raised in Plantation, Dora Goldstrom, left, Dorothy Spizman and Georgia Ann Dorothy Spizman, Georgia Florida, and graduated from Steinberg, prepare to mail the invitations.

Ann Steinberg, Harriet the University of Florida with a degree in history. He Klopper, Charlotte Kaplan, Bette Kozlen, Julie Stein, was ordained from Hebrew Union College in New York Esther Wax, and this writer. Cost for the luncheon is $12.

City in 2006.

Please send in your reservation by April 9, to Carol In his freshman year of high school, Linder’s parents Schneider, 2305 No. 134 St., Omaha, NE 68164. gave him $20 to attend a youth group event. While Donations may either be mailed with the reservation or singing, playing, praying and making friends, he realized received at the door, proceeds to benefit Hadassah the great power of a Jewish community. Linder believes College-Jerusalem and Hadassah Career Counseling in the Torah as a vehicle for personal growth, as it calls Institute. If you have any questions, please call each of us to Lech L’cha, to venture courageously for- Schneider at 493.3173. ward in our lives. Rabbi Linder brings his passion of music, movies and the iPod to his rabbinate. He likes to discuss life after death, the theological problem of suffering, and whether or not things “happen for a reason.”

In the sixth grade, Linder decided to play the saxophone, mostly, he indicates, “because it had a lot of buttons.” Since then, he has performed in his high school marching band and jazz bands. He likes to rewrite lyrics to pre-existing songs, and enjoys a freestyle rap contest from time to time. Currently, he plays saxophone, guitar and piano, and is learning blues harmonica.

Music and Judaism have always been intertwined for Linder. Just recently, he taught a high school class entitled “Judaism for the Ipod.” consistently referencing songs, movies and pop culture, Rabbi Linder hopes to help make Judaism accessible, meaningful and creatively The third graders at Beth El Synagogue’s Talmud Torah invigorating. were recently honored during a special consecration cerRabbi Seth Nadel and his family recently moved to emony at the synagogue. During the program, celebrants Omaha from New Jersey, where he spent almost a read original prayers and led attendees in a variety of decade serving the Jewish community as an educator. prayers which they’ve learned during the past year. This He taught at Hebrew high schools and congregational year’s third-grade class includes: front row: Jacob Klein, schools throughout New York and New Jersey and left, Emilie Stein, Samantha Nahimov, Tomer Palmon, Zev taught special education at a yeshiva high school for Randone and Ben Snyder; back row: Jake Simon, Daniel boys. “Reb Seth,” as his students refer to him, received Levy, Deborah Turetsky, Lauren Kirshenbaum, Brooke several awards recognizing excellence in teaching.

Shulewitz, Aliyah Jabenis and teacher Eadie Tsabari.

He served as a youth director at Congregation

BESTT third graders celebrate Consecration

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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®

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Part I: A TROUBLED EXODUS

Israel quandary over Sudanese: Let them stay or send them away

Credit: JTA graphic; Brian Hendler photographs

by YOSEF ISRAEL ABRAMOWITZ Israeli and international law.

KIBBUTZ KETURA, Israel (JTA) -- With two miles After two years of legal challenges and growing Israeli of bare footprints behind them, Ahmed and Fatima, and media attention, the issue now is coming to a critical their three children, approached the border with Israel juncture. in the middle of a cold winter night. Snow was falling in The practice of arresting and indefinitely detaining the Sinai.

Sudanese asylum seekers on security grounds is being Avoid the Egyptian military patrols, they were warned tested in the courts even as Israeli Border Police are by their Bedouin smugglers, whom they paid with showing signs of resisting the orders to arrest and detain money borrowed from Sudanese friends. the refugees crossing the borders.

“If they catch you, you could be shot or deported back Major international human rights figures have to Sudan,” the Bedouins said. embraced the cause, and a handful of Knesset members The 12-hour trip from Cairo was the last leg of a and activists in Israel are pressing for a resolution of the multi-year journey stretching from the violence of crisis. Some of these activists in turn have strong ties to Darfur to Sudan’s dangerous capital, Khartoum, to the the American Jewish community, which has embraced teeming streets of Cairo. Ahmed had been imprisoned in the cause of Darfur as a top humanitarian priority. each city.

Some 200,000 to 400,000 people have been killed in Israel was their last hope for what Fatima calls “a nor- the Darfur region of western Sudan. Another 2.5 million mal life” without the “fear of being sent back to Sudan.” have been displaced.

Two hours after dusting the sand off their dark clothIsrael’s quandary is a difficult one. ing from crawling under two security fences, their five“Sudanese refugees are right now considered enemy month-old baby’s cry pierced the silence of the frigid nationals since Sudan is an Islamic fundamentalist counNegev air. try,” explained Anat Ben Dor, the country’s leading The response was an Israeli military spotlight. refugee rights lawyer, who has emerged as a top advocate “Do you know where you are?” the soldiers called out in Arabic.

“Yes,” they answered.

“Why are you here?”

“Because we were mistreated in Egypt.”

“Who are you?”

“We are Sudanese.”

Ahmed lowered his two-year-old son from his shoulders and held up his Sudanese passport, as well as the worn yellow card from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR. The card had been obtained in Cairo and saved them from being deported back to Sudan, as the Egyptian police had threatened.

The Israeli soldiers gave the children their green military coats.

“We were afraid of the Egyptian army, Footprints traverse a sand dune on the Israeli-Egyptian border and Sinai not of the Israeli army,” Ahmed recalled Desert, close to where Sudanese refugees have come across, Feb 12, 2007. later.

Credit: Brian Hendler/JTA In an often reluctant ritual that has been repeated almost weekly for the Sudanese refugees. for two years with Sudanese “Yet Israel is a signatory to sneaking into Israel, Israel the International Defense Forces patrols gathConvention on Refugees, ered up the tired refugee which guarantees humane family, placed them in an treatment and a safe haven ambulance and handed them from genocide.” over to the Border Police.

Ben Dor, 40, directs the The Border Police sent Tel Aviv University Law Ahmed to Ketziot prison for School Refugee Rights violating the Infiltration Clinic and in late February Law, a 1954 statute enacted filed suit against the governagainst enemy combatants. ment for its alleged treatIf the experience of others ment of three refugees. before him is any precedent, Israel helped author the Ahmed could remain incar- Refugee advocate Anat Ben Dor, preparing for a lawsuit convention in the aftermath cerated for at least a year, against the Israeli government, takes an affidavit from a of World War II. Jewish until Israel figures out what Sudanese who was handcuffed for three days by the securi- refugees fleeing Nazi to do with him and the more ty forces in Israel.

Germany were routinely than 120 other imprisoned Sudanese. refused safe haven because they, like the current Fatima and the children were sent to a battered Sudanese, were classified as enemy nationals. women’s shelter in the western Galilee that has largely Activists enjoyed a small victory March 21 when been taken over by Sudanese refugees whose husbands Israel’s Supreme Court gave the state 45 days to deterare in prison. mine whether the detainees were getting a fair and propThe failure of the United Nations to cope with the er judicial review. doubling of refugee applications in the past decade or to “Bringing justice is the issue here,” said Supreme intervene to prevent the genocide in Darfur has had rip- Court Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch, who is presiding ple effects throughout the world. over a three-judge panel hearing the case.

That now includes Israel and the Jewish world.

“This is very significant,” said Ben Dor, who together Faced with genocidal threats from Iran and terrorist with the Hotline for Migrant Workers, filed the appeal to groups, a legacy of the Holocaust, and even echoes of the court arguing that those Sudanese arrested and put the Exodus 3,700 years ago, Israel is torn between its in jail for illegally entering the country should not be commitment to universal humanitarian concerns and its charged as infiltrators of an enemy state. own security interests.

The petition against Israel’s defense and interior minA four-month JTA investigation into the plight of the isters argues that even though 150 Sudanese have been refugees and the Israeli government’s handling of the released into alternative detention, the lack of formal situation found a system that even the top Israeli official judicial review makes the detention illegal. adjudicating each of the cases has said often violates Continued on page 7

April 6, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 7

Israel quandary over Sudanese Continued from page 6 Islamic terror,” he said. “All the security services say “The U.N. says there Under Israeli law, other nationals who sneak through that there is a danger when it comes to the Sudanese. are only 15,000 Sudanese the Sinai desert into Israel are charged with the Law of Detention or alternative detention is legitimate in a refugees in Egypt, and of Entry. In those cases, the government must review their democratic country and also in the State of Israel.” these, how many are cases every 30 days and jusDebate is being waged going to pay big money, tify their imprisonment. But about how many Sudanese risk their lives and risk since Sudanese are considwould seek refuge here if arrest to go over the ered “enemy nationals,” the detainees are released desert to Israel?” they are charged under the from prison and accorded As to the porous border harsher Infiltration Law, good treatment in the with Egypt, it is not the which has no official review Jewish state.

Sudanese that Israel most mechanism and by which “What we do here will worries about but terrordetainees can be held indefidetermine if three million ists like Muhammed nitely. will come” from Egypt or Faisal Saksak.

‘Ahmed,’ originally from Darfur, in Irwin Cotler, Canada’s will stay there, said Yossi On Jan. 29, the 21-yearKetziot Prison in the Negev. former minister of justice Edelshtein, director of the old Palestinian crossed the Credit: Yosef Israel Abramowitz border about 12 miles and human rights attorney Enforcement Unit of the to such well-known dissiImmigration Police The north of the resort city of Eilat and blew himself up in a dents as Natan Sharansky three million figure is often small bakery, killing three. and Nelson Mandela, has cited by Israeli policy makIn either a slip of the tongue or a calculated leak to joined with the Israel Bar ers, particularly in the securi- remind the Knesset of the potential security risks of too Association in filing supty services. But others dis- liberal an asylum policy, Aharoni of the Immigration porting documents on pute those figures.

Police revealed to legislators in his Knesset testimony behalf of the Sudanese to the “Anyone who talks about that “it appears that one Sudanese refugee belonging to Israeli High Court. millions of Sudanese coming al-Qaida was released.”

“Israel should be more to Israel is scare-mongerHalf a dozen ministries, including the Prime Minister’s part of the international ing,” said Michael Kagan, an Office, would not respond to queries about the link. struggle against genocide in American human rights Daniel Ben-Zaken, the director of Ketziot prison, ‘Fatima,’ a Sudanese woman from Darfur, sits with her Darfur,” Cotler said. “If lawyer who has worked in which is holding many of the detainees, told JTA: “We United Nations refugee document at a shelter in northern Israel grants refugee status Israel and Egypt. “No one asked and we received no information about anyone Israel, Jan. 16, 2007. Her husband ‘Ahmed’ was put in an or temporary resident status even knows that there are connected to anything like that.”

Israeli prison after the family was caught sneaking into the to the Sudanese, it can be millions of Sudanese in In 2005, the security forces caught 5,600 people tryCredit: Brian Hendler/JTA country from Egypt.

Israel’s own modest contriEgypt; some estimate there ing to infiltrate across the Egyptian-Israeli border, bution to speaking up against the genocide rather than are only a few hundred thousand. But in any case, we’re including drug and weapon smugglers, women destined interring them and making the opposite statement.” not talking about all Sudanese. We’re talking about for prostitution, foreign workers and refugees.

Continued on page 8 Although the numbers are fluid, an estimated 300 refugees,” he said.

Sudanese have arrived in Israel over the past two years.

Of these, some 120 remain in prison; the rest are in alternative detention, meaning crisis centers, kibbutzim or moshavim, where many of them work and live but are not free to leave the premises.

Another estimated dozen or so Sudanese men in the Sinai are partnered with Israeli women and have children, but cannot enter Israel for fear of arrest.

Sigal Rozen, 39, co-founded the Hotline for Migrant Workers with a grant from the New Israel Fund. Her tiny fourth-floor offices next door to a Tel Aviv police station are a hot spot for undocumented workers of all colors and nationalities who come knocking for assistance.

The hot line brings them to the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees offices to get protection papers, documents that verify their refugee status so they can qualify for a temporary work visa.

“There are people from all over the world who come to Israel,” Rozen said. “If a Turk and a Chinese come across the border with a Sudanese, only the Sudanese is imprisoned. That is discrimination.”

Israeli government officials say the situation is a difficult one.

“The Israeli government is endeavoring to deal with this issue as humanely as possible,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. “Jewish history has made us especially sensitive to genocide. No one is being sent back to the inferno in Darfur.”

At the same time, he said, “we have to take precautions” to minimize the security risk given where the refugees come from.

In the March 21 court case, state attorneys argued that the system was working and there was no need to change the legalities under which the Sudanese are being held.

Some officials, in private conversations and in Knesset testimony, contend that beyond the immediate security concerns about individual Sudanese, the greater fear is the ripple effect of even more refugees seeking asylum in the Jewish state.

The fault lines drawn around the refugee battle between those advocating deportation and those advocating granting asylum is “a paradox,” as one high-ranking Jewish organizational official called it.

“Israel is deeply sensitive to the issue of genocide,” this official said, “but it is also worried about a massive influx of Sudanese at its border.”

The prevailing government preference is to deport the refugees back to Egypt -- if Egypt will guarantee it will not deport them back to Sudan.

“The natural and correct solution is a return to Egypt,” Eliyahu Aharoni, deputy director of the Immigration Police, testified to the Knesset in late December. “Sudan is one of six nations that supports

Page 8

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 6, 2007

Israel quandary over Sudanese Continued from page 7 In 2006, 100 of those caught trying to infiltrate belonged to terror organizations, according to Israeli media reports.

That same year, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Israel saw an increase in its case load, with 1,600 applying for refugee or asylum status, up from 1,000 in 2005.

Most of the increase was from foreign workers who did not want to return to their native lands, often because of wars in the Congo, Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast and other African countries. The number of Sudanese seeking protection in Israel started to increase afte Egyptian police killed 27 and injured several hundred Sudanese refugees protesting outside the UNHCR office in Cairo at the end of December 2005.

None of the Sudanese who have crossed into Israel in the past 18 months has been granted asylum or temporary refugee status, according to Michael Bavli, head of the UNHCR office in Israel.

This contrasts with the some 200 asylum seekers from many countries, including some Sudanese, who had been granted permanent asylum in Israel between 1985 and 2005. An additional 700 nonSudanese refugees were granted temporary asylum during that time.

With each new arrival stretching an embryonic asylum system of the state, the issue of the Sudanese has been coming to a boil.

A Knesset lobby headed by Labor Party member Avishai Braverman and Likud member Gilad Erdan formed last November to “push for the release of all the prisoners who have sought asylum in Israel,” said the lobby spokesman Yehud Minkovitz.

Its focus is having the prisoners released and then advocating for at least some being granted permanent asylum status in Israel.

“I am ashamed as a person and as a Jew,” Braverman told JTA, referring to the practice of imprisoning asylum seekers. “We of all people have to know how to behave.”

The Knesset Committee on Foreign Workers held a Christmas Day hearing on the issue under the chairmanship of Ron Cohen of Meretz.

Two days later, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni sat across the table from Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, and asked her counterpart if

Egypt would consider taking back some of the refugees, according to a senior Foreign Ministry source who asked not to be identified.

Livni wanted to know if Egypt would consider a “hot return” policy, which would mean an immediate return into the Sinai of the refugees at the time they are picked up by the IDF on the border.

She also explored the possibility of an organized return to Egypt of all the Sudanese refugees who carry U.N. blue cards, meaning they were recognized as refugees in Cairo and are eligible for third-country resettlement from Egypt.

The Egyptian Embassy declined to comment on the exchange.

Just as the Egyptian foreign minister was returning to Cairo with the Israeli request to help them facilitate hot returns, Ahmed and Fatima packed two small bags and quietly left the Egyptian capital, beginning their journey to cross illegally into Israel.

Three days later, when Fatima arrived at the shelter in Israel’s North, she was greeted with media reports that Israel was considering deporting her and her family back to Egypt. She quickly dictated an impassioned letter in Arabic, which was translated into Hebrew by a Druze linguist, and it was sent to the Knesset lobby, which sent a direct appeal to Defense Minister Amir Peretz.

Peretz’s office has not responded to requests for an interview.

In her letter, Fatima briefly recounted her family's flight.

“I beg you not to let them send us away from here... I know that if they send us back to Egypt, we’ll go to prison and perhaps never get out,” she wrote. “We could also be sent to the Sudanese Embassy, and from there back to Sudan, and that will be the end of us. We’ll die like all the others who have died there.”

Yosef Israel Abramowitz is an awardwinning journalist and founder of socialaction.com. Abramowitz, who moved with his family last year to Israel, blogs daily at peoplehood.org. JTA correspondent Dina Kraft in Israel contributed to this piece. The names of the refugees have been changed to protect from reprisals against family members in Arab countries.

This is the first of a six-part investigative series prepared by JTA; read the rest of the series on the Jewish Press website. Go to: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’ and then on “A Troubled Exodus.”

Kosher for

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State’s AG gets firsthand look at Middle East

by CAROL KATZMAN in his reign to step down, “he has been in Editor of the Jewish Press power more than 25 years.”

Attorney General is no stranger to the In Jordan, officials as well as the ordiMiddle East; he met Israel’s Prime nary businesspeople the group met Minister Ariel Sharon in July of 2003. expressed anger and what Bruning And he went again in 2005. Last month, described as almost “latent antiJon Bruning participated in an Aspen Semitism” about the Israelis. He noted Institute-sponsored trip along with 12 fel- that Egypt was “stikingly poor in comparlow “future United States leaders,” he told the Press in a recent interview.

On this trip, he met with former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres in Tel Aviv, Jordan Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit in Amman, and former Secretary-General for the United Nations Boutros Boutros-Ghali in Cairo.

“Meeting with leaders like Prime Minister Peres has been an invaluable experience,” Bruning In between meetings with Shimon Peres, and trips to the Golan said. “Our conversation Heights and Ramallah, Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning provided a lasting impres- managed to get to the Western Wall. sion of the historic developments in the ison to Israel and Jordan. And Bruning region.” did sympathize with those Egyptian and The purpose of the trip is to interact Jordanian parents who had attended uniwith foreign leaders and understand how versities in the U.S., but, whose children developments in the Middle East impact were unable to obtain visas post 9/11.

American policy. Among the participants “Like Israel, we’ve erred on the side of were: Robin Carnahan, Secretary of State security,” Bruning said. “Sometimes it’s and daughter of Missouri’s late governor tough, finding the right balance.”

Mel Carnahan; Lynn Jenkins, State He was also struck by the “propoganda Treasurer, Kansas; and Michael Steele, effort of the Fatah leaders the group met chairman, GOPAC (a Republican in Ramallah. “We heard a lot about perfundraising group), and the Republican ceived transgressions by the Israelis,” candidate for U.S. Senate in Maryland in Bruning said, “They’re better (than 2006. He lost to Ben Cardin, a Democrat. Hamas),” he said, “but they still exhibit “The whole point of this trip,” said respect for Arafat, which I can’t stomach.

Bruning, “was to bring together Israel’s security wall has reduced the numDemocrats and Republicans and give us ber of terrorist attacks and suicide bomban international perspective. The Aspen ings. It’s an ugly reality, but I don’t know Institute is a bipartisan think tank and is what other choice Israel has.” Bruning trying to build relationships and ensure hopes that an Arab leader will arise who that future leaders have an understanding “has the strength to lead without vioof global issues.” lence.”

Bruning noted the contrast immediateThe two-year bipartisan program is ly between the closed societies of Egypt sponsored by the Aspen Institute, an and Jordan and Israel’s openness. “The international nonprofit leadership organiday we arrived in Cairo,” he said, “an zation, and the Rodel Foundation, a Egyptian blogger was thrown into jail.” group of public and private organizations Surrounded by “massive firepower” and committed to improving education. experiencing what he described as “sort of In July, Bruning will travel to China and a lockdown” during their visit to Cairo, India. “Their growth in population and Bruning commented that though economies is enormous. We can’t ignore President Hosni Mubarak promised early them.”

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 9

IN THE NEWS Who are your heroes? Why do you admire them?

These are questions that young immigrants from around the country are asked to answer artistically in the 2007 Poster Contest for Immigrant Youth.

This year marks the 13th year that HIAS -- the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society -- has sponsored the contest as a way to keep its legacy of rescue and resettlement alive in the minds of its youngest beneficiaries.

The contest is open to immigrant and first-generation children (whose parents immigrated to the United States) between the ages of 4 and 15. There can be only one entry per contestant and all artwork becomes the property of HIAS. Artwork must be no larger than 14” x 16”, in any medium - watercolor, crayon, oil, pencil, etc.

Submissions will be divided according to the following age groups: 4-7, 8-11 and 12-15. Each entry must be accompanied by a brief explanation of how the artwork relates to the theme. Contestants in the age 4-7 category should prepare at least two sentences describing their work, those in the age 8-11 category should write at least one paragraph; and those in the age 12-15 category should write two to three paragraphs. A panel will judge all works and accompanying descriptions on the basis of creativity, originality, technique, and relation to the theme.

The grand-prize winner will receive a $1,000 U.S. savings bond. Three runners-up will receive special recognition prizes. All 12 finalists will receive a certificate of achievement and have their poster reproduced in the HIAS magazine, Passages.

Entries should be mailed to: HIAS Poster Contest, 333 Seventh Ave., 16th Fl., New York, N.Y., 10001. All entries must be received by June 30, 2007.

The official entry form, which includes contest rules, may be accessed via the HIAS website http:// www.hias.org/Scholarships/poster/2007poster_fly ers.pdf; by calling the HIAS Communications Office at 212.613.1349, or by e-mailing: steven.bibb@hias.org.

Fiction writer Steve Stern, recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and two-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction, will read from his work on Thursday, April 12, 7 p.m. at the Great Plains Art Gallery, 12th and Q St., in downtown Lincoln. A reception will follow the reading. Stern is the author of a number of books, including Lazar Malkin Enters Heaven, A Plague of Dreamers, The Wedding Jester, and The Angel of Forgetfulness. He is a Professor of English at Skidmore College in upstate New York.

Gerry Shapiro, Professor of English at the University of Nebraska, will lead a discussion of Stern’s fiction at South Street Temple in Lincoln on Sunday, April 8, 1:30 p.m. Participants are invited to a buffet dinner with Stern before his reading on April 12. If you would like to take part, please call Prof. Shapiro at 472.1871 or the Harris Center for Judaic Studies at 472.9561 for details. Stern’s visit is being co-sponsored by the Norman and Bernice Harris Center for Judaic Studies and the Creative Writing Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

A group of friends since childhood who shared their 50th birthdays a decade ago, spent a weekend in Las Vegas last month to celebrate their 60th, back row: Judy

Nogg, Denver; left, Penny Krasne Endelman, Omaha; Carol Altsuler Cohen, Dallas; Harriet Dolgoff Fishel, Washington DC; Ellen Bank: Charlotte, NC; Debbie Baker Krasne, Scottsdale; and front row: Izzy Hurwitz Leverant, San Diego; Jaynie Smeerin Slutzky, Los Angeles; Frankie Harding Kasin, Omaha; and Francie Hornstein, San Francisco.

The Autism Center of Nebraska was established in March 2006 as a support center for families affected by autism. The organization’s focus is not only to provide services to children, adolescents and young adults with autism but also to increase their quality of life through in-home and residential habilitation, day services, vocational services and respite services.

Special Project Coordinator Jenina Stewart has joined the Autism Center with seven years of experience working for non profit companies including Community Health Charities of Nebraska and the Jewish Press.

The Nebraska Chapter MS Walk presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield will take place Sunday, April 15, 8 a.m. The Walk will start at the Scott Conference Center, 6450 Pine St., and proceed through Elmwood and Memorial Parks. Walkers will be provided breakfast and lunch, as well as musical entertainment.

Andy Greenberg has joined the Omaha based James Skinner Baking Company in the newly created position of Director of Marketing. Having recently completed a 24 1/2 year career with his previous employer, Andy and his wife Carole, were determined to remain in Omaha mainly due to the strength and warmth of the Jewish community.

Through a lead provided by Rabbi Mendel Katzman and what he considers divine presence, Greenberg became aware of the opening. The James Skinner Baking Company manufactures more than 150 varieties of pastries here in Omaha for national distribution and sale of which 44 are certified kosher by the O-U. Susan G. Komen, along with Borsheims, presents: “Puttin’ on the Pink” (previously known as the Pink Martini), a cocktail event to increase awareness and raise funds for Susan G. Komen for the Cure at Regency Court Shopping Center, on Friday, April 20, 5:308:30 p.m. Cost is $25 per person (includes two drink tickets and hors d’ouerves) Pink attire is encouraged.

Oxygen will be performing at 6 p.m.

Last month, Goodwill Industries, Inc., Serving Eastern Nebraska and Southwest Iowa, recognized the work of Sheldon J. Harris, William E. Ramsey and the late Helen (Geegee) Schorr by inducting each into its Hall of Fame. A ceremony was held at the Omaha Country Club, with more than 75 Goodwill supporters in attendance.

Goodwill’s Hall of Fame is meant to recognize Goodwill board members and/or volunteers; financial donors and/or Goodwill employees, past and present, who have made exemplary contributions to Goodwill Industries’ mission of assisting people with disabilities and other disadvantages, overcome barriers to employment.

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Among Goodwill’s honorees are, front row: Nancy Harris Godwin, left, Shelly and Janice Harris, Andrew Godwin; back row: Pete Godwin, Jim Harris, Zachary Harris, Tom Harris.

Shelly Harris, a partner in the law firm of Harris Kuhn, joined Goodwill Industries Board of Trustees in September 1982. Harris has donated legal services related to real estate transactions to Goodwill since the late 1980s. He was the President of the board during 1988 through 1989. He served on the Executive Committee for several years during his tenure as Vice President, President, and President Emeritus. He continues to attend Executive Committee meetings, offering his valuable expertise in many areas. He was a member of the selection committee which ultimately hired Goodwill’s current President and CEO, Frank McGree.

Joel Passer was recently elected Co-President of the Conservative Jewish Community at the University of Pennsylvania Hillel for 2007. Penn Hillel is one of the most active in the country, serving approximately 6000 Jewish students and was named the 2006 recipient of the International Hillel Haber award for Programmatic Excellence.

Joel is also a member of the University Symphony Orchestra and is currently performing in the Pit Orchestra for the Penn Singers’ performance of The Pirates of Penzance.

He is the son of Dr. Jeff and Sandy Passer.

Please let the Jewish Press know in advance when you are leaving and when you are returning.

Sometimes several papers are sent to your “old” address before we are notified by the Post Office.

Every time they return a paper to us, you miss the Jewish Press and we are charged 70¢! Please call us at 402.334.6448 or email us at jpress@jewishomaha.org.

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April 6, 2007

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Sharing a common mission: enhancing the quality of seniors’ lives requires its services. It is vitally important -- it is

by OZZIE NOGG The board members of Jewish Senior our responsibility -- to provide the best environServices/Rose Blumkin Jewish Home are a diverse ment and superior services.”

According to Stan Silverman, “The remodeled group. Men and women of various ages, some are Omaha natives, others moved here from out-of- Home will bring state-of- the-art care to our eldertown. Some are longtime JSS/RBJH volunteers, ly. Three members of my family were residents, as others signed on recently. Some Board members well as many close friends and acquaintances. One have seen family become residents of the Home, never knows when the need will arise for one’s famothers have not. But despite differences in back- ily. Everyone in the community should support the ground and life experiences, the group shares a campaign.”

Many JSS/RBJH Board members, including common mission: to provide the Jewish aging in Omaha with the necessary and appropriate pro- Harold Mann and Jim Farber, have observed the grams and services to enhance the quality, comfort attention received by a parent or relative at the Blumkin Home, and the experience deepened their and dignity of their lives.

The Board’s current focus is on the New commitment.

“My mother and three cousins were residents of Beginning for the Blumkin Home, and the informational Open Forums during which Mike Silverman, the Home,” Mann said, “and I was gratified to see Executive Director of JSS/RBJH, will take the that the staff cared for our residents as if they were audience on a virtual tour of the new facility and their own parents. At the same time, each visit made answer questions from the floor. The first open me more aware of the problems the elderly face in forum is scheduled for Tuesday, May 8, 7-9 p.m., today’s society, and made me work harder to make at Ironwood Country Club, with a second forum their lives more comfortable. I feel it is my duty and set for Wednesday, May 30, 7-9 p.m., at the pleasure, as a good Jew, to care for the elderly once Jewish Community Center. they can no longer live by themselves.”

“I truly believe this New Beginning for the Home Farber’s first exposure to Jewish Senior Services is one of the most important things to be done in came when his father was a resident during the last Omaha,” said Harriet Singer. “Everyone in the months of his life. “I realized the importance of community should subscribe to this project.” being part of it,” Jim said. “Aside from my belief in Carol Bloch echoed the sentiment. “I said ‘yes’ to the increasing need for this service as our populabecoming a board member because I knew that tion ages, Mike Silverman has brought us the finest plans for reworking the Blumkin Home were being professional leadership in growing, improving and discussed,” she explained, “and I wanted to be able maintaining this important part of our community, to express my goals for the Home, especially as it and I want to be an active contributor to support related to the Special Care Unit for residents with his work. It gives me personal satisfaction.” dementia. I know from personal experience that to Acting as an unofficial market researcher, mix dementia patients with those who are primarily JSS/RBJH board member Mike Platt toured other in need of physical care does not serve either popu- homes for the aged both in and outside the Metro lation as well as it should. I also know that each per- area. son in the community who comes to the Open Forums and learns about this exciting endeavor -- and then supports it -- will be glad he or she participated.”

In addition to the new 25-bed Special Care Unit dedicated to those with Alzheimer’s and dementia, major improvements to the Blumkin Home will enlarge and refurbish all resident bedrooms and bathrooms in the Extended Care and Short-Term Care Units, transform the existing Therapy/ Rehabilitation Suite, and add a sunlit The view from the window of Phyllis Gentry, Executive Assistant to Mike Silverman at the RBJH, Main Street to the shows the basement excavation of where the new entrance will be to the Home’s “Main Street.” building.

When construction is complete, the Home will “My folks were residents of the Blumkin Home,” reflect current changes in health care delivery and Platt said. “Other relatives lived in facilities in nursing home design, enhance the environment for California and Pennsylvania. On visits to them I saw visitors, volunteers and staff, and provide a beauti- the differences -- saw what’s out there -- and realful setting where residents can live in comfort and ized how badly we needed a new building with sepsafety. During all planning stages, board members arate wings and with modern amenities. If all of us worked closely with JSS/RBJH professionals. get involved in this project and learn what’s going “Mike Silverman and his staff are fabulous,” said on, the Blumkin Home can become a model faciliJeff Kirshenbaum. “They let the Board discuss the ty. We have a great Executive Director in Mike direction and future of the agency without having Silverman. We have a great staff. We are blessed to manage the day to day operations. We focus on with a caring and giving Jewish community. issues, which allows Mike to better serve the com- Together we do great things.” munity and the Blumkin Home residents. The rela“The new, improved Blumkin Home is a fact.” tionship that Past-President Joanie Bernstein and Jim Farber added. “We want people to see the pricurrent President Bob Belgrade have with Mike and ority the Jewish community of Omaha puts on the the staff makes for a productive board.” care that they or their loved ones may need as age Kirshenbaum came to JSS/RBJH after complet- or infirmity requires. By participating in the fund ing his term as President of the Jewish Community drive, we continue to demonstrate our commitment Center Board. “After listening to Joanie explain to our families, the Jewish community and the how this Board operated, who was on it and the greater Omaha Community.” future plans for the Blumkin Home -- as well as the Eileen Remer, who serves as Co-President of incredibly important responsibilities of Jewish LOVE (League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly) Senior Services -- I was honored to have been asked with her husband, Miles, said, “The JSS/RBJH to serve. The Blumkin Home is one of our crown Board holds a special place in my heart. I pray they jewels. Everyone in the Omaha Jewish community continue their good work for many years to come.” has, or will have, a parent, relative or friend who Continued on page 11

April 6, 2007

Enhancing the quality of seniors’ lives Contnued from page 10

Page 11

Yachad members prepare for Yom Ha’Atzmaut

by DUANE J. PIEPER tive items. For a couple of The members of the hours Yachad was totally Yachad group came together consumed by this industrial last month to prepare items enterprise and left with a real for their Yom Ha’Atzmaut sense of satisfaction. booth. They will be selling In the spirit of giving back hand-made molded and to the community, Yachad pump soaps with Jewish members also created their own tzedakah box. They are motifs, as well as Dead Sea looking forward to directing Bath Salts from Israel. In the profits from the Yom addition, this year they will Ha’Atzmaut event to others be offering a tasty, biblical in need, including those food bar containing the seven grains and fruits men- Yachad members working together to create items to sell at with “special needs� in Israel. Come to Yom tioned in Deut. 8:8. And for their Yom Ha’Atzmaut booth. tea lovers, Yachad has imported “Jerusalem Mint� tea, a Ha’Aztmaut and visit the Yachad booth and its members in the Community Room on April 22. special herbal blend from Israel.

Call 334.6491 at JFS to be put on Yachad’s mailing In a consolidated effort the members focused their energies in producing and packaging a variety of attrac- list.

Before demolishing the Home’s west entrance, a workman delicately removes bricks surrounding the Hebrew and English plaques from the Dr. Philip Sher Home that were moved to the Blumkin Home when it opened in 1982.

Officers and Executive Committee of the JSS/RBJH Board are: Bob Belgrade, President; Jim Farber, Larry Roffman and Harold Mann, Vice Presidents; Suzanne Singer, Secretary; Howard Epstein, Treasurer; Joan Bernstein, Past President; Steve Nogg and Norm Veitzer.

Board Members-at Large include Mike Abramson, Carol Bloch, Jerry Dann, Paul Epstein, Jeff Itkin, Jeff Kirshenbaum, Joe Kirshenbaum, Angela Krieger, Mike Platt, John Lehr, Nancy Noddle, Eileen Remer, Harriet Singer, Stan Silverman and Norman Smeerin.

Synagogue representatives are Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, Rabbi Jonathan Gross and Rabbi Mordechai Levin.

For information on the upcoming forums or to make your reservation, call Sandy Epstein, 397.2528, or email her at slepstein@cox.net.

She and her husband Paul Epstein, along with Richard and Joanie Jacobson, are leading the community-wide fund raising campaign for the New Beginning of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

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Library announces Whitman awards

by GARY KATZ Administrator, Kripke Library The Kripke Jewish Federation Library announced the winners for the 16th Annual Elinor A. Whitman Book Appreciation Contest. This year’s contest included a total of 26 winners. To enter, a contestant had to either write a review or design a book jacket for a Jewish book.

Children in Kindergarten through sixth grade were eligible to compete.

The awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, April 22, 3 p.m., in the Kripke Library during the community wide Yom Ha’Azmaut celebration.

BOOK JACKET Kindergarten: Noa Kipnis, 1st Place; Second Grade: Rebecca Novak, First Place; Josh Polack, Second Place; Third Grade: Mika Caplan, First Place; Debbie Turetsky, Second Place; Fourth Grade: Max Polack, First Place; Jake Baron, Second Place; Max Slosburg, Third Place; Fifth Grade: Eva Phillips, First Place; Nathaniel Teetzel, Second Place; Michael Popkov, Third Place; Sixth Grade: Aaron Kurtzman, First Place; Samantha Wiener, Second Place; Cleo Rogers, Third Place.

BOOK REPORT Second Grade: Zev Randone, First Place; Third Grade: Abby Hack, First Place; Fourth Grade: Sarah Kutler, First Place; Elissa Rachel Wiener, Second Place; Zachary Stein, Third Place; Fifth Grade: Jack Gilinsky, First Place; Tyler Siegel, Second Place; Eden Ginsberg, and Mallory Rogers, Third Place; Sixth Grade: Joe Hack, First Place; Zachary Bram, Second Place; Grant Glazer, Third Place.

For more information about the awards ceremony, call me at 334.6462 or e-mail me at: gkatz@jewishomaha.org.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 12

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 6, 2007

Beth El Chaverim group ready to rock ’n roll at Boulder Creek

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Beth El Synagogue’s Chaverim youth group will enjoy an afternoon of miniature golf, rock climbing and batting cage practice during its outing to Boulder Creek Amusement Park, 14208 ‘S’ St., on Sunday, April 15, 2-4 p.m.

All fourth-to-sixth-graders in the Jewish community are invited to join in the fun; in addition all third graders are welcome to get a taste of how much fun they’ll have next year when they become Chaverim members!

Cost is $8 (covers fees for all of the above-mentioned activities); drop-off and pick-up will be at Boulder Creek. For more information, contact Beth El Youth Director Robert Mosenkis at 492.8550, or at youthdir@bethel -omaha.org.

And don’t forget: Chaverim’s last program of the school year will be an afternoon of great activ-

Dr. Sara Gross selected as ‘Alumna of the Month’ at YU

ities at Mahoney State Park on Sunday, April 29, noon to 4:15 p.m.

Paw prints, zookeepers and sleeping animals were among things Beth El Chaverim youth group members had to search for during last month’s scavenger hunt held at the Henry Doorly Zoo. The fourth through sixth graders took their quest seriously, snapping photos of each person, statue, animal or habitat on their list.

Pictured above: Chaverim advisor Robert Mosenkis, left, Eva Phillips, Elissa Wiener, Sarah Kutler, Samantha Wiener and Sarah Potash. The group’s next activity is April 15 at Boulder Creek Amusement Park.

by MARY BORT for Beth Israel Synagogue Yeshiva University (YU), located in New York City, is a large institution with many undergraduate and graduate schools, divisions and colleges.

According to the YU website, the University has 50,000 alumni and a current enrollment of almost 7,000 students. YU is considered to be a leading Dr. Sara Gross academic research institution, embracing “... the heritage of the best of western civilization, along with the ancient traditions of Jewish law and life.”

From among the enormous population of alumni, YU’s Alumni Office picks one person to honor each month. Beth Israel’s rebbetzin, Dr. Sara Gross, has been selected for the month of Nisan 5767.

Gross was not expecting to be honored

by YU. “I was surprised when someone from the Alumni office called to tell me I

had been chosen ‘Alumni of the Month,” she stated. “”I was honored to be selected.”

Gross’ achievements include graduating in 2000 from YU’s Stern College for Women. Her husband, Rabbi Jonathan Gross, is also a YU alumnus. Originally from Los Angeles, Dr. Gross returned to attend the University of Southern California and earned her M.D. Gross currently works at the University of Nebraska Medical Center as a second year OBGYN resident.

With her hectic schedule, Gross is still involved in Omaha’s Jewish community, and is considered a role-model for maintaining her Orthodox beliefs and practices in her daily life as a professional in the medical field.

“I’m proud of her and think it’s great that YU has acknowledged Sara’s accomplishments,” said Rabbi Gross. “Sara has worked hard to balance her career as a physician with her religious observances.

Our move to Omaha and Beth Israel has been so satisfying for both of us, and Sara serves as an amazing role model.”

402.342.3560, visiting www. omahasymphony.org, or at the box office, 1605 Howard St.

2005 Governor’s Mansion Exhibition Program in Lincoln and for the 2007 Nebraska Showcase Gallery Exhibition Program in Omaha. In 2006, Novikova was featured among “artists worth watching” by the Art World News magazine.

There will be an opening reception on Friday, April 6, 7-10 p.m. The show runs through May 1. Gallery Nine is located at 124 So. 9 St. in the Mission Arts Building in Lincoln. For more information call 402.477.2822 or visit www.gallerynine.com.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Music Director Thomas Wilkins and the Omaha Symphony present the music of the masters, dazzling pianists, a rock music superstar, Broadway divas, and the “Queen of Soul” with the 2007-08 season. Ticket prices will also remain the same for the second consecutive year.

Some highlights of the season include vocalist and founding member of Styx -Dennis DeYoung, Irish music ambassadors The Chieftains, three brilliant piano concertos performed in one concert, doo-wop favorites Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, a tribute to composer John

Williams, George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, An Evening of Mozart, up-andcoming violinist Amy Schwartz Moretti, the swinging sounds of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and the “Queen of Soul” -Aretha Franklin.

A complete listing of the 2007-08 season is available on the Web at www.omahasymphony.org.

Season ticket packages for all Omaha Symphony series are now available, and single tickets will be available for the general public in August 2007. Season tickets by calling may be purchased

Gallery Nine announces the opening reception for “The Russian Show”, an exhibit of works by the Russian born Omaha artist Inna Novikova. “The Russian Show” is a series of paintings inspired by Russian Orthodox artistic traditions featuring cityscapes, landscapes and still lifes.

Novikova’s paintings have been selected by the Nebraska Arts Council for the

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Prepare for a ‘Deli-icious’ evening during Beth El’s annual deli dinner

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Forget about cooking dinner on Sunday, April 29, and head to Beth El for the always delicious Deli Dinner, sponsored by the synagogue’s Hazak group. Called one of the organization’s most successful events each year, member Diane Axler-Baum remarked that, “Our mouths are watering already, as we look forward to delicious sandwiches, prepared from a variety of highest-quality kosher meats, enhanced with all the trimmings.”

Hazak member Natalie Rubin added, “Hazak takes pleasure, once a year, in providing the community with kosher deli not otherwise available in Omaha. For many of us, the event is the focal point of a lovely social evening at Beth El. Others use it as an opportunity to bring home a really terrific meal or to purchase kosher deli in bulk. Either way, it’s a winning situation!”

Orders are being taken now for sandwiches ranging from corned beef and pastrami to peanut butter and jelly (for non-meat eaters). Sandwiches are priced from $5 to $9.50, and include sides, beverages and dessert.

As an added bonus, a variety of kosher deli meats may be ordered by the pound; costs range from $7 to $18.

All orders must be paid in advance (sorry, no exceptions) by Sunday, April 15, and may be placed by sending the following information to Gloria Goodman at 1636 Holling Dr., Omaha NE, 68144: your check, type and number of sandwiches (or amount of bulk meat), plus your plans to eat in or carry out. For more information, contact Goodman at 333.3351.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 13

Amazing stories at B’nai Israel

by SANDRA KURLAND Steve Fischer, author, told amazing stories of Las Vegas’ organized crime. He spoke at B’nai Israel Synagogue at Friday night services earlier this month.

Mobsters who had roots and connections to Council Bluffs and Omaha were revealed with interesting, little-known accounts of their lives. Fischer researched stories and, as any good non-fiction author, found specific verification before writing or speaking about this unusual time in American history.

Two Great Cuisines Under One Roof

Steve Fischer, left, chats with Phil Wolf, Harold Siporin, and Harold Endelman prior to services.

Most of the presentation was related to well-known Jewish mobsters -- and there were many according to Fischer. Extending this fascinating investigation into the mob history of Las Vegas, Fischer mentioned his current work on a new book about the chorus girls of Las Vegas.

Regional ADL Director Alan Potash will speak on April 13, 7:30 p.m., about current issues of ADL and Israel. The Jewish community is welcome to attend. Services are followed by an Oneg Shabbat.

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Temple junior youth group has a “blast” at Denver Chavurah

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Eight junior youth groupers (JYG) from Temple Israel took off for a Chavurah, sponsored by the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY) - Missouri Valley Region, in midMarch in Denver, Colorado. The seventh and eighth graders spent a weekend making new friends, attending worship services, Torah Corps, swimming, playing basketball, and singing with 150 other middle school Reform youth from Missouri, Illinois (outside of Chicago), Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, and Wyoming.

“It was awesome,” according to Jordan Kohll, 14. The best part was “Saturday night at the swimming pool when we all got together,” he

On their way to Denver for a NFTY Junior Youth Group Chavurah are, front row: Jordan Kohll, left, Ben Noodell, Yaniv Azriel, Sam Burrell, Haley Burns, and Alexis Slutzky, back row: Jeff Gates (chaperon), Emily Katz, Grace Hack, and Leora Azriel, JYG advisor. Ben Noodell, left, and Yaniv Azriel obviously enjoyed themselves at the Chavurah in Denver.

said. Haley Burns, 13, also “had an absolute blast in Denver!” She “had tons of fun during mixers, and I had a great time at the social. I can’t wait until NFTY in high school.”

“The best thing was hanging out with people that I met there,” said Grace Hack, 13. All three of the Temple JYGers said they look forward to going again.

Others who attended the Chavurah included Emily Katz, Sam Burrell, Yaniv Azriel, Ben Noodell, and Alexis Slutzky.

“They had such a tremendous time and were extremely eager during the whole weekend,” commented Leora Azriel, JYG advisor, who accompanied the teens on the trip. She added that “there was much talk about their future in NFTY.”

ORGANIZATIONS B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Lt. Colonel Eyov Lailari will speak at Breadbreakers on Wednesday, April 11, noon, at Regency Lodge, according to Gary Javitch, Chairman. Lailari represents the National Security Agency at Offutt Air Force Base.

He will discuss his recent trip to Israel where he took a special course on Terrorism. All men and women in the community are invited to attend. Cost is $12 for lunch; $3 for beverage service only.

JEWISH SENIOR SERVICES One’s Company with Pippa White presents “Voices from Ellis Island” at the JCC on Thursday, April 26, 1:30 p.m. From 1890 to 1930, Ellis Island was the first experience of life in America for millions of immigrants.

Their stories are amusing, frightening, inspiring, and true. Pippa White is in her twelfth year as a solo performer. She calls her One’s Company Productions “part

theatre, part storytelling, part history.” Audiences call them unique, captivating. She has toured to 26 states, including California, New York, Connecticut, Florida, and in 2005, to Alaska. There is no charge. For information, call Maggie Conti at 334.6521 WALK-IN, DROP-IN For those members going on the day trip to the Ameristar Casino on Thursday, please meet at the JCC by 8:45 a.m. For information, call Maggie Conti at 334.6521.

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by KAREN GUSTAFSON Director of Jewish Family Service With the Passover seders having come and gone, Jewish Family Service once again reached out to the community with a tzedakah project. But there is so much more to the activities at JFS. This report is offered as a way for the community to see in what ways people’s lives have benefited from community donations and the work of JFS. It is the command of the Jewish community to follow the traditions of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), Gemilut Hassadim (acts of loving kindness), and b’tselem Elokim (understanding every human is created in the image of God). Donations and continued support of Jewish Family Service show just how much this community cares. Since July, 2006, more than 148 people have been served by JFS in a mental health service capacity.

These are people meeting with JFS Licensed Mental Health Practitioners for one-on-one or family counseling and other needs.

The Yachad group, serving the developmentally disabled adult population in the Omaha Jewish community, has averaged two social events per month. These events are organized and directed by JFS Yachad Program Coordinator, Duane Pieper, along with Yachad members, and are enjoyed by everyone involved. Some of these activities have included attending the Omaha Symphony and most recently, making items to sell at the upcoming Yom Ha’Atzmaut festivities on April 22 at the Jewish Community Center.

During Rosh Hashanah and Hanukkah, around 60 families were served by the tzedakah efforts and more than $31,000 has been provided in the form of assistance to needy Jews in the Omaha metropolitan area since July, 2006. These programs and assistance money are made possible by the generosity of the Omaha Jewish community, and by the efforts of JFS to provide paid programs and services to the community at large.

More and more agencies and community groups are seeking the expertise of the JFS staff in presenting programs. These paid presentations further enable JFS to provide assistance to the Jewish community of Omaha.

A recent presentation to Columbian Elementary School’s sixth grade classes on “Bullying and CyberBullying” is one example of such programs and was requested by a parent in the Jewish community.

Jewish Family Service served 169 clients in Family Life Education Programs in 2006. Of this group, 78% were Jewish. The staff has been assisting other agencies in the Federation by providing programs such as a professional presentation on the “Love and Logic” program to the Pennie Z. Davis Child Development Center during teacher in-service, and regular monthly visits with the four-year-old classes at the CDC for guidance lessons by our Licensed Play Therapist. A presentation this past fall was also given to basketball coaches at the JCC on the topic of Suicide and Child Abuse.

“Love and Logic” parenting classes are being offered to the public this month. These same classes have been offered previously on-site at Temple Israel and at Beth Israel, at the request of the synagogues, for members of their congregations.

JFS has been invited to the first annual “Resource Fair” at Central High School as an important community resource and to represent the Jewish population.

Additionally, JFS participated with other Jewish community leaders, to join in Omaha Table Talk, a program in its third year of helping Omaha fight discrimination by inviting groups of differing religions, race and ethnicity to discuss diverse issues and has been a mainstay in facilitating for the ADL’s Prejudice Elimination Workshop.

The board and staff appreciate the community’s continued support of JFS and its many programs. For more information on services offered by JFS, please contact the office at 330.2024.

Three “shorts” for families at Mishpacha University

400 Best Comfort Food Recipes

by CAROL HUTCHISON Chadbad House Sundays are family days. Wake up late, dress casually, and eat breakfast together. Go out and do a little thing together, and hang out until dinner time.

Why would you want to spend your day any differently?

At Mishpacha University, families get the best of both worlds. Hot breakfast, family Judaic instruction, and don’t forget the little “thing together”! The upcoming session on Sunday, April 15, will cover a variety of topics ranging from post-Passover clean up, to our Jewish connection with the land of Israel.

All topics are taught in a fun and interactive way, as adults and children explore “beyond the surface” of many traditions. “The three-part session will offer three interesting programs that will engage, entertain and educate parents along with their happy children,” explained Tippi Denenberg, co-chairman for this event.

“Steve and I are challenged intellectually, inspired -- and the kids come and have a great time, too!”

The “Seven Step Program” will give a peek into the world of self-refinement. “This time of year in the Jewish calendar is a period dedicated to personal growth,” explained Shani Katzman, educational director at Chabad House. “Breaking bad habits, learning new good ones -- all in the context of a solid Jewish experience, is a terrific way for families to solidify their own relationship, and strengthen the family’s Jewish identity at the same time,” she explained.

“Israel. Ours!” will take us on a journey through our Holy Land, as we explore it’s cities, history and relevance. “Israel for many children is an abstract concept.

This session will personalize the land for parents and their kids,” Katzman commented.

The final session, “Torah As My Gift” will explore the little known holiday of Shavuot. So many families have not yet incorporated the beautiful celebration of Shavuot into their holiday repertoire.

“The Yom Tov, replete with foods, customs and significance, revolves around kids and around joy,” explained Estie Katzman, youth director at Chabad House. “It also has to do with cheesecake and blintzes, two of my all time favorites!”

Families are welcome to register at www. ochabad.com/mishpachau, call 330-1800 or e-mail office@ochabad.com. The first three families who register for this program will receive an educational gift.

by Johanna Burkhard (Robert Rose, $19.95)

READ IT AND E AT Reviewed by LOIS FRIEDMAN When you stroll down food memory lane, what delicious dishes do you remember? What aromas do you remember? What tastes do you taste?

This book of feel good recipes is divided into 11 chapters from Appetizers, to Cakes, Pies & Desserts. The one-to-a-page recipes use terms like: kid friendly, vegetarian, quick and easy, family favorite, old standby, make ahead and tried-and-true. Some of the recipes are for Borscht, Irresistible Smoked Salmon Bites, Egg Salad on a Kaiser, Braised Beef Short Ribs, Best Ever Meat Loaf, Stuffed Cabbage Rolls, including this quick and easy sweet poured over ice cream or used to create a scrumptious brownie sundae! Go ahead, create some memories!

AMAZING MARSHMALLOW FUDGE SAUCE Makes 11/2 cups 1 cup canned evaporated milk 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips 1 cup miniature marshmallows 1 tsp vanilla Pour evaporated milk in a large glass bowl or casserole dish; microwave at High for 2 to 21/2 minutes or until almost boiling. Add chocolate chips; let stand for 2 minutes to melt. Stir well. Add marshmallows; microwave at Medium (50%) for 11/2 to 2 minutes or until marshmallows are melted. Add vanilla; stir until smooth. Let cool to room temperature before using. Sauce thickens as it cools.

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

BIRTH Melissa and Michael Bloch of Reno, NV announce the Feb. 18 birth of their daughter, Meredith Liliana.

She has two brothers, Theodore Steven and Evan Stuart.

Grandparents are Carol and Steve Bloch, Suzanne and Stan Shane of Reno, and Barbe and Steven Pulver of Midland, MI. Great-grandparents are the late Lottie and Harold Bloch, and Lucille and Sam Gelenter.

April 6, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 15

underwritten by A GENEROUS DONATION FROM THE MORTON A. RICHARDS YOUTH FUND

Editor’s note: This month’s Teen Age features the AZA teens of BBYO. Special thanks goes to BBYO Director Rachel Blum for collecting the material.

The principles of AZA

by JOE GOLDBERG High school is a fast paced machine that requires kids to keep up with more than just schoolwork.

The B’nai B’rith Youth Organization creates a balance during an exciting period of life, giving its participants an opportunity to develop a positive self-image through the support of their peers.

BBYO provides freshmen with completely different benefits than seniors. For a new member it is a place to get involved locally, to feel comfortable, and to develop their distinct personality. Through experience and commitment BBYO becomes a place to enhance leadership

skills and become a communicator, organizer, role model, and delegate. I have learned important skills through personal experience, most importantly goal setting to create a common ideology within a group. Influencing others to work as a team has developed my leadership skills and brought me a sense of gratification.

In the world of the Aleph Zadik Aleph we observe the principles of gentlemen, creating a classy atmosphere of teamwork, so that as we approach the real world we can learn to dedicate ourselves to honor, to truth, to virtue, and to justice to become productive members of a transitioning society.

Joe is a junior at Westside High School.

He is currently President of Mother Chapter AZA #1 and also Council Shaliach.

Chaim Weizmann holds Annual Sweetheart Dance

by ARI LEVIN and Allison Levinger.

Dance Chair As Alyssa Morris, the outgoing The members of Chaim Weizmann Sweetheart, read her speech with genuine AZA #1510 held their 43rd Annual gratitude for the men of Chaim Sweetheart Dance in February at the Weizmann AZA and inspirational advice Regency Lake and for the new Sweetheart, she announced Tennis Club. The Andrea Holmberg as the new 2007-08 theme of the dance Weizmann Sweetheart. Congratulations was “That 70s to Andrea and to the men of Chaim Dance,” and despite Weizmann AZA #1510 on another sucthe snow, everyone cessful dance! came prepared to Ari is a senior at Westside High School disco the night and is a member of Chaim Weizmann AZA #1510. away! The evening began with a Havdallah service led by the dance committee, which included Henry Ginsburg, Adam Goldberg, Seth Kudym, Natan Lailari, and Ari Levin.

Dinner was catered by Newmans Pasta Café and Bandstand Music made sure the teens kept their boogy shoes on all night!

Community members arrived at 10 p.m. for procession -- the naming of the Alyssa Morris, right, outgoing Sweetheart, congratulates new sweetheart. Sweetheart Andrea Holmberg, 2007 Sweetheart. candidates are chosen based on their dedication to BBYO and their relationship with chapter members. They are typically sophomores and juniors who have had experience within the youth group and have demonstrated active participation within their chapter and council.

This year’s Sweetheart candidates included Jaclyn Adelson, Laura Adler, Rachel Gordon, and Andrea Holmberg.

Honorary Sweethearts, who are seniors who the chapter wanted to honor for The Dance committee consists of, back row: Adam their service in BBYO, are: Goldberg, left, and Ari Levin; front row: Seth Kudym, Henry Carolyn Barenbaum-Meyers Ginsburg, and Natan Lailari.

GRADUATING SENIORS: THE PRESS NEEDS YOU! On June 8, the Jewish Press will publish its annual Salute to High School Graduates. We need your photo and the following information, no later than May 11: name, parent(s) name(s), name of high school and name of college you’ll be attending. Please send all of it to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154; or e-mail jpress@jewishomaha.org.

Chaim Weizmann presidency: a fantastic experience

by BEN NACHMAN When you look back on your life, there are always those big events that stick out the most in your mind. No matter where I am in life, I have a feeling that one such event will be my term as the president of the BBYO chapter, Chaim Weizmann AZA #1510. During my term, I saw the chapter through the Winter Regional Convention, the annual Weizmann Sweetheart Dance, and much more.

I have been a leader in the chapter before, ranging from the shaliach to vice president, but there is something about getting up in front of your best friends and leading them. At first, I was a bit nervous because our chapter is a bit rowdy, so our meetings had not always gone smoothly. However, I had the support from some great people. Ari Levin, the past president was a big help, especially when it came to the dance. Also, our long-time advisor Scott Tatelman was very supportive. I was also fortunate to have another advisor join Weizmann.

Mark Javitch was another guide on my journey as president. Also, Rachel Blum as the Director offered a source of con-

stant assistance. In addition, the council president, Devon Gilinsky always encouraged me and the chapter members to create brotherhood with AZA #1. Of course, I cannot forget the individual members in our chapter.

We have a very diverse chapter and I learn so much just by hanging out with everyone. Whether it be playing football with Mike and Dan, or video games with Adam and Lev, or even being kidnapped

by Henry and Ari, I will always remember my time as president. I got the unique opportunity to lead a group of guys that in another situation, I may not have been friends with. I am glad for AZA, as these people are now some of my best friends.

I would not give up our friendship for anything (except maybe a pet European Red Squirrel).

In all seriousness, even though my presidency has ended, I see only good things for the future of Weizmann, with an expanding membership and a new great president, Mike Friedman, to lead the way into the future. I may not be Weizmann president now, but the experience I had will live on in my mind wherever I go in the future.

Ben is a junior at Westside High School. He was recently elected Council President and is a member of Chaim Weizmann AZA #1510.

Page 16

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 6, 2007

Planning for the future Every year around this time, the Budget and Allocation Committee of the Jewish Federation of Omaha meets. They have the responsibility of reviewing current financial statements and proposed budgets for the next fiscal year.

It’s not just the Jewish Press affected by this process; all the agencies, as well as the Federation itself, participate. Based on the pledges made for the prior year’s Campaign and investment income, B&A sifts through all the available data from every request, and to the best of their abilites, distributes funds to agencies here, as well as in Israel and overseas.

There have been years in the distant past when the process was grueling, and occasionally hostile. Needless to say, with more cooperation among the Federation and its agencies, and better communication, the “interogations” are more like family conversations about the household budget.

Lay people and staff discuss ways to save money, reduce costs, and seek creative ways to generate additional income. It’s not perfect, but because we have a generous community, we have not been cursed with closing agencies, laying off staff or eliminating programs as other small and intermediate Jewish communities have been forced to do.

This year, B&A members are also trying to look long term. One of the questions being posed to agencies ... next week in fact, is: “Does your agency have a long range plan for managing the department over the next few years with rising costs and flat or decreasing revenues?”

And the answer is “yes.”

This is a serious question with which the Press staff and committee have grappled for the last decade. Regardless of how successful a particular Annual Campaign is, this community, should make “rainy day” plans. Here are just some of the ways we’re responding: The Jewish Press gets less funding now than we did in 1991-92. Starting in 1997-98, the Press also began voluntarily lowering its request to B&A. In addition, the Press has also paid for all its capitals (scanners, computers, oversized printer, etc.) since 1996 with the exception of one copier.

The Press also was the only agency asked to make a donation to the JCC Building Fund in 2000; funds from our cash surplus helped pay for remodeling and expansion of the Press office. All-in-all, more than $100,000 has been saved in the last decade in lower requests and capitals paid through our operating budget.

And although our requests to B&A did increase during the last few years, the additional advertising income generated has covered increases in costs such as salaries, health insurance and printing.

We think that’s a pretty good track record -- and we’ll continue to operate in a fiscally responsible manner -- whether it is securing grant funding ($30,000 in the last 18 months alone), agressively mar-

keting paid subscriptions to out-of-town former Omahans, or beefing up our ad revenue through more targeted solicitations and by joining the Nebraska Press Association’s ad network.

The Press staff and committee understand that this community is proud of mantaining a weekly newspaper and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. You can plan on that!

Jewish Press Committee Bobbi Leibowitz, Vice-Chairman; Stan Mitchell, Secretary; Scott Meyerson, Treasurer; Michael Siegel, Finance Chairman; Joanie Jacobson, Immediate Past-chairman; David Herzog; Susan Lehr; Jamie Meyerson; George Quittner; Melissa Schop; Michael Sigmond; Jim Simon; Nancy Skid; and Dorothy Spizman.

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

The Jewish Press is a constitutional committee of the Jewish Federation.

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

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

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

Exodus today

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

by JOSEPH ABDEL WAHED As an Egyptian Jewish refugee, I celebrate Passover with special meaning.

Passover is a time to commemorate the Jews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt in 1,300 B.C. and return to freedom in Israel. At my family Seders in Cairo in the 1940s, we felt as if we represented the enduring memory of that exodus. Little did we know that we would soon experience our own exodus from Egypt as a result of racism and oppression.

On Passover it is a Jewish tradition that, in retelling the exodus story, we should feel as if we ourselves experienced persecution and exodus from Egypt. I hope that this year we also remember the modern exodus of Middle Eastern Jews, one million of whom fled their homes in Arab countries between 1940 and 1980.

Jews are among the oldest-existing indigenous group in the Middle East. Our communities long predate the Arab conquest of the region in the seventh century. Still, our contributions to modern Arab states are immense.

Sasson Heskel, a Baghdadi Jew, was Iraq’s finance minister in the 1930s. One of my relatives helped draft the Egyptian constitution in the 1930s. (Not many Egyptians know that a Jew helped draft their Constitution.) And Layla Murad, one of Egypt’s great divas of Arabic music and film, was also an Egyptian Jew -- our own Barbra Streisand.

But even as a child, I understood that Jews were second-class citizens. Signs in the street read: El yahud kelab el arab, “The Jews are the dogs of the Arabs.” At school, my best friend, El Menyawi turned to me and said with a halfsmile, “One day, all the Jews will have their throats slit.” An older Muslim man advised that if I was threatened in the streets, I should say: Ana Muslum, M’wahed billah, “I am a Muslim and believe in one God.”

Despite the hatred in the air, my family was successful. In 1950, as a teenager, I attended a British prep school in Cairo that boasted prominent alumni such as King Hussein of Jordan and Columbia professor Edward Said (who never writes about how his Jewish classmates were expelled from Egypt). But I never got the chance to graduate.

In 1952, Egypt’s new nationalist leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, began arresting Jews on trumped-up charges and confiscating their property. My uncle and cousins were arrested and a warrant was issued for my father. My family happened to be traveling in Europe, and my father said: “We’ll never be able to go back home.” My uncle chose to remain, and, following the 1967 war with Israel, was thrown in an Egyptian concentration camp along with hundreds of other Egyptian Jews.

For three years, they were tortured. But, international pressure forced their release in 1970.

I hope that this year we also remember the modern exodus of Middle Eastern Jews, one million of whom fled their homes in Arab countries between 1940 and 1980.

In 1943, 80,000 Jews lived in Egypt. In 2003, fewer than 50 remain. In 1300 B.C., the Israelites were forced to flee Egypt so fast that their bread didn’t have time to rise. In the 1950s and 1960s, Jews were forced to flee Egypt so fast they didn’t have time to pack their bags. They left behind their homes, their businesses, their hospitals and homes for the aged.

Today, most of their synagogues and sacred Torah scrolls are gathering dust. Egyptian authorities refuse to return theses scrolls to their owners saying “they are part of Egyptian antiquity.”

This pattern of intimidation and expulsion has been repeated in countries throughout the Middle East: in Morocco, Libya, Syria, Iran,

(Founded in 1920) Howard K. Marcus Chairman Carol Katzman Editor Richard Busse Managing Editor Allan Handleman Advertising Manager Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Managing Editor Terri Greenwood Advertising Executive Barbara Kirkpatrick Bookkeeper Anne Muskin Editorial Intern

Yemen, and Iraq. Arab governments have forced hundreds of thousands of Jews from their lands through laws and waves of pogroms. The American Sephardi Federation estimates that Arab governments confiscated well over one hundred billion dollars in property and assets from fleeing Jews.

Some fled to Europe and America -- like Vidal Sassoon from Iraq, or Jerry Seinfeld’s mother from Syria. But the majority returned to Israel, where today more than half of the population is Mizrahi -- the descendants of Jews who fled the Middle East and North Africa in the 20th century.

But Arab governments today do not retell the story of Jewish flight from Egypt. I recently checked into a hotel and struck up a conversation in Arabic with the Egyptian woman working behind the counter. Astonished to learn I fled Cairo as a teenager, she said: “I didn’t know there were Jews in Egypt.”

Today, hatred of Jews is stronger than ever.

I see it in the Arab media, school curricula, and of course the mosques. Today, over 60 million children in Arab schools in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the West Bank, are taught to hate the Jews. In 2004, Egyptian television ran a 41-part series based on the anti-Semitic myth of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”

The same hatred that drove us from our homes now fuels suicide bombings and lynching, and the challenge before us is to stop this racism once and for all. Hate and religious intolerance are weapons of mass destruction.

As we recall the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, we should not forget the modern exodus of Jews in the Middle East. This Passover is a time to commemorate these lost Jewish communities and seek justice for the victims of the Forgotten Exodus.

When Arab governments recognize their role in turning nearly a million Jews into refugees, peace will at last be possible.

Joseph Abdel-Wahed is the former chief economist of Wells Fargo Bank and cofounder of JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa. www.jimena.org.

Editorial The Jewish Press is a Constitutional Committee of the Jewish Federation of Omaha.

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

Letters to the Editor Guidelines The Jewish Press welcomes Letters to the Editor. They may be sent via regular mail to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154; via fax: 1-402-334-5422 or via e-mail to the Editor at: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org..

Letters should be no longer than 250 words and must be singlespaced typed, not hand-written.

Published letters should be confined to opinions and comments on articles or events. News items should not be submitted and printed as a “Letter to the Editor.”

The Editor may edit letters for content and space restrictions, but should be printed as soon as possible to ensure timeliness. Letters may be published without giving an opposing view. Information shall be verified before printing.

All letters must be signed by the writer, but the name can be withheld at the writer’s request.

No letters should be published from candidates running for office, but others may write on their behalf.

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

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Periodical postage paid at Omaha, NE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154-2198 or e-mail to: jpress@jewishomaha. org.

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April 6, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 17

Our best hope to ensure our Jewish tomorrow

ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW

by JAN GOLDSTEIN Federation Executive Director In the March 9 Jewish Press editorial “Will Omaha’s future generations contain the leaders we need?”, Editor Carol Katzman raises a valid concern. We must continue to engage future generations in order to insure that Jewish community and Jewish life in Omaha continues for our children and grandchildren.

North American Jewry has many challenging issues to confront today. Shifting demographics and declining Jewish population, raising enough dollars to meet increasing needs, declining donor base and loss of long time committed donors and volunteers, the relevancy of Jewish community to our under 45 age group -their Jewish identity, are just some of our most serious concerns.

Where I disagree, however, with her editorial is in the assessment that we in Omaha haven’t done enough to put a thoughtful plan of leadership development for the 25-45 age groups into action.

Quite the contrary. Over the past years our Omaha community has lead most Federations when it comes to community involvement, fundraising, and per capita giving. We are proud of the services and programs our community offers to all ages as we meet our mission of caring for Jews locally, nationally, in Israel and worldwide.

Since I began my career in Omaha Jewish communal services, I have had the privilege to continually work with many Federations, foundations and synagogue leaders, dedicated to committing serious

time and resources to developing the next generation of leaders, volunteers and supporters.

I remember distinctly more than 16 years ago, when our community leadership recognized that we had a window of opportunity, with so many of our 20-30 year olds returning to Omaha.

As they were looking to start their own families, they were clearly motivated by the idea of providing the same kind of warm, nurturing Jewish life for their children that they had enjoyed growing up here. At the same time, many newcomers moved to our community and together, this group of young people provided the nucleus of hope that Omaha would not become just another mature and declining community, but would continue to create and support vibrant Jewish life.

At this time, our Omaha foundations and some of our generous donors joined with the Federation to rejuvenate young leadership programs which would identify, connect and educate these young people. Throughout the 90’s until the present, the Federation along with the synagogues, have strived to engage younger people in leadership development programs and activities, affordable missions to Israel, inspirational speakers, leadership recognition programs and other opportunities.

In addition, a few years ago our Federation became one of the first communities to create a Community Development Department, responsible for outreach and connection to young people moving or returning to Omaha.

This endeavor is a first step for leadership and volunteer identification. Our new college internship program, now in its second year, will place nearly 20 young

people in summer jobs, with the goal of keeping them connected to our Jewish community and bringing them home upon graduation.

We’ve also taken emerging leaders and consistently placed them on board and committees throughout the Jewish community. Today, several of our agencies and synagogues are led by these terrific young people.

And informal leadership development occurs continually as staff and seasonal lay leaders mentor emerging volunteers.

Partnership with Israel is a key example of such a program. This past year-and-ahalf, Partnership activities are beginning to spread throughout the agencies and synagogues, further strengthening Jewish connections. We’ve proven that programs connecting individuals with Israel work.

A few years ago Tom Fellman, working with the Federation, hosted a trip which took 10 of these emerging leaders to Israel. This group went with the understanding that they would return fully committed to taking leadership roles within our Jewish community. Some of our most visible young leaders have emerged as a result of this gift to our community.

Just last year, our Federation sponsored a leadership trip to Israel and Kiev, where both young and seasoned leaders traveled together, learning about Jewish responsibility and bringing the message back home.

Our Young Jewish Omaha (YJO) program is designed to reach out to the under 45 age group, bringing them together for social, educational and community building activities.

Plans are currently underway for Jewish Omaha Leadership Training III (JOLT III) next winter. JOLT is yet another formalized leadership training program for all Jewish organizations and agencies in

our community.

Jewish Omaha has invested in its next generation, and it is only because of this investment that we have been able to maintain the level of excellence we have here. In fact, it is because of this foresight and investment that we have continued to raise the dollars we have, dollars which have sustained the agencies and services that make Omaha the best of Jewish communities.

Where Carol Katzman is correct is that this community must commit more resources today for our leaders of tomorrow. We have a new group of 35-45 yearolds who are our newest members of the Ben Gurion Society and Pacesetters, creating an ideal window of opportunity. We must engage those even up to age 60, to step up and lead the financial support and communal responsibility to take the lead in maintaining and enhancing what so many of us have spent decades building for our children.

As the Talmud says, “As our parents planted for us before we were born, so do we plant for those who will come after us.”

So what can we do? Broaden our donor base. Create even more opportunities for community connections and learning to be Jewish leaders. Develop greater visibility of Federation and its services. Seek out more ways to involve the community. Get the message of strong Jewish community to those who are not yet connected. Focus on Jewish learning and Judaism’s fundamental principles of tzedakah, responsibility and commitment. Work with our agencies and synagogues to create more programs that send a unified message of the need to support Jewish life.

Doing everything we can do today will be our best hope to insure our Jewish tomorrow.

Hunger in the Holy Land

FOCUS ON ISSUES

by H. ERIC SCHOCKMAN, PH.D. This winter, I lead a mission to Israel in my role as president of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger.

For the past decade, MAZON has been a leading entity in targeting strategic grants to struggling Israel-based anti-hunger organizations from Beer Sheva up to Haifa.

And over the past three years, MAZON has played a central catalytic leadership role in the Forum to Address Food Insecurity and Poverty in Israel. Our goal for this mission was to pave the way for the establishment of a National Israel Foodbank.

Why a national food bank in Israel, and why now?

These are particularly important questions as we approach Passover, a holiday that celebrates freedom but simultaneously forces us to acknowledge the crushing forces - among them, hunger and poverty - that still enslave so many people around the world.

From our field observations, talking with a range of experts, food providers, humanitarian and social workers, politicians, journalists and food recipients themselves, it is apparent that conditions have worsened visà-vis the provision of basic nourishment to an estimated one-quarter of Israeli society (and that was even before the ramifications of the recent Lebanese war and its estimated $5.8 billion in damages).

Throughout Israel, over 400 struggling independent charitable bodies distributing food have been the “thin

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In Jaffa, our delegation witnessed a few model programs that validated the simple premise that a well-fed child is more apt to academic success than a hungry one.

Yet, countless underprivileged school-aged children throughout Israel are not gaining access to school-based lunch programs or the handful of after school food/education enrichment programs.

In Haifa, we heard more fatalism from those who did not flee south during the war. Teachers spoke to us

about diverting funds previously earmarked for nutrition programs in order to hire more therapists to treat children for post-traumatic stress.

So why establish a National Israel Foodbank?

The question has a straightforward answer: food insecurity affects 22% of the Israeli population, almost double the rate of Americans as measured by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Our estimate is that meeting the need in Israel would require access to 140,000 tons of food per year. We estimate that, currently, approximately 25,000 tons of food are distributed through donations from manufacturers, the Israel Defense Forces, farmers, gleaning projects, and through food purchasing. This gap - between what there is and what we need, the “haves” and “have-nots” of the food equation - is large and is only growing bigger.

The purpose of the National Israel Foodbank is to create an efficient and effective infrastructure that will enable the country’s food assistance organizations to work together (along with the public sector, business section and philanthropic community) to provide higher quantities of more nutritious food to the growing ranks of the food insecure.

This Pesach, I know the MAZON mission is not mission-impossible. There is a clear path to address more systemically the problem of food insecurity in Israel.

Working together, it is our obligation to be part of the solution, because our Passover liberation is not complete until all of us are truly free.

H. Eric Schockman is President of MAZON: the Jewish Response to Hunger.

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green line” assuring daily survival and the basic right to eat. Tragically, many have been forced to transform themselves from simple feeding centers into multi-service entities to treat the myriad conditions that result from living in a state of poverty.

In Jerusalem, we saw seniors (some in wheelchairs and with walkers) lining up for lunch at one of our grantee’s soup kitchens - at 9 a.m. That is how desperate they are for what in many cases will be their only real meal for the day. We also visited a food co-op in another area of Jerusalem, where the community has organized itself to do bulk food purchasing (thereby providing cheaper prices) and is sustained by all-volunteer labor, yet the shelves were partially barren and need outstripped supply.

Throughout Israel, over 400 struggling independent charitable bodies distributing food have been the “thin green line” assuring daily survival and the basic right to eat.

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Page 18

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 6, 2007

Candlelighting Friday, April 6, 7:37 p.m.

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

Monday, April 9, no earlier than 8:40 p.m.

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

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

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

Beyt Shalom An Affiliate of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation 3012 S. 119 St. P.O. Box 390352 Omaha, NE 68139 660.2395 www.beytshalomomaha.org

Chabad House An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 S. 120th St. Omaha, NE 68144-1646 330.1800 www.OChabad.com email: chabad@aol.com

Congregation B’nai Jeshurun South Street Temple Union for Reform Judaism 2061 S. 20th St. Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 435.8004 southstreettemple.org

Offutt Air Force Base SAC Memorial Chapel 301 Lincoln Highway Offutt AFB, NE 68113 294.6244

Rose Blumkin Jewish Home 333 S. 132 St. Omaha, NE 68154

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

FRIDAY, April 13: Services followed by Oneg, 7:30 p.m. with guest speaker, Regional Director Alan Potash, who will discuss current issues of the AntiDefamation League and Israel.

The community is invited.

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE FRIDAY: Musical Kabbalat Shabbat service, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Morning services, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush is sponsored

by Beth El; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:45 p.m.

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

W E E K D AY S E R V I C E S : Sundays, 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.; weekdays 6:55 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

TUNES & SHABBAT TALES: Saturday, April 7, 11:15-11:45 a.m. Monthly singalong program is open to all Jewish children (up to age five), their parents and grandparents.

PASSOVER SCHEDULE MONDAY: Shaharit, 9:30 a.m.; Minha-Ma’ariv, 5:30 p.m.

TUESDAY: Shaharit (with Yizkor), 9:30 a.m.; MinhaMa’ariv, 7:50 p.m.

THURSDAYS, noon: Rabbi Levin leads Getting More Out of Prayer: Insights into the Siddur.

BIBLE TRANSLATION FOR JEWS: Mini-course led by Prof. Leonard Greenspoon, starts Thursday, April 12, 7-8 p.m.

Cost is $18. For information or to register, contact Margie Gutnik in the office.

Temple Israel Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 7023 Cass Street Omaha, NE 68132-2651 556.6536 templeisrael-ne.org

The Neighborhood Minyan 1317 No. 57 St. Omaha, NE 68132 551.6609

Tifereth Israel Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Blvd., Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 423.8569 www.tiferethisraellincoln.org

Tree of Life Center 2925 Prairie Road Lincoln, NE 68506 613.7443 email: treeoflife.rabbimichael @yahoo.com

If you’re looking at this space, so are others!

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to reserve space, call

Allan Handleman, 334.6451, or Terri Greenwood, 334.6559.

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Office Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fri., 8:30 a.m-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Jonathan Gross.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:37 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.

Free babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Children’s Classes, 9:45 a.m. with Torah Parade; Pesach Kiddush is sponsored by Sherry and Jeffrey Taxman in honor of the visit of Ben, Chelsea, Lindsey and Whitney; Mincha, 7:30 p.m. followed by Suedat Shlishit with Gemara class; Havdalah, 8:39 p.m.

SUNDAY, Erev Yom Tov: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Mincha, 7:39 p.m.

MONDAY, Seventh Day of Pesach: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Mincha, 7:45 p.m.

TUESDAY, Last Day of Pesach: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Yizkor, 10:45 a.m.; Mincha, 7:45 p.m.; Havdalah, 8:42 p.m.; Chametz should not be used before 9 p.m.

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

THURSDAY: Women of the Torah class, 9:30 a.m.; Advanced Parsha Study, 7:30 p.m.

BEYT SHALOM FRIDAY: Shabbat in the Home.

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

FRIDAY: Service, 7 a.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush to follow davening.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 8:30 a.m.; All night study for Shevi’i Shel Pesach begins at 10 p.m.

MONDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Priestly Blessings, 11:30 a.m.; Kiddush to follow davening; TUESDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Yizkor, 11 a.m.; Priestly Blessings, 11:30 a.m.; Kiddush to follow davening; Moshiach Feast, 5:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Kabbalah Circle, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY: Jewish Thought, 12:45 p.m.

All events and programs are open to the entire community.

For more information or to register call 330.1800 or visit our website http://www.Ochabad.com.

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

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

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

SUNDAY: No LJCS Classes; 1:30 p.m., Gerry Shapiro, Professor of English at UNL, will lead a discussion of “Hyman the Magnificent,” which is included in Steve Stern’s collection, A Plague of Dreamers. Passover refreshments will be served.

WEDNESDAY: No Hebrew classes.

THURSDAY, April 12, 5 p.m.: All Sunday participants are

Camp Sabra every summer.

For her mitzvah project, Jessica made weekly visits to a second grade classroom at Cottonwood Elementary School and helped the teacher and students with a variety of projects.

She has a two sisters, Allison and Amy. Grandparents are Sue and Bert Kwasman of Scottsdale, AZ, and Leta and Chuck Levinger of Yankton, SD.

evening begins with a “kid-friendly” diner at no charge; call the Temple office for reservations.

This event, sponsored by the Janis Yale Enrichment Fund, is for families with children in Grade Six and younger.

NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN FRIDAY: Minyan, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m.

There will be no services during the week of Passover, April 1-12.

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

BAT MITZVAH Jessica Levinger, daughter of Bonnie and Steve Levinger, will become a Bat Mitzvah on S a t u r d a y, April 14, at Temple Israel.

Jessica is a seventh-grade Superior Honor Roll student at Kiewit Middle School.

Her interests include dance, tennis, basketball, and attending

invited to a buffet dinner with Steve Stern before his public reading. Copies of the story are available in the Temple office. Plan to read it and join the discussion.

FEDERATION SHABBAT Friday, April 27, 7:45 p.m., at the South Street Temple.

Marcia Kushner will be honored for her many years of service to the Federation. The service will be led by Rabbi Ilan Emanuel, Rabbi Royi Shaffin, Jaine Evnen, and Sarah Kelen.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m., led by Andy Greenberg.

MONDAY, April 9: Services, 9 a.m. led by Rabbi Maximo Shechet.

TUESDAY, April 10: Services with Yizkor, 9 a.m. led by Rabbi Maximo Shechet.

TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. Rabbi Eric Linder and Cantor Wendy Shermet will lead the service; Tot Shabbat and Dinner, 6 p.m. Rabbi Aryeh Azriel will lead the service.

Contact the Temple office, 556.6536, to make a reservation.

Cost is $5 for adults and children at no charge.

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

SITTER SERVICE: Available each Friday evening service except when there is a Tot Shabbat, Saturday mornings when there is a bar or bat mitzvah, and Sunday mornings when there is Religious School. Advance reservations and a $5 donation are appreciated.

Sorry, no facilities for infants.

SUNDAY: No Religious School.

MONDAY, April 9: Morning Service and Yizkor, 10:30 a.m.

TUESDAY: Adult B’nai Mitzvah, 6:30–8 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Grades 3-6, 46 p.m.; All School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Family School, 6-8 p.m.; Grades 712, 6-8 p.m.

THURSDAY: “Adult Study with the Clergy” with Cantor Wendy Shermet, 10-11:30 a.m.; Torah on Wheels, noon at Bergman Incentives. Contact the Temple office at 556.6536 for reservations. Cost is $6.

FRIDAY, April 13: Shabbat Comes to You, 4 p.m. at Remington Heights.

SATURDAY, April 14, 5 p.m.: Havdalah in Pajamas with Steve Brodsky. This musical

Services conducted by Rabbi Royi Shaffin.

Minyan, MONDAY and THURSDAY, 9 a.m.

FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m. followed by a light oneg.

SATURDAY: Weekly Parashah class, 8:30 a.m.; Morning service, 9:30 a.m. followed by Shabbat lunch and Talmud class; Junior Congregation.

SUNDAY: No LJCS Classes MONDAY, TUESDAY AND THURSDAY: Passover Services, 9 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: Men’s Lunch Group meets at the Knolls, 12:30 p.m. Call Yale Gotsdiner at 423.7066; No Hebrew classes.

THURSDAY, April 12, 5 p.m.: All Sunday participants in the discussion group, lead by Gerry Shapiro at the South Street Temple, will be invited to a buffet dinner with author Steve Stern before his public reading. At 7 p.m., the award-winning fiction writer will give a reading at the Great Plains Art Gallery, 12th and Q Sts. This event, co-sponsored by the Harris Center for Judaic Studies and the Creative Writing Program at UNL is free and open to the public. Stern, the author of many books, is a two-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award.

ADULT EDUCATION Mondays April 16 and 23, 79 p.m. Hot Topics in Israeli Society with Rabbi Shaffin.

TREE OF LIFE CENTER Services conducted by Rabbi Rabbi Michael Weisser.

FRIDAYS: Sabbath Experience, 7:30 p.m.

Havdalah: SATURDAYS: Rites of Separation, 6:30 p.m.; following Havdalah Drumming Meditation until 8 p.m.; following Drumming Social Time until 10 p.m.

Sitting/Silent MONDAYS: Meditation, 6 p.m.; Teachings/ Discussion, 7:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAYS: Sitting/ Silent Meditation, 6 p.m.; 8 Weeks to Mindfulness Class, 7:30 p.m.

LARGE PRINT LIVING WILL AVAILABLE Jewish Heritage for the Blind announced the availability of the large print “Jewish Halachic Living Will”, produced by the Agudath Israel and the Orthodox Union. Forward your request on your formal stationery to fax #: 718.338.0653 or send an e-mail to jewishheritage@gmail.com. Requests must include a phone number to confirm delivery. The supply is limited.

April 6, 2007

The ways and the ways

SPARKS FROM THE WORD

by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Hol HaMoed Pesah The assigned reading for the Sabbath within Pesah includes the dramatic presentation of the 13 attributes of God’s nature, which figure so prominently in the S’lihot of the High Holy Day services. There is also brief mention of the three “pilgrimage” festivals of the year: Pesah, Shavuot and Sukkot -- albeit not necessarily by those names.

But, at the very beginning, there is a special plea of Moses, which goes all but unanswered.

Moses has been shaken by the sin of the Golden Calf.

Instinctively he has pleaded that the sin of the people be forgiven and that they be permitted to trek on toward the Promised Land. He has refused an offer to be the progenitor of a new people to replace this one. And he prevails: the people are allowed to go on.

But Moses is unnerved by what has happened. And now he pleaded to know the nature of his God: “Pray let me know Your ways.”

But the Lord does not explain Himself to Moses in any clear and simple manner. He announces to Moses only that He may be described b y these 13 attributes.

The list is revealing and descriptive, but not sufficiently so and not definitively. And we are left -- as Moses is left -- groping to know more.

A sharp-eyed 19th century religious leader and Bible

commentator put the problem clearly, by pointing out a grammatical oddity. When Moses asks to know God’s ways, the Hebrew word “ways” (drakhekha) is pointed by the Masoretes to read “ways” but is actually spelled in such a fashion that without the vowel points, we would normally read it “darkekha” -- “pray let me know Your way” -- “way” in the singular.

And our commentator suggested that in the two different readings the word implies a special pleading: Moses is pleading to know the way within the ways. Is there, Lord, some single principle that unites and identifies all the ways we think are Yours? Is there some single criterion we many hold before us to know what is godly and what is not?

Alas, Moses is not given to know that one criterion, and neither are we. The wise man in Ecclesiastes sought for it diligently, but reluctantly he had to give up the search. Job agonized over it. Why is life as it is? And the only answer he is given is that he must hold fast to his integrity and cease his questioning of God and his demanding of answers. The wise men find that the answers elude them.

Scholars, poets, wise men, philosophers, theologians, scientists, artists all seek answers, each group in their own pursuits. But the answer is hidden -- for we are only humans, not gods.

Pesah reminds us that all men must be free, and to be free is to be godlike. But to be godlike is not to be God. We are humankind. This is very much. And it is enough.

(Editor’s note: this column appeared in Rabbi Kripke’s 1988 book, Insight and Interpretation, a collection of his columns published in the Jewish Press.)

The role of architecture in religious life

by HANNA WANZENRIED demand by the public for such an event, we are happy to ADL Malashock Project for Interfaith Affairs Intern organize Interfaith Architecture Tours,” said Beth Katz, More than 80 people participated in the second Director of the ADL Malashock Project for Interfaith Architecture Tour last month. This year, participants Affairs. “Next year, we hope to include places of worship toured Beth Israel Synagogue and St. Cecilia Cathedral. from other religious traditions. We are thrilled that the Participants discovered the role architecture and design Hindu Temple has asked to be part of this event and have played in Jewish and Christian congregational lives hope to feature it on next year’s tour.” in historical and contemporary times. The architecture For this event, the ADL Malashock Project partnered tour also gave community members a unique opportu- with the Archdiocese of Omaha, the American Institute nity to further their understanding of Jewish and of Architects (AIA), and Joslyn Art Museum. For more Christian worship. information about the architecture tour or other interThe tour was led by Martin H. Shukert, FAICP and faith events please contact Katz by phone 402.333.1303 Brother William Woeger, FSC. Shukert illuminated the or e-mail, bkatz@adl.org. symbolism behind many of Beth Israel’s architectural features. He noted that two main considerations when designing an Orthodox synagogue are separate seating for men and women and the need for sound to travel well so that electronic amplification is not needed as this is prohibited on the Sabbath.

Brother Woeger explained the history of St. Cecilia Cathedral and discussed the Spanish influence on the building’s design.

Due to the overwhelmingly positive response to this and last year’s tours, the ADL Malashock Project for Interfaith Affairs plans to hold another tour next year. Marty Shukert not only explained the specific requirements of building a synagogue for an “As long as there is Orthodox congregation, but his role as lead architect on the Beth Israel building.

DEATHS RICHARD DELISLE Richard De Lisle died March 25 in Melbourne, FL. He is survived by his wife, Fran Hafits DeLisle; and his mother-in-law, Ilene Pachman.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 6, 2007

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