Sponsored by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Endowment Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA
Marina Sadofsky to receive Sokolof Outstanding Jewish Teacher Award
April 6, 2012 14 Nisan 5772 Vol. 92 | No. 29
This Week
JCC Gallery to feature “Butterfly Facts and Mythology” exhibit Page 4
Beth El religious school students enjoy Passover fun Page 6
by MARY BORT Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation When you meet Marina Sadofsky for the first time, you realize that she is someone special. The fact that she was born in Russia and immigrated to the United States to start a new life is only part of her unique life story. She also has a “spark” that draws others to listen and learn from her. She has the experience, creativity and passion that come with being an outstanding educator. Sadofsky has been selected to receive the 7th annual Phil and Ruth Sokolof Outstanding Jewish Teacher Award. The late Phil Sokolof created this $10,000 award to recognize an Omaha metro area educator, preferably K-12, who has made an outstanding contribution as a teacher and mentor to his or her students. In Saint Petersburg, Russia, Sadofsky dealt with the hardships and discrimination that came with being Jewish in the communist country. After a year of training, Sadofsky began teaching at a Kindergarten school when she was only 17 years old. “In Russia, ‘Kindergarten’ is the
Marina Sadofsky with some of her students at Bryan Middle School. first four years of school,” she explained. “I then became the principal and did that for 16 years.” Sadofsky ended up in Omaha thanks to a promise that the late Sol Parsow made to his mother – promising to try and find family members in Russia and bring them to the U.S.
Ruth Rosenfeld to speak at Omaha Holocaust Commemoration Toulouse attack leaves French Jewish community shaken Page 20
Inside Point of view Synagogues In memoriam
Next Month Mother’s Day See Front Page stories and more at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on Jewish Press
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by HILLARY FLETCHER Marketing Assistant, Institute for Holocaust Education Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, will be observed on Wednesday, April 18. Events will include a community commemoration service and high school program, both taking place at Beth El synagogue. The high school Yom HaShoah program will begin at 5:30 p.m. and is open to all local Jewish high school students. The community commemoration will begin at 7 p.m. and is open to the public. Yom Hashoah programming is presented by the Institute for Holocaust Education, the Jewish Federation, Beth Israel, Beth El and Temple Israel synagogues. Each year Yom HaShoah programming features a special area of focus. This year’s focus will concentrate on the Righteous Among the Nations, which is an honorary title
given to non-Jews who risked their lives performing courageous acts in order to save Jewish people during the Holocaust. Ruth Rosenfeld, a child survivor of the Holocaust and
Dr. Gerald and Ruth Rosenfeld mother of JCC Omaha Executive Director Aaron Rosenfeld will be the guest speaker. Rosenfeld will share her testimony following the candle lighting at the community commemoration. Born in Wadowice, Poland, Ruth Rosenfeld was orphaned before the age of three. She has previously explained her early childhood during the Holocaust as follows: “We remained in the ghetto until August, 1943, when the Germans liquidated the ghetto. As the aktion Continued on page 3
Sadofsky’s mother and Parsow’s mother were first cousins. “Sol and Lee Jane Parsow found us and helped us come to the U.S.,” said Sadofsky. “My nine-year-old daughter, Katya, and I arrived in Omaha in 1990. I am very grateful to the Parsow family, the Kaslow family, Shirley
Goldstein, the Jewish Federation of Omaha and so many other people for everything they did to help me and other Jewish immigrants from Russia. I’m so appreciative.” After arriving in Omaha, she studied the English language for four months and then began her 22 year career with Omaha Public Schools (OPS) as an assistant teacher at the before-and-after school program at Sunny Slope Elementary School. She also taught the Russian language at Metropolitan Community College, and later, at Burke and Central High Schools. In 1993, Sadofsky was hired as a full-time teacher, traveling between Burke, Central and South High Schools. After earning her teaching endorsement, Sadofsky received an endorsement in Industrial Technology in 1997 and was transferred to Bryan Middle School. “I chose Industrial Technology because I’ve always been a ‘hands on’ type of person,” noted Sadofsky. “While OPS initially was interested in my ability to teach Russian, they appreciated my teaching abilities Continued on page 2
Joel Gordon to deliver keynote presentation at Arab Spring workshop by MOSHE GERSHOVICH, PHD opments in geographic subunits The Middle East Project Fund at (such as North Africa and Egypt, UNO is proud to host a one-day Turkey and Iran) as well as a thescholarly workshop marking one matic panel on the impact of the year from the start of the series of demonstrations and protest movements throughout North Africa and the Middle East, commonly termed the Arab Spring. The event will take place on Sunday, April 15, at the CPACS building on the UNO campus. Cospon-soring the workshop are the UNO College of Arts and Sciences, the History Depart-ment and its Charles and Mary Martin Fund, the Islamic Studies Program and the Natan and Hannah Schwalb Center for Israel and Jewish Studies. The event is free and open to UNO students and members of the greater Omaha community. The Workshop will feature Dr. Joel Gordon at an Afghani tomb. presentations by twelve scholars of “Arab Spring” on religious and eththe contemporary Middle East and nic minorities. Of special interest related areas who are teaching at to members of the Jewish commuUNO, UNL, Creighton, as well as nity of Omaha should be the panel the University of Denver, Wichita exploring reactions to the regional University State, and the Univer- turmoil among Israelis and sity of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Palestinians. For a complete These presentations and follow-up schedule of these panels and titles discussions will be framed in five of the presentations, go to panels representing recent devel- Continued on page 3