April 20, 2007

Vol. LXXXVI No. 32 Omaha, NE

Celebrating 86 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa

2 Iyyar, 5767 April 20, 2007

AIPAC event features experts on the Middle East

Debate over Arab museum on the Holocaust intensifies

by BRENDA GAZZAR in order to solve our problems -- we need to see the NAZARETH, Israel (JTA) -- Amin Abu Lashin was problems of the other, of the Jews.” intrigued and bewildered when he heard from his Continued on page 2 teacher that an Arab would care enough about the Holocaust to establish a museum to educate other Arabs about the Jewish tragedy.

So the 12th-grader from the Franciscan Sisters School in this city and a classmate visited the site and met its founder, Khaled Kasab Mahameed, for themselves. Now the two Arab Israeli students, who say they have learned little about the Holocaust in school, plan to make a short film about the Arab Holocaust museum -- the first of its kind -- for their final class project.

“We sat with him and started to talk about why he's doing it,” Abu Lashin, 18, said at the small museum where about 80 black-and-white posters of Holocaust photos from Yad Vashem are displayed with some Frances and Sam Fried, a Holocaust survivor involved with the Holocaust Memorial organizArabic explanations.

“In my opinion it’s a ing commitee, helps unveil the stainless steel “Star of Remembrance” monument at Wyuka great idea. I think that for Cemetery in Linoln on Sunday, prior to the annual commemoration at the Capitol Rotunda. the problems with the More photos and coverage of Yom HaShoah in Lincoln and Omaha will be in next week’s Photo courtesy of Gary Hochman.

Arabs, the Palestinians -- Jewish Press.

And in Lincoln, Holocaust memorial unveiled in state cemetery

by CLAIRE SCHWARTZ for AIPAC The Annual Nebraska Membership Dessert Reception, sponsored by AIPAC, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, will be held Thursday, May 3, 7:30 p.m., at the home of Tom and Darlynn Fellman, 1302 So. 101st Street, Apt. 40. AIPAC Council Co-chairmen Michael Miller and Jerry Slusky announced that Bill Cowan, a Fox News military analyst, and Jonathan Missner, AIPAC Director of National Affairs and Development, will brief attendees on the state of affairs in the Middle East, terrorism, and threats to Israel.

Fox News military and terrorism analyst Bill Cowan understands security. As a Naval Academy graduate and retired Marine Corps Officer who served over three years on combat assignments in Vietnam, mostly in small unit operations, Cowan has spent his career helping secure America.

In the 1980s, he served as Senior Military Operations Officer and Field Operative on covert and clandestine missions into the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America with the Pentagon’s most classified counterterrorist unit, the Intelligence Support Activity (ISA). He later returned to the Middle East to assist with the resoBill Cowan lution of hostage crises in both Lebanon and Iraqi-occupied Kuwait.

In addition to appearing regularly on the Fox News Channel, Cowan is CEO of wvc3, inc., a Virginia company providing services, support, and technologies to our government's intelligence and military special operations programs. This past fall, Cowan participated on an AIEF (American Israel Education Foundation) mission to Israel.

Continued on page 2

Small world connection part of JCC’s Jewish Arts Festival Sunday

by CAROL KATZMAN Editor of the Jewish Press Long before Lisa Shkolnick, Associate Executive Director of the Jewish Community Center, had announced plans for this Sunday’s Jewish Arts Festival, Sandy Epstein e-mailed the Jewish Press with what everyone has come to recognize as a “small world” story.

“My roommate from college, Beth Prostok Dorfman lives in Kansas City,” Epstein wrote. “We have stayed friends from sixth or seventh grade. She’s from Hastings, NE, and came to Omaha for High Holiday services. My father (the late Morrie Lipp) and hers were college fraternity brothers.”

Dorfman’s daughter was getting married, so Sandy and her husband Paul Epstein, drove to Kansas City for the wedding. It was an opportunity to see some of her sorority sisters; one of whom is Diane Davis Ravis.

The two had already re-established their friendship when Ravis was in Omaha at the University of Nebraska Medical Center with her husband, Mike, who was undergoing a liver transplant; he ended up having heart surgery as well. Though

Inside Opinion Page see page 12

he has since died, Sandy and Diane have remained close and she enjoyed seeing her again at the Dorfman wedding.

Ravis told the Jewish Press that she and her late husband were made to feel very comfortable in Omaha. “We spent more than a year coming to Omaha once a month, and then every two weeks for doctor visits,” she wrote. “The Lied Transplant Center and the medical staff at UNMC were wonderful. I hope people in Omaha realize what an outstanding facility they have.”

The couple was virtually alone for about 16 weeks in Omaha. Yes, friends and relatives visited, some staying for weeks at a time, but for the most part, Ravis was on her own.

And this is where the Jewish Arts Festival connection emerges.

“While I was in Omaha, I learned to knit,” she wrote. “I knew how to needlepoint and had been doing that for years, but when I went to get needlepoint supplies (at Personal Threads, the shop at 82nd and Dodge -- and a Jewish Press advertiser), I noticed the beautiful yarns they had.

She took a knitting lesson right there

Diane Davis Ravis displays her “ravishing Sunday at the JCC’s Jewish Arts Festival. and she’s been knitting ever since.

“Knitting really kept me sane while Mike was in the hospital, not only in Omaha but in Kansas City as well,” she added.

“It is a great way to sit quietly and I think almost every one of Mike’s nurses received one of my handmade scarves

This Week: Interview with JTS’ chancellor-elect: Page 11 See Front Page Stories & More at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’

Council Bluffs synagogue named to National Register: Page 3

that year.”

Ravis started making felted purses about a year ago and have sold them donating the entire profit to Gift of Life, an organization dedicated to increasing the awareness of the urgent need for organ and tissue donation.

She’ll be selling her handmade knitted creations this Sunday at the JCC’s first Jewish rags purses”on sale this Arts Festival. It’s part of the annual Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration of Israel’s 59th anniversary of its independence, April 22, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. More than 25 artists, including Ravis, will be on hand, along with inflatables for the kids, music, food, and more.

Continued on page 2

Coming Next Week: Mother’s Day Issue Ethiopia reopens Falash Mura compound: Page 5

Ayalon Institute reminder of Israel’s 1948 War: Page 16

Page 2

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 20, 2007

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CLIP & SAVE

CALENDAR OF EVENTS FRIDAY, APRIL 20 Tot Shabbat & Dinner, 6 p.m. at Beth El SATURDAY, APRIL 21 Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:15 a.m. at Temple Israel 39 Forever Progra.m., 6 p.m.a

C L I P

SUNDAY, APRIL 22 The Living Torah, 9:30 a.m. at Chabad House Class with Rabbi Nadel, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Adult Education, 10 a.m.-noon at Beth El Tapestry Workshop, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Mishpacha Mornings, 10:15 a.m. at Chabad House Yom Ha’atzmaut, noon

& S A V E

C L I P &

MONDAY, APRIL 23 W.O.W Craft Shoppe, 10 a.m. at Chabad House Women’s Book Group, 1 p.m. at Beth El Beth El Women’s Rosh Hodesh Group, 7 p.m.

Jewish Family Service Board Meeting, 7 p.m.

Israel Nearing 60, 7 p.m.

Derech Torah: Judaism 101, 7:30 p.m.

S A V E

TUESDAY, APRIL 24 WOW Prayer Circle Tehillim & More, 9 a.m. at Chabad ADL presentation of The Train, 1 and 7 p.m.

BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

Intro to Jewish Ethics, 6 p.m.

BBYO Parent/Teen Info Night, 6:30 p.m.

Parshah Roundup, 7 p.m. at Chabad House WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25 ADL presentation of The Train, 1 and 7 p.m.

Old Bag Affair sponsored by LOVE, 6 p.m.

C Kabbalah Circle, 7 p.m. at Chabad House

L THURSDAY, APRIL 26 I P Women of the Torah class, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel

C L I P

& Jewish Thought, 12:45 p.m. at Chabad House

&

Adult Study with the Clergy, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Getting More Out of Prayer, noon at Beth El

S A V E

Yiddish Group, 1 p.m.

JFS Becoming a Love & Logic Parent, 6 p.m.

Hebrew Classes, 6 p.m.

Bible Translation for Jews, 7 p.m. at Beth El Teacher Appreciation Dinner, 7 p.m.

RBJH LOVE Meeting, 7 p.m.

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 Terri Greenwood 334-6559

S A V E

Arab museum on the Holocaust Continued from page 1 Mahameed says that despite being met with skepticism or silence, The Arab Institute for Holocaust Research and Education -- created two years ago in the lobby of his law office -- is beginning to capture the attention of the Arab media and earning support from some in the community.

Mahameed, 45, believes his self-funded museum and Web site could contribute to peace in the region. But he still finds himself being criticized by Jewish organizations that claim he is manipulating the Holocaust for political aims and from Arabs who brand him a Zionist or a traitor to his people.

Mahameed came up with a great idea in educating the Arabic-speaking public about the Holocaust, said Arieh O'Sullivan, spokesman for the ADL Office in Israel, but has taken it in a direction with which the AntiDefamation League cannot agree.

“He’s saying ‘the Holocaust existed, it’s a terrible thing, but the Palestinians pay the price of the Holocaust, and Europeans felt guilty about the Holocaust, and they set up this colonial state here which is also totally ignorant of Zionist history,’” O’Sullivan said, referring to statements Mahameed has made in his Arabic book The Palestinians and the Holocaust State and in Arabic on his Web site.

“Israel arose not because of the Holocaust but despite the Holocaust,” O’Sullivan said.

The museum also juxtaposes the Holocaust with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by placing pictures of Nazis threatening or killing Jews next to pictures of Palestinian refugees, Palestinian victims of violence and the Palestinian flag.

“He’s equating the two, and you can’t equate those things,” O’Sullivan said. “The juxtaposition is just wrong.”

Officials at the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem, who met with Mahameed at the start of the project and even provided him with materials, say that such a juxtaposition “contributes to the misappropriation of the Holocaust as a tool against Israel” and say they cannot support his museum or his agenda.

Although Mahameed says Palestinians are paying the price for the murder of six million Jews, he insists that he is not equating the suffering of Holocaust victims with the plight of the Palestinians. Those who try to equate the two have an “undeveloped” understanding of the unique tragedy that is the Holocaust, he said.

“You see this?” a passionate Mahameed asked, pointing to a poster in his museum representing Palestinian refugees among a cluster of Holocaust posters. “I want to tell those people that six million were killed. I will tell these people that you have been expelled from your country. You weren’t expelled just because you are Arabs but it is because of conflict.

“They were killed,” he said, pointing to the poster of Jewish Holocaust victims, “just because they were Jews.

How can I equate? I can’t. It’s to tell these people that we can’t equate.”

Yet at least some visitors to the museum come away with a different impression.

“In the Shoah they killed a lot of people, and now with Palestinians it’s like the same,” the student Abu Lashin said, explaining why he thinks Mahameed’s museum has value. “The Arab people are being killed there in Palestine.”

“It’s not the same,” he said, “but you can say that it’s kind of” the same.

His 17-year-old classmate, Rana Odeh, agreed.

“The Jews are doing the same” to Palestinians “that was done to them,” he said.

Mahameed told JTA that such perceptions are due to a dearth of instruction about the Shoah in Arab Israeli schools, for which he blames the Israeli Ministry of Education. But fellow attorney Solleman Qaddan of Nazareth developed similar ideas after visiting the museum and talking to Mahameed. Qaddan said he stopped talking to his friend for a whole year because of his opposition to the Arab Holocaust museum.

Today, however, Qaddan said he understands the connection and the need to compare the Holocaust with the suffering of the Palestinian people.

“We are not expecting the Israelis to wake up and give us full rights, but we are expecting from the international community to compare between the two things - the way Khaled is comparing between the two issues, the two phenomena,” he said. “He’s right, 100 percent.”

Mahameed believes that if Arabs only understood the Holocaust, they would choose nonviolence in their dealings with Israel. It is because Arabs have denied the Holocaust and its centrality in the minds of Israelis, Jews and the Western world that they deny their own power to affect Israeli policy and behavior, he said.

Mahameed’s theory is that if Palestinians or Arabs would recognize the Holocaust as historical fact, they would bring the world to recognize their Palestinian tragedy, or “naqba.”

Subsequently the world would recognize the Palestinians’ political rights, probably including the right of return and compensation, according to Esther Webman, a researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Anti-Semitism and Racism and The Daya Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. Webman recently visited the museum.

Still, experts like Webman say, the conflict and its solution cannot be reduced just to the Holocaust.

Webman said it is a positive that Mahameed’s museum -- the only such place in an Arab community -- is educating people on the Holocaust since many in Israel, particularly Arabs, and in the Arab world are ignorant or have misconceptions about the human tragedy.

“He has good intentions,” she said of Mahameed.

However, Webman said, it is important to note that the museum “doesn’t elevate itself from the political thing. He doesn’t hide his end goal, which is recognition of the Palestinian naqba.”

Small world connection part of Arts Festival

AIPAC event features experts

Continued from page 1 In addition to the carnival-like atmosphere, the Teen Leadership Award will be presented at 1 p.m., just prior to the B’nai B’rith Trivia Quiz in the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. At 3 p.m., the Elinor Whitman Book contest awards will be given in the Kripke Library.

Vendors will be selling their wares throughout the day.

Ravis really got to know Omaha, too. “I drove all over your ‘20 minute town’ and loved it. Almost every day, I would drive down Dodge or Center, or I-80, just to think. Each day I would tell Mike about my findings and at one point he asked if I was planning to move,” she laughed. “Mike remained on a ventilator, and in an induced coma for part of that time, so I ventured out to find places to eat by myself, too.”

Her children were very active in BBYO and knew lots of kids from Omaha; some of the parents informed Rabbi Paul Drazen, former rabbi at Beth El Synagogue, who wound up visiting nearly every week. “I will never forget his kindness to us,” she added.

Mike’s transplant occured on May 30, 2002, requiring 36 hours of surgery resulting in 13 transplants for 10 patients. “I was told at the time that many hospitals would have had to turn organs away because of the lack of dedicated staff willing to work around the clock like that,” Ravis added.

She’s looking forward to seeing friends from Omaha this Sunday. And to her drive around town!

Continued from page 1 Missner came to AIPAC in 2004 as its Director of National Affairs and Development with a much less traditional background than one might expect. A successful businessman and adjunct professor of law, Missner decided to devote his life to strengthening the U.S./Israel relationship because of a life long passion Jon Missner to the cause.

In Washington, Missner leads AIPAC’s regional operations and brings a unique entrepreneurial and business development perspective to AIPAC at a time of tremendous growth. Missner spent a great deal of his life working in leadership positions in the Jewish community and has studied in Israel.

He received his B.A. in History from The Johns Hopkins University, his M.B.A. in International Business from The George Washington University, and his J.D. from The Georgetown University Law Center.

Scott Meyerson has been named as the newly elected AIPAC Nebraska Council Vice Chairman. All community members are welcome to attend. For more information about AIPAC or the event, please contact Alison Levin at 303.864.9464 or by e-mail at Alison.levin@aipac.org.

April 20, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 3

Council Bluffs Synagogue Community event to feature Temple storyteller’s listed on National Register conversations with Palestinian woman

by SANDRA KURLAND A year-long process involving visits and applications made by historian Leah Rogers has lead to the listing of B’nai Israel on the National Register of Historic Places. Although familiar with Council Bluffs from her previous work, Rogers of Tallgrass Historians, researched the origin of the century-old congregation and presented the nomination to the Historical Society of Iowa, where it was accepted.

B’nai Israel Synagogue in Council Bluffs, IA. The first Jews began arriving in the Bluffs in the mid1880s. Congregation Bikur Cholim was founded with 25 charter members; they held traditional services in a rented building. At about the same time, the Council Bluffs Hebrew Society/Temple Emanuel, a Reform congregation, was organized. The Temple rented various halls, then purchased a building which also housed a Sunday School. The Hebrew Society also purchased a cemetery which Oak Hill and Bikur Cholim arranged to share.

Chevra B’nai Yisroel was organized in 1903; the laying of the cornerstone of the original building (which cost $6000) took place on June 19, 1904. The founders expressed the need to maintain and preserve Jewish traditions and to educate their children in Judaism.

Twenty-seven years later on March 5, 1930, the building burned to the ground. The congregation rallied and even though it was during the Depression, a new cornerstone was laid for a brick building on Aug. 10, 1930.

On Nov. 9, 1953, the name was officially changed to B’nai Israel Synagogue.

Fees for research and the preparation of the nomination were paid by a grant from the Special Donoradvised Fund of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation. The fund will also cover a portion of the costs of a reception on Sunday, June 10, 2-4 p.m., at the synagogue. Council Bluffs Mayor Tom Hanafan will speak at 3 p.m.; the entire Jewish community is invited.

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by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Storyteller Noa Baum, an Israeli who began a heartfelt dialogue with a Palestinian woman while living in the United States, weaves together their memories and their mothers’ stories in a compelling one-woman performance. Baum creates a moving testimony illuminating the complex and contradictory history and emotions that surround Jerusalem for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Baum will present her show, “A Land Twice Promised,” at a community-wide event on Wednesday, May 2, 6:30 p.m., at Temple Israel. Her residency is co-sponsored by the Special Donor Advised Fund of the Jewish Federation Foundation and the Hermene Zweiback Center for Lifelong Jewish Learning.

“We learned that a little compassion could go a long way,” Baum said. “It is my sincere hope that this evening will encourage you to seek out ‘the other’ and listen to their story. I am grateful for the faith and trust put in me by my friend and her family (who for personal and political reasons wish to remain anonymous at this point in time), to our children who were ‘the excuse’ in the

beginning, and to my mother, my first storyteller.”

As an artist-in-residence at Temple Israel, Baum will also lead a storytelling workshop, “Story Gems: Telling Our Stories,” on Thursday, May 3, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., in the Milder Center at Temple Israel. She’ll explore how the acts of telling and being listened to can connect people to their past, to others, and to themselves as they learn to share their own life stories. They’ll have an opportunity to discover the power of passing on their accounts to the next generation. Lunch is included free of charge, but please RSVP to Temple at 556.6536 or to mkube@templeisraelomaha.com.

On the following day, Friday, May 4, 1 p.m., Baum will be the guest of Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ) at the organization’s annual Donor Tea at Temple.

“Marvelous Maidens, Incredible Crones, Stories of Women Wise and Bold,” will take a look into the lives of exceptional women from history, the Bible, and world folklore who use wit, wisdom, strength of body and spirit to accomplish great deeds. Separate invitations have been sent to WRJ members.

That evening at the Friday, May 4, 6 p.m., family Shabbat worship service at Temple, Baum will give the d’var Torah-in-story which will pass on a message to both children and adults. Members of the community are invited to attend Temple throughout Baum’s residency.

B’nai B’rith names top scholar athletes

by HOWARD BORDEN The names of the metro area’s top male and female high school scholar/athletes are no surprise to Omahans who follow local athletics. Niles Paul of Omaha North and Kelsey Woodard of Bellevue West High School were selected by local media representatives, athletic directors, and coaches Niles Paul from metro area high schools.

Henry Monsky Lodge will honor the two high school students at their 53rd Annual B’nai B’rith Sports Banquet on May 9, according to Gil Cohen, event Chairman.

National ESPN Radio Host Colin Cowherd will be the featured speaker at the Wednesday dinner, to be held at the Holiday Inn Convention Center. The ever-popular and always humorous Otis XII will reprise his role as emcee.

Paul will receive the Bert Render Award as the top male athlete. Woodard will accept the Earl Siegel plaque,

the counter-part award. The schools of the award recipients will share a $1000 donation for its scholarship fund. In addition, the honorees will split $3,000 in scholarships provided by NRG Media. Other media sponsors include KPTM Channel 42 and Varsity View newspaper.

Tickets for the banquet, annually Kelsey Woodard among Omaha’s largest and most popular, can be obtained by calling Lois Epstein at 334.6443. Patron tickets are $110 each with a table of 10 going for $1,000. A special VIP ticket for a private reception with Cowherd is $150 (table of 10, $1,500) Paul lettered in three sports, garnering accolades for his superior play in football, basketball and track. In the fall, he will attend the University of Nebraska at Lincoln on a football scholarship.

Woodard earned great acclaim for her accomplishments in basketball and volleyball. Kelsey plans to attend Creighton University on a basketball scholarship.

Page 4

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 20, 2007

‘The Irony of Acceptance’ to be focus of Beth El’s featured Scholar-in-Residence

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Since World War II, Jews have enjoyed widespread acceptance into the general American society, according to Dr. Jonathan Rosenbaum; however, along with acceptance has come the necessity of American Jews to work harder at maintaining their Jewishness, both religiously and communally. The many variables which make up this paradox will be explored by Dr. Rosenbaum, when he addresses “The Irony of Acceptance: Living Jewishly in Today’s World,” during next weekend’s scholar-in-residence weekend at Beth El. A highly-esteemed scholar, rabbi and educator, Dr. Rosenbaum is President of Gratz College in Melrose Park, PA, which specializes in training professional Jewish educators and communal leaders, and holds the distinction as the oldest nondenominational college of Jewish studies in North America. Prior to accepting the post at Gratz in 1998, he served as director of Judaic Studies and chairman of the Department of History, at the University of Hartford.

In addition, Dr. Rosenbaum, his wife, Susan and their three sons lived in Omaha from 1976-86, during which time he served as a tenured faculty member of the religious studies department at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, as well as executive director of the Jewish Federation’s Bureau of Jewish Education.

For his scholar-in-residence weekend, Dr. Rosenbaum said he plans to focus on a number of topics, all of which feed into his theme of ‘the irony of acceptance.’

“The irony of acceptance is an important issue, because for a very long time, we Jews did not have acceptance, and there’s been a really radical change just in the last generation or so,” he said. “You can trace it since the second World War and the people who subsequently came back and opened doors in many, many different ways. But that acceptance has often come at a price, and the irony is that on the one hand, we’ve always sought acceptance, and on the other hand, acceptance is not simply a one-way street. It requires perhaps a greater emphasis on religiosity and Jewish

involvement, communal commitment, etc., than the classical traditional Jewish environment, which was, by and large, automatically communal and religious.”

Explaining that while past concerns of the Jewish community focused on being excluded socially and in the professional and educational worlds, “now the concerns are not there in the same way,” he said. “If we decide tomorrow morning that we do no not want to be part of the Jewish community or we want to be part of the non-Jewish community, that community is quite accepting of us. And so we have a real challenge, in terms of keeping Jewish, because we’re so well accepted.”

Noting that it takes effort, commitment, knowledge and education to be part of the Jewish community, Dr. Rosenbaum added that, “It’s not something that can be passive; it has to be active. And that is somewhat ironic, because we tend to think of our ancestors as the activists and we, as perhaps, more passive. The fact is that we’re as active as they, and we need to be more active because they had the option of simply being part of the [Jewish] community and thereby being Jewishly involved in an intensive way. We don’t have that option.

We have to make an effort. We have to choose to be Jewish.”

While saying he has seen some people lose their Jewish identity, either from apathy or lack of knowledge, he expressed optimism about the future of a vibrant Jewish community.

Because electronic advances make the world a much smaller place, Jewish learning and opportunities abound to reach and bring together Jews from all over. “I think we’ve never been in a better position to give people the excitement of being Jewish,” Dr. Rosenbaum remarked.

“That is something that is, perhaps, unique to this current generation. We have the communicative opportunity that didn’t exist earlier. We connect through these electronic means and have some brilliant ways of doing it.”

For example, he cited Gratz College, which is said to offer the largest online Jewish studies program in North America. “We have students literally, from Alaska to Florida, who are partici-

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pating in intensive courses and receiving well find ourselves in the ironic situation certificates and degrees. They’re involved 20 years hence, of having unlimited as intellectually as anybody sitting in a resources -- someone might give a billion classroom. These are people who would- dollars to Jewish life and learning -- and it n’t have the luxury of an intensive Jewish might not be sufficient because we will education, because they don’t have the have lost generations that will be irrekind of structure that we have in trievable.”

Philadelphia or that you have in Omaha.”

He continued: “What brought me to Because of these widespread learning Gratz was the opportunity to contribute opportunities, “what we have is the to that window of opportunity, that opportunity to excite people -- not just chance to make Jews Jewish by choice educate them, but excite them about and by inspiration, and by knowledge and being Jewish,” he by the pleasures of being continued.

Jewish. It’s not that they “I believe that have to, it’s not that they’re Jewish education has forced to: it’s that they want changed from the to, and I think that that is time that I was a really important.” child or a student, in During his weekend at that we were trained Beth El, Dr. Rosenbaum will to know information offer three presentations and to have a good touching on “The Irony of sense of it. One of Acceptance” theme: speakthe things we try to ing at the April 27 Shabbat do at our institution dinner (following 6 p.m. is to excite people services), he will discuss “Back to the Future: about being Jewish Acceptance, Assimilation - about choosing. and Anti-Semitism in They are making a Dr. Jonathan Rosenbaum Contemporary America;” conscious choice to identify with the Jewish community and during Saturday morning services, he will we want them to know that Judaism is an address “Subverting Scholarship: The exciting way to live. It gives you a sense of Politics of Biblical Studies in the who you are from the moment you get up Contemporary World;” and at the in the morning until you go to bed at Kiddush luncheon following Shabbat services, he plans to explore “Jewishnight.”

After being approached about assuming Christian Dialogue: How Far Should (or the presidency at Gratz, Dr. Rosenbaum Can) It Go?” The community is invited to attend. recalled that he and his wife saw a unique opportunity to enthuse students about Reservations are needed by April 23 for the Friday night dinner: cost is $12.50 for Judaism.

“We were both struck by the opportu- adults; $8.50 for children ages six nity – because I believe that the Jewish through 12; no charge for children five community around the world, and espe- and younger. There is no charge to attend cially in North America -- has a window Saturday’s Kiddush luncheon, and reserof opportunity that has to be opened,” he vations are not necessary. In addition, said. “If people are inspired Jewishly in free babysitting will be available upon this period when they have the opportu- request during all presentations.

To RSVP or for more information, connity and they have the cultural and intellectual and communal connections, then tact Program Director Margie Gutnik in we may very well see America and North the office or at programming@bethelAmerica becoming one of the greatest omaha.org. This scholar-in-residence Jewish communities in all of Jewish histo- weekend has been made possible by a donation from the Dorothy and Henry ry, by any standards you can name.

“But if we don’t inspire, we may very Riekes Family Endowment Fund.

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April 20, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 5

Pressure on Ethiopian government leads to reopening of aid compound

by URIEL HEILMAN the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, JERUSALEM (JTA) Underscoring the vulnerability which provides the Falash Mura with medical care; and of the 7,000 or so Falash Mura waiting in Ethiopia to the UJC federation umbrella group, which sponsors aid make aliyah, the main Jewish aid compound in the coun- operations for the Falash Mura -- said they were monitry was shut down for nearly two weeks after locals per- toring the situation closely to respond quickly to any suaded Ethiopian authorities that the compound was a developing humanitarian needs. public nuisance and operating illegally.

This was not the first crisis for the Gondar facility. Last But the facility in Gondar -- which provides schooling, May the compound’s local director, Getu Zemene, was Jewish education, some food aid and some employment arrested following an internecine dispute over control of assistance to the Falash Mura who live in adjacent neighborhoods -- was reopened March 30 after being closed for two weeks following pressure on the Ethiopian government by American Jewish federation leaders.

In a letter sent to Ethiopia’s ambassador to the United States, eight Jewish federation leaders wrote that local complainants constituted an illegally elected community leadership and that they essentially were troublemakers intent on disrupting the orderly aliyah process.

“The illegally elected new leadership is headed by individuals not eligible for emigration to Israel,” the federation executives, led by Stephen Hoffman, president of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, wrote. “If this illegally elected leader- Ethiopians waiting to immigrate to Israel are served lunch at the Gondar aid comCredit: Uriel Heilman/JTA ship remains, the compound’s pro- pound in February 2006. grams will not receive our funding, as we cannot trust the compound, and the facility was shut down for a few our funds to people whose integrity and ability to han- days. Zemene was soon released and the compound was dle money honestly is in grave doubt.” reopened.

The multi-site Gondar aid compound is funded by the Several weeks ago, however, Ethiopian authorities North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry, or issued a formal order to close the Gondar compound, NACOEJ, but has been run by intermediaries since the leaving 7,000 Falash Mura without aid services.

New York-based group was barred from operating in The Falash Mura are Ethiopians of Jewish ancestry Ethiopia following legal troubles two-and-a-half years whose progenitors converted to Christianity several genago. erations ago to escape economic and social pressures.

Those legal problems and a dispute with the local They and their families now are turning to Judaism in a community forced the closure of NACOEJ’s other bid to come to Israel, and they have been emigrating at Ethiopian aid compound, in Addis Ababa, in late 2004. a rate of 300 per month.

That compound remains closed.

Since the 1990s, the prospect of immigration to Israel NACOEJ does not sponsor any aid facilities in has prompted tens of thousands of Ethiopian farmers Ethiopia other than the multi-site Gondar compound. and craftsmen to leave their rural villages and relocate to The closure appears to have been prompted by a fight Gondar, where the Israeli Interior Ministry verifies their among locals interested in control over the substantial eligibility for aliyah. aid money being spent there -- an estimated $1 million Many of them have found the move to the city diffiper year in a desperately impoverished country where cult and have availed themselves of local Jewish aid servmost people make about $1 per day -- and greater say ices. NACOEJ heralds these operations as a bulwark over who is and who is not eligible for aliyah. against penury and starvation.

This comes despite the fact that community leaders Others, however, argue that the aid has fostered the have no say in determining who is eligible to immigrate development of a welfare-dependent population, to Israel and that American Jewish groups have pledged encouraging the impoverishing move to the city and not to fund any renegade communal leadership. hindering the Falash Mura from developing independ“It is my understanding that there are competing fac- ent sources of food and income in Gondar. tions within the Ethiopian community itself who have While the Israeli government estimates that some called into question the leadership of the compounds,” 7,000 Falash Mura remain in Ethiopia, some advocates said Doron Krakow, the United Jewish Communities’ of Ethiopian aliyah contend that the number is more senior vice president for Israel and overseas affairs, who than twice that. happened to be in Gondar on March 19, the day the In the past, locals have tried to wrest control of the compound was shuttered. “Those who are interested in Gondar compound through allegations of corruption, impugning the local leadership of the compound are intimidation and violence, and armed guards had been looking for any way possible to knock these guys out.” stationed at some of the facilities’ entrances.

Until the compound was reopened, officials from Similar problems, along with a dispute between local Jewish groups in Ethiopia -- including the Jewish employees and NACOEJ’s directorship, led to the cloAgency for Israel, which manages immigration to Israel; sure of NACOEJ’s Addis Ababa aid compound.

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Kripke Library issues 60,000 check-out challenge

by CHERYL LERNER CJE Administrative Assistant Help us get to 60,000!

The goal of the contest is to see who will check out the remaining 7734 items needed to reach the goal of 60,000 material (books, dvds, teacher reserve, cds etc.) from the Kripke Library. Currently, the computer count is 52,266 and we need your help. The award recipients will receive some great prizes: gift basket of new books; book plate in a new book; and a photo in the Jewish Press.

To keep track of the materials checked-out, the library will have a large display at the front of the library showing the daily count. Also, the library is expanding its weekly hours to encourage usage, especially during

evenings and weekends. Gary Katz, Library Administrator says, “I think this is a fun, exciting way to show our commitment to community by expanding our hours.”

The new library hours are: Monday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m; Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Wednesday, 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.; and Sunday 1 p.m.-4 p.m.

When Kripke Library moved to its new home in 2000, it received a grant from the Milton S. and Corrine N. Livingston Foundation to purchase library computer software that is able to keep track of how many books get checked-out, among other useful things. Since Nov. 19, 2000, the library has checked-out 52,266 materials to the community and general public.

The contest started April 8, and will run until the 60,000 goal is checked-out. For more information, contact Katz at gkatz@jewishomaha.org or 334.6462.

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April 20, 2007

The Idan Raichel Project – cherishing Israel’s melting pot of cultures through music

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by BARRY DAVIS positive side of life here,” says Raichel, who has toured (IPS) Idan Raichel has to be the closest any Israeli the US six times and performed in Mexico, Singapore, artist has ever come to being the quintessential world Ethiopia and London. “There’s much more to life in music star. Brought up on a highly varied cultural and this part of the world than wars and politics.” musical pallet, 29-year-old Raichel exploded onto the In a sense Raichel grew up in something of a cultural world music in 2002 and has maintained a meteoric tra- time warp. While his contemporaries were grooving to jectory ever since. the largely electronically I caught up with Raichel processed sounds of eighties just a couple of days after he pop and rock, Raichel -returned home from New who grew up in Kfar Saba in York and he generously gave a family with Eastern me a few minutes of his time European roots -- was feedin between rehearsal sesing off sounds from a much sions. He lives and works at more varied musical hintera dizzying pace. “Yes, I am a land, much dating from earbit busy these days,” says lier generations.

Raichel with understatement “When I was a kid, I grew verging on the hyperbolic. up listening to roots Israeli “I’m still a bit jet-lagged but folk music -- music by peowe’re honing the material ple like [legendary Polishfor our live shows. We’re a born pianist-composer close-knit team and we have Moshe] Vilenski [legendary worked hard to get where Above: Idan Raichel performs live with the Project. Below: Russian-born pianist-comwe are today.” poser Moshe] Sacha Argov, Ethiopian-born singer Cabra Casey, who was born in a That drive and passion for the Parvarim [folk-pop duo] refugee camp in Sudan during her parent’s journey to Israel, his music and the way he and later [popular pop-folk performs with the Project. She met Raichel when they were presents his craft has kept singer-songwriter] Matti both serving in the Israeli army.

Raichel at the top of his proCaspi. Of course, there were IPS photos courtesy of Ori Or-Yareach. fession ever since his first the army bands and CD, The Idan Raichel [Yemenite-born diva] Project, hit the record stores Shoshana Damari.” and air waves in Israel and Mind you, Raichel did not around the globe in 2002. entirely grow up in a tempoThe album incorporates a ral bubble. “I also listened wide tapestry of sounds and to some of the local rock and rhythms from different culpop groups, like Mashina tures, most noticeably from and their contemporaries -Ethiopia. The voices of not punk or new wave from Ethiopian-born Israelis England or the U.S.” Kasahu Vimru and Almo Weren’t their any foreign Aga add a highly evocative influences at all? “I played resonance to the album’s the accordion so the nonambiance, overlain by Israeli music I listened to Raichel’s electronically ranged from French romanenhanced textures. It is a rich and captivating mix. tic music and Argentinean tangos to gypsy music from However, Raichel feels he embraces far more extensive Bulgaria and South African music from Soweto. As I musical and ethnic terrain. “I don’t know if I have a par- grew up with so-called world music I was more open to ticular preference for Ethiopian of African music. As far influences from different parts of the world. I suppose as I am concerned the Project is an Israeli project which that makes the Project something of a natural extension incorporates vocalists and musicians from Israel’s of all that.”

Ethiopian, Yemenite and South American communities.

In time, Raichel graduated from the accordion to There is something of a melting pot sense in the studio more sophisticated musical climes as a member of an and on stage when we’re working together.” army band. After being discharged from the IDF, he Considering the wide cultural terrain that Israel has worked as a counselor at a boarding school for new encompassed since its creation in 1948, Raichel seems to immigrants and troubled youth, a significant number of have captured the country’s essence and laid it out in a whom were from Ethiopia. Before long the job turned finger-licking musical form. That comes across loud and out to be more than a way to make ends meet. Not only clear wherever Raichel and his troupe perform, and their did he begin attending Ethiopian synagogues, weddings circuit now covers the four corners of the globe. and other ceremonies, but he also started listening to In January 2006, the Idan Raichel Project traveled to Ethiopian folk, pop and reggae music by such leading Ethiopia -- the land that had inspired so much of its Ethiopian artists as Mahmoud Ahmed, Aster Aweke and music -- to open the Fifth Ethiopian Music Festival in Gigi, as well as to native village songs.

Addis Ababa, sharing the stage with top Ethiopian per“I noticed that immigrants from the Ethiopian comformers. Two of the lead singers came to Israel as chil- munity change their names when they get to Israel, trydren in the 1980s and the trip marked the first time they ing to assimilate into Western culture. I wanted these had returned to the land of their birth. kids to remember that they may like hip-hop but they During the coming months, the Project will perform are not from Harlem; they may like reggae but they are in the US, Europe, India and Australia and it is not sur- not Bob Marley. The Ethiopians have a great culture prising to hear people talking about Raichel in ambassa- that should be cherished.” dorial terms. It is not a position Raichel says he chose With two CDs out, a third in the works and an impresintentionally but he is happy to convey a more “sun- sive compilation selling well around the world, the inspishiny” Middle Eastern message than most. rational Project is continuing to go from strength to “I don’t feel like I am representing the whole of Israeli strength, representing Raichel’s musical ideals and celesociety but I am glad I am able to show another more brating his appreciation and respect for different cultures.

BIRTH Jenny and Scott Meyerson announce the April 8 birth of their son, Cody Alexander.

He has two brothers, Jacob and Brady.

Grandparents are Carol and Steve Bloch, and Ardeen and Larry Meyerson.

Great-grandparents are Sonia Forbes, the late Irving Forbes, Leo Meyerson, the late Helen Meyerson, the late Sam and Lucille Gelenter, and the late Harold and Lottie Bloch.

Clean up with Chabad

by KELLY KIRK The Chabad Women of Worth Craft Shoppe will be meeting on Monday, April 23, 10 a.m., to make handmade specialty soaps. Join other women in making soap of different shapes, sizes, scents and colors.

Between Passover and Shavuot is the time when we cleanse ourselves through self introspection and good resolutions. What better way to reinvigorate yourself than to make and use your very own handmade soap.

During the event, Shani Katzman, educational director at the Chabad House, will be speaking briefly about the holiday of Shavuot. Reserve your spot by calling 330.1800 or by e-mail chabadoffice@cox.net.

April 20, 2007

Beth Israel’s Sisterhood offering Mother’s Day Candy Grams

by MARY BORT Beth Israel Synagogue Mother’s Day is only a few weeks away.

Do you know what you're going to give to Mom? How about a sweet treat? Let Beth Israel Sisterhood take care of your Mother’s Day gift giving needs.

Sisterhood is offering Mother’s Day Candy Grams to give or send to Mom. A Candy Gram is a regular size Hershey bar with a custom made Mother’s Day wrapper. The cost is $6 for your first order and $5 for each additional order. If you would like Candy Grams mailed to recipients, you can do so at an additional cost of $2 per order.

According to Sisterhood member, Andreea Shnayder, “In addition to people ordering Candy Grams for their moms, we think this is a great idea for dads planning for Mother’s Day, too.

Dad can place an order on behalf of the kids, to be sent or given to Mom.” The wrappers will be created by

Sisterhood volunteers. “We're making the wrappers, that will include a sweet Mother’s Day sentiment, as well as space to show who sent the Candy Gram,” said Shnayder.

The deadline for placing an order is Tuesday, May 1. Orders can be picked up on Sunday, May 6, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., during a special children’s craft event at Beth Israel.

“Kids are going to paint on canvas to make Mother’s Day paintings to give to Mom,” explained Shnayder. “That way, mom can receive both a sweet Candy Gram and a beautiful painting for Mother’s Day. During the event, we’ll have the orders ready to be picked up.”

Candy Grams can also be picked up at Beth Israel the week prior to Mother’s Day, during regular office hours. To RSVP for the children’s event, please email Shnayder at eshnayder@gmail.com.

To order Candy Grams, please call the office at 556.6288.

Hosts of Beth El Rosh Hodesh meeting ask: What would you save if your house was on fire?

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Tornados, fires and floods strike fear in the hearts of many a homeowner, and may lead them to ponder the question: “What three items would I whisk to safety if my house was about to be destroyed?” This thought-provoking question will be the centerpiece of discussion during Beth El Synagogue’s next Women’s Rosh Hodesh Group meeting on Monday, April 23, 7:30 p.m., at the home of Caryl Greenberg, 2215 So. 86 Ave. The meeting (social hour begins at 7 p.m.) will be co-hosted by Greenberg’s sister, Judy Tully.

The hosts said they selected their theme because it “sounded a little bit different and fun,” said Greenberg, revealing that the three items she would grab include “a

matzoh cover that my grandmother embroidered for her trousseau, which is well over 100 years old; a pair of candlesticks that are family heirlooms; and a little ivory statue of Moses that opens up and holds the Ten Commandments inside.” She noted that the statue was a gift from her in-laws, purchased at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. “It’s a wonderful piece -- it’s keepsakes that are important.”

Greenberg encouraged the women of Beth El to join in the fun, saying, “Take inventory of your cherished belongings, list your priorities and be sure to join us for what will surely be an interesting evening!”

Reservations are needed; contact Greenberg at 399.2088, or Tully at judyt1223@cox.net.

Visions goes on a mystery tour Visionaries enjoyed a fun-filled day of adventure and no one had a clue. The first stop was a docent-led tour of the Omaha Community Playhouse with a behind-thescenes look at the props, costumes and greenrooms. Then off to Gallup University where members, including: Sylvia Davis, left, Sylvia Swartz and Sissy Silber, toured the beautiful grounds on the riverfront and campus of one of the world’s leading providers of management and continuing education for managers. Finally Visions members enjoyed lunch in Council Bluffs. For more information about Visions, call Jim Wax at 393.4442.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 7

Temple class to explore affect of American experience on religion a workshop at the Boisi Center for

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Religion and Society at Boston College for religion scholars on Coordinator “Made in America: The the subject of religion Story and the common good in of Religious America. The workshop Pluralism,” a new class at was sponsored by the Temple Israel, is a study of National Endowment for how the American experithe Humanities. ence affects various reliHer students at gions -- including Islam, Creighton find her class according to Dr. Bette enlightening. “I think Evans who will teach the the subject is loads of class. It will be offered on fun,” she added, “and Tuesdays, May 1, 8, 15, hope to be able to con29, and June 5, 7 p.m. vey that to my Temple Dr. Evans, a Ph.D. in Dr. Bette Evans audience.” She noted political science who has been teaching at Creighton University that “this is not a course in comparative for more than 30 years, points out that theology (although theological ideas American Protestantism, American come into the picture).” Instead, she will Catholicism, and American Judaism are “focus more on the social experience of more alike in structure than American the various religious groups” and how life Judaism is to Israeli Judaism. She has in America has “indeed made us more written extensively on the constitutional alike.”

To register for this adult education guarantees of free exercise of religion and the prohibition of religious establish- class, sponsored by the Hermene ments. For approximately ten years, she Zweiback Center for Lifelong Jewish has been teaching a course on religion Learning, send an email to Program and public life in America. About one- Director Rosie Zweiback at rzweiback@ third of the class covers the templeisraelomaha.com or call her at 556.6536. The fee is $18 for Temple Americanization of various religions.

In 2005, Dr. Evans spent a summer at members and $25 for non-members.

ORGANIZATIONS B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Alan Parsow will speak at Breadbreakers on Wednesday, April 18. noon, at Regency Lodge, according to Gary Javitch, chairman. Parsow will discuss the stock market and his 14% average return last year in his fund management.

All men and women in the community are invited to attend Breadbreakers. Cost is $12 for a complete lunch and $3 for beverage service only.

WALK-IN, DROP-IN For those members going to Bunch to Lunch at the Hong Kong Café on Thursday, please meet at the JCC at 10:45 a.m. For information, call Maggie Conti at 334.6521.

LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Come to the Yiddish meeting at the JCC on Thursdays, 1-3 p.m. If you have any Yiddish books to donate, please call Anne Skolkin at 343.1638.

VISIONS Visit Joslyn Art Museum on Tuesday, May 8, to see a celebrated Impressionists Exhibit, one of the greatest collections on loan. Meet at 10:45 a.m. for an 11 a.m. docent-led tour. The cost is $15 or $11 to current members of Joslyn. Send reser-

vations by May 1 to Doris Alloy, 11317 Harney Plz. Cir., Omaha, NE 68154. For questions, call Sissy Silber at 292.8062.

Visions Luncheon Meeting is Friday, May 18, 12:30 p.m. at the Caniglia’s Venice Inn. Cost is $10. Members will be entertained by a preview of Peter Pan by the Omaha Community Playhouse leading and talented performers, along with the Musical Director, Jim Boggess. Send reservations to Tootie Simon, 8725 Izard St, Omaha, NE 68114 by May 11. For questions, call Harry Alloy at 697-8709.

Make all checks payable to Visions.

JEWISH SENIOR SERVICES Reminder: 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 -- and true. There is no admission charge. For information, call Maggie Conti at 334.6521.

Heartland Philharmonic Orchestra presents “Creatures of the Forest” on Wednesday, May 2, 7 p.m., at the JCC There is no admission fee and the entire community is invited.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 20, 2007

Temple students tour “Jewish New York City”

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Sixteen tenth graders from Temple Israel and three from Sioux City took off for New York City late last month with Rabbi Aryeh Azriel and Rabbi Eric Linder.

The trip is an annual event for Temple sophomores.

During the four-day trip, the students visited Times Square, attended a Broadway show, toured Ellis Island, walked through Lower Manhattan exploring American Jewish history during its earliest years and the Jewish Lower East Side, visited the site of the World Trade Center, Chinatown, and the Jewish Heritage Museum.

They also attended Shabbat services at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun and Kolot Chayeinu Temple in Brooklyn. In addition, they walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, strolled through SoHo, East Village, Union Square, and Central Park, and ate at Ollie’s Noodle Shop, Katz’s Deli, and Pizza Tov. “It was a great experience and a lot of fun, and it was a good way to see a lot of New York,” said Max Halsted.

He especially enjoyed seeing the Brooklyn Bridge, the Jewish Heritage Museum, and eating at Katz’s Deli.

Amanda Bucher said, “It was really fun, and we saw all the different aspects of New York. We went everywhere from Chinatown to the Brooklyn Bridge. We went to two very unique synagogues.” She enjoyed “getting to know my classmates better.”

“I had so much fun!” exclaimed Lauren Davis. “I learned so much too. It was a great opportunity to be with my class and get to know them.” Lauren’s favorite part of the trip was “going to the two different synagogues and be welcomed by Jews in another city.”

Susan Freeman also “had a really good time. It was a really good opportunity for our class to become better friends and get to know each other outside of the Temple environment.”

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Performances of The Train, a one-act play about the Holocaust, are scheduled for Thursday, April 24, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., for students in the theater of the Jewish Community Center, with an introduction by Beth Seldon Dotan, Director of the Institute for Holocaust Education. At 7:30 p.m., The Train will be performed for the general public. It was translated from the Dutch by hidden child Leo Leviticus, a resident of Lincoln, and will be performed by the Angels Theater Company. For credit card reservations, call the Lied Center for Performing Arts at 402.472.4747 or 800.432.3231. Tickets will be sold at the JCC front desk for cash or check, priced at $15 for adults, $10 for students and youth.

Omaha Performing Arts welcomes Arturo Sandoval to the Kiewit Concert Hall of the Holland Performing Arts Center on Saturday, April 28, 8 p.m.

A protégé of the legendary jazz master Dizzy Gillespie, Arturo Sandoval is the winner of four Grammys, six Billboard Awards and an Emmy.

A Cuban native, Sandoval was granted political asylum in July 1990 and U.S. citizenship in 1999. His childhood was spent in a small town on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba, where he began studying the classical trumpet at the age of 12. Sandoval later became a founding member of the Grammy Award-winning group Ikare, leaving in 1981 to form his own successful band.

Tickets, priced from $19-$40, are on sale now, part of the Omaha Performing Arts Presents 2006/07 Jazz Series and may be purchased through Ticket Omaha online at www.ticketomaha.org, by phone at 402.345.0606 or at the box office at the Holland Center, 13th and Douglas.

Omaha Performing Arts has announced the second Day of the Arts at the Holland Performing Arts Center on Sunday, April 29, noon to 5 p.m.

A celebration and showcase of local arts talent, Day of

the Arts is a free afternoon of performances and activities.

While the main lobby of the Holland Center hosts short performances by six of the areas top high school show choirs, visitors will be welcome to wander the acclaimed facility -- experiencing musical entertainment ranging from Native American flute to Caribbean jazz, to Big Band, festive mariachi music and a children’s choir.

Dance troupes of all types will also be present, including the Omaha Theater Ballet Youth Ensemble, UNO’s The Moving Company and movement from around the globe, including East India and Latin America.

Many Americans identify Afghanistan with Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. But for two young American journalists, two weeks spent in the southern Asian country resulted in transformations, both professional and personal.

“Afghan Journey: A Story of Friendship,” airing Monday, April 23, 10 p.m. CT, follows former Lincoln Journal Star reporter Matthew Hansen and photographer Dior Azcuy as they travel to Kabul in October 2005 to explore the connections between Nebraska and Afghanistan for the newspaper. The program also airs Saturday, April 28, 4:30 p.m. CT on NET2.

Through Azcuy’s photographs and hand-held movies taken in Afghanistan, as well as blog accounts and more recent interviews with Azcuy, Hansen and Peikar, “Afghan Journey” looks at the friendship that develops between the three journalists, utilizing it as a metaphor for enlightened relationships on an international stage.

The Phillip Schrager Collection of Contemporary Art announces the first public opportunity to view galleries devoted to this highly regarded collection of contemporary painting and sculpture. The viewings will be Sunday, May 6, noon to 4 p.m., at 4405 So. 96 St., in the AmeriFirst Finance Building. There is no charge for admission.

Yachad joins Beth El at second seder

Taking a ride on the subway were, front row: two students from Sioux City, left, Adam Goldberg, Amy Levinger, Rebecca Noddle, Avery Lehr, back row: Zack Spooner, Amanda Bucher, Max Halsted, Charles Parsow, and Zack Helm.

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by DUANE J. PIEPER In this vibrant season of spring and new beginnings, Yachad gathered around the Passover table with the members of the Beth El community. It afforded them the opportunity to reflect upon the miracles and lessons of Pesach. Each symbolic food, ripe with historic poignancy, along with the telling of the story reminded the Yachad members of some of the most significant episodes in the making of their ancestors into a people.

They loved singing the songs that captured the essence of these key moments in Jewish history.

The Feast of Passover marks the creation of the nation of Israel. It was a blessing for the Yachad members to participate in this communal celebration. They were reminded of this pivotal point in Jewish history and how

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This is the third year that Yachad has joined Beth El to celebrate this most special of nights. The Yachad members not only reflected on this historical night, but were invited to see the parallels and lessons in their own lives.

Pointed out was the fact that this is also their story, to be lived out each day in the midst of their own personal challenges. Yachad was encouraged by the recalling of the faithfulness of their God and the promises of freedom and liberation. Having spent an evening with mishphacha (family), they left the Pesach feast with new insights, a greater sense of hope and renewed appreciation for their heritage.

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All kinds of seders for all kinds of guests at Temple Israel

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator There were seders for everyone at Temple Israel during Passover. Congregants attended a congregational Seder on the second night of Passover. At right: About 50 people attended a Black-Jewish Seder including the guest sitting next to Rabbi Aryeh Azriel. Below left: Club 56ers Eden Ginsberg, left, Jacob Arnold, and Rachel Sullivan counted the ten plagues at a chocolate Seder, and second graders and their families, including Larry Gendler, left, Spencer Arnold, Jackie Neesman, and Sharon Comisar-Langdon; standing, Tamara Field, right, Nathan Gendler, and Mikayla Langdon participated in a model seder.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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IN THE NEWS Film Streams has announced that its new theater in downtown Omaha will be named the Ruth Sokolof Theater in recognition of a gift from the Sokolof Foundation, one of the early contributors to the complex. Expected to open July of this year, Film Streams is located at 14th and Webster, next to Saddlecreek Records. According to Rachel Jacobson, director of Film Streams, the Sokolof Theater will show first run films, independents, documentaries and foreign films making their premiere in the Omaha area.

The University of Nebraska-Omaha School of Communications will recognize Howard K. Marcus with its Alumni Community Service award at an April 26 banquet. Marcus, chairman of the Jewish Press Committee and a writer/editor/photographer at the Omaha World-Herald, earned a BA in journalism from UNO and a master’s in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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In 2005, the Jewish Press named him as its Volunteer of the Year. Marcus’ service to the community began in

1975, when he became a teen volunteer for the American Red Cross.

International Youth Volunteer Session in Israel Dates are set for June 24 to July 12 and July 15 to Aug. 2.

Volunteers for Israel (VFI) works with Sar-El, the National Project for Volunteers for Israel. Sar-El was founded in 1982 as a non-profit, non-political organization providing world Jewry with an opportunity to participate “hands-on” in helping Israel. Since 1982, VFI has been sending American volunteers to Israel for two or more weeks at a time to work in hospitals, nursing homes, and as non-combatant volunteers on military bases. The typical work week runs from Sunday morning to Thursday evening; from Thursday evening until Sunday morning, volunteers are free to travel around Israel and experience Israel as a tourist.

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Dedication of renovated yeshiva is spiritual beacon for Polish Jews

by DINAH A. SPRITZER PRAGUE (JTA) -- Build it and they will come. That’s the heartfelt philosophy behind the reopening of what was Europe’s largest yeshiva in Lublin, a Polish city that before World War II was home to 42,000 Jews but which has only a few dozen active Jews today.

Nearly 1,000 people showed up to witness the Feb. 11 unveiling of the renovated Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin, a building with a simple wood-paneled, lightfilled synagogue at its heart.

It’s the first synagogue in Poland to be reopened with funding solely from Polish Jewry and without government or charitable help.

A Chasidic brass marching tune wafted from the monumental building as Jewish leaders standing on a crane unveiled a Hebrew inscription on the building’s facade. The event recalled the day in 1930 when thousands of Lubliners were on hand as the revered Rabbi Meir Shapiro opened his school in a city that had been a center of Orthodox and Chasidic study since the 16th century.

“Go my sons, my children, I will teach you how to worship the Almighty, and to have fear of the Almighty,” wrote Shapiro, a great scholar who created the Daf Yomi, the cycle of Talmudic study now followed by observant Jews around the world.

Those who danced with vigor amid the yeshiva benches last Shabbat invited fellow Polish Jews to come in from the spiritual cold. “I don’t think there are more Jews out there still afraid to identify as Jews -- I know there are, I meet them all the time,” said Piotr Kadlcik, chairman of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland. “But they will be less afraid when they look at this beautiful synagogue and see that they have a place to go.”

The consecration was marked by tears of hope from normally buttoned-up Polish men aching for an expanded Jewish future. Leaders of the Lublin and Warsaw communities that took part in the yeshiva’s $300,000 partial renovation -- much remains to be done to restore the 20-room building -- are still mulling its use, as it is far too large for the needs of the Jews of Lublin, and perhaps of all Poland.

The seven religious Jewish communities in Poland have some 5,000 members in total, though experts say there may be hundreds of thousands more Jews or those with Jewish roots in the country. “We have restored it and people can criticize us for not having a plan, but it is better to try and fail than not to try at all,” said Michael Schudrich, Poland’s New York-born chief rabbi.

Some distinguished Polish Jews like Konstanty Gebert, editor of Midrasz magazine, hope the yeshiva “will serve as an international education center for Jewish learning, but also for exchanges where students from the Lublin Catholic Seminary could study for a term.”

Others, like Warsaw Jewish community head Piotr Rytka-Zandberg, are focused on opening Europe’s first Museum of the Chasidim and attracting Orthodox Jews from the United States and Israel to visit and study. The building currently houses a small tourist exhibition on the Jews of Lublin.

About a three hour drive south of Warsaw, Lublin is a frequent stop for Jewish tourists, and tourism will be essential to maintain the building. The Jewish community received the yeshiva in ruins from city authorities three years ago as part of a communal restitution process that began in 1997. The Warsaw Jewish community, of which Lublin is a branch, was able to use restitution money gained from rents or building sales to support the yeshiva opening, but it will have to rely on international support for further renovation and operation of the building, Rytka-Zandberg said.

The yeshiva’s most essential purpose is to serve as a spiritual beacon for Polish Jews, particularly those in Lublin, who were holding Sabbath services in a rundown building where vandals repeatedly broke the windows.

That wasn’t lost on Piotr Wajnberg, 29, a Lublin resident with a Jewish father who is in the midst of an Orthodox conversion. The yeshiva opening “is a revival, not just wishful thinking,” Wajnberg said. “Having

Above: Community members and supporters celebrate the reopening of the Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin, Feb. 11, 2007, in Poland.

Left: Rabbi Yechiel Kaufman of New York prays at the newly the reopened Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin.

Credit: Dinah A. Spritzer/JTA Shabbat here will have a certain prestige that will attract people.”

Another member of the Lublin Jewish community, Szymon Bakalczuk, in his early 50s, recalled how his grandfather was one of the funders of the original yeshiva. Bakalczuk, who was a student at the medical academy that was housed in the building for many decades after World War II, was awed by the transition.

“Today the impossible became possible,” he said. The activism of some Lublin Jews is at the core of the small but intensive Jewish revival in Poland, Kadlcik explained.

“Twenty years ago, when I started going to the synagogue in Warsaw, everyone was in their 60s. Now, at 45, I am one of the oldest members of the congregation,” he told an audience of Catholic, local government and Jewish leaders Sunday in Lublin.

Over the past five years, the number of Jews who are members of the Warsaw community has grown from 300 to about 550 adults. State-sponsored antiSemitism, as well as negative images of Jews sometimes encouraged by the Catholic Church, once was the norm in communist Poland. The fear of being openly Jewish has greatly diminished since the totalitarian regime fell in 1990, but it’s still a live question for those who survived decades of persecution and do not want to tell their children about their heritage.

Schudrich estimated that of the few hundred Shabbat worshippers, only a handful grew up with an openly Jewish identity. Taking advantage of the media spotlight Sunday, Kadlcik pleaded for parents and grandparents to tell their children and grandchildren their real identities.

He received moral support from Rabbi Yechiel Kaufman of New York. Representing the Council of the Jewish Community of Borough Park, Kaufman was the only shtreimel wearer at the yeshiva festivities, and his long, white beard and black satin coat gave the proceedings an air of Orthodox formality.

Rytka-Zandberg hopes that men like Kaufman will inspire others to support the Polish Jewish revival.

Kaufman admitted privately that the memory of the blood spilled on Polish soil during the Holocaust was so painful for some Jews that they were unable to understand today’s Polish Jewish landscape.

Photos of former yeshiva students, the vast majority of whom were killed at the Majdanek death camp, reminded the crowds at the reopening that the Meir Shapiro era could never be re-created.

Still, the oldest participant in the festivities, 91-yearold Henryk Prejs from Gora Kalwaria -- which once was a famous Chasidic enclave known as Ger -- was as impressed by the new yeshiva as was the younger generation.

“I am delighted, touched and proud that I can now see what I saw 70 years ago,” Prejs said, his eyes moist and his grin inspired. “It makes me cry.”

April 20, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 11

A process of reflection with the JTS chancellor-elect

LETTER FROM N EW YORK

by VICTOR WISHNA My first one-on-one conversation with Professor Arnold Eisen occurred halfway through my junior year at Stanford. I was a student in his Modern Jewish Thought seminar and had scheduled my first office-hours visit. I arrived a few minutes early, saw his door closed, and assumed (an obvious mistake) that he was not yet in. After waiting nearly twenty minutes, I had a brilliant idea: I knocked. Prof. Eisen, who had been there the whole time, invited me in and stared quizzically as I explained how I had been sitting in the hall. Then, not so much asking, he declared, “Why?” It was just one more in a line of questions that term which I felt less than prepared to answer. Not because Eisen was a stern instructor demanding what he knew to be the one right answer, but because he had a way -- sometimes with a single word -- to make you rethink an assumption you had not fully examined. In the years that I have known Arnold Eisen and observed him -- as his student, friend, or admirer now reading about him in the headlines - I have always felt this is his greatest strength as a teacher and a leader: he knows the questions, whether unobvious or too obvious, that need to be considered.

So when he was named the Chancellorelect of the Jewish Theological Seminary last year, it was only natural that his first act was to embark on a national listening tour of the Conservative Movement, talking to rabbis, lay leaders, educators, congregants, even before he officially assumes his position on July 1.

“As a scholar, I couldn’t rest content with anecdotal reportage about what people were thinking -- you know, ‘Conservative rabbis overwhelmingly feel this way’ or ‘Conservative Jews overwhelmingly feel that way,’” he tells me from his home on the Stanford campus, where he will complete the spring term as chair of the religious studies department.

“The most natural thing in the world was to say, ‘Well, okay, let’s ask them.’”

Yet Eisen knew it would be his responsibility to make a decision on the next monumental question to arise since the rabbinical school began admitting women 25 years ago. In December, the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards ruled that Conservative seminaries would be allowed to accept qualified gay and lesbian students to rabbinical and cantorial schools.

This month Eisen announced JTS would do just that. The decision was his, but before deciding he undertook an extensive process of surveys and discussions. And as he seeks to expand the discussion of what it means to be an American Jew, he does so with a definite sense of mission.

“There’s a lot of energy out there,” he says.

“There’s a desire for new ideas. People are not content to say, ‘Ah, the Conservative Movement is losing Arnold Eisen numbers -- let’s just fold up and go home.’ They want to strengthen the movement as part of strengthening American Judaism, and that is what I am here to do.”

For all of his questions, Eisen has never been an ivory tower academic but one whose ultimate goal is effecting change.

Three of his recent scholarly books—on the question of “chosen-ness,” the gap between the Diaspora and Israel, and the meaning of mitzvah, the concept of being commanded -- are all based on urgent personal questions that proved highly pertinent to mainstream American Jews.

That last question -- what does it mean to be commanded -- is one he would like to see the movement tackle in the next year. “I know how vexing and difficult this issue is,” he says, “and it goes to the heart of what it means to be a modern Jew.” Eisen teaches that Jews don’t obey Jewish law “because there is a gun to our head,” but because it is the right thing to

do, or out of the same sense of obligation and love that “commands” a parent to care for a sick child. When he lectures on the subject, he says, he’s been struck by the profound responses people give as to what they feel commanded by and why.

“So I know the benefits of having a community-wide discussion on this, and not just issuing a new platform or publishing a pamphlet,” he says.

“There’s no reason there should be only one position on what commands us and why.” No one right answer. The rabbis and cantors he has talked to -- and who have been surveyed by the hundreds -- tell him they want to be part of the discussion and claim JTS could do a better job training them in things that are relevant to the realities of now, and 20 years from now.

“What’s new in this approach is that it’s not at all top down, it’s bottom up,” Eisen explains. “And that comes from the fact that I’m a ’60s person—you start bottom up, and that’s the way you effect change. I want to lead a movement that as a movement is engaged in a process of reflection, and as a movement is coming together over these issues.”

Eisen’s own transformative moment came to him as a 20-year-old college student, when as a writer for the University of Pennsylvania’s newspaper, he had a one-on-one session with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, the distinguished theologian and JTS professor. Heschel proved to him, he says, that religious ideas matter for people’s lives. Eisen shifted his focus from journalism to a degree in Religious Thought, and then a BPhil from Oxford and a Ph.D. from the Hebrew University.

More than once, he considered becoming a rabbi but never did, a fact brought up often since his appointment (he is only the second non-rabbi to lead JTS in its 120 years), but not one he regrets. “I can look at things as a congregant does, not a rabbi,” he says. “It means I have to listen to rabbis, since I’m not one, and I am aware of the reservoir of talent and sometimes frustration among the laity. I want to tap the talent and channel the frustration into constructive action.”

He is unapologetic about his bearing. “I asked Heschel, ‘What gives you the right to say the things you’ve said,”’ Eisen

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remembers. “And he answered me that he not only has the right, he has the obligation as the heir to a particular tradition and he teaches it the way he has come to believe it. I’m going to do the same thing as an heir to a particular tradition -- and my tradition includes him. I very much see myself as trying to carry forward what I understand to be his agenda.”

Whether that agenda would have specifically included gay ordination is not the point, and it will be years before anyone can gauge the effect of this decision on Conservative Judaism, Eisen says, just as the movement is still processing the impact of female clergy. “But this is a teaching moment, and I’m a professor -- I welcome teaching moments,” he says.

“The issues before us go way beyond gay ordination.” Heschel, he says, taught that one can’t even address the issue of Jewish law, halachah, without first getting people to think about mitzvah -- “to think about the spirit and what’s inside them that is desiring to come out.”

Even as he moves into administration, Eisen emphasizes he will continue to teach, to help train people who have the ability and passion to reach other people, and even to initiate interfaith dialogue, as there is much to teach non-Jews about the JTS vision of religion. “We have to get people back one at a time and do it again and again,” he says. “I want to give people multiple entry points and get them turned on.”

And, before leaving California permanently for the Upper West Side, he has one last introductory course to teach at Stanford, a freshman class on the challenges that religion poses and faces in today’s world. “I can’t think of anything more important right now,” he says. As always, he will host office hours twice a week for any students who wish to come by.

“And hopefully,” he tells me, “they will knock on the door. Because I learn so much from these conversations, as I did from you -- and from all of the questions that get asked.”

Former Kansas City resident Victor Wishna lives and writes in New York City. He can be reached at LetterFrom NY@juno.com.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 20, 2007

Day of sadness, day of hope There’s a reason Israeli leaders placed Yom HaShoah immediately following Pesach and just prior to Yom Ha’Atzmaut. Pesach is also known as the Festival of Freedom, but as the country western song goes, “freedom isn’t free.” The birth of the State of Israel, which this community will celebrate on Sunday, arose despite the tragedy of the Holocaust, where six million died only because they were Jews.

To be sure, there were many who fought back. Omahan Jack Diamond, for example, served with the Partisans on the border of Lithuania and Poland. Using his wits and his strength, he not only survived, but saved many Jews -- and non-Jews who collaborated with the Jews -- from the Nazis and their supporters.

Because he was a Jew, journalist Daniel Pearl was beheaded in 2002 in Pakistan by terrorists while he was covering the war in Iraq for the Wall Street Journal. Pearl’s name was added to a Holocaust Memorial Wall in Miami Beach on Sunday. Of the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, 1.5 million were children, whose only “crime”, like Pearl’s, was to be born Jewish; another five million non-Jews were slaughtered as well.

Sixty-two years later, we’re still fighting the same battles. Rwanda, Kosovo, the Sudan are now mentioned in the same breath as Cambodia and Nigeria, where years before the world said “Never again” but didn’t really mean it. We didn’t mean it when Stalin murdered 20 million of his people, almost twice what Hitler accomplished. Murder one or two people and you’ll be jailed for life; become a

serial murder and you gain almost celebrity status. But kill millions? Then you go down in the history books. As comedian Eddie Izaard said facetiously, one almost wants to reply, “well done, what an achievement!”

And irony of ironies, Dr. Liviu Libresca, a Holocaust survivor from Romania, was murdered by the rampaging gunman at Virginia Tech on Monday -- on Yom HaShoah. Dr. Libresca, who barricaded the door to allow his engineering students to escape, was the only one killed in that classroom; his bravery saved the lives of all his students. He and his wife had immigrated to Israel in 1978 and then stayed on in Virginia after a sabbatical there in 1986.

We fear that weariness with the Holocaust, with Israel, and with us as Jews, is overtaking the globe, however.

Despite the vast amounts of money spent on Holocaust museums, despite the curriculums still viable in schools across the globe, deniers of this tragic event still spew their vitriol today.

Today in Great Britain, teachers have eliminated lessons on the Holocaust (as well as the Crusades, a rather big part of British history) from

their curriculum for fear of offending Muslim students. Just this week, Palestinian Media Watch reported that “the new Grade 12 textbooks for Palestinian Authority schools teach the history of the Second World War without including the Holocaust.”

It takes so much energy to fight back, to remind the world of all the achievements, scientific and technological developments, medical breakthroughs, and other advancements that have come out of the 59-year-young State of Israel. All this, accomplished not only without the six million martyrs of the Holocaust, but without their descendants.

Yet, we must continue to fight the promoters of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. To avoid this battle is to let the haters win.

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

by RACHEL MAURO WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Mideast peace is possible only with forceful U.S. engagement, former President Carter said as he received an award for speaking out on controversial topics.

Carter -- whose recent book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, infuriated much of the Jewish community with its allegedly one-sided presentation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -addressed some 400 people in Washington on April 4 as he received the Ridenhour Courage Prize.

“History has shown that progress is possible only if the United States of America assumes its historic role as honest broker between Israel and her enemy,” Carter said at the National Press Club, lamenting what he described as a six-year lapse in substantial peace efforts. “To play that essential role, America must not be seen as in the pocket of either side.”

Critics have said that by eschewing Clintonera micromanagement of the peace process, President Bush has allowed the IsraeliPalestinian conflict to fester, feeding into other problems in the region as well.

Bush administration officials, noting the failure of Clinton’s peace efforts, have argued that the time is not ripe for a final peace deal and that it is fruitless to push until the Palestinians have made a decision to abandon terrorism in favor of peace.

Carter said the Bush administration and proIsrael groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee prevent Americans from having a real debate on Middle East policy.

“The American friends of Israel, who demand such subservience, are in many cases sincere and well-intentioned people; I know them,” Carter said. “But on this crucial issue, they are tragically mistaken. Their demands

Carter said the Bush administration and pro-Israel groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee prevent Americans from having a real debate on Middle East policy.

At a news conference, he claimed that support for his book, including from what he said were prominent Jews, was consistently at 79 or 80 percent.

During the news conference, Carter addressed the issue of why he would not debate the claims in Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid with Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor and vocal critic of the book.

Critics claim Carter can make the case that Israel was oppressing the Palestinians only by falsifying important facts and omitting key context.

Dershowitz “has his own vivid and highly developed position on Israel. I don’t have any criticism of him, but I doubt that in recent years he has traveled extensively throughout the West Bank and Gaza to get to know Palestinian leaders, to observe the adverse

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.

Receiving award, Carter calls for U.S. peace push subvert America’s ability to bring to Israel what she most desperately needs and wants -- peace and security within recognized borders.”

Carter received a standing ovation for his 25-minute speech, which did not ignore the controversy surrounding his most recent book.

“In the course of my life I have done these and other things that have sometimes provoked controversy, and in some cases I must admit that the criticisms may have been justified. But that would have to be the subject of another and much longer speech,” he said with a smile, as audience members laughed.

In this instance, however, Carter maintained that the opinions expressed in his book are in the best interests of Israelis, Palestinians and Americans.

(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

impact of the wall and things of that kind,” Carter said, referring to Israel’s West Bank security fence.

Carter also conceded that Dershowitz is probably the better debater.

“I’m not sure that I would like to debate him because I don’t think he has a balanced position, which I do, obviously,” Carter concluded, grinning.

Rabbi Leonard Beerman, founder of the Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles and a member of committees such as the U.S. Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East, presented the award to Carter, saying his career had been fashioned “out of a persistent moral sensibility, even about the most sensitive and contentious issues, such as the rights of the Palestinians, for example.”

LETTER TO THE EDITOR To the Editor: I just received the Passover edition of the Jewish Press. It is an extraordinary issue. I devoured very word of it. So many familiar faces in the pictures. So many names and events which were part of my history. So many memories and another reminder of how special the Omaha Jewish community has always been. I am proud to have been a part of it for so many years.

Thank you for providing this historical overview of the Blumkin Home. Thank you for the acknowledgement of the Jewish leaders who always rise to the occasion to continue the efforts. Thank you for your efforts through the Jewish Press to make this dream a reality.

I salute you and all the others who are involved.

Mickey Greenberg Editor of the Jewish Press, 1964-74 Scottsdale, AZ

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..

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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.

Award Winner 2006

Nebraska Press Association

National Newspaper Association

April 20, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 13

Fidelity must join the growing numbers divesting from Sudan

FOCUS ON ISSUES

by OR N. ROSE BOSTON (JTA) -- In October 2006, at a meeting of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur, an active member of the volunteer organization shared some disturbing news with the group.

Eric Cohen, a retired businessman, said he had learned recently that the Bostonbased mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments had nearly a billion dollars invested in two of the most unscrupulous companies operating in Sudan, PetroChina and Sinopec.

The Sudan Divestment Task Force, a national research and advocacy group, has identified these oil companies -which are principally owned by the Chinese government -- as among the two dozen or so “worst-offending” businesses in the war-torn region.

To appear on this shameful list, companies must have a financial relationship with the genocidal government of Sudan, provide minimal benefit to or actually harm the country’s citizens, and express no significant governance policy regarding the crisis in Darfur. These companies also must have proven unresponsive to attempts at shareholder engagement.

After further investigation, several members of the Massachusetts Coalition attempted to speak with Fidelity representatives about the matter. Through letters and phone calls to executives, trustees, board members and fund managers, we alerted Fidelity to the atrocities

being committed by the Sudanese government in Darfur, including the murder of more than 400,000 people and the displacement of 2.5 million more since February 2003.

We also shared with Fidelity the fact that 70 percent to 80 percent of Sudan’s oil revenues go to military spending, including the training and arming of the Janjaweed, Khartoum’s barbaric proxy militia.

In these communications we urged Fidelity to divest its sizable holdings from PetroChina and Sinopec, arguing that while the Sudanese leadership has been largely unresponsive to diplomatic pressure, it has been responsive to financial pressure.

A successful divestment campaign against Talisman Energy of Canada several years ago helped compel President Bashir and his administration to halt its genocidal activities in southern Sudan, which have been largely unreported in the media, and to sign a comprehensive peace agreement with dissident leaders in 2005.

Unfortunately, Fidelity thus far has expressed no interest in discussing the issue with us or taking any positive action.

Its only response has been to indicate that it remains steadfast in its mission to make as much money as possible for its clients, regardless of ethical concerns.

In a letter to Cohen dated Oct. 5,

2006, the investment firm wrote: “Fidelity portfolio managers make their investment decisions based on business and financial considerations, and take into account other issues only if they materially impact these considerations or conflict with applicable legal standards.”

Reinforcing this position, a Fidelity representative made the following statement in a Jan. 29 interview in CNN Money: “We believe the resolution of complex social and political issues must be left to the appropriate authorities of the world that have the responsibility, and capability, to address important matters of this type. And we would sincerely hope that they would do so wisely on behalf of all of the citizens of the globe.”

Reading these words would be infuriating at any time, but especially so during Passover, and Yom HaShoah, which we just commemorated. Passover is, after all, the celebration of the liberation of our ancestors from Egyptian bondage. The narrative includes a chilling description of Pharaoh’s genocidal plot against the Israelites: “Pharaoh charged all of his people, saying, ‘every boy that is born you shall throw into the Nile ... (Exodus 1:22).’”

The elaborate rituals of the seder are designed to elicit in us feelings of gratitude for our freedom and to sensitize us to the oppression of others, “... for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:20).

...70-80 percent of Sudan’s oil revenues go to military spending, including the training and arming of the Janjaweed, Khartoum’s barbaric proxy militia.

What would have Fidelity done in ancient Egypt? Would it have invested in shackles and whips? And what about the Holocaust? Would it have poured money into companies producing Zyklon-B? Does Fidelity really have no moral standards? Does it not understand that its strategy of “amoral” investment is contributing to the deaths of innocent people in Darfur?

We urge Fidelity to join other responsible institutions -- including more than 30 colleges and universities, and six states -in divesting from PetroChina, Sinopec and other unprincipled companies associated with the ruthless Sudanese regime.

We also urge concerned citizens to join the FidelityOutofSudan.com campaign, and to remove their savings -- personal and institutional -- from financial companies refusing to take a stand against the genocide in Darfur.

With enough public pressure, Fidelity just might rethink its policy regarding Sudan. Given Fidelity’s financial power, it could have a significant impact on PetroChina and Sinopec, and in turn on the Chinese and Sudanese governments.

It also could set an example for investors throughout the world.

We plead with Fidelity to part company with the Pharaoh-like forces in Sudan and take up the mantle of Moses by leading an economic rebellion against the genocidaires and their allies.

Rabbi Or N. Rose is associate dean at the rabbinical school at Hebrew College in Newton, Mass. He is the co-editor of the forthcoming anthology Righteous Indignation: A Jewish Call for Justice (Jewish Lights, fall 2007).

“It is in the Negev that the creativity and the pioneering vigor of Israel shall be tested.”

David Ben-Gurion, First Israeli Prime Minister

The Negev.

Now.

“The Negev is an untapped resource of beauty, tourism and opportunity for the young Zionists of tomorrow.”

Shimon Peres, Vice Prime Minister, Minister for the Development of the Negev

“It is a vote of confidence in Israel’s strategic initiative to enhance the economic and social development of our Negev and Galilee regions.”

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert before U.S. Congress, May 2006

I

t has never been more evident – we must secure and develop the Galilee and the Negev.

The Negev is 60% of the land of Israel – underpopulated, precious land. Through the Jewish National Fund Blueprint Negev campaign, we are making great strides in bringing new residents, new sources of water, improved agriculture, new communities and economic opportunity while protecting the environment.

Our dream is to ensure that Israel remains the choice for its youth, its elderly, its immigrants, and for Jews around the world to call their home. Join us. It’s time for the Negev. Now. Ask for a free DVD to learn more about our work in the Negev.

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Page 14

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 20, 2007

Candlelighting Friday, April 20, 7:52 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

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!

YOUR AD CAN GO HERE...

to reserve space, call

Allan Handleman, 334.6451, or Terri Greenwood, 334.6559.

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

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE FRIDAY: Musical Kabbalat Shabbat service, 6 p.m.; Tot Shabbat, 6 p.m., followed by dinner. Cost is $5 for adults, free for children ages six and younger. For more information or to RSVP for dinner, contact Margie Gutnik at programming@bethelomaha.org, or call the office.

SATURDAY: Morning services, 9:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation (3-7), 10 a.m.; K’tantan (K-2), 10:45 a.m.; Kiddush is sponsored

by David and Patti Adler, in honor of their son, Kevin, becoming a Bar Mitzvah; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 8 p.m.

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.

SUNDAY: Bible Discussion Group; Living Hebrew; and “The Weekly Parasha: It’s All About Me?!”, all at 10 a.m.; “Jewish Pot Pourri,” 11 a.m.

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

WOMEN’S ROSH HODESH GROUP Monday, April 23, 7 p.m.

Theme: “What Would You Save If Your House Was on Fire?” at the home of Caryl Greenberg, 2215 So. 86 Ave. RSVP to Judy Tully at 399.2088, or e-mail her at: judyt 1223@cox.net.

BIBLE TRANSLATION FOR JEWS: Mini-course led by Prof. Leonard Greenspoon, scheduled for Thursdays, April 26, and May 3, 7-8 p.m.

USY & KADIMA ISRAELI LOUNGE NIGHT: Thursday, April 26, 6-8pm. for seventh12th graders. Celebrate Yom Ha’Atzmaut USY style with falafel, Israeli trivia and outdoor games. Dinner and program are free. To RSVP or for more information, contact Robert Mosenkis at youthdir@bethel-omaha.org or call the synagogue.

SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE WEEKEND: On April 27 and 28, Beth El welcomes Dr. Jonathan Rosenbaum. (See full story on page 4.) Reservations are needed by April 23 for the Friday night dinner; cost is $12.50 for

adults; $8.50 for children ages six12; no charge for children five and younger. No charge for Kiddush luncheon. Free babysitting will be available upon request. To RSVP or for more information, contact Margie Gutnik at the synagogue.

THIRD GRADE SHABBAT: Friday, April 27, 6 p.m.

HAZAK DELI DINNER: Sunday, April 29, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

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, 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.

Free babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Children’s Classes, 9:45 a.m. with Torah Parade; Kiddush is sponsored by Sisterhood; Mincha, 7:45 p.m. followed by Suedat Shlishit with Gemara class; Havdalah, 8:56 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; “Reading the Rambam” class, 9:45 a.m.; Mincha, 8:30 p.m.

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

MONDAY: Hebrew Reading Crash Course, level 2, 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: Women of the class, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Community Teacher Appreciation Dinner, 7 p.m. at the JCC; Advanced Parsha Study, 7:30 p.m.

BEYT SHALOM FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:30 p.m., at the synagogue.

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: Maamar class, 9 a.m.; Service, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush luncheon follows the service.

SUNDAY: Service, 8:30 a.m.; Living Torah, 9:30 a.m., 20minute video broadcast; Mishpacha Mornings, 10:15 a.m.

WEEKDAYS: Services, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: W.O.W. Craft Shoppe, 10 a.m.; Maamar Kabbalistic Insights for Women, 12:15 p.m.; Halacha, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY: W.O.W. Prayer Circle Tehillim & More, 9 a.m.;

Parshah Roundup: Weekly Torah Portion Class, 7 p.m.

Kabbalah WEDNESDAY: Circle, 7 p.m.

All events and programs are open to the entire community.

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

FRIDAY: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m. led by Rabbi Emanuel, with oneg following provided by Cindy and Rick Kohn.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. all led by Rabbi Emanuel; Game Night/Potluck, 6 p.m.

SUNDAY: LJCS Grades 2-7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; K-1, 9:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. at B’nai Jeshurun (Yom Ha’atzmaut program); Hallah High, 10 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel.

MONDAY: Yom Ha’atzmaut WEDNESDAY: Hebrew class (grades 2-7), 4-6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel.

ADULT EDUCATION SUNDAY, 7 p.m. Medical Futility and Judaism: A Discussion,” led by Barbara Barron, RP, PhD, and Christine Emler, MD with insight to the rabbinic viewpoints by Rabbi Emanuel.

FEDERATION SHABBAT: Friday, April 27, 7:45 p.m., at the South Street Temple. Marcia Kushner will be honored for her years of service to the Federation.

The service will be led by Rabbi Ilan Emanuel, Rabbi Royi Shaffin, Jaine Evnen, and Sarah Kelen.

Make your reservations for the Mayor’s Interfaith Prayer Breakfast, Thursday, May 3, 7:30 a.m. at Embassy Suites Hotel, 1040 P St. Send your reservation to Jean by April 20 for $15 per person.

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

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

B’NAI MITZVAH

TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. honoring our Senior Congregants. Rabbi Azriel, Rabbi Linder and Cantor Shermet will lead the service. The service includes the Kol Rina choir and a woodwind quartet at the special oneg.

SATURDAY: Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:15-10:15 a.m.; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. Alex Fox, son of Marta and Ira Fox, will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah.

SUNDAY: Teacher Learning Coffee, 9 a.m.; Tapestry Workshop, 10 a.m.; WRJ Booksale Workday, 10 a.m.; Religious School (K-2 & 4-6), 10 a.m.-noon.; Grade 3, 10:15 a.m. at Blumkin Home; Grade 2 Parents’ Meeting, 10:45 a.m. making preparations for next fall for Hebrew School.

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

WEDNESDAY: Grades 3-6, 46 p.m.; JYG (Grades 7-8) Mexican Meseba, 5-6:30 p.m.

Cost $5; Scrapbook Club, 5 p.m.; All School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Family School, 6-8 p.m.; Grades 7-12, 68 p.m.; Confirmation/Graduation Rehearshal, 6:45 p.m.

THURSDAY: “Adult Study with the Clergy” with Cantor Wendy Shermet, 10-11:30 a.m.

NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN FRIDAY: Minyan, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m.

TIFERETH ISRAEL 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.

SUNDAY: LJCS Grades 2-7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; K-1, 9:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. at South Street Temple; Hallah High, 10 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel.

WEDNESDAY: Men’s Lunch Group meets at the Knolls, 12:30 p.m. Call Yale Gotsdiner at 423.7066; Hebrew class (grades 27), 4-6 p.m. at Tifereth .

ADULT EDUCATION Monday April 23, 7-9 p.m.

Hot Topics in Israeli Society with Rabbi Shaffin.

TREE OF LIFE CENTER Kevin Adler, son of Patti and David Adler, will become a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, April 21, at Beth El. Kevin is a seventhgrade Honor student at Kiewit Middle School.

He is the President of Jr. NCSY. He is a member of the Kiewit Middle School Academic Team, and he fences with the Omaha Fencing Club He has a sister, Laura.

Cameron Joel Davis, son of Mary Kay Davis and Henry Davis, will become a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, April 28, at Temple Israel.

Cameron is a seventhgrade Distinguished Honor Roll Scholar student at Westside Middle School and is a participant in the Duke Talent Identification Program. He is studying piano and played the keyboard in the Temple’s Klezmer Band.

His interests include cars, snow

and water skiing, football, basketball, radio controlled planes, piano, golf, boating, and tennis.

For his mitzvah project, Cameron volunteered at the Children’s Respite Care Center, working with mentally and physically challenged and autistic children.

He has a sister, Lauren.

Grandparents are Florence Davis, Katherine Sternberg, and the late Pennie Z. Davis and Lester Sternberg.

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.

April 13, 2007

On medicine and morality

SPARKS FROM THE WORD

by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parshiyot Tazria/Metzora Those who insist on the absolute accuracy of Torah, as dictated by God, are totally unable to explain the vast chasms of difference between Biblical medicine and science on the one hand, and the great advances in medical knowledge and science in our own times. For that matter, notice that our medieval philosophers, relying basically on ancient Greek science, knew a great deal more about medicine than the Biblical writers did.

Our two Sidrot, Tazria and Metzora, are of immense interest if we want to understand how ancient Biblical Jews had to rely on priests, rather than on medical

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Pet/House Sitter knowledge, for medical procedures.

That having been said, note the great difference between problems of morality and ethics, on the one hand, and problems of medical and scientific procedure on the other.

It is in these problems of morality where Biblical Judaism has made astonishing progress compared to other ancient literatures. When one reads the Jewish prophets, like Amos or Isaiah, for example, one recognizes at once that he is in a different world in the approach to morality and ethics. One has only to read Amos’ “Let justice roll off as waters,” or Isaiah’s first chapter, and he knows why it is that as late as our own times, in the 21st century, we still admire the ethics and morality of Biblical literature.

So then: after you have read Tazria/Metzora, be sure to read the sixth chapter of Amos and the first chapter of Isaiah. And then, as Hillel advised, go and read more.

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Photos from top left: Mark Javitch, left, and Karen Sokolof Javitch, right, presented the second set of Sokolof awards and scholarships on April 8 to David Sukiennik, Michael Crab, Ilya Poluektov, Michelle Simon and Daniel Lercher; Gail Krasne Kenkel was the recipient of the Sokolof Outstanding Teacher Award. Following the awards presentation, composer Marti Epstein of Boston and Cantor Gaston Bogomolni of Beth El Synagogue performed in a special concert organized by the Sokolof Awards Committee.

GUN SHOW: Buy, sell, trade. All kinds of firearms. April 21 and 22, 9 am both days.

Buffalo County Fairgrounds, Kearney. 250 tables. Everyone welcome.

COMSTOCK FESTIVAL-Experience the magic of Comstock Viaero Wireless music series; Windmillfestival.com June 7-10; Comstockrock.com July 19-22; Godstock.net August 3-4; 800-595-8712.

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HOT TUBS, $1,000 off current website “early bird” sale prices in April, plus free delivery. For more information, call 1-800-869-0406, or go to goodlifespa.com.

DAVID LIEBERMAN Former Omahan David Lieberman died April 6 in Toledo, Ohio, at the age of 87. Services were held in Toronto, Canada, on April 8.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Golda of 60 years.

He is survived by his sister-in-law, Syma Fraidenraich of Toledo; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Luba and Pinchas Rywiec of Toronto, Canada; and many nieces and nephews, including former Omahans Leah Karmela of Toledo, Barbara Fraidenraich of Toronto, David Don of Virginia, and Louis Don of California.

Memorials to Beth Israel Synagogue.

EVELYN W. CHARNEY Former Omahan Evelyn W. Charney died April 12 in Springfield, IL at the age of 86. Services were in Omaha April 16 at BHH/Fisher Farm Cemetery.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 53 years, Irving W Charney, who died Dec. 2, 1995.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Annette and Jerry Schwartz of Springfield; son and daughter-in-law, Alan and Joyce Charney of Middlebury, IN; grandchildren, Brian and Jennifer Schwartz, Kari and Steve Basiewicz, David Charney and Sarah Charney; and three great-grandchildren.

To Submit an Obituary Notice: DANIEL HOLLIS Former Omahan Daniel Alan Hollis died March 30 at the age of 65 in San Francisco from complications of cancer. He was buried at Beth El Cemetery; a memorial service will be held on Sunday, May 20, 10 a.m., at the cemetery.

A graduate of Omaha Central High School (class of 1960), he is survived by his brothers, Gordon of Los Angeles; and Jeremy of Sacramento, CA. Memorials to Beth El Synagogue.

NEBRASKA FATHER OF THE YEAR AWARD Nominate your father today at www.FatheroftheYear.net!

Entries are due May 1, 2007 Sponsors:

The 2007 Nebraska Father of the Year will be announced the week prior to Father’s Day.

Send full name, age, date of death, location of service and burial site, as well as other pertinent information to the Jewish Press via e-mail: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org; fax, 402.334.5422; or mail, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68114. Obituaries--as well as engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies, and births--also can be submitted at the Jewish Federation of Omaha’s website. Just go to: www.jewishomaha.org, click on Jewish Press and click on “Submit Announcements.” Guidelines are located on the Jewish Press home page.

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Page 16

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

April 20, 2007

Ayalon Institute is reminder of Israel’s War of Independence

by JODI BODNER Jewish National Fund Director of Communications Sitting in the laundry room of what used to be a working kibbutz on Kibbutzim Hill in the middle of Rehovot, Israel, it is impossible to guess where or how the brave kibbutzniks made their way underground to the secret bullet factory that produced nearly three million bullets in three years and helped win Israel’s War of Independence in 1948.

Everything at the Ayalon Institute is exactly as it was six decades ago, but for the fact that the kibbutz is now a museum and there is no British army station just down the hill and under whose nose about 40 men and women contributed clandestinely to the founding of the State.

The Ayalon Institute’s fascinating story is about a top-secret operation that took place during the years between the end of WWII and Israel’s War of Independence.

Under the vigilant eyes of the British who ruled the area, a clandestine plant for the production of much-needed bullets was built underground in anticipation of the armed struggle between Jews and Arabs in Israel (and neighboring Arab countries) that came with the termination of the British Mandate.

It was built in just three weeks as a cooperative effort between members of Hatzofim Aleph, a pioneer group, members of the local Jewish clandestine military, and Haganah trainees. Using the laundry room as their cover -- the noise of the machines and the exhaust camouflaged the subterranean machines -- the group worked day in and day out in a 300-square-yard space 26 feet underground.

Above ground, living quarters, a dining

hall, a chicken coop, a barn filled with animals, workshops, and agricultural fields gave the Hill the outward appearance of being an ordinary kibbutz. Several dozen other kibbutzniks actually worked it as such, knowing nothing about what Visitors to the Ayalon Institute descend a ladder to tour a reconstruction of was going on the underground munitions factory of bullets for the Sten sub machine gun underground.

The munitions makers daily risked their used by the fighters.

Former Omahans Marty and Marilyn lives. If caught they could be killed; the ongoing work caused health deficiencies Warren of Chesterfield, MO, visited the and they needed to be given special diets Ayalon Institute and were absolutely fasciand time each day with one of the first nated. “Though many of our Israeli sun lamps to restore the vitamins that a friends say there are a million stories like lack of sunlight deprived them of. At any this one, none of our group knew of anytime, the gun powder, that was handled thing like this,” she wrote the Jewish Press.

“I don’t think anyone in our group was by hand, could explode, and great pains were taken to enter and exit without anxious to visit this kibbutz -- our guide being seen by moving a heavy piece of didn’t tell us anything about it beforemachinery under which a steep staircase hand,” she added. “Yet we all left this was revealed. Their clothes and hair were kibbutz with overwhelming feelings of inspected at each day’s end to remove pride for the ingenuity (and chutzpah!) of our people, and so happy this was on our bullet shavings and stains.

The machinery had been purchased in itinerary.”

The factory was in full operation until Poland in 1938 and was smuggled by the underground to Beirut, Lebanon and the establishment of the State in 1948. In from there to Israel in 1942. The 1987, the Ayalon Institute (Kibbutz Hill) Haganah had other bullet factories; this was declared a historic site, with a musewas the largest, producing case after case um opened and operated by The Council

for Restoration and Preservation of Historic Sites in Israel, established to identify, restore, and protect irreplaceable heritage buildings and sites associated with the country’s rebirth.

Jewish National Fund has partnered with the Council as it is not just JNF’s job to help build Israel’s future, but also to preserve the country’s rich history for generations to come.

The Council maintains a national database listing of over 250 heritage sites and takes action to protect them from falling into neglect or being jeopardized by real estate development. More than 50 sites have already been successfully preserved and serve as viable facilities in service of the community.

The Ayalon Institute, along with the other sites administered by the Council, welcomes over two million visitors each year. The restored sites serve as viable educational and cultural centers throughout the country and host hundreds of thousands of teachers, students, soldiers, tourists, and Israelis from all walks of life.

The Council views education as a primary goal and actively works to raise public awareness of Israel's history through preservation. The Council is also working to incorporate education about its project into school curriculums and has developed 17 different educational programs.

“To be in the underground factory, to see what was probably the world’s first ‘tanning booth’ and learn why it was created, to see and hear the stories of how the Israelis outwitted the British -- all added to the pride we felt in seeing all the accomplishments of this young country!”

Warren added.

For more information, JNF at: 888.JNF.0099 or visit www.jnf.org.

COMING NEXT WEEK

Mother’s Day Gift Guide Look for this special advertising section in next week’s edition of The Jewish Press.

COMING MAY

Senior Living Publishing Date » 05.18.07 | Space Reservation » 05.04.07 | Camera Ready Deadline » 05.07.07

COMING JUNE

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Contact your advertising representative to advertise in any of these special editions.

Call Allan Handleman at 402.334.6451 or email: ahandleman@jewishomaha.org

Call Terri Greenwood at 402.334.6559 or email: terrigreenwood@jewishomaha.org