April 26, 2013

Sponsored by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Endowment Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA

Volunteers honored

by Federation

April 26, 2013 16 Iyar 5773 Vol. 93 | No. 32

This Week

RBJH in L.O.V.E. with Mother’s Day flowering plants Page 6

Passover in Costa Rica Page 9

by SHERRIE SAAG Communications Specialist, Jewish Federation of Omaha We rely on the dedication and generosity of our wonderful volunteers to further our mission to build and sustain a strong and vibrant Omaha Jewish community and to support Jews in Israel and around the world. It is a privilege to honor those in our community who give tirelessly and selflessly to make our Jewish community the best it can be.

Join us on Monday, June 3 at 7 p.m. when the Jewish Federation of Omaha honors the 2012 Volunteers of the Year during a special presentation at the Jewish Federation of Omaha Annual Meeting.

This year’s Volunteers of the Year are: Aaron Weiner Anti Defamation League/ Community Relations Council For five years, Aaron Weiner has played a significant role on the ADL/CRC Board. As chair of the civil

by SHERRIE SAAG Communications Specialist, Jewish Federation of Omaha Liz Feldstern, the new Executive Director of the Institute for Holocaust Education (IHE), arrived in Omaha just six weeks ago to fill some very big shoes: replacing native Omahan Beth

Inside 12 14 15

Next Week Mother’s Day See Front Page stories and more at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on Jewish Press

Marilyn Berman

Deirdre Evans

Rose Kaplan

Mark Martin

Oliver Pollak

Dick Rochman

Aaron Weiner

rights committee, he leads initiatives on civil rights issues and public pol-

IHE welcomes new Director

‘Running Rabbi’ recounts chaos at Boston Marathon Page 10

Point of view Synagogues In memoriam

Brett Atlas

Liz Feldstern

Dotan, who has moved to Israel.

In a somewhat ironic twist, Feldstern moved here from Israel. During her 8 1/2 years in Jerusalem, she earned her master’s degree in Conflict Management and Resolution from Hebrew University and worked as the Foreign Relations Coordinator for the Israel Center for Excellence through Education. While pursuing her degree, she conducted extensive research on the displaced persons camps that housed Holocaust survivors in the years immediately following World War II. In her professional role, she planned educational programming for thousands of students in Israel, India, Singapore and the U.S., and coordinated teacher training and professional seminars for more than 200 teachers annually.

It is the melding of her research and scholarship in Holocaust studies with her educational expertise that makes her uniquely qualified to head the Institute for Holocaust Education.

Gloria Kaslow has chaired the IHE’s Governance Council since its inception. “From our very first Skype interview, I felt that Liz understood and respected the Institute’s mission to share Holocaust history through the arts, school and community programs and continuing education for Continued on page 2

icy matters while also assisting with leadership development and commu-

nity outreach. Aaron Continued on page 2

supports

We are still a “Nation of immigrants” Gabriela’s Story

by LIZZY GILBERT Corporate & Community Development, Anti-Defamation League ABOUT THIS SERIES: “We Are Still a Nation of Immigrants” is a project of the Anti-Defamation League – Plains States Region Civil Rights Committee. The series features personal stories from local immigrants. Because of its commitment to justice, the Civil Rights Committee of the Plains States Regional Board of the ADL has made the issue of immigration a priority for study, research and education.

NOTE: To preserve the authenticity of the writer’s voice, ADL has refrained from editing the story.

I have kept my immigration story a secret. I’m very outgoing in so many ways, so people never question. People don’t know. My family and I are very careful who we talk to.

I was 14 when I came to the states. My dad didn’t want to be separated any longer from us. He said, “I better pay money to bring you here.” We were pretty lucky. We had a friend that lived in Texas who Continued on page 4

2 | The Jewish Press | April 26, 2013

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Volunteers honored by Federation Continued from page 1 the ADL when testifying before the Nebraska Unicameral and helps in the procurement of grants from secular family foundations.

He is a partner with the firm Abrahams, Kaslow & Cassman LLC, having joined the firm in 1990. Prior to private practice, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable John T. Grant of the Nebraska Supreme Court. Weiner obtained his Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Colorado College in 1986, and his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1989.

Oliver Pollak - The Jewish Press Oliver Pollak was chosen as this year’s Volunteer of the Year for his prolific contributions as a writer. The Jewish Press editor, Annette Van de Kamp-Wright describes Pollak in this way, “Reading a piece by Oliver is like taking a minicollege course; you always learn something new. He doesn’t write what he thinks people want to hear, but about what truly interests him.” His unique voice is a true community asset.

Pollak is an attorney, professor of history at the University of Nebraska Omaha and author. His published works include, A Year at the Sorbonne: A Proustian Life, Nebraska Courthouses, and Jewish Life in Omaha and Lincoln: A Photographic History. In 1982 he co-founded the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society with Mary Arbitman Fellman. His most recent Jewish Press article, entitled Food and Faith: Sixty Years of Iowa Jewish Cookbooks, appeared in the Jan. 4, 2013 edition.

Mark Martin - Jewish Community Center Martin serves as Treasurer on the Jewish Community Center (JCC) Board, and also chairs the Buildings and Grounds committee. According to JCC Board President Mike Siegel, “Mark is 100% dedicated to the Buildings and Grounds committee. He knows every inch of the building.

He has a great working relationship with our Campus Manager, Matt Chadek which enables projects to run smoothly.”

Martin has the unusual distinction of being awarded JCC Volunteer of the Year for a second time. He was an integral part of the planning and oversight of the many physical improvements made on the Federation campus during our One Campus, One Community initiative. “Through many recent transitions, Mark has immediately volunteered his time to help both myself and the professional staff. We are extremely fortunate to have Mark in our community. He is a role model for volunteerism,” said Siegel.

Dick Rochman - Jewish Social Services Seniors thrive in communities where programming and events support and enhance active lifestyles. Our Mainstreeters group does that; and for the last two years, Dick Rochman has been the driving force as its Chairman.

He makes sure our active and engaged senior community exercises their bodies and brains with stimulating and exciting programming.

Maggie Conti, Director of Activities and Outreach at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, said Rochman is a hard-working, dependable, and dedicated volunteer with a warm personality. “He cares about the success of Mainstreeters and his input and opinions are vital. He leads monthly meetings and attends all of the group’s functions.” The professional

staff who work alongside Rochman describe a “positive energy” that inspires those around him.

Rochman has volunteered for numerous agencies on our campus and is currently a member of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society Board of Directors and serves as its membership chairman.

Rose Kaplan - Jewish Social Services 2012 was Kaplan’s 17th year volunteering at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. She is the kind of volunteer who helps the staff with whatever needs to get done. Rose spends two afternoons each week helping with the Bingo games.

Every Monday afternoon, she can be found escorting Residents, helping with room set-up and staying after to assist with tea time and socializing. Rose is a dedicated, reliable, and conscientious volunteer. Lois Wine, Director of Volunteer Services at RBJH, explained that Kaplan is so reliable that she even comes to the Blumkin Home on holidays.

“You know it is Monday when Rose walks through the front door,” said Wine. Even though Kaplan no longer drives, she arranges for transportation so she will not miss her volunteer service. That’s dedication!

The Dorothy Kaplan Book Discussion Group The Center for Jewish Life Almost 35 years ago, on November 15, 1979, the first meeting of the Dorothy Kaplan Book Discussion Group took place at the Federation library and it has continued monthly meetings ever since. Organized by “Library Diva” Dorothy Kaplan, of blessed memory, today a second founding member, Marilyn Berman, serves as unofficial coordinator along with Deidre Evans.

Considered one of the most enduring book discussion groups in the country, it enriches the community by fostering a love of Jewish literature and promoting the Kripke Jewish Federation Library. Group facilitators are both members and special guests. The group chooses from a wide variety of subject matter; everything from poetry and mysteries to science fiction and biographies. New members are appreciated and those no longer with us are fondly remembered for their quick wit, keen observations, dedication and even their punctuality!

Brett Atlas - Jewish Federation of Omaha Brett began volunteering at the Jewish Federation of Omaha as the Young Leadership representative on its Board of Directors. His impressive work resulted in a nomination last year for a two year term on Federation’s newly structured Board. Professional staff who have worked with Brett describe him as an active participant in all Board discussions and activities; and going the “extra mile” to understand and consider an issue thoroughly. Brett also sits on the Federation’s Planning and Community Engagement Committee where he spent considerable time developing new bylaws for the Federation and its agencies.

Brett co-chaired the 2013 Annual Campaign with his wife Stacey and his in-laws, Carl and Zöe Riekes. He brought great leadership and vision to the Campaign and was a great advocate to the community. He dedicated countless hours to the planning of the Beatle Mania community event in October of 2012. The results of this year’s Campaign are due in large part to Brett’s efforts. The Federation is proud and grateful to have a young leader of Brett’s caliber continue the legacy of an important and vital Omaha family.

IHE welcomes new Director Continued from page 1 teachers. Her particular interest in and knowledge of World War II displaced persons camps should provide the IHE an exciting new avenue of education to explore.”

Feldstern grew up a New Jersey girl with a broad perspective. Her mother is Jewish, her late father was Catholic.

Her parents chose to raise their children in a multi-faith, multi-cultural home, and the family celebrated every type of holiday, even the Chinese New Year. In fact, her mother likes to say she was weaned right on to Chinese food as an infant, and it is still a favorite today.

Feldstern is the oldest of three siblings, and after her father passed away when she was ten years old, her mother returned to her Jewish roots and enrolled her kids in Hebrew school; even hiring private tutors so they could catch up to their classmates. She was president of her United Synagogue Youth (USY) chapter in high school and went on to become a USY youth director. As a counselor on USY on Wheels trips in 2001 and 2002, Feldstern met two men who would later change the course of her life. On the first trip, it was Rabbi Steven Abraham of Beth El Synagogue and on the second, her future husband, Yonatan.

Rabbi Abraham commented, “Liz and I have been dear friends for the past eleven years, since we met at USY on Wheels. I could not be happier to have Liz, Yonatan and their fantastic children join us in Omaha. She is an incred-

ibly bright and compassionate person who will be a valuable asset to our community.”

To give readers a sense of Feldstern’s drive, determination and moxie, consider this: Engaged at age 20 to a man recently released from the Israeli army and living 6000 miles away, she graduated magna cum laude from Rutgers University while planning her wedding and moved to Israel three days after the ceremony!

Feldstern’s two children, Yishai, 3 1/2, and Gila, 2, are happily transitioned into the Pennie Z. Davis Child Development Center. She says they enjoyed their first snowfall and are entranced with squirrels, since there are none in Israel; the closest comparison being the city’s large population of cats.

Asked to comment on the current state of affairs at the IHE, Feldstern said this juncture came at a good time. “All of the IHE programming is functional, financially sound, and we are reaching our target audiences. The groundwork has been laid to expand our reach and I have several ideas I am really excited about.”

“For example, our distance learning technology has great potential. A pilot program in February brought survivor testimony to schools in Hawaii that would otherwise not have access to this educational tool. It was a great success,” she added. A second priority is to address the importance Continued on page 3

April 26, 2013 | The Jewish Press | 3

B’nai B’rith leads delegation to Mayor’s office for Holocaust proclamation signing

by GARY JAVITCH the present state of world affairs, For the eighth consecuas the Iranians continue their tive year, the Mayor of march toward the acquisition of a Omaha hosted a deleganuclear weapon. tion of Jewish community Yet at that meeting, there was leaders in his office to paralso a message of hope. One ticipate in a solemn occachild survivor mentioned the sion. It was April 9, and appreciation his family had for the B’nai B’rith Monsky the courage of a “righteous genLodge – led group was tile.” The saving of that one life present to witness the allowed another generation to mayor signing a proclamacontinue. tion declaring Wednesday, All of this was in preparation April 10 as “Holocaust for the communitywide Remembrance Day” in Holocaust – Yom HaShoah – Omaha. commemoration service that As he has done three was to be held the next evening other times in the past, at Temple Israel.

Marty Ricks, left, Jody Malashock, Jan Fischer, Gary Javitch, Mayor Jim Suttle, Dr. Fred Kader, Rabbi Mendel Katzman, and Mayor Jim Suttle presided Wording for the proclamation Liz Feldstern pose for the camera after the mayor signed the Proclamation.

Credit: Jeremy Wright over an inter-active diswas prepared by the United The attendees, pictured above, poured out heart-felt feelings States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Copies of the docucussion to commemorate one of the most horrific events in about what this day meant to them. “Never Again” was one ment were given to the host, Temple Israel, the Nebraska the history of humankind: The Holocaust.

The World War II-era events taking place between the years major theme expressed. Another was the grave concern about Jewish Historical Society and the participants.

1933 and 1945 resulted in the deaths of 6,000,000 Jews, one third of all Jews in the world at that time. Jews, however, were not the only group of people killed in Hitler’s concentration camps. Approximately six million others also died, including gypsies, people with disabilities, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Soviet Continued from page 2 begun to cultivate relationships with our own community prisoners of war, political dissidents and others whom the of secon generation survivors. Their stories are as com- of Survivors. In the short time she has been here, she has Nazis didn’t like, including homosexuals and Communists. pelling as those of their parents. Their unique stories and fit seamlessly into our organization and into the life and In all, over 55,000,000 people were killed in the fight to personal experiences are garnering national and internation- work of our Jewish community.” prevent the axis powers, Germany, Japan, and Italy, from al attention. Feldstern says the second generation survivors “Liz was quick to grasp the importance and value of the taking over the world. in the Omaha community have approached the IHE and are IHE’s role in our community. I am looking forward to partThat Hitler and his henchmen singled out the Jewish peoeager to document their experiences. “The IHE will facilitate nering with her on many projects,” commented Alan ple and created an entire industry – train routes, death the record keeping once we determine what form it will take. Potash, Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League camps, special poisonous gases, and crematoria to destroy Omaha will soon be in a position to have this vital informa- Plains States Region. them solely because of their religion – is what distinguishes tion preserved for its historical significance,” she said.

For more information on the IHE’s current work, new the Holocaust from other genocides. That and the number Kaslow added, “I noticed right away that Liz possessed a initiatives and upcoming programming, contact Feldstern of Jewish dead, six million, including one million children, special sensitivity to the needs of survivors and has already at lfeldstern@ihene.org or 402.334.6575. hung over the conversation in Mayor Suttle’s offices.

New IHE Director

59th Omaha Sports Banquet Presented by B’nai B’rith Omaha

Featuring Dr. Tom Osborne May 23, 2013 | 6 p.m. | CenturyLink Center Omaha Also invited: Charlie McBride, Ahman Green, Trev Alberts, Tommie Frazier and others!

An event for the entire Jewish Community Please support the B’nai B’rith and its banquet partners: The Jewish Federation of Omaha, Beth El Synagogue, Beth Israel Synagogue, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and Temple Israel.

Proceeds from the event will go toward scholarships dedicated to making participation in Jewish life more affordable.

Tickets www. omahasportsbanquet.org or call 402.334.6443 Gold Sponsor

4 | The Jewish Press | April 26, 2013

We are still a “Nation of immigrants�

Continued from page 1 told us, “I’ll help you get across; don’t worry. I don’t want anything to happen to you.� My parents’ friend had kids, so we were pretending to be someone else’s kids to get through the line. The borderline. She just put us in the back of her car. My mom and her were driving in the front.

We chose a really late night so we could pretend we were sleeping, so nobody asked us anything.

I was nervous and scared at the same time. I just couldn’t sleep. I knew what was going on. I felt afraid because I could see the fear in other people. While we were in a hotel at the border, waiting to make this happen, there were other people waiting to cross too, but they didn’t have a way. At least we had friends; we knew it was somewhat safe. We weren’t swimming in the river, doing this riskier stuff. I saw in their eyes the feeling of being on the border; it was scary.

My dad traveled from Omaha to Texas. When I saw him, I felt relieved. He made us feel secure -- at least we’re together. Dad hadn’t met my youngest sister, who was three, because Mother became pregnant on his last visit. It was all a little awkward, but it’s still your family, you come together regardless.

When we came to Omaha and were passing downtown, Dad said, “We’re very close.� We saw the nice buildings, but when we entered L Street, there was the smell of packinghouses. I said, “No, no we not live close -- because of the smell.� He laughed and said, “This is where the Mexicans live; this is our community.� We arrived to our apartment in time for my dad to go to work at the meatpacking place, so we stayed home, and he left.

My mother right away got busy to find out where we would enroll in school and to get us familiar with the neighborhood. I went to Norris Middle School in eighth grade. My teacher spoke Spanish and said, “We’re going to learn English together,� so that made me feel comfortable, and I was able to succeed. Now I am a college graduate and working on a master’s. My undergrad is in marketing management, and I am applying those skills in a small business in my community.

I applied for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). I now have a social security number and a work permit. This is a door opener! I know I’m blessed. It’s a joy.

I feel more comfortable now. I do a lot more things.

Because of my DACA status, they categorized me on my work permit differently. When I went to the DMV and applied for a state ID and driver’s license, the DMV person said this was her first encounter with this kind of application but remembered a couple months ago they had done a system upgrade.

I successfully passed the learner’s permit test, signed the papers, was fingerprinted, but when the clerk went to print my license, it would not print. She gave me an “examiner

refusal� that said my DACA status made it impossible for me to receive the learner’s permit. The official language: “The application process for the above Driving Privilege(s), endorsement(s) and or restriction(s) can not be entirely completed due to the following reasons: I-766 Employee Authorization Card with a Category of C33 is not valid to issue a document in Nebraska due to DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). PDPS is incomplete,� is difficult to interpret. I want to think that it is okay, but now once more I have to wait In the past I was offered jobs in my career. I met a lot of different people that said, “You would be a great asset for my company, come work for me.� I thought to myself, yeah, great opportunity, but how do you get in? I tried many times to go many places and hit the wall. Finally, when I got my work permit two weeks ago, I started applying for jobs. One company said to come in for an interview right away. I did, and it turned out great. Like God given. They offered a position -- the door opener! She said, “You’re hired, but we need to do background check and testing before orientation.�

I thought, of course! There is nothing to hide. Now I am good. Why would I be scared? I go in and do all requirements they asked me to do. Then they called and said, “We did a background check, and it’s strange; it’s like there’s nothing on you. It’s like you’re not here, like you never existed.� And so that right there for me was, wow, you know, like all my credentials, my schooling, my volunteer work, some of my work history, everything I’ve ever done has never been there.

That was an awkward situation for me, but I am good. I have all this forte. If you saw my resume, you would be impressed of what I have accomplished in so little time.

The person who wanted to hire me was like, “If you’re all this, why we can’t find all that?� I have done this, but when she went looking for schooling, nothing came up. Nothing.

She said, honestly, there was nothing.

I come to realize, well, how do I prove I did this? What I can do so I can prove I have really gone to school, really accomplished this? She asked me for so many different things, the way she said it kind of turned me off. I said, “No problem, if I can find what you need, I’ll call you tomorrow.� She needed it by my orientation day.

Later that day, she emailed and asked if I could provide my driving record. It was a downtown job that required my driving permit. That said it all. I couldn’t provide a driver’s license. How can I prove even that? How can I tell them I have a good driving record when I had no license? I felt uncertain again. I always succeed in what I do, you know, I do my best. I knew I could do this job. But everything just said, no.

So I go back to my same situation when I was 14. Once more I come up with the same question, “What shall I do?�

Commemoration draws large crowd

by HILLARY FLETCHER IHE Communications Coordinator On Wednesday, April 10, Temple Israel hosted the Omaha Yom HaShoah Commemoration. The remembrance is a community partnership that includes local synagogues (Temple Israel, Beth Israel, and Beth El) in addition to the Jewish Federation of Omaha, and the Center for Jewish Education. The event is managed by the Institute for Holocaust Education and additional support is provided by the Durham Museum.

Approximately 600 people attended the 7 p.m. ceremony.

Rabbi Aryeh Azriel of Temple Israel began the evening with a thoughtBea Karp, March 2012 provoking reflection on why we remember the Holocaust. Cantors and rabbis from throughout Omaha also participated.

Holocaust survivors from Omaha participated in a candle lighting ceremony. Accompanied by young representatives from each local synagogue, survivors were escorted to a table where a candle for each survivor waited to be lit. Bob Cohen, event chair, called individual survivors to light their candle and read a short biography of each while violinist, William Wolcott, played Melodie from Eurydice and Orpheus.

The guest speaker for the evening, Janine Oberrotman of Chicago, shared her story of resistance and thankfulness.

She spent the war in hiding with the help of strangers, an aunt and a family friend. Those in attendance held their breath as Oberrotman recalled how her mother sent her off on her own, through a fence that lead to the outside of the ghetto in which they lived. It was the last time she saw her mother. During her visit, Mrs. Oberrotman also spoke with over 250 students at Boys Town and Millard South High School in a program partnership with the Durham Museum.

Liz Feldstern, Executive Director of the Institute for Holocaust Education, was very impressed by the high level of interest and support shown by the Omaha community in remembering the Holocaust and honoring those who lived through it. “It was very moving to see how many people were touched by Janine’s story and came up to speak with her afterwards. I’m new in Omaha, but I’m already very proud of this community.�

Rabbi Azriel’s address can be found on at www.ihene.org.

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April 26, 2013 | The Jewish Press | 5

RBJH in L.O.V.E. with Mother’s Day flowering plants

by OZZIE NOGG out-of-town orders to residents on Friday.

The flowers that bloom in the spring (tra This year’s Mother’s Day Flower and Balloon la) will once again be center stage at the annu- Sale volunteers include L.O.V.E. Past al L.O.V.E. Mother’s Day Flower and Balloon President/Advisor Judy Brookstein, along Sale. “This event is a fundraiser for the Rose with Doris and Harry Alloy, Beth Friedman, Blumkin Jewish Home,” explained Lois Wine, Gloria Friedman, Sheryl Friedman, Denise Director of Volunteer Services. “We email a promotional flyer, showing the plants available for purchase, to all the contacts of RBJH residents. This makes it easy, especially for out-of-town family who may not know a local florist to call. Our sale gives everyone an opportunity to send a beautiful flowering plant to their loved one, and also feel good knowing that the money benefits the Home. Our prices are very reasonable, too.” Wine plans to send Flower Sale flyers to all agencies on the Federation Campus, Mainstreeters, and local Judy Brookstein, left, and Lois Wine, right, select plants for the congregations, and to post L.O.V.E. Mother’s Day Flower and Balloon Sale. the event on Facebook. “We want as many Ipock, Renee Kazor, Ricki Skog, Sheila people as possible to know about this project Tomps and Jim and Esther Wax. and support it.”

Proceeds from the Mother’s Day Flower Gift options, coordinated by Flowerama’s and Balloon Sale are part of the annual Brenda Veasman, AIFD, include African monies L.O.V.E. donates to the RBJH. Violets at $8; Begonias at $15; European “We’ve very proud to write a check to the Spring Garden Arrangement at $40 and Blumkin Home for at least $10,000 every Balloon Bouquets for $12. When ordering, year,” Wine said. “Projects like this allow us please send check made payable to L.O.V.E. to purchase needed items that benefit the to Lois Wine c/o Rose Blumkin Jewish residents and nursing staff. That’s what Home, 323 South 132nd Street, Omaha, NE L.O.V.E. is all about.”

68154. Orders must be received by May 3.

L.O.V.E. (League Offering Volunteers for “To order after that date, please contact me the Elderly) was formed in 1971 and continat 402.334.6519,” Wine said. ues to bloom at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Arrangements ordered locally will be Home. If you have an interest in giving the available for pick-up in the Blumkin Home precious gift of your time, consider becomGift Shop between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on ing one of the L.O.V.E. volunteers who add Friday, May 10. “You can deliver flowers to quality to the lives of residents in almost residents that day or wait until your every area of the Home. For more informaMother’s Day visit on May 12,” Wine tion, contact Lois Wine at 402.334.6519 or explained. L.O.V.E. volunteers will deliver email her at lwine@rbjh.com

Kindergarten round-up at Temple Israel

by DAVID GOLBITZ Temple Israel Staff Writer Temple Israel is holding its annual kindergarten round-up on Sunday, May 5.

Families with age-appropriate children are invited to bring them to a mock class taught by kindergarten teacher Ann Noodell, who will introduce them to the curriculum they will encounter next year.

“In kindergarten, we start to introduce the children to the Hebrew language,” Noodell said. “We want them to be familiar with the aleph bet and we talk about some of the holidays. The most important thing, I think, is that this is going to be the kids’ B’nai Mitzvah class. It’s important for them to get to know one another, because they’re going to be together in their Religious School classes for a long time.”

Temple Israel’s incoming Director of Youth and Family Education Debbie Massarano agrees that socializing is an important aspect of early childhood Jewish education.

“Religious school is not just about learning about Bible heroes and holidays,” Massarano said. “More importantly, it’s about creating relationships with the other kids with whom they will grow Jewishly. These are the friendships that will sustain them through child-

hood, B’nai Mitzvah, youth group, confirmation, camp and onward through life. The sooner we take the opportunity to create those relationship, the longer they have to become deeply established.”

Jamie Meyerson, whose six-year-old daughter Aiden is just finishing up kindergarten, also believes in the importance of socializing children with their Jewish peers at a young age.

“Aiden is going to be with those kids for the next however many years, through her Bat Mitzvah,” Meyerson said. “It’s a good time for them to start to socialize. We sent Aiden to the Religious School kindergarten at the same time she was starting public school so she would be comfortable around the same kids.”

Massarano also encourages families whose children already attend the Child Development Center at the JCC to enroll their kids in Religious School “so that your child can begin to connect with his or her peers, so they can feel comfortable in their synagogue.”

Kindergarten round-up begins at 10 a.m. on May 5. Parents are asked to RSVP by contacting Religious School Principal Ariella Lowensohn at ALowensohn@ templeisraelomaha.com.

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by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator On Sunday, April 28, the community will congregate at Beth El for an entertaining evening of music and comedyduring “A Comedian, a Choir and a Cantor!” The 7 p.m. fundraiser, which benefits the synagogue’s Youth Scholarship Fund, will feature the talents of internationally - renowned comedian Joel Chasnoff, plus Beth El’s cantor, Hazzan Michael Krausman and the Beth El choir. But while the performers may take center stage, the evening is all about raising money for the scholarship fund, which, for years, has ensured that the synagogue’s youths can attend Hazzan Michael Krausman Jewish summer camps, visit Israel or attend Jewish youth conventions.

Hazzan Krausman, a longtime Camp Ramah supporter (and former camper), is a strong proponent of Jewish summer camps, viewing them as invaluable pathways to meaningful connections with Judaism.

“At a Jewish camp, Judaism is not a subject in a textbook, Judaism is not practiced just on Passover or Hanukkah, Judaism is not confined to the synagogue or to the Bagel Bin,” he said. “Judaism is the living, vibrant, evocative, growing experience our ancestors sought so long ago. Be it dancing or singing or eating or arts and crafts or even playing baseball everything, every part of life, is a Jewish experience at camp.”

And, he pointed out, the benefits of Jewish camp are felt long beyond summertime.

“Children who attend summer camp retain a glow the entire year that illuminates their experience of Judaism,” he said. “When they return, Jewish summer campers become ambassadors of positive Jewish living to their home communities and are very likely to become the Jewish leaders of the next generation.”

Hazzan Krausman believes that every child should have the opportunity to experience camp, and with the community’s support of Beth El’s Youth Scholarship Fund, that goal can become a reality.

“It is incumbent on us as a community to ensure the future of our Jewish community by providing resources so that every child in our synagogue family will be able to attend the Jewish camping program of his or her choice, without worrying about the financial burden that may ensue,” he said.

Beth El’s Scholarship Chairman Shane Kotok echoed the cantor’s thoughts, saying, “At Beth El, we feel that Jewish camp is so important to kids, and this fund is not just about a monetary need, it’s also about our primary desire to make an invaluable connection with Judaism for our children. For so many kids, summer camp is something that can change

their Jewish lives; it gave my children values and ethics and lifelong friends.”

The synagogue has a unique approach in awarding camp scholarships. Funds are awarded as part of a service grant program, through which all students - regardless of need can receive financial assistance, in return for a pledge that they’ll provide a service to the synagogue when they return.

Services range from reading Torah and leading prayers to helping out with the religious school and assuming leadership roles in the USY youth group, among other helpful tasks, Hazzan Krausman explained.

“Not only does this instill a sense of pride in our students, but it gives them a venue to foster the skills and values they acquired during their camping experience,” he said.

Several recent Beth El scholarship recipients (who requested anonymity), shared some thoughts about the importance of camp in their lives, and how they’ll use what they learn at camp to benefit the synagogue, the community and themselves.

“I plan to support the synagogue from my experience by bringing camp-like moments to shabbatons and other fun events at Beth El. The community will benefit from my experience because I will have a stronger Jewish identity.

Having a stronger Jewish identity will help me want to go to synagogue regularly,” said one youth.

Another teen commented that, “I plan to continue to learn from and bond with other Jewish teens and adults to guide my life in a way to better my community with mitzvot, as well as to educate my non-Jewish friends and all those around me about Judaism.”

For the following youth, camp is “an awesome experience.

You go with many Jewish kids from all over. You meet new friends and do Friday nights all dressed in white, and Shabbat morning. It is fun to learn all the songs and hand motions for all the prayers and then come back and teach others. Camp helps you be a better person and a better leader at synagogue and at school. Camp helps you be more independent, and take more challenges, try new things, be away from your parents and figure things out on your own or with your friends and counselors. It feels good and you come back happy to be Jewish and wanting to do things, go to Shabbaton and sing Birkat.”

The upcoming Youth Scholarship Fund Concert is open to everyone in the community. The event’s ticket prices and donor categories are: Camp Director, $5,000; Assistant Camp Director, $2,500; Unit Head, $1,000; Waterfront Director, $500; Song Leader, $350; Counselor, $100; Counselor-in-Training, $50; First-Time Camper, $18. All donations (less $5 per person), are tax deductible.

“Contributing to the Cantor’s Concert is a way we make it fun to give,” Kotok said. “These concerts have always been a great way to support this fund, and in return, we give donors some great entertainment!”

Tickets may be purchased online at www.bethelomaha.org; they will also be sold at the door. For more information, contact Hazzan Krausman in the synagogue office, 402.492.8550, or at hazzankrausman@bethelomaha.org.

BBYO teens leave for Spring Convention in Missouri

36 Omaha teens depart for Spring Regional Convention at Camp Sabra in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. 16 8th graders took part in the Convention as part of BBYO Connect, an initiative in its second year that fosters excitement for the BBYO experience. Our Omaha Council received international recognition in February for the success of its BBYO Connect program.

April 26, 2013 | The Jewish Press | 7

The early bird catches the worm

Development desk MARTY RICKS, Chief Development Officer, Jewish Federation of Omaha I have always believed in quick starts out of the gate, so to speak. Getting a jump on things is an advantageous way to approach my work. This was true in my career at the Foundation and continues to be my focus as Chief Development Officer at the Federation.

I observed our professional Campaign staff in action as I transitioned into my new job this past January. They were helpful and welcoming to a colleague with a lot to learn. We finished the 2013 Annual Campaign with much to applaud.

As of this writing, we have raised $2,996,020, which is 99.4% of our goal of $3,013, 144.

Our outstanding Campaign chairs, Zöe and Carl Riekes and Stacey and Brett Atlas, made this possible. I want to acknowledge the special work of our young chairs, Stacey and Brett Atlas. Their effort to reach out and engage new and younger people means their peer group is already building a stronger future for all of us. We thank them for their dedication and perseverance. Our successes are a direct result of their extraordinary efforts. I must also recognize the tenacity and success of our major donor chairs, veterans Anne Shackman and Murray Newman.

I participated in a new strategy this year that provided better-than-expected results. Instead of undertaking a large Super Sunday telethon, the Campaign team chose a more easily managed, personal approach. On two separate Tuesday evenings, both lay leaders and campus professional staff gathered in the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home board room to make Campaign phone calls to our friends. The goal, to have short but warm and personable conversations with our community was a big success. Agency Directors, our CEO and volunteers joined the effort that raised $24,000 the first night of our mini-telethons.

It was heartwarming to make these calls alongside my colleagues and our volunteers. We were inspired by all the great feedback and generous donations. To be sure, we will con-

tinue with this approach looking forward.

Speaking of looking forward, I also believe the early bird does indeed catch the worm. So, now that I am totally on board in the Federation offices, I have already begun planning and strategy meetings for the 2014 Campaign. My goal is to continue to tighten the Campaign timetable and increase the efficiency and effectiveness with which we approach our fundraising.

I am also settled in my new office with a door that is always open. I invite everyone to call me, or better yet, stop by and share your thoughts and opinions (note: I will be on vacation for several weeks in May). I welcome new ideas and I’ve been told I am a pretty good listener. And, since you’ve read through to the end of this article, you now know I like to get a head start on things. You can reach me at 402.334.6440 or mricks@jewishomaha.org.

by OZZIE NOGG Young Jewish Omaha (YJO) brought its second Casino Night to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home on Thursday, April 4. The games, held in the RBJH Auditorium, featured slot machines, craps, roulette tables and Black Jack. After an exciting spin of the wheel or roll of the dice, residents turned in their chips at the prize tables in exchange for stationery, pens, stuffed animals and jewelry. “Casino Night is so much fun, I’d like to see it happen every year,” said Maggie Conti, Director of Activities and Outreach Programs at the Blumkin Home. “It’s a very special intergenerational program.”

Engagement TICHAUER/BUSE Gayle and Carl Tichauer of Peoria, AZ announce the engagement of their daughter, Jayme Tichauer to Michael Buse, son of Charlotte and Richard Buse.

The bride-to-be earned her Bachelor Degree in Psychology from the University of Minnesota and her Master of Social Work from the University of St. Thomas and College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, MN. She works as a children’s mental health therapist at Relate Counseling Center in Minnetonka, MN. Her fiancé graduated from University of Nebraska Omaha with a Bachelor Degree in Finance, and he received his MBA from New York University. He is Vice President of Investment Banking at Piper Jaffray Company.

A wedding is planned for Aug. 16, 2013 at Semple Mansion in Minneapolis, MN.

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YJO volunteers Lina Lander, left, and Naomi Fox with Blumkin Home residents Relda Fortina and Ethel Grossman.

Bob Goldberg, Jewish Federation of Omaha Director of Strategic Initiatives, considers Young Jewish Omaha “an entry point to organized Jewish life in our community. Our college graduates come back home eager to get involved.

They establish their careers and families and continue to stay involved. Young people move here from other cities and they become active in YJO. Casino Night is just one example.

These young volunteers see the joy on the faces of the residents and experience joy themselves. They care on a very deep level. The future of our community is in good hands.”

Young Jewish Omaha is a social group for members of the Jewish Community in their twenties and thirties. The organization’s formal mission is to offer young Jewish singles, couples and families a broad range of social, educational, volunteer, philanthropic and leadership development opportunities.

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We are so proud of your achievements – membership in NHS, varsity letter in tennis and a Merit Award from B.E.S.T.T. Love, Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters and grandparents

8 | The Jewish Press | April 26, 2013

An important dialogue

by DAVID GOLBITZ Temple Israel Staff Writer In his speech at Temple Israel on April 17, Rabbi John Friedman stated in unequivocal terms that time is running out for Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate a two-state solution.

Rabbi Friedman, co-chair of the J Street Rabbinic Council and senior rabbi of the Judea Reform Congregation in Durham, North Carolina, spoke passionately and urgently about the unsustainability of the current state of affairs in Israel, and of the need for the United States to insert itself more forcefully into the negotiations.

“Israel needs our help,” Rabbi Friedman said, referring to American Jews. “Its future is uncertain. The greatest act of love we can show for Israel at this moment is this: Rabbi John Friedman do not stand idly by and watch our Jewish state head off a cliff of its own making.”

The cliff Rabbi Friedman referred to consists of myriad facets, the most prominent among them being the ongoing building of settlements in the West Bank and the fact that, according to recent census data, Palestinians will soon overtake Jews as the most populous people in Israel. “[Israel’s] status as a democracy and a Jewish state will be in question,” Rabbi Friedman warned.

Rabbi Friedman visited Temple Israel at the behest of Rabbi Josh Brown, himself one of the 700 rabbis, most of whom are Reform, who make up the J Street Rabbinic Council. J Street labels itself the “political home for proIsrael, pro-peace Americans” and stands firmly and proudly on the liberal side of the Israel/Palestinian debate, often taking stances that makes it unpopular in certain circles.

“The problem as I see it is that J Street focuses on what they consider the embarrassments and gives it more attention over what should be the more positive things that Israel does,” said Gary Javitch, Temple Israel member. “I do represent a point of view that says Israel is not a perfect country, the United States is not a perfect country...”

Javitch believes that J Street’s “pro-Palestinian positions” undermine Israel’s standing in the world, as well as J Street’s own credibility as a pro-Israel organization.

Rabbi Friedman, undeterred by critics, said that J Street’s criticism of Israel comes from a deeply-felt love for the Jewish homeland and a fear that, without a two-state solution, the future of Israel could be that of a nation halved by apartheid, with a Jewish minority ruling over a Palestinian majority.

“Israel’s Jewish democracy is imperiled by its occupation

of the West Bank,” Rabbi Friedman said.

The rabbi referenced the identification cards carried by both Jews and Palestinians in Israel, blue for Jews, orange for Palestinians. If you have a blue card, Rabbi Friedman said, you are given all the rights granted by the Israeli constitution; but if you carry an orange card your rights are impinged upon in a very real and tangible way. One example the rabbi gave was that Palestinians who are arrested are given trials in Israeli military courts rather than civil courtrooms.

Another example given was that between 2005 and 2010, 835 Palestinian minors were tried in military courts for throwing stones; only one was acquitted.

J Street’s criticism of Israel is not limited to the treatment of Palestinians. J Street has also sharply criticized Israel for its attitude toward its own people. For example, five women were arrested at the Western Wall for the crime of praying while wearing tallitot.

“American Jews have a proud history of speaking out about things happening in foreign countries,” Rabbi Friedman said.

“So why exclude the country we love the most?”

In his remarks, Rabbi Friedman emphasized the broad coalition who share J Street’s goals and the need of those groups to make their voices heard.

“J Street represents the position of most American Jews, of most Israelis, of most Palestinians,” he said, “but we need to get to the leadership... our goal is to get the U.S. to be an aggressive arbiter between Israel and Palestine.”

Dan Gilbert, the chair of Temple Israel’s Social Justice Committee, came away from the rabbi’s speech “proud that Temple Israel can offer a forum where people can make the case for their ideas, no matter how unpopular, and the community can engage, consider, rebut and converse with respect.”

Gilbert knows there is no easy answer, but agrees with Rabbi Friedman that “Israel’s identity rests on being a Jewish state and a democratic state, and both of those pillars are at risk right now just from the demographics alone.

“I think it is dishonest to reject that reality as a starting point for any conversations about what might be next,” Gilbert said. “J Street is advocating one way forward, other organizations support other approaches; but Jews around the world are best served by a strong and broad conversation about the region rather than adhering to any single path.”

Gilbert continued: “Challenging Jews to think deeply about what it means to be Jewish, how we support one another, and how we connect with Israel is one of our key responsibilities. Strong intellectual engagement around all things Jewish has been one of the defining characteristics of our people for generations - I’m proud that we can continue that tradition.”

Rabbi Brown was also glad to have Temple Israel host a forum for this type of discussion.

“It was an important dialogue for people to be engaged in,” he said. “I was impressed with what people in the audience

knew, and I was glad that we could open up the discussion so that people can take some of our assumptions and challenge them and do the real work of getting this dialogue to move forward instead of remaining in the status quo, where we remain disengaged as onlookers to what’s going on in the Middle East, but we’re not really trying to put our opinions, our two cents, into the pot and saying that we have a voice in this struggle, too.”

The morning after Rabbi Friedman talked about J Street, he returned to Temple Israel to teach an adult study class about the history of anti-Semitism, focusing specifically on 13th century France, in which King Louis IX put the Talmud on trial and, eventually, gathered together “12 ox carts full of Talmuds and other rabbinic literature in a bonfire that took two days to burn.”

Rabbi Friedman helped translate a book on the subject, The Trial of the Talmud: Paris, 1240.

The rabbi read several excerpts from The Disputation of Rabbi Yehiel of Paris, who was the main defender of Judaism during the trial.

Rabbi Friedman’s visit was sponsored by the Hermene Zweiback Center for Lifelong Jewish Learning.

Rachel Rosenberg remembers ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Editor of the Jewish Press On Sunday, April 14, the Center for Jewish Life and the Jewish Federation of Omaha (with a little help from the Jewish Press) hosted a well-attended book event at the Kripke Library. The guest of honor: Rachel Rosenberg, Holocaust Survivor, and subject of the book The Holocaust Scream by Dr. Robert Urban.

At the age of 14, Rachel’s life took a horrible turn as the Nazi Rachel Rosenberg regime took over. Details about how she survived, and what her life has been like since, are told in a conversational style. Through interviews with the author as well as with others, Rachel’s voice clearly jumps off the page.

For more information, and to order your own copy of The Holocaust Scream, please contact the author at eurban@cox.net.

When you choose natural gas from Constellation, a contribution to Nebraska youth is in the stars.

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April 26, 2013 | The Jewish Press | 9

Passover in Costa Rica

by JULIE SADOFSKY It was a great coincidence that the Jewish holiday Passover overlapped with the holiest of holy weeks for Catholics in Costa Rica. This week is called Semana Santa a.k.a. spring break. While studying in Costa Rica, I want to stay connected to my Jewish roots in many different ways: observing Shabbat, meditation, celebration of Jewish

and were thrilled to hear we were coming down for Passover. Deb said she could appreciate a young Jewish woman preparing and leading a special seder during her favorite Jewish holiday. Our vegetarianfriendly seder plate consists of many traditional foods such as the egg, charoset, parsley, matzah ball soup, and Manischewitz, of course. Some other more nontraditional

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Clockwise from top left: Matzah ball soup, Passover table setting, Corocovado, “Pure Life”: Julie Sadofsky in Costa Rica. holidays, etc. However, I did not realize the complications that arise while living in a Catholic country. For instance, I cannot go to just any grocery store to buy horseradish, matzah, matzah meal, or even parsley.

Instead, I would need to travel far away from my host home to predominately Jewish neighborhoods. They do exist, but they are not conveniently located in San José. This was one complication I had during my preparations for Passover seder in the jungle. The plan to travel to the jungle for Passover needed preparation time to buy almost all the supplies in the city.

During my excursions to downtown San José, I remembered passing a store many times called Jerusalem, and I thought that would be the best place to look for all my Jewish needs. One thing led to another and the store did not happen to have any supplies I needed. After feeling desperate for an international section in the grocery store, I decided to improvise... I found substitutes for a few items on the seder plate (which will be unnamed).

During Passover, my friend Dan, another student in my program, and I travelled to Uvita, which is far south on the Pacific coast. A friend, Deb, a good friend of my godfather and my family, lives in Uvita with her son Nicki. They are also Reform Jews

foods that I was not accustomed to were “matzah” crackers, cucumbers, celery, and asparagus. This was the first time I had made matzah ball soup all by my self, and I was shocked to see it turn out with the many substitutions I made. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the meal, as did I. The service was led by yours truly using a Haggadah, thanks to the World Wide Web. During each part of the service, we reflected on our past Passover experiences and related them to our new understanding of the meaning of Passover in our modern world. A large question we discussed was how we as Jews connect to our ancestors who were slaves in Egypt, and the different ways we connect to the many generations that followed. The answer I understand from Passover is that we as Jews, as many generations have before us, commemorate the exodus of the Jews through traditions. These traditions are practiced by all ages within the seder, and include prayer, song, food, game, and sometimes dance. This is why Passover is one of my favorite Jewish holidays. We are able to relax, reflect, remember, and celebrate the liberation of our ancestors from bondage. I greatly appreciate the wonderful seder I had surrounded by new family and friends, and I wish everyone could experience a special seder outside of the norm.

Our annual salute to graduates

Publishing Date | 05.24.13 Space Reservation | 05.15.13 Camera Ready Deadline | 05.17.13

To submit announcements: Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press at jpress@jewishomaha.org; faxed to 402.334.5422, or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154.

Readers can also submit announcements -- births, b’nai b’rith mitzvahs, engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies or obituaries -- online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements. Deadlines are normally eight days prior to publication, on Thursdays, 9 a.m. Please check the Jewish Press, for notices of early deadlines.

Contact your advertising representative to advertise in this very special edition.

Jessie Wees | 402.334.6559 | jwees@jewishomaha.org

10 | The Jewish Press | April 26, 2013

‘Running Rabbi’ recounts chaos at Boston Marathon

by MELISSA JACOBS (Jewish Exponent) -- “It was a beautiful day. I was so excited to run and having such a good run. The crowd was unbelievable. The whole experience was amazing. It was almost magical.”

That’s how the Boston Marathon began for Rabbi Benjamin David, head rabbi at Adath Emanu-El in Mount Laurel, N.J. It’s not how it ended.

David, 36, had completed the marathon and was back at his hotel when the twin explosions went off Monday afternoon. The attack killed at least Rabbi Benjamin David three people, including an 8year-old boy, and wounded more than 140, some critically.

David was running with Rabbi Scott Weiner, senior rabbi of Temple Israel of New Rochelle in suburban New York’s Westchester County. The two rabbinical school friends are co-founders of the national organization, The Running Rabbis, which encourages clergy -- Jewish and not -- and their congregants to run. They always run for a charity and their race in the Boston Marathon raised money for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

David had an additional motivation for running. Although he had run 20 half-marathons and 13 marathons, David had never run the Boston Marathon and he wanted to beat his personal best time of 3 hours, 23 minutes. After 10 months of training, he did just that, running the 26.2 miles in 3 hours, 21 minutes. Weiner was one minute ahead of him.

“Usually at these big races, it takes a while to exit the area because you pick up the medal and your tote bag and shuffle along because you are so tired,” David said. “Getting out of the finish area took us at least a half hour. We went to the hotel, and I was about to put my hand on the door to go into the lobby when I heard a massive explosion. It was an extraordinary sound. You knew instantly that something was wrong.”

David knew what kind of wrong that was. He was in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001, blocks away from the World Trade Center at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

“In my mind, I instantly compared it to when I was in New York on 9/11,” he said. “I mean, it was a different sound. But when the first plane hit the tower, it was a sound like a sound you don’t normally hear. That’s what this was today. A sound that you don’t normally hear. When we heard the second bomb, like when there was the second plane on 9/11, we knew for sure that something was very wrong.

“People were running toward the scene and away from the scene,” David said. “Police were scrambling. The hardest part is that no one knew what happened, so you don’t know what to do. We thought maybe the grandstand had collapsed, or a building. I grabbed someone, and he said that two bombs went off.

Other than using the word “surreal,” David didn’t get into details about what he saw.

“You know one weird thing? They stopped the race in progress,” he said. “I heard on the news that there were supposedly 4,500 people still on the course. I wonder what happened to them. What were they told? What was it like for them, not knowing what was happening?”

Luckily, David’s family did know what was happening with him. Like most other marathoners, he had a chip on his clothes that enabled the tracking of his progress via a secure website.

A friend called David’s mother, Peggy, on her cell phone.

“I was on a break from work and had just turned my phone on when a friend called and said, ‘There was a bombing near the finish line,’” Peggy David recounted. “I was sure he was done and I know that he usually goes back to the hotel pretty quickly. But I didn’t know exactly where he was when the bomb went off. Then his wife sent out a group text saying that he was OK.” David’s wife Lisa the mother of their three young children, was tracking her husband’s progress and received an immediate text from him about his safety. That was a good thing because within hours she was aboard a plane headed for Israel on a business trip. She is associate director of camping for the Union for Reform Judaism’s Camp and Israel Programs.

Rabbi Richard Levine, the rabbi emeritus of Adath Emanu-El who led the congregation for more than 46 years, heard the news on KYW-1060 radio.

“I knew that Ben was trying to run the marathon in less than 3 hours and 20 or so minutes, so I thought that he was done and probably safe, but that didn’t mean he was,” Levine said. “We texted back and forth so I knew that he was OK.” In fact, Levine thinks the timing of the bombings was

deliberately set to harm as many people as possible. A former distance runner himself, Levine knows how marathons are staged.

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“Sometimes in these races, they stagger the start times and have the all-star runners go first, then there is a break, then another class of runners goes and another follows,” he said.

“Anyone who did some homework would know that the vast majority of runners -- the average runners who are not professionals -- finish the Boston Marathon right at about the time that the bombs exploded. At that time, people are crossing the finish line en masse.

“So were the bombs intentionally set to explode then? Yes, I believe so.”

If there was any blessing in this, Levine said, it was that medical personnel were at the finish line waiting for runners and they immediately helped the injured.

“On my end, people were just remarkably kind and forthcoming,” the David said. “My phone has not stopped ringing for seven hours. It’s been calls, texts, Facebook. Everyone knew that I was doing this race. The congregation and my family and friends have been amazingly supportive today.”

But he still had to deal with the logistics of being two blocks from a terrorist attack. And he had just run 26.2 miles. He was hungry after the race, but when he tried to get something to eat in the hotel lobby, the police came in and “kicked us out of the hotel because they didn’t want large crowds gathering. They wouldn’t let me back in, even though I said that I was a guest.”

So he went to the house of his wife’s college roommate three or four blocks from the hotel and took refuge there for an hour, he said, before returning to the hotel.

“And then again I realized that I forgot to eat,” David said.

He went in search of food, encountering a “horrible” scene outside, with barricades and police everywhere. He found an open restaurant, a Cheesecake Factory, where there was an hour wait for seating. So he took something to go and returned to his hotel room.

David described his state just hours after the attack as “feeling dazed.”

“Today, we saw what looks like hate and violence. But what I also saw was a day of togetherness and community and caring and support -- much like the Marathon itself,” he said. “Every marathon is about celebrating the human spirit and supporting one another. It’s about people from around the country and around the world, from different backgrounds and different religions running together. That is what I will remember from today, from before the bombing and right after it.

“Tragedy reduces things to the most primal and most important factors,” he said. “Family, friends, community and what strangers need help.” In the attacks both on 9/11 and on Monday, he said, “We will see the best in humanity come out.”

“And one more thing: I will run the Boston Marathon next year,” David said. “Nothing will keep me from it.”

Organizations B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Special Breadbreakers session Wednesday evening at 6 to 6:45 p.m. with Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) in the Kripke Library. The noon session will not be held. For more information or to be placed on the email list call 402.334.6443 or bnaibrith@jewishomaha.org.

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May

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Community Calendar FRIDAY, APRIL 26 Experiencing Judaism with the Five Senses class, 11 a.m.

Star Deli, 11:30 a.m. at RBJH Beth El Brings Shabbat to the Blumkin Home, 2:30 p.m.

Teen Shabbaton with Rabbi Neil Fleischmann, 7:30 p.m. at Rabbi Gross’s home

MONDAY, MAY 6 Daf Yomi: Week in Review, 7:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Adult Education Rabbi Abraham, 10 a.m. at Beth El

FRIDAY, MAY 17 CDC Graduation, 10 a.m.

Star Deli, 11:30 a.m. at RBJH Beth El Celebrates Shabbat at Remington Heights, 3:30 p.m.

TUESDAY, MAY 7 BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

Mr. AZA, 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, MAY 18 Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. at Temple Israel Youth Dance Party, 5:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, APRIL 27 Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. at Temple Israel Program with Rabbi Neil Fleischmann, 6:45 p.m. at Beth Israel

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8 Beth El YAC Playgroup, 10:30 a.m. at the Zoo BESTT Talmud Torah Class, 4:15 p.m. at Beth El Grades 7&8 End of Year Party, 6 p.m. at Temple Israel Teen Night, 6 p.m. at Temple Israel Board Meeting, 6:30 p.m. at Beth Israel Hebrew High, 6:45 p.m. at Beth El Cast A Dance Recital, 7 p.m.

JCC Board Meeting, 7 p.m.

Rabbi Weiss’ Weekly Class, 7:45 p.m. at Beth Israel

SUNDAY, MAY 19 Weekly Torah Study, 10 a.m. at Beth El Adult B’nai Mitzvah Class, 11 a.m. at Beth El Friedel Jewish Academy Dinner, 5 p.m.

SUNDAY, APRIL 28 Lag B’Omer Weekly Torah Study, 10 a.m. at Beth El WRJ Meeting, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Adult B’nai Mitzvah Class, 11 a.m. at Beth El Shiputznick Teen Mitzvah Day, 12:30 p.m.

Lag B’omer BBQ, 5 p.m. at Chabad Youth Scholarship Fundraising Concert featuring Comedian Joel Chasnoff, 7 p.m. at Beth El MONDAY, APRIL 29 Daf Yomi: Week in Review, 7:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Adult Education Rabbi Abraham, 10 a.m. at Beth El TUESDAY, APRIL 30 BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1 BESTT Talmud Torah Class, 4:15 p.m. at Beth El Hebrew High Dinner, 6 p.m. at Beth El Teen Night, 6 p.m. at Temple Israel Open Night for Socializing, 6:30 p.m. at Temple Israel Hebrew High, 6:45 p.m. at Beth El Rabbi Weiss’ Weekly Class, 7:45 p.m. at Beth Israel THURSDAY, MAY 2 Friedel PTO Plant Sale, 9 a.m.-4p.m.

Sacred Grounds with Rabbi Gross, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel Adult Study with Rabbi Azriel, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel WRJ Program: Donor and Installations, noon at Temple Israel Scholars Club for 4-6 graders, 3:30 p.m. at RBJH Hebrew 102, 6 p.m.

FRIDAY, MAY 3 Friedel PTO Plant Sale, 9 a.m.-4p.m.

Jewish Conspiracy Theories class, 11 a.m.

Star Deli, 11:30 a.m. at RBJH First Friday Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. at Temple Israel Tot Shabbat Serivce, 6 p.m. at Temple Israel Beth El Our Shabbat Tables, 7 p.m.

Congregational Dinner, 7 p.m. at Temple Israel SATURDAY, MAY 4 Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. at Temple Israel Junior Congregation, 10 a.m. at Beth El SUNDAY, MAY 5 BESTT Talmud Torah Class, 9:45 a.m. at Beth El Weekly Torah Study, 10 a.m. at Beth El Adult B’nai Mitzvah Class, 11 a.m. at Beth El Beth Israel Chess Club Field Trip to Borsheims at Regency Court, noon Beth El Sisterhood Tours the Mikvah, 1 p.m.

Pre Ballet Recital (Cast B), 4 p.m.

THURSDAY, MAY 9 Sacred Grounds with Rabbi Gross, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel Adult Study with Rabbi Azriel, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Scholars Club for 4-6 graders, 3:30 p.m. at RBJH Hebrew 102, 6 p.m.

Cast A Dance Recital, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY, MAY 10 Jewish Conspiracy Theories class, 11 a.m.

Star Deli, 11:30 a.m. at RBJH Temple Israel: Shabbat comes to you at Remington Heights, 4 p.m.

BBYO Spring Council Campout, 5 p.m.

7th & 12th Grade Graduation, 6 p.m. at Beth El Senior Send Off Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. at Temple Israel SATURDAY, MAY 11 Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. at Temple Israel SUNDAY, MAY 12 Weekly Torah Study, 10 a.m. at Beth El Adult B’nai Mitzvah Class, 11 a.m. at Beth El Israel Day, 1 p.m.

MONDAY, MAY 13 Daf Yomi: Week in Review, 7:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Adult Education Rabbi Abraham, 10 a.m. at Beth El Friedel Executive Board Meeting, 6:30 p.m.

NCJW-Omaha Section Board Meeting, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY, MAY 14 Erev Shavuot Jewish Medical Ethics, noon at the Med Center Friedel Tribute Dinner Committee Meeting, 1:30 p.m.

Erev Shavuot Observance: Tikkun Liel Shavuot, 5:30 p.m. at Beth El WEDNESDAY, MAY 15 JCC Closed for Shavuot First Day Shavuot THURSDAY, MAY 16 Second Day Shavuot Adult Study with Rabbi Azriel, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel 92Y One Voice w/Jason Alexander & Daniel Lubetzky, 7 p.m.

MONDAY, MAY 20 Daf Yomi: Week in Review, 7:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Adult Education Rabbi Abraham, 10 a.m. at Beth El Friedel Board Meeting, 7 p.m.

Jewish Press Board Meeting, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY, MAY 21 The Ethics of Our Fathers, 2 p.m. at Remington Heights Star Deli – Dairy Deli and Dinner Deli, 5:30 p.m. at RBJH BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

Friedel Graduation, 6:45 p.m.

BESTT Talmud Torah Board Meeting, 7 p.m. at Beth El Board of Trustees, 7 p.m. at Temple Israel WEDNESDAY, MAY 22 Beth El YAC Playgroup, 10:30 a.m.

Rabbi and Presidents Meeting, noon Federation Board Meeting, 5:30 p.m.

Rabbi Weiss’ Weekly Class, 7:45 p.m. at Beth Israel THURSDAY, MAY 23 Sacred Grounds with Rabbi Gross, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel Adult Study with Rabbi Azriel, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel B’nai B’rith Annual Sports Banquet, 5 p.m. at Century Link Center Beth El Dames & Drinks, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY, MAY 24 Jewish Conspiracy Theories class, 11 a.m.

Star Deli, 11:30 a.m. at RBJH SATURDAY, MAY 25 Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. at Temple Israel SUNDAY, MAY 26 Weekly Torah Study, 10 a.m. at Beth El Adult B’nai Mitzvah Class, 11 a.m. at Beth El

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MONDAY, MAY 27 BBYO Pool Party, 6 p.m.

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TUESDAY, MAY 28 BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

Board of Director’s Meeting, 7 p.m. at Beth El WEDNESDAY, MAY 29 Rabbi Weiss’ Weekly Class, 7:45 p.m. at Beth Israel THURSDAY, MAY 30 Sacred Grounds with Rabbi Gross, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel 39 Forever Event, 7 p.m.

JCC Musical theater Seussical performance, 7 p.m.

B’nai Tzedek Meeting, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY, MAY 31 Last Student Day at Friedel Star Deli, 11:30 a.m. at RBJH

All events held at the Jewish Community Center unless otherwise noted. This calendar does not include all community events. For a complete listing, visit the Federation’s website: www.jewishomaha.org (click on calendar). To keep calendar accurate, call Pat Anson at 402.334.8200. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the accuracy of the above events.

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12 | The Jewish Press | April 26, 2013

Point of view

American Jewish Press Association Award Winner

Nebraska Press National Newspaper Association Association Award winner 2008

Once upon a time ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Editor of the Jewish Press In anticipation of Rabbi Gross’ awesome-sounding class on Jewish conspiracy theories, I decided to do a little research into the unfortunate attack in Boston. More specifically, I was curious about the response online. (Human) nature abhors a vacuum, so there should be plenty of “answers” available. Who are the guys who did this? Why? What will happen next?

For instance: It was an inside job! The bombs were set off by the U.S. government, as part of some sort of drill. It’s called a “False flag attack,” and staged with the specific intent to take away our civil liberties. As soon as Monday, within hours after the bombs exploded, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick had to field questions about that exact theory.

“The governor responded with a terse ‘No.’ He should have said: ‘No, you idiot,’ but I give him credit for restraint,” wrote Rex Huppke in the Chicago Tribune.

The Westboro Baptists immediately tweeted the bombs were sent by God as punishment for the legalization of gaymarriage. Several stories circulated on the internet about a man who planned to propose to his girlfriend, but she died before she reached the finish line; the eight-year-old child who died was actually a female student from Sandy Hook Elementary, and officials had announced a fake drill via twitter. All these stories were false, but they traveled with the speed of light.

Some pundits claimed that photos of IED victims in Afghanistan were passed off as Boston related material, while others proposed the notion that all images of the wounded were actually pictures of actors, and none of this was real. But: North Korea was behind the attack, and oh, by the way: the Tea Party is being set up by the Federal Reserve to usher in a global currency.

The strangest story was perhaps the one related to the Television show Family Guy. A clip posted on the Internet purported to show a segment from the March 17, 2013

episode, depicting the Boston Marathon bombings. It was digitally altered, says Snopes.com, but why, nobody knows.

As far as conspiracy theories go, this one’s just weird. A secret message in a cartoon, announcing a terrorist attack?

Didn’t we already deal with similar bunk when Disney’s The Lion King came out?

In the past, these types of fairy tales didn’t make it further than the corner pub, but nowadays everyone’s on facebook.

They spread like wildfire. What’s more: weird stories are easily told in 140 characters or less. Instead of muttering something unintelligible into your beer, you can post it on Twitter, and people will read it.

“I don’t think there’s any question whatsoever that we see more and more conspiracy theories invading mainstream American political life,” said Mark Potok off the Southern Poverty Law Center. “What we’ve seen in the last few years is really quite mind-boggling. It’s not merely that some nutty people on the fringe of the fringe believe very far-out things that have no basis in reality. It’s that these beliefs make their way right into the political mainstream and into the heart of our political system.”

That means the rest of us must work much harder to separate fact from fiction. We owe that to the victims, and we owe it to ourselves. The Internet is a digital version of the Wild West; this much information at our fingertips can either make us smarter, or we can collectively dumb down.

When my iPhone freezes up, I can go online and figure out how to fix it in under a minute. When I want to know whether it’s going to rain, I pull up NOAA’s website and check the

radar. But if I want to know about terror suspects, political motives, or “who’s behind what,’ I have to be careful. After all, the political mainstream that Potok talks about is not so mainstream anymore. More voices means more chaos, and the public has the responsibility to sift through it.

Great concept: responsibility. It works like this: Don’t believe everything you read! In spite of many warnings, we still have a certain respect for the written word, no matter how dangerous that written word can be. But if we truly value our free speech, we have to do the work of separating the good from the bad. With great privilege comes great (there you have it!) responsibility.

Rabbi Gross’ class Jewish Conspiracy Theories (which really has nothing to do with this editorial) is presented by the Center for Jewish Life on May 3, 10 and 24 from 11 a.m. to noon. For more information and to register, contact Mark Kirchhoff at 402.334.6463 or mkirchhoff@jewishomaha.org.

known a State of Israel and that those who need, one have a place of refuge.

I feel disgusted by what I saw, ashamed at what was done by some and what was not done by others.

I am left confused about the nature of man by what he is capable of doing to others and also what man is capable of doing to survive.

I think of what they wore, threads barely put together and wooden shoes, as I stand in the freezing April air, not able to feel my fingers and it’s not even winter.

Of the six million Jews killed, I feel obligated to learn more stories...because how many names do any of us really know?

Anne Frank? Who else? Their names are in museums, but if I don’t remember, if we don’t remember their names and their stories, then they’re gone.

I feel blessed that no one I knew, no one of my family, went through these atrocities and yet, simultaneously, cannot understand how it happened; I cannot accept the realities, the horrors, the humiliation, the terror.

I am annoyed that more did not fight, frustrated that the mindset of the time was that Jews were weak and our people believed it and were brainwashed by the Germans that we deserved what happened to us.

I am frustrated that we did not protest enough when it all began. How did more not fight? How were more not willing to stand up even when waiting to enter the gas chambers or standing in line to be shot?

How did people live meters away from these camps and not do anything to stop what was going on?

Albert Einstein said that “The world is a dangerous place

not because of those who do evil but because of those who look on and do nothing.” How true this is. How did they deny knowing what was going on? So many were willing to turn a deaf ear, a blind eye, or were actively indifferent.

How? I stood in front of a grave where 48 children were shot dead into a hole, like animals.

I stood in the field where Treblinka once stood, some one million innocent lives taken where now only snow covers the ground and stones placed in remembrance lay.

I walked from Auschwitz to Birkenau, a former death march for our brothers, but I was part of the march of the living, my Israeli flag proudly wrapped around me, alongside thousands of others from all over the world.

I stood on the gravestones of named and unnamed persecuted souls singing “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem.

I watched the faces of survivors, the tears that befell them.

A survivor fell to his knees, entering a room of collected shoes at Auschwitz, grabbing onto the glass case, moaning the names of his brother, his mother, his father, the family that he had lost.

This is what I saw, in part. This is what I felt, in part. It doesn’t begin to explain it all, and I don’t know if I ever will be able to understand what I just went through, to comprehend what really happened. I feel disconnected at times, probably a defense mechanism because a part of me does not want to allow myself to feel these emotions, unsure if I can handle the intensity of it all, not wanting to believe that it is real.

But it is real. It did happen. And we must remember.”

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I’m home

Focus on issues ELISSA ZIMMERMAN The HESEG Foundation is a charitable foundation created by Canadians Gerry Schwartz and Heather Reisman in 2005 to provide scholarships to former “lone soldiers,” a term used by the Israel Defense Forces for individuals without a direct parental support system residing in Israel (i.e., parents who have emigrated from Israel, parents working overseas, immigrants who arrive alone, orphans, or those who have a distant relationship or are no longer in contact with their parents). The merit scholarship is offered for former “lone soldiers” who wish to remain in Israel to study after they’ve completed their military service.

HESEG recently chose approximately 26 of its recipients for an all-expense, 5-day trip to Poland to participate in the March of the Living that would fall on Holocaust Memorial Day. Elissa Zimmerman is the daughter of one of our correspondents, Sybil Kaplan from Jerusalem. Elissa, a senior at Tel Aviv University, is one of the recipients of the HESEG scholarship and wrote this after her return from Poland on April 11.

“After a week that I really can’t explain, I got home around 6 a.m. It was incredible, It was horrendous. It was life-changing, and parts with my group were even fun. I don’t know how to put into words what I saw, what I felt, what I experienced but will try.

I am overwhelmed with emotions that I can’t make sense of.

Ultimately, I feel very blessed to be home, in my bed, in Israel.

I feel proud to be a Jew in a generation that has always

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April 26, 2013 | The Jewish Press | 13

Kotel compromise notwithstanding, Israel facing uphill battle over religious pluralism

Focus on issues BEN SALES JERUSALEM (JTA) – Natan Sharansky’s proposal last week to expand the space for non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall could be historic.

But for most Israelis, changes at the Western Wall are of only trivial interest. Far more pressing are state restrictions on marriage and conversion, Sabbath bans on public transit, and haredi Orthodox exemptions from Israel’s mandatory draft.

The haredi draft exemption was a central issue in January’s elections for the Knesset, and it has been a hot topic of debate for the last year or so. A comprehensive bill is now in the works to draft haredi men, providing financial incentives to those who enlist and penalizing those who don’t.

A few political parties -- notably the large, centrist Yesh Atid -- have promised reforms on marriage, conversion and public transportation, too. But with the government’s coalition agreement giving each party veto power over any change in the state’s religious policy, sweeping changes on marriage and conversion are unlikely because the nationalist Jewish Home party is unlikely to approve such reforms.

The Orthodox-dominated Chief Rabbinate nearly has a monopoly over marriage and conversion in Israel. NonOrthodox wedding ceremonies, interfaith marriages and same-sex marriages are not recognized in Israel unless such couples wed and obtain a valid marriage certificate overseas.

When it comes to conversion in Israel, there is only one kind: Orthodox. Non-Orthodox converts to Judaism from overseas may be granted citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return, but the Rabbinate can prevent them from marrying,

divorcing or being buried as Jews once they are in Israel.

Perhaps a milder issue by comparison, many secular Israelis chafe against Sabbath-day limitations on public transit and commerce. While not entirely banned on Saturdays, they are subject to severely restrictive laws.

There have been some reforms in all three areas in recent years.

In 2010, the Yisrael Beiteinu party, which draws from a secular Russian immigrant support base, led a push for civil marriage. In a compromise, the watered-down bill passed by the Knesset legalized civil unions only for couples with no religious faith, not for Jews or interfaith couples.

Yesh Atid hopes to use that law as a template for allowing civil unions for any Israeli.

“We plan to work together on these issues,” Yesh Atid Knesset member Dov Lipman, an American-born rabbi, told JTA. “There’s already been significant discussion with all of the religious bodies on compromising on these issues.

I do believe we can make significant changes.”

But Yesh Atid’s coalition partner, Jewish Home, reportedly opposes expanding civil unions. Instead, Deputy Religious Services Minister Eli Ben Dahan is proposing measures to streamline the Orthodox marriage process -for example, allowing couples to marry with the Orthodox rabbi of their choosing.

By some measures, the conversion issue has been thornier.

In 2010, a Yisrael Beiteinu Knesset member, David Rotem, proposed a bill meant to give would-be converts more leeway in choosing where and how to convert in Israel. But the bill also would have consolidated control over conversions under the office of the Rabbinate, further weakening Reform and Conservative conversions.

Following an outcry from Jewish leaders in the United States, the bill was shelved. Sharansky was tasked with finding a solution to the dispute, but nothing has materialized.

In the meantime, Israel’s Supreme Court was subject to a freeze on hearing any cases relating to conversion.

The high court freeze expires at the end of April.

“Who is a Jew is an issue that will come back,” predicted Uri Regev, a Reform rabbi and chairman of Hiddush, an Israeli nonprofit that advocates for religious pluralism. “The courts making it a headline issue will happen within a few months.”

Public transit may be the issue most conducive to compromise because it does not involve questions of Jewish identity or continuity.

Public buses long have run on Shabbat in Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, and private shared taxis run in Tel Aviv on the Sabbath. Lipman said Yesh Atid backs running buses on Shabbat in non-Orthodox neighborhoods on a limited schedule.

The one wild card in Israel’s religion and state debate is David Stav, a Modern Orthodox rabbi who will run for the position of chief rabbi in June. If he wins, supporters of the reform-minded rabbi say he will put a friendlier face on the Rabbinate and help unite a divided society.

But in an interview last year with JTA, the reforms outlined

by Stav were mostly procedural. For example, he supports the drive to allow couples to marry under a rabbi of their choice.

Regev says the best chance for bringing about far-reaching reforms lies outside the country -- in the form of the American Jewish community.

“At this point it’s all a question of applying sufficient pressure,” Regev said. “This subject can’t be pushed under the rug.”

Korea, Iran, and the dual-loyalty myth

Behind the headlines BEN COHEN (JNS.org) Here’s a term that rarely crops up in discussions of American policy towards northeast Asia: the Korea Lobby.

And as for the pejorative term “Korea Firsters,” that isn’t one I’ve come across.

It’s not as if a cluster of organizations working to enhance our relationship with South Korea, or highlight the danger posed by the communist North, doesn’t exist. There’s a group called Korean American Civic Empowerment, whose website boasts a photo of its supporters with the refreshingly combative U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). The group works on a range of mainly domestic issues, like registering Korean-American voters and commemorating the ordeals of so-called “comfort women” -- girls and women in Korea and other Asian countries who were forced into prostitution by the Japanese military during the Second World War. Then there’s the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, which works to expose the truly gruesome humanitarian situation in the only country in the world that manages to be both a sovereign state and a concentration camp.

The committee’s board includes an impressive array of former foreign policy officials, policy wonks and wealthy philanthropists.

And don’t forget Liberty in North Korea, or LiNK, a truly wonderful organization that endeavors to bring comfort and aid to the thousands of refugees who have fled the living hell that is North Korea.

In addition to citizen-based groups, the South Korean government is an active participant in the Washington, DC lobbying scene, along with private corporations doing business in South Korea. According to the Sunlight Foundation, a think tank whose stated goal is to increase “transparency and accountability” in the U.S. government, Washington lobbyists and PR firms earned a handsome $100 million in Korea-related contracts during 2009 and 2010.

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endless debate about the influence of the “Israel Lobby” on American policy. When it comes to style and substance, there are many similarities between Korean advocacy groups and their pro-Israel counterparts—a national agenda that is strongly focused on issues like immigration and integration, a cultural and historical agenda that seeks to raise awareness of past suffering and past triumphs alike, and a foreign policy agenda that hones in upon the North Korean threat.

Yet no one of any significance is accusing Korean Americans of putting the interests of South Korea above those of the U.S. A Korean equivalent to the pack of lies contained in the book The Israel Lobby, by academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, has yet to be written, let alone make the New York Times bestseller list.

Don’t get me wrong -- I’m not seeking to apply the “dual loyalty” accusation to Korean Americans. Like American Jews, they have every right to lobby and campaign on the issues they care about, and to do so free from the ignorant bigotry that has stained the “Israel Lobby” controversy.

My point is a completely different one: Lobbies do influence government policy, but they are only one of several factors that contribute to the legislative process. And when it comes to foreign policy, whether the issue is South Korea or Israel, national interests will prevail, as they always have done.

What pro-Israel and Korea democracy advocates have in common is the fact that they work in a benign environment.

Especially when compared with Europeans, Americans have a far greater appreciation of the importance of democratic allies and of the imperative of maintaining warm relations with these allies. We support South Korea and Israel not because some shadowy lobby cajoles us into doing so, but because the centrality of both countries to the security and wellbeing of the U.S. is self-evident.

The perennial question that’s faced successive U.S. administrations is how far to take that support. In military terms, our relationship with South Korea has always been very close. Between 1950-53, we helped defend the South from the invasion launched by the North. We still maintain near-

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ly 30,000 troops on the Korean peninsula, and we supply the government in Seoul with cutting edge military technology, such as F-22 stealth fighters.

And while the U.S. has never had to deploy a single soldier in an offensive capacity on Israeli soil, the bilateral defense relationship between Washington and Jerusalem is just as strong.

Crucially, both South Korea and Israel are facing existential threats from their neighbors. Few believe that North Korea, now led by the bellicose Kim Jong Un, poses a direct threat to the U.S. mainland. But its nuclear program and its arsenal of long-range missiles like the Nodong-B could devastate South Korea, and also inflict terrible damage upon Japan and on American military bases in the Pacific Ocean.

Meanwhile, Iran shows no sign of abandoning the nuclear program it has developed with the active assistance of North Korea. It was no coincidence that just as North Korea’s warlike rhetoric reached the point of hysteria in early April, talks in Kazakhstan between the Iranian regime and international negotiators over the nuclear program collapsed. As Catherine Ashton, the gullible European Union foreign policy chief, put it, “...all sides will go back to their capitols to evaluate where we stand on the process.”

Any evaluation will have to acknowledge the painful truth that negotiations have failed and that the specter of war looms. That’s true for both Korea and Iran. Both North Korea and Iran have been hit by punishing sanctions -indeed, it was a new round of sanctions that triggered North Korea’s latest bout of hostility -- but, as I and others have argued in the past, the sanctions have not succeeded in grinding the nuclear activities of these rogue states to a halt.

And that’s why, if the terrible prospect of military confrontation becomes a reality, the blame won’t lie with “Israel Firsters,” “Korea Firsters” or any of the other ludicrous notions cooked up by conspiracy theorists. It will lie squarely with the tyrannies in Pyongyang and Tehran.

Ben Cohen is the Shillman Analyst for JNS.org. His writings on Jewish affairs and Middle Eastern politics have been published in Commentary, the New York Post, Ha’aretz, Jewish Ideas Daily and many other publications.

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14 | The Jewish Press | April 26, 2013

Synagogues B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE 618 Mynster Street | Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 | 712.322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com For information on our historic synagogue – dates and times for Friday night services, call 712.323.8885.

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

FRIDAY: Shabbat at the Rose Blumkin Home, 2:30 p.m.

Rabbi Abraham and Hazzan Krausman celebrate Shabbat with songs and stories for the residents. All are invited to attend; Kabbalat Shabbat Service, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Services, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush in honor of Yaffa and Dan Schuller and their family, given by their friends at Beth El and Friedel Academy; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8 p.m. during which Julia Raffel, daughter of Amy Tipp and Andrew Raffel, will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah.

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

SUNDAY: Torah Study Group, 10 a.m.; Adult B’nai Mitzvah Class, 11 a.m., with Hazzan Krausman; A Comedian, A Choir & A Cantor: Annual Youth Scholarship Fund Concert, Sunday, April 28, 7 p.m. at the synagogue, featuring comedian Joel Chasnoff, Beth El’s Hazzan Michael Krausman and the Beth El Choir. Buy tickets now at www.bethel-omaha.org. For more information, call the synagogue office.

MONDAY: Wrestling with Rabbis of the Talmud, 10 a.m. with Rabbi Abraham.

Our Shabbat Tables, Friday, May 3, at participants’ homes.

Mincha & Margaritas...Ole!, Saturday, May 4, following 7:30 p.m. Mincha services, enjoy margaritas, non-alcoholic beverages and Mexican snacks; Ma’ariv will follow, along with a spirited Havdalah service at 9 p.m. (Note: The earlier time for Mincha is for this week only.)

Mikvah Visit, Sunday, May 5, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Sisterhood will sponsor a tour of the mikvah at the JCC, led by Shira Abraham. Attendees will meet in the Blumkin Home chapel at 1 p.m.

YAC Playgroup, Wednesday, May 8, 10:30 a.m., trip to Henry Doorly Zoo. Contact Caryn Scheer, carynscheer@ yahoo.com, for more information.

All classes and programs are open to everyone in the Jewish community.

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

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Children’s Classes begin with Torah Parade, 9:45 a.m.; The Laws of Shabbat, 5:45 p.m.; Humor and Judaism lecture with Rabbi Neil Fleishchmann,

Barbecue and family fun this Sunday

by MUSHKA KATZMAN The Chabad Center is inviting the entire community for a fun filled Lag Baomer celebration featuring a sizzling barbecue, inter-generational ball games and other exciting surprises. Scheduled for Sunday, April 28 at 5 p.m. at the Chabad Center 1866 S. 120th, the event promises to appeal to people of all ages.

Lag Baomer commemorates the passing of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the founder of Kabbalah who requested that the date of his passing be marked by joy and celebration rather than mourning. It also celebrates the end of the plague which struck thousands of Rabbi Akiva’s students.

“Traditionally, Lag Baomer is celebrated in the outdoors, and in a unifying and communal manner,” says Rabbi Mendel Katzman of Chabad. “The plague was because of the lack of respect the students felt for each other, we celebrate today by showing our unity and coming together as one.”

For more information, or to RSVP, please contact dkatzman25@gmail.com or call 402.330.1800.

6:45 p.m. All ages welcome; Mincha-Ma’ariv, 7:35 p.m., followed by Seuda Shlishit; Havdalah/A Night of Comedy with Rabbi Fleishchmann, 9:03 p.m. All ages welcome.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.

WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: Daf Yomi: Week in Review with Rabbi Gross, 7:45 a.m.

TUESDAY: Women’s Study Group, 6:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Rabbi Weiss’s Weekly Class, 7:45 p.m.

THURSDAY: Sacred Grounds with Rabbi Gross, 9:30 a.m; Med Center Chabura, 1 p.m. at UNMC.

CHABAD CENTER An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 South 120 Street | Omaha, NE 68144-1646 | 402.330.1800 www.OChabad.com | email: chabad@aol.com Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: Minyan and Meditation, 7 a.m.

SATURDAY: Minyan and Meditation, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush lunch will follow. 24,000 students of the great sage Rabbi Akiva died between Pesach and Lag B’omer. Their crime?

Lack of love for their fellow Jew! Lets discuss how to improve our selfless love while we enjoy delicious lunch.

SUNDAY: Minyan, 8:30 a.m.; Breakfast Bonanza, 9:30 a.m.; Join us for Lag B’omer BBQ, at 5 p.m. Call Devorah at 402.330.1800 to reserve.

WEEKDAYS: Minyan and Meditation, 7 a.m.

TUESDAY: Dynamic Discovery with Shani Katzman, 10:15 a.m. A class for women based on traditional texts with practical insights and application. Please reserve by calling 402.330.1800.

WEDNESDAY: Personal Parsha class, 10 a.m. with Rochi Katzman. Call 402.330.1800 to reserve.

THURSDAY: Women’s Study at UNMC with Shani Katzman, noon. Contact Marlene Cohen at mzcohen@ unmc.edu to receive updates.

All programs are open to the entire community.

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

FRIDAY: Clinic with a Heart Fundraiser, 5:30 p.m. Please contact Barbara Straus for more information; Tot Shabbat with Ms. Jennifer, 6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel; Clinic with a Heart dinner, program and live auction, 7:15 p.m.; Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m. with oneg following hosted by Karin and Ray Coulter.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. on Parsahat Emor.

SUNDAY: LJCS Gan through Grade 7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; Hallah High Rummage Sale, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in the South Street Temple Parking Lot; LJCS Teachers, 12:15 p.m. at Tifereth Israel.

TUESDAY: Unveiling of the monument for Sally Gordon, 4:30 p.m. at Mt. Carmel Cemetery.

WEDNESDAY: Hebrew classes (grades 3-7), 4-6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel.

ADULT EDUCATION SUNDAY, 9:30 a.m. Bagels and Community Adult Education, led by Rich Lombardi on Pursuing Social Justice at Tifereth Israel.

Mayor’s Interfaith Breakfast on Friday, May 3, 7:30 a.m. at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 1040 P Street. Speakers are Scott Young, Exec. Dir. of Food Bank of Lincoln, and Rabbi Craig

Candlelighting Friday, April 26, 7:59 p.m.

Lewis of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun. Send your check for $25 (payable to Mayor’s Interfaith Prayer Breakfast) to the Temple office no later than April 26.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE SAC Memorial Chapel 301 Lincoln Highway | Offutt AFB, NE 68113 | 402.294.6244 FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME 323 South 132 Street | Omaha, NE 68154 FRIDAY: Shabbat Comes to RBJH, 2:30 p.m. with Beth El. SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Alan Shulewitz.

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

TEMPLE ISRAEL Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 7023 Cass Street | Omaha, NE 68132-2651 | 402.556.6536 www.templeisrael-ne.org FRIDAY: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. led by Rabbi Brown and Tami Field.

SATURDAY: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m.; Experience Shabbat for Grades 3-6, 10 a.m.; Tot Shabbat & Breakfast, 10 a.m. led

by Rabbi Brown; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. Mia Vinci, daughter of Jody Vinci and Gino Vinci, will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah.; Club 56 Mother’s Day Gift Making, noon.

SUNDAY: Teachers Meeting, 9:30 a.m.; Grades PreK-2, 10 a.m.; Grade One Family Day, 10 a.m.; WRJ Meeting, 10 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: Grades 3-6, 4-6 p.m.; School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Family School, 6 p.m.; Grades 7 & 8, 6 p.m.; Temple Teen NIght, 6 p.m.

THURSDAY: Dilemmas of Faith: God and Spirituality in the Modern World, 10 a.m. with Rabbi Azriel; WRJ Donor and Installations, noon.

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

FRIDAY: Tot Shabbat with Ms. Jennifer, 6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel; Shabbat Services, 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Morning service, 10 a.m. followed by a Kiddush luncheon prepared by Nanci Hamicksburg.

SUNDAY: LJCS Gan through Grade 7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; Hallah High Rummage Sale, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in the South Street Temple Parking Lot; LJCS Teachers, 12:15 p.m. at Tifereth Israel.

TUESDAY: Unveiling of the monument for Sally Gordon, 4:30 p.m. at Mt. Carmel Cemetery.

WEDNESDAY: Hebrew classes (grades 3-7), 4-6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel.

ADULT EDUCATION SUNDAY, 9:30 a.m. Bagels and Community Adult Education, led by Rich Lombardi on Pursuing Social Justice at Tifereth Israel.

Mayor’s Interfaith Breakfast on Friday, May 3, 7:30 a.m. at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 1040 P Street. Speakers are Scott Young, Exec. Dir. of Food Bank of Lincoln, and Rabbi Craig Lewis of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun.

Jewish Book Club, Sunday, May 5, 2 p.m. at Sara Friedman’s home and will discuss Heir to the Glimmering World by Cynthia Ozick. Please contact Stephanie Dohner with any questions.

Budapest anti-Semitism rally draws tens of thousands

by JTA NEWS STAFF (JTA) -- Tens of thousands of protesters marched in Budapest against anti-Semitism, as Hungarian police prevented a neo-Nazi demonstration for the third time in two weeks.

The march Sunday against anti-Semitism was part of the annual March of the Living, which usually draws a few thousand people who commemorate the victims of the Holocaust with a solemn walk along the Danube River.

This year, however, tens of thousands showed up with Israeli and European Union flags in what many said was a tour de force against the ideas promoted by the ultranationalist Jobbik party and neo-Nazi fringe groups, Reuters reported.

In parallel, police banned a group of extreme-rightist bikers from holding a rally in front of the city’s main syna-

gogue during the March of the Living event.

The biker group had been refused a permit earlier this month for a rally under the slogan “give gas” -- a possible reference to the extermination of Jews during the Holocaust.

Over the past few weeks, several fringe groups have requested permission to hold a protest against the planned gathering next month of the World Jewish Congress plenary meeting in Budapest.

On Saturday, police officers in Pecs, in southern Hungary, detained 18 people who police said belonged to the Pax Hungarica movement and participated in a rally in honor of what would have been Adolf Hitler’s 124th birthday on April 20.

They were charged with disturbing public order, according to a report by the MTI Hungarian news service

Pulverent e

April 26, 2013 | The Jewish Press | 15

On Spirituality

Sparks from the word RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parsha Emor It is often charged by persons who do not know Judaism directly, that Judaism is limited to laws and practices that have to do with minutiae of food and eating.

A reading of our Sidrah, however, makes clear that spirituality is of prime importance in Judaism.

Of prime importance is the careful use of the name of God. It is carelessly used thousands of times by those who say a Bracha, which includes the name of God. Our Sidrah demands that God’s name be pronounced only with great care and with great solemnity. Moses is commanded to require the Priests (Kohanim) to use the name of God with great care.

Therefore, it has become usual in Jewish practice to substitute the word “Shem” or “HaShem,” meaning “the Name.”

Thus, except in actual prayer or expression of devotion, Jews use “HaShem,” to void careless and superfluous use of the name of God.

Friedel flower sale

by JULIE STEIN It’s almost Mother’s Day, and that means preparations are under way for the Annual Friedel Jewish Academy flower sale. You can buy something nice for a loved one, and support our day school at the same time: it’s a winwin!

On May 2 and 3, volunteers can be found at the front entrance of the Jewish Community Center from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Organic herbs and vegetables are provided by Blooms Organic; flowers will come from Red Oak Greenhouse.

All proceeds benefit the Friedel Jewish Academy PTO.

Canadian Jewish News latest to halt print publication

by JTA NEWS STAFF TORONTO (JTA) -- Canada’s flagship Jewish newspaper, The Canadian Jewish News, is folding.

The newspaper, which has a circulation of approximately 40,000, announced Monday that its final print edition will be June 20. The closure will mean the loss of about 50 jobs.

“I never dreamed that I would be writing this,” CJN President Donald Carr wrote on the paper’s website Monday announcing the end of publication. “No nightmare of mine envisioned it.”

Carr cited “the ravages that printed newspapers and magazines have been experiencing across the world.”

“The digital age, in which news and commentary are retrieved instantly on smart phones, on computers and on all kinds of new devices, has overtaken the printed word,” he wrote.

Carr, effectively the paper’s publisher, also said that advertisers are reluctant to place ads in printed publications and that the poor economic situation has left businesses with less money for advertising.

He said the CJN had made “substantial operating changes, which we thought would assist. After careful analysis, we have concluded that they do not.”

Founded in 1960, the paper was purchased in 1971 by a group of community leaders closely allied with the Canadian Jewish Congress.

It was not immediately clear whether the online edition would continue.

“That is our hope,” Carr said. “However, the CJN will disappear from your mailboxes and the newsstands.”

The CJN was distributed in Toronto, with a Montreal edition. There are smaller, regional Jewish publications across Canada, but the paper was seen as national and independent.

The closure will leave The Jewish Tribune, published by B’nai Brith Canada, as the community’s sole non-regional Jewish publication.

To order a gift subscription to the Press...

Send a check for $36, made out to the Jewish Press and prorated for the year, to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154. For more information on how to connect your out-of-town relatives and friends, call 402.334.6448.

Sharansky gets green light to pursue Western Wall prayer plan

by JTA NEWS STAFF JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky was given a green light by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pursue his plan for a permanent egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall.

Netanyahu told Sharansky to continue reviewing the situation with Zvi Hauser, the director general of the Prime Minister’s Office, and Yaakov Amidror, Netanyahu’s national security adviser, Jewish Agency spokesman Benjamin Rutland told JTA on Monday. The progress was first reported earlier in the day by the Israeli daily Haaretz, which cited unnamed sources.

Netanyahu and Sharansky met last week in London, where they were attending the funeral of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and discussed the plan and its progress.

The plan calls for the Robinson’s Arch archeological site at the southern part of the Western Wall to be used as a permanent space for egalitarian prayer. Under the proposal, the Western Wall plaza would be expanded to encompass the additional prayer space. The two sections of the plaza, separated by the Mugrabi Bridge, would share a common entrance.

Sharansky was charged by Netanyahu last year with finding a solution to mounting tensions over women’s prayer at the Western Wall. After three months of consultations with a wide spectrum of Israeli and American Jewish leaders, Sharansky unveiled the proposal to Jewish leaders earlier this month in New York.

“One Western Wall for one Jewish people,” Sharansky said in a statement following his New York presentation. “In this way, the Kotel will once again be a symbol of unity among the Jewish people, and not one of discord and strife.”

Hagel arrives in Israel to discuss arms deal, Iran

by JTA NEWS STAFF JERUSALEM (JTA) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in Israel, where he is scheduled to discuss a major arms deal and the Iran situation with Israeli leaders.

Hagel following his arrival late Sunday morning visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem.

During his visit, Hagel is scheduled to meet with Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz.

Hagel and Yaalon reportedly will discuss a sale from the U.S to Israel of Bell Boeing V22 transport helicopters and Secretary Chuck Hagel Boeing KC-135 inflight refueling planes, in addition to advanced radar systems for fighter planes and anti-radiation missiles.

The U.S. defense chief will leave Israel late Monday and continue on to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Hagel told reporters Sunday on the flight to Israel that the arms deal, as well as deals to be discussed with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, should send a message to Iran that the military option remains on the table.

He also said regarding Israel and the threat of an Iranian attack that “every sovereign nation has the right to defend itself and protect itself.”

“Iran presents a threat in its nuclear program,” Hagel said, “and Israel will make the decisions that Israel must make to protect itself and defend itself.”

To submit announcements: Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press at jpress@jewishomaha.org; faxed to 402.334.5422, or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154.

Readers can also submit announcements -- births, b’nai mitzvahs, engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies or obituaries -- online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements. Deadlines are normally eight days prior to publication, on Thursdays, 9 a.m.

Please check the Jewish Press, for notices of early deadlines.

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16 | The Jewish Press | April 26, 2013

What Boston hospitals learned from Israel

by BEN SALES TEL AVIV (JTA) -- Minutes after a terrorist attack killed three at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, doctors and nurses at the city’s hospitals faced a harrowing scene -- severed limbs, burned bodies, shrapnel buried in skin.

For Boston doctors, the challenge presented by last week’s bombing was unprecedented -- but they were prepared.

Many of the city’s hospitals have doctors with actual battlefield experience. Others have trauma Avraham Rivkind, the chief of experience from deploysurgery at Hadassah Medical ments on humanitarian Center in Jerusalem, has piomissions, like the one that neered several medical techfollowed the Haitian earthniques, including several that quake, and have learned helped save victims of the from presentations by vetBoston Marathon attacks. erans of other terror Credit: Hadassah attacks like the one at a Medical Center movie theater in Colorado.

But they have benefited as well from the expertise developed by Israeli physicians over decades of treating victims of terrorist attacks -- expertise that Israel has shared with scores of doctors and hospitals around the world. Eight years ago, four Israeli doctors and a staff of nurses spent two days at Massachusetts General Hospital teaching hospital staff the methods pioneered in Israel.

According to the New Yorker magazine, every Boston patient who reached the hospital alive has survived.

“We had periods where every week we had an attack,” said Dror Soffer, director of the trauma division at the Tel Aviv Medical Center, who participated in the delegation. “It becomes your routine.”

Techniques that were “routine” in Israel by 2005, and helped save lives in Boston last week, began evolving in the 1990s, when Israel experienced a spate of bus bombings. Israeli doctors “rewrote the bible of blast trauma,” said Avi Rivkind, the director of surgery at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center, where 60 percent of Israeli victims have been treated.

Much of what Israel has learned about treating attack victims was done on the fly. In 1996, a 19-year-old soldier arrived at the Hadassah hospital following a bus bombing with severe injuries to her chest and esophagus. Doctors put chest drains on her lungs and performed endoscopies twice a day to stop the bleeding. Both techniques are now regular practices.

“We were sure she was going to die, and she survived,” Rivkind said.

A riskier move came five years later when Adi Huja arrived at Hadassah with massive blood loss following an attack in

downtown Jerusalem. Rivkind realized his team wasn’t controlling the bleeding, so he directed staff to administer a shot of NovoSeven -- a staggeringly expensive coagulant typical-

Organizing the emergency room, Rivkind said, is as important as treating patients correctly. During the second intifada, Hadassah developed what he called the “accordion method,”

A paramedic treating a woman who was wounded in a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv's Carmel Market, November 2004.

Credit: Flash 90/JTA ly used for hemophiliacs that was not approved for a trauma situation. But it worked and Huja survived.

Rivkind is an internationally recognized expert in terror medicine and widely considered one of the great brains behind Israeli innovations that have been adopted around the world.

Trained at Hebrew University, the Hadassah Medical Center and the Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems in Baltimore, he has contributed to several volumes on trauma surgery and post-attack care, and authored a number of seminal medical studies. Rivkind was the personal physician for the late Israeli President Ezer Weizman, helped care for Ariel Sharon when the prime minister fell into a coma following a stroke, and has performed nearmiraculous feats, once reviving a soldier shot in the heart who had been pronounced dead in the field.

But not everything Rivkind has learned about treating attack victims comes from a story with a happy ending. In 2002, Shiri Nagari was rushed to Hadassah after a bus bombing. She appeared to have escaped largely unharmed, but 45 minutes later she was dead. It was, Rivkind later wrote, the first time he ever cried after losing a patient.

“She seemed fine and talked with us,” he told JTA. “You can be very injured inside, and outside you look completely pristine.”

a method of moving patients through various stages of assessment with maximal efficiency. The process has become standard in hospitals across Israel and around the world.

Some of what distinguishes Israeli trauma doctors are qualities that are hard to teach. Rivkind has said he keeps two beepers and a cell phone on him at all times, even in bed. Even when calls come in the middle of the night, a small army of medical professionals can usually be relied on to arrive at their posts within minutes, sometimes even ahead of the ambulances carrying the wounded.

“Whenever there was an alarm, we jumped, ran and called our homes, and then got ready to absorb patients,” said Liora Utitz, the mass-casualty coordinator at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. “I felt very safe. The volunteerism of everyone gave me strength.”

Israel continues to export its trauma expertise. Rivkind has taught medicine in Melbourne, Australia, and Southern California. Delegations of doctors from New York and Los Angeles have visited him in Jerusalem. This week, he will speak with Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who is visiting Israel, about strengthening connections between Hadassah and hospitals in Baltimore.

“We have tens of years of cumulative trauma experience,” he said. “We’ve learned not to give up.”

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