June 15, 2007

Vol. LXXXVI No. 39 Omaha, NE

Celebrating 86 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa

29 Sivan, 5767 June 15, 2007

Jewish Press and Omaha Children’s Museum team up for weekly website contest

For Omahans, Israel is more than just a nightly news spot

Mission participants Madison Baron, left, Sydney Robinson and Lauren Kirshenbaum enjoy a swim with Rabbi Aryeh Azriel at Sachna Natural Springs. A busload of Omahas -- 45 in all -- have been touring Israel since June 4. Most of the group has returned to Omaha, but several, including Stacey Rockman, will be staying on for the semi-annual Partnership with More photos on page 2 Israel meeting in the Western Galilee.

by CAROL KATZMAN Editor of the Jewish Press What’s better than a few hours of time with grandchildren? Spending it at Omaha’s updated Children’s Museum! The Jewish Press and the Omaha Children’s Museum will offer three “Grandparent” annual memberships in a weekly contest starting today.

OCM opened in 1976 as a sort of mobile museum, delivering workshops and programs to thousands of area children. In 1977, its first home was in the City/County connector building. Later, the museum moved to 18th and St. Mary’s Streets, and then to its permanent home in 1989, a former car dealership building. It has been located on 20th and Howard in downtown Omaha ever since. A series of renovations in 1993 and in 2002, made the facility one of the largest children’s museums in the country.

A $6.6 remodeling project this year made room for such permanent exhibits as the Charlie Campbell Science and Technology Center which boasts a super gravitron, the Creative Arts Center, and Imagination Playground. The “Bob the Builder” project, “Build It,” is a special exhibit that runs through Sept. 2.

Readers can win one of the memberships by visiting the Jewish Federation of Omaha website at www.jewishomaha.org and clicking on ‘Jewish Press’.

Answer the “question of the week” posted on our home page correctly and be entered in the weekly drawing, simply by e-mailing your response to: jpress@jewishomaha.org. The question will relate to one of the stories in the Jewish Press and will change each week throughout June.

Winners will be chosen randomly from among the pool of weekly entries. Recipients of the three OCM memberships will be announced in the July 6 issue.

For more information about the contest, call the Press at 334.6448; for information about OCM, visit www.ocm.org or call 342.6164.

On British academic boycott, Jews agree on outrage Jewish organizations’ response mixed in U.S., Israel and Britain

by BEN HARRIS NEW YORK (JTA) -- Jews around the world were united this week in denouncing a major British trade union’s decision to consider a boycott of Israeli universities, but they differed over how to respond to such threats.

Some want to fight fire with fire, while others were opting for an appeal to the conscience.

On the more combative side are figures like Harvard University Professor Alan Dershowitz, who reportedly is advocating for legislation that would “devastate and bankrupt” British universities that refuse to do business with their Israeli counterparts.

On the other side are groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, which for now prefers to keep the controversy in the rhetorical realm by publishing a number of ads in major international newspapers branding the proposed boycott an act of anti-Semitism.

The differences emerged after the University and College Union, Britain’s largest teachers union, ignored the warnings of its secretary-general and voted May 30 to consider an academic boycott

Inside Opinion Page see page 8

of Israeli universities.

Though most observers say the effort is likely to fail when put before the union’s full membership -- four previous British attempts at an academic boycott of Israel have faltered -- it nevertheless appears to have inspired other British bodies to consider similar measures.

Almost immediately after the UCU move, the country’s largest trade union decided to consider a boycott motion at its upcoming conference. While UCU represents 120,000 members, UNISON has more than a million.

“The UCU is just one link in the chain,” Ronnie Fraser, director of Academic Friends of Israel, told JTA. “The trade union movement is now the battleground.”

Both decisions follow a resolution in April by Britain’s National Union of Journalists condemning Israel’s “savage” attack last summer on Lebanon and calling for sanctions against the Jewish state.

With the boycott movement An ADL ad in response to a British academic boycott.

This Week: A “good sign” at Temple: Page 4 See Front Page Stories & More at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’

Blumkin Home names new food supervisor: Page 3

appearing to gain momentum, Jewish organizational officials are at odds over how to react.

“Regionally, we have received questions and concerns about the boycott, said Alan Potash, the director of the Anti-Defamation League Plains Region. “We experienced similar reactions several years ago when the Presbyterian Church USA announced their resolutions to explore divestment with Israel.”

He added that “the ads ADL has placed in major newspapers have generated support for Israel. They also educate people on the one sided perspective of the unions. In Omaha and our region, we can educate people to monitor possible local boycotts, educate local leaders and teach people to take a stand and speak out.”

Credit: ADL Continued on page 2

Coming Next Month: Health & Wellness on July 13 Parenting column: Stop the Summer Brain Drain: Page 5

Beth El congregant serves others: Page 12

Page 2

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

June 15, 2007

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On British boycott, Jews agree on outrage, not on response Continued from page 1 Boycotts themselves have a disturbing pedigree in Jewish memory for their devastating effect on Jewish communities, perhaps most famously in Germany in 1933. The Arab boycott of Israel, too, had a severe effect on the Jewish psyche and an economic cost.

There is the oft-cited hope that cooler heads will prevail in the face of an initiative most Jews consider flagrantly discriminatory, if not abjectly anti-Semitic.

In Israel, the UCU decision was greeted harshly. Knesset member Otniel Schneller introduced a bill that would slap British imports with a label reading, “This country is involved in an anti-Israel boycott.”

Israel’s airport union reportedly was considering refusing to unload British exports. And there were reports of canceling the Tel Aviv premiere of the British musical Mamma Mia! Elizabeth Goldhirsh, a director of her family’s foundation supporting cancer research, said the board of directors of the Connecticut-based Goldhirsh Foundation decided not to open its grant process to British researchers, a move that had been under consideration. Instead, Goldhirsh said they would open their grants to Israeli researchers.

“I think there needs to be a message sent that there are consequences to singling out and demonizing Israel, and doing so above all other countries in the world,” Goldhirsh told JTA. Others contemplated softer responses. The Jewish Funders Network, of which the Goldhirsh Foundation is a member, already has collected $200,000 to support exchanges with Israeli academics in the United States and Canada.

Peter Willner, executive vice president of the American Friends of Hebrew University, the American fund-raising arm of the Jerusalem institution, told JTA his organization opposes boycotts in principle and would confine its response to issuing a news release and raising awareness in the academic community. “The only way to stop all of this is to have the right people stand up and say we’re not going to stand for this,” Willner said. “I think boycotts are an illegitimate tool, and especially when used against the State of Israel.”

Similar efforts to isolate Israel have taken root among trade unions in Canada, South Africa and Ireland. In the United States, sporadic efforts to have universities divest from Israel have been unsuccessful.

Only in Britain has the boycott effort been endorsed by unions of university teachers and journalists -- both groups, critics are quick to point out, that profess fidelity to ideals of impartiality and dispassion.

“It really does puzzle me,” said Professor Malcolm Grant, president of University College London and head of the Russell Group, a coalition of Britain’s 20 largest research universities.

The coalition issued a statement calling the UCU vote “a contradiction in terms and in direct conflict with the mission of a university.” It echoed remarks by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who told Parliament on June 6 that a boycott is “misguided” and a threat to academic freedom.

“I don’t detect that it evidences any widespread sentiment in British society,” Grant told JTA. “These are curious eruptions for which I can offer no rational explanation.”

Others, however, are offering theories as to why Britain has become a hotbed of agitation by boycott supporters.

Fraser attributes it to a perception of the Palestinians as Third World revolutionaries and to a historic tendency among British unions to fight for the underdog.

“Anti-Zionism appears to have taken on a sharper edge in Britain because of a historic and persistent hard-left movement,” said Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Many of the rank-andfile members of the UCU routinely take their cue from them, he said.

The hard left, however, is active well beyond Britain, including on university campuses in the United States. For some, the difference lies in the response of the public as much as with the efforts of boycott supporters.

Abraham Foxman, national director of the AntiDefamation League, said that unlike in France, which has commanded much attention for its reported rise in antiSemitism, British leaders have failed to respond firmly to anti-Jewish sentiment.

As a result, Foxman said, British media and universities are far more hostile to Jews and Israel than in France.

“There’s been a lot more leadership in France against anti-Semitism in the last five years than there has been in Britain,” Foxman said. “France has begun to realize the problem. Great Britain has not.”

JTA correspondent Vanessa Bulkacz in London contributed to this report.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Omahans enjoy more than sights in Israel

SATURDAY, JUNE 16 Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:15 a.m. at Temple Israel SUNDAY, JUNE 17 The Living Torah, 9:30 a.m. at Chabad House Class with Rabbi Nadel, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel C Bible Study Group, 10 a.m. at Beth El L MONDAY, JUNE 18 I P Aquatics MOD Meeting, 9:30 at JCC

C L I P

Jewish Book Club, 11 a.m. at JCC & Hadassah Board Meeting, 1 p.m.

Theology 354: Judaism with Dr. Leonard Greenspoon, S 5:45 p.m. at JCC A Beth El Women’s Rosh Hodesh Group, 7 p.m.

V JFS Board Meeting, 7 p.m. at JCC E

& S A V E

TUESDAY, JUNE 19 WOW Tehillim & More, 9 a.m. at Chabad BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

BESTT Board Meeting, 7 p.m. at Beth El Parshah Roundup, 7 p.m. at Chabad House Board Meeting, 7:30 p.m. at Temple Israel WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20 Kabbalah Circle, 7 p.m. at Chabad House JSS Iowa Western Community Band Concert “Sensational Summer Sounds,” 7 p.m. JCC C L THURSDAY, JUNE 21 I Women of the Torah class, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel P Yiddish Group, 1 p.m.

C L I P

Camp Overnight, 4 p.m. JCC & Theology 354: Judaism with Dr. Leonard Greenspoon,

5:45 p.m. at JCC

S Hebrew Classes, 6 p.m.

A NCJW Board Meeting, 7 p.m.

V Advanced Parshah Study, 7:30 p.m. at Beth Israel E

Online with Eye on Israel, 8 p.m.

All events held at the JCC unless otherwise indicated. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the accuracy of events. To keep calendar accurate or for questions, call Marlene Hert at 334-6437.

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

This Space For Rent Call Terri Greenwood 334-6559

& S A V E

Photos from top left: Justin Kohll, left, and Henry Davis take a mud bath at the Dead Sea; Abby and Sarah Schondelmeyer visit Beit Shean, Israel’s largest excavation site; mission participants enjoy floating in the Dead Sea. The mission group also included: Rabbi Aryeh and Yaniv Azriel; Jim Baker; Amber, Johnny, Olivia and Tom Baker; Bruce, Jake, Jill, and Madison Baron; Cameron and Lauren Davis; Alyssa, Jeff, Lauren and Sharon Kirshenbaum; Noah Kohll; Avery, Jacob, John and Sandy Lehr; Uri Levin (Omaha’s former shaliach); Lisa and Sammy Lieb; Janie and Aaron Murow; Ethan and Julie Potash; Andrew, Brenna, Brett, Kimberley and Sydney Robinson; Caroline, Jonathan, Oliver and Stacey Rockman; and Charlie, Josh, Louri and Rachel Sullivan. In addition to touring, the mission also visited sites in Omaha’s Partnership with Israel region, the Western Galilee.

June 15, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 3

Beth Israel brings Rashi Rose Blumkin Jewish Home names new food scholar, author, educator and environmental services director

by MARY BORT for Beth Israel Synagogue Beth Israel’s scholar-in-residence program brings Rashi expert Rabbi Yisrael Herczeg to Omaha during Shabbat Chukat, June 22-23. Herczeg will teach a series of classes and the community is invited to attend.

According to Rabbi Jonathan Gross, “We’re very fortunate to be able to bring in Rabbi Herczeg. He epitomizes what a scholar is and will share his expertise with us. He’s the real deal in terms of scholarship and makes it accessible to anyone. A great rabbi and a lay-person could be sitting next to each other, and both would be interested and learn something from Rabbi Herczeg.”

He added, “He’s an exceptionally nice person; very humble. I truly look forward to attending his classes.”

Herczeg is an author and Torah educator. He is best known for translating and annotating the Sapirstein Rashi, published by ArtScroll. Herczeg holds a BA in history and an MA in education from the University of Detroit. He has specialized in the study of Rashi, and his Patterns in Rashi has recently been published by Targum Press. His other published works include translations of The Arbarbanel Haggadah, The Vilna Gaon Haggadah, and Beis HaLevi. Herczeg is the author of the Talmudic commentary Keren David on Tractates Nazir, Makkos, and Arachin. He currently teaches in Israel at Yeshivat Lev HaTorah and Mesilos Beis Yakov Seminary.

Join Herczeg on Friday, June 22, 9:30 p.m., for dessert and a class at the home of Donald Gerber. During the class, Herczeg will teach “Mattan Torah: An Ongoing Universal Process.” Please RSVP with the synagogue office. “This will be a unique opportunity to spend time with Rabbi Herczeg, learning from him in a more intimate setting,” stated Gross. “We appreciate Donald Gerber for offering his home for this special event.”

On Saturday, June 23, a special lunch will be held following services. The cost is $8 for adults and $4 for children. Reservations should be made by contacting the office. After lunch, Rabbi Herczeg will teach “How to Read Rashi.” Babysitting will be available during the class. “This is a class you won’t want to miss,” said Gross. “Understanding Rashi’s commentaries is essential to the study of Tanach and Talmud.”

Herczeg will also teach after 7 p.m. Mincha on that Shabbos, followed by Herczeg teaching at Suedat Shlishit. His topic will be “Rashi and Tosafos: Two Approaches to God and Torah.” Gross encouraged everyone to attend this class. “This will be an interesting class,” he noted. “To compare the commentaries of Rashi and Tosafos should prove enlightening.”

To make reservations or to be a sponsor of the scholar-in-residence, call the office at 556.6288.

the menu at Cascio’s comes from my family’s recipes.

by OZZIE NOGG Mike Aparo has been named Director of Food & They made all the sauces, and claim they invented toastEnvironmental Services for the Rose Blumkin Jewish ed ravioli,” he smiled.

“My father opened Aparo’s Steak House in 1978 on Home/Jewish Senior Services. Responsible for managing the Home’s sixteen-member dietary department Saddle Creek Road, and as a child I would help do simple things like wrap potatoes and its ten-member housefor baking the evening keeping team, Aparo will meals.” As he grew older, oversee all kitchen operaMike Aparo graduated to tions and keep the entire the salad room, advanced to facility in clean, working prep cook and then worked order to assure that state on line next to his father. and federal regulations for “Eventually I ran the line, production and sanitation and also worked with my are met. He will also assist mother who taught me to dietitians with their clinical balance the books. I know duties and the creation of my background will help me new menus. keep within the Blumkin “I was on the staff of the Home’s budget while makLutheran Home when Mike ing sure the residents get Silverman approached me meal service that is the best with the excellent opportuin the state, bar none.” nity to serve the Blumkin His Italian/Irish roots didHome,” Aparo said. “I n’t give Aparo experience would like everyone to with kosher food, but he’s know how excited I am to be here. I really love work- Mike Silverman, right, took note of the high quality of Mike learning fast. “I’ve always ing with the elderly and try- Aparo’s first food service event in his new position at the adapted to any situation ing to make their days as Blumkin Home -- last month’s Open Forum held at the JCC. that’s been presented to me, and with help from Laura enjoyable as possible. The Bair, the Blumkin Home residents look forward to food services manager, we’ll their three meals each day make this the premier faciliand I want to make that ty in the area, if not the experience the best I can for country.” them.”

Aparo has another, more Aparo received his culipersonal goal. “Eventually nary training and CDM I’ll come to know every one (Certified Dietary Manager) of our residents, their likes degree from Metropolitan and dislikes, even their lives Community College. He is before they came to live also ServSafe certified -- a here. I could be working in national accreditation that a restaurant environment, recognizes his expertise in but I truly love working in food safety management. health care food service. It’s Aparo’s experience includes very rewarding to me,” he 25 years in the restaurant added. business, much of it alongside family members who In the kitchen at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, Mike “Lets face it, the only reaAparo, director of Food and Enviromental Services, prepares son any of us are at the were chefs.

Blumkin Home is because “My father, Philip, immi- dinner for residents. grated to the States from Sicily in 1948 and I grew up of the residents. The meals we cook and serve them watching him and my Uncle Tony Aparo, both of should be made by people who really love this work.” whom worked for Cascio’s Steak House. Everything on

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

June 15, 2007

A “good sign” for an interpreter and a Temple Israel fifth grader

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Natasha Kraft believes that as a Jew, she can “bring something special” to Temple Israel. By occupation, she is a an activity coordinator for the Metro Regional Program for Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, one of the statewide educational programs and support services for children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Danny Glazer, age 10, will be a fifth grader at Temple Israel. His parents, John and Jennifer, discovered, when he was a year old, that he had been born profoundly deaf. He has no cochlea, the auditory portion of the inner ear, in either ear.

Along with other students in his class at Temple's Religious School, Danny Glazer decorates a postcard he sent to Congress to heighten awareness of suffering in Darfur.

“Even though it was pretty painful to learn, I always knew we would be ok,” Jennifer acknowledged. “Of course, I mourned the loss of his hearing knowing he would never hear my voice, birds sing, or enjoy music. I reacted by devoting my time and energy to learning about how to educate deaf children, researching implant surgery, and figuring out the best way to raise my child.

“The experience of having Danny has been incredible!” she admits. “I have learned so much. He has brought people and communities together, every accomplishment and milestone met has been more wonderful than I could have imagined! I truly feel having him with his challenges and accomplishments has made me a better parent and shown me joys I may not have experienced if he did not have a disability.”

Hearing aids didn’t work for Danny, so, “wanting to give him opportunities and open more doors for him,” the Glazers decided to give him a cochlear implant, Jennifer said.

It wasn’t known if the procedure would work for Danny, however, it did and after many hours of on-going speech and listening therapy, Danny has been able to learn to talk. He “does very well in school,” Jennifer noted.

“He is fully mainstreamed at Swanson Elementary School and only gets pulled out of class for speech therapy.”

At school, Danny has a fulltime interpreter. Although he talks and can be understood most of the time, he

needs an interpreter or someone to sign for him in certain situations. “He’s pretty good at lip reading,” Jennifer added, “however, some people are easier to lip read than others. Basically, he has good enough speech to talk to people but needs people to sign to him most of the time,” she explained.

“Temple has done a fantastic job making accommodations for Danny,” according to Jennifer. She met with clergy, teachers, and administrators and educated them on Danny’s needs and what Temple could do to be accessible to him.

He has had interpreters for all his religious school classes and for most of the services he attends.

Kraft, who has a master’s degree from Washington, D.C.’s Gallaudet University, a leadNatasha Kraft interprets for Danny, who er in outstanding is hearing impaired, in the classroom graduate programs and at prayer assemblies and worship for deaf education, services. in school and guidance counseling with a focus on mental health and deafness, moved to Columbus, Ohio, after graduating.

She worked at the Buckeye Ranch, which specializes in family-focused mental health treatment services for children with behavioral or psychological disorders, as a case manager. She worked with mainstreamed students in the school systems as an individual and group counselor. She was also a counselor at the Ohio School for the Deaf.

After her son, Alexander, was born in 2002, Kraft wanted to move back to Omaha, her hometown. In addition to her fulltime position, she was asked to fill in at Temple Israel for Danny’s interpreter, who was on maternity leave and also to substitute when necessary.

Eventually, Kraft was asked to be Danny’s interpreter at Religious School. “I was a bit leery,” she admitted. “I’m not trained as an interpreter. I can sign for myself, but signing for others is definitely a skill. I spoke with Danny’s Mom, Jennifer, about my concerns and to some of my friends who are interpreters.” These conversations helped convince Kraft to take on the challenge.

Until recently, she signed only at prayer assemblies and grade level Shabbat services for Danny. “People may now see me a bit more as I have agreed to interpret some of the regular Shabbat services if I am available,” she reported. She’s also at Temple on Wednesday afternoons and Sunday mornings during the school year to interpret for Danny.

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“I really like working for Temple,” Kraft said. “I am a true member of the educational team and treated the same as a teacher. The teachers and I work well together with many different aspects of the classes. I have also had a lot of fun learning Hebrew with Danny. I didn’t read Hebrew before starting at Temple although I had tried to learn a few times. But I wasn’t very skilled at it.

Now I’m able to follow along in the siddur!” Zohar Winer, Jewish Community Center shalicha, located an Israeli sign book for Kraft. “I would love to sign the Shema in Hebrew!” she quipped.

“I remind Danny just as I remind other students to practice their Hebrew before a service,” she noted.

“Danny and his family are great to work with, and I have a good working relationship with them.”

“I feel so lucky to have Natasha as an interpreter for Danny at Temple!” emphasized Jennifer Glazer. “Not only is Natasha very skilled and educated on deaf issues, she is Jewish! Many interpreters are not familiar with Jewish signs or Hebrew. Danny likes her very much. I know having her helps give him a great religious school experience. We really are blessed to have Natasha be a part of our lives.”

As far as the Glazers are concerned, Kraft made a good decision by accepting the advice to be an interpreter at Temple. Danny is getting his Jewish education, and the Temple community’s awareness of disabilities is growing.

And that’s “something special.”

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Film Streams, the nonprofit organization dedicated to the presentation and discussion of film as an art form, will open the doors to its new cinema, the Ruth Sokolof Theater, on Friday, July 27. A free open house will follow on Saturday, July 28, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The two-screen cinema, located within the Saddle Creek Records development at 14th and Webster in downtown Omaha, will be open seven-days-a-week.

Film Streams’ programming at the Ruth Sokolof Theater will feature first-run films -- new American Independents, documentaries and foreign films making their theatrical premiere in the Omaha-Council Bluffs area -- and repertory selections from throughout the history of cinema.

Film Streams will open the Ruth Sokolof Theater with a much-anticipated, month-long repertory series featuring selections by Academy Award-winner and Film Streams Board Member Alexander Payne.

Film Streams Memberships are available for purchase online.

More information is available at filmstreams.org. For questions or requests, contact Casey Logan at 402.312.9485 or casey@filmstreams.org.

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June 15, 2007

Worried about summer brain drain?

Parents learn how to “put a plug in it”

JEWISH P ARENTING

by SHARON DUKE ESTROFF During the school-year, critical academic skills are regularly reinforced. Summer is a completely different story as most kids hardly pick up a pencil for the entirety of June, July and August.

No wonder studies show that students forget as much as 80% of what they were taught the previous year-largely in the rote math, reading and writing skill realms -- over their summertime siestas.

Fortunately, it’s perfectly possible to keep your kids’ hard-earned school skills from slipping down the summer brain drain without resorting to tedious workbooks. All you need are a few household items, a dash of creativity, and the following ideas for disguising school-year-caliber skill reinforcement as summer-style fun and games.

Reinforce Math Skills Using…

A deck of cards. The card game “War” provides an ideal means of solidifying basic math facts. Begin by removing all face cards and placing the pile face down on the table. Players pick two cards each, then add, subtract or multiply the two numbers together (depending on the skill you’re practicing). The high scorer collects all played cards.

A soccer call. Use a permanent marker to randomly fill the hexagonal sections of a soccer ball with the numbers 0-10 (repeating the numbers until covered); Throw the ball to your child and have him add, subtract or multiply the numbers closest to each thumb. See how many times you can toss the ball back and forth without making a mistake.

A basketball hoop. Keep those basic math facts in all star shape with a slam dunk competition. Every time your child answers a math question correctly let him take a shot. Offer a small prize when he reaches a designated number of points.

Beads and string. Fractions can make a fashion statement when kids string necklaces with colored beads. Challenge your child to make a necklace that is 1⁄2 blue or 1⁄4 red. Or have her design her own beaded creation and figure out its fractional composition.

A Ccalculator. Kids love anything that involves a race, so they’re all over the Calculator vs. The Brain game. Assign a Caller, a Calculator and a Brain at the start of each round. The Caller states a math fact; the Calculator manually punches the problem into his number crunching device (even if he already knows the answer), while the Brain solves the problem mentally. The first player to offer the correct answer wins the round.

Keep switching roles. (Hint: you’ll know this game is working when kids start begging to be the brain).

M&Ms. Give your child a math story problem and have her “act it out” using the colorful candies. i.e. I had six M&Ms and my mom gave me eight more. How many do I have now? I’ll have to admit to

favoring subtraction story problems when M&Ms are involved (for obvious reasons).

Loose change. Ask children grab a handful of loose change, estimate the value and count out the true amount. Offer a 10% reward for close guesses.

Reinforce Language Arts Skills Using…

A wooden block. Write the words who, what, where, when, why and how on each face of a block. After reading a book or chapter with your child, take turns rolling the block and asking and answering story-related question beginning with the word on top. i.e. Who are the characters in the story? Where do they live?

Magazines and comic books. Even kids who cringe at the thought of reading a book cover to cover, jump at the chance to flip through comics and magazines.

Sneak in extra reading practice by stocking up on kid-friendly periodicals.

Shaving cream. Cover a tabletop with plastic wrap and make a gooey shaving cream palette where little fingers can practice letters, spelling words and handwriting.

Mad Libs. These wacky fill-in the blank activities provide a fun and effective way to reinforce parts of speech. (And remember booger is a noun).

A timer. Designate a few times a week as Family D.E.A.R. time (Drop Everything and Read). Set the timer for 20 or 30 minutes of silent literary bliss.

Index cards. Write the letters of a mystery word on blank index cards; scramble them up and have kids try to decode the secret word.

Loose-leaf paper. Let kids create their own unique stationery using stickers, stamps and colorful markers, then put it to good use by writing letters to grandparents and friends.

A CD player. Round up the whole mishpacha to participate in “musical stories”, an adaptation of musical chairs.

All participating family members sit around a table with paper and a pencil in front of them. When the music starts, they begin writing a creative story, stopping when it ceases. Participants then stand up and move to the chair at their left, leaving their story behind. When the tunes resume they add to the story at their new seat. Keep going until players are back where they started and can see what became of their original tales.

Sidewalk chalk. Writing your spelling words on plain old paper may be snooze city, but the scrawling them across the driveway is a totally different story. Chalk up the mess to academic advancement and let the rain take care of the clean up.

Happy learning!

Sharon Duke Estroff is an internationally syndicated parenting columnist, award-winning Jewish educator and mother of four. Her first book, Can I Have a Cell Phone for Hanukkah? is available for pre-order on Amazon and will be released by Broadway Books this October. Read more of her work at: www.sharonestroff.com.

Campers to perform excerpts of Broadway musical

by RACHEL BLUM JCC Program Director Talented kids in the fifth through eighth grades will appear in the The Lion King today as part of the Jewish Community Center’s Musical Theater Specialty Camp. The community is invited to this free production next Friday, June 22, 11 a.m., in the JCC Theater.

With the help of set designer Trish

Place, lighting technician Carol Wisner, dance instructor Jackie Robinson, and pianist Jeffrey Malashock, the 22 campers will show off two weeks of hard work and dedication during this one performance.

Campers who were already enrolled saw the touring production of The Lion King at the Orpheum Theater, thanks to a grant from the Morton A. Richards Theater Fund.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 5

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

June 15, 2007

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American kids grow up on what I call the 2 + 2. It’s a philosophy that says that if you do what you are supposed to do, then everything adds up. Mr. Wolowelsky, my high-school math teacher, would regularly spell out the 2 + 2 for us (and here I’m skipping a few steps for the sake of brevity): “Why do you have to study for the test next week?

Because you want to get a good grade on the test? Why do you want a good grade on the test? Because you want to do well in high school. Why do you want to do well in high school? Because you want to get into a good college. Why do you want to do well in college? Because you want to get a good job and live happily ever after.”

Israeli kids do not grow up on the 2+ 2.

Compulsory army service throws a wrench into the whole equation. For one thing, there is little connection between academic success in high school and one’s acceptance into the most elite army units.

Since these elite units are the dream of many high-schoolers (boys especially), there essentially is no immediate incentive to study. (Learning may be fun, but as Mr. Wolowelsky knew, studying is a different matter.)

A related problem for the “2 + 2” in Israel is that one’s army service may significantly change just who you are as a person. So why (you might think) should you bother studying in high school if the “you” who will be continuing on in life will be a different you?

All this helps to explain an unusual situation in contemporary Israel. Unlike in the States where college entrance examinations are taken toward the end of high school, in Israel it’s quite common to take (what is know here as) the “psycho-

metric” exam only after one’s army service -- and perhaps also after one’s period of decompression from army service (say on a trip to India or to South America). Of course, by then you will have forgotten most of your high-school math and English, but that’s why they invented psychometric-exam preparatory courses didn’t they?

There are in effect two kinds of graduations from Israeli high schools: there is an academic graduation, for those who have completed a full course of matriculation subjects, and there also is a social graduation, for all those who have completed adolescence -- as evidenced by the fact that they attended high school until the very last day of 12th grade.

Israeli high schools are fantastic at recognizing the social needs of teenagers and at facilitating group cohesion and development. Every Israeli teacher is trained to think both about how their students are doing academically and about how they are doing socially.

Last year, I attended my son’s highschool graduation. On the one hand, part of me was thinking: isn’t it silly for some of these kids to be here? After all, they have not yet completed their matriculation requirements? But then I thought: you know, it really is not all that easy being a teenager, and it’s more difficult for some than it is for others-so I’m glad that Israeli schools recognize and credit the journey taken from child to adult.

I just have one question. If my 19-yearold is an adult, then why on a recent leave from the air force did he smear jelly all over his brother’s pillow?

Teddy Weinberger and his wife, former Omahan Sarah Ross, made aliyah to Israel 10 years ago with their five children. He works in the Departmen of Education for the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and may be reached at: weinross@netvision.net.il.

ORGANIZATIONS B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Lauren Clabaugh will speak at Breadbreakers on Wednesday, June 20, noon, at the Regency Lodge, according to Gary Javitch, chairman. Clabaugh is the reigning Miss Nebraska Teen USA and she will discuss her platform issues.

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

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

VISIONS Join us for Visions and 39 Forever Baseball Night at Rosenblatt Stadium on Thursday, July 12, 6 p.m., starting with dinner on your own at the Stadium View Club; the game begins at 7 p.m. Cost is $6 per person. Send reservations to

Harry Alloy at 11317 Harney Plaza Circle, Omaha, NE 68154 by June 28.

For questions, call Judy Katskee at 493.8875.

Take a musical journey and see Jekyll & Hyde presented by the Ralston Community Theatre (held at Ralston High School ) on Sunday, July 15, 2 followed by dinner at p.m., Grandmother’s Restaurant, 4712 So. 82 St. Transportation is on your own. Cost is $26. Meet in the lobby by 1:30 p.m. for tickets. Send reservations and payment by June 22 to Ethel Goldston, 1108 No. 92 Plaza #101, Omaha, NE 68114. For questions, call Rose Pitlor at 558-5144.

Make all checks to Visions.

JEWISH SENIOR SERVICES Reminder: Iowa Western Community Band plays at the JCC on Wednesday, June 20, 7 p.m. There is no admission charge. For questions, call Linda Fitzgerald at 334.6520.

BIRTH Ari and Atarah Block of Queens, NY announce the April 17 birth of a daughter, Sarah Miryl.

Grandparents are Jack and Esther Malka Fettman, and Yitzchak and Miriam

Block.

Debbie are Great-grandparents Moscovitz, Ghita Fettman, and Cantor Leo and Annette Fettman.

June 15, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 7

IN THE NEWS The Dry Bones Blog has just been voted the Best Overall Jewish Blog of 2007 in this year’s Jewish/Israeli Blogosphere (JIB) Award Competition. The popular site also took the gold for Best Jewish Humor Blog, Best Political/Current Events Blog, Best Jewish Culture Blog, and Best Pro-Israel Advocacy Blog.

Renowned cartoonist Yaakov “Dry Bones� Kirschen started The Dry Bones Blog (www.drybonesblog.com) in order to expand the reach of his internationally syndicated comic strip Dry Bones. The blog, updated every Monday through Friday, tells the stories behind the cartoons with new cartoons every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and “Golden Oldies� every Tuesday and Thursday.

Kirschen is best known for his daily editorial strip, called “Dry Bones�, which is now celebrating its 34th year in The Jerusalem Post. The cartoon is published in leading English-language Jewish newspapers around the world including the Jewish Press. The appearance of The Dry Bones Blog in 2005 brought the cartoonist’s work to the broad worldwide online audience.

Kirschen’s career began in New York as a gag cartoonist for Cracked magazine, which was founded by former Mad magazine staffers. He subsequently worked as a cartoonist for Playboy magazine. Kirschen moved to Israel in 1971, and began drawing “Dry Bones� in 1973.

The “Jewish and Israel Blog Awards� are the Jewishblogosphere’s informal annual award contest. The aim of the contest is to direct new readers towards Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israel blogs.

Laura Adler has received the Girl Scout Gold Award.

She was one of 12 girls in Omaha to earn the Girl Scouts top honor. For her Gold Award project Laura developed a reading unit on women’s history for Friedel Jewish Academy, where her project will be used every year during Women’s History Month. Laura spent more than 65 hours on this project and taught it to Denise Bennett’s fourth-sixth grade class at Friedel Jewish Academy during several sessions.

Laura has been in Girl Scouting for 12 years, and is the daughter of Patti and David Adler.

Jason Levy has joined the Lund Company as a Brokerage Associate.

He is a graduate of Ohio State University and his responsibilities include commercial and industrial real estate sales and leasing.

He is the son of Howard and Linda Shrier.

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A story by freelance writer Leo Adam Biga about David Kaufmann for Nebraska Life Magazine won First Place for Best Feature Story in the magazine category at the Omaha Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards Competition. The story contained new information from the first Kaufmann story that appeared in the Jewish Press in the New Year’s issue last year.

The award-winning “How Mr. Grand Island Became a Holocaust Rescuer� was published in the November/ December issue of Nebraska Life. The story described how the late Jewish-German emigre got hundreds of family members out of Nazi-Germany through affidavits of support he signed, making him responsible for them in America.

The recognition marks the fifth award for Biga’s Holocaust-related work. Previously, he won two Nebraska Press Association awards, an American Jewish Press Association Rockower award, and an Omaha Press Club award (for yet another telling of the Kaufmann story).

Each week about 200 young adults in the United States are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

On June 30 and July 1, the Nebraska Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society will hold its annual MS Two Day Bike Ride in Columbus to raise money to fund local programs, services and research for more than 20,000 people affected by MS in Nebraska and southwest Iowa.

The bike ride, sponsored by Omaha Steaks, will begin in Columbus at the New World Inn and Conference Center.

Prior to the ride, cyclists collect contributions from family and friends to help in the fight against MS for the 400,000 Americans living with the disease. Cyclists can ride 50, 75 or 100 miles and are fully supported along the way by professional bike mechanics, trained medical personnel, SAG Wagons and water stops every eight to 12 miles.

Saturday evening cyclists will enjoy dinner and refreshments and Sunday morning kicks off with a breakfast.

Participants will stay overnight at the New World Inn and Conference Center. Cyclists have the opportunity to ride as an individual or as part of a team. Through TeamMS, corporations, friends and family members, schools and organizations have the opportunity to come together to support each other and build teamwork.

Teams must have a team captain and at least three other members.

For more information contact Stephanie Lochmiller, Community Outreach Coordinator at 402.572.3489 or at Stephanie.lochmiller@nen.nmss.org.

The law firm of Brodkey, Cuddigan, Peebles and Belmont, LLP is pleased to announce that Mark E. Belmont has joined the firm as Of Counsel.

Belmont has 28 years of experience, more recently as in-house corporate counsel for Northern Border Partners and Peter Kiewit Sons, Inc. He will focus his practice on general business and commercial matters, including the formation, purchase and sale of business entities, real estate transactions and family law.

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The Pauline and Joseph Guss Endowed Scholarship for students from Nebraska and the Midwest has been established at Occidental College in Los Angeles with a generous gift from Barbara Guss Kemp and Giles K. Kemp of Scarsdale, N.Y. The new need-based scholarship was created to honor the Gusses, long-time Omaha residents with a strong interest in education. The couple’s granddaughter, Rebecca, is a 2004 graduate of Occidental, one of the country’s top-ranked liberal arts colleges.

In addition to the Guss Scholarship, the Kemps’ gift of $300,000 also established the Kemp Family Endowed Scholarship for students with financial need from New York and the East, and added to the endowment of the existing Joan and Walter Kemp Endowed Scholarship Fund.

Giles Kemp is the founder and president of Home Decorators Collection, one of the country’s leading catalogs. Barbara Guss Kemp is an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York.

The Guss Scholarship at Occidental is the second college scholarship created to honor the Omaha couple. In 2003, the Kemps established the Pauline and Joseph Guss Endowed Scholarship at Swarthmore, where Giles Kemp graduated in 1972 and serves on the board of trustees.

Founded in 1887, Occidental is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges on the West Coast. Since winning its first Rhodes Scholarship in 1907, the college has consistently won national and international recognition for academic achievement. U.S. News & World Report has ranked Occidental in the top tier of liberal arts colleges since 1991.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

June 15, 2007

Who’s your daddy?

He’s the guy who took off work to watch your baseball game, the man who donned an apron and hat to grill burgers for your graduation party. He’s the one who rocked you to sleep when you had an ear infection and read your favorite book over and over and over again. He defended you when you were right -- and admonished you when you disobeyed.

Now, years later, your dad (and your mom, for that matter) need your help.

If you’re a “boomer” born after World War II, you may now find yourself caught between celebrating the simchas in your children’s lives -- from weddings to the birth of grandchildren -- and responding to the needs of your parents. Suddenly you find yourself in reversed roles; your parents seem to need more and more of the qualities they displayed for you: patience, understanding, guidance and assistance with navigating the world.

So what’s a child to do?

The fifth commandment instructs us to “honor” our parents. This Sunday is Father’s Day and we can’t think of a better way to honor our fathers (and yes, our mothers) than by helping the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home become even better than it already is.

For those readers who have not had the opportunity to watch the “Virtual Tour” of the new Home, you’ve missed out on something truly unique. Lifelike graphics portray the new designs -- like larger, brighter, more efficient resident rooms with unique features like doors painted different colors so residents remember their “home” more easily and clerestory windows above the innovative Main Street at the Home’s new entrance.

Viewers take the “Virtual Tour” with tour guide Mike Silverman, the executive director of Jewish Senior Services and the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. He very warmly and informatively narrates the tour and follows up with a question-and-answer session with steering committee member Howard Kooper.

The two have addressed concerns ranging from “Will there be enough parking?” (“Yes and it will be reconfigured.”) to “Will there be enough room for my parents’ belongings?” (“Yes to that, too, as additional basement storage is being added right now, below Main street and the Special Care Unit.”).

Frankly, the Virtual Tour is so good, it should go on the road!

The point is that someday (maybe even now) your father and or mother (or your spouse or aunt or uncle -- or you!) may require the services the Home offers: a bright and cheerful room, lovingly-prepared tasty meals, caring nurses and staff, a plethora of activities, programs and events, and a safe supervised environment, just to name a few.

And to ensure that this rebuilding can provide all the necessary elements of the fabulous new facility, you can honor your father (and mother) by making a financial contribution to this project today. Take three years to actually pay, but making the pledge now will give all the current residents (and those to come) the peace of mind to know

that their home is secure for the future.

Daddy, father, dad, gramps, pop, zayde -whatever you call him -- he deserves your respect and honor. Honor him this year with your gift to the “New Beginning” campaign for the Home by calling Mike Silverman at 402.334.6512 or the fundraising chairmen, Richard and Joanie Jacobson, 334.0500, or Paul and Sandy Epstein, 397.2825.

And Happy Father’s Day!

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

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

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

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

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

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

The mouse that roared

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

by EDGAR ASHER It is almost impossible to apply logic to the latest example of British perfidy as demonstrated in the call for an academic boycott of Israeli universities by the University & College Union (UCU) at their first annual conference in the British coastal town of Bournemouth.

The proposal for a boycott was proposed by a Brighton University philosophy lecturer, Tom Hickey. Delegates voted by 158-99 votes to sever links with academic institutions in Israel. The reason for the boycott is that the newly formed UCU union sees Israeli academics as ‘being complicit in alleged human rights abuses of Palestinians’. Despite the fact that the UCU, a combination of two older established unions, has a 120,000-strong membership the call for the boycott was put into effect with the show of hands of less than one quarter of one percent of the total UCU membership. The proposal will now be put to the full membership over the next several months.

This latest manifestation of anti-Israel behavior and rhetoric was well publicized here in Israel. Commentators in the Israeli media more or less shared the same viewpoints that the UCU proposal was just another example of anti-Semitism, warped thinking and pandering to the ever-growing leftist tendencies that permeate British academic institutions.

In Britain itself the UCU proposal received a very unsympathetic press from many quarters, including a rocky reception from two newspapers not known, to put it mildly, for their support of Israel. The Independent called the UCU proposal, “A self-indulgent distraction from the real issue.” The paper went on to point out that, “some Israeli academics have worked hard to oppose the excesses of their Government in the West Bank and Gaza. What good does it do

to punish them in this manner?” The Guardian quoted several delegates who also expressed their concern at the UCU proposal. One delegate was quoted as saying, “many, many academics … who oppose Israeli government policy tooth and nail … This notion that Israeli academia is the Springbok of Israel is just plain wrong and foolish.”

The UCU proposal has featured in most of the Israel media. Disdain can perhaps best describe the reaction at all levels. However it was clear that derision was not enough, it had to be refuted because further proposals of a similar kind to the UCU are to be tabled soon

by British architects. There was also anger from individuals and organizations in Israel that such proposals twisted the truth. Why, said one commentator, does the world ignore the continuing genocide in Darfur, the cutting off of hands in Saudi Arabia and executions in the Palestinian Authority?

It is not all in one direction. Professor Steven Weinberg, the U.S. Nobel-Prize-winning physicist, cancelled a long-standing arrangement to visit the U.K. citing the action of the UCU as his reason. In Israel, Maman, the company that handles all imports at Ben Gurion Airport, said that it is considering a complete ban on handling of all imports from the U.K. Total annual imports from the U.K. to Israel amount to $2.4 billion, of which a substantial amount comes by air.

The former editor of the British Daily Telegraph, Charles Moore, in a comment published on June 2, wrote, “The main universities of Israel are, in fact, everything that we in the West would recognize as proper universities. They have intellectual freedom. They do not require an ethnic or religious qualification for entry. They are not controlled by government. They have world-class standards of research, often producing discoveries which benefit all humanity. In all this they are virtually unique in the Middle East.”

Moore went on to say, “How can we have got-

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

ten ourselves into a situation in which we halfexcuse turbaned torturers for kidnapping our fellow-citizens while trying to exclude Jewish biochemists from lecturing to our students.”

Moore also discussed at length what would have happened if “some fanatical Jews had grabbed (Alan) Johnston and forced him to spout their message, abusing his own country as he did so. What would the world have said?

There would have been none of the caution which has characterized the response of the BBC and the Government since Johnston was abducted on March 12. The Israeli government would immediately have been condemned for its readiness to harbor terrorists or its failure to track them down.”

Israelis regard these kinds of boycotts as pathetic. It shows a moral dilemma facing the perpetrators. Those who voted for the boycott walk the hallowed halls of education wearing blinkers. Most have no real idea of what goes on in Israel and support the perverted thinking of leftist extremists who cannot stand up and say, for example, that the firing of over one thousand missiles into southern Israel from Gaza over the past year is just plain wrong, and cannot under any circumstance be tolerated or justified.

A scene in the Peter Sellers movie, The Mouse that Roared shows Sellers as the military leader Tully Bascomb of the fictional European nation the Duchy of Grand Fenwick. In the famous battle scene, when Grand Fenwick attacks the United States and unexpectedly wins, Bascomb -- in medieval uniform -- is seen marching through a battlefield so dense with smoke that he completely misses the ‘enemy’ approaching from the other direction.

The U.K. has become a kind of Tully Bascomb; marching on through a smoke laden battle field, losing its direction and objectivity and achieving nothing in its advance.

Edgar Asher is a photographer in Israel; his photos and feature-length articles are published frequently in the Jewish Press.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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June 15, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 9

Complicated politics in Lebanon

NEWS ANALYSIS

by JINSA Staff Here are the political threads: • Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon have been off limits to the Lebanese Army for years. More than 350,000 Palestinians live in misery brought to them by their own leadership and the Lebanese government.

They are both abused and abusive, and were instrumental in stoking the decades-long Lebanese Civil War. • Palestinians are Sunni, and Fatah al Islam, an offshoot of al Qaeda said to be associated with Syrian intelligence, has been operating in the camps. Syrian Alawites are a Shiite sect allied with Iran, but it is manifestly true that unlike Muslims work together if it serves their larger purpose. Saudi Arabia is the primary sponsor of Sunni radicalism and al Qaeda (and Fatah al Islam?).

• The Palestinians are Syria in opposition to the proWestern Lebanese government of Fuad Siniora. After the withdrawal of uniformed Syrian forces in 2005 Palestinian refugee camps took in Syrian weapons and agents.

• The Syrians are desperate to keep the UN from opening the tribunal over the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Harriri. Hezbollah is likewise opposed to the tribunal that will likely implicate their Syrian quartermasters.

• Following the war last summer, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) moved to the southern part of the country for the first time in 30 years and now sit on the border with Israel (aided by the enhanced UNIFIL). This makes both Hezbollah and the Palestinians unhappy -and to the extent that they get in Syria’s way, they make Syria unhappy.

• The people who lost the most last year in the fighting were Lebanese civilians (primarily in the south but not only in the south) who paid a terrible price for letting Hezbollah put rockets inside their villages, or even inside their houses, and letting Hezbollah wage war against Israel from their space. It is they who stand to gain the most from the movement of the LAF to all of the country’s borders.

And here is how the threads began to unravel in Tripoli in the north of Lebanon, far from Israel: LAF units entered the Nahr al Bared Palestinian camp to eliminate Fatah al-Islam fighters, and the Palestinians fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns at the LAF. Fighting continued, with early reports of 22 soldiers and 17 Islamists killed, along with nine civilians.

Syria denied involvement with Fatah al-Islam. Fatah al-Islam denied involvement in a shopping mall bombing in Christian Beirut neighborhood and a bus bombing that killed three Christians, claiming it was only interested in “training young Palestinians ... to fight the Jews in Palestine.” Lebanese residents of Tripoli stood outside the camp and cheered for the LAF as it entered.

Syrian intervention supported by Iran is the lynchpin of both Palestinian and Hezbollah military capabilities and ability to make trouble for the Lebanese government.

Rapid establishment and operation of the UN Tribunal is essential to rooting out Syrian tentacles in a fragile Lebanon before the country unravels again completely.

Long, long ago ...

In a galaxy far, far away ... (Oops, wrong anniversary) Asked by a reporter about “foreigners” in the

Palestinian camp where the Lebanese Army has been engaged fighting military forces dug into civilian neighborhoods, an UNRWA representative said “a large group of foreigners had entered the Tripoli camp months earlier armed with mortars, rockets, explosive belts and other heavy weapons but that bureaucratic restraints had prevented the UN from doing anything about it.”

Egad! That is an admission UNRWA never made regarding West Bank or Gaza camps from which terrorists went to Israel. But the reporter was so excited about the “foreigners” (nothing new) that she never followed up!

And what were those “bureaucratic restraints” that prevented a UN agency - the preponderance of whose funds are U.S. tax dollars - from protesting the establishment of a terrorist army (that’s the only kind with explosive belts) within its purview and amid its civilian charges?

“As long as Palestinians do not have to face the hard choice of resettling somewhere, anywhere that will have them -- the fate of all other refugees -- they can cling to the belief that the establishment of Israel was a ‘mistake’ by the international community ...”

There is a huge scandal here involving UNRWA, but clearly the reporter was without historical reference points. As a public service, JINSA will provide them: A million years ago -- no, only 25 years ago this month -- Israel invaded Yasser Arafat’s “state within a state” in Lebanon and discovered that Palestinian “refugee camps” were actually training bases for multitudes of “foreign fighters.” There were German Red Army Faction (Baader Meinhof Gang), Italian Brigata Rosa, Japanese Red Army, and Central Americans of all stripes.

Guns were mounted on the roofs of houses; armored cars were parked underneath them. Enormous weapons caches were hidden in garages and tunnels under buildings (the Palestinians, not Hezbollah, were the first to bury their arms under the civilian infrastructure in Lebanon.)

Anti-aircraft guns were parked next to schools and hospitals. All this within the confines of UNRWA-protected and UNRWA-financed installations; amid civilians they called refugees and we called prisoners.

A half a million years ago -- no, only five years ago -Israel invaded Palestinian “refugee camps” in the West Bank and discovered they were actually bomb-making centers and training bases for Palestinian suicide bombers, et al. JINSA wrote at the time: (Check out) the magnitude of the terrorist infrastructure in Nablus, Ramallah and Jenin. Accounts of relations between Arafat’s people and Hamas and Islamic Jihad; accounts of money -- including Saudi money; laboratories for bomb making; suicide bomber belts; material for car bombs; illegal weapons and ammunition; and vile anti-Semitic and anti-American propaganda were found in quantities too huge to enumerate here.

The physical infrastructure of death and destruction, hidden within the civilian population of these cities, has been largely (though not completely) destroyed.

Terrorists, people with blood on their hands and people waiting to get bloody, were captured.

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We are surprised that journalists were surprised to find Palestinians fighting the Lebanese Army (LAF) instead of Israel, and “foreign fighters” and Syrian influence in Palestinian camps. This is not news. The Palestinians were active participants in the 1976-1990 Lebanese Civil War -- with the Syrians against the Lebanese government.

This accounts for some of the Lebanese animus for the Palestinians on their soil, and their determination to make the Palestinians as miserable as possible -- even to their own detriment. (Which is why the 1990 Taif Accords prevented the LAF from entering camps -- an anomaly no real country would have accepted.)

A hundred thousand years ago -- no, in November 2005, less than two years ago -- JINSA pointed out: Hezbollah and Palestinian military units prevented the Lebanese Army from moving south ... (and) along the Syrian border across which weapons have been flowing to Palestinian guerilla factions in Lebanon.

With the Syrian uniformed forces and the bulk of its intelligence forces having withdrawn their protective cover from the Palestinians, Beirut is beginning to insist that the Palestinians can have arms inside the refugee camps, but not control Lebanese territory.

On the other hand, the 56-year Palestinian presence in Lebanon is a human nightmare owing to the combination of unremitting Lebanese hostility and an UNRWA mandate that does not permit the resettlement of refugees. This is a political nightmare for Lebanon as well as for Israel. Unless the international community helps the Palestinians get a handle on the reality that they will not dissolve Israel through uncontrolled immigration, Lebanon will suffer too.

A thousand years ago -- no, less than one year ago -JINSA held a forum on Capitol Hill and heard Rep. Mark Kirk call for an international audit of UNRWA. Congressman Kirk admitted he was unsuccessful in generating demand among his colleagues despite such accounting anomalies as a $13 million entry for “un-earmarked expenses” in an audit conducted by UNRWA’s own board. An amendment to the 2006 Foreign Assistance Act called for $2 million in additional funds for UNRWA specifically for an investigation of finances, but the amendment was withdrawn at the request of the State Department.

So now it is 2007 and here we are: Palestinians are killing and helping others kill, dug in among their own people -- who wail with predictable regularity that they are the victims of someone else. They are, in fact, victims of UNRWA and intrepid journalists might usefully begin their investigations there.

The JINSA meeting last year opened with the comment, “As long as Palestinians do not have to face the hard choice of resettling somewhere, anywhere that will have them -- the fate of all other refugees -- they can cling to the belief that the establishment of Israel was a ‘mistake’ by the international community, and the international community can be made to correct it. Israel is not a mistake to be corrected.”

All other things, including fourth-generation Palestinian “refugees,” “foreign fighters” and Syrian influence, flow from this.

JINSA -- The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs -- is based in Washington, D.C. Read more articles and op-ed pieces at the organization’s website: www.jinsa.org.

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Page 10

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

June 15, 2007

Candlelighting Friday, June 15, 8:40 p.m.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YOUR AD CAN GO HERE...

to reserve space, call

Allan Handleman, 334.6451, or Terri Greenwood, 334.6559.

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

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Services conducted by Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Cantor Gastón Bogomolni.

FRIDAY: Musical Kabbalat Shabbat service, 6 p.m.

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

by Beth El; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 8:55 p.m.

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

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

SUNDAY: Bible Discussion Group, 10 a.m.

LUNCH ’N LEARN Saturday, June 30, following Shabbat services; the community is welcome. “The Righteous Gentiles of Italy and Other Holocaust Messages” features Ben Nachman, Michelle Simon, and Dr. Diana Brown of Dana College. Cost is $9.50 for adults; $5.50 for children 6-12; and children five and younger are free.

Reservations are needed by Tuesday, June 26; RSVP by

sending a check -- made payable to Beth El -- to Natalie Rubin, 2004 So 138 Ave. Cir., Omaha NE 68144. (Please note any special dietary needs with your reservation.) For information, call Gloria Goodman at 333.3351.

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

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.

Free babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Children’s Classes, 9:45 a.m. with Torah Parade; Kiddush is sponsored by Leon and Dani Shrago and Paysie and Susie Shyken in honor of Leon’s and Susie’s 60th birthdays, and in honor of Shoshy Shrago graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis; Mincha, 8:30 p.m. followed by Suedat Shlishit with Gemara class; Havdalah, 9:48 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; “Reading the Rambam” with Rabbi Nadel, 9:45 a.m.; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m.

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

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

Chabad plans for kids’ summer

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Summer is here, and for every day. The older campers stay until school child that means: vaca- 4 p.m., with additional activities tion! For most parents, that and outings. means finding something to Parent-involvement is encouroccupy kids during the next aged: all Camp Gan Israel famithree months or so. The first day lies are invited to join a special of summer break, this still seems Friday night service accompadoable, but nied by dinby week ner on F r i d a y, three, parJune 30, 7 ents tend to p.m.

In start pulling addition to h a i r . that, there Especially if will be a children Fourth of aren’t old July barenough to beque startspend a ing at 10:30 month at a . m . - 2 some pineat p.m., covered deswhich all are tination welcome. somewhere Camp staff far away, at Chabad is parents face knowledgelong days, bored kids, and more television. able and enthusiastic, and organLuckily, there’s another option. izers Shani and Estie Katzman Fresh off their exciting Shavuot have great experience in organizcelebration, the extended family ing activities as well as opportuof Omaha’s Chabad is readying nities for Jewish learning. itself for the next big event: Among other things, youth are Summer Camp. Camp Gan Israel encouraged to learn about will once again be offered for tzedakah by bringing a penny to children aged three to 11, and camp every day.

Shani Katzman is looking forruns from June 25-July 6.

For the younger crowd, ages ward to an exciting summer: three to five, there is Camp “Our goal is to give your child “Mini Gan Izzy”. The little the best Jewish and overall expecampers can be dropped off at 9 rience in these, the most impresa.m., and stay for fun and educa- sionable years of their lives.” tional activities until one o’clock.

For more information, call the They are treated to special out- Chabad House at 330.1800, or ings, such as the Zoo and the check the website at pool, and lunch is served every ochabad.com.

BEYT SHALOM

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FRIDAY: Shabbat in the Home.

FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.

ROSE BLUMKIN Services conducted by Rabbi JEWISH HOME

CHABAD HOUSE

Mendel Katzman. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: Service, 7 a.m.

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

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

WEEKDAYS: Services, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: Maamar Kabbalistic Insights for Women, 12:15 p.m. will not meet this week; Halacha, 7 p.m. will not meet this week.

TUESDAY: W.O.W. Prayer Circle Tehillim & More, 9 a.m. will not meet this week; Parshah Roundup: Weekly Torah Portion Class, 7 p.m. will not meet this week.

WEDNESDAY: Kabbalah Circle, 7 p.m. will not meet this week; A Peek Through the Lens of Kabbalah, 8 p.m. will not meet this week.

THURSDAY: Jewish Thought, 12:45 p.m. will not meet this week.

All events and programs are open to the entire community.

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

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

FRIDAY: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m. led by Rabbi Emanuel, with oneg following.

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

WEDNESDAY: Social Action Committee, 7 p.m. The South Street Temple Social Action Committee will meet jointly with the Unitarian Church Social Action Committee at the home of Eleanor Kirkland, 2230 Park Ave. Join us to socialize and discuss possible opportunities for combined projects. Temple members are asked to bring snacks.

ADULT EDUCATION SUNDAYS this summer, 7 p.m. Beginner Hebrew: A Crash Course, led by Rabbi Emanuel during July and August, beginning Tuesday, July 10.

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Andy Greenberg.

TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. Rabbi Eric Linder and Tami Field will lead the service. D’var Torah: Harlan Rips, “Jewish Youth Grouping: Why I am More than Just Jewish Today.”

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

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

Sorry, no facilities for infants.

NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN FRIDAY: Minyan, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m.

TIFERETH ISRAEL Services conducted by Rabbi Royi Shaffin.

Minyan, MONDAY and THURSDAY, 9 a.m.

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

SATURDAY: Weekly Parashah class, 8:30 a.m.; Morning service, 9:30 a.m. followed by Shabbat lunch; Talmud class is on break for the summer.

WEDNESDAY: Men’s Lunch Group meets at the Knolls, 12:30 p.m. Call Yale Gotsdiner at 423.7066.

TREE OF LIFE CENTER Services conducted by Rabbi Michael Weisser.

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

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

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

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

EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press will be closed for Independence Day on Wednesday, July 4. The deadline for the July 6 issue is 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 27.

Photos used in the March 30 Passover issue and earlier special issues must be picked up at the Press office by June 30; any remaining photos will be turned over to the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society.

Questions? Call 402.334.6448.

To Submit B’nai Mitzvah Announcements Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press with attached photos in .jpg or .tif files to jpress@jewishomaha.org; faxed to 402.334.5422, or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154. Forms are available through Omaha and Lincoln synagogues, by contacting The Jewish Press at 402.334.6448, or by e-mailing the Editor at: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org.

June 15, 2007

Leadership and loyalty, tyranny and rebellion

SPARKS FROM THE WORD

by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parashat Korah The American Revolutionary War and the subsequent independence of the United States of America need no justification in American eyes. The right to rebellion against tyranny is a datum in American history and thought. It does not need to be defended in logical terms. July Fourth is a Holy Day. But where strong leadership ends and tyranny begins is a line that cannot be easily drawn.

Our Sidra tells us about Korah, leader of a major rebellion against the leadership of Moses. Moses is accused of being a demagogue and a false leader -- by demagogues!

Who is tarred with this unenviable epithet -- “demagogue” -- depends on who the speaker is and the angle of satisfaction or dissatisfaction from which he is coming.

As a matter of fact, Moses, the self-sacrificing leader of the Israelite generation, suffered more than one rebellion and many periods of dissatisfaction with his leadership. Where will we get food? Where is water? Why have you brought us out to this wilderness to die? Were there not enough graves in Egypt? And who appointed you, anyway? We’re all as good as you!

In later Israelite life, there is an astonishing discrepancy between the ways two prophets, contemporaries, interpreted Israel’s wilderness history.

Jeremiah, thinking of the early days as the Golden Past, spoke longingly of the wilderness days as though Israel followed (Moses and) the Lord unquestioningly, lovingly, faithfully through the wilderness, offering no complaints, like a love-struck bride adoringly following her husband.

Ezekiel, a younger contemporary of Jeremiah, trying to interpret the destruction of Judah in 587 B.C.E. and the bitter exile that followed, attributed it to the constant, never-ending rebellion against (Moses and) the

Lord. He could see no single period of decency and loyalty. No wonder we have been punished with defeat and exile!

In all of this we ought to notice one constant: It is the truthfulness of the Biblical story.

David, who in later centuries, came to be thought of as the ideal king, ancestor of the Messiah, composer of psalm and song, founder of the Temple, is described without apology in the Book of Samuel as a man of controversy who suffered two major rebellions, led by his own sons.

And in the Torah, Moses, who in later centuries came to be thought of as the ideal leader, the lawgiver and teacher, the prophet par excellence and the confidant of the Lord Himself -- Moses is pilloried in rebellions against his leadership as selfish and shortsighted, a faulty leader indeed.

It would have been easy for the final editor-redactor of the Torah to lift these stories and bury them. In the histories of other ancient peoples, this would have been natural to do. But not so in the Bible!

Whether these stories are given in exact, “historical” narrative or not, we cannot tell. But this we know: The editor-redactor refused to bury criticism. If his sources included these traditions, he would give Korah, rebel-inchief, his place in history and in Scripture.

(Editor’s note: this column appeared in Rabbi Kripke’s book, Insight and Interpretation, published in 1988.)

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FRIEDA ELEWITZ Frieda Elewitz died June 3 at age 97. Graveside services were held June 6 at Fisher Farm.

She lived her entire life in Omaha until she moved to Dallas in 1999. Active in Beth Israel’s Sisterhood, she served as its president twice. She also appeared on television cooking shows several times to demonstrate challah baking techniques and the like.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 46 years, Izadore Elewitz , who died May 7, 1975; son, Gordon, who died on April 12, 2001; sisters, Ethyl Pearlman, Ida Garfield, and Mamie Haykin.

She is survived by her daughter-in-law, Laurie Oruch Elewitz; son and daughter-in-law, Larry and Leah Rae Elewitz; grandchildren, Jay and Marc Elewitz, Chaim Elewitz, Lisa Weil, all of the Dallas area; and grandchildren in the New York City area.

CORRECTIONS In last week’s “In the News” article about Rabbi Michael Graetz, his father was incorrectly named as Leon, who is actually his grandfather; the rabbi’s father’s name is Marion Graetz. In the “Salute to Seniors,” Karen Alexander’s name was omitted as the mother of graduating senior Josh Pilley.

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LENA KAPLAN Lena Kaplan died at the age of 93. Graveside service was held June 13 at BHH/Fisher Farms Cemetery.

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To submit obituaries: e-mail to the Press at jpress@jewishomaha.org; fax to 402.334.5422, or mail to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154, or online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org.

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Page 12

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

June 15, 2007

Beth El congregant makes important connection with synagogue’s seniors

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Sylvia Jess is making good on that old telephone company jingle imploring us to ‘reach out and touch someone’ -- and some lucky Beth El congregants are on the receiving end.

Jess, a long time synagogue member, felt it was important to make a connection with fellow senior citizens who live alone and might appreciSylvia Jess ate someone checking in on their well-being. So several months ago she got a list of Beth El’s congregants who are 75 and older, and got busy on the phone.

“There are lots of single people who belong to Beth El who live alone in their apartments or houses,” Jess said, “and as we get older and our circle of friends and family diminishes, there may be people who don’t have anybody who contact them, anyone who knows whether they’ve gotten up in the morning or if they need anything.

“I live alone, and there are days that the phone doesn’t ring, and I think it’s important for the older generation to have somebody calling them,” she continued. “I think there’s a need for it, and as someone said to me, there are only so many television shows you can watch, so many books you can read, and so much walking you can do by yourself.”

The initial 40-some calls were made to ascertain whether the congregants would like to be called on a regular basis.

“Some said ‘yes,’ some said ‘no,’ some said ‘call me once in awhile,’” she said, adding she was pleasantly surprised when several people who declined calls for themselves offered to take a few names

on the list and check in on others.

Jess also noted that she’s aware of some names which are missing from the list, mainly because “some women don’t give their age -- I’ve thought of a couple of women and thought ‘why aren’t they on this list?’ I’m happy to tell people how old I am -- I’m glad to have lived these many years, but some people are reluctant.”

Beth El President Sally Zipursky -- who also happens to be Jess’s niece -- praised her aunt’s efforts to make connections with so many congregants.

“Our synagogue is blessed to have such an amazing congregant as Sylvia. Her compassion certainly has no boundaries and the task she has undertaken is so important; it is helping us identify the needs of our older members. I’m proud to have Sylvia as part of our Beth El congregational family, not to mention my own family!”

Diane Shandell, chairman of Beth E’s Caring Committee, also expressed appreciation to Jess and fellow caller Sally Masnek, and emphasized the importance of synagogue members being contacted by their contemporaries. “We’re concentrating on seniors who are alone at home, and some of them have absolutely no family members, are not in touch with anybody, so by having Sylvia and Sally call them, they’re in touch with the synagogue and aren’t totally left out. Getting these calls lets them know they’re cared about.”

Referring to her phone-calling project as “a little step,” Jess explained that, “I just want to make Beth El more of a family. There are a couple of things that I’ve wanted to accomplish, and thank goodness, this is one that we are accomplishing.

“The synagogue means an awful lot to me, and it’s an important part of my life.

If this keeps people connected, it’ll be good.”

Captivating cantor’s soncert draws hundreds to Beth El Synagogue

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator About 500 people took an entertaining trip through “The World of Jewish Music” last Sunday at Beth El’s annual Cantor’s Scholarship Concert, led by featured performer Hazzan Alberto Mizrahi, of Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago.

The world-renowned Mizrahi, known near and far as “The Jewish Pavarotti,” sang liturgical, traditional and contemporary selections, in English, Greek, Hebrew and Italian, and was joined by Beth El Cantor Gastón Bogomolni and Temple Israel Cantor Wendy Shermet for several poignant and rousing numbers. Hazzan Alberto Mizrahi, of Anshe Emet Hazzan Mizrahi’s piano accompaniment Synagogue in Chicago, performed Sunday. was provided by Dr. Alan Mason; Yulia Kalashnikova accompanied the local cantors.

The Cantor’s Concert benefits Beth El’s Youth Scholarship Program, which provides opportunities for youth to attend Jewish summer camps, visit Israel or attend a Jewish youth convention.

This year, the synagogue was able to provide $27,000 in grants and aid, enabling 27 children to have a Jewish Beth El Cantor Gastón Bogomolni, left, Hazzan Mizrahi and Temple Israel Cantor Wendy Shermet entertain the crowd. summer experience.

T HE ROSE B LUMKIN J EWISH H OME

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ANSWER THE CALL Today in the Omaha Jewish community our goal is to build a warm and welcoming place that will offer personal attention and quality care for those who can no longer care for themselves.

The goal is a New Beginning for the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

We have already raised $13 million in seed money.

We need to raise $5 million more.

For this, we need the help of the entire Omaha Jewish community.

We need you.

The New Beginning Telethon will run July 2, 5, 10 and 11.

The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home needs your gift.

Please answer the call.

If you prefer to make your gift before the Telethon, please fill out the coupon and mail it to The Jewish Federation of Omaha.

Your contribution is payable over three years.

We can do it.

We will do it.

Thanks to you.

T HE ROSE B LUMKIN J EWISH H OME N

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ANSWER THE CALL THE ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME BUILDING CAMPAIGN To help us make a New Beginning for the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, send your pledge today. Donations will be payable over three years.

I hereby pledge to pay the sum of $___________ _____________________________|___________________|______________________ Name Phone Number Email _____________________________________|_______________|_______|____________ Address City State Zip Code ____________________________________________________|____________________ Date Signature May we publish your name? Yes___| No___| Donations can be made by check or credit card* Please send your check to: Jewish Federation of Omaha | 333 South 132nd Street | Omaha, NE 68154 *Credit card payments can be made online at www.jewishomaha.org or by calling 402/334-6436

Jewish Senior Services TH E RO S E BL U M K I N J E W I S H H O M E