Sponsored by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Endowment Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA June 22, 2012 2 Tammuz 5772 Vol. 92 | No. 40
There will be no Jewish Press next week, June 29.
This Week
Snack Shack opens at JCC pool Page 3
Local teen chosen for prestigious fellowship Pages 6
Join the club
Milt Kleinberg to speak at JCC Library
by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMPWRIGHT Editor of the Jewish Press It’s been a very exciting year for the Jewish Press. We’ve had some staff changes, and we launched a brand new website. We also completed two successful special editions, for Rosh Hashanah and Passover, as always the result of some heavy lifting. In the middle of all that, we have continued to do our best to produce a quality weekly paper. Something that has been done by many before us, since 1920, and something we plan to do for many years to come. We enjoy hearing from you, our readers, be it through phone calls, emails, or when we run into you around town. A newspaper, especially a community newspaper, is only useful as long as people read it. Judging from the response we’re getting, that is happening every week. Now there is another way in which you can get involved. This month, we are introducing the Jewish Press Club. It’s a new initiative through which you, our loyal readers, can support us, and become even more involved with what we do and what we stand for. It hasn’t been done before, and we’re pretty excited about it, so allow me to explain. There are three levels of giving at which you can become a
by HILLARY FLETCHER Marketing Assistant, Institute for Holocaust Education Thursday, July 8, 4 p.m. in the Jewish Community Center Library, Milton Kleinberg will discuss his book, Memories of My Childhood: During and After the Holocaust 1937 – 1951.
Marsha and Milton Kleinberg Jewish Press Club member. We have the Reporter level at $36 per year, the Editor level at $72 per year, and the Publisher level at $180 per year. For that, you will receive your name in the paper (we will update the Press Club member list once per month), and, for those who give at the Publisher level, we will display a plaque outside the Jewish Press office.
But that’s not all: with every level, you receive Press Cash. Reporters receive 5, Editors 10, and Publishers 20 Press Cash bills that can be used both at the Star Deli, and for programming at the Jewish Community Center. One does not have to be a member of the JCC to use the Press Cash; it can be used regardless, and Continued on page 3
NCJW honors volunteers at installation Beth El women enjoy girls’-night-out program Page 12
Inside Point of view Synagogues In memoriam
Next Month Health and Wellness See Front Page stories and more at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on Jewish Press
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by SHARON HOUCHIN Co-Vice President of Public Realations, NCJW-Omaha Section The National Council of Jewish Women-Omaha Section installed officers for 2012-2013 on Sunday, June 10, at the home of Marcia Pitlor. In addition to installing the new board, Patty Nogg, Iris Ricks, and Sonia Tipp were honored with volunteer awards and Rachel Martin was made a Life Member. The Hannah G. Solomon Award is a national award presented by NCJW to an individual who has changed the lives of others through leadership efforts and service and who has helped to change and expand the role of women and men in vital areas of the community. It is given to honor an individual whose leadership in areas of NCJW con-
cerns – improving the quality of life for people of all ages and backgrounds – has motivated others to fight for change and has resulted in
her many years of continued service to the community and NCJW. Patty has taken on many roles as a member of NCJW. She is a Life Member
Iris Ricks, left, Sonia Tipp and Patty Nogg progress and enlightenment in the community. This award, last given in 2008, commemorates the spirit of Hannah G. Solomon, who established the National Council of Jewish Women in 1893. Since 1979, only 13 other NCJW-Omaha Section members have been recognized with this distinguished award. This year NCJW has designated the award to be given to Patty Nogg for
and was the recipient of the NCJW Distinguished Service Award in 2008. She is the new incoming Membership Vice President and in the past has served as Vice President of Education; Dues Secretary; Trouping Theater Chairman, CoDirector and performer; Labels Unlimited Designer Dress Sale CoChairman; Labels Unlimited New Continued on page 2
Originally published in hard cover in 2011, the Holocaust memoir traces Kleinberg and his family’s escape from Nazi-occupied Poland in 1939 and their subsequent capture and internment in the Soviet Union. The talk will be hosted by the Institute for Holocaust Education. “Memories of My Childhood is a personal account of how my parents and I were swept up by the torrent of World War II, and managed to survive our ordeal in the Soviet Union,” Kleinberg said. “Our most memorable experience was a three-month journey, in cattle cars, on the Trans-Siberian rail line across Russia from Arkhengelsk to Samarkand, Uzbekistan.” Kleinberg wrote the book as a personal legacy for his children, grandchildren and siblings who were born after the war so they could better understand how the horrors of the Holocaust affected their family and the people living in Europe and Russia during World War II. Many libraries and historians around the world have taken a special interest in Memories... because it tells a lesser-known side of the story of the Holocaust -- that of the Jews who fled to the Soviet Union, escaping the death camps, only to be taken as prisoners of war by the Russians. “To my surprise and amazement, the Soviet Union’s participation in the Holocaust is not widely known,” Kleinberg said. “People who have read my book found the story very compelling, and felt strongly that this book belongs in Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum, libraries and made available to teachers who conduct Holocaust studies.” Continued on page 2