Vol. LXXXV No. 41 Omaha, NE
Celebrating 85 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
March of the Living Trip Inspires Beth El Teen to Become an Active Witness
27 Sivan, 5766 June 23, 2006
Jewish Press Wins Another Rockower Award
active witnesses. We would go out into the community by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator and do our best to spread the message [about the Seth Rich went on the March of the Living trip as an Holocaust] so that others could spread the message.” Seeing the camps made a powerful impact on him, observer, but he returned home an “active witness.” Rich said, as the group Rich, an incoming senior “spent just about every wakat Central High School, paring moment going from ticipated in the two-week camp to camp, from memotrip which brings together rial to memorial, doing our teens from around the world best to honor the memory to observe Yom HaShoah at of those who were taken the sites of Nazi concentrafrom us in the Holocaust.” tion camps in Poland, folHe cited the visit to lowed by a week in Israel Majdanek as particularly during Yom HaZikaron and powerful. The camp is still Yom Ha’Atzmaut. He spoke intact, “standing just as it about the journey during a stood when it was liberated Shabbat service several by the Russians. It is so weeks ago at Beth El Seth Rich, second from right, and a fellow March of the intact that with proper staff, Synagogue. Speaking extemporane- Living participant pose with several Israeli soldiers following it could be up and running ously, Rich explained that he a Yom HaZikaron memorial service at the Golani Military in 48 hours,” he noted. “We Photo courtesy of Seth Rich went to Majdanek on the eschewed the use of a writ- Base. ten speech or notes, as they would have muffled his fifth day of the trip. We had previously seen bits and desire to connect with the congregation on a more emo- pieces of what the Holocaust was, but Majdanek was the first place to bring every aspect of the Holocaust togethtional level. The opportunity to share his experience made it pos- er. This is what hit me.” At Treblinka, a camp completely destroyed by the sible for Rich to fulfill a promise he and his fellow travelers made at Auschwitz. “As we walked through the Nazis, all that remains is a field of stones, each repregates, we vowed to each other that we would never for- senting a town, a shtetl or community from which Jews get what we had seen, and we would never forget what were taken and killed. While walking through the field, happened there, and we would never let it happen again. Rich said he reached the stunning realization that “Essentially, we would become not just witnesses, but Continued on page 3
Last week’s annual conference of the American Jewish Press Association in Baltimore, MD, became a minireunion as former Lincolnite Danny Allen, now Executive Director of the Friends of Magen David Adom (sponsor of the Rockower awards evening), was reunited with Omahans Ozzie Nogg, left, and Carol Katzman, Editor of the Jewish Press. The Press, picking up a second place in the category of Special Sections for its 2005 New Year’s issue, “The Path to Judaism,” now has won seven Rockower awards in the last 10 years. Nogg is the first freelancer to have been elected to the AJPA’s executive committee. The Jewish Press also won a third place award from the Nebraska Press Association for its coverage of last year’s March of the Living. (See related story about the organization’s hope and concerns about admission to the International Red Cross on page 16.)
Best-selling Authors Compare Notes on Jewish Families, Israeli Influences by DINA KRAFT KIRYAT ONO, Israel (JTA) -- In their first meeting, Nathan Englander and Etgar Keret playfully joust about influences and literature and how experiencing Jewish and Israeli life informs their writing. Englander, 36, a former Long Island yeshiva boy turned darling of the American literature scene and his Israeli counterpart, Keret, 38, in turns adored and excoriated for his fantastical and rebellious short stories, came together recently at a conference sponsored by Bar-Ilan University’s master’s program in creative writing. Their rapport was instant and full of good humor. When audience members at a public discussion between them requested that they speak up, Englander offered, “I’ll project from the diaphragm.” Keret quipped, “and I’ll try to speak from Nathan’s diaphragm.” Englander’s 1999 debut collection of short stories, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, became an international best seller with its tales of the secret desires of Orthodox wig makers, condemned Yiddish writers awaiting death in a Stalinist prison and Jews on a train to a concentration camp who transform into acrobats and tumble their way to safety. His upcoming novel, The Ministry of Special Cases, eight years in the making, is about the Jewish community in Buenos Aires on the eve of Argentina’s 1976 military coup.
Inside Opinion Page see page 8
American Jewish author Nathan Englander, left, and Israeli author Etgar Keret take part in a public dialogue last month at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan. Credit: Jonathan Beck/JTA Englander eventually rejected his Orthodox upbringing and immigrated to Israel, where he wrote his first book in a Jerusalem cafe. He sees the book as part of his transition out of the Orthodox world. “It was clear it was about my leaving the religious community,” he said. His upcoming novel, he said, is about “the idea of community as a whole, how it functions and how it corrupts.” He at first did not intend the book to
focus on the Jewish community, but Jews “kept creeping in.” Englander said being labeled as a “Jewish writer” following the publication of his first book did not bother him. “It’s not a tag. There is nothing for me to shake off,” he told JTA in an interview. Unlike Englander’s rich, literary prose, Etgar's stories have a casual, zany tone. Modern Israel is his usual backdrop, populated with slackers, soldiers and factory workers. His work has been praised for
tapping into the Zeitgeist of Israeli youth with witty, but often less than pretty portraits of alienation and fear. Keret’s most recent collection, The Nimrod Flip-Out, published last month in the United States, was written during the second intifada and was influenced, he said, by the daily toll of violence. In one story, a pathologist examines the body of a woman killed in a suicide bombing only to discover tumors had taken over most of her body and that she would have died within weeks. The pathologist cannot decide whether or not to tell the woman’s bereaved husband. Breaking ranks with Israel’s old guard of writers who try to infuse their work with ideological themes, Keret’s cheeky stories seem to mock the country’s literary conventions and convictions. Keret was born in Israel but feels himself an outsider. Englander, at odds with his Orthodox upbringing in America, for a time chose Israel as his home. It was in Israel that he met a group of young Argentine immigrants who would become close friends and whose stories would help inspire the idea for his novel. It was also in Israel that he began to feel how politics imprints itself onto life. “Living in Israel made me understand when politics is in your front yard,” he said. “Living in Israel obviously I learned a lot. I became shaped. I became a different person from living in the center of Jerusalem.” Continued on page 2
This Week: Children’s Book Author Has Local Ties: Page 6 Coming Next Month: Health & Wellness Issue: July 14 See Front Page Stories at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’
Young Omahans Among Recent Birthright Trip: Pages 4-5
Israel Podcasts to the World: Page 9
Searching for a Jewish Past in Spain: Page 11
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June 23, 2006
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Opportunity Omaha is More Than Just a Name connect with even more people and explore what our by ELLIE KRASNE city has to offer. This is a wonderful idea and I encourJewish Federation of Omaha Intern Omaha’s pilot program geared towards Jewish college age all college students in Omaha to participate.” The next activity, a trip to the Summer Arts Festival aged students began a summer of programming last week with Kabbalat Shabbat service and dinner. The and dinner, will be this Sunday, June 25. “After Hours event was led by Robert Mosenkis, Jonathan Rathsam with Jan Goldstein and Marty Ricks” will be held at the and Uri Levin and included JCC on June 29. playing “Jews Line Is It The two Executive Anyway”, a spoof off the hit Directors (Goldstein leads comedy series “Whose Line the Federation and Ricks to Is It Anyway”. Foundation) will engage The second event for students with a discussion of “Opportunity Omaha, It’s Jewish philanthropy and will More Than Just a Job” was ask for their help in developheld at Zio’s where future ing a project for young programs for this summer teens. were discussed. “Opportunity Omaha is “Dinner was wonderful designed to show Jewish and the turnout even bet- Jon Gates, Doug Meyers, and Trevor Gerson enjoy a light- college students the many ter,” says Sarah Grossman hearted evening with other college students at Zio’s Pizza. social, cultural, religious and program participant. “It was so refreshing to converse business opportunities in Omaha. College students may with other Omaha-area college students with similar check e-mail and Facebook accounts for further inforgoals. So many of these young adults are doing amazing mation, or for more information, contact me directly at: things and have interesting stories. I am looking forward ekrasne@jewishomaha.org or 334.6461. to other upcoming Opportunity Omaha events to re-
Blumkin Residents Reminisce During Classic Car Show
CLIP & SAVE
Loria Ennis, Activity Director at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, gave residents an opportunity to go back in time when she arranged with Bob Maline and his team at Tangier Shriners for a show of classic cars in the parking lot outside
CALENDAR OF EVENTS FRIDAY, JUNE 23 ARTZA attends Shabbat Services, 6 p.m.
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SUNDAY, JUNE 25 ARTZA Departs for Israel, 8 a.m. Sunday Story Time, 2 p.m. at Kripke Library MONDAY, JUNE 26 JSS Senior Luncheon, 10 a.m. CJE Intensive Hebrew Reading Class, 7:30 p.m.
C L I P & S A V E
TUESDAY, JUNE 27 BBYO Night, 6 p.m. Hebrew Classes: Level 1, 7 p.m., and Level 2, 8 p.m. RBJH Fourth of July Spectacular, 7 p.m.
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28 The Works of Franz Kafka Class, 11 a.m. NCJW Board Meeting, 7 p.m. THURSDAY, JUNE 29 Walk-in Drop-in, 10 a.m. Duties of the Heart, 10:30 a.m. Yiddish Group, 1 p.m. Hebrew Classes: Level 1, 7 p.m., and Level 2, 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 Allan Handleman 334-6451
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the Home. Left: Marge and Norm Lincoln said, “Cars were better built in those years.” Right: Volunteer Ashely ReedGeis admires an old truck.
Best-selling Authors Compare Notes Continued from page 1 Keret, although often hailed Library Makes Summer as the voice of young Israelis, feels himself more a Diaspora Reading Suggestions Jew than a native son. “I feel very connected to the Diaspora,” he told JTA. “My stories seem to me to have more in common with Kafka and Isaac Bashevis Singer than A.B. Yehoshua.” He added: “I was born here but I am the son of immigrants and I feel part of this but also feel on the outside. I think that is something very Jewish but something Israelis have lost.” As the son of Holocaust survivors, Keret finds a sense of eerie triumph that his books sell best abroad in Germany and Poland. His mother, who grew up in Poland and was the only member of her immediate family to survive the war, was especially moved after she read his work translated into Polish. She told him he wrote like a Polish exile. When she visited him in Germany where he was a visiting instructor at a Berlin university a few years ago, she told him a story that had haunted her. During her father’s last days alive in the Warsaw Ghetto, he told her she would survive and one
by CAROL KATZMAN Editor of the Jewish Press Whether you’re flying off for a summer vacation or just planning to hang around the house, a book is a handy companion. There’s beach reading (same category as airplane reading), stay-up-late-night mysteries, serious scholarship and Jewish history, all available at the Kripke Jewish Federation Library. Don’t forget the newly remodeled Dorothy Kripke Children’s Library, where you can find books about Jewish holidays for those just learning how to read, historical fiction for older children and picture books for toddlers. In addition to the Englander and Keret books, you can find mysteries from the late Israeli author Batya Gur, as well as Rochelle Krich’s newest. Here is a list composed by the staff at the Kripke Library of summer reading available now: Terror Town by Stuart Kaminsky; Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner; Sweet and Low by Rich Cohen (non-fiction); Now You See Me by Rochelle Krich; Alibi by Joseph Kanon; The Twins of Tribeca by Rachel Pine; The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell by Loraine Despres; The Funeral Planner by Lyn Isenberg; Leeway Cottage by Beth Gutcheon; and Everyman by Philip Roth (not a light beach read!) The Kripke Library also has books on tape and CDs. “The library has several Etgar Keret Books available for checkout including his new release, ‘The Nimrod Flip Out.’ I have been reading him for the past two years and his works are a rare mix of quirky and serious,” said Gary Katz, Library Administrator. “You just don’t read Keret, but ingest him knowing you will need to take an antacid afterwards.”
day avenge the family. “They want to erase our name. But you will stay alive and everyone will know our name,” he said recounting the words his grandfather told his mother so many years ago. She told him she had lived to see her father’s vision --the sight of German bookshops filled with his books and the long lines of people waiting to hear him speak. “I was very glad to hear that,” Keret said. “To see that there are some circles that do connect.” Englander’s visit to Israel to speak at the conference marked his first time in the country since he left five years ago. He said it was not the bombings and tension that had kept him away but his complete focus on writing. As difficult and as messy as it was to leave, Englander said he knew he would thrive once he returned to New York. Arriving for this visit, the clerk stamping his passport at Tel Avi’s BenGurion Airport asked why he had been away for so long. He answered, “I became Israeli...so I left for New York.”
June 23, 2006
Young Jewish Author Talks about Influence of Immigrant Life by DINA KRAFT KIRYAT ONO, Israel (JTA)--David Bezmozgis, the young writer described recently as a “one-man shockand-awe invasion of North American literature” sits on a plaza on the edge of Bar-Ilan University’s leafy campus and in his calm, steady voice talks about identity. “I feel the opposite of wherever I am,” says the author. In Canada, where he immigrated with his family from Latvia in 1980, he often feels like an outsider. When he returned to Latvia for a visit recently he “felt more like a stranger than anywhere else.” Bezmozgis writes about the Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union he grew up among in Toronto. “I felt something was happening with the last wave of Soviet Jewish immigration,” he said, explaining it had been his ambition since he was a teenager to write Canadian Jewish writer David about the community. Bezmozgis reads from his book After a brief stint as a Natasha and Other Stories at a filmmaker, his literary Bar-Ilan University conference in star has risen quickly. Ramat Gan, Israel. His publications have Credit: Dina Kraft/JTA included The New Yorker, Harper’s, Zoetrope and The New York Times Magazine and his collection of short stories, “Natasha and Other Stories” has been translated into 12 languages. In 2005, he won a Guggenheim Fellowship. He was in Israel late last month as one of the featured writers lecturing and reading from his work at a conference at Bar-Ilan University’s master’s program in creative writing. Bezmozgis spoke there of the alienation felt by the Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, including his own family, when they arrived in Canada. He described how they struggled to stay afloat financially and to find their way in a very foreign culture. He said that what the community went through in Toronto, including an initially awkward relationship with the city's established Jewish community, was not unlike the experience of Russian-speaking Jewish immigrants elsewhere in North America. “There was a very active Jewish community who really fought for these Soviet Jews, to get them out,” he said. “They had certain expectations of how the Soviet Jews would be when they arrived” and “the Soviet Jews had certain expectations. “These expectations did not entirely mesh; if there is anything we can rely on, it is that people misunderstand each other.” In his book, he tracks the adjustment of the fictional Berman family to a new life in Canada. Bezmozgis says the stories’ environment is drawn from experience, but that the work is fiction, not autobiography. In the short story “Topka” that he read to the conference, he tells the tale of the family’s son Mark, whose recent arrival in Toronto is softened by his relationship with a small dog who becomes in turns his greatest joy and then his tragedy. The story conveys the overwhelming loneliness that can creep into immigrant life. The book has found acclaim among readers and critics. “The collection’s strength lies in how Bezmozgis layers the specifics of Russian-Jewish experience with universal childhood and adolescent dilemmas,” said a review from Publisher’s Weekly, adding, “These complex, evocative stories herald the arrival of a significant new voice.” Influenced by the works of Philip Roth and Mordechai Richler, Bezmozgis turned to writing after beginning a career making films. He said that as the son of immigrants who had come to North America both for freedom and for a better financial future, he at first decided not to pursue writing as a full-time career. He studied filmmaking at UCLA and his first documentary, L.A. Mohel, about three ritual circumcisers in Los Angeles, was screened at film festivals around the world. To pursue a career that was not well-paid “when there is all this plenty around was difficult for my parents to comprehend,” he said. “I tried to find a middle ground.” Pausing, he added, “All along, all I wanted to do is write.”
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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March of the Living Trip Inspires Teen Continued from page 1 While in Israel, the great joy and sense of pride Rich “entire towns were wiped off the face of the earth. Yad experienced was always tempered by what he saw in Vashem has the records of 4.2 million people--not six Poland. Even during the lively Yom Ha’Atzmaut festivities held on Ben million--because there were no records left to The Quest Yehuda Street in memorialize these people.” by Seth Rich Jerusalem (an Throughout the trip, Rich said, he conWritten at 5:57 p.m. on April 26, 2006, atmosphere stantly felt the parallel between happiness and outside the gas chamber at Majdanek. Rich likened to “It sorrow. They fought as soldiers New Year’s Eve seemed everyWe fight as witnesses in Times Sqwhere we went, They armed themselves with guns and bombs uare), a hint of there was We arm ourselves with flags and banners melancholy extreme happiThey fueled themselves with pure hatred existed. ness and also a We fuel ourselves with pure love For a while, he degree of sadThey used blind denial We use blind acceptance was disturbed by ness, or vice They worked to destroy the world those thoughts, versa,” he said. We work to repair the world believing that “I For example, They hid what happened should be able to on the march We expose what happened focus on moving from Auschwitz They fought as soldiers on.” However, to Birkenau, his An Israeli 'March of the Living' We fight as witnesses he said, “I realgroup was fol- participant waves the Israeli lowed by a dele- flag as he marches through The people who were murdered in the Holocaust died, ized that this but not in vain, proves that I am gation of IDF Birkenau at the conclusion of the fight in us is fueled by their memory. For a witness--that veterans who the march. Credit: Seth Rich We will never forget and never let it happen again. no matter what I “could not help but to dance and sing the As long as those like the Nazis exist, it is possible, witness, no matentire time, because they were so happy that but if ter what sadness they were alive and that Israel was alive,” he They will never quit or happiness I said. “Whenever we said the mourners’ We will never quit experience in my Kaddish, we always followed it with ‘Hatikvah,’ reminding us that from the sadness of the life, I will always remember what I saw and I will always be able to tell people about what truly happened.” Holocaust came the happiness of modern-day Israel.”
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
June 23, 2006
Local Participants Help Birthright Israel Reach 100,000 Milestone by RACHEL POMERANCE JERUSALEM--One anecdote relaying Israel’s transformative power on a young Jew’s identity might not convince you. But with 100,000 under its belt, Taglitbirthright israel appears to be a proven formula. Launched in 2000 as a five-year pilot program funded by world Jewish communities, the Israeli government and 14 philanthropists, the organization that brings 18- to 26-year-old Diaspora Jews on a free, educational peer trip to Israel marked the occasion of its 100,000th participant this month. The numbers reflect a critical mass of young people whose Jewish identity was spawned or emboldened by this venture. Twenty-something after 20-something report a profound, personal awakening, resulting in a deepened attachment to Israel and the Jewish people. Take, for example, Lauren Perzov, from Chicago. Like many other birthrighters, the 20year old junior at the University of Illinois, enrolled after hearing dazzling stories about the trip from friends who participated. “They all had amazing, life-changing experiences,” she said. Perzov, who says she never felt a strong sense of Jewish identity, craved a “feeling of belonging and attraction to the Jewish community.” Only a few days in, she says she is inspired by Israel’s history and love for the Jewish state by Israelis and her American tour organizers. “I feel like I’m part of this strong heritage and culture and religion.” On returning home, she wants to elevate the Jewish presence in her life--by
attending services more regularly, volunteering for Israel-related organizations and encouraging others to enroll in birthright. By the end of this summer, birthright will mark its biggest year to date, bringing more than 22,000 participants to Israel, including Stephanie Lowenthal, a 26 year-old Manhattan professional, who arrived in Israel two weeks ago as the 100,000th participant. Lowenthal attended last week’s “mega” event, which brought together more than 7,000 fellow participants in the country for a celebration and ceremony with philanthropists and government officials. By summer’s end, Taglit-birthright israel will have brought more than 110,000 participants from 50 countries in just six years. “We have reached a remarkable milestone in the history of Jewish programming,” says Michael Steinhardt, cofounder of Taglit-birthright israel. “100,000 young Jews have accepted an opportunity to explore Israel - the heart of Jewish culture, history and its people. This unforgettable gift strengthens the bond between Israel and Jews from around the world, as well as illuminates the ever-evolving Jewish identity,” Steinhardt says. Birthright israel is a partnership among United Jewish Communities and local Jewish federations, the Israeli Government and private philanthropists. But birthright israel is not only making an impact on the Diaspora. It’s been a terrific boon for Israel. The program has generated more than $182 million in revenue to the Jewish state. All told, more than 281,500 workdays have been created. The following calculus
shows the extent of birthright’s impact on Israel’s economy: birthright groups have spent $7.3 million on tour buses, $17 million in cafes, nearly $5 million in entrance fees to tourist sites and $27.6 million in personal purchases. For all these benefits, the program is widely considered a win-win. But there are problems centered on supply and demand. The program’s popularity has brought with it a massive waiting list, and 15,000 applicants were turned away this summer, when a record number of 25,000 youth applied for just 12,000 spots. The three-way funding partnership behind birthright remains in tact, with the Jewish Agency for Israel adding new funds to the program and the Israeli government increasing its allocation to $20 million. In an effort to seek new funds, birthright israel has established a foundation to draw smaller donations. But birthright’s backers don’t want to lose momentum or potential when the program has been shown to bolster the identity of so many young Jews. New research released this week on birthright participants show that when compared with applicants who did not go on a trip, birthright alumni have a stronger connection to Israel, the Jewish people and their Jewish identity, are more likely to want to marry and to raise their children Jewishly, evince a greater understanding of Israeli society and history, and are more directly involved in Jewish activities on their college campuses. “Like earlier studies, the findings are dramatic in the extent to which they suggest near-universal positive evaluations,” according Leonard Saxe, the principal
author of the report from Brandeis University’s Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies. Alumni have “strongly favorable feelings about the birthright israel experience and these reviews are just as unequivocally positive for those who were participants more than three years ago as for participants last summer,” the report says. “Furthermore, participants are unequivocal in regarding the birthright israel experience as both enabling them to connect to the Jewish people, and catalyzing their individual Jewish journeys. It was ‘fun,’ but it was also meaningful,” says the report co-written by Saxe, Ted Sasson and Shahar Hecht. The findings are based on recent surveys and interviews with nearly 3,000 birthright israel participants and nearly 1,000 applicants to the program who did not participate (all North American) between 2002-2005. Although the effects were positive across each of the key program goals-Jewish identity, Peoplehood, and Connections with Israel--the impact on views of Israel were most striking. For example, across three groups of participants from 2002-2005, from 61% to 71% of birthright alumni felt a very strong connection to Israel, compared to 39% to 43% of non-participants. The findings regarding the long-term impact of the trip are also striking, for example, with 41% of university students from the 2002 trips participating in Hillel campus activities compared to 13% of non-participants from the same year. And today, the program continues to inspire, one participant at a time. Continued on page 5
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For Indian Jews, Birthright Gives Glimpse of Life as Majority Group by DINA KRAFT JAFFA, Israel (JTA)--Zohar Reuben, 24, of Mumbai explores the narrow alleyways and stalls of Jaffa’s outdoor flea market with fellow young Jews from India after a long journey that has taken them from the Galilee to Jerusalem. It’s on this birthright tour of Israel, thousands of miles from that home, Reuben has found, for the first time, close Jewish friends his own age from India. In Mumbai, A birthright israel group from India tours he explains, Tel Aviv on June 13. Credit: Dina Kraft/JTA Jews live spread out across the vast city. Although he comes from a kosher home and goes to synagogue regularly, he does not have a group of young Jewish friends. Most of his friends are Hindu or Muslim. “When I tell them I’m a Jew they say, ‘Huh? What’s a Jew?’ “ said Reuben, who works in marketing. He said he has been excited to see life in the Jewish state. “It’s good to be one of the crowd. I want to rediscover my Jewish roots,” said Reuben, who visited Israel for the first time through birthright. Like many from his group, this was his first trip outside India. For many Indian Jews on the trip, birthright offered a first glimpse of life in a place where Jews make up the majority. This was the second time a group of Jews from India has come on birthright. The group of 40 is mostly from the Bene Israel community centered in Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi and Ahmadabad. The community, which is ethnically Indian, claims descent from Jews from the Galilee who fled persecution in the 2nd century BCE and landed in India after a shipwreck. Today the community of Indian Jews numbers about 5,500. Aside from the Bene Yisrael, there are Cochin Jews from southern India and Baghdadi Jews who are
descended from former Iraqi Jews, as well as Jews from Syria, Yemenite and Iran. Sharon Galsurkar, 30, a Jewish educator from Mumbai, said bringing the young adults on a trip like birthright gives a huge boost to the community, which struggles as a tiny minority to keep younger members involved. “They relate more intensely here. It’s like quick,” he said, snapping his fingers. “As a Jewish educator, I feel this is what is making our community strong.” Seeing Israel and visiting sites helps deepen the participants’ connection to their heritage and history, Galsurkar said. Visiting a place like Yad Vashem encourages their curiosity about the Holocaust, he said, something about which many in India’s Jewish community know little. Birthright provides free 10-day trips for Jews between the ages of 18 to 26 who have never come to Israel on an organized tour. The goal is to strengthen their sense of Jewish identity and connection to Israel. Nisha Namia, 26, the one Cochin Jew on the trip, found Jerusalem and the sight of a country with so many Jews deeply moving. She comes from a village in the Ernakulam district that has only 52 Jews. Her family is the only Jewish one in the village. “We don’t have a community life there. There are many synagogues in the region but only one that functions, because of the lack of people,” Namia said. Most of the Jews in her region immigrated to Israel, she said, but she plans to stay in India. Sitting next to Namia on the tour bus as it snaked its way through Tel Aviv’s clogged streets was Oshrith David Gadkar, 19. Unlike Namia, she does see her future in Israel. Being in Israel, her first time outside India, “makes me feel strongly that I need to make aliyah,” she said. Samuel Satamkar, 21, said he was excited to have a chance to learn more about his Jewish heritage. Satamkar, who works at a call center in Mumbai and plans to study for an MBA, said Indian Jews are proud of their Indian heritage too, but sometimes lack the tools to explain their own identities. “It is very difficult to explain to other people what being a Jew is,” he said. Experiencing Shabbat in Jerusalem, where the whole city winds down and takes a collective rest, took him by surprise. “It’s so different from what we feel in India. We don’t feel it on such a grand scale,” he said.
Local Participants Help Birthright Israel Reach Milestone Continued from page 4 That birthright israel is free of charge makes it truly In the thick of the summer session, the feeling among democratic, participants say--enabling young Jews of all birthrighters, delighting in friendship and heritage, can means and backgrounds, including many with reluctant be described as downright jubilant. parents, to come together and experience Israel. “I felt nationalism and it wasn’t forced or contrived,” “I’ve never traveled outside of America, and since it’s said Anne Muskin, who returned to Omaha on June 15. free there’s no pressure or financial burden, you can just “I genuinely felt patriotic towards this country I had experience it,” said Omahan Kylie Zacharia, a junior at never even seen. It wasn’t a compromise and it wasn’t a the Unviersity of Wisconsin. “You’re put with a bunch question; birthright made that possible. I now know of strangers but you’re all going as individuals. It’s not why Israel is absolutely necessary and worth fighting for, something you have to do; it’s all for you, and you get and I know 40 other Jewish out of it what you want. Study: Birthright Increases Jewish Identity youth who know it too.” There’s so much Israel has (JTA)--Birthright israel alumni identify more strongly with to offer. It’s our history, but Even those who have experienced Israel before say Israel and the Jewish community than do peers who have it’s also a whole new culattending a peer trip makes not been on the program, a study found. The study, based ture.” on data from nearly 3,000 young people who visited Israel all the difference. Some students, like “It’s an unbelievable feel- on birthright and 1,000 who did not take part in the pro- Omahan Morgan Solomon, ing to be in a country or gram, was conducted by the Cohen Center for Modern 22, extended her birthright store where everyone is Jewish Studies at Brandeis University. Birthright offers a trip and is staying for an Jewish,” said University of free, 10-day trip to Israel for American Jews aged 18 to 26. extra month in Israel. “I felt Tampa junior Emily Gordon About 41 percent of university students who took the trip in like I reconnected in so who went on birthright last 2002 are now involved with Hillel at their schools, com- many different ways,” she said. Her brother, Micha, December during winter pared with 13 percent of non-participants. break. “You can’t explain “The Brandeis research confirms that birthright israel is 20, also went on birthright, the feeling of being in our achieving what it set out to do: help young people connect and is now travelling in homeland. It’s breathtaking. to their Jewish roots and to the State of Israel,” said Europe. “Birthright was Sitting by the Western Wall, Shimshon Shoshani, birthright’s CEO. The program is send- absolutely phenomenal,” he seeing Israeli soldiers walk ing 12,000 young Jews to Israel this summer from 28 coun- added. Their younger brothby carrying their guns-- tries, including the 100,000th participant in birthright, er, Alec, is leaving with proud to fight for their which was launched in 1999. Omaha’s ARTZA trip this country, that was when it hit Sunday. me that birthright is the most amazing experience I’ll Zacharia noted that being from Omaha, “we have to ever have!” explain Judaism to people. In Israel, you don’t have to This was Emily Muskin’s first trip to Israel, too. “We explain yourself. People just get it...and they get you.” were sitting in a group with Israeli soldiers, and asked Added Emily Muskin, “You don’t realize how strong how many of them in the last year have lost a close friend a bond you have through Judaism. I’ve never felt so alive or relative, and every hand went up,” said the University and a part of something as I did among 8,000 Jews from of Kansas junior. “It gave me such a deep sense of sad- 14 different countries in the middle of Israel.” ness and respect and pride for our people. I am able to Rachel Pomerance has written extensively for JTA appreciate what an unbelievable sacrifice and huge and the Religion News Service. Carol Katzman, Editor accomplishment Israel is.” of the Jewish Press, contributed to this article.
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June 23, 2006
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If the name Abby Wasserman sounds familiar to Omahans, it should. Her relatives include Ducky Milder, Phyllis and Jerry Wasserman, and Roz and the late Ike Friedman. Abby, who is the author--and illustrator--of the new children’s Tosca’s Paris book, Adventure, will be in Omaha on July 15, 11 a.m., at the Abby Wasserman Bookworm, 8702 Pacific St. in Countryside Village, to share the story behind her book. Tosca’s Paris Adventure grew out of an earlier book she created for her oldest son and his wife, called, The Marriage of Poire and Poireau. The characters Poire (Pear), Poireau (Leek), and Tosca, their gray cat, are actually vegetables. According to Wasserman, “Choosing a fruit and a vegetable to stand in for the engaged couple was logimy cal: daughterin-law’s last name, Hruska (no relation to the late Nebraska Senator Hruska), means ‘pear’ in Czech, and my son is tall and slender, like a leek.� The idea for this latest children’s book came once Wasserman finished the wedding book. “During a travel experience in Paris in 1981, I had allowed my 15year-old son to go off by himself for a night in a youth hostel. He wanted an adventure and was confident that everything would be fine--even though he spoke no French,� Wasserman explained. “As soon as he was out of sight I began to worry. I didn’t sleep well, thinking of all the things that could happen. But he was fine. It hadn’t been easy, but he’d managed by himself. I learned that one person’s adventure is another’s anxiety, but the adventure is worth the anxiety.� She’s no stranger to adventures, having joined the Peace Corps in 1964, learning Spanish and serving on the north coast of Colombia for two years. She met her first husband, who worked for CARE/Peace Corps, and accompanied him on his next assignments, to Turkey, Honduras and Nigeria. Their sons were born overseas. In all, she spent nine years in other countries, each presenting new challenges. “You’ve got to appreciate cultural differences and respect them,� Wasserman added. “In the book, Tosca and the Parisian cat, Basho, communicate without language problems, but Basho is French, and knows the city. Tosca follows his lead and in this way learns about Paris. But when they encounter a fierce dog, it’s Tosca who has the strength to stand up for herself, and intelligence to discover common ground with the dog.� As to the Omaha connections, they don’t end with Jerry Wasserman and Roz Friedman. Another relative is Ducky Milder--also a descendent of Bertha and Samuel Wasserman, who immigrated in the late 1800s from Byelo Russia, settling in Minneapolis, MN, Sheboygan, WI, Estherville, IA (where they were the only Jewish family), and Madison, WI. Abby’s uncle, Bernard, helped Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan plan the early beginnings of the Reconstructionist movement, while his younger brother Dale, was the playwrite of the award-winning shows, Man of La Mancha and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In 1996, the Wasserman descendants held a family reunion in Omaha and Nebraska City. “Humor, art, music, and writing are the gifts my family gave me,� Wasserman said. “I feel there’s a direct line from my grandparents--all their hard work and sacrifice were so that their children would have the time and opportunities to be creative, educated and cultured. I owe them so much.�
of July Celebration by MARY BORT for Beth Israel Synagogue Does the image of gathering with friends and family, eating delicious slices of watermelon, sipping a cold beverage and watching a beautiful fireworks show make you think of the Fourth of the July? Enjoy all of this and more when you attend Beth Israel Synagogue’s July 4 celebration. The event will include dinner starting at 7 p.m., followed by a fireworks show at dusk. The community is invited and everyone is encouraged to bring lawn chairs to be comfortable while watching the fireworks. Ironwood Country Club holds a fireworks show every year, and Beth Israel is conveniently across the street from the club. “It was so fabulous last year!� stated Beth Israel member Julee Katzman. “We drew a big crowd, and lots of others joined us for the fireworks. It was ‘the’ place to be.� Katzman continued, “This year, it’ll be another wonderful evening, enhanced by our new playground. Families will have a great time. There will be food, camaraderie and fantastic fireworks.� The cost for the evening of food and fun is just $8 per adult, $4 for children and free for children age three and younger. “We’ll have cold cuts, salads, beverages and other delicious kosher foods at the dinner,� stated Beth Cohen, Beth Israel’s Executive Director. “And in case of bad weather, we’ll still have an enjoyable evening with indoor activities. Bring your board games in the event that the weather doesn’t fully ‘cooperate’ with us.� To reserve, please contact the office at 556.6288 or BethIsrael@ OrthodoxOmaha.org.
MARRIAGE BEAR/COHEN The wedding of Leslie Baer and Bert Cohen took place on May 27 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. Rabbi Phyllis Sommer officiated. The bride is the daughter of Lynn and James Baer from Deerfield, IL. She received a BA from Northwestern University, a PH.D from Miami University in Oxford, OH, and a pre- and postDoctoral Fellowship in psychology from Yale University in New Haven, CT. She currently is a child psychologist with Rush University Medical Center in Evanston, IL. The groom, son of Joyce and Sheldon Cohen, received a BS from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He is the founder and CFO of Enjoy Life Foods and Natural Brands, a food manufacturing business that specializes in foods free of all the common allergens. After a honeymoon in Italy, they will return to Chicago where they reside.
Beginning Conversational Hebrew Course Begins Monday by MARY SUE GROSSMAN Administrator, The Center for Jewish Education Due to the interest expressed by participants in the agency’s recently completed Intensive Hebrew Reading course, the Center for Jewish Education is offering a four-week Beginning Conversational Hebrew Course, taught by Dr. Maya Wertheimer. The class will meet on Monday evenings, June 27, July 10, 17, and 24, 7-8 p.m. (No class will be held on July 3.) The cost is $23, discounted to $18 for Federation donors. Hebrew in 10 Minutes a Day will be used for the course; the cost for the book is $15. Classes will meet in the Center for Jewish Education classroom, with the exception of the July 10 meeting, which will meet in the Kripke Library. Registration is required and can be completed by calling 334.6445 or mgrossman@jewishomaha.org.
June 23, 2006
Second Novels BOOK REVIEW by RABBI RACHEL ESSERMAN The Reporter Group (Binghamton, NY) “So many books, so little time,” says a T-shirt given to me by friends who know my love of reading. As much as I try, though, even I can’t read every good book that’s published. That partly explains how I managed to miss the first novels by Dara Horn and Elizabeth Rosner. Although I checked them out when they appeared, I already had too many other works on my stack of “needto-be-read” books to ask their publishers for review copies. I later realized that this might have been a mistake since Horn’s novel In the Image received a National Jewish Book Award, the Edward Lewis Wallant Award and the Reform Judaism Prize for Fiction, while The Speed of Light by Rosner was awarded the Harold U. Ribalow Prize and the Prix France Bleu Gironde. So when their second novels, The World to Come by Horn (W. W. Norton and Company) and Blue Nude by Rosner (Ballantine Books), appeared, I quickly asked for and received review copies. The World to Come is a complex novel, filled with delightful detours and writing that’s so alive it practically jumps off the page. The plots and subplots revolve around each other like a complicated knot, with the reader trying to untangle all the different strands to learn how they connect. The book opens with a bang: Benjamin Ziskind, lonely after his divorce and still in mourning after the recent death of his mother, agrees to attend a singles event held at an exhibit of Marc Chagall’s work and steals one of the paintings. Although he hadn’t planned the theft, Ben felt compelled to take that particular work since he believes it once hung above the piano in his parents’ house. When his twin sister, Sara, learns what he’s done, the two try to uncover the history of the painting and discover a way Ben can keep the original without going to jail. However, a portion of the story takes place years earlier and features the brutal early life of a Jewish orphan, Boris Kulbak, whose teachers at the Jewish Boys’ Colony, located outside of Moscow, include a young Chagall and the Yiddish novelist known as Der Nister, the Hidden One. The fates of these real-life artists affect the future of both the Kulbak and Ziskind families. Also included are chapters telling of Ben and Sara’s father’s horrific stint in the armed services during the Vietnam War, the Yiddish stories the twins’ mother illustrated for
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children’s books and a variety of legends from Jewish folklore. While this may sound like an unlikely combination of elements for a novel, Horn manages to connect the disparate sections, although some readers will be unhappy that she never answers all the questions the book raises. They also may not appreciate that the meaning of the ending is open to debate. While in other works these missing pieces might have bothered me, I was so under Horn’s spell that I didn’t care. To be fair, I am a sucker for this type of book, which features interweaving plots filled with Jewish folktales and biblical and rabbinic lore. (The World to Come reminded me of Steve Stern’s recent The Angel of Forgetfulness, which I also loved and which includes some of the same rabbinic legends.) Another reason I didn’t mind is that Horn’s writing is so beautiful. Unfortunately, my favorite section, which captures the beauty of a moment “that almost everyone who was a child will remember forever,” is too long to reprint. I did, however, also love the way Horn describes what occurs when Ben is left alone at the Chagall exhibit: “Strange things happen to paintings that no one looks at. They start to sing. In the absence of people, the empty room reverberated with the colors humming on its walls. Ben stood alone and listened as each wide flash of color vibrated at a different pitch: wistful wavering high notes for the airborne woman, deep resonating low tones for the Lovers in Blue. The dark little pictures rattled the air with the banging of piano keys like the ones that once lay below it in his parents’ living room, a minor chord struck in the middle of a song.” When describing Sara, who is an artist, Horn tells of how she “did not merely see [colors], but heard them, smelled them, tasted them, touched them.” At one point, Sara experiences time as a color and “as she grew older, everything, not merely time, but everything, turned into color, or light and shadow. Sounds were colors, flavors were colors, even the touch of her mother and Ben and [her husband]... were colors, shimmering colors, her brother a sturdy gray-green of a growing tree, the segue between gray and green from a fluttering leaf to a branch, her mother a deep, resonating blue, like the square of sky caught in a window pane just after sundown, and [her husband] the gleam of light on water, a glimmering orange reflection of a brightening sun.” Reading Horn’s prose is like luxuriating in a rich bath of color and sound. While Horn writes lush, rich prose, Rosner’s style is sparser and less emotional. In fact, at first, everything about Blue Nude seems sparse, including the plot. After an interesting opening that takes place during the Holocaust, the venue switches to San Francisco and tells of the first meeting between Danzig, a German painter
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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who teaches at an art institute, and Merav, an Israeli model who gave up her art career after moving to the United States. This encounter provokes strong emotions for both. Danzig, who has been unable to paint, believes Merav can release him from his creative stalemate. For Merav, whose grandmother is a Holocaust survivor, Danzig’s German accent raises an “almost primal response,” leaving her ready to flee the room. However, although she conquers her initial fear, she is uncertain if she ever wants to be in the same room with him again. The second section of the book returns to the past with Rosner slowly and carefully revealing the secrets Danzig and Merav hide deep inside themselves. While to say too much more would spoil the plot, readers do learn that these two very different characters have one thing in common: their choice of exile over life in their native land. Merav no longer feels able to live in Israel, “a small country always in danger of obliteration, disappearing by the sheer will of its neighbors’ hatred. At least that’s what she had been told all her life: that her neighbors wanted death for her and everyone else she knew and loved... [so] she broke the code, leaving instead of staying, disappearing from view as if in defeat. It was the only way she knew to save her own life.” Danzig, on the other hand, is looking to escape history, giving into “a desperate need to place an ocean and then a continent between him and his past, his father and the Fatherland. All behind him and of course (of course!) dragged like a tail that had been caught in a steel trap. No amount of gnawing at his own body could set him free. The metal banged and clattered at his heels like a relentless shadow.” Rosner has written a cerebral novel: it emphasizes her characters’ thought processes, rather than their actions. Because of this, I didn’t find Blue Nude particularly engaging at first; Danzig and Merav seemed unexciting and self-absorbed. However, learning about their histories, which show the emotional upheavals that formed their character, made me feel far more sympathy for their dilemmas. The pace then picks up in the third section, which returns to present time, creating a suspense that left me feeling quite surprised by its intensity. Readers looking for a heavily plotted book won’t find it here; however, those with patience may find themselves surprisingly moved. Reviewer’s note: Readers may be interested to know that after reading Horn’s and Rosner’s second novels, I purchased copies of their first ones. I was so enchanted by The World to Come that shortly after I began reading it, I decided to buy In the Image. My decision to purchase The Speed of Light came after I finished reading Blue Nude. While I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did Horn’s novel, its ending was impressive enough for me to want to sample more of Rosner’s work.
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June 23, 2006
Early Childhood Project Underway
ORGANIZATIONS YOUNG ENERGETIC SENIORS Join us on Monday at the JCC for Music and Dancing with Bob Berg’s Golden Oldies and the Foggy Mountain Cloggers. Lunch is at noon for $6 per person. Try your luck with bingo at 10 a.m. with Eileen Remer. Exercise will begin at 10:30 a.m. and the discussion group at 11 a.m. Call Dee Dee for transportation at 330.4272. WALK-IN, DROP-IN For those members going on the day trip to the Ameristar Casino on Thursday, June 29, please meet at the JCC by 8:45 a.m. LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Come to the Yiddish meeting at the JCC on Thursdays, 1-3 p.m. Call Anne Skolkin at 343.1638. VISIONS Visions Baseball Night is Tuesday, July 18, 6 p.m., at the Rosenblatt Stadium starting with dinner at the Stadium View Club. Cost is $5 per person for the game at 7:05 p.m. Send reservations with payment to Jim Wax, 118 So. 88 St., Omaha, NE 68114. Visions Luncheon Meeting is Friday, July 21, 12:30 p.m., at the Venice Inn. Musical entertainment from Jon Rathsam with accompanist, Esther Wax includes ballads of Yiddish and favorite standards. Cost is $10 per person. Send reservations with payment to: Tootie Simon, 8725 Izard St., Omaha, NE 68114 by July 14. For Visions Mitzvah Project, bring donated items to support the Nebraska Humane Society, such as used blankets and towels, to the luncheon or deliver to the Blumkin Home in care of Maggie Conti. For more information, call Betty Kolnick (Mitzvah) at 553.4748. The Brownville Concert Series presents Maude Maggart on Sunday, Aug. 20. Maggart is the newest rage in the world of cabaret. Dinner follows at Farmer B’s Steak
House. Cost of $40 per person includes motor coach transportation; show admission, dinner, tax and tips. Depart from the JCC at noon and return by approximately at 7 p.m. Send reservation to Rose Pitlor, 827 Dillon Dr., Omaha, NE 68132. For information, call Ethel Goldston at 393.7358. Make checks for all events payable to Visions. JEWISH SENIOR SERVICES Reminder: Independence Day Concert with Patriotic Music by Iowa Western Community Band is this Tuesday, June 27, 7 p.m., in the JCC auditorium. Sponsored by Iowa Western Community College, City of Council Bluffs and JSS. All are welcome. BREADBREAKERS The Sixth Annual B’nai B’rith Breadbreakers Award Luncheon will be held on Wednesday, June 28, noon, at Regency Lodge, according to Gary Javitch, chairman. The workers from the past year who brought our Lodge to prominence and success will be honored. All men and women in the community are invited to attend. Cost is $11 for lunch and $3 for beverage service only. JEWISH WOMEN INTERNATIONAL Our board meeting is Thursday, June 29, 10 a.m. at Village Inn at 7837 Dodge. For more information, call Frieda Krizelman at 391.0661. BOY SCOUT TROOP #218 Join us for a one hour meeting on Tuesday, July 18, 11:45 a.m., at the Bagel Bin. The Jewish Committee on Scouting will meet to discuss how to motivate more Jewish youth to join our program. For more information or if you have any questions, call Jeff or Sandy Passer at 330.4289.
by RENEE CORCORAN Executive Director NJHS Are you a parent of a former preschooler or child care attendee? Do you have a child or two attending the CDC? The Nebraska Jewish Historical Society is planning an exhibit, scheduled for June of 2007, tracing the histoof the Early ry Childhood Program at the Jewish Community Center since its inception in 1974. The NJHS will also honor the former and present directors of the CDC. If you have any identified photos from the years 1974 to the present, please bring them to the NJHS office. Donations are also welcome and can be sent to the NJHS and marked Early Childhood Exhibit. Members of the committee are Helen Epstein, Marlen Frost, Diane Malashock, Carol Parsow, Vicki Phyllis Perlmeter, Wasserman, and Janie Kulakofsky. If you are interested in working with us on this project call the NJHS office at 334.6441 or Helen at 391.9187. Can you identify any of the children in these photos? Reply to the NJHS office at 334.6441.
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Omaha’s first-ever Broadway Ball will be held on Sept. 8 at the Holland Performing Arts Center. The Presenters, a volunteer group supporting Omaha Performing Arts, announced this biennial event that will raise funds to support the performing arts events and educational activities of Omaha Performing Arts. This year’s event, chaired by Sam and David Hohman and Honorary Chairs Gail and Michael Yanney, is quickly gaining community-wide support as the theme is Serengeti Soiree in honor of the presentation of the Broadway show, Disney’s The Lion King in January and February 2007. The Serengeti Soiree will raise funds, in
When you patronize these fine establishments, tell them you saw their ad in the Jewish Press.
th
Anniversary
2006
2304 No. 72nd St. 397-1347
KING KONG Greek Gyros • Steaks Phillies • Burgers
IN THE NEWS Andrew B. Siref, son of Dr. Larry and Kathy Siref, a graduate of Millard North High School will be attending Tufts University in Medford, MA, in the fall. Andy was ranked in the top 5% of his class at Millard North, was a member of the National Hnor Society, German Honor Society, German and Math clubs, and recieved academic honors. Andy also served as AZA Council N’siah during his senior year.
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Every few weeks, I like to catch up with my friends, a couple of American Olim named Harry and Ziva, to find out what life really is like in Israel. Not just politics but maybe Ziva mouthing off about wild Israeli drivers or Harry salivating over which Israeli chocolate bars are best. That’s when I feel I’m getting the real pulse of the country. The funny this is that although I know all about them, I’ve never met Ziva or Harry. And they have no idea who I am. The couple runs a podcast from their home in Modiin and have developed a following of hundreds (thousands?) of listeners around the world. Harry and Ziva produce the View from Here, one of the countless podcasts that have sprung up over the past year or so. If you’ve never listened to a podcast, think of it as a free radio show that you can download and listen to on your computer or an a portable MP3 player such as an iPod. And if you really enjoy a podcast, subscribe to it so that the new editions automatically appear on your computer. As for the quality of podcasts, they can rival the best documentaries you’ll hear anywhere. Or they can sound like they were recorded on a kitchen table (because many are.) Today, I’m going to suggest which podcasts are worth listening to. As to how to listen to them, there are many very good sites that will walk you through the such as wikiHow process [http:// tinyurl.com/b29l8], ilounge. [http://tinyurl.com/ 79cad] and Wikipedia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Podcast] And now back to my friends Harry and Ziva. They are completely relaxed in front of the microphone. Completely. And that means they don’t censor what they say. I find the language always engaging but it certainly is explicit. As they say on their site, “It’s a comedy show and is not intended for children, the easily offended or self-hating Jews. Except Woody Allen. He’s funny. In an endearing self-deprecating ‘I hate my Jewish self’ kind of way.” [http://feeds.feedburner. com/TheViewFrom Here] You won’t hear such language uttered by Carol and
Charley. They’re another American couple who made aliyah but their Israelisms podcast travels at a more leisurely pace. When I last listened in they delivered the weather in rhyming verse and then talked at length about the political landscape of Israel after Ariel Sharon’s stroke. Carol and Charley’s tone is gentle but that doesn’t mean they don’t award a regular Moron of the Week. Current winner: Pat Robertson. [www.israelisms.com/] Every so often, Israelisms goes on the road and broadcast from sites like the Kotel, Machane Yehuda market or in search of Ramle’s best hummous. The Lironcast Podcast is light on politics and heavy on tech news, pop culture and science. As Liron explains, “I’m 23 years old and am podcasting from a small suburb of Tel Aviv … [I] work in print and fashion design and am an ex-soldier for the Israeli military, with all the good and bad that goes with it. I’m a geek, a nerd, a four-eyes, I like to talk about things like Operating Systems, comic books, gadgets, science fiction, digital art, and sex (occasionally).” Liron is very fast talking. She does get her point across but my head is still spinning. [www.lironbot.com/podcast/] If you’d like to practice your Hebrew listening skills, then you can subscribe to Tcast--the Hebrew Technology Podcast. [http://tcast.blogspot.com/] Meanwhile, popular culture, music and comics come under the scrutiny of Kitaro’s Sideshow. [http:// sideshow. libsyn.com/] Want less popular culture and more politics? You’ll get plenty from these two podcasts. At Israellycool, Dave tells you what’s “Inside the mind of an Ozrieli.” [www.israellycool.com/blog/Podcasts] And the Marty Roberts Show starts with politics but can head off in almost any direction including anti-Semitism, kashrut and why levels of Jewish tourism to Israel are too low. [http://tinyurl.com/dydk4] With five podcasts per week, Marty never seems to be at a loss for words. But to tell you the truth, there really aren’t enough hours in the day to listen regularly to all the podcasts I’ve mentioned. After you sample a few of them, you’ll find yourself gravitating to the ones that are original and stimulating--and the others will probably fall by the wayside. Next time, the best podcasts for listening to Jewish music and learning a bit of Torah. Mark Mietkiewicz is a Toronto-based Internet producer who writes, lectures and teaches about the Jewish Internet. He can be reached at highway@rogers.com.
fata’s Ca La
Israel Podcasts to the World
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
part, to provide tickets to underprivileged youth to attend productions. The event will feature a performance by a former cast member of the Broadway production of Disney’s The Lion King. The event will also include a cocktail reception, dinner, live auction and dancing amidst Africaninspired décor. Corporate sponsorships and tickets for The Broadway Ball are now available. All patron level reservations received by July 15 will be listed in the invitation. Please contact Sam Hohman at 402.501.8225 for more information. Come meet Pat Buckley Moss at Ginger’s Hang-Up on Friday, June 23, 3-7 p.m. at the 145th and West Center location, (call 334.5889 for more information) and on Saturday, June 24, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. at the 84th and Frederick St. location, (call 391.6440 for more information). Daniel Lercher, son of Dr. Minnie Abromowitch and David Lercher, graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences with a Bachelor of Science in genetics, cell biology and development. He will be attending the University of Nebraska Medical Center in the fall
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June 23, 2006
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Yachad Has First Camp Day
by Cathy Thomas (Wiley, $29.95)
by DUANE J. PIEPER Six members participated in the inaugural Yachad Camp Day at the Eugene Mahoney State Park, a beautiful 690-acre park with a variety of outdoor recreation opportunities. Ailie Cooper from the National Yachad office in New York, was invited to share in our experience for the day. The Bur Oak Shelter, on a ridge top overlooking the picturesque valley of the Platte River, was our base of operation and gathering site between events. A spontaneous game of frisbee and kick-ball broke out as our group waited to start a round of golf on the Park’s scenic 18-hole miniature golf course. The pace slowed a bit when the members visited the Craft Center, where everyone chose a craft reflecting their own unique interest. Just to make sure everyone developed an appetite for lunch, members scaled the 70-foot Observation Tower, which offered a 360º view of the surrounding area. The aftern o o n w a s filled with an variety of activities from horseb a c k Ben Friedman proudly displays a large mouth bass trail ridto Lindsey, the park naturalist, and Michael Parsow. ing to paddle-boat excursions around Baright Lake. The final event involved a fishing lesson from Lindsey, the Park Naturalist. Ben Friedman and Grace Isler can attest to the exhilaration and joy of reeling in a scrappy largemouth bass. The day concluded at the Bur Oak Shelter with watermelon and reflections on all the blessings of the day. Plans are already in process for expanding this event next year to include an over-night stay.
READ IT AND EAT Reviewed by LOIS FRIEDMAN
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Joe and Sharon Hernandez, who created Melissa’s World Variety of Produce, distributor of speciality fruits and vegetables company named after their daughter, Melissa, and cookbook author, Cathy Thomas, take you on an adventure ride through farmer’s markets, green grocers and the produce department of your local supermarket in search of fruits and vegetables from Asian pears and yuzu to artichokes and yu choy sum...actually over 100 varietes of produce organized alphabetically in fruit and vegetable sections. A brief description.. Take onions...It’s the eye-burning sulfuric compounds released when you cut onions that make you cry (work quickly with a really sharp knife), onions are divided in three categories: storage, spring and sweet, with over 500 varieties and counting as they are easily crossbred, new varieties and hybrids abound. Followed by Buying and Storing, Prep, Use, Serving Suggestions...and hints and ideas: if you’ve ever squirted pomegranate juice everywhere while trying to remove the seeds, you’ll love their underwater technique. A recipe is included with brief numerical instructions. Lovely color photographs accompany each selection. All the food pyramids indicate eating more servings of fruits and veggies...this terrific book is not only packed with helpful, very readable information but would be a welcomed addition on your next produce trip. An At-AGlance Seasonal Availability Guide tells you what to look for throughout the year. April showers not only bring May flowers - but logen berries, and farmer’s markets, too. Use this papaya dressing on salads or grilled fish. PAPAYA MINT DRESSING 1 ripe papaya, yellow or strawberry, peeled, seeded, chopped 3/4 cup canned papaya nectar 2 tablespoons rice vinegar 1 tablespoon sugar 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mint leaves In blender, combine papaya, nectar, vinegar, and sugar. Process until smooth. Add oil and process until blended Pour into container. Add mint and stir. Chill at least one hour but not more than one day. Use to dress fruit salad or mixed greens, or drizzle a little over grilled fish. Yield: about 31/2cups. at Lois Friedman can be reached ReadItAndEat@yahoo.com.
BIRTH Dana and Michael Kaufman announce the June 1 birth of their son, Benjamin Daniel, named for his maternal great-grandmother, Frieda Daniel Erman. He has a sister, Abigail Paige. Grandparents are Ruth and Joe Erman, and Lois and Steve Kaufman of Falmouth, MA, and Boca Raton, FL.
Open 7 days a week Lunch 11-2 5:00pm open for dinner Brunch Sundays 10-3 Outside Patio
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Audiences will be dazzled not only by the bright, technicolored spectacle, but also by the blending of various musical styles when Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s first collaboration--Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat--opens at Omaha’s Orpheum Theater on July 27. Headlining this new National tour will be Patrick Cassidy in the title role and Amy Adams as the narrator. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, showcases the amazing talents of this remarkable cast through a colorful palette of musical stylings blending rock n’ roll, rhythm and blues, and country. The performance schedule is as follows: Thursday, July 27, 8 p.m., Friday, July 28, 8 p.m., Saturday, July 29, 2 p.m. & 8 p.m., Sunday, July 30, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets, priced from $28 to $58, may be purchased through Ticket Omaha at 402.345.0606 or in person at the Holland Center, or through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com or 402.422. 1212 (Omaha) or 402.475.1212 (Lincoln). For group discounts for 20 or more seats, call 1.800.889.8457 or 402.661.8516.
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June 23, 2006
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 11
Searching for a Jewish Past by EDGAR ASHER In November 1975, the Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco died. Shortly afterwards, Spain underwent most profound changes, when it moved away from being a dictatorship to a democracy. Franco had designated his successor as head of state to be the present Spanish monarch, Juan Carlos. Franco had a high regard for him and he hoped that after his death Juan Carlos would continue the dictator’s policies. Instead Juan Carlos showed himself to be a very liberal minded man who dreamed of a democratic and free Spain. Despite many vicissitudes, including a failed coup in 1981, Spain pushed her dictatorial past into the history books and in 1986 became a full member of the European Union. During the Second World War, many thousands of European Jews attempted to flee to Spain, as the country was not directly involved in the belligerency. Many were given permission to pass through Spain in the early years of the war to escape the Nazis. Hitler tried to influence Franco to take a tough stand on Jewish migration, but the Allies made it clear to Franco that the fate of the Jews either living in Spain, or passing through, would have a direct impact on Allied policy towards the country. However, from January 1943, heavy restrictions were put in place to reduce the number of Jews allowed legally to enter the country following Nazi pressure on the Franco regime. The Jewish refugees in Spain at the time were tolerated and in the most part left alone as Spanish Fascism did not include anti-Semitism as part of its ideology. For some reason Franco was concerned that Sephardic Jews were protected by the state and, in one recorded intervention in 1943, he even asked the Nazis that 367 Sephardic Jews in the Greek city of Salonika be sent to Spain rather than be deported to Auschwitz. His requested was granted. Franco, perhaps to demonstrate his independence from the Nazis, despite his sympathies for them, declared that descendents of Sephardic Jews were eligible for Spanish citizenship and therefore were to be given asylum in Spanish embassies in countries controlled by the Nazis. This policy was estimated to have saved the lives of at least 17,000 Jews during the Holocaust who managed to escape to Spain. Despite the ‘toleration’ of the Jews living in Spain during the Franco era there were no outward manifestations of Jewish life or history. The few synagogues in the country were completely unidentifiable from their exterior and Spain’s unique Jewish history prior to the 1492 expulsion was not spoken about or recorded. Great Jewish Spanish Talmudists and thinkers, such as Maimonides (The Rambam), Nahmanides (The Ramban) Joseph Caro and Spinoza, to mention just a few, were not referred to at all. The fact that before the
period of the expulsion most Spanish towns and villages had a significant Jewish population was not recorded or discussed. In Franco’s Spain the influence of Jewish learning on the history of the country just did not exist. The last 25 years has seen great changes in Spain and these changes are also reflected in the fact that officially the Spanish government now acknowledges its rich Jewish past with extensive information on the site of the old Jewish quarters in locations all over the country. Buildings that have strong associations with Spanish Jewish history are also clearly identified. Many buildings which had a pre-1492 Jewish connection are clearly marked and incorporated in the local guide books as well as the comprehensive internet site maintained by the
The 12th century mikvah in the Catalonian town of Besalu was discovered in 1964. The mikvah, today one of the oldest in existence anywhere in the world, has been completely renovated. It is soon to become part of a new historic Jewish community complex, that also includes a newly discovered Credit: Edgar Asher - Isranet 13th century synagogue. official ‘Network of Spanish Jewish Sites’, www.redjuderias.org. The Network has more than 20 major centers listed where significant Jewish interest can be found. The recognition of Spain’s rich Jewish heritage has in many ways been the catalyst that has encouraged not only the outward identification and research on Jewish connections, but the physical excavation of ancient sites that have revealed the depth and connection of the Jews to the Iberian peninsular. Several newly rediscovered locations in Spain’s north-east province of Catalonia have once again testified to the country’s rich Jewish past. About 15 kilometers north of Catalonia’s second city, Gerona, is the small picturesque town of Besalu. The town has a history going back to Roman times and
despite its small population and size, it occupied a strategic position on the confluence of the Fluvia and Capellades Rivers. Its unique Roman bridge was for some time the only entry into the old town and travelers wanting to come in Besalu would be required to pay a toll. It seems that there was a Jewish presence in the town as far back as the ninth century and perhaps up to a third of the inhabitants at the time were probably Jews. Records showed that in 1264 the community was given permission by the then ruler of Besalu, ‘Jaume el Conqueridor’, to build a synagogue. It was only in recent years that the remains of the synagogue came to light. In 1964, there existed within a few minutes walk of Besalu’s ancient bridge and alongside the Fluvia River a small factory used for the manufacture of cloth. The factory was located near the river as it needed plentiful supplies of water for its processes. The available water was not really enough and the owner asked permission to drill down to see if he could tap a natural well that was thought, due to old records, to be located below the main part of the factory. After a hole was made in the factory floor the bit of the drill seemed to turn on almost nothing. In fact under the stone floor was just loosely packed earth and rubble. Further excavation, following the enlargement of the hole in the factory floor, revealed a Jewish ritual bath (a mikvah) from around the 12th century located below the factory in extraordinarily good condition. Several years later the factory was demolished and the mikvah was completely renovated and work started to find and excavate the synagogue connected with it. The synagogue is also now in the process of being excavated and documented and even now the layout of the synagogue can be clearly seen. When excavations and access are completed in the next couple of years, the complex will be a unique window on 13th century Jewish life and be a major item of interest in the town. In 1342, Besalu became an independent town and the Jews enjoyed what was called, from their point of view, a golden age. Besalu attracted many notable Jewish physicians who maintained good relationships with other Jewish communities beyond the Pyrenees, including as far away as Perpignan and Arles. All this was to change dramatically in 1391 with the onset of the Inquisition, when the Jews of Spain began to be killed and their communal institutions destroyed, or in the example of the Besalu mikvah, filled in with earth and rubble where it was to remain for nearly 600 years. The families started leaving Besalu, or in some cases were forcibly converted to Christianity, and by 1435 there were no Jews left. In 1492, the expulsion of the Jews of Spain was complete. Freelance photographer and writer Edgar Asher can be reached at ashernet@netvision.net.il.
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Page 12
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June 23, 2006
Are Newspapers a Dying Industry? At last week’s American Jewish Press Association annual conference, strategic planning consultant Ben Griffin of Performance Catalyst, made a point about “dying” industries by telling a story about the railroads. Why, he asked editors and publishers from around the country, didn’t the railroad magnates propel their industry towards the 21st century? They had all the ingredients: thousands of miles of track, right of way on either side through cities and towns and farmers’ fields. They had capacity to transport people and goods and conveniently located terminals in nearly every American city. So how did the railroads allow themselves to be overtaken by cars and then planes? Perhaps, he reasoned, the railroad executives were too “in love” with the concept of train travel, instead of their mission: transportation. And then Griffin asked if we--the country’s Jewish newspaper editors--were too in love with newspapers. It’s an excellent question? Are we in the newspaper business--or in the business of delivering news? The Jewish Press continues to struggle with this question. This past year we even posted a link on our website to surveymonkey.com so visitors to the site could respond to a questionnaire about their reading habits. We inserted a printed copy of the survey into an issue of the Press and mailed a copy to our advertisers. Frankly, we weren’t surprised by the answers; more than half of those who respond-
ed want to feel the newspaper when they sit down to read it at their leisure. But those same respondents also were over the age of 55--and we all know that the reading habits of younger Americans is different. Those that do get the news, get it online, so whether the Press is ready for the next step is almost irrelevant; we have to be prepared to deliver Jewish news to our readers, regardless of the delivery system. It’s not going to happen overnight; we’ll still be mailing a Jewish Press in newsprint, but readers will begin to notice more items appearing on our website (www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’), like obituaries, births, engagements, commitment ceremonies, weddings and the like. We hope to eventually add items from our columns--In the News and Arts & Enter tainment-and later other features of interest. For example, we ran the JTA on the series Falash Mura in Ethiopia, awaiting the opportunity to make aliyah to
Israel. But we didn’t have room in the printed weekly paper to run the whole series. In the future, we’ll most likely run the first in a series and then tell readers they can find the rest-and accompanying photos and charts--on our pages of the website. This will allow us to carry more local news, while still fulfilling our mission of providing national and international news of Jewish interest. Are we dying? No, the Jewish Press is very much alive. And whether it’s a printed version or an online one, we will still be the only vehicle to reach all the Jews in Nebraska and Western Iowa, just like we have for the past 85 years.
FOCUS ON ISSUES by RABBI AVI SHAFRAN I made a quick trip the other day to my home town, Baltimore, to crash a party. It was a celebration hosted by my brother, a rebbe, or “Talmud/ethics/philosophy teacher and counselor” in Ner Israel Rabbinical College’s high school division After many years’ effort, he was marking his completion of the study of the entire Babylonian Talmud. A small group of local relatives and esteemed rabbis were present; my brother (whom I taught everything he knows--about hitting a baseball) had purposefully not informed me of his accomplishment or its celebration; he hadn’t wanted me to make the 200-plus-mile trip to join him. But I was tipped off by his wife, who thought, correctly, that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss so festive an event in honor of so magnificent an accomplishment. It was a wonderful experience, not only because I was able to participate in the event itself--the meal served in celebration of a siyyum, or “completion ceremony,” is considered religiously significant--but because I was able to break bread with my father, stepmother, brother, sons (students in Ner Israel), sister-in-law and her parents and siblings, to whom I feel very close as well. I found myself thinking about my father’s experiences as a youth in Poland at the outbreak of World War II. Although he rarely spoke about that era to his children when we were younger, I was able to learn much from the videotaped interview he granted Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation in 1998. And, at the siyyum, between courses and the words of Torah and congratulation that were delivered, I found myself recalling pieces of my father’s testimony. After my brother expounded on the final words of the Talmudic tractate with which he was completing his course of study, I pictured my father as a 14-year-old, when Germany
...we can never really know just how much our achievements are due to our own will and determination, and how much to the merit of the choices, commitment and determination of those who arrived here before us. “I said … that I’m going to yeshiva now… to Bialystok yeshiva. I was supposed to go a month ago… They said… the war is not over, it’s not settled…” The war, in fact, had only begun, and it would come to take the lives of my father’s parents and most of his siblings, not to mention countless other relatives. But he couldn’t have known that then, and he was determined. At the siyyum, my brother recited the special prayer traditionally offered at such celebrations, putting “the Talmud” where the name of a single tractate would normally go. And I remembered, incongruously, how my father at 14, when he said his final goodbye to his parents, had never before been on a train. “I [had] promised [myself] that I would go to Bialystok and something was telling me--maybe it was because I was stubborn--I said I am going to yeshiva and I’m going to go.” Those gathered at the siyyum offered my
Jewish Press Committee Bobbi Leibowitz, Vice-Chairman; Stan Mitchell, Secretary; Scott Meyerson, Treasurer; Michael Siegel, Finance Chairman; Joanie Jacobson, Immediate Past-chairman; David Herzog; Jamie Meyerson; George Quittner; Nancy Skid; and Dorothy Spizman. The role of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to involve Jews in meeting Jewish communal needs locally, nationally and in Israel. Centers of Excellence of the Federation are: Community Relations, Jewish Community Center, Center for Jewish Education, Jewish Family Service, and Jewish Senior Services. The Jewish Press is a constitutional committee of the Jewish Federation. Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Committee, the Jewish Federation of Omaha or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole. The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment.
The Past in the Present invaded Poland and he and his family, along with the rest of the residents of his shtetl, fled before the advancing Germans. He experienced some hair-raising moments during that flight, including the murder of his uncle by German soldiers who overcame the refugees, and being packed, along with the rest of the townsfolk, into a synagogue that was then set ablaze. (The people were released at the last moment, through the intercession of a passing German general--who the villagers suspected had been the prophet Elijah in disguise.) Nevertheless, once the refugees reached another town and settled into some abandoned barracks, the boy who was my father made an announcement to his parents.
(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
brother their hearty congratulations and broke into song. “[It was] a promise to myself, a promise to myself… they thought I was so dead-set to go… so they let me go. My mother, peace be on her, brought me a few apples…” Several rabbis spoke at the siyyum, including my father, who expressed his pride in his son’s accomplishment. Sixty-seven years earlier, carrying his apples, his phylacteries and a prayer-book, he boarded a train to Bialystok--only to be told by a passenger that, due to the war, all the yeshivos in that city had relocated to Vilna. When the train arrived in Bialystok the boy asked how to get to Vilna. “Someone comes over to me and says… there is a train that goes to Vilna. I said I have no ticket. He said don’t worry about a ticket --go! People were hanging from the doors… I’m standing there … probably crying… something was telling me ‘you must get onto the train.’ And all of a sudden I see the train moving… so I grabbed the handle of the steps --people were standing on the steps and I couldn’t get on the steps… as the train started to move faster and faster, people pushed themselves in and I got between two cars…” I, too, am proud of my brother’s accomplishment. He and his wife--whose own commitment and assistance made his achievement possible--deserve tremendous credit for the thousands of hours of hard work and sacrifice that underlie it. But at the siyyum I couldn’t help but think a thought that I know they would agree with, a thought that has occurred to me countless times about my own life. All of us surely play a major role in whatever we may achieve. But in the end we can never really know just how much our achievements are due to our own will and determination, and how much to the merit of the choices, commitment and determination of those who arrived here before us. Rabbi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America. This article is courtesy of Am Echad Resources. Rabbi Shafran can be reached at: shafran@agudathisrael.org.
Editorial The Jewish Press is a Constitutional Committee of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Deadline for copy, ads and photos is: Thursday, noon, 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. Postal The Jewish Press (USPS 275620) is published weekly on Friday for $31 per calendar year U.S.; $36 foreign, by the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Phone: 402.334.6448; FAX: 402.334.5422. Periodical postage paid at Omaha, NE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154-2198 or e-mail to: jpress@jewishomaha. org.
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The Nuclear Threat is Growing...What Should American Jews Do?
FOCUS ON ISSUES by RABBI OR N. ROSE NEW YORK (JTA)--The threat of nuclear weapons is once again a part of the American consciousness. Terrorist groups are seeking to acquire unsecured weapons and mercurial nations like Iran and North Korea want to join the nuclear club. Military experts warn of the possibility of a nuclear strike on an American target within the next 10 years. What are we to do? How should the American Jewish community respond to these developments? Earlier this spring, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin-one of the great religious activists of the 20th century-died. From his deathbed, Coffin convened a group of national religious leaders to help revitalize the nuclear disarmament movement. I joined Faithful Security because I believe that it is sinful to live in a world in which human beings can destroy God’s creation in a matter of minutes. In the Book of Genesis, God places Adam in the garden of Eden in order that he should “till and tend” (2:15) the land. Responsible stewardship of the earth is an obligation that applies to all human beings. While I am not so naive as to think that we will achieve nuclear abolition any time soon, to strive for it is, I believe, a religious duty.
There are several steps that can be taken to reduce the threat of a nuclear catastrophe and to move toward the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons: Lock Down: World leaders must work more diligently at locking down the many loose nuclear weapons and materials scattered across the world. At present, only 40 percent to 50 percent of the weapons in the former Soviet Union have been secured. Russia, with assistance from the United States, must complete this task as soon as possible. I shudder at the thought of Al-Qaida or some other rogue group obtaining an unsecured weapon or nuclear materials. As former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) said in 2004, “We are in a race between catastrophe and cooperation.” A related security concern is the fact that today the presidents of the United States and Russia have only a few minutes to decide whether to launch a nuclear attack based on early-warning signals. A false warning could lead to a global calamity. This is particularly frightening because the Russian signal system has eroded since the end of the Cold War. To defuse this situation, all nuclear powers should remove their weapons from hair-trigger alerts. Reduce: Instead of keeping thousands of weapons in service or storage, the United States and Russia should dismantle them. When these stocks reach a few hundred each, other countries like Britain, France and China should follow suit. In this context, we must also consider at what point Israel might join this initiative. The time has come for Israeli and American Jewish leaders to discuss this issue
As Hurricane Season Begins, 2005 Damage Demands Attention
BEHIND THE HEADLINES by SAMMIE MOSHENBERG WASHINGTON (JTA)--The June 1 start of the hurricane season is upon us, but in reality the 2005 hurricane season isn’t over. And it won’t be until our nation has made a real commitment to the restoration of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast from the devastation wrought by Katrina and Rita. As the arguments continue as to how the flooding happened, how the evacuation became a disaster in itself, how New Orleans should be rebuilt and how the area economy can be revived--one can sense the nation’s eyes Moshenberg, glazing over. What was clear- Sammie Washington director of the ly once perceived as a nationNational Council for Jewish al debacle is receding into a Women. Credit: NCJW merely regional problem. This sinking feeling of abandonment was the inspiration for organizing Women of the Storm at the beginning of this year. A group of New Orleans and Gulf Coast women of widely diverse backgrounds banded together to save their home. These women understood a simple truth: seeing is believing, and hopefully, acting. They have begun a campaign to get every member of Congress to come to New Orleans and southern Louisiana to witness the impact of Katrina personally. They hope that a firsthand view will lead to a commitment to stay the course for the rebuilding of New Orleans and its levees, as well as the rest of the Gulf Coast. The National Council of Jewish Women became one of four national women’s organizations to sign on to help with this effort. With members in New Orleans since 1897, we have a long involvement with that extraordinary city. When Women of the Storm asked us for help, we pledged it. Probably millions of Americans have visited New Orleans to enjoy its unique culture and hospitality. It is time to return the favor. It is true that Katrina’s wrath can be summarized in sta-
tistics. For example, in southern Louisiana, 780,000 residents were displaced. At least 123,000 homes and 82,000 rental properties suffered major or severe damage. More than 18,000 businesses were destroyed. The insured losses totaled $25 billion. Those facts are just a start. But statistics just don’t do it for grasping the magnitude of Katrina. You can’t describe the Grand Canyon using just statistics. You can’t even capture why it is “grand’’ with just pictures. Neither can you convey the utter catastrophe of Katrina on a page or a screen. That became clear to me on a visit more than eight months after the hurricane as my NCJW guides drove me through block after block, mile after mile of devastated neighborhoods. The generosity of volunteers and contributors has been gratifying. But private efforts, while lending a much-needed human face to relief and rebuilding, can only go so far. It is imperative that the collective will of the nation be put to the wheel in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. That can only come through the commitment of our federal government, authorized by Congress. And that congressional commitment is unlikely to be forthcoming unless members of Congress see for themselves and fully grasp what has happened and what is at stake. Women of the Storm got national attention this spring for its campaign to bring Congress to New Orleans. Incredibly, the senators of 21 states have still not made it to the Gulf Coast, and 19 states have no representatives on the list of those witnessing Katrina’s aftermath. Of these, seven states have no members of Congress at all who can say they were there. In an age of congressional junkets to the far corners of the globe, this is a disgraceful record. So by all means, go to the Gulf Coast and pitch in if you can. Give money if you can. But first, pick up the phone and call your members of Congress. Ask them if they have been to Louisiana, and if they haven’t, ask them why not. Or go online and send them an e-mail from www.ncjw.org to urge them to go. The victims of Katrina and Rita need more than a perfunctory vote for relief-they need a passionate commitment to restore their cities and towns, their neighborhoods and their lives. Sammie Moshenberg is Director of Washington operations for the National Council of Jewish Women.
in an open and honest manner. Even if we believe that Israel has no choice but to maintain its nuclear weapons program for years to come, doing so is clearly a necessary evil--one that as Jews, we cannot live with forever. Freeze: World leaders must place a permanent ban on the development of new nuclear weapons. Again, the United States and Russia must lead by example. How can we possibly dissuade countries like Iran and North Korea from developing nuclear weapons if we continue to expand our arsenals? Such hypocrisy only serves to further motivate non-nuclear states to develop their arms. To quote Coffin, “Mahatma Gandhi once said that a fat person cannot speak persuasively to a skinny person about the virtues of not overeating.” For those who have grown cynical and do not believe that we can have an impact on the nuclear weapons debate, consider the fact that in 2005, various secular and religious groups lobbied successfully to eliminate funding from the federal budget for the “bunker buster” --a weapon 70 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. During this moment of renewed danger, let us recommit ourselves to the core Jewish values of peace and justice by working to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction. “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; establish the work of our hands’’ (Psalm 90:17). Rabbi Or N. Rose, director of informal education at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, is a founding member of Faithful Security and can be reached ar: www.faithfulsecurity.org.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR To the Editor: Every Friday, I look forward to the Jewish Press with great anticipation...and every week, I think the Pess gets better and better. Kudos for doing such a terrific job. Babe Nogg To the Editor: The proliferation of new technology and teenagers’ eagerness to incorporate it into their daily lives is worrisome for some parents. Especially when the parents themselves are not comfortable with new technology. Fortunately, many of the same parenting guidelines used to keep children safe on the road and with other people applies to keeping kids safe online. Curfews aren’t just for telephone usage and nights out with friends. A curfew is a great way to monitor computer usage. Keep computers in common areas of the house, such as the living room, kitchen or office, rather than a child’s bedroom where he or she can surf late into the night unsupervised. Free parental control software gives parents the ability to limit the amount of time a child is online per day as well as the actual hours of the day. Being social used to mean leaving the house to go meet up with friends at a party. Today, much of a teenager’s social life can be conducted while inside the house via chat rooms, instant messenger and other online gathering spots. But the same rules apply. Keep an open dialogue with your teenager about who they are talking to and where they are going online. Even the most vigilant parents can’t supervise their children 24/7. Like a safety gate at the top of a steep staircase, parental control software can keep your children from entering potential danger zones online, even when you’re not around. Parents can choose to block access to entire website categories, such as chat rooms, blogs or drug-related websites, or further customize the filter for each child by allowing or blocking specific websites. Wendy Townley Public Affairs Specialist Cox Communications, Inc.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
June 23, 2006
Candlelighting Friday, June 23, 8:43 p.m.
Synagogue Listings
B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE
B’nai Israel Synagogue
FRIDAY: Services followed by Oneg, 7:30 p.m.
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 nebraskajudaism.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.tiferethlincoln.org
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Allan Handleman, 334.6451, or Terri Greenwood, 334.6559.
BETH EL SYNAGOGUE FRIDAY: Musical Kabbalat Shabbat service, 6 p.m. SATURDAY: Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush sponsored by Ilsa and Marcel Kahn in honor of the anniversary of their wedding; Evening Service, 8:55 p.m. Sitter Service is available during Friday night and Saturday morning services, on a drop-in basis, at no charge. WEEKDAY SERVICES: Sunday, 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.; Weekdays, 6:55 a.m./5:30 p.m. ADULT EDUCATION SUNDAY: Bible Discussion Group, 10 a.m. K’TANTAN PLUS Our summer program, led by Daniel Christensen, meets in the chapel from 10:45-11:45 a.m. Our next session will be held, June 24. The program is open to children in K-6, and offers opportunities to take roles in leading Shabbat services, as well as the parasha discussion. For information, call Judy Rubin at 498.0904. WOMEN’S ROSH HODESH GROUP: Will meet Monday, June 26, 7 p.m. for a relaxing BBQ and social at the home of Evie Mitchell, 1835 So. 139 St. (All food will be kosher and vegetarian requests will be honored.) Discussion will include sharing favorite summer memories; ideas for next year’s Rosh Hodesh Group program schedule will also be explored. RSVP by June 22 to Mitchell, at evmit@cox.net or 333.7668.
HAZAK: Hazak members will meet at Beth El on July 4, 9 p.m., to watch Girls and Boys Town’s fireworks display from the synagogue parking lot. No RSVPs are necessary and there is no charge, but everyone is asked to BYOC (bring your own chair). For more information, contact 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, 7:30 p.m. SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m. Free babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Children’s Classes, 10 a.m. (contact the office for class schedule); Kiddush is sponsored by Rick Katzman in honor of the birthdays of Julee and Jacob Katzman; Mincha, 8:30 p.m.; Havdalah, 9:53 p.m. SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Contact the office for Mincha/ Ma’ariv service time. WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m; Contact the office for Mincha/Ma’ariv time. THURSDAY: “Women of the Torah” class, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Gross.
BEYT SHALOM FRIDAY: Shabbat in the Home.
CHABAD HOUSE Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m. FRIDAY: Service, 7 a.m. SATURDAY: Maamar class, 9 a.m.; Service, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush
luncheon follows the service. SUNDAY: Services, 8:30 a.m. WEEKDAYS: Minyan, 7 a.m. All events and programs are open to the community. For information or to register, call www. 330.1800 or visit 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. SUNDAY: Board of Trustees Meeting, 9:30 a.m-noon. ADULT EDUCATION SUNDAYS, 7 p.m. Intro to Judaism, led by Rabbi Emanuel.
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.
ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Andy Greenberg.
TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m.; “Shema Temple Israel: Many Stories, One Congregation”; d’var Torah by Barry Rubin, “Politics: a Jewish Prospective.” SATURDAY: Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:15-10:15 a.m.; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. SITTER SERVICE: Available
at each Friday evening service, 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, there are no facilities for infants. HABITAT FOR HUMANITY SUNDAY, June 25, 12:30 -4 p.m. at 4221 Himebaugh Ave.
NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m. SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m.
TIFERETH ISRAEL Services conducted by Rabbi Royi Shaffin. Minyan, MONDAY, & THURSDAY, 9 a.m. FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m. SATURDAY: Parashat Hashavu’a class, 8:30 a.m.; Morning service, 9:30 a.m. followed by Shabbat lunch and Talmud class. WEDNESDAY: Men’s Lunch Group will meet at the Knolls, 12:30 p.m. Contact Yale Gotsdiner at 423.7066.
EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press will be closed for Independence Day on Tuesday, July 4. The deadline for the July 7 issue is at noon on Wednesday, June 28. Questions? Call 402.334.6448
UNVEILING A stone setting for the late Maury Katzman will be held Sunday, June 25, 11 a.m., at Golden Hill Cemetery, Rabbi Jonathan Gross will officiate.
Facing Shrinking Numbers, Day School in London Admits Non-halachic Jews by VANESSA BULKACZ LONDON (JTA) -- The decision by a London-area Orthodox day school to admit students with only a Jewish father is provoking outrage in parts of the community. King Solomon High School’s move brought a vehement reaction from some members of the local community, including Rabbi Alex Chapper, who said the policy “effectively recognizes the liberal definition of who is a Jew.” The school’s action also has reopened a debate about the future of publicly funded Jewish schooling in the face of shifting Jewish demographics in London and surrounding areas. Rabbi James Kennard, King Solomon’s headmaster, defended the move. With a 2003 English law prohibiting state-funded religious schools from holding empty places for members of their own faith, the school had to seek solutions to fill the spaces or admit students with no Jewish ancestry. Under the law, all schools must have 30 students in each classroom. “It wasn’t our decision. The law dictates what we must do to fill our spots,” said Spencer Lewis, the school’s director of Jewish studies.
Government funding covers created the conditions that made 100 percent of secular studies and King Solomon the first United staffing costs and 90 percent of Synagogue affiliate school to capital costs for the building and implement its next-in-line policy. facilities. Jewish studies are fund“Young families are just not ed by contributions, usually from staying in that area,” Goulden students’ parents. said. Every stateaided Jewish school had to devise similar criteria to fill empty spaces, Kennard said, so other schools must have similar rules on their books -- but changing demographics in northeast London meant King Solomon had to Students at London's King Solomon High School. Credit: King Solomon High School go ahead and implement them. The demographic challenge Applications last year dropped does not exist in every part of by about 40 students, to 165. London: According to Goulden, Officials said the school, which the rest of the city’s Jewish has 150 places to fill each year, schools can’t keep up with admitted a “small” number of stu- demand. dents with only a Jewish father, While he refuted a BBC story but would not specify how many. last week claiming that only one School leaders say a decline in in 12 students applying to Jewish the local northeast London schools is admitted, he agreed Jewish community, combined that demand was high, citing one with increased competition from of the new primary schools being new schools in north London, opened this fall by parents whose
children were rejected from other schools. It’s unclear who made the final decision on the patrilineal policy, and Chapper, spiritual leader of the Ilford Federation Synagogue, blamed school governors as well. “An Orthodox school shouldn’t be giving this message. It’s wrong,” he told JTA. “If a Jewish man marries a non-Jewish woman, an Orthodox school shouldn’t give out the message that it’s OK.” As alternatives, Chapper suggested removing a grade, reducing admission numbers or admitting students with no Jewish ancestry, adding that accepting Muslim students would be better than the current situation. Kennard contended that going against the enrollment policy is “not an option” and that, if the school did so, it would lose its funding and have to become private. Chapper contended that most parents in his congregation condemn the decision. “A majority of parents chose to send their children to the school in the knowledge that they would be mixing with only Jewish children, and this is now underContinued on page 15
June 23, 2006
What Price Intelligence?
SPARKS FROM THE WORD by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parashat Sh’lakh L’kha (Editor’s note: this column was originally printed in the June 7, 2003, issue of the Jewish Press.) While Americans are getting a belly full of the pointing back and forth between various intelligence agencies, trying to affix the blame for the failure of intelligence, we are reading at the same time of intelligence in ancient Israel, or rather, among ancient Israelites. On the threshold of the Promised Land, the people decided to send a scouting party into the Land to see what it was like. Is there arable land? What kind of people live there? Are they militant or peaceful? Are their cities large or small? And, more important, are the cities walled and thus invulnerable? The scouting party returned with one buggy word, among all their other reports. They said, “The people were so strong that we seemed like grasshoppers next to them. Further, they must have looked upon us as little more than grasshoppers.” The Israelites moaned at this report and said, “It would be better for us to go back to Egypt. Were there
DEATHS GERTRUDE KORNEY Gertrude Korney died at the age of 91. Services were held June 18 at Mount Sinai Cemetery. She was preceded in death by her husband, Norman Korney, and daughter, Patricia Ann Kirsch. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Sharon and Alvin Milder; grandchildren, Jonathan Milder, Andrew Milder, Nicholas Kirsch, John Kirsch and Chantal Keets, Quincy Kirsch, Tom Kirsch, and James Kirsch; seven great-grandchildren; sister, Toni Golden; brother-in-law, Abe Schloff; and sister-in-law, Ida Ruth Poster. Memorials to the Lauritzen Gardens or the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. NORMAN D. RIPS Norman D. Rips died on June 18 at the age of 84. Services were held June 20 at Beth El Cemetery, He attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and served in the U.S. Army in the South Pacific during World War II. He was a self-made insurance executive and active in many charitable organizations, including the Nebraska Humane Society, the Jewish Community Center, Chabad of Omaha, and the ADL. He is survived by his wife Joan Rips; daughters, Beth Rips, and Catherine Rips of Indian Wells, CA; daughter and son-in-law, Susan and Dennis Paley; grandchildren, Philip and Jean Paley of Atlanta, GA; Nikki Paley-Cox and Ken Cox of Chicago, IL, and Lauren and Seth Topek of Houston, TX. Memorials to the Nebraska Humane Society.
Visions Smells the Roses!
not enough graves in Egypt that You brought us our here to die?” The sarcasm was not lost of the offended God. He responded that He would kill all these people off, leaving only Moses, and start a new and faithful people from a new line of ancestry. Moses, of course, refuses and says, “If you will forgive these people, all right. But if not, erase me also from the book that You are writing.” This lamentable story, the major part of our Sidra, reminds me about one of the natural failings of human beings. Indigenous to our character is the predilection to complain. What have you done for me...lately? How often have we heard others accept everything given to them, but then murmur unhappily about some one thing that they wanted? How often have we done this ourselves? Incidentally, many Jews are surprised to find that the “quorum” for a religious service, that is to say, 10, derives from this story. Of the 12 scouts that reported on the land, only two encouraged attempting to enter. The other 10, at one point, are called an edah--a congregation--and this is how we got our idea of a minyan-10! One thing more, one paragraph that we haven’t seen in all of this account is a paragraph with a complaint of the Children of Israel: “Dear Lord, You promised us this land again and again. Now we have to fight for it? What good is your promise?”
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JTA NEWS BRIEFS • A London television station reportedly broadcast an anti-Israel panel. The Jerusalem Post reported that Islam Channel, the largest Islamic television group in Europe, aired “Why anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism” against a backdrop reading, “Zionism: The cancer at the heart of international affairs.” Moderator Alan Hart, a former BBC correspondent, said that “the anti-Semitism card is something the Zionists have exploited to suppress debate,” and dismissed reporting about Israel’s existential concerns as “propaganda,” the Post reported. • Atlanta’s Jewish population grew by 60 percent during the past decade, according to a recent study. Atlanta’s Jewish population is nearly 120,000, making it the 11th-largest Jewish community in America. The study, designed by Ukeles Associates in coordination with the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, measured demographics and Jewish identity. Details were released Tuesday. Among the highlights: Atlanta has twice as many children as seniors and intermarriage rates are among the highest of any U.S. community. Nearly 20 percent of Atlanta’s Jews are Georgia-born; of those born elsewhere, 30 percent hail from New York.
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Statewide Classified • U.S. residents age 18 and older can submit an original kosher recipe that includes at least one Manischewitz product. Entries can be submitted online at www.manischewitz.com, by Sept. 15 or to Simply Manischewitz Cook-Off, c/o Cooking Light, Time & Life Building, 20th Floor, 1271 Ave. of the Americas, New York, N.Y., 10020, by Sept. 20.
London Day School Continued from page 14 mined,” he said in a recent sermon. “Parents of existing pupils have been betrayed.” Kennard, for his part, said he hadn’t heard any complaints from parents. In addition, a number of opinions in support of the school’s move have appeared on Jewish Web sites and bulletin boards, such as somethingjewish.co.uk. Discussions between Chapper and the school’s governors are ongoing. “The policy is set for 2007, but I’ve been having meetings with school leaders and hope we can find alternatives for 2008,” Chapper said. “I’m against the decision the governors made, not the school itself.’’
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Rosalie and Maurice Meiches were among 35 Visionaires who enjoyed the summer floral displays at Lauritzen Gardens after lunch at Louie M’s Burger Lust Café.
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Page 16
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
June 23, 2006
Outcome Could Be up in the Air as Magen David Adom Vote Nears by RACHEL SILVERMAN NEW YORK (JTA)--The excitement over a December agreement to admit Israel’s Magen David Adom to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement after a 60-year exclusion may have been premature. This week 192 states, as well as 183 national emergency relief societies, are convening in Geneva to decide whether to allow Israel full membership, but the route appears less smooth than advocates believed just a few months ago. The December agreement to allow a neutral red crystal symbol appeared to have overcome Arab and Muslim states’ longstanding refusal to accept a red Star of David, the symbol of Israel’s emergency services agency. That vote suggested to many that Israel’s entry into the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement was not far off. But now Israeli and American supporters of Magen David Adom worry their optimism may have been a bit hasty. Officials from Switzerland--which, as the depository state of the Geneva Conventions, is charged with ensuring MDA’s compliance with certain protocols --reported problems during a visit to Israel last week. The protocols are part of a memorandum of understanding signed by MDA and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society last November that requires Israel to, among other things, allow Palestinian ambulances quick and easy passage through military checkpoints. Sources with Jewish organizations say Swiss officials did not think Israel was complying satisfactorily. One source close to the issue said the Palestinians’ new, Hamas-led government has been using
ambulance alliances clear. drivers other Apolitical MDA Fights Political Agenda The Syrian those Notes AFMDA Website than e n v o y approved by On June 21, Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s first aid brought up Israeli security and disaster relief organization, is expecting to finally become the question services, caus- a full member of the International Red Cross after 58 years of of Arab intering delays at rejection. The irony of this long overdue decision is that the ests at a the check- Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) will only be allowed M o n d a y points. morning sesmembership if Israel is allowed membership. In accord A lack of official recognition has not prevented MDA from sion, a day the with another fulfilling the Jewish and humanitarian mandate of pikuach before p r o t o c o l , nefesh, saving lives both in Israel and around the world. On a c o n f e r e n c e Israel is allow- yearly basis MDA serves the needs of nearly 600,000 Israelis got undering two with its fleet of ambulances while providing 98% of all blood way, Franklin P a l e s t i n i a n needs for the society. said. ambulances “He threw Internationally, MDA has served in crisis spots around the to operate in down a markworld for 50 years alongside Red Cross, bringing emergency e a s t e r n er,” Franklin relief to victims of hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes. In April Jerusalem but said. “He of this year,specialists flew to Romania to assist with the disto has expressed wanted astrous flooding of the River Danube. During the Katrina nightreser vations remind peomare, MDA started “United Brotherhood” to collect donations, about doing ple” that Arab clothing and equipment in Israel to help meet the needs of the so, claiming and Islamic 400,000 homeless along the American gulf coast. The relief “are that the vehistates effort after Southeast Asian tsunami found MDA running two cles have been fully prepared emergency clinics in Sri Lanka and providing thousands of used to transto make troublood units. At every turn, the MDA has offered, and in some port weapons ble.” cases even pleaded with nations in need to accept their help. and terrorists. In the One source, speaking on condition of final days before a vote on Israeli memanonymity, suggested that Israel’s reti- bership--expected Wednesday or cence may have other roots as well: The Thursday--those in Geneva and on Israeli government “is feeling uncomfort- Capitol Hill were scrambling to push able” with the fact that formally recogniz- Israel’s case. ing the Palestinian group “could imply Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), who long recognition of a Palestinian state,” the has advocated for Israel’s inclusion in the source said. international movement, was to hold a Further challenges could come from news conference in support of MDA on Arab and Islamic nations or their emer- Tuesday in Washington. That follows a gency service societies. letter that Clinton and Sen. Elizabeth Shai Franklin, who is attending the con- Dole (R-NC) sent in April to the U.S. secference as director of international organ- retary of state, Condoleezza Rice, asking izations at the World Jewish Congress, her to urge Congress to approve the Red said Syria’s representative has made his Cross’ adoption of the red crystal symbol.
Peter Eisenhauer, a spokesperson for the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, said the bureau continues to be “actively engaged” on the issue and has a delegation in Geneva. Major Jewish organizations, such as the American Jewish Committee, also are lobbying on the issue. Ambassador Aaron Jacob, the AJCommittee’s associate director of international affairs, said the group has approached many countries for their vote, especially countries that supported Israel in the December vote. “We’re asking them to do the same in Geneva again,” he said. Jacob admitted that “there are still some pending issues regarding the memorandum of understanding,” but he expressed confidence that “the outstanding issues would eventually be sorted out.” Franklin, speaking from Geneva, said the World Jewish Congress also is involved in last-minute campaigning. He said his organization is targeting “countries on the fence” and trying to educate national relief societies, which were not present during the December vote. said he sensed the Franklin International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement is proceeding “like a plane rolling down a runway.” “The opening session this morning made it clear the federation is agreed on moving forward to admit” the Israeli and the Palestinian agency, he said. “The movement now is fully committed.” Still, he acknowledged that Arab and Islamic states could present “potential snags. Will questions just sort of be on the record...or will they really obstruct, really impede the proceedings?” he asked. “And that we can’t tell.”