Vol. LXXXVI No. 43 Omaha, NE
Celebrating 86 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
27 Tamuz, 5767 July 13, 2007
String of conservative rulings leaves groups Jewish cop joins Antiasking if they need new advocacy strategy Defamation League board by RON KAMPEAS WASHINGTON (JTA) -Following a string of conservative rulings in the closing weeks of this year’s Supreme Court session, some Jewish officials are suggesting that they may be forced to abandon their decades-long strategy on relying on the courts to protect liberal gains on a host of issues. For decades many Jewish groups counted on the top court to correct what they saw as the excesses of legislatures and chief executives across the country. But with the close of the court’s first full term with two recent conservative arrivals, Chief Following the close of this year's Supreme Court term, Jewish groups are wondering whether Justice John Roberts and Credit: Robert Dodge or not their legal strategy is off kilter. Justice Samuel Alito, Jewish sanguine when cases would come up, with the sense we groups say the situation has reversed itself. Not only has the Supreme Court thoroughly aban- would get a decision in our favor,” said Jeff Sinensky, legal counsel to the American Jewish Committee. doned a decades-old tradition of upholding the liberal gains of the 1950s and 1960s, it has become the premier “Looking forward, it’s likely that the majority, now bulwark of conservatism now that Democrats have headed by Justice John Roberts and with Justice Samuel retaken Congress and the White House is weakened to Alito coming on the court, have a fundamentally different perspective than the Jewish community.” the point of impotency. “To put it in the historical perspective, we were quite Continued on page 2
by GARY JAVITCH Special to the Jewish Press Except for the Yiddish first name, you might not even think the sandy-blonde woman was Jewish. And to look at the stylishly attired woman, dressed in a dapper black pinstriped pants suit, it was hard to imagine that she was an undercover operative for the Omaha Police Department. Yet that was how Detective Sergeant Shayna Louise Ray introduced herself to the Anti-Defamation League board last month as one of their newest members. Equipped with, among other things, a Master’s degree in Public Administration, Ray was set to help the ADL monitor hate groups and act as a liaison with the police department. With the exception of Israel, there are so few Jewish cops around that it may seem like an unusual occupation for a Jewish male or female. But for Ray, seeking a career on the police force was something she had always wanted to do. “I got the idea to become a policewoman after reading ‘Nancy Drew’ novels as a kid,” Ray remarked. “Besides my mom who has an engineering degree always thought I’d have more advantages in a male-oriented career. With a smile, she added, “‘Charlie’s Angels’ were my role models.” Still, becoming a cop would not prove easy for Shayna, and she has a way to go to achieve all her goals. Her parents, the former Jennine Kraft (now Goldberg) and Harlan Rimmerman were divorced when she was almost five. Continued on page 3
Nurses express a commitment to residents beyond clinical and administrative duties by OZZIE NOGG The dictionary definition: Nurse -- to tend the sick, injured or infirm; to comfort and treat, especially in order to prevent pain; to contribute to an individual’s physical and emotional well-being. Nursing -- a science and an art; a profession that promotes quality of life; the prudent use of clinical judgment to enable people to improve, maintain, or recover health, whatever their disease or disability, from birth to death. The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home definition: Nurse, nursing -- Darlene Golbitz and Sara Wolfson, who provide all the above to the elderly in our community. ••• Golbitz has been a nurse at the Blumkin Home since the doors opened, 25 years ago this November. “In Pittsburgh, where I grew up, taking care of the elderly was a way of life for my family. My grandmother was in a nursing home for twenty-five years, and we visited her every weekend from the time I was six. I saw my family honor her, even though she often had no idea who they were. I think that’s part of why I’ve chosen to stay so long at the Blumkin Home. Call it payback time.” Sept. 18 marks Wolfson’s 18th year at the RBJH, a fitting connection to the Hebrew numerical equivalent of chai -life. “I never understood the geriatric population until I started working here,” she said. “I have come to love and respect
Inside Opinion Page see page 12
Sara Wolfson, seated, consults with fellow nurse Darlene Golbitz about a resident at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. the residents in a way I never thought I would. Many of them are from the New York area, so I can talk to them about Coney Island or hot dogs or the Yankees. They help me be a little less homesick for the relatives I left behind back East. I only knew one grandparent, and the Blumkin Home residents have all been
my substitutes.” ••• Both women were inspired and influenced by their mothers. “My mom was a labor and delivery nurse,” Wolfson explained. “I used to read some of her books and watch her grade papers from the vocational nursing course she taught.”
She studied at the University of Arizona in Tucson and received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1979. After moving to Omaha she worked at the University of Nebraska Medical Center on the medical/surgical floor. “I left the workforce for a while when I got pregnant, but volunteered with the Red Cross, giving talks as part of their AIDS Speaker’s Bureau. That was tough. It was at the beginning of AIDS in Nebraska and people were very scared.” Golbitz delivers her backstory in one delightful take. “My mother was the deciding factor in my career choice and she was insistent that I become a nurse because her boss’s daughter had started nursing school and my mother’s boss was her guiding force so it seemed like an ‘okay’ choice, especially since my aunts wanted me to become a teacher like them but I couldn’t see myself as a teacher and so, now mind you I was only 14 at the time, I made the decision to become a nurse.” After high school, Golbitz attended nursing school at Montefiore Hospital in Pittsburgh on a full scholarship. After becoming an RN, she received further training through the University of Pittsburgh, and subsequently graduated from UNO in 1995 with a BGS degree, concentrating on gerontology and public administration. In addition, Darlene has a Certificate in Gerontology. Continued on page 5
This Week: Health & Wellness Starts on Page 12Coming Next Month: The Learning Curve education issue, Aug. 10 See Front Page Stories & More at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’
Next Generation in Business features Health Fair provider: Page 6
RBJH nurses: up to the challenge: Page 7
Jewish nursing pioneers make their mark on noble profession: Page 14