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in memoriam: Toby Fellman
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anneTTe van de kaMp-WrighT Editor of the Jewish Press Oftentimes, when we lose someone dear to us, we come together and share favorite memories. We tell stories about how and when the person we say goodbye to has impacted our lives and, just as often, we wish he or she could hear us.
Kaplan Book Group page a3
Our Shaliach is coming, and he needs our help page a4
Here’s why Israel and India’s leaders couldn’t get enough of each other page B1
inside Viewpoint Synagogues Life Cycles
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Toby Fellman
eMMa hochFeLder Intern, Jewish Press he most highly anticipated week of the summer. The week when friends become enemies and rivals become teammates. All bets are off. It is a battle for the ages. It’s Color Wars week at J Camp: Red Team vs. Blue Team.
This year the teams were composed of 53 Blue Team players and 53 Red Team players with the most-beloved camp counselors as coaches. The fiercest competitors were ready to take part in Gaga, warball, and all other Ruach related festivities. The JCC’s campus became divided June 26-30. The Youth Lounge was masked in See going for the gold page a2
Friday Learning Series: Focusing on Jerusalem
Mark kirchhoFF Community Engagement and Education On Friday, July 14 from 11:15 a.m. until noon in the Kripke Jewish Federation Library, Rabbi Shlomo Abramovich continues with his popular Friday Learning Series by presenting a three-part study of the city of Jerusalem – the second and third sessions being on July 21 and 28. When Rabbi Shlomo was asked why he chose this subject at this time, he responded, “It is the time of the year in the Hebrew calendar when we mourn the destruction of the Temple – the 17th of Tammuz and 9th of Av (July 11 and Aug. 1). This is a time of sorrowful reflection for the Jewish people
Credit: Wayne McLean via Wikimedia commons around the world, and a time that will always be a part of our history. I think it is a good opportunity to focus on why Jerusalem is so important to Jews.” The 17th of Tammuz (Shiv’ah Asar b’Tammuz) commemorates the breach of the walls of Jerusalem before the destruction of the Second Temple. It marks the beginning of the three-week mourning period leading up to Tisha B’Av (9th of Av). Tisha B’Av commemorates the an-
niversary of a number of disasters in Jewish history, primarily the destruction of both the First Temple by the Babylonians and the Second Temple by the Romans in Jerusalem. Tisha B’Av is regarded as perhaps the saddest day in the Jewish calendar and it is thus believed to be a day which is destined for tragedy. During these three sessions, Rabbi Shlomo will present the history of Jerusalem – focusing especially on See Friday Learning Series page a3
Toby (Edith) Fellman, who passed away June 20, heard us. Not only that, she remembered: our names, our faces, who our children were and what they were up to. She made knowing others, really knowing others, into an art form. In a world forever shifting and moving, she was a solid pillar of Temple Israel. She was simply always there, wherever she was needed. “Toby was tough as nails and as gentle and nourishing as a light spring rain,” Temple Israel Religious School Director Sharon Comisar-Langdon said at the memorial service. “We learned the most important lessons from Toby: the lessons of life, and she led by example. She was a woman of valor. Toby was our best friend, our mother, our aunt, our sister, our grandmother. It was fitting, at the cemetery this morning, that there was a teacher with his class of students, who we needed to shush. Toby chuckled.” Close friend Sandy Passer delivered a heartfelt tribute to Toby at Temple Israel. “As I stand here, I look out into this amazing sea of faces,” she said. “I have no doubt that Toby would be able to greet each of you by name. During the past six months, I drove her to many appointments. No matter the neighborhood, she would point out homes, telling who had lived there, their life stories and even remember invasions of bats. Again, demonstrating her amazing memory for names and details. I would often tell her, “Toby, you should write a book!” She was a true historian of people and places in Omaha.” Toby Fellman graduated from Central High School with the class of 1954. She attended Omaha University for two years and the St. Joseph Hospital School of X-Ray Technicians, where in June 1961 she received her certificate as an x-ray technician. She worked in this capacity at the Prairie Clinic for 5 years. Toby was especially proud of her accomplishments as an x-ray technician and would often relay this fact to those in the hospital when she had a radiographic test performed, Sandy Passer said. In addition, she was an active member of The Nebraska Medical Assistants Association. She attended the National Convention in See Toby Fellman page B7