July 15, 2011

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Gaza pullout: six years later

July 15, 2011 13 Tammuz 5771 Vol. 90 | No. 44

This Week

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Kindness, compassion and connection topped the agenda recently for students in Beth El Synagogue’s Talmud Torah, as they reached out to children living in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan last March. BESTT students spent part of a religious-school

The Hadassah Everyday Cookbook Page 6

New houses under construction in Shiloh, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

Australia’s Aborigine who is president of her Orthodox shul Page 7

Israeli expats flocking to Berlin Page 12

Inside Point of view Synagogues In memoriam

Next Week Health & Wellness See Front Page stories and more at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on Jewish Press

BESTT students make Japan connection

8 10 12

by LINDA GRADSTEIN SHILOH, West Bank (JTA) -Yisrael Medad remembers when just eight families lived in the red-roofed homes in this Jewish settlement deep in the hills of the West Bank.

Now some 2,500 Israelis live here, and Shiloh has playgrounds, schools and a yeshiva. The red-roofed homes sprawl over several hills, and new homes continue to be built. At the bottom of the hill is the archaeological excavation of the biblical Shiloh, where the tabernacle is believed to have been built.

Shiloh is often cited as one of the settlements likely to be uprooted

under any final peace deal with the Palestinians. It is relatively isolated, about 28 miles north of Jerusalem, and halfway between the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Nablus.

But with little movement in IsraeliPalestinian negotiations, Shiloh is not likely to disappear anytime soon.

And even in the long term, any discussion of dismantling Jewish settlements in the West Bank is haunted

by Israel’s experience six years ago this summer, when the removal of some 9,000 settlers from their homes in the Gaza Strip was followed by a Hamas takeover of Gaza and rocket attacks against Israel.

Credit: Ryan Simon via CC

“The expulsion from Gaza should serve as a warning for any withdrawal from Judea and Samaria,” said Hamutal Cohen of the Committee for the Residents of Gush Katif, which was the largest bloc of Jewish settlements in Gaza. “The government totally failed with 9,000 settlers. How can they manage with tens of thousands?”

Only 20 percent of the 1,700 families forced to leave Gaza have moved into permanent homes, according to the committee. Many, especially farmers, have not been able to find work.

Continued on page 2

Lina Kogan pays it forward

by JOYCE SCHUR Orthodox Union Web Content Editor Her name is Lina Kogan. For the past twenty year she’s been living in Omaha, but prior to that she lived in various places along the east coast, including New York and Maryland.

She’s well traveled and loves to study different cultures; she has a particular affinity for Israel.

What makes her story special isn’t the fact that she was born and then raised in Minsk, Belarus, for the first eight years of her life. What makes her story interesting isn’t the fact that her family left Russia because they wanted religious freedom (in Minsk, Lina’s family was not permitted to attend synagogue services).

What makes Lina’s story truly unique is that Lina, who was born

Roman Pitman, left, Ruben Pitman, and Lina Kogan. deaf, was able to receive a special education for the deaf/hard of hearing as well as a Jewish education once her family arrived in the Midwest and settled in Omaha.

As a teenager, she participated in her synagogue’s youth group with the assistance of an interpreter and was able to interact socially with others her age via the many local synagogue activities. The Jewish community of Omaha embraced

Lina and made social, educational integration a reality. And now, Lina Kogan is giving back to her community and “paying it forward” for other community members who are deaf/hard of hearing.

Lina, who spent time as a young adult working and studying on the east coast, briefly attended Gallaudet University for the Deaf, and eventually returned to Omaha to put down Continued on page 2

Margalit said the children’s cards “express empathy, optimism, friendship, and a heart-toheart message that transcends oceans and cultures.” session with art teacher Daniel Christensen, creating colorful cards of encouragement which will be included in care packages sent to Japanese schoolchildren.

The card-writing campaign was spearheaded by Beth El congregant Dr. Ruth Margalit, who serves as director of the Service Learning Academy, College of Public Health, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Margalit is part of UNMC’s Japan Relief Initiative, which is working with local and international organizations to coordinate assistance to affected individuals.

“Through personal and professional connections, the group is in communication with individuals in Japan, in the affected areas, and are trying to be responsive to community-identified needs,” she explained, adding, “Communicating with the children was identified as a priority.”

Upon a friend’s suggestion, Margalit contacted the Raymond Geddes Company, a school-supply business in Baltimore, asking if they would contribute to the initiative. In response, the company contributed what she called “600 pounds of generosity,” including fun, colorful stationery, pens, markers, crayons and erasers, to be sent to Japanese children. These items, along with the BESTT students’ cards (and greetings from other participating schools in town), Continued on page 6

2 | The Jewish Press | July 15, 2011

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Gaza pullout: six years later Continued from page 1 Shalom Hartman Institute, says support for Jewish settlers “You can’t fix the trauma and crisis these people are still in the West Bank has gone mainstream in a way that support suffering six years later,” Danny Danon, a Knesset member for settlements in Gaza never did. from the Likud Party, told JTA. “Marriages have broken up “Two generations have grown up in Israel who see the setand a lot of kids dropped out of school. People still live like tlements not only as part of Israel but as the heart of Israel,” refugees.”

Halevi told JTA. “Any withdrawal from the West Bank There is great debate in Israel over whether the withdraw- would involve mass refusal of soldiers to follow orders, and al from Gaza, which then-Prime I am deeply worried about the ability of Minister Ariel Sharon carried out in the army to continue to be an effective August 2005, was a strategic failure or fighting force.” success.

Halevi estimates that Jewish settlers On the one hand, Israel no longer had and their supporters make up 40 perto deal with the daily security threats cent of some combat units; an Israeli and headache of protecting 9,000 Jews army spokesman said the IDF does not in Gaza. And on the diplomatic front, release figures “on such a sensitive subIsrael’s withdrawal ended Israel’s formal ject.” Orthodox men, who constitute a occupation of the coastal strip, which it wellspring of support for the settlehad captured from Egypt in 1967 but ments, continue to volunteer for comnever incorporated into Israel proper. bat units in large numbers.

On the other hand, a year after the These Orthodox youth also are fierceIsraeli withdrawal, Hamas seized conly loyal to their rabbis. When Israeli trol of Gaza, and rocket fire from Gaza police recently detained Rabbi Dov into southern Israel increased dramatiLior of the Jewish settlement of Kiryat cally. At the end of 2008, Israel Arba to question him on charges of launched a three-week war to stem the incitement and racism, hundreds of Credit: Mideastweb.org Orthodox youth in Jerusalem blocked rocket fire, drawing international condemnation for its military actions. Over the last few years, streets and clashed with police. If Lior issued a ruling that it Palestinian advocates also have argued that Israel’s blockade is forbidden to force Jews to leave Jewish settlements in the of Gaza, which has loosened recently, constituted a de facto West Bank, many Orthodox Jewish soldiers might find continuation of the occupation. themselves torn.

Danon says the Gaza withdrawal was clearly a mistake and Gershon Baskin of the Israel Palestine Center for Research a West Bank pullback would be an even bigger mistake. and Information says such fears are overstated and that most Citing the rocket threat, he noted that an Israeli withdrawal religious soldiers would follow the orders of the army, not even from part of the West Bank would leave central Israel - their rabbis.

- including Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Ben Gurion Airport -“Israel is a state where the rule of law works,” Baskin told well within Palestinian rocket range.

JTA. “If there’s a democratic decision which is seen as legit“People in Israel were willing to pay a heavy price in imate, supported by Knesset and perhaps backed by a referexchange for a real peace, but now they feel betrayed,” endum, the public will not be behind any settlers who will Danon said. “They feel like it was all for nothing.” take the law into their own hands and use violence.”

Then there’s the military challenge inherent in any West “It will be much more traumatic than the Gaza withdrawBank withdrawal. During the pullout from Gaza, many in al. But if people are convinced that peace is going to be real Israel speculated that pro-settler soldiers and officers would and settlement withdrawal would be gradual and incremendisobey orders to evacuate the Gaza settlers. That did not tal over time,” they would support it, he said. happen and most soldiers did their jobs. The few who in It’s not clear whether Jews who live in settlements like good conscience felt they could not perform this duty were Shiloh would have the option of staying on under Palestinian quietly excused. sovereignty or whether they would want to remain. Some But a withdrawal from the West Bank could be different. Palestinian officials, including Palestinian Authority Prime For one thing, the number of settlers whose communities Minister Salam Fayyad, have welcomed the idea, but PA would not be annexed to Israel could exceed 80,000 (an esti- President Mahmoud Abbas has expressed reservations. mated 320,000 Jews are living in West Bank settlements, not “If a Palestinian state is created and my security could be including eastern Jerusalem, which Israel annexed). ensured, I would definitely choose to stay,” said Medad of Yossi Klein Halevi, a journalist and a fellow at Jerusalem’s Shiloh, who has lived in the settlement since 1981.

Lina Kogan pays it forward

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Continued from page 1 roots. Today she and Roman Pitman (who is also deaf and emigrated from St. Petersburg, Russia) have a ten-month old son named Ruben. Lina continues to be active in adult Jewish education classes; she earned certifications as a CID (Central Institute for the Deaf) Interpreter and infant massage therapist. But what really sparks Lina’s passion these days is to ensure the creation of Jewish religious and social programming that is specifically geared for the deaf/hard of hearing, as a supplement to interpreters when mainstreaming into existing programs.

To that end, Lina has established Omaha’s connections with the Orthodox Union’s Our Way Program. Our Way is a branch of the OU’s National Jewish Council on Disabilities (NJCD) in cooperation with Yachad and NCSY. Established in 1969, Our Way for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is dedicated to providing resources, services, and social programming for the Jewish population with hearing issues. Our Way/NJCD opens the doors for the deaf and hard of hearing in all areas of life: religious, social, educational, and vocational.

Our Way/NJCD sponsors Shabbatons (Weekend Retreats), selected prayers illustrated in sign language publications, educational support and resource services for the deaf and hard of hearing communities as well as trips to Israel and singles programs for young adults who are looking to find their future life partner. As Lina describes it, the Our Way programs have had a powerful impact on her life.

“I feel, WOW, this a place I really belong, it’s a deaf Jewish world, a completely different feeling from being in a hearing synagogue setting where there’s still a sense of isolation and aloneness,” she says.

According to Lina, Omaha currently serves five Jewish deaf/hard of hearing individuals, but that population is expanding. For this reason, Lina was pleased to act as hostess to Omaha’s first Our Way Family Shabbaton which took

place June 17-18 at Beth Israel Synagogue. Rabbi Eliezer Lederfeind, Director of Our Way, led a key session on How to Pray, What to Say. Back by popular demand, Rabbi David Kastor, served as the Deaf Scholar-in-Residence, discussing the The Three Weeks, in addition to other workshops, along with a question and answer session.

“Jewish deaf people like to see deaf role models in general and enjoy the same mode of communication such as sign language,” Rabbi Kastor explained, “Also, they are thirsty to learn Torah so much and I clearly enjoy teaching them. It’s important to recognize that the deaf/hard of hearing enjoy themselves by socializing with other deaf Jewish people.”

Omaha’s Friday-Saturday event included three delicious meals and snacks, interpreted services in the synagogue, a beginner’s minyan, child care, program sessions, and an opportunity to join together with others to live and learn about Judaism. Saturday night culminated with the showing of the popular documentary Ingelore about a young deaf girl and her family who escaped the Nazis during World War II. The film was shown in sign, voice and captions.

Lina says: “The event was very successful in my home town. Beth Israel’s Rabbi Jonathan Gross now wants to become proficient in sign language and has already started learning how to spell. He plans to contact our JCC with the intent of setting up classes for the signing of Jewish words. I have offered to teach. It is surprising how few hearing Jewish interpreters there are in the Midwest; there are many who live on the east coast. In Omaha, for example, we only have one. Our Shabbaton was also attended by the only hearing Jewish interpreter from St. Louis.”

Rabbi Kastor said: “Lina and Roman were wonderful hosts for the Shabbaton. The program was a good start. Hopefully we’ve planted a seed in Omaha for future programs to come with Hashem’s help. We learned a lot about that area and are expanding on ideas that are intended to reach more of the deaf Jewish population in surrounding the cities.”

July 15, 2011 | The Jewish Press | 3

Romney’s deal-closing skills appeal to Jewish Republicans that goes further than the policy In addition to Sembler, a shopping center charges him with making it worse. At an that President Obama signed off developer, Romney has the backing of other RJC event in April, Romney pointedly on in subsidizing care. Romney prominent Jews, including investment man- refused to make an issue of Obama’s birth. has said that he opposes Obama’s ager Lew Eisenberg, investor Sam Fox and It’s an approach that some Republicans national health care reforms lobbyist Wayne Berman. privately deride as “gentlemanly.” mainly because they override the Another emphasis for Romney in his Romney’s backers say he seems more authorities of states to form their appeal to Jewish backers is the shared expe- comfortable in his skin this time, extempoown policies. rience of being in a religious minority. rizing more and making jokes at his own The National Jewish Democratic Council Romney, 64, is a Mormon. expense. Sometimes he tries a little too hard recently called Romney the “ultimate politi“Mitt and I can appreciate coming from -- at the RJC event in Las Vegas, he made a cal chameleon” for what the council said another heritage,” his wife, Ann, told the point of saying that he’s a country music fan. were his efforts to distance himself from the Republican Jewish Coalition in April.

Kaufman says she’s still not sure where health care policy of Romney stands on abortion Massachusetts. rights, which NCJW backs. As Romney’s campaign told JTA a candidate for governor in that he is too busy now for an 2002, Romney famously interview. appeared wounded when his Romney, the son of former rival challenged his pledge Michigan Gov. George Romney, not to interfere with a who also ran for president in woman’s right to choose. Now 1968, has made his business he calls himself “pro-life” and acumen a central plank of his supports cutting funds to appeal to Jewish backers. In his Planned Parenthood, inaugural “Jewish” speech in his although he will not sign on last run, to an audience of to a broader pledge to cut Yeshiva University donors in funding to hospitals that proApril 2007, he cast his career vide abortions. successes as a buyout czar as a While Romney has been a matter of “chutzpah.” more moderate critic of the “I spent most of my life in the Obama administration than private sector, first by consultsome of his rivals, he has ing the major corporations, and come out swinging forcefully Potential GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney, left, chatting with Mel then by starting and acquiring on Israel and Middle East Sembler, a lead Romney backer and Sheldon Adelson, major backers of companies,” he said. “It takes issues. the Republican Jewish Coalition, at the RJC’s winter leadership conferchutzpah, I believe, to buy a In May he accused Obama ence at the Adelson-owned Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, April 2, 2011. company from somebody else, of “throwing Israel under the Credit: Ron Kampeas someone who knows the busibus” after the president called ness inside out, someone who has decided Romney is much more focused this time for Israel to hold talks with the Palestinians that now is the best time to sell, someone around, Brooks says, with a campaign intent based on 1967 lines, with land swaps. And at who has hired an investment banker to on taking on Obama and not trading pot- the Las Vegas RJC event, Romney accused hawk it to everybody in the world, and then shots with his rivals.

Obama of not being tough enough on Iran to think that you -- having paid more than “One of the reasons candidates do better and not following through with the threat of anyone else in the entire world -- you some- historically is they learn the lessons from the crippling sanctions. how think you are going to make a profit on past,” Brooks said. “They’re doing things “The consequence of not understanding your investment.” very differently, they’re being much more negotiations has been extraordinarily diffiHe added, “What we did is done every day strategic and much more focused than in cult,” Romney said. by you in the private sector.”

2008, much leaner, not being everywhere all It’s a posture that pleased Sembler, who It’s an approach that helped Romney win over the place and overexposed.” pointed out that he accompanied Romney what Matt Brooks, who directs the Romney refused to criticize his party on his first official Israel visit, in 2007.

Republican Jewish Coalition, calls the rivals in his first GOP debate, although polls “His position on Israel is going to be excel“fundraiser primary:” the race to raise cash. of Republicans show him virtually tied with lent,” said Sembler, who noted the success of “They see him as a real leader on the eco- Michele Bachmann, a Tea Party favorite. He another governor he had accompanied to nomic stuff,” Brooks said of Romney’s sup- makes a point of saying that Obama did not the Jewish state, in 1998: George W. Bush. porters. inherit the financial crisis, although he

America decides 2012 RON KAMPEAS WASHINGTON (JTA) -- For all the talk among pundits of Mitt Romney’s charisma problem, Romney’s Jewish supporters say what’s most inspiring about the Republican presidential candidate is that he actually does rather than just talk.

Furthermore, the very characteristics that cost the former Massachusetts governor his 2008 presidential bid and dogged his reentry into the ‘12 race are what have made Romney the front-runner among Jewish Republican givers, notably his readiness to compromise in order to seal a deal.

“He’s got a lot of common sense, he’s got a success pattern in his life,” Mel Sembler, one of Romney’s principal Jewish backers, told JTA on Tuesday after accompanying him on a fundraising swing in Florida that netted the campaign $1.8 million.

“I like a man who’s been in business for 25 years, who’s made a payroll and who understands what the real world is like,” Sembler said.

It’s no coincidence that Romney’s Jewish backers come out of the business community, say those who know him. Unlike much of the 2012 crop of GOP candidates, who appeal to the party’s Tea Party insurgency with a language of no compromise, Romney knows how to close a deal with allies and rivals alike.

Nancy Kaufman, who directed the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston when Romney was governor from 2003 to 2007, said his willingness to work with Democrats in the state Legislature was critical to passing health care reform in Massachusetts.

“No matter how hard he tries to distance himself, now health care in Massachusetts is a model for the country,” said Kaufman, who now guides the National Council of Jewish Women. “We were all surprised by his leadership. It wasn’t what we expected.”

Republican rivals have slammed Romney for helping to shape a Massachusetts policy

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4 | The Jewish Press | July 15, 2011

Beyond canned food drives: Jewish food gardens donate bounty

by SUE FISHKOFF Modern Orthodox day school. Last year, the farm grew 1,200 pounds of food to two soup kitchens and a shelter for BERKELEY, Calif. (JTA) -- Tali Weinberg walks along the 8,000 pounds of produce and gave 6,500 pounds of it to the women and children. rows of leafy green vegetables at Urban Adamah, a newly Jewish Family Service Food Pantry. The Ekar staff has This spring, the synagogue’s social justice committee used launched Jewish garden project in this university town. helped other local synagogues start their own food gardens. a grant from One Chicago, One Nation, a community “We’re growing chard, kale, lettuce, summer squash, “It’s a wonderful community activity,” said Ekar’s volun- organizing group, to plant a 1,000 square-foot garden at a cucumbers, beans, basil, fennel, dill, tatsoi, broccoli, cab- teer coordinator Aaron Ney. “Spending time in the field, nearby church in this largely impoverished neighborhood, bage,” she said, surveying the garden. Later in the summer, turning the earth together, harvesting together, is a great says committee chair Robert Nevel. A second garden at they will add peppers, tomatoes and eggplants. Almost all of way to get to know each other and build community.” another church will follow, and the synagogue is developing it will be donated to two local agencies that feed the poor: a As momentum builds, more and more synagogues, a model to help other shuls set up their own urban gardens. low-income medical clinic and a neighboring church. schools, camps and JCCs are getting into the act.

“To be able to say we harvested and donated more than “We gave our first donation this morning,” Weinberg said Rachel Cohen, sustainability program coordinator for the 1,200 pounds of food last year is a lot different than me on June 27. “It felt really good to me to partner with a health Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, says all 13 going around the South Side and talking about the lack of clinic, because food is about medicine. They see a lot of peo- Reform movement summer camps and more than 20 con- food access,” Nevel said. “And to help them establish food ple with health problems due to poor nutrition, a lot gardens to grow their own food is a powerful thing.” of heart conditions and diabetes. Sure, food is about The phenomenon is still new, but it’s answering a celebration, but for many people it literally saves need expressed by the emergency food system itself, lives.” said Mia Hubbard, grants director for Mazon, a Urban Adamah is on the cutting edge of a fastnational Jewish nonprofit dedicated to alleviating growing phenomenon. As general interest in food jushunger. tice and healthy eating intersects with the longstandUntil recently, she said, agencies focused mainly on ing Jewish commitment to tzedakah, growing numgetting food into people’s mouths. But over the past bers of Jewish organizations are planting gardens and five years, as awareness of childhood obesity and the donating the produce. connection between nutrition and health care costs The Jewish community has a long history of helping has grown, food banks and soup kitchens have been the hungry. That used to be centered mostly around paying more attention to the nutritional aspects of the holding canned-food drives, giving out free meals, food they give out. running agencies that help the needy and engaging in “There’s been a significant interest in and commitpolitical advocacy. But now Jewish groups are also ment to increasing the availability of healthy food,” maintaining food gardens and giving away the bounHubbard said. ty, reflecting many people’s desire for more hands-on Some will no longer accept donations of soda pop or involvement. sugary cereals. But getting enough fresh produce isn’t “Food justice is the cause of this generation,” said always easy, according to Hubbard. agronomist Oran Hesterman, author of Fair Food and Last November, the Jewish Community Centers of Rebecca Geunoun, left, and Molly Fischman plant tomatoes at the Urban founder of the Fair Food Network, a nonprofit workNorth America launched JCC Grows, a campaign to Adamah Farm in Berkeley, Calif., July 1, 2011. ing to provide underserved populations access to get every center and JCC camp to grow its own food Credit: Adam Berman healthy, sustainably grown food. People want fresh garden, and to donate a portion of their produce to produce and healthy food, he said, but in many low-income gregations are doing some kind of food justice work. Some the hungry. neighborhoods without supermarkets or farmers markets it of them are growing and donating food, or leaving the corBarbara Lerman-Golomb, social responsibility consultant simply is not available. ners of their fields for the poor to come and take what they for the JCC Assocation, says a recent survey showed 25 JCCs “The No. 1 barrier is not knowledge, but access,” he said. need -- something the Torah instructs. have their own on-site gardens, and more than half give Urban Adamah, built on the site of a former printing press “It’s becoming increasingly integrated into how we think away at least some of what they grow. on land used most recently as a parking lot, planted its first about food justice in general,” Cohen said.

But these gardens and other food programs didn’t all crop crops this spring and officially opened in mid-June.

Temple Shalom, a Reform congregation in Aberdeen, N.J., up this past year, she says. “Many of them were already in Most of the work is done by a dozen post-college residen- started Gan Tikvah, the “garden of hope,” in January 2010. place,” she told JTA. “Our program is a way to synthesize tial fellows who spend three months working the land and Partnering with Conservative Temple Beth Ahm, volunteers what they’re doing, provide resources, and be part of a larglearning about farming and the Jewish values related to food broke ground that May, harvested their first crop in the er greater good as a partner of the USDA’s People’s Garden and agriculture. The program was developed by Adam summer and eventually donated 400 pounds of vegetables. Initiative and First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Berman, Urban Adamah’s executive director, based on a Organizer Lenore Robinson says it’s the first time the three effort.” similar program he created at the Isabella Freedman Jewish institutions have worked together. “We’ve created a real The cumulative impact of these initiatives may still be Retreat Center in Connecticut that produced a cadre of community that we never had before,” she said. small, said Hubbard, but they’re heading in the right direcyoung Jewish farmers and farm educators now in charge of In Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, KAM Isaiah Israel tion. their own projects around the country.

Congregation planted its first food garden in 2009 and now “What the Jewish community is doing is part of a much In Denver, Ekar Farm was launched 20 months ago on grows organic produce on 2,500 square feet of what used to larger effort,” she said. “But to see Jewish institutions conunused land belonging to the Denver Academy of Torah, a be the synagogue lawn. Last year, they delivered more than tribute in this way is very exciting.”

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July 15, 2011 | The Jewish Press | 5

Missing Brenda Suput

by EMILY GILLER her legacy will be carried on at the Child Jewish Press Intern Development Center for years to come.”

For 18 years, the baby room at the Penny Brenda was truly dedicated to the CDC Z. Davis Child Development Center was and the infants she took care of. blessed with the loving, caring spirit of “She loved her job. Brenda would get Brenda Suput. “Dedicated” and “passionate” cards and pictures of the babies from parare just a couple of the words used to describe Brenda by her co-workers at the CDC. The most notable thing about Brenda, however, was the motherly demeanor she displayed toward every child she cared for in the baby room.

“She took care of the babies like they were her own children. In fact, she was known to cry when they got older and moved out of her classroom,” Pam Kutler, CDC teacher, said.

Brenda’s motherly character could have stemmed from the devotion and compassion she displayed toward her own family.

According to Kutler, she was a very family oriented person and was “very dedicated” to her husband Ted and her three sons, John, Michael and Nicholas.

“She loved to RV around Nebraska with her family. Her passion was camping, especially near a lake where she would ride her Wave Runner, and she had recently gotten Brenda Suput feeding one of the babies in into riding a Harley with her husband,” the infant room at the CDC. Kutler said. “She loved life and she lived it to the fullest!”

It was her love for life and her commitment to the infants at the CDC that kept Brenda going even when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in February 2010.

According to the teachers at the CDC, Brenda put up a strong fight against the cancer and was doing fine until a year later when she found out the cancer had moved into her bones causing her back and neck pains.

Brenda, left, Lynne Saltzman, middle, and Christine Olsen, “Brenda left the CDC in right, posing for their class picture. early March of this year. She didn’t want people here to know why she ents and she would put up the pictures on left,” Lynn Saltzman, CDC teacher, said. “It her refrigerator at home. Her husband had was kept quiet.” no idea who these children were but she After a tough battle against cancer, Brenda hung them up anyway,” Christine Olsen, passed away on June 20 at the age of 44. The CDC teacher, said. memory of her affectionate character and Even through the craziest of Nebraska the blue apron she wore every day, still weather, nothing could keep Brenda away lingers throughout the building of the CDC. from the CDC. She not only had an impact on the lives of “Brenda would drive here every day from the CDC staff, but also the families that Bellevue and if there was bad weather she came to the CDC. would have her father-in-law drive her to “Brenda was that warm and loving person work. She was not only a mother at home, that was always happy to see you and your she was a mother here too,” Carole children,” said Kathy McGauvran, Director Greenberg, assistant director at the CDC, of Customer Relations. “She showed uncon- said. ditional love and affection not only to my Brenda’s loveable spirit will be missed three boys but the hundreds of other chil- dearly, but her memory will remain vibrant dren throughout the years. Even after my with those who knew her best. kids ‘graduated’ from the CDC, Brenda still “I lost one of my dearest friends when asked about them and genuinely cared. We Brenda passed away,” Kutler said. “Brenda are all better people to have had Brenda in was a special person and she will be in our our lives. She is so dearly missed and I know hearts forever.”

Beth El lends a hand

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Numerous area residents have been affected by the Missouri River flooding; others are in dire need of relief from the summer’s oppressive heat. Their needs are immediate, and Beth El is asking community members to step up to the plate to lend a helping hand.

From Sunday, July 17 to Friday, July 22, the synagogue will be accepting contributions of new fans to be donated to the Salvation Army’s Summer Fan Program, which provides fans, free of charge, to qualified individuals. During those days, Beth El will also be collecting flood-relief items, including bottled water, Gatorade,

rubber gloves, buckets, disinfectant, brushes, brooms, mops and safety goggles.

All donations may be dropped off at the synagogue, 14506 California Street, during regular business hours: Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; and Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon. In addition, monetary contributions for the purchase of fans or flood-relief items will also be accepted via Beth El’s website (www.bethel-omaha. org), or by sending a check - made out to Beth El -- to the synagogue.

Anyone wishing to help deliver fans to the Salvation Army is asked to contact Jill Belmont at BeanK2@aol.com.

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6 | The Jewish Press | July 15, 2011

The Hadassah Everyday Cookbook

by Leah Koenig (Universe, $34.95)

Read it and eat Reviewed by LOIS FRIEDMAN Have you checked out the New Books cart across from the checkout desk at the Kripke Library lately? A recent find was this oversized, easy to spot, new cookbook ...the 641s in the stacks is where you’ll find the rest of the cookbooks.

Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization, a volunteer organization has been creating cookbooks since 1931 for fundraisers. In this, their latest, you are invited to “bask in culinary admiration” with a selection of over 160 international kosher recipes from...

HARVEST APPLE SALSA 2 apples (red or green), peeled, cored and chopped 1 small to medium onion, roughly chopped 1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro Juice of 1 lemon 2 teaspoons honey or agave nectar Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and stir to combine. Serve immediately or let sit for 15 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to mingle.

Serves 4. ...to ZA’ATAR PITZA 4 whole wheat pitas 4 tablespoons olive oil 4 tablespoons za’atar 3 plum tomatoes, sliced into rounds and deseeded Sea salt 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange pitas on a large baking sheet; drizzle each with 1 tablespoon oil and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon za’atar.

2. arrange a few tomato slices on top of each pita and sprinkle with salt to taste. Bake until just crisp, 6-8 minutes.

Serves 4.

The recipes are listed in the At-A-Glance Kashrut Index

402-391-1881

402-330-1444

402-344-2222

by Dairy (D), Meat (M) and Pareve (P) which is followed by the alphabetical index. Chapters and headnotes introduce the recipes which have clear, numerical instructions and can be quickly whipped up for family and friends. Our family loves this radish treat: RADISH PICKLES 7 radishes, quartered 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons rice vinegar 2 tablespoons sugar 1/2 teaspoon whole mustard seeds 1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns 1. Toss radishes with salt and let stand 30 minutes.

Drain in a sieve but do not rinse.

2. In a small saucepan, slowly heat vinegar and sugar over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar has completely dissolved, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and add radishes, mustard seeds and peppercorns.

3. Transfer to a small bowl and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Makes about 1 cup The emphasis is on farm fresh, seasonal flavors (four recipes for the short season for fresh figs), no fuss techniques to fill plates, sidebars to give ideas (when to add herbs dried... beginning of cooking or fresh at the end), tips and suggestions for everyday cooking for sandwiches and pizza, quick soups and stews, side dishes to go with chicken, meat, fish and vegetable main dishes, yummy desserts, nibbles and beverages for anytime.

The color photography will inspire you, too, with fabulous images...wait till you see the cheesecake in a jar. Try Shakshuka (a North African dish that is “a favorite in Israel for breakfast, lunch or dinner”), Sabich (an Iraqi Jewish classic filled pita pocket) and even a recipe for baked rather than fried onion rings. All this and more in this cookbook for daily meals for the contemporary Jewish kitchen.

Lois Friedman can be reached at ReadItAndEat@ yahoo.com.

BESTT students make Japan connection

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Continued from page 1 Judy Rubin, Beth El’s Education Director, also applauded will be packed into special tote bags reading “Nebraska the card-writing project, as well as her religious-school stuStands with Japan,” and shipped to schools in the affected dents who participated. areas. Shirts with the same logo were printed and are being “Our students find it very easy to express their love and sold to offset the shipment costs. concern for others, as is evidenced in the messages of Writing personalized cards has made a significant encouragement expressed in the cards they created to send impact on the local children, to the earthquake and tsunaMargalit noted, saying, mi victims in Japan,” she “When you look at their said. “Through the teachings simple and touching narraof Judaism, our students are tives, you can see that the made aware to be sensitive to kids thought about their the needs of those less fortupeers in Japan and tried to nate than themselves. The step into their shoes and experience of slavery in think, ‘What can I do to Egypt echoes throughout our make them happy?’ They prayers and laws in the Torah took time to create colorful to welcome the stranger and thoughtful cards that because we were strangers in express empathy, optimism, Egypt. Throughout the genfriendship, and a heart-toerations we are directed to heart message that tranremember and to help the scends oceans and cultures. needy. The messages our stuJeff Kirshenbaum and Ruth Margalit, members of Beth El’s “This is about Tikun dents wrote to children Social Action committee, look over BESTT students’ cards of Olam; taking part in somewhom they don’t know in support, which will be sent to children living in earththing bigger than us; learnJapan were very heartwarmquake/tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan. ing to share our resources ing. It was just a natural thing and invest time to say: ‘I care about you’. It’s a lesson of for our school to participate in, as it was Tikun Olam.” compassion. It was also an opportunity for the kids to disAnyone wanting more information about the Japan cuss this current event and its implications, to learn the Relief Initiative is encouraged to contact Margalit at global map, the Japanese flag - a lesson in global affairs!” rmargalit@unmc.edu.

Back by popular demand – Sisterhood’s Bingo Lunch

by BETH COHEN Executive Director, Beth Israel Synagogue The Beth Israel Sisterhood is enjoying summer with a fun lunch featuring Bingo! The ladies who attended the June lunch had so much fun, we decided to have another Bingo lunch in July. The next lunch will be held on Tuesday, July 26 at 11:30 a.m. Following a lunch of egg salad sandwiches, fresh fruit salad, vegetable soup and dessert, attendees will enjoy some rounds of everyone’s favorite game. Cost for lunch is $5 per person, and Bingo cards are free.

In addition to the lunch and Bingo games, the Sisterhood

Gift Shop will be open. The Gift Shop stocks beautiful and unique Judaic items for your home and gift giving, including made-in-Israel jewelry, tzedakah boxes, and mezuzah cases. The Sisterhood Gift Shop is always open during regular synagogue office hours (Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.) or on Sundays by appointment.

For more information about upcoming Sisterhood events or to be added to the mailing list, please contact the office at 402.556.6288 or BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org.

July 15, 2011 | The Jewish Press | 7

Engagements SHUKERT - WIENIR Aveva and Marty Shukert announce the engagement of their daughter, Ariel Jane, to Jeffrey Adam Wienir, son of Adrienne and Michael Wienir, of Encino, CA. The bride-to-be is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis.

She is an Art Director at RPA, an advertising firm in Santa Monica, CA. She is the granddaughter of the late Doris and Nate Shukert and the late Pearl and Dave Hahn.

Her fiancé graduated from Washington University in St. Louis. He is a Development Executive and the Campus Director of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He also recently became certified as a Nutritional Education Trainer.

He is the grandson of the late Adele and Edward Paier and the late Joan and David Wienir.

An October wedding is planned in Omaha.

Birth Suzanne and Darren Cowan of Glenwood Springs, CO announce the June 29 birth of their daughter, Samara Rose.

She is named for her maternal grandfather, Skee Fisher and her great-grandmother, Rebecca Cowan.

She has a sister, Gabriella Skye.

Grandparents are Dee Fisher-Caniglia, the late Skee Fisher and the late Bruce Horwich, and Evelyn and Jack Cowan of Glasgow, Scotland.

Organizations B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Speaker yet to be announced for Wednesday, July 20, noon at the Blumkin Home. An optional buffet lunch costs $10; beverage service is $3. For more information or to be placed on the email list call 402.334.6443 or bnaibrith@ jewishomaha.org.

LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Yiddish teaches an optimistic vision that allows us to view the world with joy and hope. Come join us at the Blumkin Home, every Thursday in the board room, at 1 p.m., to reap “The Joys of Yiddish!” For information call Anne Skolkin at 402.343.1638.

Please send all articles, photos and ads to the Press by Thursdays, 9 a.m., for all regular issues.

Questions? Call 402.334.6448.

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Meet Australia’s Aborigine who is president of her Orthodox shul

by DAN GOLDBERG bridges between the two communities for years.

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) -- Lisa Jackson Pulver is not In 1938, William Cooper, an elder from the Yorta Yorta your average Australian Jew. people -- indigenous Australians who originally hailed from Yes, she is one of this country’s 110,000 or so Members of northeast Victoria -- petitioned the German Consulate in the Tribe, but she is also a member of another tribe: an Melbourne to stop the Nazi persecution of the Jews. Cooper Aboriginal clan called the Wiradjuri. recently was honored posthumously by the Yad Vashem Jackson Pulver says she’s not the only Aboriginal Jew in Holocaust Memorial and Museum in Jerusalem.

Australia.

In the 1960s, James “The first Jew came here on Spigelman, the outgoing the First Fleet in 1788, and Jewish chief justice of New since then Jews have been South Wales, led Freedom marrying Aborigines because Rides to advocate for rights white women wouldn’t marry for Aboriginals, who at the them,” Jackson Pulver said. time faced widespread “There’s a big mob of black inequalities and discriminaCohens out there, and they’ve tion. got Jewish ancestry.”

In the 1990s, Jewish lawyer But Jackson Pulver has a Ron Castan won a landmark few other distinctions not case that reversed the legal shared by other “black concept of no-man’s land, or Cohens.” terra nullius, which The first Aboriginal Australian governments had Australian to receive a docused to seize Aboriginal tribal torate in medicine from the lands.

University of Sydney, Jackson And Mark Leibler, national Pulver is now the director of chairman of the Australia/ the Muru Marri Indigenous Israel & Jewish Affairs Health Unit at the University Lisa Jackson Pulver, a Jewish member of the Aboriginal Council, was a former coof New South Wales in tribe called the Wiradjuri. chair of Reconciliation Credit: From Hand in Hand: Jewish and Indigenous people Australia, which attempts to Sydney.

Last week she was awarded working together by Anne Sarzin and Lisa Miranda Sarzin bridge gaps between indigethe Order of Australia, one of the country’s top honors. The nous and non-indigenous Australians. citation on her Order of Australia lauds her “contribution to Jackson Pulver is admired in both the Jewish and medical education and her support for educational opportu- Aboriginal communities. nities for Aboriginal Australians.”

Of all her accomplishments, Jackson Pulver says she’s And last year, Jackson Pulver was elected the president of probably proudest of the Shalom Gamarada scholarship her Orthodox synagogue in Newtown, Sydney. program, which raises money for indigenous students purJackson Pulver, who completed her Orthodox conversion suing medical degrees. She founded the program in 2004 to Judaism in 2004, says Jews and Aborigines have much in with Ilona Lee, then president of the Shalom Institute, a common.

Jewish residential college at the University of New South “There is a natural relationship between my Aboriginal Wales. Some 37 Aboriginal students have graduated through spiituality and my Jewish religion,” said Jackson Pulver, the scholarship program. whose Hebrew name is Elisheva bat Sarah. “The things that Aboriginal health is a massive problem in Australia, where bring us together are our history of dispossession, a deep life expectancy among the indigenous community of about sense of family, community and tribalism, and a deep sense 400,000 trails life expectancy among white Australians by of what’s wrong and what’s right.” about 20 years. Many of the country’s indigenous people still She said, “I keep a kosher home, and I make my own chal- live in remote communities in the Australian Outback. lah every Friday. And I attend to cultural and spiritual prac“We have had some wins,” Jackson Pulver said of the effort tices of my grandmothers’ [Aboriginal] cultures.” to improve indigenous people’s health. “Not as many babies Jackson Pulver, who also has Scottish and Welsh roots, is are dying. And we now have about 150 Aboriginal doctors one of many Jews and Aborigines who have been building around Australia. Twenty years ago we had one.”

8 | The Jewish Press | July 15, 2011

Point of view

American Jewish Press Association Award Winner

Nebraska Press National Newspaper Association Association Award winner 2008

Israel’s new BFF

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Editor of the Jewish Press The best way to mark the anniversary of the 2010 Gaza flotilla is to organize another one. Before you know it, it becomes a tradition, and who can say no to that kind of P.R.?

Not so fast.

The Swedish-flagged Juliano was damaged in a Greek port, before being turned away by the Greek coast guard.

The French boat Dignity was also detained, while refueling in Crete. Greek officials told reporters they had no intention to allow the ship through.

A similar fate befell the Spanish Guernica, a fact that caused Spanish activists to schedule protests in front of the Spanish Embassy in Athens. The “occupation” of the Spanish Embassy was meant to put enough pressure on the Spanish government, so they would in turn demand the release of the Spanish ship. The plan didn’t work.

The American crew, in the meantime, ended its activities in Athens. Its coordinator, Leslie Cagan, wrote on the US to Gaza website: “The Greek government’s willingness to serve as the enforcer of Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza made it impossible for this journey to happen.” (ustogaza.com) The boat, the Audacity of Hope, remains in Greek custody; no one knows when it will be released. Its captain, John Klusmire, was arrested but has since been released.

Suddenly, Israel finds a new best friend in Greece. When did this happen? Traditionally, the two haven’t exactly been fond of each other. Accusations about the Greeks taking sides against Israel by harboring terrorists, Israeli cooperation with Turkey in the past, and the controversy over the Greek Orthodox Patriarchy in Jerusalem all added up to a prickly atmosphere.

Still, they have had mutual representation through an Israeli Embassy in Athens, and a Greek one in Tel Aviv since 1990. Then, in February of 2010, Bibi Netanyahu and Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou met at a Moscow restaurant. “Netanyahu took advantage of this chance encounter,” Haaretz reported, “to speak with the Greek Prime Minister about Turkish extremism against Israel, and the two quickly

became friends.” The two leaders reportedly speak once a week, and when the flotilla caused some high-ranked Greeks to become concerned, the Greek government felt the pressure. Papandreou gladly caved and made dating Israel a priority.

As part of the slow-but-steady warm up, George Papandreou made an official visit to Israel in June 2010. This was followed by Bibi Netanyahu’s trip to Greece in August 2010, making him the first Israeli Prime Minister to do so. In October of that same year, Israeli and Greek Air Forces started training together in Greece.

Add to all this the fact that relations with Turkey have soured, and the Greek-Israeli chumminess has all the makings of rebound dating. Having lost Turkey as a friend, Israel needs another ally in that neck of the woods, and Greece is happy to oblige.

“Netanyahu’s personal investment,” writes Barak Ravid in Haaretz, “seems to have put the final nail in the Gaza flotilla’s coffin.”

Awkward choice of words, but yes, he’s right. So what does Greece get out of all this?

How is it that of all the different countries that could volunteer for the ‘Best Friend’ role, it is Greece that stepped up to the plate?

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Greece may very well be the least popular country in Europe at the moment.

Never mind Ireland, never mind Portugal; when Europeans think ‘debt,’ they think of Greece.

Thanks to the recent riots, they now also associate Greece with ruined vacations and lack of self control. No wonder Greece is looking elsewhere to find some love.

The thing is, even though it’s nice of Greece to stop that flotilla, I am not convinced this is really going to help Israel in the long run.

It wouldn’t be the first time that someone acts all nice, only to switch from love to hate in less time than it takes to toast a bagel.

On the other hand, Israel is not in the position to turn down any friendly gestures. Even if they come from the least popular kid on the playground. Besides, a thwarted flotilla is a thwarted flotilla; no matter what the motivation, and even if the Greeks are mostly in it to annoy Turkey. The bottom line: Netanyahu will want to keep his friends close and his enemies closer; only time will tell which category Greece belongs in.

Dutch must find compromise on ritual slaughter ban

Behind the headlines MOSHE KANTOR GENEVA, Switzerland (JTA) -- The Jewish community in Holland has its roots in those who fled persecution and discrimination to a land that has become acclaimed for its freedom of religion and expression.

This freedom may be eroding, however, as a central component of Jewish life may be outlawed in the very near future.

The Dutch Parliament passed a bill last week that proscribes religious animal slaughter without prior sedation. If the Senate votes to ratify the measure, the effects on the centuries-old Jewish life in Holland and Europe will be incalculable.

In practice, it would mean an end to Jewish ritual slaughter, shechitah, in direct opposition to Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, namely the right to freedom of religion.

This convention, drafted in 1950 following the nearly fulfilled Nazi attempt to destroy European Jewry, was meant to prevent future atrocities and human rights violations. One of the first enactments of the Nazis against the Jews of Europe was to proscribe shechitah.

Following the Holocaust, which wiped out nearly threequarters of Dutch Jewry, Europe ruled that religious minorities should feel safe and free to practice their way of

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life unfettered and unhindered within Europe’s borders.

This decree determined that freedom of religion can only be restricted when practices compromise other laws.

The proposed Dutch legislation is based on the flawed premise that shechitah causes additional, unnecessary pain to the animal than stunned slaughter. There is no scientific evidence to merit this conclusion. In fact, a study conducted at Wageningen University in Holland proved the opposite -- that shechitah is more animal friendly than many other types of slaughter.

Professors and researchers from Europe, the United States and elsewhere concur and have demonstrated this in various studies. In the United States and Canada, the humaneness of shechitah is acknowledged in the Humane Methods of Animal Slaughter Legislation.

The debate surrounding the legislation is being conducted as if sedating an animal is an ideal, stress-free process without any expert reference to how much stress is caused to animals by sedation procedures as opposed to the stress of kosher slaughter without sedation.

The Jewish slaughterer must undergo extremely rigorous training that entails an expert slaughter with minimum pain for the animal. Good treatment of animals is an ancient guiding principle in Jewish law and tradition, and everything surrounding this principle is adhered to during the slaughter.

It is incumbent on Dutch legislators in the Senate to find a compromise that will allow shechitah to continue, in

accordance with the freedom of religion, while attending to the important needs and requirements of animal welfare. If a compromise is not found and this bill becomes law, it could result in a dangerous domino effect that could spread to other parts of Europe.

If more nations in Europe, or the European Union itself, proscribe shechitah, it will further compromise a Jewish community already suffering from growing anti-Semitism and discrimination.

The Jews of Europe have endured millennia of slavery, expulsions, inquisitions and attempted genocides, but a ban on a central tenet of Jewish life, even if well meaning, could well spell disaster for the Jewish community.

If the oldest minority community in Europe is shaken in such a way, it would bode extremely poorly for other minorities, some not yet acclimatized to the European way of life.

Nothing less than the integral fabric of European life could be compromised if religious or national traditions that do not compromise other laws are proscribed. As Europe projects itself as a post-conflict continent that seeks to integrate vastly different histories and customs into a single union, it is incumbent that differences are embraced, not compromised.

If The Netherlands, with its reputation as a tolerant and open society, circumscribes a major facet of religious life, then surely we are on a downward spiral of intolerance and Continued on page 9

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July 15, 2011 | The Jewish Press | 9

Jews becoming commonplace in conservative ‘new media’

Focus on issues BENYAMIN KORN PHILADELPHIA (JTA) -- Many reviews already have appeared of The Undefeated, the soon-to-be-released documentary about Sarah Palin’s tenure in Alaska. Yet none of them -- even in The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post or Politico.com -- mentions that nearly all of the film’s many pro-Palin media talking heads are Jews.

The dominant meme that Jews as a group are uncomfortable with Palin or her views seems less than convincing after viewing prominent Members of the Tribe defend her politics and record in elected office. Internet news mogul Andrew Breitbart, nationally syndicated radio talk show host Mark Levin and L.A.’s radio phenom Tammy Bruce, a gay Jewish Palinista with a Tammy’s Army of followers, all deliver fullthroated tributes to one of America’s most conservative political figures.

Following a recent Manhattan screening of the director’s cut of The Undefeated, I mentioned this to filmmaker Stephen Bannon. He replied that he had not taken note of their Jewishness in choosing to include them. That in itself is significant: Jews have become so commonplace in the conservative new media that the fact of their Jewish identity fails to garner much notice.

One reason may be that Jews tend to be “early adopters” of innovations and were present at the birth of the conservative new media.

Start with Maryland-born muckraker Matt Drudge, the granddaddy of the conservative new media. Since his website’s launch in the mid-1990s, the Drudge Report has retained its place at the top of the new media right and now averages an astounding 30 million “hits” daily, or close to a billion a month. It has a huge influence in setting the agenda for national talk radio and for the conservative commentariat in general.

But Drudge’s influence doesn’t stop there. A Washington Post editor recently conceded that 10 percent to15 percent of

his newspaper’s daily online traffic is driven by links from Drudge.

Soon after, conservative voices began emerging within explicitly Jewish new media precincts themselves, notably the pioneering Jewish World Review, started in the mid1990s by Binyamin Jolkovsky, and IsraelNationalNews.com, an organ of the settlement movement, which had also operated a pirate radio network.

Significant relative newcomers include bloggers such as Ted Belman of IsraPundit, Dan Greenfield of SultanKnish and Ruth King of Ruthfully Yours, along with sites such as Israel Matzav, YidWithLid, Yeshiva World News and the Yiddish-titled but English-language Vos Iz Neias? (What’s New?).

Since the emergence of conservative talk radio in the 1980s, Jews again are playing a prominent role. Besides Levin and Bruce, and the top-rated Michael Savage, two of the national talk hosts on the Salem Radio affiliate where I broadcast -- Dennis Prager and Michael Medved -- are Jewish, and both serve on the board of the GOP-oriented Jewish Policy Council, along with a third Salem host, Bill Bennett, who “happens to be a Catholic.”

The nation’s largest talk station, New York’s WABC -home base for Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Mark Levin -- now features a highly rated Sunday program with investigative journalist Aaron Klein, who once edited the Yeshiva University Commentator and now reports from Tel Aviv, and for about a year featured Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (politically centrist, but with an Orthodox point of view), who got his start as a Lubavitch emissary, founding the immensely popular L’Chaim Society at Oxford University.

Recent years also have witnessed the emergence of a whole class of crusading Internet journalist-activists, many of them Jews, such as Klein, who is also senior correspondent for the mega-site WorldNetDaily, anti-Islamist activist Pamela Geller (AtlasShrugs.com) and repentant “Radical Son” David Horowitz (FrontPageMag.com).

Probably the most high profile of these crusaders today is

Breitbart, a leading publisher of conservative websites such as BigGovernment.com (focusing on national politics), BigPeace.com (foreign policy), BigHollywood.com (the film industry) and BigJournalism.com (the Fourth Estate).

It was Breitbart who pursued the Anthony Weiner affair and caused the corruption-tainted voter and housing activist group ACORN to lose billions in federal funding.

Industry insiders say Breitbart is now looking to launch a site that would be devoted to Middle East coverage named - what else? -- BigJerusalem.com.

Another important development is the shift of Jewish “old media” conservatives to new media platforms. William Kristol is now better known as a Fox Television commentator than in his role as founding editor of The Weekly Standard. Charles Krauthammer also reaches a far larger audience at Fox than even as a syndicated columnist based at The Washington Post. Jennifer Rubin, formerly of Commentary, now reaches a much larger readership with her Right Turn blog at The Washington Post, and Jonathan Tobin, executive editor of Commentary, has transitioned to being full-time editor of its web log, Contentions.

In Israel, Jerusalem Post deputy editor and columnist Caroline Glick last year launched Latma TV, already a highly popular political satire site, whose send-up of the Gaza flotilla radicals -- We Con the World -- had 3 million “hits” in one week during last year’s crisis.

Certainly there is another reason why Jews, per se, have attracted so little notice in the conservative new media: the change in American conservatism itself. Ethnically diverse and intellectually formidable, today’s conservatism is reliably pro-Israel, comfortably Judeo-Christian and for the most part promotes a nuanced social conservatism.

In a movement that is credible and hospitable to American Jews, and from which the ethno-centrism of yore is largely absent, Jewish journalists will flourish.

Benyamin Korn, formerly executive editor of the Jewish Exponent and the Miami Jewish Tribune, hosts Jewish Independent Talk Radio in Philadelphia and blogs at JewsForSarah.com.

Flotilla fails at sea, succeeds on the airwaves

Behind the headlines MARCY OSTER JERUSALEM (JTA) -- On the face of it, the so-called Gaza Freedom Flotilla seemed to be a bust.

Greek authorities blocked most of the boats from setting sail for the Gaza Strip, and others experienced propeller problems that rendered them unseaworthy. On Tuesday, a small pleasure boat with eight passengers aboard became the first vessel in the planned flotilla to elude the Greek coast guard en route to Gaza.

But if the true aim was to achieve a public relations victory rather than to deliver aid to Gaza -- as Israeli authorities charged and flotilla participants themselves acknowledged - then the thousands of news reports about the flotilla’s plans, problems and participants succeeded by at least one measure: getting attention.

“Given the tremendous obstacles placed in the way of the flotilla, we should not for a moment think this work has been in vain. Just the opposite,” Leslie Cagan, coordinator of the U.S. boat to Gaza, wrote this week on the U.S. to Gaza website. “We have called greater attention to the urgent need to end the Israeli blockade and siege of Gaza, as well as the overall occupation of the Palestinian Territories.”

Reveling in the attention, pro-Palestinian activists talked to reporters about their next publicity stunt: a planned “flyin” to Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv beginning Friday to protest Israeli policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians. Hoping to disrupt airport operations, the activists reportedly are planning to declare “Palestine” as their destination upon landing in Israel; they have said they will stage demonstrations if denied entry.

This year’s flotilla was organized to mark the anniversary of last year’s flotilla to Gaza, which set sail from Turkey before being stopped by the Israeli Navy on May 31, 2010.

When one of the vessels refused to heed Israeli warnings to desist, IDF commandos stormed the boat, the Mavi Marmara, and nine Turkish passengers were killed amid the fighting. The incident prompted an international outcry and sent Turkish-Israeli relations to a nadir.

The 2011 flotilla came on the heels of an announcement

by Israel that it would allow building materials into Gaza for 1,200 homes and 18 schools. Adam Shapiro, an organizer of the so-called Free Gaza Movement, said the announcement was a sign that the flotilla had resulted in real gains.

He attributed the change to “flotilla pressure.”

“Even this year, the concrete results of the flotilla are evident,” Shapiro wrote in a column in Gulf News, a news out-

let in the United Arab Emirates.

Israel did not offer a reason for the timing of the decision, but said the construction material was for specific projects.

An official with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which is overseeing the projects, said the announcement on the building material came after much negotiation.

On Sunday, organizers of the flotilla rejected an offer by Greece to deliver aid to Gaza from the ships stuck in Greek harbors via either Egypt or Israel.

Many pro-Israel supporters praised Greece for its handling of this year’s flotilla, including American Jewish groups.

After delays from a countrywide strike and intensive port inspections, the Greek government on July 1 banned all ships bound for Gaza from leaving its ports.

Greece prevented the Audacity of Hope and other flotilla ships from leaving its ports in what was seen as a sign of a renewed friendship with Israel. Credit: USTOGAZA.org John Klusmire, the captain of one of the ships, the Audacity of Hope, tried to leave port last week but was arrested on charges of setting sail without permission and endangering the lives of passengers. On Tuesday, a Greek court freed him and dropped the charges.

Greece’s approach to the flotilla was held up as a sign of the renewed friendship between Greece and Israel. Israel has been cultivating a closer relationship with Greece, particularly as Israel’s relationship with Turkey -- a longtime rival of Greece -- has faltered.

In the year since last year’s flotilla fiasco, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have exchanged visits, and Israel has offered military assistance to Greece. Last week the two countries completed a joint military exercise.

If any ships were to get past Greek authorities, Israel’s Cabinet issued an order for the Israel Defense Forces to pre-

vent any boats from reaching Gaza.

Israel says the flotilla is illegal and that military action to keep ships from arriving in Gaza is legitimate. Its partial blockade of Gaza is necessary, Israel says, to keep weapons from flowing into the strip, which is controlled by the terrorist group Hamas. The blockade of Gaza is designed as well to maintain pressure on Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was taken captive in an attack five years ago and is believed to be in Gaza.

The blockade has eased significantly since last year’s flotilla incident, when Israel came under heavy international pressure to loosen the embargo.

Hamas last week called on the European Union and human rights organizations to pressure the Greek government to allow the ships to sail. On Tuesday, activists from the Spanish-sponsored boat in the flotilla reportedly occupied the Spanish Embassy in Athens after meeting with their ambassador to petition the Spanish government to pressure the Greeks to allow them to sail.

Meanwhile, Greek officials are working to learn the identity of the captain of a ship that slipped past Greek authorities near Crete for a few minutes before being intercepted by the Greek coast guard. The 50 passengers aboard the ship reportedly said they were the captain when questioned by port officials.

Two of the flotilla ships were victims of what flotilla organizers called deliberate sabotage; the Irish-flagged Saoirse was seriously damaged on June 28, and the propeller of the Juliano, on which Swedish, Norwegian and Greek activists were scheduled to travel, was discovered to be broken. Organizers blamed Israel for the problems.

Israeli Foreign Ministry officials denied the charge, according to The Jerusalem Post. The flotilla activists must feel they are in a “James Bond film,” a spokesman said, according to the paper.

Ritual slaughter ban Continued from page 8 narrow-mindedness.

It was once said that “Compromise, if not the spice of life, is its solidity. It is what makes nations great.”

Holland has always been a great nation, especially for the Jewish people who traveled to its borders seeking sanctuary. It is vital that Dutch legislators seek a compromise before it is too late and the die is cast.

Dr. Moshe Kantor is president of the European Jewish Congress.

10 | The Jewish Press | July 15, 2011

Synagogues B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE 618 Mynster Street | Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 | 402.322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com FRIDAY: Services followed by Oneg, 7:30 p.m.

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California | Omaha, NE 68154-1980 | 402.492.8550 www.bethel-omaha.org Services conducted by Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Cantor Beth Schlossberg.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Morning service, 9:30 a.m.; Evening Services, 8:50 p.m.

WEEKDAY SERVICES: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.; weekdays, 7 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.

FANS/FLOOD RELIEF DONATIONS: From Sunday, July 17 to Friday, July 22, the synagogue will accept contributions of new fans to be donated to the Salvation Army's Summer Fan Program for needy individuals. Beth El will also collect flood-relief items, including bottled water, Gatorade, rubber gloves, buckets, disinfectant, brushes, brooms, mops and safety goggles. Bring donations to the synagogue during office hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; and Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon. Monetary contributions for these items will also be accepted via Beth El’s website (www.bethel-omaha. org), or by sending a check - made out to Beth El -- to the synagogue. Those wishing to help deliver fans to the Salvation Army may contact Jill Belmont at BeanK2@ aol.com.

All Beth El classes and programs are open to everyone in the Jewish community.

and Howard Gendelman in honor of the wedding anniversary of Sierra and Jason Tobias; The Laws of Shabbat, 6:30 p.m.; Advanced Parshah Study for Kids (ages 10 and up), 7:30 p.m.; Mincha, 8:30 p.m. followed by Seuda Shlishit; Havdalah, 9:50 p.m.

SUNDAY: Gemara class, 8 a.m., learning tractate Kiddushin; Shacharit, 9 a.m. followed by breakfast.

WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: Weekly Teleconference Mishnah Class, 10:30 a.m. Contact the office for information on how to call-in to the conference call.

TUESDAY: Fast of the 17th of Tammuz begins, 4:24 a.m.; Rabbi Mizrahi’s Weekly Class, 7 p.m.; Rabbi Weiss’s Weekly Class, 7:30 p.m.; Fast Ends, 9:33 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: Advanced Halachic Kollel, 9 p.m.

THURSDAY: Women of the Torah class, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Gross.

CHABAD HOUSE An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 South 120 Street | Omaha, NE 68144-1646 | 402.330.1800 www.OChabad.com | email: chabad@aol.com Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: Service, 7 a.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Minyan, 10 a.m.; Youth Minyan, 10:30 a.m.; Mini Mensch title will be awarded. Kiddush luncheon follows. Join Rabbi Katzman, noon-1 p.m.; W.O.W. Parsha, Prophets and Prayer, 12:45 p.m.

SUNDAY: Service, 8:30 a.m.

WEEKDAYS: Services, 7 a.m.

All programs are open to the entire community.

CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific Street | Omaha, NE. 68154 | 402.556.6288 www.BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org 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 and Rabbi Yitzchak Mizrahi.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Understanding the Siddur class with Rabbi Mizrahi, 9 a.m.; Free babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Children’s Classes begin with Torah Parade, 9:45 a.m.; Navigating the Transliterated Siddur class with Rabbi Mizrahi, 10 a.m.; Kiddush is sponsored by Bonnie Bloch

South Street Temple | Union for Reform Judaism 2061 South 20th Street | Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 | 402.435.8004 www.southstreettemple.org Services conducted by Rabbi Craig Lewis.

FRIDAY: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m. led by Rabbi Craig Lewis, with oneg following hosted by Tracy Gordon.

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

SUNDAY: Book Club, 4 p.m. at Sara Friedman’s home and will discuss People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.

TUESDAY: Ladies Lunch Group, noon at Macaroni Grill, 6800 South 27th Street.

Candlelighting Friday, July 15, 8:38 p.m.

THURSDAY: Choir rehearsal, 7:30-9 p.m.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE SAC Memorial Chapel 301 Lincoln Highway | Offutt AFB, NE 68113 | 402.294.6244 FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.

NEIGHBORHOOD PRAYER GROUP 1317 North 57 Street | Omaha, NE 68132 | 402.551.6609 FRIDAY: Minyan, 8:41 p.m.

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME 323 South 132 Street | Omaha, NE 68154 FRIDAY: Chef ’s Demo, 1:30 p.m. with Beth El members.

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Miles Remer.

Services will be held in the Chapel. Members of the community are invited to attend.

TEMPLE ISRAEL Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 7023 Cass Street | Omaha, NE 68132-2651 | 402.556.6536 www.templeisrael-ne.org FRIDAY: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m.; D’var: Gary Javitch - My Life as a Pro-Israel Activist.

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

Shabbat Service, Friday, July 22, 6 p.m. D’var: Michael Silverman - He’s in It For the Long Term.

TIFERETH ISRAEL Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Boulevard | Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 | 402.423.8569 www.tiferethisraellincoln.org Services conducted by lay leader Nancy Coren. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

FRIDAY: Services, 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Morning service, 10 a.m. followed by Kiddush lunch sponored by the Polsky family in honor of Betty and Hyman Polsky as they move to Cleveland, OH. SUNDAY: Book Club, 4 p.m. at Sara Friedman’s home and will discuss People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.

TUESDAY: Ladies Lunch Group, noon at Macaroni Grill, 6800 South 27th Street. Please contact Stephanie Dohner at dohners@windstream.net with any questions.

At Maccabi Games in Vienna, symbolism -- and girls

by RUTH ELLEN GRUBER VIENNA, Austria (JTA) -- The symbolism was unmistakable. Four thousand Jews stood just a few hundred yards away from the spot where a quarter-million Austrians cheered Adolf Hitler in March 1938 as he announced Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria.

This time, however, the Jews had come to celebrate, as athletes from around the world gathered July 6 for the lavish opening ceremony of the 13th European Maccabi Games.

It was the first time the Games -- the so-called Jewish Olympics for Europe -- have been held in a German-speaking country since 1945, and Maccabi officials said the crowd made up the largest gathering of Jews in Vienna since the Holocaust.

“Here we are on the other side of the street from where Hitler declared he would destroy the Jewish people,” Rabbi Carlos Tapiero, the deputy director general of the Maccabi World Union, told JTA. “We’re saying, ‘No! We’re here.’”

The games, which were slated to run through July 13, mixed sports, socializing and a heavy dose of symbolism, showcasing Jewish renewal and Israeli success against the backdrop of Holocaust history.

The opening ceremony -- three hours of speeches and a song-and-dance spectacle -- included screen projections showing Hitler and the destruction of the Holocaust as well as prewar Jewish life and postwar rebuilding in Europe and Israel. The event took place in front of Vienna City Hall, the Rathaus, not far from Heldenplatz, or Heroes’ Square, where Hitler spoke in 1938.

“We can’t forget the Vienna that was the city of Theodor Herzl, nor can we forget the Vienna of the Nazis,” the speaker of Israel’s Knesset, Reuven Rivlin, told the crowd. “It’s a festival of the victory of the Jewish spirit over Nazi extermination.”

Amid cheers, fanfare and flag waving, some 2,000 athletes paraded in the opening ceremony. Aged 12 to over 80, they came from 37 countries in Europe, the Americas, Israel, central Asia and Africa.

The U.S. team parading in the opening ceremony of the 13th European Maccabi Games in front of Vienna City Hall, July Credit: Ruth Ellen Gruber 6, 2010.

The delegations were dressed in colorful team uniforms - the Scottish team wore kilts -- and ranged in mumber from the more than 200 from Germany to a lone woman from Guinea Bissau. The 115-member U.S. team included two 80year-olds, John Benfield of Los Angeles and Arthur Figur of New Rochelle, N.Y., who had escaped Vienna in 1938 as children and were returning to swim for the U.S. team.

“I’m doing really a symbolic swim,” Benfield, a professor emeritus at the UCLA Medical School, told JTA. “I need to show the Nazis that we’re still around.”

The idea of the games is not just to play sports or celebrate, but to foster Jewish identity and community.

“Our motto is building Jewish pride through sports,” said Ron Cramer, president of Maccabi U.S. “It’s an amazing way to engage young people. They think they are just coming to a sporting event, but it’s much, much more.”

It’s also an opportunity for young Jews to meet each other.

At the Maccabi Games’ venue -- a sprawling, state-of-theart Jewish school sports and community center that opened in 2008 -- athletes exchanged team pins, e-mail addresses and Facebook names.

“It’s the first time in my life that I have been together with so many other Jews,” said Jozef Gurfinkiel, a middle-aged man from Gdansk on the Polish bridge team.

“Girls, girls, girls!” exclaimed Jonathan Dzanashvili, a member of the Austrian basketball team. “It’s very important because we are all here together; we’re like glue. That’s special.”

His teammate, 14-year-old Benny Abramov, agreed.

“I’m making many new friends from other countries,” he said. “If you’re in a hotel with 2,000 other athletes, it’s a new feeling.”

Tapiero noted that the Maccabi sports movement had begun as part of an ideological effort to build a “new Jew” in response to anti-Semitism in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The aim was to enable Jews to use their bodies, not just their brains, to prove their excellence. The Zionist leader Max Nordau even issued a famous call for what he termed “muscular Jewry” at the second World Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in 1898.

The focus today has shifted somewhat, Tapiero said.

“The ethos of excellence in sports changed when the world changed,” he said. “We don’t have to prove our excellence there. The ethos now is the social aspect -- so in this respect ‘girls, girls, girls’ is a success!”

Shawn Landres, the co-founder and CEO of Jumpstart, a Jewish innovation think tank and incubator in Los Angeles, said that Jewish sports involvement affirms that Jewish life “can be multidimensional and engage people beyond pure intellect, emotion or spirit.”

Landres knows this firsthand -- he met his wife, Zuzana Riemer Landres, who is Slovak, at a Winter Maccabi Games event in Slovakia in 1998.

“Maccabi connected being Jewish with something I love to do -- skiing,” Riemer Landres told JTA. “It changed my Jewish experience because it was more about movement, being active and competitive sport. It put sport into a Jewish context, and expanded Judaism beyond workshops and studying together. And then it changed my life.”

Pulverent e

July 15, 2011 | The Jewish Press | 11

Morality, Morality, Morality

In memoriam BARRY BELMONT

Sparks from the word RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parsha Pinchas Our Sidrah relates to us a very unhappy incident as the Israelites made their way to the Promised Land.

Israelite men were enticed by Moabite women and had immoral relations with them.

Pinchas, himself a grandson of Aaron the Kohen, was incensed by what he saw.

Wielding a spear, he came upon an Israelite man and a Moabite woman engaged in immoral activity.

Without considering that he was taking the law into his own hands, he took his spear, and with one mighty thrust, he killed the Israelite man and the Moabite woman.

Had Pinchas not done so, a mighty plague would have destroyed the whole people of Israel at that time. Pinchas, we are told, received a permanent blessing of peace from the Lord.

Our Sidrah thus emphasizes for us the importance of morality and decency in sexual relations.

This lesson was emphasized throughout Israelite history.

Purity in family relations has remained a standard among the Israelite people. And the name of Pinchas is forever remembered when the standard of marital purity is stressed among the Israelite people, even until this day.

Jewish “Chai High” to spread worldwide from Omaha

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT and ANDY GREENBERG Andy Greenberg and Rabbi Jonathan Gross of Beth Israel Synagogue announced plans to spread a newly created and believed to be the first of its kind Jewish Handshake greeting called “Chai High.”

“Andy and I realized that unlike most other cultures and religions we as Jews did not have any handshakes or greetings,” Rabbi Gross says. “Within minutes we had one that is truly Jewish and fun.”

Kevin Adler, left, Cheyenne Janicek, and Ariel Kohl “It is simple” Greenberg says. “As you approach, your hands form loss fists touching each other, then you separate them and touch the other persons separated fists and lift into the air as if doing Hagbah. It is the same motion that is used in a synagogue when the Torah is lifted from the Bimah to show the congregation. It is quick and easy and would only be known to Jews!”

Ezra Potash, a sophomore, called it “a motion that is in style.” His brother Adev added, “It could be the unofficial official Jewish Handshake!”

Judy Rubin, Educational Director of Beth El Synagogue when she first tried said, “I got goose bumps when I realized what the movement signified. It is a powerful gesture.

Anna Mosenkis, a long time member of Beth El added: “I really like it and am already showing it to many people that I know.”

“We would love to have this as part of the upcoming international Maccabi Games in Israel and as part of all the summer camps in the U.S.” both Greenberg and Rabbi Gross added. “With You Tube, Facebook and the help of the Jewish media it will really spread.”

Rabbi Jonathan Gross is the Rabbi of Omaha’s Orthodox Synagogue.

Andy Greenberg is a Jewish Educator in Omaha, has coordinated Youth Activities, and volunteers at the Rose Blumkin Home where he is one of several who lead services.

For more information contact Andy Greenberg at 402.250.3895 or e-mail at SpeakingofAndyGreenberg@ cox.net.

Barry Belmont passed away on July 3 in Omaha. Services were held July 6 at Fisher Farm Cemetery and were officiated by Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Cantor Beth Schlossberg.

He is survived by his parents Ann and Jack Belmont; sisters and brothers-in-law, Nini and Skip Rosenstock of Overland Park, KS, and Marlene and Hyman Sukiennik of Scottsdale, AZ; nieces and nephews, Brittany, Carly, David and Jesse.

Memorials may be made to the Nebraska Kidney Association, 402.932.7200.

MYRNA J. KIRSHENBAUM Myrna J. Kishenbaum passed away on July 10 at the age of 83. Services were held on July 12 at Temple Israel Cemetery.

She is survived by her husband of 62 years, Kevee Kirshenbaum; son and daughter-in-law, Dr. James and Sue Kirshenbaum; daughter, Kathryn Kirshenbaum; grandchildren, Andy, Sarah, Ariel, Jonathan, Hannah and Ellye; sister Mae Lieberman of Seattle; and many nieces and nephews.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, Temple Israel or your favorite charity.

SELMA MARKMAN SHAMBERG Selma Markman Shamberg passed away on July 11 at the age of 86. Services were held on July 13 at Temple Israel Cemetery.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years, James and daughter, Frankie Shamberg.

She is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, Linda and Richard Davis of Atlanta, and Sally and Jim Zipursky; grandchildren: Sarah and Emily Davis, Naomi and Aaron Zipursky; sister, Doris Gruskin of Oak Park, IL; and brother and sister-in-law, Gloria and Chuck Markman of Boca Raton, FL. She was active in many volunteer organizations including the Grand Island Library, Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, League of Women Voters, and the American Red Cross.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, or Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, 3133 West Highway 34, Grand Island, NE 68801.

Showing appreciation Sunday, July 24th will be a special day at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. On that day the many volunteers who provide assistance to the staff and residents will be honored. Joe Chereck will provide music for the program that will begin at 1:45 p.m. in the Rose Blumkin Home Auditorium. Family members of residents and community members are invited to attend to show their appreciation to the volunteers for spending so much time with the residents. Lois Wine, Director of Volunteers, said “I cannot begin to express my gratitude to the more than 125 volunteers. These extraordinary volunteers do so much for us; they lead many of the programs from Religious services, Gift Shop, Bingo, and Sing-a-long.

They welcome new residents, and provide friendly visits with residents, and computer training. These are just a few of the ways these fabulous individuals make every day a little brighter at the Blumkin Home.”

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CORRECTION In the July 8 issue, it was mistakenly stated that Carole Lainof works for VNA of the Midlands. She works for Interim Health Care. The Press regrets this error.

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12 | The Jewish Press | July 15, 2011

Israeli expats flocking to Berlin for the culture and the passport

by TOBY AXELROD BERLIN (JTA) -- Aviv Russ stands behind a console with his headphones on and speaks into a large microphone.

“We’re here: ‘Kol Berlin,’ the German-Israeli radio program. Shabbat shalom!” says Russ, 34, an Israeli expatriate.

Russ has been on the radio in Berlin nearly every Friday for about three years hosting an hour long program in a melange of Hebrew and German that offers an often irreverent take on being Israeli in Germany.

Thousands of Israelis are living in Berlin, though nobody knows exactly how many. The German-Israel Society, which promotes ties between the two countries, puts the estimate at 8,000; the Israeli Embassy says it doesn’t keep any figures.

Aside from the Israelis, Berlin has an estimated 20,000 Jews, 11,000 of whom are officially registered with the Jewish community.

Many Israelis come to Berlin for the same reasons that young people all over flock to this city: It is Europe’s hippest capital, a magnet for young artists, musicians and writers from around the world.

But the Israelis also are coming to Germany because it’s a relatively easy country for Jews to obtain a second passport: To be eligible, they must have a parent or grandparent who was persecuted by the Nazis. Once they have a German passport, they can live anywhere in Europe.

Some 100,000 Israelis currently hold a German passport, according to a report by Israeli sociologist Sima Zalcberg published last month in Israel’s Eretz Acheret magazine.

About 7,000 people per year apply for citizenship at the German Embassy in Tel Aviv, she found.

“You just hear Hebrew really often today, and it would have been really exotic five years ago,” says Nirit Bialer, who works on youth exchange programs between Germany and Israel. Five years ago, she says, “When I would tell people in Israel that I live in Berlin, people would say, ‘You live in Berlin? With those Nazis!?’ Now they say, ‘Oh, you’re living in Berlin? You are so lucky. I wish I could go. My neighbor was there, my cousin was there.’”

Compared to Tel Aviv, says Reinhold Robbe, president of the German-Israel Society, Berlin is “just as hip and just as alternative and multicultural, and Israelis get very comfortable here.” But Israelis also come here, he adds, “to get away from the stress of living in Israel.”

Bialer’s new project, a German-Israeli social program called Habayit, Hebrew for “the house,” is planning its second event: transforming a Berlin hangout on the Spree River into a Tel Aviv beach, complete with paddle ball, watermelon with goat cheese, and popsicles.

View towards the famous Friedrichstraße in downtown Berlin.

Credit: Wikipedia “Germany is very attractive now for Jews because Germans try very much to regain Jewish respect, which is of course impossible,” Bambi Sheleg, editor-in-chief of Eretz Acheret, tells JTA in a telephone interview. “Berlin is very attractive because it is an international city, and Jews have long, ancient roots in Germany.”

Sheleg, whose parents both came from prewar Germany, acknowledged that the pursuit of German citizenship by so many Israelis is also kind of weird for her.

“I have been to Germany and actually I speak a good German,” she says. “But my parents would not go back there, and I would not take a German passport.”

Germany and Israel have had strong ties since West Germany established diplomatic relations with the Jewish state in 1965. But Germany’s postwar Jewish population remained below 30,000 until the fall of the Soviet Union.

Since 1990, more than 200,000 Jews or members of Jewish families have immigrated to Germany from the former Soviet Union. In 2004, more former Soviet Jews immigrated to Germany than to Israel -- a fact that distressed the

Bricks+ Mortar

Israeli government, which pressed Germany to establish stricter rules governing who could immigrate to Germany.

In recent years, Jewish immigration to Germany from the former Soviet Union has dried up. But the Israelis keep coming.

Bambinim, a Jewish kindergarten run by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, is like a mini-Israel.

Israeli parents socialize in the halls, and their children practice speaking Hebrew together.

“The children will grow up knowing who they are,” says Sabina Alkanaev, 23, an Israeli volunteer who came to Germany for the year. There are many mixed GermanIsraeli families at the kindergarten. Alkanaev understands why these parents like Germany -- “It is certainly a calm place to raise children,” she said. And she has had a great time, too. “I go and hear Israeli musicians, see work by alternative artists and photographers and dancers. They all represent Israel here, and that makes me happy.”

But, Alkanaev says, she looks forward to returning to Israel in the fall.

“I cannot fight it; Israel calls me back,” she said. “It is who I am.”

In the “Kol Berlin” studio, Russ talks to guests Hila Golan and Ariel Nil Levy, an Israeli actor-producer couple whose show, “Minute of Silence,” opens next week at Berlin’s Thikwa Theater.

With four actors and three stages, the show explores German and Israeli ways of confronting the Holocaust, examining national identity in the topsy-turvy world of Israelis in the land of the perpetrator.

“Was it difficult to give up your identity?” Russ asks Levy, who recently became a German citizen.

“Well, the ceremony was terrible,” Levy answers. “The mayor said, ‘You now belong to a large family of 82 million.’”

“So you are not Israeli anymore?” Aviv asks.

“Well, you cannot give that up. I carry my Israeli identity with me,” Levy says.

“So it seems,” Aviv says, “you stay who you are.”

“My parents really miss me, but they really support me,” Golan says after the broadcast. “For them, the answer is my answer: They see the connection I have with Germany, and that I am trying to change how we think about Germany.

“But can I leave my Israeli identity? I don’t think so.”

ROSH HaShanah Publishing Date | 08.12.11 Space Reservation | 08.01.11 Camera Ready Deadline | 08.03.11

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Allan Handleman 402/334-6451 | ahandleman@jewishomaha.org