July 31, 2015

Endowed by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA

Play that Funky Music

July 31, 2015 15 Av 5775 Vol. 95 | No. 46

This Week

2015 JCC Backyard Concert Series

Karen and Friends light up the JCC stage Page 5

The Iran deal and the hubris of certainty Page 6

Velvet Crush

by GABBY BLAIR Come one! Come all!... To the highly-anticipated 5th Annual JCC Backyard Concert Series!

This year’s line up of performances, set to take place on Sunday, Aug. 16, 23, and 30 from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. are expected to draw the largest crowds yet. “Interest has continued to grow for this popular event; everyone enjoys listening to good music in a fun, relaxed atmosphere,” explains Esther Katz, JCC Cultural Arts Director. She goes on to say that “Summer is winding down, school is back in session and the lush, shady lawn behind the JCC, next to the pavilion and playground, is a perfect, family

Pancho and the Contraband friendly place to meet up and reconnect after being out and about all summer.”

Kicking off this year’s JCC Summer Concert Series on Sunday, Aug. 16 is Velvet Crush, Omaha’s premier cover band playing all your favorite funk, pop, rock, country and top 40 hits, from the 60’s through today. “We are a true cover band. We try to play ‘em just like they sound on the radio. Our main goal is to get as many people on their feet dancing, singing and having a blast with us!” Velvet Crush has been rocking Omaha benefits, parties, festivals, weddings and top local venues since 2009 and are sure to please at the JCC on Aug. 16.

Omaha Jewish Film Festival begins now Coaching for peace 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

8 10 11

by MARK KIRCHHOFF Center for Jewish Life The 14th Annual Omaha Jewish Film Festival begins this coming Sunday, Aug. 2 with the showing of Dough, a 2014 release from the United Kingdom. Show time is 7:15 p.m. in the JCC Theater. Admission cost is $5 at the door. This year’s reduced ticket cost is due to the generous sponsorships provided by Todd and Betiana Simon, the Henry Monsky Lodge B’nai B’rith plus the following funds of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation: The Klutznick Chair of Jewish Civilization at Creighton University; Special Donor Advised Fund; Samuel & Bess Rothenberg Memorial Endowment Fund and Avy L. &

Roberta L. Miller Foundation by Lindsey Miller-Lerman.

In the film, Jonathan Pryce stars as an aging Jewish baker, Nat Dayan, whose faltering business is inadvertently saved by his young Muslim apprentice. Widowed and down on his luck, Nat Dayan is desperate to save his London bake shop. His customers are dying, his sons have no interest in the family business, and hostile businessman Sam Cotton has his own greedy plans for the property.

Nat reluctantly enlists the help of teenager Ayyash, a refugee from Darfur. The Muslim boy works in the bakery while selling marijuana on the side to help his struggling mother. When Ayyash accidently drops his stash into the dough, the challah starts flying off the shelf, and an unlikely friendship forms between the old Jewish baker and his young Muslim apprentice.

Dough is a warmhearted, humorous story about overcoming prejudice and finding redemption in unexpected places. (2014, Directed by John Goldschmidt, United Kingdom, Continued on page 3

Josh Hoyer and the Shadowboxers

Next in the line up, on Sunday, Aug. 23, is local band Pancho and the Contraband, which has been described as having a unique and fresh ska-funk sound and has been likened to Satchel Grande. Pancho and the Contraband utilizes a range of instruments from guitar and ukulele to percussion and bass to a range of brass and woodwinds. They are sure to delight with their music, all written and composed by the band itself.

Last, but certainly not least, Josh Hoyer and the Shadowboxers, are bringing some funk, soul and R&B to wrap up the series on Sunday, Aug. 30. Lead man Hoyer has been described by the Omaha Reader as “one

of Lincoln-Omaha scenes’s finest song writers.” Josh Hoyer and the Shadowboxers are currently touring the nation after the recent release of their second album and Katz says, “We are certainly fortunate to have them booked for our final show of the series!”

The JCC Backyard Concert Series is open to the public, free of charge, and, this year, desserts will be available for purchase. Attendees are encouraged to bring camp chairs, blankets, and picnics, if they wish.

Pets and alcohol are permitted; however, concert goers are asked to be considerate to others; remember that Continued on page 2

Star Deli celebrates five years

Mike Aparo and Marco Martinez

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMPand, of course, kreplach and WRIGHT knishes. Other menu items have changed and been added throughEditor, Jewish Press It was 2010 when Mike Silverman out the years, such as fried matzah and Josh Gurock decided to bring balls and the infamous Dairy Deli. the Lower East Side to Omaha.

“When we started,” Mike Aparo They’d been dreaming about it: the says, “we were buying our sandwich garlicky aromas and raucous atmos- meat from New York. It was kosher, phere of the New York deli right in but it was processed. In our third our own backyard. After extensive year, we started making our own research and countless calls to their corned beef. After doing more remothers, they amassed the authen- search, we purchased our own tic recipes needed for such an en- smoker, and we started smoking deavor. With the assistance of our own pastrami.”

Director of Food Service Mike The Goldberg sandwich was Aparo, Star Deli opened its doors. added to the menu (eight lbs. total That first menu already included in challah, meat, coleslaw and two all the staples, like matzah ball types of fries!) as was a special soup, pastrami and corned beef, Continued on page 3

2 | The Jewish Press | July 31, 2015

Something for Everyone

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Editor, Jewish Press Campaign Chairs Jan Goldstein and Howard Kooper are used to operating “on all cylinders” and to date, that’s exactly what’s happening as they immerse themselves in their leadership roles for the 2016 Campaign.

“For the Campaign this year you will see something that is nothing short of a community-wide effort,” Jan said. “We will be talking to community members about truly engaging

in Jewish Omaha, whether as a donor, volunteer or program participant, or, even better, all three. We have a wide array of things planned; we want there to be something that speaks to everyone.”

The Community event, Campaign Cabaret, on Oct. 11 is one such example. A whole host of impassioned people with a love of performance and entertaining are helping to put on a wonderful cabaret-style variety show, reminiscent of the very successful 1986 and ’87 Campaign Cabarets. Jan and Howard believe that it is the kind of event that encapsulates everything great about Jewish Omaha.

“It was inspirational. You left Cabaret feeling good about our community,” Howard has said. “Community happens when we all get involved and nothing involved people of all ages, abilities and interests like Campaign Cabaret.”

“We love the new ideas and spin on things that staff and lay leaders bring to the face of Campaign. It’s ok to bring back previous successes as long as we have an eye to the

future and it makes sense in 2015. We believe strongly that many ideas and practices from the past are worth keeping.”

Jan continued, excitedly, “In addition to Cabaret, we will be invigorating Omaha’s long history of successful community missions with a Women’s Mission to Jewish Europe in October, chaired by Kimberly Robinson. Nothing is more powerful and impactful than traveling overseas to witness, first hand, the vibrant Jewish life thriving, in part, because of our Campaign dollars. Kimberly was right on the mark when she realized, after community teens went on the March of the Living in Eastern Europe, that it was time to arrange a trip for adults, too.”

“We are finding a happy medium,” Jan said, “between Jewish values, hopes and dreams for our children, a collective Jewish memory, and our responsibility to one another. We are part of a larger, global family. That is why we go to Eastern Europe. We create awareness of that global family. Part of being Jewish is taking care of each other.”

Also new to the Annual Campaign this year is the Kehilla Cup Challenge, a “sports-style” competition that pits teams of Campaign solicitors in a friendly race for a good cause.

Adapted from a similarly successful model in a small, southeastern Federation, the teams of volunteers will choose “draft” cards (prospective donors) and teams score points for reaching a wide variety of “goals”. Commissioner Brian Nogg will lead the teams to victory and award Omaha’s first Kehilla Cup! “Much like fantasy football, this concept appeals to a wide age and demographic range. Anyone can participate and we promise lots of fun and good sportsmanship,” said Howard.

“Much more information is coming in the weeks ahead.”

To find out more, contact Chief Development Officer Steve Levinger at slevinger@jewishomaha.org or 402.334.6443.

Listening to Jan and Howard, it becomes clear the Annual

Campaign is about so much more than opening our collective wallets.

“Of course, raising funds is important,” Jan said. “The obligation to give is a happy obligation. We get back more than we give. But we have to remember why we are raising those funds. It’s for our community, for our children, our families here in Omaha, our extended family here in America and in countries throughout the world. The Campaign has to be exciting, relevant and energetic. We have to do this together.

It simply has to be a community effort.”

Backyard concert series Continued from page 1 the JCC campus is entirely smoke free, so please refrain from smoking. In the unfortunate case of rain, the concerts will be held in the JCC Theater. While there is no cost to attend, please consider bringing a donation for Jewish Family Services to help those in need. JFS is specifically requesting donations of unexpired pasta sauce, pasta, 15 oz cans of fruits in juice, and vegetables, toilet paper, deodorant, and disposable razors. Look for the specially-marked donation blue bins as you enter the concert. Any questions should be directed to Esther Katz, JCC Cultural Arts Director 402.334.6406 or at ekatz@ jccomaha.org.

Many thanks to the Karen Sokoloff Javitch Music fund, the Herbert Goldsten Trust and the Jewish Federation of Omaha Special Donor-Advised Fund for generously supporting The 2015 JCC Omaha Backyard Concert Series.

Without the continued support of these special donors, the show could not go on!

July 31, 2015 | The Jewish Press | 3

Remembering Stan Widman

Basic computer skills made easy!

by BARBARA WIDMAN Stanley Joseph “Stan” Widman, who passed away on July 9, was proud to be Jewish. He was a member of the Suburban Rotary Club, an athlete, a singer and actor, a great father, grandfather and, last but not least, my husband.

The Suburban Rotary Club named him Humanitarian of the Year in 2001/2002 for all he contributed to the organization. When Rotary needed a helping hand for any project, whatever it was, Stan was there. He chopped Christmas trees after the holidays, manned golf holes at the Cox Classic Games, led the singing during meetings, and served as secretary for two years.

He was also a terrific athlete and sports enthusiast. His younger-day sports achievements are listed on a plaque in the Jewish Community Center’s Hall of Fame. He lettered in baseball in 1954-55, and during the 1958-59 football season, he was the team mascot, the Corn Cob, for the University of NebraskaLincoln's Football team.

Then, there were the plays in which he sang and acted.

They are too numerous to list here, and many of you remember them, because you were there. He was excellent

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Star Deli celebrates Continued from page 1 kosher-for-Passover deli with matzah brei, matzah rolls, and of course, the famous Latke Reuben. From time to time there are special evening dinners, as during Sukkot and BBQ-nights.

in any part, because he gave it his all. Toward what turned out to be the end of his acting career, when he had trouble remembering his lines, he’d write them on his hand—anything necessary to not let the audience down.

Stan was active at Beth El Synagogue where he sang in the choir for many years. Stan and Cantor Emil Berkovitz were known for their High Holiday duets. In later years, he also sang with Cantor Gaston Bogomolni. In 2006, he received the Selwyn Roffman Award for Religious Growth.

He was a member of Men’s Club and a Minyannaire for as long as his health allowed.

For years, Stan operated Stan’s Shoe Store. To this day, many in the community remember it. What Stan enjoyed the most about his last business, “Get Mugged,” was seeing the smiles of his customers when they saw his finished products. The schmoozing, of course, also made him happy.

Stan loved to love, and be loved. He had a good life, a Jewish life; cut too short by a devastating illness, but a good life nonetheless. At our wedding, he sang “A Love Until the End of Time.”

AND IT WAS.

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Foundation funds sponsor the popular JCC summer Backyard Concert Series.

Establish an endowment fund and help keep exciting and fun-filled activities going all year long.

Emily in Washington Contact Howard Epstein, Executive Director 402-334-6466 | hepstein@jewishomaha.org | www.jfofoundation.org

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Having your food Gurocked is another new staple: When Josh left,” Aparo says, “we told him he could make one permanent change to the menu, and we would name it after him. He chose to offer the frying of any menu item.

Ask for your order to be Gurocked, and we’ll deep fry it.”

In addition to providing fresh baked challah to the customers each Friday, the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home’s kitchen also bakes rye bread from scratch these days, and, over the years, has introduced the Weekly Special. That special, on Friday, July 31, will consist of deep discounts: Star Deli is offering $5 whole corned beef and pastrami sandwiches to celebrate its five-year anniversary.

“We are doing this to say thank you to the community,” Aparo says. “Over the last five years, we’ve built a solid customer base. We appreciate how much members of this community have supported the deli and how loyal they are. They keep coming back, and if they’re short on time, they take advantage of our take-out options. People come to visit and kibbitz, or to pick up a kosher dinner to enjoy later, or to order deli meat by the pound because they love our food. We cannot think of a better way to celebrate the last five years than to invite you all to come and have a $5 sandwich.”

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Omaha Jewish Film Festival Continued from page 1 English, 94 minutes.)

This year’s festival is a joint effort with the Center for Jewish Life (CJL) and the Institute for Holocaust Education (IHE). The additional dates and films for the festival are, Aug. 9, 24 Days; Aug. 11, Besa; The Promise; Aug. 16, The Last Mentsch; Aug. 23, Above and Beyond.

The showing on Aug. 11 will be free.

The Omaha Jewish Film Festival is presented jointly by The Center for Jewish Life as part of its mission to maximize involvement of Omaha’s Jewish community in imaginative, compelling and meaningful Jewish experiences, and the Institute for Holocaust Education with its mission to provide educational resources, workshops, survivor testimony, and integrated arts programming to students, educators, and the public. For more information about the 14th Annual Omaha Jewish Film Festival please call 402.334.6463 or 402.334.6575.

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50th Wedding Anniversary Margo and Steve Riekes will be celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary Saturday morning August 15,2015 Beth El Synagogue A Kiddush Luncheon will follow services.

4 | The Jewish Press | July 31, 2015

August Community Calendar FRIDAY, JULY 31 Alzheimer’s Support Group, 10:30 a.m. at RBJH Ari Kohen-Human Rights: Controversy & Clarity, 11 a.m.

Star Deli, 11:30 a.m. at RBJH Mainstreeters Movie, 1 p.m.

Shabbat Speaker Shari Hess, 6 p.m. at Temple Israel SATURDAY, AUGUST 1 Shabbat, 9 a.m. at Beth Israel Synagogue Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. at Temple Israel Mini-Minyannaires, 10:45 a.m. at Beth El

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12 Breadbreakers, noon at RBJH Board Meeting, 6:30 p.m. at Beth Israel THURSDAY, AUGUST 13 Shanghai Lessons, 1 p.m. at Beth El Women’s Class, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel Center for Jewish Life Board Meeting, noon Beth Israel Med Center Chabura, 1p.m. at UNMC Avot U-Banim Parent & Child Learning, 7 p.m. at Beth Israel Beth Israel Night Learning Brews and Jews, 8:30 p.m.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2 Temple Israel Omaha Storm Chasers Game & Tailgate Bagels & Beit Medrash, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Torah Study, 10 a.m. at Beth El Temple Israel Babes and Tots in the Park, 10 a.m.

14th Annual Omaha Jewish Film Festival, 7:15 p.m.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14 Alzheimer’s Support Group, 10:30 a.m. at RBJH FLS: Eliad - Diversity In Israel, 11 a.m.

Star Deli, 11:30 a.m. at RBJH Temple Israel Shabbat Comes to You @ Remington Heights, 4 p.m.

MONDAY, AUGUST 3 Teen Class, 7 p.m. at Beth Israel Jewish Press Board Meeting, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 15 Shabbat, 9 a.m. at Beth Israel Synagogue Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. at Temple Israel Mini-Minyannaires, 10:45 a.m. at Beth El

TUESDAY, AUGUST 4 Wrestling with Rashi (Beit Midrash), 8 p.m. at Beth Israel WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5 Breadbreakers, noon at RBJH PJ Library Birthday Party, 5:30 p.m.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6 Women’s Class, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel Beth Israel Med Center Chabura, 1p.m. at UNMC Avot U-Banim Parent & Child Learning, 7 p.m. at Beth Israel Beth Israel Night Learning Brews and Jews, 8:30 p.m.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 16 Temple Israel JYG Rush Event Red Cross Blood Drive, 8 a.m. at Beth El BESTT Sunday Classes, 9:45 a.m. at Beth El Bagels & Beit Medrash, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Torah Study, 10 a.m. at Beth El Torah Tots, 10:15 a.m. at Beth El Temple Israel Tri-Faith Picnic, 12:30 p.m. at Countryside Community Church Backyard Concert Series, 5 p.m.

14th Annual Omaha Jewish Film Festival, 7:15 p.m.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 7 Star Deli, 11:30 a.m. at RBJH Shabbat Al Fresco, 6 p.m. at Beth El Shabbat Speaker Courtney Bierman, 6 p.m. at Temple Israel

MONDAY, AUGUST 17 Mainstreeter’s Committee Meeting, 10 a.m. at RBJH Temple Israel Annual Golf Outing, noon Teen Class, 7 p.m. at Beth Israel Friedel Board Meeting, 7p.m.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 8 Shabbat, 9 a.m. at Beth Israel Synagogue Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. at Temple Israel Shabbat Speaker’s Series with Nebraaska Appleseed’s Becky Gould, 9:30 a.m. at Beth El Mini-Minyannaires, 10:45 a.m. at Beth El

TUESDAY, AUGUST 18 BBYO Meeting, 6 p.m.

JCC Board of Directors Meeting, 7 p.m.

Board of Trustees Meeting, 7 p.m. at Temple Israel Wrestling with Rashi (Beit Midrash), 8 p.m. at Beth Israel

SUNDAY, AUGUST 9 Bagels & Beit Medrash, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Torah Study, 10 a.m. at Beth El Community Concert with Karen Javitch and Friends, 1:30 p.m.

14th Annual Omaha Jewish Film Festival, 7:15 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19 Breadbreakers, noon at RBJH BESTT Weekday Classes, 4:15 p.m. at Beth El BESTT Hebrew High & Dinner, 6 p.m. at Beth El

MONDAY, AUGUST 10 Employee Recognition Event, 1 p.m.

FJA Back-to-School Ice Cream Social, 6:30 p.m.

Teen Class, 7 p.m. at Beth Israel TUESDAY, AUGUST 11 ADL/CRC Board Meeting, noon Eye on Israel with Eliad Eliyahu, noon BBYO Meeting, 6 p.m.

14th Annual Jewish Omaha Film Festival, 7:15 p.m.

Wrestling with Rashi (Beit Midrash), 8 p.m. at Beth Israel

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20 Women’s Class, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel Elul Adult Ed Series, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Beth Israel Med Center Chabura, 1 p.m. at UNMC Dorothy Kaplan Book Discussion Group, 1 p.m.

Avot U-Banim Parent & Child Learning, 7 p.m. at Beth Israel Beth Israel Night Learning Brews and Jews, 8:30 p.m.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 21 FLS: Eliad - Diversity In Israel, 11 a.m.

Star Deli, 11:30 a.m. at RBJH Shabbat Al Fresco, 6 p.m. at Beth El

SATURDAY, AUGUST 22 Temple Israel OTYG Rush Event Shabbat, 9 a.m. at Beth Israel Synagogue Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. at Temple Israel Mini-Minyannaires, 10:45 a.m. at Beth El SUNDAY, AUGUST 23 Babies, Bigger Kids & Bagels, 9:45 a.m. at Beth El BESTT Sunday Classes, 9:45 a.m. at Beth El Bagels & Beit Medrash, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Torah Study, 10 a.m. at Beth El Opening Day for Religious School, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Backyard Concert Series, 5 p.m.

14th Annual Omaha Jewish Film Festival, 7:15 p.m.

MONDAY, AUGUST 24 JFO Board of Directors, 11:30 a.m. at RBJH Teen Class, 7 p.m. at Beth Israel TUESDAY, AUGUST 25 JSS Board of Directors Meeting, 11:30 a.m. at RBJH BBYO Meeting, 6 p.m.

Wrestling with Rashi (Beit Midrash), 8 p.m. at Beth Israel WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26 Breadbreakers, noon at RBJH BESTT Weekday Classes, 4:15 p.m. at Beth El BESTT Hebrew High, 6:45 p.m. at Beth El THURSDAY, AUGUST 27 Women’s Class, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel Elul Adult Ed Series, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Beth Israel Med Center Chabura, 1p.m. at UNMC Avot U-Banim Parent & Child Learning, 7 p.m. at Beth Israel Beth Israel Night Learning Brews and Jews, 8:30 p.m.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 28 Alzheimer’s Support Group, 10:30 a.m. at RBJH Beth El Serves Lunch @ NE AIDS Coalition, 11:30 a.m.

Star Deli, 11:30 a.m. at RBJH Mainstreeters Movie, 12:30 p.m. at JCC Theater SATURDAY, AUGUST 29 Shabbat, 9 a.m. at Beth Israel Synagogue Tot Shabbat, 9 a.m. at Temple Israel Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. at Temple Israel Mini-Minyannaires, 10:45 a.m. at Beth El Scholar In Residence: Dr. Steve Levine, 11:30 a.m. at Beth Israel SUNDAY, AUGUST 30 Temple Israel 5th Sunday Breakfast Service, 7:30 a.m. at Stephen Center BESTT Sunday Classes, 9:45 a.m. at Beth El Bagels & Beit Medrash, 9:45 a.m. at Beth Israel Torah Study, 10 a.m. at Beth El Torah Tots, 10:15 a.m. at Beth El JCC Musical Theater Crazy for You Auditions (Adults), 1 p.m.

JCC Musical Theater Crazy for You Auditions (8 - 18 yr olds), 2:30 p.m.

Backyard Concert Series, 5 p.m.

Beth El Cooking/Serving, 5:30 p.m. at Stephen Center MONDAY, AUGUST 31 Teen Class, 7 p.m. at Beth Israel

All events held at the Jewish Community Center unless otherwise noted. This calendar does not include all community events. For a complete listing, visit the Federation’s website: www.jewishomaha.org (click on calendar). To keep calendar accurate, call Pat Anson at 402.334.8200. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the accuracy of the above events.

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July 31, 2015 | The Jewish Press | 5

‘Karen and Friends’ light up JCC stage

by OZZIE NOGG Javitch has written hundreds of songs, penned four musiYou’ll want to be in the front row when Karen Sokolof cals, and released thirteen CDs, singing on many of them.

Javitch and some of her talented friends sing and dance to She created From Generation to Generation with Elaine her songs on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 9. The ‘Karen and Jabenis, whom she calls her “dear friend and greatest menFriends’ performance runs from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in tor.” From Generation to Generation has played three times the Jewish Community Center Auditorium and features original Javitch songs, including favorites from From Generation to Generation and other Javitch musicals and CDs. The show is free and open to the community.

“My uncle, Jerry Rosinsky, is a resident of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home,” Javitch said, “and he loves the entertainment the Home provides. I’ve gotten to know many of the other residents and they appreciate it so much when we sing for them.

This will be our third show specifically for them. The audience has been filled at every performance,” Karen Joyce Torchia, left, Karen Javitch, Grace Titus, Danny Denenberg, Pegi Georgeson and Gene said.

Klosner “I asked some very talented people who have sung in my shows before to combine forces in Omaha, and enjoyed runs in Chicago, St. Louis and Los with me,” Javitch continued. “Pegi Georgeson, Gene Angeles. “I dedicate this show to my parents -- Ruth and Klosner, Joyce Torchia, Krissy Kirby and two young per- Phil Sokolof and my brother -- Steve Sokolof, who were very formers who have graced the JCC stage many times -- supportive of me and my music.”

Danny Denenberg and Grace Titus. Danny is up for two Karen and Friends is presented by Jewish Social Services.

TAG awards from the Omaha Theater Arts Guild, and eleven-year old Grace just blew us away with her performance as ‘Beauty’ in the Beauty and the Beast production at the JCC. We’ve been rehearsing with Chuck Penington -Mannheim Steamroller’s musical conductor -- and he will Abigail and Adam Kutler announce the July 14 birth of play the keyboard for the show. So bring your happy faces and join these wonderful performers on August 9, because thier son, Henry Arthur.

He has a brother, Samuel. we guarantee an hour of toe-tappin’ fun, including surprise Grandparents are Debi and David Kutler of Omaha, and gifts for everyone. Bring your children, too, because Danny Judy and Mark Erpelding of Algona, IA. and Grace will sing some songs that kids will love.”

Birth

Marriage JAVITCH/CANFIELD Rachel Javitch and Dan Canfield were married on June 28 at 6 p.m. at Temple Israel in Omaha followed by a reception at the Hilton Downtown Omaha. The ceremony was officiated by Rabbi Aryeh Azriel.

The bride is the daughter of Karen and Gary Javitch. She is the granddaughter of the late Ruth and Phil Sokolof, and the late Mildred and Robert Javitch of Cleveland, OH. The bride graduated from the University of WisconsinMadison with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and Spanish. She earned her Master of Education in English as a Second Language (ESL) from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Rachel is a third grade teacher at Partnership Academy in Richfield, MN. The groom is the son of former Omahans Sandy and Rick Canfield now of Prescott, AZ. He is the grandson of the late Faye and Irving Gendler, and the late Anne and LeRoy Canfield.

The groom graduated from the University of Arizona in Tucson with a Bachelor of Science in Business and Entrepreneurship. Dan is the owner of maternity clothing store, Bellies to Babies, in Richfield, MN. After a wedding trip to Australia and New Zealand, the couple will reside in St. Louis Park, MN.

Organizations B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Kenny McMorris, CEO of the Charles Drew Health Center on “Vulnerable Populations” on Wednesday, Aug. 5, noon. For more information or to be placed on the email list call 402.334.6443 or bnaibrith@jewishomaha.org.

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6 | The Jewish Press | July 31, 2015

The Iran deal and the hubris of certainty

by URIEL HEILMAN deal must account for them. What will the world do to pre- Washington in an extremely poor position to get the rest of NEW YORK (JTA) – Admit it: You might be wrong. vent the continued arming of Hezbollah, a terrorist group the world to tighten the sanctions noose around Iran. On Yes, you have a strong view about whether the nuclear deal on Israel’s northern border, by Iran? How will Washington the contrary, Russia and China likely would abandon the signed with Iran last week will spell catastrophe for Israel, or avoid a repeat of the North Korea scenario, where a terrorist arms sanctions, and the limits on Iran would be weaker than whether it’s the best of a range of bad options for dealing regime intent on obtaining the bomb capitalized on the they have been for years. with Iran’s apparent pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

West’s lax implementation of the 1994 nuclear agreement?

The military option But we can’t predict the future, so we can’t know for sure Even if this agreement freezes Iran’s progress toward a bomb For some hawks, this is the ideal option for dealing with whether this deal will be more or less effective at slowing for 10-15 years, what happens then?

Iran’s nuclear program. But it’s far from clear that it's a better Iran’s path to a bomb than the other options: a military strike Let’s look at the alternatives to the deal: option than an imperfect deal. For one thing, it’s highly on Iran’s nuclear facilities, or rejecting this deal and hoping A better deal unlikely the United States will attack Iran. Obama is disinthe world upholds sanctions and a more yielding Iran Could the world powers have negotiated a deal that was a clined to do so, and America is still weary from having fought returns to the negotiating table before it can build a bomb. little bit better? Maybe. Could they have reached a much two recent wars in the region, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We can’t say with certainty which sceIf Israel were to attack Iran, several nario endangers more Israeli lives: approval things likely would happen: of the deal, because Iran will use cash from Incomplete destruction: Some elements the sanctions easing to bolster Israel’s eneof Iran’s nuclear program likely would mies, or a military strike on Iran's nuclear survive an attack, given the extent to facilities that likely would result in a war which it is dispersed around the country, between Israel and Iran (and its regional the difficulty of penetrating the underproxies, like Hezbollah), or rejecting the ground sites where much of Iran’s nuclear deal and taking the risk that Iran acquires a material is stored, the nuclear expertise bomb rather than renegotiates.

Iran has gained over the years and the Not all issues are like this. Same-sex possibility that Iran has secret nuclear marriage, health-care reform, abortion sites that Israel doesn’t know about. Even laws — these are all ideological issues. But Israeli strategic analysts estimate that a the Iran deal is a practical debate. We all strike would set Iran’s nuclear program agree on the goal: a secure Israel and a Some of the thousands of demonstrators in New York City's Times Square protesting the Iran deal, back only by two to three years — far less safer world. The question is over which July 23, 2015.

Credit: Gabe Friedman time than the duration of this deal. path is more likely to get us there.

Diplomatic fallout: Without global backIt’s easy to say with hindsight that Neville Chamberlain better deal, one that would have satisfied critics like the cur- ing for a military strike, Israel would be seen as the aggresmade a disastrous error by appeasing Hitler at Munich in rent Israeli prime minister? No way. sor and isolated diplomatically, and the sanctions regime 1938. But historical comparisons are facile. Iran is not Nazi It wasn’t just that the deal had to accommodate U.S. against Iran likely would fall apart. Within Iran, moderates Germany, and this is not 1938. That’s not to say the ayatol- demands and Iranian demands. (That’s how negotiations probably would close ranks behind the regime, making it lah loves Israel or the Jews, but he’s no Hitler. And the work: America had sanctions in its negotiating arsenal, but less likely that Tehran implodes from within.

Iranian people — who have the lowest rate of anti-Semitic the Iranians had their advanced nuclear program in theirs).

Military reprisals: Iran probably would strike back against attitudes in the Middle East, according to Anti-Defamation The deal also had to reflect the demands of the other countries Israel, directly and/or through its regional proxies, including League polling — are no Nazis. in the talks. By all accounts, Russia and China did not want Hezbollah. Many Israelis probably would be killed.

Why is it important to acknowledge the impossibility of any limits on conventional arms sales to Iran. Though the Nuclear acceleration: A military attack likely would accelknowing which course of action will lead to greater security deal’s five-year and eight-year limitations on arms sales are far erate Iran’s race toward a nuclear weapon. Without sancfor Israel and the world? So we can conduct this debate with from ideal, they may have been the best compromise possible. tions, or with weaker sanctions in place, Iran would have an respect, free of vitriol or ridicule, and without maligning the In any case, the ship has sailed. This is the deal the six easier time importing the materials it needs to assemble a motives of those who disagree with us. world powers and Iran negotiated. We can either take it or bomb. And fresh from the experience of an attack, Iran Consider the following. Those who say the deal will make walk away. would have the motive to obtain a nuclear weapon as quickthings worse make several key predictions: What would happen if America walks away ly as possible to deter against future attack.

• Iran will take the windfall it will gain from the easing of from the deal?

It may be wishful thinking to hope that this deal is a modsanctions to fuel its proxies in the region: Hezbollah in Iran likely would accelerate its nuclear program, as it did erating force on Iran, given its track record. But it’s also Lebanon, the Assad regime in Syria and the Houthi rebels in the last time negotiations with the Americans ran aground, wishful thinking to believe that Israel could get a great deal, Yemen, to name just a few. in 2003. Even if the two sides managed to return to the nego- or that a military strike against Iran is a panacea. There are • The Iranians will cheat on the deal, and the world either tiating table at some point in the future, Iran’s nuclear hand problems and complications with each of the options. will look the other way or respond too slowly or inadequately. would be even stronger than it is today, just as it is stronger Take a position on the deal. Lobby Congress one way or • Even if the Iranians abide by this deal, they will be able to today than it was in 2003. The longer we wait, the more the other. Rally. But admit this: You could be wrong. race to a nuclear weapon once the deal is concluded, and will enriched uranium Iran will have.

There’s enough room for both proponents and opponents do so, forever altering the balance of power in the Middle East.

Moreover, if we walk away now, America would bear the of the deal to argue that they’re acting in the best interests These are all legitimate concerns, and proponents of the blame for having scuttled the deal. That would put of Israel, the Jewish people and world peace.

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July 31, 2015 | The Jewish Press | 7

Jewish Family Service Quiet agency; Not so quiet reputation

Serving Generations…

Bill Cutler III

402-391-3900 7805 W. Center Rd. BELLEVUE CHAPEL 402-291-5000 Bellevue DWORAK CHAPEL 402-346-1144 16th & Vinton

Bill Cutler IV

by KAREN GUSTAFSON JFS Executive Director We are forever challenged with balancing the need to remain confidential in most of the things we do and services that we provide, with sharing enough information that YOU know who WE are; who your JFS is, and the value that we add to the community.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that when a family hears about JFS from their doctor or another trusted person that our “perceived value” shoots up like a rocket. I’m not sure what it is about all of us as human beings, that most of us have the assumption that there is better quality, more skilled staff, etc. at that “other” agency or that “other” provider. Well, let me break that myth for you.

At JFS, we are small but we have four very highly qualified therapists who work at the agency. We are often sought out for our over 70 years of combined experience in the mental health field. You may not want to come to us for a variety of reasons: 1) We are seen as only serving the “needy” in the Jewish community; or, 2) We don’t want to be seen at JFS. So, let me bust these myths for you.

Myth busters: 1. JFS serves EVERYONE in the Jewish community and the Omaha community for mental health services. We have highly specialized, licensed staff. If we do not have experience in a particular area, we will still work with you long enough to get you to the right person, with the right specialty. This is the legally responsible, ethical way for therapists to remain only treating people within “the scope of their expertise.”

2. When looking for any kind of service (dentist, doctor, dance program, tutor, etc.), most of us will value the advice of friends and quite frequently we end up going to the same “best” provider. We don’t seem to have any problem being seen in the same waiting room at the locations named above, but we do seem to mind if we are seen in the same therapist’s office. But we are seen in the same therapist’s office, whether we’re perfectly comfortable or not, because we are often referred to the “best” therapist in town. Well, outside of the Jewish community, JFS is seen as “the best” and we are right in your front yard !!!!

I wanted to share with you a list of all of the community collaborations with which

JFS staff is currently involved. Each one of these connections has added value to the perception of Jewish Family Service and to the positive reputation of the Jewish community’s involvement in Omaha: Project Harmony “Connections” program and referral source for child abuse treatment United Way of the Midlands Woodhaven Counseling Sarpy County Head Start Consultant Local family physicians who refer to JFS frequently Ollie Webb Center, Inc. Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) Medical Reserve Corps, 2 mental health community volunteers for crisis intervention Douglas County 1184 Treatment Team 1184 Sexual Abuse Treatment Team Metropolitan Child Advocacy Coalition Nebraska Adoption Agencies Association (NAAA) University of Nebraska at Omaha Prejudice Elimination Facilitator (PEW) for last 14 years (ADL) Association of Jewish Family and Children’s Agencies (AJFCA) Friedel Jewish Academy Pennie Z. Davis Child Development Center (CDC) Jewish Community Center (JCC) Institute of Holocaust Education (IHE) Center for Jewish Life (CJL) Jewish Social Services Board--share a Board with RBJH and Jewish Senior Outreach Local synagoues Campus Safety Committee Campus Wellness Committee Surprised? We are quiet and discreet in the services we provide, but we are very much “out there” when it comes to community collaboration and making a difference in the world of mental health. I hope this makes YOU proud of your Jewish Family Service. I know that I am.

I sincerely believe that I work for “the best” mental health agency in town!

If you have questions or comments about this article, are in need of services that JFS can provide or are in need of a referral for another program or service, please give JFS a call at 402.330.2024.

RESPECT goes to summer camp

www.heafeyheafey.com

Club July 2015 Members GO L D Bruce Belgrade Sandra Belgrade Lorrie Bernstein in memoriam of Sheldon Bernstein Jill & Mike Erman Marlen Frost

Gloria & Howard Kaslow Joel Patton and Muriel Kamp Sissy Silber in memoriam of Howard Silber Joodi & Norman Veitzer Nora & Barry Zoob

P UBL I S H E R Gabby & Jason Blair Marlene & David Cohen Mimi & Scott Farkas Amy & Sandy Friedman Jody & Neal Malashock

Patty & Steve Nogg Sissy Silber in memoriam of Howard Silber Nancy & Phil Wolf

E D I T O R Beth Cohen & Harry Berman Sally & Paul Fine Randi Friedel Jablin Sylvia Kaiman of blessed memory Shane & David Kotok Abigail & Adam Kutler Bonnie & Steve Levinger

Pam & Henry Monsky Stephan Newman Iris & Marty Ricks Phyllis Schwartz Susann & Paul Shyken Jay Simon Esther & James Wax

RE P O RT E R

RESPECT performed for the JCC summer camp this week! Naama Weiss, left, and other campers learned how to “stop and think” about how to help herself and others if she is being bullied or if she sees someone else being bullied. TEAMING UP and STOP AND THINK were sponsored by the Adah and Leon Millard Foundation.

Marcia Arch Molline & Fritz Cassman Audrey Epstein Sharon & Howard Epstein Liz & Yonatan Feldstern Cantor Leo & Annette Fettman Lois & Lloyd Friedman Myrna Grumer Joanie & Richard Jacobson Julee Katzman David Lercher

Elinore Penner Debbie & Lloyd Roitstein Susan Rothholz Lynne & Errol Saltzman Claudia & Marc Sherman Susie Silverman Coke Tillman Lois & Norman Wine Jeremy Wright Phyllis & Harold Zabin

8 | The Jewish Press | July 31, 2015

Point of view

American Jewish Press Association Award Winner

Nebraska Press National Newspaper Association Association Award winner 2008

Getting along

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor Haim Saban and Sheldon Adelson have found common ground. How dare they? Saban, one of the biggest donors to Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign in 2008, and again poised to support her for the 2016 nomination couldn’t be more different than Adelson, who in 2012 supported first Newt Gingrich and eventually Mitt Romney for the White House, albeit to no avail.

Together, they are putting a portion of their vast wealth towards fighting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, particularly on college campuses. We’re talking tens of millions of dollars to educate supporters of Israel. They will return to campuses around the country armed with knowledge and arguments against the anti-Semitism that is often inherent in BDS activism. While pooling their resources, Saban and Adelson have also been able to tap into other donors’ goodwill; at a recent private event at the Venetian, Adelson’s Las Vegas casino, they raised more than $20 million to counter BDS. The Egyptian-born Saban holds dual IsraeliAmerican citizenship, is, among other things, a media proprietor, a record, film and television producer, and famously stayed in the White House as a guest when Bill Clinton was in office. He served on President Clinton’s Export Council, and has contributed between $5 and $10 million to the William J. Clinton Foundation. His donations to the Democratic Party during the 2001-2002 cycle exceeded $10 million. Together with Steven Spielberg, he hosted a fundraiser for Hillary that brought in roughly $850,000.

Sheldon Gary Adelson, on the other hand, is as Republican as it gets. A casino mogul who is reportedly worth something in the neighborhood of $30 billion, he is

also the owner of the newspaper Israel HaYom. (Fun Fact: His father drove a taxi and his mother ran a knitting shop).

Adelson was the main financial backer of Freedom's Watch, a now-defunct political advocacy group founded to counter the influence of George Soros and Democratic-

Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban leaning lobby groups such as MoveOn.org. Almost all of the $30 million Freedom's Watch spent on the 2008 elections came from Adelson.

Altogether, Adelson spent $92 million supporting losing candidates during the 2012 U.S. Presidential election cycle.

These two people should not get along. The horror! It’s confusing for the rest of us; in today’s ultra divided landscape, Republicans and Democrats don’t mix. The schism is deep, and the only time we talk to each other is when we fight in social media. I see your Fox and raise you MSNBC, you’re pro and I’m con, and if you’re for this or that bill, you

better believe I’m going to be against it. Don’t tell me what’s in it, because you’re most likely lying. And anyway, my favorite news pundit already made fun of it on Twitter, so it has to be bad.

In this conflicted world, we struggle, especially when it comes to supporting Israel. There, too, we often think in black and white, and as a nation we have difficulty distinguishing what we really believe from what we think we ought to believe.

And somewhere along the way, “Liberal” has become synonymous with “BDS.” If you consider yourself a Liberal, you struggle explaining to your friends why you are pro-Israel. If you call yourself a Republican, it goes without saying you are pro-Israel. Speak out on behalf of Palestinian rights, and you will find little sympathy in Republican circles.

And so, since many of us fall in neither category completely, but usually somewhere in-between, depending on the issue, we run the risk of feeling disenfranchised. Because if we don’t all agree completely, we don’t really belong.

We still need to learn that it’s okay to disagree politically on some issues, and see eye to eye on others.

Saban and Adelson seem to have figured this out.

It’s a shame, really. We are not all expected to like the same food, wear the same clothes, or listen to the same music. We say we value our freedom of religion, of speech, of opinion; we say we respect individualism. Yet, we’ve all bought into the myth that when it comes to politics, it’s either all or nothing. It’s not true, you know. With few exceptions, once we really listen to each other we are going to find things we can all get behind. Things that we can passionately believe in, things that are good for us. Common purpose, if we give it a chance, will transcend that which sets us apart.

It’s time to stop demonizing Michael Oren

by YOSSI KLEIN HALEVI (JTA) -- Michael Oren is my friend. During his nearly five years as Israel’s ambassador to the United States, we’d speak on an almost daily basis. Often those phone calls would come at 3 or 4 a.m., Washington time, and Michael, enduring another sleepless night, would share his fears about how the Obama administration was compromising Israel’s safety.

While too discreet to reveal confidential information, he’d repeatedly say: You won’t believe what the administration is doing. It’s worse than you can possibly imagine. But I can’t talk about it...”

In his new book, Ally, Michael has gone public with his anguish. Ally has been burning in him for years. It is an impassioned critique of the Obama administration -- including some of the details Michael couldn’t reveal as ambassador, when his job required him to publicly insist that American-Israeli relations were strong and unbreakable.

Michael’s accusations need to be debated. And a few who’ve critiqued the book have engaged with its ideas. Too many others, though, have turned personal and vicious. I have been pained almost physically to read and listen to the ways in which the Michael Oren I know has been distorted beyond recognition by an assault on his integrity, his credibility, even his honesty. Michael has been called everything from a publicity hound to a virtual traitor sacrificing Israel’s relations with its most important ally for the sole purpose of selling books.

Michael Oren, currently a member of the Knesset, is one of the most selfless public servants of the Jewish people I’ve been privileged to know. And he wrote Ally for one overriding reason: to challenge President Obama on Iran. That’s why he timed its release just before the deadline for concluding the Iranian negotiations. His explicit intention was to call into question the credibility of the President of the United States when he repeatedly declares that he has Israel’s back. Not

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because Michael believes that President Obama hates Israel or wishes us harm, but because Michael believes -- as do I -that the president’s Iranian policy is placing Israel under existential threat. Ally is Michael’s cry of alarm -- the culmination of a commitment that we began together in 2006, when we co-authored an article for the New Republic warning against American complacency toward a nuclearizing Iran.

I don’t believe that Michael would have written Ally if the Israeli-American crisis initiated by President Obama had been confined to the Palestinian issue. Before becoming ambassador, Michael was a vocal proponent of unilateralism -- that is, extending the policy of unilateral withdrawal from Gaza to the West Bank, to save the Jewish state from the occupation and allow Israel to determine its own borders without waiting for a peace agreement that might never come.

Michael surely believes that President Obama, in overemphasizing the effect on settlements on the peace process, has disastrously misread the depth of Palestinian rejection of Israel’s existence. Yet Michael is hardly a proponent of the settlement movement. All along, he has opposed building in settlements outside the so-called settlement blocs -- areas near the 1967 borders that will almost certainly be annexed

by Israel as part of an eventual agreement.

But what impelled Michael to write Ally is revealed in what I see as the book’s crucial passage, when Michael learned that America had been secretly negotiating with Iran: “Most disturbing for me personally was that our closest ally had entreated with our deadliest enemy on an existential issue without so much as informing us.” That is the decisive moment when Israel felt betrayed by President Obama. The negotiations -- in which America deliberately weakened its hand and allowed Iran to dictate terms -- were the sin. A deal is merely the consequence.

Ally contains some hard criticism of the American Jewish

community. What’s been overlooked though is that it also contains criticism of Israeli attitudes toward American Jews and laments the lack of religious pluralism in the Jewish state. Still, Ally does offer the harshest critique of American Jewry that any Israeli has offered in a long time. We’ve gotten used to the criticism being one-way -- from American Jews toward Israel. Now an Israeli has offered a counter-critique -- especially of American Jewry’s inadequate response to the administration’s Iranian policy.

I write and speak often about relations between American Jewry and Israel. I celebrate the miraculous, simultaneous emergence of the two most extraordinary Jewish experiments in our history. As part of creating a deeper relationship between these two communities, I believe that American Jews not only have the right but the responsibility to criticize Israel when they sense it failing Jewish values. Criticism is an expression of our shared “citizenship” in the Jewish people.

But that responsibility is reciprocal. If Michael feels that American Jewry is failing Israel at the most dangerous moment in its history, he has the obligation to say so.

Ironically, the Israeli-American Jewish relationship has become the reverse of its old problematic dynamic. Where once it was forbidden for American Jews to criticize Israel, now apparently it is forbidden for an Israeli to criticize American Jewry.

Is Michael wrong in his assessment of American Jewry? Is he wrong about the Iranian deal? By all means, argue with him. But argue the argument, not the person. Stop demonizing a man whose essence is service to Israel and the Jewish people.

Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. His book, Like Dreamers, won the Jewish Book Council’s 2013 Everett Book of the Year Award.

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July 31, 2015 | The Jewish Press | 9

For black Orthodox Jews, constant racism is exhausting

by CHAVA SHERVINGTON NEW YORK (JTA) – When I was 24, an Orthodox matchmaker tried to set me up on a date with a man older than my parents. When I objected, she told me, “Stop being so picky.

Not many guys are willing to consider a black girl.”

As an African-American Orthodox Jew, this was hardly my first encounter with the questionable treatment I and my fellow Jews of color endure.

“Why is the goy here?” one black Jewish parent overheard when taking her child to a Jewish children’s event.

At one yeshiva in Brooklyn, the mother of a biracial student was asked to stay away from the school because it made the other parents uncomfortable.

An African-American acquaintance told me he overheard a worshiper at morning minyan talk about how he didn’t want to daven with a “shvartze” – while my acquaintance was putting on his tefillin.

Orthodox society is a beautiful community dedicated to charity, Torah learning and growth through observance of mitzvahs – and I believe we’re better than this racism suggests.

As a racial minority, it’s possible to be an integrated member of the Orthodox community, find your spouse and successfully educate your children in yeshivas – but it requires an abundance of self-confidence, tact and tenacity.

It takes confidence to keep going to synagogues when every time you show up to a new minyan you’re not sure if they’ll count you for the required quorum. It takes tact to politely rebuff yet another inquiry about your “journey to Judaism” or “why you read Hebrew so well.” It takes tenacity to keep going to kosher restaurants and Orthodox-run stores when all eyes gravitate toward you the moment you walk through the door (and stay there).

Orthodox Jews of color constantly have to demonstrate our authenticity and belonging. It’s frustrating, exhausting and, frankly, heartbreaking.

While we may not be used to seeing African-American, Latino or Asian Jews in our midst, we must treat them as we

do other Jews, and create a community that is welcoming and inclusive.

It’s time to reassess our self-image. The presence of AfricanAmericans and other racial and ethnic minorities in the Orthodox community is growing rapidly, whether born Jewish or through conversion. We need to start paying attention.

The Jewish community is hardly alone when it comes to the problem of racism, nor are racist attitudes limited to the Orthodox. But as an African-American Orthodox Jew, I feel a special obligation to confront racist behavior in my own community. A society so focused on Jewish outreach and personal growth should be especially concerned with changing behavior that alienates Jews from Orthodox observance and community.

There are many causes for the racism that exists among Orthodox Jews. Insulated to some extent from secular society, the culture of political correctness that has permeated the general culture hasn’t quite achieved the same reach inside the Orthodox world. Many Orthodox Jews live in neighborhoods where relations with African-Americans are tense, and their experiences have cemented negative stereotypes. Even good people don’t understand how their behavior may offend minorities because they have so little contact and interaction with African-Americans.

It’s time for change.

The Rabbinical Council of America noted in a report released last week on conversion reform that rabbis should advise potential minority converts that they likely will have to overcome racism in the community if they are to successfully integrate as Orthodox Jews.

“Sensitivity should be shown, as appropriate, to matters of ethnic origin as it may impact a convert’s future integration into the Jewish community,” the RCA report said.

I applaud the RCA for recognizing the problem and seeking to support minority converts.

Ignoring racism in our community runs contrary to the Torah values we hold dear. The prohibition against malicious gossip, or lashon hara, should make us sensitive about

using ethnic and racial slurs. Parents of color should not have to fear having their children accepted into yeshivas or experiencing mistreatment once they are enrolled.

Reminding a Jew about their life prior to being observant or converting is a violation of Jewish law, so asking every African-American Jew “how they came to Judaism” is totally inappropriate.

Marrying and creating a Jewish family is central to Jewish life, yet matchmakers routinely refuse to set up AfricanAmerican Jews on dates.

While strong and supportive in many ways, the Orthodox community is also pretty homogeneous, and dealing with difference is not one of its strengths. The organization I lead, the Jewish Multiracial Network, strives to make Jewish ethnic/racial diversity fully embraced in American Jewish life across the denominational spectrum.

Here are a few simple steps the Orthodox community can take: First, create welcoming environments by using inclusive language and ceasing derogatory speech and the use of racial and ethnic slurs in our schools and shuls. Torah observance must result in kindness and sensitivity toward others, especially other Jews, regardless of race, or else we are perpetuating baseless hatred.

Second, and a much larger cultural adjustment, is to change the way we educate our children. Rather than denigrating outsiders as a way to elevate ourselves, we need to focus more on how everyone is created in the image of God. That’s also in the Torah. There is nothing wrong with being different, and the way we discuss differences matters greatly.

Third, refrain from quizzing Jews of color about their conversion status or biography. This is simple common courtesy, derech eretz. Imagine having to explain yourself all the time.

Orthodox Jews of color do not need a special welcome mat – just acceptance and consideration.

Chava Shervington is president of the Jewish Multiracial Network.

At season of Jewish mourning, time to consider our own capacity for evil

by STEVEN FINE temple at Karnain together with all who took refuge there. Palestine of 614, burning churches and apparently butcherNEW YORK (JTA) -- The burning a few weeks ago of the His brother Simon banished the people of Gaza from their ing Christian clergy in Jerusalem’s ancient Mamilla pool.

Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, a his- homes, destroyed their “idols,” and paraded through the city It is true that the stories of Abraham, the Hasmoneans, toric church in the Galilee region of Tabgha built on the reciting “hymns and songs of praise.” This was all part of a Yavneh and the Persian invasion pale before the vast losses foundations of a sixth-century house of worship, is not the Hasmonean project to declare an idolatry-free zone in the suffered by Jews in antiquity, the medieval period, and espefirst act of evil allegedly carried out by Jewish cially in Europe and Islamic lands in the last cenhooligans in the region in recent years. tury. But this list is nonetheless a warning to us Three years ago, the fifth-century Hammath today. It is a remnant of the last time when Jews Tiberias synagogue mosaic was desecrated in a had power in the Holy Land, the last time that we similar attack allegedly carried out by “Orthodox” could fully act upon our best and worst instincts. vandals opposed to archaeological excavations.

Embedded within Judaism is a force for And according to Rabbis for Human Rights, there destruction no less powerful than that which have been 43 attacks against churches, mosques inspired our persecutors through the ages. The and monasteries in Israel, the West Bank and missing ingredient was Jewish power. The return eastern Jerusalem since 2009. to Zion has inadvertently released those We are now in the period known as the Three instincts at the fringes of our society. And the Weeks, when Jews mourn the destruction of our prospects are frightening. two ancient Temples, destroyed by Babylonians In the wrong hands, Jewish tradition -- like all and Romans thousands of years ago. The season traditions -- provides succor to those in our own begins with the fast of the 17th of Tammuz, which world bent on “cleansing” our holy land of “idolcommemorates the destruction of a Torah scroll atry.” It allows evil to claim righteousness and by an otherwise unremembered Greek named offers support for the small minority among us Apostomos, and it ends with the burning of the bent on burning and killing. These Jewish Jerusalem Temple and exile from our land. In extremists are, as the commentator Nachmanides between, we recall traumas and destruction in all wrote centuries ago, “repulsive” for imagining the lands of our dispersion. that support for their evil can be found in the Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, the Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of the Latin Patriarch There is, however, another less considered list, a Torah. of Jerusalem, inspecting the torched Church of the Multiplication in the Galilee, June mirror image of this one.

During this season when we mourn our own Credit: Basel Awidat/Flash90 18, 2015.

This still-short list begins with biblical demands terrible losses, the events at Tabgha demand still that idolatry be destroyed -- “cut off,” as the desecraters of land of Israel, one that led John Hyrcanus I to destroy the more from us. We must acknowledge our own ability to do the Tabgha church scrawled on its walls. It continues with Samaritan Temple on Mount Gerizim in 111-110 BCE. evil and use the power of the state and our own influence to Jewish reflection on our forefather Abraham, who since at One product of this ideology was the day in 40 C.E. when purge this evil. Our father Abraham would demand no less least the second century BCE, we have imagined as a young Jews in Yavneh, a religiously mixed city near the coast, tore from us. patriarch-to-be taking a hammer to his father’s cult statues down the altar set up by local Hellenes, causing anger that Steven Fine is the Pinkhos Churgin professor of Jewish and burning idolatrous temples in his native Ur. reached as high as the emperor Gaius, known as Caligula. history at Yeshiva University. He directs the university’s The list continues with Judah Maccabee, who burned a Centuries later, Jews joined in the Persian invasion of Center for Israel Studies and the Arch of Titus Project.

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Synagogues B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE 618 Mynster Street | Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 |712.322.4705 email: BnaiIsraelCouncilBluffs@gmail.com Tribute cards for any occasion are available. Please contact Sissy Silber at 311 Oak Ridge Ct., Bellevue, NE 68005 or 402.292.8062.

For information on our historic synagogue, or to arrange a visit, please contact any of our board members: Mark Eveloff, Rick Katelman, Carole Lainof, Marty Ricks, Sissy Silber, Nancy Wolf and Phil Wolf.

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 Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m.; Tot Shabbat, 6 p.m. led by Sara Kohen.

SATURDAY: Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; MiniMinyannaires, 10:45 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m.

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

SUNDAY: Torah Study, 10 a.m.

Kabblat Shabbat/Shabbat Al Fresco, Friday, Aug. 7, 6 p.m.

Shabbat Services, Saturday, Aug. 8, 9:30 a.m., featuring guest speaker, Becky Gould, Executive Director of Nebraska Appleseed on Getting Involved.

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

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific Street | Omaha, NE. 68154 | 402.556.6288 www.orthodoxomaha.org Office hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and Friday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Ari Dembitzer.

FRIDAY: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Learning with Project Seed, 7:45 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; 15 mins after Kiddush -Mishna L’Neshamah; Insights into the Weekly Torah portion, 7:30 p.m.; Mincha/Seudah Shlishit, 8:10 p.m.; Ma’ariv/ Havdalah, 9:29 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Bagels and Beit Medrash: Understanding Prayer, 9:45 a.m.

WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: Learning with Project Seed, 7:45 a.m.; Teen Class, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY: Learning with Project Seed, 7:45 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: Learning with Project Seed, 7:45 a.m.; Talmud Learning, 8 p.m.

THURSDAY: Learning with Project Seed, 7:45 a.m.; UNMC -- Med Center Chaburah, 1 p.m.; Avot U-Banim, 7 p.m.; Jews and Brews Class, 8:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. on Parashat Va’etchanan.

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

Federation Shabbat, Friday, Aug. 14, 6 p.m. at Antelope Park. There will not be services at the Temple that evening.

President’s Office Hours, Sunday Mornings, 10 a.m.–noon at SST. If you have any Temple business you would like to bring before the Board of Trustees, potential programs, or new ideas, please let us know! Call for an appointment at the Temple or just to chat any time at 402.513.7697. Or if you prefer, just email David Weisser at president@southstreet temple.org.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE Capehart Chapel 2500 Capehart Road | Offutt AFB, NE 68123 | 402.294.6244 FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m. every first and third of the month.

Candlelighting Friday, July 31, 8:24 p.m.

SUNDAY: Babes and Tots in the Park, 10 a.m. at Stinson Park, 2285 S 67 Street. Join us for another morning together with the little ones. We will begin with bagels and coffee for adults and activities for kids. Singing and story time to follow; Take me out to the Ballgame! Omaha Storm Chasers v.

Nashville Sounds, 5:05 p.m. at Werner Park.

Summer Shabbat Evening Speaker, Courtney Bierman: Heroes & Mentors in My Jewish Life!. Services Outside and Picnic, Friday, Aug. 7, 6 p.m. Come and relax and welcome in Shabbat with services being held in our brand new Amphitheatre. Following services, we will enjoy a picnic Shabbat dinner together. We will provide challah and grape juice. All you need to bring is your picnic dinner and a blanket. There will be a different food truck each month so that you can purchase food if you would like. During dinner we will be entertained with the music of George Walker and his band.

Temple Israel Annual Golf Outing, Monday, Aug. 17, noon.

Contact the Temple Israel office for more information.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME 323 South 132 Street | Omaha, NE 68154 SATURDAY: Services, 9:15 a.m. led by Jim Polack.

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

TEMPLE ISRAEL Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 13111 Sterling Ridge Drive | Omaha, NE 68144-1206 | 402.556.6536 http://templeisraelomaha.com FRIDAY: Summer Shabbat Evening Speaker Shari Hess: Heroes & Mentors in My Jewish Life!, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m.; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. Haftarah Reader: Miles Remer.

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, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

FRIDAY: Shabbat Services, 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Morning service, 10 a.m. followed by a Kiddush Luncheon.

Federation Shabbat, Friday, Aug. 14 at Antelope Park.

Mark your calendar and watch for more details.

Amy Schumer’s childhood rabbi dishes on her Hebrew school antics

by DEBRA KAMIN (JTA) -- Comedian Amy Schumer’s childhood rabbi has dished up a few tasty, albeit kosher, tidbits about the foulmouthed funny girl’s childhood, writing a sweet, jokespeckled post about her Hebrew school antics for Religion News Service.

The Trainwreck star, says Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin, the former rabbi of the Central Synagogue of Nassau County in Rockville Centre, N.Y., was “a religious school cutup. In this, she follows a noble tradition.”

often asked probing and humorous questions in religious school,” other Jewish funny ladies haven’t been so lucky in their rabbinic relations.

Sarah Silverman, the Jewish American Princess of Profanity, was famously called out not for her bawdiness but for the barrenness of her womb in a 2012 open letter by Texas Rabbi Yaakov Rosenblatt.

“You will soon turn 42 and your destiny, as you stated, will not include children,” Rosenblatt wrote. “You blame it on your depression, saying you don’t want to pass it on to

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: Minyan and Meditation, 7 a.m SATURDAY: Minyan and Meditation, 9:30 a.m.

SUNDAY: Minyan and Meditation, 8:30 a.m.

WEEKDAYS: Minyan and Meditation, 7 a.m.

TUESDAY: Dynamic Discovery with Shani Katzman, 10:15 a.m. A class for women based on traditional texts with practical insights and application. RSVP by calling the office.

WEDNESDAY: Personal Parsha class, 9:30 a.m. with Rochi Katzman. RSVP by calling the office; The Development of the Oral Tradition, 7 p.m. with Rabbi Katzman. RSVP by calling the office. In memory of Forrest Krutter -- Efrayim Menachem Ben Avraham Yitzchak.

THURSDAY: Women’s Study at UNMC with Shani Katzman, noon. RSVP by emailing Marlene Cohen at mzcohen@unmc.edu.

All programs are open to the entire community.

CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN 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: Prescott Elementary School Summer Fest, 5:30 p.m. Community event for families -- food, live music and fun activities; Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m. with oneg following hosted by Nicole Taege and the Paslawski Family.

Left: picture Amy Schumer speaking about her film Trainwreck at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, April 19, 2015.

Credit: Robin Marchant/Getty Images; Right: A scene from the movie Trainwreck. Credit: Universal The good rabbi goes on to note that Abraham himself was a rebel, always asking prodding questions, as was the great thinker Baruch Spinoza, who sat at the back of the classroom and taunted his teachers with jokes.

Salkin also marvels at the fact that his synagogue has produced more than one famous comedian. Schumer’s sister and writing partner, Kim Caramele, standup comedian Dave Attell and former Daily Show writer Rory Albanese all attended services, he says.

Schumer, a stand-up artist, writer and actress, catapulted to fame with her Comedy Central show Inside Amy Schumer, on which she developed her self-deprecating, tongue-deep-in-cheek brand of feminist humor. The Judd Apatow-directed romantic comedy Trainwreck, which she wrote and stars in, hit theaters Friday.

While Salkin has nothing but warm recollections of the star, writing, “I remember Amy as a sweet, funny kid, who

another generation. I find that confusing, coming from someone as perceptive as you are in dissecting flawed arguments. Surely you appreciate being alive and surely, if the wonder of your womb were afflicted with your weaknesses and blessed with your strengths, it would be happy to be alive, too.”

And even golden girls can have problems with religious authority. Five years before her death in 2009, Bea Arthur called in the big guns to battle a group of rabbis from the Orthodox Union in a case against abuse of cattle at a kosher slaughterhouse.

Whatever those rabbis had to say to the beloved silverhaired wisecracker, Arthur’s words got more press -- exactly what the animal-rights advocates were counting on.

“When Bea Arthur speaks, people do listen,” a PETA spokesperson said at the time.

Pulverent e

July 31, 2015 | The Jewish Press | 11

In memoriam

MONUMENT CO.

SORALEE COHN

LUCILLE NEARENBERG

Former Omahan Soralee Cohn passed away on July 21 in Scottsdale, Arizona after a long illness. Services were held July 24 in Scottsdale.

She was preceded in death by her mother and father, Rose and Louis Sokolof, and her brother, Phil Sokolof.

She is survived by her loving and devoted husband of nearly 64 years, Jerry, three daughters and sons-in-law, Nancy Cohn and Robert Weinstein, Susan and Jerry Fleischman, and Debbie and Dr. Bruce Sobel and three grandchildren: Stephanie and Ali Weinstein, and Whitney Sobel, and her niece and nephew, Karen and Gary Javitch.

Early in Soralee’s career, she gained widespread recognition for her work as a model for major Omaha department stores like J.L. Brandeis & Sons. She was also an active community volunteer. Later, she teamed up with her husband Jerry to run a highly successful real estate business as longtime agents for CBS Real Estate.

Memorials may be made to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, The Alzheimer’s Association, Hospice of the Valley (602-530-6900) or the organization of your choice.

Lucille Nearenberg passed away on July 21 at age 81.

Services were held on July 24 at Golden Hill Cemetery, 5025 North 42nd Street.

She was preceded in death by her parents Margaret and Milton Nearenberg and brother Martin Nearenberg.

She is survived by sisters, Sandra Jones and Marilyn Katz and brother, Sidney Nearenberg as well as many nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be made to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

ARTHUR N. JACOBSON Arthur N. Jacobson passed away on July 23 at age 91.

Service were held July 24 at the Temple Israel Cemetery.

He was preceded in death by wife, Ronnie.

He is survived by children, Carol and Lloyd Gladden, Diane and Gene Chaves, and Debbie and Mark Glotter; seven grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; brother and sister-in-law, Marvin and Millie Jacobson; sister, Elsie Chase; nieces, nephews, other family and friends.

Memorials may be made to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home or the organization of choice.

Illinois to divest pensions

by JTA NEWS STAFF (JTA) -- Illinois became the first U.S. state to divest its public pension funds from companies that boycott Israel.

Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the historic legislation into law on July 23 as Jewish community leaders and the consul general of Israel to the Midwest, Roey Gilad, looked on.

“We need to stand up to anti-Semitism whenever and wherever we see it,” Rauner said in a statement. “This historic legislation is an important first step in the fight against boycotts of Israel and I hope other states move quickly to follow our lead.”

The new law, modeled on existing Illinois legislation regarding Iran and Sudan, requires state pension systems to purge from their portfolios companies that directly boycott Israel and send warnings to fund managers when companies engaged in boycott activity are held indirectly inside larger portfolios. Rauner thanked state Sen. Ira Silverstein and state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, both Chicago Democrats, for sponsoring the legislation, which the Illinois legislature passed unanimously this spring.

Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., whose own legislation combating the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in Europe was signed into law by President Barack Obama, praised the step by Illinois.

“This is a great day for Illinois and the ongoing battle against the BDS campaign,” Roskam said. “Once again, Democrats and Republicans have joined together to stand up against those who seek to delegitimize and isolate our ally Israel.”

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ALAN R. BROWN Alan R. Brown of Overland Park, KS passed away on July 24 at age 84. Services were held July 26 at the Louis Memorial Chapel, Kansas City, MO with interment at Sheffield Cemetery.

He was preceded in death by his parents Samuel and Tillie Brown, his wife, Elaine Brown and sister, Rita Biniamow.

He is survived by his daughter, Susan Brown and son and daughter-in-law, Steven and Stacy Brown, all of Overland Park, KS; two grandsons: Miller and Hunter Brown; brothers, Willard Plotkin of Laguna Beach, CA and David Plotkin of Omaha; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Jan and Ed Barash of Leawood, KS. He grew up in Omaha and graduated from Central High School. Alan was an accomplished athlete and was honored as the AZA City-Wide Athlete of the year in Omaha two consecutive years. Alan worked in the jewelry business for his entire career and was a member of Beth Shalom Synagogue.

Memorials may be made to the American Heart Association, Kansas City Hospice House or to the organization of your choice.

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Coaching for peace

Journal entry from Israel TEDDY WEINBERGER My daughter Rebecca (26) is a professional basketball player in Israel and is also a much sought-after coach. Rebecca recently completed a year of coaching for PeacePlayers International; below are her reflections on the experience.

In the summer of 1997, when I was 8, my family moved from Miami to Givat Ze’ev, a large West Bank settlement northwest of Jerusalem. Part of my acculturation process involved learning to hate Arabs and to hate Arabic. This past year, as coach of Jerusalem’s all-star 9th-10th grade girls basketball team (a team in the Peace Players project), I have learned to love Arabs and to love Arabic.

My six secondary school years in Jerusalem largely coincided with the Second Intifada. That is, the period in my life when I spent the most time on buses (as many as six a day because of my own basketball practice) was also the period when many of those busses were attacked. I woke up every day fearing that a suicide bomber would decide to explodehimself on my bus on my way to school. I used to see every Arab on the street as a terrorist; I was suspicious of all Arabs--men, women, and even children. When the mother of one of my high school classmates was killed in a suicide bomb attack, I was traumatized. I grew up convinced that Arabs were our enemy and that they were malicious, horrible people who just want to kill all the Jews.

Late last August, I moved back to Jerusalem to play on the city’s professional women’s team. My basketball career has always included coaching as well as playing, and so I accepted a position to coach the 9th-10th grade girls team that is part of the same club as my professional team. I had heard that the girls team had Arabs on it, but that fact didn’t really register with me until my first practices with the team, when I heard the Arab girls speaking Arabic with each other. I was filled with a visceral revulsion. The sound of Arabic just drove me crazy and brought me back to the trauma of my

youth. But from practice to practice and without even noticing it, I found myself thinking a lot about my Arab players.

Because they are simply great girls. Girls who just want to play ball and have a fair shot at success in life, and yet who were born in a very complicated place that doesn’t see them as human beings and that doesn’t give them a real chance to succeed.

The integrity of our team was tested on Nov. 18, when early in the morning four people were killed in a terror attack at a synagogue about an eight-minute drive from the gym where we practice. As a religious Jew, I was shocked and hurt when I first heard about the attack, but when I showed up to practice later that day, everything was normal. By then, everyone knew all of the details of what had happened, but I didn’t mention the attack--I decided to leave all of the politics off the court. The girls practiced normally; they smiled and enjoyed as usual.

After that practice I understood that even though we live in “war,” we can still make a difference through the small things.

Peace is a very big word, but I believe that until we have Peace, we need to learn how to live together and get along. When I see my young Arab players get along so well with my Jewish players, it gives me hope and fills my heart with happiness. Almost every kid loves sports, and sports are an amazing way to bring all the different peoples, cultures, and religions together.

If someone had asked me a decade ago, on my bus to school, if I could ever imagine myself studying Arabic, I would have looked upon that person as if they were insane.

And yet that is what I am now doing. The author of my Arabic textbook (an 89-year-old French monk named Yohanan Elihai, who has lived in Israel since 1956), writes that “language is the key to the heart.” My heart was opened by my Arab players and so it feels natural for me to want to learn how to communicate with them in Arabic. I guess when you come from love, and basketball is my love, anything is possible. Play ball. Ela’ab eltaba.

Teddy Weinberger made aliyah in 1997 with his wife, former Omahan Sarah Ross, and their five children. Their oldest four, Nathan, Rebecca, Ruthie and Ezra are veterans of the Israel Defense Forces; Weinberger can be reached at weinross@net vision.net.il.

Club s s e r P h s i w e J e h t g Preservin xt generation. for the ne

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