August 5, 2005

Vol. LXXXIV No. 47 Omaha, NE

Celebrating 84 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa

29 Tamuz, 5765 August 5, 2005

Press Plans First Historical Exhibit with NJHS

by CAROL KATZMAN Editor of the Jewish Press Omaha’s Jewish community is the only one its size still publishing a weekly paper.

Since Dec. 16, 1920, with rare exceptions, the Jewish Press has arrived every Friday in the mailboxes of Jewish community members, supporters, and others.

So when the Press celebrates its 85th anniversary later this year, it seems fitting to do it with a major exhibit in the Gallery of the Jewish Community Center. “Front Page: 85 Years of Jewish Press History” will open in early April, 2006, and run through mid-May. Financial support has already been garnered from the Herbert Goldston Trust and a donor-advised fund of the Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Several other grant requests have been made as well.

The Nebraska Jewish Historical Society has produced a number of exhibits since its founding more than 20 years ago: “Jewish Businesses on 24th Street”, “Jewish Women in Business”; “Nebraska’s Rabbis”, and “Jewish Teens”, to name a few. But an exhibit planned for next spring featuring 85 years of front page history from the Jewish Press will be a first--for both institutions.

“The focus of the exhibit will be on the front page of our community’s newspaper,” explained Silvia Roffman, who with co-chairman Midge Bowers and their husbands, Dr. Larry Roffman and Bill Bowers are steering this project through

to completion. “The important events of most popular Jewish girl in Omaha’,” our history--from World War II and the Corcoran related. “They’re actually having Holocaust to the birth of the State of a lot of fun reading these front pages while Israel and all its wars--will be a major part narrowing down their search.”

Additional volunteers are welcome to of this exhibit.”

“We also plan to feature the life-changing join the research committee; call events in our community...like the moves of Corcoran at NJHS, at 334.6442 for a our synagogues and the ‘J’, the obituaries of schedule.

The committee anticipates that about prominent Jewish Omahans, and the exciting news of awards, goals attained and ‘firsts’ 120 front pages will be framed in time for exhibit’s the locally,” Midge opening in April, Bowers added.

2006. Another According to 72 front pages NJHS Director the from Renee Corcoran, Passover and researchers have New Year’s spebeen combing cial issues, pubthrough bound since and lished volumes 1968, will be microfilm at the reduced and back of the Kripke exhibited, nine Federation Libto a frame. Other rary. activities being “While researchcontemplated ing critical events include a quiz for and issues of the religious school past 85 years, and Friedel stusome of our voldents, with prizes unteers have to be awarded at come across some next spring’s humorous front Yom Ha’Atzmaut pages, like the celebration on one from the May 7, 2006.

1920s where a “Not only is $100 prize is The first issue of the Jewish Press was published Dec. 16, this a first for the awarded to ‘the 1920.

NJHS Announces New Award in Honor of Founder Mary Fellman

Another Protestant Denomination Passes Resolution Blasting ‘Wall’

Omaha Teens Score Big at Dallas JCC Maccabi Games

by SILVIA ROFFMAN for the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society Helen Rifkin Chorney, President of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, says that the newly-created Mary Fellman Award will honor a person or group in the community who reflects the qualities that have been an integral part of Mary Fellman’s life. These include multifaceted leadership, compassion, and/or service impacting the history of the Jewish Mary Fellman people in Nebraska and Western Iowa. This award will not be presented yearly.

Frances (Mrs. Norman) Batt will receive the first Mary Fellman Award at the NJHS annual meeting, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2 p.m., in the JCC Theater.

Lois (Mrs. Lloyd) Friedman will be recognized as the recipient of the 2005 Shirley Berman Award which honors a community volunteer who works quietly without expectation of recognition.

In discussing the qualities for which Mary Fellman has been recognized over the decades, Chorney referred especially to “her energy, initiative, far-sightedness, and tireless and sensitive devotion to a variety of causes which have earned her respect as well as recognition from all segments of the Jewish and Omaha communities.”

Others have referred to Mary’s being a leader, a worker, and a visionary who has never stepped back

by ANNE KOPPEL CONWAY PORTLAND, OR, (JTA--Officials at the Simon Wiesenthal Center are criticizing a Protestant denomination for passing a resolution opposing Israel’s West Bank security barrier.

The Disciples of Christ Church passed the measure Wednesday with backing from about two-thirds of the 3,000 members who attended the church’s general assembly. The church has some 800,000 members in the United States and Canada.

“The resolution is an ongoing effort to demonize and delegitimize the Jewish state,” defining Israel “as the apartheid country in the 21st century,” said Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Los Angeles-based Wiesenthal Center, an international organization with offices around the world.

The final resolution, which was slightly toned down from an earlier version, claims that the security fence exacerbates hostility between Israelis and Palestinians. It calls on Israel to stop its construction, tear down what already has been built, and pay reparations to Palestinian property owners.

The resolution comes on the heels of other votes by Protestant denominations criticizing the barrier and weighing divestment from Israel.

Considering that more active means of Israeli defense against Palestinian terrorism--such as incursions, house demolitions or targeted killings--also have been denounced around the world, Israeli officials note that the fence has dramatically reduced the number of attacks by making it much harder for terrorists to enter Israel. That, in turn, has reduced Palestinian suffering by making Israeli counterterrorist raids less necessary.

On Saturday, for example, a Palestinian laden with explosives was sufficiently slowed down by the fence that he could be caught and disarmed before he could

Continued on page 5

Continued on page 2

Inside Opinion Page see page 12

This Week: Part 4 of “Peace of Mind” Series: Page 2 Disengagement Pros & Cons on the Web: Page 3

Singing - About 10% of What a Cantor Does Page 5

Press and the NJHS, but as far as we know, no other newspaper in the greater Jewish community has ever created an exhibit like this,” noted Joanie Jacobson, Chairman of the Press Committee. “‘Front Page’ was Carol (Katzman’s) idea, and the minute she asked me what I thought, I knew we had to pursue it. The focus is not only historical but educational. What a great way for our children to learn about the development of the Jewish community here in Omaha and around the world. What a great way for all of us to learn it!

“The Jewish Press has always been the one vehicle that ties the entire Jewish community together--it’s how we stay in touch with one another,” she added.

“And the Press Committee has continually made it a priority to create new and effective ways to engage our readers-most recently, from enhancing our pages on the Federation’s web site (www.jewishomaha.org) to adding the Nebraska Statewide Classified and Display Ad Network to our advertising program.

The ‘Front Page’ exhibit is just one more way--a very exciting way--to attract our readers, advertisers, potential advertisers and loyal supporters.”

“We’ve got a lot of history here,” Roffman added. “Come see some of it next spring!”

See our interview with Carol Gendler, the first indexer of the Press, and read one of her early columns, on page 6.

Above: three Israeli teens arrived in Omaha last week to join the Omaha JCC Maccabi team. Barr Kolakofsky, left, Libby Singer, and Carmel Yaari admire memorabilia for the 2002 Games in Omaha. The girls’ dance team squeezes in another practice prior to Sunday’s flight to Dallas, front row: Effie Tsabari, left, Talia Tene, Barr Kolakofsky; standing: Rebecca Gordon, Sarah Spooner, Rachel Gordon. So far, Omaha has earned two golds in dance, according to JCC Shaliach Uri Levin who accomContinued on page 5

Coming Aug. 19: Fall Home & Garden Special Opposing Views of Judge Roberts’ Nomination: Page 9

Attorney Publishes Thriller About Israeli Agent: Page 12

Page 2

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

August 5, 2005

Missing Reva, Paul Nathan Finds Comfort in “Peace of Mind”

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by RITA SHELLEY For their first Valentine’s Day in Nebraska, Paul (Editor’s note: This is the fourth article in a series high- bought Reva a nice pen for writing home to Brooklyn. lighting examples of choices people in our community have The Nathans had two sons, Ira in 1949 and Allan in made about end-of-life issues. The articles have been pre- 1952. In 1970, they moved to Omaha and Paul worked pared in support of the “Peace of Mind” educational for Aaron Ferer Iron Works until retiring in 1989. Paul efforts of a group of community volunteers; they can all be and Reva continued to disagree about some things-he found on the Jewish Federation of Omaha’s website: liked hardbound books but she preferred pocket ediwww.jewishomaha.org--click on “Peace of Mind” project.) tions. For one of her birthdays, she wanted a bracelet.

What are the chances that the polite soldier from He wanted to get her the matching brooch, but that was Omaha and the nice girl from Brooklyn would meet easy. He bought both.

Reva died 10 years ago. But Paul still begins every day outside a Chinese restaurant in Times Square, strike up at 4 a.m. with prayers and a a conversation, get acquaintshort letter to Reva. He ed, “date” mostly by mail, wouldn’t consider starting then end up happily married his day without a conversafor nearly 47 years? tion with Reva. Nor would Slim to none. Paul Nathan he have considered going still can’t believe his good against the living will in fortune. which she expressed her “Reva left her mother, her wishes for the end of her life. father and her three older After many, many years brothers in Brooklyn to folfighting poor health, she low me to western wanted no more surgeries or Nebraska,” he said recently. medical procedures. She just But there was never any wanted to enjoy whatever question. Paul and Reva Paul Nathan takes comfort in adding a new letter each day time she had left with Paul. simply were meant to be.

“Our minds worked Not that a few barriers to his “Dear Reva” notebook. The couple enjoyed nearly 47 didn’t have to be overcome years together in Nebraska after a chance meeting in together and we talked about her wishes a lot,” he first. Reva tore one of her Brooklyn, NY, Reva’s hometown. Reva died in 1994. stockings en route to their first date and stopped to buy said. “She wanted no artificial life support. She said ‘I’ve another pair. Paul was within seconds of giving up on seen everything I wanted to see.’”

Whatever Reva wanted was what Paul wanted for her. ever seeing her again when she finally appeared. They continued to go out together whenever Paul was in New He misses her, but he has no regrets about following her York, but lost track of each other for several months wishes, nor about having his own in writing as well.

“To anybody who doesn’t have their wishes written after he returned to civilian life in Omaha and Scottsbluff. They started corresponding again, and in down, this is what I would say: You’d better get in 1948, Paul took the 72-hour bus ride to New York to gear,” he said. “There’s no reason to put your children in the position of wondering what you would want at visit her.

Paul remembers the August evening on Coney Island the end of your life.”

Additional resources on the “Peace of Mind” project when he finally proposed, sort of: “A city girl wouldn’t are available at www.rbjh.com, www.jewishomaha. want to live in a small town, would she?”

“Yes, she would,” the city girl answered. org, or by calling Shelly Fox at 334.6532.

CLIP & SAVE

Resolution Blasts the ‘Wall’

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

C L I P

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7 Bible Study, 9 a.m. at Beth El Adult B’nai Mitzvah Class, 10 a.m. at Beth El Yachad Craft/Music Event, 12:30 p.m. at VSP Club Nebraska Jewish Historical Society Annual Meeting, 2 p.m.

&

& S A V E

C L I P

MONDAY, AUGUST 8 JSS Senior Luncheon, 10 a.m.

Beth El Rosh Chodesh Group, 7 p.m.

Board of Directors Meeting, 7 p.m. at Friedel Jewish Academy

S A V E

TUESDAY, AUGUST 9 “The Guy & Bob Show”, noon BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

C L I P & S A V E

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10 Hazak Installation, 6 p.m. at Beth El Board Meeting, 7:30 p.m. at Beth Israel THURSDAY, AUGUST 11 Walk-in Drop-in, 10 a.m.

Yiddish Group, 1 p.m.

Jewish Federation Pre-Mission Class, 7 p.m.

All events held at the JCC unless otherwise indicated. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the accuracy of events. To keep calendar accurate or for questions, call Marlene Hert at 334-6437.

FOR A COMPLETE LISTING, VISIT THE FEDERATION’S WEBSITE: www.JewishOmaha.org (click on calendar)

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Reaganistic and tear this wall down.”

Continued from page 1 But Ken Brittian of Montgomery, AL, said, “Israel has carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

Cooper attended the church’s general assembly a right to exist and defend itself. For decades Israel Wednesday, along with the center’s Rabbi Yitzchok offered land for peace--and peace hasn’t happened. If we Adlerstein and Tzippy Cohen, a survivor of a September vote for this, we are telling Israel that we don’t care about you, and we don’t 2003 suicide bombing at care if you exist.” a Jerusalem cafe. The Rev. David Brown, the group had been told that pastor of the Midway one of them would be Christian Church in able to address delegates Midway, KY, said he had for up to three minutes. mixed emotions about “We wanted to put a the outcome of the vote. human face on suicide “I agree with the overbombings,” Cooper said. all intent to speak” to the When they arrived at problems caused by the the conference, however, barrier, Brown said, but they were told that only added that he was bothvoting members of the ered by the lack of attenchurch would be allowed tion to the terrorist to speak, Adlerstein said. attacks that made the barHowever, when the rier necessary. time for debate ended, Brown said he had the church delegates Jews and Christians gathered at the Portland Convention Center voted to allow an extra in Portland, OR, July 26, 2005, in a silent vigil for the Israeli vic- worked to significantly two minutes for Rula tims of Palestinian terror, while the Disciples of Christ held their change the resolution or Shubeita, a Palestinian annual convention inside the center. The Disciples of Christ agen- defeat it. “It’s been a woman from Jerusalem da included a resolution calling on Israel to tear down its security rough few days,” he said.

Contrary to the claims and a member of Sabeel, fence. Credit: Paul Haist/Jewish Review a Palestinian Christian organization that is leading the in the resolution, Israel does compensate Palestinian landowners who are affected by the barrier, and they anti-Israel divestment movement, to speak.

Shubeita condemned suicide bombings and all other retain ownership of their land, said Omer Caspi, Israel’s forms of violence. She spoke about the hardships the deputy consul general in San Francisco.

“This is a temporary measure, for defense, until the fence has brought to Palestinians and how she now has to drive 14 miles to see her brother on the other side terrorism stops,” Caspi said.

Mark Tooley, a United Methodist director at the and claimed that it’s now impossible for her to visit Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, Bethlehem, Jesus’ birthplace.

“The wall increases the frustration of the Palestinians said mainline churches are issuing a disproportionate number of negative statements on Israel. and increases the acts of violence,” she said.

There’s a double standard, he said, as churches ignore Wanda Bryant Wills, a church official, told JTA that Shubeita was allowed to speak because she is part of the human-rights violations against Israel while portraying Israel as the source of virtually all problems in the Global Ministries, which is affiliated with the church.

During the debate period, members of the church Middle East. He hopes that “people of faith can take proactive, positive steps to become a bridge for peace,” offered passionate arguments on the issue.

“The wall is devastating to Palestinians,” said Bill Tooley said.

McDermott of Chautauqua, N.Y. “We need to be

August 5, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 3

Disengagement: Context and Passion PEOPLE OF THE

BYTE

by MARK MIETKIEWICZ In a few weeks, the Jewish presence in the Gaza Strip will be no more. As Ariel Sharon prepares to “disengage” from Gaza and four settlements in the West Bank, Israeli websites are in overdrive providing context, covering events and providing a forum for passionate voices. Here are the Disengagement sites to watch.

In its Engaging Disengagement section, the Department for Jewish Zionist Education presents a summary of the Disengagement Plan, arguments for and against as well as a very good list of where major Israeli organizations and Knesset parties stand. There’s also a helpful explanation of how we ended up with the word “Disengagement.”

In Hebrew, the word being used is “hitnatkut” or “hinatkut” which could be translated as “an act of self-separation.” Finding an English equivalent has been tricky.

“Withdrawal” has overtones of retreat under pressure.

“Disengagement” was chosen because it is seen to lend itself “towards the notion of a reduction in friction, without any overtly negative connotations.” [http://tinyurl. com/7lthz] If you want to spend some time poring over official position papers and pronouncements about Disengagement, then the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website is the place for you. There are over three dozen documents and public addresses there. [http://tinyurl.com/43l87] The central one is dated June 6, 2004 when the Israeli Cabinet approved its Resolution Regarding the Disengagement Plan. It outlines a basic framework of how the process will work and then talks about life after Disengagement. “…if and when there is evidence from the Palestinian side of its willingness, capability and implementation in practice of the fight against terrorism, full cessation of terrorism and violence and the institution of reform as required by the Road Map, it will be possible to return to the track of negotiation and dialogue.” [http://tinyurl.com/ 5gh55] Israel’s media are going all-out to provide in-depth cov-

erage of the Disengagement, many with special English language sections devoted to late-breaking events. Like most Israeli news sites, The Jerusalem Post’s Disengagement 2005 provides news, maps and analysis.

One novel feature is a gallery of pro and anti bumper stickers. But it’s the pointed commentary that makes the site compelling. Evelyn Gordon writes, “These protesters have no interest in public opinion, because they do not believe that democracy works.” In Rattling the Cape: the dark side of Chabad, Larry Derfner argues “In Israel the most significant, influential thing the movement does is spread political poison.” [http://tinyurl. com/auoxc] Also check out Haaretz [http://tinyurl. com/cmpt4] and Ynetnews, Yediot Aharonot’s English language site. [http://tinyurl. com/bogzn]

Tens of thousands of anti-disengagement protesters went to Netivot, south-east of the Israel/Gaza border, as a mark of solidarity. The banner reads: "Jews should not expel Jews."

Credit: ISRANET Sites like israelinsider “Israel’s Daily Newsmagazine” [http://web.israelinsider.com/] and Israel National News (also known as Arutz Sheva) [http://www.israel nationalnews.com/] make no secret of their opposition to the withdrawal. The Hebrew version of Israel National News has an interesting interactive map with two-minute video about each of the settlements to be evacuated. [http://www.inn.co.il/map/] Rabbi Shlomo Aviner feels no sympathy for the soldiers who are charged with the evacuation of the settlements. In The Expellers’ Ten Commandments, he accuses the soldiers of following a warped version of the Commandments.

Such as… “I am not your God! Everyone has beliefs which accompany them throughout their lives. But when you expel, remember: You have no God! Otherwise you may,

Send A Rosh Hashanah 35 Greetings

God forbid, remember your humanity when you see women and children crying at being expelled from their homes…“Thou shalt steal! This you can carry out excellently by taking away a man’s house and property, especially if he gets only minimal compensation -- and then giving it all to murderers.” [http://web.israelinsider.com/ Views/6017.htm] Although the most vocal opposition to Sharon is coming from those protesting the withdrawal, the criticism doesn’t stop there. Earlier this year, B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories released a report titled One Big Prison voicing concerns about the plight of Gaza residents after Disengagement. The 91-page document concludes, “In approving the disengagement plan, the government of Israel stated its intention to evade its natural and almost self-evident responsibility for the human rights of Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip.

However, all the human rights violations discussed in this report are likely to continue, and even worsen, after disengagement, unless Israel recognizes its responsibility for the human rights to which Gazans are entitled.” You can download the entire report in English document from the B’Tselem site. [http://tinyurl.com/bab2q] Former member of Knesset Uri Avnery and founder of the Gush Shalom (the self-described “hard core of the Israeli peace movement”) is not impressed either. [http://gush-shalom.org/english/] Avnery writes “in spite of all the loud talk about ‘disengagement,’ Sharon’s heart is with the settlers. He intends to annex to Israel most of the West Bank settlements--if not all of them.” [http://tinyurl.com/chfyf] Another former MK, and current deputy mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Yael Dayan sounds a more optimistic note. “It is not the final nor decisive step that will bring about peace-far from it--but without it we would be standing where we have been for 37 years, in occupation, depriving the Palestinians of their rights, propagating a lack of confidence, suffering from terror, and without dialogue with Palestinians.” [http://tinyurl.com/dtvsn] Mark Mietkiewicz is a Toronto-based Internet producer who writes, lectures and teaches about the Jewish Internet.

He can be reached at highway@rogers.com.

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This year you can send your greetings through these very special ads that will run in our annual Rosh Hashanah issue.

Each ad can be personalized with your name, the names of your children or your grandchildren.

Just fill out the form below and send or bring it to the Jewish Press office.

But hurry these ads will only be accepted through August 26,2005.

Rosh Hashanah Greetings Form Name ___________________________________________________________________________________ Address __________________________________________________________________________________ City _____________________________________________ State ____________ Zip ____________________ Check the size of ad you would like: ❍A ❍B ❍C Use the lines below to list your family members names you would like on your Rosh Hashanah ad. _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

August 5, 2005

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Beth El’s Hazak Group Plans Installation Ceremony

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Hazak, Beth El Synagogue’s organization for congregants ages 55 and up, will install officers and board members for the upcoming year at its annual dinner, to be held on Wednesday, Aug. 10, 6:30 p.m. at the synagogue. Rabbi Mordechai Levin will lead the installation; entertainment will be provided by singer Jonathan Rathsam and pianist Esther Wax. The 2005-’06 officers and board members include: Jim Wax, president; Buddy Goodman, advisor; Ilse and Marcel Kahn, treasurers; Harriet Marcus, secretary; Gloria Goodman and Natalie Rubin, programming; Frances Gottlieb, publicity; Tootie Simon, membership; Rita Novak, Harriet Kutler, Phyllis Schwartz, Judy and

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by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Whether you had a long day at work or at home with the kids, get together with Temple Israel’s Outreach Chairs Adam and Nikki Kirshenbaum on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 5:30 p.m., at the pavilion behind the Jewish Community Center (JCC) Interfaith families are invited to leave the cooking and the clean-up to the chefs at Nothing But Noodles who will cater dinner while adults and children relax and make friends with other members of Temple’s Outreach family. After dinner, cool off at the pool. JCC membership is not required to attend this special event.

In May, the Kirshenbaums hosted a dinner to gather ideas from other interfaith families about future events.

“The pool party is one of the ideas we discussed,” Adam Kirshenbaum said. “We thought this would be a good way to get families involved.”

Welcoming any and all interfaith families in the community, the Kirshenbaums said their goal is to assist couples bridging two worlds in their marriages. He suggested that everyone meet at the pavilion for the kidfriendly meal. Dinner will be $8 per person. Children who are nine or younger can eat for free.

RSVP to the Temple office at 556.6536 or at mkube@templeisraelomaha.com by Monday, Aug. 15.

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BIRTH Jennifer and Ken Zeidman of Lake Oswego, OR, announce the July 23 birth of their daughter Ruth Jeris.

Grandparents are Zelda Zeidman of Portland, OR, and the late Jerry Zeidman, Sandi and Marc Scholnick of Long Beach, CA, and Iris and Marty Ricks.

Great grandmother is Pauline Lecker of Sacramento, CA.

Sam Cooper, Lola Reinglas and Sally Masnek, at-large members.

A branch of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Hazak provides programming for senior citizens who are members of congregations affiliated with USCJ. Hazak affirms the traditional Jewish view that mature adults should have the opportunity to continue to learn and be active in their congregations, their communities and among themselves. Since its establishment several years ago, Beth El’s Hazak chapter has served a vital role at the synagogue, sponsoring a variety of creative programs that include study, prayer, entertainment and socialization.

Cost of the installation dinner is $12.50; for more information, contact Gloria Goodman at 333.3351.

ORGANIZATIONS BREADBREAKERS Steven Parsow will be the guest speaker at B’nai B’rith Breadbreakers on Wednesday, Aug. 10, noon, at the Regency Lodge, according to Gary Javitch, Chairman.

Parsow, a clothing store executive, will discuss the latest trends in corporate and casual wear for men and women and give fashion tips. Cost is $11 for a full lunch and $2 for beverage service only.

YOUNG ENERGETIC SENIORS Join us at the JCC on Monday for the Moyer Magic Show. Lunch begins at noon for $6 per person. Try your luck at bingo with Eileen Remer at 10 a.m., exercise at 10:30 a.m., and the discussion group at 11 a.m.

Call Maggie Conti at 334.6521 for reservations for: Magical Mystery Tour on Aug. 11--cost is $3 for transportation; Bluffs Run Casino on Aug. 25--cost is $5 per person.; and Stepping Lively with the Omaha Country Kickers on Aug. 29. For transportation call Dee Dee at 330.4272.

WALK-IN, DROP-IN For those members going on the Mystery Trip on Thursday, please meet at 10:45 a.m. at the JCC lobby.

LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Come to the Yiddish meeting at the JCC on Thursdays, 1-3 p.m. Call Anne Skolkin for more information, at 343.1638.

VISIONS Visions Annual Baseball and Dinner is Monday, Aug. 29. Dinner is on your own at the Stadium View Club at 6 p.m. Game starts at 7:05 p.m. Cost is $5 per person. Send reservations to Harry Alloy, 11317 Harney Plaza Circle, Omaha, NE 68154 by Aug. 15. Make check payable to Visions.

Don’t miss the trip to Branson Sept.19-23. A new tour company includes show and dinner cruise on Showboat Branson Belle, Yakov Smirnoff, the Lowe Family, Shoji Tabuchi, Broadway and the Mickey Gille Show. Send reservations to: Anne Skolkin, 1010 Regency Parkway, #302, Omaha, NE 68114.

JEWISH PRESS NOTICE The Press office will be closed for Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5. The deadline for the Sept. 9 issue is Wednesday, Aug. 31, noon.

Questions? Call 334.6448. The New Year’s issue will publish Sept. 30.

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August 5, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 5

Singing - About 10% of What a Cantor Does ing, rehearsing, and singing in the annual Thanksgiving Interfaith Service which Temple hosts along with five churches. She chants Torah and Haftarah at special services and chooses and implements the entire liturgy at Temple. Every year, she co-writes and helps direct Temple’s Purim spiel as well.

Summer provides opportunity for study and organization, although of course, there are still worship services, B’nai Mitzvah students, and the approaching High Holidays which all require preparation. Life cycle events don’t stop in the summer. Cantor Shermet gets ready with accompanist Julie Sandene for the upcoming year; they explore and choose new music for Kol Rina and for services.

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Most of us assume our rabbis will guide us through life cycle events from bris and baby namings to weddings and funerals. We expect them to prepare and deliver sermons at services, make hospital visits, counsel congregants, and teach adult education classes. However, Cantor Wendy Shermet fulfills these duties also.

In addition, Cantor Shermet oversees the B’nai Mitzvah program which “should be an important but not all consuming part of what the cantor does,” she said. If the students have been meeting the standards set from kindergarten on, “the B’nai Mitzvah year will not be an overwhelming task faced by parents or children” or the cantor. Along with instructing the students in their Torah and Haftarah portions and additional blessings, she is in charge of the mentoring system for the students and oversees the mitzvah projects.

Among changes the cantor has instituted at Temple are certain Bar Mitzvah program requirements. All students must be 13 before they can become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, and their workload has been increased. “Our expectations of attendance at services has also been raised,” Cantor Shermet commented.

Other teaching responsibilities include music in religious school, trope (Torah and Haftarah chanting) for sixth graders, teaching adult learners on Thursday mornings, and implementing special programs throughout the year. Cantor Shermet helps lead Shabbat morning Torah study, hosts guest groups during the week and after services, and contributes to community outreach events. “I will occasionally give a sermon on Shabbat, or a sermon-in-song on a particular musical topic” she said.

She and the rabbis share hospital visitations each week along with life cycle events that comprise so much of what a clergy person does. Cantor Shermet points out that everyone knows that rabbis are clergy, whereas cantors still need to remind people of that fact. “There are some that think cantors just sing and teach the B’nai Mitzvah children; singing is about 10 percent of what I do,” she said.

“Another big component of my job has been bringing in Jewish musicians who are both educational and entertaining.” Since her arrival in Omaha in July 2001, Cantor Shermet has brought Ramon Tasat, Galeet Dardashti and Divahn, the Jerusalem Lyric Trio, the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band, colleagues for the Mother’s Day Concert, and Michael Isaacson to Omaha.

Additionally, she programmed these events and the Four Cantors Concert.

Cantor Shermet organizes a yearly interfaith choir service with St. Paul United Methodist Church and Temple’s Kol Rina Choir. She has a big hand in arrang-

On top of her regular responsibilities this past year, Cantor Shermet spent six months compiling, editing, transliterating, and formatting a new Saturday morning Siddur for Temple. She wanted a book that was transliterated, used gender-neutral language, and included special holiday blessings. Since being introduced in February “the Siddur has been well received,” she believes, “but like any new prayer book, it takes awhile for people to navigate it.” B’nai Mitzvah students have their own version of the Siddur which does not include transliteration.

Growing up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, Cantor Shermet substituted for the soloist at her parents’ synagogue in Washington, D.C. She completed her undergraduate studies with a double major in theater and music at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and then went on for her master’s degree at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Before she decided to attend Cantorial School, she had already sung in a professional quartet at a Conservative synagogue in Maryland and substituted for cantors in Los Angeles and Seattle.

She studied Hebrew at the University of Washington for a year before attending Hebrew Union College-

NJHS Announces Fellman Award

Omaha Scores Big at Maccabi

Continued from page 1 from what she has seen as goals to help the Omaha Jewish community, from toddlers to the elderly.

Mary, a past President of the Jewish Federation of Omaha, co-founder, President, and Executive Director of the NJHS, “continues to have a major impact upon Jews for generations to come,” added Chorney.

Sunday’s meeting is open to the entire community.

Excerpts of a new oral history video also will be shown.

Continued from page 1 ied the team to Dallas, TX, along with JCC Program Director Rachel Blum, JCC Executive Director Jeff Aizenberg and Assistant Director Lisa Shkolnick.

Rachel Gordon won a gold for her jazz solo while the girls’ dance team won a gold in the small group division.

David Trubnikov earned a bronze in the 200-yard breast stroke and Alyssa Morris a silver in the 100-yard fly.

The Day of Caring and Sharing on Tuesday has been

Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Israel. After she passed the summer Ulpan session, she started classes with the other cantorial, rabbinic and education students in biblical grammar, Bible, liturgy, and Hebrew studies. Her afternoons were spent studying trope, ear training, Israeli music, and modes (Jewish music scales).

When classes were over for the day, she spent about four hours on homework at night. Her husband Len and son Sam made the journey with her.

For the next three years, the cantor and her family lived in New Jersey, and she commuted to New York City everyday to attend Hebrew Union College. “By the time we graduated, we had to be able to daven (chant) every individual holiday service and Shabbat service from a traditional prayer book, entirely without music,” she explained.

It was Cantor Shermet’s love of Jewish music that drew her to the cantorate. “Now that I’ve been a cantor for some years, it is interesting to discover how enjoyable teaching and research are,” she admitted. “I like schmoozing with congregants and the camaraderie with my colleagues and other cantors--they’re a special group of people.” She plans to attend the American Conference of Cantors Convention in Israel in 2006.

She is the Midwest representative in preparing for this Convention. “We’re hoping that all cantors and their synagogue communities will contribute to a special mitzvah project in Israel.”

Cantor Shermet has brought in Tami Field and Jon Rathsam as soloists. Kol Rina already existed when she arrived at Temple, and she is impressed with their dedication to Jewish music and to improving as a group.

Jeff Schweid, a member of Kol Rina and past chairman of the music committee at Temple, mentioned how the cantor “teaches us the liturgy and the different melodies for each holiday. She maintains the traditional but brings new music to us. She also brings the spirituality of music to us.” In addition, she’s responsible for the kids choir which “she does with a lot of energy and verve while at the same time worrying about making sure all the details get taken care of and about the budget.”

In April, Cantor Shermet participated in a cantor’s concert at Beth El Synagogue in honor of that congregation’s 75th anniversary. She and Cantor Gastón Bogomolni are planning a community-wide Hanukkah program in 2006 which will be open to the general public.

With her unconventional working hours that regularly involve evenings, she feels fortunate “to have a flexible, supportive family and home life” which allow her to combine all three roles of wife, mother, and cantor. As for the latter, “there’s still a huge world of music out there that I want to explore and incorporate into services,” she said. “I have a lot to learn and to teach. Study is a lifelong thing for me and for every Jew.”

renamed “Mitzvahs to Victory” and consisted of six different projects, each benefiting a Dallas-area organization as well as an Israeli counterpart.

As of press time, the Omaha Boys’ Basketball team was in the quarter finals, playing Boca Raton, while tennis players and sisters Olga and Michelle Eklin were playing in the girls’ quarter finals. The golf team was also out on the course, finishing the last nine holes of play. Final scores and photos will be published in next week’s Press.

Contact us at 330-4272, info@rbjh.com. or http://www.rbjh.com .

Page 6

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

August 5, 2005

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by CAROL KATZMAN In an article in the Sept. 3, 1975, New Year’s edition Editor of the Jewish Press of the Jewish Press, Gendler raised the issue of why more Some people collect Lalique crystal; others search Jews wound up in Kansas City and Minneapolis after the garage sales for Barbie dolls in pristine condition. But first World War: “In many ways, those cities were equal history buff Carol Gendler has collected something to Omaha...the mystery lies in the fact that for some reamore precious: the memorabilia of Jewish Omaha. son the IRO...did not send out as many Jews to Omaha It all started when she was a newcomer to Omaha in as to other cities.”

1955. A graduate of Wellesley College with a BA in It’s an issue with which the Jewish leadership has had political science, Gendler, joined the usual women’s to contend throughout its 150+ years of Omaha Jewish organizations in order to meet people in the Jewish history. community.

“The study of a Jewish community is much more than When her youngest was 18-months-old, Gendler a religious history,” Gendler wrote in The Jews of decided to pursue a master’s in history at the University Omaha. “It is social, economic, political and cultural hisof Omaha (now UNO), one course at a time. In tory as well.” Her thesis shares more than anecdotes between chasing a toddler and carpooling to schools and about the period of 1855-1915; it illustrates the hardactivities with her two older children, it took five years- ships of those early pioneers, as well as their successes--with another two just to research and write her thesis. in business, in philanthropy, in relief efforts, in marriage Along the way, her advisor, Prof. Frederick W. Adrian, and the eventual consolidation of its institutions.

“Carol’s thesis is still used as a primary source of encouraged her to look at the Jewish community for her topic, suggesting that “this is how local history gets research on early Jewish history here,” noted Dorothy written.”

Kaplan, who has worked in the Kripke Jewish Federation “It would have been too big for a grad student on a Library since 1980. “It’s one of the most sought after normal timetable,” books in our collection.”

Gendler smiled. “I had A few years after obtainthe time--and the inclinaing her master’s, Gendler tion.” met Edythe Wolf, who in The result was The Jews 1972, was hired by Paul Veret, then head of the of Omaha: the First 60 Jewish Federation of Years, a 144-page treatise Omaha, as head librarian on the early years of of the JCC Library.

Jewish settlement in The two women sorted Nebraska. Over time, though masses of material Gendler acquired historiprior to the move from cal materials: Yiddish the old ‘J’ at 20th and minute books from the Dodge to the current early Orthodox congrefacility. With a governgations, like Beth ment grant, Wolf hired Hamedrosh Hagadol, the Gendler to begin the roster of members of the index to the Jewish Press.

Chevra Kadishe (the ritual burial society), dues “In the morning, I’d books and rosters from index,” Carol smiled, many Jewish organiza- Historian Carol Gendler displays the translation of the Yiddish “and in the afternoon, I minute books from one of Omaha’s early synagogues: Beth catalogued.” tions.

Thanks to the patient Hamedrosh Hagadol.

By 1978, Gendler efforts of the late Lew Yager, who translated all the branched out and used her research skills to become the Yiddish and Gendler’s transcription from dictaphone Director of the Douglas County District Court Law recordings to typewritten pages, she has English transla- Library, and founded Legal Information Services, Inc., tions of all the material. “The old minute books are so in 1992. Gendler still has her hand in history--but a difmuch more interesting than today,” Gendler explained. ferent sort.

“Minutes noted the arguments, the scoundrels, who did Gendler also serves as a director of the Omaha Public what to whom; you’d never find information like that Library, Lauritzen Gardens, Heartland Family Service, today!” and the Omaha Community Foundation..

Gendler’s interest in the history of Jewish Omaha conGendler sees herself as an advocate for the Jewish comtinued after she received her degree. Her articles were munity, however, and is still involved at Beth El published in the Western States Jewish Historical Synagogue, where she presides over the archives and has Quarterly and Nebraska History , the journal of the state written a brief history of the congregation, updated for historical society, from which, in 1992, she received an the synagogue’s 75th anniversary. Last spring, when she “outstanding publication” award. And she taught histo- and Beth El program director Harriet Einziger had a ry and government at the College of St. Mary. casual conversation about Omaha’s Jewish history, it led During the course of her research, Gendler extracted to a lecture there. the Jewish names listed in the city directories, from “I’m not a ‘history’ person,” added Joanie Jacobson, 1866-1915. “Back then, individuals were listed not only Chairman of the Jewish Press Committee, “but when I with name and address,” Gendler explained, “but with heard Carol speak, I knew we had to make her historical their occupation. Often others were listed in the house- perspective part of our ‘Front Page’ exhibit. Not only hold as well, so any name that I thought was Jewish I will the Press run excerpts from her ‘In Retrospect’ recorded.” columns covering early Jewish history in Omaha, but we The lists and all the other documents are meticulously hope she’ll give a series of lectures next spring in conindexed and housed in filing cabinets in her “history junction with the exhibit itself.” room”, along with copies of the original correspondence And, as Gendler has noted, “one of the best sources of from the Industrial Removal Office(IRO) authorizing Jews Jewish history is our own Jewish Press. to travel from New York and Galveston, TX, to Omaha.

Jewish Life Begins in Earnest

IbyN RETROSPECT CAROL GENDLER (Editor’s note: And so, we’ll repeat here what was written when Gendler introduced ‘In Retrospect’ to this paper’s readers on Sept.

27, 1973: “The facts and anecdotes uncovered by Gendler in her search provide fascinating reading about Jewish life around the turn of the century.” Now that this community has entered into 150th year of Jewish life and the Press is preparing for its historical exhibit next spring, Gendler’s research seems that much more important.)

On Sept. 29, 1867, the Omaha Daily Herald carried the

following notice: “Israelies’ New Years’ Day comes on Monday, Sept. 30 (tomorrow). There will be prayer by Mr. Rosenthal at his house, at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. All brothers are earnestly solicited to take part in this festival and help the organization of a synagogue in Omaha.”

This was the first known Jewish service in Nebraska and 20 Jews attended. The leader of the services, N. Rosenthal, was the proprietor of a saloon and restaurant on Farnam St. A year later a similar notice announced that services would be held at Masonic Hall and that a congregation called ‘B’ni Israel’ had been organized. Isaac M. Frank, a confectionary store owner, was president of the congregation, and Samuel Levy, who was in the men’s clothing business was secretary.

Continued on page 7

Augusy 5, 2005

The Omaha Chapter of Executive Women’s Golf Association® is taking part in Rally For A Cure® presented by Golf For Women magazine, a breast cancer awareness campaign that is the nation's largest grassroots women’s golf program. The Players Club at Deer Creek is the official site of “Celebrating 10 years of Touching Lives Rally For A Cure® 2005 on Thursday, Sept. 1. All players will receive important early detection information, an exclusive Rally pink ribbon golf pin and are entitled to a one-year subscription to Golf For Women magazine.

Since its inception in 1996, the mission of Rally has been to emphasize the importance of early detection in the successful treatment of breast cancer and to support the goals of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease. If you are interested in playing in the tournament, please contact Sarah Schumacher at 963.9950 or Kim Cerny 991.8429.

On July 24, No Frills Supermarkets and Milk-Bone presented a $5,000 donation to the Omaha Police Department’s K-9 unit at the Nebraska Kennel Club show at the Qwest Center. Sgt. Matt Lippold was on hand to demonstrate his dog Skeen’s skills as a certified drug detection dog. “The K-9 unit does a remarkable job of helping keep our community safe,” says Rich Juro, CEO of No Frills Supermarkets. “It’s a great program that No Frills is proud to support.”

Among the six local business to be honored with Golden Spike Awards is AmSan Nogg Chemical & Paper. Rick Faber, President and General Manager, joins Steve Schrader of Dundee Hardware; Daniel J. Thiele of Thiele Geotech, Steve Hinchcliff of H&H Chevrolet; Rod Rhoden of Superior Honda; and Kenneth West of the DLR Group, as honorees. The award is sponsored by the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce and will be given on Thursday, Aug. 18, 7:30 a.m., at the Holiday Inn Convention Center. For tickets, call 978.7912 or reservations@omahachamber.org.

Lincolnite Robert Evnen has been appointed to the State Board of Education by Gov. Dave Heineman. He was chosen from a field of six candidates for the District one seat vacated by Kim Peterson. Evnen, an attorney who worke d in Los Angeles, m oved back to Lincoln in 1987; he is a partner in Woods & Aiken LLP.

In Retrospect Continued from page 6 • The Jewish population by this time had apprently outgrown private homes and needed to rent a public hall.

funds to get these refugees on their feet.

• The Congregation of Israel sponsored a grand ball during the high holiday season in 1871. The ball took place at Max Meyer’s music hall.

• The Congregation of Israel (later known as Temple Israel) held high holy day services in 1879 in the Unitarian Church. The Omaha BEE reported that the service was “rendered in the old Hebraic language and a somewhat talented young man in a straw hat presided at the organ.

• On a single day in July of 1882, 161 Jews arrived in Omaha from Kiev. Among them were: Julius Cherniss, Henoch Marks, Harry and Sol Brodkey, Max Bellman and Abraham and Will Rachman. A committee, including A. Heller, Philip Gottheimer, Charles Schlank, Meyer Hellman and Julius Meyer was organized to help raise

• It was announced in 1914 that more than 150 new Yiddish books had been acquired by the public library and would become part of the collection at the new Yiddish branch library in the Economy drugstore at 24th and Hamilton. Ike Levy was the proprietor of the store.

In Retrospect will run periodically in the Press.

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The University Library at the University of Nebraska-Omaha one of 200 libraries nationwide that have been awarded an American Library Association (ALA)/ Nextbook grant to host the “Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature” series. Participation is free and open to the public and convenient, free parking will be available. Dr. Leonard Greenspoon will be the discussion leader. All of the events will be held on the UNO campus at the University Library on Sundays, 4 - 6 pm.

The scheduled events and books are: • Sept. 25, 4-6 p.m. Klezmer Kick-off! Tuffy’s Klezmorim will perform in the Castle of Perseverance Amphitheatre (directly west of the University Library at UNO). Come hear the music, meet the program scholar/discussion leader, check-out or purchase books and tour the library.

• Oct. 2, 4-6 p.m.: Book #1 Lost in Translation by Eva Hoffman; • Oct. 16, 4-6 p.m.: Book #2 Mr. Sammler’s Planet

by Saul Bellow; • Oct. 30, 4-6 p.m.: Book #3 Out of Egypt by Andre Acimen; • Nov. 13, 4-6 p.m.: Book #4 The Centaur in the Garden by Moacyr Scliar; • Nov. 27, 4-6 p.m.: Book #5 Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman or Dec. 4, 4-6 p.m.

Multiple copies of each title will be made available for participants to borrow at the Kripke Library, Omaha Public Library and Creighton (thanks to a Nebraska Humanities Council grant), and area bookstores.If you have any questions, contact Marvel Maring, Fine Arts and Humanities Reference Librarian at the UNO Library 554.2992 or via e-mail mmaring@mail.unomaha.edu. The Nextbook website has information about the program as well at: www.nextbook.org/ala/ index.html.

by DUANE J. PIEPER weather such as this. We can Yachad Advisor all dream!

With the swing of the bat, Yachad For those able to attend, witnessed a towering grand slam into lots of water and ice cream the right field bleachers in the first were made to order. Good inning of the Royals vs. Nashville seats behind home plate in baseball game at Rossenblatt the shade--with a nice Stadium. The problem was that it was breeze--made it tolerable. only the top of the first inning and Three cheers for Casey the the Nashville team was already leadMascot, who roamed the ing the Royals, 4-0. sun-drenched sidelines, Prince Fielder, son of former major encouraging his team and league all-star Cecil Fielder, received mingling with fans. rousing applause for hsi feat from one Each Yachad event has its of the Yachad volumnteers. Well, he own character and moments was “wearing a red uniform.” After to remember, but more than some clarification on team colors, anything it is about relationthere was no more cheering for that ships developed within the Ben Friedman enjoys a moment with Casey, the “red” team. (For those of you not Yachad family. The upcoming Omaha Royals mascot. Friedman said he couldn’t familiar with the Royals, their unievent this Sunday, Aug. 7, tell if Casey was growling or just breathing “real feature Michael will form colors are blue and white.) hard.”

Fitzsimmons, a talented perDue to the record setting temperatures, not everyone was able to attend the game. Maybe cussionist, who will conduct a music workshop at the VSP someday, Omaha will have a ‘dome’ for events and Club on 156th and Spaulding. Call 334.6491 for details.

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Page 7

Yachad Catches a Royals Game

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

August 5, 2005

Urban Legends Debunked All Jews are smart. And they’re rich, too.

They own all the media outlets, the movie studios, the newspapers...and the banks. And they want to take over the world. The Jews planned and carried out the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11. No, make that the Mossad, Israel’s secret service...which also carried out the tube and bus attacks in London on July 7.

That’s not all...Jews use the blood of Arab children to make hamantaschen--Purim pastries. They’ve put the AIDS virus (which they invented) into polio vaccine, (and so Nigeria refused to vaccinate its children several years ago). And they put toxins in gum to make Palestinian men sterile.

Had enough? You can either consider these fodder for jokes--or the real deal coming from the Arabic press. But...thanks to Denver’s award-winning Intermountain Jewish News, we have some responses. The following, originally printed on May 27, came from the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles. It may be of help to those of you who have to counter the bizarre propaganda noted above.

• The cell phone was first developed at the Motorola plant in Israel; • Primate research at the Hebrew University is leading to the development of a robotic arm that can respond to the brain commands of a paralyzed person.

• The Pentium MMX chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.

• Drip irrigation--based on plastic pipes that release small amounts of water next to crops or plants--was developed by Israeli engineer

Simcha Blas in the 1970s; he caused a revolution in irrigation, especially in arid lands (for which researchers at Hebrew University-which owns the patent--are often called upon as consultants to developing nations).

• Most of Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel.

• Alon Moses from Hadassah in Jerusalem and Imanuel Hensky and Carlos HidalgoGrass from the Hebrew University decoded the mechanism from Streptococcus A. • Israeli software company Check Point is the global leader in Virtual Private Networks (VPS) and fire-wall technologies.

• Elta is responsible for the world’s first civilian aircraft equipped with technology designed to protect airliners from a missile attack.

• Both the Pentium-4 microprocessor for desktop computers and the Centrino processor for laptops were entirely designed, developed and produced in Israel.

• Rummikub, the third highest selling board game in the world, is manufactured in a family-run plant in the small, Negev town of Arad.

• Voice mail technology was developed in Israel; Amdocs is the largest company in the world in this field.

• Cherry tomatoes were originally supposed to be a snack when they were designed by a group of scientists led by Prof. Nachum Keidar from the agricul-

(Founded in 1920)

tural faculty at the Weizmann Institute of Science, with the cooperation for the Israeli company Zera.

As Jews, we have a lot of which to be proud...this is only a small sampling of the accomplishments of a young tiny state, surrounded by hostile neighbors. We’ll give our readers more to counter urban myths in upcoming issues.

Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press the Jewish Committee, Federation of Omaha or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole.

The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content.

The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment.

Jewish Mis-representatives

FOCUS ON ISSUES

by RABBI AVI SHAFRAN A number of Jewish groups are campaigning to ensure that only someone favoring an unfettered right to abortion fill Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s Supreme Court seat. It is an effort offensive not only to many non-Jewish Americans but to many Jewish ones as well.

Some of the campaigners are explicit about their goal; others use code-phrases like “constitutional rights” and “fundamental freedoms” (the National Council of Jewish Women), “respect for... societal realities” (United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism); and assert the need for a “voice of moderation” and a “consensus candidate” (Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism).

What all the jargon amounts to, though, is a rhetorical shot across President Bush’s bow, a warning of the ire he will face from the inveighers should he dare nominate someone who might conceivably side with those sitting Justices who feel that Roe v. Wade was a flawed decision.

Now, reasonable people can disagree about whether Roe was wise or wrongheaded; and even about whether our country is a better place as a result of the more than one million abortions performed here yearly--the vast majority for reasons of convenience--or whether there is reason to allow states to try to reduce that number.

Some may even take the position that an attempt to stack the judicial deck in order to preclude the objective consideration of so important an issue as abortion--to prevent the weighing of different approaches by excluding even the most qualified judicial candidates--is somehow a democratic approach. I don’t, but some may.

What most offends, though, is the implica-

tion of the words “Jewish” and “Judaism” in the titles of more than 20 of the campaigning organizations-because there is simply no way in any world of internal logic to assert, as has been done, some Jewish ideal called “a woman’s right to choose” to terminate a pregnancy.

Abortion is expressly forbidden by Jewish religious law, halacha. There are different opinions about the nature and gravity of the prohibition of killing of a fetus, but no accepted halachic authority views feticide as a matter of personal “choice.”

Like most forbidden acts, abortion can become permitted, even required, in certain circumstances. Such circumstances include when a continued pregnancy threatens the life of a Jewish mother-to-be. But that is hardly reason for Jews to ignore their faith’s undeniable disapproval of abortion in general.

No seasoned, non-partisan observer of American politics and jurisprudence believes for a moment that abortion will be outlawed entirely by the Supreme Court...

And so, what some Orthodox groups (like, prominently, Agudath Israel of America) promote is the regulation of abortion through laws that prohibit the unjustifiable killing of fetuses while protecting the right to abortion in exceptional cases. That not only most approximates Judaism’s stance but reflects the feelings of a majority of the American people.

Agudath Israel has never supported any legislation that would totally ban abortion, or that would provide a fetus the status of a born child--which could jeopardize the right to abortion in those rare cases where Judaism might require it. We did, though, and do, support the Partial Birth Abortion Law, which was recently declared unconstitutional by a federal appeals court and may well end up before the highest court in the land.

Joanie Jacobson Chairman Carol Katzman Editor Richard Busse Managing Editor Allan Handleman Advertising Manager Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Managing Editor Barbara Kirkpatrick Bookkeeper Amanda Marcuccio Sales & Marketing Intern Jewish Press Committee Howard K. Marcus, Vice-Chairman; Bobbi Leibowitz, Secretary; Scott Meyerson, Finance Chairman; Steve Simon, Treasurer; Fred Tichauer, Immediate Past-chairman; David Herzog; Jamie Meyerson; Stanley Mitchell; George Quittner; Linda Saltzman; Joe Shyken; Michael Siegal; Nancy Skid; Dorothy Spizman; and Melany Weinstine.

The role of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to involve Jews in meeting Jewish communal needs locally, nationally and in Israel. Centers of Excellence of the Federation are: Community Relations, Jewish Community Center, Jewish Educational and Library Services, Jewish Family Service, and Jewish Senior Services. The Jewish Press is a constitutional committee of the Jewish Federation.

What that law forbids is any overt act (most commonly, the piercing of the brain) intended to kill an infant whose “entire... head is outside the body of the mother, or, in the case of breech presentation, [when] any part of the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the body of the mother.” Halacha would consider such a child fully born, and thus its killing murder, forbidden even to save its mother’s life (although, as it happens, even the Partial Birth Abortion law includes an exception where the life of the mother is endangered).

When Jewish groups, blatantly or subtly, suggest that Roe is somehow consonant with the Jewish religious heritage, they sow misinformation. And when they oppose measures like the Partial Birth Abortion Law, they abet infanticide.

Reality Check: No seasoned, non-partisan observer of American politics and jurisprudence believes for a moment that abortion will be outlawed entirely by the Supreme Court, no matter who replaces Justice O’Connor (or, should he too retire soon, Chief Justice Rehnquist). And no one should be propagating any such fears about Supreme Court nominees who are suspected of something less than a mindless embrace of Roe. And no group professing to represent Jewish values should claim that Judaism and Roe are a harmonious pair. Roe’s legacy, abortion on demand, is a social ethic that devalues life.

Judaism is a faith that cherishes life.

And so, Jewish groups agitating for the application of a Roe-faithful litmus test to any Supreme Court candidates President Bush presents would do well, and right, to contemplate the implication of the word “Jewish” or “Judaism” in their names--and the dire misrepresentation of the Jewish religious heritage they are placing before Americans, non-Jews and Jews alike.

Rabbi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America. This article is courtesy of Am Echad Resources. Rabbi Shafran can be reached at: shafran@agudathisrael.org.

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August 5, 2005

U.S. Jews Should Sit out Battle over Court Nominee

FOCUS ON ISSUES

by MARSHALL BREGER WASHINGTON (JTA) Since the day President Bush nominated John Roberts to fill the open seat brought about by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s announced retirement, a panoply of interest groups--liberal and conservative-have geared up for political warfare.

Each side has committed millions to a battle royal, leaping into the fray to “define” the nominee even before the confirmation hearings. Jewish groups ought to steer clear of this rank politicization of the judicial process. It ill serves Jewish interests and hurts the rule of law as well.

Liberal Democrats started down this road of politicization with their 1987 opposition to Robert Bork’s Supreme Court bid. Since then, both sides have treated nominations to lower federal courts as a political mud fight, creating a single-issue litmus test that they avowedly use to judge judicial nominees on the basis of politics, not on the basis of their judicial skills.

Indeed, in a 1991 New York Times oped, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, maintained that the senators should feel free to reject nominees on the basis of their ideology notwithstanding their qualifications and competence.

This politicization, of course, is a function of the rampant judicial activism that has plagued the court in recent years.

Part of this is the fault of the U.S. Congress, which continually delegates difficult policy choices to the courts, refusing to bite the bullet.

But a larger part of the blame belongs to the judges, too many of whom have freely substituted their own policy preferences for the legislatures’ on issues great and small. This is not a question of one’s approach to statutory interpretation but rather of inappropriate, indeed often “poetic,” license by judges in interpreting statutes as well as the U.S. Constitution.

Roberts is a lawyer’s lawyer who will approach cases as a lawyer, not a politician. He will look at the facts and the law set before him rather than bring a preordained political or social philosophy to cases. That is why the Washington legal community, Republican and Democrat, has so heartily applauded this appointment. And that is precisely why liberal interest groups are threatening to turn the confirmation process into political theater rather than an analysis of his judi-

cial philosophy and temperament.

Roberts’ professional resume is extraordinary. At the age of 50 he has been an appellate court judge, a distinguished government lawyer, a litigator before the Supreme Court with 39 arguments to his name, the managing editor of the Harvard Law Review and a respected insider in the Washington legal profession.

True, he is by instinct a conservative who accepts, as he puts it, “the cardinal principal of judicial restraint,” but one should expect no less when the nation has trended “red” in recent years, twice electing a conservative president and a conservative Congress.

Few now believe that Democratic senators have the moxie to filibuster this nomination. The question on the table is whether they will turn the confirmation process into political judge baiting for their own institutional needs.

Senators have the right--and indeed the duty--to inquire about a nominee’s general judicial philosophy--including his general jurisprudential approach to the commerce clause or the “right of privacy.” They can ask about his preferred method of constitutional and statutory interpretation and his vision of the role of the courts in a democracy.

They should not, however, demand answers regarding a nominee’s personal political philosophy or how he or she will vote when faced with a particular set of facts. If asked these questions, a nominee should refuse to answer. We should remember Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent in the case Republican Party of Minnesota v. White. She points out that judges are expected to refrain from “committing themselves on controversial issues in advance of adversarial presentation.” Indeed, when it comes to “how a prospective nominee for the bench would resolve particular contentious issues,” she reminds us in a footnote, “every member of this court declined to furnish such information to the Senate and presumably to the president as well.’’

Already groups like National Council of Jewish Women have thrown down the gauntlet. Whether they are using the confirmation process to mobilize their base, energize funding sources or set down markers for the 2006 congressional election, they undermine the judicial process and embarrass themselves. Jewish groups in the past have never politicized the confirmation process. For the sake of the rule of law, one can only hope they will reconsider.

Marshall Breger is professor of law at the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 9

Fundamental Freedoms at Stake if Nominee Roberts is Confirmed

FOCUS ON ISSUES

by PHYLLIS SNYDER WASHINGTON (JTA)--Some will say that President Bush, in nominating D.C. Circuit Court Judge John Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court, has selected a fine attorney with a distinguished academic record and a host of friends willing to testify to his brilliance, modesty and good character. But when the stakes are this high, we need to look at the truth-the whole truth. And unfortunately Judge Roberts--now poised to take a lifetime position as a final arbiter of the U.S. Constitution--has chosen in his career to erode fundamental rights, rather than defend them.

Roberts has been openly hostile to the fundamental right to privacy affirmed by Roe v. Wade, and he implemented legal strategies that would lead to its reversal.

He argued before the Supreme Court in Rust v. Sullivan in support of a gag rule on doctors working in family-planning programs receiving federal funds, effectively barring them from counseling patients on abortion as an option. And though the merits of Roe were not at issue in the case, he gratuitously stated that “Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled.”

Some will say that in the confirmation hearing for his current seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Roberts acknowledged that Roe is “settled law.” But that is of little comfort. The truth -- the whole truth is that as a Supreme Court justice, Roberts would have the opportunity to create precedent, not merely follow it. And the outright reversal of Roe v. Wade is not necessary to render its protections moot. Roe has already been wounded by many unreasonable restrictions and will die a death by a thousand cuts should Roberts confirm our fears and join his philosophical allies on the Supreme Court.

And make no mistake: The clock is ticking. The court is expected to hear a case in its next session considering whether a woman’s health can be held hostage to laws restricting medical abortion options.

Roberts has also acted against the bedrock of separation between religion and state. In Lee v. Weisman he argued in favor of clergy prayers at public-school ceremonies and in all aspects of “our public life,” as expressions of our “nation’s religious heritage.” He argued to replace the standard that forbids government officials from acting with a reli-

gious agenda, endorsing religion, or excessively entangling government and religion with a more permissive test allowing government to sponsor religious expression that is not “coercive.’’

Some will say these are mere technicalities. But the truth--the whole truth--is that this is a very slippery slope. If we lose one right, we can lose them all. As Jews we know what it means to have liberties stripped away. We know what it means to have our privacy threatened. And we know what it means to be compelled to suppress our own religious beliefs in order to survive in a society that imposes another religion’s beliefs on us instead.

Simply put, the hallmark of democracy is religious freedom. The Jewish community has thrived in this country largely because of this freedom. And we will suffer greatly if that freedom is lost.

The proverbial writing is on the wall.

There is nothing in Roberts’ writings or public utterances that would lead us to believe he would rule contrary to the arguments he has made in his career if given the latitude to do so. He will certainly have this latitude on the Supreme Court.

Roberts has allied himself with the most conservative forces in the legal profession by the positions he has taken. And when predicting how any nominee might rule on the court, it is certainly appropriate to look where he places himself, what clients he has chosen and what views he has selected to espouse for them. It defies the lessons of human experience to think that Roberts will change the views held for his entire adult life once on the Supreme Court bench.

Some will say there is nothing for us to do but wait and see if the Senate confirms Roberts. But the truth--the whole truth-is that each of us has a voice and a stake in this confirmation process. If he is confirmed, Roberts is likely to set the course for the court and our personal liberties for decades to come.

In the next two months, as our senators consider the future of John Roberts, we should consider our own future. Groups like the National Council of Jewish Women have been speaking out to the decision makers in Washington, leading the charge to protect our fundamental freedoms.

Isn’t it time we all took a stand? Our senators need to hear from us. If not now, when?

Phyllis Snyder is National President of the National Council of Jewish Women; she can be reached at: www.ncjw.org.

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Page 10

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

August 5, 2005

Candlelighting Friday, August 5, 8:18 p.m.

Synagogue Listings

B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

B’nai Israel Synagogue

FRIDAY: Services followed by Oneg, 7:30 p.m.

618 Mynster St. Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE

Beth El Synagogue Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California Omaha, NE 68154-1980 492.8550 www.bethel-omaha.org

Beth Israel Synagogue Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific St. Omaha, NE. 68154 556.6288 BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org

Beyt Shalom An Affiliate of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation 3012 S. 119 St. P.O. Box 390352 Omaha, NE 68139 660.2395 www.beytshalomomaha.org

Chabad House An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 S. 120th St. Omaha, NE 68144-1646 330.1800 nebraskajudaism.com email: chabad@aol.com

Congregation B’nai Jeshurun South Street Temple Union for Reform Judaism 2061 S. 20th St. Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 435.8004 jewishnebraska.org

Offutt Air Force Base SAC Memorial Chapel 301 Lincoln Highway Offutt AFB, NE 68113 294.6244

Rose Blumkin Jewish Home 333 S. 132 St. Omaha, NE 68154

Temple Israel Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 7023 Cass Street Omaha, NE 68132-2651 556.6536 templeisrael-ne.org

The Neighborhood Minyan 1317 No. 57 St. Omaha, NE 68132 551.6609

Tifereth Israel Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Blvd., Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 423.8569 www.tiferethlincoln.org

If you’re looking at this space, so are others!

YOUR AD CAN GO HERE...

to reserve space, call Allan Handleman, 334.6451.

FRIDAY: Musical Kabbalat Shabbat Service, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Morning service, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush is sponsored

by Steve and Margo Riekes, in honor of Steve’s birthday and their 40th wedding anniversary; Evening Service, 8:30 p.m.

Sitter Service is available during Friday night and Saturday morning services, on a drop-in basis, at no charge.

WEEKDAY SERVICES: Sunday, 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.; Weekdays, 6:55 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

BIBLE STUDY CLASS: Sundays, 10 a.m., led by Prof.

Leonard Greenspoon; in the synagogue library.

WOMEN’S ROSH HODESH GROUP The month of Av will be welcomed by the Beth El Women’s Rosh Hodesh group on Monday, Aug. 8 at the home of Joye Wees, 12605 Lafayette Circle; Sherry Shapiro will serve as co-host.

Social hour, 7 p.m., formal meeting, 7:30 p.m. For reservations contact Wees at 498.0812 or via e-mail at sjwees@cox.net; or Shapiro at sheshap1@aol.com.

HAZAK INSTALLATION Wednesday, Aug. 10, 6:30 p.m. at the synagogue. Rabbi Levin will lead the installation, and entertainment will be provided by singer John Rathsam and pianist Esther Wax. For more information, contact Gloria Goodman at 333.3351.

PRE-SCHOOL PROGRAM, “WHAT’S JEWISH ABOUT SUMMER?” On Tuesday, Aug. 16, 10 a.m. to noon, Beth El will present a creative, educational activity geared to Jewish parents and their preschoolers throughout our community. Led by Helen and Tuffy Epstein and Cantor Gastón Bogomolni, “What’s Jewish About Summer?” will offer children ages two to five the opportunity to create art projects and enjoy music in a kid-sized, kidfriendly atmosphere. Program is free of charge; for more information, call Harriet Einziger in the synagogue office.

“GENERATIONS OF BETH EL FAMILIES” SHABBAT On Saturday, Aug. 13, this Shabbat will recognize the congregation’s 170 multi-generational families-those who have belonged to Beth El for 50 years or more. A special Kiddush luncheon sponsored by the synagogue will follow. The community is invited.

TUESDAY:Torah for Teens, 4:15 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Kabbalah, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY: Jewish Thought class, 12:45 p.m.

Programs are open to the community. For information or to register, call the office or visit: www.nebraskajudaism.com.

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN

Office Hours: Monday-Thursday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fridays, 8:30 a.m-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Jonathan Gross.

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

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Free Babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 10:30 a.m.; Kiddush is sponsored by Rita and Fred Amster in honor of Roman Amster’s birthday; Mincha, 8 p.m.; Havdalah, 9:21 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Contact the synagogue office for Mincha/Ma’ariv time.

WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Contact the synagogue office for Mincha/Ma’ariv time.

WEDNESDAY: Beth Israel Board of Commissioner’s Meeting, 7:30 p.m.

SUMMER TORAH TOURS Beth Israel’s annual Summer Torah Tours, sponsored in conjunction with Yeshiva University, will take place Aug. 17-20. Please make your meal reservations by Aug. 12. For more information or to get a Torah Tours program brochure, contact the synagogue office.

BEYT SHALOM FRIDAY: Shabbat in the Home.

CHABAD HOUSE Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: Services, 7 a.m.

SATURDAY: Maamar class, 9 a.m.; Services, 9:30 a.m., followed by a Kiddush luncheon.

SUNDAY: Services, 8:30 a.m.

Mishneh class, 9:30 a.m.; Medicine in The Jewish Tradition, a study group for Jewish physicians to learn and discuss various interesting aspects, 9:30 a.m.

WEEKDAYS: Services, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: Halacha, 7 p.m.

BAR MITZVAH Jeffrey Samuel Libov son of Marina and Dmitriy Libov, will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, August 13, 8:20 p.m., during the Havadalah service at Beth El Synagogue.

Jeffrey is an eighth-grade honor roll student at Millard North Middle

School.

His interests include swimming, basketball and computer games.

Jeffrey has a sister, Jennifer.

His grandparents are Bella and L e o n i d Nakhimovich, and Rita and Mark Libov.

His great-grandfather is Samuel Libov of Israel.

Congregation B’nai Jeshurun welcomes Rabbi Ilan Emanuel starting Aug. 1.

FRIDAY: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m., led by Rabbi Ilan Emanuel, with oneg following provided by Randi Emanuel.

SATURDAY: Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. led by Rabbi Ilan Emanuel.

SUNDAY: Board of Trustees Meeting, 3 p.m.

MONDAY: Religious School Merger Committee, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY: Choir practice, 7 p.m.

Throughout the month of August, the Social Action Committee will be collecting school supplies to donate to Saratoga School.

For the next few weeks, please pick up extra school supplies whenever you’re out shopping.

Anything elementary school students use would be helpful: pencils, notebooks, folders, boxes of crayons, washable markers, erasers, washable glue, and others.

For just a couple of dollars, each of us can help ensure that kids in our neighborhood have all the materials they need for the school year. A box will be set up in the Social Hall to collect contributions, and we’ll deliver the donations to Saratoga School by the start of the school year.

SAVE THE DATE Celebrate the installation of Rabbi Ilan Emanuel Aug. 26-28.

Friday Aug. 26: Service starts at 7:45 pm with reception following. No reservations required.

Sunday, Aug. 28: Dinner and dance at Cornhusker Hotel, 5:307 p.m. cost $36 per person or Dance and dessert only starting at 7:30 p.m. $18 per person.

Reservations due by Aug. 15.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME SATURDAY: Shabbat Services, 9 a.m. led by Miles Remer.

TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. Rabbi Craig Marantz and Cantor Wendy Shermet will officiate. Summer worship-study discussion: “Praying in the 21st Century.”

SATURDAY: Bagels and Sacred Books, 9:30-10:15 a.m.; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m.

SITTER SERVICE will not be available during summer worship times. Check the Temple website, www.templeisrael-ne.org, for the fall schedule.

ROSH CHODESH IS BACK Join a curious and outgoing group of women on Sunday, Aug. 7, 7 p.m., at the home of Judy Marburg, 14445 Harvey Oaks Lane for a fun evening devoted to Jewish Food/Cooking and Women’s Friendships. RSVP to Becki Brenner bbrenner@jewishomaha.org.

CALLING ALL INTERFAITH FAMILIES Join Outreach co-chairmen Nikki and Adam Kirshenbaum for a pool party at the J.C.C. on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 5:30 p.m.

Meet at the snack bar for a light dinner catered by Nothing But Noodles, followed by swimming.

Cost is $8 per person; kids age 9 and under eat for free. RSVP mkube@templeisraelomaha.co m to the Temple office by Monday, Aug. 15.

NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN FRIDAY: Kabbalas Shabbos, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharis, 9 a.m.

TIFERETH ISRAEL & Minyan, MONDAY THURSDAY, 9 a.m.

FRIDAY: Services, 8 p.m.

SATURDAY: Morning service, 9:30 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: Men’s Lunch Group will meet at the Knolls, 12:30 p.m. Contact Yale Gotsdiner at 423.7066.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.

“The Art of Jewish Teaching” Offers Training for Prospective Religious School Teachers

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator There’s still time to sign up for an exciting new teacher-training class offered this fall at Beth El Synagogue. “The Art of Jewish Teaching,” a course designed to train congregants (and interested Jewish community members) to be substitute teachers at Beth El Synagogue Talmud Torah (BESTT), will run Wednesdays, Aug. 31 to Dec. 14, 7:15-8:40 p.m.

The class will be taught by Beth El congregant and Creighton University Professor Karin Levine, and is open to all prospective teachers, as well as current

educators who would like to refresh their skills. Topics will include planning lessons, classroom management, communication with parents, child development, Hebrew prayer roots, Jewish holidays and Bible. In addition, one lesson will be devoted to what is actually taught at B.E.S.T.T. at various grade levels.

“The Art of Jewish Teaching” has been made possible thanks to a grant from the Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Supporting Foundation. For more information or to enroll, please contact BESTT Education Director Judy Rubin at 498.0904 or at eddir@bethel-omaha.org.

August 5, 2005

Ending the Book of Numbers

SPARKS FROM THE WORD

by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parashat Masei The text, as it were, pulls out its diary and gives us a play-by-play itinerary from Egypt to the settlement in Israel. Whether or not it is possible to identify the places mentioned, it is of no particular interest to us, since we are satisfied to know that 40 years were spent on the way to the Promised Land. As a matter of fact, the text permits us to understand that except for the first and last of the 40 years, the masses of Israelites were not on the move all of that time.

We are told of the death of Aaron, without much description of any rites or any period of mourning.

Israel is admonished to destroy all signs of foreign worship upon entering the Land. And now the Land is to be distributed by lottery to the clans and families of Israel, with more land naturally to larger groups and smaller tracts to smaller groups.

There is also a geographical description of the land of Canaan and its boundaries. And then an account of the apportionment of the Land to nine-and-a-half tribes who have not asked to stay on the east side of the Jordan.

For the Levites, a substantial number of towns and their environs were reserved. These towns would include the Cities of Refuge for people involved in accidental killing, lest members of the family of the deceased persons would try to take revenge on accidental killers.

Indeed, the whole assembly is asked to help an accidental slayer to get to a City of Refuge. On the other hand, a purposeful murderer is to be sentenced to death if there are two competent witnesses. A murderer is not permitted to pay a ransom for his life. The text says that such an arrangement would pollute the Land.

There is the incident of the daughters of Zelophehad, who are required to marry inside their tribe. The point was that having no brothers, the daughters inherit their father’s property and are required to marry only within their tribe, so that their tribe’s portion of land will not be diminished. The text is careful to point out that the requirement is meant for all future time as well. These daughters indeed marry their cousins; so their land stayed within the tribe.

The Sidra and the Book of numbers (B’Midbar) closes with the remark that all of the decisions above were made in Moab, near Jericho on the Jordan River.

It may be noted that there are three Haftarot for these Sidrot that are specially chosen to be Haftarot of admonition precending the ninth of Av (Tisha b’Av). These Haftarot this year are for the Sidrot of Mattot, Masei (which is also Rosh Hodesh of the month of Av) and the first Sidra of the Book of Deuteronomy, which is known as the Sabbath of Vision (Hazon), preceding the ninth of Av.

Tisha B’Av Commemorated at Beth Israel

by MARY BORT for Beth Israel Synagogue Tisha B’Av, a day of mourning that is observed on the ninth day of the month of Av, this year falls on Sunday, Aug. 14. In addition to holding traditional services, Beth Israel Synagogue plans to show two movies: The Disputation and The Flight. “As we mourn the catastrophes and other terrible things that happened on the ninth of Av, it is also appropriate to gather and reflect on what can be learned and where we can find hope,� explained Rabbi Jonathan Gross. “Thus, during Tisha B’Av we’ll show ‘The Disputation’ on Sunday, Aug. 14, 3 p.m., and ‘The Flight’ at 5 p.m. Both films provide us with the opportunity to think about theology, consequences, and redemption.�

The three-week period of sadness culminating in Tisha B’Av began with the Fast of the 17th of Tammuz, on July 24. The intensity of sadness increases during the “Nine Days,� from the first through ninth of Av, Aug. 614. On Aug. 14, Beth Israel will observe Tisha B’Av which marks the day when both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed, in 586 B.C.E. and 70 A.D. respectively. In addition to the destruction of the Temples, Tisha B’Av commemorates other Jewish tragedies from throughout history that fell on the ninth of Av. Tisha B’Av is observed by a sundown-to-sundown fast, beginning at 9:11 p.m. the evening of Aug. 13 until the end of fasting at 9:09 p.m. on Aug. 14. In addition to fasting, Tisha B’Av observances include mourning practices and recitation of the Eicha (Book of Lamentations) and Kinnos.

The Disputation is a re-enactment of the 1263 debate between a zealous, recently converted Christian monk and a famous Rabbi. Starring Christopher Lee as the King of Aragon, who presides over the debate, The Disputation is a highly rated drama sure to generate meaningful thought and discussion.

In the Emmy-nominated movie, The Flight, Lindsay Wagner stars as Uli Derickson, the real-life heroic flight attendant from the 1985 hijacking of Flight 847.�The tragedy of this terrible incident was lessened by the efforts of Ms. Derickson, who passed away earlier this year,� said Rabbi Gross. “The story of what happened is so relevant to what we commemorate during Tisha B’Av. We mourn what happens on that flight, yet we find comfort from Ms. Derickson’s chesed, or acts of kindness.�

In addition to Shacharit, Mincha and Ma’ariv services during Tisha B’Av, Rabbi Gross will hold a class on Sunday, Aug. 14, 10 a.m. (The films will be shown at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.) “We’ll discuss the Book of Eicha as well as passages from the Talmud that deal with the destruction of the Temples,� stated Gross.

For more information, please call the synagogue office at 556.6288.

DEATHS LAZAR KAPLAN Lazar Kaplan died July 23 at the age of 94. A memorial service was held July 25 at Temple Israel.

The retired President of Tober’s stores, he was also a past-President of Temple Israel.

He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Bernice Kaplan; son Bob Kaplan; daughter, Toni Rosen; grandchildren Jill and Gus Sideris and Marty Rosen, all of Omaha, and Jay Rosen and Michele Treberge of Oakland, CA; and three great-grandchildren.

Memorials to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home or Temple Israel.

BERNARD P. FISCHER Bernard Fischer died July 29 at the age of 86. Services were held in Phoenix, AZ. He was preceded in death by his wife, Dorothy.

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He is survived by son and daughter-in-law, Steve and Jan Fischer; daughter and son-in-law, Corky and Jeff Bleaman of Scottsdale, AZ; grandchildren, Melinda and John Graham, Jon and Laura Fischer, David and Ilona Bleaman of Scottsdale, AZ, Stacey and Alex Hammer of Bethesda, MD; and six great-grandchildren.

Memorials to the Kripke Library or Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

To Submit an Obituary Notice: Send full name, age, date of death, location of service and burial site to the Jewish Press via e-mail: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org; fax, 402.334.5422; or mail, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154.

Or visit the Jewish Federation of Omaha’s website: www.jewishomaha.org, and click on Jewish Press and go to ‘Submit Announcements.’ Complete form and click on ‘send’; it will automatically be sent to the Press--or call 402.334.6448 for guidelines and the form.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

August 5, 2005

Attorney Puts Experience to Work in Writing Thriller about Israeli Agent they happened. Some of it did, some of it didn’t,” he law and diplomacy.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT that says.

Carmon travels to Israel one week of each month and

by ALANA B. ELIAS KORNFELD NEW YORK,(JTA) -Many years ago an attorney working for the U.S. Department of Justice was physically attacked outside a bank while on assignment in Europe. In shock and soaked in his own blood, he took a cab to the airport to take the first flight out. A few hours later he landed in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Quick thinking and impulsiveness were not new qualities for Israeli-born Haggai Carmon, who has been the only attorney to represent the U.S. government in its Israeli civil litigation, such as customs and art-ownership disputes between the two countries, since 1985. But it was the memory of that particular incident that inspired his first novel, Triple Identity, which recently made its debut in American bookstores.

Originally written in English, Triple Identity was translated into Hebrew and first published in Israel by Yediot Achronot in late 2003.

The book is based on Carmon’s experience as an outside consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice assigned to asset recovery and intelligence gathering in multinational, multimillion-dollar cases over the past two decades.

“It has always been a realization that the adventures that I’ve been going through were so remote from what I thought would be a practice of law,” says Carmon, 60.

Dan Gordon, the protagonist of “Triple Identity,” is an Israeli attorney and a former Mossad agent working for a fictional government office.

His assignment is to track down $90 million thought to have been stolen by one Raymond DeLouise. Gordon soon discovers that DeLouise, who is found dead at the beginning of the book, has two other names--Dov Peled and Bruno Popescu -and two other citizenships.

The questions surrounding DeLouise’s “triple identity” set the stage for this high-stakes thriller, which unfolds in four countries.

Though Gordon and Carmon seem similar, the author is adamant that they’re not the same person.

“I am not Dan Gordon; Dan Gordon is a fictional character. All these cases were inspired, but it doesn’t mean

However, Carmon won’t reveal what in the book is fact and what’s fiction.

Intelligence gathering has been only one part of Carmon’s career. Between 1981 and 1984, Carmon says he was closely associated with the Israeli politician Shimon Peres, acting as Peres’ counsel.

“I actively participated in secret negotiations” that Peres “held after the 1984 elections,” he says. The balloting was so close that the two major Israeli political parties opted to share power on a rotating schedule in a unity government.

Both Peres and Yitzhak Shamir, the Likud politician with whom Peres embarked on the prime ministerial rotation arrangement, trusted him, Carmon says.

“I was able to forge secret meetings that were Triple Identity by Haggai held in my home,” he says.

Carmon.

“The end result was the Credit: Steerforth Press formation of the unity government.”

Carmon, who grew up in Tel Aviv, served three years in the Israeli air force. In 1964, he enrolled at Tel Aviv University and studied political science and developing countries. After graduation in 1969, he attended the university’s law school.

Carmon entered public life when he was elected vice president of the Israel-American Chamber of Commerce, where he helped forge and promote the economic relationship between Israel and the United States.

He still serves as legal counsel to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.

In 1985, Carmon and his wife, Rakeffet, enrolled in St. John’s University in New York City, and earned degrees in government and politics and certificates in international

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maintains households and law practices in both New York and Israel.

He says he has emphasized Jewish values in the education of his five children, ages 11 to 36. His eldest son is an attorney in Carmon’s Israeli practice.

Carmon says that there’s even a Jewish core to Triple Identity.

“The entire book is filled with Jewish values, what is right and wrong,” he says. “I built the character of Benny Friedman, the head of the international division of the Mossad, as an Orthodox Jew who keeps kosher, who keeps the rituals, who does not work on Shabbat and still was able to become one of the top executives of the Mossad,” he says. “So it shows you can do it even in an organization that works 24/7, 365.”

In addition to the work he has done for the U.S. Department of Justice, Carmon has started an international network of law firms, Globalaw, which provides legal services to American companies and individuals in various countries.

He has also been retained by several U.S. government agencies--including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Postal Inspection Service -to serve as their legal counsel.

Carmon’s work is dangerous, but he pooh-poohs that.

The United Nations estimates that more than $1 trillion is laundered each year. Money laundering is becoming an even more dangerous practice, according to Carmon, because of cooperation between common criminals and terrorists.

The link between money laundering and terrorism forms the basis of Carmon’s two latest novels, The Red Syndrome and Chameleon. Steerforth Press, the publisher of Triple Identity, will publish those books, Carmon says, and it has optioned a fourth book, which he currently is writing.

Despite the political focus of his books, Carmon’s reasons for writing Triple Identity are more personal.

“I’m not carrying a social message. I’m writing the book because of an inner need to tell people things that they didn’t realize governments do” in their protection, he says.

“It’s great fun to write.’’

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