Vol. LXXXIV No. 49 Omaha, NE
Celebrating 84 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
Project Yitzhak Promotes Cultural Bonds Between Western Galilee and American Artists by WENDY ELLIMAN “We devised the Project not only as an arts festival, but (Israel Press Service)--A woman clutching her infant also as a bridge connecting Americans and Israelis geoson soars Chagall-style toward the bound biblical Isaac, graphically, ethnically, religiously, politically and culturally,” above portraits of American and Israeli soldiers killed says Renee Stanley, Project Yitzhak Chairman, coordinator fighting terror… Photographs of men, old and young, for Dallas, TX. “Coming together around this common black and white, from the theme allows us to explore streets of Dallas, all our 4,000 years of Jewish named Isaac… A wrenchhistory, as well as our coming mime in which a helpmon concerns for contemless spread-eagled woman porary Jewish life, our wish is bound ever tighter… A for peace and our hopes dance choreographed to and dreams for the generathe words of Yitzhak tions which follow us.” Rabin accepting his Project Yitzhak is the Nobel Prize for Peace… brainchild of the creative Common to each of Western Galilee/Central these newly created works Area Partnership With is the theme of Yitzhak Israel (formerly (Isaac)--God’s testing of Partnership 2000), a Abraham’s faith by comJewish Agency/UJC manding him to sacrifice project which links 13 his only son, Isaac --from American cities: Akron, the biblical Yitzhak Canton, Dayton, Toledo through historical Isaacs and Youngstown, OH; to the modern-day musi- A painting by Veronique Jonas of Dallas, TX, (from the Sanctification Indianapolis, IN; cians, politicians and men series) of a woman clutching her infant son as she soars, Chagall- Louisville, KY; Des in the street who carry his style, toward the bound biblical Isaac. Beneath her are American and Moines, IA, Omaha, NE; name. Each is the work of Israeli soldiers who have been killed fighting terror. The work repre- Dallas, Fort Worth and visual or performing sents every mother who has had to sacrifice a child. San Antonio, TX, with artists from Israel or the Midwestern USA, and were Israel’s Western Galilee, Acre and Matteh Asher region. among dozens selected for inclusion in the first Project Among the participants were Elyce Azriel, Director of Yitzhak International Arts Gathering held in Israel’s Temple Israel’s Middle/High School, and Maria Western Galilee earlier this summer. Neesman, Chairman of its Religious School Committee. “The gathering has been three years in the making,” The direct professional, cultural, social and economic says Nurit Cederbaum, Director of the Western Galilee relationships which Partnership fosters aim to transform College’s Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Art and the old fundraiser/beneficiary relationship between co-chair of the Partnership Arts Task Force and a fre- American Jews and Israelis into a true partnership of quent visitor to Omaha. “Project Yitzhak was built on peers. The Project Yitzhak encounter between artists creativity surrounding a topic--an encounter for the pur- takes its place alongside successful programs between pose of creation between communities, artistic disci- Israeli and American physicians, teachers and counselors. Continued on page 10 plines, people, ideas and religions.”
Academy Receives Gift from Friedel Family Foundation by JORDANA L. KURTZMAN out the Midwest. He estabFriedel Jewish Academy lished the Friedel Family announces that it has received Foundation to give back to a gift from the Friedel Family the community. Foundation. This additional Phyllis Friedel said that her support will enable the Friedel husband was “a wonderful Academy to continue its man who would have been growth in the support of so proud to see how Friedel increased numbers of new stuJewish Academy has grown.” dents, in addition to new proFriedel’s daughter, Lynne grams that include technoloGellman, said that her father gy, science, the arts, and “felt a strong connection to Judaic education. The Omaha and believed deeply Foundation applied for and in education for Jewish chilreceived a matching grant dren. Gellman and her husfrom the Avi Chai Randi F. Sherman, left, Phillis Friedel and Lynne F. Gellman. band, Steven, live in Austin, Foundation--all for the education of FJA students. TX, have two children, Jay, 21, and Becca, 19. Although the Friedel family has not lived here for Continued on page 13 years, they have kept a steadfast commitment to Jewish education in Omaha. In 1986, the Friedel family donatJewish Federation of Omaha ed $500,000 to create an endowment for Jewish educato Recognize Volunteers-of-the-Year, tion. This year, they recognized the continued need for an increase in donations to Omaha’s Jewish day school Community Service Award and have once again stepped up to provide financial and Spirit of Federation Award assistance to keep the level of educational standards at its level of excellence. at Annual Meeting and Reception Leonard Friedel, who died in 2002, became a successTuesday, Aug. 23, 8 p.m. ful businessman in Omaha, opening and managing the at the Jewish Community Center Jerry Leonard Big & Tall clothing store chain through-
Inside Opinion Page see page 16
This Week: Fall Home & Garden Issue Starts on Page 10 Lincoln’s B’nai Jeshurun to Install Rabbi Emanuel: Page 2
Temple Team in MS Ride in Memory of Joel Brodsky: Page 3
14 Av, 5765 August 19, 2005
Settlers in Gaza Lament Withdrawal as They Mark a Holy Day of Mourning by DINA KRAFT NEVEH DEKALIM, Gaza Strip (JTA)--The rabbi’s voice rose and fell in a haunting trill over the hundreds gathered around him. Mothers cradled babies as young men with guns by their sides swayed in prayer and recitation. Above them a half moon glowed an eerie orange. “We see this not just as the sacrifice of the Temple but the sacrifice of our land,” says Shlomit Landau, 20, who had come to Neveh Dekalim from Jerusalem. “It feels much more meaningful.” Tisha B’Av in Neveh Dekalim, the largest of the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, took on an especially mournful tone as it was observed from sundown Saturday to sundown Sunday.
A settler is comforted by an IDF soldier Sunday in Neveh Dekalim. The wheels of disengagement began turning in earnest following Sunday’s midnight closing of the Kissufim Credit: ISRANET Crossing into Gaza. Both residents and the hundreds of outsiders who came from across Israel and the West Bank to reinforce the settlement ahead of the government-ordered evacuation of Gaza, which was scheduled to begin Aug. 17, saw special significance in this Tisha B’Av. The fast day marks the destruction in Jerusalem of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E. and the Second Temple in 70 C.E. Religious Jews, such as those who live in Neveh Dekalim, observe the day by sitting on the floor chanting the biblical book called Lamentations. On Tisha B’Av, many Jews around the world mourn not only the loss of the Temples but other tragedies throughout Jewish history. The Jews gathered here see the evacuation of 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four more in the northern West Bank as a monumental tragedy. “It makes us wait even more fervently for the coming of the Messiah,” says Narkiss Netanya, 20, as she finds a place on the sprawling pebble and cement plaza outside the main synagogue complex in Neveh Dekalim, where clusters of worshippers are gathered in large circles. Netanya is one of many people this week in Neveh Dekalim -part of the main Jewish settlement bloc, Gush Katif--who illegally entered Gaza even after it was declared a closed military zone by the army. Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, estimated Sunday that as many as 5,000 anti-withdrawal activists have slipped into Gaza in recent weeks. The government refers to them as infiltrators; the settlers call them their guests. Whatever one calls them, they could prove to be an obstacle to Israel’s plans to withdraw from Gaza. Forced evacuations of those settlers who refuse to leave three of the settlements--Morag, Kfar Darom and Netzarim-were slated to take place Wednesday; no date has been set for withdrawal from the other settlements, although Neveh Dekalim is among the second round of settleContinued on page 20
Coming Next Month: New Year’s Issue, Sept. 30 Bob Wolfson Reports on Nuremberg Conference: Pages 6-7
Rebecca Shore’s Art Returns to JCC Gallery: Page 20