Endowed by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA
The story of Izzy Ezagui
August 21, 2015 6 Elul 5775 Vol. 95 | No. 49
This Week
by SHERRIE SAAG Communications, Jewish Federation of Omaha Imagine a young Jewish-American boy growing up in peace and security in middle-class Miami. He is raised religious, but also happily assimilated and relatively unaware of the existential threats directed at his religion and heritage in other parts of the world. How did he summon the courage, conviction and fortitude demanded of him when, as a young 19-year-old IDF soldier, he was struck by a mortar shell at the Gaza border, losing his dominant left arm? Izzy Ezagui, an unassuming 24 year-old, will recount his personal story of struggle and determination during several Jewish Omaha speaking engagements Sept. 9 and 10 on behalf of the Jewish Federation’s 2016 Annual Campaign. It's clear his tale is far from ordinary. Izzy traveled with his family to Israel in 2001 to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah. Twenty minutes after Ezagui and his parents left clothing at a laundromat adjacent to a Sbarro pizzeria at the corner of King George Street and Jaffa Road in Jerusalem – one of Israel’s busiest intersections – a Hamas suicide bomber detonated a
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Izzy Ezagui belt laden with explosives, including nails, nuts and bolts, inside the restaurant. That experience transformed him. “It left a mark on me,” Ezagui has said of the Jerusalem bombing. “I remember thinking, 'This is awful. I want to be able to do something to stop things like this from happening.'”
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by DEBBIE FELLMAN More than a century after immigrants Sam Bloom and Lena Dia-
America to revisit the family’s roots together. A highlight of the Bloom Family
Inside Point of view Synagogues In memoriam
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Rosh Hashanah
The growing Bloom family in about 1923. Clockwise from left: Helen, Sam, Will, Lena, Harold, and Milt (in front). Shirley was born a few years later in 1925.
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mond married in Omaha, nearly 60 of their grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren gathered here from across
Reunion 2015 was a bus tour of homes, schools, synagogues, and businesses from the Bloom family’s history, including the 24th and Lake St. area, where Sam and Lena married at Gentleman’s Hall in 1910, and the 20th and Farnam area, where Sam and his sons operated Bloom Auto Sales for many years. Sam arrived in Omaha in 1904 from Riga, Latvia, having sailed aboard the Oscar II from Copenhagen. Lena was from Varklan, Latvia. Together they raised five children: Continued on page 2
credit: The Times of Israel As a teenager back in Miami, that conviction never wavered and, in 2007, he obtained dual citizenship and joined the IDF as a volunteer. When his family moved to Israel shortly after, he joined full time, beginning his two-and-a-half year service in February 2008. “It felt like the right thing to do. As
a young Jewish person growing up in the States, you learn Jewish history… and honestly, I look at it as a privilege to do something for the Jewish people,” he has said. The mortar attack occurred while Izzy’s battalion was positioned at the Gaza Border during Operation Cast Lead (He let his mother think he was stationed at the Lebanese border “washing dishes”). Refusing to let the loss of his arm derail his IDF career, Izzy persevered despite what many would call insurmountable obstacles. In 2010 he returned to active duty, incredibly, serving in the Special Forces Paratrooper Unit. He became the first soldier in Israel’s history to rejoin the army in a military role after sustaining such an injury in combat. In May of 2011, Shimon Peres, then President of Israel, awarded him the highest accolade a soldier outside the battlefield can receive. Yet, Izzy says he doesn’t feel special. “I’m just an ordinary guy,” he has said, “I had the will to do this one thing and succeeded because I was passionate about it. I wanted to prove to myself that I was still worth something. If I can do it, so can anyone else.” Continued on page 2
Jewish Kehilla Cup by SHERRIE SAAG Communications, Jewish Federation of Omaha Want to motivate a crowd to action? What better way than through a little friendly competition. Americans love to compete with each other and thrive on the camaraderie and sportsmanship that a contest can provide. With this in mind, the Federation Development team has adapted “The Kehilla Cup” challenge, a sports-style competition that pits teams of Campaign solicitors in a friendly race for a good cause -- fundraising for the Annual Campaign! Football season is just around the corner and for Omaha’s Kehilla Cup, teams of volunteers will choose “draft” cards (prospective donors) and teams score points for reaching a wide variety of “goals”. The popularity of fantasy football has exploded in recent years. 33.6 million people played fantasy football in the U.S. in 2013. Fantasy
Football combines America’s love for football with competition among friends, family and peers and in the case of the Annual Campaign – it’s all for a good cause: supporting Jews at home and around the world and sustaining our community. “Much like fantasy football, this concept appeals to a wide age and demographic range. Anyone can participate and we promise lots of fun and good sportsmanship,” said Annual Campaign Chair Howard Kooper. Chief Development Officer Steve Levinger explains, “Kehilla means ‘community’ in Hebrew. The Cup will unite and inspire our own Omaha Jewish community via a friendly team competition where participants connect with fellow Jews, learn of their Jewish interests, educate on our Federation mission and, ultimately, secure 2016 Campaign pledges.“ Commissioner Brian Nogg called his team captains together for a first meeting on Aug. 5 when they Continued on page 3