Sponsored by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Endowment Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA
Danielle Gordman named to Newman Supporting Foundation Board
August 23, 2013 17 Elul 5773 Vol. 93 | No. 49
This Week
From the community garden to JFS Page 6
Tifereth @ 100 Page 7
by MARY BORT Endowment Assistant, Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation The Murray H. and Sharee Newman Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Omaha (JFO) Foundation was established in 1987 with an initial gift of $100,000 from Sharee and Murray Newman. Since then, the Newman Supporting Foundation has awarded nearly $337,000 in grants for programs provided by Jewish Federation of Omaha agencies, other Jewish non-profits organizations and secular charities in the Omaha area. The Newman Supporting Foundation Board of Trustees meets annually to determine grant allocations for the upcoming year. When they meet this fall, a new member will join in their deliberations. “On behalf of the Trustees of the Murray H. and Sharee Newman Supporting Foundation, I am pleased to announce the addition of Danielle Gordman as a Trustee,” stated Jeff Kirshenbaum, president. “Danielle has been very active in the Omaha community since her arrival in Omaha. We look forward to her being a part
of the Newman Supporting Foundation Board of Trustees.” Kirshenbaum continued, “Danielle’s volunteer experience is a wonderful match for the goals set out by Murray, Sharee and the Trustees in providing grants to many of the Jewish community’s educational and social action programs sponsored by a variety of organizations and institutions.” Gordman replaces outgoing Trustee Susie Noddle. The Newman Supporting Foundation Board of Trustees now includes Kirshenbaum, Sharee Newman, Lisa Lewis, Jamie Friedland, Jay Lerner, Murray Newman and Gordman. The Newmans, Lewis and Lerner have served as trustees since the Newman Supporting Foundation was founded. Dr. Patricia Newman was a founding trustee who served until 2009, and the late Harlan Nod-
Danielle Gordman dle and David Friedland were also founding trustees. Danielle Gordman grew up on Long Island, NY. After graduating from Indiana University with a degree in political science and East Asian studies, she moved to Wash-
ington, DC and worked there for two years. Gordman lived in Israel for six months, returned to Washington, DC, and soon after met Jeff Gordman on a blind date. They eventually married and, sixteen years ago, Danielle moved here to Jeff ’s hometown of Omaha. The Gordmans have two children: eleven year old Harper and nine year old Zev. Her involvement as a volunteer for non-profit organizations heightened Gordman’s awareness of the needs in the Jewish and secular communities. This interest led her to earn an M.A. in mental health counseling from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. “Danielle’s experience and education will strengthen our board of trustees’ capability to assess grant applications and award grants to worthwhile programs that will truly make a difference for its constituents,” noted Kirshenbaum. Gordman is a member of the AntiDefamation League’s board and serves on Temple Israel’s board of trustees. She is a member of the Presenters board, the guild for Omaha Continued on page 3
Filmmaker Gail Levin Team Omaha hosts followed her passion Israeli youth Hadassa Margolese, fighter for religious tolerance Page 12
Inside Point of view Synagogues In memorium
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by LEO ADAM BIGA sense, Levin left an impression wherIf you’re a devotee of public televi- ever she went and she leaves behind sion then chances are you saw the a body of work that will endure. “Gail was an enormous creative work of the late nonfiction filmforce as a filmmaker Gail Levin. maker and a creThe Omaha naative thinker. I tive and longtime worked on many New York City projects with her resident died July and she became a 31 in a NYC hosvery good friend pice care facility at as well, and I’m age 67 after a long very sad,” said fight with breast American Masters cancer. creator and execOutside Ken utive producer Burns and Errol Susan Lacy. “Her Morris, docufilms sort of had a mentary filmpoetic quality to makers are rarely them that is misshousehold names. ing in many docuLevin herself was Gail Levin mentaries and she little known to the general public but her award-win- had a depth in the way she told stoning films were seen by millions on ries. You could always tell a Gail film such PBS-carried series as American because she was so visual. She really understood the power of an image. Masters and Great Performances. “Most documentary filmmakers Possessing an animated personality, intense curiosity and keen visual work within a limited vocabulary, She did not want her vocabulary limited, and I really admired her.” Levin made films about many subjects but came to be best known for her documentaries about cinema greats Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. Marilyn Monroe: Still Life (2006) explored the complicity of the sex goddess and the photographers who most worked with her in creating Continued on page 2
Osher Kohen, left, Ori Waisman and Dennis Nemerovski by SHERRIE SAAG Communications Specialist, Jewish Federation of Omaha Jewish Omaha and the JCC Maccabi Team were hosts to two Israeli teens for a three day visit just prior to their departure for Orange County CA and the JCC Maccabi games. Osher Kohen, 14, resides in Acco and Dennis Nemerovski, 15, lives on Kibbutz Biethaemek, both of which are part of our Partnership2
Gether region in northern Israel. Ori Waisman accompanied the boys on their trip to Omaha and was also a chaperone for Team Omaha throughout the competition. Both Kohen and Nemerovski are high school students, avid tennis players and competed in tennis at the Games. They first heard about the Maccabi experience from their respective tennis coaches. They Continued on page 2