Vol. LXXXVI No. 49 Omaha, NE
As small business struggles in Israel’s North, UJC moves to inject capital into area by JACOB BERKMAN ROSH PINA, Israel (JTA) -- When Hezbollah rockets started falling on Kiryat Shemona last summer, Dror Museri shut down his locksmith, safe and bike shop and fled with his wife and twin toddler daughters to Tel Aviv. The three-man operation his father started 40 years ago lost an entire month of income during the 2006 war against Hezbollah, and the situation got worse upon their return. “We started to pick up ourselves from that very hard month, but in the first days, the first weeks, we didn’t have one customer,” he told JTA. “Nobody came to the store. No customers. No business. No nothing.” A year later, he still has not recovered. It is small businesses like Museri’s that the United Jewish Communities is trying to save by allocating more than $35 million to boost the economy in northern Israel, the region hit with thousands of Hezbollah rockets during the war. At the center of this economic initiative are two projects that guarantee loans for small businesses.
The United Jewish Communities is securing $200 million in loan guarantees to help small businesses in Israel's northern region, such as Shiri Harkin's holistic medicine and herb shop in Rosh Pina, which was almost put out of business by last summer's war. Credit: Jonathan Levine The money is part of the $360 million UJC and its companion network of North American Jewish charitable federations raised during their Israel Emergency Campaign. The funds are also going to help rebuild the North, improve its education system and provide ongoing treatment for trauma victims. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert claimed in a meeting last week with American journalists that the economy in the North is booming. But professionals overseeing the UJC’s projects say that the area is in dire financial straits. While Israel’s overall economy is expanding at an annual clip of about 4.7 percent, according to Israel Discount Bank’s latest report, most of that growth has come in the big business, export and high tech sectors -- and primarily in the center of the country. Many small businesses up North are still floundering. Museri, for example, estimates that his sales are down about 35 percent from last year. And the government has been of little help, reimbursing him only 20,000 shekels, or $4,737, for his and his father’s salaries for the month of the war. Museri said he is in relatively good shape compared to some of his neighbors. One friend who owned a motorcycle repair shop had to close, as did another who owned a restaurant, he said. The UJC, along with the Jewish Agency for Israel and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, are working with four Israeli small business incubators to provide consulting services to small businesses like Continued on page 2
Inside Opinion Page see page 12
Celebrating 86 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
10 Elul, 5767 August 24, 2007
What about life at Livingston? by ANDREA BARTMAN ments with a location on the Federation campus was for Jewish Senior Services unique and remains so today. The Jewish Community Center ... Jewish Family The Federation wanted to have housing available to Service ... the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home ... the list seniors who wanted to live near the JCC. And so the goes on. The campus of the Jewish Federation of idea blossomed into an effort to see the project come to Omaha is comprised of some heavy hitters in name fruition. recognition and awareness in the Jewish community, as According to Seldin, a non-profit corporation called places of service and public resources. Federation Manor Inc. was formed by the Federation. It What about Livingston Plaza? How much is known was requested that Seldin Company be the developer for about this important part of the campus and the role it the project because “we were familiar with the HUD plays? Who are the people that live there and what need development process,” having completed many other is this tranquil piece of the Federation campus fulfilling? such senior apartments across Iowa and Nebraska Here are the facts about Livingston: The building was constructed in 1982. It offers 46 one bedroom and six two-bedroom apartments to seniors with a financial need for subsidized housing. According to Carol Simpson, Building Manager at Livingston, five of the apartments are completely handicapped accessible and available to anyone with financial need, regardless of their age. But when and how did Livingston’s story begin? According to Ted Seldin, Chairman of Seldin Company, which manages the property for the owner -- the Jewish Federation, Yale Richards started it all. “He (Yale) was well aware of the programs available at that time for low income housing. He was very active in George Shafer, a resident at Livingston Plaza, enjoys a recent summer afternoon the community and was concerned on the large patio. about available housing for those with low income,” Seldin said. “He was also highly involved before.” On behalf of the Federation, the Seldin with the development of the Blumkin Home and aware Company prepared a proposal under the HUD Section that we (the Seldin Company) were involved in devel- 202 loan program (development and ownership of nonoping senior housing.” profit organizations) as a project-based section eight At that time, there were other options for senior hous- housing development. ing, but the concept of senior-based, low income apart- Continued on page 8
Local teacher returns inspired from seminar in Israel abilities to implement Holocaust studies in their classby CAROL KATZMAN rooms. Editor of the Jewish Press “All of the participating teachers come to the program Burke English teacher Jessica Gall was cheated out of a trip to Israel last summer when Hezbollah terrorists with some type of Holocaust study under their belts,” kidnapped two Israeli soldiers on the border with Gall explained. She too has impressive credentials, having participated Lebanon. “After leaving Poland, we were to travel to Israel with in numerous Anti-Defamation League and Institute for stops in Nahariya and Jerusalem, but when the news of Holocaust Education programs, attended the Belfer and fighting between Lebanon and Israel reached us in our Belfer Next Step programs with the United States Holocaust Memorial hotel in Warsaw, our trip was Museum, heard survivors cancelled,” she told the speak, taken classes, and, Jewish Press. “We were as she says, “learned a crushed; we couldn’t believe great deal with my own that the friendships and diawork on the Tribute to logue about this important the Rescuers Essay event in history were going Contest.” to be cut so short.” So when the program’s Gall was part of a 2006 coordinator e-mailed all group sponsored by the of the 2006 participants Jewish Labor Committee’s last winter to let them Holocaust and Jewish know there were spots Resistance Teachers Proavailable to finish our trip gram. Founded by Vladka in Israel, she could not Meed, Holocaust survivor say “yes” fast enough. and Jewish resistance fighter She joined 26 others last who only recently died, the program’s goals are to Burke teacher Jessica Gall finally got the back half of her inter- month to complete the strengthen and deepen a rupted trip to Israel this summer. She stopped at the Roman journey she had begun Continued on page 5 teacher’s knowledge and aqueduct before visiting the Ghetto Fighters Museum.
This Week: Academic scholarship awarded: Page 2 See Front Page Stories & More at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’
Two years after leaving Gaza, Israeli evacuees still unsettled: Page 3
Coming Next Month: New Year’s Issue, Sept. 7 Amercia Decides 2008: Nebraska AG “Big fan of Israel”: Page 4
Woman to Woman: Israel’s Bedoiun sisters: Pages 6-7
Page 2
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
August 24, 2007
Academic excellence scholarship awarded organizations as well, volunteering for the Jewish by MARY SUE GROSSMAN The Financial Aid Committee of the Center for Community Center’s Shiputznick Teen volunteer Jewish Education has announced that David Sukiennik Program, Habitat for Humanity, and the Make-a-Wish has been selected as the 2007 scholarship recipient of Foundation. He also baked and served food at Rainbow the David Keiser and Lillian Keiser Stoms Foundation House for families whose children are patients at Education Endowment Fund for Academic Excellence. Children’s Hospital. A winner of the Phil and Ruth Sokolof Honor Roll This award is based strictly on scholarship, with high school grade point averages and SAT/ACT scores used Merit Scholarship announced in April, David also worked part-time at as the primary measure to Coldstone Creamery and determine the recipient. Charleston’s Restaurant. David, the son of Lillian Keiser Stoms Hyman and Marlene and her brother David Sukiennik, will be attendStoms were native ing the University of Omahans; this fund was Texas-Austin. He plans to established in their memmajor in psychology with ory by their niece, Sally an eye toward medical Clayman. Two other school. scholarships were also A 2007 graduate of established in memory of Millard North, he took a David Keiser and Lillian host of advanced placeKeiser Stoms. ment classes, with a The funds were estabstrong interest in science lished to benefit and and math. In addition to assist in the education of a challenging course load, Jewish youth living in a he was a member of the Aveva Shukert, outgoing Financial Aid Chairman for the Center for single parent family or Student Council all four Jewish Education, presents the 2007 Academic Excellence Jewish single parents who years at Millard North Scholarship award to David Sukiennik. have custody of their and served as president in both his junior and senior years. He also served as direc- children and to provide funding for university scholartor of recruitment for Millard North’s Mustang ships to Jewish youth who have earned a minimum 3.0 GPA. These two funds are awarded based on financial Mentoring Program. David was also active in BBYO; as a member of AZA need. For information on any scholarship program, please #1, he served as treasurer, moreh, and president, as well as moreh on the council level. Last summer, he partici- call the Center for Jewish Education office at 334.6445. pated in Artza ’06, traveling with 20 other Omaha teens Those interested in contributing to or endowing scholon a month-long trip through Israel. arship and loan funds should contact Marty Ricks in the He’s donated his time to a number of community Jewish Federation Foundation office at 334.6440.
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UJC moves to inject capital into Israel’s North
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Continued from page 1 Museri’s to help them grow in the aftermath of the war. Once the businesses have gone through this mentoring process, the UJC works with The Koret Israel Economic Development Funds -- run by the San Francisco-based Koret Foundation -- to help them secure bank loans. More than any other program UJC is funding, its economic development initiative is key to keeping Israelis in the area, said Carl Kaplan, the Tel Aviv-based managing director of the Koret development funds. “It is a worldwide accepted axiom that small businesses create jobs,” Kaplan said. “If you pump money into small- to-medium businesses that are not tourist based, you have an opportunity to further develop the economy in the North.” Northern Israel faces several inherent obstacles that were present even before the war. It is a heavily fragmented region that, aside from Haifa, is made up of scores of small municipalities, giving it no real commercial center. Travel within the region is difficult, given the lack of infrastructure, including decent roads and a rail system. But the area’s greatest economic weakness is lack of capital, experts say. Israeli banks give a disproportionate number of their loans to large companies -- a particularly pressing problem in the North, where the estimated 90,000 small businesses, with roughly 25.4 billion shekels, or $6 billion in combined sales per year, make up the core of the area’s economic structure. The banks require collateral -- as much as 100 percent -- that would be considered extreme in the United States, according to Kaplan. And the eligibility requirements are strict -- banks will not accept small items, including office furniture and machinery, because the after market value for such items in Israel is small. During the war, many businesses leveraged what they had to secure loans just to pay for their inventory, leaving them with no collateral for rebuilding efforts. But the Koret development funds, with a record dating back to 1994 of orchestrating loan guarantees for small businesses in Israel, have worked out a contract with Bank Ostar Hachayal and Mercantile Discount Bank, whereby the banks will loan $6.25 dollars for every dollar that UJC allocates. The UJC is putting up $7 million that the Koret development funds will leverage into about $35 million in loans, with the goal of securing loans for about 650 medium-sized businesses and another 250 family-run, micro-businesses. A similar deal is in the works with Tzafona, an Israeli economic development company chaired by Eitan
Wertheimer, who sold 80 percent of his Iscar Metalworking Companies to Warren Buffet for $4 billion in May of 2006. The UJC has allocated $17.5 million for that project. This second program could result in an additional $165 million in loans -- which would mean a total of $200 million in total for northern businesses, as a result of the UJC-Koret Eitan Wertheimer partnership. Credit: BPH Images/JTA In comparison, over the past 13 years, the Koret development funds have secured about $140 million worth of credit resulting in 4,650 loans for businesses all over Israel that, Kaplan said, have strengthened or created roughly 20,000 Jobs. The two new loan projects, Kaplan estimated, would create 1.5 jobs per family in northern Israel. Howard Rieger, president and CEO of UJC, said focusing on these business loans made sense. “The question is how do you encourage people to stay and try to make it up there and to try to survive?” Rieger said. “From a loan perspective, the money just wasn’t available at that level.” Among those who have benefited is Shiri Harkin, who sells holistic medicine made from her homegrown herbs out of a shoebox -sized storefront next to her house in Rosh Pina. Unable to sell her inventory after the war, she bounced several checks, which got her on a blacklist, making it impossible to write checks or get credit. But she has been working with two Israeli incubators, which helped her straighten out her finances and obtain a small loan of under $10,000. Now she has two deals with chains of spas that will use her line of herbal remedies. As for Museri, the locksmith, safe and bike shop owner, he has taken out two loans totaling $14,000 -- to pay for inventory he bought before the war and was unable to sell -- that he hopes will help bail him out. “The war has caused a lot of stress in my life. I have a family to take care of. We have started to think about what will happen in the future and that we have to keep money. We changed our lives because of the war,” Museri said. Now, with the help of one of the economic incubators, he is trying to be hopeful about the future. “They give us advice. They help us any time we need.”
August 24, 2007
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 3
Two years after leaving Gaza, Israeli evacuees still unsettled by MARCY OSTER NITZAN, Israel (JTA) -- Stuart and Anita Tucker’s 970-square-foot prefab on an artichoke field in Kibbutz Ein Tzurim looks like home. Paintings and pictures hang on the walls of the living and dining rooms. Colorful magnets hold up flyers and pieces of note paper on the white refrigerator. A new air conditioner hums in the background. Though many of their friends surround themselves with photographs of their former life in Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip, the Tuckers display not one picture of the home that the couple lived in for 29 years in what was commonly known as “the Gush.” “I’m a forward person, not a past person,” Anita Tucker says. But in a nod to the past and to the present situation, the hand-painted paper nameplate on the front door of the temporary dwelling is draped with a single orange ribbon -- the symbol of the struggle for Gush Katif. This month marks two years since Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip in a painful and divisive operation that removed more than 8,000 Jewish settlers from their homes -- some of them with force by Israeli soldiers and police. It was hailed as a watershed moment, the first time Israel had withdrawn unilaterally from territory seized during the 1967 SixDay War. But now, with last year's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and this summer’s Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, many Israelis are skeptical about the prospects for peace. Many of the more than 1,600 families who were forced from their homes are trying to rebuild their lives. Some have become even more bitter. Most families do
not have a permanent housing solution, more than a third remain unemployed and many worry that the government continues to discuss further withdrawals in the name of peace. While some families are staying positive about the future, with a small number having successfully moved on, others are in dire straits. Some rely on charity to put food on the table, and have had to use the advance payments for their homes to pay the electric and water bills. Others have become physically ill, with higher-thanaverage reported cases of diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Dror Vanunu, the international coordinator for the Gush Katif Committee that represents the residents of the former communities and coordinates relief efforts, says his organization is working with the government, as well as with organizations such as the United Jewish Communities and the Jewish Agency for Israel, to address the needs of the evacuees. The UJC, the umbrella of the North American federation system, has allocated some $4.5 million to help those in need. Funds have gone to an array of programs, including for psychological counseling, cultural and youth activities, and financial aid. After the expulsion, Vanunu says, most private support came from Orthodox Jewish individuals and institutions. Even now, he says, “many people cannot believe that after two years Israel has not been able to cope. They think the problem has been solved.” A 10-minute drive from the Ein Tzurim caravilla site, the Nitzan Caravilla Park’s tightly packed, red-roofed structures stand out against the surrounding green landscape. Most of the homes have lush, creeping vines and colorful flowers decorating
agreement. “Government neglect” is how former Neve Dekalim resident Rachel Saperstein describes the holdup. Neve Dekalim residents who plan to build in Lahish, near Ashkelon, delayed signing until the government agreed to permit 40 long-term renters to build in their permanent communities. Environmental protesters are now asking the government not to allow the community to build because it will reduce the amount of green space. Anita and Stuart Tucker’s moving container occupies much of Many of the Gush famiCredit:Marcy Oster lies have received an their small yard. their fences and their yards. There are side- advance on their compensation checks walks and streets, with signs sporting neu- while the final amounts remain in dispute. tral names that come from nature. But the Families were supposed to receive public areas remain dusty sand lots and between $200,000 and $250,000 from the abandoned shipping containers dot the government, an amount that can increase area. depending on the size of their previous According to the Gush Katif Committee, homes and property and how long they the 1,667 families who left Gush Katif are lived in Gaza. Many families say they have scattered in 20 housing locations around received only partial payouts. the country. Their goal is to resettle Most of those who have received funds together in 26 new communities, mostly in have had to use the money for everyday southern Israel. In a report this month, the expenses rather than putting it toward their committee says that only 12 families have future homes. begun construction of their permanent Saperstein began Operation Dignity homes. while living at the Jerusalem Gold Hotel Contracts involving the state, the resi- with dozens of other evacuated families. dents and the communities have been Most evacuees arrived only with what they signed on only seven of the 26 areas slated could carry. The cash they brought to for permanent housing. In some cases it is Saperstein at the hotel helped families purthe residents, seeking better terms, who chase diapers, warmer clothing and other have held up the contract. In other cases it necessities during the seven months is the community trying to renege on the Continued on page 15
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
August 24, 2007
Nebraska’s AG “Big fan of Israel” can’t tell you why he seems to be anti-Israel and why he went before an Arab group and said that support for Israel should not be autoby JOAN K. MARCUS matic,” Bruning said. “Support for Israel should be automatic. There’s a litJon Bruning, twice elected attorney general of Nebraska, recently addressed tle democracy over there. And, if we let it the B’nai B’rith Breadbreakers at its go, the whole place will be up in flames weekly luncheon. He was the youngest and we’re going to have an entire section attorney general to be elected in of the world without any sort of support Nebraska when he was elected in 2002 at all.” The attorney general announced he and was unopposed for the position has raised $730,000 toward his Senate when he ran again in 2006. Bruning said, “May of 2008 is the pri- campaign. “I love being attorney general mary election for the United States Senate. and I’m not trying to get out of this job. I hold myself out as a candidate -- not But if you want to have an impact and if knowing whether or not (current Senator) you care about your state and your country -- and want to Chuck Hagel make it a better place will run. for your kids than it At this point is for you -- you in the campaign would rather be the season, Sen. president of the bank Hagel has not than just a teller.” yet announced A fifth generation whether he is Nebraskan, Bruning running for the carries the reputapresidency -- or tion of being an to retain his aggressive, effective Senate seat. B u r n i n g Jon Bruning, left, met with Li-Fan in China on a leader in the fight added, “One of recent Aspen-Rodel trip. Li-Fan is director of the against crime. He calls himself “the the reasons that World and China Institute. I am running against Senator Hagel is people’s lawyer” and works to appeal that I think he is absolutely wrong on excessively lenient sentences and prosecute elected officials who have violated Israel.” Bruning mentioned that he was in laws. During his tenure, the number of New York City a few weeks ago and met methamphetamine labs in Nebraska with the staff at the New York Sun. “They communities has been substantially could not hide their contempt for Hagel reduced. Bruning also serves as the chairman of because of a vote to support Israel was 96 to 4 with Hagel on the other side. I the Nebraska Crime Commission and
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serves on the Nebraska Board of “Ultimately, you can’t get past the fact Pardons. He also is currently the chair of that the Palestinians have not been able the Midwestern Region of the National to get a handle on terrorism. They conAssociation of Attorneys General and tinue to desire to blow themselves up serves on the executive committee. around innocent civilians,” he added. Recently, he was elected vice president of “This is not a tactic used by most of the organization and is now in succession the rest of the world. If the Palestinians for the presidency. educate their children to believe that an His work earned him the Aspen-Rodel entire group is evil, it is very difficult to Fellowship in Public Leadership in 2005. modify that,” he said. “Among Islam in In March of this year, Bruning returned general, the population is very young. from his third trip to Israel. He visited as And, almost without exception, those a part of the Aspen Institute, a bipartisan people hate Jews and hate America.” think tank consisting of members from In Jordan, Bruning and the Rodel across the political spectrum. group met with a fairly successful group “We were a group of ‘wannabes’ -- not of business people. As the Jordanians let yet in the Senate but who wish we were,” down their guard, Bruning noted latent Bruning said of his group on the trip. anti-Semitism crept out when they talked The Aspen-Rodel Fellowship program about Jews. “That’s a little scary,” he was founded in 2005 to provide said, “These are successful people. I still America’s top young political leaders have a great deal of worry about our with a better understanding of this coun- interaction with the Arab world. I think try’s underlying democratic principles that we have a difficult problem ahead of and to help foster civility in the public us.” arena. Bruning’s first Rodel tour was of Israel, Jordan and Egypt. He had been to Israel twice before but never to Jordan and Egypt. “From a global perspective, my reaction after that trip is the same. I am an unabashed supporter of Israel because it is the lone spot of democracy in the Middle East. This country has a duty to continue to do everything we can to make sure that Israel thrives and survives,” he said strongly. “That takes a lot of money because there are Nebraska AG Jon Bruning greets Nate Schwalb at Breadbreakers earlier this month. enemies surrounding it.” One of the most impressive things Bruning returned from another Aspenabout his trip was seeing young soldiers. Rodel trip to China earlier this month. He was impressed with their youth and He and the group met with Li Fan, an that many of them are young women. “It expert on grass-roots democracy in is impressive that everybody takes a little China and director of the World and time out of their lives to serve. Of China Institute, an independent think course, Israelis do it as a necessity,” he tank in Beijing. added. “I’m not Israeli and I’m not Founded in 1994 as a non-governmenJewish, but it makes me feel somewhat tal, nonprofit research institute consistpatriotic about Israel.” ing of scholars, government employees, Each time Bruning goes back to Israel, policy analysts and entrepreneurs, the he finds that it is valuable to learn more organization has been instrumental in about Israel’s history -- especially since promoting democracy since the beginhe may be a candidate for the United ning of the reform movement in China. States Senate. His friendship and feelings “China’s development over the last five get stronger. years is astounding. From the prolifera“This time around, the Aspen Institute tion of the internet and cell phones to decided to take us through Ramallah, the development of commerce, China is which was a fairly shocking experience,” on the move,” Bruning said. “China will he told the group. “On the way in, of continue to play an important role in the course, we saw the security wall. Some international arena. Their hunger for people think it shouldn’t be there. But, advancement in agriculture, industry and the flip side is -- how many people need technology gives them an important to blow themselves up before you decide place in America’s and Nebraska’s to clamp down? I know that it’s a very future.” difficult choice for the Israeli governDuring the question and answer periment to make. But, by the same token, if od, Omaha businessman Nate Schwalb it were my kid on that bus everyday, and made a personal observation, “I was I knew that the bombings could be shut born in Israel and I’ve been here for 49 down by shutting down the border, what years. I’ve been across the country and I would I do?” he asked. can’t think of another leader such as “Until Islamic terrorists and Islamic yourself who has shown such love and fundamentalists stop blowing up inno- positive influence when it comes to cent Israelis, I’m not sure what the alter- Israel.” native is. I’m absolutely not sure that Bruning responded, “I continue to anyone has given me a better answer believe in democracy, although, I think than the security wall. And until I get a it’s going to be challenging. In this different answer, I’m not about to say country, we grew, but worked out the that the Israeli government is doing any- kinks as we were growing. To walk into thing that they shouldn’t.” places like China and tell them they When he went to Ramallah, he was should be a democracy -- that is a big taken into Yassir Arafat’s compound. Not challenge.” surprisingly, there is a large statue of the (Editor’s note: The Jewish Press is former chairman of the Palestine owned by the Jewish Federation of Liberation Organization. “I tend to see Omaha, and as such, does not endorse Arafat as one of the world’s greatest ter- candidates or political parties. This rorists. They hold him up on a pedestal, newspaper, however, does make every so I’m not particularly pleased. On the attempt to cover candidates when they walls in the compound is a plaque identi- are speaking to Jewish groups or at events fying each room as belonging to ‘The of interest to the Jewish community, other than political fundraisers.) Great Yassir Arafat’,” he related.
August 24, 2007
Local teacher returns inspired there, I can in small part, understand why Jews from around the world call Israel home,” she added. The group started in Jerusalem with study at Yad Vashem. They heard from world-renowned historians: Dr. Yaacov Lozowick, Dr. David Bankier, Dr. Yehuda Bauer and Dr. Efraim Zuroff on topics ranging from current issues on Holocaust education and research to the current effort to hunt and punish those responsible for the Holocaust. “One of my most touching moments was hearing survivor, Ruth Brand, tell us about her experiences at AuschwitzBirkenau,” Gall said. “Even after everything she went through, she thanks God every morning that she has one more day to look at the sun and appreciate life.” A wedding dressmaker by trade, she told Gall to come Last summer, Gall visited Krakow, Poland, in the first part of a back to Israel and she trip that was supposed to culminate in touring Israel. The trip would make a beautiful was cut short by the onset of the war with Hezbollah. dress. “I can only hope I “With temperatures unseasonably hot, will always approach my life with the I cannot even begin to express the physi- same positive outlook,” Gall added. cal and emotional toll of seeing the The last portion of the trip was to remains of these camps where thousands Nahariya and the Ghetto Fighter’s of Jews and other targeted people were Museum in Omaha’s Partnership with exterminated,” Gall noted. “The amount Israel area: the Western Galilee. “As we of suffering that still permeates the very stood atop the viewing station of the air is enhanced by the skeletal remains of Education Center in the Ghetto Fighters the men’s sections and ovens where thou- Kibbutz, we couldn’t help but think sands perished. In contrast, Majdanek about the previous summer’s Hezbollah was so beautifully preserved that there rockets falling in the very area that held was the eerie feeling that it could begin our attention,” Gall said. operating the next day.” Tamir Porter, overseer of visitor proLast summer, the war in Lebanon cut grams, talked about the museum staying their trip short. Disappointed, they were open even amidst the bombings. He quickly flown home; all were unsure if could see no reason to close down espethey would be able to finish the program. cially when soldiers from the front came Last month, Gall realized the year-long to the kibbutz not to rest and relax, but separation from the “darkness and to tour the museum to remember why destruction of Poland,” gave her some they were fighting. It is also ever-present distance; she felt rejuvenated. “Not being in the educational philosophy of the Jewish, I cannot say I ever had the inher- Ghetto Fighters Museum; they feel “the ent need to visit Israel. But, after being choice is in our hands.” Continued from page 1 the summer before in Poland. Then, the 30-member group visited Warsaw’s Ghetto Fighters’ Monument, walked the once Jewish ghetto, and saw the only remaining pieces of the ghetto wall. Their trip continued with visits to Lublin and the Majdanek concentration camp and Krakow where they spent an emotional couple of days in AuschwitzBirkenau.
At Oma’s Table by Doris Schechter (Home Book, $23.95)
READ IT AND E AT Reviewed by LOIS FRIEDMAN Recipes, remembrances, and essays of a Jewish family, their food and kitchens are the backbone of this cookbook. The recipes, stories, photographs and the celebrations of the family of Doris Schechter’s mother, and Oma’s, her grandmother, are recalled by Schechter (cookbook author and owner of “My Most Favorite Food” restaurant/bakery in New York City’s Theater District) as a legacy for her children and grandchildren. The family traveled from Vienna to Italy to Manhattan ... arriving on Aug. 3, 1944, the day Anne Frank was betrayed. Appetizers and Eggs, Soups and Breads chapter includes Chopped Liver, Gefilte Fish, and Matza Coffee. Other chapters are Main Courses (Flanken, Fleischlabel -Chopped Meat Patties), Vegetables like Kartoffelpuree, mashed potatoes to serve with the Fleischlabel, Side Dishes like Risi Bisi (Rice and Peas), Salads, Desserts (bundts, tarts, tortes and more) and Sauces/Chutney/Rub and Oil. The recipes are listed on the chapter pages and in the alphabetical index. Headnotes describe Schechter’s family, memories, traditions and cooking style.
In the Tasting Menus for Everyday and Holidays chapter is a Rosh Hashanah Lunch: salad, cholent, berries and tea. The instructions are a user friendly, chatty style. The fare is straightforward, nothing extravagant, carefully budgeted with emphasis on fresh as Oma shopped everyday and was a “practical and exacting” taskmaster. A salad recipe with a sweet mystery for your next everyday or holiday meal follows. CINNAMON-SCENTED SALAD 1 medium head Boston lettuce, rinsed and leaves patted dry 1 medium head green leaf lettuce, rinsed, leaves patted dry and torn into pieces 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar 1 tablespoon sugar Pinch ground cinnamon Combine the Boston lettuce and green leaf lettuce in a large salad bowl. Toss to combine. Shortly before serving, add the oil, vinegar, and sugar. Toss with tongs or your hands until the leaves are completely coated. Dust with cinnamon, toss very lightly and serve, before the aroma disappears. Makes 6-8 servings with other first courses. Lois Friedman can be reached at ReadItAndEat@yahoo.com.
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 5
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
August 24, 2007
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by WENDY ELLIMAN (IPS) There were weeks on end when Ikraam, 23, couldn’t afford milk for her infant son. “His father told me he’d take my baby away if I ever asked him for money, so it was better to listen to the child’s cries of hunger than to lose him altogether,” she says. The last beating that Asiya, 41, endured from her husband put her in the hospital for six months with multiple fractures. “He hit me through all 20 years of our marriage,” she says. “Only towards the end, when things got really bad, did I realize that our eight children were suffering just as badly.” Ikraam and Asiya (not their real names) are Bedouin women who do not come from a bygone age or live deep in some forgotten desert but reside in modern-day Israel, an hour and a half ’s drive from Tel Aviv. “Bedouin women are the most oppressed and marginalized women in the country,” says Insaf Abu Sharb, one of three Bedouin women lawyers in Israel. “They live in a culture that values community above the individual, in a society that is fiercely patriarchal and in a religious-ethnic minority that is inequitably treated by the State of Israel.” Since December 2006, Abu Sharb, 26, director of the newly created Bedouin Women Legal Rights Center – a unique effort to empower the estimated 50,000 Bedouin women aged 18 and more in Israel’s Negev – has been a key player in attempting to overturn that oppression. Right: Some 800 people, comprised of Bedouins from the Negev and their supporters, staged a demonstration in the Wohl Rose Garden, opposite the Knesset last month, protesting the government's policy of demolishing Bedouin homes established in the Negev in unauthorized villages. More unauthorized Bedouin homes are due to be demolished. The Bedouin lay claim to about six percent of the Negev desert, but successive governments have not recognized these claims. Presently about 70,000 Bedouin live in unrecognized villages and do not get any public services. In past years, some villages have received government recognition, but still there are more than 30 villages which have no public services or funds. There has always been reluctance by the Bedouin to move to permanent villages which do have the usual public facilities and services, including Credit: ISRANET health services.
Bedouin women but it quickly became clear that their needs exceeded translating social security forms from Hebrew to Arabic. “Most of their problems – their legal status, poverty, the physical abuse that more than half of them suffer from their husbands – relate directly to their lifestyle,” says Cohen Keshet. And so, in December 2006, Itach-Maaki set up a Bedouin Women Legal Rights Center. Abu Sharb, who qualified three years ago, serves as its director and the Abraham Fund is its major partner. “The project struck an instant chord with us,” says Lee Pearlman, Director of Programs and Initiatives at The Abraham Fund Initiatives (TAFI). “Our vision is one of equal opportunity and a shared society. Promoting the equality of this community in Israel and empowering its women, who suffer such intense discrimination, can only strengthen the State of Israel. If their life isn’t bettered, sooner or later their situation will reach flashpoint.” TAFI, which during the 1990s seeded many coexistence projects, has moved to a broader level, trying to change realities on the ground by influencing national policies. “In recent years, we have launched national initiatives that include a Language As A Cultural Bridge program, which institutionalizes the instruction of Arabic in Israeli Jewish schools, a nationwide project which fosters Arab community-police dialogue and cooperation and training programs for senior government officials,”
A strategic partnership between Itach-Maaki (Women Lawyers for Social Justice) and the Abraham Fund Initiatives, the Center’s seeds were sewn in 2001 when Abu Sharb (whose first name fittingly means ‘justice’ or ‘equity’) was still in law school and Attorney Becky Cohen Keshet, a US-born Orthodox Jew, opened the Beersheba branch of the newly created Women Lawyers for Social Justice. “Our Center comprises some 100 women lawyers in private practice in Israel who help other women pro bono,” says Cohen Keshet, “and its goal is to create social change by using the law. We aim to empower low-income women and help them obtain justice, whether it’s explaining the implications of a canceled check or representing them in court. We knew when we opened the Beersheba office that many local Bedouin women had legal problems. When they didn’t come, we decided to bring in Bedouin students to translate for them and see if that made a difference.” Two years ago, Nasrin and Suzanne, both Bedouin college students in their early 20s, part of a growing group who are daring to move beyond the confines of their villages to study, work and find a new sense of self, began volunteering in the office and Bedouin women began flocking in. “When they knew we were here, they dared to come,” says Nasrin. Itach-Maaki had succeeded in reaching troubled
says Abraham Fund spokesperson Maya Popper. “And we also form strategic partnerships with grassroots organizations. The Bedouin Women Legal Rights Center is one such partnership and we’re very excited about it.” The new Center had expected perhaps 100 Bedouin women clients during its first year, but at least double that number is now foreseen. Ikraam and Asiya were among the first to come – Ikraam finding it through word of mouth and Asiya being directed there by her social worker, when she was finally discharged from hospital “My husband’s family knew he hit me but they never did or said anything,” says Asiya. “After that last time, the police came and he is now serving three and a half years in prison. My children and I are safe from him at the moment, but we have no money to live on.” In traditional Bedouin society, women and girls remain at home, and so, like 90 percent of Israel’s Bedouin women, Asiya is under-educated and has no job. “Because of their lack of education, the poverty in which they live, their isolation and their very traditional culture, most Bedouin women in Israel have little access to information about their rights,” says Cohen Keshet. continued on page 7
August 24, 2007
Israel’s Bedouin sisters continued from page 6 “Add to that the fact that Israel’s National Insurance Institute essentially ignores their customs and conventions and it’s clear why these women fall through the socalled safety net. We helped Asiya get the social security to which she’s entitled and for the moment she’s doing well. But she knows things aren’t over yet. Her husband will be released from prison one day…” Ikraam is among the one in every three Bedouin women who is a second (or third or fourth) wife. “When I was 20, my father gave me to a man 10 years older than me as his second wife,” she says. “There was no marriage ceremony because polygamy is considered illegal in Israel. My father shook hands with my future husband, and that was it. I stayed with him a year, by which time I was pregnant. He hit me a lot and he hit his first wife too She stayed but I ran away to my mother. She has no money to feed me or my son. Because I wasn’t married by Israeli law, I’m not considered a divorced woman. Social security wants to give me a child allowance as if my husband was supporting me, not the higher payment given to single mothers. But I want to be recognized as a single mother, because that’s what I am.” Despite this, Ikraam considers herself fortunate. Her husband has allowed her to keep their little boy, now 13 months old, as long as she makes no financial demands. Israeli law states that custody should be in the best interests of the child. For the Bedouin, who live by Shari’a law (which provides the divine rules for behavior, including incontestable rules about marriage, business and inheritance), the child’s welfare is always best served by staying with the father. “We’re trying to persuade the authorities that Ikraam is a single mother and entitled to appropriate support,” says Abu Sharb. “We’re also trying to open their eyes to the fact that polygamy is a cultural practice in the Bedouin community and that Bedouin women, whether separated or divorced from their husbands, continue living near them so they can keep their children.” Despite the immense challenges, the mood among the Bedouin women at the Legal Rights Center is upbeat. “I’ve learned to be strong because no one ever helped me,” says Asiya. “Now I have these people to help me and I have hope as well as strength.” “I grew up in an unrecognized Bedouin village, like many of these women,” says Abu Sharb, “and I know all about poverty and domestic violence. I am happy that I am able to work for my community and help where there is such desperate need. The Legal Rights Center is trying to create sustainable social change in the lives of these women so that ultimately they will attain the knowledge and the tools to protect and claim their rights.”
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 7
Give your old challah a new twist by ESTIE KATZMAN for Chabad of Nebraska Preparations are well under way for the Women of Worth Auxiliary’s second annual Challah-Thon, slated for Monday, Sept. 10, 7 p.m., at the Chabad House. The goal of the evening is to educate, entertain and enrich challah lovers and is open to women in the entire community. Women will have an opportunity to prepare a variety of dough, experiment with braiding techniques, taste some delicious challahs, and take home some of their favorites. “Last year the event was a huge success,” says Shani Katzman, educational director at the Chabad House. “Nearly 40 women from throughout the community joined in the innovative event. Women appreciated the hands-on practical demonstrations, as well as the insightful lessons derived from challah.” “The neat thing about this evening,” says Kim Novak, co-chairman of the event with Kelly Kirk, “is that it’s perfect for beginner and experienced bakers alike. Newbies can get help with kneading, yeast readiness and rising experience, while old pros will be able to update their recipes and try new braiding and shaping techniques.” Kirk says this affair will be a “perfect opportunity for
Omaha women to come together and learn about the mitzvah of challah, a mitzvah that is specifically designated to women.” Learning about the mitzvah and its significance will be just one of the benefits of this evening. “We launched this program last year in memory of one of our dearest friends, Karin Levine, who showed true love for the mitzvah of baking challah and everything Jewish,” says Katzman. “Her divine challah recipe is used by many in our community to enhance their holiday and Shabbat menus.” “Back by popular demand is Kim Novak’s apple challah recipe in time for Rosh Hashanah,” says Kirk. “It’s fun to make, easy to serve and a pleasure to eat. It was the greatest hit.” Challahs will be made available for purchase at the event for $5. “Last year we were completely sold out,” says Novak. “I’d recommend that everyone pre-order to ensure that you will receive what you want." The three featured choices will be Rosh Hashanah Apple Challah, Whole Grain Delight and Delectable Sweet Challah. RSVP for the Challah-thon to 330.1800 or auntiekim2@aol.com by Sept. 5, where you can preorder, too, or visit www.ochabad.com.
Beth Israel Sisterhood to host lunch and "Kosher Kitchen" by MARY BORT for Beth Israel Synagogue Put your culinary skills to the test and enjoy a meal with an interesting guest speaker! The community is invited to attend upcoming Beth Israel Sisterhood events that include a “Kosher Kitchen” class and a luncheon on two Tuesdays, Aug. 28 and Sept. 4 “We’re starting off the new year with some exciting programming,” said Julee Katzman, one of the three leaders of Sisterhood this year. “We’re taking a new focus this year. We’ve got members who are young women, older women, career women, retired women; we’re going to try to offer a variety of programming for as many as possible. So, we have a lot of things on our agenda, with the Kosher Kitchen, luncheons, Chesed, Make-It-And-Take-Its and more. Sisterhood met in early August to make plans for the coming year. Our meeting was very successful and has spurred us to have another planning meeting in a few weeks. We’ll focus on fundraising and budgeting.” Currently, Sisterhood is being governed by a presidium of Katzman, Bette Kozlen, and Debbie Kricsfeld. “Bette and I are working with Debbie as she prepares to take on the Sisterhood presidency next year. She’s doing a fantastic job,” Katzman added.
“To kick off our fall programming, we’re going to hold a Kosher Kitchen,” stated Katzman. “The classes that were held last year were so successful, we wanted to continue with the series. This year our focus will be on holidays. So our first Kosher Kitchen will pertain to Rosh Hashanah and High Holiday menus. We’ll learn about traditional foods and exchange recipes.” It will meet on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 7:30 p.m. in the Beth Israel kitchen.There will be meat and parve High Holiday recipes to share, with tastings. The following week, Sisterhood will host a luncheon on Tuesday, Sept. 4, noon. The featured speaker will be Mike Silverman, executive director of Jewish Senior Services/Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. He’ll give a virtual tour of the new Home. According to Katzman, “This is a great way to kick off our fall, with a focus on a very exciting new project in the community. It’s an opportunity for our members to learn about the project and to ask questions.” The cost for the lunch is only $5 per person. Please make your reservations with the office at 556.6288. “Sisterhood is also planning for the big event of the season -- Donor,” noted Katzman. “Donor will be held in October and will be fabulous, with a Steinmart style show and a silent auction.”
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
August 24, 2007
Life at Livingston Continued on page 8 The application process for Livingston Apartments is managed privately by Seldin under FHA guidelines and, just like any other services on the JCC campus, the apartments are non-denominational. Residents pay rent that is roughly thirty percent of their net income, but this amount is adjusted based on a personal allowance and out-of-pocket medical expenses. The calculations take into account each applicant’s own personal circumstances. Seldin stresses that all personal information is kept completely confidential. Seldin Company developed a plan for the property, on the Federation’s behalf, using an architect highly experienced in housing for the elderly. They obtained the required construction loan and longterm financing for the project and the work began. The result? An attractive property that meets the needs of seniors. According to Seldin, “We located the building close enough so that it could connect to the JCC and the developer’s fee we received was donated to facilitate this construction.” Hence, funneling their fee back into the project and forever affecting Livingston’s connectedness to the other agencies on the campus. What about that connectedness? Who feels it? Not necessarily everyone strolling through the JCC or busily on their way to a meeting, but the residents of Livingston Plaza most certainly feel it. For elderly residents of financial need, this connectedness is at the top of their list of reasons this place is so important to them. One such resident is George Shafer. He will be 90 in January and he sites
location as one of his top reasons for being at Livingston Plaza. Shafer came to Livingston before his wife, Mickey, died in October of 2003. “To start with,” he says, “It will be six years in December that my wife was at the Blumkin Home. I got in here so I could go across through the hall (connecting Livingston and the ‘J’) and visit my wife every day. After she died, I didn’t want to leave.” Shafer cites two reasons for his continued happiness here at Livingston Plaza. First: his daughters, Patty and Bunny. “I use the bus every Wednesday to go to the store, because I don’t want to burden my girls all the time. But my oldest daughter, Patty, takes me every Saturday and we have lunch together,” says Shafer. “I’m very fortunate that I have my daughters, because they’re very devoted and I, likewise, am devoted to them.” Shafer speaks fondly of his entire family including his grandchildren and their families. It’s obvious that this man is surrounded by a support system of people who care about him. This connection to his family keeps him happy and fulfilled, but a person needs to continue feeling fulfilled on a more personal level as well. Shafer fills his mind and his heart through his connectedness to his culture and faith by way of Livingston’s close proximity to the JCC. “I spend time over at the ‘J’ a lot,” he says. “There are a lot of activities there. They have movies and lectures. I try to participate in all the activities. Visions is a group that I belong to as well (through Jewish Senior Services). I also try to be active in the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society. I help them there doing things like putting pictures together and such.”
This spirit of staying involved and keeping himself busy makes Shafer seem younger than his 89 years. “I’ve been active all my life,” he says. He describes a life with his wife as one filled with activity and involvement in groups like the American Legion, the Masons and the Shriners. “I still keep pretty busy, though,” he says. Of course, not everyone is as much a participator as he, but many Livingston residents are here for that very same reason. The foresight involved in creating
Russian, for the comfort of those residents who speak Russian as their first language. The JCC library prints a TV guide in Russian for them every week. The Board is currently developing a list of residents who are interested in participating in a neighbor contact sheet. This list would be available to residents and their family members who would like additional contacts in case their loved one cannot be reached and the manager is unavailable by phone.
The cheery main entrance to Livingston Plaza welcomes residents and visitors to this subsidized housing unit on the Jewish community campus. apartments that serve the needs of a senior population that doesn’t yet require assisted living or long term care, but wants a close connection to activities and services is impressive. Livingston was developed long before the proliferation of the “assisted living” communities of today. Seldin emphasizes, however, that Livingston is not assisted living. It is a community for those capable of independent living, yet with needs, both financial and personal. Many residents at Livingston still drive. Some do not. The services available to these residents include a bus available for trips to the grocery store every Wednesday, as well as for doctor’s appointments on an as needed basis. This bus service is provided by Jewish Senior Services for a nominal fee. The building is completely handicapped accessible and features a secured entrance where visitors are required to contact a resident inside to be “buzzed” into the building. This safety feature is an important one and quite unique among low income apartments. In addition to the entrance security, each apartment is equipped with emergency call capability from the bedroom and bathrooms. This is but one way that the property keeps the safety of it’s senior residents in mind. The property itself touts an impressive list, especially among subsidized housing facilities, of amenities available to residents. Many of these amenities were provided via the Livingston Board of Directors which examines a “wish list” every year that is put together by the residents and Simpson, the Property Manager. There is an elevator, a large community room for use by residents, a library which will soon include a new computer system for resident use, a stationary bike for exercise, a player piano, DVD player and several satellite TV channels, even in
Simpson, however, is rarely unavailable. As Building Manager at Livingston, she’s both an associate of Seldin Company and a friend to the residents here. Shafer says of her, “Carol has been delightful. She’s a very fine person.” She’s also been at Livingston Plaza a very long time. She’s been with Seldin Co. for nineteen years and has spent most of that time living here. She describes Livingston Plaza Apartments as having a sense of community within the building. Residents organize their own activities, with her help, from bingo night every Wednesday and game nights on Friday, to a catered dinner once a month and a visiting nurse as well. They recognize as many holidays as they can fit into the calendar including a holiday dinner to include everyone, a New Year’s Eve program and an Independence Day celebration. The residents here enjoy the camaraderie of these activities in addition to everything offered through the JCC. “We have a great deck with lots of flowers to enjoy,” she says. What does she enjoy most about her job here? “I think the interaction with people, you know, I’ve always been good with the elderly. You have to be a good listener and always have an open door. They’re a fun group of people here.” It does, after all, take a really special type of person to manage a senior property. Bonnie Johnson, VP of Property Management for Seldin, and Bob Dean, VP of Operations, both describe how fortunate it is to find people like Simpson. “They incorporate these people (residents) into their lives,” says Johnson. “It’s a way of life for them and it becomes completely consuming. They come to care about these people so much.” Dean agrees. “I tell people (who apply to be property managers for Seldin Co.) that they’re not going to love their job just because they like doing paperwork. Continued on page 9
August 24, 2007
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 9
Life at Livingston Continued from page 8 That’s just part of the job. These people love their jobs because they have a certain mission orientation about them that says ‘I want to help other people.’ I am constantly stunned at the level at which our managers go for the needs of other people. They do it without us asking them to do so; it just comes naturally to them.” Seldin himself reinforces this point. “I’m very proud of our management team,” he says. “We have concern for our senior residents. I’m sure many in the community don’t understand how important this place is for some of our elderly.” Seldin describes a point Carol Simpson, Property Manager for Livingston Plaza, inspects the library and piano room. in the recent past where Congress was examining how to cut programs for subsi- Federation, move forward in expanded social services, dized housing like Livingston’s project-based funding. we are excited to explore other opportunities with the Randy Lenhoff, president of Seldin, was called to testify Livingston Manor,” he notes. For any senior out there who has a financial need and before Congress in Washington for the National Affordable Housing Management Association to urge needs a change in their housing situation, Seldin urges congress to maintain affordable, privately managed them to pick up the phone and call. He stresses that Livingston Plaza is made available on a non-discriminahousing developments. A senior apartment resident from Wahoo, Nebraska tory basis, as with all of the Seldin rental properties, and accompanied Lenhoff to Washington to testify and was that availability of units is prioritized by need. Those with an “extremely low income” are given priasked by committee member Congressman Barney Frank where she would live if places like Livingston ority. He also stresses that anyone placed on the waiting Plaza were no longer available. Her response, according list for an opening at Livingston Plaza is not required to to Seldin, was that she and others her age with financial take an available opening. Once contacted, an individual is free to turn down the need would have no where to go. Dean and Johnson point out that Seldin, himself, is opening and remain on the waiting list until such time quite personally invested in the success of Livingston. as they feel the need to make a move. There is no limit “Ted has clearly always taken an interest in how we man- to the amount of time someone can remain on the waitage our senior communities,” Dean says. Johnson men- ing list. Livingston experiences, on average, around five or six tions how Seldin has voiced repeatedly to her that senior properties are where he “gathers his most satisfaction move ins/outs per year, according to Simpson. “If you have a need for housing, you have an income need, and and what he’s most proud of.” “The Livingston Manor is a very important and inte- you desire the benefits of being close to the Jewish gral part of our campus,” says Federation President Community Center,” says Seldin, “Get on the list.” To get on the waiting list for Livingston Plaza, or simNorman Sheldon. “Through this H.U.D. facility, we are able to assist our own community, as well as the greater ply get more information on the building and what it Omaha community, with residential needs. As we, as a has to offer, contact Simpson at 330.3995.
Christopher A. Stanosheck, D.D.S. 9202 West Dodge Road Suite 201 Omaha, NE 68114 402.884.1607 www.thesmiledesignstudio.com
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“Eye on Israel” begins sixth year by CHERYL LERNER Administrative Assistant Center for Jewish Education What started originally as a small program during the lunch hour, five years later, “Eye on Israel” has evolved into a weekly discussion series that has become a staple of programming for the Center of Jewish Education, led by Dr. Guy Matalon, its executive director. The program begins again on Dr. Guy Matalon Tuesday, Sept. 4, noon. “Eye on Israel” is an interactive forum for learning and discussion of current events affecting Israel and the Middle East. The program meets weekly in the Kripke Jewish Federation Library. One of the longest running programs of the CJE, it originated as the “Guy and Bob Show” with Dr. Matalon, and Bob Wolfson, former regional director of the Plains States Anti-Defamation League. Attendees are welcome to bring a lunch. In the coming year, weekly sessions on Tuesdays will meet in September, November, January, March and May. During the past year’s meetings, Dr. Matalon has often co-hosted and verbally jousted with Dr. Moshe Gershovich, Professor of History at the University of Nebraska–Omaha, and an expert in Middle Eastern affairs. Other local and visiting political experts have also served as guests and bring varied and often controversial opinions of current events in Israel. Joye Wees regularly attends. “I enjoy the different perspectives and angles that the various speakers provide.
It’s sometimes encouraging, more often it’s depressing, but it’s always fascinating,” she says. That’s why I keep coming.” Gary Katz, Kripke Library Administrator, has been involved since the beginning, “Guy is able to extrapolate and explain the complexities of Israel like no other. He is able to cut through and get to the heart of issues -very few people can do that well.” Natan Schwalb is a native of Israel, though he has lived here for 49 years, and is another regular. With his many ties to the country, he is keen to stay as up to date as possible on the issues and current events affecting Israel. “The knowledge and information that Guy and frequent guests impart is unmatched. I get more from these programs than reading the newspapers and seeing the 5:30 news,” he adds. To add some spice and heat to noontime, bring a lunch, bring a friend, and keep up to date on the latest issues facing Israel. For more information on “Eye on Israel” or other programs, call the CJE office at 334.6445. EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press office will be closed on Monday, Sept. 3 for Labor Day, and for Rosh Hashanah, Thursday & Friday, Sept. 13-14; Sukkot, Sept. 27-28; and Shemini Azeret/Simchat Torah, Oct. 4-5. Deadlines for the following issues are at 9 a.m.: Issue Deadline Sept. 21 Tuesday, Sept. 11 Oct. 5 Tuesday, Sept. 25 Oct. 12 Tuesday, Oct. 2 Questions? Call 402.334.6448 for information on submitting articles, photos, ads, and announcements, as well as synagogue schedules.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
August 24, 2007
ORGANIZATIONS WALK-IN, DROP-IN For those members going to the Ameristar Casino on Thursday, please meet at the JCC by 8:34 a.m. For information, call Maggie Conti at 334.6521 LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Come to the Yiddish meeting at the JCC on Thursdays, 1-3 p.m. If you have any Yiddish books you would like to donate, please call Anne Skolkin at 343.1638.
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VISIONS Reminder: Visions and 39 Forever host a summer picnic on Sunday, Aug. 26, 1 p.m., at Chalco Hill's Recreation Area. Derek Ventura's One Man Band will entertain. Visions luncheon meeting is Friday, Sept. 7, 12:30 p.m., at Venice Inn. The special guest will be Ernest Richardson, resident conductor of the Omaha Symphony. Send reservations to Tootie Simon, 8725 Izard St., Omaha, NE 68114 by Aug. 31. For information, call Harry Alloy at 697.8709 and for transportation call Betty Kolnick at 553.4748. The cost is $10 per person. Make check payable to Visions.
Visions is going places
Zoo docent teach the Yachad members about the cactus hotel and the abundance of life in the desert.
by MAGGIE CONTI JSS Older Adult Director Barbara Frohman, left, Ernie Winthroub, Shirley Weinstein, Dorothy Kotok, Louise Lippett and Edith Epstein were among Visions members who had a great day trip away to Brownville Nebraska to hear a concert of “The Great American Songbook” by Tom Michael and Beckie Menzie, showcasing the best in music from the last 100 years. Following the show, members enjoyed the luxurious ride back to Omaha in severe stormy weather. A special thanks to our bus driver, Chuck Barry, who drove the group safely to Jack and Mary’s Restaurant for a delicious meal.
Fortunately, Yachad, with the direction of some outstanding teachers, the zoo docents, received a crash course on the prevalence of life in the desert. This class gave them new eyes to see and prepared them for a tour through the Dome. With knowledge comes appreciation. Did you know that the kit fox not only possess extra large ears to hear better, but these ears also help dissipate body heat and keep the fox cooler? And the roadrunner is more than a cartoon character, but a real life player in the Sonoran Desert ecosystem. The laughing kookaburra, made famous in song, is from the Red Center Desert of Australia. Anyone know what the wild boar type animal of the Sonoran Desert is called? Yachad now knows that it is a “peccary”. Of course we all expected to see some snakes in the desert, but seemingly so out of place were the presence of so many species of hummingbirds. The desert has a great deal to teach us about life. The Tanach is filled with these lessons For example, Moses learned a great deal about life in the desert. He came to understand and appreciate that life as he tended his sheep in Midian and later led his people through the Sinai desert. Therefore, the lesson learned by Yachad in the Desert Dome had greater significance than they anticipated in relation to their own history and heritage. Call Jewish Family Service at 334.6491 for details on future eye-opening expeditions.
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by DUANE J. PIEPER The living classrooms at the Henry Doorly Zoo are designed to inform and expand understanding of a specific eco-environment through interactive hands-on activities. After visiting the jungle and the aquarium in previous outings, Yachad chose to explore the desert this year. The world’s largest indoor desert, the Desert Dome, features plant and animal life from three deserts of the world: the Namid Desert of Southern Africa, the Red Center of Australia and the Sonoran Desert of the southwest United States. On the surface the desert terrain looks parched and without life. Who would imagine that in this hot, arid landscape there would exist an important, dynamic, thriving ecosystem. Appearances can be misleading.
B'NAI B'RITH BREADBREAKERS Bob Pitlor will speak at Breadbreakers on Wednesday, Aug. 29, noon, at Regency Lodge, according to Marty Ricks, chairman. The Lincolnite will perform his magic show. All men and women in the community are invited to attend. Cost is $12 for a complete lunch and $3 for beverage service only.
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Yachad explores life in the desert
IN THE NEWS Tess Mandell, daughter of Paula Mandell and Steve Christensen, has been named to the Dean’s List at the Rochester Institute of Technology for the spring 2007 quarter. A 2006 graduate of Central High School, Tess will be a sophomore at RIT, majoring in software engineering.
BIRTHS Joshua and Amanda Gurock announce the July 23 birth of twin sons, Max Levi, named for his great-grandfather, Max Kaplan, and great-uncle, and Jacob Meyer, named for his great-grandfather, Jack Gurock, and great-great-grandfather, Jake Bresel. The twins have a sister, Leah Bayla. Grandparents are Candee and Jerry Mack, and Peggy and Noah Gurock, of Passaic, NJ. Great-grandparents are Morris Bresel and the late Jean Bresel.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Can you spell C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E? Broadway’s Tony award-winning musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee -- based on the original play C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E by The Farm improv group in New York City -- is coming to the Orpheum Theater next month by Broadway Across America. Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, Sept. 25-27, 7:30 p.m; Friday and Saturday, Sept. 28-29, 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Sept. 30, 7:30 p.m., with Saturday and Sunday matinees, Sept. 29-30, 2 p.m. Tickets range from $28 to $58 and may be purchased in person at the Ticket Omaha Box Office at the Holland Center, 1200 Douglas, Omaha or by calling Ticket Omaha, 402.345.0606. Tickets also are available at TicketMaster, 402.422.1212 or www.ticketmaster.com. For group sales of 20 or more, call 402.661.8516 or 800.889.8457. For more information, on the production please see the musical’s website: www.spellingbeethemusical.com.
August 24, 2007
For college freshman -and their parents -it’s time for independence
GETTING READY FOR COLLEGE by AUDREY KAHANE The summer before a student leaves for college can be an emotional time. Life is about to change for the whole family, and it’s natural for everyone to have conflicting feelings. You may feel both happy and anxious for your child, as well as a sense of loss and freedom for yourself. Your child may feel excited about living in a residence hall and scared at the thought of leaving home. Tempers can flare. Sometimes being angry makes it easier for children to leave and for parents to let them go. While parents are dealing with their own emotions, they also need to help their children prepare for the transition to college. Over the summer, relaxing curfews and giving new high school graduates more freedom lets them know that you have confidence in their ability to manage their lives. Once your child starts college, you can still serve as a sounding board when she wants to complain about her biology professor, but there’s no more calling the guidance counselor to get your kid’s schedule changed. You won’t be able to protect her from the temptations of alcohol or drugs, or make sure she’s getting enough sleep. The more responsibility students take on now, the better prepared they’ll be to make good decisions at college. In the weeks before departure date, some families go into major shopping mode. If you’re planning to buy your child a new computer, it might make sense to wait. Many colleges have negotiated deals with companies and offer laptops at great prices. Remember that dorm rooms are shared and space is limited. Students can coordinate with their new roommates and decide who will bring big items like refrigerator and microwave, if they’re allowed, as well as a television. Freshmen often arrive on campus a week before classes start. They’ll have time to buy whatever else they need. Students who have been high-achievers throughout high school can experience some self-doubt when they go off to college, especially if they’re headed for elite schools, where they will be surrounded by smart, accomplished classmates. But admissions officers don’t admit students who can’t do the work. In fact, they turn down thousands of well-qualified students, so remind your child that if she got into Stanford or UCLA, she’s got what it takes to be successful there. High school is over and students don’t need to keep proving themselves by taking the most rigorous curriculum. Encourage your child to sign up for at least one class that just sounds like fun. Students should feel free to try out different subjects and not be pressured to choose a major or commit to a career path right away. They need to adjust to college life, so it’s best not to overload their schedule with too many difficult classes in the first semester. It’s important to have time for hanging out with new friends and trying out different extracurricular activities, which help students feel they’re part of the campus community. Hillel will have opening events at many colleges, and can provide a sense of community that may be especially important for students at large universities. At move-in, the student sets the tone. Your child may or may not want you to help with unpacking. Students are often eager to say good-by and be on their own. Most colleges offer programs to fill the void for parents. Your child is off on a grand adventure where she’ll learn much about herself and about the world. She’s going to meet hundreds of new people in a matter of weeks, and that can be both exhilarating and overwhelming. There may be some bumps along the way, but chances are your child will adjust well to college life. The same motivation, commitment and self-discipline that helped her get into college will help her succeed there. For now, take a moment to congratulate yourself. Getting a child off to college is no small accomplishment. Audrey Kahane, MS, MFA, is a private college admissions counselor in West Hills, CA. She can be reached at 818.704.7545 or via e-mail at audreykahane @earthlink.net.
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 11
Blood curdling summer reading: Dracula and Stalin
THE HISTORIAN’S FOOTPRINT by OLIVER B. POLLAK Having consumed The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, and the Devil in the Sugar Shop by Tim Schaffert, I was whetted for historical novels. Enter The Historian (2005) by Elizabeth Kostova and The Archivist’s Story (2007) by Travis Holland. What evoked two early 21st century novels enshrining the activities of preserving documents and memory, and the reconstruction of the past? Why do these two novels focus on bloody epochal events -- 15th century Christian Moslem conflict and Stalin’s tyranny? Surely it must be more than the fact that both authors are graduates of the University of Michigan MFA program. I avoided the favorably reviewed, almost 800 page, Historian when it first appeared. But, remaindered at Borders, for $5.95, it fed my summer novel reading kick. The Historian is an imaginative and engaging story set in 2008 tying together two 20th century searches for the tomb of Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, who allegedly joined the half dead in 1476. The characters valiantly visit Turkish, Hungarian, Romanian, and Bulgarian archives. Books and manuscripts are ordered chronologically and tested for authenticity. Discovery and reconstruction excite the characters, writer and reader alike. Ultimately a fictional recreation of something that never occurred is a playful diversion. The reader will question whether the likeable
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20th century characters lived happily ever after. The Archivists Story is more firmly based in history. Isaac Babel, Odessa’s gift to world literature, wrote among other fabulous stories The Red Cavalry. He preceded Arthur Koestler and Alexandr Solzhenitsyn in unmasking the inconsistencies, contradictions and hypocrisy that made the Russian revolution a tale of 20th century totalitarianism, terror and paranoia. Babel was arrested during the Great Purge in 1939. The demise of an incandescent literary spirit and his death in 1940 evokes continuing questions. Nathan Englander captured the purge of Yiddish intellectuals in his story, “The Twenty-seventh Man” in For the Relief of Unbearable Urges (2000). Pavel Dubrov lost his position teaching literature for falsely accusing a co-worker of disloyalty, his wife was killed in a train wreck, and his mother bordered on dementia. At Lubyanka Prison, he reviewed and burned politically in-correct manuscripts. He met Babel and decided to redeem himself by removing two unpublished Babel manuscripts from the closely inventoried collection, and treasonously hiding them in a basement wall, an act that will eliminate Pavel. The chances of the purloined manuscripts ever being discovered are negligible. Pavel knew of carbon paper and bureaucracy, why didn’t he retype the manuscript, burn the original, and continue to live? Interest in Dracula, William Shakespeare, Babel, and J. D. Salinger, and the burgeoning Harry Ransom Archives at the University of Texas are symptomatic of the vitality of academic and popular culture. Historical novels, imagination and fantasized archives are not history. Historian, author and professor, Oliver Pollak can be reached at: obpomni@aol.com.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
August 24, 2007
Public controversy on intermarriage continues For those readers who have been following the controversy that erupted after Noah Feldman’s piece was published in the New York Times Magazine last month, we have an update. Recall that Feldman posited that he and his non-Jewish Korean-born wife were “Photoshopped” out of the alumni photo taken at a reunion at Maimonides, the Modern Orthodox day school in Brookline, a suburb of Boston, MA. His charge was incorrect. Apparently many photos were taken that day, and the editors of the Maimonides newsletter used a photo in which the Feldmans did not appear. One could say that the editors chose to omit Feldman purposely because he married “out” and still be right. Feldman could continue being hurt and yet the editors could remain on their firm ground that the goals of the school do not coincide with Feldman’s. Regardless of feelings on any side of the intermarriage debate, the question remains: was it right for Feldman to raise this issue so publicly in the Times, rather than in Jewish publications? Guess that depends on the audience Feldman was trying to reach. Let’s face it, the vast majority of Jews aren’t reading Jewish publications. Even in the San Francisco Bay area, which now boasts the third largest Jewish population in the United States (after New York and South Florida), surpassing Chicago and Philadelphia, the circulation of its weekly newspaper -- j (formerly known as the Jewish Bulletin of Northern California) has dropped from 30,000 a decade ago to 18,000 today.
So if a writer is trying to reach the broadest group possible, then what better vehicle than the Times? It probably appears on the desktops and in the homes of more unaffiliated Jews than any other publication -- and since those Jews involved in interfaith relationships are more likely to read the Times than, let’s say, the New York Jewish Week or Boston’s Jewish Advocate, then Noah Feldman was right to want to publish his essay there. Unfortunately the responses -which came from across the spectrum -- are unlikely to be read by that same group. Would that the Times would publish them, but a month after Feldman’s essay appeared it’s unlikely. So how can the Jewish community get the “word’ out to Feldman and his contemporaries? Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, whose reach extends far beyond these pages, surely sent his oped to his friend Feldman and will continue to invite them to Shabbat dinners. But what about the rest of us? Temple Israel’s Rabbi Aryeh Azriel once commented that we in the Jewish community have a tendency to leave converts “dripping wet” at the door, a reference to when a convert completes his or her process at the mikvah. If we’re assuming that all converts are suddenly thoroughly knowledgeable in Jewish history, custom, rituals and law, how much more estranged will someone feel who has not (yet) converted? Yes, Jewish law maintains that we are to discourage those seeking conversion
to ascertain that they are serious. But shouldn’t we start by welcoming couples in an interfaith relationship and sending the signal that we’d love to have them become a part of the Jewish people? Our numbers are shrinking and there are only two ways to grow the Jewish people: have more babies or welcome more non-Jews into the fold. Yes, the ultimate goal is conversion, but first we have to let them know we care.
Jewish Press Committee Bobbi Leibowitz, Vice-Chairman; Stan Mitchell, Secretary; Scott Meyerson, Treasurer; Michael Siegel, Finance Chairman; Joanie Jacobson, Immediate Past-chairman; David Herzog; Susan Lehr; Jamie Meyerson; George Quittner; Eve Randone, Melissa Schop; Michael Sigmond; Jim Simon; Nancy Skid; and Dorothy Spizman. 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, Center for Jewish Education, Jewish Family Service, and Jewish Senior Services. The Jewish Press is a constitutional committee of the Jewish Federation. Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Committee, the Jewish 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.
Countries threatened with extinction
BEHIND THE H EADLINES by DANIEL PIPES Quiz time: Which Middle Eastern country disappeared from the map not long ago for more than six months? Answer: Kuwait, which disappeared from August 1990 to February 1991, becoming Iraq’s 19th province. This brutal conquest by Saddam Hussein culminated intermittent Iraqi claims going back to the 1930s. Restoring Kuwait's sovereignty required a huge American-led expeditionary force of more than half a million soldiers. This history comes to mind because an Iranian spokesman recently enunciated a somewhat similar threat against Bahrain. Hossein Shariatmadari, an associate of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and editor of the daily newspaper Kayhan, published an op-ed on July 9 in which he claimed: “Bahrain is part of Iran’s soil, having been separated from it through an illegal conspiracy [spawned] by ... Shah [Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, along with] the American and British governments.” Referring to Bahrain’s majority Shiite population, Mr. Shariatmadari went on to claim, without any proof: “The principal demand of the Bahraini people today is to return this province to its mother, Islamic Iran.” These comments, the Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI) reports, “caused a storm in Bahrain,” with protesters outside the Iranian Embassy, severe statements by the government, alarmed resolutions by both houses of parliament, and even a fatwa prescribing death for Bahrainis who should endorse this Iranian irredentism. Other Persian Gulf states joined in with equally scathing statements. The subject is a sensitive one. Tehran’s
claims on Bahrain go back to 1958, when it declared the island to be Iran’s 14th province, even apportioning it two seats in the national parliament. Although the shah formally recognized Bahrain’s independence in 1970, claims such as Mr. Shariatmadari’s have surfaced episodically and are reminiscent of periodic Iraqi claims to Kuwait before 1990. Bahrain, Iran’s 14th province? Some say so. Kuwait was Iraq’s 19th province for more than six months. So, Kuwait actually vanished down the Iraqi maw, and Bahrain could face a similar fate. Nor are they alone, as three other Middle East states are also threatened with extinction.
... these deep, unresolved tensions throughout the Middle East point, once again, to the absurdity of seeing the Arab-Israeli conflict as the motor force of the entire region’s problems. Jordan has always been precarious, perched between several larger, more powerful, and often aggressive states. In one memorable articulation of this fear, during the peak of the Kuwait crisis in November 1990, then-Crown Prince Hassan worried that his “small country of 3.5 million is on the brink of extinction.” Lebanon’s independence has been in question since the state came into being in 1926 because its Syrian neighbor has never reconciled itself to losing Lebanon’s territories. Damascus has variously expressed this reluctance cartographically (showing the boundary with Lebanon as “regional,” not international), diplomatically (never opening a Syrian embassy in Beirut), and politically (more than three decades of dominating internal Lebanese affairs). Israel’s existence as a Jewish state was threatened the very day of its declaration of inde-
(Founded in 1920) Howard K. Marcus Chairman Carol Katzman Editor Richard Busse Managing Editor Allan Handleman Advertising Manager Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Managing Editor Terri Greenwood Advertising Executive Barbara Kirkpatrick Bookkeeper Anne Muskin Editorial Intern
pendence in 1948. Winning many rounds of war over the next decades brought it a certain deterrence and permanence, but a directionless electorate and inept leadership since 1992 means the country faces elevated threats to its existence comparable to those dating to before the 1967 war. The existence of this quintet of endangered Middle Eastern states prompts several thoughts. First, their predicament points to the uniquely vicious, volatile, and high-stakes quality of political life in this region; so far as I know, there is no state outside the Middle East whose very survival is in doubt. Second, this singular pattern results in part from a widespread problem of unsettled boundaries. With only a handful of exceptions -- ironically, including two of Israel’s international boundaries -- most borders in the Middle East are neither delineated nor mutually agreed upon. This lower-grade revisionism feeds grander ambitions actually to eliminate a polity. Third, this situation places Israel’s quandary into perspective. However anomalous the threat of extinction in the world at large, it is banal in the immediate region. Israel’s troubles may overwhelmingly be the best known of the group, with hundreds of times more press coverage and books than about the other four countries combined, but all five face a comparable threat. This context implies Israel’s unsettled status continuing for a long time. Finally, these deep, unresolved tensions throughout the Middle East point, once again, to the absurdity of seeing the Arab-Israeli conflict as the motor force of the entire region’s problems. Each endangered state faces its own unique circumstances; none of them drives regional politics as a whole. Solving the ArabIsraeli conflict does no more than solve that specific conflict. Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum. Read more at: www.danielpipes.org.
Editorial The Jewish Press is a Constitutional Committee of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Deadline for copy, ads and photos is: Thursday, 9 a.m., eight days prior to publication. E-mail editorial material and photos to: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org; send ads (in .TIF or .PDF format) to: rbusse@jewishomaha.org. Letters to the Editor Guidelines The Jewish Press welcomes Letters to the Editor. They may be sent via regular mail to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154; via fax: 1-402-334-5422 or via e-mail to the Editor at: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org.. Letters should be no longer than 250 words and must be singlespaced typed, not hand-written. Published letters should be confined to opinions and comments on articles or events. News items should not be submitted and printed as a “Letter to the Editor.” The Editor may edit letters for content and space restrictions, but should be printed as soon as possible to ensure timeliness. Letters may be published without giving an opposing view. Information shall be verified before printing. All letters must be signed by the writer, but the name can be withheld at the writer’s request. No letters should be published from candidates running for office, but others may write on their behalf. Letters of thanks should be confined to commending an institution for a program, project or event, rather than personally thanking paid staff, unless the writer chooses to turn the “Letter to the Editor” into a paid personal ad or a news article about the event, project or program which the professional staff supervised. For more information, contact Carol Katzman, Jewish Press Editor, 402.334.6450. Postal The Jewish Press (USPS 275620) is published weekly on Friday for $33 per calendar year U.S.; $40 foreign, by the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Phone: 402.334.6448; FAX: 402.334.5422. Periodical postage paid at Omaha, NE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154-2198 or e-mail to: jpress@jewishomaha. org.
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August 24, 2007
Noah Feldman, Jewcy, and the coming schism
BEHIND THE HEADLINES by ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL New Jersey Jewish News I once read an essay by a woman who said she “observes Shabbat.” On Saturday mornings on the Upper West Side, she sat on a park bench with her newspaper and “observed” her friends and neighbors going to shul. Her joke came back to me as I read the now infamous essay on Modern Orthodoxy by Harvard law professor Noah Feldman and a fascinating debate between Web editor Joey Kurtzman and Jewish Theological Seminary stalwart Jack Wertheimer. Feldman’s piece in the New York Times Magazine conveyed his bafflement at being quietly ostracized by his Modern Orthodox day school in the Boston area. Apparently, despite his success as a legal scholar, the school’s alumni association refuses to acknowledge Feldman because he married a non-Jewish woman.
history help us more effectively engage with, and navigate in, the world in which we actually live. It shouldn’t serve as an alternative to that world, a sort of soft Amish-ism by which we retreat to the narrow, particularist concerns of one traditional community.” Wertheimer, however, is perhaps the greatest living champion of Jewish particularism. He tells Kurtzman that they “differ on how Jews can best survive and thrive as a small minority in America. You seem to favor ever more accommodation to current mores and values. I contend that Judaism can only thrive if it is countercultural, and the culture it must reject is precisely what you find most appealing.” What links Feldman and Kurtzman is their desire to claim membership in a Jewish community that does not accept them for the kinds of members they wish to be. They regard their Jewish identities within a web of influences and experiences that make them who they are. And they seem to wish for the group to adjust its boundaries and strategies to embrace them. But in this case, the group feels that certain markers of who’s in and who’s out -- in-marriage, peoplehood -- are non-negotiable. They don’t recognize Judaism as an “influence” or a collection of “wisdom and insights.” Only in its particularism can its values truly be fulfilled, and only as a counterculture can Judaism survive. It’s not parochialism versus universalism. It’s membership versus philosophy. A membership society certainly teaches philosophy, but in the interest of self-preservation and achieving goals defined by the group. A philosophy might foster group affinities, but its ultimate goal is to combine with experiences and influences to make individuals who or what they are. I came into a serious Jewish life, as an adult, on the side of Judaism-as-philosophy- for-living. Jewish text and ritual was this amazing set of tools and resources for living the examined life, asking the big questions, finding some big answers. It was the foreground identity that put the background into perspective. But now that I have kids, and had a front row seat on maybe 20 years of Jewish educational and organizational change, my own perspective has shifted. I don’t think I can transmit the “philosophy” without the membership. I’m making “maximilist” choices for my family (day school, intensely Jewish neighborhood, synagogue-as-center-of-family-life) because I don’t trust the ideas of Judaism to survive unless there are Jewish communities that are committed to living them, as opposed to just loving and respecting them. But that’s me. Kurtzman agrees with my description of the essential tension between him and Wertheimer. “The schism I was recommending,” he told me in an on-line discussion, “was between those who demand the membership society, and those (like me) who demand the conceptual program. I genuinely don’t believe the two groups can be reconciled.” That “schism,” thanks to intermarriage, will be biological as well as philosophical. For a time, the two sides might pass each other on Shabbat mornings. But they’ll be going in different directions. Andrew Silow-Carroll is Editor-inChief of the New Jersey Jewish News.
... now that I have kids, and had a front row seat on maybe 20 years of Jewish educational and organizational change, my own perspective has shifted. I don’t think I can transmit the “philosophy” without the membership ... because I don’t trust the ideas of Judaism to survive unless there are Jewish communities that are committed to living them, as opposed to just loving and respecting them. I’ll leave it to others to debate the Jewish community’s treatment of intermarriage. I was less intrigued by Feldman’s relationship with his wife than I was by his relationship with Judaism. “Despite my intimate understanding of the mind-set that requires such careful attention to who is in and who is out,” he writes, “I am still somehow taken by surprise each time I am confronted with my old school’s inability to treat me like any other graduate. I have tried in my own imperfect way to live up to values that the school taught me, expressing my respect and love for the wisdom of the tradition while trying to reconcile Jewish faith with scholarship and engagement in the public sphere. As a result, I have not felt myself to have rejected my upbringing, even when some others imagine me to have done so by virtue of my marriage.” Of course, Feldman’s Orthodox teachers and the angry bloggers who responded believe that that is exactly what he did. He didn’t live up to the values, they feel, because he didn’t live the values. A similar dynamic is at work in an exchange of e-mails between Kurtzman and Wertheimer, posted by Kurtzman at the cheeky Jewcy.com Web magazine. It’s a generational debate, with Kurtzman representing a young cohort of what he calls “Frankenjews” -- many of them products of interfaith homes -- who are cobbling together identities from a variety of cultures and influences. Kurtzman rejects the notion of Jewish “peoplehood” as so much ethnocentrism. “I don’t regard the Jewish people as my family,” Kurtzman writes. “I feel a great affection for Jewish culture, I value the Jewish tradition, and I feel a connection to other Jews. But there’s no point in pretending that this is at all comparable to what I feel for my family.” Later he elaborates: “A Jewish life ought to be one in which the wisdom and insights of Jewish scripture and Jewish
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 13
Jewish Olympians must shine light on Chinese abuses, aid to Sudan tion away from Beijing when the goal instead should be to cast a spotlight squarely on China -- on its human rights abuses and its support for genocide. by PETER GANONG AND DANIEL HEMEL Indeed, human rights activists across the globe have teamed up to brand JERUSALEM (JTA) -- In the summer Beijing 2008 “the Genocide Olympics.” of 1936, a year after the enactment of the The Genocide Olympics campaign is a Nuremberg Laws, the world turned a “nightmare” for the Chinese hosts and blind eye to Nazi Germany’s genocidal their corporate sponsors, according to intentions as Hitler hosted the Olympics BusinessWeek magazine. But that nightin Berlin. With next summer’s games set mare pales in comparison to the daily to take place in Beijing, Jewish and Israeli nightmare of Darfuris, Tibetans and the athletes have a responsibility to help democracy activists in Chinese prisons. ensure that the world does not make the If the numbers from 2004 are any same mistake. guide, more than 60 Jewish athletes -This time the Jews are not the victims. about half from Israel -- will participate a Rather, China’s victims are the 1.2 mil- year from now in the Beijing Games. lion Tibetans who have died as a result of They can play an important role in the Beijing’s invasion of the previously inde- Genocide Olympics pendent Buddhist nation. Regardless of whether China’s victims are the they are dressed in the They are the untold thousands of dissidents and 1.2 million Tibetans who blue-and-white uniform prisoners of conscience of Israel, the blue and red who will be kept out of have died as a result of of the U.S, or the blue view in modern-day Beijing’s invasion of the and yellow of Australia, gulags while the world’s ... Buddhist nation ... the they can wear the green attention is focused on wristbands that have untold thousands of the action inside Beijing’s become the symbol of the ultra-modern sporting dissidents and prisoners Save Darfur movement arenas. They are the of conscience ... the worldwide. When televi400,000 Darfuris who, cameras zoom in on 400,000 Darfuris who ... sion according to United Jewish athletes, the green Nations estimates, have have been killed ... by bands will be a reminder been killed as a result of the Beijing-backed of the ruthlessness of the the genocidal campaign Sudanese regime. Beijing regime. And the waged by the Beijingbands will be a powerful backed Sudanese regime. sign that on the most China’s state oil company owns the important human rights issues facing the largest stake in the consortium that is world today, Jews will not remain on the developing Sudan’s petroleum industry, sidelines. and China buys about four-fifths of all When Jewish sports stars take their Sudanese oil exports. An estimated 70 place among athletes from the 200-plus percent of the oil profits in Sudan are nations at the Games, they should also spent on a military that lays waste to join ranks with the activists who have Darfuri villages. signed on to the Olympic Dream for To stand by idly while the blood of oth- Darfur Campaign -- a list that includes ers is shed would be un-Jewish. Ira Newble of the Cleveland Cavaliers One Jewish luminary who ism’t staying basketball team, Ruth Messigner of the silent is Steven Spielberg, who has threat- American Jewish World Service and the ened to resign as artistic adviser to the actress Mia Farrow. games unless China changes course in Organizers of the campaign recently lit Darfur. His demand, he explained in a an alternative Olympic torch near the letter to Chinese leader Hu Jintao, stems Chad-Darfur border and are carrying it from his “personal commitment to do all to locations of past mass murders across I can to oppose genocide.” the world -- including a Holocaust site in Unfortunately, other Jewish leaders Germany -- en route to its final destinadon’t seem to share that commitment. tion in China. The president of the Israeli Olympic Seventy-two years after Berlin, Jewish Committee, Zvi Varshaviak, said last athletes from Israel and around the world month that in light of its experience, will have the opportunity to speak out for Israel “will continue to act towards keep- justice in the same circumstances under ing politics outside of sport in general which other nations were all too willing and the Olympic Games specifically.” to stay silent. If Jewish athletes take the Would Varshaviak also have remained lead, next year’s Olympic flame will shed silent in light of the Jewish experience at light on the bloodshed that Beijing has Berlin? carried on in darkness. We are not proposing a boycott. Peter Ganong is an intern at the Olympic boycotts have been tried before Shalem Center in Jerusalem and a -- Israel, the United States and five dozen third-year economics student at other countries stayed away from the Harvard, where he has advocated for 1980 Moscow Games to protest the Darfur on campus. Daniel Hemel is a Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. first-year international relations stuBut this time a boycott might shift atten- dent at Oxford.
FOCUS ON ISSUES
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR To the editor: Thank you! I have heard so many nice comments about the article (in the Aug. 10 Jewish Press). I have even heard from people I have lost touch with over the years. The Press keeps everyone connected and enhances the feeling of community. I very much appreciate your taking the time to profile me. Amy Cassman Friedman
To the Editor: The 2007 Hanukkah stamp will be released by the U.S. Post Office on Oct. 26. The 41¢ Hanukkah stamp will be the same dreidel design that has been used since 2004. The dreidel is only the second design used in 12 years. The Menorah design was used for eight years. For more information visit: www.hanukkahstampquest.com. Ronald Scheiman
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
August 24, 2007
Candlelighting Friday, Aug. 24, 7:51 p.m.
Synagogue Listings B’nai Israel Synagogue 618 Mynster St. Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com
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 www.OChabad.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 southstreettemple.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
B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE FRIDAY: Services followed by Oneg, 7:30 p.m. No services Friday, Aug. 31.
Love and Logic” class scheduled to begin Wednesday, Oct. 10. WEEKDAY SERVICES: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.; weekdays 7 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.
BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Services conducted by Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Cantor Gastón Bogomolni. FRIDAY: Musical Kabbalat Shabbat service, 6 p.m. Tot Shabbat, 6 p.m. SATURDAY: Morning services, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush is sponsored by Eric and Julie Phillips; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 8 p.m. Sitter Service is available during Friday night and Saturday morning services, on a drop-in basis, at no charge. SUNDAY, Bible Study Discussion Group, 10 a.m.; Men’s Club Sunday Softball series starts, 10 a.m., at the JCC ball fields. For information, contact Scott Simon, 616.4089 or simonsz @cox.net.; Sisterhood Luncheon, 11 a.m. Free babysitting upon request. TUESDAY, 7 p.m.: Bible translation for Jews, Mini-course taught by Creighton University professor Leonard Greenspoon; also on Sept. 4. Cost is $18. To register, call the office. WEDNESDAY: Men’s Club election of officers, 7 p.m. THURSDAY: Women’s Book Club, 2 p.m. led by Susan Paley. HIGH HOLIDAY LUNCH ‘N’ LEARN Join Rabbi Levin for a special lunch, “Preparing our minds and souls for the high holidays”, Saturday, Sept. 1, following Shabbat services. Cost is $9; to RSVP contact Margie Gutnik in the synagogue office or at programming@bethel-omaha .org. BESTT BACK-TO-SCHOOL BREAKFAST Sunday, Sept. 9, 9:45 a.m.; families and BESTT faculty are invited to breakfast sponsored by Men’s Club and Sisterhood. At 10:15, Karen Gustafson will speak about her “Parenting with
Lens of Kabbalah, 8 p.m. THURSDAY: Jewish Thought, 12:45 p.m.
CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN
Office Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fri., 8:30 a.m-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Jonathan Gross. FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 7 p.m. SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m. free babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Children’s Classes, 9:45 a.m. with Torah Parade; Kiddush sponsored by the Sisterhood. Mincha, 7:30 p.m. followed by Suedat Shlishit and Gemara class; Havdalah, 8:52 p.m. SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m. WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m. TUESDAY: Sisterhood’s Kosher Kitchen class and cooking demonstration, 7:30 p.m. THURSDAY: Rabbi’s classes are cancelled.
Services conducted by Rabbi Ilan Emanuel. FRIDAY, Shabbat Service, 7:45 p.m., oneg by Adam and Nicole Wall and family. SATURDAY: Shabbat Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. led by Rabbi Emanuel; Special Guest Speaker Rabbi Lane Steinger, Regional Director of the Midwest Council of the Union for Reform Judaism, will address “The Importance of the Month of Tishrei.”Luncheon follows. SUNDAY: Lincoln Jewish Community School will have a Back-to-School Ice Cream event at 3 p.m. at Tifereth Israel. Meet new teachers and socialize with old friends. TUESDAYS, 7 p.m.: Beginner Hebrew: A Crash Course, led by Rabbi Emanuel, Aug. 21 and 28. THURSDAY, 7 p.m.: Choir rehearsal.
BEYT SHALOM
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE
BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE
FRIDAY: 7:30 p.m. at the synagogue. SUNDAY: Religious School at the JCC, 1:30 p.m.
CHABAD HOUSE Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m. FRIDAY: Service, 7 a.m. SATURDAY: Maamar class, 9 a.m.; Service, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush luncheon follows the service. SUNDAY: Service, 8:30 a.m.; Living Torah, 9:30 a.m., 20minute video broadcast. WEEKDAYS: Services, 7 a.m. MONDAY: Maamar Kabbalistic Insights for Women, 12:15 p.m.; Halacha, 7 p.m. TUESDAY: W.O.W. Tehillim & More, 9 a.m.; Parshah Roundup: Weekly Torah Portion, 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY: Kabbalah Circle, 7 p.m.; A Peek Through the
FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.
ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Marvin Parilman.
TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Parent/Toddler class, 9:30 a.m.; Shabbat Comes to You at Remington Heights, 4 p.m. Shabbat Service, 6 p.m., Rabbi Eric Linder and Cantor Wendy Shermet will lead services. SATURDAY: Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:15-10:15 a.m.; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. Bar Mitzvah of Justin Schrager. SITTER SERVICE: Available each Friday evening service except when there is a Tot Shabbat, Saturday mornings when there is a B’nai mitzvah, and Sunday
mornings during Religious School. Advance reservations and a $5 donation appreciated. No facilities for infants. SUNDAY: High Holiday Kol Rina Rehearsals, 1 p.m. TUESDAY: High Holiday Kol Rina Rehearsals, 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 16, 10 a.m.: First day of Religious School.
NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN FRIDAY: Minyan, 7 p.m. SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m.
TIFERETH ISRAEL Services conducted by Nancy Coren, Lay Leader. Office hours are Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. FRIDAY: Nosh, 6:15 p.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat, 6:30 p.m. SATURDAY: Morning service, 9:30 a.m., Torah service, 10:15 a.m.; Havdalah, 9:23 p.m. SUNDAY: The Lincoln Jewish Community School will have a Back-to-School Ice Cream event at 3 p.m. Meet new teachers and socialize with old friends. MONDAY and THURSDAY, Minyan, 9 a.m. Contact the office to arrange for a minyan at another time. WEDNESDAY: Men’s lunch group meets at the Knolls, 12:30 p.m.; call Yale Gotsdiner at 423.7066. Rich Recht in Concert: Sunday, Sept. 16: sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Lincoln.
TREE OF LIFE CENTER Services conducted by Rabbi Michael Weisser. FRIDAYS: Sabbath Experience, 7:30 p.m. Havdalah: SATURDAYS: Rites of Separation, 6:30 p.m.; Drumming Meditation until 8 p.m.; Social Time until 10 p.m. MONDAYS: Sitting/Silent Meditation, 6 p.m.; Teachings/ Discussion, 7:30 p.m. Sitting/ WEDNESDAYS: Silent Meditation, 6 p.m.; 8 Weeks to Mindfulness Class, 7:30 p.m.
Tifereth Israel Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Blvd., Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 423.8569 www.tiferethisraellincoln.org
Tree of Life Center 2925 Prairie Road Lincoln, NE 68506 613.7443 email: treeoflife.rabbimichael @yahoo.com
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Allan Handleman, 334.6451, or Terri Greenwood, 334.6559.
Men’s Clubs of Beth El and Temple send out the call to ‘Play Ball!’ by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator It’s time to limber up, put on those batting gloves and loosen up that throwing arm -- it’s time once again to step up to the plate and play ball for the Sunday morning softball series, sponsored by the Men’s Clubs of Beth El Synagogue and Temple Israel. All Jewish men in the community are welcome to join in friendly competition at the JCC ball fields for a series of three games, the first scheduled this Sunday, Aug. 26, 10 a.m
Now in its third year, the series “has been so much fun, we decided to make it an annual event,” said organizer Scott Simon. Simon, a Beth El Men’s Club member, added that the series is also a great way for all Jewish men (affiliated or non-affiliated) to make a connection with each synagogue’s Men’s Club organization. To sign up or for more information, contact Simon at simonsz@cox.net or Adam Kirshenbaum, at akirshenbaum@ blackwellsanders.com.
To submit obituaries: PERSONAL I would like to thank everyone for all your cards, flowers and good wishes during my recent illness. Lucille White
E-mail to the Press at jpress@jewishomaha.org; fax to 402.334.5422, or mail to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154, or online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org.
DEATHS
MILDRED SINGER GOODBINDER Mildred Singer Goodbinder also is survived by her son, Robert L. Goodbinder of Denver and Ridgway, CO; and grandson, Harrison Jacob Goodbinder, Woodbridge, N.J.
JEAN GENDLER Jean Gendler died Aug. 18. A graveside service was held Aug. 20 at Mt. Sinai Cemetery. She is survived by brothers, Norman, Sam and Hymie Gendler; sister and brother-in-law, Sally and Leon Wintroub; and many nieces and nephews. Memorials to Beth Israel or the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.
To Submit B’nai Mitzvah Announcements Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press with attached photos in .jpg or .tif files to jpress@jewishomaha.org; faxed to 402.334.5422, or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154. Forms are available through Omaha and Lincoln synagogues, by contacting The Jewish Press at 402.334.6448, or by e-mailing the Editor at: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org. You can also submit other announcements -- births engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies or obituaries -- online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements.
August 24, 2007
Israeli evacuees still unsettled Continued from page 3 they spent living in hotels while waiting for their caravillas and possessions. With unemployment by MARCY OSTER among the evacuees at 37 NITZAN, Israel (JTA) -percent, according to the Shifra Shomron is moving on Gush Katif Committee with her life. She lives with her report, Operation parents and seven brothers Dignity helps families and sisters in the Nitzan with immediate needs. Caravilla Park and is studying They have ranged from at a local college to become a purchasing medicines and high school English teacher. eyeglasses to helping pay But many of her peers from for a brit milah or wed- Neve Dekalim, one of the ding. Saperstein pays the Gush Katif communities evacgrocery bills for several uated with Israel's disengagefamilies. ment from the Gaza Strip two Photos of her family’s life in Gush Katif hang on wall in Operation Dignity has years ago, have not been able Shifra Shomron’s living room in the Nitzan Caravilla Park. Credit: Marcy Oster also established the to move on, she says. “Orange Gallery,” filled with unpacked boxes carefully Like Shomron, many of the young including the purchase of women who graduated from high school labeled in black marker. The small hallway a structure, to employ the shortly before the disengagement chose leading to the bedrooms is likewise many artists and artisans to perform their first year of national serv- stacked with half-opened cartons that from the Gush Katif com- ice in and around the caravilla park. They hold the family’s belongings. munities. Saperstein has wanted to be near their families after the Her parents are both unemployed and also established an trauma of being forced from their homes. still have not decided where they will embroidery workshop to Now, in the second year post-disen- build their permanent home. Still, employ the 40 Bnei gagement, many of the girls have retreat- Shomron says, “I think my family is copMenashe members, origi- ed to the secure environment of ing better than most.” nally from India, of her midrashot, post-high school Torah acadeShomron recently published a book in former Neve Dekalim mies for women. English about the experience, Grains of community. And Shomron says young men who Sand: The Fall of Neve Dekalim, which The volunteer Jobkatif may have dreamed of serving in the best follows a fictional family from the beginorganization has also combat units instead have opted for full- ning of the second intafada to their expulbeen instrumental in time Torah study and evaded army serv- sion from their home. finding employment or ice. Her brother, however, a recent high “I said to myself that the situation was retraining opportunities school graduate, still has plans to join a so absurd, if I did not write it down, I for the evacuees. Stuart combat unit after attending a year of would never remember it,” she says. Tucker, who worked as a yeshiva. Shomron says the second year after the teacher in two Gush Katif Shomron and her peers have had to find destruction of her community has been schools, recently com- themselves all over again. even harder than the first. pleted a subsidized course “This year you find yourself still in the “Questions of personal identity that and passed his licensing you thought you resolved when you were caravillas, nothing has gotten better, you test to be a tour guide. 18 all come up again,” she says. The liv- just don’t know,” she says. “You realize Still, 850 evacuees -- ing room of the Shomron caravilla is half just what disengagement means.” 350 of whom are in retraining courses -- are looking for jobs, according to again in their former Gush Katif communities; the Gaza the report. Another 400 older than 50 or with job skills Strip is now controlled by Hamas. At the same time they specific to Gush Katif are having a difficult time finding are ready to pick up their shattered lives and move forward. employment. “Two years. We all thought we would be in permanent Among the 400 evacuees who were farmers, 33 have homes,” Tucker says. “We had faith in the State of Israel received land from the state for new farms. The farmers even after they did this to us.” were not compensated for the loss of equipment, and Saperstein says many of her neighbors today feel a they also had to find new markets after a two-year sense of shame that they allowed themselves to be evacabsence. uated. “We should have fought physically. We should Anita Tucker, a celery farmer, is still waiting for her not have allowed the army to take us out,” the grandland allocation and says she was compensated for only mother of 12 says, her voice rising. “We wanted to be 60 percent of the value of her former business. Sammy decent people.” Hilberg, a boutique tomato farmer, is waiting, too. “I think this is why we hate ourselves.” All of those interviewed say they believe Jews will live
Young woman wrestles with identity in her post-disengagement world
Judge not
SPARKS FROM THE WORD by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parashat KiTetze It has been remarked that the idea of humanity was first placed on the agenda of human thought in the Book of Deuteronomy. No better example of this idea is found than in our Sidra, KiTetze. If we are talking about humanity, we are talking about the feeling of person-for-person, soul-for-soul. But humanity is perhaps best expressed as it is in Deuteronomy, by the attitude of the normal person with the clout toward one who is among us only on sufferance. In Deuteronomy, this last class is represented by the usual formula: the stranger, the widow, the orphan. Our Sidra gives attention to all of these. KiTetze also gives some attention to the poor, the borrower, and the dispossessed. We must almost blush in embarrassment when we read that the lender must not enter the home of the borrower, when he comes to accept a garment or some other pathetic possession as a pledge. He must wait without, as our text tried to protect the dignity of the impoverished borrower. The Torah cannot, obviously, look to every possible
event in the relationship of people, but it has, for example, the situation of a man whose brother has died. What is his relationship to the widow? Ordinarily, he must not have amorous regard for his sister-in-law. But now, with her as a widow, he is offered the possibility for him to marry his widowed sister-in-law. (Later Jewish tradition upped the possibility to preference that he should.) There is much more. Where judges, for example, issue a ruling that So-and-So is to be lashed for his offenses, later Jewish tradition, of course, reduced this to 39. Whether or not this sounds like special humanity to us, it apparently was in ancient times, where among many peoples punishment might simply be a whipping that would end in death. And one more: Israelites were admonished not to hold Egyptians in low esteem: “For you were strangers in their land.” Strangers? Visitors? Slaves! Israelites were slaves there; they were slaves for hundreds of years! But KiTetze assures us, still it was their land, not yours, and you were “guests” there. Therefore, do not hate them nor underestimate their position as owners. Remember, too, the famous rebuke of the Lord to the angels, who rejoiced at the escape of the Israelites and the drowning of the pursuing Egyptians: “Do you dare rejoice when My creatures are suffering?” (Editor’s note: this column originally appeared in the Sept. 5, 2003, Jewish Press.)
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
August 24, 2007
Grandparents to be honored Toddlers and families gather at Beth El by LOVE with fun and food to explore “What’s Jewish About Me?” by LOIS WINE LOVE (League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly) will honor grandparents in the community on Sunday, Sept. 9, noon until 3:30 p.m., at the Jewish Community Center. Woodmen of the World will be present to fingerprint the ones who matter the most to grandparents -- children. They will be available from noon-2 p.m. to create a permanent record in case of emergency. The fun begins at noon when the Pancake Man starts flipping his pancakes. At the same time, a silent auction of purses from the “Old Bag Affair” will be held in the auditorium until 3 p.m. The “joint starts jumping” at 1:30 p.m. when the music of the Bob Woody Quartet sends the sounds of Dixieland Jazz and Ragtime sailing through the JCC. As the music fades, there will be root beer floats for everyone at 2:30 p.m. All of these activities are being provided courtesy of the following endowment funds administered by the Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Omaha: Sheldon A. and Lorrie Bernstein Fund, Betty Studna and Seymour T. Lee Fund, Chester and Phyllis Lustgarten Fund and the LOVE organization.
Sheila Tomps, Harry Alloy and Doris Alloy, volunteered at last year’s Grandparents Day; Kathy Weiner is in the background.
by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Nearly 20 toddlers and their parents or grandparents gathered at Beth El Synagogue earlier this month for a fun-filled afternoon learning “What’s Jewish About Me?” Photos from top: Led by Helen Epstein and assisted by Donna Olesh, Diane Malashock, Patty Nogg, Aaron Zipursky and Naomi Zipursky, the children enjoyed activities, such as making lifesized paper cutouts of themselves and using stickers in English and Hebrew to identify parts of the body; making ‘me’ books complete with cover photos of each child and favorite pictures from magazines; and singing songs such as “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and “The Hokey Pokey” with “Miss Patty” Nogg, substituting Hebrew words for body parts. The children were also treated to decorating (and eating!) cookies in the shapes of people, hands and feet, and making colorful kippot. Below: Program leader Helen Epstein helps Emmanuelle Bogomolni cut out pictures for her book. “What’s Jewish About Me?” was made possible by a grant from the Esther K. Newman/Carolyn Kully Newman Fund.