August 29, 2003

Vol. LXXXII

No. 52

Omaha, NE

1 elul, 5763

August 29, 2003

SERVING NEBRASKA AND WESTERN IOWA SINCE 1920

JCC, Lied Center Exhibits Augment Klutznick-Harris Symposium

by ADRIAN E. KOESTERS and ROBERT CAUDILLO Creighton University The 16th Klutznick-Harris Creighton Lied Art Gallery from 7-11 Symposium, “The Jews of Eastern p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13. The Europe,” Sunday and Monday, Gallery will be closed Monday, Sept. 1, Sept. 14-15, will be enhanced by two for Labor Day. photographic exhibits: “The Last Jews Lied Gallery director G. Ted Bohr, of Radauti (Romania),” by Laurence SJ, has been instrumental in producSalzmann, and “My Grandparents’ ing both exhibits.

Belarus: Journey Through a World “We are very happy to be part of the Abandoned” by Rabbi Joshua Plaut.

Klutznick-Harris Symposium, having The first exhibit, “The Last Jews of participated in other arts events for Radauti (Romania),” opened on Aug. past symposia,” Bohr said. “To be able 23, and runs through Sunday, Sept. to provide images such as these, ones 21. It is co-sponsored by the Creighton that relate so well with the theme of Lied Center Art Gallery, Lied the symposium, is indeed a privilege.”

Education Center for the Arts Laurence Salzmann’s solo exhibi(LECA), located in the Lied Education tions, both nationally and internaCenter at 24th and Cass Streets on tionally, include Berlin, Tel Aviv, the Creighton University campus.

Paris, Amsterdam, Budapest, Vienna To coordinate with the Klutznick- and New York. “These photographs Harris symposium, a reception for the are a continuation of my work in the Salzmann exhibit will be held in the (Continued on page 11)

Team Omaha Returns from St. Louis with Multiple Awards

by JEWISH PRESS News Service

Team Omaha will host a Maccabi Reunion on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 6:30 pm, at the JCC. For more information about the reunion or

the JCC Maccabi Games in general, contact Rachel Blum at 3346404.

(List of winners on page 2)

High Expectations Drive Ben Gurion Society

This image of the Jewish cemetery in Belarus, taken by photographer Joshua Plaut, is one of 20 to be displayed at the JCC, starting Sept. 2.

by PAM MONSKY, Federation Communications Director Throughout his life, David Ben- or more are Gurion never forgot that G-d said members of the Israelites must become a unique the local and nation, one that embraces the high- n a t i o n a l er virtues of truth, justice and com- Ben-Gurion passion. In 1948, as the first Prime Society.

Minister of the State of Israel, David Louri Ben-Gurion relied on those values as S u l l i v a n a foundation for governing the fledg- serves as the ling country.

2004 BenToday, the Ben-Gurion Society G u r i o n Division of the Jewish Federation’s Society Chairperson for the Annual Campaign embodies Ben- Federation’s Annual Campaign.

Gurion’s passion for the Jewish peo- Sullivan is a dedicated and active ple and the State of Israel. All donors volunteer for a variety of organizato the Federation’s Annual Campaign, tions in the Jewish community. ages 25-45, who make a gift of $1,000 (Continued on page 12)

Israeli Trio to Perform at Temple Israel’s S’lichot Service

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN, Temple Israel Communications Coordinator A unique Israeli classical ensemble, the Jerusalem Lyric Trio, will usher in the High Holy Days at Temple Israel’s S’lichot service on Saturday, Sept. 20, 7 p.m. The Trio’s performances throughout the world highlight the religious and cultural heritage of the Jewish people.

Temple’s S’lichot service will begin with Havdalah followed by the changing of the colorful coverings usually worn by the Torahs to the white covers that adorn them during the High Holy Days. Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, Rabbi Craig Marantz, and Cantor Wendy Shermet will be assisted by Temple Israel religious school, middle and high school teachers in preparing the Torahs for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Describing S’lichot as “the gateway to the High Holy Days,” Rabbi Azriel added that “the S’lichot The Jerusalem Lyric Trio will perform service is designated to allow us to open our hearts Saturday, Sept. 20 at Temple Israel. and souls to the possibilities of renewal that are lical texts, Jerusalem, the landscape of Israel, the offered by the High Holidays. It’s important for peo- Holocaust, as well as familiar songs in Hebrew, ple to get ready for a meaningful and healthy new Yiddish, and Ladino.

Three years ago, the Trio started performing in year.”

North America with a concert at the Museum of Since 1995, the Jerusalem Lyric Trio has perJewish Heritage in New York City. This will be their formed imaginative, dramatic programs throughout first performance in Nebraska.

Western and Eastern Europe, South America, They have often represented Israel in internaRussia, and Israel. In addition to their classical tional music festivals, including the Old Testament repertoire, the Trio presents works inspired by bib-

in the Arts in Prague, the Czech Republic; Judische Kulturtage in Munich, Germany; Musical Spring in St. Petersburg, Russia; the Eighth International New Music Festival in Riga, Latvia; Encuentros in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Concentus Moravaie in the Czech Republic; and the Budapest (Hungary) Spring Festival 2000. On their concert tours, the Trio has preformed in chamber music series, synagogues, churches, universities, and museums.

With the Jerusalem Lyric Trio concert, Temple Israel initiates a year of programming and education focusing on Israel.

Members of the Women of Reform Judaism will prepare their annual array of chocolate desserts for a S’lichot reception.

INSIDE: Monthly Calendar ............................. pages 6-7 Camp Rainbow Fulfills Dreams .......... page 8 Back-to-School Haircut ........................ page 9 Women’s campaign Update ................ page 12

Page 2

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SPARKS FROM THE WORD Actions Speak Louder Than Words

by RABBI DEBBIE STIEL Parashat Shofetim “You shall not judge unfairly; you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just. Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” (Deuteronomy 16:19-20) What does it take to be a holy nation?

The question haunts us at this time of year, if ever. While the Torah portion here speaks of setting up just courts, it is clear that the underlying message goes beyond setting up a fair legal system.

It asks each of us to seek out a just path to our life. How many of us have signed a petition for some worthy cause and felt great about ourselves?

Yet at the same time we copy a CD rather than buy it or leave our dogs’ droppings on somebody else’s yard. We may be friendly to people at work yet grouchy with those we love best.

I can say these things because I’ve done enough of them myself. I think we all have. This is the time of year to look at those small misdeeds as well as any large ones.

Rabbi Dennis Prager, on a wonderful video called For Goodness Sake, makes the point that everyone wants to be remembered as a good person, and yet few people place being good very high up on their priority list.

Ask, as he did, a group of random people what they most want in life, and you are likely to hear-wealth, prestige, happiness, health. Few people will say that what they seek above all else is to be good. Yet this is at the core of what our Torah portion here commands. It tells us to do the right thing--even when it is unpopular, bad for business, uncomfortable or just inconvenient.

In truth, being a good person can be a pain in the neck!

Often when we do not go the extra mile it is more out of laziness than bad intent. Following the right path is a tall order and certainly a worthy focus for us at this time of year. While most of us have not been criminals--we have often not pursued justice either. We know what others should do differently --but what are the actions that we need to correct ourselves?

This is a good time to reflect too on how we can help our children strive for goodness. What discussions can we have with them around this time of year--so that they learn to spend the days leading up to the Holy Days reflecting on their own lives?

And year round how do we teach them the importance of doing acts of kindness and justice?

May we hear God telling each of us--“tsedek, tsedek tirdof--justice, justice you shall pursue” and may we answer with our just actions.

DEATHS JEFF L. WHITE Jeff L. White died at the age of 49. Services were held Aug. 22 at Fisher Farm Cemetery.

He was preceded in death by his brother, Josh White, and his sister, Marilyn White Gendler.

He is survived by his wife, Lori; children, Conner and Samantha; parents, Joyce and Wyman White; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Connie and Bob Sundell, all of Omaha; grandchildren, Jacob and Adam of Missouri.

Memorials to the Conner and Samantha White Education Fund, c/o Lori White, or the American Cancer Society.

MIRIAM GROSSMAN A survivor of the Holocaust and frequent lecturer to schools and organizations for the ADL, Miriam Grossman died Aug. 23 at the age of 87. Services were held Aug. 24 at Mount Sinai Cemetery.

She spent four years in the Lodz ghetto in Poland before being transported to Auschwitz as a lastminute need for factory workers arose. Her parents, six siblings and most of her extended family perished in the Holocaust. Grossman and her husband, Ignac, who preceded her in death, came to the United States after World War II. When she was honored in 1999 by the AntiDefamation League, she said, “Remembering is the most important thing. This is our mission and because I am the only one alive from a very large family, I have a responsibility to speak for them, to make people remember them and others.

“If we remember, then we can improve. We have to better ourselves and then teach our children by good example. And when we do this we will perform God’s wish.”

She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Alex and Mary Sue Grossman; and three grandchildren, Sarah, Joshua and Daniel Grossman.

Memorials to Beth Israel Synagogue or AntiDefamation League.

JCC Maccabi Games (Continued from page 1) The following Team Omaha members won medals at the JCC Maccabi Games in St. Louis: Olga Elkin, Tennis, silver; Abby Ginsburg, Dance, bronze; Becky Kahn, Table Tennis, bronze; Jeri Kohn, Swimming, a gold and a silver; Shayna Kurland, Table Tennis, silver, and Track and Field, a gold and a silver; Jon Lerner, Bowling, 3 gold medals, a silver and a bronze; Jodi Levine, Dance, a gold and a bronze; Aaron Passer, Bowling, gold; Joel Passer, Swimming, 3 gold and a silver; Sarah Spooner, Dance, 2 bronze medals; Shiri Tene, Dance, 2 bronze medals; David Trubnikov, Swimming, 2 gold medals; Gal Tsabari, Dance, bronze; Jamie Tully, Swimming, a gold and 4 bronze medals; Alex Wolf, Track and Field, gold.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Shabbat Service at Temple to Honor New Members

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator “New members are the lifeblood of our congregation and an important part of our future,” said Judy Zweiback, who is helping plan a new member Shabbat for Friday, Sept. 5, 7:30 p.m., at Temple Israel.

At that Shabbat worship service, new members will be called as a group to the bima. Rabbi Aryeh Azriel and Rabbi Craig Marantz will greet them and recite a special blessing welcoming them into the congregation.

Zweiback said it is especially meaningful “to welcome new members into our congregation and officially make them part of our Temple family.” She highly encourages all members of Temple Israel to give the new ones a warm welcome that evening.

Since last year’s High Holy Days, the congregation has added approximately 22 new families and individuals.

Merilee Rimerman is one of those new members, and she is planning to attend Shabbat services. She

joined Temple in June after retiring and moving back to Omaha a year ago. She is already enrolled in the adult B’nai Mitzvah class and “enjoying all the learning, history, and rituals. I’m meeting wonderful people, and the rabbis are great. Everyone is very friendly and warm,” she mentioned.

Jody and Gino Vinci and their children Steven, nine, and Mia, three, joined Temple last fall. They joined “to enrich Steven’s life” as he progresses through religious school and “to build a foundation for my kids and my family,” explained Jody Vinci who grew up at Temple.

Last year, the Vincis attended the third grade Shabbat service in which Steven participated. Jody said she felt “euphoric” after the service. “The way the congregational community embraces new members is wonderful. It’s as though I never left,” she remarked.

An Oneg Shabbat in honor of the new members will follow services.

August 29, 2003

SYNAGOGUES

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 3

Candlelighting Friday, August 29 .............................................. 7:44 p.m.

TEMPLE ISRAEL

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE

Member of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations

Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism

7023 Cass Street, Omaha, NE 68132-2651 556-6536 templeisrael-ne.org

Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America

1502 No. 52 St., Omaha, NE. 68104 -5013 556-6288 BethIsrael@novia.net

14506 California Omaha, NE 68154-1980 492-8550 WEB--www.bethel-omaha.org

FRIDAY: Men’s Club, 11:45 a.m. All male members of Temple Israel are invited to a weekly informal get together at Spirit World, 7517 Pacific St. Join us for some relaxation and great conversation; Shabbat Evening Service, 5:30 p.m. Cantor Wendy Shermet will officiate and give the sermon.

SATURDAY: Bagels and Sacred Books, 9:30 a.m., in the Milder Center; Morning service, 10:30 a.m.

SITTER SERVICE During August, sitter service is available for the 5:30 p.m. Shabbat Services. There will be no sitter service Saturday mornings. Please make a reservation through the Temple office. Cost is $2 per family. Sorry, there are no facilities for infants.

NEW MEMBER SHABBAT Friday, Sept. 5: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:30 p.m. New families will be called to the bimah for a blessing and introduced to the congregation. An oneg will follow to meet the new congregants.

Office hours: Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fridays, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Howard Kutner.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 7 p.m. West Minyan, 7:30 p.m. at the home of Dennis and Susan Paley.

SATURDAY: Morning service, 8:45 a.m. Free babysitting begins at 10 a.m.; kiddush sponsored by Sisterhood. Mincha, 7:35 p.m., followed by Shalosh Suedot, Ma’ariv and Havdalah.

SUNDAY: Morning Services, 9 a.m. Evening Services, 7 p.m.

WEEKDAYS: Services, 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Office Hours: Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

FRIDAY: Join us in prayer and song at a joyful Kabbalat Shabbat service, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Join us at Morning Services, 9:30 a.m., as we celebrate, Tali Levin’s July Bat Mitzvah in Buenos Aires. Following services, Rabbi Mordechai and Susi Levin will sponsor the Kiddush Luncheon in honor of their daughter. Evening services at 7:50 p.m.

SUNDAY: Services at 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Adult Learners will meet 11 a.m. in the Library.

WEEKDAYS: Services at 6:55 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

ADULT EDUCATION The Adult B’nai Mitzvah Class will meet Wednesday Sept. 3, 7 p.m.

CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN SOUTH STREET TEMPLE

Member of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations

2061 S. 20th St., Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 435-8004 jewishnebraska.org

B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE 618 Mynster St., Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 Phone: 322-4705 E-mail: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com FRIDAY: Evening Service, 7:30 p.m. Oneg will follow.

BEYT SHALOM

An Affiliate of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

3012 S. 119th St., Omaha, NE 68139

P.O. Box 390352 402-660-2395

FRIDAY and SATURDAY: Shabbat in the Home.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE SAC Memorial Chapel 301 Lincoln Highway, Offutt AFB, NE 68113 294-6244 FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.

Unveiling for Lynn Ellen Misle Weiner will be Sunday, Aug. 31, 10 a.m. at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Lincoln.

The family of George Schapiro would like to thank everyone who expressed their sympathies to us during these difficult days. The kinds of thoughts that were sent affirmed to us how loved and respected he was.

Julie Schapiro and Family Thank you, thank you, thank you to all my friends and family for the cards, donations, and flowers during my stay in the hospital.

Berniece Cohen

Donations for Eagle Scout Project I am a Life Scout in Boy Scout troop 552. For my Eagle Scout project, I will be planting 80 trees at the Beth El Synagogue Cemetery. Each tree will cost $15, but a donation in any amount of money will be valuable to my Eagle Project and the Beth El Cemetery. Please make checks out to Beth El Cemetery and sent donations to me at: 2511 S. 105 Ave., Omaha, NE 68124. Thank you for your help and support.

Ben Nachman

CORRECTION In last week “Simchas” issue, the name of the Dvorkin family was misspelled under the photo of their 65th anniversary celebration.

The Jewish Press regrets the error.

Rabbi Debbie Stiel will be in the office Tuesdays and Thursdays, all day. You may reach her 9-5 weekdays at 416-2321 (local for Lincoln), or at rabstiel@aol.com.

FRIDAY: Shabbat Services, 7:45 p.m., Installation of Rabbi Debbie Stiel; Rabbi Aryeh Azriel will officiate and install Rabbi Stiel. Oneg Shabbat is sponsored by the Board of Directors.

SATURDAY: Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m.

TUESDAY: Board Meeting, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: AA Meeting, 7 p.m. in the Library or Social Hall.

THURSDAY: Choir Practice, 7:30 p.m.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m., led by Alan Shulewitz. All services are held in the Herbert Goldsten Chapel and are open to the community.

CHABAD HOUSE An Affiliate of the Worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch Movement

1866 So. 120th St., Omaha, NE 68144-1646 Phone: 330-1800 E-MAIL--chabad@aol.com WEBSITE: www.nebraskajudaism.com Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman.

Monday-Friday: Services at 7 a.m.

SATURDAY: Services at 9:30 a.m.

SUNDAY: Services at 8:30 a.m.

Celebrate Grandparents Day with L.O.V.E.

by CATHY CARROLL Jewish Senior Services Join us for a fun-filled carnival of events, including a magician, the Rockabelly Band of clowns, facepainting, rootbeer floats and games. All events will be held in the Jewish Community Center on Sunday, Sept. 7, 1-3 p.m.

Family portraits will be taken of multi-generation families--from grandparents who reside in the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, to infants! Each family will receive a complimentary sheet of photos with the option to purchase additional sheets.

Events are organized by L.O.V.E. (the League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly) and sponsored

by Sheldon A. and Lorrie Bernstein Endowment Fund, Betty A. Studna and Seymour T. Lee Endowment Fund, and Chester and Phyllis Lustgarten Endowment Fund.

TIFERETH ISRAEL Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

3219 Sheridan Blvd., Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 423-8569 tiferethisraellincoln.org Services conducted by Rabbi Stanley M. Rosenbaum. Minyan, Monday & Thursday, 7:15 a.m.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 8 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.

MONDAY, Sept. 1: Eli Evnen, son of Richard Evnen and Susan Evnen, will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah during Morning Services, 9:30 a.m. A Seudah Simcha, a “joyous meal,” will follow services.

B’NAI MITZVAH Justin Zachary Spooner, son of Jim and Gayle Spooner, will become a Bar Mitzvah Saturday, Sept. 6, at Temple Israel.

Zach is in seventh grader at Beveridge Magnet School. He enjoys playing football, baseball, he also played golf at the 2002 Macabbi Games, basketball at the 2003 Macabbi Games, swam for the JCC, and was honored with the JCC Basketball Sportsmanship Award.

For his Mitzvah project, Zach collected and worked for the Omaha Food Bank.

Zach has an older sister, Sarah.

Grandparents are Fran and Jerry Milder of Omaha, and Lillian Betts of Council Bluffs.

Gabriela Shira Waesch, daughter of Devorah and Guenther Waesch, will become a Bat Mitzvah on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 5 and 6, at Beth El Synagogue.

Gaby is an eighth grade Honor student at Peter Kiewit Middle School. She is an accomplished athlete, having attained the level of first degree black belt in Tae Kwan Do at age 12; she also has participated in Peter Kiewit Middle School team sports, including Track and Field and Girls Basketball.

Gaby’s Bat Mitzvah project has been to volunteer as an instructor for junior-belt students at the American School for Karate and Judo.

Gaby, who was born in Germany and raised there until age 6, considers “world travel” her favorite activity.

Page 4

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

August 29, 2003

Who Are We Kidding?

EDITORIAL A few weeks ago, a one-hour documentary entitled, Relentless, was shown to the community. Promoted by HonestReporting. com, a not-for-profit organization which reports on inaccuracies, bias and outright falsehoods in the media, Relentless examined the failures of the Oslo (so-called) peace accords.

The last two years of violence directed against mostly civilians in Israel has once again brought us to a point where the politicians are declaring a Road Map to Peace. For those who still think that a peaceful solution can be found, let’s review the facts: The Palestinian Authority and Yasser Arafat signed an agreement which called on the P.A. to achieve the following: • Change the P.A. charter, eliminate references to “pushing Israel into the Sea,” and recognize the right of the State of Israel to exist; • Dismantle terror organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, leaving the P.A. with the sole police force; • End incitement to violence by prohibiting sermons in mosques that call for the destruction of the Jewish people and in textbooks in schools at all

grade levels; • And, finally, hold free elections.

And what did the P.A. to meet these obligations?

• The P.A. has not changed its charter, although there was some “public relations” showing a great deal of conversation about the matter by Arafat and his henchmen; in the end the charter still calls for the destruction of Israel.

• Hamas, Islamic Jihad and a host of other terrorist groups are still operating openly and brazenly. Regardless of the insincere “condemnations” once offered by Arafat and now by Abbas, these vigilante groups are still killing hundreds and wounding thousands of innocent civilians.

• Clerics regularly broadcast sermons each Friday from mosques all over the West Bank and Gaza calling Jews “pigs and monkeys”, and urging Muslims to “kill the Jews.” not a single textbooks has changed; there isn’t one map in a Palestinian child’s school book that even shows the State of Israel and the several Palestinian universities have even sponsored “art” exhibits showing such “creative” events as the bombing of the Sbarro

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

by AARON LEIBEL, Arts Editor, Washington Jewish Week WASHINGTON--When it comes to In his attempts to understand tercombating terrorism, information is rorism, Halpern says he has met facevital. That’s the philosophy of Micah to-face with several terrorists. The Halpern, a syndicated columnist, only such meeting he will discuss (“for whose book, What You Need To Know security reasons”) is with Marwan About: Terror (The Toby Press), a Barghouti, who is on trial in Israel, series of 75 questions and answers charged with 26 counts of murder. The about terrorism, was published this discussion took place before his trial month. began.

“These are questions that people are Barghouti told him that he doesn’t asking --or are afraid to ask,” Halpern kill innocent people, Halpern recalls. says. “You can’t be an ostrich. These When the columnist countered that he terrorists are not going to disappear; targets civilians, Barghouti replied they are getting stronger and that “no one who is a settler is without stronger. We need to understand guilt” and that Israeli children will them.” grow up to become soldiers.

The author says he wrote the book in He continues: “Barghouti is a very an easy-to-read, non-academic style to s m a r t explain “why we (the West) are hated, guy...He is that we've done nothing to cause that very effechatred and, in the short run, we can’t tive and do anything about it.” tremendousAs an Israeli--the syndicated colum- ly popular nist divides his time between and the Jerusalem and New York--he says his leader of the interest in terrorism came “naturally. uprising.”

When it is around you, you either shut Halpern it out or obsess about it.” claims the Living in Israel, terrorism also is c u r r e n t brought home in a personal way, he c e a s e - f i r e says. In that small country, he--as was negotiated by him from his prison many others--seems to know some vic- cell, with his attorney acting as tims of many terrorist attacks. go-between.

It also has scarred his family. One of The author’s interest in terrorism his cousins was in the World Trade also flows from his strong Jewish Center during the Sept. 11, 2001, ter- background. He was born in ror attacks and got out unscathed. Pittsburgh in 1961, but raised in That same cousin was in Jerusalem Annapolis. last year, and all the family members His parents, who were “very active who were with him were injured in a (Jewishly) but not totally observant” suicide bombing attack. belonged to Knesseth Israel, an

pizza parlor, which killed more than two dozen, almost wiping out an entire Israeli family.

• As to free elections, only Mahmoud Abbas has been elected, and, with the appointment of an Arafat crony to the position of interior Minister, it is apparent that Arafat still holds power.

So, what is to be done? Do Israelis keep releasing Palestinian prisoners (something not even mentioned in the recent Road Map as a requirement)?

Facts Crucial to Fight Terrorism-Author Publishes Q&A Orthodox synagogue. He attended Hebrew school, became bar mitzvah and was tutored by his rabbi post-bar mitzvah, growing to be “very excited by Jewish learning.”

He graduated from the University of Maryland in 1982 with a degree in economics and English literature, and received a master's degree in Jewish education and history from Brandeis University.

Halpern has taught at Yale University, Hebrew College of Boston and at the H e b r e w University of Jerusalem.

He made aliyah in 1987.

The most important fact that Halpern wants readers to learn from What You Need To Know About: Terror is “that there is no magic wand to eliminate terrorism immediately.”

It will take generations to educate the people in the Arab and Muslim worlds to accept differences among people, he says.

It is also necessary to understand that “diplomacy, backed by military pursuit of terrorists, works up to a point,” but targeted operations

...he wants to deflate the “myth” that there is a difference between terrorists and the political and social leaders who support terrorism. There is no difference, he says...

(Founded in 1920)

Nebraska Press Association

National Newspaper Association

Is the IDF to stand idly by while terrorists murder women and children?

Just like America, Israel has a right to defend itself. As Bush went after Saddam’s sons, Ouday and Qusai Hussein, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has a right to go after Abu Shanab (which he did) and Abdel Aziz Rantisi who, unfortunately, is still in a position to order the murder of Jews.

By the way, if you missed Relentless, contact HonestReporting.com.

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

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against leaders also are important.

“There is this idea, an American idea, that if we talk to them, everything will be okay,” he says. He believes that was a principal failure of the Clinton administration in the Middle East.

Finally, he wants to deflate the “myth” that there is a difference between terrorists and the political and social leaders who support terrorism. There is no difference, he says, between Hamas and its military wing, or between Sinn Fein and the Irish Republican Army.

American law on conspiracy recognizes that people who raise money or plan the attacks are just as guilty as those who carry out the terrorist acts, he says.

Halpern would like Western leaders to understand that the war against terrorism “is not going to be an easy battle, will take a lot of time and money, and that it is a low-tech war.”

He points out that while the United States is spending billions of dollars on the war on terror, a successful attack against this country can be launched for $150-$200.

“We need people on the ground and hard-core intelligence in the field,'” he says.

Halpern believes America is weak in this regard, and that it will take much time for this country to develop those skills and deploy the people.

JEWISH PRESS COMMITTEE Howard K. Marcus, Vice-Chairman; Bobbi Leibowitz, Secretary; Scott Meyerson, Finance Chairman; Steve Simon, Treasurer; Fred Tichauer, Immediate Past-chairman; Jean Duitch; Penny Endelman; Kip Gordman; Stanley Mitchell; George Quittner; Linda Saltzman; Joey Shyken; Nancy Skid; and Melanie Weinstein.

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.

August 29, 2003

group’s Kassam rocket operators.

Late last week, before Shatiwi was killed, Palestinian militants fired a barrage of rockets at Israeli targets, including one that reached an Israeli beach south of Ashkelon.

The other two people killed in Israel's missile strike on Sunday were members of Force 17, P.A. President Yasser Arafat’s personal security detail.

Hamas vowed to a v e n g e Sunday's strike.

“Our response will be painful and quick,” the group said in a statement broadcast on AlJazeera television.

Meanwhile, P.A. President Yasser Arafat appointed his former loyalist and security chief, Jibril Rajoub, as the Palestinian national security adviser. The move is seen as another attempt by Arafat to redirect power

away from P.A. Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

Rajoub, the former head of P.A. security in the West Bank, told The Associated Press that his main goal would be to reorganize the Palestinian security forces, but did not say whether he would crack down on terrorists.

Also on Monday, Israeli security forces removed about 50 settlers and a

“If we see that the Palestinian Authority does not deal with this core” of terrorism, “we will be forced to do so.”

Israel’s Struggle Against Terror: A Chronology of Deadly Attacks

by JTA Staff NEW YORK (JTA)--The following is a timeline of the most significant terrorist attacks since the second Palestinian intifada began in September of 2000 (this is not, however, a complete list of every terrorist attack, not of the ones thwarted by the IDF): Feb. 14, 2001: In the deadliest attack until that point of the intifada, a Palestinian bus driver mows down a group of Israelis at a bus stop near Tel Aviv, killing eight.

June 1, 2001: A suicide bomber kills 21 Israelis and wounds more than 100, mostly teenaged immigrants from the former Soviet Union, at a Tel Aviv beachside disco. The bombing comes days after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced a unilateral Israeli cease-fire.

Aug. 9, 2001: A lunchtime attack at the Sbarro pizzeria in downtown Jerusalem kills 15 and wounds 130.

Several children are killed in the suicide blast, along with nearly an entire family.

Oct. 17, 2001: Palestinian gunmen assassinate Israel’s tourism minister, Rehavam Ze’evi, in a Jerusalem hotel.

Dec. 2, 2001: Three attacks within 24 hours other kill 25 people and injure more than 200. The bombs go off at a pedestrian mall in downtown Jerusalem, in a car nearby and on a Haifa bus.

March 3, 2002: A series of weekend attacks, including a bombing in Jerusalem and an ambush in the West Bank, kill 21 Israelis. The bombing comes amid talk of a new Saudi Arabian peace initiative.

March 9, 2002: Terrorists bomb Jerusalem’s popular Cafe Moment, around the corner from the prime minister’s residence, killing 11.

March 27, 2002: In an attack that serves as the impetus for Operation Defensive Shield, a suicide bomber strikes a Netanya hotel during a Passover seder, killing 29 mostly elderly Israelis. The attack is the deadliest of the intifada.

March 31, 2002: Fifteen die when a

Page 5

Unconvinced by P.A. Moves on Terror, Israel Takes Matter into its Own Hands

FOCUS ON ISSUES

by GIL SEDAN Israel is skeptical about the Palestinian Authority’s tentative measures against terrorism--and is following up by conducting anti-terror operations of its own.

Both Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Israel’s army chief of staff, Moshe Ya'alon, said this week that the measures the Palestinian Authority is taking in the Gaza Strip are not substantial.

Ya’alon and others said that the Palestinian Authority’s arrests of weapons smugglers and the closing of arms-smuggling tunnels from Egypt into the Gaza Strip are not the beginnings of a true crackdown on terrorism.

They said the moves were a tactical ploy to reduce American pressure on the Palestinian Authority and ward off further Israeli military operations.

That move apparently failed, as Israel struck in Gaza again on Sunday, firing missiles from helicopter gunships at targets in Gaza City, killing four.

Two of those killed were Hamas officials, including Ahmed Shatiwi, a senior member of Hamas’ military wing, who was commander of the terrorist

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

suicide bomber strikes a restaurant in Haifa frequented by both Arabs and Jews. The bombing follows suicide attacks on each of the previous two days, one at a Jerusalem supermarket and one at a cafe‚ in Tel Aviv.

May 8, 2002: A bomber sets his sights on Israel’s young, blasting a pool hall in the Tel Aviv suburb of Rishon le-Zion, killing 15.

June 18, 2002: A suicide bombing on a rush-hour bus kills 19 in Jerusalem.

The next day, another suicide bomber strikes in Israel’s capital, killing seven at a hitchhiking post in the French Hill neighborhood.

July 31, 2002: Nine people are killed--including five Americans--and more than 80 wounded in a bombing at a Hebrew University cafeteria.

Oct. 22, 2002: A car pulls alongside a bus in northern Israel and detonates, killing 14.

Nov. 21, 2002: 11 people are killed in a suicide bombing aboard a crowded Jerusalem bus. Many of the passengers are schoolchildren.

Jan. 5, 2003: A pair of suicide bombings in Tel Aviv kill 22 people, many of them foreign workers. The bombing is the deadliest since the March 2002 Passover massacre in Netanya.

March 5, 2003: A bus is blown up in Haifa, killing 15, most of them teenagers.

June 11, 2003: A Palestinian bomber dressed as a fervently Orthodox Jew blows himself up on a bus, killing 17. The attack comes a week after the “road map” peace process is launched at a summit in Aqaba, Jordan, with the leaders of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the United States.

Aug. 19, 2003: A bombing on a Jerusalem bus kills at least 20, including several children on their way home from a Bar Mitzvah celebration. More than 100 are wounded. The bombing takes place on the eve of a planned transfer of several West Bank cities to Palestinian Authority control, and in the midst of a “cease-fire” declared by Palestinian terror groups.

trailer from an illegal outpost set up near Hebron in the West Bank. Police arrested five settlers who refused to leave the site.

Sunday’s strike on the Hamas activists came after Ya'alon blamed Hamas’ leadership for last week's attack in Jerusalem that killed 21 people, pointedly referring to the organization’s leaders in both Gaza and Syria.

“If we see that the Palestinian Authority does not deal with this core” of terrorism, “we will be forced to do so,” Ya’alon said.

Defense sources said Sunday's strike was aimed at preventing an imminent double suicide attack that Hamas’

military wing was planning, according to the Israeli daily Ha’aretz.

Before the strike, Palestinians said the anti-terror operation against arms smuggling was only part of an extensive operation that would include the collection of illegal arms.

Abdul Razak Majaideh, commander of the P.A.’s General Security Force in Gaza, ordered his forces to prevent any use of arms in the Gaza Strip or smuggling of new arms into the region. He toured Gaza City and the northern part of the Gaza Strip to make sure that his orders were followed.

The Palestinian commander issued a communique saying that this was part of the P.A.’s efforts to “restore security in the Gaza Strip.”

But Israeli officials were skeptical, viewing the Palestinian actions as “too little, too late,” as one government official told Israel’s Channel One television.

Under the threat of a massive Israeli operation in Gaza, Palestinian police forces were deployed Saturday night in the Beit Hanoun area to prevent the firing of Kassam rockets toward Israeli targets.

Hamas on Sunday nevertheless managed to fire an improved version of a Kassam that reached an Israeli beach south of Ashkelon.

No one was hurt in the attack, which demonstrated a five-mile firing capability. Before the recent “cease-fire” gave the terrorist groups time to rearm, Palestinian Kassam rockets had a range of about three miles.

Ambassador Dennis Ross Former Middle East Envoy for the first Bush and Clinton Administrations

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

August 29, 2003

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 Walk-in Drop-in, 10 a.m.

NCJW Garage Sale, 10 a.m.

Yiddish Group Meeting, 1 p.m.

Jewish Women International Pot Luck Dinner, 6 p.m., at Corinne Levin’s Home

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 B’nai B’rith Breadbreakers, noon, at the Park Inn Regency Lodge Adult Education, 6:30 p.m., at Temple Israel

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 Temple Israel Synagogue 2000 Retreat (12 & 13), 7 a.m.

Temple Israel OTYG Leadership Institute (12 thru 14), 9 a.m.

NCJW Garage Sale, 10 a.m.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 Walk-in Drop-in Activity, 10 a.m.

Yiddish Group Meeting, 1 p.m.

The Toons of Michael Nelson/Storytelling, 1:30 p.m.

NCJW Bookclub, 7 p.m.

B’nai B’rith Board Meeting 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 Temple Israel Synagogue 2000 Retreat (12 & 13), 7 a.m.

NCJW Garage Sale, 10 a.m.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 Visions Board Meeting, 9:30 a.m.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 L.O.V.E. Grandparents Day Celebration, 1 p.m.

Building Tours, 4 p.m. & 4:30 p.m. at the new site of Beth Israel, 126th and Pacific MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 YES Program, 10 a.m.

Third Year Melton Class, 11 a.m. & 7 p.m.

JFS Board Meeting, 6 p.m.

Talmud Class with Rabbi Kutner, 7 p.m., at Beth Israel

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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 Men’s Club, 10 a.m., at Temple Israel NCJW Garage Sale, 10 a.m.

WRJ Cradle Roll Event, 10:30 a.m., at Temple Israel Club 56, noon, at Temple Israel Klutznick Symposium, 1 p.m.

Klutznick Symposium Dinner, 5 p.m.

Klutznick Symposium Keynote Speaker, 7:30 p.m.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 Klutznick Symposium Exhibit, 7 a.m.

YES Program, 10 a.m.

Third Year Melton Class, 11 a.m. & 7 p.m.

Federation Campaign Leadership Team Meeting, 4 p.m.

Driver’s Ed. Class, 6 p.m.

Talmud Class with Rabbi Kutner, 7 p.m. at Beth Israel

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 JELS/ADL Lunch & Learn, noon UNO Kabbalah Class, 6 p.m.

Driver’s Ed. Class, 6 p.m.

Board of Trustees Meeting, 7:30 p.m. at Temple Israel WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 B’nai B’rith Breadbreakers, noon, at the Park Inn Regency Lodge 2004 Men’s Campaign Kickoff, 5:30 p.m.

Adult Education, 6:30 p.m. at Temple Israel THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 United Way of the Midlands Volunteer Conference, 8:30 a.m.

Jewish Women International, 10 a.m., at the Rainbow House Walk-in Drop-in Activity, 10 a.m.

Yiddish Group Meeting, 1 p.m.

Kripke Library Monthly Book Discussion Group, 1 p.m.

Temple Israel OTYG Rehearsal & Dinner, 5 p.m.

JFS Becoming a Love and Logic Parent, 6 p.m.

2004 Women’s Campaign Event featuring Mona Golabek, 7 p.m., at Ironwood Country Club FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 Visions Luncheon, 12:30 p.m., at Venice Inn SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 BBYO RCC Weekend, 9:30 a.m.

The Jerusalem Lyric Trio, 7 p.m., at Temple Israel SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 Adult Education, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel JELS Hebrew Reading for the High Holidays, 10 a.m.

Beth El Kids Snack & Learn, 11:30 a.m.

Temple Israel Tri-Faith Picnic, 12:30 p.m.

OTYG Board Meeting, 2 p.m. at Temple Israel Chabad House Testimonial Dinner, 5 p.m.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 YES Program, 10 a.m.

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 JELS/ADL Lunch & Learn, noon Adult Education, 6 p.m., at Temple Israel UNO Kabbalah Class, 6 p.m.

BBYO Night, 6 p.m.

Viva Las Vegas with Bill Chrastil, 7 p.m.

Federation Board Meeting, 7:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 JFS Project Tzedakah, 7 a.m.

B’nai B’rith Breadbreakers, noon, at the Park Inn Regency Lodge OTYG Rehearsal & Dinner, 4 p.m., at Temple Israel Adult Education, 6:30 p.m., at Temple Israel Ben Gurion Society Event, 7 p.m., at the Home of Joel Alperson Live from the 92nd Street Y, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 JFS Project Tzedakah, 7 a.m.

Walk-in Drop-in Activity, 10 a.m.

Yiddish Group Meeting, 1 p.m.

JFS Becoming a Love and Logic Parent, 6 p.m.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 JCC CLOSED for ROSH HASHANAH Beth El High Holiday Youth Program, 10 a.m.

JYG/OTYG Event, noon, at Temple Israel MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 YES Program, 10 a.m.

Jewish Press Committee Meeting, 5 p.m.

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All events held at the Jewish Community Center unless otherwise noted.

This calendar does not include all community events. For a complete listing, visit the Federation’s website: www.jewishomaha.org (click on calendar). To keep calendar accurate, call Marlene Hert at 334-6437.

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 B’nai B’rith Breadbreakers, noon, at the Park Inn Regency Lodge Adult Education, 6:30 p.m., at Temple Israel JCC Maccabi Games Reunion, 6:30 p.m.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 Klutznick Symposium Exhibit in JCC Gallery open throughout September Visions Mystery Tour, 10 a.m.

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August 29, 2003

Somewhere, Over the Rainbow, Summer Dreams Came True

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Summertime for teens evokes carefree memories of family vacations, hanging out with friends at the pool, and going to camp. But for three teens from Temple Israel, camp was an opportunity to spend a week with younger children suffering from cancer and blood disorders.

“I don’t understand how the kids get more out of it than I did,” said Molly Needelman, a member of Omaha Temple Youth Group (OTYG). Molly, Allie Willensky, center, enjoyed her work at who is beginning her senior Camp Rainbow with campers, Sammi, left, year at Westside High and Amanda, both 12-years-old. Allie is now School, spent a week in June freshman at University of Michigan. with Ashley who is nine years old at North High School in the spring and Camp Rainbow near St. Louis, will attend the University of Michigan, would like to be a unit head at Camp Missouri. Ashley has leukemia.

“She loved swimming,” said Molly. Rainbow next summer. In the meanThey also enjoyed art and archery time, she’s keeping in touch with her together and being sprayed with new campers through email and letwater by firefighters, and then there ters. Recently, she also heard from her first Rainbow camper from 2001. were the mud fights.

Emily Sternberg was also a coun“I learned so much,” Molly remarked after spending time getting to know selor at Camp Rainbow this summer.

Camp Rainbow is one of the recipiAshley in the one-to-one relationship they shared. Molly continues to stay ents of funds raised by OTYG at the in touch with Ashley. “I learned about youth group’s annual spaghetti dinner a whole different lifestyle,” Molly at Temple. said. “I definitely would love to go back next year. It was amazing.”

Allie Willensky, who was OTYG president last year, took two campers, Sammi and Amanda, both 12 years old, under wing. Sammi, who had been to Camp Rainbow previously, is in remission from leukemia. Amanda has bone cancer. Allie was able to accompany these relatively older girls out of camp for an evening of pizza, bowling, and ice cream.

This was Allie’s third time at Camp Rainbow. “Especially this year, I was able to enjoy myself more because the campers were older,” she said. “They are incredible,” she insisted. “The things that they go through and keep their positive attitude” amazed her.

She admires their bravery and feels she learned “so much from the Molly Needelman, right, dressed campers. I hope I gave as much to up with camper Ashley, for one of Camp Rainbow’s daily activities. them as they gave to me.”

Allie, who graduated from Millard Molly is a senior at Westside.

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by KIM NODDLE, President The National Council of Jewish Women, Omaha Section will be holding their Third Annual Citywide Garage Sale Sept. 11-13 in the Rockbrook Village Shopping Center at 108th and West Center Road.

The sale will run from Thursday and Friday, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m.-noon. All proceeds from the garage sale will support NCJW’s community service projects.

The past two years, the City Wide Garage Sale has generated more than $10,000 for the Section.

The money raised this year will go to help Dictionary Day, RAFT (Resources Available for Teens Guide) booklets and Mini-Grants for Teachers.

NCJW volunteers will distribute dictionaries to fourth graders in Omaha Public Schools on Monday, Oct. 20, during the Section’s seventh annual Dictionary Day. For many of these youngsters, the dictionary is the first book they’ve ever owned. Teachers ill use the dictionaries in class throughout the year; at the end of the school year, the students will be able to take them home, as the start of what NCJW hopes will be a home library.

If you would like to help distribute

books on Dictionary Day, please contact chairman Sandy Epstein at 3972528.

In November, NCJW volunteers will be distributing a new addition of the RAFT, (Resources Available for Teens) guide booklets to students in eighth, 10th, and 12th grades in the Omaha metropolitan area. For the first time, NCJW will produce a Spanish-language version.

Mini-Grants for Teachers, grants for up to $350 for projects not covered by the OPS budget, will be awarded in January to Omaha Public School teachers. Mini-Grants was initiated in 1987 and has funded more than $50,000 in creative classroom projects.

Both Dictionary Day and MiniGrants for Teachers were developed

by Omaha Section volunteers.

This year the Rockbrook merchants will donate a percentage of their sales during the Section’s Garage Sale to support NCJW’s projects.

If you are unable to help with the sale, please come to support the Rockbrook merchants and let them know you support NCJW. If you would like to work a shift at the garage sale please contact met at: 391-7022.

MARRIAGE NOTKIN/SCHWAB Ronit Celine Notkin of Fresh Meadows, NY, and Amichai Schwab of New York City, were married June 22 at the Green Tree Country Club in New Rochelle, NY. The groom’s father, Rabbi Joel Schwab, and grandfather, Cantor Leo Fettman, officiated.

The bride, daughter of Jocelyn and Michael Notkin of Queens, NY, graduated from Binghamton University with a degree in human development.

She is currently a research assistant, working in a lab on Alzheimer’s.

Columbia University. He is currently Her attendants included her sister, researching parenting issues.

Yael Notkin, and cousins, Jordan The groom’s attendants were his Isaacson, Alana and Brooke Erkus. brother and sister-in-law, Yoni and Grandparents are Roseine Zennov of Jessica Schwab. Grandparents are France and Janice Notkin of Long Mona Schwab of Bradenton, FL, and Island, NY. Cantor Leo and Annette Fettman; greatThe groom, son of Rabbi Joel and grandmother is Fannie S. Chunovic.

Aviva Schwab of Middletown, NY, Following a wedding trip to graduated from List College of the Cincinnati, the couple makes their Jewish Theological Seminary and home in Forest Hills, NY.

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by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Foundation Public Relations Director Applications for grants, submitted no later than Monday, Sept. 22, will be considered for funding by the Herbert Goldsten Trust Board of Trustees.

Requests should be referred to the Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Omaha, 333 So. 132 St. Funded by a bequest from Herbert Goldsten’s estate, the trust benefits Jewish religious, charitable, and educational organizations in the Omaha metropolitan area. Members of the trust’s board focus their attention on projects that are expected to have a favorable long-term impact on the Omaha Jewish community. These projects also require funding not otherwise available through general community resources.

Applications, submitted by Sept. 22

to the Jewish Federation Foundation, are also being accepted by a newlyestablished fund, the Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Supporting Foundation.

Its purpose is to benefit the Jewish Federation, its centers of excellence (agencies), and other religious, charitable, and educational organizations.

Capital building projects will not be considered.

Applications must be submitted by the deadline in order to be reviewed.

Grant applications and further information are available by contacting Marty Ricks, executive director of the Jewish Federation Foundation, at 334-6449 or Laurie Peatrowky, Foundation endowment assistant, at 334-6439.

August 29, 2003

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 9

The Back-to-School Haircut: Does It Have Jewish Roots?

by OZZIE NOGG Summer’s winding down, and all across the country kids are gearing up for school. Gear being the operative word.

Futuristic, multi-zippered backpacks--also known as homework haulers--are designed to carry Gameboys, CD players and cell phones (books, too, I’m told . . .) and are schlepped to school even by the kindergarten set.

Garden variety black ballpoints have been replaced (or at least upstaged) by eye-candy pens that scribble in Metallic Blue, Lime Green and Cinnamon Red. According to the manufacturer, these pens are “a leap forward into fashionable accessories that kids can’t do without.” (The suggested retail price of $6.79 may be a leap some parents refuse to make, however.)

Funky, custom-dyeable basketball sneakers are literally walking out of shoe stores on the feet of elementary and middle-school students. (“Bubbie, they are totally tight,” my 10-year old grandson informed me in words understood by other fifth graders to mean the shoes are terrific, not too small . . .)

Yes. It’s Back-to-School time, and youngsters are buying supplies, going to their doctor, dentist, and eye appointments, and (according to the buzz) getting haircuts. That’s right, haircuts.

Now, I find no biblical or Talmudic references to backpacks, sneakers or colored pens. But a haircut before school starts? It could be argued that this phenomenon has ancient Jewish roots in the ceremony known as Upsherin.

Here’s some evidence to support the theory . . .

Upsherin (from the Yiddish word meaning “to cut off”) is a custom that originated with the Kabbalists in the 16th Century. The basis of upsherin is found in Leviticus 19:23, which says: “When you enter the land and plant any tree for food, you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden for you, not to be eaten.”

The Rabbis then took another Torah verse--“A person is like the tree of a field”--and, in their mystical manner, declared, “Small boys are persons.

Like trees, they come from seeds. And since the Torah says we should not pick any fruit during the first three years of growth, so too shall we leave the child’s hair grow wild until his third birthday, at which time he shall get a haircut and also start going to school.”

Now, for those of you who wonder why upsherin (and education, too, it would seem) are for boys only, please consult your rabbi. The philosophical and theological nuances are far beyond my comprehen-

sion or ability to explain. appetite for learning. Bottom line--with its singing, The upsherin haircut dancing (plus clowns and klezmers, in some cases), itself, however, we can dis- the upsherin is a joyous rite of passage. cuss.

Each new school year is a rite of passage, too, as our Unlike today’s boys who children grow and move from grade to grade, gaining line up at Bob’s Barber maturity and a clearer understanding of the world, Shop for their Back-to- their place in it and responsibility to it. (Ah, the little School haircuts, the upsh- trees are getting bigger and bearing fruit!) We can erin should be held in a only hope that this new school year will be as joyous holy place with a right- and blessed a rite of passage as an upsherin. eous, learned person But the Back-to-School haircut can, without wielding the scissors. doubt, bring joy and blessing to children other than In Israel, the ceremony those sitting in the barber’s chair. is often held in Meiron, Here’s how. near the grave of the great A charming custom invites the boy’s parents to Kabbalist, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the author of weigh his hair after an upsherin and give the equivthe Zohar, where--over the centuries--thousands of alent value in gold or silver to tzedakah. Today, after three-year-old boys have received their first hair- your boys--and girls--have gotten their Back-tocuts and their first taste of Jewish education. (More School-Gotta-Be-Cool spiked bangs or short shags, about this in a minute . . .) send the lopped-off curls to Locks of Love*, a group For families who don’t live near an historical holy that makes wigs for children who have lost their place, the upsherin is typically held in a synagogue hair to cancer. or house of study with plenty of relatives and That simple act guarantees that the school year friends around to help with the shearing. The first will get off to a truly meaningful head start. cut (an honor often given to the rabbi or a person of Omahan Ozzie Nogg is a freelance writer and distinction) is made at the front of the head at the storyteller; she can be reached at spot where the boy will later put his tefillin when he ozmom@cox.net. becomes Bar Mitzvah.

At least two members of the Omaha Jewish community recently made personal Then each guest takes a contributions to Locks of Love. turn with the shears. After Allie Lerner, daughter of Richard and Martha Lerner, explained, “I work at a the upsherin is finished summer camp for kids with chronic and life-threatening diseases and lots of them and the locks are heaped at have lost their hair because of the treatments they undergo. My hair is something his feet, the boy is showI take for granted, and Locks of Love gave me an opportunity to share what I’m ered with candy and blessso lucky to have.” ings and given an aleph bet Allie let her dark brown hair grow for 18 months before she made an appointbook or card (plastic-coatment at the beauty shop in Lincoln where her grandmother, Ruth Goldenberg, is ed, please!) with a bit of a patron. honey on each letter. He “When I told the operator to cut 12 inches off because I was donating it to Locks then licks the honey while of Love, the salon gave me the haircut for free,” she added. “I would have done saying each letter, insuring it in any case, and will again.” that Torah study will be Bonnie Bloch feels the same way. “I had really long hair, anyway. Down to my “sweet on his tongue.” waist.

I wanted to chop 15 inches off, but my hair dresser was afraid I’d later Word has it that Torahregret it and want to kill her, so we compromised on 13 inches. My hair’s about shaped lollipops are now shoulder-length now, and next time I do this, it could be shorter.” available for this part of Neither Allie nor Bonnie thinks her actions deserve a pat on the back. “Cutting the ceremony, and caterone’s hair and donating it to Locks of Love is no big deal for us, but it’s a very big ers happily whip up cupdeal for the kids who benefit.

So, why wouldn’t a person do this?” cakes frosted with For more information on local salons that participate in the Locks of Love proHebrew letters, as well as gram, contact the organization at: Locks of Love, 2925 10th Ave. North, Suite other foods decorated with 102, Lake Worth, FL 33461; or call them at: 1-888-896-1588. Visit the group’s biblical verses, to symboliwebsite at: www.locksoflove.org. cally feed the boy’s

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If so, this book discussion is for you. "Odd Girl Out" by Rachel Simmons. JFS is sponsoring a mother/daughter book discussion on October 20 from 7:00-8:30 in the Kripke Library. Paperback books are available on the "book club shelf" at the Bookworm or can be ordered on Amazon.com. The discussion group will be faciliated by Karen Gustafson and Sally Kaplan, licensed therapists at JFS.

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Child care for ages 1-12 provided for $2 per child per session.

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Page 10

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

August 29, 2003

ORGANIZATIONS

BERT’S EYE VIEW

Y.E.S. There will be no meeting Monday due to the Labor Day holiday. Call Maggie Conti for reservations, 3346521, to the following: Michael Nelson Music and Storytelling is Sept. 4; deadline for Bunch to Lunch at the Rose in Trynor, IA, on Sept. 11 is Sept.

4; deadline for Movie and Popcorn on Sept. 18 is Sept. 11; deadline for Bluff ’s Run Casino on Sept. 25 is Sept.

18; and deadline for Jewish New Year’s Party on Sept. 29 is Sept. 22.

For transportation call Dee Dee at 330-4272.

VISIONS The Magical Mystery Tour leaves Tuesday, Sept. 2. Depart from the JCC at 9:30 a.m. to return at approximately 2:30 p.m.

Our next luncheon meeting is Friday, Sept. 19, 12:30 p.m. at Caniglia’s Venice Inn. Cost is $9 per person. Special guest speaker is Omaha World-Herald senior reporter C. David Kotok. Send reservations to: Mickey and Tootie Simon, 8725 Izard, Omaha, NE 68114. For information, call Harry Alloy, 697-8709. Deadline is Sept. 12.

JEWISH SENIOR SERVICES Join us for Vegas Night on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 7 p.m. at the JCC. The Bill Chrastil Show combines music from the fifties, sixties and classic rock.

There is no charge. Refreshments will be served. Sponsored by the David Krantz family in his memory. Call Maggie Conti for reservations, 3346521.

OMAHA CENTER FOR TORAH LEARNING Rabbi Aryeh Blum will give his weekly parasha shiur, Saturday, Aug. 30, 5:30 p.m. Time for Talmud is Monday, Sept. 1, 7:30 p.m. The Beit Midrash meets on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 7:30 p.m., all at the OCTL House, 1313 No. 58 St. Join OCTL for the weekly discussion of Torah Topics at Lunch ’n Learn, Wednesday, Sept. 3, noon, at the Kripke Library. Brooke’s Teen Girls starts Monday, Sept. 8. For information, call, 320-8055.

LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Want a place to brush up on your Yiddish? Join us every Thursday, 1-3 p.m. at the JCC. Call Anne Skolkin for information at 343-1638.

WALK-IN, DROP-IN Join us Thursday, for “Inspiration from the Heart” with Michael Nelson at 1:30 p.m. at the JCC. Exercise and bingo at 10 a.m. Bring a dairy sack lunch to eat at 11:30 a.m. Special bingo session begins at noon before the show.

B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Rabbi Mordechai Levin of Beth El Synagogue will speak Wednesday, Aug. 27, noon, at the Park Inn Regency, according to Marty Ricks, CoChairman. Rabbi Levin will speak about his family’s trip to Argentina last month. Cost is $9 for lunch; $2 for beverage service. Breadbreakers is open to the community.

BIRTH Jamie and Ted Friedland announce the Aug. 11 birth of their daughter, Rose Ellen.

Grandparents are Terri and Dick

Zacharia and Nancy and David Friedland.

Great-grandmother is Trickle Milder.

IN THE NEWS Jacqueline Abrams of Denver, CO, was recently selected as Co-chairman of the Young Americans Bank (YAB) Youth Advisory Board of Directors.

YAB is the only federally-chartered bank dedicated exclusively to providing banking services for children.

Abrams is a senior at the George Washington High school International Baccalaureate Program and the daughter of former Omahan Jim Abrams and Laura Reilly.

Rita Paskowitz will kick off the six-part series of “Grief and the Arts Training Experience” with a workshop on storytelling on Friday, Sept.

19, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Kountze Memorial Lutheran Church. Each session is $60; the series is $300.

Registration is limited to 25 participants. For more information, contact the Centering Corporation, 553-1200 or e-mail: j1200@aol.com.

Franchise Expo

by BERT LEWIS I’ve just returned from what was supposed to be a quick trip to the mall. I’ve been avoiding it, I admit, because I don’t really like shopping and I do it only when necessary. This morning I checked my calendar, made certain there was nothing else I was supposed to do, and gave in. I went to the mall.

The very first irritation is finding a parking place. I know it’s good for me to walk, but it’s very hot out and I prefer not to court heat prostration, whatever that is.

Okay. I finally parked and carefully decided on the one big store I would try, for the two specific items on my list. Two very ordinary items that should have been easy to find most anywhere: a bedspread and a pair of men’s pajamas.

So what was the problem you might ask? Ha. I’ll tell you, but you probably won’t believe me unless you've shopped for either or both lately.

Let’s go to the menswear department first. After covering what seemed like miles, I found a sign that said “sleepwear”. Fine--I’m about to strike pay dirt I foolishly think. But wait a minute....these are p.j. pants and separate, long tops. The tops look like short robes, in fact, not like a pajama top. They’re hanging on a rack, not neatly folded two piece sets like I’ve bought my room-mate for the last umpty years. And furthermore, they’re even priced separately!

This isn't the first time I’ve run into this situation. And it isn’t the first time I’ve seen this kind of display. So I ask (after searching long and hard for a clerk) where are the “sets” I’m looking for and he looks at me like I’m speaking Chinese. Bottom line: we don’t have anything like that anymore.

Granted, I get exasperated very easily and my fuse was a little short to begin with, but I said thanks and left.

I figured okay, I’ll go home and tell my friend he has to keep wearing his ancient “sleepwear” because they don’t make his kind any more. He’ll think I’m nuts.

Never mind....onward to the linen department and go find a bedspread.

Nothing fancy, just something so I can change the look of things in my guest room.

No, I don’t want a dust ruffle and I don’t want a quilt or a comforter; all I want is what we used to call a bedspread. Okay, I found the department, and then I started the search.

Guess what? All I could find were the big, heavy, poofy comforters, with coordinating dust ruffles.

And what did the clerk say when I asked?

You already know she said, “We haven’t had any for at least two years.”

Mazel tov. May I congratulate the bedlinen industry for trying to change the simplest item found in the bedroom? What do they want from us?

Like I don’t know--they want us to throw away all our bedspreads and replace them with ruffles and quilts etc., that’s what they want. Well I don’t want to comply. I still want a bedspread! Something lightweight, which could be tossed in the washer if necessary, not a decorator item.

We just can’t do things like we used to....the merchandisers of America won’t let us. I know for a fact, if my darling mother was still alive and keeping house, I could go right to her linen closet and find at least two clean, neatly folded bedspreads, ready for use.

Of course, they’d be chenille and I wouldn’t much care for them, but by gosh they’d be available!

Probably, before long a researcher will be able to look up pajamas and bedspreads and find them under the heading of “old fashioned, no longer in use”. Listed right next to the sprinkling bottle used for dampening clothes to iron.

Never mind. You don’t have a clue what that is, do you? In fact, I’m not sure how many today know what an iron is!

I guess all this gives my age away.

Well, it wasn’t a secret anyway, but I still don’t think there’s anything unreasonable about trying to buy a pair of men’s pajamas or a bedspread, even if young folks don’t know what I’m talking about.

Or, maybe I’ll follow the suggestion of the linen clerk. She said check the catalogues of the old national chain stores. I’ll bet she’s right.

I’ll let you know if I’m successful.

Columnist Bert Lewis can be reached at: Bertlewis39@aol.com.

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Exhibits Augment Symposium (Continued from page 1) social-documentary tradition, which I have been involved in since the 1960s,” he said. “The images I am most interested in are those of vanishing European Jewish communities as well as other cultural subjects.”

According to Salzmann, in the late 1930s, there were eight thousand Jews in Radauti, (pronounced RA-da-uts), a small town in the Bukovina region of Romania.

“There were shopkeepers and tradesmen--shoemakers, barbers, hat makers, tailors, jewelers--a vital community of several generations,” he said.

“Six thousand of these people perished during World War II; some died in concentration camps, most of them did not sur“Mr. Thau’s Funeral” was taken in Radauti, Romania in 1975 by phovive the hardships of tographer Laurence Salzmann. It is part of the exhibit at the Lied deportation to Transnistria. At the end of the war Gallery at Creighton University. a few came back; they found their homes gone and Jewish home.

“I then visited my grandmother’s town, the life they had known swept away.”

During 1974-76, when Salzmann and his wife Novogrudok,” Plaut continued. “The town is an went to Radauti on a Fulbright Fellowship, there hour and a half away from Minsk and had an outwere only 240 Jews among the entire population of standing reputation for scholars.” Plaut also went 22,000. In 1992 there were just 80 Jews left living to his grandfather’s shtetl and to Starobin, the ancestral home of some of his grandfather’s forin Radauti.

They welcomed the Salzmanns as witnesses to bears.

Viewers of this exhibition will see stunning photheir tragic history. They took them into their homes; told them the stories of their lives, their tographs of abandoned graveyards, Soviet era memorials erected in the forests where the Nazis struggles to begin again.

“The Last Jews of Radauti” makes a classic state- shot the Jews en masse, and the surviving remnant ment in photos and text about a vanishing culture- of Jews in each of these towns. Raising potatoes the lives of the small number of East European and garlic, rabbits and pigs, they still live off well water; milk is still delivered by horse-drawn carJews who survived the Holocaust and went home.

Salzmann’s honors have included a grant from the riage. In a world that lingers mostly in memory, the National Endowment for the Humanities, an photos are captured in the lush summer of International Research Exchange Commission Belorussia.

For more information on the 16th Annual Grant to Romania and a Fulbright-Hays Grant to Romania. His photographs can be found in the col- Klutznick-Harris Symposium, “The Jews of Eastern lections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Europe,” visit: http://puffin.creighton.edu/klutzInternational Center for Photography and the nick/, or contact the Creighton University Jewish Museum in New York, the Corcoran Gallery Klutznick office at 280-2303. in Washington, DC, and the George Pompidou Center, Paris.

Appearing in the Omaha Jewish Community Center Gallery from Sept. 2-29 is a photographic exhibit of the works of Rabbi Joshua Eli Plaut, titled, “My Grandparents’ Belarus: Journey Through a World Abandoned.” Twenty photographs from this emotionally and historically significant exhibit will be displayed for the first time at the Omaha show. The exhibit is made possible by the support of the Dr. Bruce S. Bloom Memorial Endowment as well as the Henry Monsky Lodge of B’nai B’rith.

For many years, Rabbi Plaut served the Jewish community of Martha’s Vineyard. For the past two years, he has been the executive director of the Center for Jewish History, in New York City, which houses the YIVO Institute, the American Jewish Historical Society, Yeshiva University Museum, the American Sephardi Federation, and the Leo Baeck Institute. He is well known as a photographer of Jewish communities throughout the world.

Among his best-known exhibits are “Spice of Life: Markets and Jewish Merchants the World Over” and “Farewell Samarkand: The Exodus of Jewish from Central Europe.”

According to the artist, it was in 1992 that he turned his photographic eye and heart to the birthplaces of his grandparents in Belorussia. Beginning in Haifa, he interviewed surviving members of his maternal grandmother’s shtetl, and continued on to the south of White Russia near Chernobyl.

“I first witnessed and photographed the area in which Jews were shot en masse,” he said. “I walked the neighborhoods where Jews once lived. All that was left was an indentation on the wooden doorpost, attesting to the mezuzzah at the entrance of a

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 11

Learn to Read Hebrew in Time for the High Holidays

by ARIELLA HOFFMAN for the Omaha Center for Torah Learning Starting Wednesday, Sept. 3, 7 p.m., the Omaha Center for Torah Learning is offering a Free Hebrew Reading Crash Course to all members of the Omaha Jewish community. The course is designed to teach those with no basic knowledge of the Hebrew language how to read Hebrew in five easy lessons. OCTL is offering the course in an effort to inspire unaffiliated Jews to become more involved.

Rabbi Tuvia Hoffman will lead this five week session. With his extensive background in theatre and Jewish thought, this crash course promises to be as entertaining as it is informative. Rabbi Hoffman has said his students will be reading Hebrew in time for the High Holidays this year!

For many Jews, the inability to read Hebrew and understand the synagogue services is an effective barrier to active participation in Jewish life. By teaching them to read Hebrew and making them feel comfortable in synagogues, the National Jewish Outreach program (NJOP), sponsor of the Hebrew Reading Crash Course, hopes to open the door to a year of Jewish growth and commitment for thousands of previously uninvolved or marginally committed Jews.

The five-week Hebrew Reading Crash Course will be taught at the OCTL Beis Midrash for five weeks.

It is geared toward Jewish beginners, as well as those who sometimes attend services, but feel left out --unable to follow or appreciate the liturgy. The course begins with learning the Hebrew alphabet and covers basic reading skills, preparing the participant for the experience of reading and understanding the prayer book and other Jewish texts.

Those who complete the course will be able to read Hebrew and gain a rudimentary understanding of the prayers in time for the High Holidays.

For more information about the Hebrew Reading Crash Course call Rabbi Hoffman at 981-0569 or NJOP at 1-800-44-HEBREW. NJOP, established in 1987 by Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald, offers free programs at more than 3,620 locations across North America and in 30 countries worldwide. Through programs such as Shabbat Across America/Canada and Read Hebrew American/Canada, NJOP has successfully reached more than 715,000 North American Jews and engaged them in Jewish life.

Page 12

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

August 29, 2003

Ben Gurion Society Sets Event for Sept. 24 (Continued from page 1) “What’s different about my role as chairman for the Campaign is that it gives me the opportunity to work with other young Jews, from every sector of our community, who are committed to building a strong Jewish community,” Sullivan explained.

“The Ben-Gurion Society is about more than raising money for the Campaign--it’s about stepping up and taking responsibility for the future of our community.”

Currently, there are 40 members in the Omaha Ben-Gurion Society and an event is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 24, 7 p.m., at the home of Joel Alperson. The event is co-chaired by Michael Miller, Chairman of the 2004 Young Leadership Campaign.

Alperson has been active in local and national Young Leadership Cabinet programs for many years, and credits them for fueling his passion for global Jewish issues. He explained why the BenGurion Society and Young Leadership Cabinet are so important.

“The members of the National Young Leadership Cabinet absolutely reset my standards for what giving my time and money means. To see these remarkable people being so selfless was not only touching but very inspiring to me,” Alperson insisted. “ As I tried to emulate them I developed closer relationships with them.

“Likewise the Ben Gurion Society brings young committed Jews together to help and inspire one another to even greater levels of Jewish action and knowledge,” he added. “It’s just one more powerful example of how important it is for us to work and act together.”

All Federation donors age 25-45 who are interested in finding out more about Ben Gurion Society and the event can call Sharon Kirshenbaum, Federation Men’s Campaign and Young Leadership Director, at 334-6485 or e-mail her at: skirshenbaum@jewishomaha.org.

2004 Women’s Campaign Kicks Off

by PAM MONSKY, Federation Communications Director

The 2004 Jewish Federation’s Women’s Campaign Leadership met last week at the home of Women’s Campaign Co-Chair Ruth Erman. She and her coChairman Bobbi Leibowitz stressed the urgency of this year’s Campaign with real-life examples of what modest increases in giving can accomplish.

Photos from top left: Leibowitz explained that an increased gift of $50 to the Campaign means that Jewish Family Service can make sure a local needy Jewish family has a safe car seat for their child. Erman holds up a $130 pair of shoes for the same amount, a seven-year-old Jewish child can attend a week of summer camp at the JCC. Right: Jill Belmont and Barbara Kushner are CoChairmen for the Women’s Campaign Event, featuring pianist and author Mona Golabek, Thursday, Sept. 18, 7 p.m. at Ironwood Country Club. Lower left: Kate Kirshenbaum, left, Heritage Division; Dorothy Spizman, Lifesaver’s Division;

and Robyn Belgrade, Young Women’s; catch up during the kickoff event. Lower right: The Federation Campaign Leadership Team, comprised of General Campaign Co-chairmen Maxine and Joe Kirshenbaum and the chairs of the major Campaign divisions, has added Lion of Judah to their membership, a division for women who contribute $5,000 or more to the Annual Campaign.

Susie Cohn, left, and Anne Shackman are the 2004 Lion of Judah Co-chairmen, joining Howard Epstein and Fred Tichauer, Men’s Campaign; Ruth Erman and Bobbi Leibowitz, Women’s Campaign; Bruce Shackman, Pacesetter; Michael Miller, Young Leadership Cabinet; and Carol and Steve Bloch and Jenny and Scott Meyerson, Campaign Event. For more information, Kathy McGauvran, the Federation Women’s Campaign Director, may be contacted at 334-6427 or kmcgauvran@jewishomaha.org.

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