Vol. LXXXIV No. 51 Omaha, NE
Celebrating 84 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
Deadly Medicine Topic for Lecture Series by BETH SELDIN DOTAN and PAM MONSKY for the Institute for Holocaust Education Nazi Germany has been described as a “biocracy,” a national culture that justified the killing of millions of “undesirable” individuals through appeals to pseudoscience and eugenics. Within this framework, healers became killers and medical research evolved into torture. International reactions to the war crimes committed by the Nazis under the guise of medical research became an important impetus for medical ethics in the 20th century. The American Medical Association (AMA) and United States Holocaust The eye logo, above, repreMemorial Museum sents Nazi biological poli(USHMM) have come cies that sought to “Create together to present a series the Master Race”, the subof extraordinary lectures title of the exhibition at the focusing on how the medical United States Holocaust atrocities of the Holocaust Memorial Museum. It have affected modern med- specifically reflects eugenic ical ethics. (racial hygiene) measures On Monday, Sept. 19, undertaken by the medical 7:30 p.m., Alan Wells, PhD, advocates of these policies an expert in medical ethics (geneticists, psychiatrists, formerly with the AMA, and and anthropologists) More Patricia Heberer, PhD, his- information is available torian at the Center for about the exhibition on the Advanced Holocaust Studies Museum’s website at at the United States www.ushmm.org.
Federation Honors Volunteers
Holocaust Memorial Museum will present a communitywide lecture at the Jewish Community Center. Sponsored by the Institute for Holocaust Education, Jewish Educational and Library Services, the Jewish Federation of Omaha, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the event is free and open to the public. Drs. Wells and Heberer’s presentations focus on the role that Nazi medical practices played in the development of medical ethics and the lessons today’s physicians have learned from the period leading up to the Holocaust. A collaboration between the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has also produced a special exhibition at the museum, “Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race,” which runs through Oct. 16. “During the 1930s, the German medical establishment was admired as a world leader in innovative public health and medical research,” Dr. Wells said. “The question we are asking is: ‘How could science be co-opted so that doctors as healers evolved into killers and medical research became torture?’” According to Dr. Wells, World War II era Germans were extremely advanced in medicine, technology and public health research but these successes have largely been overlooked by history because of the medical extremes of the Holocaust. For example, Germany was the first to have a high-powered electron microscope, the first to document the link between asbestos and lung cancer, and an innovator in developing high profile public health campaigns for a variety of health issues--such as anti-smoking campaigns and promoting breast self-examination to help detect tumors at an early stage. These advances and campaigns, however, were eventually aimed exclusively at the “Aryans”, the Nazi ideal of the “master race.” Continued on page 15
Dr. Martin Rosenberg to Introduce “Creating Sacred Spaces” as Temple’s Scholar-in-Residence bers of the Long Range Planning by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Committee changing the Torahs’ yearTemple Israel Communications Coordinator round bright-colored mantles to the As Temple Israel begins the process white coverings worn during the High of designing a new house of worship, Dr. Martin Rosenberg, chairman of Holy Days. Dr. Rosenberg will then the Department of Fine Arts and prospeak on “Looking Back: From fessor of art history at the Camden, Solomon’s Temple to Temple Israel: New Jersey, campus of Rutgers The Role of Synagogues in Jewish University, will serve as Temple’s Survival.” The S’lichot service and a scholar-in-residence the weekend of chocolate Oneg will bring the evening Sept. 23-25. to a sweet conclusion. He will present three talks on the To conclude his residency, Dr. topic, “Creating Sacred Spaces: Jews, Rosenberg will discuss “Looking God, and Architecture” starting with Forward: Recreating Temple Israel for the D’var Torah at the Shabbat worthe 21st Century” at a bagel brunch ship service on Friday, Sept. 23, on Sunday, Sept. 25, 10 a.m., in the 7:30 p.m. Milder Center. This will also be the Dr. Martin Rosenberg In concert with Temple’s adult edukickoff of the year’s Four B’s parent cation theme, “Reform Judaism in Transition,” this will program. The entire community is invited to attend. be a year of reflecting on the evolution of sacred time Prior to joining the faculty at Rutgers University, Dr. and sacred space for Nebraska’s oldest congregation. Rosenberg was the head of the Department of Art and Dr. Rosenberg, who was also professor of art history, Design, professor of art history, and a member of the chairperson of the Department of Art and Art History, Gender Studies Faculty at Southwest Missouri State and a member of the Women’s Studies Faculty at the University in Springfield, MO. During the 1998-99 academic year, he was on leave University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) from 198599, will focus on “Jews and Sacred Space: The from UNO as visiting scholar at the Getty Education Institute for the Arts in Los Angeles, an invited position Synagogue in Jewish Life” in his D’var Torah. On Saturday evening, Sept. 24, 7 p.m., Dr. Rosenberg given to one person each year. will join the congregation for havdalah, followed by mem- Continued on page 3
Inside Opinion Page see page 12
This Week: Teen Age Features Summer Trips to Israel on Page 11 Temple Highlights Adult Ed in Zweiback Brochure: Page 2
Jewish Genealogy Soars to New Heights: Page 4
28 Av, 5765 September 2, 2005
Rosie Zweiback, left, celebrates winning the Community Service Award for the Women’s Seder, with her daughters, Grace and Abby. Zweiback, along with Allison Latenser and Harriet Einziger, organized a community-wide Women’s Seder in April, 2004. They were among those honored last week at a Federation Board Meeting. More photos on page 16
Jewish Senior Services Adds “Full Circle” Outpatient Rehabilitation Services by RITA SHELLEY Publicity Coordinator for Jewish Senior Services Providing support for Jewish seniors to continue living independently is a central mission of Jewish Senior Services. And as the needs of seniors change, JSS changes too. JSS has added outpatient rehabilitation therapy to the range of services it provides. A new name, Full Circle Rehabilitation, applies to the newly available outpatient services and to the existing short-term care unit at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. “The words ‘full circle’ describe our services as well as the goal we share with seniors and the people who care about them,” Mike Silverman, Executive Director of JSS and the Blumkin Home, said. “For seniors who are recovering from an illness, injury or surgery, our objective is to help them return ‘full circle,’ back to the active lifestyle they enjoy. Today’s seniors are active and our therapists can help them stay that way.” During the last 12 months, more than 150 short-term residents stayed at the Blumkin Home for a few days or weeks for rehabilitation. Now that outpatient services are available, these residents can work with therapists they already know, even after returning home. Continued on page 8
Maxine Noodell, clockwise from left, Harriet Klopper, Charlotte Kaplan and Georgia Anne Steinberg are regular “out and about” players in the mah jongg group that meets in the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.
Coming Sept. 30: New Year’s Issue
Millard, Westside School Superintendents Counter OPS: Page 6
School’s Open! CDC, Friedel, BESTT: Page 9