Vol. LXXXIII No. 52 Omaha, NE
Celebrating 83 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
When Will You Meet the IDF Soldiers?
Israelis Celebrate Triumphs After Olympics
Unconventional Federation Campaign Event Set for Next Two Weeks by PAM MONSKY Lt. Assaf Ben Tzion, 24; Lt. Guy Federation Communications Director Kadmiel, 22; and Lt. Nimrod Katzav, The response from the Omaha 22. Jewish community to the Jewish Capt. Ofir is trained as a Navy Seal Federation of Omaha’s 2005 Campaign and served as the Commander of a Event, which features a visit by four D’vora patrol boat, a highly advanced active-duty Israel Defense Force (IDF) attack craft. Currently, Capt. Ofir is the officers Sept. 7-12, has been overCommander of an elite patrol unit at a whelming. Navy base. Lt. Ben Tzion is a highly According to 2005 Campaign Event trained helicopter pilot and has served Co-Chairs Jody Malashock and Marcia Marcia Pitlor and Jody Malashock in the IDF for three years. Lt. Ben Pitlor, the event is unconventional in a number of ways. Tzion comes from a family of six. “Unlike a traditional community Campaign event that’s Lt. Kadmiel attended Talpiot, an elite academy that on a single date and in a large space, we’ve scheduled accepts only 50 students a year. Currently, he serves in seven community Parlor Meetings on different days and a pilot’s course. He comes from a family of five. Lt. at different times of day. Most of the Parlor Meetings Katzav was recruited to the Givaty Combat Core, are in private homes, so the atmosphere will be relaxed Israel’s top fighter unit. After graduating from the offiand informal, allowing for cer’s course, Lt. Katzav commore personal interaction ‘Guy & Bob Special’ to Offer manded a bomb disposal between the IDF officers Sneak Preview of IDF Events unit. He comes from a famand members of the comily of four. by DIANE AXLER BAUM munity,” Malashock The IDF Soldier Event is A special edition of the “Guy & Bob Show” this explained. sponsored by the Jewish coming Tuesday, Sept. 7, noon, will spotlight four Marcia Pitlor described Federation of Omaha as young officers from the Israel Defense Forces as it other unique aspects of the part of the 2005 Annual transforms the Kripke Library into a sneak preview of event. “These IDF Officers Campaign. Funds raised events scheduled for the 2005 Federation Campaign. are hand selected through through the Federation’s JELS director Guy Matalon and ADL/CRC director United Jewish Communities Annual Campaign support Bob Wolfson will open this edition of their “show” and their visit is an Omaha Jewish causes locally and with remarks on the evolving role of Israel’s IDF. exclusive. The four officers overseas. In Omaha, Then they will pass the microphones to the officers, will return to their IDF posts Campaign dollars support representing a range of background and experience, immediately after leaving the Community Relations who have been released temporarily from active duty Omaha,” she explained. Council (CRC), the Jewish to come to Omaha. More information is available The four officers who will Community Center, Jewish through the JELS office, 334.6445 or be coming to the communiEducational and Library mgrossman@jewishomaha.org. Continued on page 3 ty are: Captain Eyal Ofir, 24;
“Live from NY’s 92 ST Y” Features Expert on Islamic World: Bernard Lewis by RACHEL BLUM Iraq and the Middle Eastern Jewish Community Center power balance. Lewis is the Program Director Cleveland E. Dodge This Fall promises to be Professor of Near Eastern an exciting time for the Studies Emeritus at Jewish community, as we Princeton University. He has are once again participating written numerous books, in the live satellite broadcast including: The Middle East: series titled, “Live from NY’s A Brief History of the Last 92nd Street Y.” 2,000 Years, a National The 92nd Street Y in New Book Critics Circle Award York City has set the stanfinalist; From Babel to dards for cultural programDragomans: Interpreting the ming, bringing in some of Middle East and What Went the most intellectual Wrong?: The Clash Between thinkers and speakers of Islam and Modernity in the our time. Through the latest Middle East, among others. in satellite technology, the According to Publisher’s JCC is able to bring these Weekly, “This lean, muscular lectures, discussions, and volume, an expansion of readings to the Omaha Lewis’s George Polk AwardJewish community at a minwinning New Yorker article, imal fee. sheds much-needed light on The live satellite broadthe complicated and volatile casts are displayed on the Middle East. To locate the Prof. Bernard Lewis 16x22 foot screen in the JCC origins of anti-American Theater. Our reception is extremely clear, and it’s as sentiment, Islamic scholar Lewis maps the history of though the speakers in New York are right here on our Muslim anxiety towards the West from the time of the stage. The entire program truly is top-notch. Crusades through European imperialism, and explains We will open our fall 2004 Season of “Live from NY’s how America's increased presence in the region since 92nd Street Y” with scholar, teacher and author Bernard the Cold War has been construed as a renewed cry of Lewis on Thursday, Sept. 9, 7 p.m. imperialism.” Join Prof. Lewis as he shares with us his thoughts on Continued on page 2
Inside
This Week: Teen Age Features Israel Experiences: Page 11 Rosh Hashanah Recipes for Sweet Challah: Pages 4-5
Central’s Class of 1954 Celebrates 50th Reunion: Page 6
10 Elul, 5764 September 3, 2004
by DINA KRAFT TEL AVIV (JTA)--Doused with champagne and confetti and greeted with loudspeakers blasting “We Are the Champions” the Israeli Olympic team received a hero’s welcome home. The celebrations at Ben-Gurion Airport on Monday capped an emotional two weeks of Israeli attention focused across the Mediterranean toward the Games in Athens. Any disappointments were overshadowed by the triumph of Gal Fridman’s gold in windsurfing and Arik Ze’evi’s bronze in judo.
Israel’s Olympic athletes returned home Aug. 30, celebrating Gal Fridman’s win in the mistral class sailing event--and Israel’s first-ever gold medal--as well as Arik Ze’evi’s bronze Credit: ISRANET medal in judo. “I am honored to be the first Israeli athlete to bring home an Olympic gold, and I hope there will be many more to follow,” Fridman told the roaring crowd. “Remember, there is no such thing as impossible. It’s wonderful that the gold medal made everyone so happy.” The Israelis’ triumphs were only two of more than dozen medals won by Jewish athletes at the Games, including two golds earned by Chile’s Nicolas Massu in tennis and several more medals by U.S. Jewish swimmers. But athletes winning medals wasn’t the only Jewish story at the Games. An Iranian athlete, Arash Miresmaeli, made international headlines after he refused to fight an Israeli competitor, Ehud Vaks, in judo. But in Israel, a country hungry for good news, the medals were the main story from this year’s Games. Newspapers published commemorative posters of Fridman, a victory laurel on his head, kissing his gold medal. Billboards were posted over major roads saying Continued on page 3
Bequest Left to Temple Israel by Walter Brandeis by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Walter Brandeis, who died on Aug. 11, 1962, left a $400,000 bequest to Temple Israel to be used for the permanent acquisition of original works of art of merit or articles of historical interest and value for exhibition in the synagogue’s building or buildings. Temple Israel was informed of the bequest upon the death of Walter Brandeis’s wife, Gladys Frost Brandeis Jacobs, earlier this year. A grandson of J. L. Brandeis, the founder of the Omaha department store, Walter was 68 when he died, according to an article in the Omaha World-Herald. In addition to the department store, Walter was also associated with Metropolitan Drug Store and was in the field of investments, reported the newspaper. Karen Guthrie, a friend of Gladys Brandeis Jacobs, said Walter and Gladys met when she worked at the cosmetics counter at Brandeis. “He wouldn’t let her work there after getting married,” Guthrie reminisced.
Coming Next Week: New Year’s Special Issue
Temple, Beth El Offer Educational , Alternative Programs: Page 8
Rosh Hashanah Crossword Puzzle: Page 10