September 7, 2007: Rosh Hashanah Edition

Vol. LXXXVI No. 51 Omaha, NE

Celebrating 85 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa

25 Elul, 5766 September 7, 2007 4 Sections

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

Making a difference in an indifferent world The war in Iraq. Genocide in Darfur. Hunger in America. Lonely seniors. Challenges for the peoples with disabilities. Making life bearable for the terminally ill. Just reading about a few ills in the world can be depressing, even overwhelming. In fact, most of us ignore what’s wrong because we don’t know where to begin. But not the men, women and teens featured in this issue. With a non-judgmental, give-and-take attitude, the Jewish Press board makes decisions using a thoughtful, creative process, always determining what’s best for the Press and the community. It’s a distinct pleasure serving with this outstanding group of volunteers in their own right. The current theme originated from the expansion of the Passover theme of 2003 -“Tikkun Olam: Repairing the World.” That issue featured volunteers doing work in the Jewish community to those having an effect on the entire community. And wow, what an impact! Readers will discover teens who work with those with physical and mental disabilities through the Special Olympics and HETRA (the Heartland Equine Therapeutic Riding Academy); learn about men and women who read to the blind, deliver Meals-on-Wheels, advocate for children, raise funds for lifethreatening diseases, befriend young people at risk, teach the illiterate to read, undertake campaigns to assist refugees ... and more. And if you think these volunteers are all young in age, think again. Certainly young-at-

heart, many of those featured in this Jewish New Year’s issue have retired from the paid workforce, but they haven’t stopped doing for others. In their 80s and even 90s, these seniors don’t have time to kvetch about the aches and pains of growing older -- they’re too busy solving consumer problems, obtaining Homestead Exemptions for the elderly, and assisting hospital visitors and patients. They’re role models for us all! Readers wouldn’t learn any of this if it weren’t for the persistence and dedication of our freelance writers. This issue’s group includes Jill Belmont, Leo Adam Biga, Gary Javitch, Gloria Shukert Jones, Bert Lewis, Joan K. Marcus, Anne Muskin, Ozzie Nogg, Claudia Sherman, and Annette Van de KampWright. On time, with great stories -- what more could an editor want? For starters -- an experienced, high energy staff -- especially in sales! Advertising Manager Allan Handleman and Advertising Executive Terri Greenwood have taken ad revenue to a new level. They’ve reached out to new friends and old with more and better service and more creative special issues in which to feature our loyal advertising clients. Then Managing Editor Richard Busse uses his unique talents to create original ads, front covers, themed issues, and layouts to produce not only this issue, but every issue in the Jewish Press’ body of work. And he never fails to amaze us! Though she’s been on maternity leave since the July 4 birth of her twin girls, Assistant Managing Editor Lori Kooper Schwarz did

manage to start production on this issue before she left, for which we’re very grateful. She’ll be back soon (we hope!) even just for a few hours a week. Assisting in her absence for the summer was college student Avi Katzman, who was already knowledgeable in our production and photo software. No training needed, which made production on this issue a smooth process. And finally, our dedicated bookkeeper Barb Kirkpatrick takes all the paperwork from our sales and editorial team and transforms all the complex information into readable invoices, mailed on a timely basis to advertisers and subscribers alike. She, too, will be out on medical leave, but former Press bookkeeper Jenina Stewart will be filling in temporarily. We have to add one special mention of Press volunteers Dottie Rosenblatt and Suzanne Singer, whose careful attention to detail help us get a fact-checked issue to readers each week. We’re also happy to have a new Press volunteer, Debra Platt, who occasionally subs for our “regulars” when they’re out of town. Savor this issue. Be inspired by the stories. And get out there to make a difference in an indifferent world. It’s a beautiful start to a new Jewish year -- 5768, when Rosh Hashanah starts Wednesday evening. On behalf of the Jewish Press board and staff, we wish you a happy and healthy, a peaceful and prosperous, and a sweet New Year, making a difference in your life and the lives of others. L’shana tova tikatayvu. Carol Katzman, editor Howard K. Marcus, president

Photos from left on front page: Alan Friedman participates at HETRA, the Heartland Equine Therapeutic Riding Academy, where his family and others featured in this issue also volunteer; pediatrician Dr. Michael Cohen has opened a

practice to treat families who pay for care on a sliding scale; K.C. Ruback, in full catcher’s gear, throws the ball back to the pitcher during a Challenger Little League game in the summer of 2006. His brother, Joe, standing right, acts as

K.C.’s buddy; attorney Sheldon Harris and his wife Janice were honored by Goodwill last spring for their leadership contributions to the organization -- one of many volunteer activities in which Shelly has lent his time and talents.

(Founded in 1920) Howard K. Marcus Chairman Carol Katzman Editor Richard Busse Managing Editor Allan Handleman Advertising Manager Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Managing Editor Terri Greenwood Advertising Executive Barbara Kirkpatrick Bookkeeper Anne Muskin Editorial Intern Jewish Press Committee Bobbi Leibowitz, Vice-Chairman; Stan Mitchell, Secretary; Scott Meyerson, Treasurer; Michael Siegel, Finance Chairman; Joanie Jacobson, Immediate Past-chairman; David Herzog; Susan Lehr; Jamie Meyerson; George Quittner; Eve Randone, Melissa Schop; Michael Sigmond; Jim Simon; Nancy Skid; and Dorothy Spizman. The role of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to involve Jews in meeting Jewish communal needs locally, nationally and in Israel. Centers of Excellence of the Federation are: Community Relations, Jewish Community Center, Center for Jewish Education, Jewish Family Service, and Jewish Senior Services. The Jewish Press is a constitutional committee of the Jewish Federation. Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Committee, the Jewish Federation of Omaha or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole. The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment. Editorial The Jewish Press is a Constitutional Committee of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Deadline for copy, ads and photos is: Thursday, 9 a.m., eight days prior to publication. E-mail editorial material and photos to: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org; send ads (in .TIF or .PDF format) to: rbusse@jewishomaha.org. Letters to the Editor Guidelines The Jewish Press welcomes Letters to the Editor. They may be sent via regular mail to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154; via fax: 1-402-334-5422 or via e-mail to the Editor at: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org.. Letters should be no longer than 250 words and must be singlespaced typed, not hand-written. Published letters should be confined to opinions and comments on articles or events. News items should not be submitted and printed as a “Letter to the Editor.” The Editor may edit letters for content and space restrictions, but should be printed as soon as possible to ensure timeliness. Letters may be published without giving an opposing view. Information shall be verified before printing. All letters must be signed by the writer, but the name can be withheld at the writer’s request. No letters should be published from candidates running for office, but others may write on their behalf. Letters of thanks should be confined to commending an institution for a program, project or event, rather than personally thanking paid staff, unless the writer chooses to turn the “Letter to the Editor” into a paid personal ad or a news article about the event, project or program which the professional staff supervised. For more information, contact Carol Katzman, Jewish Press Editor, 402.334.6450. Postal The Jewish Press (USPS 275620) is published weekly on Friday for $33 per calendar year U.S.; $40 foreign, by the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Phone: 402.334.6448; FAX: 402.334.5422. Periodical postage paid at Omaha, NE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154-2198 or e-mail to: jpress@jewishomaha. org.

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September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

V’Hadarta P’nai Zaken In Jewish tradition, every home is considered a small, sacred Tabernacle. A Mikdash Me’at. A place of safety, comfort and peace where a family is cared for with love. Since 1982, the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home has been a tangible expression of devotion and responsibility to the elders in our communal family. This New Year, we continue to honor the presence of the aged among us as we build the new Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. This enhanced facility fulfills the biblical command to rise before the old and grant splendor – hiddur – to our elders. During these Holy Days of cleansing and renewal, when we review past deeds and commit to change, let us remember those who came before us and join in the mitzvah of V’Hadarta P’nai Zaken. Respect the old. Together let us build the New Rose Blumkin Jewish Home where the elderly may dwell in beauty and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to see in the sun.

Jewish Senior Services THE ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

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of self-discovery ends by helping thousands of disadvantaged children by LEO ADAM BIGA and I told her I’d had all sorts of problems. I asked what The awakening of Jerry and Cookie Hoberman began I should do. She said, ‘I suggest you get some sensitiviin the early 1990s. Until then the hard-driving Omaha ty training for yourself and your associates.’ I didn’t even entrepreneurs went after what they wanted without know what that was.” much regard for people’s feelings. As Jews they knew On her advice Hoberman contacted Frank Hayes, the about anti-Semitism from both personal experience and black owner of his own accounting firm, Hayes and history, yet in a recent interview at their home they Associates. acknowledged they were intolerant when it came to “My immediate response was, ‘Man, I’m a CPA, I’m other minorities. not a social worker.’” Hayes Soul-searching led the recalled saying when Hobermans to take a long Hoberman called. hard look at themselves. But after the two met Their journey of self-discovHayes saw Hoberman wantery has propelled them to ed to do the right thing. help thousands of impoverHoberman assembled all his ished, mostly Africanworkers for diversity training American public school chilat which Hayes spoke about dren and their families in “some of the experiences I north Omaha. had had and how they Winners Circle, an acaaffected or impacted me,” demic and citizenship proincluding, Hayes said, “the gram the couple began in sense of frustration and one inner city school 12 anger I had as a black man years ago, has grown to 10 trying to establish a busischools, with two more slatness.” He related incidents ed to join within a year. WC that any black person could is viewed as a model for identify with, like the time a motivating students to food service worker ignored achieve and getting parents him even though it was his more involved in their chilturn in line. He had to dren’s education. demand service before he The Hobermans, once got waited on. It’s the same viewed with skepticism, even as when blacks are unfairly hostility, as white exploiters, profiled by clerks in stores or are now seen as sincere comby police in traffic. He let Jerry and Cookie Hoberman munity leaders making a difHoberman and Co. know ference. None of it would have happened without them such treatment was insensitive at best and racist at worst. being willing to face some unpleasant truths. “I just wanted to impress upon them the idea that Jerry built his own Tires Inc. business from scratch, when you serve someone you have to respect them as applying lessons learned from his days as a wagon ped- individuals, because these are the people who are going dler, selling goods from the back of a ‘54 Ford, and as a to buy your product. If you’re in a service business you partner in his father’s small family tire center downtown. have to serve the customer regardless of where you’re Cookie worked for Holland-Dreves-Reilly Advertising coming from.” before starting her own agency. Amid their own careers What Hayes also impressed upon his audience is that a each sought advice from the other. Cookie gave Tires black person enters any transaction with whites carrying Inc. its name. a history of insults and slights, making it imperative Tires Inc. grew to several locations before business fal- whites check their words and actions. tered. Drawn by lower overhead, Jerry opted to move “You may not even realize what you’re saying may be the headquarters from the 72nd Street strip to 60th and interpreted differently by a minority,” Jerry said. Ames, a poor, predominantly African-American area of “Because of their past experiences,” Cookie explained. northeast Omaha the Hobermans didn’t really know, The sobering talk had its intended effect. “It was just except by reputation. “I ended up in the inner city really eye-opening,” Jerry said. “I mean, we didn’t have against the cautions of all my friends,” Jerry said. “And clues about this,” Cookie said. family,” Cookie interjected. The talk was the first in a series Hoberman required White employees resisted the move. “I had some his employees attend. Others addressed issues on the employees who said they wouldn’t go to north Omaha elderly, women, the disabled and HIV/AIDS patients. -- that they would rather leave than stay with us,” he “I’ll tell you, sometimes we had tears in our eyes when said. you just realized what people go through,” Hoberman Cookie said preconceived notions spelled trouble. said. “Well, we came to north Omaha with as much stereoEach talk was followed by discussion. typic bias and ignorance as most people that never go to “We’d have meetings and just talk about relationships the inner city,” she said. “I think we were naive.” with people,” Hoberman said, “and it really built some No sooner did Tires Inc. open its North O digs than sensitivity in us as we came face to face with some of our tensions surfaced. own biases. Prior to that, when we were having all these “We had a lot of racial issues, a lot of problems,” Jerry problems, I built a wall between our company and the said. “We had arguments. Sometimes a small fight community. After we awakened ourselves it was the would break out between my associates and the African- other way around. We embraced, we understood the American population. It was not a very smooth transi- individuals that came through our door. We saw we tion.” could become a part of the community.” Threats were made. Hoberman didn’t give an inch. “Awareness,” Cookie said, made all the difference. Rather than reaching out to mend fences, he closed Race relations improved dramatically. ranks, making his business a fortress. “In the community itself we went from being inter“I bought special insurance -- kidnap and ransom. I lopers and separate to becoming part of the fabric of the had special alarm systems put in that when you push a community. We never had any more problems,” he said. button it goes right to the police. We did a lot of these Hayes became a close friend of the Hobermans. things and all we did was separate ourselves,” he said. They’ve had him over for seder. They’ve vacationed “It’s amazing what fear does,” Cookie added. together. Things came to a head when a member of a prominent In line with this new awareness Hoberman realized local black family took issue with the unequal way her the way he treated his own employees left much to be credit was handled compared to white customers. desired. Problems arose as the business grew and “One of my employees referred to her in a very dis- Hoberman grew more distant from his rank-and-file paraging manner,” Jerry said. “He called her ‘Aunt associates That’s when, Cookie said, her husband Jemima.’ She was really irate. A lovely lady, she came in vowed, “‘I want to get to know my people again.’” and visited with me and told me what had taken place Continued on page 5

September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 5

Omaha couple’s journey of self-discovery Continued from page 4 The personnel problems were articulated by a mechanic who “came up to me one day and said, ‘You know, all you treat me like is a tool...You don’t care about myself, my family. What I do is I turn a wrench for you and make you a living.’ Hoberman recalled. “I thought about that and he was right. He was just someone to make money for me and that’s not the way to think about individuals. When I recognized that I had a real desire to change and I did. I really did.” Hoberman devised an incentive program at the struggling Tires Inc. to boost employee performance-morale. He called it the Winners Circle. At its core was goal-setting and recognition. When a division would meet its goals a celebration dinner or picnic would be held at which every team member was recognized “for a job well done.” The program turned things around at the business. “I was looking to do something to bring us together because we were in disarray and the Winners Circle created a great deal of camaraderie and excitement within the company,” Hoberman said. “It was a team-building kind of thing where everybody worked for their goals. We formed personal relationships.” “People felt valued,” said Cookie, who added the model for the program was as much the Jewish Passover seder as anything. The company came together as a family and everyone felt a part of the whole. “It broke a barrier,” she said. “They got to meet the president of the company and his wife. They called us by our first names. We knew their children’s names and what was going on in their families. It elevated the sense of value and

respect they felt.” Hoberman also made it company policy to hire more qualified blacks. The next step in the couple’s evolution came when the late Cornelius Jackson, then-principal at the former Belvedere Elementary School, paid Hoberman a call and “said something that started us down this road” of helping public school children. “He said, ‘You know Mr. Hoberman, you take money from this community -- what are you giving back to it? I have a lot of problems with my school. Will you help me?’ So I talked to Cookie about it and it was so true. We were making our living in the black community and we were giving absolutely nothing back to it.” The couple visited the school at 3775 Curtis Avenue, where they were “appalled” by the conditions. A total of three Apple computers to serve hundreds of students. No usable playground equipment. A racial divide between teachers. Undisciplined students. Classroom disruptions. Little parental involvement. Academically, Belvedere ranked next to last among OPS elementary schools. “They had all kinds of problems,” Hoberman said. “It was just a real challenge.” Despite the daunting needs, Cookie said she and Jerry found “inspiring the dedication and commitment” of teachers and staff who “must fill a lot more roles”

than their counterparts in suburbia. The rampant north Omaha poverty now making news is a reality the Hobermans began learning about years ago. How, for example, most inner city students qualify for free-and-reduced lunches, how many are from single-parent homes and how many lead highly mobile, unstable lives. The couple agreed to make Tires Inc. an Adopt-A-School Partner of Belvedere. A basic need was filling the resource gap. The Hobermans found donors to underwrite the cost of dozens of new computers. The couple organized, with help from Tires Inc. employees, a carnival held on the grounds of the company. Proceeds from the event raised money for more equipment and improvements. “Everybody got on board,” Hoberman said. The Hobermans also found in Carol Ellis, who replaced the retiring Jackson as principal, an administrator open to new approaches, such as Hoberman’s idea to adapt the successful Winners Circle program at Tires Inc. to Belvedere. “Based on what I had in my business I felt the same idea would work within the schools,” he said. Hoberman and Ellis worked out the details, setting goals in reading, math and citizenship. Other changes were made, with input from staff and parents, including changing the school’s name to Belvedere Academy and introducing uni-

“Really, all it is, is having a child have an individual goal and rewarding that child for meeting that goal,” Hoberman said. “That’s the essence -- just giving recognition the same as we did in my business.”

forms with the school name on them. “We wanted the children to feel they were special,” he said. “It was all part of building...” “Self-esteem,” said Cookie. That’s why then, and now, the program is based on affirmation. Public ceremonies award gold medals to children who meet goals. Goal busters are eligible for prizes, from bikes to boom boxes. Classrooms that make goals receive $50 checks that the class can use how they want. “Really, all it is, is having a child have an individual goal and rewarding that child for meeting that goal,” he said. “That’s the essence -- just giving recognition the same as we did in my business.” “Celebrating their success,” Cookie said. “The prerequisite for that is to reinforce with the child that they are smart and they can achieve. The first time I walked into the classroom I asked the children, ‘If you think you’re smart, raise your hand,’ and maybe two or three kids did. Today, all the kids raise their hand.” To add accountability and encouragement Cookie visited every classroom four times a year. She had each student proclaim his/her quarterly goals in front of the whole class. She was the original Goal Buddy. More than 200 Goal Buddies serve today. Hoberman admires what his wife did and the connections she made. “Cookie’s great with kids,” he said. “She’d visit with every one of those 550 kids, asking, ‘What is your goal? Are you going to make your goal?’ and saying, ‘I’m going to be back to check on you.’ She would encourage each child and build great rapport. The kids just loved her.” Continued on page 6

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

Omaha couple’s journey of self-discovery Continued from page 5 She and Jerry discussed their Jewishness with children. Their three daughters got involved, too. Cookie even introduced her passion for bridge to kids. “The Goal Buddy component became a much more important aspect then I ever thought it was going to be,” she said, “because of the personal contact with a real person outside the educational system taking interest in them. It had a lot influence. Kids perceived it as really important support.” Tierre Tucker, 19, is a Creighton University student, but 12 years ago he was at Belvedere when Winners Circle began. He can attest to what “a great impact it makes just to know that somebody cares. With Winners Circle we actually had to work toward achieving goals. It gave us something to look forward to. It gave you a sense of accomplishment. That’s what I felt when I met my goals. It let me know I can do anything as long as I put forth great effort.” The Hobermans have mentored Tierre all these years. “They’re like another set of parents,” he said. He’s come far and aimed high under their guidance. “I owe that to the Hobermans,” he said. “I don’t think I would have known exactly how to get there. That’s what makes them such lovable people -- their optimism for the future.” Social skills are also part of the Winners Circle and thus kids are taught to make eye contact, shake hands firmly and speak up when meeting people. “It’s teaching them about life,” Cookie said. Goal Buddies, recruited from local corporations, now visit classrooms eight times a year. Captains, also recruited from the community, host quarterly celebrations recognizing individual and classroom achievements. Students and their families attend along with teachers, staff and special guests -- from Omaha Public Schools Superintendent John Mackiel to Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey. OPS fully endorses Winners Circle. Mackiel recommends what schools make a good fit for the program. The district provides office space for WC staff. District researchers also provide data that helps WC staff track school performance/trends. The program uses mantras, repeated by teachers, aides, Goal Buddies and Captains, to motivate and inspire. “Do you know that you’re winners?” “Yes,” children respond. “We know that you are winners, too.” “Are you smart?” “Yes.” “I know you are.” In unison, kids and adults say, “Going for my goal, going for the gold.” The concept, Cookie said, is that “if you think you’re smart, you’ll be smart.” Mottoes or platitudes aside, Hoberman said,“I am a businessman and I measure things. I’m not going to put

all this work and effort into something that doesn’t show results.” “This isn’t just a feel-good program,” Cookie said. They’ve got the numbers to show Winners Circle works. Three years after its inception Belvedere’s academic ranking went from 56th to 15th out of 57 schools. That improvement has been maintained and replicated in other schools. In the process of changing a school’s culture, students feel better about themselves and when that occurs greater cooperation, motivation and achievement follow. “Can you imagine the kind of joy and excitement Cookie and I receive to know we’re making a difference in people’s lives?” Hoberman said. The couple see it and hear it all the time -- from parents who “put their arms around us and say, ‘Thank you for what you’re doing.’” to Winners Circle grads “who tell us, ‘I want you to know I’m still making my goals.’ That’s the greatest reward. What’s that worth?”

Three years after its inception Belvedere’s academic ranking went from 56th to 15th out of 57 schools. That improvement has been maintained and replicated in other schools. In the process of changing a school’s culture ,students feel better about themselves and when that occurs greater cooperation, motivation and achievement follow. Besides improved test scores at Winners Circle schools, staff spend less time disciplining students, school spirit and pride soar and parents turn out in force for school activities. Ten schools serving 5,000 students have been transformed in this way. Two south Omaha schools will soon join the program. Ellis said the Hobermans made it all possible. “I couldn’t imagine doing it without the support we’ve been given, the gift we’ve been given by their involvement,” Ellis said. “It allowed us to go to heights we had hoped for but didn’t have the means to accomplish. It wasn’t just the money, it was the caring. It gave us hope we could make things different.” Success at Belvedere both mirrored and fed the turnaround at Tires Inc.. As the business began treating people right, customers and employees felt valued and profits rose. As students and teachers felt empowered, attitudes changed and test scores shot up. The good neighbor policy reaped dividends all around.

“The 60th and Ames store started making more money than the other stores when it had been at the bottom,” Cookie said. “Not only was Jerry feeling good about himself, his people were feeling good about themselves. There’s no substitute for giving and that’s what was happening at Tires Inc.. Similarly at Belvedere problems started to dissolve because people were getting on board with something positive.” That first school year the program was in effect, attendance at the quarterly Winners Circle celebrations surged from 100 the first quarter to more than 1,000 the last quarter. The celebrations still attract big crowds today. It’s not uncommon for a child’s immediate and extended family to be there. Ellis said it may be the first time someone in the family has been honored at school. Hoberman said that surge of support gives lie to the perception that parents in the inner city don’t take an active interest in their children’s education. “These parents do care about their kids,” he said. During a celebration each child is called on stage to receive a gold medal as the crowd applauds. There are hand shakes. Parents form a victory tunnel to greet and take pictures as their honored sons or daughters come off stage, beaming. Holding a mike, Hoberman, his booming bass voice in fine form and his trademark pony tail flying, emceed the event himself in dynamic fashion those early years, “yelling and screaming” as he exhorted the crowd to give it up for the kids. “He was a rock star leading this parade,” said the now retired Carol Ellis. “He was powerful, he was wonderful,” said Winners Circle director Beth Smith. She heads a staff of five that do what Jerry and Cookie once did all by themselves. Now captains do the emceeing, following Hoberman’s cheerleading example. Ellis said the Hobermans personally saw to every detail at the start. Now that there’s a professional staff in place, the couple take a less hands-on role, but still keep a close tab on things. The fact they took Winners Circle on together, first at Tires Inc. and then in the schools, is typical of the way they tackle things. “Cookie and I have been married 41 years and we’ve always been a team,” Jerry said, “so when I had problems in my business I would go home and we would talk about it. Cookie was always an integral part of what I did.” “And vice versa,” Cookie said, adding, “We work well together separately. Jerry does his thing, I do my thing, then we have meetings and we report back.” It’s how they ran the Jewish Federation of Omaha campaign one year. They’ve assumed many local leadership positions in the Jewish community over the years. Continued on page 7

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Omaha couple’s journey Continued from page 6 The Hobermans long ago earned what a Captain, Paul Bryant, calls “street cred” by proving they were genuine about making good on their promises and staying in it for the long haul. But they had to earn that trust. “When we first went to Belvedere there were a lot of families that wanted to know what were these white Jewish people doing in our school. What do they want with our kids? And rightfully so,” Cookie said. “A few years later we received a wonderful letter from one of the parents that said, ‘I really didn’t believe you. I didn’t trust you. I was wrong. Thank you for what you’ve done in our school.’ And we’ve heard that more and more now.”

Holland is struck by what the Hobermans have accomplished. “They’re highly compassionate people and also what they’ve done is an exercise in wisdom,” Holland said. “A lot of times disadvantaged children don’t have any belief in the future and Winners Circle overcomes a lot of that despair.” Holland’s late wife put in motion the latest chapter in Winners Circle, a merger with the All Our Kids mentoring program. For all its success, Winners Circle stopped at the sixth grade, leaving students without the support of the program from middle school on. To address that interruption, a pilot program called Bright Futures Partnership continues the Winners Circle from seventh grade

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HOCKENBERGS 7002 F Street Jerry and Cookie Hoberman, center, and their youngest daughter Jennifer, back row left, congratulate students from the Winner’s Circle upon receiving their trophies from Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey on May 28, 2004. “When we started this program,” Jerry said, “we were told by educators and by members of the African American community ‘Don’t start this if you’re not going to keep doing it, because we’ve seen too many people make promises they don’t keep.’” As Cookie said, “You don’t go into the inner city and give them a taste of honey and then take it away from them.” Bryant said the Hobermans live their values: “That’s what makes them so special. It’s easy to throw some money at it. But they invested themselves into it. Their commitment -- that’s what makes them different.” Longevity for the program is what the Hobermans want. It’s why, Cookie said, “we had to make provisions for it to go on past us.” When Jerry sold Tires Inc. in ‘98, finding more support became paramount as Winners Circle operates entirely on private donations. He directs the fund raising apparatus himself, sending out thousands of appeal letters. It costs some $45,000 to maintain Winners Circle in a school on an annual basis. With there about to be 12 participating schools, it takes half-a-million dollars to cover expenses. With the help of major funders such as Dick and Mary Holland and Wally Weitz, the program has thrived and expanded. When the Hobermans recruit new donors they let the children sell Winners Circle. “When you’re with the kids they capture your heart,” he said. “We picked Dick (Holland) up one night and took him down to the Winners Circle celebration and that was it. The kids touched his and Mary’s hearts and the Hollands just embraced the program. Dick said, ‘What do you need to expand it?’”

through high school, with mentoring offered in a seamless stream. “We’ve accomplished our dream,” Hoberman said. Those who know the Hobermans, like Frank Hayes, say they “are genuinely good people.” Beth Smith left corporate America five years ago looking to make a difference and she said, “I feel blessed to have come upon them (the Hobermans). Their hearts and their passion is for the children.” Hayes said the couple “are an extremely good example of the good that can come when people take a risk and step out of their comfort zone. They made a significant shift in the way they saw things and as a result of that they’ve lived a better, richer life. The return on their investment has been significant. Teachers, students, parents have benefited by it from interacting with them and Jerry and Cookie have benefited from interacting with them.” Jerry Hoberman said his motivation for Winners Circle is in part “payback for all those years I made judgments of other people and I was insensitive toward individuals and their needs.” His awakening revealed “the inequality and struggles these kids have. I’ve gotten to know them and their families. I understand the challenges they have. Education is the road for them to move up and anything we can do to try and even the playing field makes us feel really good.” “It’s changed our lives,” he said. “We’ve built friends and relationships that are just...” “Invaluable,” added Cookie, who said moving “beyond our own circles” has promoted personal growth. “It’s enhanced our lives,” Jerry said. “I like myself a lot better now ... there were times when I really didn’t.”

Page 8

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

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Judaism and the healing arts by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT in need, but the additional stress of having to wonder For most of us, there is only one logical thing to do where the money will come from. It can be extremely when we feel sick: we visit our doctor. He or she listens to difficult to navigate the bureaucratic aspect, and many our complaints, checks us out; we fill our prescription and people have problems finding out what their options pay our bill, either with or without the help of insurance. are, and where to get the best care for their children. The same cannot be said for those that have no insur“The child’s needs come first,” Cohen says. ance, nor the financial means to pay that bill. For those “Especially when you have a relationship with a patient people, the idea of visiting the doctor’s office looms like and his or her family, you continue care regardless of the a dark cloud over an already stormy day. circumstances. A pediatrician should always treat his Currently, 15.9 % of Americans have no health insur- patients as extended family, and it is not only this family ance. What’s worse: there are 8.3 million children under that needs peace of mind; it’s the doctor as well. You just the age of 18 in the United States without health cover- want to know the child is getting the best care possible.” age. In the year 2007, children’s health insurance pro- Cohen says: “You just sleep better at the end of the day, grams in 17 states face federal funding shortfalls totaling knowing that you did what was necessary; you helped a an estimated $800 million, equal to the cost of covering child feel better, you calmed a parent’s fears. I feel espemore than 500,000 low-income children. cially compassionate towards parents now that I have For the past 2400 years, the Hippocratic Oath has children of my own.” been taken by doctors worldwide as they embark on He adds there has to be a basic respect for other peotheir careers. It states: “I will follow that system of regi- ple, regardless of their needs or situations: “You always men which, according to my ability and judgment, I need to treat others as human beings first and foremost. consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from My father used to say, ‘education is a privilege, not a whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will give no right’. I try to live by those words by using my educadeadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such tion to help others.” counsel.” Cohen is the first to admit that his parents have been Hippocrates did not menvery influential in the choiction cost, health insurance, es he has made. “My mother or government funded was the first one in her famhealth care. ily to attend college. She The central task of the docmade no secret of the fact tor, then, is to heal. All else is that she wanted me to go to secondary. This sentiment is medical school. My father, shared by Dr. Michael Cohen on the other hand, only of the recently opened went as far as the eighth Village Pointe Pediatrics grade. They both valued Clinic. However, medicine is education very much, and not free. Although helping even though I made sure people is gratifying, Cohen that a medical career was concurs that it doesn’t pay ultimately my personal the bills. choice, they were the ones “Particularly when I was that motivated me and made starting out as a pediatrician it possible.” with a young family to supCohen’s father also instilled port, volunteer opportunithe spirit of tzedakah in his ties weren’t always easy to son: “He was very involved in the Jewish community, as come by,” according to Cohen. Nonetheless, he Stacie Brodkey brings her children, Julia and Benjamin, to well as Omaha as a whole. He was aware of global issues, tried and found that when Dr. Cohen for their annual check-ups. one looks hard enough, chances for volunteering can be but maintained that, in order to solve global problems, one has to start locally. You don’t have to limit yourself to easily found. Together with his wife Karen, also a pediatrician, they only Jewish causes; there is a multitude of needy people taught a parenting class at Beth El Synagogue that right outside your door that can use your help. Whether focused on pediatric care for newborns, as well as gener- you’re volunteering at the Food Bank, the Sienna Francis al medical advice where needed. While still a resident, he House, or helping your own neighbors, you’re doing volunteered at “One World”, the former Indian Chicano something to improve the world we live in.” Recently, Michael Cohen and five of his colleagues center, where he provided care to immigrant families. It enabled him to connect with a segment of society that opened their private practice at the Village Pointe shopoften goes ignored: “The gratitude you receive is enor- ping center. Although most of the patients are insured, and have no trouble paying for services, the clinic offers mous, but you feel the rewards are all yours.” In May of this year, Cohen was given the more opportunities for helping those in need. This is an “Outstanding Teaching Award” by the University of exciting prospect for all involved, since it will enable these Nebraska Medical Center. Cohen says he spends about doctors to reach out to individual families, and thereby 25 % of his time as volunteer faculty member teaching to positively affect the Omaha community as a whole. “Some families will suddenly lose their insurance, medical students. On average, one student a month follows him around, thereby gaining valuable experience because a job situation changes,” Cohen says. “Others about what it means to be a pediatrician in the real will fall on hard times for one reason or another, and if world. It is not the first time Cohen earned this award; they have been coming to us for a certain amount of while still a resident, UNMC first recognized him for his time, we will continue seeing them. We can work out the details later, after the patient has been helped.” volunteering. Judaism has imprinted Cohen with certain morals and “Being on the Med Center’s faculty as a volunteer enables me to stay very connected to the Omaha med- values that fit in very well with the practice of medicine. This Jewish tradition ranges from the early teachings of ical community,” says Cohen. In addition, Cohen has partnered with the Humane Maimonides to Dr. Isaac Hays, who developed the Society. Pets that are in need of homes are brought to the AMA’s first code of ethics. It connects Jonas Salk, who clinic to visit with pediatric patients. “The interaction developed the first polio vaccine, to Nobel Prize winners between pets and children is beneficial to both,” he says. such as Elie Metchnikoff, Paul Ehrlich, and Joseph Cohen has taken fresh vegetables as payment for servic- Goldstein, to name but a few. Cohen is very aware of the long tradition he takes part es rendered, seen patients at no cost when they suddenly found themselves without insurance, and made many an in, and the high standards his many predecessors have unscheduled and unbilled house call when the need arose. set: “Judaism makes us strive for better education and However, it is the children that are closest to his heart. better understanding for our fellow man. Judaism is “Pediatric care means not only taking care of children, uniquely compassionate, and therefore makes a great but the parents as well,” according to Cohen. “You treat breeding ground for the healing arts. Every Jew is the medical symptoms, but you are also there to calm required to have a sense of compassion.” For Cohen, this compassion comes before billing. parents’ fears. It can be very frightening when a child is After all, Rabbi Judah ibn Tibbon, the 12th century ill, and often times you have to be a counselor as well as a doctor. The goal is to relieve suffering and provide doctor, humanist, scholar, and translator, counseled: “You may accept fees from the rich, but heal the poor peace of mind.” Cohen has seen this peace of mind crumble on numer- without charge.” The research may have changed, and so have the methous occasions, when parents of children with medical needs all of a sudden lose insurance. Parents are then not ods with which modern medicine treats its patients, but only faced with the scary reality of watching their child Dr. Cohen’s code of conduct remains clearly the same.

September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 9

No meetings ... please! by JOAN K. MARCUS David Meyers is a “hands on” guy who will do almost any kind of volunteer work. However, he draws the line when it comes to attending meetings. He loves to help others -- until people try to organize him onto a committee. That’s when he quits because, as he says, “It isn’t fun anymore.” His volunteer jobs run the gamut -from driving people to doctor’s appointments to working with cancer patients at a local hospice. Meyers was born in Minneapolis in 1930. He came to Omaha in 1956 because his uncle had a warehouse business here. “The business -- Nebraska Warehouse Company -- needed someone. My uncle had split with his partner and needed help. I qualified; I was young and volunteered to come here.” His uncle died shortly thereafter and Dave became eligible to buy the business. According to Dave, it was a case of being in the right place at the right time. “Had my uncle lived, I doubt I would have had any future with the company.” Nebraska Warehouse Company warehouses products for other people. They act as shipping agents or as an “over supply house.” Meyers was only 26-years-old when he came to Omaha. He was already married to the former Sue Wolkoff. Today, they have three grown sons, Jon, Joe and Bill, and three grandchildren. “At that age, we were wrapped up raising a family and trying to make a living. I never had a chance to do any significant volunteer work. As time went on, and things got a little brighter, I served on the Jewish Federation Board and one or two

other boards,” he explained. “I always begged the presidents of the boards to give me any project -- but not to make me come to the meetings!” he smiled. “More frequently than not, they would turn me down because they wanted me to come to meetings. I think most meetings are a waste of time because people talk too much -- they think they need to prove they are intelligent. I found that frustrating and I began looking for projects where I could work on my own -without doing organizational work.” David’s first volunteer project was serving on the Caring Committee at Temple Israel with Harriett Sperling. He started Temple’s Red Cross Blood Drive. “We called people directly and asked them to give blood. Then, we had to be there when they came to donate. It was only a once a year thing,” he said, which made it an easy volunteer experience for most of the blood donors. While serving on the Caring Committee, Meyers delivered audio phones to people who were “shut ins” and wanted to hear High Holy Day services from home. He then became involved with VIE (Volunteers In Equity). He answered phones for elderly people who called in with problems. And he acted as a conservator for people who had handicaps and were unable to handle their own affairs. He was appointed through the courts and enjoyed the work -- until they wanted him to come to meetings! Dave’s next volunteer job was driving elderly and disabled people to appointments at the Eastern Nebraska Office on

Sincere Good Wishes To You

David Meyers Aging. “My job was to take the people to the doctor, wait during the appointment and then drive them home -- or take them to pick up their prescriptions,” he explained. “Once, I picked up a lady and she wanted to stop at the Hinky Dinky Store to ‘pick up her prescription.’ I waited and waited in the car and finally, I went in to see where she was. Well, it seemed that she was picking up her prescription all right, but in the liquor department!” Dave retired early, in about 1985, and took on even more volunteer jobs. He went to “work” for Radio Talking Book, an organization that produces radio programs for people who are blind. Volunteers read newspapers, periodicals,

even grocery ads and menus to give the visually impaired an opportunity to be current on the news and other events. But he didn’t stop there; his next project was working for SCORE (Senior Corp of Retired Executives), an organization that helps people start new businesses. “People came to us with dreams and we tried to help them get organized. Sometimes, I would even discourage people from starting businesses if I didn’t feel they could succeed,” he said. “Now, that was interesting work.” However, probably his most difficult, but most rewarding volunteer experience is as a hospice volunteer. “That was tough work because I went into homes where the dying patient had little family or friends,” he said. “I would sit with the sick so that a spouse could get out to shop or just have a little break. It is, however, difficult to do it for an extended period of time.” Ten years ago, at the suggestion of a neighbor, Dave began preparing income tax returns for the elderly. After registering for a class, he began helping the elderly. During the course of events, he was asked to assist those applying for Homestead Property Tax Exemptions, a program for elderly people who qualify for help with their property taxes. The program is administered through Nebraska county offices and the results are calculated according to income and exemptions. Continued on page 13

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

Family: major inspiration in attorney’s volunteer success by GARY JAVITCH For attorney Jill Goldstein, “It is very important to be involved in the community. I didn’t always think that way, though,” she said. Two things really changed her attitude. The Honors graduate from the Washington University law school felt differently after she participated in an Omaha Chamber of Commerce leadership program in 2000. “Before that, I didn’t know how to get involved and what the city needed. “The Chamber program really opened my eyes. From them, I learned so many things about what the city offered and what the city needed in the way of support. I fell in love with the city,” she continued. “I realized there were so many things I didn’t know about Omaha, even though I grew up here.” But with so many organizations out there she made a decision early on to focus on one organization or she would be spread too thin. Jill chose to get involved with youngsters. “Children aren’t in a position to help themselves. I believe that it is important to provide children with every opportunity possible and it ultimately benefits the community as a whole.” If it was the Chamber program that helped Jill see the path that she could follow, it was her family that gave her the necessary impetus to launch her volunteer activities in a way that would truly make a difference in the lives of Omahans. That desire to help others started with her late father. “My dad left me an amazing legacy. I think that is the greatest gift you can give any child. People still stop

me on the street. They e-mail me and tell me what an incredible person and attorney he was - and how unique he was. He was a mentor to me.”

mother was involved in numerous volunteer organizations while I was growing up, such as the Omaha Symphony, Rockbrook School, Junior League and many others. She has recently been very involved in Child Saving Institute (CSI) and got me involved in it as well.” Jill mastered the “giving back” concept from her parents quite well. She has gone on to become a super-volunteer, contributing to organizations that help her children’s school district, the Jewish Federation, and the Children’s Museum, among a long list of others. How does she do it all? Jill and Joe Goldstein and sons, Alex, five, and Jack, nine. “The phrase ‘I don’t have At the age of 46, Bennett Hornstein time’ doesn’t mean a whole lot to me..I died of a rare form of bone cancer, which think you just make time for the things he contracted when Jill was in junior that are important to you. And, I defihigh. “I was 19 when he died,” she nitely wouldn’t be able to juggle everyobserved. “But I watched him work as a thing if it weren’t for my husband, Joe. Public Defender (PD) and commit his life He is extremely supportive and he is to helping ‘the poor and powerless.’ A incredible with our boys,” she related. PD job could be a thankless one. But he The Child Saving Institute is a great worked very hard at it, and it was some- organization; Jill says her main volunteer thing he loved to do. At the same time, focus is with CSI. According to its webmy father was very involved in communi- site, the 100 plus-year old organization ty issues and devoted himself to helping exists to help children and families, by those who could not help themselves. If it preventing and treating child abuse and were not for my father, I definitely neglect. They do that by providing emerwouldn’t be the same person - probably gency services to children and teens in crinot even a lawyer. sis, and by offering therapy for physically “I feel like my dad provided the social and sexually abused children. They offer justice and politics side for me and my other programs as well, including adopmom, Nancy, taught me about the people tion services. side of life and to care about people. My “I want to be involved with CSI as long

as they will let me. It is such a well-run organization. The staff at CSI are so committed and it provides such important services to the community,” Jill stated. Indeed, Jill has helped it become so by serving CSI in many capacities, such as president, fundraiser, committee chair, and event chair. To pay her tribute, the CSI board bestowed upon her its prestigious Ambassador of the Year Award (2005). Jill’s successes caught the attention of other charities in the city, too. “Other non-profits invited me to join their boards and I was able to help a number of them in many ways,” she added. Continuing their family tradition of giving back, Jill noted, “We have been very blessed. That’s why our family set up the Bennett G. Hornstein Scholarship Fund as the twentieth anniversary of my father’s death came closer. My mother, Nancy, and the three kids: Beth, Joe, and I established the fund with a mission to educate law students studying at UNL or Creighton. But not just any law students. To honor Bennett, a UC-Berkeley law graduate, and to continue his legacy of helping the helpless, they wanted candidates who could demonstrate a high standard of academic achievement, an adventurous spirit and a desire to take on an active role in the community, a family press release announced when the fund opened. Jill, a partner at Kutak Rock, has been with the firm for 13 years. In August, she and Joe celebrated 13 years of marriage. The couple has two boys, Jack and Alex. With the support of her family and work, Jill has helped Omaha become a better place. Her father, in particular, would be very proud.

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Providing an excellent Shabbos you can help out, besides bringing food or dropping by for a visit. There are several residents at the Blumkin Home without family in town. The community needs to take the place of family, and find out what the needs of these residents are. “We try to individualize our attention,” Josephson says. “A good example is when one of the residents expressed a love for music, and we arranged for her to have a ‘boom box’’ and several CDs to listen to. That made her happy, and it is nice for her to know that somebody cares enough to take care of that for her.” The three women add that it is essential to establish relationships between residents in the Blumkin Home and the community at large. “It is good to give to others, and respecting and caring for our elderly is a mitzvah,” Epstein emphasizes. Performing mitzvot is nothing new for the members of the caring committee. All are involved with many different organizations and activities in the community: from support groups to working with teenage mothers, from teaching at Temple to volunteering at the Children’s Museum. One of the most important volunteer opportunities may be the organization of “Caring Kids.” “We meet once a week to promote the integration of our youth with the older members of our community,” Epstein explains. “The younger members write letters to people who are 75 and older, and thereby learn how important it is to integrate the generations.” The three women credit Temple Israel’s Rabbi Aryeh Azriel for keeping them motivated. “Rabbi Azriel is very good at motivating anybody, because he meets with us often, and never drops the ball. He is very skilled at never giving up, and always follows up with any ideas that we have.” Rabbi Azriel is proud of all the Temple members that are involved in caring work: “These are mitzvot that belong in the category of ‘Ben Blumkin Home resident Eli Stone is one of many of Omaha’s elderly who welcomes a weekly Adam Lechaver’, occurvisit from Judy Josephson, left, Bonnie Pfrenger, and Lisa Epstein. ring between one human Jewish community that finds itself in the ‘elderly’ brack- being and another,” the rabbi says. “The goal is to bring et is considerably higher than average; currently, 19% of the spirit of compassion, caring, and intimacy among our members and the members of the community.” Jews are 65 and over. Rabbi Azriel adds that many people at Temple are Many older Jews remain actively engaged in their communities. Nationally, synagogue membership involved, and they don’t just limit themselves to visiting remains steady at 43%, and 29% are members of their the Blumkin Home: “Our volunteers have touched the JCCs; 22% of the elderly participate in adult education; lives of lonely souls throughout the community as they 22% volunteer their time for one or more good causes, search for healing and strength.” All agree that caring for others has a powerful affect and 43% belong to other Jewish organizations. The numbers prove that elderly Jews remain reasonably on both the giver and the receiver. “It is very rewarding involved in their community; however, it needs to be a to visit people that are grateful to have company,” Josephson says. “We sometime visit residents who aren’t two-way street. Also, the undeniable conclusion one has to draw from sure why they are here and don’t remember much. They the above numbers is that while a certain percentage of need to find a replacement family, if you will, at the the elderly is actively involved, the remainder is not. For Home. We can be part of that family by providing a those elderly that don’t have family, community involve- familiar face from week to week.” The Caring Committee also provides residents with a ment or the means to engage in out-of-door activities, loneliness can be the biggest enemy. It is not pity they lively connection to Temple, as many of them don’t necessarily have the means to make it to actual services: need -- it’s simple human contact. This is where the Temple Israel Caring Committee Shabbat comes to the Blumkin Home once a month; comes in. And Lisa Epstein, Judy Josephson, and and the synagogues are involved. Everyone takes turns bringing services to the people. Bonnie Pfrenger are the backbone of this committee. Josephson has the following advice for those who want “It almost started by accident,” Lisa Epstein says, “because I happened to have some leftover challah and to get involved: “Ask yourself, am I really benefiting decided to bring it to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. others? What we think may be beneficial may not always I thought some of the residents might enjoy it.” Those be exactly what we need to do; it is tempting to do what first challahs paved the way for what has now become a is easy rather than what is needed.” When done right, caring for others can transform lives weekly routine for the three women. Every Friday for on both ends, according to Rabbi Azriel. “We are not the past year and a half they have visited the residents. “We bake something every week,” Judy Josephson talking about casual meetings here; we are talking about says, “especially soft foods because some Blumkin resi- transforming encounters between two or more human dents have trouble chewing the crunchier goods. For beings,” he says. Rabbi Azriel is always looking to motivate others, espeinstance, for Purim we made soft-baked cially those who are “too busy” to volunteer. “I try to Hamantaschen.” The women try to not just restrict themselves to visit- educate, motivate, and sometimes agitate people into ing members of Temple Israel, but anyone who needs a looking at the sacred life around them,” he smiles. “When little extra company. They also hope this will increase the a community’s elders are forgotten, or ignored, that comdialogue with other synagogues. It is a great way to get munity dies spiritually as a result of depleted values.” members involved they say, since there are so many ways Continued on page 23 by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Many of us know the feeling: it’s Friday afternoon and we are looking forward to a nice and peaceful Shabbat. Maybe we have already prepared our dinner; candles are waiting, and friends and family have been invited. Maybe we are going over to someone’s home; maybe we plan on services or just relaxing and saving synagogue for Shabbat morning. However we plan on spending our evening, it often promises to be the highlight of our week. Shabbat paints a pretty picture and it is easy to forget it is not the reality for everyone. There are many elderly in our community and loneliness among the elderly has become more of an issue in recent years More than 14% of Nebraskans in general are 65 years and over and there has been a rapid growth in the elderly population over the past century. While the United States counted 3.1 million elderly inhabitants in 1900, that number has risen to a staggering 35 million in the year 2000. The ratio of elderly has jumped from one in eight to one in 25, with a 74% growth rate expected from 1990 to 2020. This is largely due to an increased life expectancy; medicine has made important strides over the past 100 years, and will continue to do so. The percentage of the

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 11

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

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Girls and Boys Town’s Wegner Elementary School in by GLORIA SHUKERT JONES Michelle Kaiman Bucher is a woman on a mission. Omaha recently earned national recognition for its outMost of her volunteer efforts center around organiza- standing efforts in mentoring at-risk students. Bucher says, “As a mentor, I’m on my fourth child -tions that focus on youngsters, and she says, “I always seem to gravitate toward children.” Bucher is evidently I get a new one almost every year. I work with them one who believes that getting involved in children’s one-on-one for a half hour every week on topics such as, causes doesn’t end just because you are successfully rais- reading, vocabulary, and sometimes just being a friend or someone to talk to.” ing your own. She adds, “The kids I mentored have been both boys Bucher’s two daughters also believe in helping other kids who are less fortunate and do not resent the time and girls, 12 and 13 years of age. They have been from their mother spends with these projects. Her 16-year- Chicago, Omaha, and Florida. It’s really hard not to get old daughter, Amanda, does her volunteer work with too attached to some of them. I had one girl for two various organizations through BBYO. For her bat mitz- years. I wanted to take her home with me.” Bucher indivah project she volunteered with Special Olympics. Her cates this is very gratifying for her, and she really enjoys it. Always wanting to run a marathon, but never having the 12-year old daughter, Megan, is doing her bat mitzvah project for “Paws for Friendship”, wherein she and courage, on her 46th birthday in February, Bucher decidBucher took two dogs to nursing homes. Megan is ed to sign up for a worthwhile cause, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for Lincoln’s Half Marathon in May. studying for her bat mitzvah in October. “It was one of the most awesome things I have ever Bucher currently mentors for Girls and Boys Town. done,” she stated. We She is on the Uta Halee trained at Zorinsky Lake on Guild Board and involved in Saturday mornings with a the Leukemia and group from Omaha and Lymphoma Society, the conLincoln. I never ran before nection with children, as in my life, but I just felt I leukemia is the number one had to do this. I had an aunt potentially fatal disease who died of leukemia and a affecting children. friend who was a victim of Bucher began volunteerlymphoma. Our group ing at Millard schools when raised $58,000,” Bucher her daughters were in grade proudly reported. school. She was active in the The group she trained with PTA, heading up the yearwas Team In Training. The book committee and cogoal of TNT is to increase chairing the school carnival. funding to support the She helped weekly in the Leukemia and Lymphoma school library and gave Society’s mission while prospelling tests to the students. moting life-styles of fitness She was also active in and health. Temple Israel’s Sisterhood, Team In Training is the the Women of Reform Judaism and served on the Above: Michelle and Ron Bucher and their daughters, world’s largest endurance board, helping on various Amanda, 16, and Megan, 12. Below: Michelle trained for sports training program. committees. Currently, she and ran a marathon in May to raise funds for the Leukemia The program provides training to run or walk a whole is still a member. and Lymphoma Society. “I was a Girl Scout leader for four years. During that time we had a special-needs girl in our troop. It was a learning experience for all of us. We had a pancake/silent auction fundraiser at the grade school to help her with her expenses because she was in and out of the hospital. My troop philosophy was to plan a lot of field trips, and enjoy as many different experiences as possible, “ Bucher explains. “From going to the bank and learning how to open a bank account to trying on clothes of children of the 1800s at the Fort Crook House, and learning about the attitudes, customs and activities of the time period. I tried to expose the girls to all different adventures.” Bucher also added, “I am on the Uta Halee Guild Board, working on various fundraising events, including the last one, in which I co-chaired the Spring Fashion and Boutique. I coordinated the models, the luncheon, the boutique, and the program. I also work with the girls on various projects, like cooking, art projects, and other activities at Uta Halee campus. I enjoy working directly with the girls, the best. We make the holiday time special for them.” Uta Halee is a program for girls ages 12-18, who have or half marathon or participate in a triathlon or century emotional, behavioral or substance-abuse issues that bike ride. Since TNT’s inception, 305,000 participants require treatment in a highly-structured environment. have raised over $695 million. Bucher’s dedication to these organizations was someThe goal is to provide skills that eventually lead to productive and meaningful lives. The organization’s agenda what influenced by certain happenings in her life, as well is to return them to their homes after they have com- as their relationship to children. When she was living in pleted the program. Uta Halee has grown from a single- Los Angeles in her 20s, an age of self-exploration, dwelling facility to a 30-acre campus with a professional Bucher somewhat sheepishly admitted she became interstaff of 300, which includes a medical director and ested in psychics. “I never thought I really cared that much for Omaha, experts in clinical, academic and spiritual fields. Bucher has been mentoring for Girls and Boys Town and didn’t plan to live here. But I went to a psychic who for five years, after deciding to stay home with her told me three things: First, that someone in my family would become ill, and I would return home; secondly, daughters. She was in the hotel industry for 11 years. Her travel schedule kept her away from her family. She that I would marry someone who worked for the govfound this opportunity by answering an ad in the ernment, and third, that I would work with children in Omaha World Herald from Girls and Boys Town, a pri- the future; I was single and working in advertising, and vately–funded, non-profit facility that serves at-risk chil- had no contact with kids. She told me other things that dren, and those who are victims of abuse and neglect. came true.” This organization also provides a safe and loving enviWhat actually happened? She moved back to Omaha ronment, where these youngsters can learn life skills. because her father was ill. Her husband works for Originally named for its founder, Father Flanagan’s Boys Metropolitan Utilities District, which is governed by an Home, it then became Boys Town. Most recently, it elected board, and finally, she ended up working with began accepting girls into the program and re-named, kids in various avenues, besides having two girls of her Girls and Boys Town. It has been in existence for 90 own. Continued on page 13 years.

September 7, 2007

No meetings ... please! Continued from page 9 Even though people over 65 might have significant income, expenses like medical, dental and others may cause a hardship for them and put them in a position where they are unable to pay the full amount of their property taxes. The group that take applications has grown with his help. And he isn’t shy about drafting his friends and neighbors to help with the project. “The Homestead Program had been here in Omaha, but they had a limited amount of help; most people didn’t know about the program. As volunteers, we go to people’s homes to pick up their papers. I don’t think that it’s fair that people have to sit and wait,” Dave said. “The two programs -- doing tax returns and

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Champion of children

Homestead -- have actually overlapped.” Meyers emphasizes that Homestead isn’t really helping people who are poor. “It’s hard to put into words -- but one of the things that is so intriguing about the program is that I am not helping people who are looking for a handout,” he insisted. “These are people who genuinely have this exemption coming to them. Many of them didn’t even know they were eligible before I did their income tax returns.” He added, “The only thing we are giving to people is direction. They are totally confused, lost, and fearful. They have a form and don’t know how to fill it out. They don’t want to get into the bureaucracy at the assessor’s office, but feel comfortable with someone who is kind

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and considerate. People are so grateful when I help them and I’ve been paid back so many times for what I’ve done,” he said. “When the people call the hotline, (probably 1000 calls per year) they don’t say that they are broke and want money. They are just fearful and need a friendly voice.” Although Meyers doesn’t run either the tax return or Homestead program, he has expanded it from being an unknown program to one that really does save money for the elderly. And next year, he plans on working on at least 200 tax returns. In fact, he plans to continue all his good work -- unless somebody makes him come to a meeting!

Continued from page 12 “It was just like the psychic said, and it was weird. But basically, everything I did centered around children. I’ve always considered the needs of children, and that’s why I’ve become active in these organizations.” Bucher also indicates that whatever she joins has to have a purpose other than just merely socializing. “My time is too important to me,” she says. Michelle Bucher hopes to teach her daughters the value of volunteering and helping children in need. “I want them to know the importance of giving back to the community,” she says. She is well on her way toward accomplishing this goal by her own extraordinary example.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

An enviable record by BERT LEWIS I’ve always thought people heard the word volunteer in one of several ways. There are those who think, “I hope they don’t call me for that” and those who think “it sounds interesting, but I don’t want to get involved with it.” Thankfully, there are those good folks who surely must think, “I could do that.” Reading a summary of the various activities with which Cheryl Cooper has been involved, it’s easy to see she never hesitated to offer her time, energy and service. Our mission here is to focus on what a person has done as a volunteer, not necessarily in the Jewish community, but rather in the community at large. It’s easy to understand how natural it is for Cheryl to have the “I could do that” attitude if you know her parents are Frances and Jerry Milder. Fran has given 20-something years to the Red Cross, and five years ago went back to offer some of her time at the Blood Bank. Jerry has served on countless boards and chaired many committees for important projects. How could a young woman raised with such role models not say “I could do that”? Cooper has an enviable record as the person who stepped in and made things happen, always as a volunteer. For example, early in the history of the Omaha Children’s Museum, she expanded and managed the first gift shop, and said “yes” when asked to serve as Benefit Chairman. In addition, she assisted in the formation of the Museum Guild and ultimately served as President, as well as Treasurer and Secretary. Cooper’s volunteer projects exist today, 25+ years later, as viable parts of the Museum. Another group to which Cooper has given a great deal has been Planned Parenthood of Omaha and Council Bluffs. Her earliest association to PPOCB was through the Religious Coalition of Abortion Rights. She was President of the Friends Board, Nominating Chairman, Treasurer, Membership and Calendar Sales Chairman. In addition, she served as chairman of an extremely large benefit, wearing many hats in that role. Perhaps the one part of her work with Planned Parenthood, of which she speaks with the most feeling, is that of “escort.” This meant she escorted women from their car into the Women’s Clinic. To properly understand the importance of this, it must be remembered that angry and sometimes violent anti-abortion advocates were often present to harass prospective clients. Cooper’s demeanor turned serious when she spoke of that particular volunteer job. She recalled the feelings of the time, and listening to her words, I felt certain she was proud of the assistance she provided. As she often said of other volunteer jobs, “it was something I could do.” She never added, “it was important and needed

Who would know better than somebody like Cheryl doing,” but the meaning was clear. To learn of the ways this young woman shared her Cooper, who has been all over this city, doing the things time and energy all over the community, you might she says she “can do.” Along the way she’s picked up think she had nothing more important to do. Hardly the various awards, such as one of Omaha Jaycees Ten case however. Indeed, she has a husband, family and Outstanding Young Omahans and the Curtis Todd home to care for, and somehow manages to carve out Volunteer of the Year Award from Planned Parenthood. Sometimes her volunteer work looks more like paid time for everyone else. She repeatedly gives credit to her husband, Dr. Ron Cooper, for generously understand- employment, such as Manager and President of her coning her need to be out and “doing something” and not expecting her to spend all her time in the home. Clearly, she must have been there enough to raise those two little boys to productive manhood, since they are both married and doctors today. She speaks proudly of Josh, who with wife Emily (also a doctor) have provided the Coopers with two grandsons: Ben and Elliott. This branch of the family lives in Seattle. Alex, who is completing his residency at Mayo in Rochester, Minnesota, is married to Valerie, a Physicians Assistant. Somehow, while the chil- The Cooper family: Ron, Cheryl, Alex and his wife Valerie, and Emily and husband Josh. dren were small, the doctor’s wife didn’t want time for dominium owners association. She tends to chores sitting still -- not when there were interesting things to which include managing property and finances for eight learn about and possibly participate in as a volunteer. townhouses and is responsible for arranging all mainteThe Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben Women’s Ball Committee, nance and other needs of property owners. The person for example. She was Treasurer, Site Coordinator, usually expected to oversee all these necessities is a paid Production Assistant, Princess Chairman. Also she was employee, but somehow Cheryl has made it a volunteer part of its Long Range Planning Committee and the position and added it to her list of “things to do.” She Scholarship Selection Committee. She found the work personifies that old saw which claims: “If you want in awarding scholarships to future community leaders something done, ask a busy person to do it.” and recognition and celebration of volunteerism, philanAs noted at the beginning of this busy woman’s story, thropy and civic pride -- right up her alley. it’s about the very caring volunteer work she has done in The Junior League of Omaha was another organiza- the community at large. We have excluded the long list of tion to benefit from Cooper’s energy. She initiated the projects in the Jewish community, simply because we’ve (earlier-mentioned) Gift Shop for the Children’s done them so often in the past. Having said that, it seems Museum under the League’s auspices; she was Dues only fair to at least mention that Cooper has a working Chairman as well as Kaleidoscope Chairman. She knowledge of volunteering at Temple Israel, Beth El, the enjoyed her time with the Junior League and expressed Jewish Federation, the Foundation, and one last place, disappointment that not many of our young Jewish which deserves more than passing mention. women show much interest in the group. She is an active member of Chevra Kadisha, which “They represent a good training experience for future means she is part of a team of women who prepare the organizational work,” she said. Understanding that many bodies of deceased Jewish women for burial. of these women work outside the home today, she feels This truly very special act is said to be the ultimate there should still be time for extra activity of this kind. Continued on page 20

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Selfless volunteer helps dying seek a “good death” by GARY JAVITCH Your doctors have just told you that the disease or illness you have contracted cannot be cured, but they can prolong your life a little longer with chemotherapy, radiation or surgery. While there are many possible scenarios for this patient, for this particular story, let’s say the patient has tried the aforementioned but has now tired of the tubes, the struggle, and the pain. The patient has now decided to seek out a “good death,” and selects hospice, which is available to patients with six months or less to live.

Jon and Denise Meyers But what is hospice? According to National Hospice and Palliative Care website “Hospice is a concept [for] patients and families facing a life-threatening illness that emphasizes palliative care.” Despite the strange sound of the word “palliative” (pal’-lee-a-tiv), it simply means to relieve or soothe the symptoms of a disease or disorder without effecting a cure, according to Webster’s. The treatment goal, the hospice website continues, is to provide professional medical care, control pain and involve the family in offering emotional, spiritual and practical support. All this is carried out in accordance with the patient’s last wishes and the family’s needs. The outcome desired is to achieve the best quality of life available during the dying person’s last days. And this is where Denise Meyers comes in. Under the auspices of Alegent Hospital, Denise helps dying patients and their families navigate the uncomfortable and difficult terrain they travel during the patient’s final days. Denise has worked in the “respite care” side of hospice for four-and-a-half years. “I have helped 25 people during that time, giving their family members relief and rest so they could have some personal time,” Denise explained. “Caring for a dying loved one can be allconsuming and very stressful for the family members, too.” “I got into this while looking for a place to worship,” Denise commented. “I visited a church and noticed in their Sunday bulletin that they were looking for someone to volunteer in an Alegent Hospital-sponsored program for hospice.” She quickly learned that this work is not babysitting and it takes a very special person to do it. That’s because the hospice volunteer develops a close and occa-

sionally intense relationship with the patients, all of whom die. “About 20 people attended my group instruction. The trainers were very patient and quite caring,” she observed. “Jennifer, our main trainer, was just wonderful. Among many other things, I learned a lot about listening and the proper way to comfort the people I worked with by holding, touching and rubbing their hands. We go through training sessions all the time, with the hospital always stressing taking care of yourself physically and mentally. They want us to avoid ‘burnout.’” In-between patients, she has helped in the office, too. Although a former certified nursing assistant (CNA), Denise does not give medications. Mainly, in providing families with respite time, Denise has sat with, read to, or written personal notes for the people, among other tasks. “That is what I did with the first person I worked with,” Denise noted. “My first day on the job with Ingrid (all patient’s names have been changed to protect the privacy of their families), I was nervous. I wasn’t sure if I would know what to say.” That turned out not to be an issue, despite Ingrid being very demanding. Ingrid’s previous caregiver had little success and warned me to be very careful. I went in knowing that Ingrid would be a tough woman when I started with her in December 2002. Ingrid had Multiple Sclerosis and could not move from the neck down. “I was her hands. I came in three times a week and worked with her for about six months. I read to her. I also helped her plan her funeral and wrote letters for her. I became one of her family. We were good together and we bonded. “Ingrid was a one-of-a-kind person,” Denise went on to describe. “Others would be better off for having known her. At the end, she couldn’t speak well. We worked up a microphone device so everyone could hear her better.” She added, “All things considered, I have been pretty blessed with the people I worked with. Some visitations were longer than others. One appointment lasted for just one visit. Generally, I go from home to home, one patient at a time. Once, I went to the hospital to help the patient and family.” Her charges have been very interesting individuals. “Sam, for example, made the most remarkable sculptures, and he liked trains. He made so many interesting things from stone and wood, too. During a three-week period until he passed away with cancer, he and I met at his home for nine sessions. I listened to his stories about his life. Denise has not been present at any of the deaths of the people with whom she has worked. She did have some inkling, however, that they were about to die. “I knew Ingrid would die soon. She had all the tell-tale signs. They seem to go through certain stages: they get quieter; their voices gurgle; they get this certain look.” Continued on page 22

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Satisfaction derived He also admits they aren’t all thrilled to be there but by BERT LEWIS If a man is retired, enjoys reasonably good health and seem to understand the necessity of earning that vital loves to play golf, why should he tie himself down with piece of paper. Those who aren’t there by choice aren’t involvement in a mentoring program? A good person to always the easiest to teach, but they probably provide answer that question would be Harlan Studna, aka more the biggest challenge. Certainly the mentors who achieve good results from those reluctant students must familiarly as Bud or Buddy. Bud is the kind of person who modestly asks, “Why feel the truth of that old axiom, “I got back much more would you think I’d be an interesting guy to write than I gave.” Buddy says simply, “It’s nice to know you can help about?” After explaining the theme of this particular issue of the Jewish Press has to do with various volunteers somebody.” When reference was made to this kind of involved with projects outside the Jewish community, work, Bud corrected me. He explained, “This isn’t work we were ready to talk. -- it’s a pleasure.” He told me he’d always loved workWe talked about the many ways to fill time if there ing with numbers and any math was his idea of fun. were no schedules to be rigidly followed, and he Retired from the insurance business, Harlan Studna explained that he manages to be just as busy as he wants has found a way to do something he thoroughly enjoys, to be, as a single man. fill a little spare time and learn how gratifying it can be A widower, with grown children on the west coast and to watch a kid “get it.” stepchildren and grandchildren nearer, he divides his He’s taken a brief respite from his mentoring in the time between family, good friends, recreation and care- past year or so, but finds he misses it too much to stay fully allotted time to be at home. Bud added that he away. The absence of his time with those students has truly enjoys a certain amount of solitude and the peace left a void in his life and he intends to remedy that situand quiet of is own company. ation. Understanding how much he loves to solve probSo what’s this about a mentoring program? It doesn’t lems, it’s easy to guess he’ll soon be back in the classseem to fit into the described routine. room. Bud responds to that question with a big smile and explains how two of his friends, Stuart Muskin and Irv Yaffe, were responsible for introducing him to the G.E.D. program years ago. Most people are at least somewhat knowledgeable about this excellent course of study which, when successfully completed awards the student with a high school diploma. Anyone 16 and over is eligible to enroll in one of the several such programs available in this area. Muskin and Yaffe, also both retired businessmen, were enthusiastic enough to make the idea of mentoring Harlan “Buddy” Studna with Josie Shrago, left, and his stepdaughter, Patty Nogg. Below: sound like something Bud Another of Buddy’s passions: the Republican Party. might enjoy. He agreed to look into it and when he learned his expertise in the area of numbers and math would be very welcome, the die was cast. For some 12 or “maybe 14” years, Harlan Studna volunteered his time, helping people with just plain arithmetic, or as he says, “Numbers.” He relates how many different types of students enroll in this G.E.D. program, whether adults who quit before completion or youngsters who just ‘dropped out.” Sometimes the students came originally from another country and language was a barrier; sometimes kids were from a broken home or a dysfunctional family situation. More often than not, most were from disadvantaged areas of the city. The bottom line perhaps might be the Although this story about Harlan Studna was to feafact that there can be many reasons why somebody does- ture his efforts in the mentoring program, his face is n’t finish high school and earn that diploma. familiar to the staff and residents of the Rose Blumkin Studna, like Muskin and Yaffe, must be counted Jewish Home as well. He’s there often, lending a hand among the many good citizens generous enough to give to a resident, (his cousin) taking care of the paper work their time and knowledge to help educate these people we all must deal with. He brushes this off by telling me, who “fell through the cracks,” as Buddy says. “Well, he can’t do it, so I came in and do it for him. It’s To work with these students is to give a gift money no big deal.” Apparently not. can’t buy, according to Bud. Listening to him describe I asked Patty Nogg to add a few words to my story the delight he feels when working with a youngster who and this is what she had to say: “My step-father, Buddy, suddenly “gets it” is to understand how rewarding he is a wonderful person and I’m very proud of his volunfinds this work. teer work. I have to believe his students have been the “It’s simple, basic math,” he says. “We aren’t talking lucky beneficiaries of his knowledge, patience and great trigonometry here, just math.” But to some it can be a sense of humor.” difficult and frightening obstacle which must be overIf we began with wondering how a retiree finds time come. to be a good volunteer and still have some recreation, Bud repeatedly tries to emphasize the satisfaction we feel obligated to provide an answer. derived from involvement in this work. He speaks of the Bud says, “Rest assured, there will always be time for wide mix of people, representing various races as well as golf!” Although Bud was close to his 85th birthday the spread in ages, although most are late teens and early when we spoke, he grinned and told me he could still 20s. get out there and “Really hit that ball!”

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Losing yourself in the service to others by ANNE MUSKIN Jewish Press editorial intern Once upon a time, in a state way, way, in the middle of the country, lived two shining horticulture degrees from the University of Nebraska. They found their way to one another, and made a pact to devote their owners to studying, teaching, and aiding in the development of garden plant culture. Their owners were a kind lot, with a deep passion for orchids. Their names were Tom and Sue Friedman. In 1979, their joint enthusiasm for growing orchids transformed into a business. “We had a greenhouse then,” Tom recalled, “and we were selling orchids. We found out that a lot of people in Omaha were interested in them.” This observation led the Friedmans to found the Greater Omaha Orchid Society. The group recently hosted the prestigious Mid-America Orchid Conference, about which Sue remarked, “When you’re in on something from the beginning, and have the vision to develop and move it forward, sometimes, it’s time to let go.” This philosophy has followed the pair as they leave wonderful nuggets of service woven within the Omaha area. Tom has served as chairman of SID (Sanitary and Improvement District) 300, otherwise known as Pepperwood, for a number of years. During his service he has been an invaluable neighborhood advocate, spearheading programs such as the exit off Dodge to 150th Street to help relieve traffic congestion. He also fought for the success of one of the most well outfitted parks in the city. As a matter of fact, the park is almost in the Friedman’s backyard, flanked by

beautiful and no doubt extremely healthy trees! “I just hear screaming and giggling in my backyard, and I love it,” Sue said. As far back as they can remember, the Friedmans have been involved in service. “Actually, we met at a volunteer plant sale,” Sue recollected. Tom added, “We are products of the 60s and 70s; we’re gonna save the world!” He says their passion is still the same, but the execution has changed a bit. “You can’t stand in front of a logger’s truck; it just doesn’t work that way.” They choose to save the world through other avenues now, like Sue’s most recent job/volunteer milestone at the Henry Doorly Zoo. Her extensive work on a project called “Madagascar: Conservation vs. Survival,” has helped to further not just understanding and knowledge of orchids in Madagascar, but unique conservation firsts. The University of Nebraska at Omaha created a documentary highlighting the work of Sue and others involved in the project. It showcases the first time there has been documented reintegration of plants. Instead of merely removing the plants and bringing them here for research, they were restored to their original location, so as to preserve the quality and balance of the ecosystem. Through this program, there has been a wonderful exchange of students, professors, and villagers, in a push for communal knowledge. Sue’s take on it all: “It was really cool.” The first leg of the project is finished and Sue is now retired from the Zoo, but this is her fourth zoo retirement, so for Omaha’s sake we hope she changes her mind!

In addition to being “my volunteer” as Sue fondly remarked, by building things in the zoo’s greenhouse, and taking on odds and ends, Tom has stayed pretty busy too!

Tom and Sue Friedman He is a member of the Midwest Lamp Worker’s Guild. Through this distinctive organization he recently teamed up with other skilled bead makers to make beads for donation. The latest round went to women in African villages for them to make jewelry to sell at markets, so they have a way of supporting themselves. Tom also serves on the Temple Israel Board of Trustees and is the lone member of the Temple Israel Cemetery Committee. He says it’s a “great fit.” For instance, there is no need to hire an arborist when there are problems with the trees in the cemetery, because Tom’s expertise comes with the package!

The Friedman’s volunteer work is just as unique and interesting as they are, and reflects them wholeheartedly. As Sue remarked, “Sometimes different volunteering experiences can be a release from normal life. Sometimes you don’t even know it’s happening, and as you keep going with it you begin to take pride in what you’re doing.” Whether it’s being a volunteer art teacher, singing and playing guitar with the Temple choir, or helping repair low income houses through Larry Gendler’s “Rebuilding Together” project, the Friedman’s make a point to stay active in the community. “I want to help the world, not just mankind.” Sue eloquently pleaded, “In order to do that, you have to sacrifice things on the way.” To which Tom injected, “Actually, I don’t think we’ve sacrificed anything, because we’ve really gotten so much out of the things we’ve done.” When volunteering becomes a gift to the volunteer in addition to the ones being helped, the real magic of service shines through. Gandhi once said, “The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.” We should all be so lucky. EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press office will be closed for Rosh Hashanah, Thursday & Friday, Sept. 13-14; Sukkot, Sept. 27-28; and Shemini Azeret/Simchat Torah, Oct. 4-5. Deadlines are at 9 a.m.: Issue Deadline Sept. 21 Tuesday, Sept. 11 Oct. 5 Tuesday, Sept. 25 Oct. 12 Tuesday, Oct. 2 Questions? Call 402.334.6448.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

A family of volunteers by JOAN K. MARCUS Aaron and Joel Passer have grown up in a home where their parents lead by example. Aaron, the more talkative of the two, says, “My parents, Sandra and Dr. Jeffrey Passer, have taught me how to be a good citizen by setting examples for us. They’ve always been active in the community and we were taught that we needed to serve those who are less fortunate.” He mentioned that when he was young, the family participated in Mitzvah Day at Temple Israel. “One year, we cleaned up at the Henry Doorly Zoo and we have always helped out wherever we could. I remember working with Habitat for Humanity. I knew that I was helping a family who couldn’t otherwise afford to have a house for themselves,” he added. Aaron’s activities continued when he volunteered to help a teacher at the Child Development Center at the Jewish Community Center. The project ended up being his mitzvah project for the year he became Bar Mitzvah. At age 18, Aaron has a long history of helping others. When he was only a Tiger Scout in kindergarten, he collected canned goods by walking through the neighborhoods. “We cleaned church grounds with other scouts and, one year, we helped to repaint the lines in the parking lot. I was always part of the group.” In February of 2005, Aaron became an Eagle Scout, a prestigious achievement if the life of anyone involved in the Boy Scouts. He followed his brother, Joel, into the group of men who are marked to become leaders of the community. Aaron’s Eagle Scout project was of heroic proportions for a boy of only 16. He visited Temple Israel Cemetery and found a section where the graves had been neglected. In many cases, the families had died. Buried in that portion are babies and young children who died many years ago. Aaron was upset at the condition of the graves. “In some cases, the graves were those of people who had died while passing through Omaha. Many of the gravestones were tipped and broken. Some of the graves were even unmarked, so I pur-

chased flat stones for them.” After a fundraising campaign, Aaron organized friends and other scouts to clean the area. He asked Temple staff for the plot map in order to learn the names of those buried in unmarked graves and ordered plaques. “I assigned jobs and with some of the money, I bought a bench so that people can sit and meditate. The bench is engraved with the details of my project,” he explained. At Brownell-Talbot High School, Aaron was inducted as a member of National Honor Society; he has helped with projects such as serving dinner at the Open Door Mission, a Thanksgiving Food Drive and has helped at the Child Saving Institute. At Temple Israel, he is a volunteer madrich with the sixth grade class by assisting students with Torah chanting and prayers. Aaron, also a trumpeter, plays in the Intergenerational Orchestra, a group that plays for nursing homes and senior groups. This fall, Aaron will attend Trinity University in San Antonio, TX, with a major in business administration. “Hopefully, I will get involved and find volunteer activities when I am there,” he added with a smile. Aaron’s older brother, Joel, is an aspiring physician. He, like his brother, knows that his parents have given him Jewish values of tzedakah and good morals. He says that he has always tried to help people who are in need. “I, like my brother, remember Temple Mitzvah Days. Once we went to Quality Living Services, a home for people who have suffered traumatic brain injuries. My family actually went more than once. I was only 10 when we went for the first time and I remember being a little apprehensive. It was a different experience for me to interact with the people who had brain injuries. We sang songs with the residents and it was fun to see another perspective on things. I felt more comfortable after volunteering there and gained a lot from the experience.” Joel began his scouting career when he was in third grade and was an Eagle Scout in 2003 in Troop 552. He collected food

ROSH HASHANAH GREETINGS From the Nebraska Democratic Party Matt Connealy, Executive Director

Sandra Passer with her sons, Joel, left, and Aaron. and helped other boys with their Eagle ment ceremony” for his own troop flag. Scout projects. He always worked on the “We performed a proper ceremony. My church cleaning project because he was brother, Aaron, played taps on his trumtaught that he had to give back to the pet, and I bought a new flag and stand for community. the troop,” he said. “My Eagle project was at the Thomas Joel spent Sundays working as a volunFitzgerald Veterans’ Home,” he teer at Temple Israel religious school. He explained. “I noticed there were hardly was also a member of National Honor any American flags in the building. Society while attending Brownell-Talbot. Maybe there were two or three, but I The 20-year-old junior biology major realized the patients there are veterans at the University of Pennsylvania in who had fought for their country; they Philadelphia. “I would like to be a physifought for our flag. I thought there cian (a surgeon) because I’ve followed my should be more reminders of their fight. dad (Dr. Jeffrey Passer, a physician) We should be proud of what these people around and I’ve seen how he interacts did for us.” with his patients,” he said. “He is very He added, that his project was a caring and always wants the best for his fundraising campaign to obtain money to patients. Growing up and seeing what he install school-sized American flags in does makes me want to be a doctor -every resident’s room. “With the help of plus I also like science and problem solvothers whom I recruited, we installed a ing.” bracket on the inside and outside of each Joel volunteers at the University of room. On holidays, flags could be moved Pennsylvania hospital, by conversing with from the inside to the outside of the patients and trying to meet their needs rooms. Then there would be a whole line during their hospital stays. This year, he of flags down the halls. Every veteran I worked in the emergency room, assisting spoke with seemed grateful for what the emergency medical technicians transport scouts were doing.” patients. He added, “I like to help so that The second part of his project was to nurses can do more important things.” develop and orchestrate a “flag retire- Continued on page 20

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September 7, 2007

Life takes strange turns by JOAN K. MARCUS If you think that Bill Clinton has charisma, you should meet Lincoln attorney, Jim Gordon! At 6’3”, Gordon makes you look up when he enters the room. He wears custom-made cowboy boots with his tailored, lawyer type suits, shirts and ties. His slightly graying hair is swept straight back and, he uses a walking stick. His handlebar moustache makes him look like something out of an old western. E n t e r Gordon’s office and find ever ything except h i s l a w

Jim Gordon degrees on the walls. Since he is a practical joker, he has plastic spilled ice cream, a stuffed model of himself and photos of his favorite people. Eye contact from his blue eyes is direct and he speaks with a “public speaking” voice. However, his voice softens as he speaks of his family. His mother, Sally Gordon, is 98-years-old and still a clerk in the Nebraska Unicameral. Jim says, “I keep telling my mother that in two more years, she has to get a ‘real’ job!” His father, Merle Gordon, died in 1969. In 1964, Gordon entered the University of Nebraska at Lincoln on a full scholarship. By his own admission, he became an avid party goer and an adept pool player. He found himself in trouble because he was on academic probation -and the Selective Service Board was drafting those without college deferments. “In 1966, I quit school and was drafted four months later. I was in the military at a time when prospects were bad, was badly wounded and wound up in the hospital for 17 months and six days. Doctors basically had to put my leg back together. In the middle of the night, I was crying and feeling sorry for myself. One of the other patients yelled at me, ‘Hey! Look around if you think that you have troubles!’ That made me stop and think about how lucky I was. I still had all my body parts and was going to be able to go home and walk,” he recalled. “That’s when I decided the overriding message I want to live by is that we should all be doing good in our communities: local, national and international. This is what I’ve tried to convey throughout my life. I think that it’s better to have lived a good life than the good life!” After that ordeal, he came back to Lincoln and was prepared to go back to school. He realized it wouldn’t be good for him to be involved in campus social life. But he was approached by the chancellor’s office and asked to serve on a committee charged with creating a policy dealing with campus disorder and disruption. The shootings had occurred already at Kent State and there were sit-ins and protests at other colleges and universities. Gordon did serve and came up with a pol-

icy still in place today. He also was elected to the governing body for the students -one of his first volunteer activities!” “I never considered myself a campus leader but because I was older, wiser and had been in Viet Nam, got involved,” he added. “I started college with the idea of becoming a trauma surgeon. But, I came back without the ability to stand up. So, with the help of one of my professors, I hoped to complete law school and get a degree in public administration to be a hospital administrator.” After his first law school course, he was hooked on the law. Jim earned a BA from UNL in 1972 and a Juris Doctor (with distinction) in 1974. He is a partner in the law firm of DeMars, Gordon, Olson and Zalewski, a general practice law firm of six attorneys. His area of specialization is trial work with an emphasis on domestic relations and family law. He also does business litigation and mediation. Gordon works tirelessly as a volunteer; the Lincoln community has nurtured him and he says now it is his turn. “You can’t be charged with an error if you don’t touch the ball; I think we all ought to touch the ball.” Among his many volunteer activities, he is very proud of his involvement with Make-A-Wish. After being president of its board of directors, he moved on to the state chapter and was again president. He moved on to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America where he has since held many offices. He culminated his devotion to the organization by serving as national president and chairman of the board, 1994-96. In addition, Gordon has served on the board of directors of America’s Charities from 1997 to 2005, where he has held many offices and committee chairmanships. He’s been active in the Lincoln Children’s Zoo. has served on the Zoo Foundation, and as its president 198788. He served on the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Foundation as a campaign volunteer and has been on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Jim has been a member of the board of trustees of Wyuka Cemetery and serves as legal counsel to the group. Since 1997, he has been the charter director of the Wyuka Historical Foundation. That led to his involvement as a member and secretary of the Nebraska Holocaust Memorial Committee; he was a featured speaker at the dedication ceremony in April of this year, establishing a permanent, official State of Nebraska memorial to the Holocaust. He is particularly proud of his two daughters who seem to be following in their father’s footsteps. Micala, 30, is in law school in Minneapolis. Shannon, 25, is a photojournalist in Chicago. Frankly, Jim’s volunteer jobs would fill this entire newspaper. “If you want to be happy for a lifetime, be in love with what you do. I am content to practice law, but I’m in love with my volunteer activities.” He sums up his philosophy with a quote from poet Shel Silverstein: Somebody has to go polish the stars, They’re looking a little bit dull. Somebody has to go polish the stars, For the eagles and starlings and gulls Have all been complaining they’re tarnished and worn, They say they want new ones we cannot afford. So, please get your rags And your polishing jars, Somebody has to go polish the stars!

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 19

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

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An enviable record Continued from page 14 mitzvah. Cheryl says she does it because she can, and it’s something which must be done. She questions the aura of secrecy which surrounds the people who volunteer, adding “complete confidentiality of course, but there’s no reason to whisper about those of us who do the work. It’s necessary and I’m glad I’m able to do it.” It’s a typical “Cheryl “response. One other exceptional part of her story goes back to May, 2002, she says, in the most matter of fact way anyone could articulate a statement: “I donated a kidney to a very dear friend.’’ When asked more about it, she thought for a minute or two and simply said “Well, it was really something she needed badly, and it was something I could do.’’ There was little I could say to follow those remarks. I can quote however, what was said by the recipient of that priceless gift, Ann Goldstein: “I am the fortunate woman who received Cheryl’s kidney.” Ann speaks of Cheryl’s persistence in being considered a living donor, of all the testing necessary to prove she was an appropriate match, and of her strong and constant positive attitude that it would be the right one. And it was. Ann adds, “The gift of life is the ultimate gift.” As very close friends, Goldstein knows that Cheryl’s “efforts aren’t always publicly noted, because she likes to work quietly, behind the scenes.” She adds, “The kind of work she does includes serving on several confidential scholarship and financial aid committees for agencies and foundations. Few know the difference she is making, which of course matters little to her.” I asked Cooper to sum up, in her own words, her personal feelings about doing the volunteer work she does, in so many different areas, secular and religious. “Of course I feel a responsibility to give back to the Omaha community that has

been so wonderful to our family ... from way back,” she insists. “My volunteer choices have not always been the ‘in’ causes, but rather those most needing my talents and abilities. Much was done in the days before the staff ‘did it all’ for volunteers. I continue to do it myself when I chair an event or participate in a cause.”

Cheryl Cooper’s grandsons: Ben, “almost three”, and Elliott, five months old. Finally, she tells me how in recent years she’s done a number of volunteer projects of short duration. Those “done in a day or few days” such as taking reservations, arranging seating, meeting with directors of organizations to brainstorm ideas, and more. Then she says with a smile, “I’m now in the consulting phase of life!” To this observer it appears she will always be in the working phase, and if consultation is required, she’ll be there too. Clearly, this is not a woman content to relax and watch the world go by. I didn’t ask if she’d ever turned down anyone who asked for her participation in a project, but I feel certain if I had, the answer would be negative. This then, is Cheryl Milder Cooper, a volunteer Omaha is lucky to have.

A family of volunteers

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Continued from page 18 During his spring break Joel went to New Orleans to help with cleanup from Hurricane Katrina. This summer, Joel did research at UNMC medical center in endocrinology and diabetes. He says, “It’s very interesting and I enjoyed it.” Sandra Passer grew up in New Market, Iowa, a town of only about 500 people. Her parents and grandparents volunteered in their small community. Her father was a volunteer fireman and an active member of the Masonic Temple. “My mother didn’t work outside of our home until I was grown, but she volunteered at church, taught Sunday school, was active in the alumni association and Eastern Star. Our family was always involved in volunteer work,” Sandy said. “That’s what we did! We cooked, set tables, cleaned and washed dishes!” Sandy came to Omaha in 1967 to be a student at Methodist School of Nursing. “As a student nurse, we performed a lot of volunteer work -- even the old Methodist Hospital. People would come from my hometown for cobalt treatments,” she recalled. “Families would rent rooms at boarding houses where we would go to take care of patients after their treatments.” She graduated as a registered nurse in 1970 and worked at Children’s Hospital. Later, she worked at Clarkson Hospital in the dialysis unit. In 1978, she began working at Methodist Hospital. And in 1985, she married Dr. Jeffrey Passer. Sandy was named “worthy matron” for Trinity Eastern Star in 1987. “I took Joel as an infant, strapped him in a carrier and

vacuumed and dusted. I cleaned the kitchen with him strapped to my chest!” Soon, she began volunteering at Temple Israel. She has chaired the Caring Committee, Outreach, and served as president of Women of Reform Judaism. She has helped with book sales, organized the Oneg Shabbats and Mitzvah Day. She served on the Temple Board and for many years, chaired the community Passover Seder. Once Joel and Aaron were in scouting, Sandy helped with the troop committee, was treasurer of the group and an organizer of the troop. She is now co-chair man (along with Dr. Passer) of the Jewish Committee on Scouting. At Brownell-Talbot, Sandy has always been a volunteer, active in the Parent Association; she was president of its Booster Club. “We started with sports groups and it evolved into helping musical groups, choir and speech groups.” In 2008, she will be the president of the Methodist Hospital Volunteers in Partnership -- a group of more than 800 volunteers who staff the gift shop, deliver flowers and newspapers to patients, and other jobs. The group traditionally raises between 100 and 125 thousand dollars which is then donated to a specific area of the hospital. This year, the money is being used to help victims of abuse and sexual assault. Joel and Aaron agree, “Growing up in the Passer home means volunteering and caring for other people. It just comes naturally because we’ve watched our parents do just that.”

September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 21

Sometimes the goal is more than just showing up by OZZIE NOGG The emotional -- even violent -- outbursts sometimes seen at Little League games boggle the mind. Parents brawling with referees. A furious mom arrested for swinging a bat at a coach. A six-year old shortstop, humiliated and in tears, after his father publicly berated him for dropping the ball. “You won’t see that kind of behavior at a Nebraska Red Dawgs Jr. game,” said Marcy Ruback, a volunteer with the team and mom of a former player. “If you’re a Red Dawgs parent, you learn patience like you never thought you’d have.” The Red Dawgs, you see, is a wheelchair basketball team for school aged students for whom patience is essential. Any tears shed, during practice or games, come from pride in accomplishments that are won slowly -- by the kids with disabilities, their parents and the people who work with them. “Our 20-year-old son, K.C., was born with severe allergies, cerebral palsy, a seizure disorder, cognitive delays and speech that is hard to understand,” Marcy explained. “He also is a sports enthusiast, very competitive, and spent years watching his older brother Joe -- who is athletically gifted -- participate in sports. When K.C. was about eight years old, an opportunity arose for him to join a competitive wheelchair basketball team. “I signed him up without blinking an eye,” Marcy said. For the first few years, she sat back and watched the way the team was administered, how events were organized. “It was apparent that if things were getting done, the parents were the ones doing it. It’s just my nature to help and get involved, so I did.” The Nebraska Red Dawgs are part of the Eastern Nebraska Wheelchair Athletic Association (ENWAA), a nonprofit group that provides sports and recreational opportunities to physically disabled children and adults in Nebraska and Iowa. Additionally, ENWAA co-sponsors a Jr. Wheelchair Sports Camp with Alegent Health and the Parks and Recreation agencies in both Omaha and Council

Bluffs. A junior softball team, the Nebraska Jr. Barons, is now in its first season under the ENWAA umbrella. “K.C. played for the Red Dawgs -- on the prep team, JV team and then the Varsity squad -- for 11 years,” Marcy said. “During that time I did every job in existence for the team, from ordering t-shirts for tournaments, to fundraising, to making sure our players had the proper equipment.” Marcy also served as Red Dawgs team

Wheelchair basketball competition runs from September through March and, said Dave Ruback, “The time commitment is intense. Our involvement with the sport has essentially controlled part of our lives since the mid-1990s. We pretty much live and breathe wheelchair sports at our house.” Dave -- who has also mentored young athletes at West Omaha Soccer Association, Pacesetter Baseball and Challenger Little League in the past --

The 2006-07 season team photo for the Nebraska Red Dawgs Jr. Wheelchair Basketball team shows K.C. Ruback, seated second row left, his dad, Assistant Coach Dave Ruback, standing back left; and Head Coach Mike Kult, front row left. representative, handling all administrative functions as well as communications -within the parents group, between coaches and parents, between the local team and ENWAA, and between the Nebraska Red Dawgs and the regional and national wheelchair basketball organizations. And always as a volunteer. “I was the team travel agent, too. Wheelchair sports in our area draws kids and adults from Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Missouri to make our teams. We have to travel to find other teams to compete against,” she added. “Travel is a big part of the Red Dawgs operations and -- since ENWAA is self-funded -- we’re always looking for new sources of financial support to pay for out-of-town trips.”

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has been the Red Dawgs’ volunteer assistant coach for three years. He is also coaching the inaugural Junior Barons softball team. “The kids I coach don’t want sympathy,” Dave said. “They just want respect for what they accomplish, and they work continuously to educate the public about wheelchair sports. When these kids are confronted by spectators or even news reporters after a game, the typical comment is something like, ‘I think it’s neat that they let you play wheelchair basketball.’ The kids try to explain that this is not a ‘charity’ or random acts of kindness on someone’s part, but an organized, competitive athletic event. Sometimes they get their point across. Sometimes

not.” Dave describes Red Dawgs practice sessions as rugged and strenuous. “The players are treated the same as able-bodied athletes -- sore arms, blisters and occasional reprimands from the coaches are routine. This ‘ordinariness’ helps wheelchair athletes prepare themselves to reach their goals -- college scholarships, a career in professional wheelchair basketball. Sometimes the goal means simply getting out of the house to go somewhere they want to go, and feel they fit in.” Mike Kult, the assistant director of Campus Recreation at UNO, is the volunteer Red Dawgs Head Coach. “Mike is an accomplished wheelchair athlete himself,” Dave explained. “He played college wheelchair basketball and was a member of the U.S. Olympic Sled Hockey Team in the 1998 Paralympics in Japan. Mike volunteers his time to these wheelchair athletes because he wants them to have opportunities he never had growing up. He always says, ‘Kids who use wheelchairs have the same desires, wants and needs as all other kids. Wheelchair basketball gives them the opportunity to play ball instead of just being a spectator.’” The Ruback’s son, K.C., exemplifies that statement. A young man with a magnetic personality, sharp wit and contagious laugh, K.C. was student manager for the Millard West High School varsity basketball team for four years. “He was a celebrity at his high school,” Marcy said. “But for K.C., watching his high school team couldn’t compare with actually playing with the Red Dawgs.” Graduation from Millard West meant K.C. was no longer eligible to play with the Red Dawgs. He joined the Nebraska Barons -- a men’s wheelchair softball team -- and his parents ‘joined’ too. Marcy and Dave shag softballs for the Barons three hours every Tuesday night from April to September, haul equipment, and often find themselves chasing balls that roll down the hill onto 76th and Maple from the Paralyzed Veterans Administration parking lot where the Barons practice. Continued on page 22

Page 22

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

Selfless volunteer

Sometimes the goal is more than just showing up

Continued from page 15 The mother of two nurses, Stacey, 23 and Sheila, 33 and the grandmother of two, Denise feels quite empowered by her work. She has developed great relationships with the families and keeps careful notes about her past patients. Indeed, she has felt close to all of them. The last lady she cared for resided at the Hospice House, near Bergen Mercy Hospital. Denise brought her corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day just hours before her patient died in the afternoon. “I read devotions and a book to her. The lady must have seen death coming, too. She told me that she saw her sister (who had died years earlier) waiting for her.” Perhaps her background may explain why she is so successful in helping the dying reach a good death. She grew up on a farm near Fairdale, ND, about 15 miles south of Canada, where she also learned to drive a tractor, truck and combine. She has a great work ethic and is very down to earth. In addition, she has worked in a nursing home, likes the elderly and being around them. Denise has also worked with handicapped adults and special education children. She is able to develop rapport easily with her patients. “Every person has their own little thing that I can connect with. One patient in particular had a talent for doing quilts. I sew. So we had that in common. The patient made all these quilt pieces and passed away before putting them together. So I joined the three quilt layers (quilt top, batting and backing) together for the family. “Most gratifying,” Denise concluded, “are the responses I get from the families. They were sweet to me. I always got along with the families very well and have received beautiful notes from them. Even though Ingrid, for example, has been gone three years, her husband and I still keep in touch on occasion.” Denise is Lutheran, but finds the Jewish faith interesting. She is excited about helping Temple Israel with membership and in doing projects for the National Council of Jewish Women. She has been married to Jon Meyers for nine years.

Continued from page 21 find a university field house full of people like them? It The effect of the Ruback’s volunteer work has trickled gives them such a sense of belonging. Team members down to their sons. “K.C. is now an assistant coach for gain self confidence, motivation, self esteem and self the Red Dawgs,” Marcy said. respect. Many improve their school work because their “Recently, a Red Dawgs player came to watch the self image improves so much. Bottom line, what the Barons practice and brought an able-bodied friend players get is immeasurable.” along. During the practice the boy in the chair said to The benefits of their volunteer efforts accrue to Dave his friend, ‘See that guy in the North Carolina hat out and Marcy as well. there -- pointing at K.C. -- he’s my assistant Red Dawgs “Just watching the kids’ development, seeing them do basketball coach.’ I got a lump in my throat and tears in something today that they couldn’t do last week, makes my eyes then. I still do now,” she said. us feel great. K.C. never made a basket until he was 11“It’s a huge payoff when you see your volunteer years-old. He worked and worked at it. To see his deterefforts rub off on your own mination, and then to see kids,” Marcy continued. him score in a game was “Our son Joe -- he’s now 23 priceless,” Marcy added. -- was a normal, self “To know that our efforts absorbed teenager. Then he give some of these kids a enrolled at UNO and ended social life, or an opportunity up working for Mike Kult. they otherwise would not Joe would just show up on have had, or helped them Saturday mornings for 9 become better people, gives o’clock practice to make us a huge boost.” sure the team’s equipment In March, 2007, the was ready. He’d go with us Nebraska Red Dawgs Jr. to out-of-town tournaments Prep Wheelchair basketball and after a game we’d see team -- ages eight-12 -- finhim carrying the bag of ished third at their National practice balls he’d collected The Ruback family: Marcy, Dave, and sons Joe and K.C. Championship in Seattle. without anyone asking him to do it. Dave and I would “As a coach, I’m proud of this achievement,” Dave look at each other and say, ‘Wow. Maybe some of our said. “But my greatest satisfaction during the season was volunteering is starting to rub off on Joe.’” watching a player with cerebral palsy, as well as moderThe wheelchair athletes, of course, are the main bene- ate developmental delays, score his first basket ever durficiaries of the Ruback’s volunteer work, and because ing a game. The clincher in this case was the degree of most Jr. Red Dawgs played and traveled together for so this boy’s cognitive deficits, compared to the majority of long, they’ve became a family -- helping to pay bills Red Dawgs players whose learning disabilities run from when a teammate’s mother was diagnosed with cancer, minimal to zero.” and later forming a wheelchair receiving line at the He continued, “Just telling that story may not sound church when she died. In most cases, no matter where very meaningful, but I witnessed several parents on the the kids came from, no one else in their town or school sidelines with tears in their eyes. Marcy had recruited the is like them. boy and because he joined the team, his single-parent “But at a Red Dawgs practice,” Dave said, “everyone mother got the support and the friendship she greatly is like them. Can you imagine how included they feel needed. There are no words to describe my feelings or when they go to a wheelchair basketball tournament and my satisfaction. I won’t even try.”

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Volunteering, face-to-face by JOAN K. MARCUS of 1957. Rabbi Isaac Nadoff, who later came to Beth Until fairly recently, Morton Glass hasn’t had time to Israel Synagogue in Omaha, officiated at their marriage. do volunteer work. Those of us who are old enough to It is no coincidence that Mort was president of Beth remember, can still see him at the kosher meat market Israel from 1980 to 1982! on North 24th Street. As a boy of only 12 or 13, Mort Glass has been in the meat packing business for most would be sweeping the sawdust on the floor. Then, as of his life. However, about six years ago, his ground beef we all expected, his mother, Sadie, would call, “Morton! processing plant, Signature Foods, had a disastrous fire. Carry out the packages!” He ultimately decided not to rebuild and what was left Mort would scoop up all of the wonderful things that of the business was purchased by ConAgra Foods. our parents had purchased and carry them to our cars. After remaining as a ConAgra employee for two years, The individual packages were all sealed with tape and we Mort branched out into his own small marketing comknew that when we got home, we would have a delicious pany. He and a partner represent other meat suppliers, corned beef or salami sandwich. When we left the butch- formerly competitors of his own company. er shop, we would stop at Fuffs or Adlers Bakery to get As a volunteer in the Jewish community, Mort also has the warm rye bread for served on the Jewish our sandwiches and Federation Board, was bagels for breakfast on president of Jewish Sunday. Those were Family Service, and indeed, the “good old served on the board of days!” Jewish Senior Services. After Shabbat on “I enjoy working for Saturday night, the stores the Jewish community, would open and Jews but something seemed to would congregate in the be missing with my volstreet and greet their unteer work,” he says. “I friends. Teenage girls and always missed helping boys accompanied their people and seeing them parents on the shopping face to face. I think that adventure because that volunteerism should be was a good chance to more than meetings; it meet members of the should be helping others opposite sex. and repairing the world.” But Mort Glass didn’t Although Glass still have time for socializing. works in his own busiHe was too busy at the ness, he finds time to volMort Glass butcher stop helping his unteer with the parents. In about 1910, Mort’s father, Al, had come as an immigrant from Latvia, a part of Russia at the time. His mother, Sadie (Lazer) was an Omahan. Times were hard for the Glass family. Al worked long hours in a hard physical job cutting meat. Sadie was always at his side and Mort doesn’t remember anyone relaxing. “I can remember the sleepless nights when my father was trying to keep the meat market afloat,” he recalls. “One of the reasons I started to work there when I was so young was because I was trying to help.” They were never able to save any money. Finally, in 1949, when Mort was a senior in high school, the family bought its first car. Up until then, all they had was the delivery truck. “My parents never owned their own home; they rented for their whole lives,” he adds. “I never heard my parents complain, however, because they didn’t have things. They always felt fortunate. There was one thing that my father used to say, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a shower instead of a bathtub?’” It seems that Al had bad legs, arthritis and other health problems and it was difficult for him to get in and out of the bathtub. Mort says, “To this day, there are very few days when I take a shower that I don’t think of my father who never got his!” When Mort was a senior in high school, Jan Thomas came to Omaha from Des Moines for an AZA dance. “My friend Eddie Belgrade found out who she was because I was really attracted to her,” Mort smiles, adding, they have two adult children who both in live in California: Jeff, is a doctor and Lisa, an actress. Mort and Jan were married in Des Moines in March

Homestead Program in Omaha. “Many of these people who are over 65 or have disabilities don’t even realize that they might qualify for a reduction in their homeowner taxes. In many cases, they get the form in the mail, but they don’t know how to fill it out,” he explains. “My friend David Meyers got me started with the program and now I’m hooked,” he says. There are different sites around the city where volunteers take applications from mostly elderly folks who have received notices. “I find it so meaningful because I deal directly with one person,” he adds. “You can see the impact it has on their lives by showing them the savings to which they’re entitled !” Some of those he serves are living on incomes of $15,000 a year or less. “At the end of the interview, when you tell these people that they won’t have to pay homeowner taxes -- or that they’ll get a big reduction in taxes, it’s like you’ve given them the world. Sometimes, you even see tears well up in their eyes.” Glass finds the work very rewarding because if he wasn’t there to take the application, that person might not get help. “The program has locations all over town because we are trying to reach all people. I’m there for three or four hours at a time and people line up for help. I meet people who bring me their paperwork and I have to coax them to remember what they have for deductions,” he says. “It’s amazing and so rewarding when I see who comes in for help. I know what its like not to have a lot,” he adds. “Meetings and committees are important. But, this is one volunteer activity where I find immediate results.”

An excellent Shabbos Continued from page 11 Pfrenger agrees: “We always look for more involvement, both from organizations and from individuals. No matter how much we do, there is always more to give, and more people to visit. People can call and ask to get involved.” The Temple Caring Committee doesn’t limit itself to the Blumkin Home residents either. Although visiting the there on Friday afternoons is what got them started, they have since branched out. They keep a list of homebound people who need a number of services provided. Temple keeps track of who is hospitalized and might need help, as well as those recently released from the hospital. Often times people will be discharged, but aren’t able to take care of certain necessary tasks by themselves. The committee will provide them with anything from

a friendly face to home cooked meals. Help is also available through the Grieving Committee in case of a loss. For instance, if there are not enough people available to sit shiva, additional volunteers will donate their time. Epstein has bigger plans: “I am imagining a Caring Committee directory, listing an army of volunteers right at our fingertips. People can sign up with whatever service they would be able to provide: cook and/or deliver meals, help with shopping, transporting people, and checking up on those who need looking after.” Other things the committee is working on have to do with bringing even more activities to the Home. “In the past,” Epstein says, “deli night at the Blumkin Home has been a big success. We’d love to do more activities like that and of course, we can always use more help.” Get up, get involved: whether you can bake, drive, shop, or just spend some time with someone who needs it; you’ll be welcomed with open arms.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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Ron’s “to-do” list by JOAN K. MARCUS After a year of recuperation and tests, Ron was free to Before M. Ronald Brodkey retired, he used to keep a pursue his list. He volunteered at a golf course and list of things that he wanted to do when he quit work- claims he had more fun than the golfers. After the golf ing. High on his list was volunteering at the Nebraska course was sold, Ron fulfilled another of his dreams and Humane Society, straightening his basement, playing became an Adoption Counselor at the Nebraska golf and other jobs. Humane Society. After retirement six years ago, he says, “I love to inter“I walked in there and told them I am nuts about aniact with people and always knew that first and foremost, mals and I needed a job. They enrolled me in an orienI need to be around people.” tation, but I knew what I wanted to do. When you help Ron remembers that his mother, Helen Brodkey, was a family of four adopt an animal, you’ve done five always involved in volunteer activities and she set an mitzvot at one time; touching the lives of all four memexample for him to follow. “Mom was president of prac- bers in the family and the life of the animal. Just think of tically everything Jewish in Omaha! She taught me I all of the lives that I get to touch!” he smiles. didn’t always have to get paid for doing things. She “I shadowed another Adoption Counselor until I felt always talked about doing mitzvot and taught my broth- I could handle every situation. As I’ve gotten more er and me by her example.” knowledgeable, I’ve learned more about the animals. I He recalls that “Mom ran the Hadassah Bargain Box already knew about people because I had been in the and I answered the telephone in the evenings when retail business for so long. In 45 minutes, I can make a women called in the results of how many aluminum cans friend for life.” or nylon stockings they He went on to say, had collected and what “The Humane Society they had sold at the store. adopts out more than My dad, David Brodkey, 8000 animals a year and I was busy earning a living, get to talk to hundreds of but he always stressed people each year, too. that we should give I’ve met all kinds of peowhenever and as much as ple who have come to we could. Mom did all of adopt pets.” this as a volunteer.” After the application Ron grew up working process for pets is comat Brodkey Jewelry plete, Brodkey gets the Company, the family chance to talk to them. “I business. “In the sumfigure out their lifestyle mers when I came home and try to get a feeling for from school, they sent me where this furry being out to small towns to will end up living. If they substitute for managers have another dog at when they were on vacahome, they need to bring tion. Retail jewelry busithat dog and other family ness is where you spend members before they 70 hours a week trying to adopt another animal.” make a living. I never had He explained, “When any spare time for volunI have matched someone teer work.” up with a pet, carry it out A 1954 graduate of to their car and put it in Central High, Brodkey the arms of children who attended he University of Ron Brodkey, now retired, spends a lot of his time volunteering at have never had a dog Oklahoma at Norman the Nebraska Humane Society. before, there is no greater where he earned a degree in business administration in mitzvah. I close the door and wave to them as they drive 1958. After that, it was off to the army to fulfill his mil- out,” he explained. itary obligation. In 1959, he married his college sweet“For me, that is an adrenalin rush that surpasses anyheart, Beth Gladstein, and they returned to Omaha thing. It’s the nicest, warmest feeling in the world and where Ron rejoined his family’s business. He worked at sometimes I do that three or four times a day. You can Brodkey Jewelers for 41 years until 2000. only imagine how I feel when I go home. Just think of Even during the years that Ron was working, he was a the interesting people I meet when I go volunteer member of the Temple Israel Board of Directors, and its there.” Budget, Personnel Practices, Finance and Dues The late Morton Richards was president of the Equalization Committees. He was also on the boards of Humane Society Board and told Brodkey there was no the Jewish Federation and JCC and a member of the way to describe the feeling you get when you go there. Buildings and Grounds Committee. “I sandwiched this “So, about 10 years ago, I followed his advice and he volunteer work in between traveling out of town to was right. There’s just no way to describe the feeling.” stores and working nights.” Another passion for Brodkey has been his tireless work Another longtime volunteer job was Ron’s interest in in campaigning for organ donations. Since two of his the Cosmopolitan Club -- an organization in the gener- good friends have been the recipients of transplanted al community that raised money for worthy causes. organs, he began working with the Temple’s social jusIn August of 2000, Beth sold her store -- Bags and tice committee as an umbrella organization, to advocate Baggage -- and Ron says, “I probably wouldn’t have for people to donate their organs after death. thought about retiring but, when Beth sold the store, Panel discussions with doctors from the Lied she seemed to be having so much fun.” Transplant Center, flyers on holiday grocery bags, He noticed how “She would get up in the mornings notices on grocery collection bags and announcements and tell me she didn’t have to go to work. It was going in Temple Tidings have all been part of Ron’s educato be another day in paradise! She bragged that there tional work. wouldn’t be any inventory, checks to write, employees “If someone signs a donation card, they save eight or theft. So, I decided to join her.” lives. That’s why I speak at schools with professionals Unfortunately, Ron’s volunteer list had to be put on and we offer information about organ donations,” he hold for a year because he had a stroke on the very day says. that he retired. “I was packing up the stuff in my office Another project on Ron’s list is a possible exhibit at and I began to feel ‘funny,’” he recalled. the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society about small town Jewish life in Nebraska. “I’m on the board of NJHS and EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE they voted to do this with a grant from Sandra Kully The Jewish Press office will be closed for Rosh Freed. Then, someone said that I would help with the Hashanah, Thursdays & Fridays, Sept. 13-14; Sukkot, project. I work on it on my spare time. We have found Sept. 27-28; and Shemini Azeret/Simchat Torah, Oct. 425 cities in Nebraska with more than 100 Jewish fami5. Deadlines for the following issues are at 9 a.m.: lies statewide.” Issue Deadline In addition to serving as a role model for his grandson, Sept. 21 Tuesday, Sept. 11 Ari Brodkey, Ron works weekends as, of all things, a Oct. 5 Tuesday, Sept. 25 motorcycle salesman. “I’m the greeter when people Oct. 12 Tuesday, Oct. 2 come into the showroom. At age 13, I got a motorcycle Questions? Call 402.334.6448 for information on subfor my Bar Mitzvah; I still love riding. When motorcycle mitting articles, photos, ads, and announcements, as well guys come into the showroom, they look at me in disas synagogue schedules. belief.”

September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 27

The woman who “gets things done” by OZZIE NOGG Do not place a stumbling block before the blind, warns the Torah. When Bernice Wolfson sees a stumbling block, she removes it. Just ask Stan Yank, the blind trumpet player and leader of Stan Yank and the Jazz Merchants. “I met Bernice in the early 1960s,” Stan said. “I was a young music student at Omaha U. and my late wife Berit, who was blind too, taught at the State School for the Blind down in Nebraska City. We’d run into Bernice often, and we became friends. She understood that Berit and I needed help.” He continued, “One day she said to me, ‘You know, they don’t have a bugler at Ak-Sar-Ben.’ So she took me to meet Jake Isaacson -- he managed the track -and she said, ‘Jake, instead of using that recorded music before each race you should have a live bugler. Here’s one. Hire him’. And they did. Had it been up to me I’d never have gotten that job.” Stan and Berit might never have gotten an apartment either. Prejudice against renting to the blind was common then, but Bernice Wolfson doggedly worked the phones until she convinced one landlord to give the young couple a place to live. “Lots of people talk and don’t act,” Stan Yank said. “Bernice gets things done.” Those words -- Bernice gets things done -- have been a mantra for Omaha’s blind since the morning in 1956 when Bernice -- then a stay-at-home-mom with three little boys -- got a call from her friend, Pauline Guss. “Pauline had just returned from a Women’s League convention, and she

Alan and Bernice Wolfson, seated, celebrate NFVIC’s award for her longtime contributions, with sons, Doug, standing left, Bob and Ron. told me about hearing a young blind boy from California who’d been able to become a bar mitzvah because the Sisterhood in his congregation had transcribed a prayer book into Braille. Pauline wanted me to investigate starting a braille group in Omaha, but I said, ‘Look, you know I don’t leave my house very often.’ Pauline insisted, so finally I said yes.” Bernice encountered stumbling blocks of her own. “People told me that Omaha had no need for a braille group. Even Dr. Milton Margolin, who was blind himself, discouraged me from doing anything. The more he discouraged me, the more I

fought.” Soon a number of Beth El Sisterhood volunteers began meeting in the synagogue basement, where a teacher from the State Services for the Visually Impaired helped them master the complex skills needed to become certified braille transcribers. After months of painstaking work, the women produced - by hand, character-by-character -- the very first braille Haggadah. “It even included musical notes for Passover songs,” Bernice said. “After we purchased a braille Thermoform duplicating machine we ran off about one hun-

dred copies of the Haggadah and sent them to the Jewish Guild for the Blind, and they distributed them around the country.” Somehow, the blind Jewish jazz piano legend George Shearing got Bernice’s name. “He was performing at Anthony’s Steak house one Passover and called to ask if I could get him braille material.” Bernice did more. “I invited him to our second seder. He sat down at the piano and played Passover songs. Later, I heard that while he was at Anthony’s he would open the first set with ‘Chad Gadya’.” Word of the braille group and Bernice Wolfson’s leadership hit the papers. “On the night the ‘Omaha World Herald’ ran a story, I got a call from a local radiologist who said, ‘You’re doing braille. I’m the father of a totally blind child. We have a group of eight families with young blind children and the parents want to get them into a preschool but no one will accept them.’ Right then I decided, if I can get the money to pay the teachers we’ll start a school.” At the time, Belle Katz and Ruth Sokolof were running a nursery school at Beth El three mornings a week, so Bernice arranged a shidach. “I asked Rabbi Kripke if my blind kids could meet at the synagogue on the other two mornings. Was there a room we could use?” With the rabbi’s blessing -- and with teachers Ruthie Sokolof and Ruth Katzkee -- a preschool for blind children became a reality. No doubt about it. Bernice gets things done! Continued on page 28

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September 7, 2007

The woman who “gets things done” Continued from page 27 Eventually the Two Ruths (as Bernice calls them), the children and their parents wanted more than twice a week education. As serendipity would have it, construction of the Dr. J.P. Lord School for disabled students was underway. Time for another shidach (match). “I asked them for space to house a full-time school for my blind children. They said, ‘We’ll give you a room if you can provide everything else.’” As Bernice describes it, ‘everything else’ simply fell in her lap. “I had seen the Gene Eppley Salvation Army Camp near Bellevue. It offered recreational experiences for disadvantaged children, so I asked National Council of Jewish Women for a subsidy to help the blind kids go to camp. Next, I arranged for Gene Eppley to visit camp on a Sunday afternoon, where he heard a 10-year old blind piano player’s rendition of ‘I’ve Got the Whole World in my Hand’.” She added, "Next morning, Gene Eppley donated $10,000 to furnish the room at J.P. Lord School for the blind children.” The facility was named The Children’s Sight Center. The Two Ruths taught full-time and NCJW volunteers transported kids from home, to school and back. In 1960, The Children’s Sight Center was incorporated as the Nebraska Foundation for the Visually Handicapped with a 501C nonprofit tax exempt status. Today, the organization is called Nebraska Foundation for Visually Impaired Children (NFVIC). Bernice’s advocacy for the blind expanded to other disabled children after she received a call from a father whose young daughter was a student at the Nebraska School for the Deaf. He told Bernice, “Do you realize that your blind kids and my deaf daughter and her friends are under the jurisdiction of the Board of Control of the State of Nebraska, listed as inmates. We have to get a bill passed that will transfer their status to the Board of Education.” In an effort to affect this change, Bernice and a group of parents met with lawmakers in Lincoln. “During the discussion, this big, burly out-state senator said to another senator, ‘If you vote for my gas bill I’ll vote for your blind kids.’ That’s how it works.” Due in large part to Bernice’s efforts, legislation was enacted that enabled the first blind student to enroll in District 66. Downplaying her role, Bernice said, “I think I got involved when it was about to happen with me or without me.” At battling bureaucracy, Bernice is a champ. She also throws a mean party. For the past 47 years, area blind children have been treated to a Christmas Party that allows them -- with the help of sighted high school “shopping buddies” -- to buy gifts for family and friends.

“At one of the first parties, at Brandeis, each of Ruth’s and help it grow. “Bernice always asks, ‘Is there somestudents got $5,” Bernice said. “Elaine Jabenis helped us thing I can do?’ And she always follows through. She’s a lot. So did Buzz Rubin. He said, ‘Take whatever toys supported the Foundation from the ground up. She you want. Just be sure you get enough.’ A few years worries about it’s future.” later, Ruth unrolled a wad of bills and gave each kid $10. The future of any non-profit organization depends on She added, “The year Ruth died, her husband Phil gave the generosity of corporate sponsors as well as individueach child $25. Word got out that we were giving away als, and Bernice Wolfson knows who to call for donamoney, and Phil set up a trust so the party could go on tions of services, products and cash. In 2006, a national forever.” pharmaceutical company The trust -- the Karen helped underwrite the Sokolof Javitch Chariappearance of Tom table Foundation -- is Sullivan -- a blind actor, named for Phil’s daughter musician, author and who serves as its adminismotivational speaker -- at trator. a major fundraiser that “Karen remains a very raised $30,000. dedicated member of the “We shared the proNFVIC Board,” Bernice ceeds with the University added, “and constantly of Nebraska Foundhelps us raise money for ation,” Bernice said. the children.” The annual “They’re building a lowparty is now known as the vision house on the Ruth Sokolof Christmas Omaha campus for peoParty. ple who are experiencing In the early days, the visual loss. This new projparty head count averect will help people learn aged eight to 10 younghow to adapt their own sters. In 2006, almost Karen Sokolof Javitch, daughter of the late Ruth Sokolof, gives homes so they can con125 blind children each Bernice Wolfson a hug; the two have worked to perpetuate Ruth’s tinue living in them safely received $100 in cash and memory by hosting a shopping spree for visually impaired children and independently. It’s a every Christmas. gift certificates. fabulous concept.” “We had parties at the Ranch Bowl where I.B. In recognition of her 50-plus years of devotion and Ziegman treated the kids to food and bowling. When I dedication to the blind, the Nebraska Foundation for had the Deli at Westroads, my family hosted the party Visually Impaired Children honored Bernice in March there. It’s always quite a happening. The kids really look of 2006 at a surprise event at Joslyn Art Museum. forward to the shopping and the lunch, and Santa always “I had no idea what was going on. Mary Bernstein -visits. Two of our sons, Ron and Bob, played Santa over who donated her party-planning services to make the the years. They were good, too. Actually, they were evening so elegant -- and all the other volunteers on the great.” committee never dropped a hint. When I saw my out-ofThe example Bernice set for Ron, Bob, and youngest town kids and grandchildren walk into the room, I finalson, Doug, is obvious. “I’m sure my efforts helped our ly figured things out.” boys understand tikkun olam. All three of them are The award, which called her ‘A True Humanitarian’ working to make a difference in the world.” came as a surprise to no one but Bernice. She is quick to Nancy Flearl, President of NFVIC and Omaha District point out that, “None of this would have been possible Supervisor of the Nebraska Commission for the Blind without the constant support of my husband, Alan, and and Visually Impaired said, “Bernice is so passionate my sons -- all of whom were by my side on this journey.” about the kids. She makes sure they have what they need Torah commentators suggest that recognizing ‘stumto be successful -- technical skills, social skills, exposure bling blocks’ is a metaphoric call to action -- that if we to culture -- so they’re able to compete with their sight- see injustice and do nothing, we abdicate our responsied peers. Bernice is always thinking. She’s the first per- bility to the vulnerable and to the world at large. son to ask questions, and once she understands the issue Reflecting on over five decades of helping the blind she’s the first person to take action.” overcome obstacles, Bernice said, “Once I met those Flearl praised Bernice for her networking abilities, her blind nursery school children I was turned on. I saw a skill in finding the best people to serve on NFVIC Board need and I tried to help.”

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September 7, 2007

A Boy Scout forever by JOAN K. MARCUS group allowed him to make friends with Yale Gotsdiner became an Eagle Scout Native Americans. “I’ve always had an in Troop #2 in Council Bluffs in 1937. affinity for these people because I feel He knew that a Boy Scout is trustworthy, that they suffered their own kind of loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, Holocaust,” he says. clean, reverent, thrifty, brave, obedient After an early retirement, Yale volunand friendly. At age 85, he is as youthful teered for the Shriners by helping to raise and forward thinking as he was when he funds for the Shrine Children’s Hospital was a Scout. and Burn Center in Minneapolis. He has lived his life by the code he However, his biggest job during the learned as a Scout. He maintains that last few years has been the creation of the people who volunteer do it because they Nebraska Holocaust Memorial at Wyuka like to help others, but adds, “People do Cemetery in Lincoln. His first job was to these things because they enjoy them. raise funds along with Omahans Sam Not because they’re necessarily altruis- Fried, himself a Holocaust survivor, and tic.” Jerry Kohll. Others who joined the projGotsdiner was born in Omaha in 1922. ect were members of the Lincoln Jewish He grew up in Council Bluffs where his community -- Penny Berger, Jim father had several grocery stores. After Gordon, Lou Leviticus, Pam Gannon, high school, Yale went on to the Gary Hill -- and Paul Smith, a Lincoln University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He high school teacher who incorporates the graduated in three years with a combined Holocuast into his classroom curriculum. degree of political science and philosoSmith participated in the 18th March phy. He belonged to of the Living trip to Zeta Beta Tau, a Jewish Poland’s concentration fraternity. camps in a Nebraska He was headed for contingent put togethlaw school when World er by the Great Plains War II broke out and Region of the Antihe was drafted. He says, Defamation League. “After I got back from The committee made the war, I applied to a point of asking people Harvard Law School who are not Jewish to and was accepted. work with them However, my plans because there were othchanged when I met ers besides Jews who my wife, Irene Witt. I died in the Holocaust. met her during the war Gotsdiner says, “We when I was stationed at made a point of this not Yale Gotsdiner being a Jewish monuFort Benning, Georgia. Getting married seemed to be more ment -- but a tribute to all victims of the important than being a lawyer, so I Holocaust and the people who liberated decided to go into business with my them. Catholics, people with disabilities, Gypsies, political dissidents, and many longtime friend, Stuart Muskin.” The two men owned and operated others were targeted. It started with Jews Babytown and later Youngtown in and ended up with many more.” The name of the cemetery, Wyuka, Omaha and Lincoln for nearly 40 years. The retail operations stocked clothing, means “resting place” in the Native furniture and other items for babies, chil- American language, Dakota. The land dren and adolescents. Irene and Yale was designated to be a cemetery by the enjoy four grown children: Karen Nebraska Legislature in 1869. There are Schanfield, an attorney; Gary Gotsdiner, Jews buried in a designated area. The also an attorney; Steven Gotsdiner, a cemetery covers more than 200 acres and CPA; and Lynne Easterday, a real estate the monument is on Memorial Drive, a broker. The Gotsdiners have six grand- special place of honor for those who have received the Purple Heart, policemen, children. Since 1948, Yale has either chaired or firemen and other heroes. The group wanted a wide base of parworked on both Omaha’s and Lincoln’s Federation Campaigns. His goal is to ticipation and they didn’t want large support Israel because he thinks that sums of money from corporations. They Jews need a homeland. Although he has wanted the memorial to be meaningful only been to Israel twice, Gotsdiner to everyone. Total cost of the memorial believes that we are better off today was over $200,000. Fried donated the because we have a country. “The Wall of Remembrance. Gotsdiner visits the memorial often. Germans taught us that we need a home of our own. Even if Jews don’t go to During his most recent visit there, he Israel, we have profited today because it heard a woman turn to her husband and say, “My G-d! Was it that bad!?” is there.” The memorial also is a center for eduIn addition to serving as president of the Lincoln Federation, Yale spent 14 cation, so local classes come regularly and lectures are given about the Holocaust. years on the Lincoln Interfaith Council. “It was composed of people from every Survivors and schoolteachers talk to chilwalk of life: Jews, Christians, Muslims dren and other groups. “As a result, we’ve been able to get and Hindus. The idea was that if we did things together and for each other, we classes into all of the Lincoln High wouldn’t have time to fight,” he smiles. Schools,” he says, “and we’re working on “We sponsored a Scout Troop so that the high schools located out-state.” Gotsdiner adds, “We have the support kids would learn how to work together.” The Interfaith Council also sponsored of the Nebraska State Education Board a food program through churches and and of Beth Seldin Dotan, who is the synagogues. The goal is to provide food director of the Institute for Holocaust for people who would not otherwise Education, in getting these courses into have enough to eat. The food was pro- the schools. We work together. Beth has vided on a temporary basis during diffi- been a tremendous asset because she has cult times until those in need could be written and assembled materials for us. And we’re anxious to use them.” helped back into the workforce. He went on to say, “My work has just Also as a result of his association with the Interfaith Council, Gotsdiner aserved begun on this second phase of the on the Scout Council, an advisory board memorial. I have lots to keep me busy for to the Scouts. His association with the the next few years!”

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

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“Giving back” is important part for ADL president by GARY JAVITCH is quite positive. “I see the glass as half full. The state of As the first recipient of the Bruce Fellman Memorial race relations and religious understanding and tolerance Young Leadership Award in 2000, David Gilinsky had is pretty good in Omaha,” he said. already demonstrated to the Omaha community the “Certainly there is room for improvement. Racially, importance of volunteer work. Omaha is segregated. But we have strong leadership that The Fellman Award, given annually by the Jewish strives to build bridges and open doors. Beth Katz, who Federation of Omaha to honor a young man who has heads up Project Interfaith in the ADL office, is a great demonstrated personal commitment, dedicated involve- example of what makes Omaha a more progressive comment and exemplary leadership qualities in his service to munity than most. Reading about what is going on in the Jewish and general communities, was just one of Omaha, I can see progress in other areas. We are not many accolades, Gilinsky, 43, has received. close-minded or fearful.” Always interested in world affairs, he was recognized He did express some concerns. “However, Omaha is not too long ago for his work as chairman of the local very homogeneous; I would love to see more diversity Nebraska Council of the American Israel Public Affairs and have my kids experience more ‘diverse’ contacts. My Committee, better known as AIPAC. He remains an kids have more exposure to diversity than I did. active member of the council. However, twice as much of very little still leaves room In 1990, four years after getting a degree in economics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, David moved back to Omaha with his wife, Katherine Finnegan, to take the leadership of Bergman’s Incentives and represent the fifth generation in their family’s 119 year-old business. Bergman Incentives sells customized promotional products and related services to businesses around the country. “Katherine and I returned to Omaha for a couple of reasons. It was my hometown and unlike New York or California, where we had lived earlier, we would not be like an island in a huge place,” David explained. “Once we got here,” David continued, “it was not hard to David Gilinsky and Katherine Finnegan have three children: Molly, 14, Laura, 13, and become involved in the commu- Jack, 11. nity. We felt a sense of purpose in Omaha, and felt we for improvement. But that’s why the ADL is here and should be giving back. Early on, I was involved in we are continuing to do good work,” he added. Leadership Omaha, an Omaha Chamber of Commerce“ADL is all about integrating, reaching out and consponsored leadership training program. Ann Goldstein necting. Although we are firmly planted in our Jewish introduced me to it when she worked at the Chamber; identity, we are always connecting with the greater comher message was ‘We are a community and for it to con- munity to help those who are being wrongfully treated. tinue, we need people to drive it forward.’” That is one of the most attractive things that ADL does. When he finished the program, David related, “Ann That’s what sets them apart from other organizations. told me, ‘I’ve got just the place for you,’ and recom- And that’s what makes it more rewarding for me.” mended I join the Anti-Defamation League Board.” David has given back with his work on two other boards David liked that the board stood against bigotry and that have an effect beyond the Jewish community. worked to eliminate prejudice. He joined up. To date, “(The late) Joel Brodsky recruited me to the local he has been serving on the board 12 years, the last two chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis board. I at its helm. enjoyed being on the Board with him. On behalf of the “As president, I would like to accomplish several national organization, we raised money for research and things. Among them, I want to increase the level of programs, much of which was spent locally. Joel inspired awareness of the ADL/CRC (Community Relations me to do the work,” Gilinsky noted. Council) for the three basic services we provide to the “From him, I came to understand that most people greater community as well as the Jewish community,” he are affected in their youth. Joel, for example, was diagexplained. nosed with the disease at 20, and developed symptoms Briefly, these programs include: protecting the com- in his 30s. The disease affects your life’s choices. I munity by working with counterterrorism experts and watched a good friend go through it. While I was on the law enforcement to provide the resources and informa- board, the organization helped fund national research tion to help people cope with real and potential threats; that led to the creation of the first three drugs to slow investigating hate crimes, bias incidents, extremism, the disease’s development,” he said. anti-Semitic activity and hatred on the Internet, and “As Board Chair of the local chapter of the National finally, educating people at all ages, in many different MS Society, I represented the organization on the board environments -- but especially children and youth, from of Community Health Charities, formerly known as pre-kindergarten through college -- to reject bigotry CHAD. After my term ended on the MS board, I was and respect diversity. asked to stay on the CHC Board as a member of the “From that I hope to increase and broaden the level of executive committee.” Seventeen Nebraska health charfinancial support to garner more corporate and individ- ities benefit from CHC’s workplace giving programs. ual support so that we are not as reliant on the Training young Omaha Jews on community boards Federation campaign,” Gilinsky added. “Once they does help accomplish Gilinsky’s goals at the ADL, too, understand our message, it won’t be that hard.” by providing leadership to the general community and From his position on the ADL Board, David’s outlook making life better for all.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 31

Still going strong at 89 by JOAN K. MARCUS Who says volunterring is only for the young? Milton Saylan didn’t have time to do volunteer work when he was a boy growing up in Omaha. Born in 1918 to Yetta and Jack (“Jake the Barber”) Saylan, he and his two sisters and brother worked hard to help their parents. Now, at age 89, he still works -- but this time as a volunteer, two days a week at Methodist Hospital’s x-ray department. “When I go to bed, I have something to look forward to the next day. I’m helping someone,” he smiles. When Jack came from Europe, the family name was “Zelinsky.” Reports have it that the name changed when they got off the boat. Thus, some of the family were called “Selinsky,” a name that later evolved into “Saylan.” Saylan hauled big chunks of ice after school at Central High. After graduation, in 1936, there was no money for college and Milt went to work at Brodkey Jewelry Company on 15th and Douglas. “I was a salesman on the floor for four years,” he said proudly. It was on a double date that Saylan met Rosalie Tuchman. “Rosalie was with Sonny Richards and I was with my sister, Libby (Louise Sherman). I think it was love right away. And, it was convenient for us to date because we lived near each other on 38th and Dodge.” Rosalie and Milt were married in 1940 and they moved to Charter Oak, Iowa, where Milt ran a grocery store. “I knew some people who volunteeed, even then, but I had no time! I had to work hard and many hours.” After a stint in the United States Navy

during World War II, he moved his family to Manilla, Iowa, to run another grocery store. Another move took them to Dennison. Hours were longer there still and the work was harder. “I didn’t know anything else and I had to make a living.” In 1956, the Saylans finally moved back to Omaha where Milt went into business with his brother-in-law, Leo Sherman at Craftsman Window Coverings. “I was there six months and quit to go into business for myself. My company was called Window Wares. We were a wholesale company that sold drapery hardware and trimmings.” Finally, in 1975, Milt retired and was able to realize his dream of helping others. He and Rosalie moved to Palm Springs where first he became a volunteer for the American Red Cross as a blood donor. He eventually filled the equivalent of 20 gallons and six pints. His blood donations spanned 31 years from 1973 to 2004. He said, “Giving blood took only a half an hour of my time and afterwards, I felt like I could whip the world,” he grinned. “When I got up the next morning, I had a beautiful feeling. It does so much good for the people who receive it and it always gave me a terrific feeling of satisfaction.” While in California, he and Rosalie also volunteered at the Desert Regional Medical Center in the admitting department. Milt escorted patients and Rosalie worked at the reception desk. “At first, I delivered mail to different departments. As I became acquainted with the hospital, I went to work in the radiology department getting the people properly dressed and outfitted for their procedures,” he explained.

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Milt Saylan “From there, I went to work in the emergency room where I met the patients as they came in. Later, I was ‘promoted’ to the information desk where I greeted everyone who came in,” he smiled. In 2005, Rosalie and Milt moved back to Omaha to be closer to their family. “We always knew we would come back in one way or another. We were tired of not being able to see our children, our grandchildren and then our great-grandchildren,” he added. Their children include: Dorothy and Dr. Robert Shapiro of Lincoln, Steve and Jacki Saylan, and Ellen and Craig Saylan, all of Omaha. They have six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Instead of taking life easy and retiring from his volunteer work, Milt immediately went to Methodist Hospital, where he

“applied” for a volunteer job. Of course, he was “hired” immediately. Hospital officials immediately recognized a trained volunteer and put him to work. He began in the post surgery department and after a couple of weeks, the Director of Volunteers, knowing his background, promoted him to the radiology department. His duties include helping people to properly dress for their procedures. Depending upon the procedure and the length of time that patients have to wait, he visits with them in an effort to help them relax. “It’s easy for people to converse with me because it makes the time go by faster. Until the technician comes to get them, I schmooze with the patients. Sometimes, they tell me about their ‘kvetches’ and it helps them to relax,” he said. “No way was I going to retire from my volunteer work! I’ve seen people who just sit around. They show their age right away. It’s advisable for people to continue to do volunteer work for as long as their feet will carry them,” he insists. “When I go bed and know that I’ll get up the next morning -- shower and shave and put on my uniform to go to work, it keeps my mind, my body and my bones active. I also know what a mitzvah it is for the people who I help.” This young-at-heart volunteer added, “I’ve never walked out of the hospital feeling tired. The secret of staying young is to be mentally and physically active. I’m going to keep doing volunteer work until my legs won’t carry me anymore. There’s no question that I make a difference in the lives of the people I help.” Indeed!

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

For Beth El teen, horsing around is serious business by JILL BELMONT Since her Bat Mitzvah celebration two years ago, Rachel Stein’s continued dedication to her mitzvah project has just made good horse sense. The 15-year-old Millard North sophomore is an enthusiastic volunteer at the Heartland Equine Therapeutic Riding Academy (HETRA) in Valley, a nonprofit organization which serves children and adults with disabilities such as cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, head injuries and autism. Stein began working with HETRA when she was 12, after learning about the organization from neighbors who had become aware of her interest in horses. Before becoming involved Photos from above: Rachel Stein, right, helps to ready her horse, Ode, for a treatment seswith the organization, she sion at the Heartland Equine Therapeutic Riding Academy. Stein, shown right, leading a stusaid, “I had only ridden and dent around the riding ring, spends two hours a week volunteering for HETRA. worked with horses at summer camp, but since then, but the students have fun doing it. The fact that they can ride or drive a horse gives them I’ve gotten a lot more experience.” more confidence in themselves.” Initially, Stein worked at the barn as a groom; other Saying she loves working with both the students and volunteer responsibilities included cleaning stalls, horses, Stein’s enthusiasm is enhanced by the people preparing the horses for sessions, getting the arena she’s helping. ready, as well as other chores. At age 14, she became a “The students make it a lot of fun, and they’re always ‘leader,’ taking responsibility to guide horses during smiling,” she remarked. “It’s the little things that make treatment sessions for both children and adults, and me feel like I’m making a difference, like when students directing the side-walkers who serve as assistants. She give high fives to everyone around them when they do now spends two hours a week helping out at the acadesomething that they had to work for. my and says, “The actual job is quite easy, but it takes “Sometimes it’s hard going to the barn if I had a long some getting used to all the work.” day of school,” she added, “but I come out anyway HETRA’s biggest contribution is to its students, Stein because the work, students, and horses help me forget noted. “The therapy is just as intensive as any other kind,

that and help me relax a little before the next day.” Because of her work with HETRA, Stein said she has discovered a love of volunteer work and has helped out at the Ezra Millard Elementary School carnival and the Fall Blood Drive. Through HETRA, she also became aware of, and participated this year in two 4-H competitions, the Horse Bowl and Hippology, both knowledge competitions about horses and horsemanship. Saying she’d like to continue volunteering with HETRA “as long as I can,” Stein said the experience “has shown me how lucky I am and has helped me to feel like I’m doing something good for others.” For those teens who perform mitzvah projects for their B’nai Mitzvah, Rachel’s enthusiasm just shows how important they really are.

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You bloom where you’re planted programs other than the traditional, residential college. by JOAN K. MARCUS It was a time of turmoil. Penny Lipkin Berger, AB, During her two years, an additional masters program MA, JD, grew up in the 1960s. However, it was also a was added and the college moved from losing money to time for young people to learn the concept of tikkun operating at a surplus. Over the years, Penny has served on at least 20-30 vololam -- repairing the world. This concept was to form Penny’s whole philosophy about the rest of her life. unteer boards. “Most of them have to do with social Hers, so far, has been dedicated to helping those who services and the arts. I was on the Lincoln City Libraries are less fortunate. She has used her talents and intellect Foundation Board for 23 years and on the Lincoln to try to repair the world -- an ongoing job. Even as she Library Board for seven years; I believe you can’t have a speaks, she knits and creates things for other people. democratic society without an educated voting base. I “No time must go to waste,” is her mantra. am committed to the importance of an education as the “I was born under a lucky star. I have a good head, a basis of lifelong learning and responsible citizenship,” superior education, an excellent constitution and a lov- she says. ing and supportive family. I believe in tikkun olam “I don’t think that the free market can solve every because we have an obligation to leave the earth a little problem or every social ill. Capitalism is fine and it has bit better place than we found it,” she says. “We each its place. But, there is such a thing as the public interest need to use whatever little sphere of influence that we and the public good. It really upsets me that since 1980, have.” the public good and interest is no longer talked about She was born in Danville, Illinois in 1944. Her father, with respect. And that our leaders by and large, have Dr. Sam Lipkin, was, as neglected it.” she calls him, “a shrink” She went on to say, with the Veterans “Our environment, eduAdministration. “My cational system and the mother demanded that general well-being and we live where there were health of our nation has Jews, so we moved to suffered. It’s a disgrace Chicago,” Berger recalls. that 45 million people in After World War II this country are uninended, the family moved sured.” to Chicago where her She added, “It’s also a father underwent psychodisgrace that the analytic training and Nebraska Legislature is established a practice. thinking about removing (Dr. Lipkin currently education as an alternaresides at Savannah Pines tive to work in the welfare in Lincoln. And, at age bill. We’re going to 98, Penny says that he encourage people to take will psychoanalyze you if minimum wage jobs and you just ask!) then wonder why they’re In 1962, Penny left coming back on to welChicago to attend fare!” Barnard College in New She has been a volunYork City, then one of the teer staff attorney at the “Seven Sister” womenAppleseed Center and a Penny Berger only schools, associated member of the commitwith Ivy League colleges, in this case, Columbia tee of the Wealth Spring Fund, an affiliated fund of the University. Her dream was to become an historian of Nebraska Community Foundation -- a group that creAmerican social history. After earning a Master’s at ates resources for women’s economic self-sufficiency and Barnard, she returned to Chicago to work on a Ph.D. financial literacy in Nebraska. Her plans for a career in history took a sharp detour Other community service includes serving on boards when she met and married Patrice Berger. They were of the Asian Cultural and Community Center, the married in 1968 and moved to Paris for a year while Friends of the Ross Film Theater, and as president of the Patrice did research on his dissertation. After their Nebraska Order of the Coif. She also served as president return to Chicago, he received two job offers. of Planned Parenthood of Lincoln and was on the board “One was at Kent State University and the other was of trustees of Medici Society, friends of the departments at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. That was about of art and architecture of UNL. the time of the Kent State shoot out and we liked the She was on the board of the UNL College of Law people at Nebraska better anyway!” she smiles. That’s Alumni Association and Lincoln General Hospital. In how they ended up coming to Lincoln in 1970. addition to that, service to Big Brothers/Big Sisters Penny soon realized that even though she had com- Branch of the Lincoln YMCA is on her volunteer pleted her course work for her Ph.D. and passed her resume. comprehensive examinations, “it became very clear to Some political committees on which she worked me that I was never going to get a job in the History include Lincoln Mayor Colleen Seng, the finance cabidepartment at UNL. In those days, they had written net for former Lt. Governor Kim Robak, and serving as ‘nepotism’ rules and they wouldn’t hire husbands and treasurer of the Nelson/Robak Inaugural Committee. wives. Another thing that was obvious was that we There are so many more boards and committees that it wouldn’t be in Lincoln for long,” she explains. is impossible to list them all. “I come from the school of ‘you bloom where you’re As part of her preparation for retirement, Penny planted.’ So I looked around and went to work for the recently went to Nicaragua. She wanted to do someLincoln Action Program as a job developer and the thing that interests her, would be of help to others, and director of Neighborhood Youth Corp. They were com- uses her skills. She hopes to join with the American Bar munity action programs that had been established under Association in some of the programs they’ve established the anti-poverty legislation of the 1960s.” in other countries. Penny jokes, “After that, what does a nice Jewish girl Another possibility is helping the Bar Association and do? I didn’t have the personality of a social worker and the courts in a program to help low income people who I was too old to go to medical school. So, I went to law want to try to represent themselves in very simple cases. school. It was a no brainer! When I graduated, I was the “Either these people can’t afford lawyers or there only woman in my class to get two job offers. I took the aren’t enough volunteers to go around. The Bar has set one in Lincoln with Rembolt Ludtke (now “and up a help desk,” she adds, “ and I’d like to add my Berger”) and stayed there for more than 29 years.” name.” In addition to her law career, Penny and Patrice had When she speaks of Judaism, Penny says, “I was raised what she describes as, “Two beautiful, wonderful, a Reform Jew and I have a Jewish soul. I attend synacharming and adorable children.” Gabrielle, now a med- gogue because if the Jews are going to die out after ical student at Emory University, was born in 1978, and 5000 years, it isn’t going to be Penny Lipkin’s fault!” Mark, beginning a two-year masters program in East She was president of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Asian languages at Columbia University, was born in Lincoln from 1991-94. 1982. “My challenge will be to stay relevant within the In August of 2004, she left her law firm to become the boundaries that I will set for myself,” Berger says. “I dean and general counsel of University College at want to be a creative problem solver, strategic thinker Nebraska Wesleyan University. In that position, she and a team player. Even in retirement, I need to keep my managed the division of the university that housed all eye on the goal of helping to repair the world.”

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 33

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

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Local franchise owner rallies for ALS victims by GLORIA SHUKERT JONES Scott Farkas is all too familiar with the devastating effects of ALS, having lost his mother to the disease several years ago. Since then, he has been actively engaged in fundraising and providing specialized services to victims of this terrible affliction. ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, has no known cause or cure. It is a progressive neuromuscular disorder that renders its victims incapable of performing simple daily tasks. Sufferers become helpless witnessees to their gradual destruction and loss of motor functions that occur, such as walking, speaking, and getting up from a chair. It often strikes people who were formerly active and productive members of society, such as Farkas’ late mother. Farkas, along with three other Omaha families, has founded an organization called, ALS of the Heartland which he describes as grassroots. “I was affiliated with the National organization, and when I came to Omaha, I got involved with the ALS Association here. I was seeing some things that made me uncomfortable. When I started asking questions, an inordinate amount of the money being raised in the association seemed to be leaving the state,” he reports. “And here we were, raising money for ALS victims in Nebraska and they weren’t getting all of the benefit. So we went to the group in Kansas City and asked to become sort of a pilot office that would eventually become an ALS chapter. They refused. So basically, it was more about the money than the patients.” After getting mad, Farkas got even. “We decided to create our own organization, and that’s how ALS of the Heartland got started. It is 100% percent funded, to serve Nebraskans and Western Iowans, and we will eventually try to serve the Sioux Falls area.” Farkas also indicated, “We have already raised more money and provided more services than the national organization was able to do.” Farkas gives a graphic description of ALS. “It’s a terrible disease -- not that any one disease is more terrible than others, but this one takes the cake. Your mind is intact, but your body dies around it. I guess there’s an advantage in some other diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, where God allows your mind to check out so you don’t realize what’s happening. But with ALS, you’re very much aware. You eventually have no control over your body. It is also one of the toughest diseases for the caregiver.” I asked about the prevalence of the disease, since one doesn’t hear about it too often. “There are more victims than people realize,” Farkas explained, “because it is not always properly diagnosed. Doctors sometime say, ‘Okay, you need back surgery.’ But people don’t improve because it’s not about the back -- it’s the motorneurons that are changing. We’ve identified a couple dozen patients in Nebraska, and prior to my moving here from Des Moines, we discovered 150 patients in Iowa. We know there are more ALS patients in Nebraska also. One of our major efforts is to find them.” He added, “There are ALS patients who don’t know they have it. There’s a gentleman in Lincoln who just recently told us he had ALS. I suspected it three years ago. The doctor kept telling him,

‘You’ve got this; you’ve got that.’ They never told him what it was. But I knew he’d be one of our patients,” Farkas said. When asked if ALS is difficult to diagnose, he explained, “It is, if you’re not looking for it. And formerly active people go into hiding. It is an embarrassing and degrading disease and they don’t want to admit it.” When the program was started, Farkas indicated it was not only the patients they wanted to help, but the caretakers. They recently wrote out a respite program -outside care for the patients so the caregivers can have some semblance of life. “The support groups are incredible,” Farkas commented, and his wife, Mimi Rogers-Farkas, who accompanied him to the interview, agreed.

Farkas indicated it was not only the patients they wanted to help, but the caretakers. They recently wrote out a respite program -- outside care for the patients so the caregivers can have some semblance of life. Farkas spoke at length about the progress being made regarding stem cell research. “When the Senate recently presented a very nice compromise to the President, we had complete Republican support, but he still vetoed it. I’m willing to bet that by 2009, one of the first things on the agenda under a new administration will be the same integration of stem cell research and usage as there is in other countries, such as Israel and the United Kingdom.” It should be noted that while stem cell research may have an affect on the lives of ALS victims, it will not entirely eliminate the disease. According to the Nebraskans for Research website, “Stem cell lines grown in the lab provide scientists with the opportunity to ‘engineer’ them for use in transplantation or treatment of diseases. For example, before using any type of tissue, organ, or cell for transplantation, scientists must overcome attempts by a patient’s immune system to reject it. “Another potential application of stem cells is making cells and tissues for medical therapies. Pluripotent stem cells offer the possibility of a renewable source of replacement cells and tissues to treat a myriad of diseases, conditions, and disabilities including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.” Farkas spoke about when his mother was first diagnosed, a man in the entertainment business was able to get her connected to a leading ALS researcher at John Hopkins in Baltimore. “My mother was a very dynamic and elegant lady with the diagnosis. She put out her hand and said, ‘Okay, I’m ready for my pill.’ And of course, there isn’t one. But what the doctor did was take us into his office, pull out a laptop, and show us a video of a white rat lying in a tray. The only thing moving were his whiskers. And the video showed someone with a big needle who inserted stem cells into the rat. Almost instantly, the rat was running around the tray, still dragging a leg, but before that all four legs were motionless. That’s where, we’re heading,” Farkas said, referring to the future limited, but exceedingly hopeful result, of stem cell therapy in ALS patients. Continued on page 35

September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 35

Local franchise owner rallies Continued from page 34 While the cause of ALS is unknown at this time, Farkas recalled there had been an incidence of the disease among men and women fighting in Desert Storm, although that could have just been coincidental. There is no genetic pattern, such as skipping a generation. “My mother had a relative with ALS, and Mimi had people in her family, but there is no direct connection,” Farkas said. Scott and Mimi are local owners and operators of two Valpak franchises, one in Omaha and the other in Lincoln. Valpak is a company that distributes ads, coupons and promotional offers, in the familiar blue envelope you’ve probably found in your mailbox every month. There is also an insert about ALS, which also tells why funds are so urgently needed, and an opportunity for anyone who wishes to donate towards this cause. He says, “We have probably located eight or nine patients just in the last few months, because of the insert placed in the ValPak envelope. We are able to reach 220,000 homes between here and Lincoln each month. We have raised tens of thousands of dollars for the cause. It’s interesting, that we get no tax benefit because of the way we produce our product. It’s a way of letting people know that we’re here as they discover the disease and hear about it, or know someone who has ALS, There’s a website and a phone number on the insert, and we’ve gotten quite a few calls just from the envelope.” When asked what the money is primarily used for, Farkas indicated that a small portion goes for research, and remarked, “Since we’re a small, grassroots organization, we’re not the guys who are going to find a cure, so we decided to take the funds and apply them to the patients and their families. The big thing we do right now is the support groups, which are conducted on a monthly basis.” He added that,“We are also involved in advocating new research and congressional support for that research. We just sent a whole crew to Washington to meet with our senators and congressmen for ALS Advocacy Day. We presented recent ALS research before our Nebraska and Iowa Senators and Congressmen and received very positive support from all of them in regards to our mission. Minor league baseball is also very much involved. Every time there’s a strike-out, a sum of money goes directly toward ALS research. That includes the Omaha Royals, so we’re tied in, doing things with them as well as UNO Hockey.” Farkas reported that a lot of the money goes towards equipment. He described a “loan closet,” and said that one of the first physical functions to go is the ability to stand up. “Ever since I was a teenager,” he continued, “my mom couldn’t get up when she sat on the floor.

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Someone always had to help her up. We’d lovingly laugh awareness to sport clubs, thanks to the Valpak connecat her then, as mom was a little overweight. I realize tion.” now, that this was one of the early symptoms of ALS -For all his involvement with ALS patients, Farkas the inability to get up from the floor. So, one of the things to provide is a lift chair. It is unfortunate that the equipment we provide in many cases is only used for a short period of time, usually two to two and a half years because of the short life span that usually accompanies the diagnosis, as I said before this terrible disease is a death sentence. Therefore, our prime function is to see that the patients have everything they need, and their life is as comfortable as it can be under the circumstances.” Farkas further explained there are two types of ALS, one that attacks the joints, and one that affects the throat and the inability to communicate. He describes a machine recently invented, Mimi Rogers-Farkas and Scott Farkas. that is put on the wheelchair, and follows the pupils of admits he often still has a difficult time dealing directly the patient’s eye, whereby you can type on a screen with with the patients, due to the psychological effects creatyour eyes, and communicate with a voice box. “It’s ed with the memories of his mother’s struggle with the incredible,” Farkas says, “And Medicare pays for all but illness. However, he doesn’t plan to give up his mission $500, which the patient has to handle. We’re trying to any time soon. get to a point where we can pay for that difference.” “Through Valpak, we can make a difference. We’re The organization also provides wheelchairs and ramps. discussing expanding Valpak into additional markets, However, Farkas indicates the biggest share of the and I want to eventually create a ‘loan closet’ on a money goes for the support groups and the respite care national level. We’re lucky, because we’re the fastestprogram. Each family can apply for a voucher for an growing ValPak franchise in the 40-year history of the allotted amount per year, and hopefully, those will get company. Valpak generally sells coupons. We also give a bigger. The reason for the program is because patients lot back to the community. Other organizations that we and caregivers get frustrated with one another, occa- have been involved with are the Opera Guild, the sionally, and it allows both parties to take a needed Symphony, John Hoich Alcohol Treatment Center and break. This disease is very stressful for both the patient the food banks in both Omaha and Lincoln. In fact, as well as the primary caregiver. Valpak was involved in helping to collect more than Farkas states, “We started our business two and a half 60,000 pounds of food recently. When the blue enveyears ago, and now we’re trying to promote awareness. lope saves money and helps people at the same time, We also put out newsletters and sponsor the golf tour- you’ve got a good thing going.” nament which recently raised over $60,000. In fact, with While the ultimate goal is finding a cure for ALS, this our recent golf tournament in June, one of our clients is amazing couple and their helpers have contributed suba gent who oversees a number of local hair salons in stantially to making everyday life more bearable for ALS Omaha. victims and their families, by tirelessly enhancing the He said, ‘I want to do that golf tournament.’ All of a quality of those lives through awareness, dedicated servsudden, a new sponsor is helping to raise funds and ices and fundraising endeavors.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

Don’t waste time! by JOAN K. MARCUS told her, “I’ll see you later when you I was a den mother. I was always the Esther Shapiro Meiches may be 86 grow up!” That wasn’t the case and they room mother for both of them. I was years old but she still maintains that were married during World War II. even the manager of Mike’s baseball friendly, curious and “gently assertive” Before his death in 1990, Herb was a team! I was one of the two mothers who demeanor. These days, her volunteer vice president of Service Life Insurance actually understood baseball,” she laughs. activities take up most of her time. As she Company. “I had a rule about the team. If the kids glances around her immaculate West After the war, they returned to Omaha came to practice, they got to play and Omaha apartment, she smiles and asks, where they started their family. Today, they got a snow cone afterwards. This “What would I do if I meant that our team didn’t win as stayed home?” often because I didn’t just play the A native Omahan, she best players. The most important graduated from Central thing for me -- and for them -- was High in 1938. While still that they learned to be good sports.” in high school, Esther As time went on, Esther became became a member of involved with the Dolls for Basami, a Jewish sorority. Democracy Program, sponsored by “There were seven or B’nai B’rith Women (now known as eight of us and we volunJewish Women International). The teered in the Omaha dolls were replicas of famous people community. However, I from the 18th century and later. She didn’t really get involved and her sister-in-law Audrey Shapiro in serious volunteer work traveled throughout the area to until after I was married.” schools and other communal groups After high school, and lectured about the dolls and the Esther worked as a hat people whom they represented. saleswoman in the Her next volunteer job was the millinery department at B’nai B’rith’s Woman of the Year J.L. Brandeis Department Esther Meiches is a veteran troubleshooter for KETV’s Seven Can Help Program, which she eventually Store. She loved being in advocacy service, a project begun by National Council of Jewish chaired. “I actually became friends sales because she could Women-Omaha Section in 1981. with some of the women we honvisit with people. (Our guess is that she daughter Janis Fischer is a teacher at ored.” was very good at her job because it would Millard North High School and lives in In the early 60s, Esther joined the be hard to say “no” to her!) Omaha. Michael Meiches lives in Los Omaha Section of the National Council In 1942, she married Herbert Meiches, Angeles and heads a competitive baseball of Jewish Women. She performed many a young serviceman who was in the Air organization for kids and teens. Esther volunteer jobs for the organization and Force. He had finished college and Esther also has two grandchildren and four eventually became vice president; she had graduated from high school. They great-grandchildren. served as president from 1965-67. met when he asked her to jitterbug at a As her kids began to grow up, they volOne of the things she admired about dance at the Jewish Community Center. unteered their mother for everything. NCJW was its involvement in North When Meiches found out that Esther “Janis joined Campfire Girls and I was a Omaha and its projects in the grade was four years younger than he was, he leader. Then, Mike joined Boy Scouts and schools. “We didn’t do a lot of fundrais-

ing because we had a Thrift Shop that brought in most of our funds. NCJW was one of the best organizations with which I could become involved because we did things that people could see. We created projects in the community and tried to help with legislation in Lincoln. NCJW continues to be involved with children’s issues and women’s rights.” After her presidency of NCJW, Esther decided that she would try her hand at working for pay for a while. She began working at Pacesetter Corporation, rose to the position of manager and worked for the company for 21 years. It didn’t last long. They called her back as a trouble shooter and she worked for yet another year. “When I finally retired, what was I to do?” She says she asked herself then. It was an easy choice! She offered her skills to Radio Talking Book, a service for the visually impaired and blind. Sighted volunteers read books, magazines, newspapers, even menus and food ads in the newspaper; the information is recorded, and then sightless people listen via special radios or on tape. Esther says, “I started out by reading the grocery ads once a week. Then, they asked me to take over the Health Watch program. I went to the library and checked out books of general interest to the average person. My show was on for a half-hour each week. Since people liked it, they asked me to do it twice a week.” She added, “Then, some staff at BlueCross Blue-Shield Insurance heard me on Radio Talking Book, and asked me to do it five days a week.” Continued on page 38

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To save one life is to save a whole world ment to save refugees from Darfur began as an initiative of the American Jewish community when, in the spring of 2004, a genocide alert -- the first of its kind -- was issued by the United States Holocaust Museum. This alert led American Jewish World Service to organize a Darfur Emergency Summit in New York City featuring Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel. At the event, Wiesel asked, “How can anyone who remembers remain silent ... how can we reproach the indifference of non-Jews to Jewish suffering if we remain indifferent to another people’s plight?” From this gathering -- and Wiesel’s question -- rose the Save Darfur Coalition, a nonprofit alliance of over 170 diverse faith-based, humanitarian and human rights organizations whose mission is to raise public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to mobilize a unified response to government officials, demanding they take action to end the crisis. Now, back to Mimi -- who has clearly signed on to the Coalition’s stated purpose. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job of educating our congregation about the atrocities in Darfur,” she said. “When Dr. David Chand -- Adjunct Professor of International Studies and Political Science at UNO -spoke at Temple, he explained that even though a peace treaty was signed in 1997 and another in 2005, there is no peace in the Sudan. The treaties are not working. You can’t have peace on one side of the Mimi Silverman addresses the Darfur Education Rally on Temple Israel's lawn. Rabbi Aryeh country and killing on the Azriel, right, stands next to Shakil Ahmed, a local Muslim leader. To Mimi's left is Dr other.” Elizabeth YaYa and other members of Omaha's Darfur community. Under Mimi’s direction, Temple Israel joined the Poverty, Rabbi Azriel ‘Million Voices for Darfur’ asked her to be the liaison effort, a national campaign between Temple Israel and the local Darfur comto flood the White House munity. “My great-uncle with millions of postcards Mike was a Holocaust urging President Bush to survivor, but the rest of back a stronger multinationmy grandfather’s family al force to protect the people was exterminated, Mimi of Darfur. “We’ve also sent said. “Maybe in my subpostcards to Senators conscious I was thinking Nelson and Hagel, as well as about the lack of response Representative Terry, asking to the Holocaust. After them to support the peaceall, the Torah commands keeping mission and a no-fly us to not stand idly by zone over the country. The while our neighbors’ kids in Temple’s school were blood is shed, so I really involved in the postcard couldn’t refuse an oppor- Temple Israel students Tyler Siegel, left, Hannah Miller and campaign, too. By now, tunity to help Africa here Eden Ginsberg, help with the ‘Million Voices for Darfur’ nation- Nebraska’s elected represenin Omaha. And that’s al campaign to flood the White House with millions of postcards tatives know that Darfur is how my journey began.” on behalf of Darfur. an important issue to us.” For Omaha’s approximately 75 Darfur refugees, the This past June, in a further attempt to raise Sudanese journey from Africa to a new life in a new world is made awareness, Mimi and her volunteers -- together with the easier by Mimi Silverman’s efforts. According to Temple National Council of Jewish Women-Omaha Section and Israel Executive Director Dennis DePorte, “About a year Omaha’s Save Darfur Coalition -- co-sponsored the ago, Bakheit Shata -- a leader of the local Darfur commu- Darfur Education Rally on Temple’s lawn. “Over 100 nity -- was passing by Temple and saw our Save Darfur people attended, including lots of children, and banner. Shata walked into my office and asked for help. I Darfurians came from Omaha and the entire region.” put him in touch with Mimi. She followed through imme- Mimi then quoted Khon Mar, a member of the diately, enlisted a group of Temple volunteers and began Southern Sudan Community Association and one of the working to get Shata and his people settled.” rally speakers. “ ‘Each of us here has a voice to be heard The initial work included guiding Shata through and we need to say to the international community that American legalese towards his 501(c)(3) tax-exempt sta- we have to save the Darfur people.’ ” tus, and obtaining home furnishings and clothes for Mimi acknowledges that her efforts -- no matter how refugee families, the latter accomplished in partnership sincere -- can’t save the entire Darfur people. But she subwith Jewish Family Service and the Lutheran Family scribes to the Talmudic maxim: To save one life is to save Service’s resettlement committee. the whole world. “If I thought that one person couldn’t But before we continue with Mimi’s story, perhaps a make a difference, I wouldn’t do this work. Maybe one short geopolitical history lesson would be helpful. postcard touched our senator to vote to support the Darfur is located in the western part of Sudan. Since peacekeeping efforts. Maybe a ‘soccer mom’ really can war broke out in 2003 between the government and make her voice heard.” Mimi firmly believes that her relatwo groups of rebels, many -- including the U.S. tionship with Bakheit Shata and Omaha’s Darfur refugees Congress -- have recognized the crisis as a genocide. can improve their lives and enrich her own. Still, it is no exaggeration to say that the national move- Continued on page 38 by OZZIE NOGG We Jews are called ‘the people of the book,’ so it makes sense that a book could grab Mimi Silverman’s attention, fuel her concerns about social justice, and lead her to volunteer with Save Darfur. “I read Jeffrey Sachs’ ‘The End Of Poverty’ and was so inspired that I bought ten copies and passed them out to people I thought would be interested in the subject,” Mimi said. “Ironically this book really has nothing to do with the situation in Darfur, but it shows that there is a way to end extreme poverty in our lifetime. Professor Sachs explains that the United States would be in a safer place if we chose to help the extreme poor become self-sufficient, rather then if we tried to defeat Saddam in Iraq.” At the same time that Mimi was promoting The End of

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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To save one life is to save a whole world Continued from page 37 that Sudan’s President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir has “Last year we provided local Darfur children with agreed to let additional U.N. peacekeeping troops into backpacks and school supplies donated by parents of the country didn’t leave Mimi celebrating -- yet. “Bashir Temple Israel Sunday school students,” Mimi said. This has promised to cooperate before, but always reneges. project was followed by an invitation to Darfur families, Regardless of what happens on the ground in Darfur, we asking them to join in Temple’s Hanukkah dinner. “The can’t hide from the fact that bigotry, racial hatred, genocenterpieces were made of tupperware containers and cide did not end with the Holocaust. Silence is a sin. As steak knives and pots and pans that I put together with Jews we must act.” blue plastic wrap, tied with balloons, and a generous The passion Mimi brings to her volunteer work is donor gave each child a book that told the Hanukkah almost palpable. And she’s not shy. “I’d like this comstory,” Mimi added. “I suspect the Darfurians thought munity to understand that it’s not only the events in the food was unusual, but the families seemed to enjoy Darfur that affect Omaha -- the situation throughout the event and appreciated the experience.” Africa is of grave importance.” Some Temple members have made friends with Darfur Then Mimi refers back to The End of Poverty. refugees. “Bonnie and Martin Leiserwitz attended the Hanukkah dinner and have built a relationship with the Ali family. Reaching out like that shows how each of us can make a difference.” Over time, and taking her own small steps, Mimi has established a relationship with Shata. “I really believe he trusts me now, but that was not an easy thing to build. I gained his trust because we worked together on several projects and he saw that I was dependable, that my word is good. So is his. I only wish I could do more for Shata and his people.” Mimi’s attempts meet with mixed success. “Shata is a gentleman, a persistent gentleman. He would like to help his people by becoming a one stop shop of assistance for Darfur refugees only. This includes driving school, ESL, transportation, housing. In my opinion there isn’t a great enough need from Darfur people to sustain such a large hub of assistance. My point has been difficult to explain to Mimi Silverman introduces a translator for the Darfurian communiShata because his English is sketchy and he really ty and a Darfurian mother with her baby at last year's Temple’s doesn’t understand the American ‘system’ -- but I Hanukkah dinner. know he truly appreciates the efforts we’ve shown.” “Countless people in Africa die of AIDS and Malaria, The refugees that Mimi has met are, in her words, diseases that in America we can prevent or cure with “really wonderful people, happy and appreciative to be drugs that costs pennies. Global warming has affected in the United States where they’re safe. But they are the climate of Africa to the point where the land is so dry having difficulty adjusting to our culture which is drasti- the farmers can’t plant or water their crops the way they cally different from their own.” According to Mimi, used to. Consequently, millions die because they don’t most of the Darfurians are just beginning to learn have enough to eat. Seven years ago the United States English. “The women are polite and shy, soft spoken. made a pledge at the United Nations, with other nations Most of the men work at the meat packing plant where as well, to give 1% of our GDP -- our gross domestic Shata is a guard. Others are taxi drivers.” Sadly, tribal product -- to end extreme poverty by the year 2015. We and religious differences run deep. “The Darfurians still haven’t kept up our part of the bargain. We’ve chowould like to be considered separate from the other sen to spend our money on war instead of saving the Sudanese who are here,” Mimi explained. “They still lives of millions.” What Mimi has gained from her work with Darfur wish not to associate with them.” Because Sudan is on the the State Department’s list of refugees is a mixed bag. “It’s really made me appreciate terrorist countries, no Darfur refugees are currently all we have in our own lives. Our boys are too little to being allowed into the U.S. Meanwhile, African tribal fully understand what I do, but they’ve had the opporfarmers in Darfur continue to have their lives destroyed tunity to meet real people from Africa and I think that’s by Sudanese government-backed militias -- the good for them. We’re very lucky and blessed to be born ‘Janjaweed’ Islamic extremists tied to al Qaeda -- whose American. But maybe it won’t be so easy for our kids. sole purpose is to annihilate another people whom they That’s the part that really scares me. If we continue to perceive as different. “Will the situation change? Only ignore the world’s problems it may be a much uglier time will tell,” Mimi said. And the recent announcement place for the next generation.”

Don’t waste time Continued from page 36 She has aired programs on the aging process, stem cell research, holistic and homeopathic medicine and comments on how different doctors would handle the same problem. The program has continued since 1988 and is called “The Health Watch with Esther Meiches.” She laughs, “Some of my listeners actually think I’m a doctor.” Another one of her Esther Meiches favorite volunteer jobs is working at Seven Can Help at KETV television, Channel Seven. Every Wednesday, Meiches takes calls and tries to solve problems. She’s “advanced” to the position of team captain and recruited Larry Axelrod, after he retired as a corporate executive. Then she recruited him to work at Radio Talking Book, where he eventually became president. She didn’t stop there; she suggested he apply to the Jewish Press, where he was a very successful advertising sales manager for nearly six years before his death in 2001. “People not only have problems with businesses and products, but sometimes they can’t pay a bill and need help. The questions and problems vary and it’s my job to sort through them,” says the experienced consumer

advocate. Larry Thompson, Seven Can Help coordinator for KETV, described Esther as: “a tremendous asset,” adding, “She helps recruit new volunteers; she arrives early and stays late and delves into any issue without hesitation. She even calls CEOs and almost always solves problems for our consumer call-ins. “We answer every question and inquiry,” Meiches notes. “Sometimes, the answer is ‘we can’t solve the problem.’ You’d be surprised at the number of educated people who have fallen victim to scams! Some of them come from as far away as Canada and England.” Thompson says Meiches has great computer skills, “She pulls e-mails off the computer and right now has a half-inch pile of requests. But she’ll solve them,” he added, “She even brings refreshments for our volunters and bakes for us!” Meiches, who was listening in the background, asked Thompson to “double her salary” for this longtime volunteer position. Esther feels good about helping people. “Many of the people can’t believe that they are speaking to a real person. With all of the automated voices, people are grateful to talk to me. It gives me a good feeling to know that I’m handling problems for someone who can’t.” She ended by saying, “Anytime that I have a ‘feel sorry for Esther’ day, I go and help people who aren’t as fortunate as I have been. You know, being a volunteer has changed my whole life!”

September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 39

Easing the angst of the terminally ill and those with life-threatening diseases organizations have served by GLORIA SHUKERT JONES the southwest Iowa families The imminence of death for many years, building on can be a very devastating and fearful experience for their established reputaboth the victims and their tions in that community. families. Helen Bleicher is a According to Bleicher, dedicated volunteer who when agencies work helps these people through together, there is a greater this trying time, having possibility of grant opporexperienced similar anxieties tunities. The Southwest when her mother died of Iowa Hospice plans on breast cancer. building a hospice house Bleicher was impressed that will serve 12 to 16 with the outreach of compatients at a time. Funding munity organizations during for this project has come that period, and says, “I from the Iowa West wanted to give something Foundation and Alegent back.” Health Community Benefit Getting ready for the annual “Race for the Cure” are Jake, Helen, Jon, and Born in Oxford, England, Trust, each of which has Josh Bleicher. The next oen is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 7. Bleicher came to Omaha at awarded $500,000 toward the age of l7. When her mother became December with degrees in Applied the project. A capitol campaign will soon ill, her family got help through, “Wings Psychology and Human Services. She be underway to begin fundraising for plans to obtain a Master’s Degree in another 2.2 million dollars. of Hope” in Council Bluffs. Bleicher subsequently volunteered with Counseling, adding, “I interned for one Bleicher emphasized that although she Alegent Hospice, and became a board year at Hospice House in Omaha and I is very much involved in hospice, she is member with Wings. She also obtained a still volunteer there,” she said. “I also also dedicated to helping people through massage therapy license and part of her serve on a board in Council Bluffs for the their cancer experience. volunteer duties included giving cancer Southwest Iowa Hospice.” Wings of Hope is a major cancer supThis organization represents a collabo- port center for patients, family members patients massages during their chemotherapy treatments at both Jennie rative partnership between two non-prof- and health care professionals, whose goal Edmundson and Mercy Hospitals in its: Visiting Nurses Association of is to provide both physical and emotional Pottawattamie County and Alegent support, helping victims and their loved Council Bluffs. “I wanted to give more, as patients real- Health Mercy Hospital. ones cope with cancer at all stages of the The two organizations are working disease. ly talked a lot during these sessions,” she together on developing a new hospice to offered. The organization originally began as a Bleicher went back to school recently at increase the strengths of both programs monthly support group, discussing ways College of St. Mary and will graduate in and enhance the patient experience. Both to improve the quality of their lives. As

the group grew, while some shared a need to express their feelings, not all were willing to do this in a group setting. A steering committee was formed to explore methods of expanding this concept to provide more comprehensive services for cancer patients and their families. In 1994, the center was established as a non-profit organization, and opened an office where patients, families and professionals can find emotional support and guidance. They offer a number of programs, including many and varied support groups, counseling, patient and family education, community resource referrals, and a resource library. The support groups offered by Wings of Hope include “Hope for Tomorrow,” a general cancer support group, and specific ones, such as: Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, and a Young Women’s Breast Cancer Support Group, which centers on the unique concerns of young women diagnosed with breast cancer. Other groups are “Renewing Life”, a program to help participants change the negative experience of illness into personal growth and emotional well being. It is used in conjunction with medical care. And finally, “The Healthy Survivor”, an eight-week program for cancer patients who have completed their initial treatment. All the groups meet on designated weekdays of the month, and are facilitated by various health care professionals. Continued on page 42

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Page 40

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

Nearing the century mark, volunteer still active Evie says, “Right before the Great Depression, my parby JOAN K. MARCUS A month or so ago, I got a call from my friend and ents had meager finances and I knew that things wouldn’t be easy for me economically. I had to find a way to mentor, Evie Zysman. “Honey!” she said, “We need to go to lunch. I’m wor- go to college.” After graduation from UNL, she found a fellowship ried about our country!” She has always believed that in order to take responsibility as a citizen, you must give and and went on to the Jewish School of Social Work in New York City. This was probably the beginning of her quest be active. Even at age 96, she continues to do just that. I offered and finally convinced her that I would pick to help others in need -- especially children. She worked her up so that she could leave her Chevy at home. On in New York slums and later put her first career aside the date that we had set, I drove up in front of her house when she became involved with the New York chapter of and found her standing on the front porch of her two- the United Social Service Employees Union. She felt story Dundee home. She was clad in Capri pants, a that it would be easier to help people from that position. While still a graduate student in New York, Evie met matching shirt and sandals. Her only concession to her advancing age is a four-pronged cane that she swings on her husband. Jack Zysman, a New Yorker who had completed his master’s degree in American history from her arm and forgets at various places! I had already decided that I would park and help her New York University. It was love at first sight and they married. Their son, John, is today a professor at the into my car. Yeah, right! University California at Before I could get the key Berkeley. Evie has a grandout of the ignition, she literaldaughter, Lara, and admits ly jumped into my car. We that, “We share political were off! She asked if we views!” could drive around the comer When John was small, to the drugstore so that she Evie and Jack decided to could pick up aNew York move to Omaha because Times and mail a package. they felt it would be a better When we got to the drugplace to raise a child. Evie store, I offered to go in and was unhappy with the toys do her errands. I’m no that John played with at the spring chicken, but, Evelyn babysitter and called upon Adler Zysman is still old some of her New York enough to be my mother! friends to recommend eduShe was back to the car in a cational toys for children. total of three minutes and This phone call led to pointing to a story in the the birth of the business that newspaper she had just Evie Zysman was started by the Zysmans: bought. The rest of our journey to the coffee shop was con- Playtime Equipment. At first, they ran it from their sumed with a conversation about Evie’s fears for our home and distributed books, games, puzzles, tinker country and its political system. What a fun afternoon I toys, arts and crafts to be used as teaching aids. Evie spent with Evie, her sharp mind and wonderful sense of soon became known as “the toy lady.” She says, “For many years, I was the first person that humor! Born in Omaha in 1910 to Jacob and Lizzie Adler, authorities called when a child needed help. The Evie was the youngest of 10 children and her parents National Association for the Education of Children encouraged all of them to appreciate literature, music and began at my dining room table. I made a brisket and a art. Jacob was a scholar in the Talmud and, according to salad and we talked!” From her dining room table, Evie became an expert in Evie, he would be a considered a teacher or a rabbi. She grew up believing that the future of America early childhood education and began forming coalitions depends directly upon how we educate our children. This among social service, educational and legislative leaders. is why she began making sure that she educated herself. Her goal was to inform legislators of the gap in quality She graduated from Omaha Central High in 1927 and education -- especially for underprivileged children. Evie convinced legislators that kindergarten should be when women her age weren’t going off to college, she gathered up scholarships and worked in order to attend a legal requirement. In 1965, Omaha Public Schools nominated Evie for a community service award because classes at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

she had headed Project Aid, a base for bringing the Head Start Program to Omaha. The program helped establish programs at churches and the development of impoverished children. She assisted in getting the first child abuse council started in Douglas County. This resulted in hospitals forming child abuse teams, the development of statewide councils and specialized treatment for sexual abuse. In 1966, The Urban League of Omaha honored her for the same project and, in 1977, she received the A.W. Dark Founders Award for distinguished service to children. (This organization later became part of the Child Saving Institute.) In 1987, The Nebraska Association for the Education of Young Children honored Evie for outstanding service to young children and, in 1992, The Omaha Public Schools honored her for starting the ABC program. In 1995, she received the “Pro Choice Coalition” Award as a woman who has made a difference. National Council of Jewish Women honored her in 2001 with its highest award, the Hannah G. Solomon, for her distinguished leadership and volunteer service. The Salvation Army gave her the Adult Hero Award in 2002 and Temple Israel honored her in the same year with its Social Justice Award. She was elected to the Central High Hall of Fame in 2003 for her achievements and for providing inspiration for today’s students. The Urban League of Nebraska honored her again, in 2005 with the Lifetime Whitney Young Award. And the awards keep coming; Omaha Children’s Museum will honor Zysman and former Senator Dave Karnes at its first “Great Friends to Kids Luncheon” on Monday, Sept.17, noon, at the museum. In addition to the presentations, Jeff Franklin, owner of Be Beep Toys, an award-winning educationally based toy store, will speak about the importance of play in early childhood development. Reservations start at $50. For more information, call the 402.930.2353 or e-mail kcavanaugh@ocm.org. Proceeds will benefit OCM. I hated to end my afternoon with Evie. However, as we finished our lunch, some teenagers walked by. They were wearing t-shirts printed with the names of their schools. She stopped them and asked, “Where do you go to school?” They all answered politely. Then Evie launched into a story of the importance of education and reminded them how lucky they are to be living today. She told them they needed to learn in order to make a difference in the world. And, she said they need to register to vote. She reiterated a few stories about her youth and experiences and they listened intently. They answered all her questions. Those kids aren’t going to forget Evie Zysman. And, neither will the rest of the world!

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No direction needed years she was often told he had some autistic characteristics, but it was not accurately recognized until six years ago. Friedman tells what “a great kid” Alan is, how personable and well loved and received by all who know him. She tells with understandable pride, “He was chosen to throw out the first baseball at an Omaha Royals game.” Alan has many outside interests, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn his mother has found yet more places to offer her volunteer services in connection with the fun and play part of Alan’s schedule. To name a few, begin with her ongoing support and participation in the Nebraska Special Olympics. Since 2005, she’s been a volunteer tennis coach, using her athletic skills to work with the youngsters who so love the opportunity to compete with their peers. She clearly loves doing this, as she also applauds the way this fine program is run. “There’s no first prize, or second or whatever,” she says. “Everybody plays and everybody wins. And they love it.” And so does Friedman. Just talk to her about it, watch her face while she relates the pleasure the kids have, doing what they do in Special Olympics. Beth waits for her son Alan, left, to throw out the first pitch Another of Beth’s volfor the Omaha Royals on HETRA night at Rosenblatt Stadium. unteer projects is with an She’s an extremely busy young woman, organization called Angel Guardians. with a husband, children and a home to This is a Special Needs Advocacy Group manage, as well as a full time job. for Teens and Young Adults. She serves Amazingly, she still finds the time and on the Board of Directors, starting from energy for involvement as a volunteer, in 2004 up to the present. several areas of great interest to her. In their own words this group says “The One of the places she most loves to be is mission of Angel Guardians, Inc., is to the Omaha Theater Company for Young help put the puzzle pieces of life together People, one of the Resident Companies of for teenagers and adults with cognitive and The Rose (Performing Art for Children and developmental disabilities. While opportuFamilies). Friedman tells she was first intro- nities and programs exist for children with duced to this wonderful place when it was special needs, there is a void as the children used as the location for a National Council reach maturity. Angel Guardians, Inc., was of Jewish Women production: “Sentimental created to enrich the lives of these individJourney,” celebrating Omaha Section’s uals through adulthood. 100th anniversary in 1996. This non-profit organization has creatShe says she walked in “took one look, ed the VSP Club, a safe environment and promptly fell in love.” She’s a designed to provide recreational activities behind-the-scenes person, doing whatev- in a comfortable and inviting atmoser is needed. And so enthusiastic when phere. It’s located at 156th and telling about it, she makes her listener Spaulding (just north of Maple) and, if want to volunteer there too. you’re looking for a replacement for the Part of her “behind-the-scenes” action Hadassah or NCJW thrift shops, this has been to serve on the Board of would be a fine place to donate your Trustees, to be Vice President of “gently used” clothing. Production and Education, to be a Light Beth Friedman is the best spokesperson Board Operator and a Scene Shop they could have. She works diligently for Volunteer. She finds time for it all. this well-run organization, from fundraisBecause Beth’s children figure signifi- ing to anything else that needs doing. It’s cantly in her outside interests, this might very difficult to list explicit projects she be a good place to introduce them. She’s does for them because she tosses that off mom to Michael, 17, and Alan, 22, with a wave of her hand. The impression whose interests both add to the long list from her response to “What do you do of activities in which she’s involved. for them?” probably can be summed up Michael is an all around sports person -- with “Whatever needs doing.” whatever the game, be it baseball or footListening to Friedman describe what ball or any other organized sport, he’s she does when she’s not at work gives the into it with both feet. impression she’s found a way to create Beth says “he’s just like me.” She 25-hour days. explains sports and phys. ed. always came Another of her favorite places to spend first in her life and tennis was and still time is at the heartland Equine remains, one of her favorite competitive Therapeutic Riding Academy (HETRA). sports. Whatever Michael is playing, she’s She’s been a volunteer there since 2003 at the very least, a spectator. and raves about their accomplishments. Alan’s extracurricular activities differ To better understand exactly what from his brother’s of necessity. This young they’re about, read what they say is their man was classified as a special needs mission is “To improve the quality of life youngster until age 16. At that time, he both physically and emotionally of adults became ill with a frighteningly serious and children with disabilities through blood disorder. It was also around that equine assisted activities. We have been time, he was diagnosed as having autism. fulfilling our mission since 1989 and are His mother explains that through his early Continued on page 42 by BERT LEWIS When I began the interview with Beth Friedman which would eventually become this story, she mentioned she had a list that might be useful to me. The list was, by its proper name, her Volunteer Vitae. She promised to send it to me, and good to her word, she e-mailed it. Imagine my surprise when I received it and found it three-and-a-half typewritten, single-spaced pages long! That was my introduction to the volunteer part of Beth’s life. As in many cases, over the years the major portion of this incredibly long list had to do with the Jewish community. However, this is not to say the community at large has not enjoyed her talents, energy and apparently boundless enthusiasm.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 41

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

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No direction needed known each other since high Continued from page 41 school days in Canarsie, a secproud to be a premier accredtion of Brooklyn, New York. ited center of the National She makes time and stretchAmerican Riding For The es it to accommodate all things Handicapped Association, relating to her two boys, Alan Inc.” and Michael. My guess is, all As with any and all other programs and organizations dedicated to bettering the lives of anyone with special needs, Friedman has nothing but raves for this group. And, again, when asked what she does for them, a casual “All kinds of stuff ... selling tickets, maybe fundraising, helping out here and there, whatever Top: Beth’s son, Michael Friedman poses before the MZ needs doing.” Yoshanah BBG Beau dance last spring. Right: Jeff If we were including volDworkin and Beth Romanagno met in high school in unteer activities in the Brooklyn in 1975. Jewish community, there would no doubt be pages and pages more to relate, would be perfect if she could sneak away to a tennis probably beginning with endless and continuing work court every day for a while. She loves tennis. She loves with NCJW. everything athletic. She loves being in on whatever is However, this story, like all the others in this issue, was going on! meant to illustrate how much time, energy and effort is All of this is separate from her “real” working day, which expended by Beth and all the other volunteers in the is as Director of the Business Office of the Methodist communty at large. I have exhausted her original Nursing School. She interviews, explains the financial part, Volunteer Vitae, her “list” and may have left out some- answers countless questions and solves countless problems. thing in error. If so, I hope she’ll forgive me, but I’m As we already know, she’s one busy lady. certain if you’ve looked over her ways of keeping busy She does admit it was tough to bridge the gap you’ll agree she’s found some that are really worthwhile. between volunteering and full time work, but somehow And it isn’t hard to understand why so much of her she’s figured out how to make a smooth transition. energy goes to those programs which benefit Alan. Ask her to talk about volunteering and she smiles and They are extraordinarily important and have everyone’s says, “I do it because it makes me feel good!” The big wishes to flourish and continue for a long, long time. smile that accompanies the statement makes you know Beth really does have a home life, although it’s diffi- she really means it. She went on to say, “The potential cult to understand how she carves out any personal time. for helping the community is just there ... everywhere Her husband Jeff Dworkin gets high praise from her for you turn.” being totally understanding of her great need to be so Obviously, Beth Friedman never needs to ask direcinvolved. He probably should understand her, as they’ve tions.

Easing the angst Continued from page 39 One of the projects in which Bleicher and her family have participated is the Susan Komen “Race for Cure”, a walk to support people with breast cancer. This past year they were part of a team supporting Bleicher’s sister, who also has breast cancer. Bleicher indicated this particular form of cancer is prevalent in her family. Her aunt also had it. “We also participate in Relay for Life,” Bleicher added, “My sons, Jake and Josh, were both on teams with their universities too, so they also have the bug.” Registration has opened for the 2007 Susan Race for the Cure on Sunday, Oct. 7, at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. More 14,000 breast cancer survivors and activists are expected to participate in the world’s largest fundraiser in fighting breast cancer. For more information, visit the website, at: www.neraceforthecure.com. Says Bleicher, “I love what I’m doing,” referring to her hospice volunteering. “People ask me, ‘How can you do this?’ They think working with patients who are dying is morbid and depressing. But that’s not the case at all. I feel the people in hospice teach me so much about life, and how precious it is. They are really special. I like to help people who are dying find peace and comfort on their end-of-life journey. That’s why I want to get my counseling degree, and volunteer my services to people with all stages of cancer.” When asked if she ever gets too attached to some of her hospice clients, Bleicher indicated, “There are some of

course, that continue to live in my heart, but I try not to get too involved with them emotionally, since I haven’t known them before they became ill. I try to remain objective for the most part, and just do my job, which is rewarding and brings me great satisfaction knowing I have helped them.” At the time of the interview, Bleicher had just returned from a trip to England. She is attractive, and looks much younger Helen Bleicher than 43. I guessed her to be in her early 30s. She has a quite charming British accent and is very personable and friendly. Volunteering and going to school occupy a major portion of Bleicher’s life. She does not seek the limelight nor expect any recognition for what comes naturally to her. She was, in fact, a bit hesitant at first to be profiled. Her reward comes in helping people through one of the most difficult periods in their lives and in the process, helps her learn from their eventual peaceful acceptance of the inevitable. She sums it up in these words: “Hospice and helping people diagnosed with cancer are my passions. I am hopeful that one day there will be a cure for cancer. Getting involved and giving back to the community that supported me helped me on my own journey.”

Joyous New Year’s Greetings

NORM’S

DOOR SERVICE NORM KERR

September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 43

Lighting the path to literacy by GLORIA SHUKERT JONES The ability to read, which most folks take for granted, affects just about everything we do. Notwithstanding the pleasure of curling up on the sofa with a good book, thus escaping to worlds of adventure and romance, there’s also a practical side to reading. Think how limited life would be if one couldn’t decipher menus, traffic and warning signs, instruction manuals, newspapers, magazines, and the multitude of other printed material we encounter daily. Perhaps no one is more aware of this than Barb Levitan, who has devoted many years to helping both children and adults learn the basics of reading. Some of the people she works with have learning challenges; others are from different countries and struggle with a language barrier. And there are some who simply want to sharpen their reading skills. Levitan began a career after college as a kindergarten teacher. Then, like many moms, left her job to raise her three children. When her youngest was finally in school all day, Levitan decided she “needed to do something.” Levitan’s inspiration and desire to teach dates back to her college days. She had a degree in elementary education, but went back and earned a masters in reading. That was when she entered into a partnership with a secondary reading teacher/professor at UNO, and together they founded a diagnostic reading and learning center, called Reading Plus. I didn’t necessarily want to go into the classroom. We decided there was a niche for a locally owned reading center. We were the first local one. “Reading Plus was a tutorial,” she

explained, “however we administered standardized tests and then evaluated the results and then designed a program addressing the student’s weaknesses. We opened Reading Plus in 1986 and sold it 14 years later.” Initially, the business was geared toward elementary school children whose teachers indicated they were not reading up to speed, and subsequently, their parents became concerned. It eventually escalated to middle school, junior high, senior high and college students, as well as adults. Levitan and her partner then included math tutorials, ACT/SAT prep, speed-reading and study skills. “The business just kind of grew by itself,” she concluded, “Whatever was requested, we tried to do it.” Presently, and for the past three years, Levitan has been doing volunteer tutoring for the Literacy Center, located on 38th and Dodge. “The Literacy Center takes adults who want to learn to read. It’s free for the students and on a volunteer basis for the teachers.” Levitan indicated that while some of these people are foreign born, some of them haven’t learned to read in any language because of learning challenges. I was curious how volunteering differed from Levitan’s former paying position, and what she considered more challenging. “They were both challenging,” she said, “but when we had the business, of course, we had to prove to the parents that we were worth paying for. And we wanted to see the learner progress to the point where they didn’t need us. What was really gratifying and exciting to us was when they were able to fly on their

own.” Levitan also observed that since most of the people at the Literacy Center are adults, their attendance is more sporadic. She indicated if they missed a week, they missed a lot. “And dealing with cultural issues, such as being in the United States, and the unfamiliarity of working with a woman, presents a different challenge for the student,” she added. What about teaching methods that best overcome language barriers? For example, if a person speaks no English, how does one teach when there’s little or no communication? Do you begin at square-one with the alphabet? “You need to be cognizant always, of where they’re at,” she explained. “You cannot be too programmed and rigid but, rather you need to be flexible. The Literacy Center has workbooks that you can follow, and sometimes I may use that as a spring board, and move on to using other materials such as magazines and newspapers.” The biggest help to a student is if they have children and their children go to school they often learn English from them because the children want to be able to speak English at home. “Most of the time, I start out with social-sight words, such as: ‘Men’, ‘Women’, ‘This Lane Closed’, ‘No Smoking’ -- that type of thing,” she said. At the Literacy Center, the teachers conduct one-on-one instruction. “I always try to end things on an up-note. We do oral

reading from a high-interest, low-vocabulary book. In other words, it can be about Jackie Robinson, but it’s written on a primary level, so it’s interesting to the student. One of our students whose wife was expecting, said he hoped he would be able to read, ‘Pat the Bunny’, a popular children’s book to his child.” As in schools and colleges, I wondered if there were some kind of incentive pro-

Barb Levitan grams, or graduation that signifies a student’s successful completion of a reading course.” According to Levitan, “They are pre-tested and at the end of six months they are post tested, and if there’s a significant amount of growth, their self confidence soars.” The Literacy Center receives federal, state and community support, she noted. Continued on page 46

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

Omaha’s zoo: the beginning by JOAN K. MARCUS Omaha attorney Sheldon Harris can only be described with one word -- mensch. This word describes a human being who has dignity, character and a strong sense of what is right and wrong. Harris fits this description perfectly as he sits in his West Omaha law office and tells of the pride he takes in his career, his family and his volunteer positions. Even though Harris had a very sad beginning to his life, he never thinks of his early years as tragic. He had a wonderful childhood and is grateful to his family for raising him to be a successful adult. he was born in Minneapolis in 1927. His father died when he was a year old and his mother died when he was three. He has no recollection of his biological parents because he lived with two different aunts during his early childhood. “The family was very nice to me and I never knew any better. When I was eight, I went away to a military school that I loved. I was there for one year and then my sister, Ellie, married Henry Greenberg. They wanted me to live with them so I moved to Omaha,” he says. “Ellie and Henry raised me along with their two biological children. Midge Bowers and Justin (now deceased). They sent me to school and treated me like I was just another one of their children. It was wonderful!” Shelly graduated from Central High School in 1944. His volunteer career began early when he was voted “King of Honor” of the Jewish Youth Council. He recalls that Ruth Kulakofsky was his queen. The position of “King” was

always given to seniors who had contributed significantly of themselves to Jewish youth groups at the Jewish Community Center. Today, we might classify some of this work as “social justice.”

Sheldon and Janice Harris Since Shelly had aspirations to be a medical doctor, he began classes in premed at the University of Illinois. His medical career came to a quick halt when he saw blood and he changed his major from medicine to law. When he was home from school during the summers, he worked at Phillips Department Store in South Omaha. Henry’s father, Phillip Greenberg, owned the store. After transferring to the Merchant Marine Academy, he graduated from Creighton University with a degree in law in 1951. His practice is primarily in real estate law, business formation, cor-

porations and business and estate planning. He is a member of the Real Estate Hall of Fame. In 1951, Shelly met Janice Rosen at a wedding. Janice went home after the wedding and told her mother, “I didn’t care for my date but I sure liked the other fellow.” Shelly told the same thing to his family and, after about a year’s courtship, they married in October of 1952. Their children are Jim and Marty Harris, Tom and Barbara Harris, Nancy and Pete Godwin, and Steven and Magi Harris. They have nine grandchildren. Since Shelly had always been active in the Omaha Junior Chamber of Commerce (Omaha Jaycees), he began his volunteer career by organizing one of the first health fairs here. Later, the group looked into organizing an Omaha children’s zoo. He recalls, “We had a zoo but it wasn’t great; several of us decided to form a new one, with the Omaha Zoological Society.” He is still excited for his city when he visits the Henry Doorly Zoo and speaks with the man who he helped to hire, Dr. Lee Simmons, zoo director. The Society began in 1952 with the improvement of the Riverview Park Zoo. Harris, along with other business people who were active in civic affairs, dedicated themselves to the formation of a children’s zoo that would eventually improve or secure a new zoo. The Society’s only income was from a percentage of monies received from the concession stand, the train and the pony rides. Harris and his group worked to build up a relationship between the City of Omaha, the Parks and Recreation

Department and the Police Department who sometimes furnished necessary labor for construction. “The Omaha Zoological Society had been talking about a Kids’ Zoo for several years,” he recalled. “Since we had no money, we decided to begin by building just a kids’ zoo. Then other people began to ask ... how? And when? The most important question was ... how much?” In 1962, at a kick-off of the campaign to build a children’s zoo, Marlin Perkins, narrator of the Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom television program, appeared as the guest celebrity. He became a national figure with his participation in the show. It is said that Perkins utilized the theatrics of animal behavior by displaying an animal live on the air and accompanying it with a monologue on the animal’s habitat, behavior and genetic history. Harris was not only instrumental in the kick-off, but he helped to persuade children’s book author, Dr. Seuss, to allow them to use his illustrations and words in a booklet. It was also for this event that Shelly brought forth some of his poetry writing talents by saying: I’d call on my nephews, my cousins and aunts, and ask them for money, or cages or plants. I’d ask every soul who lives in this town, If he’d like to help, be he beggar or clown. A few thousand dollars will go quite a way. To get me a new zoo, a Kidzoo, I’ll say. So, if you would like to help with my plan, Just open your hearts and give to the man Who gives you this story ’bout what I would do If I had my way and could build a KIDZOO! Continued on page 46

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Temple students’ mitzvah projects are “forever” by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Children can be effective advocates for social justice and change, according to Shoshanna Lockshin, research and development manager at the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education at Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. What they lack in funds and political power, they compensate for “with…remarkable imagination, passionate visions of the way the world should be, and the courage to be outspoken.” When Whitney (Taxman) Feferman became a Bat Mitzvah in May 1995 at Temple Israel, her interest in the Holocaust and desire to help other people led her to

while they were in the hospital. I volunteered with Leah at the Blumkin Home every Tuesday night for about an hour and came on some Sundays, too. During our visits, we would go around and visit with the residents, and they would give Leah treats, and I would talk to them about pets they used to have,” Jessie said. Since becoming a Bat Mitzvah at Temple Israel, Jessie has had Leah certified as a therapy dog through Midlands Pet Therapy, “and I’m still volunteering with her today. Leah and I are now involved in the pet therapy program at the Nebraska Medical Center. We visit the adult crisis unit and the pediatric unit of the transplant center.” Jessie saw how much Leah brightened the day of people she and Leah visited in the hospital. “I couldn’t let that go to waste,” she remarked. “I know Leah loves meeting new people, and it’s a way for me to spend time with my dog and with people I can help.” Since she was a little girl, Jessie has wanted to pursue health care as a career. Volunteering at the hospital strengthened her interest in the field. This past year, Jessie was also involved in the Walk for Autism in Lincoln and hopes to stay associated with the organization. As for teaming up with Leah, Jessie plans “on volunteering at the Med Center as long as I can.” Lindsey Thomas, 13, just became a Bat Mitzvah in March 2007 at Temple. She will be an eighth grader at Kiewit Middle School. She also enjoyed visiting and seeing how people reacted to dogs and decided to participate in PAWS for Friendship with her Golden Retriever, Summit, for her mitzvah project. PAWS Lindsey Thomas, left, her Golden Retriever ‘Summit’ and friend Megan Bucher for Friendship is a non-profit organizaparticipated in the PAWS for Friendship fund raising walk last September. tion of volunteers sharing the uncondiLindsey had Summit certified as a therapy dog after the two visited patients tional love of their own pets with people together for her mitzvah project at Temple Israel. in need throughout the world. attempt to collect one penny for each of the 1.5 million About seven months prior to her Bat Mitzvah, Lindsey children murdered in the Holocaust and then donate and Summit went with other dog owners and their pets the money to various organizations that help children. to nursing homes and assisted living facilities. “We visit“I started the project in September or October before ed with the people and let them pet the dogs,” Lindsey my Bat Mitzvah and expected to finish by my Bat said. After her Bat Mitzvah, she had Summit certified as Mitzvah,” she said. “After searching through the entire a therapy dog and continues to spend about two hours house and raiding my parents’ and siblings’ wallets,” she a month at various locations taking Summit to visit was able to come up with only $7.40. “I realized that it patients. was going to take me much more than nine months!” For his mitzvah project, Alex Fox, who celebrated Whitney, now 25, married Dan Feferman in August becoming a Bar Mitzvah in April 2007, volunteered at 2006. The young couple live in Rishon L’Tzion, Israel, Munroe Meyer Institute in an after-school program for where she is finishing her teaching degree and will be a children with developmental disabilities. Alex’s 12-yearsecondary school English teacher. old brother Michael is autistic and participated in the “I was one of the first at Temple Israel to do a mitz- program as a preschooler which influenced Alex’s decivah project,” pointed out Whitney who comes from a sion to volunteer there. In the fall, Alex will continue family of mitzvah mavens. Her siblings also continue to volunteering at Munroe Meyer. support and be involved in community projects some of Lauren Cooper will be an eighth grader at Beveridge which are related to their mitzvah projects. Magnet School. Her Bat Mitzvah will be in November With her father’s help, Whitney started a 501(c)(3) at Temple Israel. “For my mitzvah project,” Lauren said, public charity about a year after beginning her penny “I’m volunteering for NFAPA (Nebraska Foster and project. She finally met her original goal during her sen- Parent Association). “The second Monday of every ior year at Westside High School by planning, perform- month, I attend the foster parents support group meeting in, and directing a variety show for children. “At this ings. Foster parents are able to bring their children to point, (she) decided to continue collecting since I the meetings, and I offer free babysitting. I chose this already had the foundation set up…” for my mitzvah project, because we have two foster chilWord of Whitney’s mitzvah project spread across the dren at home, and I understand how difficult it is for my country and was publicized in Mitzvah Man Danny parents to go anywhere without a babysitter.” Siegel’s magazine about mitzvah projects. Whitney won Lauren, whose family includes two-year-old and twoan award from a teen magazine for her project. and-one-half-year-old foster children, also is helping “My Bat Mitzvah project is having a Bat Mitzvah this NFAPA plan their annual foster family picnic in August. year!” she marveled. As she continues to receive dona- She admitted that having the toddlers at home “is tions and contribute to organizations, Whitney intends fun…and it’s hard. It takes hours to get ready to go to continue her project “forever.” somewhere,” she said. “And we have to find babysitters” Jessie Danon, 18, recently completed high school and whenever going out without the little ones. But Lauren plans to attend the University of Kansas in the fall. When said, “I’m pretty open to sharing my parents. I don’t she became a Bat Mitzvah in April 2002, she actually mind too much.” Once a month, her parents hire a started two mitzvah projects. “I knew I wanted to do babysitter and take just Lauren out with them. something with children, because I have always been “I began my mitzvah project in April,” Lauren said, able to relate to them. I wanted to volunteer with my “and because the meetings are on-going, I plan on condog, Leah, because she, too, was special to me. I called tinuing for as long as I’m able to.” Children’s Hospital and asked if I could volunteer with Temple’s Cantor Wendy Shermet said she really appreLeah, but they already had a therapy dog so I decided to ciates mitzvah projects that involve “hands-on physical volunteer at the Blumkin Home instead,” Jessie activity. It’s most meaningful when the students work explained. directly with other people. I had one boy who picked up “I still wanted to do something for Children’s trash at his grandmother’s apartment building. It’s all Hospital so I collected videos for the children to watch part of training for life.”

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 45

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Lighting the path to literacy Continued from page 43 “It’s exciting to see the light bulb go on when kids ‘get it’ We don’t see that from adults. They will simply say, ‘I was able to read the menu last night.’ Usually, they would just order what others ordered. That would be a big step for them. It’s interesting how they compensate. What keeps you going is the state people are in when they first come to us. They think it’s written on their forehead that they can’t read. If they can’t read, they can’t do math, they can hardly function. It’s a real handicap.” She also indicated that an illiterate person is barely able to read, a semi-literate person can read, but their reading does not equal societal expectations. It takes a ninth-grade reading level to read the label on a food container, a tenth-grade reading level to read a prescription, and a twelfth-grade and beyond, reading level to read a tax form or insurance form. That’s how severely limited some of these people are, according to Levitan. She indicates some of them are hiding because they can’t read street or store signs. They compensate for their weaknesses, because they’re afraid they will be found out. While there’s always hope that these learners will eventually be able to read the Classics, the main objective is just to get them to learn the basics so they can function on a day-to-day basis without embarrassment because of their inability to read, or present a danger to themselves

and others by driving, and not being able to read traffic signs. She then tells about an older foreign born adult who came here with his parents when he was in the second grade. “For reasons unknown, he returned to his native country and his education stopped. He was a very successful businessman in Omaha -- very business-savvy. His wife did the books and made the appointments, and he just concentrated on his skill,” she explained. “Then when this man retired and his sons took over the business, he told me, ‘I took care of the business and now it can take care of me. I want to do something I’ve always wanted to do, and that’s learn to read’ and at the age of 85, that’s what he did. The reason he wanted to learn was so he could write letters to his brother, who was in his 90s.” She added, “I would love to have had younger kids come when this student was here, because he was so enthusiastic about learning.” Reading is a passion of Levitan’s. “I hope it becomes a passion for my students. I would urge people who would like to work with adults to do so. You don’t have to be a teacher; you just have to have an interest in wanting to help others,” she noted. That philosophy has worked well for this dedicated volunteer who enjoys the experience of reading and wants to share it. When all is said and done, reading is the key that unlocks a door to new vistas and limitless possibilities.

Omaha’s zoo: the beginning Continued from page 44 Shelly got his way and the campaign that eventually led to the creation of the Henry Doorly Zoo began. Also instrumental in the project was W. Dale Clark, son-in-law of Henry Doorly. Clark, along with his wife Katherine, advocated to protect and preserve Omaha’s parks. He was an Omaha bank executive who later became chairman of the board of the Omaha World-Herald. That same year, in a letter about the upcoming campaign, Clark said to Harris, “The community is more ready than ever to give serious and earnest support to the building of a zoo of distinc-

ident and a member of its board of directors for many years. Recently, he was inducted into the Goodwill Hall of Fame. In October of 2006, a new Goodwill Building at 108th and Blondo was named the Sheldon J. and Janice R. Harris Center. Shelly says quietly, “I was on the board for about 25 years and I did some law work for them.” (We found out later that he did all of their law work pro bono and helped them to grow from two to 12 buildings!) He remains a lifetime member of the board of directors of the Omaha Zoological Society, of which he served as president. He is a past president of the

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The extended Harris family stands in front of the new addition to the Goodwill building: Sheldon and Janice Harris are in front with grandchildren, Joey and Madeline Harris; back row, Bill and Midge Bowers, Steve Harris, Andrew Godwin, Tom Harris, Barbara Harris, Nancy and Pete Godwin, Marti and Jim Harris. tion in Omaha. While you are not look- Omaha Jaycees, a member of the ing for credit, you can truly feel real pride Nebraska Bar Association, Omaha Bar and satisfaction in having laid down the Association and the American Bar basis for realization of many of your Association. hopes, dreams and long-range plans.” As a member of the Rotary Club, he Though Harris is most proud of his could be found ringing a bell for donations part in the creation of the Henry Doorly at holiday time or selling Christmas trees. Zoo, it’s not his only volunteer outlet. According to Janice, “Shelly sold Christmas Other activities with which he’s been trees for so many years that he came home involved include being appointed to the practically having pneumonia!” Nebraska Investment Council by Shelly adds “It was just that I liked to Governor Charlie Thone, and member- do it. I have a good feeling when I go to ship on the Goodwill Industries, Inc., the zoo or see something I began. It was Board of Directors. Shelly has been pres- never done for recognition or honor.”

September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 47

Full of energy by JOAN K. MARCUS “You have to send the elevator back down when you get something out of it. I live in a great house with great kids and a wonderful husband. Now, it’s payback time for me to help other people.” Those are the words of Wendy Baron Vann: nurse, wife, mother, family volunteer and pillar of the community when it comes to helping others. Wendy, always upbeat and laid back, was born in Staten Island, New York, in 1970. Her mother was only 16 when Wendy came into the world and, when she was two, she and her mother moved to Syracuse, New York, to live with her grandmother. She recalls a grandmother who was “very” Catholic and went to church often. “She woke up early in the morning to take me with her. She crocheted a lot and essentially raised me because my mom was so young.” Vann says, “Since I was 10, I knew I wanted to be a doctor. When I was still in high school, I earned a Licensed Practical Nurse certificate. Then I went to a nursing school associated with Syracuse University. I was able to work as an LPN while I was in college. I had to pay for my own apartment, schooling ... everything.” She became a registered nurse in 1990. Wendy’s dream of becoming a doctor was stifled when she entered college and discovered all of the science and math that she would have to take. “I decided there was no way I wanted to do all that. I wanted to take care of people, fix them and make them feel better. Being an RN was my way.” Vann worked as an emergency room and pediatric intensive care unit nurse. In 1990, John Vann, a new pediatric resident, came to work on her floor at the hospital in Syracuse. “I drew the short straw that day. When new residents would arrive to work on our floor, the nurses would have to show them around, teach them how to use the computers, how to draw blood, and help them for their first three months. It’s a pain and especially if you get someone who’s annoying,” she laughed. “These folks were brand new doctors and they thought they were in charge -- so they needed a lot of help. The nurses would draw straws to see who had to help them. That day I drew the short straw, but I didn’t feel so badly when I saw how cute and funny John was! I think that he was so freaked out on his first day. All of sudden, he was in charge. If somebody decided to die that day -- it was him!” she laughed. Wendy learned that John was new to the city and his cat had run away. “I’m sure he thought I was cute, too, but it took a while because he was totally stressed out.” They were married in 1993 in Syracuse. “Although we were married by a Buddhist priest, we wrote our ceremony and it was probably 80% Jewish,” she added.

Wendy and John remained in Syracuse for a year and great questions. Now that they’re getting older, other then moved to Kenya where they worked as medical stuff comes up. They come to my house twice a month missionaries. They were stationed at a hospital in Maua, and it’s my way of having input into their lives. They and as volunteers, it was their responsibility to do every- trust me for answers -- and I get to watch these girls thing from teaching to delivering babies and performing grow up!” surgery. “I got to treat people with measles and children In 2001, Wendy organized the grading and excavadying of pertussis (whopping cough),” Wendy tion, and was the general contractor for a baby pool at explained. “These diseases have been wiped out with Rockbrook Pool. She served on its board of directors, vaccines in the West. I discovered how much I love but also helps when something breaks because she actuAmerica and ‘first world’ medicine. We worked for six ally knows how to run the pumps. “If there’s a tornado months and then went on safari and traveled in Europe. warning, the life guards all know they can take refuge in We came back to the U.S. my garage!” in debt, but who cared?” Twice a month, she John took a position as makes meals for Rainbow a traveling doctor and House, a residence for Wendy went to work in families of patients in local emergency rooms. Children’s Hospital. In 1995, they moved to “People from out of town Omaha. Wendy went to are allowed to stay there work at Children’s when their kids are havHospital in the pediatric ing surgery or treatment intensive care unit. Their for a chronic illness. It’s children, Jake and available for meals 365 Cecelia, were born in days a year and it really 1997 and 1999. helps. So, when I fix a big Wendy has always volcasserole of something unteered as a nurse at for my family, I just douevents like the State Fair, ble the recipe. It’s no big festivals and walks for deal! You just throw it in causes. “I had taken a para disposable pan and the enting class when Jake families thrilled with was two. This taught me whatever I bring.” how to help children Visits to an elderly make choices at an early neighbor lady also occupy age. At the class, I learned Wendy’s “spare” time. “I that in order to show your Wendy Vann: nurse, wife, mother, volunteer, neighbor. volunteer to make tea. kids that you value education, you must put in your time While I’m in my neighbor’s kitchen, I wipe down the at the school,” she explained. counters and tidy up a bit,” Wendy added. But the best “So when Jake began kindergarten at Rockbrook part for her neighbor is the “little chat.” Seniors are School, I told the teacher I was available to do any kind often lonely, so when she serves tea, she listens. “She of volunteer work. This included everything from cut- usually tells me the same five stories, but she does enjoy ting out 1000 hearts for Valentine’s Day to cleaning out talking for a while,” Wendy smiled. closets.” With all of her volunteer activities, it’s hard to believe When Cecelia began kindergarten, Wendy started to that Wendy still has time to work as a nurse at Children’s deliver Meals-on-Wheels to seniors and the physically Hospital in the eating disorder and pediatric intensive challenged. She has a route of 23 people. “It’s nice care units. She puts in three to four days a week. because for many of these people, it’s the only time “I don’t even think about what I’m doing when I help someone comes in to check on them. The people look other people,” Wendy noted. “It’s just something that forward to seeing me and they love when my kids are comes so naturally My kids are beginning to watch and out of school because they come in with me.” pick up on things I do. They’ve learned to go next door Wendy is also a Girl Scout Troop leader. “The little and bring in garbage cans for the neighbor.” kindergarten girls are Daisy Girl Scouts and I love being “For me, I think it’s part of my training as a nurse -with them. They are so engaging! They’re cute and ask being a caretaker.”

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September 7, 2007

A mensch for all seasons by LEO ADAM BIGA Sass traces his humanist bent to his growing up poor in When your wife is a force of nature named Rivkah Sass, the Chelsea slums of New York City. He never knew his a recent national librarian of the year honoree and a father, an artist, a presser, and Communist Party member much-in-demand public speaker, it could be easy to get who a year after Abe was born in 1938, went to Europe overshadowed. The Omaha Public Library director’s to try and rescue family only to be “swallowed up in the dynamic personality can take over a room. Abe Sass does- Holocaust.” His mother, Sylvia, endured “a miserable n’t mind. In fact, he loves the attention Rivkah gets. You working life,” but sought much more for herself and her see, he’s not only her husband, but her biggest fan. only child. “Rivkah has an incredibly difficult job and I really “She gave us a cultural life,” Sass said, “and so on Fridays believe she’s already changed the world in Omaha. She is she and I would go to the Cooper Union Forum to hear committed,” he said. lecturers speak and on Saturdays we would go to all the There’s no real chance of him being lost museums in the city, particularly the free ones. In her in her limelight though. He’s every own gentle, quiet but militant way she was saybit as accomplished as she and cuts ing, ‘We all need to have certain basic things, a larger-than-life figure in his rights and freedoms.’ She’s the one who own right. A veteran psychitaught me if there are people on a picket atric social worker, Sass has line they’re there for a reason, because worked in several hospitals, they need better working conditions, he’s consulted school disbetter salaries, better benefits, and ‘we tricts and he’s maintained his don’t cross picket lines.’ own private practice. No “All of her contemporaries were millonger a full-time therapist, itant Jewish garment workers and he volunteers his services to wherever there was a rally there we clients these days. were. I was just a kid, but everything they Sensitive and empathic as he did made crystalline sense to me. It’s may be, he’s no shrinking violet. through her I met Pete Seeger and Paul He’s a charismatic presence at library Robeson. We would go to places where they activities and events with his were singing. We had a dear friend warm smile, quick wit, hearty Above: The button from the civil rights movement who was a wonderful militant woman. laugh and earthy demeanor. is part of Abe Sass’ memorabilia. Below: Sass My mom and I would go with her to His six-foot-plus height and stood up for civl rights in the great marches of the like a fraternal gathering place, where full beard help him stand out 1960s. He’s pictured towering above the crowd, they would have speakers, singers. from the crowd, as does his on the cover of The Negro Since Emancipation. Seeger would come. Robeson would animated demeanor, which come. It was really cool. One of the flashes from dramatic whisper major moments for me is when Robeson to basso profundo boom, all shook my hand and I felt, wow.” spiced with expletives and dolHe said he gained an awareness beyond lops of Yiddish. his years “when we marched in the May This son of militant, immiDay Parade for working people and we’d grant garment workers in New get hit by rotten eggs and cabbages and York grew up a progressive comments like, ‘Go back to Russia’ or thinker and activist. He was a Dirty Commie.’” If all the protests he’s rank-and-file soldier in the civil been a part of -- from fair housing to sane rights movement of the 1950snuclear policy to immigration reform-1960s. He was at the historic have taught him anything, he said, it’s march on Washington, D.C. in that “there are people in this world that 1963 when Martin Luther just don’t get it. I’m not a pessimist but I King. Jr. articulated his dream believe many people just don’t see there’s for universal brotherhood. He a big picture, and I believe one of the was a member of CORE, the things we suffer from -- all of us -- is we Congress of Racial Equality. He only focus on ‘me.’ It’s dangerous ... took part in his share of Unless we really see and feel connections demonstrations on behalf of we wind up with a perspective that’s very equality and justice. constricted and myopic.” He’s never lost his social conAction, not apathy. “We have to reach science or political fervor, out and do something for people who either. He’s remained engaged need an assist up. It’s like that powerful wherever he roosts, from the tenements of lower saying, ‘When they came for him, I didn’t say anything, Manhattan to the halls of academia to the psychiatric when they came for her I didn’t say anything, and then wards at hospitals in California, Washington and Oregon. when they came for me, nobody said anything.’ It’s still In Omaha he’s a familiar figure wherever ideas are the same. It hasn’t changed,” he said. exchanged, whether a community forum or a book readThe “cruddy” area he came from offered some valuable ing or an art opening. lessons on human relations and social conditions. Being He often conducts therapy sessions in the mid-town the only Jewish kid on his block gave him a sense for what home he and Rivkah inhabit. The couple’s place is an minority really means. expression of their passions. They’re both lovers of liter“We lived in a terrible apartment building on West ature, art and discussion. They place high value on friends 18th Street,” now the trendy art neighborhood of New and family. They do puppetry. They tell stories. They York, he said. “It was a little, dinky three-room apartchampion the underdog. They support causes. They ment. I lived there through my 20s. It was tense and tight entertain guests. Fittingly, their home is adorned with and loud and crazy. When you’re Jewish and you grow up books, paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, puppets, in an Irish-Catholic neighborhood you’re an oddball by photographs of loved ones, mementos, keepsakes and definition. I was more of an oddball because my aura was campaign buttons emblazoned with liberal slogans, such a softer aura and the softness not only came from enjoyas “Fight Racism” and “Swords and Plowshares.” ing the sanctuary of the Orthodox synagogue I grew up “Everything we do and have done is on our walls,” said in, but also” from being a reader and an art lover among Sass, gesturing to the overflow of objects about him in his street kids. living room. “The kids I was desperately trying to fit into I really had He noted a small figurine of a black girl holding a book a hard time with, because they were busy kicking other in one hand and a globe in the other, “which really fits people’s asses and that really was not something I felt who Rivkah is and who I am,” he said. The figurine is comfortable with. And when it came to like stick ball and perched at the edge of a table atop which are also an old football and all that shit, nuh-uh, it was like, ‘Oh, get out camera, a pair of cut-outs from artist Wanda Ewing’s of here, Abe.’ I was totally useless.” black pin-up series and a button that reads “Black To survive, he had to find his own schtick. Power.” Sometimes there’s a button with a black hand, a “Everybody had their thing on the block. You gotta brown hand and a white hand coming together that says have something to get a rep, OK? My rep was on Sunday “Let Us All Be Good Neighbors.” Taken together, he nights, when we’d gather on a stoop and I would tell stosaid, the display “is almost like a snapshot of a world that ries to these same kids...just make ‘em up out of my is and a world we could have. In many ways that repre- head...and I had them, because I could weave a tale, and sents to me where we need to go and, unfortunately, I loved it. I shined in that moment.” Continued on page 52 where we haven’t always been.”

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Page 51

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September 7, 2007

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Mensch for all seasons Continued from page 51 ting their heads plunked.” He was temptAt P.S. 11 Elementary School and at ed to be a freedom fighter himself in Jim Charles Evans Hughes High School he Crow country, and once “I was all but on mixed with Jews, Irish, Italians, African- my way,” before something came up. Americans, Greeks, Asians and practically He and a friend did go to the nation’s every other nationality-ethnicity. “It was capital for the famous ’63 mass March a potpourri of people,” he said. “You talk on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, about a spectrum, it was all there.” led by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. He fondly recalls the summer camps for “We both felt this would be an impor“underprivileged children” he attended, tant thing to do,” he said. “Several of our and later worked as a counselor. They fur- friends were going...We drove there. It ther exposed him to a multi-cultural stew. was wild because all these cars were on “My best friends were always Puerto the road and people were waving at each Rican kids, black kids, Asian kids. I used other. I mean, we all knew where we were to drive my poor mother crazy because going. It was an amazing experience. every summer I’d come home from camp “We first gathered at the Washington talking like I’m a kid from Harlem. She Monument, where there were singers and would say, ‘What kind of talking is this?’” all kinds of speakers, and then we walked Counselors at camp, he said, “were to the Lincoln Memorial. It was a hot day usually (university) psychology or social and...every once in awhile somebody work students. They were there because would pass out, but we were all so tight they had a desire to be there to help kids. the person would be lifted up with hands Every summer I looked forward to it. When I became a counselor it was a joy for me to help a kid who was going through sh-- clear out and get away from it and say, ‘Byebye sh--,’ I don’t need you anymore. ‘I knew I wanted to do this.” He credits a camp director with giving him sound career advice. At the time, Sass was weighing what to do after high school. Though he felt called to be a teacher-counselor, he felt stymied by his lack of funds. “He said, ‘Abe, you’ve got it. If you want it, go for it. The money will show itself. Don’t hold back ‘cause you don’t have the money.’ I totally trusted him and he was right. He was absolutely right. I was lucky enough to go to City College, which didn’t have tuition, Abe Sass stands before a mosaic at his alma mater, and then Columbia University gave Columbia University in New York. me a full tuition scholarship.” Going from the lower Manhattan ghet- and gently moved to the outer perimeter, to to elite Columbia was quite a leap. where medics and sundry volunteers were “I was a lucky guy. I was just so happy. set-up. It was like pre-mosh pit.” I was in fat cat city. That was the best The impact of the huge, unified crowd, training I could have had and it has estimated at 250,000, and of the speakers, helped me right through till now. There capped by King’s rousing “I Have a just happened to be a confluence of Dream” oration, was “very, very powerful.” forces that brought these dynamite peoLast month Abe accompanied Rivkah to ple to Columbia during those years.” D.C. for the American Library Association Above all, he said, he learned “you’ve Conference. He retraced the march he got to start where your client is. I mean, made as part of that great procession 44 it sounds glib, but it’s very important to years earlier. By the end, he had a Mr. Sass really hear what this person in pain has to Goes to Washington experience. say before you lay any agenda out, before “I wound up one late afternoon walking you take your freakin’ notes, before you the exact same path. It was hot. I went say, ‘Well, where were you born?’ and all straight to the Washington Monument. It that kind of social history b.s.” was very spiritual. Half-way between it For him, the core of where the thera- and the Lincoln Memorial there’s ‘a peutic focus needs to be was brought Kodak moment’ spot where there’s a little home by a case study of a subject with “a display with a photo of the wading pool mouthful of rotten teeth.” Sass posited, that day in ’63 with all those people. “What would it be like walking around “I continued on to the Lincoln day after day with a pain in your head? Is Memorial. I went up where his that going to throw you off balance? Gettysburg Address is engraved on one Yeah. So, we were like back to Abraham wall and I don’t know what possessed Maslow. Basics, man. I have met a lot of me, but I started saying it out loud. I people who have spun their wheels with a know it pretty much by heart. And this lot of therapists and they still haven’t group of tourists came over and we’re all dealt with the basics, and it’s sad.” looking at it together as I’m reading it University life also fed his activist and out loud and they’re like, right there with culturist sensibilities. The Cold War was at me, and I just kept on going.” its peak. Vietnam was just getting hot. The He’d had some practice with the civil rights movement already underway. speech. Back at PS 11 he was selected to “In college I hung out with ‘The Beats’ portray Lincoln for a school assembly. On and we were all counterculture,” he said. his nostalgia trip back to D.C. all those “We didn’t see the way it was going as the years later, he didn’t stop with “Four way it needed to go. We felt there was a Score and Seven Years Ago...” world out there of creativity, art, exciting “When I was done, I turned and I ideas and some of that meant taking a walked to the wall where his second inaustand and a lot of that meant looking at gural address is engraved, and this same the fact there are a lot of people who are group of people followed, and I read that not free, who have less opportunities than out loud. They were right there with me we do. So I started into that and my moth- again. The greatest thing was I called our er, of course, was very proud of that.” daughter and I told her where I was and He participated in sit-ins, some to show I told her how much I loved her.” support for the activists down south “get- Continued on page 53

September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 53

Mensch for all seasons Continued from page 52 Sass said when his daughter Ilana was a young girl she’d have friends over the house and invariably get down from a shelf the book, The Negro Since Emancipation. The back cover has an image of demonstrators in the ‘63 march and there’s the young Sass towering above the throng. His daughter would proudly proclaim to her pals, “That’s my dad.� “It was very special,� Sass said. The melting pot experiences Sass had the first half of his life gave him an enriched perspective he carries with him to this day. “I love my roots, I really do. I treasure them. I feel really good about having been introduced to so many wonderful ways of thinking. The weird thing is, even though there were many aspects of it that were very, very uncomfortable, I’m so glad it happened that way. Because thinking about who I am now I really feel like I viscerally can feel, for example, what people in parts of Omaha feel when they’re talking about the kind of shitty conditions they’re living in and have been living in for years and there’s no effing excuse for it. There really isn’t.� Not long after moving with Rivkah to Omaha about four years ago, he attended a north Omaha town hall meeting at which Mayor Mike Fahey and his cabinet responded to issues confronting the inner city. Sass said an older woman pointedly asked how it is the cracked streets and backed-up sewers area residents like her knew as kids are still in disrepair decades later, and, how come residents out west don’t have these problems. No real answers were forthcoming. The gap between black Omaha and white suburbia apparent in the void. “It’s hard to even try to say what I was feeling as I sat there,� Sass said. “Here we are in 2007 and there’s all this stuff about segregation...The struggle goes on, and you can’t be blind to it. You really can’t be blind to it.� The poor, old working-class woman kvetching about inequality reminded him of his mother, each a symbol of the proletariat struggling to get by. “She would go the shop and sit behind a sewing machine all day long busting her chops,� he said of his mom. “And she worked and worked and worked, and when she was 62-years-old she was wasted. It’s very, very sad.� He was reminded, too, of when he went to California in the mid-’60s, fresh from Columbia, and found an unfriendly climate. En route, he stopped for gas at a roadside filling station, where, he said, “this guy and I got to talking.� When Sass mentioned he was heading for Napa, he recalled “the man saying, ‘Oh, you’re going to love it, there are no n------- in Napa.’ Holy sh--, I just about fell down. Could not believe it. That’s one of the things that propelled me to join CORE.� Once there he was dismayed to discover a form of redlining being practiced whereby “realtors in the area were

knocking on doors and saying, ‘There’s a black family moving in down the street from you -- you might want to sell your house now because its value is going to diminish.’ That was going on when I got there,� he said, “so I got involved in the opposite campaign.� He threw himself into resisting city plans for razing an established residential neighborhood built during the war for shipyards workers and their families and building highpriced condos in its place. “A lot of the people who lived there were going to get displaced,� he said. “We (CORE) got involved in a big campaign to stop that. We had rallies, marches. “Also, we started a freedom school in a storefront and kids would come in and we’d help them with whatever their issue was. Helping people connect with their community is very powerful.� Wherever he saw discrimination he tried meeting it headon. “Not too long after I got to Napa, I went for lunch with my friend Frank, a black psychiaRivkah, Ilana and Abe Sass. trist. We were in this local-yokel place. We ordered and we waited. People came in after us and were served while we’re still sitting there. We asked what’s going on and the wait staff said, ‘We’re out of what you ordered.’ So we said, ‘How about such and such?’ And they said, ‘We’re out of anything you’ll order.’ We really got pissed off and like two days later a sh-- load of us showed up, black as black can be, man. I was one of the few white guys in the group. “We were sitting there and we weren’t moving until we got served. We said, ‘If you don’t have it today, we’re coming back tomorrow.’ They just sh-- in their pants. And the name of the game was they changed their policy. But not because they’re kind-hearted. It’s the pocket book. It’s money.� He noted another incident that happened when he lived in an apartment complex. Black friends of his from CORE came over and went for a swim in the pool. When they jumped in, the whites jumped out. The next day, Sass said, he found his car’s tires slashed. He had to insist the police treat the matter as a hate crime. “It’s sad and it’s funny and crazy and pathetic and angry...all that stuff,� he said. He knows how hard it is for people to change attitudes and behaviors. He’s spent the better part of his life helping people try to do just that. “When somebody is going

through a terrible emotional crisis my job is to help them create a revolution within themselves because what they’ve been doing is not working for them. If the revolution is successful they move on and it’s like a different world.� Abe and Rivkah have endured their own crises, including the loss of a son. In order to grow and to conquer our fears, he said, we must take chances. “So frequently what we do -- all of us -- is let ourselves be preoccupied with the fear of what will happen. It holds us all back....A piece of what I do is to help people see that right now is what we have,� he said. “I think my gift somehow is to guide people through hard times. It’s an art. I think you’re either born with this gift or not of allowing someone into your skin and your getting into their skin, safely, without being made to feel violated.� When he was in California he worked with his share of people whose substance and lifestyle excesses caused them to “freak out.� He’s done his own experimenting and, he said, “it’s given me a better understanding of what people go through.� Since coming to Omaha he’s worked with individuals, couples and families on a pro bono basis. He and Rivkah volunteered as puppeteers, storytellers and Sunday school teachers in the Pacific Northwest. He’s performed at synagogues. He, Rivkah and a mutual friend formed the Rosebud Puppet Theater. He does much the same today at local day cares. The puppet characters are drawn from Jewish folklore and include Schlemiel and Lyzer the Miser. As it takes a mensch to know one, he’s hooked up with some of Omaha’s most righteous folks, including Holocaust survivor Rachel Rosenberg, Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, community watchdog Ben Gray and early childhood education pioneer Evie Zysman. “There are people here that are very committed to justice and to fairness and equality. I just wish there were more of them and they had more clout and money,� he said. He and Zysman, a former social worker, both hold degrees from Columbia’s School of Social Work. He adores her. “Hey, if I can be like Evie Zysman when I get to be her age, I’m home free. She’s a pistol, an absolute pistol. Formidable, incisive, cutting, sharp.� These kindred spirits don’t go in for the superficial chatter of the cocktail circuit. They prefer “Intense and meaningful dialogue,� he said. He and Rivkah also count among their friends such local artists as author Timothy Schaffert, painter Wanda Ewing and sculptor Littleton Alston. Like always, his friends are a rainbow coalition. Whatever one’s race or religion, he said, differences melt away “when you do things together. You become kind of like each other,� he said. Welcome to the wonderful world of Abe Sass.

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September 7, 2007

Just say, “yes!” by ANNE MUSKIN Jewish Press editorial intern Ring ring. “Hello,” I said. “Hey, Annie, how are ya?” “Good … who is this?” “This is Robyn!” “Uh oh … what project are you working on?” “(Insert Freeman family laugh here) Well, what are you doing Sept. 12th?” “Volunteering for you! Duh!” It is no secret that Robyn Freeman is the little engine that could of Omaha’s volunteering world. Though readers may be aware of some of the things she has done -- like elaborate Omaha Symphony fundraisers, and she may have even convinced you to participate, the magical end product we see is really only the beginning. “I had a fundraising carnival for muscular dystrophy in my back yard when I was 10-years-old,” Freeman said over coffee. “I’ve always had the bug.” Freeman has helped with everything from Girl Scouts to mentoring, from countless children’s organizations to Junior League of Omaha. Through all of her continued support she says a good volunteer is simply, “Someone who says yes!” Freeman became serious about volunteering 24 years ago, when her daughter Ally was born. Her background was youth programming for Campfire Girls, and she says that -- in conjunction with being a parent -- attracted her to children’s organizations. She noted it was hard transitioning from a career woman to a stay at home mom, and “volunteering saved me!” One of Freeman’s first major contributions was co-founding Camp CoHoLo in

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1985. It is dedicated to providing camping experiences to children with cancer and blood disorders. CoHoLo has an allvolunteer staff, and runs for eight days in July. Freeman served as the first board president, and was the camp director for five years. Camp CoHoLo is still going strong in its 22nd year, and grew from just 19 campers to over 150 currently. (And many teens from Temple Israel have been on the receiving end of the famous Freeman phone call; dozens of them have volunteered for Camp CoHoLo through Temple’s youth group, OTYG.) “It’s really cool to see something grow and be self-supporting,” Freeman marveled. “Think about what you’re passionate about,” Freeman advised, “what’s worthwhile to you, because you want it to be meaningful.” She remembered when she first started volunteering. “In the beginning, if I saw a good cause I wanted to support it, and I’d see things that really benefit the community and want to support that.” Her philosophy now isn’t so different, she’s just a bit more selective. “I’m more particular about what I take on, and really look for projects that make a real difference,” she says. For instance, in 2005 Freeman cochaired the Omaha Symphony Table Art, which replaced the designer show house. It included a luncheon with a guest speaker, a public viewing of uniquely decorated tables, and a Pink Martini Party, which featured jazz, drinks and hors d’oeuvrs. It was quite an affair! Lately, however, Freeman said she seeks a one on one experience, trying to make

a difference in one person’s life in addition to her work with organizations. During the school year she is a mentor at Benson West Elementary. She also serves on the parent board at Central High School, is on the guild for the Children’s Respite Care Center, and is a board member of the Dixon Family Foundation, whose focus includes mental health and substance abuse counseling, self-sufficiency case management, and basic needs walk-in services such as transportation, food, translation, utilities, homeless assistance and housing assistance. One would think with all this on her plate outside of the Jewish community, it would be difficult to incorporate both; however, this is not the case with Freeman. She has been and continues to be actively involved in many Temple Israel programs including its Tri-Faith Steering Committee with her husband, Bob, a past president. “As parents, Bob and I have found that our children have also gained an interest in giving back. The sacrifices become especially worth it now, as we watch our kids become volunteers,” she says. Freeman finds that the best place to get started with volunteering is to look to your place of worship as a resource. Also, she suggests area non-profits, like United Way as a great way to plug into the community. “There are so many needs Anne,” she said shaking her head. “There are a lot of families just not making it.” Freeman finds it’s important to locate where the serious needs are, and with the ease of an old pro, just say “yes.”

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September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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In one family, the Eagles soar by JOAN K. MARCUS Marty, Ben and Lev Nachman are all wise beyond their years. The three teenagers have all been Boy Scouts since they were very young; they all learned the value of helping others. Their parents, Beth Staenberg and Gary Nachman, have both led their sons by example. Marty and Ben are Eagle Scouts and Lev isn’t far behind his brothers as a Life Scout. As a little first grader, Marty, now 19, joined as a Cub Scout. “Pack #420 at Prairie Lane School is where I participated in weekly meetings and camping. I quickly learned an emphasis on helping other people, being a good person and holding myself to a higher standard,” Marty explained. “I watched older kids work on earning the Arrow of Light, the highest award in Cub Scouting. I decided I wanted to be included in that group.” As Webelos, (older Cubs: “We’ll Be Loyal Scouts”) the boys started their own troop with their father as the leader. “We planted trees at both Rockbrook and Prairie Lane Schools,” Marty said.”It’s amazing to see how they’ve grown.” In 2003, Marty became an Eagle Scout. His project was redecorating the area of the Jewish Community Center where people enter the Jewish Family Service office. With a group of volunteers from his scout troop and some friends, he removed the old wood chips and planted new foliage. “Sometimes when people go into JFS, they don’t feel so cheery and I wanted to make them feel better.” Marty is also a member of the Order of the Arrow, a national honorary of experienced campers. Scouts must be invited to join and members perform service proj-

ects. Marty organized two weekends of general cleaning, mulching and other service to the parks. He continues to be the webmaster of the OA Lodge Website. Marty graduated from Westside High School in May of 2006. Scouting and other activities never subtracted from his scholastic achievements, as he was a member of National Honor Society. After graduation, he went to Israel with United Synagogue Youth’s NATIV program to study at Hebrew University and volunteer (no surprise there!). “For the second half of the program, I volunteered at a kibbutz. I gardened, trimmed and worked on yard maintenance. My boss helped me practice my Hebrew skills,” he said. He also took university-level courses such as archaeology and topics in Jewish studies. He’s no stranger to Israel. After his junior year in high school, he joined USY for a six week-tour of Eastern Europe and Israel. “I went to the Czech Republic, Budapest and Poland and knew I wanted to go back after graduating high school,” he explained. It was a gamble applying to this program, as it meant deferring college for a year. But, he added, “It was definitely a worthwhile experience that will define me as a person for as long as I live.” This fall, Marty will be attending Washington University in St. Louis. As a winner of a social justice scholarship, he will work in the community and on campus, as part of a program, “Leadership Through Service.” And he’ll be volunteering with other students. At the moment, he says he is interested in international studies and Arabic. “I want to do something on the international level, because there is so much in the

Israel. A trip to Indiana to help with strategic plans for members of the Order of the Arrow followed his three weeks in Israel. “I am really into Scouting,” said the member of Venture Scouts, an extension of Boy Scouts. “We also help kids when they advance from Cubs to Boy Scouts.” He has achieved the Silver Award, the highest award in Venturing. In 2004, Ben, too, became an Eagle Scout. He and his troop Ben, Lev and Marty Nachman are all active in Boy Scouting. planted 80 trees at world I want to see and do,” he said. Beth El Cemetery for a community servNext in the family is Ben Nachman, 17, ice project. a senior at Westside. He is a Scout in “On 84th and L Streets, the traffic is Troop #552, which is based at the very heavy and the trees suffer because of Lutheran Church of the Masters. it,” Ben explained. “And families need He remembers summer camp at Camp more privacy when there’s a funeral. I Cedars best, where he is now on staff. raised the money to buy the trees. Rabbi Like his older brother, he is also a mem- Dan Fellman had planted trees on the ber of the Order of the Arrow and is other side of the cemetery for his Eagle lodge chief. project when he was in high school. I He feels at home at camp and isn’t fussy thought that it was time for additional what he does as a leader. “Last year, I trees to be planted on the other side. We washed dishes and worked in the kitchen had volunteers from Beth El, my scouting for four weeks,” he said. During the sum- friends and friends from school come out mer of 2007, he taught photography and to help me plant the trees.” journalism there. Although it seems impossible that Ben Following camp, he left with BBYO, the would have time for any other service B’nai Brith Young Organization, to visit Continued on page 59

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A lasting commitment to friendship by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Budwig entered his young life at just the right time. “I It was the early ’80s when Ron Budwig of Omaha first taught him how to say ‘Thank you’, and he taught me started suffering from “empty nest syndrome.” His how to fish. We spent hours fishing together. It wasn’t daughter had recently left for college, and it was getting necessarily the fishing itself that mattered so much, as very quiet around the house. It was then that Budwig the companionship and the attention.” happened to see the Big Brothers-Big Sisters organizaAt age 10, Bill was already extremely protective of his tion featured in a television program. mother and sister, according to Budwig. “He would get In existence for more than a century, Big Brothers-Big in trouble on a regular basis because he would try to Sisters is the oldest and largest youth mentoring organ- retaliate if he thought someone wasn’t being respectful ization in the Unites States. of his family. At a very young age, he had appointed In 1904, a New York City court clerk by the name of himself as the head of the household.” Ernest Coulter watched many kids come through the Budwig has fond memories of the things they did court system. Seeing the same kids again and again, he together. Besides fishing, they went horseback riding decided something needed to be done. He started a often: “Bill took to horseback riding like a natural. mentoring program, linking the youth with “older Riding a horse taught Bill a real sense of responsibility. brothers,” volunteers who would take children under He had to take care of the horse, and this fit in very well their wings and offer them some much needed guidance. with his instinct to take care of others. Bill loved aniBy 1916, Coulter’s mals; his house was message had spread to 96 always full of them. Also, cities across the continenwhen we went fishing he tal U.S. In 1977, Big would usually throw the Brothers combined fish back. Sometimes he efforts with another would keep it, clean the group: Big Sisters fish himself, but he would International, which had never eat it. He brought made similar efforts it home to his mother.” directed at girls. Thus Budwig claims that he “Big Brothers-Big has learned as much from Sisters” came into exisbeing a Big Brother as his tence; it now operates in Little Brother has learned all states as well as in 35 from him: “Bill had such other countries, working a great impact on my life. with at-risk youth, ages I often feel that I received six to 18. more than he did, The BBBS Tagline, because he showed so “Little Moments, Big Ron Budwig, right, was a “Big Brother” to Bill Bailey, a volunteer much appreciation for the Magic” struck a chord fireman and member of the U.S. Army National Guard. time we spent together. with Budwig. He really cared about “I thought to myself, why not?” he says, “and so I what I thought. I have also always had a very good relacalled them to start the screening process.” tionship with his mother; the whole family was involved. The Big Brother organization interviews volunteers There was mutual respect.” like Budwig very carefully. Much time is spent in orienThis respect was felt by Bill himself as well; once he tation, to ensure that volunteers know what to expect turned 18 and aged out of the BBBS organization, he and are fully committed to the youth with whom they went out of his way to stay in touch with his Big Brother are paired. until the very end. Matches between volunteers and youth are made Unfortunately, this end came much too soon for Bill. based on several criteria: Youth need to be safe, and the As an adult, Bill Bailey’s protective feelings translated relationship that is created between volunteer and youth into a strong desire to serve his immediate community needs to be harmonious, suit the child’s needs, and be and his country. He joined the U.S. Army National built to last. In other words, there needs to be more Guard and joined the Volunteer Fire Department in his than a reasonable chance of this relationship lasting past hometown of Bellevue. a few weeks. Bailey was assigned to the 755th Chemical Budwig agrees: “The involvement you have with a Reconnaissance and Decontamination Company, and child is not just a part-time thing. You become part of like so many others, left his family to serve overseas. A each other’s lives; it has to be a two-way street. In order married man and father, Army Specialist William Bailey to be an effective mentor, you have to be very commit- III died on May 25 of this year, when an I.E.D. explodted, even when things may not be easy. Many of the ed near his vehicle in Taji, Iraq. He was 29-years-old. Little Brothers, as they are called, have abandonment Two other Nebraska soldiers were wounded during this issues. The last thing they need is someone else coming same incident. into their lives and leaving again after a few weeks.” “Once he was grown up,” according to Budwig, “Bill The staff at BBBS are more than simply matchmakers. would always volunteer for the toughest assignments. After the initial pairing of a mentor with his Little Whenever anything dangerous had to be done, whether Brother, they provide continuing support and supervi- it was with the Fire Department or in the Army, Bill was sion. This supervision and support is offered to the men- the first in line. That was simply his nature.” tor and his Little Brother, as well as the youth’s family. Bill Bailey left behind his wife, Deanna, and five chilIn addition, a caseworker is available for advice, as well dren. He was posthumously honored with both the as continuing training opportunities. Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. The commitment of BBBS is evident in their mission Budwig feels no regrets about his time with Big statement: “To help children reach their potential Brothers-Big Sisters. The organization, he says, gives through professionally supported, one-on-one relation- many people a chance to offer guidance to young chilships with mentors that have a measurable impact on dren who, too often and too long, have done without. youth.” “It is important we teach children the difference Success is measured in different ways. For instance, a between right and wrong. We also have to give them an Little Brother or Sister is on average more confident in opportunity to act in an age-appropriate manner, to his or her schoolwork and gets along better with his or experience a childhood. Oftentimes these kids are forced her family. Youth involved with BBBS are 40% less like- to grow up fast, we try to give them a piece of their ly to use illegal drugs, 25% less likely to begin using alco- childhood back,” he says. hol, and 52% less likely to skip school. Especially when working with at-risk youth, Budwig says, Since the early 1980s, Budwig has been connected to it is essential not to judge: “Many children face setbacks two Little Brothers. The first one was Mike, a 15-year- that are beyond their control. We are not helpful to them if old, who had unsuccessfully been paired up before. we display a judgmental attitude. We need to respect them “Mike was my first Little Brother,” Budwig states, as people, and be willing to really accept them and help “and my relationship with him continued on even after them.” In addition, Budwig insists that teenagers need to he aged out of the program. Then, in 1987, I was paired be listened to, and that patience is in order. up with a second Little Brother.” This second youth was “It can take teenagers a long time to start opening William Lee Bailey III. up,” Budwig says, “and even when they finally start talk“When I first met Bill, he was 10-years-old,” Budwig ing, they might not tell you everything that is on their says, “and he was just a string bean of a kid. He was mind. Be patient and wait for them to set the pace. extremely active and lively, and very much in need of Building a relationship that feels safe to them takes a lot male companionship.” of time.” Bill Bailey needed a father figure in his life, and Continued on page 59

September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 57

What counts and what’s important by JOAN K. MARCUS “A surprising number of people get arrested as a result of their mental illness. They go off of their medications mostly because they can’t afford them,” says local attorney Brent Bloom. In the County Attorney’s office, Bloom started a program where everyone who was arrested was screened to discover if their crimes were connected to mental illness. “If they were, we put them into a diversion program so they could get back on their feet. We made sure they had food, a place to live, medications and therapy.” Bloom considers himself “an Omaha kid.” He has happy memories of living with his parents, Harold and Dina Bloom. His two brothers had graduated from high school and his sister, Bev Bloom Fellman, was already a junior at Central when Brent was born in 1958. “It was like having three fathers and two mothers but it was great growing up at my house,” he says. “Now that I am older than either one of my parents were at the time I was born, I understand what a joy it must have been when I came along. Their nest was almost empty and here came a baby. I got lots of attention from everyone! I certainly wasn’t lonesome when I was growing up.” He recalls having “a lovely childhood at Rosehill Grade School, Lewis and Clark Junior High and then Central High. Our family went to Beth Israel Synagogue and I had many friends. Since my parents were older, they had some experience raising kids and I benefited from it. My twin brothers were 18 years older, so they weren’t the ones to play with.” At Central, he was on staff of The Register, the school newspaper, and had

high hopes of being a doctor. He says, “My brothers were both doctors, but I changed my mind when I went to college.” After graduation from high school in 1976, Bloom began college at the University of Denver and later graduated from Creighton University with a degree in philosophy. He went on to graduate school and received a combined advanced degree in both philosophy and psychology. Then something -- or rather, someone -- changed his life. “I was attending summer school and taking a photography class at the art building,” he says. “I came outside one day and saw this very attractive young woman. I looked at the necklace that she was wearing and it said, in Hebrew letters, ‘Rivkah.’” He adds, “So, I commented on her necklace and we struck up a conversation. She was Rebecca Bleicher, a young women who was majoring in art. She was also the youngest child in her family of seven children, so we had a lot in common. That was the beginning of our courtship.” The two married in 1981 and moved to Washington, D.C., where Rebecca taught art and Brent entered another graduate school program. “I decided that going to law school would be a good idea for me. We both determined that we should go somewhere geographically pleasant. I applied throughout the mountain states and the West Coast,” he recalls. “The University of Idaho was the first one to take me so that’s where we went. Rebecca got a master’s degree in art while I went to law school.” Following law school, Brent started his law career in Pocatello, Idaho, as a legal aid

&

Brent Bloom attorney. He represented clients who couldn’t otherwise afford an attorney. Cases included those who were having problems with their landlords in both private and public housing and folks who were having trouble with other safety net issues. Says Bloom, “My heart was with these people because they were having trouble with unemployment and social security benefits. Many of them had mental illness or other mental health problems. So, I was really using my psychology training at the same time.” He didn’t make very much money but it was good work, according to Bloom. “I was able to help people who would not have otherwise been able to get what they needed.” In 1986, Rebecca and Brent returned to Omaha to attend the Bar Mitzvah of their cousin Daniel Fellman, (now Rabbi Fellman!), his sister Bev’s son.

“For fun, I went to the courthouse in Omaha and interviewed at the public defender’s office. Later that year, I got a call inviting me back to Omaha to work. It worked out perfectly because it was just in time for the birth of our first son, Alex.” In the public defender’s office in Omaha, Bloom represented men and women who were charged with crimes, faced jail time and couldn’t afford a lawyer. After three years, Brent joined Omaha attorney Don Fiedler’s law practice. From 1989 until 2002, he ran his own law practice -- primarily criminal defense, plus federal and state trial work. His practice included a lot of court appointed work for people who couldn’t otherwise afford an attorney. Brent says, “In the early 90s, Rebecca looked at me one day and told me I needed a better stress management program. She noticed I wasn’t dealing constructively with my stress. I thought that taking a yoga class seemed like a good idea.” Yoga was so interesting to the young attorney that he began taking more classes and in 1997, he undertook a training course so he too could teach yoga.. After he graduated, he decided to learn more and went to massage school. Now Licensed Message Therapist in Nebraska has been added to his impressive resume. He also performs a form of a massage called Thai Yoga Therapy, a type of yoga used during message therapy. In Continued on page 59

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

Young professional U.S. Jews gather for volunteer trip to Israel by URIEL HEILMAN from the New York area -- said they wanted to go person cost to $1,299. The volunteers also brought with them about 50 suitJERUSALEM (JTA) -- As Maury Kelman watched beyond opening their wallets and meeting officials -cases’ worth of supplies from American Jews, ranging the distressing news from Israel in the early days of the though they did some of that, too. war in Lebanon last summer, he felt helpless and out of “It wasn’t just to meet important people. We were from toys for kids to toiletries for battle-weary soldiers. “To come to Israel at the drop of a hat expressly for touch at his home in New York. there to work,” said Abraham Katsman, a New York Not wanting to sit idly by while Israelis suffered heavy lawyer in his 30s. “We got out there. We were doing volunteerism -- to me this is exceptional,” said Kaynan Rabino, executive director of Ruach Tova, an Israeli rocket fire and disrupted lives, Kelman resolved to go to stuff, and that was the point of being there.” Israel to see what he could do to help. Katsman, who has four siblings living in Israel, said he organization that helps match volunteers with sites that In the space of a few days, Kelman, who works at a got a call from Kelman about the trip while he was on need aid. “And these are regular people, they’re not hedge fund, assembled more than 80 people for a trip to vacation on a beach near Seattle. He immediately said community leaders who might be coming for political reasons. They came to work, because Israel is important Israel to be filled wholly with volunteering. he’d help. Once in Israel, the group put together battle rations “Every citizen there is really on the front line and you to them.” Ruach Tova helped plan the trip’s itinerary, which for Israeli soldiers, ran a camp in Ma’aleh Adumim for kind of feel the need to join them to whatever extent children from northern Israel, helped staff soup kitchens possible,” Katsman said. “Nobody’s going to let me pick changed as events warranted. Originally, the trip includin Jerusalem, distributed toys to kids in the rocket-weary up a rifle, so I guess the next best thing is to do whatev- ed visits to bomb shelters, but the cease-fire took effect just as the group arrived, so plans changed. southern city of Sderot, met with Israeli soldiers on the er’s needed.” Many participants said the highlight of the trip was a northern front, patronized a bowling alley in Kiryat Among other things, the group donated more than 50 Shmona and donated blood to Israel’s Magen David pints of blood to Magen David Adom, Israel’s emer- daylong visit to northern Israel to meet with members of the Israel Defense Forces Adom. and visit rocket-pocked “I wasn’t looking to cities, including Kiryat start an organization, but Shmona and Safed. it really touched a At one army base, volchord,” Kelman told JTA unteers spent more than early this week, at the end an hour talking to soldiers of a trip he described as from an IDF Golani exhausting but exhilaratBrigade that recently had ing. lost three men in battle, “People felt helpless” including Uri Grossman, watching the war in the son of famed Israeli novUnited States, “and by elist David Grossman. doing this they felt they “We were able to go really contributed,” onto the base and sit with Kelman said. “People had these guys for an hour as no idea you could come they were cleaning their to Israel and volunteer. Now they’re telling their Left: Volunteer trip organizer Maury Kelman speaks during a called Care for Israel visit Israeli soldiers at a northern army guns,” Kelman said. “It Credit: Eyal Feiler was very emotional.” friends and already bug- visit with Israeli soldiers. Right: American volunteers on a trip base last summer. For Jerome Linsner, a clinical psychologist from ging me about the next trip.” gency medical service. One synagogue in Los Angeles already has contacted “We always invite American tourists in Israel,” said Chappaqua, N.Y., this was his first visit to Israel. “What was so meaningful was everyone expressed him for help in planning a similar trip, Kelman said. Jonathan Feldstein, the Israel representative of American American Jews responded quickly during the recent Friends of Magen David Adom. “But in this case, it was their gratitude that we made the effort to come and crisis in Israel, donating more than $170 million in an unique. More often than not, missions coming through were aware of what they were going through, so they Israel emergency campaign organized by the United get a tour and a briefing. This group came and almost didn’t feel alone,” said Linsner, who came on the trip Jewish Communities federation umbrella group. Jewish the whole mission donated blood. It was unbelievable.” with his 23-year-old daughter. Although his daughter had been to Israel several years groups also have joined missions to the Jewish state to The volunteers on Kelman’s trip, which he dubbed meet with officials and tour northern Israel’s battered Care for Israel (www.careforisrael.com), woke up early, before, on a summer teen tour organized by a Reform Jewish youth group, Linsner said this trip was completecommunities. came home late and generally ran themselves ragged. But Kelman’s volunteer-oriented mission was a deparEl Al Airlines and the Kings Hotel in Jerusalem ly different. “She felt like these five days we spent was one of the ture from the usual mode of American Jewish help. offered special deals to the participants, and donations These Jews -- mostly young, Orthodox professionals by Jews in New York helped bring down the trip’s per- most meaningful things we’ve ever done,” he said.

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Commitment to friendship

Bill Bailey was due to come home in May after a tour in Iraq with the Nebraska National Guard. He was killed in Iraq on May 25, while providing security for a military convoy outside Taiji, Iraq. He was 29-years-old, a husPhoto courtesy of the Bailey family. band and father.

Continued from page 56 Had Budwig not invested the time he did, who knows what might have happened to William Bailey. We’ll never know if he would have had the courage to become a fire fighter, or whether he would have felt worthy enough to ask somebody’s hand in marriage. One can imagine that all those hours spent fishing had some kind of impact on the man he would become. A community is only as healthy as its children, and they need special care from that community. Like Ron Budwig, we never know where our actions may lead us, or where they may lead others. Over one million children in the United States are homeless. Of those who aren’t, many face risk-factors, such as missing one or both parents, learning or other disabilities, and existing below poverty level. Of all children, 18% face more than one of these risk-factors. While some children manage to overcome these risks, too many of them don’t have a chance without a committed adult in their life whose main task is to offer support. For those who are interested, the local chapter of Big Brothers-Big Sisters can be contacted at www.bigomaha.org or email directly to Shaase@bigomaha.org.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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What counts and what’s important Continued from page 57 2002, Bloom converted part of the space that was occupied by his law office into a yoga studio. More changes to his life occurred in 2003 when Stu Dornan was appointed to the Douglas County Attorney’s office. Bloom was called back into the courthouse to work as chief deputy. “I think I’m the first Jewish guy to ever hold that office,” he smiles. “I went to help with the transition and stayed for the whole term until 2006.” He also sits on the board of directors of the Metro Area Continuing Care for the Homeless and remembers two programs he helped start that will divert people with mental illness out of the criminal justice system. One was the screening program; another trains police officers to recognize mental illness. The 40- hour, oneweek training addresses how people with illnesses might look when they aren’t taking their medications, how to tell when people aren’t drunk (but off their meds), and other issues relating to mental health. Since the election, Brent returned to his own law practice and continues yoga and Thai Yoga therapy. After teaching art at Lewis Central and Central High Schools, his wife Rebecca decided her passion was farming. Brent jokes “It seems that she and some of her brothers have this recessive gene to be Jewish farmers. When I first married into the family, they all said they were tired of farming. Then, little by little, they drifted back into growing things.” About eight years ago, the couple bought near Crescent, Iowa. Rebecca farms there

and grows certified-organic fruits, vegetables and herbs -all grown without pesticides and chemicals. In order to be certified, her plants have to be grown under very stringent guidelines. Early in the season, Rebecca starts these plants from seed and transfers them to the ground. V. Metz Restaurant is one of her biggest accounts and others include, Whole Foods, the Rockbrook Farmer’s Market and Wild Oats Farmer’s Market. Eli, their younger son, shares the Bleicher passion for growing things. He is a student at UNO and helps out with the organic food business. Brent says, “I look around me and am so grateful for the way my life has evolved. Life has been a great balance for my family and me. Another of the great influences of my life is the time that I spent with my mother, Dina Bloom.” She lived at the Blumkin Home before she died in 2005. “I learned perspective, what counts and what’s important. She had an incredible sense of grace and contentment,” Brent says. “In yoga, when a guru dies, they pass on a certain kind of energy to their students. I almost feel that my mother has given me something that has shaped my life more than anything else,” he says. “When I was younger, maybe I just wasn’t mature enough to know, but when she was older and I helped take care of her, she gave me so much these last couple of years.” Brent may have absorbed more than he realized. And the proof is in his actions -- both in and out of the courthouse.

The Eagles soar Continued from page 55 projects, he is heavily involved with BBYO and is a member of Key Club, the high school version of version of Kiwanis Club. Another one of his projects was a “Senior Prom” for the residents of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. “It was really fun, “ he said, “because we actually danced with some of the residents and even had lengthy conversations with some of them. It was a memorable event for all of us.” At the request of his teachers, Ben has volunteered to tutor other students in foreign languages, too. “But I really love studying math and science,” he added. “Eventually, I want to be a physicist.” He, too, is a member of National Honor Society. Both Marty and Ben have earned the Ner Tamid Award, given to Jewish Scouts for exemplary service. Ben received an even higher award, the Etz Chaim. In order to achieve this award, Ben worked with Omahan Ben Nachman (no relation) to visit Jewish cemeteries in the Omaha area, where he took pictures and documented names on the gravestones. The youngest Nachman -- Lev -- is 15 and a sophomore at Westside High School. He is presently the senior patrol member of his troop and as a Life Scout, is working on his Eagle Project.

He is collecting money to build bookshelves at the Pennie Z. Davis Child Development Center at the Jewish Community Center. “The shelves will accommodate all kinds of books from pop-up to hard cover to large picture books,” he explained. “Since I performed my Mitzvah Project there, I got a feel for what they need.” Like his brothers, Lev is also active in Order of the Arrow and is presently the chapter chief. Also, in keeping with the family tradition, he is active in USY, where he serves as the ritual director of the group. Last year, Lev taught religious school classes at Beth El Synagogue Talmud Torah (BESTT) alongside Eadie Tsabari. All three boys delight their parents (as well as members of the synagogue) when they chant (read) Torah at Beth El on Shabbat and holidays. Unlike his brothers, however, Lev has an additional talent. He is very musical and active in Omaha area music groups. He plays four instruments -- oboe, guitar, trumpet and xylophone -- and is a member of Omaha’s Intergenerational Orchestra. His hope for the future is to be an ethnomusicologist, one who studies and educates about international music. All three young men agree, “Our parents taught us the right thing to do. Ben had to copy Marty -- and if Lev didn’t do it -- it would look bad for the family!”

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

When Omaha’s North 24th Street brought together Jews and Blacks Melting pot marketplace is no more sun down Friday night, when everything was closed. Everybody knew everybody, blacks, whites, they were all alike. We used to leave our doors open at home at night or we’d sleep on the porch because we never had to worry...” “On a Saturday night it was busy. It was a real hustling place,” said Mort Glass, who worked in his father’s Omaha Kosher Meat Market on 24th. Jews and other European immigrant groups, including Italians, settled in north Omaha in the first decades of the last century. There was always an African American presence but the real wave of blacks came as part of the great migration from the South in the 1920s through the post-World War II era. There was a time when North 24th, a major artery connecting north Omaha with downtown, was the nexus of commerce for two historically oppressed peoples, Jews and blacks. Not only did they comprise most of the area’s merchants, service providers and professionals from the ‘20s through the ‘50s, they were its primary residents and, therefore, customers, too. So it was that synagogues stood next to Baptist churches, kosher and soul food could be had on the same block and blacks and Jews were educated together, played together and did business together. For Jews, North 24th was the Miracle Mile. For blacks, the “Deuce Four.” For many northeast Omaha residents, it represented a Street of Dreams where virtu-

by LEO ADAM BIGA North 24th Street. Today, this distressed stretch running through largely African-American northeast Omaha is a hodgepodge of mercantiles, community service organizations and social agencies interspersed with empty structures and vacant lots. The sidewalks are mostly empty. Save for some new construction and streetscape improvements in the 24th and Lake environs, block after block is blighted. Signs of renewal peek through here and there in refurbished buildings, new commercial centers and handsome housing developments. Visions of new grandeur lie in initiatives targeting the area, known as the Flatlands, for redevelopment. Still, current reality is a long way from those dreams and a far cry from North 24th’s heyday in the 1930s and ‘40s. Then, rows of buildings lining each side of the street -- from Cuming south to well past Lake north -- housed dozens of small businesses, many Jewish-owned, some blackowned. It was a lively social-cultural enterprise zone/marketplace where a promenade of ethnicities filled the sidewalks and streets from dawn to well past dusk. “Almost like Maxwell Street in Chicago,” said former North 24th resident “Big” Joe Kirshenbaum, referring to Chi-Town’s multicultural hub. “It was a city in itself. It was busy all the time. The only time there wasn’t any business was

The Sabbath-observant Jews called upon black neighbors to turn off the gas and lights in their Orthodox homes. Some blacks practiced their faith in tent revival meetings whose rousing spirituals and shouts of hallelujah and amen drew curious Jews. There were occasions, like live radio broadcasts of Joe Louis fights, when everyone came together to cheer. When Louis won, people flowed into the streets to party. Blacks led the parade. “It was wonderful,” said Helen (Handler) RifkinChorney, who grew up near North 24th and spent many an afternoon and evening there. “After Ben Himelbloom stands in front of his North 24th Street Bakery a Joe Louis fight, when with two of his employees. Photo courtesy of NJHS. he was the champ, everyally any goods or services could be found. body was dressed in their Sunday finest The district enjoyed a self-sufficiency it’s and they were celebrating, too, because not seen again, one in which residents one of their own was the world champicould and did do for themselves. on. I used to think that was one of the Black-Jewish interaction was an every greatest things in the whole world. It was day thing. Reverends and rabbis kvetched wonderful.” over pickle barrels or meat counters. Each Then there was the pageantry of Easter group learned things about the other, Sunday, when Christian folks got decked especially about their respective religious out in all their fancy new finery. traditions. Continued on page 61

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September 7, 2007

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Melting pot marketplace is no more Continued from page 60 “You never saw nothing until you saw Easter Sunday on 24th Street. Dressed to kill,” former North 24 denizen Nate Shukert said. “We used to go down just to watch,” ex-24th streeter Gloria Friedman said. “It was beautiful. The parade of colors was amazing,” RifkinChorney added. “It was Omaha’s version of the Easter parade on Fifth Avenue in New York,” said Martha (Hall) Melton, who grew up just off the famous thoroughfare. Community leaders hoping to revitalize the area look to recapture some of its rich, robust past. A past that saw an abundance of mom-and-pop grocery stores, butcher shops, fish markets, bakeries, cafes, delis. Hardware, appliance, clothing, shoe and department stores. Tailor shops, repair shops, pawn shops, barber shops, beauty shops. Ice houses, a junk yard, a lumber yard. Drug stores. Doctors offices. Laundries, cleaners. Dance halls, night clubs, bars, billiard parlors, movie theaters. Social halls, fraternal clubs, gyms. After-hours joints. Whore houses. “We had everything out here,” said North Omaha native Vera (Mitchell) Johnson. “You name it, we had it. We really didn’t have to go out of the neighborhood for anything.” North 24th was, as fellow lifer Charles Carter said, “is its own entity.” Glass-fronted brick buildings spread the length of 24th, gleaming in the sun. “When I was in the wholesale liquor business I made calls on 24th, and when I got there at 7 in the morning and the sun was shining, you’d think it was a sea out there...a sea of glass,” Irv Forbes recalled. A whole social stratum of attire was on

display. Grocers, butchers and bakers in aprons. Businessmen in fedoras and three-piece suits. Construction, packinghouse, railroad laborers in overalls. Domestic workers and porters in uniforms. Ladies in fine dresses and feathered hats. Religious in yarmulkes, prayer shawls and Sunday whites. Children in school clothes. Hep cats in zoot suits. Cops in blue. Peddlers pushing carts and delivery men, driving horse-and-wagon outfits in the early days and trucks later on, sold everything from rags to milk to ice to produce. Melton recalls a peddler who came by to sharpen knives. Shukert remembers one vendor, who wore a conductor’s cap and hung a lamp on his cart, hawking tamales with, “‘Get your hot tamales today, they’ll be gone tomorrow.’” Street vendors shined shoes and sold newspapers. The blare of radio broadcasts, the melody of Yiddish, Italian and English voices, some Southern-tinged, others European-accented, the shrill of live chickens and crying babies and the clatter and roar of autos and streetcars created a kind of music. The yeasty, ovenfired aroma of fresh baked bread, rolls and bagels, the sweetness of pickled herring and watermelon rinds, the sour of pickles and the spice of corned beef blended with the smoky fragrance of barbecue and savory goodness of greens. “When you hit this area, you smelled it,” Shukert said. “Whew, it would give you a smack, boy.” This feast for the senses only added to the North 24th experience. In an era when Jews and blacks were excluded from much of mainstream white society, the walls of segregation largely

South 24th was, compared to wider Omaha. Jews and blacks lived and worked in close proximity to each other and, by all accounts, coexisted in relative harmony. Despite obvious differences, people made this relationship work for the most practical of reasons -- they had to. After all, each group relied on the other for survival. In a symbiotic relationship of mutual co-dependence, Jewish businesses provided essential goods and services to blacks, not to mention jobs, while blacks provided a major customer base for many Jewish merchants. Practicality made tolerance the order of the day. “You have to understand In 1955, Mort Glass, left, and Joe Bucheister worked for the this getting along wasn’t Omaha Kosher Meat Market on North 24th St. because there was this disappeared on this strip, where interra- great big love affair, but it was a toleracial commerce flourished. That’s not to tion. You tolerate me, I’ll tolerate you, say all was rosy, especially for blacks. Prior and that’s the way we lived,” said Shukert, to the ’60s entire sections of northeast whose family’s meat market was a North Omaha, even portions of North 24th, 24th fixture. “We’re both here. You’re were closed off to blacks. Some establish- not going to leave, we’re not going to ments refused to serve or hire them. A leave, so we might as well understand the few public schools were integrated, but situation and make the best out of it. We most were divided along strict racial lines. knew how to live with people. I don’t Forbes, whose father and uncles ran the think color meant that much.” commercial Forbes Bakery on 24th, “Well, we grew up with them -- that’s recalls that as late as the ’20s, even the the way it was,” said Friedman, whose ’30s, Jews and blacks were still wary of father had a shoe store on 24th. “Right, the Klan, which was active in the state for if they were your next door neighbor, decades. they were your next door neighbor,” Still, North 24th was an oasis, much as Continued on page 62

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September 7, 2007

Melting pot marketplace is no more Continued from page 61 you belonged to,” he Rifkin-Chorney said. said. “Everybody knew “You learned to tolerate” each other’s differeverybody. It was almost ences, Melton said. The way Shukert sees it, like a family thing,” “We could have taught the world a lesson in It was a time when how to be tolerant.” adults checked kids’ Mort Glass said it was “a joining of two widebehavior, irregardless of ly diverse groups of people that really cohabitrace. Freels-Smith said ed pretty much there for a long time.” Shukert she could tell any child, said “the real miracle was that we all got “You know better than to along.” do that. I’ll tell your Charles Hall, whose soul food eatery the Fair mom.” Deal Cafe was a landmark there from 1953 to Credit was extended 2001, said the North 24th experience proves to poor families, again hatred is taught. irrespective of race. In purely economic terms, Shukert believes “You’d run a tab and Jewish-owned grocery stores and suppliers of you didn’t have to pay other perishable staples were most dependent until the end of the week on the black trade. when dad got paid. They “Basically we got along with the Jews because would let us get all the they owned the grocery stores and all of the groceries we’d want. Of markets,” said John Butler, a North 24th vetercourse, they knew how an. Hall goes so far as to say, “It was a known much we could afford,” fact that if you had a business and the blacks Butler said. Shukert said, didn’t support you, you couldn’t make it.” “My dad never turned Shukert said blacks were not only vital cusanybody down. He said, tomers but key laborers. “We hired them,” he ‘Hey, look, people have said. “We didn’t care what their color was as Nate Shukert poses in front of a display of Shukert’s Kosher Meat Market at the opening of the Nebraska got to eat.’” long as they could work, and they liked to Jewish Historical Society’s “North 24th Street” exhibit, on display at the Jewish Community Center in 1992. Generosity between Photos courtesy of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society neighbors was common. work.” “Most of the time the Jews would hire some blacks to do stocking, deliveries...They had a lot of women at the time, cleaned house for Jews in Dundee Martha Melton, her brother Charles Hall and their famand confirmed it was common for domestics to get care ily lived next door to the Shukerts, who kept a strict blacks work for them,” Butler said. Butler’s first jobs as a kid were shining shoes inside packages from their employers. Orthodox home. Melton recalls her and her sister turnRelationships formed between Jewish and black fami- ing off the gas and lights at the Shukert home to keep Pomidoro’s Shoe Repair shop and making deliveries, with a wagon he pulled behind him, for Hornstein’s lies. them in compliance with the Sabbath. “When I was a girl we had a black lady by the name of Grocery. He said the Hornsteins “used to help me with The Halls’ other neighbors, the Levines, kept, sold my schoolwork.” Butler had a brother who worked at Lucille White who cleaned house for my family,” said and slaughtered live chickens and shared their bounty. Tuchman’s Market. Hall worked several years at Frank Rifkin-Chorney, “and when a family member died she’d “They would give us chickens and things,” Melton said. Marks and Irv Rubinow’s Parker Street Market before be the first one there. This woman would come if it was When some Jewish households served challahs, nonthe middle of the night to be helpful and we felt the Jews would be invited to partake. Shukert said his mothopening his own business. Dorothy (Stansberry) Freels-Smith earned the sobri- same way about her family. I mean, it was not a matter er would schmeer slices with butter and jelly as a treat for quet “The Black Jew of 24th Street” after decades of color. It really and truly wasn’t.” neighborhood kids -- black and white -- who came by. Rifkin-Chorney said family and community were at More than once, Melton said, white friends aided her behind the counter at Reid’s Drug Store and as the first black butcherette at the Jewish-owned Sell-Rite super- the core of Jewish and black life. In an era when extend- poor family. She said two Central High schoolmates, mart, where her boss was Sol Lincoln. “I knew all those ed families lived together or within walking distance, Nate Shukert and Nuncio Pomidoro, “knew our cirJews on 24th Street and I got to be very close to all of there were few strangers. Not just relatives, but neigh- cumstances. Many a day I had no lunch money and they bors, beat cops and merchants kept watch over kids. would pay for my lunch, which was a generous thing to them,” she said. “Most all of them were very nice.” Well-off Jews employing black domestic workers in Butler said a trip to the market or to school was nothing do. They helped that way.” “Poor blacks knew that without us a lot of them would their homes, Shukert said, understood their housekeep- like it is now. He’d encounter any number of figures, ers struggled to get by, and therefore often provided black and white, who knew him and inquired after him have gone hungry. They had nothing to eat and they their “help” with extra food and clothes. Butler, who and his folks. “...the Jewish store owners knew all the weren’t ashamed to take it,” Shukert said. grew up on 24th, said his mother, like many black kids in the neighborhood and they knew what family Continued on page 63

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Melting pot marketplace is no more Continued from page 62 Gloria Friedman said her father supplied free shoes -as part of a city shoe fund -- to Kellom School students, many of whose families were too poor to afford them. Freels-Smith gave away food and other items to poor kids, black or white, that stopped by Reid’s. “Color didn’t matter to me,” she said. She’d let them snatch penny candy. She’d make a batch of soup and dish it out to anyone who “wanted something warm” and she kept cold beers on ice for the beat cops. Rifkin-Chorney surmises that good relations between Jews and blacks “had something to do with the fact we’re talking mostly about Depression times, when we were all poor.” “That’s why we all got along,” Shukert agreed, “because they had nothing. So economically we were pretty much on the same plane, except we had a little bit more, so we could share it with you.” “Yeah...that’s the truth. Jewish folks had maybe a small store or something and they were just making a living,” Hall said. North 24th Jewish merchants were, Butler said, “working class people in business.”

As we celebrate our150th year of serving customers, we hope that this New Year brings peace, health and happiness to you and yours. Helen Rikfin Chorney, right, prepares sliced deli for visitors to the NJHS exhibit in a mock-up of the kosher markets once located on North 24th Street. Credit: NJHS Any angle or sideline was exploited to help make ends meet. “Everybody was doing what they could to make a living,” Melton said. As a boy Butler helped his father sell fresh vegetables grown on three family gardens. His dad, a Cudahy packinghouse worker by day, also sold “real silk hosiery door to door.” Not everything was legal. A black man who worked at Shukerts, Andrew “Babe” Bender, was also a pimp who ran brothels behind the store, Shukert said. “He was like the Duke of 24th Street. He made a lot of money.” From the back of the market Shukert could identify the johns frequenting these dens of inequity. “I was amazed by some of the people I would see going in there. People that I knew. Yeah, God’s chosen,” he said.

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Omaha Star publisher Mildred Brown and Jazz musician Preston Love were among those who worked with members of the Jewish community to build good relationships. A few Jewish grocers were known to not play square by rigging the scales or ringing up bogus purchases. Some had open contempt for blacks. But in the main blacks were “treated well” by most Jewish merchants, Hall said. Butler feels an important reason why Jews and blacks were simpatico is their shared legacy of struggle. “Well, you must remember they were segregated too at the time,” he said. “They knew how we felt and we knew how they felt.” Rifkin-Chorney said there was an unspoken understanding that blacks and Jews shared a similar struggle as “minorities that are persecuted. It’s a common denominator.” By and large, she added, Jews recognized blacks have a much harder time. They can’t hide their color and so they are discriminated against.” “That’s why they have to fight for themselves,” Shukert observed. Continued on page 64

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Continued from page 63 “And they have to go to more extremes,” Rifkin-Chorney said. “They’ve had to do their marches. We fought, too. We didn’t do it in the same way, because we didn’t have the numbers ...” “We did it by going to school...getting educated. We got smart enough to know how it was to change your life,” Shukert said. “The Jews bartered this, bought that, got a little property, saved their money and bought themselves into a better life.” “The black people have to take it on themselves to do the job,” Forbes said. “They’re never going to get it done unless they do it themselves.” That sentiment is the theme of new black empowerment-covenant efforts underway in Omaha. If there was ever a time when Jews and blacks were in sync, it was the height of

ble...everyone got along,” Hall said. “It was a black-Jewish neighborhood and everyone went to their jobs and came back home and they went to 24th Street and different areas there to enjoy themselves.” People in similar straits made the best of tough times. “At that time it wasn’t a thing of black, white, Jew, Catholic, Protestant, it was just people,” Melton said. “See, if you give respect, you’ll get respect. They respected us and we respected them.” When Rifkin-Chorney was newly married to her first husband, the late Ben Rifkin, the couple went to North 24th every weekend. Ben grew up there. His father and uncle were peddlers and then property owners. When she and Ben would walk down to the Deuce Four, she learned how thick Jewish-black relations ran. “We passed at least half-a-dozen young

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Howard Kaslow, left, President of the Jewish Federation in 1992, helps “Big” Joe Kirshenbaum with the ribbon-cutting ceremony opening the NJHS exhibit, represented by Louise Abrahamson and Mary Fellman. Credit: NJHS the civil rights movement in the ‘50s and ‘60s. “There were probably as many Jews as there were blacks at some of those marches because we were marching really for a common cause. We had the same reason,” Rifkin-Chorney said. As Shukert said, “We were white, but we had the same reason.” “Big” Joe Kirshenbaum, whose father delivered bread for Himmelbloom Bakery, said the north side had geographic boundaries for affluent and less affluent Jews. “It seemed like the majority of Jews who were middle income and lower income lived in this particular area,” he said, referring to the North 24th corridor. “If you lived west of 30th Street, you were pretty well off and if you lived in Dundee, you were really pretty well off.” As a boy Shukert dreamed of making it to the other side. “I always wanted to make it across 30th Street,” he said, “because that’s when you had it made. You got to go around with all the big shot kids. I was home from the service and my folks told me we’d moved west.” Where did you move? he asked excitedly. The family’s new address -- 2935 Nicholas -- put him “right to the brink,” but still outside the promised land. “I never made it across to 30th.” There was also the feeling that a high tide raises all boats. Hall recalls something the wife of the grocer he worked for said. “She told me what the black man doesn’t realize is, every boost the black man gets in life is a boost for the Jews. It made sense because they were ostracized and picked on, too.” A live-and-let-live attitude prevailed. “I think things were extremely amica-

black men and they all knew my husband. They all called him ‘Binny.’ I asked him, ‘How do you know everybody and how do they all know you?’ And he said, ‘They’re all my neighbors.’ Again, it was with great fondness and affection and he felt the same way towards them.” Shukert said multi-racial fraternizing extended to recreation. Whether it was kick-the-can, pickup softball, baseball or football, Jews and blacks “played together” in the streets and the parks around 24th. Then-North Omaha YMCA director Marty Thomas, a giant black man who commanded awe, oversaw organized youth sports. “We respected him so much. If he told you to do something, you did it,” Shukert said. “You talk about race, he was a man ahead of his time. He saw to it all the rules were the same, no matter who you were, black or white. He was the best.” Mixed crowds danced at the Dreamland Ballroom to the swinging sounds of stellar black performers like Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald. A shared sense of community was lost when the Jewish exodus began in the late ’40s. By the ’50s, most Jewish residents were gone, including Shukert, Friedman, Kirshenbaum and Rifkin-Chorney. Some Jewish businesses remained into the ’60s, but Mort Glass said “it was dwindling ... a pretty sharp decline.” While Jews were free to sell most anywhere, blacks were not, restricted by red lining-covenant practices that prohibited or discouraged the sale of property to “non-whites.” “We were held back,” Hall said. Continued from page 65

September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 65

Melting pot marketplace is no more place you want to, but that’s just the way it is,” he said. income whites and blacks exit the inner city. Continued from page 64 Shukert and his contemporaries don’t understand why “It’s a matter of confidence. If you’re going to invest The final Jewish hurrah on North 24th came in the wake of late ‘60s public disturbances in which business- a couple hundred thousand dollars in something there, so many people resort to violence now as a means to es were burned, damaged or looted. The disorder was an you want to be reasonably assured it’s a safe invest- resolve disputes or to gain respect. That’s not the way things were done in their day, when words or fist fights expression of black anger over inequality and injustice. ment,” Shukert said. The worst riot, in ‘69, was sparked by the fatal shooting Hall said blacks did not fill the void because the kind sufficed. “We would never do anything to disgrace our neighof a black girl by a white police officer. Charles Hall, of money needed to start businesses was denied them. who still lives near 24th, recalls a white man asking him “Back in those days the small business associations and borhood, our church, our family,” Martha Melton said. at the time, “‘What’s wrong -- what do they want? “I the banks that helped Jews and whites wouldn’t give “It’s a shame young people don’t know the unity that said, ‘They want the same thing you want, and that’s an blacks 50 cents. We were discriminated against just gen- there was. It does break my heart to see 24th the way it is now. It will never be the same. I have fond, fond memeven chance to make money and to make a decent liv- erally in every way down through the years,” he said. ories of the way it was.” ing.’” All the changes and Jewish businesses were the population shifts have largely spared, said John dislocated people from Butler, who patrolled their roots. “It looks like North 24th during the we’re divided more now ‘69 riot as part of a than ever,” Dorothy brigade of communityFreels-Smith said. minded citizens. “Some John Butler, who lives of us stayed there and around 26th and Evans, tried to protect them,” he sees hope in the new said. “Some blacks stood diversity emerging in in front of Jewish grocery northeast Omaha. “In my stores and wouldn’t let two-block area I’ve got the mob burn them whites, blacks, Hispanics down,” Kirshenbaum living next door to each said. “One like that was other or across from each Abe Schloff ’s,” said other. Integration someShukert. “They stood right in front of his store, Left: The Jewell Building, listed on the National Historic The museum closed in 2001, but UNO’s Department of Black times is good -- if people get along, and I see with guns and said, Register, was home to the Dreamland Ballroom. Today it hous- Studies has announced interest in the museum’s recovery. Photos courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places they’re getting along.” ‘Don’t touch this man’s es offices and apartments. Right: The Old Webster Exchange and the Nebraska Historical Society What’s different, he said, store.’ Because he always Building was home to the Great Plains Black History Museum. treated them straight.” While most Jewish concerns survived unscathed, the psychological trauma of the riots spurred the last of North 24th’s Jewish merchants to leave. “They all got afraid,” Smith said. “They moved out after that because things started getting different,” Butler said. “It wasn’t just them moving out. We began moving out then, too. It started a migration of both races.” Butler moved north, to an area once off-limits to blacks. Melton and her late husband Billy moved a couple miles west. Smith also moved west. Relatively few new businesses sprang up in the ensuing years to replace the Jewish-owned ones that left. With mom-and-pop operations a thing of the past, the area lost grocery stores, drug stores and many suppliers of basic items it was once rich in. Where other parts of town saw large chains come in to fill the gaps, North O did not. High crime stats don’t help. Existing businesses get squeezed by a dwindling economic base as middle

Two groups once close, grew apart. An innocence was lost. Perceptions put a new spin on things. For example, the Yiddish term for a black person, shvartzer, was acceptable once, but as Rifkin-Chorney noted, this vernacular was deemed demeaning in the context of the civil rights-black power era. “It wasn’t meant that way, but it could be determined as a derogatory way to speak about someone,” she said. Shukert thinks it’s tragic that blacks became the object of fear. He said a white person walking down a street thinks nothing of an approaching group of whites, but gets alarmed at the sight of a group of blacks. “For some reason whites have always been afraid of blacks,” he said. “Why have we put that stigma on them?” He and others are dismayed by the shootings that plague the north side these days. He knows it’s just a few “bad apples” causing the trouble, but it’s made him and old friends fearful of visiting North 24th for a nostalgic tour. “It’s too bad you can’t, in 2007, feel free to go any

is that people don’t know each other the way they used to. Back in the day on 24th, diverse people mixed and mingled in close-knit quarters. “It made a better person out of me,” Butler said. Said Hall, “I got an education working down in the neighborhood.” “We knew people better then,” said Shukert. Speculation about the future of North 24th centers on proposed mixed use developments for transforming the area into a model of urban gentrification. These discussions bring up new issues, such as the displacement of longtime residents and what stake blacks will have there. Old-timers like Shukert believe no matter how much the strip is built back up it will not be the melting pot marketplace he knew. “It’s never going to be,” he said. “The memories are great. I never will forget the way it was. So many people don’t have memories like that of North 24th Street, because they didn’t live it. I can tell you story after story after story, but unless you lived it it’s just a story.”

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September 7, 2007

An eye-opener by BERT LEWIS Interviewing and visiting with busy volunteers for this issue of the Jewish Press has been an especially nice experience for me this past summer. Listening to what people are doing in the community, how personal time is generously shared with various organizations has been an eye opener for me. I guess I’ve been most interested in those groups who exist for the purpose of making life easier for people with some kind of handicap, whether adult or youngster. A volunteer with those groups must get back immeasurable gratification. It’s especially interesting to ask somebody exactly what drives them to give up their time to do something for perfect strangers. The answers vary from the obvious “I felt I should give something back to this community which has been so good to us” to “It makes me feel good!” I understand the first and love the last! I’m so pleased to be able to call attention to those of us in the Jewish community who are participating in programs totally outside our mitzvah area. What’s that old expression ... “it’s good for the Jews”? Surely it must be good for our non-Jewish friends to see us working side by side with them, in their favorite charity. Of course good P.R. shouldn’t

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be the reason to give of yourself where needed, but it doesn’t hurt either! I suppose we’re most accustomed to saying “yes I will” to a Jewish cause, since we’re raised with the tenets of tzedakah, but I’m fairly certain the admonition to do for somebody in trouble wasn’t meant for Jews alone. Naturally, we’re drawn to our own because they’re familiar -- most of us grew up with parents who belonged to Jewish service organizations, so of course a daughter knew Hadassah or National Council of Jewish Women. A son, when grown, would find it perfectly natural to join B’nai B’rith -- after all, Dad was a member since forever. And how comfortable a membership in a JCC, (no matter where a person lives) is, whether a senior or a junior or anything in between. We play there; we take classes; we see entertainment, and when something or somebody connected to all of that needs help, we volunteer there too. We do tend to congregate among our own, so we see where we can make a difference when asked to help. People I spoke to regarding personal volunteering, generally were committed either to one basic program, which they supported whole-heartedly, or they were so involved in so many outside interests, I had to wonder when they had time for anything else. The latter group are the ones who amaze me. Generally speaking, they are women, and not just the ladies who

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don’t work outside the home. You’d think if you didn’t have a job away from home, you’d be able to juggle responsibilities and join this or that as an outside interest. And, countless women do. What really makes me sit up and take notice, are the women who do work, as well as manage a family and a home, and still find time to volunteer, whether at a nursing home or at the Red Cross. And wait a minute -- why am I singling out women? For heaven’s sake, we have countless numbers of men who also find volunteering a very rewarding pastime. They do all sorts of things, just as the ladies do, so let’s don’t overlook that resource. And not just retired guys either, but men who are still going to work every day find time for some of that giving of themselves business, either in the Jewish community or the community at large. I personally have only had experience within our own perimeters, with one or two exceptions. Many years ago I read about a literacy group and became interested in their work. I certainly had no teaching experience but I could read! I thought I’d enjoy it, but found the group not much to my liking. Maybe it was because the facilitator was herself a volunteer and very unprofessional in the way she trained, but I really felt in alien territory. I was assigned one 16-year-old, who had had a poor record in school, in both academics and behavior. Ultimately, he quit school altogether, but nonetheless was old enough to start driving. And there was the reason he suddenly needed the

ability to read -- so he could take and pass the drivers test! His interest didn’t last long and I suspect he’s driving a car, illegally, to this day. Short experience for me, and not very rewarding. I think it was about that time I became involved at the J, and that’s where my volunteer career remained -- under the big umbrella of “the campus”. My late mother was known all over the community, as the person who would help, no matter what the problem. Mary Wine was a one woman Jewish family service in her day. Having said that, I will also report that during World War II, she took herself into the territory of non-Jewish volunteering. She sold war bonds; she cooked at the USO; she rolled bandages; she performed Red Cross duty and was tremendously proud of her role as a good patriot. As always, if I’m foolish enough to compare her voluntary deeds to mine, she wins, hands down! We aren’t, however, having a contest to see who the winner is. I have always believed the best gift one person can give another, is either something made or created especially for that person, by the giver. Or, much more simply, giving of yourself. Your time, your interest, your strengths and your humor. And as with anything else you give, do it with a kind and generous heart. The rewards are better than winning the lottery! Bert Lewis can be reached at BertLewis39@aol.com.

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September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 67

Our volunteers: walking the walk with Isaiah STAYING IN TOUCH by OZZIE NOGG Why do Jews volunteer to dish up meals at soup kitchens, donate blood, march arm-in-arm through Selma, join the Peace Corps? I’m betting the motivation comes from the words of Isaiah in the haftarah for Yom Kippur. Nowhere will you find a more powerful call to social action. The text asks: Is this the fast I desire? A day for us to afflict our souls and starve our bodies? To droop our heads like a bulrush, to dress in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call that fast a day favorable to God? Then the answer is given: No! This is my chosen fast: To unlock the chains of injustice and set the oppressed free. To break every yoke that binds men unfairly. To share your food with the hungry and to take the poor wanderer into your home. When you see the naked, to clothe him, and to not ignore your own kin. The message is clear. Show, don’t tell. Without concrete action, prayers and rituals are meaningless. The rabbis of the Talmud engaged in endless debates regarding our responsibility to others. The story goes that when Rabbi Hayyim of Brisk was asked, “What is the duty of a rabbi?” he answered, “To redress the grievances of

those who are abandoned and alone, to protect the dignity of the poor, and to save the oppressed from the hands of his oppressor.” Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, one of the preeminent Orthodox theologians and Talmudic scholars of our time, agrees. He teaches that ritual decisions are not the main task of an observant Jew. Instead, Soloveitchik writes, “The actualization of the ideals of justice and righteousness is the pillar of fire which halakhic man follows.” The Avodah service of Yom Kippur describes the rituals performed by the Kohen Gadol -the High Priest -- in the Temple in Jerusalem. Rituals intended to bring atonement and purification to our ancient ancestors. In this issue of the Jewish Press, as we recognize the volunteers in our community, it’s interesting to note that the Hebrew word avodah has several meanings, including ‘work’, ‘service’ and ‘worship.’ As we sit in our sanctuaries this New Year season, perhaps we should consider that the word ‘worship’ may also have several meanings, and that to work for justice -- to strive against suffering -- can be a spiritual path.

According to Dr. Richard Kalmin, Professor of Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary, “Religious experience does not begin and end in the synagogue, but leads through its doors and out into the world.” Into the world around us where (to paraphrase Viktor Frankl, the noted Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist) being fully human means being conscious, aware, ready to take responsibility for those injustices we can prevent or correct. For those who ask, “Why can’t God simply address the ills of the world without my help?” here’s a possible answer, taken from a midrash on the Book of Numbers. At one point in the desert wanderings, the Holy One said to Moses and Aaron: In the beginning, I blessed my creatures, but from now on, you will have to bless the Israelites. And God spoke to Moses saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons: This is how you shall bless the people of Israel. Say to them: May the Lord bless and keep you. May the Lord let His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May the Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace. But the Jewish people wanted their blessing to come directly from God.

As we sit in our sanctuaries this New Year season, perhaps we should consider that the word ‘worship’ may also have several meanings, and that to work for justice -- to strive against suffering -can be a spiritual path.

They cried: Master of the Universe! Why have you instructed the priests to bless us? We need no blessing other than yours. And the Holy One answered, saying: Even though I instructed the priests to bless you, I will be standing right behind them. When the priests spread forth their hands to make the blessing -- when they make a latticework of their fingers -- I will be there to peek through. The Torah calls the Jewish people a nation of priests, suggesting that each of us has the responsibility (and honor) of serving God through service to our fellow human beings. Could we then presume to say that in every blessing we bring to others, we act as holy middlemen? God’s intermediaries? That each time we reach out in acts of lovingkindness, observe what is right and do what is just, we are the human face of divine good? Works for me ... In the Talmud, Rabbi Tarfon reminds us, “It is not up to you to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.” Isaiah teaches: Build up, build up a highway! Clear the road! Remove all obstacles from the road of My people! May our community continue to be blessed with volunteers willing to do the work, determined to remove obstacles and make a difference in the world. Shana tova to all, the far and the near. Author and freelance writer Ozzie Nogg can be reached at ozzienogg@cox.net.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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ROSH HASHANAH MESSAGES FROM THE RABBIS Call to say “I love you” by RABBI ARYEH AZRIEL Temple Israel Each day the Jews pray to God, “And please do not hide Yourself from us -please do not make Yourself scarce.” Is that prayer not a projection of the fear of what God might do to us, what we have done to others -avoided their expressions of longing -- for validation -for love? Why is it so difficult for us to give more freely of that which will, in fact, never run out? Is it not because we have imbibed the heady wine if withholding as though it were Chateau Mouton Rothschild of the rarest vintage? At this season of the rest of our lives, it is well that we consider a text that is read on Yom Kippur. It says for this commandment which I command you this day is not too difficult for you nor is it distant…It is not in heaven so you can say who will go up to heaven and bring it to us, neither is it beyond the sea so you can say who shall go beyond the sea and bring it to us -- rather the word is very close to you -- it is in your mouth and in your heart! The word is chesed! Loving kindness - the commandment is to get it up from our hearts and out of our mouths to make it known to those whom we love

that we love them -- to distribute kindness as though it is as plentiful as sand, not as though it were a certificate of deposit. This song was used in the movie The Woman in Red. But it was originally written by Stevie Wonder for Nelson Mandela who had spent nearly three-decades in a South African prison because he wishes his people to have what belongs to them. The song is “I Just Called to Say I Love You!” The shofar calls to say “I love you!” It calls to each of us from the thicket on Mount Moriah where it rescued Isaac from the false zeal of his father. It calls from this and every sanctuary where Jews gather to marvel in the gift of the opportunity to try to start anew! The shofar, on our behalf, on God’s behalf, calls to say “I love you!” May we return the call! May the urge to share our love --to deal in kindness and not in withholding -- dialogue itself from our urge to make the good scarce. May we make this our resolution for this New Year, and may it not come from heaven – nor from across the sea --but may it come from where love and kindness lodge --may it come from the bottom of our hearts! L’Shana Tova Tikatevu.

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by RABBI MORDECHAI LEVIN Beth El Synagogue Some years ago, I read a review about an autobiography by Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni, I Remember, Yes, I Remember, in which he recalls his life and his films. In one passage, he mentions a story by the Jewish-German novelist, Franz Kafka. In Kafka’s story, “The Next Village,” one of the characters quotes his aged grandfather as saying, “Life is astoundingly short. To me, looking back over it, life seems so foreshortened that I scarcely understand, for instance, how a young man can decide to ride over to the next village without being afraid that -- not to mention accidents -- even the span of a normal happy life may fall far short of the time needed for such a journey.” Referencing this passage, Mastroianni remarks: “When I was young I thought that life was extremely long, eternal. But now, when I look backwards, I sometimes say: That film, when did we make it? Five years ago? No! Fifteen years ago! Fifteen years ago?” And he adds, “As a young man you ride a horse to make that trip, you think it will have no end, that it will be very long. And then, when you reach a certain age, you realize that ‘the nearest town’ was not very far away, that it has really been a short trip, extremely short! Life! Yes, at a certain age we realize that it has passed like a breath. And the town is there, very near.” As Job said (7:17): “I would not live forever...for my days are a breath.” And the book of Psalms asks: “Let me know (God) how fleeting my life is,” and adds: “so teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.” In the Mishnah, Rabbi Tarfon said,

“The day is short, the task is great, the workers indolent, the reward bountiful, and the Master insistent” (Avot 2:20). We might interpret Rabbi Tarfon’s words in this way: Life is short, and the tasks of selfimprovement, as well as our service to God and our fellow men, are vast. At times we are not quick to undertake these tasks, and our good intentions frequently fall short. Still, the inner satisfaction and reward we would receive for our efforts would be enormous. And God expects us to keep trying. The trip through life is short. It is too short to be squandered on trivial things, superficial pastimes and personal selfishness. But the trip may be long enough -if we dedicate ourselves to noble actions, to be generous with others, to enrich ourselves with the teachings of Judaism and to respond to the will of God. On this Rosh Hashanah, let us resolve to live a good and meaningful life, and to grow in our commitment to Jewish values and practices and to the land of Israel and Jerusalem. My best wishes for a year of life, health, fulfillment, justice and peace. Shana Tovah! EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press office will be closed for Rosh Hashanah, Thursday & Friday, Sept. 13-14; Sukkot, Sept. 27-28; and Shemini Azeret/Simchat Torah, Oct. 4-5. Deadlines are at 9 a.m.: Issue Deadline Sept. 21 Tuesday, Sept. 11 Oct. 5 Tuesday, Sept. 25 Oct. 12 Tuesday, Oct. 2 Questions? Call 402.334.6448. for information on submitting articles, photos, ads, and announcements, as well as synagogue schedules.

September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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ROSH HASHANAH MESSAGES FROM THE RABBIS “I am here”

Tikkun Olam

by RABBI ERIC LINDER Temple Israel A newly ordained rabbi went to his mentor and asked to go home early. He said, “I need to get the prayer book in order for Rosh Hashanah services!” The elder rabbi responded, “But son, the prayer book is the same as it has been. It is you that has changed. I will let you go home, but to put yourself in order.” In less than two weeks, we will find ourselves in various synagogues and shuls, praying out of the Machzor. We will sing Avinu Malkaynu, we will hear the shofar and we will (hopefully!) pay attention to our clergy’s sermons. The question that our fabled rabbi would ask us remains: “How have you changed?” Rosh Hashanah is a holiday that follows weeks of introspection, thought and tsuvah. The month of Elul preceding the High Holidays is a time for us to ‘put ourselves in order,’ so that we are ready to pray on Rosh Hashanah. As a friend of mine once put it, Rosh Hashanah is not a ‘show and go’ holiday. Physical attendance is necessary but not sufficient. Spiritual attendance is needed as well. As the days continue leading us toward the High Holidays, take some time to take stock of your life. Think upon your deeds, thoughts, relationships. Consider how you want to act differently this year. Think about your families, friends and colleagues. Then, you will be ready to hear the shofar. You will be ready to read from the prayer-book. And you will be ready to say Hineni -- “I am here.”

by RABBI ILAN EMANUEL B'nai Jeshurun South Street Temple One of the greatest tensions in Jewish tradition is that between the universal and the particular. Judaism has much that is of universal significance and indeed our tradition of ethical monotheism has inspired two great monotheistic religions in the wider world -- Christianity and Islam. Jewish ideals of justice have influenced legal systems and morality across the world, including here in the United States. But we started out as a tribe, a small closely connected family, and that part of our development as a people has stayed a part of our mentality ever since. And thus, as Jews in the modern world, we walk a tightrope between our understanding of ourselves as a people connected to each other by history and tradition and as citizens of our home countries, participants in the wider life of the world around us. One Jewish concept that reflects this tension is Tikkun Olam -- repairing the world. Originally this idea was born in Jewish partcularism. According to the teachings of the Kabbalah the universe was broken at its creation, the vessels of the material and spiritual world shattered. The job of the Jewish people and Jewish individuals according to this teaching is to repair the world. While this may seem universal, the way to repair the world, to restore the spiritual balance of creation, is very particular. Despite the craze for Kabbalah in the non-Jewish world, it is grounded indivisibly with traditional Jewish practices and rituals. We repair the world by acting in accordance with the traditional mitzvot in every detail, each act freeing a spark of the divine into the world and bringing us closer to returning the world to physical perfection. But in modern Jewish life, Tikkun Olam has taken on a new meaning. Born in large part of the prophetic vision of the early Reform movement and the social action of the civil rights era, a new ideal of Tikkun Olam

was born. Where traditionally Tikkun Olam focused on the particular practices of Judaism, and sought to erase the world as we know it, a world separated from spiritual reality, the new ideal encouraged action and involvement in the wider society, to improve the world as we know it. While traditional Tikkun encouraged the repair of world through acts of personal and communal religious practice -- blessing the food we eat to giving tzedakah -- modern concept called Jews to march for civil rights and against the war in Vietnam, and to engage in social action on behalf of the poor and the oppressed in all corners of the world. But both the traditional and modern concepts of Tikkun Olam have one thing in common -- the idea that it is the responsibility of each of us, as individuals and as a community, to fix what is wrong with world. As we approach the Days of Awe we can learn from both these ideas of Tikkun Olam. Even for those of us who do not adhere to strict Halacha, the traditional concept reminds us that spirituality is found in all activities of life. While we may not believe literally that each time we perform a traditional mitzvah or recite a blessing, we are freeing a spark of the divine, the symbolism is powerful. Judaism has always recognized that G-d is in the mundane as well as the awesome, and that holiness may be found everywhere and in everything. And we may all learn from the example of those who take the idea of repairing the world to the world at large, those who act in accordance with universal Jewish values to make this world a better place for everyone. Shana Tova.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

ROSH HASHANAH MESSAGES FROM THE RABBIS Little acts make a difference

An audience with the King

by RABBI JONATHAN GROSS Beth Israel Synagogue “Our ability to live is what is at stake,� claims Al Gore in his recent movie about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. Global warming is the most pressing environmental issue of the new millennium. Jarring scenes of rapidly melting glaciers and devastating extreme weather patterns make one feel that the world is not just indifferent, but that the world is actually turning against us with a vengeance. The website, www. StopGlobalWarming.org, recommends small lifestyle changes like trading in your Hummer for a hybrid, taking shorter showers, and carefully calculating your carbon dioxide output, all of which supposedly prevent the warming process. Even so, the skeptic must ask, do all of these little acts really amount to anything? Can one person really make a difference? When Noah became cognizant of the impending flood he was able to save himself and his family but the rest of the world perished. It was only ten generations later, when the world had once again degenerated into its wicked antediluvian ways that Abraham was also faced with a world headed for calamity. Abraham chose to make a difference by

by RABBI MENDEL KATZMAN Chabad of Nebraska On Rosh Hashanah, we recall G-d’s original Coronation Day -- the day that Adam was created, recognized a Sovereign G-d and invited all of creation to worship this G-d in unison. It has become a ‘national holiday’ of sorts which we observe by blowing ‘trumpets’shofar to commemorate this anniversary and to express our acceptance of His kingship and obedience to His laws. Rosh Hashanah is the time when G-d, assesses our loyalty as His subjects in order to determine what kind of year He will grant us. For us, the solemnity of the day compels us to search inward, reflect on all our past deeds and misdeeds and make amends. We ask G-d to judge us favorably and to grant us our heart’s desires. Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, author of the Tanya, describes the following two scenarios: Typically, a king is in his palace surrounded by high ranking ministers and guards. In order to gain an audience with the king, one must go through many levels of government and protocol before being allowed to enter the palace. Even if one is fortunate to be allowed to enter the king’s chamber, one can never

introducing the world to the concepts of kindness, compassion, knowledge of God, and selflessness. He taught the world that one man can make a difference if his actions set an example and influence others. His life’s work confronted the moral crisis of his day, and his teachings continue to influence the world until the present. Over 3,000 years later the Jewish people, the children of Abraham, have learned this lesson well. We put a dime in the tzedakah box, do a small act of kindness, and pray to God not only because of the effect of these actions, but also because by doing so we can influence others to do the same. Throughout history, our people have shown that by working together, each of us in our own small way, can move mountains and achieve the impossible. Our challenge today is to continue to teach the world, as Abraham did, that if we all do our part then we can truly affect change, even when faced with the most daunting situations. “We have to act together to solve this global crisis,� says Gore. With God’s help, we can all work together to save the world, both physically and spiritually, one small act at a time.

know whether the king will be willing to grant one’s request. On occasion, however, the king decides to leave the palace to tour his lands and meet with the folks who live in the villages and towns of his country. He goes out to the fields where the people are at work and greets them all with a smiling countenance. His attire is more casual, his demeanor more approachable as his heart is with the people. During these travels, anyone can approach the king. No special preparation is necessary. No special attire. Every citizen is welcome to make contact with the king who is amenable to every single request. These encounters bring greater admiration and appreciation for the king which will last long after the king returns to his palace. These two settings, explains Rabbi Shneur Zalman, describe G-d’s relationship with us respectively. Usually, G-d is in His palace- exalted, distant and unfathomable. To reach out to G-d with a personal request, one must immerse oneself in prayer and good deeds. One must stand up to rigorous testing and scrutiny- and even then, the King may not acquiesce. Continued on page 73

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September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 73

ROSH HASHANAH MESSAGES FROM THE RABBIS Making a difference by RABBI MICHAEL WEISSER Tree of Life Center We are called at this time of year to evaluate how we have lived our lives and make plans for improvement in the year to come. In other words, create a balance sheet of both our praiseworthy acts and our not so praiseworthy acts. We must, however, realize that our reckoning must be made with integrity, for only then will we be able to look at our missed opportunities for Repentance, Prayer, and Charity, as the Holy Day liturgy reminds us. The Days of Awe call us to profound, deep inner appreciation of our enormous abilities. We’ve been taught we are the crown of Creation, and also that we’ve been given a Torah of Truth that we’ve accepted and pledged to try and live according to its principles and ethical standards. In the story of Creation, we read that when the first persons were created God informed them of their powers and what the purpose of their lives would be: “Replenish the earth, and conquer it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (Gen. 1:28). Thus human beings given authority to conquer and rule over the whole world, and commanded to use the power that was given. But we must ask, how is this to be fulfilled? Our sages wrote in the Midrash: When God created the first people and implanted within them a soul, God’s soul filled their whole being. and it was because of this that God trusted that human beings would strive to do what is right in regard to their authority over the world. But before we can set out to conquer the world, we must first conquer ourselves. Fortunately for us we have a guide: Torah. May this Rosh Hashanah remind us that all our actions should be in accord with the ethical teachings of Torah so that the material world around us becomes filled and illuminated, through our actions, with the light of the One God. The first story in the Torah relates that God at first created just one person and herein lies a profound teaching: each person is capable of doing the task, as it is said: “You are not required to complete the task, but neither are you free to stop doing it.” If each person does not work at the task it is not merely a personal failure, but something that affects the destiny of the whole world. We are duty-bound to live lives filled with mitzvot, even in the face of the indifference we notice all around. We have the capacity to make a difference if we work at it. I wish you all Shana Tova U-m’tukah!

An audience with the King Continued from page 72 There is another time, however, when the King is in the Field. This refers to the month of Elul, the time of preparation for the New Year and cultivation of a more intimate relationship with our King. It is the time when G-d is easily approached and requests are freely granted. Notwithstanding our past performance, we are encouraged to go out and greet the king. Let us make the most of the remaining days when G-d is literally begging us to draw near. These precious few days now have so much potential. The last days of the preparatory month of Elul will enhance our relationship with G-d even when He is no longer in the field. Prayerful wishes to all for a sweet, happy, and healthy New Year.

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SYNAGOGUES BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Chorney, Membership; Diane Axler Baum, Publicity; BOARD OF DIRECTORS Sally Zipursky, President; Steve Pitlor, Allan Noddle, Phyllis Schwartz, Audrey Epstein, Harriet Kutler, Rita and Michael Levine, Vice Presidents; Gary Rifkin, Novak, Sally Masnek, Ilse Kahn, Marcel Kahn, Betty Treasurer; Toby Schonfeld, Secretary; Hyman Sukiennik, Kolnick, Members at large. Past President; Sharon Brodkey, Ellene Edelstein, Cary BILU USY Grossman, Jon Jabenis, Gloria Kaslow, Mark Kelln, Ygal Schuller, President; Dayna Cohen, Executive ViceShane Kotok, Jane Kulakofsky, Gabe Meyer, Stanley president; Liatte and Yonatan Dotan, Religious Mitchell, Amy Nachman, Alan Parsow, Caryn Rifkin, Ed Education Vice Presidents; Ryan Kirshenbaum, Schneider, Ygal Schuller, Alan Shulewitz, Michael Membership/Kadimah Vice President; Anna Grossman, Sigmond, James Wax, Holly Weill, Harry Weiner, Social Action/Tikun Olam Vice President; Lydia Stern, Audrey Wiener, Harold Zabin, Board Members; Communications Vice President; Robert Mosenkis, Youth Mordechai Levin, Rabbi; Gasto Bogomolni, Cantor; Director. Larry DeBruin, Executive Director; Judy Rubin, B’NAI MITZVAH Education Director; Margie Gutnik, Program Director; Kevin Adler Jill Belmont, Publicity Coordinator. son of David and Patti Adler Sophie Cemaj SISTERHOOD daughter of Samuel and Shirley Cemaj Caryn Rifkin, President; Carole Lainof, Program Vice Hal Emas President; Carol Nathan, Membership Vice President; son of Rick and Leigh Emas Debbie Roitstein, Secretary; Jorie Kravitz, Treasurer; Max Saferstein-Hansen M’Lee Hasslinger, Past President. son of Jeff and Rhonda Saferstein Ze’ev Lailari MEN’S CLUB daughter of Guermantes and Stefani Lailari Cary Grossmam, President; Ben Shapiro, Scott Simon, Noam Margalit and Jim Zipursky, Vice Presidents; David Adler, son of Eyal and Ruth Margalit Secretary; Les Kay, Treasurer; Harry Weiner, Past Lilly Phillips President; Fred Kader, Lloyd Roitstein, Daniel Levitan, daughter of Julie and Eric Phillips Michael Shrago, and Glen Fineman, Board Members. Elizabeth Salkin daughter of Richard and Cynthia Salkin HAZAK Daniel Schlessinger Jim Wax, President; Alan Goodman, Advisor; Harriet son of Nancy and Joel Schlessinger Marcus, Secretary; Natalie Rubin, Treasurer; Gloria Aaron Stein Goodman and Tootie Simon, Program chairmen; Helen son of Richard and Diane Stein

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Shami Jacobs, President; Alan Kricsfeld, Executive Officer; Sharon Kirshenbaum, Alan Kricsfeld, and Ann Moskovits, Vice Presidents; Mary Sue Grossman, Treasurer; Lesley Gendelman, Secretary; Toba CohenDunning, Joshua Follick, Joshua Gurock, Julee Katzman, Bette Kozlen, Bruce Potash, Lynne Saltzman, Dani Shrago, Michael Shrago, Joey Shyken, Susie Shyken, Tobye Swichkow, Dik Weiner, and Norm Zevitz, Board Members; (past presidents also are members of the board); Jonathan Gross, Rabbi; Leo Fettman, Cantor Emeritus; Beth Cohen, Executive Director. SISTERHOOD CABINET MEMBERS Julee Katzman, Debbie Kricsfeld, Bette Kozlen, Presidium; Debbie Kricsfeld, Vice President of Fundraising; Amanda Gurock, Vice President of Membership; Andreea Shnayder, Vice President of Programming; Kelly Kirk, Recording Secretary; Kim Novak, Corresponding Secretary; Shirley Goodman, Financial Secretary; and Susie Shyken, Treasurer. NCSY Lilly Phillips and Kevin Adler, Co-Presidents; and Sam Kohll, Vice President. B’NAI MITZVAH Sam Kohll son of Dr. David and Janet Kohll

BEYT SHALOM RECONSTRUCTIONIST CONGREGATION B’NAI MITZVAH BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS Lila Ferber Dr. Jenni Schlossman, President; Jean Goldfein, Ben and Lee Lohman daughter of Jeff Ferber and Jenni Schlossman Treasurer; Jeff Ferber, Religious School Director; Marti sons of Michael and Helene Lohman Nerenstone, and Deana Liddy, Directors; and Rabbi Sam Munzesheimer Myer Kripke, Rabbinical Advisor. son of Ken Munzesheimer and Alice Weiss

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SYNAGOGUES BOARD OF TRUSTEES Jon Meyers, President; Jan Schneiderman, President Elect; John Lehr and John Waldbaum, Vice Presidents; Katherine Finnegan, Secretary; Jeff Schweid, Treasurer; Wendy Goldberg, Past President; Jon Bleicher, Sarah Bleicher, Edward Friedland, John Glazer, Cindy Goldberg, Danielle Gordman, Jill Idelman, Judy Josephson, Sally Kaplan, Adam Kirshenbaum, Dan Marburg, Gary Marshall, Lois Milder, Michael Norton, Magda Peck, Vicki Perlmeter, George Quittner, Jane Rips, Stacey Rockman, Dorothy Spizman, Board Members; Aryeh Azriel, Senior Rabbi; Eric Linder, Associate Rabbi; Dennis DePorte, Executive Director; Elyce Azriel, Director Middle/HighSchool Religious School. OMAHA TEMPLE YOUTH GROUP Sarah Bleicher, President; Molly Goldberg, Programming Vice President; Susan Freeman, Social Action Vice President; Grace Hack and Emily Katz, Membership Vice Presidents; Haley Burns and Sam Burrell, Ninth Grade Vice Presidents; Amy Cotton, Youth Group Adviser. WOMEN OF REFORM JUDAISM-OMAHA Danielle Gordman, President; Cindy Goldberg, Past President; Susie Norton, Vice President of Membership; Marta Fox and Bonnie Pfrenger, Vice Presidents of Development; Susan Rothholz and Dorothy Spizman, Vice Presidents of Religious Action; Susan Long, Jennifer Miller and Rosie Zweiback, Vice Presidents of Programming; Susan Lehr, Vice President of Finance;

B’NAI ISRAEL COUNCIL BLUFFS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Allen Kurland, President; Mark Eveloff, Vice President; Ruth Edelman, Secretary; Karen Turpen, Treasurer; Sandra Kurland, Flora Telpner, and Barry Kricsfeld, Directors.

TEMPLE ISRAEL Patty Gilinsky and Heidi Schneiderman, Vice Presidents of Public Relations; Dana Kaufman and Annette VanDeKamp, Vice Presidents of Young Family Programs; Stacie Brodkey and Mimi Silverman, Vice Presidents of Religious Living; Teresa Eirinberg, Recording Secretary.

MEN’S CLUB Adam Kirshenbaum, President; Alan Fredricks, Treasurer; Patrick Jensen and Dan Marburg, Community Service/Social; John Glazer, Competition/Athletics; and Larry Gendler, Education/Speakers.

B’NAI MITZVAH Jonathan Baker son of Amber and Tom Baker Joshua Cohen son of Marla and Robert Cohen Cameron Davis son of Mary Kay Davis and Henry Davis Alex Fox son of Marta and Ira Fox David Glazer son of Jordana and James Glazer Ben Hale son of Debbie and Patrick Hale Jacob Lehr son of Sandra and John Lehr Vincent Long son of Ellen Long Ben Noodell son of Ann and David Noodell Oliver Rockman son of Stacey and Jonathan Rockman

Justin Schrager son of Laura and Richard Schrager David Siref son of Kathy and Larry Siref Steven Vinci son of Jody and Gino Vinci Anna Eirinberg daughter of Teresa and Lewis Eirinberg Abbey Giller daughter of Barbara and Stuart Giller Jordan Jensen daughter of Lynne and Patrick Jensen Jessica Levinger daughter of Bonnie and Steve Levinger Sophia Miller daughter of Jennifer and Paul Miller Bailey Newman daughter of Karli and Jody Newman Lindsey Thomas daughter of Andie Gordman and Paul Thomas

CHABAD OF NEBRASKA SHAREHOLDERS Joel and Daphna Alperson, Ed Altman, Nancy Milton and Marsha Kleinberg, David and Janet Kohll, Riekes Calderon, Samuel and Suzanne Eisenstat, Justin Kohll, Marvin and Sandra Kohll, Howard and Irving and Geri Epstein, Tom and Darlynn Fellman, Sharon Kooper, Denny and Lisa Lewis, Syd and Ike and Roz Friedman Foundation, Dr. Joel and Regina Osten, Dr. Eric and Julie Phillips, Carl and Zoë Debbie Gellen, Donald Gerber, Robert and Kim Riekes, Jerry Rosen, Michael and Fiona Scharf, Drs. Goldberg, Irwin and Ruth Goldenberg, Leonard and Dan and Yaffa Schuller, Steven Silver, Joan Udes, Dr. Shirley Goldstein, Rabbi Allan and Rini Gonsher, Tom and Elaine Urban, and Phil and Nancy Wolf; Kathy Helm, Ian Jacobs, Gary Javitch, R. L. Kaplan, Rabbi Mendel Katzman, Director; and Shani Katzman, Dr. Michael Kellen, Joe and Maxine Kirshenbaum, Educational Director.

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September 7, 2007

SYNAGOGUES TIFERETH ISRAEL - LINCOLN USY BOARD BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND Carly Feldman, President; Samantha OFFICERS Julie Brockman, President; Richard Payne, Vice President; Donnie Earl, Evnen, Vice President; Howard Feldman, Membership/Kadima; Haleigh BrockTreasurer; Debra Evnen, Secretary; Bob man, Social Action/Tikun Olam; Zach Evnen, Past President; David Brockman, Knecht, Religious Education; Kitra Rifkah Keilson, Harlan Priesman, Lori Monnier, Communications; Courtney Feldman, Dan Friedman, Loren Brockman, Emma Feldman, Kadima CoHochstein, Ken Bloom, Nancy Coren, Presidents; Lori Feldman, Director. Jeffrey Payne, Cindi Weiss, Sheldon and Marcia Kushner, Hyman and Betty B’NAI MITZVAH Polsky, Trustees; Nancy Coren, Lay Zoe Tobin Leader. daughter of Marty and Rob Tobin Erez Trainin TI WOMEN son of Sarah and Guy Trainin Gerry Schuchman, Chairman. Courtney Brockman daughter of Julie and David Brockman MEN’S GROUP Yale Gotsdiner, Chairman.

B’NAI JESHURUN: THE SOUTH STREET TEMPLE - LINCOLN BOARD OF TRUSTEES Barbara Straus, President; Barbara Committee; Rick Kohn, Building and Barron, Immediate Past President; Tracy Grounds; Margaret Gurewitz, Caring Gordon, Margaret Gurewitz, John Committee; David Feingold and Lori Mosow, Amy Zlotsky, Maureen Lobb, Merliss, Communications Committee; Sue Schreiber, Trustees; Lori Merliss, Vice Sarah Kelen, Membership; Mark Miller, President; Dave Rosenbaum, Treasurer; Musician; Stephanie Dohner, Pulpit Dottie Shapiro, Secretary; Jean Jordan, Committee; Eleanor Kirkland, Social Secretary; Sherri Johnson, Bookkeeper; Action Committee; Elaine Monnier, Song Rich Lombardi, Adult Education Leader; Ilan Emanuel, Rabbi. EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press office will be closed for Rosh Hashanah, Thursday & Friday, Sept. 13-14; Sukkot, Sept. 27-28; and Shemini Azeret/Simchat Torah, Oct. 4-5. Deadlines are 9 a.m.: Issue Deadline Tuesday, Sept. 11 Sept. 21 Oct. 5 Tuesday, Sept. 25 Oct. 12 Tuesday, Oct. 2 Questions? Call 402.334.6448 for information.

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JTA YEAR IN REVIEW 5767

From politics to philanthropy, a time of transition for U.S. Jewry

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by AMI EDEN NEW YORK (JTA) -- Too often the High Holiday process of reflecting on the year gone by can produce a frustratingly vanilla verdict: Not much has changed. But thanks to Jimmy Carter, gay-friendly rabbis and deep-pocketed donors, the Hebrew year 5767 turned out to be a time of major transition for the American Jewish community. Arguably the most pronounced and alarming development was the mainstream frontal assault on the proIsrael activism of Jewish organizations, led by Carter in conjunction with the November release of his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Published by Simon & Schuster, the book reflects the former president’s longstanding sympathy for the Palestinian cause and belief that Israeli settlements are the main obstacle to peace. But this time around, in his book and on his book tour, Carter also took aim at the pro-Israel lobby and Jewish organizations, accusing them of conspiring to stifle debate over America’s foreign policy. Plenty of fringe figures have pressed this argument in the past, but suddenly this past year a former president of the United States was leading the charge, with several other respectable figures right behind him. “This reluctance to criticize any policies of the Israeli government is because of the extraordinary lobbying efforts of the American-Israel Political Action Committee and the absence of any significant contrary voices,” Carter wrote in a Dec. 8, 2006, opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times, shortly after the release of his book. He was incorrectly referring to AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “It would be almost politically suicidal for members of Congress to espouse a balanced position between Israel and Palestine, to suggest that Israel comply with international law or to speak in defense of justice or human rights for Palestinians.” Carter was openly supportive of the work of academics Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, fellow proponents of the notion that thanks to the efforts of the pro-Israel lobby, Israel does not face scrutiny in the United States even though Jerusalem’s policies are bad for America. The duo, whose own book is set to be released this month, has gone even further than Carter, arguing that the “Israel Lobby” played a lead role -- presumably for Jerusalem’s benefit -- in pushing America into the Iraq war. Two other flaps put Jewish organizations on the defensive against the claim that they vigorously work to shut down debate on Israel. First, in October, after discussions with the AntiDefamation League and the American Jewish Committee, the Polish consulate in New York pulled the plug on an event sponsored by an outside group that was to feature Tony Judt, a British-born New York University professor who sparked outrage with a 2003 essay criticizing the creation of a Jewish state. Soon after, Judt created a firestorm with a harshly worded mass email blaming the cancellation on the ADL’s national director, Abraham Foxman. In the end, it appears that Foxman’s office simply inquired to see if the consulate was sponsoring the event (it wasn’t), while the AJC’s executive director, David Harris, pressed for the event to be canceled. But AJC soon took center stage in a similar controversy, after the organization published an essay by Indiana University professor Alvin Rosenfeld. The essay documented what he described as a rising tide of anti-Israel polemics within “progressive Jewish” thought. In the face of the ensuing brouhaha, the AJC said it was a mistake to include syndicated columnist Richard Cohen in the essay, but otherwise stuck to its guns. The New York Times ran a story painting the essay as an assault on liberals by a “conservative” organization, but subsequently issued a correction, saying it had unfairly characterized the political leanings of the AJC. The AJC touted the correction, but it seemed a pyrrhic victory, offering temporary solace in the face of a seemingly undeniable trend: Respectable voices in the wider society increasingly view Jewish organizations as parochial interest groups rather than standard-bearers of a moral cause. Less jarring, but nonetheless symbolically important, was the community’s highest-profile religious develop-

ment of the year: the December decision by the Conservative movement’s top lawmaking body to permit the ordination of gay and lesbian rabbis as well as the performance of same-sex ceremonies. The movement’s West Coast seminary, moved quickly to open its doors to gay and lesbian rabbinical students, with the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York following suit in March. A few of the more traditionalist members of the Law Committee resigned, and voices of opposition were heard in branches of the movement in other countries. But the decision sparked little controversy in Conservative synagogues across the United States, especially compared to the tense fallout from the movement’s decision more than two decades ago to ordain women. While only a small number of rabbis and congrega-

Above: The Democratic Party won back the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since 1994 and gained control of the Senate. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), the Orthodox Jew who was the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee in 2000, kept his seat even though he lost in the Democratic primary to liberal Ned Lamont. Six new Jewish members of Congress and two new Jewish senators were elected. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (DCA), who has close ties to many Jewish groups, was chosen as Speaker of the House. Credit: U.S.Office of the Speaker Left: Jimmy Carter’s book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid.

tions were vocally upset over the decision, few people are likely to benefit directly from it. Instead, the new policy carries tremendous symbolic importance, most notably in how it punctuates a decades-long shift in the religious landscape of Jewish life in America. Throughout much of the 20th century, Conservative leaders viewed their movement as an ideological and sociological middle ground between the respective extremes of the Reform and the Orthodox. But the decision to drop the ban on gay ordination and same-sex unions provides a powerful confirmation that the bridge connecting the denominations is crumbling, leaving a widening gap between Orthodoxy and everything else. The question going forward is no longer whether Conservative Judaism will hold the center, but whether it will win, or at least not lose any more ground, in the battle with the Reform movement for the hearts and minds of the vast majority of American Jews who fall on the liberal side of the divide with the Orthodox. Just as 5767 highlighted the changing denominational map, this past year saw a string of moves that reflected the diminishing dominance of local Jewish charitable federations and their national arm, the United Jewish Communities. For several decades the federation movement was the unchallenged force in determining the community’s spending priorities. But in recent years mega donors and private foundations have often taken the lead -- and several developments this year suggest that this trend will only intensify. Continued on page 79

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JTA YEAR IN REVIEW 5767 Continued from page 78 on campus and Arab-funded Middle The year started out with a big bang: Eastern studies programs are growing. Yeshiva University announced that its The other $15 million pledge -- from immediate past chairman, fertilizer and the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg oil magnate Ronald Stanton, was giving $100 million to the school -- believed to be the most amount of money ever pledged to a Jewish cause. “I’m sorry that this is the largest gift ever” to a Jewish organization, Stanton said. “There are plenty of people who could do it, but most substantial philanthropy goes to non-Jewish causes.” Other donors made Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, made their news, including first pledge of $5 million to help bankroll birthright israel trips. William Davidson, That gift was followed up in February by an additional $25 million owner of the Detroit and another $30 million in August. American students on a Pistons and president birthright israel trip pose with Israeli soldiers outside Yad Vashem Credit: birthright israel. of Guardian Industries in Jerusalem on July 18, 2004. Corp. of Auburn Hills, Mich., and his Foundation to help cover tuition costs at wife, Karen, who pledged $75 million for 12 Jewish day schools in Baltimore -- was a new inpatient tower at Hadassah’s cheered by Jewish education advocates as Jerusalem hospital. a potential philanthropic model for tackThough not as lavish, two $15 million ling the major financial challenges faced pledges were significant in terms of by day schools. underscoring the lead role that private Fifteen million dollars was also the family foundations are playing. One of magic number for the Foundation for the pledges was from The Charles and Jewish Camping, which received an Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation to anonymous donation of that amount Brandeis for the creation of an interdisci- from a donor in Chicago. In addition, the plinary Israel curriculum, at a time when camping outfit scored an $11.2 million Jewish students and communal officials grant from the Jim Joseph Foundation are grappling with anti-Israel sentiment for preteens in communities West of the

Rockies -- the splashiest yet as it moves forward with plans to give away $25 million annually. This would be enough for any year, but 5767 marked the opening of the founda-

The UJC is not standing still. It passed a $40.2 million budget, allocating a significant portion to a restructuring plan aimed at boosting the sagging annual campaigns of local federations; the plan also seeks to build on the success of the UJC’s $360 million Israel Emergency Campaign by beefing up the organization’s office in Israel. Federations also are working to adapt to the changing philanthropic universe, where individual donors and foundations have the ability to give more in a year than entire communities raise in their annual fund-raising campaigns. Many -- like the Baltimore Federation, Conservative rabbinical students welcome the decision of the which is giving $1 million movement’s endorsement of a halachic position allowing gay per year to day schools in rabbis and commitment ceremonies, outside a news confer- conjunction with the ence announcing the decision, Dec. 6, 2006, in New York. Weinberg foundation -Credit: David Karp/JTA are seeking to leverage tion of casino mogul Sheldon Adelson their expertise and influence to forge and his wife Miriam. The couple are partnerships with these independent playreportedly planning to dole out $200 ers. Similar efforts are under way in cities million a year to Jewish causes -- dwarfing such as Boston and Chicago, where the amount raised annually by any local Federations are working with outside federation except for New York. donors to develop innovative approaches The Adelsons pledged $60 million this to funding Jewish education. year to birthright israel, and gave $4.5 In general -- from political activism to million to the Shalem Center in religion to philanthropy -- the past year Jerusalem for a star-studded institute that demonstrated that the rules of the game will seek to deal with issues facing Israel are changing dramatically, often rapidly. and Western civilization including nation- Looking ahead, the question is which alism, terrorism, identity and the spread- individuals, institutions and movements ing of human rights and democracy. will figure out how to adjust.

May you be inscribed for a good and sweet year. Saving Lives in Israel In 5768 and year after year, thanks to your support.

Victims of attack on Sderot, May 2007

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Page 80

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

JTA YEAR IN REVIEW 5767 Growing radical-moderate rift in Mideast produced promise and peril for Israel by LESLIE SUSSER Washington’s moderate Middle Eastern allies. depleted in the fighting with Israel the previous summer. JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The Jewish year 5767 saw a In early August, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza It also reportedly helped bankroll large weapons deals widening of the rift between moderates and radicals in Rice visited the region to set up the peace meeting and between Syria and Russia. the Middle East, which in turn produced a paradox for make sure key players like the Saudis would participate. In mid-July, when Syrian President Bashar Assad again Israel: The rift heightened both a chance for peace Rice repeated her insistence that Israel and the sounded peace overtures to Israel, Iran’s President between Israel and the moderates and a threat of war Palestinians deal with core issues -- borders, refugees and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flew to Damascus to make sure between Israel and the radicals. Jerusalem -- for a final peace deal. nothing would come of them. While in the Syrian capiThe year also saw dramatic developments in Israeli In the wake of her visit, Olmert and Abbas began a series tal, Ahmadinejad warned of a “hot summer” in which domestic politics: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert strug- of meetings designed to produce a framework for a final- the enemies of Islam would be defeated. gled to hold onto power in the wake of a scathing report status agreement to be presented at the regional meeting. Iran also trained and armed Hamas fighters, helping on his performance in the second Lebanon war; former Palestinian spokesmen, impressed by the show of American them overcome Fatah in Gaza. According to Israeli intelPrime Minister Ehud Barak was re-elected leader of the resolve, said that for the first time in years they believed the ligence, the Iranian aim was to surround Israel with a misLabor Party; and President Moshe Katsav was forced to establishment of a Palestinian state was possible. sile cordon from Tehran to Gaza, primarily to deter any resign over a sex scandal. Israeli pre-emptive strike The defining event for against Iran’s nuclear Israeli-Palestinian ties was weapons program. the bitter Gaza Strip To offset growing showdown between Iranian power, the United Fatah-led moderates and States planned huge arms Hamas-led radicals. In a supply packages to its week of cruel fighting in moderate allies: $20 bilJune 2007, Hamas forces lion in sales to Saudi crushed their Fatah rivals, Arabia over the coming carrying out summary decade; $13 billion in milexecutions, parading illitary aid to Egypt; and clad captives and hurling $30 billion to Israel. rival militiamen from Bush assured Olmert rooftops. during a visit to The end result was Washington in June that Hamas in sole control of the Saudi weapons would Gaza, but supplanted in Left: Hamas military members ride a captured Fatah armored Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas began a series not be deployed close to government by a new personnel carrier during a celebration rally June 15, 2007, in of meetings designed to produce a framework for a final status the Israeli border and that Credit: Ismail Khateb/BPH IMAGES agreement. Olmert, right, greets Abbas at Olmert’s residence in the Fatah-led administration Gaza City. United States This summer, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Jerusalem on July 16. Credit: GPO/BPH IMAGES remained committed to under President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The There were other reasons for optimism: former British maintaining Israel’s technological edge. Abbas government was ensconced in the West Bank, Prime Minister Tony Blair, a highly respected mediator, Following the poor performance of its ground forces operating from Ramallah in the name of all Palestinians entered the arena, and Israel and moderate Arab states in the second Lebanon war, Israel decided on heavier and recognized by Israel and most of the international agreed to negotiate on the basis of a peace plan reaf- military spending of its own. In late July, the governcommunity. Ironically, Fatah’s defeat in Gaza made it firmed by the Arab League in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in ment allocated an additional $11 billion for the next 10 possible for Israel to circumvent the radicals and deal March 2007. years. Some of it would be devoted to enhancing Israel’s directly with the moderates in Ramallah. But with Hamas in control in Gaza, there were ques- long-range strike capacity and some to enlarging the Israel, the United States and the Arab moderates were tions as to how far Abbas could go in peacemaking with ground forces by two divisions. quick to size up the peacemaking potential in the new Israel. He also was under considerable Arab pressure to The Israel Defense Forces’ failure to win a decisive vicsituation. On June 25, just 10 days after the Hamas reconcile with Hamas, along the lines of a power-sharing tory in the war cost Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Dan Halutz takeover in Gaza, the leaders of Egypt, Jordan and Israel agreement the two sides had reached in Mecca in and Defense Minister Amir Peretz their jobs. Halutz, an came together with moderate West Bank Palestinians to February. air force man, was replaced in mid-February by Lt.-Gen. launch a new Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative at a sumMoreover, as the United States stepped up its efforts Gabi Ashkenazi, a seasoned infantry and armor commit in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheik. to promote a more stable regional order, Iran and its mander. Peretz, after losing the leadership of the Labor Three weeks later, in a major policy statement, U.S. radical allies moved to undermine it. Party to Barak in June, was ousted at defense by the forPresident George Bush called for a regional peace parley, Iran smuggled rockets through Syria, earmarked for its mer prime minister. under American auspices, to be attended by Hezbollah proxy in Lebanon, replenishing stocks Continued on page 81

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Promise and peril for Israel Continued from page 80 Throughout the year, Olmert had been under fire for his widely perceived mismanagement of the campaign against Hezbollah. After the Winograd Commission, set up to investigate the war, added its harsh criticism in late April, his approval rating plummeted to less than 3 percent and most pundits believed he would be forced to resign. But Olmert displayed considerable political skill. In the report’s immediate aftermath, he moved quickly inside his own Kadima Party to nip in the bud a potential leadership bid by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Six months earlier, in October 2006, he had greatly strengthened his chances of political survival by bringing Avigdor Lieberman's far-right Yisrael Beiteinu Party into the governing coalition. In the short-term, his inclusion of the experienced Barak as defense minister strengthened his hand still further. But Kadima colleagues warned Olmert that in Labor's Barak he was riding a tiger that would soon turn on him. Olmert was not the only Israeli leader in trouble in 5767. Katsav was forced to resign his presidency in late June after being accused of sex offenses against several women who had worked with him. In January, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz indicated that he had sufficient evidence to indict Katsav on Israeli President Moshe Katsav, rape charges against at shouting at a Jan. 24 news con- least one of the 11 comference, had hotly denied sex plainants. allegations against him. But in June, Mazuz Credit: Brian Hendler agreed to a plea bargain under which Katsav, who professed his innocence throughout, would confess to lesser charges and receive a six-month suspended sentence. The plea bargain sparked a wave of public protest and petitions to the High Court of Justice demanding that Katsav be put on trial. As part of the plea bargain, Katsav resigned on June 29, just two weeks before his term was due to end. He was succeeded as president on July 15 by Shimon Peres, the 83-year-old former prime minister. The unpopular plea bargain compounded the problems faced by the country’s legal system, where the new justice minister, Daniel Friedmann, seemed to be waging a calculated campaign against the Supreme Court and its president, Dorit Beinisch. Before his appointment in February, Friedmann had complained that the court had grown too “activist,” and that its unelected members were encroaching on what were rightly legislative and executive functions. His critics warned that in weakening the court, Friedmann would be undermining one of the most important pillars of Israeli democracy. Despite the second Lebanon war and the increased defense spending, the Israeli economy performed extremely well over the past year. Growth remained robust at more than 4 percent, compared to 5.1 percent in 2006. Unemployment was down from 8.4 percent to 7.8 percent, and the gross domestic product per capita was estimated at over $20,000. Inflation, below zero in 2006, was expected to rise to the projected government figure of between 2 percent and 3 percent, although there were worrisome signs that it might go higher. Foreign investment was expected to grow by 8 percent to $15.3 billion in 2007, and the Tel Aviv stock market, despite a major wobble in August, outperformed those of the rich Western industrial nations.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 81

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Page 82

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

Holiday baked goods are sweet without butter, margarine by LINDA MOREL NEW YORK (JTA) -- A desire for a sweet new year, often expressed in honey cake and apple crisp, brings Jews with differing needs together on Rosh Hashanah, when the menu typically revolves around turkey, brisket or veal. While most appreciate the flakiness of fine pastry that butter delivers, a growing number observe kosher laws prohibiting the mixing of dairy products and meat at the same meal. Some Jews eschew butter because of high cholesterol, or they are allergic to dairy products or cannot digest them well. Jewish vegans won’t eat meat, eggs and dairy foods for health and humane reasons. Yet these folks are united on one front -- they want perfect endings to Rosh Hashanah celebrations. In the past, Jews on special diets might cheat on holidays, sneaking a decadent dessert or two. Vegans were consigned to dry and disappointing pastry. The kosher baker’s best option when meat was served was to replace butter with margarine, which traditionally yielded flat flavor and texture ranging from dry to gooey -- sometimes in the same cake. But home bakers now can produce luscious desserts equal if not better in taste than their buttery counterparts without margarine. Isa Chandra Moskowitz, a vegan and punk music aficianado since the 1980s, is a co-author of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World: 75 Recipes for Cupcakes That Rule (Marlowe & Company, 2006), her second cookbook. While Moskowitz, 34, has been on the vanguard of American social and culinary movements, she has spent two decades experimenting with dairy-free baking.

The results could revolutionize pareve pastries, raising them from a compromise to a contender when pitted against dairy desserts. For ethical reasons Moskowitz avoids cooking with eggs, a boon to those with high cholesterol or an intolerance to the protein in eggs. In lieu of dairy products, she turns to full fat soy milk and nonhydrogenated coconut and canola oils. She imitates the silkiness of butter with tofu. Don’t be scared off by these ingredients. One bite of her cupcakes will compel you to reach for more. Her website, www.theppk.com, an outgrowth of her public access television cooking show, “The Post Punk Kitchen,” features sweet and savory vegan recipes for Jewish holidays. YOUR BASIC CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE Equipment: 12-muffin pan cupcake liners Ingredients: 1 cup soy milk 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1/3 cup canola oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/3 cup cocoa powder 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt Preparation: Preheat oven to 350º. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl. Set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract and almond extract to

the soy milk mixture. Beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients. Beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK). Pour into liners, filling three-quarters of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack and cool completely. Frost with Chocolate Mousse Topping (below). Yield: 12 cupcakes. CHOCOLATE MOUSSE TOPPING Ingredients: 2.3-ounce package extra-firm silken aseptic tofu, such as Mori-Nu, drained of excess liquid 1/4 cup plain soy milk 2 tablespoons agave syrup or maple syrup 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips Preparation: Crumble the tofu into a blender. Add the soy milk, syrup and vanilla. Puree until completely smooth. Set aside. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips. Use a rubber spatula to mix the chocolate as it melts. Once melted, remove from heat and let cool for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chocolate to the tofu and blend until combined. Use the spatula to scrape down the sides of the blender every so often. Transfer mousse to an airtight container. Chill for one hour before frosting cupcakes. HONEY CAKE Equipment: 2 9-by-5-inch loaf pans Parchment paper No-stick vegetable spray

Ingredients: 2 cups cake flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 4 large eggs 1 cup sugar 1 cup honey 1 cup vegetable oil Lemon sorbet as an accompaniment Preparation: Preheat the oven to 350º. Coat loaf pans with no-stick spray. Line pans with two pieces of parchment paper and coat paper with no-stick spray. Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and allspice into a bowl. Set aside. Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low and add the honey, then the oil. Mix on low for 2 1/2 minutes, then on medium for 2 1/2 minutes. Fold in the flour mixture by hand in several additions, mixing well with a spatula. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans, dividing evenly. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until domed, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. (The loaves will crack during baking.) Don’t open the oven doors until the cakes have domed, as this could cause them to collapse. Cool the loaves in their pans on racks for one hour. Unmold the loaves onto racks and wrap tightly in plastic wrap while they are still slightly warm to preserve moistness, until ready to serve. At room temperature, cakes will remain fresh for three days, or freeze them for one month. Serve with lemon sorbet. Yield: 10 slices per cake or 20 slices in all.

COMING OCTOBER

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Contact your advertising representative to advertise in any of these special editions. Call Allan Handleman at 402.334.6451 or email: ahandleman@jewishomaha.org

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September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 83

JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN OMAHA SECTION Tina Meyers, and Shelly Pichik, Co-Presidents; Jill Goldstein and Dana Kaufman, Co-Vice Presidents of Fundraising; Nancy Jacobsen and Barbara Rennard, CoVice Presidents of Public Affairs and Education; Nikki Kirshenbaum and Denise Meyers, Co-Vice Presidents of Membership; Melissa Shapiro and Sherry Shapiro, CoVice Presidents of Public Relations; Jaime Nogg and Andee Scioli, Co-Vice Presidents of Community Services; Carrie Fingold, Corresponding Secretary; Beth Friedman, Parlimentarian; Lori Kooper-Schwarz, Financial Secretary; Deb Marburg, Parlimentarian and Immediate Past President; Bonnie Pfrenger, Recording Secretary; Wendy Raffel, Treasurer; Laurie Epstein, Carole Greenberg, Tracy Grinstead-Everly, Julie Martin, Iris Ricks, and Mimi Silverman, Directors. HADASSAH Georgia Ann Steinberg, President; Esther Wax, Treasurer; Julie Stein, Secretary; Harriet Klopper, Life Membership Chairman and Newsletter Editor; Gloria Shukert Jones, Publicity Coordinator; Beth Gaynes Ginsburg, Wills and Bequests; Charlotte Kaplan, Cards; and Maxine Noodell, Chapter Cards. VISIONS Jim Wax, Executive Chairman; Harry Alloy, Advisor and Luncheon Co-Chairmen; Doris Alloy/Sissy Silber, Cultural Co-Chairmen; Bev Gilinsky, Membership; Ethel Goldston/Rose Pitlor, Social Programming CoChairmen; Ilse and Marcel Kahn, Treasurer CoChairmen; Betty Kolnick, Mitzvah; Sally Masnek, Correspondent; Phyllis Roffman, Recording Secretary; Betty Sanford, Trips and Travel; Sol Schwartz, Historian; Howard Silber, Publicity; Tootie Simon, Luncheon Co-Chairman. NEBRASKA JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY Midge Bowers, President; Debbi Josephson, Vice President; Rocky Stern, Secretery; Ira Nathan, Treasurer;

Kevee Kirshenbaum, Membership Chairman; Helen Epstein, Past President; Ron Brodkey, Stu Giller, Caryl Greenberg, Gary Javitch, Nan Katz, Sheldon Kushner, Max Neiden, Ozzie Nogg, Vicki Perlmeter, Caryn Rifkin, Larry Roffman, Board members; Louise Abrahamson, Bob Belgrade, Joanie Bernstein, Lois Friedman, Helen Rifkin Chorney, Ex officio; Ben Nachman Advisor-Oral Histories; Doug Hartman, Advisor-Exhibits and Archives; Renee Ratner Corcoran, Executive Director.

EDIAR BBG #710 Talia Tene, N’Siah; Rachel Gordon, S’Ganit; Carolyn Barenbaum Meyers, MitMom; Jaclyn Adelson, Mazkirah; Jaclyn Adelson, Gizbarit; Emily Giller, Shlicha. MZ YOSHANAH BBG #2053 Anna Munzesheimer, N’Siah; Andrea Holmberg, S’Ganit; Jessie Morris, MitMom; Chloe Ginsburg, Mazkirah; Ashley Bernstein, Gizbarit; Briana Sadofsky, Shlicha.

L.O.V.E. LEAGUE OFFERING VOLUNTEERS for the ELDERLY Eileen and Miles Remer, Co-Presidents; Wendy Manvitz, Membership Vice President; Esther Wax, Treasurer; Kathy Weiner, Recording Secretary; Doris Alloy, Jim Polack, Harry Alloy, Iris Ricks, Judy Brookstein, Ari Riekes, Audrey Epstein, Merilee Rimerman, Dora Goldstrom, Sheila Rosen, Gloria Goodman, Tootie Simon, David Herzog, Lorrie Stein, Ilse Kahn, Sheila Tomps, Judy Katskee, Judy Yoo, Renee Kazor, Jim Wax, and Robert Mosenkis, Directors.

HENRY MONSKY LODGE OF B'NAI B'RITH Gary Javitch, President; Gil Cohen, Banquet Chairman; Martin Ricks and Aaron Weiner, Special Projects Chairmen; Gerald Meyer, Guardian/Warden; Adam Jacobs, Immediate Past President; Trustees: Alvin Abramson; Mike Abramson, Richard Diamond; Rich Juro, and Steve Riekes; Lois Epstein, Administrator.

AZA COUNCIL BOARD Ben Nachman, Godol; Adam Goldberg, S’Gan, Ygal Schuller, Moreh; Zach Spooner, Mazkir/Gizbor; Joe Goldberg, Shaliach. BBG COUNCIL BOARD Emily Giller, N’Siah; Laura Adler, S’Ganit; Amanda Bucher, MitMom; Andera Holmberg, Mazkirah/Gizborit; Anna Grossman, Shlicha. CHIAM WEIZMANN AZA #1510 Michael Friedman, Godol; Henry Ginsburg, S’Gan; Jesse Reno, Moreh; Adam Goldberg, Mazkir; Natan Lailari, Gizbor; Lev Nachman, Shaliach. MOTHER CHAPTER AZA #1 Joe Goldberg, Godol; Max Halsted, S’Gan; Dan Grossman, Moreh; Ygal Schuller, Mazkir/Gizbor; Zach Spooner, Shaliach.

AMIT WOMEN KALAH FRANKLIN CHAPTER Charlotte Kaplan, President; Annette Fettman, Vice President and Program Chair; Georgia Ann Steinberg, Treasurer; Ida Banner, Contributions; Sarah Landsman, Mother in Israel; Jeanette Nadoff, Adviser. FRIEDEL JEWISH ACADEMY Yaffa Podbilewicz-Schuller and Susan Fellman Witkowski, Board Co-chairmen; Bonnie Bloch, Past President; Saundra Clarke, Secretary; Jerry Gordman, Treasurer; Bruce Potash, Fundraising Chairman; Lloyd Roitstein, Administration Chairman; Shirley Banner, Debbie Denenberg, Bob Eisenberg, Donald Gerber, Joe Kirshenbaum, Howard Kutler, Ruti Margalit, Eric Phillips, Margo Riekes, Mimi Rogers-Farkas, Ben Shapiro, Kathy Weiner and Annette van de KampWright, Board of Directors; Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, Rabbi Jonathan Gross, Rabbi Mordechai Levin, Ex officio: Nancy Kutler, Julie Potash, Linda Potash, Julie Stein, PTO Co-chairmen; Cookie Katskee, Principal.

72nd & Dodge 402.393.0831

Page 84

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

LIFE CYCLE EVENTS 5767 BIRTHS

DEATHS

Isaac William, son of Joan Percival and Chris Aizenberg; Talia Saltzman Bahar, daughter of Keri and Phillip Bahar; Meredith Liliana, daughter of Melissa and Michael Bloch; Sarah Miryl, daughter of Ari and Atara Block; Turner James, son of Jennifer Feldman and James Bostick; Isaac Scott, son of Nancy and Steven Braun; Kaplan Jude, son of Kallen and Michael Bresel; Jacob Borodin, son of Sara Borodin and Dan Chandler; Haley Abigail, daughter of Mike and Katie Cohen; Camden Nathaniel Martin, son of Laurie and Josh Cooper; Zachary Dean, son of Robyn and Brian Crone; Sasha Belle, daughter of Tippi and Steve Denenberg; Siobhan Liora Rose, daughter of Frances and Chris Edwards; Sophie Rose, daughter of Laurie and Jeff Epstein; Job Samuel, son of Heather and Seth Feierstein; Yitzchak “Izzy” Moshe, son of Mindy and Joel Forbes; Amanda Jayne, daughter of Jodi and Yoav Gershoni; Brady Holden, son of Sheli and Cory Ginsburg; Ella Tehilla and Ephraim Mordechai, daughter and son of Rabbi Joshua and Dr. Eva Gonsher; Maggie May, daughter of Tracy and Randy Gordon; Arthur (Avrum) Jameson Briggs, son of Ruth and Randy Greenberg; David Lustig, son of Becca and Derek Groothuis; Max Alexander Grossbart, son of Sandy Grossbart and Priscilla Henkelmann; Max Levi and Jacob Meyer, sons of Josh and Amanda Gurock; Sophia Rose, daughter of Miki and Gregg Herman; Gabriel Tzei, son of Deborah and Alexander Herzog; Benjamin Joseph, son of Stacy and Lorin Hochstein; Shayna Parker, daughter of Stacy and Greg Horwitz; Paige Grace, daughter of Gary and Monica Katz; Jonah

Hannah Aizenberg, Margie Alperson, Ruth F. Altsuler, Robert Aronson, Rabbi Stephan F. Barrack, Arlene D. Beber, Harley Beber, Frieda Belzer, Nathan Berg, Edward Berkowitz, Julius Bernstein, David Bloch, Juni Bloch, Esther Bloom, Paul (Pep) Bogdanoff, Menasse Bohbot, Shawn Bohbot, Bill Bowen, Marjorie Brickson, Adrian Brown, Irene Carter, Evelyn W. Charney, Allen S. Cohen, Elberta Cohen, Bernice Morris Counse, Richard DeLisle, Floy Doughten, Nicholas Doman, Nathan “Nate” Dvorkin, Frieda Elewitz, Gerry L. Fellman, Kate Ferer, Aileen Fish, Bettie Fisk, Ruth Forbes, Esther Friedman, Lucille W. Frohm, Julius Froom, Jean Gendler, Jeanne Gerelick, Sheldon Goldberg, Sylvia Friedel Goldberg, Harold Goodman, Mollie Greenberg, Rose Greenspoon, Mildred Goodbinder, Frances Groner, Belle Gross, Bernice Harris, Betty Hasslinger, Lawrence Hasslinger, Ernest Hochster, Daniel Hollis, Pearl Ann Jabenis, Eric Kamp, Barbara Kantor, Lena Kaplan, Joseph P. Kauffman, Toby Kagan, Ruth Levy Klein, Judy Kraft, Abe Krasne, Stanley R. Kurtzman, Liza Laykin, Helyn Lederman, Rachel Lea Leiserowitz, Jose Levin, Sidney Levine, David Lieberman, Gary A. Lebowich, Ruben Lippett, William Lohrman, Lorraine Lyles, Ben H. Magzamin, Miriam “Mimi” Malacoff, Ruby Shkolnick Malawsky, Ruth Maline, Israel Margalit, Alice Mashbein, Abe Mauer, Ben Melzer, Nathan Meltzer, Bernice Miller, Miriam Mirvish, Lloyd Keith Mitchell, Marian Wolpa Nogg, Doris Oglander, Bella Olesh, Fred J. Ostrow, Barbara Kutler Peck, Rosalyn Perlman, Sheldon Perelman, Dorothy Platt, Barbara Kutler Pollack, Floryne Potash, George Prescott, Philip Ratner, Aaron L. Raznick, Vera Remer, Rose Lagman Richman, Max Riekes, Irving Rips, Nancy Babette Robinson, Dr. George D. Roffman, David Rogers, William Marshall Rosen, Howard Ruback, Norman E. Ruback, Lynda Barr Saferstein, Beatrice Schimmel, Howard Schlaifer, Barbara Schwall, Richard Shebeck, Sophie Schulman, Doris Shukert, Michael Shukert, Lorraine Silverman, Jeremy Silverstein, Milton “Mickey” Simon, Walter Sinton, Maxine Tula Sloan, Audrey Sophir, Dr. Arthur A. Spar, Bella Stern, Ben Sukiennik, Leon Summer, Faye Szmerla, Phyllis (Fedman) Tejral, Bronya Usherenko, Jill Vavrina, Miriam “Mimi” Waldbaum, Mildred Walmsley, Harriet Wedel, Kenneth Weinberger, Albert Weiner, Kenneth Weiner, Elaine Gross Weise, Harold Wilcox, Janet Wintroub, and Jerome S. Zeffren.

MARRIAGES Rachel Shukert and Benjamin Abramowitz Daphna Pollak and Joel Alperson Carrie Roitstein and Steve Bernstein, Deborah Grantham and Mark Brookstein Brittany Perry and Thomas Evnen Sarah Cotton and Steven DeBruin Robyn Michele Jacobs and Seth David Freiden Ruth Standeven and Daniel Friedman Laura Hinzmann and Eric Givner Jill Elizabeth Kohn and Ricardo A. Ilko Pam Shapiro and Scott Kaplan Beth Hornstein and Michael Karotkin

Lena Sara Raksin and John Samuel Kitson Laynie Ginsburg and Joshua Lewis Erinn Caldwell and Larry Lundholm Margaret Gurewitz and Andy Lutes Robyn Kooper and Chad Menin Deborah Ann Swearingen and Clayton Todd McIlwain Erin Haith and Benjamin Nathan Laura Patterson and Josh Needelman Lisa Silver and Peter Reitzes Nicole Britell and Adam Wall Kori Racine and Josh Wees Alyssa Elliott and Brent Zacharia

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Samuel, son of Philip and Esther Katz; Evan Brandon and Ryan Henry, sons of Dr. Lance and Traci Kugler; Jenna Kathryn, daughter of Sarah and Tim Lake; Noa Reese and Sofia Dru, daughters of Michael and Julie Levine; Eli and Ori, sons of Guy and Elinor Matalon; Cody Alexander, son of Jennifer and Scott Meyerson; Aiden Bella, daughter of Jamie and Troy Meyerson; Miriam Lila, daughter of Dan and Rachel Mirvish; Daniel Richard, son of Lyndi and Eric Munro; Ephraim Yehuda, son of Meredith and Avram Nacher; Riley Grace, daughter of Kelly and Jeff Nogg; Sheina Rose, daughter of Marianna and Aaron Pollack; Ava Lauren, daughter of Cari and John Rabroker; Brandon Hale, son of Amy and Andrew Raffel; Liora Gafna, daughter of Benjamin F. Shapiro and Amy D. Reynolds; Nina Wu, daughter of Paula and Mark Robinson; Cole Alexander, son of Debbie and Marty Roos; Nathan Perry, son of Rebekah and Evan Saltzman; Courtney Lauren and Sabrina Monica, daughters of Lori KooperSchwarz and Wayne Schwarz; Netanya Sarah, daughter of Shoshana Schechter-Shaffin and Rabbi Royi Shaffin; Allyson Hannah, daughter of Shannon and Mitch Sherman; Batsheva Tova, daughter of Liat and Gary Shyken; Natalie Marie, daughter, daughter of Michael and Elena Andreea Shnayder; Harley Stephen, son of Katherine and Dan Simon; Ava Lily, daugther of Sara and Asher Stoller; Sophie Marie, daughter of Kim and David Stern; Aralia Dawn, daughter of Kolleen Feldman and Cory Tichauer; and Preston Scott, son of Dana and Scott Wisnia; Gabriel Leon, son of Jacqueline Shohet Zabin and Jeff Zabin.

Daniel Cohn and Andrew Miller

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Snowbirds Please let the Jewish Press know in advance when you are leaving and when you are returning. Sometimes several papers are sent to your “old” address before we are notified by the Post Office. Every time they return a paper to us, you miss the Jewish Press and we are charged 70¢! Please call us at 402.334.6448 or email us at jpress@jewishomaha.org.

September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 85

JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA Norm Sheldon, President; Bob Lepp, Vice President/President-Elect; Mike Abramson, Treasurer; Jody Malashock, Secretary; Zoë Riekes, UJC National Committee; Jay Gordman, Budget and Allocations Chairman; Joel Alperson, UJC National Board; Brett Atlas, Young Leadership Chairman; Bob Belgrade, Jewish Senior Services/RBJH President; Steven Bloch, Foundation Board President; David Gilinsky, Community Relations Committee/ADL Bob Goldberg, Center for Jewish Education President; Joe Kirshenbaum, UJC National Board; Neal Malashock, Personnel Practices Chairman; Todd Manvitz, Building and Grounds Chairman; Howard Marcus, Jewish Press President; Michael Miller, Jewish Community Center President; Steve and Marcia Pitlor, Co-chairmen for 2008 Annual Campaign; Stacey Rockman, Overseas/Partnership Chairman; Jan Schneiderman, UJC National Committee; Toba Cohen-Dunning, Richard Jacobson, Myron Kaplan, Yaffa Podbilewicz-Schuller, and Adam Yale, Board Appointments; Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, Rabbi Jonathan Gross, and Rabbi Mordechai Levin, Senior Rabbis; Jan Goldstein, Executive Director. FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Steven Bloch, President; Jay Noddle, Vice President; Donald Goldstein, Secretary; Andrew Robinson, Treasurer; Henry Davis, Michael M. Erman, David L. Friedland, Joseph Kirshenbaum, Murray H. Newman, Larry E. Roffman, Harley D. Schrager, Ted M. Seldin, Frederick J. Simon, Suzanne Richards Singer, Norman Veitzer; Norman M. Sheldon, Ex-Officio; and Marty Ricks, Executive Director. ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE/ COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL David Gilinsky, President; Sara Juster and Carol Bloch, Civil Rights Co-chairmen; Katherine Finnegan, Education Chairman; Richard Evnen, Leadership

Development Chairman; Allan Murow and Dan Marburg, Financial Development Co-Chairmen; Irv Yaffe, Member-at-large; Board Members: Ellie Batt, Bob Bleicher, Joe Erman, Richard Evnen, Jim Fried, Herb Friedman, Bruce Goldberg, Yale Gotsdiner, Bucky Greenberg, Gary Javitch, Rich Juro, Jack Kozlen, Michael Levine, Jan Lund, Gary Nachman, Bob Nefsky, Brian Nogg, Alan Parsow, Shayna Ray, Juliana Reno, Jonathan Rockman, Susan Rothholz, Sue Schreiber, Ray Somberg, Charlie Sullivan, Aaron Weiner, Adam Yale, and Jim Zipursky; Alan Potash, Great Plains Region Executive Director. CENTER FOR JEWISH EDUCATION Bob Goldberg, President; Stacey Rockman, Vice President; Toba Cohen, Treasurer; Harry Berman, Lena Bogomolni, Karen Cohen, Cheryl Cooper, Ann Goldstein, Debbie Josephson, Bruce Kutler, Susan Long, Michael Shrago, Aveva Shukert; and Dr. Guy Matalon, Executive Director. KRIPKE JEWISH FEDERATION LIBRARY Dr. Karen Cohen, Chairman; Lena Bogomolni, Eunice Denenberg, Helen Epstein, Beverly Fellman, Shirley Goldstein, Emily Meyer, Nancy Rips, Silvia Roffman, Susan Rothholz, Aviva Segall, Suzanne Singer; Gary Katz, Library Director. JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER Michael W. Miller, President; Kimberly Robinson, President Elect; Gary D. Epstein, Immediate Past President; Bob Belgrade, John Glazer, and Jeff Kirshenbaum, Vice Presidents; Board Members: Harry Alloy, Jason Epstein, Jill Folsom, Jamie Friedland, Sheldon Gallner, Bob Goldberg, Cindy Goldberg, Danielle Gordman, Marti Harris, Judy Itkin, Jody Malashock, Tod Manvitz, Bruce Muskin, Jeff Platt, Eitan Tsabari; and Jeff Aizenberg, executive director.

JEWISH SENIOR SERVICES/ JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES Bob Belgrade, President; Joan Bernstein; Past President, Howard Epstein; Treasurer, Jim Farber; Harold Mann; Steve Nogg; Larry Roffman, Vice Presidents; Suzanne Singer, Secretary; Directors: Mike Abramson, Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, Carol Bloch, Justin Cooper, Paul Epstein, Harris Frankel, Rabbi Jonathan Gross, Jeff Itkin, Jeff Kirshenbaum, Joe Kirshenbaum, Angie Krieger, John Lehr, Rabbi Mordechai Levin, Lisa Lewis, Nancy Noddle, Mike Platt, Eileen Remer, Anthony Scioli, Stan Silverman, Harriet Singer, Norman Veitzer, Andi Willensky; and Mike Silverman, Executive Director. JEWISH PRESS Howard K. Marcus, President; Bobbi Leibowitz, Vice President; Stan Mitchell, Secretary; Scott Meyerson, Treasurer; Joanie Jacobson, Immediate Past-chairman; David Herzog; Susan Lehr; Jamie Meyerson; George Quittner; Eve Randone, Melissa Schop; Michael Siegel, Michael Sigmond; Jim Simon; Nancy Skid; Dorothy Spizman; and Carol Katzman, Editor.

EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press office will be closed for Rosh Hashanah, Thursday & Friday, Sept. 13-14; Sukkot, Sept. 27-28; and Shemini Azeret/Simchat Torah, Oct. 4-5. Deadlines are at 9 a.m.: Issue Deadline Sept. 21 Tuesday, Sept. 11 Tuesday, Sept. 25 Oct. 5 Oct. 12 Tuesday, Oct. 2 Questions? Call 402.334.6448 for information about submitting ads, article, photos, and announcements.

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Page 86

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

Candlelighting Wednesday, Sept. 12: 7:21 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13: no earlier than: 8:17 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14: 7:16 p.m.

Synagogue Listings B’nai Israel Synagogue 618 Mynster St. Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com

Beth El Synagogue Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California Omaha, NE 68154-1980 492.8550 www.bethel-omaha.org

Beth Israel Synagogue Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific St. Omaha, NE. 68154 556.6288 BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org

Beyt Shalom An Affiliate of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation 3012 S. 119 St. P.O. Box 390352 Omaha, NE 68139 660.2395 www.beytshalomomaha.org

Chabad House An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 S. 120th St. Omaha, NE 68144-1646 330.1800 www.OChabad.com email: chabad@aol.com

Congregation B’nai Jeshurun South Street Temple Union for Reform Judaism 2061 S. 20th St. Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 435.8004 southstreettemple.org

Offutt Air Force Base SAC Memorial Chapel 301 Lincoln Highway Offutt AFB, NE 68113 294.6244

Rose Blumkin Jewish Home 333 S. 132 St. Omaha, NE 68154

B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE FRIDAY: Services followed by Oneg, 7:30 p.m. ROSH HASHANAH WEDNESDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m., Stephen Rennard speaks about “Stem Cells: Hype, Hope, and Current Controversy Reality.” THURSDAY:, Services, 10:30 a.m., Gary Javitch addresses “Current Themes in Jewish America.” All services led by Jeffrey Taxman. Saturday, Sept. 22, 5:30 p.m., Yom Kippur concluding service and Break-the-fast potluck. Please call 323.8885 to RSVP and let Sandra Kurland know what dish you’d like to bring.

The Neighborhood Minyan 1317 No. 57 St. Omaha, NE 68132 551.6609

Tifereth Israel Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Blvd., Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 423.8569 www.tiferethisraellincoln.org

Tree of Life Center 2925 Prairie Road Lincoln, NE 68506 613.7443 email: treeoflife.rabbimichael @yahoo.com

If you’re looking at this space, so are others! YOUR AD CAN GO HERE...

to reserve space, call

Allan Handleman, 334.6451, or Terri Greenwood, 334.6559.

BEYT SHALOM FRIDAY: Shabbat Service, 7:30 p.m. SUNDAY: Religious school at the JCC, 1:30 p.m. ROSH HASHANAH WEDNESDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m. THURSDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Taschlich, 5 p.m. at Zorinsky Lake, shelter #2. All services at the synagogue.

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Office Hours: Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. FRIDAY: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Bar Mitzvah of Aaron, son of Richard and Diane Stein; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8 p.m.; Slichot program, 9 p.m. and services, 10:30 p.m. Sitter Service is available during Friday night and Saturday morning services, on a drop-in basis, at no charge. ROSH HASHANAH WEDNESDAY: Ma’ariv, 6 p.m. THURSDAY: Morning Service, 9 a.m.; Alternative Service, 9:45 a.m.; Tashlikh, 4:45 p.m.; Mincha-Ma’ariv, 6 p.m. FRIDAY: Morning Service, 9 a.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m.

Temple Israel Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 7023 Cass Street Omaha, NE 68132-2651 556.6536 templeisrael-ne.org

Sermon,10:30 a.m., followed by shofar service; Mincha, 7:30 p.m. FRIDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; free babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Reading, 10 a.m.; Junior 10:30 a.m.; Congregation, Sermon, 10:30 a.m. followed by shofar service; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7 p.m.

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Office Hours: MondayThursday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Friday, 8:30 a.m-2 p.m.. FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 7 p.m. SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Free Babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Classes for children age two through Bar/Bat Mitzvah, 9:45 a.m. with Torah Parade; Kiddush sponsored by Sisterhood; Mincha, 7 p.m. followed by Suedat Shlishit and Gemara class; Havdalah, 8:27 p.m. Selichot, 11:45 p.m. SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m. ROSH HASHANAH WEDNESDAY: Shacharit, 6:30 a.m. The office will close at noon; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7 p.m. THURSDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Free Babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Reading, 10 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 10:30 a.m.;

CHABAD HOUSE Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. FRIDAY: Service, 7 a.m. SATURDAY: Maamar class, 9 a.m.; Service, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush luncheon follows the service. ROSH HASHANAH WEDNESDAY: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’-ariv, 7 p.m. THURSDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Youth/Tot minyan, 10:45 a.m.; Shofar Service, 11 a.m.; luncheon to follow services; Tashlich, 5 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:15 p.m. FRIDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Youth/Tot minyan, 10:45 a.m.; Shofar Service, 11 a.m.; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 16: Fast of Gedalia; Shacharit, 8:30 a.m.; Fast ends, 8:01 p.m.

CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN Services conducted by Rabbi Ilan Emanuel. FRIDAY: Early Family Shabbat Service, 6:15 p.m.; snacks provided by Tracy Gordon. SATURDAY: Shabbat morning service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah study, 10:30 a.m.; Ecumenical Slichot Service, 9 p.m., featuring the South Street Temple Choir and the guest choir of St. Mark.s on the Campus Episcopal Church. SUNDAY, Lincoln Jewish Community School, 9:30 a.m.noon at Tifereth Israel. ROSH HASHANAH WEDNESDAY: Evening Service, 8 p.m. THURSDAY: Morning Service, 10 a.m.; Children’s Service, 11:15 a.m. led by youth (concurrent with sermon); Tashlich service at Wilderness Park, 3 p.m.

To Submit B’nai Mitzvah Announcements Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press with attached photos in .jpg or .tif files to jpress@jewishomaha.org; faxed to 402.334.5422, or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154. Forms are available through Omaha and Lincoln synagogues, by contacting The Jewish Press at 402.334.6448, or by e-mailing the Editor at: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org. You can also submit other announcements -- births engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies or obituaries -- online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements.

Sunday, Sept. 16, 4:30 p.m.: Rich Recht in Concert: sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Lincoln at Tifereth Israel.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat Services, 6 p.m., led by Andy Greenberg and Nancy Rips. SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Elihu Milder; Selichot, 8:15 p.m., led by Rabbi Maximo Shechet. ROSH HASHANAH WEDNESDAY: Evening Service, 7 p.m., led by Andrew Greenberg. THURSDAY: Morning Service, 9 a.m., led by Andrew Greenberg. FRIDAY: Morning service, 9 a.m., led by Phyllis Hoffman. Services will be held at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home Herbert Goldsten Chapel. All services are open to the community.

through the Yom Tovim; services resume Oct. 12.

TIFERETH ISRAEL Minyan, MONDAY & THURSDAY, 9 a.m. FRIDAY: Nosh, 6:15 p.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat, 6:30 p.m. SATURDAY: Morning service, 9:30 a.m., Torah service, 10:15 a.m..; Kiddush luncheon in honor of Esther and Henry Misle; Havdalah, short study session and Selichot, 9 p.m. SUNDAY, Lincoln Jewish Community School, 9:30 a.m.noon at Tifereth Israel. ROSH HASHANAH WEDNESDAY: Ma’ariv Services, 8 p.m. THURSDAY: Morning Service, 9 a.m.; Jr. Congregation, 10:30-noon; Mincha/Maariv, 7 p.m. FRIDAY: Morning Service, 9 a.m.; Jr. Congregation, 10:30noon; Kabbalat Shabbat, 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 16, 4:30 p.m.: Rich Recht in Concert: sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Lincoln at Tifereth Israel.

TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Shabbat Service, 7:30 p.m. Rabbi Aryeh Azriel and Cantor Wendy Shermet will lead the service. SATURDAY: Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:15 a.m., Shabbat Service, 10:30 a.m., Slichot, 7 p.m., led by Rabbi Eric Linder and Cantor Shermet; presentation given by Dr. Stephen Skulsky, who will use film clips to highlight moments of emotional and spirtual development in Judaism. Chocolate oneg follows Slichot. SITTER SERVICE: Available each Friday evening service except when there is a Tot Shabbat, Saturday mornings when there is a B’nai mitzvah, and Sunday mornings during Religious School. Advance reservations and a $5 donation appreciated. No facilities for infants. ROSH HASHANAH WEDNESDAY: Evening Service, 7:30 p.m. THURSDAY: Children’s Service, 9 a.m. (suitable for K-4) led by clergy; Tot Service, 9 a.m. (for ages five and under) led by clergy; Morning Service, 10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 15: Tashlich at Elmwood Park, following the morning service.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN FRIDAY: Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7 p.m. SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. No aservices will be held

TREE OF LIFE CENTER Services and activities led by Rabbi Michael Weisser. Offsite classes at First Plymouth Church, 20th & South Sts; no registration required; onsite classes: 2925 Prairie Rd. SATURDAY, 6:30-7:30 p.m.: Drumming Meditation and Jewish Mystical Chanting,, followed by a meal and Havdalah when the stars are out. MONDAY, 6:30 P.M.: Insight Meditation, followed by refreshments and instruction. TUESDAY: Torah, prophets and writings: “A Journey through the Literature of the Hebrew Scripture,” 9:30-11 a.m. and 7-8:30 p.m.; Comparative Religion, noon.

MEMORIAL SERVICES SUNDAY SEPT. 9

Mount Sinai noon

Beth Israel Rabbi Gross will lead Kever Avot services: Golden Hill, 11 a.m.; Beth Israel/Mt. Sinai, noon; BHH/ Fisher Farms, 1 p.m.

Tifereth Israel Mt. Carmel Cemetery, 11 a.m.

B’nai Jeshurun Wyuka Cemetery, 3:30 p.m. SUNDAY, SEPT. 16

Beth El Beth El Cemetery, 10:30 a.m.

B’nai Israel Council Bluffs Cemetery, 11 a.m.

Temple Israel Temple Israel Cemetery, 2 p.m.

EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press office will be closed for Rosh Hashanah, Thursday & Friday, Sept. 13-14; Sukkot, Sept. 27-28; and Shemini Azeret/Simchat Torah, Oct. 4-5. Deadlines for the following issues are at 9 a.m.: Issue Deadline Sept. 21 Tuesday, Sept. 11 Oct. 5 Tuesday, Sept. 25 Oct. 12 Tuesday, Oct. 2 Questions? Call 402.334.6448 for information on submitting articles, photos, ads, and announcements, as well as synagogue schedules.

September 7, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 87

Index of Advertisers Advertiser Page Abacus Consulting .................................................... 52 Abraham Catering .................................................... 59 Acura of Omaha ....................................................... 21 Advantage Mortgage Service, Inc. ............................. 23 AIPAC ........................................................................ 47 Alegent ........................................................................ 6 Alkar Billiards ............................................................ 44 All Makes Office Equipment Co. ................................ 73 All Seasons Home Improvement Co. ........................ 23 Allens .......................................................................... 8 Allstate Insurance-Tim Wortman ............................... 77 American Tile and Marble Co. ................................... 16 AMIT Women ............................................................ 68 AmSan ...................................................................... 16 Anti-Defamation League ........................................... 68 ARMDI ...................................................................... 79 Arnold Weitz & Co. ...................................................... 7 Ashford, State Senator Brad ...................................... 51 Associated Counseling Professionals ........................ 42 B’nai B’rith Henry Monsky Lodge ............................. 68 B’nai B’rith Youth Organization .................................. 24 B’nai Israel Synagogue ............................................. 68 B’nai Jeshurun ......................................................... 40 Badger Body/Isuzu Truck ........................................... 8 Bag ’N Save .............................................................. 10 Bagel Bin .................................................................. 70 Bailey, Jane A. M.D., Eye Physician ............................ 4 Bell, Angela Massage Therapist ................................ 52 Bergman Incentives/Bergman Jewelers ................... 40 Bernina Sewing Centers ............................................ 46 Beth El Synagogue .................................................... 68 Beth Israel Sisterhood ............................................... 68 Beth Israel Synagogue .............................................. 68 Beyt Shalom ............................................................. 43 Billings Photography ................................................. 78 BILU USY .................................................................. 24 Bloomfield Forum ..................................................... 36 Blooms ..................................................................... 77 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska .......................... 35 BMW of Lincoln ........................................................ 73 Body Basics .............................................................. 76 Borsheim’s ............................................................... 13 Brandeis Catering ..................................................... 52 Bresel Family .............................................................. 8 Broadmoor ............................................................... 19 Broadmoor Market ................................................... 50 Broadway in Omaha ................................................. 66 Brodkey’s .................................................................... 4 Brownell Talbot ......................................................... 84 Business Printing ...................................................... 62 California Closets ...................................................... 49 Canfield’s Sporting Goods ........................................ 16 Canvas Boutique ...................................................... 85 Care Consultants for the Aging .................................. 26 CB Richard Ellis/MEGA ............................................ 29 CBS/Home-Fred Tichauer ........................................ 51 Center for Jewish Education ..................................... 68 Chabad .................................................................... 68 Charleston’s .............................................................. 12 China Road ............................................................... 70 Christel’s ................................................................... 33 Cohen Family ........................................................... 33 Cotton, Amy .............................................................. 56 Countryside Village ................................................... 50 Creative Hair Design ................................................. 75 Creighton University .................................................. 31 Crown Pointe Retirement Community ....................... 15 Crowne Plaza ............................................................ 35 Cruise Planners ........................................................ 65 Dance Shoppe .......................................................... 50 David Morton Food Marketing ................................... 42 Devenu ..................................................................... 58 Emanuel Contracting, Inc. ........................................ 18 Enterprise Bank ........................................................ 34 Expressions ............................................................... 81 Eye Essentials ........................................................... 42 Faces ........................................................................ 50 Factory Eyeglass Outlet ............................................. 19 Fahey, Mayor Mike ...................................................... 9 Family Enrichment, Inc. ............................................ 11 Family Fun Center ..................................................... 56 Fifth Third Bank ........................................................ 22 First National Bank ................................................... 63 Frankel Zacharia, LLC .................................................... 30 Fraser Stryker PC LLO ............................................... 63 Friedel Jewish Academy ............................................ 38

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Advertiser Page Gallner & Pattermann ............................................... 15 Garbo’s Salons & Spa ............................................... 13 Garden Cafe ............................................................. 77 Genzyme .................................................................. 39 Girls & Boys Town ..................................................... 54 Goldberg & Shrier ..................................................... 34 Gordmans ................................................................ 88 Grace/Mayer Insurance ............................................ 14 Grubb & Ellis/Pacific Realty ........................................ 9 Hadassah ................................................................. 68 Hadassah Upper Midwest Region ............................. 60 Hagel, US Senator Chuck and Lilibet .......................... 4 Harris Center for Judaic Studies at UNL ................... 46 Harry A Koch Co. ...................................................... 64 Hiro Sushi/Imperial Palace ....................................... 58 Hockenbergs ............................................................... 7 Home Instead ........................................................... 81 Honeyman Rent-All ................................................... 11 Horizon Dental Center .............................................. 27 Hy-Vee ...................................................................... 48 I-Go Van & Storage .................................................... 26 Ideal Pure Water .......................................................... 6 Industrial Packaging Corporation .............................. 41 Integrated Health, LLC .............................................. 76 Interim Homestyle Services ........................................ 7 Jacobson Fish Co., Inc. ............................................ 40 Jaipur ........................................................................ 76 Jams ........................................................................ 70 Jetlinx ....................................................................... 80 Jewish Community Center ........................................ 29 Jewish Family Service ............................................... 55 Jewish Federation of Lincoln ..................................... 32 Jewish Federation of Omaha ..................................... 71 Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation .................. 61 Jewish National Fund .................................................. 5 Jewish Press ............................................. 2, 24, 82, 84 Jewish Senior Services ................................................ 3 Jewish War Veterans ................................................. 68 Jewish Women International ..................................... 68 John A. Gentleman Mortuaries ................................. 18 Julio’s ....................................................................... 78 Katelman Company Antiques ................................... 51 Kazmarek, Linda Pet/House Sitting .......................... 51 King Fong Cafe ......................................................... 37 Kohll’s Pharmacy & Homecare ................................. 64 KPTM/KXVO ............................................................. 21 Kristen’s Cookies ...................................................... 77 Kutak Rock ............................................................... 66 Lakeside Dentistry .................................................... 52 League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly ................. 68 Leisure Life Sports .................................................... 42 Lerner Company ....................................................... 44 Lexus of Omaha ....................................................... 63 Lion’s Automotive Upholstery .................................... 45 Louie M’s Burger Lust ............................................... 12 Lynn Roberts International ........................................ 10 Malashock Jewelry ................................................... 51 Malbar Vision Centers ............................................... 30 Marathon Realty Corporation .................................... 64 Mark Sanford Group ................................................. 38 Marks Clare & Richards ............................................ 11 Marriott Regency Hotel ............................................. 46 McGill, Gotsdiner, Workman & Lepp, P.C., L.L.O. .... 27 McGrath, North ......................................................... 57 MDK & Associates ..................................................... 16 Medicap Pharmacy .................................................. 77 Mediterranean Bistro ................................................ 37 Meehan Drywall ........................................................ 38 Mid Con Systems Inc. ............................................... 35 Mid-City Jewelry & Loan ............................................ 15 Midwest Box Co. ....................................................... 36 Midwest Ear, Nose, & Throat, P.C. ............................. 34 Midwest Woodworkers .............................................. 33 Mount Sinai Cemetery .............................................. 68 Mulhall’s ..................................................................... 8 N. Pitlor & Son, Inc. .................................................. 43 Nan C. ...................................................................... 56 National Council of Jewish Women ........................... 68 NCSY of Beth Israel Synagogue ................................. 24 Nebraska Children’s Home Society ........................... 28 Nebraska Democratic Party ...................................... 18 Nebraska Furniture Mart ........................................... 62 Nebraska Jewish Historical Society ........................... 68 Nebraska Press Statewide Classifieds ....................... 87 Nebraska Warehouse & Cannonball Express .............. 7 Nebraska Wine & Spirits, Inc. .................................... 46

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Advertiser Page Nelson, US Senator Ben and Diane .......................... 32 No Frills ..................................................................... 41 Nobbies .................................................................... 23 Noddle Companies ................................................... 66 Noodles & Company ................................................. 83 Norm’s Door Service ................................................. 42 Northwestern Mutual-Robert Randels ....................... 43 O Casual Dining & Lounge ........................................ 70 Omaha Children’s Museum ...................................... 60 Omaha Compound Company ................................... 41 Omaha Paper Stock Co. ........................................... 17 Omaha Steaks .......................................................... 73 Omaha Surgical Center ............................................ 23 Omaha Symphony ................................................... 25 Omaha Temple Youth Group ..................................... 24 Omaha Temporary Services ..................................... 28 Omaha Trans Video .................................................. 47 One Drake Place ....................................................... 36 Parkwood Terrace Apartments .................................. 33 Parsow’s ................................................................... 13 Pasta Amore ............................................................. 76 Pear’s Gourmet Coffee .............................................. 16 Peterson Brothers Realty Co. ..................................... 42 Pharmacy Express .................................................... 30 Picture Man ................................................................ 6 Pirsch, State Senator Pete ......................................... 56 Pollak & Hicks, P.C. ................................................... 45 Pond Doctors ............................................................ 65 Premier Countertops ................................................ 85 Pulverente Monument Co. ........................................ 65 Quality Dental Care L.L.C. ........................................ 38 RDG .......................................................................... 53 Regency Court .......................................................... 13 Regency Lodge ......................................................... 10 Remington Heights ................................................... 74 Republic Beverage Company .................................... 42 Residential Mortgage Services, Inc. .......................... 26 Roberts Dairy ............................................................ 34 Rockbrook Floors ...................................................... 19 Rockbrook Village ................................................ 76, 77 Rossi ......................................................................... 77 Rotella’s Italian Bakery .............................................. 45 Russell’s ................................................................... 50 Schwalb Realty .......................................................... 14 Scott Conference Center ........................................... 32 Security Equipment, Inc. ........................................... 18 Security National Bank ............................................. 50 Seim Johnson Sestak & Quist, LLP ........................... 29 Senor Matias ............................................................ 58 Silverstone Group ...................................................... 69 Sir Speedy ................................................................ 53 Smile Design Studio .................................................. 14 Sol’s Jewelry & Loan ................................................. 26 Sonny Gerber Auto Sales ............................................ 4 Soul Desires .............................................................. 28 Sound Environment .................................................. 77 Sparks Computerized Car Care ................................. 47 Spirit World ............................................................... 59 St. Joseph Villa .......................................................... 27 Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP ................................... 65 Stoddard, Jay Family ................................................ 62 String of Purls ........................................................... 50 Suburban Newspapers Inc. ...................................... 45 Superior Pools, Spas, Etc. ......................................... 53 Swartzbaugh Farber .................................................. 56 Sweet & Associates ................................................... 44 Taxi’s ......................................................................... 12 Temple Israel ............................................................ 68 Terrecom .................................................................. 30 Terry, US Congressman Lee ..................................... 55 Tifereth Israel ............................................................ 40 University of Nebraska Medical Center ...................... 72 V. Mertz .................................................................... 37 Valentino’s ................................................................ 37 Vann Realty ............................................................... 11 Village Pointe Pediatrics ............................................ 53 Vincenzo’s ................................................................ 59 Visions ...................................................................... 68 Wells Blue Bunny ......................................................67 Wiesman Development ............................................. 30 Winery ...................................................................... 12 Wolf Bros. Western Store ........................................... 51 Wolfson Used Cars ................................................... 30 Zio’s Pizzeria ............................................................. 78 Zuerlein Dentistry ...................................................... 20

Microform & Print

Chadwyck-Healey

Now hiring at $13.50 and $15.00 for regular, full-time production positions at Kawasaki's manufacturing facility in Lincoln, NE. * $15.00 for welders with experience in mig or tig welding. * $13.50 for team members with experience in the following areas: assembly, fabrication, custom fitting work, carpentry, flooring, brazing copper tubing, autobody or routing and connection of electrical wiring. Candidates should enjoy a fast paced environment, demonstrate ability to follow directions and be self-motivated. Competitive pay with progression. Benefit package includes vacation, medical, dental, vision, life, 401K and many more! If interested, please submit resume to or call for application:

For more information, call

1-800-521-0600, ext. 2888 (US) or 01-734-761-4700 (International) www.il.proquest.com

From

Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp., U.S.A. 6600 N.W. 27 th Street Lincoln, NE 68524 402-476-6600

Or apply on-line at www.kawasakilincoln.com or www.careerlink.com EOE

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Page 88

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 7, 2007

BEST BEST WISHES for a happy, happy, healthy healthy & prosperous prosperous & NEW YEAR! YEAR! NEW