September 13, 2013

Sponsored by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Endowment Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA

The Syria conundrum

September 13, 2013 7 Tishei 5774 Vol. 93 | No. 52

This Week

BBQ Bash with BBYO Page 5

Incredible Experiences in Israel Pages 6 & 7

by RON KAMPEAS tion of unconventional WASHINGTON (JTA) -weapons and thereby greatly Jewish groups backing Presendanger our country’s seident Obama’s call to strike curity and interests and Syria militarily are citing those of our regional allies.” moral outrage and U.S. naThe statements focused on tional security as primary the need to contain a nation considerations, but concern that has crossed a red line by for Israel -- however muted using chemical weapons -- also looms large in their against its citizens. thinking.

“Those who perpetuate A lingering sensitivity such acts of wanton murder over misrepresentations of must know that they cannot the role of the pro-Israel do so with impunity,” the community in the lead-up Presidents Conference to the Iraq War in 2003 kept statement said. “Those who Jewish groups from weighpossess or seek weapons of ing in on Syria until it was mass destruction, particuclear that President Obama larly Iran and Hezbollah, was determined to strike. must see that there is acNow that same sensitivity is countability.” leading them to downplay Israel nonetheless loomed President Obama speaking at the White House with members of Congress about the situation in large in an off-the-record any mention of Israel.

Officials of the Conference Syria, Sept. 3, 2013. Credit: Dennis Brack/Getty Images/JTA conference call between “America’s allies and adversaries Jewish officials and two of Obama’s of Presidents of Major American Jew- in any of the three statements that ish Organizations, finishing up a con- emerged immediately following the are closely watching the outcome of top national security advisers. One ference call last week with top security conference call, which was convened this momentous vote,” the AIPAC Jewish official asked whether the advisers to Obama, waited until the to solidify support for Obama’s call statement said. “This critical decision United States would assist militarily White House staffers were off the call for a strike. The statements -- from comes at a time when Iran is racing should Syria attack Israel. (The anbefore urging constituent organiza- the American Israel Public Affairs toward obtaining nuclear capability. swer: Yes, but it is the U.S. assessment tions not to make their statements “Is- Committee and the Anti-Defama- Failure to approve this resolution that Syrian President Bashar Assad is tion League as well as the Presidents would weaken our country’s credibil- not that reckless.) rael-centric.”

Notably, Israel was not mentioned Conference -- only alluded to Israel. ity to prevent the use and prolifera- Continued on page 2

One year and counting Chabad’s “The Shofar A family affair Page 12

Inside Point of view Synagogues In memorium

Next Week Education See Front Page stories and more at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on Jewish Press

9 10 11

by SHERRIE SAAG The countdown has officially begun as the first ever Omaha Jewish Reunion will take place Sept. 12-14, 2014. Everyone is invited to save the date and make plans to be in Omaha for a weekend filled with reunionworthy events.

Whether it’s your birthplace, your childhood home or your current mailing address, plan to join the community and celebrate Jewish Omaha.

Now is the time to reach out to thousands of Jews with roots in Omaha. “Regardless of where you live now, come back to Omaha. We want to see you at the Reunion!” said Mary Bernstein of Events, Inc. The entire event is being planned by volunteers under Mary’s direction. There are numerous committees organizing every facet of the weekend’s activities. Patty Nogg is chairing the Outreach Committee, a committee whose efforts are so im-

portant at the beginning stages of planning.

“Everything really begins with us getting the word out. We need our friends, neighbors, and family members, of course, to spread the news and tell every out-of-towner they know about our weekend,” Bernstein said.

There are plans to use the web and social media for outreach and tocontact Jewish communities in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver, Chicago, New York, Florida and Israel.

Additional Committee Chairs include: Marty Ricks, Finance; Joi Brown and Dorothy Spizman, Entertainment; Rabbi Aryeh and Elyce Azriel, Friday evening; Dana Gonzales, Lodging; Nelson Gordman and Cliff Levitan, Logistics; Eunie Denenberg and Susan Rothholz, Programming; Bob Belgrade, Website; Iris Ricks and Terri Zacharia, Registration; Alan Potash and Lt. Shayna Ray, Security; Nancy Noddle, Food Service; Renee Corcoran, Tours and Exhibits; Brian Nogg and Jeff Nogg, Transportation; and Joanie Bernstein and Judy Brookstein, Volunteers.

For those who haven’t returned to Omaha in more years than they have fingers and toes, there is much to kvell about. Three (count them, three!) new synagogues, the magnificent renovation of the Rose Continued on page 2

Factory” is a winner

Chabad volunteer, Scott Weiler, has the undivided attention of these 4-yearolds at the CDC, as he explains and demonstrates just how a shofar is made.

by JOANIE JACOBSON for Chabad Center The Friedel Jewish Academy, Pennie Z. Davis Child Develpment Center, and Beth El Synagogue opened its doors shortly before Rosh Hashanah to “The Shofar Factory,” an enrichment program presented by the Chabad Center.

Over 130 students participated. Facilitators were Rochi Katzman and Devorah Katzman. Chabad community volunteers were Scott Weiler, Jeff Mellen , and Michael Ginsburg. “‘The Shofar Factory’ is just one of several of our enrichments programs,” explained Rochi. “But I must say, it’s one of the most exciting because there’s so much activity.”

Older students make their own

shofars. They choose from a large selection of rams’ horns, a facilitator saws off the tip, the student runs it through a power sander, files down the rough spots, and, finally, applies wax to add shine.

Students are asked The FourQuestions of the Shofar: “Where does a shofar come from?

When do we blow the shofar? Why do we blow the shofar? What is the shofar calling me to do?”

They then take part in a hands-on “mitzvah activity,” and, finally, receive Certificates of Authenticity, acknowledging the total experience.

“Our goal is to teach that there is more to a Jewish holiday than just a story,’” Devorah added. “There is always a personal message that Continued on page 2

2 | The Jewish Press | September 13, 2013

The Syria conundrum

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Continued from page 1 pro-Israel and progressive stalwart, has been a leading voice One of the White House officials repeatedly emphasized of skepticism about a strike. Other Jewish lawmakers have that acting to keep Syria from using chemical weapons was robustly backed a strike, preeminent among them Rep. Eliot a critical step to keeping Iran Engel (D-N.Y.), the top from obtaining a nuclear Democrat on the House weapon.

Foreign Affairs Committee, The vocal support of and Rep. Debbie Wasserman American Jews comes as Schultz (D-Fla.), the chairObama ramps up efforts to woman of the Democratic win congressional support for National Committee and one a military strike. The presiof the highest profile Jewish dent met with top congreslawmakers. sional officials and repeated Wasserman Schultz invoked his appeal to support limited the Holocaust in making her strikes on Syria to degrade its case. chemical weapons capability.

“As a Jew, the concept of Over the weekend, Obama ‘Never again’ has to mean said he would seek approval something,” she told CNN of Congress before ordering a over the weekend. strike.

Some groups have been lob“This is a limited, proporbying for weeks. An official in tional step that will send a the office of Sen. Bill Nelson clear message not only to the (D-Fla.) said the office has Assad regime, but also to other been flooded with calls and countries that may be interestemails from Jewish federaed in testing some of these tions and constituents urging international norms, that there the lawmaker to back are consequences,” Obama An Israeli woman shows her child how to put on a gas mask Obama’s plan. at a distribution center in Jerusalem on August 27, 2013. As Obama already has won said before the meeting.

Until Obama declared his talks of an international attack on Syria heighten, the backing from several promireadiness to strike Syria on demand for gas masks in Israel rose. nent Republicans, including Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 Sens. Lindsey Graham (RJewish groups had been reluctant to weigh in -- in part because of the hangover from S.C.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), as well as the House unwarranted attacks blaming Jewish lobbying for the Iraq Republican leadership, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and War. But in the wake of Obama’s declaration last week, those Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the most senior Jewish fears seemed to evaporate. member of Congress.

“The president has made his decision and we’re not ahead Cantor cited a key Israeli concern -- that an Assad of it,” Abraham Foxman, the ADL’s national director, told unscathed after using of weapons of mass destruction would JTA. “He’s not doing this for Israel. This may have serious embolden Iran -- in explaining his support for the president. ramifications for Israel which are negative.”

“America has a compelling national security interest to U.S. administrations have traditionally sought Jewish sup- prevent and respond to the use of weapons of mass destrucport for foreign policy initiatives, but in this case, congres- tion, especially by a terrorist state such as Syria, and to presional insiders say the influence of AIPAC and other Jewish vent further instability in a region of vital interest to the groups may be checked by the emergence of other foreign United States,” he said in a statement. policy constituencies.

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Since the 2010 midterms, the Tea Party caucus among Netanyahu has remained silent on the Syria matter in part, Republicans, which has a prominent isolationist streak, has its officials said, because it sees no good outcome. resisted AIPAC pressure to back a robust foreign assistance Such a posture is markedly different from late 2005, when program. Among Democrats, the insiders said, progressives Israeli officials urged U.S. Jewish groups to talk President wary of another foreign war are likelier to heed anti-war George W. Bush out of considering regime change in Syria. voices than the pro-Israel lobby.

The Israelis argued that as bad as Assad’s government was, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), who is Jewish and has been a the alternatives were worse.

The Shofar Factory

It’s “safety first,” as Chabad Rabbi Mendel Katzman watches over Friedel student Gavin Smith while he smooths out the outer surface of his ram’s horn with a power sander.

Nineteen students from grades 4-6 participated and took home their very own hand-finished shofars.

Continued from page 1 makes us a better person and the world a better place.

There’s no age limit to learning.”

Younger students are asked to pretend they are sleeping. A loud alarm clock wakes them up, much like the shofar wakes up the Jewish people to reflect on the year past, think about the year ahead, and to do mitzvahs. They watch a demonstration of how a shofar is made. And finally, they listen to the sounds and melodies of the shofar at Rosh Hashanah and repeat those sounds and melodies on kazoos.

“Older students take home their shofars. Younger students take home their kazoos. But all students take home a new understanding and appreciation of the shofar and an awareness of the important role it plays at Rosh Hashanah,” Rochi concluded. “And while all this is happening, they’re having fun!”

Beth El Synagogue student Emma Klein carefully files down the rough spots on her soon-to-be shofar to make sure the surface is very smooth. Next step? Waxing, to add shine.

For more information on Chabad’s enrichment programs, contact Rochi Katzman at 402.330.1800.

Reunion Continued from page 1 Blumkin Jewish Home, the re-done JCC Youth Lounge and the repositioning of the Henry and Dorothy Riekes Museum, just to name a few.

If anyone needs more incentive than that, they can consider TD Ameritrade Park, Aksarben Village and Midtown Crossing, the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge, or the area now known as Nodo.

For more information or to assist in reaching those outof-towners we are looking for, please contact Mary Bernstein at maryb@eventsinc.com or call 402.391.0708.

September 13, 2013 | The Jewish Press | 3

eReaders available in the Kripke Jewish Federation Library

by MARY SUE GROSSMAN Program Coordinator, The Center for Jewish Life Imagine walking into the library and, in less than five minutes, leaving with over 40 books easily slipped into your purse or coat pocket. With the availability of eReaders from the Kripke Jewish Federation Library, that is exactly what you can now do.

Through the generosity of a grant from the Special DonorAdvised Fund of the J e w i s h Federation of Omaha Foundation, four Sony Readers, with over 40 books, are now available for check-out.

Each Reader is populated with the same book selections in which feature a wide variety of titles, including fiction, Judaica, history and Israel. Here is a sampling of the lineup available on each unit: Start up Nation by Dan Senor and Saul Singer; 15 selections of Daniel Silva’s book series featuring Gabriel Allon; Maggie Anton’s three book Rashi’s Daughters series; American Judaism: A History by Jonathan Sarna; Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods by Michael Wex; Deborah Feldman’s Unorthodox; The Seven Questions You’re Asked in Heaven and God’s To Do List by Ron Wolfson; Jenna Blum’s Those Who Save Us; This is My God and The Lawgiver by Herman Wouk; Why are Jews Liberals by Norman Podhoretz; The Coffee Trader by David Liss, Rabbi Lawrence Kushner’s book, Kabbalah: A Love Story, and many more.

Additional selections will be periodically added to the Readers through the library’s

book purchase budget.

“Adding eReaders is a great addition to the library, providing another service to our patrons” stated Beth Cohen, Executive Director for the Center for Jewish Life.

“While we love ‘real’ books -- after all, we have several thousand in the library -- offering an electronic format is a great option.

Whether going on vacation, not wanting to

schlep books around or simply wanting to give an eReader a try, the Kripke Library is here to help.”

When borrowing an a eReader, patrons will be asked to sign a form which outlines the do’s and don’ts of usage. Readers may be checked-out for 14 days.

So stop in the library, and Shirly and Mark will be happy to get you started. Library

hours are 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Friday. The Kripke Jewish Federation Library is a program of the Center for Jewish Life as part of its mission to maximize involvement of Omaha's Jewish community in imaginative, compelling and meaningful Jewish experiences. For additional information, please call 402.334.6462.

Sharing the Light

by NORA LEE ZOOB for Chabad Center At the dawn of creation, G-d said “Let there be light.” On Aug. 19, there was a delicious dinner reception to recognize all the “Agents of Light” in our community.

Each “Agent of Light” (volunteer) was welcomed and acknowledged by the Chabad staff with gratitude and appreciation.

“I am humbled and in awe of the outpouring of love and support by all of you towards the members of our community,” said Rochi Katzman. “We are grateful for your time, your caring and your devotion to the many individuals whose lives are brightened by your dedicated hard work.”

The event came together thanks to Anna Yuz Mosenkis. No task is too large or too small for her. She certainly worked diligently to be sure all the Agents of Light were thanked and appreciated.

Cheryl Lerner was one of the volunteers to be recognized. She and Elaine Urban direct the food pantry at Chabad. They encourage and support others to give their time and expertise meeting the various dietary needs of the many (90 per month) food pantry recipients.

Suzi Mogil, a high voltage Agent of Light

Mushka Katzman and Rachel Rosenberg

Shani Katzman, left, Rabbi Katzman, Alex Wolf and Anna Mosenkis. said, “When I was a little girl, I learned about giving tzedaka and doing mitzvahs from my mother, grandmother and the shul. Volunteering has been engraved into my life. When you help someone else, you

are helping yourself. Giving is a two-way street. The Katzmans have welcomed my family and myself with warmth. My life has been enriched and enhanced by them, I love Shani and her girls, they are heimisha.”

Suzi has adopted an Israeli family whose son is waiting to undergo a multi-organ transplant at UNMC. Suzi lives by the Hebrew phrase ‘tikkun olam.’

“As Jews, we help repair the world physically and spiritually,” she says.

There are so many ways to feed into your passion.

One who lights up the world with kindness and goodness will illuminate the flames in our hearts so never will they be extinguished. G-d has empowered us, each and every one of us, to create light.

Some current projects include: Food Pantry, Chesed, innovative Children’s programs, Green Thumb Initiative headed by Nancy Rampey, Hanukkah Menorah Parade, and Bikur Cholim, which offers help and visitations to families from abroad needing help while receiving medical treatments, headed by Suzi Mogil and Nancy Wolf. If you want to get involved, or would like to find out more, please contact Rochi Katzman at rochi@ochabad.com.

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4 | The Jewish Press | September 13, 2013

Let’s go to the Hop – the Sukkah Hop, that is

by JILL BELMONT Temple Israel congregant Amy Rabinovitz, a past Sukkah Beth El Publicity Hop attendee who plans to participate again this year, said, The Jewish community will be treated to a special Sukkot “It is great to see so many faces from other congregations. celebration on Sunday, Sept. 22, as Omaha’s three syna- I am waiting to see what our new sukkah looks like this gogues, along with the year and hope I can see the other sukkot around town.”

Jewish Federation’s Center Calling Sukkot “a holiday for Jewish Life, join togethsteeped in tradition,” Beth er to present the third El’s Rabbi Steven Abraham Sukkah Hop, a progressive noted that, “Just as it is our event featuring food, crafts, custom to welcome biblical games and music.

The holiday fun begins at guests, known as ushpizin 12:15 p.m. at Beth El, with (Aramaic for guests) each appetizers and Israeli night, we are thrilled to be music performed by comable to welcome our conmunity shaliach Eliad gregational neighbors, as Eliyahu ben Shushan. Next, well to enjoy the holiday revelers will then head to together.”

Beth Israel at 1:15 p.m. for Lloyd Roitstein, president lunch; then, at 2:15 p.m., of Beth El’s board of everyone will gather at trustees added, “We’re so Jewish community members from throughout the metro area Temple Israel for ice cream lucky to have such a tightenjoyed the 2011 Sukkah Hop’s food, fun and entertainment. treats; and the last stop of knit Jewish community the afternoon will be a 3:15 p.m. visit to the Blumkin here in Omaha, and anytime we all come together means a Home for refreshments and fun. great celebration. The Sukkah Hop is a perfect way to mark “Having the entire community visiting each other’s sukkot the new year -- by connecting with friends and family, as will offer a great opportunity to wish each other a good and well as making new acquaintances.” peaceful year,” said Rabbi Aryeh Azriel of Temple Israel.

Cost to attend is $5 a person or $20 a family. RSVP by “This spirit of hospitality can help us come together through- Sept. 18 to Beth El, 402.492.8550; Temple Israel, out the year to accomplish other communal projects.”

402.556.6536; or Beth Israel, 402.556.6288.

Smiling on a street corner

by COURTNEY BIERMAN This past summer, I spent three weeks at Brown University as part of a pre-college program.

One day, the Westboro Baptist Church showed up.

The Westboro Baptist Church is a small congregation based in Topeka. They are known for their picketing of soldiers’ funerals with signs bearing hateful messages, often anti-gay. The group, about forty strong, has been actively protesting since the early nineties. According to them, tragic events (e.g. 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Sandy Hook) are the result of God’s anger at a sinful America.

On the morning of Aug. 1st, three of them showed up on campus. Their signs said things like “Death Penalty For Fags” and “Soldiers Die 4 Fag Marriage.” For half an hour, they stood smiling on a street corner while proudly holding those signs.

I was part of the counter protest. We outnumbered the WBC members at least thirty to one. Because they were so greatly outnumbered, their protest was almost comical; it held no weight. Our group wore a lot of rainbows, sang Macklemore’s Same Love and bore signs reading “Keep Calm and Marry On” and “I Bet Hell Is Fabulous.”

We had a blast.

Of course, the Westboro Baptist Church is used to getting such reactions from the public; they picket six locations every day and have done so in all fifty states. Our presence

was not acknowledged by them. But they knew we were there, and we knew they knew.

These demonstrations will continue to be held, and they have the right to be held -- the WBC has freedom of speech just like any other American protesters would have.

However, there is something positive that can be drawn from this: When all of the counter-protesters were gathered, there was a tremendous sense of community. It felt fantastic to be among people who were spreading acceptance and love. At the Brown protest specifically, most of the counter-protesters were college students. At other WBC events, the counterprotests are much more diverse. It is easy for a group of dissimilar people to gather together in order to fight against a group such as the Westboro Baptist Church. So, whenever there is such a protest, the people who show up to counter the church members are strengthening their community through a fight against a common enemy.

Attending the protest that day is one of the highlights of my summer. I am an ally of the current shift towards a more equal America, and that day gave me hope that it will soon come. Being there, surrounded by people whose eyes are open wide enough to see through differences, reassured me that change is coming. The actions of the Westboro Baptist Church are meant to keep people apart, but their actual effect is one of unity.

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Getting out of the office

Development desk MARTY RICKS, Chief Development Officer, Jewish Federation of Omaha There are many great things about my new job as Chief Development Officer of the Jewish Federation of Omaha.

One is getting out of the office to connect with people in the community. Whether they are longstanding donors, veteran volunteers, the proverbial “pillar of the community,” or a young professional who wants to learn more about us, these interactions provide more than enough motivation to keep me moving at a fast pace. I never tire of hearing about our donors, concerns, both the good and the bad. Most every suggestion ends up being constructive in one way or another, and I am told I am pretty good at finding common ground.

To hear what our donors think is one of the most important reasons for me to leave the office, and whether it is for coffee, Breadbreakers, a lunch at Star Deli or a face-to-face with someone living out of town while I am on vacation, whatever is talked about is almost always helpful and certainly worth a listen. So I listen and I learn.

Exciting plans are underway at the Federation. As was recently announced in the Jewish Press, our Campaign team grew by one last month with the addition of Development Associate Zach Spooner. A native Omahan and recent graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Zach brings a youthful exuberance to the office and we are counting on his point of view as a “twenty-something” in planning for Young Jewish Omaha and engaging our donors age 18 to 40.

Our Campaign solicitors were provided some great training tips recently from JFNA Philanthropic Resources professional Matt Freedman. It was so encouraging to see our volunteer leaders, some of whom have been diligent solicitors for even more years than I recall, come together, eager for inspiration just prior to the 2014 Campaign. They are smart, caring, effective and philanthropically generous, and we would not be successful without them.

My wife Iris and I leave Sept. 17 for a Partnership2Gether Mission to Israel where we will join with professionals and lay leaders from Omaha, Des Moines and Louisville to see first-hand our donor dollars at work. I look forward to sharing what I learn with you. In the meantime, I am already looking forward to my next out-of-the-office visit, and I hope it’s with you. Let’s meet for coffee.

EU and Israel to talk about new settlement guidelines

by JTA NEWS STAFF JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The European Union will send to Israel a diplomatic team to talk to Israeli officials about implementing the EU’s new settlement guidelines.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton made the announcement over the weekend after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday called on the European Union to postpone a planned ban on its financial assistance to Israeli organizations operating beyond the 1967 borders.

The European Commission in July announced new guidelines making Israeli entities and activities in the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights ineligible for EU grants and prizes.

Ashton said the guidelines were simply “putting down on paper what is currently the EU position.”

Ashton said she was sending the diplomatic team, to be headed by a senior EU envoy, to make sure the implementation of the guidelines was handled “very sensitively.” She added that the European Union wants to “continue to have a strong relationship with Israel.”

September 13, 2013 | The Jewish Press | 5

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Florence Eisenberg’s grand piano comes home

by DAVID GOLBITZ “From what I heard of it on Thursday [Aug. 29], I am Temple Israel Staff Writer impressed as to how it sounds in the Temple,” Eisenberg After sitting quietly, unused and dusty, for more than a said. “And yet, its distinct sound also brings back personal decade, Florence Eisenberg’s Steinway grand piano is once memories of growing up hearing it played. again making music, thanks to the children of Florence and “We would often wake to hearing the piano being played George Eisenberg, and piano tech Lee Santo. by our mother,” Eisenberg continued. “Pieces by Bach, When Florence died in 2001, George had wanted to gift Mozart, and Beethoven were often heard, as well as Jewish the piano, a 1910 Steinway music, and often show tunes Model A, to Temple Israel, as well when she was rehearsbut there was not enough ing for a play. Hearing the room in the Cass Street buildpiano was a constant in our ing to accommodate it. And house. We could often hear it after George died in June if the windows were open on 2012, their children decided, our way walking home from with the new temple under school, or once we got home, construction, that it was the walking in the door. That right time to offer the piano piano was an important part for the new building in their of our upbringing in Omaha.” parents’ memory.

The Steinway now sits on “When our father passed the bimah of the new Temple away, Steve and I and our sisIsrael and it will be played ter agreed that the Temple during special Shabbat servicwould be the very best place es and holidays, like Rosh Joe Eisenberg with the 1910 Steinway piano for it,” Joe Eisenberg said. “We Hashanah. all knew that our parents would be pleased to know that the “I hope it brings pleasure to all who attend Temple and piano has a new home where it will be cherished and heard who hear its sound being played on Shabbat and the by many.”

Holidays,” Eisenberg said.

The piano, purchased by Florence in the 1970s, sat in the The Eisenberg Steinway isn’t the only piano Temple Israel Eisenberg family living room for years, until construction asked Santo to restore. on the new Temple Israel building was underway. The A Story & Clark piano from the 1930s has been gifted to Steinway was moved to a storage unit where Santo, a piano the congregation by Marcia and Jack Cohen, Julie Rochman technician in Omaha for more than 30 years, worked on and Sandra Palmer. restoring it to its previous grandeur. “[Cantor Shermet] fell in love with it right away,” Santo “I restrung the piano, put in new whippens, hammers, said. flanges, shanks, all of it,” Santo said. “It sure sounds wonThe Story & Clark will find its home in the chapel, where derful now. It just takes my breath away.”

Santo will begin restoring it to its former glory this week.

It took Santo more than a week and a half to fully restore “It’s a major job,” he added, though Santo hopes to have it the Steinway, and Joe Eisenberg knows it was time well spent. ready to go within a couple weeks.

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BBQ Bash with BBYO

7:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

by LEORA AZRIEL Teen/BBYO Director What a fantastic evening to celebrate the end of summer with BBYO’s “Back to School BBQ” Kickoff. In attendance were 53 spirited teens in the JCC pavilion playing football, Frisbee, gaga, dancing, hula hooping, bubble making, slip n’ sliding and enjoying some fun in the sun. Sophomore Jordan Saag was the chef for the evening and provided teens with delicious Hebrew National hotdogs with chips and yummy desserts. BBYO and BBYO Connect (7th-8th) met new friends and reconnected with old ones. Alumni and advisors were also present to meet and help promote the 2013-2014 BBYO events. The kickoff is just the beginning of Omaha Cornbelt Council’s eventful and exciting New Year!

For more information about BBYO and membership, please contact Leora at lazriel@jccomaha.org.

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Livingston Foundation Fund Grant applications

by JANET HENTHORN Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation During the past year, the Milton S. and Corinne N. Livingston Foundation, Inc. converted from a private foundation to a donor-advised fund of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation, which administers the Milton S. and Corinne N. Livingston Foundation Fund.

The former Trustees of the private foundation are now members of an advisory board responsible for recommending grants from the Fund. The annual meeting of the advisory board will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013.

The primary interest of the Milton S. and Corinne N. Livingston Foundation Fund is to support Jewish institutions and projects. The Fund has a secondary interest in supporting health, education, cultural and social services

Friday, Sept. 20

in the Omaha Metropolitan area.

Grant requests should be submitted in writing, using the appropriate forms, to Janet Henthorn, Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation, 333 S. 132 Street, Omaha, NE 68154.

Guidelines are as follows: 1. Grants will be limited to organizations located within the Omaha Metropolitan area and the State of Israel.

2. No grants will be given for capital or endowment campaigns.

3. Organization representatives may contact Howard Epstein at 402.334.6466 or hepstein@jewishomaha.org, or Janet Henthorn at 402.334.6551 or jhenthorn@jewish omaha.org for a grant application form. The deadline for submission of grant applications is Friday, Oct. 18.

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Incredible Experiences in Israel

by MARY SUE GROSSMAN Program Coordinator, The Center for Jewish Life Each year, many teens and young adults have the experience of a lifetime, traveling to Israel on a wide variety of programs. The Jewish Federation of Omaha is delighted to support these experiences through the Israel Experience Grant program.

The Israel Experience Grant is a one-time gift from the Federation for students in grades 9-12 or young adults ages 18 to 25 for an approved Israel experience. The grant is available to anyone in the Omaha Jewish community who meets the following requirements: 1. The applicant must be a resident of the Omaha metropolitan area.

2. The applicant, or his/her family, is a donor in good standing to the Annual Campaign of the Jewish Federation of Omaha.

3. The applicant agrees to provide an article and pictures

of the experience within one month of return to Omaha for publication in the Jewish Press.

4. The applicant will participate in any required preparatory program.

Applying for an Israel Experience Grant is a simple onepage application. The applications are available on the Scholarships and Grants page of the Center for Jewish Life on the Jewish Federation of Omaha website at www.jewish omaha.org. Applications may also be requested via email at scholarship@jewishomaha.org. Return completed applications to the Center for Jewish Life, 333 South 132nd Street, Omaha NE 68154.

Those in need of additional financial assistance can also apply for financial need-based scholarships. Scholarship applications are available as described in the previous paragraph. For additional information on all grant and scholarship programs, please call 402.334.6445 or email mgross man@jewishomaha.org.

A most memorable Israel Experience

by SARAH KUTLER The summer 2013 could not compare to any other summer I have ever experienced before. It was full of happiness, laughter, learning and fun all thanks to the USY Pilgrimage adventure. I spent 5 weeks with 44 other young Jews and 4 staff members in Poland and in Israel. I could not have asked for a better group. As soon as we got on the plane to Poland, it felt like we had known each other forever.

As cliché as it sounds, we were family from the start.

Our experience in Poland was a totally different feeling and scenery than in Israel.

Visiting the camps in Poland made me feel so much more connected to my family’s history than ever before. In one week I got to walk the same unfortunate footsteps of my great-grandparents, Rosa and Moritz Stern. I had the privilege to learn and see the living conditions and the tragic ways that they had to live through for years.

One of my favorite experiences in Poland was when we were on our way to our first camp, Majdanek, and everyone was talking and laughing and having fun. Then out of nowhere, just strolling through the city of Lublin our head Rosh said, “Look to your right.” There it was, Majdanek.

Complete silence fell over the crowd in an instant. The

energy felt heavy and dreary. It was a feeling you have to experience firsthand to understand the magnitude of sorrow and grief.

On our way to Israel, no one can explain the excitement that we felt. When we got to our first destination in Jerusalem, we were kissing the ground, literally. We were so happy to be in the Holy Land. We did so many educational, yet fun, activities. In four weeks, we spent time in several kibbutzim and youth hostels. We went on an archaeological dig, went to an aquarium, went snorkeling and spelunking, swam in the Dead Sea, spent a night in the Bedouin tents, rode camels and donkeys, woke up at four in the morning to watch the sun rise on top of Masada, slept under the stars, went to the Western Wall, and so much more.

There was never a time when you were bored.

Everything was so worthwhile to experience as a Jewish teenager. On top of doing fun activities, we had some deep, emotional learning experiences. We went to Yad Vashem and got a more knowledgeable understanding of how the Holocaust came about and its history. One day we went to Mt. Herzl, which is the site of the Israeli national cemetery.

Continued on page 7

September 13, 2013 | The Jewish Press | 7

Organizations

Jerusalem journey

by JUSTIN LEE LOHMAN This past summer I had the opportunity to go to Israel. I decided to go on The Jerusalem Journey sponsored by NCSY (the Orthodox youth group). I was on bus 6 which was comprised of 40 teenagers from Seattle, Winnipeg, Chicago, South Carolina, Saint Louis, Memphis, Kansas and Omaha. If you are a Jewish teenager thinking about which trip to go on, I would recommend TJJ because it is a 30-day long trip, and you do so many awesome activities.

There is so much that we did that I could share, but I will focus on the highlights.

A unique feature about the trip was the mini learning sessions we had called tefila workshops. I learned about prayer and G-d’s existence in the world. I was told by one of the counselors who led the Justin at the Wall workshop that G-d spoke the world into existence. The counselor talked about how one can connect to G-d in many ways through deeds and actions. The advisors were truly amazing people. They told the best stories and you could talk to them about anything.

We went on many hikes. A highlight was a hike in Eilat.

For that hike we woke up at 4 a.m. and hiked up a mountain and saw the sunrise. We were at the very place where our ancestors traveled. It was a beautiful scene. Later that day, we went water tubing, banana boating, and snorkeling in the Red Sea. The water was so clear and blue. It was very fun.

We went to some interesting places. I really liked seeing the Kotel or the Western Wall in Jerusalem, and we went there three times. On the second visit, it was Friday night right before Shabbat, and we danced and sang. It was meaningful to watch the Israeli soldiers dancing and singing with us in a large circle.

We went up Masada, and learned about its fascinating history. I really enjoyed going to the Dead Sea. When I stepped onto the shoreline, I realized that instead of sand there was

salt. There is so much salt in the Dead Sea that when you swim in it, you just float. If you do not believe me, go there and try it out for yourself!

One day we visited a Bedouin tent. We sat around a table in a small group, and had a buffet style dinner. It was different. Later that night we went for a midnight walk in the

B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Omaha’s new Community Shaliach, Eliad Eliyahu Ben Shushan will speak about his dual role as Omaha’s Shaliach and Education Coordinator for Partnership 2Gether, Western Galilee Area Partnership Consortium on Wednesday, Sept. 18, noon, at the Blumkin Home. An optional buffet lunch costs $11; beverage service only is $3.

For more information or to be placed on the email list call 402.334.6443 or bnaibrith@jewishomaha.org.

LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Yiddish is very much alive, with Webster’s Third International Dictionary listing more than 500 Yiddish words. If you want to “jazz up” your conversation, throw in a few Yiddish words. One word in Yiddish has more meaning than a dozen words in any other language. So be a mentsh and zog a por verter (say a few words).

We meet every Thursday from 1-3 p.m., in the boardroom of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. For information, please call Anne Skolkin at 402.343.1638.

Rabbi Yehuda Polstein, left, and Justin Lee Lohman desert. It was cool to see the stars and the moon and hear stories and sing songs in the desert. We went camel riding the next day which was very entertaining.

On the last night, we had a banquet. The counselors gave separate speeches and books dedicated to each camper.

Yehuda Polstein, a rabbi from Chicago, said that I was the most valuable camper. He gave me the book The Thinking Jewish Teenager’s Guide to Life by Akiva Tatz and he wrote on the inside cover: To Justin Lee Lohman, We loved having you on board this summer!

Keep growing...

LOVE, TJJ Bus 6 Overall, I really liked TJJ and would highly recommend it to any Jewish teenager looking for an Israel trip to go on.

Because of this trip, I feel a stronger connection to the homeland of the Jewish people. Finally, I would like to thank the Federation for this opportunity and appreciate the support I received from Rabbi Gross and Beth Israel Synagogue.

Sarah Kutler Continued from page 6 One grave that had caught our attention was the fallen soldier, Michael Levin. We had learned about him the night before we visited his grave. It was covered in pictures, stones and memorabilia of him.

All in all, USY Pilgrimage is a terrific opportunity for young Jewish teens to connect with Israel, history and their Judaism. Thanks to this trip I have a better understanding of my Jewish faith than ever before. I could have never pictured myself being as close to it as I am now. I will now participate in USY more and go to conventions and help out with my Jewish community. I am even considering doing Nativ, a college in Israel. This trip truly changed my life.

EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The deadline for the Sept. 27 issue is Wednesday, Sept. 18, 9 a.m. Questions? Call 402.334.6448.

8 | The Jewish Press | September 13, 2013

Point of view

American Jewish Press Association Award Winner

Nebraska Press National Newspaper Association Association Award winner 2008

Lessons from Shmuley

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor When Television personality and rabbi-to-the-stars Shmuley Boteach found out the NYPD had monitored an assassination threat against him he thought it might have come from one of the radical Islamists that he debates on TV. It didn’t; the threat had allegedly come from members of Kahana Chai and the Jewish Defense Organization.

“I had been accustomed to fierce criticism from sectors of the Jewish community for publishing Kosher Sex, “Boteach wrote in the other Jewish Press (the one in Brooklyn), “or making Cory Booker my President and having thousands of non-Jewish student members at Oxford, or taking Al Sharpton on a solidarity mission to Israel, or serving as Michael Jackson’s Rabbi. Censure came with the territory and though I had never enjoyed being attacked, I had learned to live with it. But an assassination scheme from fellow Jews is something I would have never believed.” (www.jewishpress.com) In his article, ‘The extremists among us,’ Boteach further writes: “I’m weary of a religion that is more interested in condemning the infidel rather than loving our neighbor, that is more focused on God as punisher-in-chief rather than a fountain of life and blessing.

“In the coming year I want to see a Judaism that inspires gay men to put on tefillin and observe the Sabbath, rather than telling them that their sexuality bars them from any meaningful place in Jewish life. I want to see a Judaism that reaches out to Jewish men and women who have married outside the faith, exposing both them and their non-Jewish spouses to the beauty of our tradition with a view toward the non-Jewish partner giving serious consideration to Halakhic conversion.”

It’s tempting to make fun of Boteach, not take him seriously, and write him off as a pop culture lightweight. Oprah?

Michael Jackson? Really? But that would be too easy. And of course, he has a point; as Jews, we can debate a myriad of issues and find ourselves at opposite sides, but at the end of the day, Judaism has to be a force for good. We cannot ever use it as a vehicle to spread hate.

An offshoot of Meir Kahane’s original Israeli Kach party, Kahana Chai was established in 1990 but barred from the 1992 elections. It was banned in 1994, and has been designated a terrorist organization by Israel, Canada, the United States and the European Union. Many of its leaders have spent time in jail; Yitzhak Rabin’s murderer Yigal Amir has been accused of having links to Kahana Chai. Followers of Kahane don’t like Arabs; they have no patience with the Orthodox Union but do like price tag attacks. They believe a democratic Jewish State is the definition of hypocrisy, and unless everyone who disagrees with Kahane’s teachings leaves Israel, Teshuvah is a “joke.”

Speaking of being on opposite sides. Could there a bigger juxtaposition than the one between ‘America’s rabbi’ and Kahane’s followers? Here we have two extremes: tolerance on one side, and intolerance on the other. What can we learn from this?

It’s safe to say that Shmuley and Kahane’s followers will never share a peaceful Shabbat meal, the Westboro Baptists will never enjoy Wichita Pride Fest, and the Posse Comitatus will never acknowledge the federal government. Which is why the rest of us need to keep

talking to each other, and debating the important issues. It’s not only as Jews that we must fight to find common ground; it’s as human beings that we need to create a context in which we can safely debate and disagree. We don’t all have to look in the same direction, we don’t all have to believe, pray or think exactly alike. But we do have to coexist peacefully, even when it’s hard.

Yom Kippur is here, which means it’s time to think about what our hopes and aspirations are for the coming year. We get to look forward to fresh opportunities and new beginnings. We restart our weekly Parshas; we are given a brand new chance to learn what Judaism means to us.

Personally, I lean towards that “Fountain of life and blessing” Boteach mentioned in his article. I think we could do a lot worse.

A message of women’s empowerment

Behind the headlines RUTH MESSINGER NEW YORK (JTA) -- Each year when I sit in synagogue during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I’m struck by the complex stories we read about biblical women and by the wisdom these stories offer about ensuring the dignity of women and girls today.

The past year was one of paradoxes. At a time when Sheryl Sandberg, Malala Yousafzai, Wendy Davis and countless others reinvigorated conversations about women’s leadership, health and safety, rape and sexual violence continued to escalate all over the world. As I try to grasp these contradictions, I’m reflecting more deeply on what our High Holidays readings illuminate about the condition of women and girls over the millennia.

To start, consider Sarah, Hagar and Hannah, female protagonists we meet in the Rosh Hashanah liturgy. In the eyes of the biblical narrator, the significance and self-worth of these women are defined solely by their ability to have children -- in particular, sons. Yet each of these women exercises agency in different, albeit complicated, ways.

Initially, Sarah is unable to birth a child. Frustrated that God has not fulfilled the promise of giving her and her husband, Abraham, “as many offspring as there are stars,” as it says in the Bible, Sarah takes matters into her own hands.

She chooses her handmaid, Hagar, as a surrogate mother and instructs Abraham to impregnate Hagar, so that Sarah can have the son she desperately wants.

Sarah eventually is able to have a biological child of her

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own, Isaac, and once he is born, Sarah convinces Abraham to send Hagar away.

Now consider Hannah, who also struggles to bear children but handles her infertility in a different way: She prays.

Hannah pours out her heart to God and, ultimately, God answers her prayers by giving her a child.

Both stories are exceedingly complex and have been interpreted in myriad ways. But for me, one core ethic that simmers through these biblical narratives is that women must have a voice in defining their own futures.

Unlike Hannah and Sarah, who actively desired children and gave birth when they were adults (Sarah was said to be 90), each year around the world, 10 million girls under the age of 18 enter into forced marriages and often bear children against their will.

These girls are usually married off to much older men. As child brides, they generally receive little or no information about sexual and reproductive health -- including contraception -- or about how they should protect themselves from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

The consequences are dire. Girls who marry early are more likely to drop out of school, suffer from health problems, live in poverty and experience gender-based violence.

These same girls are more likely to either die in childbirth or lose their newborn infants.

Despite this sobering reality, I’ve witnessed the power of change when women and girls are at the helm, and when they have the political, social and economic tools to shape their own destinies.

Not long ago, I met a Muslim girl named Munija who lives in West Bengal, India. When Munija turned 15, her father,

who had abandoned her family, announced that she was ready for marriage.

Munija’s mother wanted a better life for her daughter. She allowed Munija to continue her education, against her father’s wishes. Before school, Munija would wake up at 5 a.m. to wash the dishes and clean the family home. After school, she would help her mother prepare dinner and study for three hours by kerosene lamp. Even though Munija worked hard, she still feared she would be married off against her will.

Fortunately, Munija learned of a grassroots organization in India known as MBBCDS that works with marginalized women and girls, and advocates for their right to an education. Through tutoring, counseling, song, dance and sports, the organization helps girls build the self-confidence to pursue their education and avoid being married at an early age.

I am proud to lead American Jewish World Service, an international development and human rights organization that supports MBBCDS and hundreds of other groups in Africa, Asia and Latin America that work tirelessly for the dignity and justice of women and girls.

Surely we do not need the stories of Sarah, Hagar and Hannah to focus our attention on 21st-century problems of gender-based violence, sexual assault and child marriage; headlines suffice. But during this season of new beginnings -- a time for returning to our truest, most compassionate selves -- let’s revisit the stories of biblical women to reawaken our empathy and ignite our sense of accountability for women and girls around the world today.

Ruth Messinger is the president of American Jewish World Service

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September 13, 2013 | The Jewish Press | 9

A century later, Leo Frank tragedy still resonates

Behind the headlines ABRAHAM H. FOXMAN, National Director of ADL NEW YORK (JTA) -- On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the trial of Leo Frank in Atlanta, let’s begin by stating for the record: No, the Leo Frank case was not the impetus for the founding of the Anti-Defamation League.

It is true that the organization, now celebrating its centennial, was founded the same year as the arrest and trial of Frank for the murder of one of his factory workers, a 13year-old girl named Mary Phagan. But the idea for ADL, conceived by Sigmund Livingston, a Chicago attorney, preceded the case.

Rather than being the catalyst for the organization, the trial served as a confirmation of the wisdom of Livingston that American Jews needed an institution to combat antiSemitism.

America was a much different place in 1913. Compared to Europe, Jews here lived far more secure and stable lives, but stereotypes and name calling were still common. That’s what led Livingston to conceive of an ADL. As a Jewish immigrant from Germany, he assumed that in America the prejudices he experienced in Europe would not exist. That was not the case.

Still, the trial -- and two years later, Frank’s lynching -were a shock to American Jews. Despite broad divisions

between older immigrants from Germany and newer ones from Russia, the community rallied together in support of Frank and in anger at the biased trial.

Looking back, we can see this great tragedy as representing the two sides of America and the Jews that still exist today, but in a very different balance and form.

The trial and lynching demonstrated that America carried some of the historic stereotypes and conspiracy theories about Jews that had characterized European life for centuries. The blood libel charge -- the idea that Jews murdered Christian children to use their blood for ritual purposes -was rare in America. But a related theme, of a Jewish predator attacking a young Christian female, surfaced in the Frank trial.

Also surfacing was the notion that in an extreme case like this, America’s legal and constitutional system might not be able to protect a vulnerable Jew from violence.

In the long term, one can argue that the reaction to the Frank affair set the stage for a dramatic improvement in Jewish life in America. Newspaper editorials across the country overwhelmingly supported Frank. Opinion makers commented about the degree of anti-Semitism surrounding the trial. Even early on, Jews understood that an influential public could be called upon for support when anti-Semitism reared its ugly head.

The opprobrium did some good, leading Georgia Gov. John Slaton to commute Frank’s sentence. However, the haters won out, as they so often did in those years in the case of African-Americans.

For American Jews, the Frank affair was seen as a low point in Jewish life in America. The truth is, however, that

the most difficult years came later, particularly in the 1930s when anti-Semitic hate groups proliferated and when quotas in universities and other institutions abounded.

The lessons of the Frank affair played an important role in improving the quality of life for American Jews and in decreasing anti-Semitism.

If there were doubts about the need for an ADL, that evaporated among significant parts of the community after the lynching. And it set the stage for the fundamental practice used by ADL and others in combating anti-Semitism: Get the information out and rely on the good will of public figures and institutions to delegitimize hate and prejudice.

Clearly, America has come a long way in the last 100 years.

A Leo Frank incident is unthinkable today. Attitudes, legal protections, education -- all these speak to a qualitatively different America for Jews.

Yet the Frank affair still resonates. Anti-Semitism in the extreme, a completely biased trial and the lynching, may largely be things of the past. But the stereotypes that underlay that extremism are still alive. ADL surveys show that 15 percent of Americans -- 35 million people -- still have antiSemitic attitudes.

One hundred years later, we are saddened by the memory that it could have happened here, pleased that America has come so far and recommitted to addressing those still-living biases, some of which allowed the travesty that was the Leo Frank affair.

Abraham H. Foxman is national director of the AntiDefamation League and co-author of Viral Hate: Containing Its Spread on the Internet.

Restoring the Right to Vote

Focus on issues NANCY K. KAUFMAN, Chief Executive Officer of NCJW There’s a funny thing about anniversaries -- just as we look back with nostalgia on the way things were, also, do we inevitably reflect on how things have changed in the intervening years. So it is as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Enormous strides have been made in racial justice since the march, and because of the march and the spirit it embodied.

But right now as we reflect on where we are today, we are confronted with a political culture that seems to have taken a step backwards. Marchers 50 years ago argued for voting rights protections that were realized with the passage, two years later, of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Today, instead of making the right to vote a rock solid commitment, we actually find ourselves as a nation debating settled principles and even settled law when it comes to protecting the franchise.

The recent ruling by the Supreme Court in Shelby v Holder that disabled the most effective provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act -- the one that required pre-clearance by the Justice Department of changes proposed by states with a history of voting discrimination -- has highlighted a campaign begun in recent years to make voting ever harder. In some ways this development is a bit of a mystery. The Voting Rights Act was enacted by a 328-74 bipartisan vote in the House and 79-18 in the Senate. As a result, in 1968 the US held its first truly free federal election, one in which the number of newly registered African Americans equaled the number that had registered in the previous 100 years.

In another bipartisan effort, the Voter Registration Act (VRA) was enacted in 1993 by a vote of 259-164 in the House and 62-36 in the Senate. The VRA, also known as the Motor Voter Act, required states to provide for voter registration when applying for a driver’s license or public assistance and to allow for voter registration by mail.

After the debacle of Florida’s 2000 election, a bipartisan coalition enacted the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) two years later by a vote of 357-48 in the House and 92-2 in the Senate. HAVA set new mandatory minimum standards for states to follow in several key areas of election administration.

And as recently as 2006, Congress passed and President Bush signed an extension of the Voting Rights Act for 25 years, relying on mountains of evidence of continuing discrimination. The vote was 390-33 in the House and 98-0 in the Senate. These overwhelming bi-partisan majorities are worth remembering.

Yet we are now confronted not with efforts to end hourslong lines to vote, or to make it easier to register, or to extend early voting, but instead by efforts to impose unjustified restrictions on who can cast a ballot and to make casting a ballot ever more difficult. Before Shelby v Holder, several states and local jurisdictions passed or attempted to pass laws eliminating same day registration, shortening hours for registration, moving polling places in ways that disadvantaged minority communities, and perhaps most egregious, instituting photo ID requirements. The photo ID requirement is supposed to prevent individual voter fraud, although there is virtually no evidence that such fraud exists.

These efforts gained a veneer of legitimacy when the Supreme Court ruled that such requirements were legal in

Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, an ill-advised decision that said states merely had to have plausible reasons for a photo ID law. Critics have since amassed evidence that significant portions of the electorate will be severely disadvantaged by photo ID requirements that assume a potential voter can prove citizenship or is in possession of a birth certificate.

For many, particularly poor, older, and minority voters (a majority of whom are women), acquiring such documentation is onerous and expensive, if it can be done at all. The photo ID requirement turns out to be the equivalent of a poll tax, supposedly barred by the 24th amendment to the Constitution.

Since the decision in Shelby a mere two months ago, several states have pressed election changes that will infringe on the rights of voters. It is clear that voters -- present and future -- can’t rely on the Supreme Court to protect the right to vote. Indeed, most Americans would be surprised to know that the Constitution contains no affirmative right to vote, though it does say, through amendments, that states may not restrict the right to vote on the basis of race or gender, cannot require a poll tax, and must allow those 18 and over to vote.

In the spirit of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, it is again time to act to preserve that bedrock right that makes freedom possible. Whether it is through passage of a constitutional amendment affirming every citizen’s right to vote or a revitalization of the spirit and letter of the Voting Rights Act, Congress must act. It would be most fitting if it did so before the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act two years hence.

Nancy K. Kaufman is the CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women.

with a lifetime subscription to the Jewish Press, and have faithfully read the paper every week since then. Of course the paper takes a while to get to New Jersey, and this morning (Sept. 9) we received the Aug. 30 New Year’s Edition.

There have been many times over the quarter of a century that I said “I am going to write a letter!” but I think in all this time I have sent but one or two letters to the editor. But today I must send you the Letter (to the Editor) Gadol….

The Great Letter.

Your theme of “Lay leaders in our Jewish Community” just bowled me over. Of the approximately 28 key articles about 28 different individuals or couples, it was wonderful to read about 18 people whom I partnered with as lay leaders from 1980 through 1988. These 18 were teenage leaders, committee chairs, board members, and most especially, JCC and Federation Presidents. Reading the paper each week has kept me in touch, but reading this issue brought me smack back to 132nd Street Live! Very well done – great writing and great profiles. Almost all of them look just like they looked 25 years ago! (Well, I am writing this a few days before Yom Kippur, so there is still time….)

There have been a myriad of changes in the past 25 years, and multiple changes to Jewish Omaha in the past several years. But for all these changes, what has remained constant is the passion you describe in your opening editorial. I am sitting here looking at pictures of people who exemplified all of the wonderful attributes of being a “Lay Leader in the Jewish Community”. From 1988 through 2010, I was responsible for teaching and training hundreds and hundreds of JCC professionals and lay leaders. My eight years “on the job” in Omaha formed a core part of what I shared with others. I learned so much from these 18 (and many who are not mentioned, especially the late Mary Fellman), and hopefully they learned from me as well. The lay-professional partnership in the Jewish Community is all about passion for building, creating and maintaining “kehilla” for today and tomorrow. Omaha has always done it best.

My wife Fran and I send our warmest wishes for good health and peace in 5774.

B’shalom, Shanah Tova!

Steven Rod sjrod@aol.com

Letters TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor, Kudos to Renee Kazor and Andy Greenberg who, with the help from a donation from LOVE put together a very meaningful prayer book for the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home High Holidays.

It was a labor of love and will be appreciated by the residents and others who attend services at RBJH for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur for many years.

Thank you both for your hard work and dedication to the Home and its residents, not only with the High Holiday prayer book, but with all your help; thank you as well to the many other volunteers who donate their time to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

Eileen and Miles Remer Dear Editor, My family and I lived in Omaha from 1980 through 1988.

They were eight of the best years of our lives. For the first six years, I served as Executive Director of the JCC and for the last two I was the Director of the Federation. At my farewell party in March 1988, among other gifts, I was presented

10 | The Jewish Press | September 13, 2013

Synagogues B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE 618 Mynster Street | Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 | 712.322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com For information on our historic synagogue – dates and times for Friday night services, call 712.323.8885.

FRIDAY: Kol Nidre services, 7:30 p.m. with guest, Dr. Leonard Greenspoon, If I forgot thee, O Jerusalem...

Remembering and Forgetting in Jewish Tradition.

SATURDAY: Services, 10:30 a.m. with guest speaker Jessica Gall, Creating Allies -- Make Your Community No Place for Hate; Nelah service and Break-the-fast potluck, 5:30 p.m. Please call Sandra at 712.323.8885 to RSVP and let us know what dish you’d like to bring.

Yom Kippur services will be led by Jeffrey Taxman.

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California | Omaha, NE 68154-1980 | 402.492.8550 www.bethel-omaha.org Services conducted by Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman.

FRIDAY: Kol Nidre Service, 7:15 p.m.

SATURDAY: Yom Kippur Service (Yizkor), 9 a.m.; Youth Service, 10:30 a.m.; Mini Minyannaires Tot Service, 11 a.m.; Study session, 5:15 p.m.; Minha-Ne’ila service, 6 p.m.; Children’s procession, 8:10 p.m.; Sounding of the Shofar, around 8:18 p.m.

WEEKDAY SERVICES: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.; weekdays, 7 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.

SUNDAY: Join Men’s Club for Sukkah Building, 8:30 a.m., Grab a bagel, a cup of coffee and a hammer and help us construct the synagogue’s sukkah. Everyone is welcome; you don’t have to be a member of Men's Club to help. For more information, contact David Finkelstein at finkelruetsch@ cox.net; Torah Study Group, 10 a.m.; Torah Tots, 10:45 a.m.noon. Fun-filled class for preschoolers and their parents, led

by Naomi Gaca; USY/ Kadima, 5 p.m., USY will host a special interfaith program at the synagogue with the Second Unitarian Church’s youth group. Cost to attend is $10. RSVP to Betsy by contacting her at youthdir@bethel-omaha.org, betsy4589@gmail. com, or at 402.321.1806.

TUESDAY: Wrestling with the Rabbis of the Talmud, 10 a.m. weekly adult-education class led by Rabbi Abraham.

No charge to attend; everyone is welcome.

WEDNESDAY: Choir Rehearsal, 7:30 p.m. in the chapel.

Operation Isaiah, share food and clothing with those in need by bringing non-perishable food and gently-worn clothing to the synagogue, now through Sept. 13.

The Secrets of the Jews, Sunday, Sept. 22, 10 a.m.,with Andy Greenberg. Cost is $36 for members, $45 for nonmembers. Register online at www.bethel-omaha.org.

Kibbutz Chaverim, Sunday, Sept. 22, 12:15 p.m., kids and their families are invited to enjoy the community Sukkah Hop Sukkah Hop, Sunday, Sept. 22, a progressive holiday celebration starting with appetizers at 12:15 p.m. at Beth El; then on to Beth Israel at 1:15 p.m. for lunch; 2:15 p.m. at Temple Israel for ice cream; and 3:15 p.m. at the Blumkin Home for refreshments and fun. Cost to attend is $5 a person or $20 a family. RSVP by Sept. 18 to Beth El (see full story on page 4.)

Tai Chi class, six-week session, led by certified Thai Chi instructor Beth Staenberg, begins Monday, Sept. 23, 6:30 p.m. Cost, $18. Register online at www.bethel-omaha.org.

Family Shabbaton, Nov. 15-17, Lied Lodge in Nebraska City. All families in the Jewish community with children in seventh grade and younger, are welcome. Early-bird registration price good through Sept. 13 – register online at Beth El’s website.

All classes and programs are open to everyone in the Jewish community.

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific Street | Omaha, NE. 68154 | 402.556.6288 www.BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org Office hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Jonathan Gross.

FRIDAY: Selichot/Shacharit, 6:30 a.m.; Kol Nidre, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Sermon, 10 a.m., followed

by Yizkor; The Book of Yonah class, 5 p.m. with Rabbi Gross; Mincha, 5:45 p.m.; Neilah, 6:45 p.m.; Fast Ends/Havdalah, 8:20 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.

WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: Daf Yomi: Week in Review with Rabbi Gross, 7:45 a.m.

Candlelighting Friday, September 13, 7:19 p.m.

Wednesday, September 18, 7:10 p.m. | Thursday, September 19, no earlier than 8:08 p.m.

TUESDAY: Women’s Study Group, 6:30 p.m. at the home of Kathy Weiner.

WEDNESDAY: Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:10 p.m.

THURSDAY: Shacharit followed by lunch in the Sukkah, 9 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6:55 p.m.; Earliest Candle Lighting, 8:08 p.m.

CHABAD CENTER An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 South 120 Street | Omaha, NE 68144-1646 | 402.330.1800 www.OChabad.com | email: chabad@aol.com Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: Minyan and Meditation, 7 a.m.; Kol Nidre Service, 6:45 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Yizkor, 11 a.m.; Mincha/Neilah (the closing prayer of Yom Kippur), 6 p.m. followed by Yom Kippur Break-the-fast.

SUNDAY: Minyan, 8:30 a.m.; Breakfast Bonanza, 9:30 a.m.

WEEKDAYS: Minyan and Meditation, 7 a.m.

TUESDAY: Dynamic Discovery with Shani Katzman, 10:15 a.m. A class for women based on traditional texts with practical insights and application. RSVP by calling the office.

WEDNESDAY: Personal Parsha class, 10 a.m. with Rochi Katzman. RSVP by calling the office; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY: Shacharit, 10 a.m. followed by lunch; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7 p.m.

All programs are open to the entire community.

CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN South Street Temple | Union for Reform Judaism 2061 South 20th Street | Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 | 402.435.8004 www.southstreettemple.org Services conducted by Rabbi Craig Lewis.

FRIDAY: Yom Kippur Evening Service, 8 p.m.

SATURDAY: Yom Kippur Children’s Service (Parents please accompany your children) 9 a.m.; Yom Kippur Morning Service, 10 a.m.; Yom Kippur Afternoon Service, Memorial Service, and Concluding Service, 3 p.m.; Break-theFast Potluck, 6 p.m.

SUNDAY: Helpers needed to put up the sides of the community sukkah, 9 a.m. The LJCS students will decorate during class; LJCS Gan through Grade 7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; Hallah High Lite & Hallah High, 9:45 a.m.noon at Tifereth Israel; LJCS Soup in the Sukkah, noon.

TUESDAY: Ladies Lunch Group, noon at Art & Soul.

WEDNESDAY: No LJCS Classes due to Sukkot ADULT EDUCATION TUESDAY, 6:30-8 p.m. Intro to Judaism, led by Rabbi Lewis. The cost is $50 to cover course materials. Couples can share materials and need only pay one fee.

Annual High Holidays Food Drive has begun and we are collecting food and personal care items. Remember that monetary donations are also welcome and encouraged.

Make checks out to the Food Bank of Lincoln and get them to the Temple office so we can send our collective donations to the Food Bank after the holidays.

Help is still needed to water the Temple grounds during the weeks of Sept. 9, and Sept. 16 (Monday through the following Sunday each week). Our days to water (at our odd numbered address) are Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Please contact Ellin at ellin7@aol.com if you can help or if you have questions. Thank you!

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE SAC Memorial Chapel 301 Lincoln Highway | Offutt AFB, NE 68113 | 402.294.6244 FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME 323 South 132 Street | Omaha, NE 68154 FRIDAY: Kol Nidre Services, 7 p.m. led by Andy Greenberg.

SATURDAY: Yom Kippur Services with Yizkor, 9 a.m. led

by Andy Greenberg; Yom Kippur Concluding Service, 4 p.m. led by Marti Nerenstone.

Services will be held in the Chapel. Members of the community are invited to attend.

TEMPLE ISRAEL Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 7023 Cass Street | Omaha, NE 68132-2651 | 402.556.6536 http://templeisraelomaha.com FRIDAY: Kol Nidre Service, 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Tot Service, 9 a.m. for preschool aged children; Children’s service (K-4), 9 a.m. led by Rabbi Brown,

Debbie Massarano, Nikki Flatowicz and OTYG. OTYG will perform Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a musical with lessons about Yom Kippur and forgiveness.

The children will join the main service before the last aliyah, in order to experience the power of our High Holy Day Torah and Shofar services. We request that parents save a space next to you for your children to join you at the appropriate time; Morning Service, 10:15 a.m.; Panel on Mental Health, 12:30 p.m.; Moments of Remembrance, 2:30 p.m. with Helen Bleicher, MA, Licensed Mental Health Counsler; What Do I believe about G-d, Repentance and Forgiveness, 2:30 p.m. with Rabbi Samuel Joseph; Afternoon service/Yizkor/Ne’ilah/Havdalah, 3:45 p.m.

High Holy Days Food Drive: Fill a Bag, Feed a Family: Return your bag filled with food on Yom Kippur that you picked up on Rosh Hashanah. Last year we collected over 3,100 pounds of food to stock the pantry at the Food Bank of the Heartland. Please include as much protein (i.e., canned meats, tuna, lentils/beans, peanut butter) in your donations. Help us to make this year a sweeter one for all.

SUNDAY: No Religious School.

TUESDAY: Board of Trustees Meeting, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Grades 3-6, 4 p.m.; Family School, 6 p.m.; Grades 7-8, 6 p.m.; Temple Teen Night, 6 p.m.; Dinner, Sukkot Service and Bonfire, 6 p.m. There will be family friendly activities. All participants are asked to bring fresh produce to donate to the Food Bank for the Heartland. Our Tri-Faith Initiative of Omaha partners will be invited to participate; Tools to Engage in a Conversation about Israel as an American Jew with Cantor Shermet, 6:30 p.m. with Cantor Shermet.

THURSDAY: Breakfast in the Sukkah, 9:30 a.m.; Sukkot Morning Service, 10:30 a.m.

Community Sukkah Hop, Sunday, Sept. 22. A great family activity complete with food, crafts, games and music. We start with appetizers at Beth El at 12:15 p.m., followed by lunch at Beth Israel at 1:15 p.m., and we round out the afternoon with ice cream and tours of the new building at Temple Israel at 2:15 p.m. The cost is $5 per person or $20 per family. Please RSVP by Sept. 18.

TIFERETH ISRAEL Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Boulevard | Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 | 402.423.8569 www.tiferethisraellincoln.org Services conducted by lay leader Nancy Coren. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

FRIDAY: The office will be closed; Kol Nidre Service, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY: Yom Kippur Services, 9 a.m.; Youth Services, 11 a.m.; Mincha, 6 p.m.; Havdalah and Break-the-fast meal, 8:20 p.m.

SUNDAY: Helpers needed to put up the sides of the community sukkah, 9 a.m. The LJCS students will decorate during class; LJCS Gan through Grade 7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; Hallah High Lite & Hallah High, 9:45 a.m.noon at Tifereth Israel; LJCS Soup in the Sukkah, noon.

TUESDAY: Ladies Lunch Group, noon at Art & Soul, located off 56th street behind Campbell’s Nursery. Please contact Stephanie Dohner with any questions.

WEDNESDAY: The office will be closed for Sukkot; No LJCS Classes due to Sukkot.

THURSDAY: The office will be closed for Sukkot; Services, 8:30 a.m.

RJC endorses Syria call

by RON KAMPEAS We hear a lot of rhetoric about putting country above politics, but the Republican Jewish Coalition comes through this week with a robust endorsement of President Obama’s call for congressional backing for a Syria strike.

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) issued an Action Alert today to our members, calling on them to reach out to their elected officials, to ask them to support the upcoming resolution authorizing the use of military force against the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Syria.

The Action Alert stressed the moral threshold that has been crossed by Syria’s use of chemical weapons against its own people.

We also emphasized that it is in America’s vital national interests that we continue to be able to project – in Syria and elsewhere – a credible military deterrent.

The RJC believes that this not a Republican or Democrat issue. We encouraged our members to reach out in a bipartisan fashion to Republican and Democrat officials to ask for their support of the resolution.

Pulverente MONUMENT CO.

September 13, 2013 | The Jewish Press | 11

Days of Awe

In memoriam DEBRA E. SLUTZKY-CHASEN

Sparks from the word RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parsha Yaim Noraim Every sensitive worshiper is moved by the solemnity of the prayer U-netaneh Tokef. Taken literally or not, the idea of the New Year holding unknown events in its quiver (who shall live, and who shall die!) necessarily involves us with introspection and solemnity.

But the prayer ends on a note of triumph: An “evil decree” or the severity of the decree may be removed by Repentance, Prayer, and Charity.

We are required on Yom Kippur, and by the whole Ten Days of Penitence which it concludes, to examine ourselves.

It is always easy to see the faults of others. It is not as easy to admit our own faults, nor to acknoledge our own sinfulness, our own wrong-doing. But if Yom Kippur is to be more than a long day of mumbling prayers, it must entail an honest personal inventory. And the inventory should lead us to strike out those items that drag our moral balance down.

We must be brave, honest, ruthless, in looking inward to see ourselves truthfully.

Jewish tradition can never leave out God. No matter how we define God, more literally or more liberally, a sane human understanding of man’s role in the universe is a role under God. There are other traditions. But Jewish tradition sees man as not alone in the universe in his striving toward the good society. He is supported by a benevolent God. Man is nothing if he is alone. He is nothing if he is selfish.He must be in touch with humanity. He hears the voice of the oppressed and the deprived, the voice of humanity striving not only for goodness, but for the basic opportunities for life.

The prayer itself tells us that: U-teshuvah U-tefillah Utzedakah, it reads. Repentance, Prayer, and Charity: it is these three together, this unity, that touches our deepest psychic roots and prepares us to be human for another year.

Debra E. Slutzky-Chasen passed away on Sept. 1 at age 58.

Services were held Sept. 2 at Beth El Cemetery.

She was preceded in death by her parents Adele and Charles Slutzky.

She is survived by her daughter, Danielle Tornkvist and son, Mathew Chasen, and son and daughter-in-law, Jeremy and Nicole Chasen; and many nephews and nieces.

Debra was born in Omaha and lived here her entire life.

She was an extraordinary daughter, wife, mother and aunt with a zest for life without rival. Debra loved her kids and being with family, loved reading, being outdoors and working. Her loving smile, kind heart and good spirit will be missed by all.

Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, Rose Blumkin Jewish Home or the VNA (Visiting Nurses Association – Hospice).

Alice (Litzie) Trustin passed away on Sept. 4 at age 86.

Services were held Sept. 10 at Air Force Village II, High Flight Chapel in San Antonio, TX followed by a reception.

She was interred in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Berthold and Elizabeth Singer, parents-in-law, Harry and Bess Trustin and brother-in-law, Marvin Taxman.

She is survived by her husband, Yale; daughter, Bonnie and daughter and son-in-law, Lisa Trustin and Greg Stone; son and daughter-in-law, Mark Trustin and Dr. Marcia Angle; four grandchildren; sister and brother-in-law, Helen and Brig. Gen. Walter Bachus, US Army (Ret.); sister-inlaw, Barbara Taxman and many cousins, nieces and nephews.

She was born in Vienna, Austria on Sept. 15, 1926. She and her husband, Col. Yale Trustin, USAF Ret. lived at Air Force Village II in San Antonio, since moving there from Omaha in 2005.

Memorials may be made to USC Shoah Foundation (http://sfi.usc.edu) or The Air Force Village Foundation (https://ww.afvillages/charitablefoundation/make-gift).

Rosh Hashanah, said that because of the situation in the region, the painting would not be sent this week as had been arranged.

The loan was organized by the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, where the painting is conserved, and the Italy-Israel Foundation for Culture and the Arts.

Italian Culture Minister Massimo Bray was scheduled to travel to Jerusalem for the inauguration of the exhibition, which also was to have been attended by Israeli Culture Minister Limor Livnat.

The “Annunciation” is a large fresco painted by Botticelli in 1481 on a wall at the hospital of San Martino alla Scala in Florence. It was removed from the wall in 1920 and transferred to the Uffizi, where it underwent restoration.

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Italy delays sending 15th-century Botticelli to Israel over Syria threat

by JTA NEWS STAFF ROME (JTA) – Concerned by war clouds over Syria, Italy is holding off on loaning a 15th-century masterpiece

by Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli to Israel.

But citing the importance of cultural relations between the two countries, the Italian Culture Ministry said it would soon decide on a work of similar “high cultural and artistic” significance to send to Israel in its place.

Italy was to have shipped Botticelli’s “Annunciation of San Martino alla Scala” to Israel this week, where the work was to have been displayed at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem for several months starting Sept. 17 as part of celebrations for Israel’s 65th birthday.

A Culture Ministry communique released last week, on

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12 | The Jewish Press | September 13, 2013

A family affair

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor Imagine: you’re 87 years old, you live at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, and your granddaughter Katie tells you she’s been selected to join a dance company. Not just any dance company; the Vertigo Dance Company in Israel. What do you do? If your name is Bernie Meyers, you get yourself on a plane to Tel Aviv. And you make sure to pack both your sense of humor, and a large box of tissues.

granddaughter dance. She would be spending six months in Israel, traveling and dancing, and I didn’t want to miss it.”

Bernie looked forward to the trip, mostly because he anticipated what it would be like to see Katie dance. What he didn’t anticipate was what it would feel like to arrive in Israel.

“As soon as I came off the plane, I had this feeling of joy,” he said. “I instantly knew this was a special place. All around me were people speaking this funny language; it’s like being in New York but with more Israelis.”

After the show, they climbed back into the “Van from Hell,” according to Mike. “This time, the driver knew where he was going. He took advantage of his newfound knowledge and drove even faster along the now pitch-black roads.”

They saw her again the next night, this time without fearing for their lives during the drive. They also visited the Kotel, where Bernie was asked to lay Tefillin for the first time in about 70 years. They visited Masada, and the Dead Sea (where Bernie did not go in the water) and, of course, Yad Vashem.

“Vertigo is considered one of the finest dance troupes in the world,” said Mike Meyers, who is Bernie’s son and Katie’s father. “Truly unique in the field, Vertigo is based out of the Eco Arts Village, a Kibbutz dedicated to all forms of art.”

Mike went to Israel with Bernie, as did his wife Anne and their other daughter, Haley. Bernie’s caretaker Adelaide came along as well, as did two wheelchairs: one to sit in, and another “loaded with a mountain of gear,” according to Mike. “Needless to say, Bernie was prepared for anything.”

Mike added that going through security was a funny experience: “Bernie was extending his arms, and having a wand traverse across his 87-year-old body. As if he was planning to do something radical on the way to see his granddaughter dance.”

“I had never been to Israel,” Bernie said, “My wife Roie and I just never got around to it. We took trips, just not to Israel.

I went for one reason, and one reason only: to see my

They landed in Tel Aviv and traveled directly to Jerusalem for some rest. The next day, after a sumptuous brunch (“I couldn’t get any bacon and eggs,” Bernie said, “but it was good nonetheless”), they drove back to Tel Aviv to visit Independence Hall. Then, on July 17, it was time for Katie’s first performance at the Eco Arts Village Kibbutz. Bernie was excited, even more so once he found himself inside the taxi with a driver who was both slightly lost and in a hurry.

“The views were breathtaking,” Mike said, “mostly because the driver was going as fast as he could, along narrow, winding roads. At times, it felt as if we were going on two wheels, causing Bernie’s knuckles to go white.” But they made it, and as soon as Bernie saw his granddaughter dance, the rest of the world no longer existed.

“She is such a beautiful dancer,” he said, “I can barely think about it without crying. All I could do was stare at her. It was truly a unique experience.”

“Yad Vashem was both the best and the worst,” Bernie said.

“I was just a young boy during the years of the Nazi regime, and have never been able to take a close look at the atrocities that happened. This time, in Jerusalem, I was able to look at the horror, as well as the beauty that came afterwards.

Part of that beauty was, no doubt, the support Bernie received from his family. Daughter-in-law Anne worked with Jan Goldstein in organizing the trip; Mike collected messages from family members wishing Bernie safe travels, which they read together before getting on the plane.

Something else the family arranged: presenting Bernie with The Book of Bobo, a compilation of some of the many stories Bernie has written during his lifetime.

Bernie Meyers is back home, rich with memories, and full of stories. Hopefully, those stories find their way to all of us.

Stay tuned.

Happy 91st Birthday Stanley Silverman!

We love you and hope you have a great birthday.

Love, Jeff & Mary Kay, Grandkids & Great-Grandkids