September 21, 2007

Vol. LXXXVII No. 2 Omaha, NE

Celebrating 86 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa

Performing Arts Series comes to Omaha

Muslim prisoner of Auschwitz reunites with his liberators

by CAROL KATZMAN Editor of the Jewish Press Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

Another five million dissidents, politicians, homosexuals, Catholics, and Gypsies also perished. But who knew that Muslims were imprisoned and killed as well?

Sami Jalilov, one of the few Muslim survivors of Auschwitz, spoke to nearly 200 Catholics, Muslims, Jews and others last week at the Jewish Community Center, thanks to the AntiDefamation League Institute for Holocaust Education and Project Interfaith, which have reached out to these diverse groups.

It started last March, when Jalilov’s grandson, Jama Samiev, called to wish his grandfather a happy birth- Technical Sgt. Lawrence DeSouza, left, Sami Jalilov, the last Tajiki Muslim survivor of day. What Samiev heard, Auschwitz, and his grandson, Jama Samiev, display the Iowa state flag. It was given to Jalilov at a reunion earlier this month by the 168th Regiment of the 34th Armored Infantry Division. however, shocked him.

“My grandfather began to tell me how he was captured the story and eventually came into contact with Beth near the end of World War II, taken to Auschwitz, and Seldin Dotan, director of the IHE. She recognized the then liberated by the Americans,” Samiev related. “I had unique message in Jalilov’s story and began research to heard bits and pieces, but the whole story came pouring find his liberators. She also shared his story with Jessica out. I think that at this stage in his life, he was trying to Gall, an English teacher at Burke High School and coordinator of the Tribute to the Rescuers essay contest, who seek closure.”

Samiev, who came to Omaha eight years ago as a stu- had contacts at Offutt Air Force Base. dent and now runs his own business, began to research Continued on page 3

How Walt and Mearsheimer misunderstand the pro-Israel lobby Sitting across from

by RON KAMPEAS Mearsheimer, a political WASHINGTON (JTA) science professor at the -- Covering Israel, its University of Chicago, relationship with the and Walt, an international United States and the affairs professor at the influential lobby that John F. Kennedy School straddles the two often of Government at requires the basic skills Harvard University, in and instincts of a cub the lobby of the Madison reporter on the neighborHotel in Washington, it hood beat. was obvious these guys With that in mind, I were not on drugs. But approached The Israel why did they make up Lobby and U.S. Foreign stuff?

Policy, the new book by Clearly this was not scholars John going to be a routine Mearsheimer and book tour interview, and Stephen Walt, as I would I tried to make that a map of my neighborknown from the outset. I hood drawn up by an explained that I was not urban planning critic who going to settle for the has a known bias against gentrification. You know Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, authors of The Israel Lobby usual “How did you get Credit: Greg Martin your ideas?” sort of quesit will emphasize blight and U.S. Foreign Policy. and ignore greenery to the point of unfairness, but tions because their ideas seemed so strikingly wrong.

Others have called the Walt-Mearsheimer writings boryou’re interested anyway because you might learn something, confront a discomfiting truth or two and get an derline anti-Semitic. I don’t think so, but their fantastic claims -- particularly about Israel, the lobby’s role in the idea of how to make things better.

Imagine the surprise, then, with the map laid out on lead-up to the Iraq war and the creation of the Bush the table, you see unrecognizable quadrants describing administration hostility to Syria -- demand answers.

First let me emphasize that just as The Israel Lobby is non-existent dungeons and moonscapes. Is this guy on Continued on page 2 drugs? you might wonder.

Inside

This Week: Yom Kippur & Sukkot recipes: Pages 10-11

See Front Page Stories & More at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’ Opinion Page see page 12

Synagogues celebrate Sukkot, Simchat Torah: Pages 4-5

9 Tishrei, 5768 September 21, 2007

by LISA LIEB Federation Communications Director “A few years ago, we were fortunate to host a musical group from our Partnership with Israel region,” said Arts Task Force Chairman Kim Goldberg. “We received an overwhelmingly positive response from the community. So when our Partnership made us an offer, we were thrilled, not only to be able to support our colleagues in the Western Galilee, but to present such high caliber programming to an audience that has already shown such a strong interest.”

As part of the Jewish Federation of Omaha’s Partnership with Israel program, this new performing arts series will come to Omaha, featuring artists from the Western Galilee region of Israel.

Goldberg has announced that Bonnie Bloch will lead the committee; members will include Kim Goldberg, Karen Lepp, Diane Malashock, Patty Nogg, Zoë Riekes, Stacey Rockman, Susan Rothholz, Aviva Segall, and Nancy Schlessinger.

Bloch is pleased to help. “The Western Galilee is a small area bordering Lebanon,” Bloch explained.

“Although the people of the Western Galilee have struggled with issues of demographics, economy and security, their resilience has transformed the area into a magnet for the arts. In recent years, they’ve started several local festivals that have grown in popularity. We are fortunate to have this op- A concert by violinists from Omaha’s portunity to Partnership with Israel region in the present these Western Galilee will open the Performing talented pro- Arts Series in November. fessional artists in Omaha.”

The Keshet Eilon violin concert will begin the series on Saturday, Nov. 10. This master violin program is located in Kibbutz Eilon and attracts young violin protégés from around the world. The Keshet Eilon program has an illustrious list of alumni.

Halil BaGalilee (Flutes in the Galilee) will perform on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2008. Hagit Rosmanrin and Gil Bohadana have spent years studying folk music, traveling around the world and collecting flutes and other exotic instruments. Their colorful and dynamic show sweeps audiences into a musical voyage around the world, for an evening the entire family can enjoy.

On Saturday, Feb. 23, the community will enjoy a performance of the Kibbutz Ga’aton modern dance company. This exceptional dance company was started

by Holocaust survivor and renowned dancer/choreographer Yehudit Arnon.

Because of the anticipated interest in attending each of these programs, a special package rate of $18 per family will be offered. This price will cover admission for each family member to attend the violin, flute and dance performances. Single-event tickets will also be available at a cost of $7 per person. Children and students will be admitted free of charge.

Following these three outstanding community performances, the Performing Arts Series will conclude with a play for the women of the Omaha Jewish community by the contemporary Akko Theatre Center. Seen Continued on page 2

Coming Next Month: Arts & Entertainment on Oct. 12 Goldstein Fund accepting grant requests: Page 7

Keeping the Land flowing with honey: Page 16

Page 2

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 21, 2007

Walt and Mearsheimer misunderstand pro-Israel lobby

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 Friedel early dismissal for Yom Kippur, 2:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 JCC Closed SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23

C The Living Torah, 9:30 a.m., at Chabad L Bible Study Group, 10 a.m., at Beth El I Sukkah building with Henry Monsky Lodge, 11:30 a.m.

P

C L I P

& USY “Pizza Bagels in the Hut” Sukkah decorating party,

&

Beyt Shalom Religious School, 1:30 p.m.

6 p.m., at Beth El

S MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 A V JSS Senior Luncheon, 10 a.m.

E Jewish Women International Potluck Supper, 6 p.m.,

S A V E

at Park Wood Terrace Apartments Clubhouse Hebrew Crash Course, 7 p.m., at Beth El TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 WOW Prayer Circle Tehillim and More, 9 a.m. at Chabad Eye on Israel, noon Federation Board Meeting, 6: p.m.

Jewish Federation Volunteer Recognition and Reception, 7:30 p.m.

Parshah Roundup, 7 p.m., at Chabad The Wow of Judaism, 7:30 p.m., at Beth El C WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 L I Friedel early dismissal, Erev Sukkot, 2:30 p.m.

P JCC Closes at 6 p.m.

C L I P

RBJH In-Service UNMC, 1:30 p.m. & Kabbalah Circle at Chabad, 7 p.m.

&

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 S A No School at Friedel Jewish Academy, Sukkot V JCC closed E All events held at the JCC unless otherwise indicated. The Jewish Press is not

S A V E

responsible for the accuracy of events. To keep calendar accurate or for questions, call Marlene Hert at 334-6437.

FOR A COMPLETE LISTING, VISIT THE FEDERATION’S WEBSITE: www.JewishOmaha.org (click on calendar)

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Continued from page 1 severely flawed on many counts, the book has its strong points and weak points that merit less than a tidal wave of condemnation. For starters, the chapter outlining who and what constitutes the pro-Israel lobby and how these combined forces exercises their influence in Washington is a useful consolidation of reporting by others.

The chapters on what the authors describe as Israel’s dwindling moral standing and decreasing strategic values to the United States invite plenty of disagreement on several fronts, but the authors do ask some hard and helpful questions about how the lobby functions and whether more discussion on Middle East policy matters would be useful.

The chapter on Israel’s dealings with the Palestinians is certainly one-sided, omitting or downplaying crucial information that would provide the uninformed and unbiased readers with a balanced picture, but at least the arguments put forth by Mearsheimer and Walt are grounded in an existing Palestinian and proPalestinian narrative.

It is on the subject of the Iraq war -- specifically the effort to assign blame to Jerusalem and Jewish organizations -that the authors go off the rails.

On this question, I asked Mearsheimer and Walt particularly about their focus on Paul Wolfowitz, the former deputy defense secretary who was an archi- Credit: The book’s publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux. tect of the war.

Why, I wondered, no mention of Wolfowitz’s many writings on the general idea of pre-emptive action, his efforts as the lead U.S. official shepherding democracy into the Philippines and Indonesia in the 1980s?

And what about his 2003 endorsement of the Geneva agreements positing Israel’s return to pre-1967 lines, made explicitly because he believed the Israel-Palestinian issue had to be solved if Iraq was to succeed? (To say the lobby was less than enthusiastic about the Geneva agreements would be an understatement.) Were these not more germane to understanding his commitment to war with Iraq than rumors of his commitment to Israel?

Mearsheimer responded: “We’re not making the argument that they were monomaniacal, that the United States had to invade Iraq for Israeli benefits.”

Yet absent other evidence of the Bush administration’s commitment to invade Iraq, that is exactly how their book comes across. The writers assemble quotes from leaders in Jerusalem to show that while Israel “did not initiate the campaign for war against Iraq,” it “did join forces with the neoconservatives to help sell the war to the Bush administration and the American people.”

The idea that Israel joined with neoconservatives to “sell” Bush on Iraq posits an inversion of how Washington operates -- especially under this administration. Bush’s proxies made it clear to Jewish leaders -and just about everyone else -- in the first days of the administration that the tradition of joining forces on areas of agreement and agreeing to disagree on all else

was null: You either signed on with the whole Bush agenda or you were frozen out.

And so, as 2002 wore into 2003, every interest group in this town that needed access to an immensely popular president -- the media, the Democrats and, yes, Jewish and pro-Israel groups -- signed on more or less to the White House policy that arched over all others: invading Iraq.

The authors weren’t buying.

“Never mind” also characterizes the authors’ response to my questions about the recent revelation by Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s planning chief at the State Department and a fierce critic of the Pentagon neoconservatives who pushed for war, that Israeli leaders prior to the invasion made it clear that they thought Iran was the real threat and Iraq was a distraction.

“Once it became clear that the United States intended to do Iran and Syria after it handled Iraq, the Israelis quickly bought into the enterprise and pushed us very hard,” Mearsheimer said.

But who was the “us” being pushed if the Israelis were being pushed by the Bush administration?

It is one thing for the authors to omit telling details that would undermine their theory. When it comes to America’s Syrian policy, however, they omit whole trends.

Mearsheimer and Walt ignore Israel’s panic -- reported by JTA and othes -- in late 2005 when it became clear that elements in the Bush administration were seeking regime change in Syria as “transformative.” Israeli officials strove to make clear that they had outlined all postregime scenarios and none of them were good.

Bush’s fury with the Syrians for undermining the single Middle Eastern success of his pro-democracy policy, Lebanon’s “Cedar Revolution” -- repeated in dozens of White House statements -- receives no mention in the Mearsheimer-Walt book. In fact, the only time the authors cite the successful ouster of Syrian occupation forces is when arguing that Israel’s policies are inviting their return.

The authors forcefully rejected complaints that their book suffers from a lack of original research.

“The critical issue is whether or not we would tell a different story or someone else would tell a different story if they did more extensive interviewing than we did,” Mearsheimer said. “And we’re confident that would not be the case. We regard the story as basically correct, and doing more interviewing would not alter the story line in any way.”

Yet such research would have led them to learn that it was not AIPAC but congressional Republicans who during last year’s Lebanon war undercut the efforts by Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), then the minority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, to include a line in a pro-Israel resolution urging “all sides to protect innocent civilian life.” It would have led them to report that it was White House pressure, in part, that pushed Israel this April to distance itself for a week or so from Pelosi’s efforts to assure Syria that Israel did not want war.

Questions about how Jews, Israel, the pro-Israel lobby and the U.S. government interact are critically important and beg for a little light. But The Israel Lobby is not the place to start. All Walt and Mearsheimer have achieved with their massive diversion based on unfounded accusations of overly broad Jewish influence is to help those who want to shut down that discussion.

Ron Kampeas is JTA’s Washington bureau chief.

Performing Arts Series Continued from page 1 as a unique and important phenomenon in the arena of Israeli culture, the company is known for creating a unique theatrical language and active social involvement. “Lech Lecha (Go Forth!) was written and will be performed by an all-female cast.

Funding for the Performing Arts Series is being provided by the Karen Sokolof Javitch Music Appreciation Fund, a Special Donor-Advised Fund, the Esther K. Newman Memorial Fund, the Myron (Mike) Milder II Memorial Fund, and the Morton A. Richards Endowment Fund.

Omaha’s Partnership with Israel Chairman Stacey Rockman has met a number of people in the Western Galilee and seen first-hand what makes this region so unique. “One of the outstanding features of the Western Galilee region is the people,” Rockman said. The people are warm, passionate and have a great appreciation of

the arts. Throughout the region you’ll see not just traditional arts -- music, theatre, dance -- but all kinds of non-traditional arts as well; everything from special jewelry to silk screening to glass-blown works of art.”

Bloch adds another reason she is looking forward to the Performing Arts Series.

“Israel’s 60th anniversary Chairman of the Performing takes place in 2008,” Bloch Arts Series is Bonnie Bloch. said. “As Israel nears the milestone of 60 years, this is one special way we can bring the community together to celebrate.”

For more information, call Julee Katzman at 334.6428.

September 14, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 3

Muslim prisoner of Auschwitz reunites with his liberators Continued from page 1 I still had my Red Army and smaller, as many succumbed to disease and deprivaTechnical Sgt. Lawrence card. That discovery both tion. Their daily rations consisted of four or five potatoes DeSouza, a specialist who comforted me and wor- (if they were lucky) and a slice of bread. European also happens to speak four ried me. Add to this my POWs were treated better, Jalilov said in his deposition; languages fluently, served head wound, which made the Jews were treated the worst. as a judge for the contest. it hard to collect my Jalilov spent three months in Auschwitz. By then, he “He stayed until the end,” thoughts. At some point, and the other men began to hear rumors that the Dotan said, “assisting I found a piece of cloth, Russians were approaching. At four o’clock in the mornuntil all essays had been placed my Red Army card ing, they were awakened and forced to march to read at least twice by the Augsberg, Germany, as the Nazis tried to extinguish jurors. And he was so any evidence of holding POWs in Auschwitz. “We impressed when he heard weren’t fed during that march,” Jalilov said, “except for students read their wineither a raw turnip or beet. We drank snow. And those ning essays at the awards who couldn’t get up the next morning were shot.” presentation in the spring, After 40 days and nights on the road, the POWs were he volunteered for more. I left with their Nazi guards in an abandoned school told him, ‘Be careful what house in Brescia, Italy. “One day,” Jalilov continued, Students from Skutt Catholic High School presented Sami Jalilov you wish for!’” “we realized the guards had fled. We walked up to the DeSouza was granted a t-shirt representing the “wings of hope” they learned through fence and saw men in army uniforms we had never seen his wish when Gall called their Holocaust curriculum; right: Beth Seldin Dotan, director of before.” The Americans had arrived. him for help on discover- the Institute for Holocaust Education.

Undernourished and filthy, the American Army ing which regiment had actually liberated Jalilov. offered showers and clean clothes to the POWs. They Already familiar with military procedures, DeSouza fed them and gave them medical attention and after two learned that it was the 168th Regiment of the 34th months, the former prisoners -- now free men -- were Armored Division, part of the Fifth Army, not the turned over to the Soviet military. Many of the former Seventh, as Jalilov had thought. prisoners were sent to gulags because they had not died As luck would have it, the 168th is based in Council honorably in battle. But Jalilov had held on to his Red Bluffs, Iowa, and planned to attend reunion of the 34th Army card which allowed him to re-enter the Soviet Division in Des Moines for early September. Jama Army. He mustered out in 1946 and returned to Samiev was finally able to make plans for his grandfather Khujand, where he taught school for nearly 50 years. to meet the men who liberated him.

Sami Jalilov was upset earlier this year when Iran host“Of course, it’s more complicated,” Samiev told the ed a conference of Holocaust deniers. “I am a survivor,” Press. The two-day flight from his grandfather’s homehe told his grandsons as well as the crowd last week. town in Khujand, included flights from Tajikistan to “After all we’ve experienced, there are people who deny Moscow to Vienna, then Chicago and finally Omaha. the Holocaust. The experience is well-documented by Accompanied by a nephew, Jalilov was greeted by three English teacher and coordinator of the Tribute to the Rescuers eyewitnesses and survivors like myself. I was there.” more grandsons, all of whom immigrated here and now essay contest Jessica Gall, left, Sgt. DeSouza and his wife, and Students from Skutt Catholic High School, who have members of Sami Jalilov’s family listen to him describe his been studying the Holocaust, also made a presentation own and operate five gas stations in the metro.

Reunited with family, Jalilov attended the 34th experience as a POW at Auschwitz. to Jalilov last week. Reading from their essays, the stuDivision’s reunion in Des Moines earlier this month. against my leg, wrapped it in the cloth and tightly dents expressed their admiration for this slight, soft-spoThough only six Americans from the original group were secured it with rope.” ken man. “You give us hope,” said one sophomore, who there, they gave Jalilov a warm welcome. He was given That Red Army card would later save his life. At gave Jalilov a t-shirt with the expression, “It is not the the Iowa state flag, and the regiment’s cap. His reaction, Auschwitz, Jalilov told the crowd at the JCC last week, size of my wingspan, but the size of my spirit.” according to his grandson Jama Samiev, was “utter dis- prisoners were divided by nationality and religion.

Sitting in the audience were more students and teachers, belief. My grandfather cried. ‘Get their names,’ he said of Dissidents, the mentally and physically challenged and trained by the IHE to use a variety of Holocaust curricula, the Americans. I’ve never seen him moved so much.”

POWs were separated from Jewish prisoners, who were as well as a number of Muslims from a variety of countries: Complicated doesn’t begin to describe Jalilov’s further divided into “workers” and the infirm. Jalilov Tajikistan, Pakistan, as well as American-born. The reacwartime experience. At age 18, Jalilov was drafted into recalls that two Jewish prisoners from Tajikistan were tion was almost universal, echoing Jalilov’s closing statethe Soviet Army in 1943 and served as a machine gun- taken and put with the Jewish prisoners. “We never saw ment, “We must become members of the human race.” ner. Wounded in a skirmish with the Nazi army at the them after November of 1944,” he said.

And Jalilov’s Red Army card? Upon his death, his famCzech border in September of 1944, Jalilov woke up in Issued prisoner number 183121, Jalilov and the oth- ily will donate it to the U.S. Holocaust Museum. It’s a a cattle car, headed for Auschwitz. ers were not given special uniforms, a violation of their fitting reminder that 62 years after the war’s end, the “I ran my hand over my chest,” he said in a deposition rights as POWs. He withstood the daily morning line- reach of the Holocaust even extended to a Muslim famto the United States Holocaust Museum, “and felt that up, noting over time that their numbers grew smaller ily in faraway Tajikistan.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 21, 2007

Relationships important to Temple’s new youth director

Beth Israel invites community to celebrate Sukkot and Simchat Torah

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Base since November 2006, Wiesner Temple Israel Communications Coordinator moved to Omaha. They will be getting PJ Wiesner, who moved here in May married May 25, 2008, in New Jersey. from New York City, will be Temple “I feared the worst,” as she prepared to Israel’s new director of youth and infor- move here, she admitted. However, “I’m mal education. She will oversee its three very happily surprised. The best part of youth groups: Omaha Temple Youth Omaha are the people I’ve met.” She had Group (OTYG), Junior Youth Group, heard that the Jewish community “was and Club 56; plan programming for col- very small, but I’m surprised by how lege students, provide information on close knit it is.”

Israel experiences; arrange and implement She was quickly assisted by Janie informal education; and recruit Temple Murow, community development direcyouth to attend Jewish summer camps. tor at the Jewish Federation, who put “Most importantly, PJ will Wiesner in touch with Marty make powerful and lasting Ricks, endowment director relationships with the youth of the Jewish Federation of our Temple,” said Jon Foundation.

He hired Meyers, president of Wiesner as the Foundation’s Temple’s Board of Trustees. part-time communications She recently accompanied coordinator.

OTYG as a chaperon on a In addition to her publicitrip to Worlds of Fun in ty skills, “I love working with Kansas City and six youth kids,” she said. “I was a sumgroup board members to a mer camp counselor for National Federation of many years. I think that I’m PJ Wiesner Temple Youth Leadership somebody teenagers can Training Institute in Missouri. relate to. My background will be helpful Growing up in Edison, New Jersey, to get more kids involved. You can plan a Wiesner was active in United Synagogue great program, but if nobody knows Youth. A mass communications major at about it…” she insinuated a poor turnout.

Boston University, she graduated in “I’ve had a lot of great experiences in my 2002. She has worked as a publicist for a life that revolved around being Jewish,” small publishing company near added Wiesner, 27. For example, she went Washington, D.C., in the communica- on the first birthright israel trip in 1999. “I tions department at a large law firm, and would love to be a mentor” to Temple’s most recently, in New York at Penguin youth, “somebody they feel comfortable Group, a publishing house, and its sister confiding in or to seek advice.”

“This is a big change for me” from the company, DK Publishing.

After becoming engaged in April to corporate world, she acknowledged. But First Lieutenant Jordan Feinstein, who she’s “excited to give back to the commuhas been stationed at Offutt Air Force nity that welcomed me with open arms.”

by MARY BORT for Beth Israel Synagogue Build a sukkah, celebrate the fall season and joyously complete the reading of the Torah. The fall holidays of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah will be celebrated at Beth Israel and the community is invited.

In preparation for Sukkot, everyone is invited to help put up Beth Israel’s sukkah this Sunday, Sept. 23, 10 a.m.

This annual event will begin after morning minyan. A light breakfast will be served and then the sukkah construction will commence. A concurrent children’s craft activity will be held -- children will paint self-portraits of themselves in a sukkah. For planning purposes, please RSVP with the synagogue office if your child will participate in the craft project.

Rabbi Jonathan Gross looks forward to celebrating Sukkot each year. “I appreciate the creativity of the holiday,” he explained. “It’s wonderful to see the different types of decorations in all the different sukkahs.”

The first day of Sukkot is Thursday, Sept. 27, 9 a.m., starting with morning services, followed by a lunch in the

sukkah. The roasted turkey meal costs $8 for adults, $4 for children ages four to 12, and is free for children ages three and under. Please make lunch reservations with the office. Friday, Sept. 28 is the second day of Sukkot. Morning services will be held at 9 a.m., followed by a sponsored Kiddush.

Shemini Atzeret falls on the eighth day of Sukkot on Thursday, Oct. 4, 9 a.m., with morning services; Yizkor is at 10:30 a.m. Simchat Torah celebrations begin on the evening of Oct. 4, 7:45 p.m., with Hakafot, followed by a dairy dinner. Cost is $8 for adults and free for children ages 12 and under. Simchat Torah morning services will be on Friday, Oct. 5, 9 a.m.

“For those who’ve been coming regularly every Shabbat to Beth Israel, Simchat Torah is a real celebration,” said Gross. “We’ve completed the Torah from beginning to end. It’s a real accomplishment. It’s also time to get excited to do it again this year, at an even higher level.

We’ll gain a deeper understanding of our most precious book.”

To make your reservations for the meals, or for more information, call the office at 556.6288.

An apple a day A group of families traveled to Ditmars’ apple orchard in Iowa for apple picking and a ride on a hay wagon. Estie Katzman pumped up the kids first with music and a little dance. For information about family programs at Chabad, call 330.1800.

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September 21, 2007

Sukkot and Simchat Torah at Beth El offer joyous festivities for all ages

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Beth El has joyous, fun-filled festivities on tap for Sukkot and Simchat Torah, and Jewish community members of all ages are invited to join in the celebration.

Once again, the synagogue’s Men’s Club will prepare for Sukkot by building and decorating a beautiful sukkah in the synagogue’s front courtyard on Sunday, Sept. 23, 8 a.m. Then at 6 p.m.,USY members will let their creative sides shine during the annual sukkah-decorating party. All those interested in helping are encouraged to join in; extra hands are always welcome.

The synagogue’s Sukkot festivities will commence on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 5:30 p.m.; holiday services will be held daily through Wednesday, Oct. 3.

On Sunday, Sept. 30, 1:30 p.m., Beth El congregants of all ages are encouraged to perform a special mitzvah by participating in the synagogue’s special Sukkot Social Action Day at City Sprouts, 40th and Franklin Streets.

City Sprouts works with volunteers from around the community to grow vegetables, flowers and herbs; its mission is to sustain communities through gardening and help Omaha neighborhoods develop lasting, productive green spaces. Beth El members will spend the afternoon weeding and building garden beds and will enjoy singing, plus Frances Gottlieb noshing on fruits and vegetables of the holiday. Participants will meet at Beth El to carpool to City Sprouts. To participate, please contact Program Director Margie Gutnik by Sept. 26 at 492.8550, or programming@bethel-omaha.org.

Rounding out the High Holidays will be a joyful Simchat Torah (“Rejoicing in the Torah”) celebration on Thursday, Oct. 4, 5:30 p.m. This festive holiday celebrates the love of Torah, and is observed with joyful instrumental music, singing and dancing with the Torah scrolls throughout the community court. Services will be followed by 6:15 p.m. Hakafot. The evening’s merriment will be capped off with a delicious ice cream social – an always-popular favorite for revelers.

During Friday, October 5, 9:30 a.m., services dedicated Beth El service attendees Merle Potash and Frances Gottlieb will be honored as Hatan Torah and Kalla Bereshit, respectively.

“I view a synagogue as a sanctuary for Jews to gather and pray,” remarked Gottlieb. “I view Beth El as a spe-

Temple to celebrate with Sukkah decorating, potluck dinner

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Celebrate Sukkot at Temple Israel on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 6 p.m., at a family potluck dinner. Families will decorate the outdoor sukkah with fruits and vegetables symbolizing the harvest. Decorations will be hung in the sukkah to remind us of the tents or little houses made of branches in which the children of Israel lived after fleeing from Egypt.

Temple will provide craft materials to draw, color, cut out, and hang in the sukkah. Dress will be casual for the informal and festive potluck dinner. Just remember to bring a side dish if your last name begins with the letters A to K and dessert if your last name starts with the letters from L to Z. Please call the Temple office, 556.6536 to make your reservation. There is no charge for the activities or dinner, but the office needs to plan for seating and beverages.

Worship services, including birthday blessings, begin at 7 p.m. in the sanctuary. Stacy Simon will decorate the indoor sukkah this year in honor of her daughter Talia’s Bat Mitzvah. “My goal is for the sukkah to be beautiful but simple,” said Simon who plans to use pomegranates, pumpkins, dried flowers, and other fruits from local harvests.

On Thursday, Sept. 27, the Sukkot morning worship service will begin at 10:30 a.m.

cial place where families and people grow and develop into a strong community. Not one person is responsible for the development and activities of the synagogue.

Everyone has to contribute of themselves to make this an outstanding Jewish community. My small effort was to only make sure that people who come will have a minyan for a special time in their lives. If my effort is recognized, that is special to me.”

For Potash, a ‘minyannaire’ for the past 15 years, the sense of community -- having the ability to help others to pray -- motivates his service attendance.

“I began to attend because I wanted to help make a minyan so that people could say Kaddish,” he said, noting that the 7 a.m. service has become part of his daily routine. “It’s so important for people to remember their ancestors - their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles – it’s very important to remember those people, and saying Kaddish is a meaningful way you can do it.”

Beth El President Sally Zipursky commended the honorees, saying, “Merle and Frances, two of our most loyal and dedicated minyannaires, are like postmen -Beth El can count on them to attend minyan no matter what! Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow nor whatever else, stops these two.

She added that, “We are blessed at Beth El to have people like Merle and Frances, who we know we can always count on,” she Merle Potash continued. “They are both so humble about the honor, which is so important because of the mitzvah they perform with their service attendance. Their fellow congregants truly appreciate that because of Merle and Frances, there is a minyan when they want to say Kaddish on a yahrzeit or after the death of a loved one. Simchat Torah is a very fitting time to honor these deserving individuals.”

Also during the service, Yad Awards will be presented to the following congregants who participated in the Megillah reading or read Torah or Haftorah seven times or more during the past year: Michael Gerson, Ben Shapiro, Phyllis Hoffman, Steve Riekes, Howard Kaplan, Gary Nachman, Toby Schonfeld, Marty Shukert, Stan Mitchell, Steve Denenberg, Jim Fried, Hal Emas, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Daniel Schlessinger and Andy Greenberg.

Both Sukkot and Simchat Torah offer families of all ages opportunities to celebrate together, and the community is invited to come to Beth El and join in the festivities.

IN THE NEWS The Charles Bronfman Prize has launched its 2008 award cycle, marking the start of this year’s international quest for extraordinary, young humanitarians. The Prize celebrates the vision and talent of an individual or team under 50 years of age whose humanitarian work has contributed significantly to the betterment of the world. Its goal is to bring public recognition to dynamic individuals whose Jewish values infuse their humanitarian accomplishments and provide inspiration to the next generations. Nominations guidelines and forms for the $100,000 award are available at www.TheCharlesBronfmanPrize.com. Nominations will be accepted through Nov. 30.

Ellen Bronfman Hauptman and Andrew Hauptman together with Stephen Bronfman and Claudine Blondin Bronfman established the Prize to honor their father.

In identifying the kinds of nominees being sought, Charles Bronfman pointed to past Prize recipients Jay Feinberg, Dr. Alon Tal, and Dr. Amitai Ziv, calling them “next generation leaders whose vision for change in their respective fields is bettering the world in exciting and meaningful ways. Each has created a mechanism for acting on their vision and delivering measurable results.

Their leadership, innovation, and impact are the best indicators of the kinds of nominees we are now seeking for the 2008 Prize cycle.”

For more information, please contact Michael Inlander, at 202.250.6158 or via e-mail at: Michael@DershowitzGroup.com.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 5

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 21, 2007

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by ANNETTE VANDEKAMP-WRIGHT ously taking names of volunteers for Old and new friends found a warm wel- upcoming events. “We will once again come at Friedel Jewish Academy earlier have the great Latke sale in December”, this month, when the annual ice cream said Julie Stein, “and, of course, the social was held. Parents and students got flower sale before Mother’s Day.” together and had a chance to visit with The new year has started well, and the staff as well as each other. board and staff of Friedel has worked New Friedel parent Danielle Gordman hard to get the building ready for an expressed how pleased she was with increased student population. choosing Friedel for her daughter “The first day of school went very Harper. “We love it,” she said. “We just smoothly,” according to principal Cookie know she will do very well, and the staff is fantastic.”

Harper, after being asked what she thought of kindergarten so far, replied, “I’m tired.”

The evening was organized by Julie Potash, Julie Stein, Linda Potash and Nancy Kutler, who have organized the Friedel Parent-Teacher Organization. They once again hope for 100% parent participation, and are very enthusias- Friedel PTO leaders, Linda Potash, left, Nancy Kutler, Julie tic about the upcoming year. Potash, and Julie Stein organized the welcome back ice “Our first fundraiser has cream social. already started, and we plan to have many Katskee. “It was an incredible beginning. more this school year,” said Nancy Even during lunch, which is often quite Kutler. The PTO is currently selling 2008 an adjustment for our new kindergartenentertainment books, proceeds of which ers, we experienced no difficulty.” Friedel will go to the school, and is simultane- is off to a great start.

Yachad gets to the core of things

At this very special time in our lives, we invite the Omaha Jewish Community to worship with us when our son Yaniv Zohar

by DUANE J. PIEPER the celebration of Rosh Hashanah.

Due to the late spring freeze there were The visit was not complete without a not many apples to be harvested at Arbor view of “Rube”, the mechanical marvel Day Farm, but the Yachad members that will wash, polish and size the fall har“picked” up a great deal of knowledge vest of apples. The members were introabout apples from their tour guide. Did duced to the green machine and learned you know that apples are a member of the about the intricacies of this invention crerose family of plants along with pears, ated by Rube Goldberg, an engineer and peaches, plums and cherries? Yachad Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist. learned about the The bus was dietary, economic filled with music as the Yachad and environmenmembers sang tal significance of many of their the apple. Today favorite Jewish there are 2500 songs on the varieties of apples ride back to the grown in the United States.

JCC. They Archaeologists brought a treashave found eviure trove of dence that apples apples and a are a biblical fruit. greater appreciaThis confirms the Yachad members enjoyed learning about our guide’s tion for this biblical passage of favorite apple, the English Cornell, one of the ugliest symbol of life the fruit trees in and yet the sweetest. Her point was not to judge an and its sweetness the Garden of apple or anything else by its outward appearance. as they prepare Eden from the Apples are free of fat, sodium and cholesterol free. to enter the book of Genesis. And they taste great, too!

New Year.

The guide taught Yachad many wonderCall JFS at 334.6491 to learn more ful things about apples and the members about Yachad and how you can be in turn pointed out its significance during involved in upcoming adventures.

is called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah Shabbat Bereshit 24 Tishrei 5768 the sixth of October, Two Thousand and Seven at 10:30 a.m.

Temple Israel 7023 Cass Street Omaha,Nebraska

Please join us for a Kiddush luncheon immediately following the service

Aryeh and Elyce Azriel

ENGAGEMENT KULLY/SKARPERUD Jennifer Rochelle Kully and Matthew Craig Skarperud, both of Scottsdale, AZ, have announced their engagement.

The bride-to-be is the daughter of Louis and Debra Kully of Hastings, NE. Her grandparents are Milton and Marian Cackin, and the late Yale and Sarah Kully.

She graduated from Fashion Careers of California in San Diego with a degree in fashion merchandising. She is a real estate agent with Dave Barnes Realty in Scottsdale.

Her fiancé is the son of Howard and Brenda Nelson of Sun Lakes, AZ, and the late Craig Skarperud. His grandparents are Harvey Handson, Sun Lakes, and the late Dorothy Hanson, and the late Elton and Arvis Skarperud.

He attended school in Grand Forks, ND, and moved to Arizona in 1996. He is a mortgage broker for Lending Corner in Scottsdale.

The couple plans an Oct. 26 wedding at Troon North Golf Club in Scottsdale.

September 21, 2007

ORGANIZATIONS B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Cookie Katskee and Yaffa Podbilewicz-Schuller will speak at Breadbreakers on Wednesday, Sept. 26, noon, at Regency Lodge, according to Marty Ricks, chairman.

Katskee, who is principal of Friedel Jewish Academy, and board co-chairman Schuller will discuss the exciting, upcoming school year at Friedel. All men and women in the community are invited. Cost is $12 for a complete lunch and $3 for beverage service only.

YOUNG ENERGETIC SENIORS Enjoy the music of Johnny Ray Gomez on Monday, 12:30 p.m., at the JCC, as he performs some of the greatest hits! Lunch is served at noon for $7 per person.

Join us for bingo with Eileen or Miles Remer at 10 a.m.

Call Dee Dee at 330.4272 for transportation. For information, call Maggie Conti at 334.6521.

LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Come to the Yiddish meeting at the JCC on Thursdays, 1-3 p.m. If you have Yiddish books to donate, please call Anne Skolkin at 343.1638.

JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA In honor of the commitment of the 2007 Volunteers of the Year -- Mel Clancy, Kim Goldberg, Ann Goldstein, Stan Mitchell, George Quittner, Miles Remer, Charles Slusky and Gadi Tene -- to tikkun olam, please bring a non-perishable donation to the Volunteer Recognition Reception on Tuesday, Sept.

25, 7:30 p.m., at the Jewish Community Center.

All donated items will go to the Jewish Family Service Food Pantry. JFS is especially in need of canned foods (fruits, vegetables, tuna and soup), laundry soap, and toiletries (shampoo, toothpaste and soap).

JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER Reminder: Construction on the ring road around the campus of the Jewish Community Center begins Thursday, Sept. 27, weather permitting. For more information about traffic patterns during construction of the Blumkin Home, call the JCC at 334.8200.

LIVINGSTON FOUNDATION The Board of Trustees of the Milton S. and Corinne N. Livingston Foundation will meet on Nov. 27 to review grant requests. Organizations are requested to submit grant proposals no later than Friday, Oct. 26.

For an application, please contact Myron J. Kaplan, executive director of the Livingston Foundation, in writing, at 11605 Miracle Hills Dr., Suite 300, PO Box 54-2005, Omaha, NE 68154-8005.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 7

Goldstein Supporting Fund accepting grant requests

by PJ WIESNER Foundation Communications Coordinator The Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Supporting Foundation, established in 2003, will meet this fall to consider requests for funds that support local projects and programs of the Jewish Federation and its agencies, synagogues, and Jewish service organizations.

Applications for grants that support local and national Jewish and secular charities in the areas of medicine and medical research (with an emphasis on kidney related diseases), rescue and relief, education and current events of Jewish content, and human rights will also be considered.

Grant applications should be submitted to the Federation Foundation (attention: Laurie Peatrowsky), 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154, no later than Monday, Oct. 29, 5 p.m. The maximum amount that can be requested is $7,500, and late applications will not be considered. Questions or assistance in preparing grant requests can be directed to Marty Ricks, Executive Director of the Foundation, at 334.6440.

When the members of the Goldstein Supporting Foundation met last fall, one of the grants approved was for the Jewish Federation of Omaha’s “Opportunity Omaha,” a program that offered job opportunities this past summer to college-aged youth living in Omaha or attending college in the Midwest. In addition to working at area companies, participants were exposed to weekly educational, social, and cultural programs introducing them to Omaha and the Jewish community. The goal was to entice young Jewish people to return to or move to Omaha after college.

The Lied Center for Performing Arts received a grant for The Train, a theater production about the Holocaust written in the early 1990s by Carl Slotboom and translated by Lincoln resident and Holocaust survivor, Dr. Louis Leviticus. The Train also featured newly commissioned music by Darleen Mitchell, a Kearney resident. The grant helped fund performances at the Jewish Community Center in April, including production costs and complimentary tickets for Omaha students.

A grant was provided to the National Holocaust Endowment Committee to fund Holocaust education programs for one year at Wayne State and/or Dana College, to include the cost of books, work materials, and teaching staff. The courses will provide students with a greater understanding of the Holocaust and a sense of responsibility to the human community.

The Nebraska Jewish Historical Society (NJHS) was able to purchase necessary supplies, software, and equipment for the day-to-day operations of its ongoing oral history program. Funding also went towards expenses incurred by Ben Nachman, who has donated his time and talent to film and produce interviews of for-

mer residents now residing across the country. These interviews recall the history of Omaha’s Jewish community with stories about past organizations, businesses, families, and synagogues.

Temple Israel was awarded a grant for the restoration of the B’nai Jacob and B’nai Sholem cemeteries, which it inherited in 1983 and 1978, respectively. Stones that have become weathered or broken and are now unreadable will be marked with a brass ground plaque with name and dates for recognition, and unsightly and inappropriate plantings will be replaced or trimmed and pruned. The B’nai Jacob Chapel will also undergo repair.

The Winners Circle will distribute uniform polo shirts to each student and staff member at Kellom Elementary to build school identity and morale. The goal of the program is to raise the academic achievement of at-risk inner city elementary school children through academic goal setting through encouragement and rewards. Since Kellom joined the Winners Circle during the 2005-06 school year, test scores have improved and parent/guardian participation and community involvement has increased.

Beth El Synagogue Talmud Torah received a grant for a partnership with two schools in Akko, which is located in the Western Galilee in Israel. Beginning in the fall of 2006, students in grades three, six and seven exchanged correspondence, artwork, videotapes, artifacts, and video-conferencing with students in Akko in an effort to connect on both an educational and personal level. The friendships forged during this program will encourage students to become supportive of Israel and continue to contribute to its welfare as they grow up.

A grant was also provided to the Center for Jewish Education for its June 2007 Jewish Educators Mission to Israel. Goals of the mission included creating awareness of Israel as a key component of Jewish education, providing an opportunity for intense experiential study of Jewish history and Judaism, connecting the educators of our community to the Jewish community through exploration of Jewish history in Israel, and introducing our educators to Israeli culture and the complexity of Jewish life in the Middle East.

Chabad of Nebraska was awarded a grant for the 2007 season of Gan Israel Day Camp, which ran this summer. Each year, the camp strives to combine a program of fun and games with opportunities for discussions and educational programs about Judaism for campers 3-11-years-old. The camp is staffed by professional teachers and specially trained teens looking out for the safety, well-being, and personal growth of each individual camper.

Continued on page 15

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 21, 2007

OUR GOAL $18.5 MILLION RAISED TO DATE $15.45 MILLION

September 21, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 9

Today we thank these contributors to

THE ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME BUILDING CAMPAIGN

Jewish Senior Services THE ROSE B LUMKIN JEWISH H OME

To reach our goal, we need your help.

Please take this opportunity to make your pledge now. $1,000,000 and above

$100,000 to $249,999

$25,000 to $49,999

Norman & Frances Batt* Florence* & Herman Goldstein Jeanie & Sherman* Neff Ellen & Tom Neuman The Silverman Family Stanley & Norma Silverman Jeffrey Silverman Denise Silverman

Irv & Gail Veitzer Norman & Joodi Veitzer & Scott Veitzer

Marty & Joanie Lehr Leonard & Bert Lewis L.O.V.E. David & Sue Meyers NCJW Sol Parsow The Platt Family Barbara & Michael Platt Ellen & Jeff Platt Lisa Platt Leopold & Julian Leopold Jill Platt Swanberg & Bill Swanberg Katy & Joe Platt The Blaine & Judy Roffman Family Steve & Shari Goldberg Family Dave & Carin Rosinsky Family Todd & Linda Zimmerman Family The Sheldon Family Norman & Suzy Sheldon Adam & Wendy Raffel Lisa Sheldon Suzanne Richards Singer The Families of Dan Somberg Debra Somberg Ken Somberg The Tretiak Family I.M. & Selma Tretiak Endowment Fund Kenneth Ray Tretiak Endowment Fund Morley & Charlotte Zipursky

$500,000 to $999,999 The Baker Family Henry Davis Friedland Family Foundation David & Nancy Friedland Gary & Melissa Steiner Matt & Paula Boggust Ted & Jamie Friedland Milton S. & Corinne N. Livingston Foundation Edward & Sally Malashock & Family Bob & Phyllis Newman Phil & Terri Schrager

$250,000 to $499,999 The Cooperman/Juro Families Harold Cooperman* Fran & Rich Juro Kevin Juro Kevin & Kimara Clark Keri Juro Tom & Darlynn Fellman Ike* & Roz Friedman Family The Goldstein Family Leonard & Shirley Goldstein Donald & Ann Goldstein The Kirshenbaum Family Joe & Maxine Kirshenbaum Jeff & Sharon Kirshenbaum Jeff & Susie Raizner Ken & Debbie Shonfeld Howard & Sharon Kooper Sharee & Murray Newman The Noddle Family Foundation Harlan* & Nancy Noddle Jay & Kim Noddle Marvin & Susie Levine Larry & Silvia Roffman & Family Millard & Beverly Seldin The Seldin Family Sarah & Ted Seldin Stephanie & Rodger Howard Beth & Amnon Dotan Slosburg Family Charitable Trust

$50,000 to $99,999 Steve & Carol Bloch The Epstein Family Harold & Etta Epstein Paul & Sandy Epstein Gary & Lisa Epstein The Fried & Robinson Family Sam & Frances Fried Andrew & Kimberly Robinson Mark & Paula Robinson Julius Froom* and Minnie & Phil Freeman* Endowment Fund Nelson & Linda Gordman The Kahn/Stiss Family Hugo & Lis Kahn Joseph & Eleahn Kahn Sol & Therese Stiss Howard & Gloria Kaslow The Kavich Family Andi & Larry Kavich Jeff Kavich & Family Amee & Ted Zetzman & Family Joseph Kirshenbaum The Mann Family Harold & Linda Mann Amy & Ron Ref Kathy & John McGauvran Joy & Doug Wadleigh Jill Mann The Pitlor Family Marcia & Steve Pitlor Rose Pitlor David Pitlor Kim Pitlor Lisa & Ian Abramson Don, Jessie & Russell Moore Milton & Rosalie Saylan Harley & Beth Schrager Bruce & Anne Shackman Gerald & Judy Simons Sherman & Harriett Sperling

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The Adler Family Charlotte Adler Bob & Bobbie Epstein Keith & Kathy Liberman Andy & Carole Shovers Stuart & Elizabeth Bohart Jeffrey & Laurie Epstein Michael & Melissa Schop The Belgrade Family $100,000 to $249,999 Sandra Belgrade Joe & Ruth Erman Bob Belgrade Michael & Jill Erman Bruce Belgrade Carl Frohm Memorial Foundation Jim & Robyn Belgrade Arthur & Ruth Goldstein* Family Jack & Marcia Cohen Endowment Fund The Farber Family Rabbi Myer Kripke Jim & Judy Farber Stuart & Bettie Muskin Harlan* & Nancy Noddle Allan Noddle The Friedman Family The Riekes Family Sandy & Amy Friedman Henry* & Dorothy Riekes Steve & Gail Friedman Steven J. & Margo Riekes Roger & Linda Friedman Carl & Zoë Riekes Mort & Janet Glass Alberto & Nancy Riekes Calderon Jeff & Danielle Gordman Charles & Cynthia Schneider Deborah Greene The Sherman Family Keith & Judy Josephson Irvin* & Phyllis Sherman Michael & Patty Sherman & Family David Keiser & Lillian Keiser Stoms Foundation Stephen & Gaye Sherman & Family Mrs. Albert Clayman Mark I. Sherman & Family Allen & Cindy Morris Daniel & Usha Sherman & Family Jeff & Jennifer Clayman Special Donor-Advised Fund Maury* & Madeline Katzman of the JFO Foundation

THE ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME BUILDING CAMPAIGN To help us make a New Beginning for the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, send your pledge today. Donations are payable over three years. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________| Name

I hereby pledge to pay the sum of $______________

___________________________________________________________________|______________________|______|____________|_____________________|___________________ Address City State Zip Code Phone Number Email ___________________________________________________________________|______________________| May we publish your name? Yes___| No___| Signature Date

Contributions may also be made by calling New Beginning General Chairman Howard Kooper, 392-1800 or Community Campaign Co-Chairmen, Sandy and Paul Epstein, 397-2528 and Joanie and Richard Jacobson, 554-0500.

Donations can be made by check or credit card*. Please send your check to: Jewish Federation of Omaha | 333 South 132nd Street | Omaha, NE 68154 *Credit card payments can be made online at www.jewishomaha.org or by calling 402/334-6436

$10,000 to $24,999

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Paul & Susann Shyken Milton & Maxine Simons Jerry & Janet Slusky Maury* & Joan Udes Arnie & Anne Weitz Philip & Nancy Wolf Eugene & Debbi Zweiback

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Under $2,500

Under $2,500

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Don & Ozzie Nogg Jeffrey & Kelly Nogg Jack & Maxine Noodell Linda Novak Rita Novak Bob & Donna Olesh Reva Oruch Ruth Oruch Donald & Ann Osborne Bede Ostrow Pardes Foundation Margo Parsow Elinore Penner Penner Patient Care Vicki Perlmeter Cheryl Phillips Jim & Gerri Phillips Gilda Pieck Roman & Raisa Pisetsky Matt & Kimberly Placzek Gary & Karen Plotkin Oliver & Karen Pollak Joseph & Bluma Polonski Donald & Corrine Polsky Alan Potash & Amy Nachman Julie Potash Merle & Ruth Potash Ronald & Debbie Powers Ray & Gwendolyn Pred George & Sharon Quittner Leonid & Irina Raksin Lola Reinglas Lorraine Reiss Miles & Eileen Remer Juliana Reno Amy Reynolds David Rice Gary & Caryn Rifkin Merilee Rimerman Nancy Rips Stuart Rochman Normand & Phyllis Roffman Lawrence & Betty Roitstein Kenneth Rosen Rita Rosen Shelia Rosen Bill* & Margo Rosen Jacob & Rose Rosenberg Rachel Rosenberg Dottie Rosenblum Martin Rosenstein Jerry & Charney Rosinsky Richard & Doris Rosinsky Steve & Bunny Rothenberg David & Marcia Ruback Mark & Alla Rubezhin Judy Rubin Michael & Marina Sadofsky Selma Sadofsky Mary Saferstein Janette Salkin Ernie & Rosalie Saltzman Errol & Lynne Saltzman Betty Sanford Mark Sanford Russ & Jane Sawyer Lisa Scheet Abe Schloff Ben & Beatrice Schneider Edward & Carol Schneider The Julius & Sarah Schreiber Family Dee Dempsey Marlene Parilman Debra Schwartz Solomon Schwartz Anthony & Andrea Scioli Charles Scudder Barry & Betty Segell Harold & Lois Selner George Shafer

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Page 10

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 21, 2007

Break up the break-fast routine with healthy fruits and vegetables

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by LINDA MOREL For those seeking a fat-free dessert, Autumn Fruit NEW YORK (JTA) -- The Yom Kippur fast is over. Compote is a medley of dried apricots and fresh seasonYou rush to a dining table laden with bagels, lox and al fruit that has been simmered in an elixir of jasmine tea. cream cheese, plus herring with sour cream and onions, Far perkier than stewed prunes, this elegant compote sable, noodle pudding and challah. Brewing coffee wafts compliments any pastry. throughout the house. Apple strudel and a platter of With the Day of Atonement falling on Shabbat this rugelach sit on the sideboard. Everything smells exqui- year, Yom Kippur will be more solemn than usual. As site. you leave synagogue after a day of prayer and contemAfter 25 hours of fasting, who can blame you for being plation, you will seek a peaceful meal among family and ravenous? friends. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want After the blessings are hunger to lead to glutrecited over the candles, tony, one of the sins for wine and bread, you fill which youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve just asked your plate. In the frenzy forgiveness during servicyou donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t realize that es. youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re eating only sugar, Augmenting bagels, lox flour, high-fat dairy prodand kugels, seasonal proucts and salty fish. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not duce is tempting but until later that you conunlikely to lead to excess. sider the consequences, When was the last time when your stomach you heard of anyone bloats and everyone at binging on salads and the table joins you in the compotes? same cry: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I ate too More than Jewish commuch!â&#x20AC;? fort food, an array of vegYouâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll never do this etables and fruit is in again, you promise. But keeping with the spirit of with Yom Kippur this sacred holiday. approaching, will you SOOTHING VEGETABLE SOUP: Filling yet light, the perfect appeThe following recipes tizer after fasting.

Credit: Linda Morel are by Linda Morel. keep your word?

While the traditional break-fast menu consists of SOOTHING VEGETABLE SOUP Jewish comfort food, something we all crave after a day 12 cups or two 48-ounce cans of vegetable broth of repentance and fasting, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a menu rife with fare that 1 13.75-ounce can artichoke hearts, drained 1/2 pound string beans, rinsed and cut into 1-inch triggers overeating: salt, sweets and rich fats.

Salty fish is traditional on break-fast menus because long pieces the abundant salt in cured and smoked fish replenishes 1 large zucchini, cleaned well this essential mineral that has been lost during the fast. 1 parsnip, peeled A tiny portion of lox, chubs, herring or sable goes a long 5 carrots, peeled 5 celery stalks, peeled way -- the rest is overkill.

In the Old Country, kugels were savory and 2 leeks unadorned by custard and caramelized toppings. But in 1/4 cup dill fronds, chopped America, where sugar rules, they became sweet enough 1/4 cup flat parsley leaves, chopped to qualify as dessert, although they never lost their side- Salt to taste (canned broth often contains sodium, so use salt sparingly) dish status. With a natural affinity for cream cheese, many Jews enjoy smearing thick slabs on bagels, turning 1/8 teaspoon white pepper Place vegetable broth in a large stock pot. a simple sandwich into a high-calorie affair.

Pull off artichoke leaves by hand. Cut out fuzzy center of Between the noodles, bagels, challah and array of desserts, most of us consume enough carbohydrates in heart and discard. Cut heart into four-six pieces.

Cut zucchini, parsnip, carrots, and celery into a large this one meal to last a week or even two. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not to mention the fats we ingest. Overeating often leads to dice.From leeks, remove coarse outer leaves. Cut off dark green ends. Discard both. Cut leeks in half lengthwise. tight waistbands and discomfort.

It would be wonderful to have some delicious alterna- Rinse under running water, until all dirt is removed. Cut tives on the break-fast table that could interrupt the into 1/2-inch slices.

Into stockpot, place all ingredients and simmer for 30 impulse to gorge on enticing fare -- alternatives that minutes, until vegetables soften and wilt. Check seasoning would be colorful, tasty and nutritious.

At the end of September, when Yom Kippur falls this and adjust.

Serve immediately or cool to room temperature, cover, year, farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s markets are flooded with a bumper crop of produce: tomatoes, carrots, zucchinis, parsnips, apples, and refrigerate for up to three days before serving. Recipe plums and grapes. For those hosting a break-fast meal, freezes well. Reheat before serving. Yield: 12 servings.

HEIRLOOM TOMATO why not make use of this vibrant cornucopia when planAND ROASTED ONION SALAD ning your menu?

For those invited as a guest, volunteer to bring a 2 tablespoons butter 4 large onions (about 1 pound each) healthy side dish or fruit-filled dessert.

Gravitate toward recipes such as the ones below, which Kosher salt to taste not only are nourishing but compatible with bagels and 1/2 cup olive oil, or more if needed during roasting lox. These recipes circumvent sugar, flour, fat and appre- 4 pounds heirloom tomatoes or any good slicing tomato, cleaned and cored ciable amounts of salt. They can be prepared one to three days in advance, making life easier for hosts when 1/8 cup red wine vinegar fulfilling the edict against working on the Day of 1/4 cup olive oil for drizzling Preheat oven to 300Âş. Coat two 10-by-15-inch ovenproof Atonement.

Soothing Vegetable Soup is a light appetizer that sets pans with butter.

Peel skin from onion. With a sharp knife, cut into thin the tone for the rest of the meal. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brimming with simmered vegetables, which are kind to empty stomachs. A slices, about 1/8-inch thick. Evenly cut slices brown at the nourishing broth also takes the edge off ferocious same rate.

Gently separate the rings of each slice into circles. Place appetites. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wise to consume fluids after fasting, so onion circles in prepared pans. Sprinkle with salt and drizsoup is doubly healthy.

Heirloom Tomato and Roasted Onion Salad is succu- zle with 1/2 cup of olive oil (1/4 cup per pan). With a woodlent and refreshing. With a high water content, tomatoes en or plastic spoon, gently stir onions to coat them.

Turn circles every 15 minutes, so they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t burn. Add quench thirst and abound in Vitamin C. Roasted onions are less likely to cause heartburn than the raw onions more oil, if needed. Roast for 90 minutes, or until circles brown. They will shrink significantly. Remove from oven often paired with smoked fish.

Suddenly trendy, Heirloom Tomatoes come from seed and cool to room temperature. Recipe can be prepared to varieties that usually pre-date World War II, when hybrid this point three days in advance. Store in a covered conseeds, producing less tasty crops, became common. tainer and refrigerate until ready to use.

Right before serving, slice tomatoes and place on an Varying from red-orange to green, yellow and even purple, attractive platter. Drizzle with vinegar and 1/4 cup olive these gorgeous tomatoes come in many sizes and shapes.

Full of dietary fiber, cauliflower is a surprising base for oil. Sprinkle with kosher salt to taste. Blanket roasted a salad. With its wholesome crunch, Cauliflower Salad onions on top of tomatoes. Yield: 10-12 servings.

Continued on page 11 exudes visual appeal in a rainbow of contrasting colors.

September 21, 2007

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Break up the break-fast routine

Serving Up the Harvest

Continued from page 10 CAULIFLOWER SALAD 1 large cauliflower, rinsed 2 carrots 1 cucumber, seeded and diced 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 cup olive oil 1/8 cup red wine vinegar 1/4 cup dill fronds, minced 1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, or any pitted black olive 1 small red onion, peeled, thinly sliced, and separated into rings Break florets into bite-sized pieces and place in a large mixing bowl.

Scrape carrots and rinse. Wash the AUTUMN FRUIT COMPOTE: A refreshing end to the Credit: Linda Morel scraper, and scrape clean carrots break-fast meal. over mixing bowl, making dozens of string- 20 dried apricots, cut in half like strips. Continue scraping until only a 3/4 pound seedless red grapes, rinsed (red ones add richer color than green) thin, flexible piece of carrot remains, which Pour water into a medium-sized pot. you can eat or discard.

Place remaining ingredients in bowl and Add tea bags and honey. Boil for three toss until well incorporated. Add more oil minutes. Turn off flame. Remove and discard tea bags with a slotted spoon; don’t and vinegar, if salad is too dry.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. squeeze them. Let tea cool while cutting Wait at least one day before serving. Can fruit.

Peel and cut apples and pears into 3/4be made two days in advance. Yield: 12 inch dice. servings.

To tea in pot, add apples, pears, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Cover pot and AUTUMN FRUIT COMPOTE return to a boil for 10 minutes.

21/2 cups water With a slotted spoon, add grapes and 2 jasmine teabags apricots, being careful not to burn your 2 teaspoons honey 3 firm apples, such as Cortland, Rome, hand. Cover pot and wait for compote to cool to room temperature. or Gala Discard cinnamon stick, ginger and 3 firm pears, such as Comice, Forelle, cloves. Place compote into an attractive or D’Anjou bowl, preferably crystal. Can be served 1 cinnamon stick 11/2-inch length knob of fresh ginger, immediately or covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to three days. Serve peeled and diced cold or at room temperature.

3 pieces of clove

by ANDREA CHESMAN (Storey, $16.95)

READ IT AND E AT Reviewed by LOIS FRIEDMAN Go Green is getting to be heard about as much as Go Big Red! “Locavores” are buying food locally grown and raised within a hundred miles of their homes. Become a “locavore” and check out your nearest farmer’s market, like Omaha’s downtown Farmer’s Market in the Old Market, or your neighborhood farm stands … for the freshest seasonal goodies.

Organized seasonally and by cropreadiness for convenience, first read of Cooking Techniques, a dozen Basic Recipes and 14 Master Recipes to use throughout the year for 30 vegetables (you guessed it … from asparagus in the early spring to zucchini … New Englanders lock their cars in September to keep them from being filled with zucchini) with Sow & Reap and Kitchen Notes tips and suggestions. Vegetable essays and sidebars are delightful reading.

Feast with 175 recipes for mixing and

Page 11

matching various vegetables. Brussels sprouts with cranberries, sautéed Jerusalem artichokes, Mr. Wong’s soup and this classic combination of two vegetables made for each other are just some of the great finds ... perfect for Sukkot, the Jewish harvest holiday.

SAUTÉED OKRA WITH TOMATOES 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 pound okra, stems removed and pods sliced (4 cups) 11/2 cups diced fresh or canned tomatoes 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil Salt and freshly ground black pepper Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the okra and sauté until the okra is tender and bright green, three to four minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes and simmer until the tomatoes are slightly broken down and heated through, three to four minutes. Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately. Serves four.

Lois Friedman can be reached at: readitandeat@yahoo.com.

Summer fun for everyone Visions and 39 Forever members enjoyed an indoor picnic at Chalco Hills Recreation Area last month. Derek Ventura’s One Man Band entertained with musical standards. Organizers of the picnic include Gloria Goodman, left, Buddy Goodman, Doris Alloy, Jean Elkon, Marcel Kahn, Ilse Kahn, Rose Pitlor, Harry Alloy, Maxine Noodell and Jack Noodell.

COMING OCTOBER

Arts+Entertainment The Omaha Arts Scene Publishing Date ¨ 10.12.07 | Space Reservation ¨ 09.23.07 | Camera Ready Deadline ¨ 09.27.07

COMING NOVEMBER

Literary Supplement What s New in Jewish Literary Circles Publishing Date ¨ 11.09.07 | Space Reservation ¨ 10.28.07 | Camera Ready Deadline ¨ 11.01.07

COMING NOVEMBER

Hanukkah

A Gift Guide+New and Old Traditions Publishing Date ¨ 11.23.07 | Space Reservation ¨ 11.04.07 | Camera Ready Deadline ¨ 11.08.07

Contact your advertising representative to advertise in any of these special editions.

Call Allan Handleman at 402.334.6451 or email: ahandleman@jewishomaha.org

Call Terri Greenwood at 402.334.6559 or email: terrigreenwood@jewishomaha.org

Page 12

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 21, 2007

What can we expect in the new year?

Now that it’s 5768, we have a whole new set of possibilities ... some of them good, and some not so great. Here are predictions from the Jewish Press for this new year. Care to weigh in? E-mail your list of expectations or observations to ckatzman@jewishomaha.org, or mail them to the Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154.

In Israel, we predict there will be new elections. Not only will the current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert be out of office, he’ll be awaiting trial on charges of illegal campaign activity. And he’ll join former President Moshe Katsav as yet another disgraced politician.

Since he’ll be out, we also predict that “peace” talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas will go nowhere ... not just because Abbas suddenly won’t have a peace partner, but because of pressure from Hamas to back out of talks.

Hamas, no doubt, will still be in power in Gaza and its henchmen will still be lobbing qassam rockets at Sderot, Ashkelon and other nearby Israeli communities. To the North, Hezbollah’s munitions have been wiped out by recent strikes by Israel’s Air Force. Despite Olmert’s statements that being drawn into confrontations is just what these terrorist groups want, the Israeli public is tired of paying the price. And they’re worried about Syria and Iran -- which we should be as well.

So who will be Israel’s next prime minister?

We predict a battle royale between the current Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Livni becoming only the second woman to be elected as head of Israel since Golda Meir.

On the international front, we predict that Israeli diamond merchant Lev Leviev will make inroads in Russian politics to stave off a coup that threatens his good friend Vladimir Putin. The result, however, is a clamping down on freedom and democracy in the former Soviet Union. Despite Leviev’s support of millions of dollars to Chabad institutions there, Jews begin to flee once again, restarting resettlement efforts in communities across North America.

Here in the U.S., election fever will grip the Jewish community as two of its favorites, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rudi Guiliani, face off against one another for the presidency. (But since the general election doesn’t occur until the Jewish year of 5769, the Press won’t predict this outcome!)

Locally, Bob Kerry reconsiders the Senate race and bows out, leaving it wide open for the Republicans. The only excitement is in the primary, where former Gov. Mike Johanns slugs it out with former Omaha mayor Hal Daub and Attorney General Jon Bruning, who surprises everyone by capturing the nomination. We predict Lee Terry will be back in the House as the Democrats struggle yet again to find a candidate to run against him.

In the Jewish community, the Special Care Unit of the Rose Blumkin Home will be up and running, with construction near com-

pletion in other areas. Because of widespread community support, the Blumkin campaign will exceed its goal of $18.5 million, allowing leadership to add to its endowment.

Right or wrong, the outcome isn’t in our hands. All we can ask is for G-d to have rachmonnes -- compassion -- on us all this Yom Kippur and throughout the year.

Jewish Press Board 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; 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 an agency of the Jewish Federation.

Highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: www jewishomaha.org; click on ‘Jewish Press.’

Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors 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.

Forward editor explains decision not to host Walt and Mearsheimer event

BEHIND THE H EADLINES

by J.J. GOLDBERG NEW YORK (JTA) -- Critics of Israel often complain that when they try to speak out on the Middle East, they are effectively silenced: Jewish organizations and individual Jewish activists target them for public scorn and blacklisting, denying them an audience and delegitimizing them. The message put out is that those who fail to toe the official pro-Israel line are labeled as enemies and cast out.

These folks have a case. Major Jewish organizations, including centrist and hard-line groups, regularly use their clout to narrow the scope of acceptable public debate on Israel. They cast their net wide, indiscriminately targeting independent-minded allies of Israel along with its sworn enemies. Many pro-Israel dissenters have walked away feeling deeply bruised and disillusioned.

Lately, however, some of Israel’s critics have started learning a few tricks themselves and rather than enriching the conversation, they are choosing to further muddy it. There are substantial numbers of true moderates in this country who believe deeply in the need for Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation. They struggle to make their voices heard in a hostile political and communal environment, and they naturally look for spokesmen who can capture the public’s attention and help unite and mobilize the peace camp -- including, most recently, scholars Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer.

We are sympathetic to this quest for leadership, but after firsthand experience of these scholars’ definition of “opening the debate,” we feel compelled to speak up: They’re the wrong guys.

The trick follows a typical pattern:

Step 1: Publish your views in as provocative a manner as possible. Use words like “apartheid,” as Jimmy Carter did in his book, or paint Jewish lobbying efforts in darkly conspiratorial terms, as Walt and Mearsheimer did in a paper published last year.

Step 2: Dare the Jewish community to lash out at you, then whine about being victimized by bullies.

Step 3: Implore fair-minded liberals to line up behind you, forcing them to choose between endorsing your vision, however skewed, or becoming part of the censorship juggernaut.

It’s been a pattern with these two since the beginning. When their original paper, “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,” first appeared, they claimed it couldn’t be published in the United States and so they were forced to release it in a British journal, the London Review of Books (and simultaneously on the Harvard Web site, by the way).

“Couldn’t be published here,” as it turned out, meant they had been commissioned by one magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, but their 16,000-word manuscript was rejected. So Walt and Mearsheimer gave up on America.

After the paper appeared in London and on the Harvard site, The Los Angeles Times offered to publish a shortened version. The professors turned that down, apparently fearful of jeopardizing their martyr status. Once they had milked the furor to the limit, they had it published in the respected Washington-based Middle East Policy. Then Farrar, Straus and Giroux, one of the country’s most prestigious publishing houses, came calling. The book, published Sept. 4, rounds out a campaign of “censorship” that would make most authors green with envy.

We at the Forward didn’t realize until earlier this month there was a Step 4, when Walt and Mearsheimer ratcheted up their efforts. As part of the advance marketing campaign, the scholars asked to appear before a variety of Jewish

(Founded in 1920) Howard K. Marcus President 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

audiences, including synagogues and a Jewish community center. Predictably they were turned down.

Then the Forward was approached. We were asked to sponsor a program at which the professors would present their views, unopposed.

Noting that we hadn’t thought much of their paper when it came out, we were assured the authors had now incorporated last year’s criticisms. We asked to see a copy of the book, but we found it as sloppy as the original paper and decided not to endorse it. All of which played right into their hands, enabling them to argue that the Lobby is still working to suppress their views -- with the Forward as Exhibit A. The Forward’s opinion of their work could not have come as a surprise to them. We published our critique last year in a front-page editorial -- the longest editorial in the newspaper’s history.

The professors’ basic argument is that America’s support for Israel is an anomaly.

Israel’s origins and behavior are so reprehensible, they wrote, that “neither strategic nor moral arguments can account for America’s support for Israel.” No, it’s all because of the influence of the “Israel Lobby.”

There is, they cautioned, nothing illicit about lobbying; lobbying is part of American democracy. But the Israel Lobby has “a stranglehold on the U.S. Congress,” controls key access to the executive branch and suppresses dissent throughout society. Its “not surprising” goal, they wrote, is to weaken Israel’s enemies to the point that “Israel gets a free hand with the Palestinians, and the United States does most of the fighting, dying, rebuilding, and paying.”

More shocking, considering the professors’ distinguished resumes -- Walt was academic dean of the Kennedy School at Harvard, Mearsheimer a leading foreign policy expert at the University of Chicago -- was their shoddy research.

They invented historical facts. They twisted Continued on page 13

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Editor explains decision Continued from page 12 quotes. David Ben-Gurion was cited as having stated in 1937 that he opposed the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states -- drawn from a famous speech in which he went on to say that partition, nonetheless, was the best that Zionism could hope for and should be seized with open arms.

Paul Wolfowitz was said to have been described by the Forward as â&#x20AC;&#x153;the most hawkishly pro-Israel neocon in the administration -- this from a 2002 article citing the â&#x20AC;&#x153;hawkishly pro-Israelâ&#x20AC;? image as conventional Washington wisdom that was proved wrong that week, when Wolfowitz was booed by a pro-Israel crowd for defending Palestinian rights.

Most of the paperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flaws survive in the book, but the longer format allowed the introduction of whole new stretches of substandard work.

To take but one example, a new section had been added, detailing Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s supposed efforts to push America into confrontation with various Muslim states.

One whole chapter is devoted to Syria, which supposedly is quarantined by Washington because Israel wants it that way.

In fact, as the Israeli press has reported extensively, Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s military, intelligence and political leaders have endorsed peace talks with Syria almost unanimously for more than a year, but the Bush administration has vetoed the idea because of Washingtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hostility toward Syria. But Mearsheimer and Walt deliberately choose to ignore these details, evincing the same sort of tunnel vision they claim to deplore.

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy is not a good book, and it does no service to those who truly crave a more robust debate in this country. Still, if the Forward had been asked to participate in a debate with the professors, we would have done so happily.

Helping them to market their book was a different story. But thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the genius of the victimhood game: If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been rejected, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve won in the court of public opinion.

J.J. Goldberg is the editor of the Forward, where this piece first appeared as an editorial.

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Page 13

Yom Kippur as bicycle day

JOURNAL ENTRY FROM ISRAEL

by TEDDY WEINBERGER On Sunday morning, I will open my newspaper and see the traditional day-after Yom Kippur picture: one of Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s busiest highways completely deserted during the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

Indeed, among the secular Israeli public, Yom Kippur is often thought of as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bicycle Day,â&#x20AC;? since the absence of cars makes every street in Israel safe for bicycles.

Ever alert to the threat of religious coercion, some secular Israelis are unhappy with this status quo. They feel that the voluntary abstention from automotive transportation (a Yom Kippur tradition kept far more than the one that prohibits eating) is deleterious to a free and democratic society.

For example David Volach, the director of My Father My Lord (which won an award at a recent film festival in New York) and the subject of Haâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;aretz Magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Aug. 24 cover story, is quoted as saying: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I make a point of driving in Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur ... It is not a right, it is an obligation. I can respect Yom Kippur more than anyone else. But in Israel it is very grave that on Yom Kippur everyone becomes ultra-orthodox. That all-of-us scares me very much.â&#x20AC;?

How many secular Americans feel that it is their civic duty to get up on the morning of Dec. 25 and go to work? I have many non-Jewish American friends, but not one of them is bothered that on a day whose significance resides solely in its being holy to Christians, all businesses are closed, let alone all government offices -- this in a country where there is full separation of religion and state.

Why should the public observance of Jewish holidays in Israel give secular Jews the creeps whereas the public observance of a Christian holiday in America is completely acceptable to secular Americans?

Here is one theory: 2,000 years of Jewish life within non-Jewish cultures fostered a feeling of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;othernessâ&#x20AC;? of Judaism -- a feeling that could not be wiped out in

one fell swoop with the founding of the state in 1948.

Life among the gentiles created a powerful sense that something is not quite right about being Jewish, that there is such a thing as â&#x20AC;&#x153;too Jewish.â&#x20AC;?

This sense was so powerful that its residual effects can sometimes be felt today in Israel even by a person who grew up ultra-orthodox (as Volach did), causing him to feel unnerved by the absence of cars on Yom Kippur.

How many lapsed American Catholics are unnerved by the fact that their post office is closed on Christmas?

In general, the complete ignorance by ostensibly intelligent secular Israelis of the human need for community, symbol, and ritual -- to which religion offers one possible response -- is astonishing. I have seen many displays of this ignorance in the decade that I have lived here, but the absolute low point came on Aug. 10 in a frontpage article in Haâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;aretz, Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most serious and intellectually respected newspaper.

This article, with apparently high news value given its prominence on the top right of the front page, was the following scoop: the ultra-orthodox are visiting Jerusalemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s zoo in large numbers. I was absolutely transfixed by this story, turned to page 2 for its continuation, and there the writer lets loose his second incredible scoop: ultra-orthodox parents seem to be as fascinated with the zoo animals as do their children.

Then, in watching an ultra-orthodox man looking at a chimpanzee, the writer observes that the man is totally unaware that the chimp has three times the freedom that the man does. As proof, the writer goes on to say that the chimp does not have to say a blessing every time he eats.

I see this article on the same thought continuum as Volach believing that it is his civic duty to drive on Yom Kippur: Judaism is for masochistic, stupid people; consequently, expressions of Jewish religious observance and contact with religiously observant people are repugnant.

One does not even know where to begin to try to correct these basic mistakes about the function of religion in human life. But if/when you are in synagogue this Yom Kippur, please pray for all those Jews who feel that what you are doing is some kind of anachronistic, primitive, tribal superstition. Hatima Tova -- May you be inscribed in the Book of Life.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 21, 2007

Candlelighting Friday, Sept. 21, 7:04 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 26: 6:56 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 27: no earlier than: 7:53 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

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

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

B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE FRIDAY: Kol Nidre services, 7:30 p.m. with guest speaker, Dr. Leonard Greenspoon.

SATURDAY: Services, 10:30 a.m. with guest speaker Dr. Oliver Pollak; concluding service and Break-the-fast potluck, 5:30 p.m.

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Services conducted by Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Cantor Gastón Bogomolni.

FRIDAY: Kol Nidre service, 7:30 p.m. To support Operation Isaiah, a charitable program benefiting the Omaha Food Bank, bring donations of non-perishable food items and gently-worn clothing on Kol Nidre; bins will be placed in the community court.

SATURDAY: Yom Kippur service, 9 a.m.; Alternative service, 9:45 a.m.; Study session, 5 p.m. with Rabbi Jules Harlow; Ne’ilah service, 6:05 p.m.; Sounding of the Shofar, 7:50 p.m.

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

ADULT EDUCATION SUNDAY, Bible Study Discussion Group, 10 a.m.

MONDAY: Hebrew Crash course, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY: “The WOW of Judaism,” 7:30 p.m.

SUKKOT SERVICES: Wednesday, Sept. 26, MinhaMa’ariv, 5:30 p.m.; Thursday, Sept. 27, 9:30 a.m., MinhaMa’ariv, 5:30 p.m.; Friday, Sept. 28, 9:30 a.m.

SUKKOT SOCIAL ACTION DAY: Sunday, Sept. 30, volunteers of all ages are invited to help build and weed garden beds at City Sprouts, 40th & Franklin.

Carpools will leave Beth El at 1:30 p.m. To RSVP, contact the office by Sept. 26.

TOT SHABBAT: Friday, Sept. 28, 6 p.m., led by “Miss Patty” Nogg. Dinner is $5 for adults, children six and under are free. To RSVP, contact the office

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 Offsite classes: First Plymouth Church, 20th and ‘D’ Streets Lincoln, NE 68506 613.7443 email: treeoflife.rabbimichael @yahoo.com

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by Sept. 26 (office will be closed Sept. 27-28 for Sukkot).

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Office Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fri., 8:30 a.m-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Jonathan Gross.

FRIDAY: Mincha, 5 p.m.; Kol Nidre, 7:15 p.m.; Babysitting will be provided.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m. free babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Reading, 10:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 10:30 a.m.; Sermon, 11 a.m. followed by Yizkor; Class on the book of Yonah, 4:45 p.m. with Rabbi Gross; Minchah, 5:45 p.m.; Neilah, 6:45 p.m.; Fast Ends, 8:02 p.m., followed by breakthe-fast dinner.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Help put up the syngogue sukkah, 10 a.m.; Kids’ Creations Sukkot project, 10 a.m.; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m.

WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY-Erev Yom Tov: Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6:30 p.m.

THURSDAY-First Day of Sukkot: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Kiddush is sponsored by Sisterhood, followed by lunch in the sukkah; Minchah, 6:30 p.m.

FRIDAY-Second Day of Sukkot: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Kiddush is sponsored by Lynne and Errol Saltzman in honor of the visit of Evan, Rebekah and Nathan Saltzman; Minchah, 6:30 p.m.

BEYT SHALOM FRIDAY: Yom Kippur services, 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Yom Kippur services, 9:30 a.m.

SUNDAY: Religious School, 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the JCC.

CHABAD HOUSE Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: Kol Nidre, 5:30

Dig for roots of Shabbat prayers

by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Israeli Naama Arzi, who is in her sixth year of teaching at Friedel Jewish Academy, will turn her attention to adults when she teaches Hebrew “Roots” of Prayer: We “Dig” Liturgy, a foursession class at Temple Israel.

Beginning Tuesday, Oct. 2, 7-8 p.m., Arzi will explore the meaning of Shabbat prayers.

“We will use transliteration and Hebrew to learn to identify the roots of words which will lead to the meaning of the words,” explained Arzi. “The goals of the class are to understand the words by recognizing their roots, to understand ritual customs of the morning Shabbat service such as why and when we bow, and to understand the different roles of the cantor and the congregation during the worship service,” she said.

As the adult learners deepen their understanding of the prayers,

they’ll be more aware of the structure of the service and be able to make better use of the prayer book. Each person will be given a siddur of his or her own. In addition, Conservative and Orthodox customs will be introduced.

Arzi said the class will also learn some Hebrew and a little grammar. “It would help to know the aleph bet and the Hebrew vowels,” she added, “but this class is for everyone” regardless of their knowledge of Hebrew.

Arzi, who worked with Temple’s B’nai Mitzvah class last year, is looking forward to this new course. “It’s so much fun to teach adults,” Arzi acknowledged.

Sponsored by the Hermene Zweiback Center for Lifelong Jewish Learning, Hebrew “Roots” of Prayer is $18 for Temple members and $25 for all others. To register, contact Pro-gram Director Rosie Zweiback at 556.6536 or via email at rzweiback@templeisraelomaha.com.

p.m.; Candle Lighting, 7:06 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Yizkor, 11 a.m.; Mincha & Neilah services, 5:30 p.m.followed by light refreshments to break the fast.

SUNDAY: Service, 8:30 a.m.

WEEKDAYS: Services, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: Maamar Kabbalistic Insights for Women, 12:15 p.m.; Halacha, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY: W.O.W. Tehillim & More, 9 a.m.; Parshah Roundup: Weekly Torah Portion, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Youth/Tot Minyan, 10:30 a.m.

CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN Services conducted by Rabbi Ilan Emanuel.

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

SATURDAY: Yom Kippur Morning Service, 10 a.m.; Yom Kippur Afternoon Service, 3:30 p.m. with Yizkor and Neilah; Yom Kippur Children’s Service, 4 p.m. all led by Rabbi Emanuel; Breakthe-Fast Potluck, 6 p.m. Call Michelle Schreiber, 438.1081, Amy Zlotsky, 488.9347, or Lori Merliss, 328.0414, to offer help or if you have any questions.

SUNDAY: LJCS Sukkah Decorating, 9:30 a.m. all students meet at Tifereth Israel.

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

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME FRIDAY: Kol Nidre, 7 p.m. led by Andy Greenberg.

SATURDAY: Yom Kippur Services & Yizkor, 9 a.m. led by Andy Greenberg; Mincha & Neilah, 5 p.m. led by Phyllis Hoffman.

TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY, Kol Nidre: First service, 6 p.m.; Second service, 8:15 p.m.

SATURDAY, Yom Kippur: Children’s service, 9 a.m.; Tot Service, 9 a.m.; Morning Service, 10:15 a.m.; panel discussion immediately following; Musical Interlude, 1:30 p.m.; Moments of Remembrance, 2:30 p.m.; Youth Service, 2:30 p.m.; Afternon serv-

ice, 3:30 p.m.; Yizkor &Neilah, 5 p.m.; Havdalah, 5:45 p.m. led

by Religious School grade 7-12.

SUNDAY: No Religious School WEDNESDAY-Erev Sukkot: Parent/ Toddler class, 9:30–11 a.m.; Religious school Grades 3-6, 4-6 p.m.; No Family and Middle/High School; Family Potluck Dinner, 6 p.m. Last name, A-K: bring a side dish; Last name, L-Z: desserts; Family Service, 7 p.m.

T H U R S D AY - S u k k o t : Morning Service, 10:30 a.m.

NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN No services during the Yom Tovim; services resume Oct. 12.

TIFERETH ISRAEL Services conducted by Nancy Coren, Lay Leader. Office hours: Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

MONDAY and THURSDAY: Minyan, 9 a.m. Contact the office to arrange for a minyan.

FRIDAY: Kol Nidre, 6:45 p.m. with Mincha, 7:10 p.m.

SATURDAY: Yom Kippur, 9 a.m.; Shacharit with Yizkor, 5:30 p.m.; Babysitting, 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m.; Junior Congregation, 10:30 a.m.;Mincha/Neila/Ma’ariv/Havda-lah/Final Shofar and Break-fast, 8:50 p.m.

WEDNESDAY-Erev Sukkot: Ma’ariv Minyan, 7 p.m.

T H U R S D AY - S u k k o t : Shacharit, 9 a.m.

FRIDAY-Sukkot II: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat, 7 p.m.

TREE OF LIFE CENTER Services and activities led by Rabbi Michael Weisser; call for location of classes.

SATURDAY: Morning Minyan and Torah study, 10 a.m.; drumming meditation and Jewish mystical chanting, followed by a meal and Havdalah, 6:30 p.m.

SUNDAY: Jewish roots of Christianity, 8 and 9 a.m.

MONDAY, 6:30 P.M.: Insight Meditation.

TUESDAY: Torah, prophets and writings: 9:30-11 a.m. and 7-8:30 p.m.; Comparative Religion, noon, offsite location.

WEDNESDAY, 6:30 p.m.: Adv. Mindfulness Meditation.

THURSDAY, 7 p.m.: Int. Mindfulness Meditation.

Lincoln Community School students make shofars from scratch

by ESTIE KATZMAN Lincoln Communtiy School’s new administrator, Andrea Halpern, is always looking for innovative and exciting programs to share with nearly 70 students in the school. Chabad of Omaha brought its traveling Shofar Factory to Lincoln, where children drilled, sawed, sanded and polished raw rams’ horns to create their own shofars. The Shofar Factory was made possible by Irwin and Ruth Goldenberg. Above: Raffle winners display their shofars with Rabbi Mendel Katzman of the Chabad House in Omaha.

September 21, 2007

At One: G’mar Hatima Tova

SPARKS FROM THE WORD

by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Yom Kippur I take it for granted that our ancestors, perhaps as late as our grandparents, took literally the idea that a court sentence given on Rosh Hashanah was sealed and confirmed on Yom Kippur. Indeed, at our services we love to chant that sentence repeating that Rosh Hashanah is the time when our last year is reviewed and a judgment is given and that it is confirmed on Yom Kippur.

From one point of view, perhaps puerile, this is merely charming. From a philosophical point of view, however, this is nothing less than profound.

In our sophisticated viewpoint, it is probably not some “One High Above Us,” but rather ourselves who make the judgement upon ourselves. In short, we are expected to examine ourselves in a rigid introspection. We do not expect ourselves to be murderers and burglars. But we do find that we are far from perfect and that we fail daily to be our best selves in our relationships with other human beings.

There are so many ways, usually in small things where

Goldstein Fund accepting grant requests Continued from page 7 Chabad also received funding to maintain and expand its on-going Chesed Program, which supports members of the Jewish community who need financial, emotional, or spiritual support. Its kosher food pantry provides supplemental food and toiletries for needy families and individuals and its L’Chaim Society offers group sessions for emotionally and/or mentally handicapped single males.

Holiday programs for Russian immigrants, rent and transportation subsidies, emergency relief, and assistance for families not from Nebraska to receive medical attention at UNMC are also part of the Chesed Program.

Another Goldstein grant was given to Friedel Jewish Academy for its operating expenses. The school has seen tremendous growth over the past three years.

During the 2006-07 school year there were more than 100 active participants in the school, including 34 students plus their teachers and parents; 45 are enrolled for 2007-08.

The foundation approved the request from the Institute for Holocaust Education for funding for educator workshops and classes for the 2007-08 school year. The Institute equips teachers in the Omaha metro community, both Jewish and non-Jewish, with ageappropriate materials for their classrooms and educational methodologies to teach the lessons of the Holocaust.

During the 2005-06 school year, approximately 500 teachers from the Omaha and Lincoln areas and outstate Nebraska participated in a variety of teacher educational workshops focusing on the Holocaust.

The Jewish Community Center (JCC) received funding to bring three Israeli athletes and their chaperone from its Partnership with Israel community of Akko in the Western Galilee to Omaha to join the local JCC Maccabi team. The Israeli teens spent a week in Omaha practicing with their new teammates, touring synagogues, and socializing with other Jewish teens before traveling down to Houston last month with Team Omaha for the 2007 JCC Maccabi Games. The Games were packed with daily athletic competitions, evening programs, Judaic activities, and community service opportunities.

Over the past few years, the JCC has attracted more than 1,500 participants to Live from New York’s 92nd Street Y, a series of lectures, interviews, concerts, panels, and readings broadcast live via satellite from the 92nd Street Y in New York City. A grant will help subsidize the cost of eight broadcasts from September to December 2007. The on-going program helps keep the Omaha connected to the Jewish community-at-large by providing an opportunity to experience speakers and performers on topics such as anti-Semitism, politics, Jewish culture, current events in Israel, and women in Judaism.

Foundation members who attended the meeting last year included Leonard Goldstein, Shirley Goldstein, Donald Goldstein, Gail Raznick, Steve Nogg, Cheryl Cooper, Arnold Weitz, and Sandy Friedman.

we should do thus-and-so, but fail. I remember, and perhaps I have said this before in these columns, that I received a high compliment from a lady whom I never saw except one time, one time and never again.

I was coming back from Sioux City to Omaha, and the walk from the train to the station was rather long. An older lady was struggling with a heavy grip, and I offered to carry it for her. When we got to the station, she thanked me profusely and gave me the highest compliment she could think of: “You must be a Catholic.”

I assured her that I was not, that I was Jewish, and more than that, I was a rabbi. I’m sure she had something to think about for a few minutes or a few years.

Yom Kippur, to make it abundantly clear, is a time where we seek atonement in our own self-assurance. It is actually ourselves who grant atonement to ourselves.

The word itself, of course, implies that we are “at one” with God. But we are satisfied to grant ourselves permission to go on in the New Year, providing we have been honest with our self-examination and have resolved to improve ourselves in the year that has now begun.

We are not ashamed to remember that we have gone through this process either on a shallow or profound basis year after year. Nonetheless, we find it possible to take Yom Kippur seriously as a time when we should look forward to a New Year, cleansed in soul and in high spirits. Think then, along with me: G’mar Hatima Tova.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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DEATHS MOLLIE FRANKLIN Long time Blumkin Home resident Mollie Franklin died Sept. 11 at the age of 94. Services were held Sept.

12 at BHH/Fisher Farms Cemetery. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, Sept. 23, 1:30 p.m., at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Morris, and her sister, Lena Kaplan.

She is survived by daughters and sons-in-law, Helene and Jack Shrago and Renee and Louie Kazor; grandchildren, Michael Shrago, Mark Kazor, Stuart and Michelle Kazor, and Karen Kazor; four great-grandchildren; and sisters, Sarah Kaplan and Harriett Cohen.

Memorials to the Blumkin Home, Beth Israel Synagogue or your favorite charity.

NORMAN WHITMAN Norman Whitman died Sept. 15 at the age of 101.

Services were held Sept. 17 at Beth El Cemetery.

He was preceded in death by wife, Elinor.

He is survived by sons and daughters-in-law, Alan and Sandra Whitman of Arcadia, CA, and Jon and Ahuva Whitman of Jerusalem; two grandchildren, Amy Whitman of Arcadia, CA, and Naomi Whitman of Jerusalem; and sister, Myllee Katelman.

Memorials to Beth El, Beth Israel, or Temple Israel.

MOLLIE AND SAM KOHN Married 72 years, Mollie and Sam Kohn died within two days of one another. Mollie Kohn died Sept. 7 at the age of 89; services were held Sept. 9 at BHH/Fisher Farm cemetery. Her husband Sam died nine hours later; his funeral was held Sept. 11, also at Fisher Farm. He was 90.

The Kohns are survived by their sons and daughtersin-law, Eugene and Judy Kohn of Newton, MA, Larry and Beverly Kohn of Livingston, NJ, and Donald and Melinda Kohn of Mecungie, PA; seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Memorials to the National Kidney Foundation, 17330 W. Center Rd., Omaha, NE 68130, or the American Heart Association, 10100 ‘J’ St., Omaha, NE 68127.

To submit obituaries: E-mail to the Press at jpress@jewishomaha.org; fax to 402.334.5422, or mail to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154, or online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements.

EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press office will be closed Thursday & Friday, Sept. 27-28 for Sukkot, and Thursday & Friday, Oct. 4-5 for Shemini Azeret/Simchat Torah. Deadlines for the following issues are at 9 a.m.: Issue Deadline Oct. 5 Tuesday, Sept. 25 Oct. 12 Tuesday, Oct. 2 Questions? Call 402.334.6448. Photos used in the Sept. 7 New Year’s issue may be picked up during regular business hours.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 21, 2007

Keeping the Land flowing with honey Successful research makes up for honey shortfalls and averts crisis in Israeli agriculture

by SIMON GRIVER TEL AVIV -- There has been no shortage of Israeli-produced honey this Rosh Hashanah for Jews around the world to put on their holiday tables.

Despite the ongoing urbanization that is transforming Israeli farmland into residential and commercial real estate and the mysterious disappearance of bee populations around the world, Israel’s 450 beekeepers have been able to maintain their annual production of 3,600 tons of honey thanks to the introduction of new tree and plant species that have extended the honey-producing season and increased yields.

Jewish National Fund-Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF) joined forces with Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University and the Ministry of Agriculture’s Vulcani Center to introduce select trees and plants from the southern hemisphere whose pollination seasons are different than those of Israel’s indigenous flora.

“After thorough research, this year we gave beekeepers over 100,000 trees and plants that require pollination by bees over a course of many months,” explained David Brand, Director of the Forestry Development Department for KKL-JNF. “These new varieties included

Exhibit by Israeli artist showing in JCC Gallery

Nearly 50 paintings, plus fiber compositions and sulpture, created by Israeli artist Smadar Livne are on display in the JCC Gallery through the end of this month. Currently living in Owings Mills, MD, Livne is recognized as one of today’s leading Judaic artists. For information about purchasing, contact Rachel Blum at 334.6404.

a range of eucalyptus trees and other plants from Australia.

“While the production of honey is a delicious biproduct of the bees’ endeavors,” added Brand, “the process by which they collect nectar is vital for the very existence of all agriculture. Bees are crucial for fruit trees as well as field crops and by extension the entire ecosystem.”

With the sustainability of farming and overall ecological concerns in mind, JNF-KKL has given top priority to assisting beekeepers in Israel who have been struggling in recent years. The uprooting of farmland and groves for real estate development, decreasing profits for farmers who then abandon agriculture, and increasing agricultural theft have all eroded honey production in Israel. To add to the many woes of Israeli apiarists, the mysterious disappearance of bee swarms throughout North America and much of Europe has now reached Israel.

According to Yehuda Kendel, a beekeeper based in Kfar Pines midway

between Tel Aviv and Haifa, the hundreds of eucalyptus trees he was given saved his business.

“I’ve lost about 20% of my bee swarms to this mysterious virus or whatever it is,” said Kendel, who markets honey under the exclusive “The Best Natural Honey in the World” private brand.

“But the eucalyptus trees that I received have increased the yield from my remaining beehives by about 20% so I’m able to maintain my production levels.”

The JNF-KKL initiative is also benefiting Israel’s neighbors with about 20,000 trees and species recently sent to beekeepers in Jordan.

“We are always looking to enhance the environment not only in Israel but in the entire region,” said Brand.

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