September 30, 2005: Rosh Hashanah Edition

Path Judaism Vol. LXXXV No. 3 Omaha, NE

The

to

Celebrating 84 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa

12 Elul, 5765 September 30, 2005 4 Sections

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

The Path to Judaism “There are many paths to the sun” is a centuries-old saying and it certainly describes this New Year’s issue, our 37th annual special holiday edition. As you read the stories in this four-section paper, however, you will find a common theme. Whether a convert, a born Jew returning to his or her roots, or someone who has always appreciated our rich heritage, the “stars” of this issue are passionate about Judaism.

They may have different ways of expressing that passion--through learning and teaching, hosting Shabbat and holiday meals and being counted for minyan, visiting the sick and befriending the lonely--but regardless of their outlet, they’re passionate about Jews, Judaism...and Jewish community.

They’ve taken different routes on this path to Judaism as well. For some, the awakening came in a youth group or camp, for others--a beloved grandparent or teacher acted as a guide. Others had to overcome anti-Semitism, the Holocaust or Soviet domination. And sometimes a line in a prayer or a scene in a movie became, as Andy Greenberg stated so clearly, an “a-ha!” moment.

For these individuals, couples and families, Judaism is not a hobby; it’s a way of life. Their clocks are set on “Jewish time,” sunrise and sunset, weekdays and Shabbat, days of the month and Jewish holidays, yahrzeits and simchas delineate the differences between the Jewish world and the rest.

It doesn’t mean any of them have opted out of the greater world, on the contrary, they often use their Jewish experiences and learning for the good of everyone. And that’s something for all of us to consider as we read through these powerful stories. How can we,

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as Jews, make a difference in the world? How can we ease suffering after an event like Hurricane Katrina? What is to be learned from our ancient and sacred texts that will not only teach us how to behave, but will help us serve as role models for others?

Speaking of role models, the members of the Jewish Press Committee must be thanked for the creative and intelligent thinking which occurs during meetings. Ideas don’t originate in a vacuum; this one came out of a suggestion

by Press Vice-chairman Howard K. Marcus.

After further discussion and modification, contact was made with synagogues here and in Lincoln, as well as with the Federation and its agencies and that generated a long list of names. We only wish we could have interviewed everyone whose name was suggested, but those who are featured in these pages were thoughtfully interviewed by Avishay Artsy, Leo Adam Biga, Gary Javitch, Gloria Shukert Jones, Bert Lewis, Joan K. Marcus, Pam Monsky, and Ozzie Nogg. They exhibited great insight into their subjects’ lives and the following stories are compelling. We’re always thrilled to have the talents of these freelancers at the Press and especially want to welcome new writers Artsy and Jones!

A special mention should be made of the cooperative spirit in which the Press Committee operates. Members have access to all the information they need to make informed decisions: bylaws, policies and procedures, financial statements and budgets.

And all issues are on the table for discussion; committee members never respond in a judgmental manner. Instead, “out-of-the-box” thinking prevails and the result is often a bet-

ter solution. The Press staff could not operate in more supportive collegial manner!

In addition to the JP Committee and our freelance writers, thanks must go to the hardworking staff of this paper: to Managing Editor Richard Busse for his artistic talents in designing the ads, layout and the beautiful cover of this issue; to Advertising Manager Allan Handleman, who outdid himself in selling the hundreds of ads in this New Year’s issue; to Assistant Managing Editor Lori Kooper Schwarz, whose attention to detail enabled us to keep pace with scanning and production; to our Bookkeeper Barb Kirkpatrick, whose meticulous record keeping will ensure that advertisers’ invoices are up-todate; our summer Sales and Marketing Intern Amanda Marcuccio and fall intern Jason Rich who assisted our advertising department with solicitation of ads and marketing of the Press to the greater community; and finally, we are grateful to our Press volunteers: Jean Duitch, Dottie Rosenblum and Suzanne Singer for their constancy and commitment.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many of us have been reminded how precious life is and how little the “stuff” we’ve accumulated really matters. As we approach these Days of Awe, let us remember to treat one another with dignity and kindness, to treasure what we have--not covet what we don’t, and, like those we’ve featured in these pages, become passionate about Judaism, Jewish life and our Jewish community, locally, nationally, in Israel and worldwide!

L’Shana Tova Tikatevu...

Joanie Jacobson, Chairman Carol Katzman, Editor

Our front cover features a cross section of Jews from the community who are on their own unique paths to Judaism: Carol and Ed Schneider of Beth El Synagogue, Josh Katelman of Temple Israel, Marti Nerenstone of Congregation Beyt Shalom, Gary Hill of the Lincoln Jewish community, and Josh and Amanda Gurock of Beth Israel. Find more stories inside of other Jews--and their journeys.

Cover design: Richard Busse, Managing Editor

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Joanie Jacobson Chairman Carol Katzman Editor Richard Busse Managing Editor Allan Handleman Advertising Manager Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Managing Editor Barbara Kirkpatrick Bookkeeper Jason Rich Sales & Marketing Intern Jewish Press Committee Howard K. Marcus, Vice-Chairman; Bobbi Leibowitz, Secretary; Scott Meyerson, Finance Chairman; Steve Simon, Treasurer; Fred Tichauer, Immediate Past-chairman; David Herzog; Jamie Meyerson; Stanley Mitchell; George Quittner; Linda Saltzman; Joe Shyken; Michael Siegal; Nancy Skid; Dorothy Spizman; and Melany Weinstine.

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, Jewish Educational and Library Services, Jewish Family Service, and Jewish Senior Services. The Jewish Press is a constitutional committee of the Jewish Federation.

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A Look Back at Omaha Jews’ Path to Judaism IbyN RETROSPECT CAROL GENDLER (Editor’s note: Next spring, a unique exhibit cosponsored by the Jewish Press and the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, will be on display in the Gallery of the Jewish Community Center. Entitled “Front Page: 85 Years of Jewish Press History,” the exhibit will feature 120 front pages of this newspaper with some of the most important events of our community’s history--from the groundbreaking of the old ‘J’ on 20th and Dodge in 1924 to the events surrounding World War II and its aftermath, from the move of our synagogues and Jewish institutions out West to the Holocaust and the birth of the State of Israel.

It seems only fitting then to recall “The Path to Judaism” in the early days of this community. We thank Carol Gendler, historian and archivist, for allowing us to excerpt parts of her In Retrospect columns from the 1970s. More will be excerpted and printed throughout the year and through the exhibit, April-May, 2006.)

• On a single day in July of 1882, 161 Jews arrived in Omaha from Kiev. Among them were Julius Cherniss, Henoch Marks, Harry and Sol Brodkey, Max Bellman, and Abraham and Will Rachman. A committee, including: A. Heller, Philip Gottheimer, Charles Shlank, Meyer Hellman and Julius Meyer, was organized to help raise funds to get these refugees on their feet.

• An item in the Omaha Bee in 1885 announced that Miss Mary Nevil would be converted to Judaism at the Congregation of Israel during a Friday evening service.

“The occasion will be interesting,” the writer commented, “as the ceremony is a rare one, the Jews discouraging, rather than encouraging proselytism.”

In contrast, the Omaha Daily Herald carried a lengthy article describing the conversion ceremony, with no editorial comment. The reporter noted that the ceremony was impressive, the temple crowded and that the young lady was given the name of Miriam. The Bee noted several weeks later that Miriam Nevil, “a recent convert” had been married to Isaac Kaufman.”

• In 1871, the year that the Congregation of Israel (now Temple Israel) filed articles of incorporation, seven young boys and girls were confirmed at the Rosh Hashanah service, indicating that at least some form of Jewish education was available in the community. Those receiving certificates of confirmation were: Esther Jacobs, Emmanuel Cahn, Eva Rawitzer, Bertha Reinhart, Albert Cahn, Charles Rosenthal and Addie Gladstone. Esther Jacobs and Addie Gladstone later were among the 11 members of the first graduating class of Omaha (now Central) High School in 1876. They both became grade school teachers and participated in the direction of a short-lived Sunday school.

• The Omaha Daily Herald reported in 1877 that Rabbi Isaac M. Wise, “one of the highest Rabbis in the Jewish church (sic) in the United States,” would be passing through Omaha and that “an effort will be made to have him stop over a day if possible.”

• The Congregation of Shareey Zion filed articles of incorporation in 1900.

Officers were: Aaron Ferer, Zaleg Corenman, Max I. Zinman, Moses Rosenblatt, Simon Katelman, Simche Corenman, Kalmenusher Schaibel, and Max London.

• The Omaha Jewish Institute, precursor of the Jewish Community Center, was opened in 1907 at 21st and Burt. The purpose of this institute was “to train Jewish boys and girls, mentally and physically, and to furnish them a place to study, recreation and a social life.”

Members of the initial board of directors were Morris Levy, S. Brodkey, Rabbi Frederick Coin, Martin Sugarman, L. Harris, H.A. Wolf, Samuel Katz, J. Katelman, A Rawitz, A.B. Alprin, Dr. Philip Sher, H. Gross, I Friedman and Nathan Bernstein .

• The City Talmud Torah dedicated its building at 21st and Burt in July of 1918.

Children marched from the synagogues at 18th and Chicago and 24th and Nicholas to the new building. Classes would be held in Jewish observance, Hebrew and history for boys between the ages of six and 15.

The school was financed from contributions from 400 benefactors; Dr. Philip Sher presided at the dedication ceremonies.

• The Omaha Bee reported in July of 1919 that the “hot weather fails to halt the zeal of the young Jewish boys who attend the South Side Talmud Torah at 25th and ‘J’. Every day during the year, save on holidays, about 45 boys, averaging 11-years-of-age, pore over the ancient Jewish lore their fathers have studied for generations.”

• Congregation B’nai Sholem held “modern Orthodox” service at Hyland Dancing Academy, 2424 Farnam, in 1923.

Prof. Nathan Bernstein spoke and Cantor Wolf Weinstein of Baltimore chanted the musical portions of the service. Fred B. Cherniss, secretary of the organization, stated that modern orthodoxy was an “attempt to Americanize Jews and keep them in the faith of their fathers.”

• A 1928 study indicated that only one-fourth of the Jewish children in Omaha were receiving any kind of Jewish education. Temple Israel Sunday School and the City Talmud Torah each had an enrollment of 200. As a result, the JCC established a Sunday School for those Jewish children who had no other Jewish school affiliation. Within three months, the JCC school enrollment had reached 200 students.

• A 1929 critique of the City Talmud Torah stated that “there is no uniform method throughout the school in the teaching of Hebrew and other subjects.

Whatever ‘curriculum’ there is consists of a hodgepodge of influences of past leaders, each of whom tried to impose his particular ideas upon the school.”

THIS YEAR, LIVE GENEROUSLY. RC L/C AD Jewis hP

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The Foundation om of the Jewish mun ity Center Federation of Omaha

C ish Jew

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his is a unique time of year for the Jewish people.

We’re asked to think about the kind of person we want to be … the kind of life we want to live. Without even thinking, most of us would say that we want to make every minute count and that we want to live a generous life.

Through the Jewish Federation of Omaha, you are. The Jewish Federation of Omaha is your most generous spirit. Federation is the way you help heal the world, bring dignity and opportunities where none existed before. This year, increase your gift to the 2006 Jewish Federation of Omaha Annual Campaign … and make a bequest in your will so you can be there for future generations.

T

Jew ish F

Jewish Seni or S e

TM

The Jewish Federation of Omaha Board and Staff wish you and your loved ones a very sweet and peaceful New Year.

The Jewish Federation of Omaha

LIVE GENEROUSLY. IT DOES A WORLD OF GOOD.

TM

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

A Man Apart: David Kaufmann’s Little Known Rescue of Hundreds of Jews

by LEO ADAM BIGA As the shadow of the coming Holocaust darkened Europe, those sensing the dangers ahead looked for any means of escape. But getting away meant somehow securing the proper paperwork, making the right connections and scraping together enough money. No easy task. Even family living abroad was no assurance of a way out. It was the rare family that had someone who could take on the legal-financial burden of sponsorship. Then there were the shameful restraints imposed by governments, including the U.S., that made obtaining visas and entering another country difficult. Nationalism, isolationism and anti-Semitism ruled the day. Apathy, timidity, fear and appeasement closed borders, sealing the fate of millions.

Few stepped forward to offer safe harbor in the looming humanitarian crisis. One who dared was the late Jewish-German emigre David Kaufmann, a prominent business-civic leader in Grand Island, NE. When others looked on or averted their eyes, he reached out and offered a lifeline to those facing persecution and peril.

Recalled fondly as a philanthropist, he used the wealth and position acquired from his variety stores to spearhead community betterment projects. But he was far more than a good citizen. He was a hero unafraid to act upon his convictions.

From 1936 until America’s engagement in World War II, Kaufmann responded to the growing threat overseas by endorsing affidavits of support for perhaps 250 or more people. The documents provided safe passage here under his patronage and his guarantee the refugees were sound risks. Affidavits were issued individuals, couples, siblings and entire families. His help extended to the post-war years as well, when he sponsored war victims displaced by the hostilities.

Kaufmann’s rescue of oppressed people from near certain imprisonment and probable death went untold outside his own family until last year. He rarely, if ever, publicly spoke of it. There were no press accounts. No mention in books. No radio-television interviews to shed light on it. Other than a letter he wrote a family he helped flee Germany, scant documentation exists, except for the few surviving affidavits of support he signed.

More powerfully, there is the testimony of the men and women, now in their 70s, 80s and 90s, who found sanctuary here thanks to Kaufmann’s efforts to remove them from harm’s way.

These survivors came as children or young adults.

Those that came during the Nazi reign of terror were fully aware of the terrible fate they avoided through his good graces. Some didn’t make it to the U.S. during the

ly’s survival in the Shoah. Nebraska Educational Television producers are considering a documentary film on the subject. There is urgency in having the story recorded soon, as with each passing year fewer and fewer of the original Kaufmann wards survive.

Collaborators on two previous books, Ramsey and Shrier were approached with the idea for the Kaufmann book by Ben Nachman, a retired Omaha dentist who’s devoted the past 30 years to Holocaust research. In the course of Nachman serving as an interviewer for Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Visual History Project in the early 1990s, he came upon survivors aided by Kaufmann. He knew it was a story that must be shared. Ramsey and Shrier agreed, accepting the assignment. They began work on it last year and have since interviewed dozens of figures touched by Kaufmann.

“This sounded like a big story. A national or international story. And I thought it was a story that had gone untold too long. That’s what really drove me,” said Ramsey, a well-known public relations man. “People of all backgrounds are moved by what happened in the Holocaust. And with it being the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II and the liberation of the death camps, the timing was perfect.”

Portrait of David Kaufmann in 1919 war. They escaped on their own or with the aid of family to havens like Palestine, where Kaufmann sent for them. Those that didn’t get out endured years of physical and emotional torture as prisoners, then more privation in refugee camps, before Kaufmann’s helping hands caught up with them and secured their travel to America.

Once here, the refugees received money and counsel from Kaufmann.

Some ended up in Grand Island and worked at his store. Others settled in Omaha. Most opted for big cities --New York, New Orleans, Chicago. Wherever they went, Kaufmann kept tabs on them. Over time, the family tree grew. Their American ranks must now number in the high hundreds. They own a rich legacy in America, too, where many members have distinguished themselves.

David Kaufmann’s gift of life only grows larger with each new birth and each new generation. Yet his name and good works remain obscure outside the clan and his adopted home.

That’s about to change, however. The righteous actions of Kaufmann are the subject of a book-inprogress by Omaha authors William Ramsey and Betty Dineen Shrier that details all he did to ensure his fami-

David Kaufmann’s school picture in Germany; he’s in the second row at the right.

For co-author Shrier, the sheer humanity of it all hooked her. “I think that I have never come across anyone who was so generous across the board to so many different people as David Kaufmann was,” she said.

“And he didn’t discriminate with race or creed or philosophy. It made no difference to him. He was good to everybody. And I’ve never met anybody or heard of anybody with that kind of openness. The thing about it is, he was a great businessman. He was stern when it came to business principles, but he still knew how to give.”

Continued on page 5

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A Man Apart Continued from page 4 Good works defined Kaufmann’s life.

The entrepreneur was among a handful of Jewish residents in the south central Nebraska town, yet he assisted all kinds of people in need. His largess extended to everyone from relatives and friends to complete strangers. His contributions to various building committees helped transform Grand Island into a modern city.

Kaufmann kept his most personal good works quiet. Until the Grand Island Independent began reporting last winter on the book project, which has led the authors on repeated research trips there, few residents knew Kaufmann’s name and fewer still his legacy as a Holocaust rescuer. Before he became a hero, he was a man on a mission--hell-bent on improving himself and the lot of his family.

Uncle David, as he’s called in family circles, epitomized the great American success story. He came to this country in 1903 not knowing the language, but through his industriousness he mastered English, he worked his way up in the retail trade, first in New York and then in Grand Island, and he soon went into business for himself. Only a few years after arriving here, he’d built a thriving chain of five-and-dimes and put his imprint on all aspects of community life.

yard picnics that fed small armies of friends, neighbors and workers. He led drives and made donations to build and improve the communities he lived in and did business in.

“He was called Mr. Grand Island by many. He was involved with the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, St. Francis Hospital...and every board he served on he rose to be the chairman,” Ramsey said.

Kaufmann died in 1969, but even in death he keeps on giving via the Kaufmann-Cummings Foundation started by his second wife, Madeline.

Then there’s the ripple effect his good works have had. Ramsey, Shrier and Nachman say that almost without exception the people he sponsored, as well as their descendants, have been high achievers, motivated to do well as repayment of the debt owed Uncle David for affording them America’s opportunities.

“We’ve not met or talked to anyone yet that wasn’t very successful. There are doctors, lawyers, researchers. I mean, they were driven by this legacy. I think they felt their lives were saved, and they probably were. He gave them a chance to do something with their dreams and they made the most of it,” Ramsey said. “I think they were trying hard to please him because he sponsored them and they didn’t want to be a burden on him or on the

The Kaufman store in Grand Island; David is behind the counter at the right.

As Grand Island’s leading citizen, he United States. That was part of each affididn’t need the hassle of vouching and davit he signed. It said he was responsible assuming responsibility for the welfare of for these people if they don’t make it a sizable number of distant relations. here. He was putting his name and forHe especially didn’t need the risk to his tune and everything else on the line.” riches and reputation in the Great The only recompense Kaufmann wantDepression, when fortunes and good ed for his assistance was the assurance his names were easily lost. Not wanting pub- wards were not a drag on society. That licity for his actions, which went against alone was reward enough for him said the tide of official and popular sentiment Bourbonnais, IL, resident Ilse Weiner, to keep “foreigners” outside the nation’s who was 17 when she and her parents, borders, he carried on his rescue cam- Ludwig and Frieda Levy, came on the paign in near secrecy. Despite all the rea- S.S. Washington courtesy of their affisons not to get involved, he did. This davit of support from Kaufmann. unflinching sense of duty makes “He told my father once that as many Kaufmann a compelling and laudable fig- as he brought to the United States ure and is the focus of Ramsey and nobody ever bothered him for one nickShrier’s book. el,” she said. “I never forgot that. He was “At the center of the book is the gen- so proud of everybody he brought to this erosity and the goodness of this man,” country because they all worked really said Ramsey. Kaufmann’s good will hard and nobody ever asked him for anytowards his family, including caring for a thing.” sister struck down by polio, was part of a The gratitude felt by Kaufmann’s pattern of kindnesses he exhibited in his charges made them strive to please him. lifetime. For example, he arranged for “I realize he signed an affidavit of supGrand Island restaurants to feed the port for me and was responsible for me. homeless on holidays, reimbursing the But in no way did I want him to be that,” eateries himself. He set up a Self-Help- said Fred Levy, whose affidavit from Society that supplied hard-on-their-luck Kaufmann enabled him to immigrate folks food and clothing in exchange for from Israel, where he and his family fled work. He sprang for free sundaes-- before the Final Solution. preparing them himself--when employees “I felt an obligation when I came to did inventory on weekends. this country to meet him and thank him Long before it was common, he paid in person.” It was Levy’s way of telling sales staff commissions and offered him he would carry his own weight. employee sick benefits. He hosted back- Continued on page 6

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A Man Apart something about the businessmen and the people...their Continued from page 5 Even after her family established themselves here, willingness to cooperate in all worthwhile undertakings, Weiner said, he would visit them on buying trips to that makes it a pleasure to work with them.”

Ramsey speculates Kaufmann’s mentor, Wolbach, Chicago, always bearing gifts and making sure they were getting on okay, offering help with anything they need- “was The Great Man model” he aspired to. “Wolbach ed. She said once when her father had trouble finding was a doer as well. He did a lot of charitable work. He work, Kaufmann put in a good word for him. She said was a well-to-do, respected person. And you get the feelKaufmann even aided a friend of the family, no blood ing Kaufmann looked up to this man and figured maybe this is how you become a success,” Ramsey said. relation at all, in relocating to America.

As the Nazis came to power in Germany, Kaufmann Survivors hold Kaufmann in the highest esteem.

“They love this man. It just comes through,” Ramsey was already a self-made man. In his occasional visits and said. Weiner said, “He was a warm man. Thoughtful. He regular correspondence home he kept abreast of the gave good advice. When we arrived in the States, he sent worsening conditions for Jews there and made a standgifts and a check for $50. He was very generous. He was fantastic to us. He was such a good person. How should I say? We looked up to him like if he was God, because he saved our lives. What more can I say? He saved our lives.” The most famous family survivor, Rogaine inventor and medical doctor Guinter Kahn, has said, “Everybody has their saints, and he’s ours.”

On his 80th birthday, Kaufmann was presented “a family tree” that relatives commissioned an artist to paint. It includes the names of those he rescued and refers to trees planted in Israel to commemorate his The check made out to Isidore Kahn, above, was never cashed. life saving legacy.

Kaufmann gave $50 to each immigrant he sponsored.

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Johanna and Edward Kahn in Omaha in 1940 with their children, Joe, Therese and Hugo.

Joe Kahn, Therese Stiss and Hugo Kahn in 2002 at their former home in Meurich, Germany

If Kaufmann was inspired in his good deeds by anyone, it may have been S.N. Wolbach, the figure responsible for bringing him to Grand Island. A native New Yorker, Wolbach went west himself as a young man and found his pot of gold on the prairie, where he opened a department store and held banking interests. On a 1904 buying trip back east he visited the Abrams and Madeline Kaufmann Strauss store in Brooklyn, where he was impressed by the salesmanship and work ethic of a young clerk named David Kaufmann. Wolbach convinced Kaufmann his fortune lay 1,500 miles away working for him at Wolbach and Sons. Flattered, Kaufmann accepted an offer as floorwalker and window trimmer. Only nine months after his arrival in America, the enterprising emigre headed west to meet his destiny.

No sooner did he get there, than he wanted out.

Authors Ramsey and Shrier have come upon letters Kaufmann exchanged with his brother in Germany in which David bemoans “the lack of pavement, the all-too frequent dust storms and the unimposing buildings.”

Shrier said Kaufmann even asked his brother to find him a retail opening back in their homeland. By the time his brother wrote back saying he’d found a position for David, things had changed. “There was something about the old town that made me like it,” Kaufmann reflected years later in print. “There were no big buildings, but that doesn’t make a town. It’s the people who live in a place that make you love it. There was something about those old-timers and the ones who came after me that made me like Grand Island. There was

ing offer to help family leave. His first affidavit got Isi and Feo Kahn out in 1936. The young couple moved to Grand Island, where their daughter Dorothy Kahn Resnick was born and raised.

Dorothy said her mother was a “key” conduit and emissary in the conspiracy of hearts that evolved, staying in touch with family abroad and feeding Kaufmann new names needing affidavits of support. She even brought him the forms to sign.

As the Nazis clamped down ever more, “people were desperate,” Ramsey said. “They could see what was happening.” Official, legal channels for visas dwindled.

Affidavits of support, forged documents or bribes were the only routes out. Dorothy said her mother went back repeatedly to Uncle David with new names, saying, “‘Here’s someone else.’ Some were very distant relations.

But she told me he never questioned her. He never wanted to know who they were and how they were related. He relied on her. He trusted her. He put his faith in her that if she said it was okay, he signed it. Uncle David and my mom just did the right thing. They just did it. Maybe the simplicity of it is what’s so beautiful.”

As “he never talked about it,” Dorothy said, we’re left guessing why he acted. Remarks from an acceptance speech he gave may be as close as we’ll ever get to knowing what made him do it.

“Most of us have more good thoughts than we have bad ones,” he said, “and all we have to do is follow the good thoughts. The handicap is, the good thoughts are often not followed by required action.”

Hundreds lived because Kaufmann heeded his better self to take action.

Editor’s Note: Authors Ramsey and Shrier invite anyone with information on Kaufmann to contact them by calling 551.3591 or e-mailing them at ramseyshrier@yahoo.com.

Continued on page 7

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 7

A Man Apart

their parents to the U.S.), Sigmund Kahn, Sophie Kahn and Isidore Kahn. Right: The Tree of Life includes branches of the following families: Lorig-Damit-May, Ernest and Tickla Hermann, Leo and Lilly Levy, Arthur, Gustav and Cilly Levy, Leopold Levy and family, Edward Kahn and family, Joseph Kahn and family, Isi, Feo and Dorothy Kahn, Joe and Rosalind Levy, Frieda Levy, Arthur and Tilly Levy, Nettchen and Louie Levy, Max and Selma Levy, Alfred and Hedy Levy, Hugo and Bianca Miller, Alfred and Ilse Hayum, Ludwig and Frieda Levy, Albert, Regina and Frances Levy, Siegmund, Martha and Ilse Hessel, Theresia Mendel-Marx-Hecht family, Siegfried and Betty Levy, Y. Villard, Paul and Friedel

Continued from page 6 Left: Marcel and Ilse Hessel Kahn were among those brought to Nebraska by David Kaufmann’s generosity. The two arrived as youngsters in 1938 from Meurich, Germany.

Though they escaped the horrors of the Holocaust, many of their family members did not. The Kahns returned to Europe in May, 2005, for the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II as part of the March of the Living. They are active members of Beth El Synagogue, often making up the daily minyan. Middle: Kahn family portrait includes a son who died, Martha Levy, Edward Kahn, Michel Kahn (the grandfather who accompanied Joe, Therese and Hugo and

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Page 8

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

Yearning to be Jewish

by JOAN K. MARCUS Unlike most of the people who are profiled in this paper, Don’L Harris Dacey is now in the process of making a commitment to Judaism and still traveling on her journey to becoming Jewish. She began her conversion process in 2004 and feels that she “is getting close.”

Born in Council Bluffs in 1956, her name was a favorite of her grandmother.

“My grandmother said she found it in a book. She had 11 kids and couldn’t convince any of them to give the name to their children--except my mother!”

Don’L comes from a working-class family. Her father was a 20-year navy man who after he retired began a second career in the school system. Her mother, a stay-at-home mom until Don’L was 14, worked at K-Mart.

She doesn’t really know if she knew anyone who was Jewish while growing up in the Bluffs. “It wasn’t ever anything that people talked about. It wasn’t important because my brother and sister and I went to the Lutheran Church.”

Her grandparents actually helped to build Timothy Lutheran Church in Council Bluffs. They upheld the premise of “Lutheranism,” a “break away” from Catholicism. Her parents were active in the church in California. When they moved to Iowa, neither one of my parents liked the Lutheran church there because it was a different synod.

She was confirmed when the family moved back to the Midwest, at the insistence of her grandmother. “I didn’t want to do it. I just never liked the politics connected to the church,” she recalled. “And I questioned the beliefs...but went along with my family.”

After graduation from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1974, Don’L admits she needed a job and had no idea what to do. “Jenny Edmondson Hospital had a program where they had classes to become nurses’ aides. They paid $1 an hour to learn. If the program directors liked you at the end of the program, they would hire you.”

She didn’t particularly want to be a nurse but knew her parents didn’t have the money to send her to college. There were limited things that women could do at that time and it usually consisted of nursing, teaching or being a housewife.

Another possibility was being a secretary, ed by the group and their relationship Don’L said, “I knew I couldn’t sit still at caused problems. Don’L admits, “I think a desk!” that I’ve After she always been her began looking for training, something Don’L diswhen it comes covered an to religion. inherent gift Churches just that enabled never met my her to be able expectations. to take care of On the other “I people. hand, John had been shy would chalup until that ideas lenge point and, but he didn’t when the argue. He just patient is read everyyour primary thing he could concern, you lay his hands Don’L Dacey have to get on.” out of yourself. I really liked it because I John had been raised in an entirely difwas able to see people get better.” ferent environment than Don’L-A few years later, she wanted to become Longhill Gardens, a housing project on a Licensed Practical Nurse. As an LPN, Chicago’s West Side. It was run by the she would be able to give medications, do Chicago Housing Authority and young treatments and provide patient care. “I John grew up believing that his role in went to school at Iowa Western the world was one of sacrifice. The only Community College and did very well. place that he felt secure was when he was They wanted me to continue and become in church. a registered nurse. However, I didn’t He moved to Omaha in 1975 and have enough money to take that many began the process of “rebuilding” his life. courses, so I became an LPN instead.”

He took a GED test and passed it immeAfter a couple of years as an LPN at diately. He started training as a nursing Jenny Edmondson, a job at Mercy assistant and began working at Mercy Hospital opened up. They offered 12- Hospital where he met Don’L. Today, he hour shifts and Don’L thought that is a certified Drug and Alcohol Abuse would be good because she would like Counselor in private practice. the time off. She applied and, to her surIn 1979, they married and John says, prise, got the job. “I was amazed because “Don’L always understands me and walks I had no experience in anything like with me -- even if sometimes she doesn’t that.” know where we’re going!”

In 1978 she met John Dacey, a young John, born and raised Catholic, read man working as a technical assistant. theology books and began attending Don’L remembers, “He was in the services at three of the synagogues in process of going to school and hadn’t Omaha--looking for answers. After much lived in this area for very long. I was introspection, he converted to Judaism attracted to him right away because he with the help of Rabbi Debbie Stiel of was so smart. After he finally asked me Temple Israel. He has become an active out, I had to break our first date because member of Temple and leads many eduI got called to come to work. Since we cational groups. worked in the same place and hospitals “John’s quest for religious knowledge are hot beds for gossip, we didn’t tell any- was never an issue in our marriage,” one we were dating.”

Don’L admits. “We discussed beliefs but During their courtship, Don’L became we knew that, if we both had strong involved in a “Born-again Christian” enough belief in God, we would raise the movement. However, John wasn’t accept- children so they could make their own

decisions.”

She admits to not setting foot in a church for 10 years. “During that time, John was leaning more toward Judaism,” she recalls. “Erin, our oldest daughter, was born in 1981 and Brenna, her sister, was born in 1984. We have always raised them to be open-minded and supportive of all religions.”

Her feelings changed when, in 1979, she went to work as a nurse for ENCOR (Eastern Nebraska Office on Mental Retardation). She recalls that many of the children who suffered from Developmental Disabilities also had life threatening problems. “Your beliefs about death change when you do that kind of work.”

Seven years ago, she took a job at the Josie Harper Hospice House. “The people I take care of are going to die,” she explains matter-of-factly. “ And, basically, people die the same way. There’s no religion that makes a right or wrong way to die. People pretty much go through the same symptoms and the same process.

Organized religion, however, seems to say certain things about death and there are a lot of loose ends we have to tie up.

“Hospice is nice because you get to help people wrap up their final things,” Don’L continues. “You may be the one holding the phone while they’re talking to friends or relatives, because they can’t hold it themselves. Or you may be the one who tells family members they need to come soon. It isn’t depressing and it’s very spiritual.

“A doctor told me once it’s an honor and a privilege to be part of a person’s death,” Don’L relates. “It becomes very spiritual and you do get rewards--they just aren’t tangible!”

During the past five or six years, Don’L has begun to attend things at Temple with John and admits her feelings about religion have changed.

“I have begun to feel more and more comfortable as the years have gone by,” she says. “I missed the connection of a community of people and I find it now at Temple. Initially, I enjoyed just the socialization, but now I realize the importance of the rituals buried deep within Judaism.

It has now become very important to me.

I like sitting in the services and soon--I, too will be Jewish!”

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September 30, 2005

We Knew Who We Were

by JOAN K. MARCUS In May of 2003, Silvia Greene Roffman was given the “Pillar of Temple Israel Award.” On the plaque, which hangs in the foyer of Temple, it says, “For the foundation upon which our congregation is built. A lifetime of service, your passion for learning and your undying support.”

Those words describe her life and her complete devotion to Judaism and the Omaha Jewish community. She describes herself by saying, “If you were to peel back all the layers of my body--skin and everything--I know that I would be Jewish to my very core!”

Temple Youth. “Jane was our youth director and we formed the first NFTY group in Omaha. Rabbi Brooks took us on a field trip to see the new foundation of what would be Temple’s building on 70th and Cass Streets.

“We brought picnic lunches with us and ate on what is now the wall of the sanctuary. Rabbi Brooks said we were having the first congregational dinner!

Ours was the last confirmation class at the Temple on Park Avenue.”

As a high school student, Sivi loved school. She was active in musical activities, a part of the staff of The Central

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 9

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Celebrating Deborah Greene’s birthday on Feb 13 are, back row: Thor Rosenquist, left, holding Aaron Norton, Julie Roffman Rosenquist holding Eitan Rosenquist, Larry Greene, Silvia Greene Roffman, Larry Roffman, Susan Roffman Norton, and Mike Norton holding Leo Norton; front row: Seth Norton, Asher Rosenquist, Deborah Greene and Justin Norton.

Silvia (Sivi) and her family came back to High Register, a member of an acting live in Omaha after World War II. In May group, and the Chess Club. As a talented of 1941, her father. Dr. Arthur Greene, pianist, she studied with Omaha piano had enlisted in the United States Army teacher, Betty Fellman.

After graduating from Central in 1955, Air Corp as a flight surgeon. He was given a choice of going to Pearl Harbor Sivi, attended the University of Iowa for or Panama. She relates, “The Panama two years. She returned to Omaha and Canal was not really the place to be graduated from the Municipal University because everyone was sure that the of Omaha in 1959 with a degree in English. While attending Iowa U., Sivi Isthmus of Panama would be bombed.”

But, Sivi, her father and her mother, became friends with Judy Ferdinand, a Deborah Greene, were sent to Panama, young student who was dating medical too. “We traveled around--and it was fun student, Blaine Roffman. Judy called Sivi for us. Dad got out of the service in and suggested that she meet Blaine’s November of 1945 and the family, by this brother, Larry, also a medical student. time including my younger brother, Sivi and Larry were married at Temple Larry, moved back to Omaha.”

Israel in 1959. They moved to Houston She remembers coming back to a lot of where Larry was a resident, but returned anti-Semitism. “We wanted to buy a to Omaha in July of 1962. “In Houston, house in the 52nd and Western areas and we lived in an apartment where there encountered prejudice from the real were older people and couples with estate agent. We rented a house for a young children. That’s when we decided while and then bought one on 58th and that we were going to move back to Happy Hollow. When I went to Omaha where our children could be Washington Grade School, Jerry Kohll, around parents and grandparents.”

Today, the Roffmans have two daughMarvin Ferenstein and I were the only Jewish kids. A short time later, many ters. Susie (born in 1963) and her husJewish people moved into the area band, Mike Norton and Julie (born in because the new Beth Israel Synagogue 1967) and her husband, Thor Rosenquist. Between them, they have six had been built nearby.”

Sivi began Central High in 1952. sons, three to eight years old. Needless to “That’s one of the things I think is miss- say--things are very lively when the whole ing today. We were all together and we family gets together. “It’s wonderful! It’s came from all parts of the city. There fabulous!” Sivi laughs. were 65 Jewish kids out of a class of 365.

While still a college student, Sivi had Maybe we didn’t know each other before worked as a Sunday school assistant at we got to Central, but we sure knew of Temple and helped Rabbi Brooks. “He had an enormous impact on my life. He everyone,” she laughs.

“The 65 of us knew we were part of was brilliant and loved Judaism. He something special. How this was incul- always told me, ‘I am an unrepentant libcated in us, I don’t know. But, we all felt eral Jew.’ He was proud of his training we had an obligation to keep it going,” and loved being Jewish. And he passed she recalls. “Now, Jewish kids are scat- that love on to everyone he taught.

“When we wrote our confirmation tered all over the city. We knew who we were! Now, they’re in different school speeches, he would go through each one districts and not even in one school in a and help us. He told us that he had ink in district. There isn’t the closeness with the his veins instead of blood. And, his writing was magnificent! Later, Rabbi Aryeh Jewish kids today.”

In 1952, when Rabbi Sidney H. Brooks Azriel came to Temple; he radiates came to Temple Israel from Springfield, Judaism and brings that love to everyOhio, he, and his wife, Jane, formed the one.” first group of National Federation of Continued on page 23

Happy New Year

Kevin & Kimara Clark Don & Bernice Cohen Harold Cooperman Richard & Fran Juro Steve Moskovits

Page 10

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

A Passion for All Things Jewish

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by OZZIE NOGG al movements that made Israel’s deserts blossom, and Just as her DNA determined Beth Dotan’s brown the youth movements which were the strength of the eyes, blond hair and tall, lean body, it seems that on Zionist ideology. some deep, fundamental molecular level, DNA also “During that junior year abroad, I visited Amnon at determined her passion for Israel, Jewish education and his home, Kibbutz Ayelet Hashahar in the Northern Holocaust studies in particular. We discussed this one Galilee. He often joined me in Jerusalem or took me on afternoon in her office at the JCC, where for the past tours of the country, introduced me to his friends and five years she’s directed the Institute for Holocaust relatives--the real Israel. It all made such an impression Education at the Plains States Anti-Defamation League. on me--the melting pot of people, the differences in “Jewish education has always been important to me,” Jewish belief--and the pull to be part of the land kept Beth said. “My parents, Ted and Sarah Seldin, showed getting stronger.” by example when they made our carpool stay for In 1990, the Dotan’s daughter, Liatte, was born in Shabbat services after Saturday School at Temple Israel, Omaha. Two-and-a-half-years later their son, Yonatan which meant our family didn’t go to Nebraska football arrived. A year and a half after that, the family moved to games like many other students from our class did. I was Kibbutz Ayelet Hashahar, in the country Beth had felt happy to be in services, but always suspected that the attached to since she’d shed tears over the Yom Kippur kids in the carpool resented me because we had to stay. War and written her third grade report on Golda Meir.

“As for Israel--well, when I was 10, I cried when “Finally, the pieces started to fit. During my five years Rabbi Brooks announced from the pulpit that the Yom in the Cultural Arts Department, I’d concentrated on Kippur War had begun,” she recalls, “and I did a project Holocaust programming--Yom HaShoah observances, on Golda Meir in Mrs. Redler’s third grade Sunday the 50th anniversary of the rescue of the Danish Jews School class. I also remember our Hebrew teacher, Mrs. that we sponsored with Dana College.

Gafni, whom everyone tortured--except me and a few “Now, in Israel, my real work began when I joined others-- because I thought learning Hebrew was impor- Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History tant.

Foundation, interviewing--in Hebrew-survivors who “So, yes,” she admits. “My interest in Jewish life and lived in the Northern Galilee. Each survivor had a diflearning and Israel was there from the beginning, but this interest also gave me a social reputation as being a bit of a Jewish nerd.”

A nerd? No way. Beth’s grade school summers meant Esther K. Newman Camp.

“I loved that place. I can still close my eyes and smell Sherm Poska’s challah on Friday afternoon.” High school brought Temple Youth Group activities. “I threw myself into leadership training and involvement in BBYO and the Jewish Federation by trying to bring the synagogue youth together for programming.”

Beth kept up the pace at the University of Wisconsin Beth Seldin Dotan leads Catholic educators in a prayer service at the Blumkin Home Chapel in Madison. “There was a during the June 2005 Bearing Witness: Anti-Semitism, The Holocaust and Contemporary wonderful Jewish student Issues conference. community on campus. My work at Hillel, and the open ferent testimony which I recorded and sent to the atmosphere in general, increased my exposure to Foundation. More importantly, the survivors gave me a Conservative and Orthodox Judaism. Learning about gift of their personal legacy which I only later understood came with a responsibility far greater than banking more traditional observance was good for me.”

Beth spent her Junior year at Hebrew University in a video tape into an archive.”

“During those years,” Beth continues, “ I was getting Jerusalem. “This was a priority for me, something I had to do as a young Jew, in order to better understand my my Certificate in Museum Studies, and one day my class own independence and to figure out where Israel fit for visited the Ghetto Fighters’ House and Yad Layeled me, personally.” In Jerusalem, Beth studied biblical Children’s Museum--the educational memorial site that texts, Holocaust, literature, archaeology, history, and commemorates the Jewish children who perished in the also spent time on a kibbutz. “It was a dream of a year,” Holocaust,” she recalls.

“From the moment I walked through the door I knew she smiles, “but at the end it was clear I had much, much more to learn about Jewish life. I had many things this was ‘home’. The Museum uses all the right methods to teach about the Holocaust. Your senses are flooded to sort out for myself.”

While sorting things out, Beth earned her B.A. in with light and darkness, with life and what isn’t life. You History, Hebrew and Women’s Studies from Wisconsin. walk through exhibits and hear the recorded voices of “I always seemed to have an eye towards Israel, so after young Israeli children telling stories from the diaries of graduation I returned for a year to ‘study’ the country, children who lived during the Holocaust. You see stained to understand how that wondrous land fit into my glass windows based on drawings by children from future.” Back again in the States, Beth added a Masters Terezienstadt. You see the children’s names, and in the in Jewish Education from Hebrew Union College in Los end the Museum invades you until you become the child.

“I knew immediately that I belonged there, that I Angeles.

Now it was decision time. “I was equipped to be a wanted to help others understand the lives behind the director of a Talmud Torah or Day School, but I chose tragedies. I worked with the educational team at Yad to take a different path. I had the appropriate skills, but Layeled for three years, giving tours to Israeli children at that time couldn’t see myself in a synagogue setting.” and adults and to English speaking groups.”

While at the Museum, Beth also participated in the In 1989, Beth took a break from academia, moved back to Omaha and began work at the Cultural Arts International Book-Sharing Project, a program that gives Israeli and American students the opportunity to Department at the Jewish Community Center.

With her came her husband, Amnon, whom she mar- read a book about children their own age who lived durried in 1987 while in graduate school. His part in her ing the Holocaust, and then share their thoughts about the book and about themselves. story can’t be overemphasized.

“Together they study the historical context of the “I met Amnon many years before college, at the Reform Movement’s Leadership Camp Kutz,” Beth book and examine their attitudes about the Holocaust explains. “He taught a class on the history of Zionism. I and its influence on them as Jews, non-Jews, Israelis, was intrigued by the history, but more so by Amnon’s Americans and human beings,” Beth explains. “When the students recognize their own prejudices, the Shoah family story: “His parents, who are sabras (native Israelis) them- becomes more than history. It becomes personal, and a selves, left Tel Aviv to join the kibbutz movement in powerful lesson. ” Palestine. They belonged to the socialist and agricultur- Continued on page 11

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 11

A Passion for All Things Jewish of humaniContinued from page 10 ty--that Beth believes that all the Shoah paths, and synchronicity, and genoled to ‘this place--her curcide of any rent work with the kind occur Institute for Holocaust to due Education. “Within my m a n ’ s first months at Yad inhumaniLayeled, I discovered Jan ty to Goldstein, Bobbie man.”

Epstein, Zoë Riekes and Not surBob Wolfson were in the p r i s i n g l y, Partnership 2000 group Above: Leading Omaha’s delethe Dotan meeting at the Museum gation on March of the Living, children to discuss a relationship Beth consults with Susan have gotbetween Omaha and Meyers, Education Director at ten the Western Galilee commuHouston’s Holocaust Museum. message. nities. They asked if I Right: Dinah Raful, center, came on sabbatical in 1999 and visited the Dotan family in Israel: “Liatte is could be part of the plan.

Amnon, front, Liatte, left, Leah Raful, Dinah, Beth Dotan and Yonaton.

15 now.

Clearly, my work at the Museum was even more ‘bashert’ than um studies and be able to share the teach- Yonatan is 12. My work in Holocaust ing tools I’d gained at Yad Layeled with studies is shaping the way they see the I’d thought.”

Through the combined efforts of Bob many different communities in Omaha world. They understand the concept of Wolfson, Partnership 2000, and the and the Midwest,” she shakes her head. justice and see how goodness leads to Ghetto Fighters’ House, Beth and her “This work is an opportunity far beyond goodness. It’s become part of their world vision. When they were small, I wasn’t family were brought back to Omaha in anything I’d ever anticipated.”

Beth pursues the mission of the sure they even listened to me. Apparently 2000.

“It was clear to Bob and to Larry Raful, Institute for Holocaust Education with they did.”

Others hear Beth, too. then on the board of the Plains States gentle strength and resolve.

“We’re here to teach students, educaThousands of school students have Regional office of the ADL, that Holocaust Education was an area of great tors--all people--the lessons of the benefitted from the numerous workshops importance in our community. Bob’s Holocaust so they can better understand and programs brought to local and vision, as he approached his ‘Bar the consequences of indifference to the statewide educators, and the Bearing Mitzvah’ year at the ADL, was to develop plight of others,” she insists. “We know Witness Conference--which trains a Holocaust Center that functioned as an that presenting cold statistics and facts Catholic teachers and provides them the integral part of the ADL office, yet ran isn’t the way to teach the Holocaust. tools with which to present the “We equip teachers with age-appropri- Holocaust and anti-Semitism--is now independently as a resource for Holocaust materials, curriculum and pro- ate stories of specific children, mothers, part of the curriculum in many local grandfathers, that show the human Catholic Archdiocese schools. gramming.

“It was empowering to know I’d now dimension of the boxcars, camps and cre“After being part of ‘Bearing Witness’have the chance to pull together the best matoria. We don’t try to put teachers and -after speaking with survivors and lightof my education in history, Jewish stud- students in the victims’ shoes, but rather ing candles in memory of the six million ies, pedagogy, administration and muse- help them understand the responsibility --participants often tell me their lives will

From our family to yours during the High Holy Days.

May you and your loved ones have a new year that is blessed with love, happiness, prosperity and peace!

www.creighton.edu

never be the same, and they doubt they’ll ever again be a bystander in matters of moral injustice.

“One participant thanked me for showing her a world she was content to acknowledge -but not really investigate-and now she was ready to teach about ethical behavior and responsibility to others. Those sentiments carry a lot of weight, especially coming from Catholic educators. The Conference shows them how different the world might have been if the Church had spoken up during the Holocaust.

“My parents taught me to look at humanity, be a giving person, live ethically and pass those values to others. My Jewish education trained me to be a resource, a pivot point, a person who tries to catch it all and then hand the lesson to the next person.

“My job lets me work with the Jewish community, interact with students and educators across town and across the state. I’m able to stay in touch with my mentors at the Ghetto Fighters’ House, stay connected to the survivor community and honor their loved ones by fulfilling our responsibility to continue educating about the Shoah. Sam Fried is making a huge contribution through his Six Million Lights Foundation,” she concludes. “Now, the time feels right to merge Sam’s important work with ours and find a way to fund a Holocaust Center in our own community-a Center that insures the future of Holocaust education and programming.

“The Holocaust is a legacy we weren’t able to pluck out of the ashes. So we must remember and teach. I’m so fortunate to do this work everyday.”

Page 12

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

Living and Marketing the ‘ah-HA!’ and ‘Wow!’ of Judaism

by OZZIE NOGG New York City natives Andy and Carole Greenberg roared into Omaha almost 16 years ago with more energy than ConEd. Armed with a teaching background and the experience of establishing a preschool for the Manchester, New Hampshire Jewish Federation, Carole marched into our CDC and asked for a job.

“They told me there were no openings and I said, okay, but there will be and you’ll call me. They did.”

Today, she’s the Assistant Director of the Pennie Z. Davis Child Development Center. “Carole’s the definition of New York moxie,” Andy grins. “She’s fearless.”

She’s also, according to Andy, “exceptionally considerate, creative, upbeat, inspiring, independent, fair, understanding, compassionate and sensual.”

The man should know. “It’s the morning of my 15th birthday. I’m a shy, mid-year Yeshivah transferee and I walk into Forest Hills High and the first person I meet in my very first math class is Carole. This was a present from upstairs with a “No Return” policy and a lifetime warranty.”

Returning the compliments, Carole describes her husband of thirty-five years as “upbeat, positive, loving and kind. He’s got a boyish attitude, a sharp wit, plus he’s an out-of-the-box creative thinker.”

The woman should know. “One day he’s in Florida, speaking to corporate-types, motivating them by comparing business to golf, and the next day he’s at Beth El, motivating kids by comparing Bar Mitzvah training to baseball practice. His approach works, too.” Andy’s latest project is yet another motivational sales plan. He’s determined to market Judaism to everyone within earshot.

“As a 30-year sales and marketing guy, I feel most congregations promote Judaism in the wrong way. It’s not good enough to tell potential customers that we’ve got plenty of seats, come on in, services are just starting.

Who’s going to attend based on that pitch? Judaism-being Jewish--we’ve got a great product here. But the potential participant only cares about the benefit he’s going to get from the product. You’ve got to inspire people that Judaism, synagogue services, Shabbat, all of

Carole and Andy Greenberg it, will benefit them personally. You’ve got to show them the Wow! factor.”

Move over, Madison Avenue. Andy’s rolling out his CD--Celebrate Shabbat for the Rest of Our Lives.

“The idea came while we were in the hot tub with friends. ‘I’m going to write a song,’ I said. Once you make a commitment and declare it publicly, you better get it done. But I didn’t have a theme or a hook. So a few days later I’m landing in Chicago and the flight attendant asks the passengers to not smoke until they get into the terminal and then she adds, but maybe you don’t need to smoke at all, like don’t smoke for the rest of your life, and ah-HA! -- that was it.

“There was the title--Celebrate Shabbat for the Rest of Our Lives--and once I started writing, it just poured out.

Cantor Gaston wrote the music, Dacia Jabenis and Annelise Ocanto added their voices, Carole designed the CD cover, and now we hope that each time people listen to the CD it will grow on them, just like Shabbat.”

Shabbat observance and Judaic practice in general are a growing, changing, ever evolving journey for both Greenbergs.

Andy’s first steps were taken in Modern Orthodox practice, Hebrew-speaking camps and a Yeshiva Central Queens education. “A few years after my Bar Mitzvah, I said that’s it, and insisted on going to public school. At sixteen, I stopped being kosher. Three weeks later I was in the hospital with an emergency appendectomy. It felt like a sign. I’ve kept kosher ever since.”

Wishing the Omaha Jewish Community

Carole and Andy Greenberg’s son, Greg, and his family: Jessica 7, Debbie, and Alexandra, 7 months.

Carole grew up in what she describes as a Reform Deaf congregation. “Both my parents were deaf, but they had their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs when they were kids, and later my father was a lay leader in our deaf community, the unofficial ‘Rabbi.’ Both my parents knew Hebrew, which was unusual for deaf people in those days, and my mother tutored hearing children in Hebrew. She couldn’t hear, but her brains were intact.”

The growth of the Greenberg’s Judaic practice and synagogue participation has been steady, though Andy claims he spent many years “as a passive Jew.” Passive?

Andy Greenberg? Now there’s an oxymoron.

“Every time Carole and I relocated, I did seek out a Jewish presence and join a synagogue,” he admits. “In California we went to High Holiday services and scattered Shabbat services.” From there, the tempo picked up. “In New Hampshire, I increased my attendance to every Friday night and some Saturday mornings. I volunteered for the board, ran youth programs and Junior Congregation services.

“When we came to Beth El, I immediately volunteered to run Junior Congregation for the High Holidays. I sat on the synagogue board, taught in the Talmud Torah, went to more and more Shabbat services, and when Cantor Gaston and then Rabbi Levin arrived, they really kicked it up several notches for me.”

Enthusiasm breeds enthusiasm, and Carole’s participation kicked up, too. “When Rabbi Levin interviewed at Beth El, people asked him questions about halacha and ritual, but I asked, ‘Rabbi, ‘What do you think about music?’ and Andy--who is more traditional than I--Andy thought my question was coo-coo. But after a couple weeks of going to those musical Kabbalat Shabbat services he said, ‘You know, you were right.’

“This may sound sacrilegious--I don’t mean it to--but Friday night services put me in the same mood as that Whoopi Goldberg nun movie with the gospel singing.

The energy. The spirit. It’s a great way to start the new week or end the old week, with music and with friends.”

Continued on page 13

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‘Wow!’ of Judaism Continued from page 12 To which Andy responds, “I know Friday night is supposed to be peaceful and quiet, but by the time the service is over the energy level is up and you’re in a brand new frame of mind--it’s Wow--and husbands and wives are hugging and kissing one another and their kids, maybe for the first time in their busy week.”

To which Carole asks, “How do you know this? How do you know this?” in one of the good-natured exchanges that pass easily between the couple.

The mutual respect Carole and Andy Greenberg share is palpable. They listen when the other speaks. They give each other room to grow in their individual ways. “Andy has always been so committed to Judaism, but at the same time he allows me to commit at the level I’m comfortable with.”

Lately, Carole’s comfort level has risen dramatically. “During the Best of Beth El 75th Anniversary Show, I sang and danced for the first time ever, and I also read a bit of Torah for the first time--those are huge steps for me because I’ve been scared to perform in front of people my entire life. Besides that, I always thought I couldn’t connect with the Hebrew language because of my Above: Carole Greenberg shows off her artistic talents -hearing impairment.

“But now that I go to and her tzedakah box--at a Friday night services Women’s Campaign event with every week I decided I Elinor Matalon in 2003. Right: might as well understand Greenberg and Patty Nogg, cowhat’s going on. So I worker at the CDC, attend a enrolled in Susi Fryd- CAJE conference on Long man’s Hebrew course. Island in 2001 to enhance their She made it so enjoyable, Jewish educational skills. so easy for people to learn. Now I’m part of an 11woman Bat Mitzvah class--Cantor Gaston’s our teacher and the big day is March 11, 2006. It’s very scary, but my goodness--if my Dad and Mom were able to do it then there’s no excuse for me not to.”

When she can’t shake her willies out, Andy motivates Carole just as he motivates his business clients. “If she says, ‘I can’t do this,’ I encourage her to say, “I haven’t done this yet.’ ” To which Carole responds, “Andy came to me with much more knowledge and he’s willing to share it with me. He’s my own private tutor.” Andy is also a go-to guy when Beth El Bar Mitzvah boys need help with their speeches, a pinch-hitter when Cantor Gaston and Rabbi Levin are on vacation, and a volunteer Shabbat, High Holiday and Seder service leader at the Blumkin Home --a schedule that somehow still leaves time for him to create an eight-week lesson plan to accompany the Shabbat For the Rest of Our Lives CD, plus design and teach a course called From Your Heart to God’s Ears.

“I truly believe that one reason people shy away from going to services is because they don’t understand what’s going on, what the prayers mean, how prayers can relate to their lives. God gives us so many gifts every day, we have to show up and say thank you. This class lets me use my marketing and presentation skills to create the desire in others to join in the fun and beauty of our religion--to give them those ah-HA! moments.

“Again, we’re talking product and the long term

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benefit of adding more Judaism to your life.” Andy is currently a volunteer marketing consultant for the Beth El Board and, with synagogue staff, is helping design a new program for the Junior Congregation High Holiday service. His collaboration with Cantor Gaston on Shabbatons for Beth El fifth, sixth, and seventh graders won rave reviews.

For her part, Carole envisions the Child Development Center as a place where young children are immersed in Judaism every day. “Sure, we cover secular themes, but a strong Judaic curriculum comes first. We want the classrooms to look like Jewish classrooms. The teachers are encouraged to keep the shofars and the hanukkiot and the gragers out, and not leave them up on the shelf to use just once a year. Let’s integrate Jewish symbols into the kids’ lives on a daily basis.”

Like her husband, Carole thinks out-of-thebox--the crayon box. “I teach art to three year olds, and if they paint the Shabbat Queen in a purple dress, great. Purple’s a royal color, right? And who says latkes have to be brown. If kids draw red or chartreuse latkes it’s fine with me. Like Andy said, being Jewish can be beautiful and fun.”

“Both Andy and I keep evolving, growing in the same direction, and the growing doesn’t have to end in something as long as we grow. Plus you’re never too late for learning. Age is irrelevant. It’s such a great journey, and for me the journey is as much fun as arriving at the destination.”

To which Andy responds, “We all have so much stuff buried inside us, so many talents, to not take advantage of our potential is nuts. It’s like what Carole said before about the Bar Mitzvah-baseball analogy. Few of those Bar Mitzvah boys are in class because they want to be, so I try to show them that they can lead a Jewish life and a secular life, there’s no need to sacrifice one for the other. I try to convince them that there’s a benefit to this process, to this Jewish stuff.

“I tell them, visualize a guy in the minor leagues. He trains for eight years--eight years--and each year his game gets better and when he’s done training, done with the process, he’s gotten pretty darn good, and now he’s in the majors and his first time at bat he hits one out of the park, bases loaded. So now is he gonna hang up his cleats? No way.

“And I tell them, that’s like your Bar Mitzvah. You train for eight years and then at your Bar Mitzvah you bat .1000. You read the Torah in front of 200 people and make a speech in front of 200 people and you find out you’re comfortable in front of a group and you say, Wow! This feels good.

“And then what? When the day is over, are you gonna hang up your tallis and never do this again? Then comes the ah-HA! and they understand that all that training can stand you in good stead for the rest of your life.”

For the rest of your life, for sure.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

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A Grateful Jew Remembers

by JOAN K. MARCUS “There must have been 150 Jewish kids in that home.

When Manfred (Manny) Kreitstein was born in 1927 From there, they took 49 of us by train to Spain and in Berlin, Germany, Adolf Hitler had not yet risen to then to Portugal. From Lisbon, we were put on board a power. Manny, his three sisters, and their parents, ship and arrived America in 1941.”

Samuel and Sarah, lived in an apartment in the large city, Manny was placed in a children’s home in New York. home to 160,000 Jews--one-quarter of all the JEws in The 49 children stayed there for a few weeks and then Germany. Samuel was a salesman of Danish linens and were broken up into groups. His went to Chicago. “In Sarah helped him. The Orthodox family attended their Chicago, they were looking for people who would adopt neighborhood synagogue, Adas Yisroel, regularly. us but most of us were too old to adopt,” he explains.

Samuel wasn’t able to attend daily minyanim because But Paul Veret, Director of Omaha’s Jewish Federation he was working, going door to door with his wares by and its Jewish Community Center came to the children’s six or seven in the morning. Manny describes his early home in Chicago. He selected three young boys--one of years with his family as being “extremely happy.” The them Manny--and brought them back to Omaha. children all attended Jewish school and they always “They tried to find places for us to stay,” Manny adds, spoke German at home. “and they placed me with Their home was strictly Harry and Ida Weiner and kosher and they were very Sarah Weiner (Potash). I observant of all Jewish holicalled them Bubbe and Zadya. days until Hitler came into They took care of me like I power in 1933. Sadly, Manny was their own child.” Manny remembers, “In November of finally had a home and the 1939 they (Nazis) picked up Weiners enrolled him in grade my father and put him into school. prison.

“They put me in the seventh “It was six o’clock in the grade and I gradually moved morning; they came into the up. I went to the library every apartment and took him away. day,” he recalls. “I checked If I had been older, they out the books I could read so would have taken me, too!”

I could learn English. I Manny never saw his father learned to speak English from again. “My mother was a terreading comic books!” rific woman and she got Manny lived with the Manny Kreitstein everybody out. She sent my Weiners for a year until Harry three sisters away. The oldest one went to Israel because died. Then, he moved in with Sol and Shandel Nogg she had a scholarship to go to school. The next one went and his family. There he remained until graduating from to Denmark to work on a farm--like training for a kib- Central High School in 1946. butz. And, my youngest one went to Israel, too. My He remembers having a hard time getting jobs mother stayed in Berlin until she found out what hap- because, “I was four feet tall and weighed just 50 pened to my dad. pounds. Nobody wanted to hire me, but thanks to Paul “I’m not sure but, it was rumored that the Germans Veret, I worked in the basket room at the JCC during took all the men they had picked up and put them in a high school.” camp between Germany and Poland--no-mans-land,” The Hilton Hotel had a laundry and a shoeshine place. he explains. “Eventually, they let them go. When my Manny picked up clothes from the guests in the hotel, father came back, they sold everything and moved to cleaned them and took them back. When the shoeshine Poland. I got postcards from them saying they were try- boys went to lunch, he did their job. “That was a good ing to get papers to go to Israel and they would pick me deal because I made tips,” he smiles. up. But, the war broke out in 1939.

“After high school, nobody wanted to hire me,” he “The last I heard about my parents, they were in adds, “but Ben Silver and Jules Newman gave me a job Poland,” he recalls. “When Germany invaded Poland, at the Hinky Dinky Grocery Store on 45th and Military. the Nazis stopped where my parents were staying, They taught me how to do everything. During the Reichshof. A relative told me he had heard that my week, I was a produce man. It was a good job and they mother swam the river and asked to bring my father. were good to me.”

“She went back to find him and that’s the last we Manny worked in the stores for two years before being know. I found a paper at the Holocaust Museum and asked to work with the crew that inventoried a store a their name was on the ghetto list. We don’t know if they day. He worked his way up in the company and became were killed there or died later on.” part of the remodeling crew. Eventually, although he Manny’s mother sent him out of Germany as someone never had an official title, he did all of the pricing for else’s son. A local rabbi who had a big family had boys Hinky Dinky, making sure that prices were competitive his age who were already in Belgium. Manny took one with other stores. of their kids’ passports. When he arrived in Holland, too “I worked there until I was drafted in 1950 for the many people recognized him.

Korean War,” he adds. “Then, when I came back, C.M. “I had to play sick and not go to school for several (Nick) Newman asked me to head the inventory crew. I months,” Manny adds. “Then, an organization smug- assumed that position in 1952.” He later went on to gled me from Holland into Belgium, where I had an become assistant office manager. aunt and uncle.” This “bunch of refugees” got on the “I took accounting classes at night to improve myself. train going to France.

I did whatever they asked me and I tried to work hard.

“It was an old coal train and we ate whatever we had I wanted to go to college but I couldn’t because I had taken along,” he continues. “The Germans had bombed to work,” Manny recalls. “Jules Newman told me he the train all along the way to France. And, they were didn’t care if I had a college degree because I was smart already in France when we arrived. It was a horrible and a hard worker!” experience; there had been 40 or 50 people in our car, In 1952, Manny met Lois Greenberg. They were marbut when we arrived, only 20 of us remained.” ried in 1954 and, Manny insists, “Lois was the best He remembers huddling in the comer of the train with thing that ever happened to me. We were married 46 his cousins. People just went crazy; they were jumping off years and we had a wonderful home with her extended the train, but Manny stayed. They were sent to a refugee family.” Lois died in 2000 after a 17-year battle with camp, but soon “escaped.” Manny and his aunt and uncle breast cancer. made their way to Toulouse, France, where they stayed Manny left Hinky Dinky when it was sold to the until they were put into another refugee camp. “They fed Cullen Company in 1983. He then used his accounting us the best that they could. It wasn’t great but we ate. My skills to run Hinky Dinky’s Federal Credit Union part uncle taught me the prayers,” Manny smiles, “and I even time. When the manager retired, he took over the job, had a Bar Mitzvah in that camp.” He wound up in five retiring in 1994. refugee camps during the war.

Manny began going to the synagogue every morning He soon met a distant cousin whose family was stuck to say kaddish after Lois died. “It just became a habit. in Poland. Alone and with out companionship, Manny But, as a Temple Israel member, there was no minyan went with him. Riversaldt in the French Pyrenees each morning. So, I started to go to Beth Israel and Mountains wasn’t called a concentration camp, but it Beth El. Later, I started to go to the Neighborhood was just as bad. Manny fell ill was in the hospital there. Minyan on Shabbat. After the year was up, I was so used Then, magically, Manny was told that he was on the to going each day I have continued.”

Manny is grateful for the life he has had. Judaism has list to come to America. “I remember a Frenchman who came into the camp and took me,” Manny recalls. “He kept him alive. “I was scared when I was a kid because I put me on the handlebars of his bicycle and we rode to had no home. When I came to Omaha, Jewish people gave me a home--schooling, a job--and a life!” a children’s home outside of Vichy, France.

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 15

Safta Means Grandmother

by JOAN K. MARCUS Cheryl Kapell Lerner looks like a school girl. She laughed when I commented on her youthful appearance and quipped, “I’m older than you think--I have two and a half grandchildren!”

She was born in 1962 in Madison, WI. Her father, Philip, was an attorney and her mother, Anita, a housewife until she went back to school to become a nurse.

Cheryl’s grandfather strongly influenced the lives of Cheryl and her two brothers.

“All of my grandparents were from Europe,” she recalls. “My grandfather, Benjamin Elijah Rothblatt, was from Russia and part of a very strong Zionist movement there. He believed, like Rabbi Eliazer Ben Yehuda, that if the Jews were going to have a country, they needed to speak Hebrew.

He was a teacher in Russia and one of his students was Menachem Begin, who later became Prime Minister of Israel. So, Cheryl grew up with a very strong Zionist background and a love for the Hebrew language. “This was a language that was given to us by God and something we should know and understand.”

Cheryl grew up with Israeli teachers, from whom she learned conversational Hebrew. “For me, this was a better way of studying Hebrew. Otherwise, it’s like learning English by studying Shakespeare!” she laughs. “Since I learned Hebrew when I was young, I knew what it meant. I didn’t just learn it to say prayers. When we got to our grandparents’ house, we would speak Hebrew and study the parsha of the week.”

She recalls, “We learned it in Hebrew and we hardly ever got past the first para-

graph. There are so many lessons in each word!”

C h e r y l remembers her grandmother, Clara Rothblatt, who was “quietly artistic,” adding “she that walked with a but cane, when she heard music, she would drop her cane and grab my Gary and Cheryl Lerner took their family to Israel on the Federation’s famihands to ly mission 1999/2000: Alex, left, Michael, and Matthew Lerner, Todd and dance with Nicole Shachtman. her.

Later, Judaism. I knew that I was Jewish wherwhen she lived in a nursing home, she ever I was.” wasn’t reacting to anything. But when we When she was only 17, Cheryl joined played music, she would immediately try the Marin Ballet Company in California. to sit up.”

“I think that my father was a little frusEven though Cheryl was an excellent trated because I was such a good student, student and had planned to go to college, but I was dancing and not attending colshe opted instead to join a ballet compa- lege. However, he allowed all of his chilny after graduating from high school. “If dren to pursue our passions.” you truly want to dance, you have to do In 1984, an offer to dance with the it when you’re young.”

Omaha Ballet Company was an exciting From the time she was 12, she went option for Cheryl. She picked Omaha away for summers and trained with over several others because she was told dancers. But she began dancing at the that here she would also be able to teach age of four and knew at an early age she dancing. “Cantor Leo Fettman was in wanted to be a dancer. “Even as a young Omaha--someone I had known in child, I felt some conflict when I wanted Madison. And, I knew Susie Drazen to go to dance classes on Saturday morn- because she was my Hebrew teacher in ing,” Cheryl admits. “So, I did a little bit Madison!” she recalls. “Those mentors of both and never felt far away from were the deciding factors.”

During her second season in Omaha, she suffered an injury which took a year to heal. “When you’re a dancer, your life is so focused on dancing. It was just better to go back to Wisconsin, but I was already registered when I got an offer from Anne Kibel Schwartz, the JCC’s Cultural Arts Director, who told me that the dance director was leaving. She asked if I would consider taking the job.

“I returned to Omaha because I could combine my love for dance and for Judaism,” she smiles. “I could have both of my passions together!”

In 1987, one of Cheryl’s students, Nicole Lerner, confided to her that her mother, Doreen Lerner, had recently died. Since Cheryl’s father had died very suddenly a few years before, the two consoled in each other. One day, Nicole’s father. Dr. Gary Lerner, called Cheryl and asked if he could visit with her about his daughter’s recent grief.

“We made an appointment and we talked about what it’s like to have a parent die. And then, he asked if we could get together and talk some more,” Cheryl recalls. “I remember wondering what to wear to our second appointment because I didn’t want him to think we were having a date!”

They were together a lot after that. But they weren’t alone. His children: Nicole, Michael and Matthew, then 14, 10 and six, were always with them.

Cheryl and Gary were married at Beth El in 1989. A fourth child, their son Alex, was born in 1991. “It was a little hard getting married with a ready-made family. Meals were difficult for me because I hadn’t known about ‘cooking’ anything but salads and yogurt!”

Continued on page 23

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

This Couple is Definitely Not Over the Hill

by JOAN K. MARCUS Gary and Cece Fishman Hill have been married since 1960. For all of those 45 years, their love for each other, and for Judaism, radiates between them.

Cece was born in Kansas City in 1940 to Yetta and Abe Fishman. Her home was Orthodox and she remembers going to Hebrew school four days a week at Kehilath Israel Synagogue. She and her younger brother, Morris, were always active in Jewish activities.

As a very young child, Cece was president of her Young Judaea group and, although she knew that there were lots of people who weren’t Jewish, she grew up always knowing that hers would be a life filled with Judaism. During high school, in 1955, she went to a United Synagogue Youth Convention in Kansas City.

And, lo and behold, young Gary Hill from Lincoln, NE, stayed at her house with two of his buddies.

Cece recalls, “I was only 15-years-old, but we became friends. There really wasn’t any dating--yet. Once, I went to Lincoln with two of my friends and Gary was one of the guys who went to the movies with us. At that point, we were just friends.”

She went to the University of Missouri and she remembers, “I really didn’t like going to school there.

So, one day I called Gary and asked him to pick me up and take me home. I don’t know why I did that, but he came to all the way Columbia, Missouri, to get me.”

Soon after, they became engaged and were married in Lincoln in 1960. They both agree that much of their lives revolve around Lincoln’s Tifereth Israel Synagogue.

Cece is the current Secretary of the synagogue. She has been president of Hadassah, runs the gift shop and was active in the synagogue’s sisterhood.

In her quest to do tikun olam (reparing the world) Cece has worked with CEGA (which stands for Cece and Gary) operations. CEGA Services, specializing in criminal justice and human service, provides secretarial, consulting and direct services to help individuals, organizations and agencies accomplish specific tasks and/or goals. Cece’s other interests include being secretary of a Kiwanis Club and serving on the board of directors for the Lincoln Foundation for Mental Retardation.

Together, the Hills have chaired the synagogue’s annual dinner, set up oneg Shabbats and set tables for b’nai mitzvah. Cece says, “We do anything that needs to be done!”

Gary was born in 1939 in Salina, Kansas, to Leo and Betty Hill. Their family ran Northwestern Metal, a scrap yard based in Lincoln. Until recently, Gary carried on the family business. “The scrap yard was an adjunct of the business in Lincoln. It was right before World War II and my dad was running the business. Later, he went into the army and was stationed in Salinas.”

The Hill family moved around while Leo was in the

Left: CEGA provides training to non-governmental organizations, and sets up prison systems, legal justice systems and other aspects of criminal justice needs. Right: Sometimes CEGA’s work is dangerous...but necessary, bringing Gary in contact with rebels and renegades in a county where he is trying to establish basic criminal justice services.

Cece and Gary Hill army. In 1946, they returned to Lincoln and began to attend Tifereth Israel Synagogue. Gary remembers, “When the synagogue moved from 18th and ‘L’ to 32nd and Sheridan, they referred to the new synagogue as ‘the house that Leo built.’”

Since graduating from UNL with a degree in business administration, Gary has visited Israel more than 40 times. His trips began in 1952 when his family went to visit relatives. In more recent years, he went with the United Jewish Appeal as a member of the annual campaign team. He has also done much work with prison systems in developing countries.

His interest in prison systems stems back to 1963 when Northwestern Metals hired people who had previously been incarcerated. “I started a program at the penitentiary that just grew. I ran it along with the business and, now, since I’ve closed the business, I do it exclusively.”

CEGA Services works locally, nationally and internationally and is noted for its work with organizations and projects in developing countries and those with limited financial resources. Often with its sister organization-the nonprofit Contact Center--Hill’s company has previously served as the referral center for national runaway hotlines, operated the national literacy clearinghouse, the national ex-offender help/referral center, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service Amnesty/education hotline, and an international criminal justice information center.

CEGA has also helped Arab countries with prison systems. And, when visiting these countries, Gary has visited Israel, too. “When a country is looking to rebuild a training program for their prison staff, or rebuild or modernize their system, as aid from one country to another, I’m sent in to provide help,” Gary explains.

“Or, sometimes that country itself might bring me in.

“I’m currently on an eight-month contract with the United Nations-Department of Peace Keeping Operations. I work in Afghanistan, Liberia other countries that have experienced serious conflicts.”

Gary adds, “Maybe it’s because of the way we both grew up that we do these things. Although we’ve never wanted for anything, money isn’t the most important. It doesn’t take much to live fairly well. We started out our marriage with more than many other couples.”

During Gary’s army service, when he was stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, the Hills helped to set up a quasi-Jewish Community Center. They pulled together 30 couples that brought wine and food from St. Louis to celebrate Jewish holidays. “We had always made it our goal to remain actively Jewish--along with other civic activities.”

He went on to say, “We went through a period of time when we used our businesses to support the causes we cared about. You can put in hours in a business and still not be there fulltime because you aren’t there mentally.

So, we cut our salaries at Northwestern because the employees were the ones who did the work. We put a lot of the money that we made into the non-profits that we support. It was just the ‘Jewish thing’ to do.”

Gary said, “Civic activities have always been important and enjoyable to us. It’s probably a factor of real joy and loving what we’re doing than any great, philosophical idea. It was all right to do what we’ve done because of tzedakah and what we had learned from our families.”

Cece and Gary look at each other with love, “We made the time! Everybody has the time! Now that we’re older and we look back at some of our friends who could ‘buy and sell’ us, they look at us with envy because of what we’ve been able to do.”

This couple definitely doesn’t consider their age as “over the hill,” Gary says with a smile. “You cannot have had a better life, in any measure, than we have been lucky enough to have had!”

mark

The Lincoln Jewish Community wishes you a L’Shana Tova Congregation B’Nai Jeshurun

Congregation Tifereth Israel

Member of the Union for Reform Judaism

Member of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

Rabbi Ilan Emanuel

Rabbi Royi Shaffin

2061 South 20th Street Lincoln,NE 68502 402/435-8004

3219 Sheridan Boulevard Lincoln, NE 68502 402/423-8569

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September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 17

A Hunger to Learn

by JOAN K. MARCUS Howard Kaiman barely remembers the Great Depression. However, he does remember many happy Shabbat dinners.

He and his mother and father, Ida and Samuel Kaiman, walked to synagogue with his grandparents, Ezra and Miriam Sidman, nearly every Shabbat morning.

Their house wason 31st and Chicago; the shul was only 13 blocks away on 18th and Chicago.

Howard Kaiman After services, they would walk back to their house for lunch with the family. All the relatives and friends would come, including his aunt and uncle, Betty and Isaac Sternhill, from Council Bluffs and another aunt and uncle, Sarah and Meyer Linda from Omaha.

“It was almost like a little shtetl,” Howard smiles. “I was so anxious to pray with them that I was just four years old when I began to learn Hebrew. Our whole family would go to the synagogue-even my uncle Harry Sidman and Aunt Pauline closed their business on Saturday so they could go with us.”

Kaiman remembers going to Hebrew school before he ever began public school at Henry W. Yates School. His parents weren’t wealthy in money, but that learning and education always prevailed in their home.

Sam worked for the Union Pacific Railroad, but attended night school to study law, where former United States Senator Roman Hruska was one of his classmates. Although Howard says the Kaiman Family wasn’t “ultra-orthodox”, Shabbat was always observed at their home and holiday celebrations were joyous family affairs.

Says Howard, “I don’t even remember when I learned to daven. It always came easily to me. I went to classes at the Jewish Community Center on 20th and Dodge. There were a bunch of us and we studied with Mr. (Judah) Wolfson. In those days, the teachers used rulers to hit the kids on their hands if they didn’t learn. They never hit me because I was a good student!”

He loved learning Hebrew and studying about Judaism. Later on, Rabbi Goldstein came to Omaha and taught at the JCC. Beth El bought a house on 49th and Dodge and they later built the synagogue next door.

“My mother would take me to 34th and Dodge where Cantor (Aaron) Edgar lived and then I would ride the rest of the way with him. Phil Alberts, Rafael Edgar, Howard Dandy and I would ride together to the classes. I wanted to go so badly that my mother even allowed me to take the bus when I was five or six years old. I just wanted to learn about Judaism!”

Howard went to Central High and continued with Hebrew high school. He was the first one to give his Bar Mitzvah

speech in Hebrew. “Interest in Judaism and studies were always emphasized at my house. I helped teach other kids for their Bar Mitzvahs. When I was 16, I also taught Sunday school at Beth El Synagogue.”

He remembers that he attended Brandeis Camp in California. Teenagers there attended educational seminars and learned to share when they returned home. “My parents were always interested in education for my brother, Ernie and my sister, Donna (Gilbert).

“I even went to summer school to try to learn more.

Of course, I could only go to school when I wasn’t working. I started selling magazines and newspapers when I was very young.”

Life wasn’t easy for Howard as a boy, however, he kept up his quest for Jewish knowledge while he attended Central High. He was an excellent student who participated in debate classes and also worked at Bakers Shoe Store after school.

After graduation from Central, Kaiman attended the Municipal University of Omaha, where he received a combined degree in sociology and secondary education. After further education, he earned a teaching certificate. “It was about that time that there were riots in north Omaha and I decided I wasn’t sure about becoming a teacher. I taught for a while, but something seemed to be missing.”

Instead, Kaiman decided on law school.

In 1964, he began Creighton Law. He admits, “During my freshman year, I was 12th in a class of 75. Times were difficult and I had to work hard to keep up.

However, I always tried to keep up with my Jewish studies, too.”

Kaiman began his own law practice in 1968. He specialized in workmen’s compensation, personal injuries and divorce.

In 1977, when the Supreme Court stated that attorneys could advertise, he joined attorney Jerry Grossman and they were the first ones in the area to do just that.

Howard says, “When we began to advertise, we did it because our purpose was to make legal services available for reasonable prices. Before that, I had been the attorney for senior citizens. One of the first things I did was to petition the Nebraska Railroad Commission for reduced transportation rates for seniors. I did the work free of charge--it was the right thing to do.”

He explains, “Many times I knew I wasn’t going to make much money.

Eventually, people began to know me and more business came my way.”

Before getting his law degree, Kaiman joined Temple Israel. “Even though I was raised Orthodox, I knew we had come into the age of modernity. We had become the product of urbanization. My common sense and rationalization told me I had to become part of the population.

He taught ethics and history in Sunday school at Temple for a while when he was a law student. He made a commitment, however, to join in about 1966.

“Sometimes, the kids that I taught didn’t enjoy Judaism as much as I did,” he admits. However, I enjoyed sharing my knowledge. It was mandatory that we attend services with our students and it became a habit that I have continued to this day.”

Continued on page 23

We thank Thee, O God for Thy favor unto this, our land, and for the blessings of liberty and the ideals of righteousness which our nation cherishes.

Protect and prosper it, and let the New Year bring security and abundance to all.

Union Prayer Book

L’Shana Tova from the Board of Directors of the Foundation assuring the stability and continuity of Jewish life in Omaha, Israel, the former Soviet Union, and other countries through the establishment of enduring assets to support vital services now and in the future.

Steven Bloch President Henry Davis Michael M. Erman David L. Friedland Donald Goldstein Joseph Kirshenbaum Murray H. Newman

Jay Noddle Vice President

Andrew Robinson Larry E. Roffman Harley D. Schrager Ted M. Seldin Frederick J. Simon Suzanne Singer Norman Veitzer

Ex-Officio Members Zoë Riekes Blaine Roffman Norman Sheldon

Martin C. Ricks, Executive Director 333 South 132 Street 402/334-6440 Email: mricks@jewishomaha.org

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

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Finding Faith: A Tale of Two Women

by BERT LEWIS support system of dear friends and loved ones, learned When I asked my friend Sheila Rosen to consent to an to make a new solitary life for herself. Her children were interview for this issue of the Jewish Press, she expressed living away, Ellan in Tucson, and Steve in Kansas City, surprise. “What could you tell about my life that would each with their own families. Then, out of the blue, once interest anybody?” was her first question. I told her she again the most terrible news a parent can hear--a phone was just the kind of person to whom others might relate call reporting that Sheila’s beloved daughter Ellan had --somebody who has lived here in our city her whole life been killed in a car accident. and who has been connected with the Jewish communiAn outsider can only wonder how and where a human ty since childhood. finds the strength to handle After all, our focus in this such a heartbreaking event. yomtov edition is religion.

Friends rally around the Let us then pursue the story mourner, but where do they of a lady who didn’t think find words of comfort? Are her life interesting to others. there such words, or are Sheila’s parents were there only sincere, but feeble Hannah and Abe Pradell, attempts to say the right owners and operators of thing? Is this not the exact what we now call a “mom place and time for the synaand pop grocery” in the gogue to play a big part in northeast part of Omaha. helping? It should go withAbe had come from Poland, out saying, but we say it anySheila and Jerry Rosen and in due time met Hannah way, the rabbi, the cantor Ziegman, the young woman who would become his and all other leaders of Beth El at that time were there bride. Hannah worked behind the counter, next to Abe, for Sheila. If spiritual people have the power to provide and was the bookkeeper also. strength for others, these people proved it so.

The couple had two little girls, Sheila and Sonya who Sheila says these people were responsible for helping went to Miller Park School and when old enough, helped her live through this unspeakable loss, and doesn’t want in the store. Sheila proudly tells she earned $4 per week for to think how it would have been without them. Rabbi that help. She also remembers going to Sunday school and Paul and Susie Drazen and Cantor Emil Berkovits were recalls confirmation at the JCC--at a time when the Bat her strength and her place in the sanctuary became a Mitzvah had not yet become an accepted ritual for 13-year- small corner of comfort. old girls. She recalls Shabbos at the home of her grandparRose Davis and Sheila Rosen had known each other ents and what was a distinct effort to provide a Jewish for some years, but now similar tragedies were bringing atmosphere in a non-Jewish neighborhood. them closer as friends. Rose too had lost both a husband “We knew who were were, even without Jewish and a daughter--strangely, her daughter Lori had been friends until I got to high school,” Sheila says. In the killed in a car accident, too. The two ladies, feeling so summer they went to Lake Okoboji with lots of other much in common, had to find something extra in a close Jews, which helped broaden friendships. She also speaks friendship. They share a deep feeling for their religion of belonging to after school youth groups, connected to and have been seen sitting together at Saturday morning Beth El Synagogue, underscoring the ongoing effort to services more times than anyone could count. be included in Jewish activities.

The path to Judaism must have many open doors, and Sheila went off to the University of Missouri for two anyone knowing the personal losses of these two women years, then returned, where in time she renewed an old would not wonder how each came to follow its direcfriendship with Jerry Rosen, whom she knew at Central. tion. It’s true both were regulars at Beth El and had It was wartime, but that didn’t interfere with the two of been for a long time, but given the circumstances which them discovering they should be a couple, and in 1947 tore their lives apart, could they have done otherwise? they were married. Jerry’s family were Temple Israel Some might have taken the exact opposite path and felt people, but after a few years, the new Mr. & Mrs. joined they had been deserted by their religion. We often hear the Beth El congregation, which surely was the start of of people so devastated by great loss they feel enough resentment to turn away from the religion they’ve what is still a warm relationship with the synagogue.

Sheila and Jerry had two childen, Ellan and Steve, and always enjoyed and practiced.

This is not the case with Sheila and Rose, the two dear lived a usual post-war life in the Jewish community. Jerry was with Mass Mutual Life Insurance for 35 years and still friends with so much in common. They have not turned found time to serve on the Beth El board and take an active their backs and perhaps quite to the contrary, they have part in the Men’s Club. The synagogue retained the impor- found more than comfort participating in this most important facet of their lives. They don’t just take from the synatant place in their lives--this was their congregation.

When Jerry retired from his career, they moved to gogue; they also give of themselves and enjoy the gratificaTucson for his health, and remained there for eight years tion of volunteer activities which comfort others. before returning to their hometown. Things were back I don’t have the wisdom to explore all the philosophical to normal until tragedy struck with Jerry’s sudden death sides of a topic like the path to Judaism, nor would I pre13 years ago. If ever the synagogue was to play a vital tend I have. But I know when a person is brought up in the role in a woman’s life, this was the time for Sheila to find warmth of a home and family where religion has a promiher place and some comfort within its walls. Always at nent place, where Shabbat is an important part of the week, home there, attendance at services took on special where children are taught the Sh’ma at an early age and meaning, perhaps even paving the way for future sup- where those children are taken along with parents to servport which would be so desperately needed. ices, well, it must be easier to follow that path.

Sheila picked up the emotional pieces and with the Continued on page 19

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 19

Finding Faith Continued from page 18 One of the many dictionary definitions of faith is “an unquestioning belief in God or religion”. It sounds so simple, but where does that belief originate? Are we born with (or without) it? Or, if it’s a learned feeling, from whom was it learned? Religious scholars could spend centuries looking for the answers or a less educated person might simply say, “I do this because it’s how my parents did it.”

Who is to say whether the Talmudic scholar believes more intensely than the woman who was taught earliest lessons in Judaism as a child in Minneapolis? Assuming both came from families who demonstrated by example “an unquestioning belief in God”, it seems appropriate to think the first steps to the path of Judaism begin at home.

The words at home speak volumes when they relate to the topic of human behavior. And, with a small stretch of the imagination, they also call to mind the woman who is both wife and mother. The first teacher.

With these words and thoughts, I begin the second part of my story about two women who happen to be close friends. Actually, happen to be suggests the friendship is accidental, which is untrue. They share many similarities, some no more than coincidences of the calendar, some the impartial targets of human tragedies. This is Rose Davis, a quiet, soft spoken lady who might be familiar if you regularly attend services at Beth El Synagogue. She is referred to above as “the child from Minneapolis”--specifically, Rose Milstein Davis.

The Milstein family came from Romania and settled down in Minneapolis, their American home. Rose was the youngest of six, the only girl. It was a typical family of Jewish immigrants, with the father earning his living with the help of a horse and wagon. They were Shomer Shabbos, carefully observant of the dietary laws and mindful of Judaic teachings to the letter of the law.

The children were enrolled in Talmud Torah, learning what was expected of them. So much was done in a traditional fashion that Rose recalls when her oldest brother entered school, he could only speak Yiddish, the lan-

guage spoken in the house!

In other words, it was a completely Jewish household.

When Friday came, the house was prepared for Shabbos and there was no question about working. Her pious father and mother welcomed it each week with kiddush and candlelighting, and on Saturday, Papa Milstein sat with the men in the synagogue, davening.

A picture begins to emerge--a young Jewish girl exposed to all of the many facets of her religion. For such a girl to attend a dance at the Temple was not unusual, nor was it unheard of for a girl and a boy to meet and take an interest in each other.

Sol and Rose Davis, 1995 So it was with Rose and a young man named Sol Davis, who worked at the time, in his mother’s kosher butcher shop. And so began the romance, which blossomed into marriage in September of 1952. Rose was a happy young bride, surrounded by her family until Sol moved them to Omaha in 1954. They moved, according to Rose, to a “strange city, where I didn’t know a soul, where I didn’t have a friend, and with a year-old baby.”

The years passed, the family grew and eventually there were three little girls in the Davis house. Of course children don’t stay little, and in 1971, the eldest, Lori, was old enough to go away to college in Arizona.

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Rose still remembers with perfect clarity, the ringing of the telephone at 2 o’clock in the morning--the phone call telling them there had been a terrible accident.

Telling them the worst news a parent can be unfortunate enough to hear. Telling them Lori had been the fatality was even worse.

Like many others who suffer such a painful loss, both Rose and Sol Davis began attending daily services to say kaddish for Lori. They followed the proscribed 11 months, and Sol continued after that, attending daily minyans. He found comfort and solace in faithful attendance, and went daily.

Sol retired from his meat packing business in 1990, but within a few years was diagnosed with cancer. For as long as he was able, he went regularly to daven at Beth El. Together, he and Rose went each Saturday morning for services. They observed any and all of the yahrzeit days of various family members, a practice which Rose continues to this day and has since Sol’s death.

If you ask Rose to talk to you about the synagogue, she sits very quietly and then says, “I’m content when I’m there. I feel comfortable. I’m glad to be there, in my place.” She often attends with her good friend, Sheila Rosen, and it’s not unusual to see the two of them sitting quietly together. They each have a particular empathy for the other...each understanding, only too well, the loss felt by the other.

Rose remembers the special comfort of Rabbi and Susie Drazen when she most needed it. The kind of caring both exhibited--the warmth in the specially chosen words of condolence. Her synagogue, it seems, was her strength at a time when she most need it.

She says, almost sadly now, “I don’t go every Saturday, as I once did, But when I go, when I’m sitting in my place, I feel peaceful.”

Rose has a hard time articulating the comfort she feels when in the sanctuary of Beth El, but it’s clear to a listener that she feels safe and comforted. The ritual prayers and songs touch her heart as she listens to the familiar sounds. Her path to Judaism, it appears, has always been straight.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

An Infatuation with Judaism

by JOAN K. MARCUS Jill Wolfe Archer Idelman has an interesting story about her birth. She was born in Salina, Kansas, in 1962.

Her biological mother had given her up for adoption because she wanted to give this tiny baby a good life.

Her adoptive parents, Barbara and Otis Wolfe, took her as a newborn.

Later, Barbara and Otis adopted Jill’s brother, Kevin.

When Jill was four, her father died of a brain tumor. “I don’t remember my father very much, but I have visions of going places with him. He was a fast driver and my mother always admonished him to slow down when I was in the car!”

It was hard for her family. Jill says, “After my father died, we managed with the help of neighbors.” Within a few years, her mother married Ronald Archer and the family moved from Salina to Assaria, Kansas, a town of just 365 people. Ronald, whom Jill describes as, “a wonderful man and father,” adopted both Jill and her brother. Jill and her brother were, therefore, adopted twice!

As Jill tells it, “Assaria was a very strong SwedishLutheran community. We were members of the United Methodist Church and definitely a minority in that town.” She describes herself as “rebellious in high school. When Ronald adopted us, we were a handful!

However, when he came into our house, he really got us in shape.” Ronald and Barbara had two more children together, Rhonda and Ryan.

Jill graduated from high school and attended Kansas State University at Manhattan. “I didn’t know a single Jewish person until the summer of 1980. I was always involved in music and sang and played the piano. I loved music and I was always the director when we put on shows.” Well, she is a first born. Jill and her siblings “produced” a show every Saturday night.

“My father took me to see the movie ‘Fiddler on the Roof and that’s when I first learned there were Jewish people in the world,” Jill recalls. “My family was religious, but we went to church so I didn’t know anything about Jews or Judaism. When I saw the movie, they had to carry me out of the theatre. I was sobbing because I thought it was so sad!”

Jill admits that seeing “Fiddler” made her want to know more about Judaism. More reading of Jewish literature helped her understand there was “a Jewish way of life!” She says, “I had an infatuation with Judaism; I wanted to learn more.”

In 1981, a community theatre presented “Fiddler.” Jill tried out and got the part of Chava, one of Tevye’s daughters. “That was my true first touch with Judaism.

We did the show in Lindsborg, Kansas”--even more of a Swedish-Lutheran community than Assaria.

Jill recalls, “Before rehearsals started, we met with rabbis and their wives from Wichita. They taught us about

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Shabbat and we learned to light the candles and say the blessings. It was a real ‘crash course’ about Judaism.”

With the theater temporarily behind her, Jill earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Mass Communications at K-State. After graduation, she took a job as a news reporter. While she was reporting a tornado, she met George Idelman, a Jewish man, who she says wondered what kind of woman would report on a tornado from a cornfield in Kansas!

Jill Idelman While attending a party at a bowling alley, George found out that Jill was, in fact, that woman. They met and dated for a while until George told her he wasn’t interested in marriage or having a family. She remembers asking him about his Judaism, but he admitted that he hadn’t been raised in a religious family. He did have a Bar Mitzvah, but his family celebrated only the High Holidays.

Jill said she wasn’t interested either. “I had just finished doing a series of programs about an agency in New York that hired people from the Midwest. I was at a point in my life where I had no ties and needed to get a hold on my life. I had always wanted to live in New York,” she says about an opportunity that changed her life even more than seeing ‘Fiddler’. Of course, when she moved to New York, her next door neighbors were Jewish.

“It was a wonderful experience for me,” she smiles.

“Many celebrities lived in my apartment building and my neighbors kept inviting me over for Shabbat. That put me a little bit more in touch with Judaism. I remember walking by a synagogue on 88th and Broadway and wishing I could go in.”

Eventually, Jill began to miss George and so she returned to Kansas where she worked for George’s brother, Steve Idelman at Idelman Telemarketing. When

a position opened in Omaha, she moved here; Jill and George married in May of 1991. Jill admits, “I wasn’t Jewish when we were married and I was broken-hearted that we couldn’t have Rabbi Aryeh Azriel officiate at my wedding.”

In January of 1992, their son, Justin was born and they committed to observing both their religions. In January of 1997, however, Jill’s sister, Rhonda, took her own life. “We had no clue she was going to do that and it was a turning point for me. We weren’t really practicing any religion and it was just obvious to me that I needed to reach out.”

In May of 1998, while she was pregnant with her son, Brandon, she converted to Judaism. Since that time, Jill has been part of Temple’s adult b’nai mitzvah class and has recently been elected to serve on Temple Israel’s board of directors. “At first, I was thoroughly intimidated by Rabbi Azriel but now, I feel totally comfortable,” she adds, “and studying with Rabbi Debbie Stiel was something that George and I did together. Learning together was a wonderful thing! I feel so comfortable at Temple Israel; I enjoy the congregants as well as the clergy.

“We were introduced to Lee and Howie Needelman and it was just like having another family. Lee got me involved in Outreach, a group of people, who reach out to interfaith families. It was mostly education at that time and it was just what I needed. It opened my eyes to how open Reform Judaism is to interfaith couples. I never felt different at Temple.”

In addition to being on the Temple board, Jill’s lovely alto voice can be heard in the Kol Rina Choir. She also is on the long-range planning committee for the new synagogue building and assists with the marketing of “A Taste of Judaism,” a class that allows non-Jews to become more educated about Judaism. Her future volunteer commitments include being part of a group that will help interfaith groups during B’nai mitzvah, often a stressful time for interfaith families.

In her profesisonal life, Jill is a wireless data and voice network salesperson for Sprint, selling to large market businesses. “I don’t have a lot of flexibility to get involved at Temple the way I would like,” Jill admits.

“It’s going to take me a little while to do that.”

On June 26 of this year, she returned to New York City to sing at Carnegie Hall with a group from Kansas State University. “We sang with the New England Chamber Orchestra and performed a tribute to Aaron Copland, a world renowned Jewiush American composer. We rehearsed everyday, but it was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life.”

This time when she toured New York, she wasn’t the little Lutheran girl from the Kansas prairie, but a Jewish woman named Chava.

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Just What Does ‘Religious’ Mean?

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 21

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by OZZIE NOGG “Among my dearest memories are the On a shelf above the sink in the kitchen Passover Seders conducted by our Papa-of the house that Marti Rosen-Atherton my father’s father. Papa’s broken shares with her husband, John, is a row of Russian/Yiddish/English still rings in my Russian matryoshka nesting dolls. Folk ears. We danced and laughed and, leaving artists who carve and paint these classic California as a bride at the age of 21, souvenirs say that though the dolls may those seders were a part of my past that I look like simple toys, they are actually the deeply missed.” embodiment of life’s many surprises, full Newly arrived in Omaha with her husof unexpected discoveries and the mystery band, Allan Forman, Marti found both of time, both present and past. The largest Allan’s and her own extended family matryoshka doll opens to reveal a second warm and welcoming. “The Formans and doll, which holds a nest of other dolls, Sophirs truly embraced me. But every each smaller than the one before until, year, especially at the High Holidays and Passover, I grieved for deep inside, you uncover what I’d left behind--my the littlest doll--the heart family, my Temple, my of the matter, so to speak. rabbi--everything that was From this perspective, familiar and comfortable. her matryoshka dolls “Over time we did crecould serve as a metaphor ate our own traditions. for Marti’s search, back We celebrated seders and and forward through Jewish holidays with other time, to find a spiritual young couples, good grounding that would friends, who belonged to touch her deepest core.

Temple Israel, but I felt I When asked to name the was going through the people who inspired her motions. search to find spirituality “It was okay, but it wasthrough Judaism, Marti n’t what I was searching pulls no punches. “Rabbi Marti Rosen Atherton for. It didn’t have the Jules Harlow and his yearly visits to Beth El, plus the synagogue’s same heart. I was still holding onto Beth transformation with the arrival of Rabbi Hillel, wanting to find an affiliation that Mordechai Levin and Cantor Gaston gave me that same kind of comfort. I was very young, and maybe overly dramatic, Bogomolni.”

When Marti came to Omaha as a new but at the time it felt like my Jewish past bride 40 years ago--two weeks after col- was missing.”

Soon after her arrival here, Marti and lege graduation--she wasn’t looking to replace or duplicate the home in which Allan started Omaha Mirror and Art she was raised, but rather the sense of Glass. “I did the books, worked on the belonging born from her family’s affilia- sales floor, helped build that business. tion with Temple Beth Hillel, a Reform Still, I felt stagnant. I needed something for me.” congregation in North Hollywood, CA. “I remember Beth Hillel and Rabbi Along with being a mother to two chilBauman always being a part of our lives. dren, Jennifer and Scott, Marti found fulMy parents were deeply involved with the fillment by going to graduate school at congregation, and much of their social life UNO and getting her MS in counseling. centered around Temple. I always went to She also, by her own admission, was on a religious school--it was as much a given as roller coaster of family tumult. going to public school--and one of the “We lost Omaha Mirror and Art glass-most meaningful events of my life was my that was a painful blow--and I had to Bat Mitzvah. I was one of the first girls to make some difficult professional career have a Bat Mitzvah at Temple Beth Hillel, decisions. Later, I went through a divorce and it was a treasured time. and survived cancer. I’ve always consid“Cantor Brown and my father, who was ered myself a pretty good ‘coper’. It never very musical and had a wonderful voice, occurred to me to turn to Judaism to help worked with me so I could chant my me cope.”

Torah and Haftarah portions perfectly.

She did, however, turn to a particular My father wasn’t well during those group of friends. While Marti had occasionmonths. Less than a year after my Bat ally accompanied her dear friend, Gloria Mitzvah his heart gave out. But that Kaslow, to services at Beth El, “it was like Shabbat morning, Daddy was there.” being in a foreign country. There was so Marti had also left an irreplaceable cast much Hebrew and everyone seemed to be of characters back in California. “One of davening on a different page, at different my life’s gifts was growing up in a three- speeds, and there was all this coming and generation home with my mother’s moth- going up and down the aisles, and the server--our Nena--and living next door to my ices seemed endless! uncle, aunt and cousins.

“But when Jennifer was in the fourth “When I was a child, Nena taught me a grade, as I learned about what Gloria’s precious nighttime prayer. She lit the children were learning in Talmud Torah-Shabbos candles every week. My mother their classes seemed to have more subwhipped up the best Queen Esther cos- stance and they seemed to be getting a tumes and made sure our Hanukkah cele- deeper, more meaningful education--we brations focused on the candle lighting, joined Beth El. Continued on page 22 not the gifts.

EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press will be closed for all the Jewish holidays: Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 45 for Rosh Hashanah, Thursday, Oct. 13 for Yom Kippur, Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 18-19 for Sukkot and Oct. 25-26 for Shemini Azeret and Simchat Torah. Because of the holidays, the deadlines for upcoming issues is noon as follows: Issue Deadline Oct 14 Monday, Oct. 3 Oct. 21 Education and Camp Issue Monday, Oct. 10 Oct. 28 Monday, Oct. 17 Photos from this New Year’s issue (and prior special issues) may be picked up during regular business hours at the Press office. Questions? Call 334.6448.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

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Continued from page 21 “I still couldn’t imagine myself belonging to a Conservative congregation, but knew it was important to provide the best education for our children. I felt the change was good for them, but I struggled with the feeling that I still didn’t have a Jewish religious home. I kind of resigned myself to the possibility that I never would.”

It may not have felt like her religious home, but Gloria and Howard Kaslow, Evie and Stan Mitchell, Helen and Tuffy Epstein, and Jan and Phil Wayne, became “Beth El family” for Marti and her children. “They included us in their seders, Rosh Hashanah dinners and break-the-fasts.

I was blessed to have them rally around me during those tough times.

straight to my head and heart. He spoke of Judaism’s fundamental doctrine of leading a Godlike life, and he made it personal. He asked, ‘how are you treating others now? What lessons are you passing on to your children through your words and actions now? What mitzvot are you carrying out today?’

“Every week I was reminded that my life was part of a larger whole--part of nature, of Tikkun Olam and making the world a better place, now. “ Then she started going to Rabbi’s Judaism 101 class and deliberately looking through the siddur. “Until then, I had no idea how rich and all-encompassing Jewish prayer was. I discovered morning prayers thanking God for a working, wondrous body. I discovered the

Standing in front of the Warsaw Ghetto monumnet are members of the Omaha delegation to last May’s March of the Living: front row: Judy Brantz, left, Marcel and Ilse Kahn, Bea Karp, Jeannie Soshnik; second row: Patty Nogg and “Even after I joined Beth El, though, Judaism was ‘just there’. I rarely went to services other than the High Holy Days, but at those times it was wonderful to sit next to Gloria and reflect on how I really had lived the year on which the gates were closing. It was better, but it wasn’t mine.”

Enter Rabbi Jules Harlow.

“It was Rabbi Harlow’s yearly visits to Beth El for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Alternative Services that started me on this path and inspired the purposeful integration of Judaism into my daily life,” Marti insists.

“Rather than preach at us, Jules shares stories and shares his soul. He prods us, gently, to live more Jewishly.

“Several years ago he invited the Alternative Service congregation to think about ‘one thing you might do to incorporate Judaism into your life. How about prayer?’ he said. ‘Well, I can do that,’ I thought.

“That night, as I was getting ready for bed, the nighttime prayer my Nena had taught me flowed back. Before in sleep I close my eyes, to Thee, O God, my thoughts arise.

I thank Thee for Thy blessings all, which come to us, Thy children small. Please keep me safe throughout the night, that I may see the morning light. Here I was, a grown woman, and the words of that little prayer suddenly took on a significance they never had in the past. Along with the Sh’ma, I’ve said that prayer every night since, asking that my loved ones be kept safe.”

Marti recited prayers at night, and sometimes in the synagogue. Beth El no longer felt like a “foreign country,” but Judaism and spirituality were not connected.

Then, three years ago, Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Cantor Gaston Bogomolni introduced a musical element to Beth El’s Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat service.

“When word spread that something new and exciting was going on at Beth El, I checked it out and found a service totally transformed. Music and nature always have had a direct line to my soul, and suddenly we had traditional religious practice combined with music, energy, spirituality.

“I started attending as often as possible, and each Friday night I was drawn into letting go of the week, even if just for that hour. The Beth El chapel became a spiritual sanctuary for me, filled with joy and meaning, personal reflection, continuity and connection--to my inner self, to other Beth El members who up to then had only been faces in the synagogue, to Jews throughout the world, to our 5,000 year heritage, to the Jews who lit Shabbos candles in secret, to Holocaust victims who didn’t get to light them at all.

“And I felt connected on yet another level to my Nena. She’d been gone for 21 years, but I could still see her standing, eyes closed, as she kindled the Shabbos lights. Even in California, I’d never had this sense of Shabbat.”

“And Rabbi Levin’s Friday night sermons went

Danny Krantz; third row: Beth Seldin Dotan, Paul Smith, Howard and Gloria Kaslow,Marti Rosen Atherton, and Nancy Kutler. Right: Marti stands at the base of the monument to those who were forced into slave labor at Placzow. sunset prayer--a beautiful reflection on the passing of the day--and I began to look for ways to personally and communally help create that day, contribute to it. I began to integrate prayer and Judaism into my life at a level never there before, in ways that were relevant. And I was beginning, finally, to think, this is home.”

Since 1991, Marti has been married to John Atherton, a fellow therapist. “I had started dating John about eight months after my divorce, and there was so much good in the relationship, it didn’t matter that he wasn’t Jewish. John doesn’t adhere to any formal religious doctrine. He’s a loving man with an enormous heart and a kind, gentle, menshedik soul, and my Beth El family welcomed him warmly into their seders and other home celebrations and observances.

“When John saw how much I was getting out of Kabbalat Shabbat services, he started to wonder if he was missing out on something. Lately, he’s started joining me on Friday night, and it feels good having him at my side.”

John at her side. Waves on a shore. Mountains, fields of flowers, music and good books, friendships and sharing, being a grandmother--Marti is grateful for all of it.

“A few years ago I was sitting on a dock by a lake in Minnesota, reading, with opera on the headphones, blue sky above, frogs croaking in the water, a man I love sitting inside, two grown children who are good human beings, and I was filled with such awe and appreciation for life. Judaism gives me the words-the vocabulary-with which to express gratitude for the blessings I’ve been given.

“Our liturgy is replete with prayers of thanksgiving, but until Rabbi Harlow, Rabbi Levin and Cantor Gaston opened my eyes, gave me new awareness, I’d never made the connection between Jewish prayer and my own life.

Now, each morning, as I drive through Elmwood Park on my way to my office at UNO, I see the miracles of nature even more clearly than before.

“I recite the Shehechiyanu and try to really mean the words, not say them by rote. I give thanks for the gift of life and all it brings, for being kept safe and for the blessing of getting to welcome yet another new day. My appreciation of life is infinitely more connected to Judaism now.”

The Mishebayrach prayer for recovery. Prayers of peace for individuals, our country, Israel, the world. Prayers of praise and wonder. Marti embraces them all.

“Every time I hear the priestly blessing-Yevarechacha Adonai V’yishmarecha--may the Lord bless you and keep you--I’m 13 years old again and can feel Rabbi Bauman’s hands on my head when he blessed me with those words at my Bat Mitzvah. When I recite the Sh’ma, it’s like the entire Jewish people is there with me, from every generation and all over the world.

Continued on page 23

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 23

Just What Does ‘Religious’ Mean?

Continued from page 22 “Saying the Sh’ma I often get a visceral image of my trip to Israel, being in Jerusalem, touching the Western Wall-caressing it, actually--the feel of thousands of years, of tears, prayers, hopes and dreams beneath my fingers. The history, the link to all those souls who said the Sh’ma before me. It’s incredibly unifying, such a deep connection.”

“I’m still not sure what the word religious means. Is it observance? Practice?

All I know is that at moments of choice-when I have a decision to make-I now act from a more informed Jewish perspective.

I’m not doing things differently. It’s a

case of doing things more Jewishly.

“I certainly don’t pray or do mitzvot 24/7, but I am more conscious now of my obligation as a Jew to do good in the world. Because of Rabbi Harlow, Rabbi Levin and Cantor Gaston, I feel more excited about Judaism, more committed to keeping it alive in my life. It’s like a gift I always was glad to have, but like a family heirloom it’s gotten more valuable over time, a gift I’ve truly come to treasure.

“I love being part of the Beth El congregation. I love being part of our amazing, diverse women’s Rosh Hodesh group where we come together to learn, create, share, grow, connect and trust. I

want to keep studying the richness of Jewish teachings, history, culture, traditions, practice, to hear our stories. Jules, Mordechai and Gaston have helped lead me to this place. Spiritual grounding. A Jewish home.”

When Marti’s granddaughter, 2 yearold Keely Wright, comes to visit, she plays with the matryoshka dolls. “We both love the way they nest. It’s such a delight to watch Keely’s face as she opens one doll and then another and discovers there are still more dolls hidden inside.

“To watch as she patiently keeps going until she finds the smallest doll, and tells me, ‘Be gentle with the little baby, 1/2

Grammacita.’

“I’m told that folk artists who carve and paint matryoshkas believe the dolls represent the generations of women in a family. I won’t be surprised if one of these days Keely lines up the dolls and says, ‘Here I am the smallest one, and there’s my mom and you, Grammacita. And tell me more about this bigger one, your Nena, what was she like?’

“As I embrace who I am as a Jewish woman, here, at Beth El in Omaha, I’m better equipped to answer those questions when Keely and her cousin, Skyler, are old enough to ask them.”

We Knew Who We Were

Safta Means Grandmother A Hunger to Learn

Continued from page 9 In July, Roffman was presented the Yale Richards Award for Exceptional Leadership by the board of Jewish Senior Services/Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

She was cited as a mentor and advisor, particularly meaningful to her because she was an admirer of Richards. “Yale was a quiet, intellectual person who knew how to deal with people with honor and dignity.”

Sivi remembers some of her mentors when she first began her Jewish communal work. “Buddy Goldstein was running the Federation Campaign one year and asked me to be on the women’s committee. I remember being influenced by Mary Fellman, too. They took me in hand and taught me the Federation philosophy.”

After many terms on the Temple Israel Board, she says, “It’s part of my life--my love for Temple. I’m interested because it’s very important.

“According to Maimonidies,” she adds, “ ‘The community takes precedence over the individual’. We’re all responsible for the entire community. I’ve always been very proud of being Jewish, and I want to do what I can to pass this on. Omaha is very blessed to have all these new people moving in. And the numbers of interfaith families raising wonderful Jewish children is phenomenal!”

Continued from page 15 After her marriage, Cheryl continued to teach dancing, her first love, at the JCC. In her volunteer life, she has served in many capacities on the boards of the National Council of Jewish Women and the Kripke Library. In 1997, she became programming director at Beth El, a position she held for several years. She also participates in Chabad, helping to organize classes.

Cheryl became a grandmother when she was 38-yearsold. “It freaks people out when I tell them that I have two grandsons, Sam and Oliver! I’m used to it because I’ve had three kids since I’ve had a husband!

“I wanted to raise those kids Jewishly. Since their mother was very committed to Judaism and it was important to her,” she adds. “I knew Doreen would want Judaism to continue to be important in their lives as well.

“I always think of myself first as being Jewish. I look at everything through Jewish lenses because it’s part of what I am,” Cheryl insists. “ A strong spiritual connection always guides my decisions and helps me to move in the directions I know God would want me to take my life.”

Continued from page 17 In 1997, Howard and Donna set up the Ida and Samuel Kaiman Education Endowment Fund to honor their parents. “Donna had access to superb speakers whom we have brought to Omaha. Rabbi Joseph Teluskin and Rabbi Elliott Dorff are just a couple of examples of speakers Omahans have now heard.”

In 2004, Howard added a dual membership at Beth El. “I studied there as a boy and I like to go there to daven on Sundays. Rabbi David Goldstein is responsible for most of my Jewish education and I feel a responsibility to belong to both synagogues.”

Howard insists that, “By helping with Jewish education in Omaha, I can give thanks for being successful and having wonderful parents who cared about me and my sister and brother. If it weren’t for education, I wouldn’t have everything I’ve had in my life.

“I owe something back because I had an opportunity to live in a democracy. Though I was born in a depression and there was a lot of anti-Semitism in those days, my plans for the future include study, scholarship and trying to help other people.

“I thank God because I’ve been a lucky man!”

Page 24

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 25

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September 30, 2005

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Doing ‘Jewishly’ Every Day

by JOAN K. MARCUS In Alaska, she experienced issues such as hunting and The 1960s were a time of great change. Children who fishing rights, family law and disability rights. “It was were born in the late forties through the very early six- nice--but an adventure. After two years, I had to make a ties, were people of change. Disagreement between the decision, so, in 1984, I ended up in Council Bluffs generations prevailed. People who fought in World War working for Iowa Legal Aid.” II thought that war was good when the enemies were In Council Bluffs, Marti took numerous court clearly defined. However, during the Viet Nam War, in appointments in the areas of criminal defense and juveabout 1963, young people began to question the rea- nile matters. She became the managing attorney, which sons for war. took her farther and farther away from direct contact These people of change constituted a tremendous with the clients. market and demographers saw huge spikes on the In October of 2003, she opened her own practice in graphs. Television had become so popular that teenagers order to have more direct contact with clients. This also now had a visual medium that kept them even more gives her a chance to work with juveniles and criminal informed. The country was in an uproar as many of the defense--something that she didn’t get to do at Legal “flower children” were also the same people who were Aid. involved in the civil rights movement. In the middle and Nerenstone says, “I grew up being taught to help peolate sixties, the non-violent civil rights came about. ple to seek justice. Being Jewish has a lot to do with that.

One of these young people was Council Bluffs attor- My role, as an attorney, is seeking justice for people who ney Marti Nerenstone, born in 1955 in Fort Belvoir, might not have other ways to solve problems because of VA. Home for her family was really Washington, D.C. their income or their ages. I do a lot of work for people Her father. Mark Nerenstone, was in the navy and the with disabilities who might otherwise get lost. family moved around a lot due to his career.

“These are people who might get lost in the legal sysThe family was always involved in the Reform Jewish tem because they don’t have a lot of money and they movement and Marti and her brother and sister were need somebody to maneuver the systems and advocate avid members of the National Federation of Temple for their rights,” she adds.

Youth. They attended Temple Sinai in Washington, On June 22, 2005, Nerenstone was awarded the D.C. She describes her high school years by saying, Rolland E. Grefe Pro Bono Publico Award for her “When I grew up in the sixties and seventies, we were in efforts to provide free and reduced cost legal services to the nation’s capitol, where there was a lot of social the underprivileged. This was the first time it was given action preached from the pulpit.” as an annual award--by the Iowa State Bar Association.

Nerenstone admits to marching in parades and particMarti has always been involved in Jewish life--in colipating in demonstrations. “The local youth group was lege--the military--even in Alaska. Another love is involved in peace activities,” she recalls. “I marched and American folk music and Jewish music. “I taught music picketed with all of the other people my age.” and Hebrew school as a teenager and a college student.

She smiles when she says, “Some of these demonstra- I became involved with the Council Bluffs Jewish comtions had to do with peace and environment. I also went munity for a while. It had been an Orthodox congregato rallies during the Six-Day War. I grew up knowing tion at one time and then it was unaffiliated. Later, the that it was okay to speak out and march for certain caus- congregation became part of the Reconstructionist es. We had creative services at the Temple and used Movement.” musical instruments--a throwback from camp. And, we Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, a rabbi and professor at the sang American folk songs mixed with Hebrew!”

Jewish Theological Seminary, the Conservative moveAfter high school, Marti went to Oberlin College in ment’s seminary, founded the Reconstructionist Oberlin, Ohio. She majored in Judaic and Middle Eastern Studies. Oberlin is a liberal--liberal arts school -the first co-educational college in the United States.

Although it is well known for its school of music, Nerenstone did not major in music.

She graduated in three years but spent 1973-74, during the Yom Kippur War, studying in Jerusalem.

“During the war, we were on a break,” she explains.

“We had finished intensive Hebrew classes at the ulpan.

I was in Jerusalem and volunteered at the hospital.

During the war, we received At a Hanukkah celebration at Beyt Shalom, Marti Nerenstone leads congregants in a spiritmany burn victims at the ed song; she’s most often found at services with her guitar in tow. hospital and it was very sobering.”

Movement. He didn’t set out to found a new moveMarti was only 19-years-old when she graduated from ment, but was looking to move the Conservative movecollege with a bachelor’s degree. “I was young and it ment to look more at Judaism as an evolving civilization. was difficult for me to get a job. Since I was in debt, I Beyt Shalom Reconstructionist Synagogue in Omaha ended up enlisting in the United States Army to serve as has much more traditional services that include more a chaplain’s assistant. I ended up being in for four Hebrew than people realize. Marti serves as lay leader of years.” the group. “If people are not Hebrew readers, we have Her first post was at Walter Reed Army Medical transliterations so that they aren’t lost,” she explains, Center in Washington, D.C. She found that interesting adding that she often plays her guitar as part of the because she was able to work with patients, an experi- Shabbat or holiday service. ence with which she was familiar from her days in Rabbi Myer S. Kripke, a student of Rabbi Kaplan from Jerusalem during the ’73 war. Later, she was sent to his days at JTS, serves as rabbinic advisor. Once each Nuremberg, Germany, where she was in charge of the month, Nerenstone and members of Beyt Shalom hakofot (parade around all of the halls carrying the Torahs) chapel center in nearby Fuerth for two years.

“In Germany, I worked for a variety of chaplains-- around the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, and volunteer including an Orthodox rabbi,” she recalls. “I had a great to lead the regular Shabbat services for residents and vistime, but decided I would go to law school instead of iting family members.

“This is part of my commitment of tikun olam or becoming a rabbi. I liked the concept of legal aid; those programs fit into my idea of social justice, and was inter- repairing the world.”

Marti says she enjoys what she’s doing. “Leaving ested in pursuing the idea of ‘poverty law.’”

After receiving a law degree from the University of Legal Aid was difficult,” she admits, “but I wanted to Iowa College of Law, Nerenstone went to work in get back to being with my clients. My knowledge and Bethel, Alaska. There, she worked for legal aid with a connections have helped me to take a more holistic two-year commitment to serve about 56 Eskimo-Indian approach to helping people.

“My Jewishness is who I am and it’s a part of me. I do Villages. “Bethel, 400 air miles west of Anchorage, at the time, was a town of about 3500. It was inaccessible what I do in my daily activities-even if it’s not synagogue related--it’s something that I do Jewishly!” except by air.”

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 27

A Determined Path Through War and Suffering and the antiThe war Semitism of started on most (but not 22, June all) of their 1941, and the neighbors livnext day, his under ing f a t h e r , Communist Samuel, was domination. sent to the Today, only His army.

150 Jews mother, Gita, in remain didn’t have Borisov. time to be What folevacuated lows is the and by July 3, story of one 1941, the family--the German solShektmans. diers arrived.

Lev was born All Jews in 1948 after were sumWorld War IImoned for -as a twin (his registration. died sister The Germans two just cut the payos m o n t h s (sidelocks) later). But his from the relibrothers were gious men; toddlers durthey shouted ing the war and insulted and his family them, calling lived in a them “Kikes.” shtetl close to Above: Samuel Shektman, top row, second from right, cele- They stayed Borisov. One brates the victory of the Soviet Army over Japan in 1945. for six weeks them, Bottom: Alik, Lev and Dima in 1954 in Borisov. and by the of Dima, who lives in Israel today, wrote Lev end of August, the Germans had rounded a lengthy letter describing their lives dur- up all the Jews from the village and nearby ing World War II. Thanks to translation towns and took them to the forest.

The column of Jews was very long,

by Lydia Linde, the Press is able to share this amazing story of determination with about 300 meters. It was a very hot day and the road was dusty. Dima, Lev’s older our readers.

by CAROL KATZMAN Editor of the Jewish Press In Borisov, a small town 80 km from Minsk, the Jewish population was 51% of the 15,000 Belarussians, according to the census in 1897. In 1989, another census revealed there were only 2000 Jews left in Borisov. Most planned on leaving because of their situation--as Jews living in the crumbling Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. More than a million former Soviet Jews emigrated to Israel after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989; another 200,000 or so were able to obtain visas and enter the United States. And more than 300 came to Omaha.

One of those Jews was Lev Shektman.

Lev’s father-in-law’s brother lived in New York, but there were no jobs available, so the Shektman’s moved to Omaha in 1995 to be with his wife’s aunt, Clara Elkin.

Elizabeth Shektman was a construction engineer in Minsk; here she’s a drafter for Rupprecht Engineering. Lev works for Oriental Trading Company and occasionally entertains on the accordion with Anna Mosenkis, who plays the keyboard.

The civilized world commemorated two historic dates this year: 60 years of victory over the Nazis and 60 years of the liberation of Auschwitz and the other concentration camps. The latter date marks the memory of six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. There has much much in the media about the survivors, but little has been written about those who were caught behind the Iron Curtain during World War II, facing the march of the Nazis east into the USSR--

brother, could walk by himself as he was already three-and-a-half year-old. Sixmonth-old Alik was tied in a sling over his mother’s shoulder. They walked several kilometers in the dusty heat.

Dima wanted to rest, but Gita answered, “What are you thinking about?

Can’t you see the Germans with the guns? They won’t allow us to stop!”

They were walking in the middle of the column. Dima saw the front of the column and insisted, “I’m going to have a rest. When the people with the guns come up from behind, we’ll start walking again.” Gita was very scared. All the weak and elderly were shot and left by the side of the road.

The mud had dried in the hot August sun. Bushes in the bog grew next to the high grass. Gita made a quick decision-when the road curved and the convoy couldn’t see the beginning nor the end, she moved from the middle of the column to the edge. They stepped out of the line. Through the bushes, she ran with her toddler and baby--away from the Jews being marched to their deaths.

When they got far enough away, they fell on the ground. Alik didn’t cry because Gita immediately began to nurse him. Dima, on the other hand, was happy to have a little rest. Not one of the guards spotted them and the dogs didn’t bother them because the wind was blowing away from them.

Gita and the boys heard the gunshots.

She knew the Jews were being killed--as all fell silent.

Continued on page 28

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Page 28

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

A Determined Path Continued from page 27 She returned to the village with the boys, but not to her home. She stopped by a neighbor’s backyard and waited.

There was no one on the street; all the villagers were afraid. When it was dark, Gita came out of hiding--and now begins a story of survival that lasted two years.

In order to stay alive--and one step ahead of the Germans, Gita went from village to village, from house to house, with the boys. She didn’t “look Jewish” and spoke Russian with no accent. Her boys were blonde, too, and it helped that Gita was an expert seamstress. People always needed an article of clothing repaired or a new item made.

The people who let Gita stay for a night or two didn’t know she was Jewish, but Alik, left, Dima and Lev Shektman entertain some suspected. It was dangerous for them guests at Alik’s wedding in Minsk in 1972.

The host families had to feed Gita and to let strangers enter. Gita had no documents, but some kind Belarussian helped her sons, a difficult task due to the shorther obtain forged papers and register with ages caused by the war. They recognized town clerk. Gita used a false name: Nataliya that Gita did her best to earn money and Shilovitch, but entered Dima and Alik contribute to the household.

Once, policemen stopped by; they were under their real first names.

The time spent in one house limited the Belarussians who supported Nazis. Gita amount of work available. They moved to was hidden in the barn, but Dima was another home where the owners were not running into the house. One of the afraid to let them stay. Officials checked policemen asked the homeowner, “Why their documents often; Gita was called to do these people live here for so long? It’s not your business to feed them.” the Commandant.

“She works for us,” the host replied.

“Each time Mom went when she was called,” Dima recalls. “She told us later “In exchange, we give her bread or milk. she always felt it would be the last time Perhaps you want a drink?” she asked, she would see us, but she warned the placing a bottle of homemade vodka on the table. The policeman sat down, drank owners in case she didn’t return.”

New families lived in the village, but the vodka and ate potatoes and pickles. they chose to ignore the “details” of When he was drunk, he saw Dima come Gita’s life. “You have to admire their in and offered him a half a glass of vodka. silence,” Dima added, “and their noble “Drink!” he commanded.

Dima shrank back from the stink of the actions. They risked their lives for us.”

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thrown his booted foot in the air and kicked Dima, who fell to the ground. Alik found him lying there while the policeman went back to finishing his drink. To this day, Dima’s shoulder still hurts him.

Gita continued to travel from one house to another, from one village to another.

She checked in with the administration of each town and managed to pass. But on Feb. 23, 1943, Gita was called to the town clerk to show her papers. German SS officers in black uniforms came to collect her.

Gita shoved Dima into the street to play and left Alik at home.

The Germans interrogated her. “Where are you from?” they asked while talking in German to one other. “Where are you living? What are you doing?” But Gita Lev, left, and Dima, and their parents, Gita and understood German because she spoke Samuel in their garden in Borisov.

Yiddish. She clung to the wall so she drunken policeman, who then opened wouldn’t fall and let on that she had Dima’s mouth and poured the strong understood them. vodka into Dima’s mouth. The homeThe officer sent soldiers to the home owner gave Dima a piece of bread and a where Gita and the boys were living to pickle. With his eyes stinging, Dima ran look at the children. A half hour later, the from the house. He fell among the pota- soldiers returned, speaking to one anothto plants near the barn and fainted. er, anxious to eat dinner. Gita understood “Why did you poison a child?” the that they didn’t find anything unusual woman asked the policeman. “You when they saw the little blonde boys. should be afraid of God!” When she returned to the house, she “The Germans will come soon,” he dressed Alik and left with the two boys. replied. “They’ll find out that they don’t Within an hour, a blizzard descended on have real documents and their lives will the village. Gita tried to run through a be over. But if the child dies without forest to another village, but the snow knowing a taste of vodka, that will be ter- was already too deep. rible. Now he’ll know,” he laughed, “and In the meantime, the Germans returned God will forgive.” to the house to pick up Gita and the boys.

The policeman ran after the small chil- “Where are your people?” they asked the dren playing in the yard. Though they hostess. “They left,” she replied, pointing tried to escape, the police caught Dima. to the road. But the snowstorm had “Look at me!” he called. “It’s a ball.” already covered their tracks.

But it wasn’t it ball; the policeman had Continued on page 29

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A Determined Path Continued from page 28 In that same partisan band, Gita found her cousin “God saved us,” Dima recalled. “The Germans’ car Lisa, Gregory’s niece. Gita stayed with them until the got stuck in the deep snow. Late that night, Mom ven- end of the war, living through periods where they were tured into the yard of the first house in the first village almost caught by fascist groups. To repay the partisans, she came to. The villagers saw her, nearly frozen, nearly Gita sewed leg warmers for them. They ate pirogis, made dead--and let us in.” from frozen potatoes in the ground.

In this village, hidden deep in the forest, the runaway At the beginning of 1944, the Germans surrounded family lived until the summer of 1943. By then, the the Partisans and shelled them day and night. One time, Partisans were active and Gita knew she would be safe Gita stood under a thick stand of pine trees, where she with them. She took a basket and said goodbye to the thought she was protected “from above.” She thought boys and went to the forest to gather berries, hoping to she heard someone tell her to move and suddenly the run into the Partisans. tree under which she was standing fell over, splintered “If something happens to me, don’t lose Alik,” she by an artillery shell. told Dima, pointing to Alik’s identifying birthmark. Gita Life was so heard in the Partisan Zone. But eventualdidn’t meet anyone in the forest for a long time, but did ly liberation came. After the war, they lived with Uncle run into policemen. Seeing the basket filled with berries Gregory since Gita’s husband Samuel was still at the and mushrooms, they let her go. front. Later they returned to the shtetl, Uchvala, near In the middle of August, Gita saw four armed people Borisov and found their apartment had been burglarin the forest. She approached the Partisans and began to ized. The shocked neighbor crossed herself. “Did you come from another world?” she asked, thinking Gita and cry.

“I have two small children,” she pleaded, telling her the boys were dead. “I’m not dead,” Gita replied, “so story of moving from village to village. They couldn’t give me back the things you stole!”

Wounded in 1943 on the German front, Samuel believe she survived for two years as a Jew. “You’re lying! The Germans sent you!” the Partisans recovered in an army hospital for three months and then insisted, recalling other incidents where they had nearly sent to fight the Japanese in the east. He was one of the been caught by this ploy. “Stake her to a pine tree! We’ll few soldiers from his unit to survive the battles against both Germany and Japan. Happiness--and a sense of waste only one bullet and we’ll have one less spy.”

Gita couldn’t talk at all. They tied her to a tree and relief--finally returned to the family.

Alik and Dima graduated from polytechnic academies began to argue about who would execute her. Through the bushes, she could see a small older man. “What are you and emigrated to Israel in 1991. Alik lives in Ariel and Dima in Ashdod. Lev doing here?” he asked the graduated from musical Partisans. “What is this? A college and the Musical market? You’re supposed Cultural Academy in to be on a reconnaissance Moladechno, near Minsk. mission and you’re making Married in 1977 to a big noise in the forest!

“We caught a spy!” one Elizabeth May (a graduof the Partisans replied. ate of the Minsk “She asked to join our Polytechnical Academy), troop and we decided to the couple lived in Minsk shoot her.” before coming to New The older man asked to York in 1992, with sons, see Gita, who was still Michael, born in 1977, tied to the tree. and Alex, born in 1983.

“You are crazy!” he “It was a hard time, in screamed at the men. the 1950s,” Lev recalled.

“I’ve known this “We lived near a park woman’s husband for where musicians would many years. Untie her play folk music.” His parimmediately!” ents love of music lead Gita heard all of this as them to pay for lessons if she was dreaming and for Lev, leading to a almost fainted. When she diploma in the accordion. was untied and opened Lev, left, and his cousin, Yfim Aronin, visit the graves of Lev’s par“In my family, my her eyes, she recognized ents, Gita and Samuel, in Borisov. Aronin, who still lives in Borisov, parents only spoke her savior immedi- takes care of the gravesites.

Yiddish at home,” Lev ately...and then she did faint! Gita told the old man-- added. “My brothers and I learned it, too. But we only who was the commander of reconnaissance for the par- spoke it home--not on the street. During Stalin’s time tisans--everything. He listened, but wouldn’t promise and even afterwards, there was a lot of anti-Semitism, so anything--after all, Gita had two small children. we kept our Judaism at home.”

Gita returned to the village and people thought the There was a different set of “rules” for Jews in the forGermans or the police had taken her. The little family mer Soviet Union. But when Lev came to the United waited through August, the rains of September, and States, everything changed. While still in New York, Lev then at the end of October, they heard a knock at the was welcomed to his sons’ school by the comment from window one night. The men outside asked the home- the administrator, “Oh, Shektman...a beautiful Jewish owner for “Natasha,” and they left with Gita and the name!” It was so unlike his experience in Minsk. “There, boys in tow, walking only at night. Covered in frost and when I tried to get a job, the supervisor (who had the mud, Gita’s shoes fell apart and she was almost barefoot. Medal of Lenin) said ‘no’, because he knew the Jews At one village, the partisans found Gita a pair shoes were leaving for Israel and the U.S. and he would have made of bark. to replace them in just a few years,” Lev says.

Dima, who was then 51/2-years-old, suffered greatly Both sons graduated from Burke High School. Michael, on these night marches, where they had to walk quietly who now lives in Chicago, attended University of for long distances.

Nebraska-Omaha and specializes in computer technology.

They came to a wide river, swollen by autumn rains. At Alex started at UNO and is majoring in business. the river bank, one of the partisans whistled. A boat Samuel died in 1975, Gita in 1979. Both died in the appeared in the darkness and Gita, the boys and one par- same month they were born; both are buried in the tisan climbed in. Out in the middle of the river, they Jewish cemetery of Borisov. Lev’s cousin, Yfim Aronin-noticed the boat was filling with water. So close to the who still lives in Borisov--who went to the cemetery just end of their journey, they feared they would sink and this past Tisha B’Av--cares for their graves. drown, but a partisan jumped into the water and pulled “Every time my mother tried to explain something, the boat to shore. she would cry, “ Lev says. “She told all three of us, ‘You Wet from the rains and the water in the boat, the little need to find only a Jewish wife,’ and would repeat it over group climbed through the grasses on the bank to a and over again.”

“Our duty--to our parents,” said Dima in his letter, “is waiting wagon and horse. To Gita’s happiness, she recognized her Uncle Gregory, her mother’s brother. All of to remember this and never let it happen again. The six his family had been killed--a wife and two children. He million who the Nazis turned into ashes--couldn’t work, had been caught in December of 1941, and taken to the couldn’t love, couldn’t live.”

“You need to remember your family, your Jewish life, village bathhouse, where he escaped--wearing no clothes! Running eight kilometers to the next village, he and what happened,” Gita had told her sons, “Explain found friends who warmed him and gave him clothes. to your children what we did for them.”

Dima’s final word in his letter to Lev? Amen.

From there, he joined the partisans.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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A Nuptial Path to Judaism

by GLORIA SHUKERT JONES services for their first 30 years. Carol Ed and Carol Schneider are not your became completely enamored of, and fasaverage everyday Jewish couple. Aside cinated by the Jewish religion, and was from their devotion and commitment to eager to learn as much as she could. As Judaism, the past two-and-a-half years the years went by Carol regarded herself have produced a double cause for cele- as a Jewish woman, and felt in her heart bration. Carol became a Jew by Choice and soul that she was destined to be just on September 15, 2003, following her that. She became more and more comown personal odyssey of love, learning mitted to Jewish principles and practices. and liturgy. A year later, on September 5, But even though Carol considered her2004, Ed and Carol celebrated their 30th self Jewish in every way that mattered to wedding anniversary in a most moving her, it wasn’t until Rabbi Mordechai fashion, by reaffirming and repeating Levin became the leader of Beth El contheir marriage vows in a Jewish ceremo- gregants, about three years ago, that she ny, complete with family and friends pres- began to think seriously about making ent, and with all the usual fanfare. her dedication to Judaism official.

Ed is the son of the late Nathan and She and Ed established an immediate Frances Schneider of Omaha, and the rapport with the rabbi that had a real grandson of the late Ben and Anna impact on their lives. They like his laidKornfeld from South Bend, Indiana, and back, modern approach to worship, the late Abe and Sadie Schneider from which they felt was more in tune to their Omaha. Carol’s parents are Nicholas and lifestyle. He seemed to be able to influDoris Farland from Denver, CO. Her ence people in a gentle and genteel mangrandparents are the late John and ner that greatly appealed to them. They Gertrude Cain, originally from England, found him easy to talk to. Carol and Ed and the late Anthony and Dolores eagerly attended the rabbi’s classes, Farland, from Spain.

The romance that sparked the beginning of one couple’s extraordinary path to Judaism began back in the 1970’s, when Edward Allan Schneider met Carol Ann Farland on a blind date arranged by a mutual friend. It was love at first sight. Ed had dated girls younger than he, who seemed to lack what he was looking for in a relationship. When he met Carol, Carol and Ed Schneider, center, celebrate as Rabbi Stanley he perceived her to be “an Rosenbaum, then of Tifereth Israel in Lincoln, Rabbi Mordechai older woman”, as she Levin of Beth El, and Rabbi Myer S. Kripke, rabbi emeritus of appeared to have common Beth, preside over the Beth Din. sense, dignity and a more mature outlook including the one on “Introduction to on life than any of the girls he had known Judaism”, and concurrently, Carol started her conversion process with the rabbi. previously.

The couple began spending more time Carol was attracted by Ed’s easygoing, affable nature, and the fact that he was so at Beth El than ever before. Most memeager to please. By the time Ed discov- bers of the synagogue staff, and the many ered Carol was actually ten years his jun- friends they had acquired over the years, ior, and was not Jewish, the romance had never realized Carol wasn’t Jewish. They already gained a stronghold. It was too just naturally assumed she was, because of late to turn back. Neither of them could all the years they had seen her at the synimagine life without the other, so they agogue. made plans to make their relationship Once she had made the decision to permanent. convert, Carol began her studies in Ed knew he and Carol couldn’t be mar- earnest. She had the support and encourried by a rabbi, so in his typical resource- agement of her husband, her parents, her fulness, went to Judge Samuel V. Cooper, family and their many friends. requesting that he officiate at a civil cere- Unfortunately, mid-way through her mony. When the judge asked why he had preparations, Carol suffered a stroke, and specifically been picked among the other had to put everything on hold temporarjudges, Ed explained since he couldn’t ily. However, she didn’t let this setback get a rabbi, he could do the next best deter her. As soon as she felt up to it, she thing, and at least find a Jewish judge to resumed her studies with renewed fervor. perform the ceremony, one that would be Eventually, she reached the final examwell received by parents and family. ination stage, or the acid test, so to speak, This occurred at a time when intermar- of her conversion process. That was, to riage was not widely accepted in the go before a Bet Din, which is a tribunal Jewish community, nor especially wel- of three rabbis. The prospect of this at come among gentiles. Both sets of par- first was daunting and scary, as it conents were at first, skeptical. Soon they jured up visions of Talmudic rabbis who realized that Ed and Carol were not a would discuss and have differing opinions couple of reckless, defiant kids, but sensi- on each word. But when she found out ble adults who, despite their different who the two other rabbis would be, in backgrounds, knew they were meant to addition to Rabbi Levin, her fears rapidly be together. And it wasn’t long before turned to excitement.

Carol’s family, in her words, “were crazy One of them was Rabbi Kripke. He about Ed,” and she also experienced a made Carol feel at ease, and his participawarm and loving relationship with his tion was very meaningful to her. Carol parents and extended family. Ed’s obser- recalled that Rabbi Kripke initially wantvation of his wife is, “All she has to do is ed to know a little bit about her family history and ethnic background. Taking a look at you, and you’re hooked.”

Carol laughingly recalls that the deep breath, she hesitantly told him her woman who arranged their blind date father’s family was from Spain, and was had also introduced several other cou- Catholic; her mother’s family was from ples, all of whom are still married, except England, and were Episcopalian; one sister converted to Catholicism, and anothfor the matchmaker, herself.

The couple became members of Beth er sister was Greek Orthodox, and lastly, El Synagogue when they first got mar- her brother became a Mormon. ried, and attended the High Holy Days Continued on page 31

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 31

A Nuptial Path to Judaism became the center of their lives. Carol and her husband Continued from page 30 the nissun, the breaking of the glass, and the Seudah.

The rabbi took all of this in, and at last spoke: “I see.

This second ceremony was symbolic; not only of the not only formed a close network of Jewish friends from You are part of a League of Nations.” That moment of great love Carol and Ed have shared all these years, but Beth El, but have became “fixtures” there. The couple is levity erased any feelings of intimidation she had toward also the dedication and enthusiastic love they both have seen any time there is a gathering at the synagogue.

Ed and Carol continue to attend services on Friday the distinguished rabbi emeritus. for Judaism.

The third member of the tribunal was Rabbi Stanley On June 13, 2004, Carol and Ed were the recipients nights, the minyanim on Sunday nights, and the rabbi’s Rosenbaum, then rabbi of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in of the Selwyn-Roffman Award, which recognizes Beth adult education classes. They have also taken Hebrew Lincoln. He immediately befriended Carol with his El congregants for religious growth.

Crash Courses and Jewish Potpourri, conducted by Susi engaging personality.

Levin, the rabbi’s wife. They both acknowledged that Once she felt at ease among her rabbinic mentors, the Susi has also been instrumental in promoting their Bet Din went smoothly. Carol’s conversion took place enthusiasm for Jewish learning. officially on the 18th of Elul in the year 5763, which “Her dynamic personality gets you so excited that you corresponds to Sept. 15, 2003. She chose the name, want to give her a big hug and a thank you at the end Hannah, as her Hebrew name, in memory of Ed’s of each class,” they said. mother, Frances Schneider. Especially significant to the “Our Friday night services are like being in a jazz enviSchneider’s, Carol’s conversion was the first for Rabbi ronment,” Ed commented. “We just don’t worship the Levin at Beth El. same way our ancestors did, but the important thing is Conversion, in and of itself, is generally sufficient that we do worship.” endorsement of one’s commitment to Judaism. But in He went on to say that synagogue member musicians, Carol’s case, this was just the beginning. She has gone such as Tuffy Epstein, Anna Mosenkis, and others, regfar above and beyond even her own expectations. In ularly exhibit their talents at these jazz-inspired servicaddition to her other activities, Carol makes the es. Cantor Gaston gets everyone involved in the service Minyannaires list for monthly participation in minyanwith his passionate rendition of the Shabbat prayers. im. She acknowledges that Michael Gerson and Sol Then as a “fringe benefit” to attending Shabbat Schwartz have been wonderful mentors in her learning, Above: Carol and Ed were married the first time on Sept. 1, 1974 Services at Beth El, the Schneider’s have formed a close understanding and participating in the daily services. by Judge Sam Cooper in a civil ceremony. Below, the couple network of friends whom they frequently join for dinTraditionally a ceremonial act reserved solely for males, remarried Sept. 5, 2004 at Beth El--again with Judge Sam Cooper, ner on Friday nights. They often come home after servCarol now “counts” as one of these privileged partici- but this time with Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Cantor Gaston ices and remark, “What a wonderful way to celebrate pants. Ed says, “If you need a fourth for bridge, or Bogomolni officiating.

Shabbat!” someone for a minyan, think of Carol.”

Ed and Carol do not have any children of their own, On Oct. 30, 2003, following one of the rabbi’s classbut they do have five nieces, three nephews and a grand es, Ed and Carol planned to have a small, intimate nephew, which gives the couple plenty of opportunity luncheon, with just their family, close friends and the to play “mom and dad”, and young ones on whom to rabbi present, to celebrate Carol’s conversion. Instead, lavish their love and attention. they ended up with 80 people. These included their When they are not engaged in all things Jewish, Ed synagogue friends, and fellow classmates. Following the and Carol are busy with their professions. Carol is a lunch, Ed spoke briefly to the guests, thanking all who Medical Radiation Dosimetrist. supported and gave him and Carol the encouragement She says, “I do the planning for cancer patients on a and incentive to make this memorable step. three-dimensional computer for the Johnny Carson On Sept. 5, 2004, Carol and Ed’s dream of a Jewish Cancer Center in Norfolk, NE, at a remote site in my wedding came true. Rabbi Levin, Judge Samuel V. home.” She received the Varian Award of Excellence in Cooper, and Cantor Gaston Bogomolni officiated. This 2002 for the outstanding Medical Dosimetrist in the was a sort of deja-vu experience for the judge, who country, and was the third recipient of the award which originally married them on Sept. 1, 1974. Carol and is given annually by the American Association of Ed were excited when Judge Cooper accepted their Medical Dosimetrists with Varian Medical Systems. invitation to participate in the ceremony.

Carol served as President of the national society, and This wedding had a much larger attendance than the also served on the Board of Directors for 10 years. She original one, with members of Carol and Ed’s family, has an impressively long series of medical certifications their synagogue family of friends, as well as their longthat follow her title. time friends, some of whom attended the first wedding.

Ed tells an amusing story about his paternal grandfaIn the “Kol”, a Beth El publication, it states: “The For the benefit of Carol’s family, and non-Jewish Schneider’s have shown a dedication to Beth El and a ther, “a typical zayde”. “Whenever he’d get sick, he friends, Ed and Carol made up a brochure, explaining love for Judaism that is nothing less than inspirational.” wouldn’t call a hospital or a doctor, he’d call Carol, since the traditions of a Jewish wedding, and what they were Dick Fellman, who made the presentation stated, “They he knew of her medical background.” called; such as the chuppah, the kiddushin, the ketubah, truly ‘walk the walk’.” It was evident that Judaism Continued on page 46

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September 30, 2005

Thinking Jewishly

by Joan K. Marcus Lois (Ducky) Rodin Milder is a role model for all women. Her genteel manner and caring personality exude love and compassion to everyone she touches.

When her life was marred by one of a mother’s greatest tragedies--the death of a child--she says it was because of her commitment to Judaism that she was able to go on.

She was born “Lois” in Sioux City, Iowa, to Idell and David Rodin. When she was very small, she liked to play in water and swim. One day, her father said, “Look at the little Ducky!” The nickname stuck and--today, we all know and love her as “Ducky.”

Her parents worked together in a wholesale novelty business. David also dealt in mortgages. Ducky and her sister Helen (Novak) and brother, Sid attended services every Friday night at Shaare Zion Synagogue after having Shabbat dinner.

The Rodin family home was a meeting place for every organization and the family was very involved in the Sioux City Jewish community. Much of their lives revolved around Shaare Zion. “We always went to junior congregation; the Jewish holidays were a big celebration in our home. I definitely grew up with much tradition.”

She recalls that, “In those days, there was a big Jewish community in Sioux City. I can remember every Sunday at the Jewish Community Center. The whole community of kids was there every week for a play or a celebration.”

As a young child. Ducky attended Jewish camps in the Omaha area. She remembers Camp Brewster and another in Louisville. “When I got older, I

became a counselor because I loved to wanted me to go out with Myron (Mike) observe Jewish tradition. I was in a Jewish Milder, the son of Ella and Hymie atmosphere during the summers and Milder. “When I met him, I was certainly surely one at home as well.” attracted to him,” she smiles. “We dated Ducky added that, “I was always very, for a whole year and had a lot of fun. He very aware of being Jewish. When I went was very interesting because he had travaway to prep school in high school, the eled and knew about all kinds of food. He school had a Jewish population of 10 per- worked in his family’s business and I cent--even though they made us attend found him fascinating.” church services on Sunday, it didn’t Mike and Ducky were married in 1958 change my Jewishness. at Temple Israel with both Rabbi Sidney “I needed to be in smaller classes,” she H. Brooks and Rabbi Myer S. Kripke offiadmits, “and learned how to study when I went away. It was academically oriented so that I developed a great desire to study and learn.”

After high Ducky school. to the went University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where she majored in art. “I always loved sculpting and painting and Ducky Milder and her granddaughter, Abbey. was interested in art history. That’s what eventually led to ciating at their wedding. They had two my interior design business.” children: Myron II (Mike) born in 1959, Like many of her contemporaries, she and Emily, born in 1961. belonged to Sigma Delta Tau, an allDucky remembers “The Milder Jewish sorority. She remembers, “We had Family” belonged to all three of the Friday night Shabbat dinner and celebrat- major synagogues. “I think that they felt ed a few Jewish customs.” an obligation to help everyone in the In 1957, Ducky came back to live in Jewish community,” she explains. “And, Omaha after living away for several years. that’s what I had learned when I was a lit“I was working in Omaha and my sister tle girl. Our home in Sioux City was the

meeting place for every Jewish organization and Mike’s home in Omaha was the setting for every Shabbat dinner...a continuation of my Jewish life in Sioux City.

“My family had been involved in our synagogue, our Federation and our JCC. How lucky can one be?”

She smiles and says, “My own family believed that they needed to belong and give to everything. When I married Mike, his family was the same way. I feel like being Jewish has been part of my entire life. I’ve never lived separately from it although sometimes--I have been more observant than others.”

Although she has always studied at Temple Israel, Ducky admits, “My life and understanding of Judaism really began when Rabbi Aryeh Azriel came about 15 years ago. He is my mentor because I really didn’t know Jewish history before he came.

“I have felt strongly Jewish all my life-but when he came, it all changed. Just knowing that we are friends has given me huge comfort. We all have a rabbi--and he’s mine! I am totally inspired by him and am a very dedicated Jew because of him.”

Sadly, in 1997, son Mike died at age 38, of a sudden heart attack. He had been President of the Millard Jaycees and was active in the Republican Party. He was also active at Temple Israel and was responsible for organizing a Midwest Jewish Singles Conference that included more than 150 people from Nebraska and surrounding states.

Many of his lifelong friends were from his association with National Federation of Temple Youth. Like his grandparents and parents, he was community minded Continued on page 46

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Try to Do More importantly, how ‘at home’ I felt with Judaism.”

by OZZIE NOGG The comfort level kept rising. “Pretty soon Charlie Louri Fellman Sullivan’s family has a long history of service to the Omaha Jewish community. Her father, said he wanted Shabbat to be an important part of our Tom, served as President of the Federation, and was a family life--he wanted all of us to be together,” Louri major force behind the fundraising drives for the Phil said. “I remember one Friday night my parents had Sokoloff Fitness Center and the Pennie Z. Davis Child plans to go to a movie and were going to ‘skip’ Shabbat, Development Center. Louri’s mother, Darlynn, made an and Charlie told them he thought Shabbat should overindelible mark in NCJW’s Trooping Theater, Hadassah ride a movie because you can see a movie anytime.”

Her husband’s love for his new faith was an eye-openprograms, Israel Bonds and Federation Lion of Judah campaigns. Louri recognizes, appreciates and is proud of er for Louri. “At that moment, I realized I wasn’t pushher parent’s contributions to the local Jewish scene. She ing Judaism on Charlie. This was something he wanted to do, and we both just kept going from there, studying knows their example has influenced her life.

But when asked, “Who inspired you to become more and adding to our Jewish observance.”

The Sullivan children--Rachel 10, Josh 9, Samantha 6, passionate about Judaism?” Louri’s answer is a quick, and Tommy, 4--are the beneficiaries. “I want to be able to unhesitating, “My husband, Charlie.”

The couple met in 1985 in Dallas, where both worked answer their questions about Judaism,” Louri says. “I want for the same commercial real estate company. Charlie them to have a religion young, to make it part of their was raised Catholic, and the couple dated on and off for lives, so hopefully they’ll understand Judaism’s teachings four years. “When Charlie and I first considered a seri- and won’t ever question its importance.”

Louri names Shani Katzman as one of her mentors. ous relationship I wasn’t sure how it would end up. We both wanted kids and we both were committed to find- “I’ve loved studying with Shani. She’s helped bring so ing one religion to raise them in. I hoped it would be many holidays into our household and continues to Judaism.” The extent to which that hope eventually encourage me in a gentle way to keep learning and adding Judaism to my life.” became reality surprises even Louri.

For Louri, these addiLooking back to her tions center around childhood, Louri Shabbat, family and describes her Reform friends. “I just continue upbringing. “My family to try and do more,” she didn’t celebrate Shabbat explains. “We try to celevery often that I remembrate all family occasions ber. We went to services with a big Shabbat dinon Rosh Hashanah and ner. We enjoy having Yom Kippur, and the only guests in our home for other Jewish holidays we Shabbat. I bake the chalcelebrated were lah--everyone in my famiHanukkah and Passover. ly loves it--and when “My father’s family was friends have special occamore observant, so on sions I try to bake a chalPassover we’d go to lah for them, as well.

Uncle Dick and Aunt Bev “When my Bubbie Fellman’s for what I Helen Meyerson was alive, remember to be really she’d get her hair done long seders. I remember every Friday and then his Dad--my Grandpa The Sullivan family at Louri’s and Charlie’s wedding vow renewal: come to our house for Doc Fellman--going to Josh, 9, Tommy, 4, Louri, Charlie, Samantha, 6, and Rachel, 10.

Shabbat dinner. It was Israel for extended visits and truly being able to speak Hebrew. I also remember such a blessing. Sometimes she’d rest all week so she’d knowing that my grandmother Helen Meyerson’s fami- have the strength to get here, but the minute she walked ly kept kosher and spoke Yiddish, but that was never through the door, you’d never guess she wasn't feeling well. I know it meant a lot to my grandmother to see our really a part of my upbringing.”

Louri became a Bat Mitzvah at Temple Israel and was children being raised Jewish and to see our Jewish home.”

Children--hers and others--receive much of Louri’s confirmed in 10th grade. “I belonged to BBG and NFTY, but didn’t consider them to be a big part of my time, effort, and love. She volunteers at Children's Hospital as a comforter rocking babies in the Neonatal life at the time,” she says.

But Louri always felt Jewish. “After graduating from ICU and will co-chair the hospital’s “For The Kids” Westside, I chose the University of Texas because it had benefit in 2006. She continues to stay involved with a big Jewish population. At orientation I couldn’t “On the Road”--the Boys and Girls Club fundraiser believe there were that many Jewish kids in one school- which she founded with her father 10 years ago. Louri has co-chaired the event in three of the past 10 years, - and that they all were friends.”

Louri lived in a predominantly Jewish dorm her fresh- and seen it raise over $1 million dollars for kids in need man year and had Jewish roommates all through college. in the local community.

“I want to continue to make our Jewish education in She was named a Sammie little sister, went home with friends for the high holidays or attended services in Omaha better, too, from preschool to an all-city Austin. “By my senior year my circle became bigger and Hebrew High at some point. I’d also like to help more diverse religiously. At that point the ‘novelty’ of encourage more people to visit Israel. We are so blessed such a large Jewish population had worn off and I had to have a Jewish state. It is a magical place.”

This summer, the Sullivan family hosted two young become friends with a lot of people who weren't Jewish.

“When I moved to Dallas after graduation, there was Israeli soldiers, Yonatan Hauerstock and Avital Lowe, an a whole new world to explore and many of my college Israeli shlicha. Both had recently finished their duty in friends were there to help with introductions. One the Israeli army. “Yonatan was our guide last year at the introduction was to the real estate company where I met air force base in Tel Aviv. When he finished his army Charlie. He was a graduate of SMU and we had several service he wanted to travel to the U.S., and we helped friends in common which made him a friend from the make that happen,” Louri said. “I would love to help more kids who serve in the army come to the States so very beginning.”

Mindful of the potential difficulties faced by interfaith we can say thank you in some small way, let them know couples, the pair dated on and off for four years. “When we appreciate what they do to protect Israel.

“The Israeli kids we met are amazed that we even have our courtship began, Charlie’s mother was battling breast cancer. She was a very devout Catholic, and Jews in Omaha, let alone ones that stick together and Charlie struggled with both his close relationship with look out for each other. I’d love to show them our wonher and the potential serious relationship with me. It was derful Jewish community, cook them a Shabbat dinner, difficult.” Charlie’s mother died in the summer of 1988. do whatever I could to help them--be it a scholarship for A year later, Charlie and Louri married. They lived in college or a free place to stay as they travel across the country, which they all want to do. I also want my kids Dallas until moving to Omaha in 1995.

Almost immediately, the couple chose their spiritual to feel they know real flesh and blood Israelis and to path. They decided to raise their children Jewish, and understand the sacrifice they make that we Americans Charlie began his Derech Torah Class with Rabbi Azriel sometimes can’t understand or take for granted. I want at Temple. “I made a commitment to study Judaism my kids to have friends in Israel when they are lucky really for the benefit of my children,” Charlie explained, enough to take their first trip.”

For now, Louri keeps concentrating on her personal “so that I’d understand their religion. However, once I got into it, I was reminded how very uncomfortable I Judaic growth. was with so many tenets of Catholicism, and, more Continued on page 46

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 33

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

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by GARY JAVITCH orthodox leanings. His home’s close proximity to Beth Donald Gerber--a man who rarely misses a morning Israel was important, as was the fact that his parents minyan at Beth Israel Synagogue--revels in a life where attended before him. tradition--family, religion, and business--play an imporDonald’s affection for the synagogue was apparent. tant role.

He was always active there, and as a youth recalls attendDonald traces his Omaha roots to his Russian-born ing the late Friday evening services with his family and grandfather who settled in Omaha - by way of St. Louis sitting in the junior congregation on Shabbat morning.

- in 1910. Another genealogical root grows from his He particularly enjoyed joining the Sunday morning father’s life. Donald’s father, Arthur (“Sonny”) planted minyan with his father and participating in Rabbi his business mark when he launched a used car business Nadoff’s special breakfasts when the spiritual leader in the 1940’s with Harry Wolfson. And later, when he would talk about a current event and then discuss the wanted to raise a family, he moved them into the Jewish “ethics of the father”--Pirke Avot writings. section of Omaha that came to be known as “Bagel.”

These fond experiences were important considerations There they made a Jewish life. when his fellow congregants turned to him for leaderIn the mid-fifties, Sonny established Sonny Gerber ship when the synagogue later faced a crisis.

Auto Sales, and that would become part of a family traDonald was asked to serve as synagogue president dition. Donald literally grew up in the enterprise, work- three times, each time during periods of transition. ing along side his father, mother Bernice, and brother Since tensions - and frequently contention - often Paul. Later, his sister Debbie Powers and his nephew, accompany change, his administration confronted a Todd Gerber, joined him. number of challenges.

After the patriarch passed away in 1986, the Gerber His first two terms of service came during the period family continued in the car business. His mother, now when Rabbi Nadoff became ill and could no longer 86, still comes in daily.

Donald has now been in the family business for over 27 years, beginning full time after graduating with a business degree from UNL. He reminisced “My father was active in the business until the day he died. I frequently quote him and the lessons he taught. For example, he always said that ‘Profit is always made on the buy, not the sell.’ Phrased another way, ‘a car bought right is half sold.’”

Growing up Jewish “Growing up in Bagel was so unique,” Donald remembered. A small Jewish community thrived there in the heart of the city. The family lived in four different homes Donald Gerber, left, assists his son with his speech during Audrey’s Bat Mitzvah at Beth in Bagel.

Israel. Donald can be most often found at the synagogue, helping to make a minyan.

“Kids would gather in front of Joanie Bernstein’s house,” Donald reflected. “It carry out his duties. During a rabbinical search, a numwas like being a part of a giant Jewish youth group ber of issues emerged. One was that the congregation growing up.” In the evenings, he remembered many had to determine just how orthodox they wanted to be, kids like Steve Pitlor, Fred Tichauer, Sandy Gordon and as the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations (OU) Bob Freeman hanging out. We would sit around, talk on asked Beth Israel to come into compliance with practices that over the years the synagogue had modified. Among the grass and watch people drive by.”

They attended Lewis and Clark Junior High and other changes, the OU asked the congregation to Central High School. Donald recalled an irony of grow- remove a microphone and install a formal Mahitza, the ing up in a Jewish neighborhood, while attending physical barrier that separates men and women during Western Hills, a public school. “One winter season dur- the service.

During Donald’s tenure, the synagogue returned to ing class, all were asked to sing ‘Silent Night.’” What an odd situation, Donald thought, “Despite a class that was more orthodox leanings to get new rabbinical leaderaround one-third Jewish, we were all singing a ship. Other issues that concerned the congregation included membership, which was both aging and shrinkChristmas song! And we did it regularly, too!”

Synagogue tradition ing. These major concerns were not fully resolved by the Tradition played a role in Donald’s choice of syna- conclusion of Donald’s second term. gogue also. They lived near Beth Israel synagogue and Continued on page 35 his membership there originally was not because of its

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Page 35

A “Sonny” Outlook Continued from page 34 Two years passed. Questions arose again about the future of the old synagogue and the need to provide opportunities for future growth. Should they move? The mid-town synagogue, old as it was, held many great memories. Some considered a move would be the death knell for their long-time house of worship.

Donald came back for a third term.

The issues above - greatly simplified here - nearly tore apart the shul. Donald spent a great deal of his tenure trying to hold the synagogue together. Still, Donald’s vision was to revitalize the congregation and build something of significance.

That’s what he, along with many others, especially Julee Katzman, worked for.

Right: The Gerber family: Maggie, Audrey, Ben, and Donald. Below: Maggie serves Bagel Bin bagels and spreads to Enid and Bob Blumenthal during a kosher food tasting at Bag’n Save.

Legacy for the kids When the moment of decision finally came, Donald presided over that meeting.

The membership took a vote. “The issue came within a hair of not succeeding: less than 10 votes separated the two sides. The four-hour meeting was gut wrenching and emotional.” They decided to move and build a new synagogue.

He served only one year of his third term. He had risen to the occasion. “The strain took its toll,” he commented. Over a seven-year period,

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he had successfully led the board in five of those years.

He was very satisfied with the outcome.

Yet winning was not that important. And achieving a successful outcome was bittersweet for Donald. That’s because his son Ben was going off to college and would not reap all the benefits Donald had sown.

Nevertheless, Donald saw much of his work as an effort to improve life for the next generation; to make it better. “It’s all about passing the torch; it’s about the young families there now; it’s about continuing the tradition. Moving was what was needed to survive.”

The story about the Donald Gerber family tradition would not be complete

without mentioning the “Woman of Valor” in the family, his wife Maggie, the mother of their two children, Ben, now 19, and Audrey, 14.

Maggie shied away from an interview, but her proud husband offered some insights on his publicity-shy spouse.

They married in 1984 and he admiringly pointed out what Maggie was like.

“Maggie likes to do things for others quietly and privately,” Donald related.

“Maggie served on the Beth Israel board.

She has been a volunteer since she started coming to the synagogue in 1979. Then she helped in the office. Sometimes she got paid for her work. But she did things way above and beyond what she got paid to do.

“It always seemed that Maggie volunteered for the non-glamorous jobs: to go to the airport to pick people up, or when food was needed for Shabbat, she would get it or make it. She would also open up our house for Shabbat guests, even at the last moment. That’s Maggie.

“She did things no one gives honor or credit for. She just felt that someone had to do it. That’s Maggie. If something had to be mailed out and time was short, she hand-delivered it to the post-office rather that wait for the next-day’s mail pickup.

“Maggie takes care of things without making a fuss and doesn’t seek recognition. Beth Israel is her synagogue and that’s what you do for your synagogue.

She is nothing short of amazing. Many don’t realize what she has done.”

While life has not always been easy for Donald and his family, with his proud tradition of family, religion and business, life is, indeed, very good.

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Page 36

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

A Bar Mitzvah in Rome

by AMY ZLOTSKY This summer my 10-year old son, Aaron, and I traveled to Rome for the Bar Mitzvah of my nephew, Richard Zlotsky Barad. We had a wonderful time with about 20 family members and friends who came for the “destination” simcha.

Thanks to Bob, my brother-in-law, we also had a fascinating Jewish educational experience.

Background: Bob works for the United Nation’s World Food Program, headquartered in Rome. After moving there last summer, he and his family scoped out the synagogue situation in order to set things in motion for a Bar Mitzvah the following summer.

This was no small feat for an American family, as all of the synagogues in Italy are Orthodox and the community is quite particular about accepting newcomers.

Bob submitted Richard’s birth certificate, their marriage license, ketubah, and after much research, a family tree for rabbinical review. For the key family member--my maternal great-great-grandmother--Bob was able to find the U.S. census records from 1920 which listed Miriam Gamse, age 70, Place of Birth--Russia, mother tongue--Hebrew. While they certainly meant Yiddish, the documentation proved convincing enough.

At 2000 years old, the Jewish community of Rome is the oldest Jewish community in Europe. It is pre-Diaspora and dates back to the Roman Empire, when envoys of the Maccabees came to Rome for trade.

Like other places, the Jews were appreciated for their financial and medical skills.

Our tour guide, Laura, herself from the Jewish community of Rome, let us know

Left: Zlotsky cousins--Aaron Hoagland, 11, Max Seiler, 10, and Richard Barad, 13, pre-

pare for Thursday morning Shacharit services at: right, the Great Synagogue of Rome.

that this community has been in continual existence since perhaps 200 BCE, even through the Holocaust--though in hiding.

Thursday Morning: The Great Synagogue of Rome There are three types of synagogues in Italy: Sephardic, Ashkenazi and the Italian minhag (Nusach Italki). All of the synagogues are under the oversight of the Chief Rabbi of Rome, who is headquartered in the Great Synagogue of Rome.

This magnificent structure was built around the turn of the 20th century after King Victor Emanuel gave full citizenship to the Jews and ordered the Roman Ghetto to be torn down.

While the Jews were offered a more desirable building location, they chose to build the Great Synagogue on the site of the former ghetto. During WWII, it was explained that the doors of the synagogue were locked and remarkably, no one touched it. Also remarkable, approxi-

mately 80 percent of the Italian Jews survived the war.

Today there are 13 synagogues in Rome. Each has their own Shabbat services, but all the congregations join together for weekday services at the Great Synagogue. We attended morning services on Thursday, at which time Richard was to wrap tefillin and pray with the men for the first time. This was also the Torah portion for his Hebrew birth date.

We all rose very early on Thursday, skipping breakfast. On our way to the synagogue, I asked my father if he planned to wrap tefillin. He laughed, saying he probably hadn’t done it in more than 50 years. Little did he know, this was not optional!

Because of security measures, we all entered the sanctuary at the bimah.

Women were directed off to the side behind an elaborately scrolled wroughtiron mechitzah (which didn’t hide much

from view in either direction!). The Zlotsky and Barad male contingency filled up a center row and consisted of the two grandfathers, Bob and his brother, Richard and his two younger cousins: Max, and Aaron, and an elderly neighbor.

All of the older males were escorted to the rear of the sanctuary, and returned wrapped in tefillin and tallitot.

As part of the Hakafot, the cousins were given the honor of carrying the yads in advance of the Torah. Aaron said he couldn’t believe a boy from Lincoln, NE, was leading the Torah procession in the main synagogue of Rome!

Of course, I sat in the women’s section with my sister Nancy, Bob’s mother and sister, and several family friends. Needless to say it was a bit difficult to follow what was going on. Not only was the service entirely in Hebrew, but the few instructions in the siddur were in Italian! The order of the service and melodies were Nusach Italki.

If that weren’t difficult enough, there were separate activities going on within the women’s section! The most interesting minhag involved the Torah dressing.

The style of the Italian Torah mantle is quite different from what we use and includes a two-tiered brocade covering, with a gathered skirt on top. Instead of a belt, a very long sash is wrapped many times around the Torah, eliminating the need for a buckle.

The Torah was undressed off the bimah, next to the mechitza, and the sash was handed over the top to one of the women. The first woman made a few rolls at the end of the sash, pressed it against Continued on page 37

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A Bar Mitzvah in Rome Continued from page 36 over to the Americans for the day, with all the male famher eyelids for a few moments, kissed the cloth and then ily members having aliyot, the cousins carrying the yads, passed in on to another woman who did the same. The and one grandfather with a special honor of unlocking sash circulated around until it was fully rolled. All dur- the Aron Hakodesh with a silver key. Richard gave his ing the process the women got up one by one and put d’var Torah in English, and the rabbi did his in English tzedekah into a large pocketbook. The money was and then Italian. The congregation seemed amused but counted, with the sum apparently creating some discus- kindly. In the women’s section, there was much hugging sion. Then all the women gathered into a large huddle, and crying. We also figured out how “carrying” is interputting their hands on each others heads with the oldest preted by some of the women congregants. Apparently woman blessing the group. it is acceptable to carry in a Thursday Afternoon: handbag, but it is hung on Jewish Walking Tour of the mechitza and not carried Rome, Part I to your seat!

Laura, our tour guide, met While the service was unfaus on the Michelangelo miliar, the “Qiddush” was Steps (Cordonata) and quite familiar…with many began our tour of Jewish people showing up at the Rome. Wherever possible, end of the service and she explained the history of descending on the buffet the Jews of ancient Rome-tables! If you serve food, they will come! Speaking of beginning with the sites in food, there were no bagels, the Roman Forum. We walked through the Arch of lox or cream cheese but Titus which depicts the sack instead...little pizzas, tiny of Jerusalem, and shows the sandwiches, yummy cheese menorah and other temple filled pastries and Italian vessels being carried off, and kosher wines. bound slaves being marched Sunday Morning: away. Beyond the arch is the Jewish Walking Tour of Colosseum, which Laura The Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum shows the menorah Rome, Part II told us was paid for from the carried off by Roman soldiers during the sige of Jerusalem. We met Laura at the Great bounty of Jerusalem. Next we climbed a nearby Synagogue and she took us hill and visited the Church of San Pietro in through the magnificent Vincoli which contains Michelangelo’s statue of sanctuary. A central dome Moses (the one with the horns) and an urn suprises up about four stories posedly containing the ashes of the Maccabees. and is lit with windows painted with floral motifs.

Friday: Shabbos Preparations The walls are painted in rich I spent Friday morning food shopping with colors and gold. There are Nancy and Bob, checking out the Italian fruits brocade wall hangings and and vegetables, fish and cheese--the variety and curtains. On each side of the freshness was amazing! Challah came wrapped in main seating area, there are paper and ribbon from a kosher bakery in the Ghetto. This Roman challah was darker, richer, Max and Aaron with their grandfather, alcoves with one housing the moister than ours, and covered with a crunchy Dr. Norman Zlotsky of East Lyme, CT. women’s section. These areas are furnished with the Arons, Ner Tamids and canlayer of spun sugar--scrumptious!

Our afternoon was spent cooking Shabbos dinner for delabrums from the Ghetto shuls. Laura explained that 24. I served as head chef, assisted by Nancy and Flora, the Great Synagogue looks somewhat like a cathedral their former nanny who traveled from Uganda for the because the design was prepared by a Catholic firm!

The synagogue museum houses an incredible collecBar Mitzvah. Flora’s trip was in itself a story, as few Africans of modest means are allowed visas for Europe. tion of ritual artifacts. To ensure their survival, these Flora, with her jolly sense of humor, noted that there were buried during WWII and then recovered after the were very few blacks in Rome so they all must have war. Only the books, confiscated by the Nazis and sent to Prague, were never relocated. The museum contained come for Bar Mitzvahs as well.

Our male contingency attended Friday services and a huge display of Torah mantles, which Laura explained did all the “carrying” prior to Shabbos (Bar Mitzvah were not only of Jewish interest, but represented some kippot in Wedgewood blue suede, handouts of the Bar of the finest preserved examples of antique Italian broMitzvah speech and family tree, tallitot and the like). cades and tapestries. I noticed that some of the Torah Bob had been advised that we were not to “carry” on crowns were decorated with animals. Laura explained Shabbos. However, Nancy reported that many of the that the bees, roosters and other animals were references women carried in fancy Fendi and Armani bags! to the names of the families that donated the crowns.

Saturday: The Bar Mitzvah Exiting the synagogue, we walked a few hundred feet Bob felt most comfortable with the Nusach Italki con- to the center of the ghetto. We passed by several police gregation of Tempio Dei Giovani (www.tempiodeigio- officers with guns. Police security is maintained 24vani.org) The synagogue is located on Tiber Island hours a day at all synagogues in Italy. Entrance into the across from the ghetto. It is well-hidden in the top floor Great Synagogue involved heavy security. Even the little of a 13th century building which used to house a Jewish synagogue appeared to have its own “bouncer”.

Hospital. To enter, we went in a back door behind San Beginning in 1556 and continuing for 300 years, all of Bartolomea all’Isola, a church built in the 10th century. Rome’s Jews were forced to live inside the ghetto--a Up a spiral staircase we climbed four stories to the syna- high-walled enclosure built on the orders of Pope Paul gogue. We were told that this “little shul” was used dur- IV. The ghetto was an unhealthy place, and the Jews ing the Holocaust and even for some months after the were only allowed out during the day and on Sundays German occupation of Rome. when they were taken to nearby churches to attend The congregation was formed in 1985, and is led by Christian services (this practice only ended in 1848!).

Rav Shalom Bahbout. As a child, Rabbi Bahbout moved There is nothing remaining of the Ghetto—it was four from Libya to Italy where he received his military train- blocks in size (about seven acres) and now the Great ing, medical training and semicha in Italy. Although he Synagogue takes up much of that space. Since all the made aliyah to Israel, the rabbi travels monthly to Rome original buildings were removed there is nothing to see to serve on the Italian rabbinical assembly where his spe- from that period, but without visiting the ghetto you cialty is divorce and conversion. While in Rome, he leads really can’t visualize 5,000 people living there. (This calTempio Dei Giovani, and is much revered by his con- culates to about 180 people living on my quarter acre gregants. (The rabbi also speaks English!) lot). Today many Jews still live in the former ghetto and Rabbi Bahbout paired Bob and Richard with Lenore there are many Jewish shops, kosher restaurants and a and Melina--an American-born congregant and her bakery. The plaza in the ghetto is called the Piazza delle Italian-born daughter. Lenore helped introduce the Cinque Scole after the five congregations that shared the family to the Jewish Community of Rome, and Melina one “synagogue” in the Ghetto.

We had lunch at the Yotvata Kosher Restaurant and tutored Richard in his studies. Bob told us that all of the parties were eager to assist as everyone had so much sampled Roman Jewish dishes such as fried artichokes, respect for Rabbi Bahbout there could be no other out- salt cod and cassola, a type of cheesecake. There were no come. And the outcome appeared flawless as Richard bagels, lox or knishes on this menu…but many Italian chanted (in the Italian minhag) the Maftir and pastas, vegetables, salads and pizza.

Continued on page 46 Haftorah.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

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A Perfect Match

by GLORIA SHUKERT JONES around with a really bad crowd for a really long time, Joshua and Amanda Gurocks are part of the growing which was a bad influence on me,” she stated. trend of young Orthodox Jewish couples living in Ultimately, at the time of her bat mitzvah, she got Omaha, who want to worship in the relaxed, welcom- involved in NCSY, and says her parents “did an intering, youth-friendly atmosphere they have found at Beth vention on me” with Allen and Rini Gonsher, who Israel Synagogue. One of the many reasons Josh and became her mentors. It was due to the influence and Amanda chose to move to Omaha, was that Rabbi support of the Gonshers and her introduction to NCSY, Jonathan Gross was a friend of Josh’s older brother. that Amanda became interested in her heritage.

This helped ease the move to a place Josh felt “was for“The Gonshers encouraged me to get involved in, and eign to me”. learn more about Judaism, and the Shabbat. I went on Originally from Omaha, Amanda is the daughter of weekend retreats, shabbatons, read historical text and Candee and Jerry Mack, and the granddaughter of began doing mitzvot. But most importantly, I was Morris Bresel and the late Jean Bresel. She graduated spending time with Jewish kids. My parents were really high school from The Yeshiva of the South, in Memphis, supportive of my change. They seemed much more Tennessee. After high school, she spent a year abroad, relaxed with my new sets of friends and the favorable studying in Israel, and then continued her study at Stern influences they were having on me. Without their supCollege for Women in New York. After completing port, I would never have had the courage to leave my undergraduate work with a major in psychology, she school, my friends and my family for a school in a difcontinued her education at Columbia’s school of social ferent state. They also were very understanding when I work, graduating with an MSW. continued my education in Israel and New York.”

Josh was born and raised in Passaic, New Jersey, the When such a revelation or religious turnabout occurs home of his parents, Noah and Peggy Gurock. Josh has in a person, it is generally when they are much older. But three siblings: His older sister, Esti, her husband, Jeff Amanda experienced her new-found convictions at the and their son, Gabriel, live in Norfolk, Virginia. His tender age of fifteen, and has been an observant Jew ever older brother, Eli, makes his home in Jerusalem, and his since. Her parents, seeing the positive result of younger brother, Yoni, is a student at Queens College. Amanda’s decision, are happy that the Gonshers had Josh attended Yeshiva day schools in New Jersey, and helped precipitate the changes she made. also took a year off to study in Israel. He then returned “My parents are the backbone of my belief system”, to New York to continue his education at Yeshiva says Amanda. “They continually support my decision, University.

In his sophomore year of college, he went to Central Park to meet up with a couple of friends to play Frisbee, and that is where he met Amanda, who also happened to be playing Frisbee at the same time. While some couples may meet in a more romantic atmosphere, Josh and Amanda hit it off right away, and thus began the start of their lives together.

Shortly after Josh’s graduation, he and Amanda were married, and moved to Kew Garden Hills, Queens.

After struggling with the Josh and Amanda and their daughter, Leah, 16-months-old. high cost of living in New York, and wanting to be a little closer to Amanda’s fam- and are even careful to project my life choices onto their ily, the Gurocks and their daughter, Leah, who, at the granddaughter. Before they serve her any food, they time of our meeting, was 14 months old, moved to always make sure I’m okay with it first. They never want Omaha. They have resided here for almost a year, and to go against our wishes, and they really have a lot of recently traded in their lease for a newly-purchased respect for what we are doing.”

I marveled at the fact Amanda was so young when she home within walking distance of Beth Israel. “When we were looking for a house, we wanted to find something decided to become an Orthodox Jew. She and Josh both just as close. I knew it was the perfect house for us when agreed, “You’re never too young or too old.” Amanda we found out it was halfway between our apartment and then added that her grandfather, Morris, at age 76, is the synagogue,” Josh explained. At the time of our now re-learning to read Hebrew.

The home of Josh and Amanda Gurock is a welcominterview, even though it was a day of fasting and 103 degrees outside, they were already preparing to move ing place for friends to gather for lunch or socializing. some items. “But that’s okay,” Amanda assured me, “Sometimes we have as many as twelve people at a time,” Amanda said. “Our friends always know they can “we’ll make it.”

Josh and Amanda enjoy the services at Beth Israel, come to our place. Some of them don’t know much which caters to younger as well as older generations. It about the Shabbat and we try to help them learn more.

Josh is an assistant manager for Enterprise Rent-Ais not unusual to find high-school seniors and senior citizens alike, worshipping together in the sanctuary, and Car. He is an active member of Beth Israel board, and gathering together in the social hall. The young and loves to remodel his new house. Amanda works full time dynamic Rabbi Gross makes worship interesting by pro- as a therapist at Beneficial Behavior, counseling children viding a little fun and fellowship along with the service. and their families, which seems to suit her warm, engag“We love it there,” Amanda said. “Josh is on the execu- ing personality.

This interesting “20-something” couple is very comtive board of Beth Israel, and was also on the Federation’s Strategic Planning Committee.” Both Josh patible with one another, and in their mutual love of and Amanda attend classes at the synagogue, and fore- Judaism. The happiness, and enthusiasm they express is see a time when little Leah will also be involved in Jewish evident in all they do. With their futures ahead of them, education. Amanda plans to enroll Leah in Friedel Josh and Amanda’s long-term goal is to pass the same values on to their beautiful daughter, Leah.

Academy as soon as she is old enough.

It’s not always so easy being observant Orthodox Jews Amanda told an interesting story about how her whole life changed when she was 15 years old. Her mother is in today’s, fast-paced, modern society. Some of the Jewish, and her father is Lutheran. Because of mixed rather stringent rules can present a challenge at times, parentage, Amanda grew up celebrating both religions. such as walking to the synagogue in a winter storm when Although Jewish law decrees that the offspring of a it’s ten-below zero, for example. But these minor inconJewish mother is automatically Jewish, most people veniences pale in the overall joy that Josh and Amanda don’t know about this law. Amanda could have gone in have experienced in their beliefs, and they wouldn’t have either direction, or none at all, but religion was not her it any other way. The enrichment and spiritual growth focus at that particular time. “I was more concerned that Judaism has brought to their lives, plus the comabout going to football games and proms, going out on mitment and devotion to their faith that this young couFriday and Saturday nights -- that sort of thing. I ran ple has given in return, equals a perfect match!

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 39

A Son Leads the Family

by JOAN K. MARCUS Sean Bernstein has led his parents and sisters to Judaism. The handsome 17year-old high school student decided he was interested in being Jewish after a visit to his godfather. Shortly thereafter, Sean’s parents and twin sisters followed him to Temple Israel.

Sean’s father, Stuart (Stu) Bernstein, was born in Binghamton, New York, in 1952. His parents, Esther and Irving Bernstein, were Conservative Jews who attended services every week. The family was observant and studied Judaism.

“My father taught Sunday school and all four of us had Bar and Bat Mitzvahs,” Stu recalls. “There weren’t a lot of Jewish kids at my school, but my best friend, David Ansell, was Orthodox. We were more like brothers than anything else. We even looked and acted alike!”

After graduation from high school in 1970, Stu didn’t go on to college. He worked in construction and then went into the service. Theatre became his real love and, in 1976, he met Rose Trick, a costumer at the summer stock theatre where he was acting. According to Stu, “It was love at first sight for both of us!”

They were married in 1978 by a justice of the peace and Stu remembers, “My older brother had already married a Catholic girl so it didn’t shock my parents when I told them that Rose was Catholic.

They were pretty open-minded and it was okay with them.”

Stu studied acting in college, but then went to work in the construction field for 25 years. In 1994, he returned to Syracuse University in upstate New York and then Virginia Tech and earned a master’s in construction management. He is

when they old got enough,” he explains. “My experience was, that once I had my Bar I Mitzvah, became disillusioned--not with Judaism, but with my synagogue.

“I fell, not away from Judaism, but from that synagogue and, I didn’t The Bernstein family: Sean, seated, and his mother Rose, left, sisters, Ashley bother to find and LaShanna, and father, Stu. a new one. currently working on his doctorate and is When Rose and I were married, we professor of construction management at agreed that we wouldn’t try to force relithe University of Nebraska-Omaha. gion on our kids. We explained the two Rose the only child of what she religions and tried to raise them correctly. describes as “a very Catholic family”, Someday, we hoped that they would attended Catholic schools through high make their own decisions about religion.” school. But, when she brought home a In 2004, Sean, then 16, visited his “nice Jewish boy,” her parents were less father’s childhood friend, David. Sean than enthusiastic. returned from the visit with a complete Rose attended New York state colleges conversion in personality. “Sean and has a degree in fashion design and announced that he wanted to be Jewish education. She teaches family and con- and that he wanted to have a Bar sumer science at Kiewit Middle School.

Mitzvah,” Stu recalls.

“Rose’s mother would have liked to see Sean adds, “We went to Uncle Dave’s us get married in the Catholic Church cabin on Lake Michigan. His daughter and the kids brought up Catholic. But, I came up for a while and she kept talking don’t believe in Catholicism and I would- about her trip to Israel. It sounded really n’t hear of it,” Stu says. cool! Then, Uncle Dave said that I “We decided that we would celebrate should call Rachel Blum at the B’nai all holidays and then let the kids choose Brith Youth Organization. I had joined

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BBYO, but I didn’t have any intention of going to a synagogue.”

Since the family had lived in Philadelphia, Virginia and New York, they hadn’t belonged to a synagogue.

However, Stu says, “Once Sean made his commitment to be Jewish, it was up to us as parents to find a synagogue.”

Sean adds “Dad and I started visiting synagogues. Mom came with us a few times and we decided to join Temple Israel.

Since I did have a Brit Milah when I was a baby, I am not going through the conversion process but I am going through a ‘reaffirmation.’”

Classes for Sean include studies of Hebrew and Judaism. He reads and takes classes with both Rabbi Aryeh Azriel and Crag Marantz. “Sean has been the key for our family,” Rose admits. “He was a student in the Anti-Defamation League’s Youth Leadership program for Jewish teens and has become actively involved with Omaha Temple Youth Group.

His Bar Mitzvah, scheduled for May of 2006, has created quite a stir. Sean jokes, “I don’t feel strange about being older than the other kids in my class--at least, I’ll be the tallest!”

Sean’s grandmother, Stu’s mother, will be present when he has his Bar Mitzvah.

“My grandmother is proud that I have made this commitment. I talk to her alot and ask questions about Judaism. She talks with me about Yiddish and it’s fun.”

Rose says, “Rabbi Azriel was very open to me coming to services--especially since I’m not Jewish. I feel comfortable and the people are so friendly. I’ve quit going to church.

I’m not converting yet, but I will. Rabbi Marantz says I’m a free agent right now!”

Continued on page 47

Page 40

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

A Time for Everything

by JOAN K. MARCUS On Nov. 19, 2004, at the age of 73, David Myers Rice, of his own free will, committed to Judaism. During his childhood, David had looked out the window of his family home and admired Shabbat candles that--to the small boy--bonded families with a sense of togetherness.

He was envious of the mysterious candles shining though the screen door in the summer and, in the winter when the door was closed, through the frosted glass.

David was born in Baltimore, MD, in 1931, the third of five children. An older brother and sister are now deceased; he has two younger sisters. He says that during his formative years, his father--Franklin Chester Rice--dominated their family life. “Our father was a weekend alcoholic and during the week, he was angry and abusive. He often used his hands to spank us and to strike us in the face. I was in constant fear of him.”

He was raised a Protestant and remembers going to church and Sunday school with his siblings. Dorothy Belle Myers, his mother, worked very hard to keep the family together. During World War II, she worked the night shift and then came home to take care of her husband and five children. “She had a very hard life with little time left for my siblings and me. I have her maiden name for my middle name and am very proud of that.”

He describes his older brother as the “All American Kid” who came right off of the Saturday Evening Post cover. “He was a Boy Scout, played baseball, football and every other athletic effort that came his way. I was the sissy!” he laughs. “That disturbed my father to the point that he ignored me. I left the school building terrified of the bullies who had promised to ‘get me’ and they often did! My father and brother said that I should stick it out and fight like a man.”

Rice adds, “For most of my grade school years, I had difficulty learning because of Attention Deficit Disorder, an affliction that has continued to be my challenge into adulthood. Several women helped me during my formative years. Minashim Katz and my cousins, Mamie, her husband, Popsy and Laura. Mrs. Katz lived across the alley from our home. Everyone loved her.

He describes Laura as “a radical leftist and humanist and Mamie was conservative. These women took me to concerts and art museums. Laura also took me to meetings of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). So, when I was 11, I was involved in the formation of the Interracial Fellowship-along with a young lawyer, Thurgood Marshall” (who would go on to become a Supreme Court Justice.

“Until I was 15 or so, I spent almost every Sunday at Mamie and Popsy’s home. After dinner, this weekly meeting gave us a chance to explore a wide variety of religious, intellectual and, to my eyes, exotic happenings. It was much later in life when we spoke of my

homosexuality.”

David quit school when he was 16 and joined the army. He served in South Carolina, Georgia and Washington. He served as a chaplain’s assistant for about two and a half years and then returned to Baltimore and later to Norfolk, VA, where he worked in a furniture store as an interior designer. “I had no formal training but, when people bought furniture, I could draw a diagram of how to place it,” he recalls. “It was gift but I had to learn to work at it.”

He later moved to Nebraska and on New Years Eve, 1951, he met Omaha attorney, Ephraim Marks. “He was tall, dark and handsome,” Rice says with a smile, “The most masculine gay man that I had ever met. I was young (22 years his junior) and blonde and slim. We were a perfect match of opposites.”

Ephraim Marks, left, and David Rice The two men dated for about six months and then David pushed for a more permanent relationship. “At that time, Eph lived with his parents because at that time lawyers couldn’t live openly with another man.”

However, they rented various apartments in the fashionable Rorick Apartments. Later, they bought a small home in South Omaha, in the middle of a Polish neighborhood. To their delight and surprise, nobody seemed concerned that two gentlemen were sharing a home!

They both continued to pursue their careers. Ephraim was a well-respected attorney and David was an interior designer at J. L. Brandeis and Sons, Orchard-Wilhelm Company and then in his own business.

“After his mother and sister died, Eph decided to throw caution to the wind and we found a house in Fairacres, the likes of which I had only dreamed!” Rice says. “From that time on, for all intents and purposes, I lived a Jewish life. Ephraim and I celebrated all of the holidays--including an elaborate Passover.” The two attended services together at Beth El Synagogue.

“Ephraim had a profound relationship with God and was a mystic. However, he often complained about the

length of services and the repetitions. I encouraged him to join Temple Israel because I thought that it would be more suited for us. As a side note, I must tell you that Eph referred to the Temple as the Presbyterian of the Jewish faith!” he laughs. “We both felt completely at home there and we were grateful that we had joined after our first High Holy Day services.”

The two men shared a Jewish home for 46 years until Marks died in 1996. Although Marks had said he didn’t believe in long-term homosexual relationships, he admitted that, after a few years, they began to add greatly to each other’s lives with their common interests.

They had become “a couple” and they both believed that their relationship was what nurtured love is all about.

“I was always attached to Jewish people because I have always admired how their families are so close. Although I’m no yeshiva bucher, I have really been Jewish for a long time.”

He questioned religion as a youth and still considers himself an agnostic continuing to search. “I’m still searching....I believe that there’s some order but I can’t put it into words” he admits. “The biblical stories, to me, are fables to embellish whatever happened. I believe that there’s a superior order--but I don’t believe that it’s a G-O-D.” Rice says that both he and Marks “agreed in the fundamental ideas at Temple Israel. We approved of the lack of repetition, freedom and openness to gay people. We lived openly as two gay men, but we weren’t drum beating.” But Rice had not yet converted. Rabbi Aryeh Azriel was the “king pin” in his becoming a Jew! “I had told Eph that I wasn’t really ready because of my disbelief. But, once I became associated with Temple after he died, that all changed,” he says. “I found a certain solace there because the people were comforting.

Older people who never would have talked about gays still come and ask me how I’m doing. My mourning for him will go on forever, but it’s comforting to have people pay attention to me.

“Rabbi Azriel’s humanist approach attracted me most of all. He reaches out to people in fairness and equality.

Reform Judaism stands for a great deal. I have learned that we should love others--regardless of differences,” he insists. “We should be charitable to those in need. We should respect and improve the world in which we live and search for truth and understanding. In short, we should follow the Ten Commandments.”

Rice cannot promise he will be a student of Judaism.

He can tell you that both he and Eph felt Rice has been a Jew for many years. “He occasionally encouraged me to become Jewish and join Temple Israel. When I said that I wasn’t ready, he would reply, ‘You will one day!’”

That day came last November.

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by AVISHAY ARTSY The central idea in Josh Katelman’s Jewish identity came when he was 17 years old. He was visiting a settlement in Israel, and began talking with one of the settlers. The man told him that there are currently less Jews in the world than there were in 1900, due to the slaughter of two and a half million Jewish children in the Holocaust. “I really took to that, and thought, ‘My God, who am I to not perpetuate my religion, the religion of my parents and my grandparents, onto my children?�

Katelman’s parents divorced around the time Josh pets his cat, Elana, on the sofa at his apartment. he was entering elemento do it, and that’s all they were contary school. He spent his pre-teen years cerned about.� He found it challenging with his mother, a legal secretary, and to balance early-morning weekend lesthen lived with his father, a real estate sons with a college social life, often leavattorney, while attending Westside High ing parties early to get a decent night’s School. While he did attend High sleep. “It was tough to wake up at eight Holiday services, he longed for a faith o’clock on a Sunday,� he said. “But it was stronger than that of his parents. All worth it when I got to hang out with around him, Katelman saw the foothold these little kids, because they just loved of Judaism slipping away. His relatives learning Hebrew.� were intermarrying and giving up their Besides connecting with children, it faith. He said that out of eight grandchil- offered him an outlet for his religious dren, he was the only one to bother with interests, one that campus life couldn’t a Bar Mitzvah. It steeled his resolve to provide. Even though he served as the become active in the Jewish community. treasurer of the campus Hillel while at His religious education came through his Iowa State, Katelman said, “there were, synagogue youth group. like, eight people� in the group. “There In his sophomore year of high school, was not a big Jewish population at all.� he took on the role of treasurer of his He often drove home for holidays, and local chapter of NIFTY, and became attended services with relatives in Des president of the chapter the following Moines. Every Passover, an Ames family year. The group traveled to regional took him in for their Seder. “conclaves� in Denver, Kansas City, St. After graduating in 2000 with a comLouis and Des Moines. There Katelman puter science degree, Katelman moved encountered “thousands� of other Jewish back to Omaha and began a career in teens. According to Katelman, the software development. But he couldn’t Omaha group enjoyed a large and heavi- forget the invaluable leadership experily active membership. At least thirty ence and religious education he had members attended the Des Moines con- received through his synagogue youth clave in the fall of 1996, and three of the group. And when Stephanie Grossman, seven regional board members were from the former youth director at Temple Omaha. “We really dominated,� he said. Israel, asked him to become a full-time During his senior year Katelman served advisor, Katelman couldn’t resist. as the treasurer of the seven-state region, So, for the last five years, Katelman has charged with fundraising and collecting been coaching Jewish teens and chapermembership dues. Katelman says he’s still oning trips to regional conferences. He close with many of the friends he made helped organize fundraising dinners for through the group, though none Camp Rainbow, the Purim carnivals, and returned to Omaha after college. overnight stays at the temple for the Outside of the youth group, Katelman board members. He loved the idea of filled his summers with Jewish-related being a friend and role model for the stuactivities. The summer after his junior dents, watching them progress and year of high school, in the summer of mature from freshmen all the way 1995, he traveled to Israel with NIFTY- through graduation. He liked that he was Exodus, seeing the country just before young enough to feel like part of the the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and group, but also be recognized as having the eruption of the second intifada. His authority. group was able to visit an Arab village Katelman never formally studied near Beersheva. “They were just so wel- Judaism, though he admits he’s a big coming and open to us,� he said. reader of the historical fiction of Leon Katelman also spent two summers as a Uris and Herman Wouk, as well as the counselor at Camp Livingston in south- novels of Philip Roth. In his northwest eastern Indiana. There he instructed Jewish Omaha apartment, his walls are lined children in horseback riding, mountain with such books, along with Robert biking, boating, and arts and crafts.

Ludlum and other crime novelists.

Katelman attended Iowa State College, Along the walls hang Judaic art and a in Ames. On the first day he arrived, he brass hanukkiah that he inherited from decided to contact the local temple. They his grandmother, who passed away two were overjoyed to hear that he wanted to years ago. volunteer, he said, and for four years he He’s also a Star Wars fan, though he’s taught Hebrew and Jewish history to quick to add that he’s not “passionate� third- and fourth-grade children. “I was about it, as if to distance himself from the never that good of a teacher,� he said stigma of a science-fiction nerd. modestly. “But I was someone different Continued on page 47

Page 41

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A Journey Toward Jewish Identity

by OZZIE NOGG and people she’d known only in the abstract. “Here I Sometime around 1837, Susan Rothholz’s paternal was in the real place, actually standing in the land I’d great-grandfather, David Kemper, emigrated from heard about and read about. It was like the first time I Alsace Lorraine to Baltimore, MD, where he helped went to the Jeu de Pomme museum in Paris. All the found the Reform Temple, Har Sinai. To honor him, the paintings I’d studied about were hanging on walls. They congregation installed a plaster bas-relief of Kemper’s were real. Now Israel was real, too. The Western Wall, face on the wall next to the bimah. the Temple Mount, and I kept saying, Look, the One hundred-plus years later, many of Kemper’s garbage men are Jewish, everybody here is Jewish.” descendants, including six year-old Susan, still lived in One day, the group met with women on a kibbutz.

Baltimore. “When my family went to Temple, which was “These amazing women described how they’d made maybe two times a year, my great-grandfather was always aliyah, described their lives as new Israelis, and I kept there, scowling at me,” she says. “I attended Sunday thinking I’m never going to have any of this--the connecSchool--it was so boring--and was confirmed in that tion to a people and a land and a religion. I cried Temple at 14. Then I stopped going--emphatically.” through the rest of the trip.”

Two years later, Susan’s daughter-in-law, Kirsten, died Susan was not the first apple to fall far from the Kemper family tree. “My father attended the Quaker Friends suddenly. The three little Budwig girls: Hannah, Sophie School and then St. Johns College, a very liberal place that and Aleia were seven, five and three years old.

“The shock paralyzed all of us,” Susan says, “but we encouraged free choice in both public and private life. So we were Jewish but 100% assimilated. We had a Christmas needed to keep the girls’ lives as normal as possible. We tree. Some of my relatives married Jewish people, some did made endless lists. Who’d take the kids to school and day not. When I was small, I care--who’d cook meals, remember my grandmothclean the house, do launer trying to teach the dry.”

Sh’ma to her non-Jewish But even while she grandchildren. That image orchestrated day-to-day is still with me.” logistics, the question of Fast forward to the the girls’ religion was on 1960s. Susan and her first Susan’s mind. “I had husband, Ron Budwig, three granddaughters in were living in Deerfield, Omaha, and I wanted IL, with their three them to be raised Jewish. young children--Larry, Larry was as uninterested Michael and Wendy. in religion as I’d been at “I always knew I was his age, but I knew Jewish. I also knew I was Susan Rothholz with her grandchildren: Hannah (left), Brianne, Kirsten had a feeling for white, female and Sophie and Aleia.

Judaism. From her work American. My religion was no more a defining element at the Blumkin Home, she knew more about Judaism than those other parts of me. It was the same for Ron. than I did.” Suddenly, Susan’s journey toward her own We didn’t belong to a Temple or go to services, not even Jewish identity was linked with her need to provide a on Rosh Hashanah. We didn’t send the kids to Sunday Jewish identity for her granddaughters. school.

“Immediately, that very first summer, the Federation “This all took place during the Civil Rights move- generously offered scholarships so the kids could go to ment, and what I really wanted to do was go to the JCC camp. This was a huge gift. The girls loved it. They South and help register black voters,” she recalls. “Then thrived on it.” When the children weren’t at camp, they I met Rabbi Arnie Wolf. He understood my politics, but often ate meals with Susan and spent nights at her aparttaught me that as a Jewish woman and mother, my first ment. “We tried to do Shabbat every week, but if they obligation was to my family. Arnie was the first person weren’t with me on Friday night, we’d light the candles on who showed me how Judaism addressed social issues Saturday night. Or Sunday night. And yes, I was teaching and how Judaism could relate to real life -to my life. the Sh’ma to my grandchildren.”

“Of course, I also gravitated towards Arnie because his Larry Budwig watched, and slowly his mother’s examsynagogue was building a new facility where not even ple had the hoped for effect. “It took a while for him to the names of contributors would appear on a wall. I real- figure it out, but Larry wants the girls to ‘be what he is.’ ly liked that concept.”

He joined Temple last year and the girls are flourishing Susan also liked school and the pure pleasure of learn- there. Fortunately their non-Jewish grandparents are ing. When the Budwigs moved to Omaha, she often very understanding and accepting of it all.” went with friends to Rabbi Azriel’s classes at Temple This past summer, Susan drove nine year-old Hannah Israel. “I was not on a great quest for Jewish knowledge. Budwig to Camp Olin Sang Ruby. “We spent two days on Aryeh was new and interesting, and his classes were sim- the road, talking, having fun. When we got closer to camp, ply another way for me to broaden myself and learn Hannah said, ‘Granny, I’m so excited my stomach is flopthings,” she admits. “The fact that I happened to be ping over.’ I made sure she didn’t see, but right then I learning about Judaism was incidental.” started crying.

Eventually, the family joined Temple. The children “Being Jewish was a given in my life, but with no particattended Sunday School. “In the end, there was no real dif- ular meaning, and now my granddaughter had not only ference between their religious school experience and mine. found meaning, she really loved it. In fact, all three of my They were bored. They didn’t come away with a connec- Budwig granddaughters are so enthusiastic about being tion between what they were learning and real, now life.”

Jewish. They love Sunday school, Hebrew school, the holIronically, it was Susan who made a connection. idays. It’s the joy of my life.”

“Those classes with Aryeh sparked the first, faint stirA joy tempered with reality. “Recently, the girls asked rings of attachment to a tradition.” Over time, the stir- me, “Granny, if mom hadn’t died would we be Jewish? I rings grew. “By now, my daughter had two small chil- told them I honestly don’t know. They ask such profound dren, and chances were good they’d be raised with no questions, and I have to answer as best I can.” religion--they’d be nothing--and I felt deeply sad. I In a few years, Hannah will become a Bat Mitzvah, and thought about my great-grandfather, about my grandfa- ‘Granny’ is hitting the books right beside her. “Hannah ther, and even though my parents hadn’t paid attention, already knows more Hebrew than I do, but I’m studying the old tradition was still wiggling around inside me. the language so I can be there to give help if she needs it.

“I was a Jewish woman, but I’d never done anything I want to know the prayers and understand their meaningabout it, and now this heritage was ending. I pictured -not just for her, but for myself. I try to observe more ritmyself trying to teach Judaism to my non-Jewish grand- uals now, and share them with Larry and Michael and children, just as my grandmother had tried to teach the Wendy and their families, every chance I get.”

Sh’ma to hers. I was afraid I wouldn’t be capable or Did her own subconscious search or tragic circumstrong enough to do that.” stances create a place for Judaism in Susan Rothholz’s The clock kept ticking. Susan married Phil Rothholz now life? Perhaps the answer is unimportant. “I somewhom she’d known in Baltimore. Her son, Larry, mar- times wonder if I’m trying to make up for lost time, tryried Kirsten Cornish, a nurse at the Blumkin Home. In ing to give my grandchildren what I didn’t appreciate at short order, the couple had three daughters. Susan their age. It’s hard for me to explain what seems like this added Melton Mini-School classes to her schedule. In sudden need to keep Jewish values and heritage alive in May, 2001, she joined other Omaha women on a mis- my family. To rekindle the tradition. sion to Israel.

When I asked Rabbi Azriel, ‘What is going on with “I went to Israel for the same reason I went to Nepal me, what’s this all about?’ he said, ‘Don’t ask so many or India or the Galapagos. Because it was there. Who questions. Just go with it.’ ” knew I’d find something.” What Susan found was a land

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 43

Two Brilliant Minds Seeking Judaism

by JOAN K. MARCUS Steven and Deirdre Evans live very quietly in their midtown Omaha home. Few people, except those of us who attend classes at Temple Israel, know of the couple’s intellect. And, until recently, few people knew that Steve is a former “rocket scientist” at NASA. Deirdre moved around a lot when she was a child. Her father, a field engineer for International Telegraph and Telegram, and the family moved wherever the government had contracts. She was born in 1950 in Indiana, but moved to Bellevue because there was a contract with Strategic Air Command.

“We moved around so much that I became a big reader because it was hard to make friends. When I was 12, I read the book, Exodus, and that had a big impact on me,” she recalls. “When I got to the part where the ship was kept in the bay and wasn’t being allowed into Israel, the pages were missing. I was so taken with the book that I walked all the way to the public library to get another copy.”

Deirdre’s family went to a Protestant Church. “We went to church regularly but I never got the Jesus thing!” she laughs. “In bible school, I remember thinking that if God was so powerful, why did I have to depend on Jesus for my salvation? I couldn’t understand why, if you were a good person, you would be condemned to hell just because you hadn’t heard of Jesus?

“It just didn’t make sense to me but I didn’t ask my parents. We went to church every week and I was involved for social reasons,” she adds. “I was curious about Judaism. When I went to Christian rallies and they said to raise your hand if you

1990. Deirdre remembers her conversion believed in Jesus; I just couldn’t do it!”

After attending Ball State University in with Rabbi Aryeh Azriel. “My trip to the Muncie, IN, Deirdre came back to mikvah was wonderful. At that time, it Omaha to visit her sister. “I was still seemed to have a ‘glow.’ I did the three attracted to different religions, but I kept immersions and the rabbi and the cantor looking for the underlying nature of real- were waiting. I felt so cleansed! It was ity. I kept looking for things in books. It highly emotional and it seemed glowing, wasn’t so much that it was religious, but wonderful and luxurious.”

She is happy to be a Reform Jew and I was searching.”

She finally had the revelation where she part of a congregation. “It’s important to discovered “that everything that lives-- me to attend services and to get to know p e o p l e . sings,” she T h e r e ’ s smiles. “I also something realized I was about studypart of that ing with peosong. It was ple that helps the most you to make intense expefriends. I feel rience. Later, included and I studied part of the other religroup. I feel a gions.” sense of comOne day she munity when went to the I’m with peoZen Center ple from and met Steve e m p l e .

T Evans. “I had Steven and Deirdre Evans There is a prayed for God to send me someone who would final- feeling of being connected here in ly bring out my good side and I knew Omaha that we probably wouldn’t find in immediately that Steve was that man. a larger city.”

Steve Evans, on the other hand, was When I saw him, he kept looking away and I finally went up and asked him for a ride born Jewish in New York City in 1943. home. I knew that he was meant for me.” He describes his family as being “culturSteve had been recently divorced and al” Jews. “After a certain point, it was so the two sat in the car and talked for an implicit that the community existed and hour. The next time, they went to a did things. You never really thought about Judaism. My parents practiced restaurant and talked for three hours.

“Two months later, I asked him to Judaism by eating corned beef sandwiches and lox and bagels. They spoke Yiddish marry me!” she laughs.

They were married in 1992 after because it was the thing to do.”

Steve’s father, a machinist and tool and Deirdre had converted to Judaism in

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die maker, was transferred to California in 1945 because of World War II. His mother worked in the printing and bindery business. The family moved to Houston, Texas in 1946 where Steve grew up.

“It seemed that things were ‘happening’ in the west,” he recalls, “and my father decided to run a grocery store for many years. Judaism, by this time, didn’t exist in their minds-except for the corned beef and lox! I knew that I was Jewish-much as I also knew I was Caucasian.”

Right before he was 13, it dawned on his parents that he should begin to study for a bar mitzvah! So, for a year, Steve studied with an Orthodox rabbi because, as he says, “when you’re from New York, that’s what you do! Right before the ceremony, they moved to New Orleans. So, I never had the ceremony but I was interested in Judaism as a result of studying with the rabbi.”

He has probably spent 45 years or so as a perennial student. Before he graduated from Tulane University, he worked at NASA as a programmer of the onboard computer for the Gemini series.

“They were desperate for someone and I was very young. I had done some work on computers and knew some buzz words. So, I spent the weekend studying and we managed to get the thing programmed,” he smiles.

Although he didn’t pursue further knowledge about Judaism, he admits to being “a knowledge fanatic.” “One of the few things I’ve accomplished is mastery of ‘the professional student’ role!”

His major was political science but, in truth, he was interested in political events. Minors were in sociology, psyContinued on page 47

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

Spirituality--a Big Part of This Family’s Life

by JOAN K. MARCUS Benjamin (Ben) Shapiro and Amy Reynolds had much in common when they met in 1998. They were both Jewish and they both liked to “hang out” at Beth El Synagogue. As a matter of fact, the synagogue is where they met. Ben admits that he saw Amy davening and thought she was “kinda cute.” Amy says that she wasn’t looking for a young man and that Ben was “all right!”

Ben was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1968. His parents, Gila and Howard Shapiro were “conservative-traditional Jews.” The family moved to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1973 and they attended what Ben calls, “a very traditional-orthodox synagogue.”

Ben’s father was a senior research medicinal chemist and his mother used her master’s degree in adolescent psychology in testing children with learning disabilities and helping their parents understand their youngsters. He and his younger brother, Aaron, now an attorney, and their parents attended the synagogue every week. In addition, Ben went to Hebrew school three times a week.

Judaism was a big part of his life while growing up. “Mother baked challah and lit candles every Friday night,” Ben recalls. “It was a pretty traditional Jewish setting and it has carried over into my life--even now. Even though many of my friends weren’t Jewish, they knew I was!”

He remembers being part of the desegregation movement. “ I took a bus downtown to high school and was the token white, Jewish boy on a bus going into a rough neighborhood. In order for me to get to the synagogue after school, I had to take another bus. It was a little scary!”

His muscular physique still shows that of his teenage years as a baseball player and wrestler. He admits to being a good student who was always interested in electronics. “Learning was easy for me.”

After high school, Ben went to Syracuse University College of Engineering in upstate New York and studied biomedical engineering. Jokingly, he says, “I wanted to be the guy who developed the artificial

Amy Reynolds, Ben Shapiro and their son, Matan. spine. It was interesting, but I had some problems during my second year. My parents had divorced and I was dealing with that. At any rate, in 1989, I decided to take some time off to figure out where I was and where I was going. To fill in the gap, I enlisted in the United States Air Force.”

He went in as an enlisted man, but because of his electronic skills, the people whom he worked with were extremely happy to have him. “In the beginning I didn’t like it, but I built some very tight relationships.”

He was sent to Carswell Air Force Base in Forth Worth, Texas, where he worked on B-52 electronic equipment. In 1992, he was sent to RAF Mildenhall Base in England, where he spent seven years. As a member of the airborne maintenance technical staff, he flew with the planes and was responsible for the systems in flight--leading edge technology.

“It was a struggle to keep my Jewish identity in the Air Force,” he admits.

“They didn’t understand all of the holi-

days and my keeping kosher. However, there were some retired senior officers who made sure that they took care of me.

Many of the men with whom I served had a lot of respect for me because I kept to my religious ideals.”

Finding kosher foods in England was difficult. He did everything he could to keep kosher, and to do that he had to buy a kosher food guide from the London Bet Din. “Most of the time, it meant a long drive into London to get kosher food and it was a good 40-minute drive for me to go to the synagogue, too.”

He left England in 1998 and arrived at Offutt Air Force Base, leaving active service the following year. Recently, his reserve duties ended as well. In February of 2002, he began working for Sterling Electronics as a systems engineer and senior architect. Since joining Sterling, he has completed certifications with Cisco, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems.

In 1998, Ben met Amy Reynolds, a lovely blonde CPA. “We were aware of

each other at Beth El,” Ben recalls. “I lived at Wycliffe Apartments so I could walk to the synagogue for Shabbat and holidays. There was a cadre of people who took me under their wing. I would go to services and hang out in the back of the sanctuary. Once, there was too much chattering and not enough davening, so I moved over. That’s when I saw Amy. Ben asked Rabbi Ira Flax about her.

Flax was then chaplain at Offutt, but attended services at Beth El. “I moved over closer to her,” Ben smiles. “Later, Rabbi Paul Drazen suggested we meet.

And one day, she was buying candlesticks in the gift shop at Beth El, so I suggested we should go out. Amy was very cautious about going out with me because she didn’t think that I was serious.”

Amy Reynolds was born in Omaha. Her parents, Vicki and James, separated shortly after her birth and Vicki raised Amy and her brother, Steven, and a sister, Liz, by herself.

“We lived in the Westside School District and my mother did a lot of secretarial work to support us,” Amy recalls. “She eventually worked at Clarkson Hospital as a health benefits administrator.”

Since there was little money left over for college, Amy had to depend on herself, obtaining scholarships for more education. But, she achieved high enough grades and exam scores while at Westside to attend prestigious Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, and major in film. She graduating in 1987.

Although Amy’s grandmother was active in her church, there was little time or energy left for Vicki to participate in organized religion. After she graduated from college, Amy went to work in Chicago and began to wonder if something was missing in her life.

Amy admits, “I had pretty much formed opinions at an early age and I wasn’t interested in mainstream American religion. I was working very hard and work was my whole life. But I was tired of spending hours every night and morning commuting to work so, in 1995, I decided to move back to Omaha and find a job here.”

Continued on page 45

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Spirituality Continued from page 44 Amy ponders for a moment. “It never occurred to me that I could become Jewish although I had always been attracted to it. I thought religion was something that just wasn’t for me; it wasn’t something that I could get into.”

Then, out of the blue, Amy’s sister was able to track down their father. When Amy went to see him, she realized that her “mental blockage toward religion” had come from him. She felt free to do what she wanted and after some thoughtful introspection, she decided to pursue another side of life.

“There’s also a social value in religion because it brings people together and helps them look for something greater than just where you work,” she explains.

“I had done a lot of research by the time I went to Rabbi Paul Drazen, then rabbi at Beth El. When he asked me to bring a list of books I had read, he smiled and told me those were the exact books he would have told me to read!”

Amy knew that she had finally found her place when she converted to Judaism.

She and Ben were married at Beth El in March of 2001. The couple now has a 20-month old son, Matan (which means “heavenly gift” in Hebrew) who is walking, getting into “trouble,” and reciting parts of the Sh’ma regularly. He attends the Pennie Z. Davis Child Development

Center at the Jewish Community Center.

As to their home, they joke, “it was already kosher!” They didn’t have to do a thing--the house belonged to Susie and Paul Drazen.

In addition to reading Torah regularly at Beth El, Ben leads services, is an active member of the Men’s Club and the ritual committee. He also helps to cook in Lucy’s kitchen, works with a crew from Men’s Club to put up the succah and kashers the kitchen for Pesach. As a member of the Chevra Kaddisha Society, he also helps prepare bodies for Jewish burials.

Amy works for Peter Kiewit Company as a certified public accountant, putting together reports for the Security and Exchange Commission. She is also active in Beth El’s sisterhood and serves as treasurer. In addition to those duties, she runs the ‘Honey for the Holidays’ fundraiser each year and has chaired the Hamantaschen sales. Both Amy and Ben are on the board of the Friedel Jewish Academy as well.

Both agree, “We don’t go to Beth El because that’s where our spirituality is.

We go because that’s our synagogue and our friends come there so that we can come together as a minyan to daven.

“Our spirituality is our home and our studying,” Ben adds. “That’s where we find expression of our spirituality.”

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Teen Creates A Living Tribute to Her Mom with Children’s Memory Garden

by SARINA ROFFÉ When Leslie turned 11, she contacted JNF Director of Communications Jewish National Fund to obtain a project At nine, Leslie Goldberg started plant- number to create the Children’s Memory ing a tree each year to memorialize the Garden. With the help and encouragemother she had lost at age seven. By the ment of her stepmother, Leslie wrote to time she was ready friends and loved to celebrate her ones inviting them Bat Mitzvah, to help with her garLeslie’s project den, setting a goal of had grown into $5,000 by the time the Children’s of her Bat Mitzvah.

Memory Garden, “In keeping with a grove of trees Jewish tradition, this planted to keep will be one of my her mother’s personal rituals to memory alive. keep my mother “Trees symbolalive for generations ize life, and the to come,” wrote Childr en’s Leslie. “As all of us Memory Garden is have lost a loved one a living memorial in our life, be it a to Leslie’s mothchild, parent, grander,” said Marsha Leslie Goldberg prepares for her Bat Mitzvah in parent or just a speLoring, Leslie’s Houston, TX, in March of 2004. cial friend, I am stepmother. “The Garden gave Leslie a inviting you to help my garden grow.” way to work with me to keep her Who could resist such a plea from an Mommy’s memory alive, and a tangible innocent child? Donations poured in and way to honor her anytime she wished, by the time of her Bat Mitzvah in March especially on birthdays.”

2004, Leslie had raised $6,400.

Professionals indicate that over 1.2 mil“Now that I have finished my Bat lion children in the United States will Mitzvah and raised much more money lose a parent by the age of 15. Many than I ever dreamed I could raise, I feel more will lose siblings and other close rel- like I really accomplished something atives and caretakers. “The impact of los- important,” said Leslie. “It feels great to ing a parent is devastating for a child, and know that there are people that have often has far reaching consequences, noticed my garden and are using it for stretching well into adulthood and even the reasons that I had started it for. I can old age,” said Dr. Edward Reitman, now see why people have so much pleasClinical Psychologist at Clinical ure in doing mitzvah projects.”

Psychology Center in Houston, TX and “I looked for donations from people I author of Hungry for Love. know, people my mom knew, my synaDr. Reitman indicates that a healthy gogue, and my school,” said Leslie. She is survivor learns to keep the memory alive willing to help other people start their by finding a way to learn from the loss own project “to remember people. It is a and make it meaningful. The psycholo- garden of trees in Israel meant for the gist was impressed with Leslie’s memory.”

Children’s Memory Garden, stating, Children who wish to emulate Leslie’s “Leslie’s project is one of the best psy- program are urged to visit chological ways I have heard of for deal- www.jnf.org/childrens_memory_garing with loss. It needs to be remembered, den. They can request a kit with all of the supported and shared by others who have information that they need to start a personalized project just like Leslie did. experienced similar losses.”

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September 30, 2005

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A Nuptial Path to Judaism Continued from page 31 Ed is currently Vice-President of I-GO Van and Storage, and has been an officer of the company since 1967. He was hired by Ernie Nogg after returning to Omaha from serving in the military as a Captain in the Air Force. He now works with Ernie’s son, Steve Nogg, and Steve’s son, Brian. He has served as Chairman of the Movers Division of the Nebraska Trucking Association for the past seven years.

Following the interview with Ed and Carol, I felt like my head was reeling with all the information both of them gave me. They spoke in counterpoint to one another, scarcely stopping to take a breath. I asked them: “What lies ahead following such intense study and devotion to the cause of Judaism? Is it time now to take a breather, to rest, relax, or go on a vacation?” Ed and Carol exchanged a knowing glance and informed me of yet another cause celebrate on the horizon.

“Actually,” Carol said, matter-of-factly, “I’m taking B’nai Mitzvah classes. My Bat Mitzvah will be held on March 11 of next year.” I was not surprised. This is an important milestone in the life of a Jewish female, and one that nearly got overlooked in the throes of the other ceremonials.

So there you have two people who set their world on fire without a match. There’s Ed, confident and assured of his birthright, and also, that he had long ago found the right life partner. However, he realizes all the mutual affirmation and celebration of Judaism could not have been possible without Carol. And there’s Carol -- you can hear her dedication in her voice, see it in the sparkle of her eyes, and in that infectious smile. The couple contends that they still haven’t “come down” from the excitement and awe-inspiring events that for the past two years have signified their passion for Judaism. And one wonders if indeed, they ever will.

Thinking Jewishly Continued from page 32 and also shared his family’s commitment to Judaism. His death left a big gap in the Omaha Jewish Community.

Naturally, Ducky and Mike were devastated by their son’s death. However, she says that just being at Temple Israel has brought her great comfort. “It’s not that anyone specifically gave me that comfort, but just being there--and studying--helped. I have never asked why God did this to us. Because, like a lot of other things, there is no answer,” she admits. “I feel safe and content when I am at Temple.”

Ducky has a long list of volunteer achievements. She was President of the Brandeis University National Women’s Committee/Omaha in 1958 and chaired the Jewish Federation Women’s Campaign in 1978. She served as a Federation Board member in 1979 and a member of the Women’s Campaign Cabinet, worked on the Children’s Hospital Bazaar, the Emmy Gifford

Children’s Theatre Board, Joslyn Museum and other community projects.

She recently served on the Women’s Seder Committee and has, for many years, been the chair of the Temple Israel’s Adult Retreats. She has, off and on for many years, served on the Temple Board of Directors and Temple committees--too numerous to mention. In addition to all of her volunteer ventures, Ducky has her own successful business, Lois Milder Interiors.

Joy came into Ducky and Mike’s lives when, on Oct. 29, 2004, Abbey Michael Milder was born to Emily, now a mortgage broker. “Abbey’s birth has brought us full circle,” Ducky smiles. “There was an emptiness that was there after young Mike died. And even though we have the joy of Emily, it was impossible to fill that void.

Now that we have Abbey, we could have never imagined the joy that being grandparents brought to us. Even though it came late in life--we’re totally blessed!”

Try to Do More

A Bar Mitzvah in Rome

Continued from page 33 “I want to continue my Hebrew studies so I can read the Torah. I would love to be able to chant a Torah portion someday soon. I want to celebrate all the holidays, learn about all the Torah portions so they can be applied to my daily life, and I want to share all of that with my children. I want them to grow up feeling that being Jewish is such a part of them.”

And then Louri speaks of Charlie, again. “I’m especially lucky to have a husband who, after nine years of studying, decided to convert to Judaism. There’s no question that in Charlie’s heart he has been Jewish for a long time, but he took the time to learn more than most of us know who were born Jewish. He has such a deep commitment to his faith.” Charlie acknowledges the role Rabbi Azriel played in his journey towards Judaism.

“A big part of my conversion was my study and relationship with Aryeh,” Charlie says. “Plus, I had the added benefit of seeing ‘Judaism at work’ just being part of Louri’s family and the amazing Jewish community in Omaha.”

But that’s not the end of the story. “Once he converted last October,” Louri continued, “Charlie said he wanted to renew our vows in a Jewish ceremony. How could a woman say ‘no’ to that?

“The ceremony was in our back yard this past May -20 years after we first met. Our children were under the huppah with us. Aryeh performed the Jewish ceremony complete with havdalah, a ketubah and breaking the wine glass. It was perfect and very meaningful for us.

Something we both wanted to do for awhile and something I’m sure would have made my grandmother smile.

“If someone had told me 16 years ago that today we’d be living in Omaha, Nebraska, with four kids, and that Charlie would be Jewish and we would be a part of this wonderful Jewish community -- I don’t think I would have believed it.

“But as my dad always says, ‘Everything has a way of working itself out.’ ”

Continued from page 37 Sunday Evening: The Kosher-Catered Party The Bar Mitzvah party was held at the Casale dei Cedri near Villa Pamphili and around the corner from our hotel. Like our hotel, the place was an old villa surrounded by beautiful gardens. And so we all celebrated al fresco with music, dancing, food and drink. The band (donning the blue Bar Mitzvah kippot) accompanied Rabbi Bahbout in a selection of Jewish songs; we had a little Klezmer; and a most colorful Italian woman from the Tempio who led the band in improvisational jazz.

There were fun songs for the silly boy cousins who linedanced for the crowd, and some sentimental selections for the family.

The food was gorgeous, kosher and divinely Italian.

There was Antipasti with my favorite being the frito misto served in paper cones, with vegetables (of course the artichokes) followed by fish. There was Primi, Secondi, Contorno, Insalate …and too many Dulcis to describe.

Monday: Our Last Day Somehow with all this activity, there had been no time to shop! While all the cousins spent the last day at the pool under the watchful eye of Grandpa, Nancy took me shopping. Starting at the Spanish Steps we made our way along the Via Conditti, Via Frattina and other vias around the Piazza de Spagna. With the quick pace of experienced shoppers, we had great success. That evening we took our father out for a quiet dinner in the Theatre di Pompeo where we found a bottle of his favorite Nino Negri wine, and had our last taste of Carciofi all Guidia--Artichokes in the Jewish Style.

The next morning as we all awaited taxis to the airport, we kissed each other good-bye and discussed future Bar Mitzvahs. It was such a wonderful time, I kept thinking that for Aaron’s Bar Mitzvah I should just invite the whole crowd--including my sister’s in-laws, neighbors, nannies, co-workers and friends!

Hmmm, a destination Bar Mitzvah in Nebraska?

may good health & serenity be yours 6260 Abbott Drive • Omaha • 453-6644

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

A Son Leads the Family

Two Brilliant Minds

Continued from page 39 Sean’s twin sisters, Ashley and LaShanna, 15, both feel accepted and part of the Jewish community. They are going through the conversion process as well and enjoy Wednesday night classes.

They both feel “Jewish” but say that they will be more Jewish when they complete their knowledge of the prayers.

The Bernstein family agrees that Judaism makes more sense than other religions. “We’re not being taught to simply accept,” they agree. “We can

Continued from page 43 chology and mathematics. “There was no control in those days and I took 21-sometimes 24 credits. It was kind of like-all you can learn and I had a passion for learning!” Later, he took more classes at Sophie Newcomb College in the graduate school program while still an undergraduate.

“Those were strange times during the sixties. I also spent time in debate and public speaking. I was fascinated with learning and I kept soaking up learning. I finally got an undergraduate degree with a bunch of majors and minors.”

He organized student protests and was politically active on campus. “Those were the days--I went to graduate school.”

Things really came together when Steve found a new field called, “artificial intelligence”--to understand the cognitive ways that people thought. He went to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh where he continued this process.

He was married in 1966 to his first wife, Betty. Their oldest child, Micah was born in 1972 while they were both studying at Carnegie Mellon. Another son, Jeremy, was born in 1978.

In 1975, the couple moved to Omaha where Betty began teaching at Creighton University “That’s when I retired and became ‘Mr. Mom.’ The sky was the limit then; I could study and learn as I pleased.

One day, while I waited to pick up Betty, I met some people and told them I knew some things about medical diagnosis. It is a sophisticated, cognitive process of evaluation and assessments.”

He began working at the medical school on theories he developed revolving around instructional science. “At the

question and that’s how we have always lived. We want to know reasons for things and, if there’s a good explanation, we accept the answers. With other religions, you can’t question.”

Stu adds, “We have found a community we can be part of and we’ve never felt that way before. We’ve been made to feel like we’ve been here forever and we’re a part of Omaha.

“It’s so comfortable for us--a decision that impacted our family that our children made on their own.”

The Future of American Jewry Continued from page 41 Nevertheless, he has a Lego model of the Millennium Falcon spacecraft on display in his living room. “I grew up with these films,” he said. “I vividly remember seeing Return of the Jedi in the theater with my parents.”

Though he loves Omaha, Katelman wants to move somewhere with a larger Jewish population. “At this point in time, it’s just not for me,” he said. He talked about moving in Phoenix (for no other reason than to try someplace new) and finding someone to settle down with.

And while he prefers that person to be Jewish, “my kids will be Jewish. That’s an absolute,” he said.

But what is it that makes Katelman so insistent on retaining his Jewish identity, especially with a family that is largely assimilated? He goes back to the Holocaust and the Jewish cultural centers of Europe decimated by genocide. “In not perpetuating and not carrying on my religion to future generations, that’s

almost the same as if it was just killed off,” he said, evoking what Jewish scholars label the “silent Holocaust.”

It’s unusual to hear a 27-year-old express deep concern over the future of American Jewry. Most Jews of his age have moved beyond perceiving their status as an endangered group. With antiSemitism in sharp decline and Judaism no longer viewed as an obstacle to mainstream success, young Jews today are searching for a more positive and contemporary vision of Judaism.

But Katelman’s idea of Judaism is not solely rooted in the past. For him, the essence of Judaism is “the ability to formulate your own ideas and opinions about things,” he said. He likes that he can take theological concepts and work them into his daily life. “It’s true that some things are set in stone. But Judaism absolutely dictates debate and thought, and that’s what you’ve got to have.”

And that’s not something Katelman is willing to give up.

Page 47

end of weeks of talk, I left retirement and started a 14-year, multi-million dollar project to implement my theories of how instruction should be viewed and taught.”

Steve wrote grants and implemented theories on how medical diagnosis is viewed and taught. “It was required of me to learn all medicine, nursing, pharmacy and dentistry. So, as a learning fanatic, I had more to learn and kept plodding through. We spun off hospital systems and used the research results to help doctors and nurses provide care.”

Since 1983, Steve has been involved, along with Dr. Henry Lynch, in the study of hereditary cancer. “Finally, I have discovered that there are a vast amount unpatentable drugs that may be valuable for the prevention of cancer. However, while we’re researching, learning and doing, we’re still working on cancer prevention.”

When commenting on his spiritual views, Steve said, “As a poor graduate student, I could no longer afford to eat corned beef sandwiches. So, I developed an interest in Kaballah and, for the past 20 years, I have become far more intellectually interested in religious thought.

In the last 15 years, I was brought to Judaism. I have had an ever rising interest because the rabbis say, ‘The study of Torah leads to them all.’”

Deirdre and Steve both agree that their studies are a big part of their lives. They say, “When you study in a group, it takes on a much richer knowledge. The mind or minds that created Torah created the deepest understanding of how everything works!”

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

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September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 49

A Path or A Roadmap?

BERT’S EYE VIEW

by BERT LEWIS If the question is how do we find the way to our personal feelings about Judaism, I’m not sure there’s any one answer. Down deep in my heart, however, I really believe the first steps to this path are taken in earliest childhood, while in the shadow of the first role model we have: our parents, of course.

How better to teach a child about the Sabbath than to make candlelighting, challah and kiddush the program every Friday night without fail? Tzedakah is demonstrated in so many easy methods, from coins in a pushka to helping deliver a holiday basket to a needy family.

Passover becomes an ingrained observance by the adult who remembers the big family gatherings at the home of grandparents.

We watch and learn and even when we don’t realize it, certain events and occurrences are burned into memory.

Everybody has heard a 90-some-year-old say something like, “I’ve always done it this way; it’s how my mother used to do it.” Nothing takes the place of a demonstration done by an expert, nor is anything more vivid than the mental picture of a parent or grandparent engaged in a routine chore.

I can never hear the words “home made wine” without instantly conjuring up a picture of my zayda, sitting on an old kitchen chair in the basement, surrounded by baskets of dark blue grapes, a large crock at his elbow, a cat at his feet and suspicious blue around his lips. I guess that could be called “a picture burned into my memory.”

Personally, I have many such pictures of the role models in my life. My mother probably never used the word mitzvah or anything like it when asked, “Why are you putting that entire dinner into jars and containers?” Her answer was a casual, “I’m taking it across the street to Mrs. So And So. She’s been sick and is all alone.”

I saw and heard such a scene more times than I could count during my mother’s lifetime, which explains why

I believe we remember what we see, no matter the age of the teacher.

We learn about our Judaism in many ways of course. In addition to my deep convictions about role models, I have a dear friend who says even though she was raised in an observant home, she really didn’t know anything about being Jewish until she went to a Jewish camp at age 16.

She tells that as a leader of Jewish youth in the community, she was selected to attend the Brandeis Camp in the Poconos by the local Hadassah. She always felt her place in a Jewish family, always knew abut every holiday, had the influence of grandparents to underscore some of the smaller observances busy people overlooked. In addition, she went to Sunday School, to Talmud Torah, learned Hebrew but says, she really didn’t have “true understanding of being Jewish”.

She believes to this day, more than 60 years later, the influence and spirituality of the top scholars and dedicated teachers with whom she had contact, first opened her eyes.

They encouraged self-study into the history of our people and provided study leadership of the highest caliber, many of whom went on to become rabbis and lay leaders.

From her description of this experience, and knowing her involvement in some way or other in her Jewish community her whole lifetime, I would have to believe the spark of interest was ignited all those years ago, at the Brandeis Camp in the Poconos. By recognizing this, it becomes abundantly apparent there are and always have been many paths to Judaism.

There are many cases of young people in this country and others, who have taken trips to Israel and come back speaking of their first feeling of “being Jewish”. Of being almost unable to express their reaction to being where they were “part of the majority, instead of the minority”.

Kids who came back home because they had to, and who yearn for the time when they can go back. Very often these are the very youngsters who only felt their Jewishness as “an accident of birth”--kids who knew of their history because they had been sent to Hebrew School and had celebrated B’nai Mitzvah. Then they got off an airplane in the Holy Land, and nothing was ever the same again as far as their religion was concerned.

An irreverent joke calls them “born again Jews”. I

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don’t have statistics, but I believe I’m correct when I say most of those who feel strongly enough to eventually make aliyah, remain very committed to their perhaps late, but sincere awakening. So then, here is another path to take to understand how one person or another feels about their Judaism.

If we continue to explore, we’ll come upon someone so dedicated and so involved in their synagogue, we have to ask how and why or where such an emotional attachment came to be. I’ve heard several answers to that one, everything from: “Oh my Zayda lived like this, and he was such a pious man I try to emulate him,” to “When I was a teen, I met the famous rabbi so-and-so. He so inspired me I’ve never forgotten him or his words. My attitude about my shul is a natural offshoot of that experience.”

If we’re still searching for why some people are found very regularly at shul, let’s remember those who simply say, when asked, “I’m not sure I can put it into words, but I feel comfortable when I’m there; it’s where I belong.”

Of all the examples I have used to explore this question of who does what to find their way to the feeling they want from their religion, I’ve not yet mentioned those who most interest me: the converts. Those who are raised in the faith of another organized group and decide to make a 360º turn in the road. Sometimes it’s pretty simple...falling in love with somebody of a different persuasion can do it, especially when faced with family opposition to a mixed marriage.

Those aren’t the people I find most fascinating. It’s those who suddenly realize they aren’t getting what they want from the familiar tract, who have a great urge to seek out something else. I think people who disavow all past affiliation and look for Judaism must be on a great search for something more satisfying or maybe more comforting. Those answers need to come from real people who have had real experiences. And some of those people are, indeed, featured in this issue.

I believe we learn to take the first steps toward everything really important as I stated earlier, by paying close attention to those who are setting examples while they raise children.

All the rest is simply commentary.

Bert Lewis can be reached at: BertLewis39@aol.com

“ The Negev will be the test of the creative ability and pioneering valor of Israel.”

— David Ben-Gurion

Page 50

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

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Young Family, New Home, Old Traditions

by GLORIA SHUKERT JONES me, when a Jewish mother gives her blessings, you know Gary and Lee Shyken are certainly not “shy” when it it’s got to be good! comes to speaking about Judaism and what it means to Gary and Liat enjoy being Omaha residents. They them. This young couple and their two children have indicated the people here are close-knit, and the atmosrecently arrived in Omaha from Baltimore, MD, and are phere seems friendlier than in Baltimore. They plan to living within a few blocks of Beth Israel Synagogue. get involved in Beth Israel Synagogue and within the Lee prefers to be called by her Hebrew given name, Jewish community, not only for the religious aspect, but Liat (Lee-AHT), for which I don’t blame her. The name for the socialization. They want their children to be not only has a musical lilt, but means, “You are mine”. exposed to Judaism and have Jewish friends. They are When I arrived at the Shyken home, Liat greeted me extremely observant, so it’s no mere coincidence that like an old friend. “I’m glad you knocked, because our their home is walking distance to Beth Israel. doorbell isn’t working,” she said. “We’re just sitting Even at their very young ages, the Shyken babies are down to dinner. Won’t you join us?” Although I had to learning a Jewish way of life. For example, when young decline since I had already eaten, I was offered a seat at Shmuel Aaron was playing with a toy telephone, Liat their table, where 19-month-old Shmuel Aaron was encouraged him to speak into it, but instead of “hello”, munching on French fries and pizza, and eight-month- she told him to say “shalom”. old Aviva Chana played happily nearby.

She also uses both their first and middle names when Gary and Liat made me speaking to or about her feel right at home, and children. Liat explains: “It is turned what could have a custom among frum--relibeen an awkward moment gious people. In addition, into gracious hospitality.

Shmuel Aaron is named after “We have a pretty flexible both his paternal and materschedule here,” Gary nal great grandfathers. So in explained after I apologized honor to both of them, we for barging in on their dinuse both names.” ner.

Aviva Chana is named after Even though we were Liat’s late mother, Avie (her strangers, I felt I had known Hebrew name was Aviva) them forever. They were so and Chana is a play on the natural and at ease, we manword, Hanukkah, because aged to have a great visit, she was born on Rosh even though they had to Hodesh/the seventh night keep jumping up and down of the Festival of Lights. “If from the table between one uses a name of a person mouthfuls of food, to tend who is deceased, especially if to their babies. No one they died young, there is a seemed to mind the intercustom to add a name. ruptions as this is part and Thus, we use both names,” parcel of a family with small Liat further explained. children.

Liat spoke of her upbringGary and Liat Shyken and their son and daughter, Shmuel Gary is the son of Paul or ing where Judaism was at Aaron and Aviva Chana.

“Paysie” and Susie Shyken, the heart of the home and well-known in the Omaha Jewish community. His practically everything else that went on. She fondly grandparents are the late Sam and Bessie Shyken, Ilene recalled visits to the rabbi’s house as something extraorPachman, and the late Bill and Gertrude Pachman. dinarily special, and met with great excitement.

Liat was born in South Africa, but her family later Then she observed, “Jewish people have had the moved to Atlanta, GA, where they still reside. Her par- Torah for 3500 years, and for 2000 of those years, they ents are Jeff and Debbie Kalwerisky, and the late Avie have been in exile, but still practice their faith. There is Kalwerisky. Liat boasts of having three sets of grandpar- always something that draws people to Judaism, and ents. even those whose idea of being Jewish is to eat bagels Gary, who was born and raised here, met Liat in and go to the synagogue occasionally, they still have Cleveland, Ohio, where she was a graduate student, and something in their soul--their neshama--that brings he was working at the Hillel Foundation at the time. them back.” These were pretty powerful, poignant They had mutual friends who thought the two would be words coming from this young mother. a good match. That expectation became reality, and the I then asked Gary what excites him most about couple was married in Atlanta, and then spent two years Judaism, and without hesitation, he said: “Judaism to in Israel. me is synonymous with Bubbe and Zayde, and going to There, in Yeshivot, they both studied Jewish texts in- Shabbat dinner on Friday nights when I lived at home. depth, using the original Hebrew and various commen- On Saturday mornings, we went to the synagogue tators in order to understand the deeper meanings. instead of watching cartoons--not that we had to go to They then moved to Baltimore, which has been their please anyone, but we wanted to go to please ourselves.” home for the last two years. Liat laughingly refers to herHe added, “Being a Jew is a real privilege for me. We self and Gary as, “the quintessential wandering Jews.” are the ‘chosen’. We all make Judaism a part of our lives, The couple does plan to remain in Omaha for at least both from a religious and social standpoint. It is a wonthe next four years, as Gary will be studying dentistry at derful experience, and I wouldn’t be complete without Creighton University, and Liat is employed as a speech it.” pathologist in the Ralston School District.

As stated, Gary and Liat will soon be joining Beth The young Shykens reported they had no sooner got- Israel, following the lead of other young Orthodox ten somewhat settled in their new home, when a call Jewish couples. This may be partially due to the influcame from Atlanta, announcing the birth of twin daugh- ence and charisma of Rabbi Jonathan Gross, who apparters to Liat’s sister and husband. So in the midst of ently has attracted some younger families into his conunpacking household items, Gary and Liat had to pack gregation. In addition to the added incentive of Rabbi suitcases for themselves and two babies, and take off for Gross, the couple chose to attend Beth Israel because it a brief Shabbat visit to greet their new nieces. Their is the synagogue to which Gary’s family belongs--and plane to Atlanta was delayed due to malfunctioning, and the only one considered, because they definitely wanted they were stuck at the airport for several hours. But like an Orthodox setting.

Although they are extremely observant, the Shykens everything else, they took it in stride, made their flight, enjoyed their visit, and arrived safely back home within seem to have an understanding for those who are less so.

As Gary puts it, “Every family does things differently.” a few days.

While they were away, Gary’s mom, Susie, called to And since they seem to embrace all aspects and followassure me her son and daughter-in-law would be back in ers of Judaism, this couple does not look down on those time for an interview. When I told her the theme for the who prefer other ways to celebrate and observe the New Year edition of the Press, and that Gary and Liat Jewish religion. Their theory seems to be, whatever were one of the couples suggested as people who are works for anyone else is fine.

As spokesman for his own family, however, Gary’s final passionate about Judaism, she exclaimed, “That’s them!” I gathered that Susie Shyken was as enthusiastic thoughts on the subject were: “We love our Judaism. about their selection as Gary and Lait were, and believe That’s who we are.”

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 51

“And the Children Shall Lead Them” Meanwhile, Dennis and Pam were finding themselves She was there during the attacks on the World Trade

by PAM MONSKY It just happened mainly because of the kids. That’s more and more involved with Jewish communal life. Center and at the height of the intifada.

Even though Pam and Dennis had been to Israel and how Dennis and Pam DePorte describe their journey Dennis served on the Temple and JCC boards while toward living a more involved Jewish life. Pam and Pam taught Sunday School and served on the Bureau of felt quite safe there, having their daughter there during such traumatic times was frightening, Dennis met on a blind date at the they said.

University of Nebraska at Lincoln and Today, Stephanie is a newlywed livended up getting married in 1976. ing in Los Angeles, California, where Pam’s family was Presbyterian, but she is the principal at Temple Judea in not staunchly religious. Dennis grew Tarzana. Her husband, David Eshel, is up at Beth Israel Synagogue. in rabbinical school at HUC-JIR and Needless to say, their families were not will be ordained in May. He is curoverjoyed with their union. rently interning at the Wilshire When their oldest daughter Boulevard Temple.

Stephanie was born, the couple began Alan graduated from Indiana to think about the role of faith in their University with a degree in communilife. Pam wanted to learn more about cations and sports broadcasting. He the Jewish religion. She thought it was worked for CNN Sports, and just easy to believe in and said, “I never really could buy into the concept of The DePorte family: Dennis and Pam, Stephanie and David Eshel, and Alan and his fianceé Kara Russo. recently changed careers. Today he works as the manager at the St. Louis office for DHL Jewish Education Board of Directors. the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”

However, the DePortes point to one particular event Worldwide Express. And the DePortes will shortly have She began the conversion process with Rabbi Sidney Brooks at Temple Israel. Rabbi Brooks appreciated her as the thing that galvanized their commitment to another wedding in the family when Alan marries Kara honesty because she told him she didn’t know if she Judaism. In 1997, Dennis and Pam went to Israel as part Russo of Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Dennis used all those years of volunteer experience to wanted to convert, but she wanted to study Judaism. of the Federation’s Outreach Mission to Israel. “You “I’ve always felt Jewish,” Pam insisted. “Sometimes I hear so much about Israel and to be there to touch and make a major career change; he now holds the position of Executive Director for Temple Israel. After serving on feel it was incredible,” Pam admitted. forget I’ve converted; it’s been 30 years!”

In fact, the couple stayed on an extra week with the the Temple Board for more than 15 years, he said he was Their son Alan was born in 1978. Both he and Stephanie went to Sunday school and were active at the family of an Israeli exchange student who stayed with familiar with the position and feels responsible for Temple’s 775 families.

Jewish Community Center. They had a good core of them in Omaha and to whom they remain close today.

“I love dealing with people through good times and The next year, in 1998, daughter Stephanie spent the Jewish friends. But their Jewish identity really blossomed when they went to Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute year in Israel at Hebrew University. Pam and son Alan times of sorrow,” Dennis said thoughtfully. “I enjoy the (OSRUI) summer camp when they were in grade went to visit her on a Hebrew University sponsored trip people part. I’m more in tune with the Jewish community.” and Dennis returned later that same year on his own. school.

Pam agreed that his new position has been good for Stephanie has dedicated her life to Judaism and Jewish The DePortes credit Temple’s Rabbi Aryeh Azriel with sending their kids to camp. Stephanie and Alan learning. She graduated from the University of him and a big change from his previous job--selling beef. forged a huge connection with the other kids at OSRUI Wisconsin with a degree in Hebrew and Judaic Studies. “It’s been a wonderful experience for him,” she added. and they both eventually became counselors. They were She has worked as the Youth Director at Temple Chai in “He’s happy and able to grow through his involvement. both involved in Omaha Temple Youth Group (OTYG), Buffalo Grove, Illinois. After two years, she went back to We both feel more connected and it’s a good feeling.”

Thanks, kids. You’ve led your parents on a wonderful and BBYO. Stephanie was on the regional board of school at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles for a Temple Youth groups and was one of the winners of the Masters Degree in Jewish Education and Communal path--and not only you, but the Jewish community has Service. Her first year at HUC was in Israel in 2001. been the beneficiary.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

Being Jewish in Small-town Nebraska

by JOAN K. MARCUS Most of us never stop to think that there are Jewish people in Nebraska cities other than Omaha and Lincoln. We get in our cars--or some of us even walk--to our synagogues without thinking that there are people who have to drive miles to attend services. We go to the supermarket to buy a box of matza and don’t realize that some Jews have to plan for weeks in order to have a Shabbat dinner--not to mention a Passover Seder.

Rabbi Mendel Katzman of Chabad of Nebraska has ministered to Jews around the world, but also makes regular trips to Nebraska communities so he can help Jews satisfy their thirst for Judaism.

During one of his visits, people spoke of their feelings of cultural isolation and their desire to meet and worship with other central Nebraskans who are Jewish.

Residents came from many small towns around Kearney--including Wood River, North Platte and Gibbon.

Later that same evening, there was a meeting for non-Jews. Questions ranged from those about a Judaism’s view of an afterlife to queries about Rabbi Katzman’s clothing and the current situation in Israel. Many students of other religions attended the meeting.

Dr. Diane Wysocki says there are less than a dozen Jews who live in Kearney.

However, she knows there may be more because people are not identified if they aren’t connected with the University of Nebraska-Kearney. “We are pretty much centered around UNK. When I got here in 1996, there was a much bigger group, but people have left because it’s so difficult to be Jewish here. Most of us who live here actually did grow up in Jewish communities and it’s the one thing that we really do miss!”

Wysocki, professor of sociology and women’s studies at UNK, says, “There are people here who are trying to have their children become bar and bat mitzvah; they’re having to drive all the way to Omaha. We had an outreach group once and Cantor Weisser from B’nai Jeshurun in Lincoln came. When the cantor left Lincoln, our group dissolved.

“If we want to get together for

Left: Rabbi Mendel Katzman of Chabad of Nebraska; right: Elaine Urban.

Passover, we have to plan ahead. Whoever goes out of town has to do the shopping.

We can’t go anywhere and get Hanukkah decorations, so someone has to plan to go to Omaha or Denver and stock up.”

When Rabbi Katzman announced his visit, a newspaper ad brought many people out of the woodwork. “Newspapers from Kearney and Grand Island and two television stations picked up on the announcement and showed up at the meeting.”

Dr. Wysocki described Rabbi Katzman’s visit as an informal conversation, adding, “We sat around and we just talked! The rabbi talked about Torah and what it means to be a Jew. It was quite wonderful.”

She said that, as a result of the rabbi’s visit, a member of the group who writes grants is going to submit one to try to bring Jewish leaders to Kearney.

According to Wysocki, “People are just coming out of the woodwork. A lot of kosher meat comes from here, and, after there was an article in the ‘Kearney Hub’, a rabbi said he would help us get kosher meat and turkey.”

Diane feels that as a Jewish professor at the university, she can give her students a different perspective about Jews. “They don’t know about Jews. If I had stayed in

California where I went to graduate school, I would have been just another Jewish feminist. Here, I’m unique and can explain things to my students. That makes me more effective as a teacher, but it is at a cost to me!”

Elaine and Bob Urban who live in Kearney were responsible for inviting Rabbi Katzman there. They have plans to retire and move to Omaha. However, they plan to remain active with the Kearney Jews and their quest for knowledge.

Elaine was impressed when Rabbi Katzman told the group, “No matter where you are, you can still be Jewish-and you need to be Jewish. You need to do mitzvot and you owe it to the people around you to be Jewish so that they know what being Jewish is.

“I got e-mails from people in the state who said, ‘We’re here, too! Don’t forget us!’ There are Jews everywhere--isolated on farms and they’ve all started to pop up. It’s easy to lay back and do nothing and become assimilated. We have a list now and we’re constantly adding names.

“When Rabbi Katzman came out here, I looked at the people who were sitting around and they were hanging on every word he said. They were drinking in his words deeply. We had a rabbi and each

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other. He brought kosher food from Omaha and we nourished our bodies and our souls. It reinforced their identity and told us that we can even be Jewish in Kearney!”

Rabbi Katzman explains he was recruited by the late Lubavitcher Rebbe to look out for Jews throughout the state.

“When I came here to Omaha 18 years ago, I began by contacting Jews throughout the state at least once a year,” he recalls. “If I don’t do it myself, it is done by some of the yeshiva students who intern here for several months.

“We train these students in outreach and they obviously share what they study in the yeshiva. It is a good experience for them and it’s helpful for us. Just as the interns, I, myself, traveled throughout the world doing this type of outreach. I was in South America, South Africa and several Europeans countries.”

Katzman, who is originally from Crown Heights in New York, says he didn’t know much about Nebraska before coming here in 1986. “I had a book that stated there were Jews here since the mid 1850s. When I got here, it became a life term for me. It doesn’t matter if there is one Jew or a hundred thousand Jews. I am here to stay!”

Chabad of Nebraska celebrated its 18th anniversary at a gala two weeks ago; the community is lucky to have an emissary like Rabbi Katzman and his wife, Shani, to reach out to Jews everywhere. More than 250 joined them at the simcha, representing every synagogue and every part of the community. Along with four of the 12 Katzman children: Estie, Devorah, Miriam and Zalman, there were Jews and non-Jews, local dignitaries and politicians, business people and volunteers, all paying their respects. And, yes, Elaine and Tom Urban were there, too.

Continued on page 53

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Page 53

Living Generously FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT

by ZOË RIEKES, President of the Jewish Federation of Omaha While pondering my message to the community for this New Year’s edition, one thought kept coming to mind, Live Generously--It does a World of Good. I kept thinking of the horrible events surrounding Hurricane Katrina and how it has affected an entire nation. In the face of disaster, the people of America always work together. It reminded me of our own Jewish Community and how we work together as a family.

In reviewing this past year I was struck by the extent of what we have accomplished. We have provided for our local Jewish Community in areas of education, elder care, human services, recreation, and cultural activities just to name a few.

Through the strategic planning process we identified education, outreach, leadership and financial resource development as our top priorities and we are committed to these goals.

Globally, we have continued our support for Jews around the world and in Israel, focusing on the human needs of Jews from all walks of life. We have continued our strong Partnership With Israel, in the

Western Galilee, strengthening our ties on both sides of the ocean.

All this made me think again of how proud I am of the Omaha Jewish community. In my travels as Federation President to meetings around the country, visits to Israel and most recently, our mission to Kiev, I am struck by the outstanding reputation of our community.

Most recently I observed our community working together to address our role in assisting the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Starting with our national organization, United Jewish Communities, I saw tremendous efforts working with the Red Cross, FEMA and other human services organizations to help all people affected by this tragedy.

On a local level, the synagogues, Federation and its agencies came together to encourage financial assistance and offer what services we could to the local and national effort. We will all continue to be involved as the Jewish communities of the Gulf Coast rebuild.

We in the Omaha Jewish community do indeed live generously and it does do a world of good.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Omaha, I wish you all a Shana Tova.

Being Jewish in Small-town Nebraska Continued from page 52 “In today’s day and age, it’s wonderful to know where I belong and to know that I have a purpose in life,” the rabbi adds.

“There are wonderful souls all over Nebraska. It seems there was more interest in Kearney, however, than anywhere else. They organized and took charge and that made it a breeze!

“The Jewish and non-Jewish components are different, but yet the same. It’s different in the sense that when you’re talking to another Jew, it’s mishpocha, it’s family! When I traveled to Bolivia, as soon as I started to talk to Jews there, it felt like I was talking to a cousin.”

According to Rabbi Katzman, “There’s no place in the world where there aren’t Jews. Every town in the world has at least one. We’ve even found a few Jews in Iraq.

We’ve asked them why they want to be

there and they don’t really know.

“It’s not like it was in the olden days.

Jews aren’t connected today and they’re not searching the way that they used to. I have to make myself available. If somebody’s not looking for a specific product and you offer it to them--then they might consider it.

“Last summer, I got a call from a woman in Wyoming. She told me a Jewish man had died in a nursing home in Scottsbluff. The people at the home wanted to make sure the man had a Jewish funeral. So, even though he had no contact with family members, we made sure he had a Jewish funeral. I had my summer yeshiva students travel there and conduct the funeral.

“No Jew is to be left behind or forgotten,” Rabbi Katzman insists. “We have a big responsibility for every single one!”

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The Challenge of Continuity untimely death, Sheldon became president and served

by OZZIE NOGG Sheldon Kushner has lived in Lincoln, Nebraska, most from 1972 until 2003. The organization is close to the of his 77 years, and I started this interview by asking Kushner’s hearts, and can, according to Marcia, provide why he chooses to remain in a small Jewish community unexpected insights into the Jewish psyche.

“One day while we were checking the family names on rather than move to Omaha. He answered with another question. “Why didn’t you move to Chicago or some the tombstones, we realized that people were buried in a similar orientation as they once sat in shul. The cemeother big city?” (He had me there...)

“I stayed in Lincoln because it’s home,” Kushner con- tery is oriented east and west, and if you stand in the tinued. “My dad came here from Kiev Gobernia around center of the cemetery and face east -face the bimah, as 1912 when he was 17. My siblings were all born and it were--you see that the Polskys, the Kushners, most lived in Lincoln. I have family ties here. I’m rooted people in fact, are buried in the same ‘side’ as their seats here.” Marcia Tepperman Kushner, Sheldon’s wife of 56 in shul. We had to smile about that. It seems even in years, was raised in Council Bluffs, and shares her hus- death we Jews are territorial.”

Sheldon and Marcia’s late band’s love for Lincoln. parents are buried in the Mt. “I’m continually struck by Carmel Cemetery, so it’s the sense of continuity I feel only natural that a visit there when I participate in servicwould evoke memories of es and ceremonies at the two couples and the lastTifereth Israel Synagogue,” ing examples they set for Marcia says. “When I sit in their children. the small chapel and read the “My folks, Eddie and Vera memorial boards, when I Tepperman, came to the walk through the Mt. midwest in 1932 after their Carmel Cemetery and read restaurant on the boardwalk the names on the headin Rockaway, New York, stones, I feel connected to burned down.” Marcia says. this place. It’s comforting to “My dad was given an old be a piece of this ongoing Chevy by a friend who Jewish life.” couldn’t pay the insurance There’s the answer to on it, so mother put our what keeps the Kushners in clothes and her set of Lincoln. Family, community, Harvard Classics in the car and a commitment to Jewish and my dad drove us to continuity. The continuity Marcia and Sheldon Kushner Missouri Valley, Iowa, to component is a challenge.

“Back in the 1930s and 40s, there were maybe 160 join his sister, Sophie Kaplan. Aunt Sophie thought the Jewish families in the synagogue,” Sheldon says. “Now little store she and her husband Dave ran could support we’re down to 125 families, probably 600 to 1000 sin- two families.”

No such luck. “We moved to Omaha where my dad gle souls in Lincoln, total. It takes a lot of work to keep the thing going. You have to keep pushing. It’s a con- traded the Chevy for an old pickup which he loaded with produce, artfully arranged. Those were hard times, stant battle.”

Sheldon was president of Tifereth Israel from 1975- scraping together a living selling vegetables door to door 79, and recalls the ‘Siege of 1973’. “That’s when the from a truck.” Eventually, the Teppermans opened a shul decided to include women in the minyan and let grocery store in Council Bluffs and became active in the them lead services. At the time, our synagogue served local Jewish community.

“My folks were real leadership people,” Marcia says. both the Conservative and the Orthodox Jews in Lincoln, so we had to consider everyone’s feelings. “B’nai Brith, Federation, Hadassah. My mother never There were big fights, lots of emotion and the situation considered herself devout, but she had a passion for got quite fraught. There was nowhere for the Orthodox Judaism. She was an ardent Zionist, a supporter of to go, and for a while some of the men formed a sepa- Israel, incredibly wise with a wonderful understanding of life. My father came from an Orthodox home. He rate minyan.”

Marcia’s memories of the conflict are still clear. “Some enjoyed services and chanted the High Holiday congregants felt this egalitarian plan was an insult to Haftarahs in the little Council Bluffs shul well into his congregants like Sheldon’s mother who was very tradi- nineties. In our house there was little formal observance tional and highly respected in the community. But she but plenty of animated discussion about Jewish life and applauded the change. She never went on the bimah Jewish values.”

Marcia remembers being the only Jewish student in herself--it wasn’t her style--but she was very open mindher elementary school. “We were also outside the small ed and forward thinking.”

Eventually tempers cooled, and women began reading Jewish neighborhood in Council Bluffs, so I was cerTorah and Haftarah right beside the men. “Our con- tainly ‘the other’, but my parents always made being gregation is small, but it supports a preschool through Jewish feel special and positive. I had a strong sense of Hebrew High, and a USY chapter. Starting this year, the my Jewishness and was proud of it.”

Sheldon experienced a similar childhood in Lincoln.

Synagogue and Temple school systems will be combined,” Marcia explains. “As Shel said, it takes lots of “My folks, Max and Dorothy Kushner, were kind, genwork to keep things going, but providing Jewish oppor- tle people. My father’s first job when he came here was as a cigar roller. Then he opened a feed store for horses, tunities for the next generation tops our agenda.”

While nurturing the next generation, the Kushners but when he realized that horses were being replaced by also maintain ties with past generations, as typified by autos, he opened a grocery business--the Little Big the family’s long-standing connection with the Chevra Store. We kept a kosher kitchen, belonged to Tifereth Kadisha burial society and the Mt. Carmel Cemetery Israel Synagogue, observed all the Jewish holidays there Association. and that’s where I had my Bar Mitzvah.

“In the old country, my grandparents were involved “My parents were busy with Ivre Club, the Cemetery with Chevra Kadisha,” Shel explains. “In Lincoln, both Association, B’nai Brith. My mother’s life revolved my parents were involved with the group, and my moth- around her family and the shul--she was always baking er sewed shrouds.” Sheldon, Marcia, and their son, for Sisterhood--and Hadassah named her Woman of Benjie, continue to serve on the ritual burial committee, Valor at a synagogue celebration. My dad was a longwhich is part of the culture of the Lincoln Jewish com- time AZA advisor. In fact, the Lincoln chapter is named munity. after him--Max Kushner Lincoln AZA #3.

According to Marcia, it’s part of the four Kushner chil“Dad also helped start the Lincoln Hebrew Loan dren’s culture, too. “When our kids were younger and Society, which loaned money to local Jews in need. I still at home, whenever there was a death in the Jewish watched what my parents did, the ways they concommunity they knew our house was going into funeral tributed, and learned from them.” Marcia and Sheldon mode. Sheldon would help the grieving family select the married in 1949 and lived for 11 years in Hamburg, casket. He’d take the prayer books to the shiva house.”

Iowa, where Shel ran a grocery store with his brotherThe need to perpetuate the work Lincoln’s Chevra in-law, Herb Tepperman.

Kadisha has become personal for Sheldon. “Let’s face it.

“In the years we lived in Hamburg, we were at times Someday I’m going to die. I want to know that some- the only Jewish family there,” Marcia says. “We tried to one will take care of my body and make sure it’s buried give our children a strong and positive Jewish identity, in the Jewish way.” and I think they, too, felt special and good about their For many years, the Mt. Carmel Cemetery Association Jewishness. Among the many issues we discussed was was led by Sheldon’s brother, Dwayne. After Dwayne’s Continued on page 61

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 55

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

My Old Friend, the New Prince

by WENDY WEINER RUNGE I am living proof that there is nothing boring about growing up Jewish in Omaha.

My sisters and I, like thousands of other lucky campers, experienced Shabbos and kosher meals at Camp Esther K. Newman, but I’m afraid that out of sight meant out of mind. My sister Mindy (Weinstein) attended a National Conference of Synagogue Youth convention when she was 13, and she was inspired to continue to eat kosher food and observe Sabbath in our home. This could be a great form of rebellion against established policies, and the word “rebel” soon took on a new meaning in the home of Dik and Ida Weiner.

After a short time, however, it seemed like an awfully good idea to be grateful for all of the blessings we enjoyed. I realized that for thousands of years, other Jews demonstrated their gratitude and faith by action, so I joined her. Upon entering high school, our younger sister, Julie (Greene), followed suit. We worked to acquire the knowledge of our precious tradition, and that has guided our destiny.

Growing up as ba’alei t’shuvah (those who return to following the Orthodox way of life), almost completely surrounded by secular individuals of all different races and religions, taught us more about “living in a diverse society” than any diversity training seminar could have.

I always enjoyed the fact that I was establishing my identity as someone who dressed modestly and tried to behave respectfully. When asked about my sisters’ and my return to traditional Judaism, my mother would tell shocked observers that she wanted nothing more for us to be

black, and I am not. He is 6”4 and I have to stand on my toes to reach 5”4. He was always calm and thoughtful. I was not.

Marty was a great student, natural athlete, and a talented musician. I chose to focus on achieving one of my goals to become Student Council President (which meant that my grades were not that hot, but I was pretty good with streamers).

Marty was the first person I sought out to tell when I was elected to the presidency. I knew he would be happy for me, but then he’d tell me to get to work to earn the privilege. He didn’t disappoint, and I made sure that I didn’t either.

Above: Former Omahan Wendy Runge and Marty Johnson, a classmate at Central.

Right: Her mother: Ina Weiner, Wendy, and her children, Zecharia and Micheli. able to look back and not be ashamed of anything we did. Well, that and it was cheaper than rehabilitation. If that meant that she and Dad had to adjust, then they would do it.

We all attended Central High School, which provided us with an excellent public education. Being one of the only Orthodox Jews in Central was a great experience for me. That is, until I decorated the principal’s office with several rolls of streamers while he typed up paperwork that eventually wound up in my Permanent File. Word to the wise: They do have those you know…it’s not just a threat.

In high school, I carved some wonderful friendships, and one such friend is a man named Marty Johnson.

Marty and I are very different. He is

Have a Happy & Healthy New Year realpeople | realstyle

Marty was there to step in and help me get home early on wintry Fridays. There were times when sundown came shortly after the last dismissal bell rang, and he would make sure that I was home in time to prepare for Shabbos. This was not an era of respect for diversity, and it was public high school, so I was conscious that if someone did not embrace my “diverse perspective”, they might decide to demonstrate their displeasure with a switchblade.

Marty made sure that didn’t happen.

When we were in high school, I had a dream that Marty was adopted, but he never spoke of it. I always assumed that something terrible must have happened to his parents to have had to let him go.

He never spoke to me of his background.

It was not his way, and as his friend, I respected that.

Marty and I have stayed in touch more easily than most because we both married people from Minneapolis, and live just a few miles apart. In the past few years, Marty sought out his birth mother, and located her. She is a lovely white, Irish Catholic woman named Katherine, and to his shock and everyone’s amazement, Marty’s birth father is a Nigerian Chief (e.g.: King). Yes, his being the first born, that makes my friend, Marty Johnson, the heir to the throne of a well-respected African dynasty.

GQ Magazine traveled with Marty last year to Nigeria to witness and record his meeting with his natural father, UdehEkeh, and his large extended family. The article was on the newsstands in June of 2005, and the media loved this story.

When “Good Morning America” called, Marty, his wife, Laura, and two children went to New York to talk about his incredible discovery, and the new challenges that he faces as a Nigerian Prince.

After visiting with Diane Sawyer, Marty and his wife, Laura, and their children, Alyssa and GT, went to get the feel of the most diverse city in the world. Times Square, the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty were on their list of must see’s before they left the Big Apple.

This was a whirlwind sight-seeing tour for a Prince and his family.

Continued on page 62

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Sweetness of Honey Brings Fruits to Levine

by GARY JAVITCH teaching job with – of all people – Bob Wolfson’s brothShe wanted to be a rabbi. He wanted to be farmer. As er in California. She loved teaching and working with Life would have it, they both got something different – the kids, whom on occasion, she took to Israel to visit. and far better. It’s a fascinating tale that, among other She also lived in Cleveland and again worked with young things, also involves bees, honey, Judaism and family. people in Jewish programs.

And for Karin and Mike Levine (Luh-vine?), it is a story Eventually, she moved to Boston where an interesting of love, marriage and life. Above all, the Levine’s story project with Larry Kohlberg, a renowned human growth describes the way certain influences can dramatically and development specialist, turned into an opportunity affect your way of life. for her to get a certificate in that field at Harvard.

Let’s begin with Karin’s story. Three years after her Included with her certificate, Karin also earned her birth, Karin’s parents divorced. Her father never played Master’s in Education from the distinguished school. a role in her life and died in 1977. Under the circumThen in pursuit of a PhD, she journeyed to stances, growing up was far from easy. Raised by her Minneapolis, where she also taught at a Jewish day mother in Louisville, KY, the youngster found great school. As typically happens when young person is alone opportunities in religion and in her classes. in a city, someone wants to “fix-up” the young single. So “People respond to what touches them,” Karin Karin got invited to one of those family dinners – to explained. What dramatically touched Karin’s young life meet Michael’s cousin! Fortunately for our story, Karin was her association with Rabbi Simcha Kling. “He was an focused on Michael, who was at the same get-together! amazing rabbi, and was a tremendous influence on me and The couple married in Louisville in a beautiful ceremomy friends as a teen.” ny performed by Karin’s The religious leader was cherished mentor, Rabbi a scholar. “He made me Kling, in one of the last feel very special,” she ceremonies he undertook continued. “He made me before he passed away. want to study and he Together Karin and challenged me to learn Michael have continued Hebrew, and Jewish to make their mark on Philosophy. “Everyone in Jewish life. Especially in our group went on to do Omaha. things Jewishly,” she In Omaha, Michael, for observed.

Judaism example, serves on the became an important part board of the Antiof her life and was quite Defamation League and important to her developis a member of Beth El. ment as an adolescent.

He has experience with “The rabbi was a father bees and that permits him figure for me--he gave me to aid the conservative unconditional love.” The synagogue during preArielle, Michale and Karin Levine rabbi’s influence was cerRosh Hashana fundraistainly a factor in Karin’s later involvement as a USY advi- ing, when congregants sell honey that Michael has raised sor and her activities in Hillel. in his beehives.

In contrast to Karin, whose life turned in a different The origin of his role in acquiring honey for Beth El is direction because of personal associations, Michael’s life a story worth retelling: Larry DeBruin, the executive was changed by a political-military event. It was 1973 director at Beth El, called to ask Michael to remove a and the Arab world had just launched their Yom Kippur swarm of bees that had infested a tree on the property. attack on Israel.

Mike’s own collection of bees died during a bad winter The call went out for volunteers to work on kibbutzim two years earlier. Mike produced honey for the synaand the pre-law undergraduate at the University of gogue from those bees, which he put into a hive. He has Michigan stepped forward. His much-needed presence six hives now. He took great pleasure in sharing the there freed an Israeli to defend the Jewish state at the fruits of his labor with the synagogue. battle front.

In a delightful play on words, Michael labeled the “I tasted farm life and liked what I experienced,” Mike honey containers “Fruits of LeVine,” poking fun at the related. The enjoyable farming activities compelled him underwear company. He added that it was Karin who to rethink his original career choice and as a result, he came up with the clever phrasing. embarked on a new career path. Accordingly, when he When Michael is not practicing his avocation, he returned to America, he transferred schools and majors. serves as a sales executive for Ideal Water.

His new school was The Ohio State University and his Karin, who only has her dissertation to complete for new course of study was agriculture. her PhD at the University of Minnesota, stays busy After graduating from OSU with a degree in agricul- teaching undergraduate courses in Child and Adolescent ture, he traveled to the University of Florida, where after Development and an occasional graduate class in the a year of additional study, earned a master’s degree in education department at Creighton University.

1978 in the same subject area. For the next two years, “Creighton really welcomed her,” she said. Moreover, Levine leased and managed a 1600-acre farm, growing she enjoys her job for a number of reasons. One in parspecialty fruits and other products. ticular is because she has the opportunity to improve Ironically, other political-civil events caused Michael inter-religious relations at the university. She has given to rethink his location. He was living in the Sunshine occasional sermons at church mass. state at a time when civil unrest and the Mariel boat lift For many at Creighton, meeting Karin is their first events unfolded in the Miami area. The former involved exposure to a Jew and some students have remarked to race riots and the latter resulted from Fidel Castro’s her, “I’ve never met a Jewish person before.” She opening the doors of his many prisons and then dump- attempts to responds as warmly as she possibly can to ing its occupants on the Florida shores, wreaking havoc them, and has been helpful to many students in their on the south Florida society and culture. own spiritual quests. One student who had a high Michael decided to leave Florida for family in enough grade average that he did not have to take her Minnesota. “I jokingly tell people I swapped my 9 mm class final, nevertheless, spent the exam period writing pistol for a 35 mm camera,” he said, referring to the Karin an appreciative thank you note for her work. weapon he used to keep under his seat for protection.

Still she focuses on her love of Judaism and those relatLittle did he know that in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” ed activities by serving on the Hadassah board. She also he would meet his future bride. started a book club for the National Council of Jewish Karin’s arrival in Minneapolis came about in a far dif- Women. Her stellar work has earned her a Public Affairs ferent way. The ideal student, Karin also had a gift for awards from the NCJW. storytelling. The articulate sixteen-year old skipped her In addition, she teaches a class at Beth El for all in the senior year of high school to enroll in Washington Jewish community who want to teach religious school.

University (St. Louis). Six different majors later, she In typical, modest fashion, she remarked, “I can’t graduated with top grades and a bachelor’s degree in believe they come and listen to me.” psychology.

The couple has lived in Omaha for the past nine years.

Again reflecting her love of Judaism, she wanted to And despite all their accomplishments, Karin remarked become a rabbi, but was just a little ahead of her time. that their greatest contribution to the Jewish community is The Jewish Theological School would not accept their wonderful daughter, Arielle. Their 15-year-old is a women for the rabbinate at the time. Instead, she got a smart young lady who also loves Jewish-related activities.

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 57

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

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Omaha. Here, being Jewish was very different. We occaby JOAN K. MARCUS When he was only three-years-old, Philip Wolf’s moth- sionally met other Jewish people and I realized that our er, Betty Braverman Wolf, died. His father, Aaron, was kids were getting toward school age.

“I realized that if we did not become involved with left with three children, Joanne, Daniel and Philip to Judaism and join a synagogue, the kids would not have raise by himself. That event transformed his life.

Phil was born in Evanston, IL, in 1952. When he was the education to decide on their own. They also would six, his father was introduced to a young widow, Harriet wonder who I was and what I was as they grew up!” Phil Kushner, who had a child of her own, Karen. After mar- realized. “They would also wonder why and how we rying, they moved to Omaha in 1961, where Aaron was made these decisions.

“I did not want to be the only Jew in my family. And, chemical engineer for Armour Meatpacking. The family added two more children: Andrea and Adam. “Then, we at that point, I couldn’t explain very well OEwhy.’”

He went to Nancy who hadn’t yet converted and told were a family of six,” Phil says, “and I was right in the her, “I would like us to join Temple Israel!” Her answer middle.”

Wolf described his father as, “A confirmed Jew by iden- surprised him, “How would you feel if I said I wanted to tity who I do not ever recall stepping into a synagogue. join a church?” He responded in no uncertain terms, “I He was the first of his generation born here and was would never do that.” Her answer was, “Well, okay then; I just wanted to make sure highly educated. He was orithat you were sure!” ented toward the sciences--as In 1992, the Wolf family are all of his children.” joined Temple Israel. Shortly Even though Aaron didn’t thereafter. Nancy signed the attend services, he made sure two of them up for the that his children had went to Derech Torah class--a study religious school. The family of Judaism. Phil recalled, “I lived in Omaha from 1961found the course to be wild65 and belonged to Temple ly interesting. It introduced Israel. When the family was me to some things I wish transferred back to Chicago, that I had known about at a Phil went to Glenbrook much younger age.

North High School.

“What was presented to me He reminisces about his in religious school when I old school and says, was young would fly in the “Interestingly enough, while face of science. It was inconthere were hardly any Jews sistent with what I had come there when I attended, last year the school won the state to know as elements of truth high school largest class basthrough my secular educaketball championship and all tion,” Phil admitted. “So, I of the five starters were dismissed it and didn’t study Jews!” it further.

“Then, one day in class, we Phil admitted, “Actually, Phil Wolf talked about Maimonides, a while I was growing up, going to religious school and services didn’t appeal to name that I remembered from religious school. In the me. I was much more oriented toward my secular educa- discussion, they mentioned a book, ‘A Guide for the tion. I got good grades, did well on tests and followed Perplexed.’ I bought it, began reading it, and realized ‘the program’. After I got to the University of Illinois at that this incredibly intelligent individual, Maimonides, Champaign-Urbana, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. had written about a lot of things that, in small ways, had I was only 17 when I started and was ready to graduate crossed my mind.” Phil added that, “I was in no way comparing myself to his intellect! when was 20.”

“The things I had dismissed, I had dismissed too easily He quit school and worked in factories, warehouses and the post office for three years. By that time, he was when I was young,” he continued. “These were issues dealt 23 and went back to school at Oregon State University with by Jewish scholars of towering ability in far earlier in Corvallis, where he earned a degree in mathematics. times. So, I got more interested and Nanc and I began to At CNA Insurance in Chicago, he started in the actuari- freely associate with Jewish people throughout Omaha.”

Nancy eventually chose to be converted to Judaism. al department.

“Because I became a basketball coach at the JCC, I was Phil remembered, “While I was working at the insurance company, I met Nancy Lindow. She had also earned introduced to people from all the different synagogues,” gotten a math degree (actually, two of them)--from the Phil added. “That was a good experience because I met a University of Michigan and had moved to Chicago to lot of people who I would otherwise not have met; parents of the kids I was coaching from all the different congregawork. I guess it was kind of ‘love at first sight.’

“In Chicago, there were so many Jewish people there tions. I came to know that there were differences in pracwas nothing extraordinary about being Jewish,” Phil tice between the different synagogues. Eventually, I’ve met mused. “Maybe it was just my time of life, but, as a and enjoyed contact with all the rabbis in town. Along young single man, it just didn’t seem important. And, I with Nancy, I’ve come to associate with all the Jews here couldn’t think of any reason to create any attachment to and we’ve begun to see ourselves as members of the Jewish community, and no just of one segmented part. organized religion.”

“I’m Jewish for reasons beyond just being born Nancy and Phil were married in 1983 in a civil ceremony. “Hannah was born in 1986; that changed my out- Jewish,” he insisted, adding, “In part, because I don’t look on where I wanted to live and it also put a little dif- have to leave my mind at the door; In part, because, in ferent slant on my outlook toward Judaism. Living in mulling over the ‘God concept’ as it comes up in the Chicago, I didn’t have much time for family.” They start- writings of Maimonides, I find I do not disagree; in part, ed to look around for places to move because they both because of seeing the consistencies between that and the wanted to stay in the Midwest.

Torah. In part, because I see a purpose in perpetuating “We thought that a smaller city would give us a better some of the conclusions drawn by Jewish scholars and life for our family and Omaha was on the list. In 1987, I sages about how we should think and live, particularly as was contacted by National Indemnity Company, a divi- they are articulated about ethics in the ‘Pirke Avot’, a secsion of Berkshire Hathaway. By the time we came here in tion of the Mishnah--sayings of the fathers.

1989, we had two children, Hannah and her brother, “And, I’m absolutely determined that the centuriesAlexander, born in 1988.” long run of Judaism that has run through my ancestors Nathan was born in 1991. Phil is currently Senior Vice- to me will not end with me,” he stated with determinaPresident of National Indemnity. tion. “It could have easily ended with me. It came really Phil became very introspective when he said, “It was an close--but I’m not going to let that happen. My kids will interesting transformation--reorienting myself as a Jew in have a tough time letting it go.”

May Your New Year Be Filled With Health, Happiness and Prosperity Joe Erman 8307 H Street, Omaha

Daniel Sutton Bryan Bush

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 59

Sharing Judaism and Jewish Life

by JOAN K. MARCUS For many years, I thought Sheila Ruderman Tomps was paid staff at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. At any time, she can be found pushing wheelchairs and making sure that the residents are comfortable. Her commitment to being Jewish and helping others is always apparent.

Born in Omaha in 1944 to Reva and Morrie Ruderman, Sheila lived at 3215 Webster St. Charles Mann, her grandfather, lived with the family and helped to take care of Sheila and her two sisters, Genine (Hanna) and Gail (Shaw.)

According to Sheila, “Our home was always happy and we always celebrated the holidays at Beth Israel with family.

One Purim, I remembering my mother dressed me as a hamantaschen and we shared the holidays with my aunts and uncles.”

She went to Henry W. Yates Grade School and then on to Central High, where she was always active in Jewish groups. During high school, Sheila was a Sunday school teacher at Beth Israel Synagogue.

“I was always the caregiver of the children and the old people,” she smiled.

“When I was a girl, I would sit at the kids’ table to make sure that everybody ate and, even in high school, I would sleep over at my grandparents’ house so I could set the holiday tables for the family. I felt a commitment to help others even when I was very young.”

“I have always felt I was put here to help other. At a certain point in my life, I became active in the Sisterhood at Beth Israel.” She did a lot of baking because she loved to do bake. And she liked to

shop for the synagogue and then bake for the onegs and special occasions.

Berniece Cohen, who was in charge of the sisterhood luncheons there, broke a bone and couldn’t do it anymore. Sheila was asked to help shop, set the tables and help to serve the luncheons.

Seven or eight years later, Sheila began to volunteer her time at the RBJH, too.

She would visit once or twice a week, first with her own family members, then with other people who didn’t have a lot of family. “There are so many people who don’t have anybody and, if I have time, I go to see them at the Home,” she said with a wry smile. She told the activity staff she would go on bus trips with the residents, too. “They can always use an extra helping hand.”

In fact, she was honored as the Volunteer of the Year by Jewish Senior Services and the Rose Blumkin Home in 2001 and was the United Way winner that year in the health category.

Sheila says that she doesn’t wait for staff to ask her to come. “I ask them if they have something coming up and if I can help. I also help with the residents when they need someone to accompany them to the doctor. I feel a real sense of fulfillment when I help. I just enjoy doing mitzvot for other people.”

Her commitment to helping others has continued since she has been a volunteer at Western Hills School for more than 32 years. She learns from the teachers and has been able to help children because she isn’t a teacher--just a mom! “They call me when they go on field trips with the kindergartners. And they call me when they bake cookies or make pancakes.” She was named “Trailblazer of the

Year” by Lewis and Clark Junior High.

Sheila was a young bride, marrying Larry Hornstein after graduating Central in 1962. The couple had one son, David, in 1966. David and his wife, Laura, have a daughter, Haley. Sheila and Larry later divorced and Sheila married Ray Tomps in 1970. Together, they had two more sons: Michael and Steven. She says proudly, “Then I had three boys--all Eagle Scouts!”

Sheila Tomps In 2002, Sheila decided to join Temple Israel. “When I came to Temple, I began going every Friday night and Saturday morning for services. I like the feeling of community.”

She continued her devotion to synagogue life there as well, helping for special onegs by fixing the trays and ordering the pastries. Later, she joined the Temple’s mitzvot she had been doing on

her own with a committed group of supportive Temple volunteers.

“Now, I go to Remington Heights and help when Temple conducts Friday afternoon services there. Jewish people who live there like the idea of being able to say the kaddish and the Temple youth group helps lead the service.”

Sheila says, “Visiting the sick and taking food or going to nursing homes to visit is the Jewish thing to do. Anybody who lives alone needs someone to visit or call them. If I cook extra food, I take it with me when I visit.”

Husband Ray, who was born in Riga, Latvia, encourages Sheila to do her acts of Jewish kindness. “When we married, I didn’t ask him to convert. Since his family died, I go with him a couple of times a year for special things at his church.

“The congregants there know I’m Jewish and they respect me. I help wash dishes and bake for his church, too--just like I would at synagogue. I don’t think he should have to give up everything for me.”

She remembers in the car, when she and Ray were on their way to the hospital before the birth of their son.

“Ray told me he expected me to raise our child to be Jewish. All three of the boys are Jewish and the only difference between them is their last name!”

Sheila continues to have Shabbat dinner and holiday meals at her home for her family--and probably anyone else who needs her “Jewish mothering.”

“My parents did for me and I want to do this for my children,” she insisted.

“My daughter-in-law has come to Temple with me and now, I have a granddaughter to share this with, too.

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Page 60

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

Elegant, Trendy Jewish Cookbook is Day-school Community’s Labor of Love

by LINDA MOREL NEW YORK (JTA)--In 1981, when Mandy Bachrach was in the second grade at the Arie Crown Hebrew Day School in Skokie, IL, several mothers collected recipes for a school cookbook. There were no photos or frills, just basic directions for brisket, matzah brie and other traditional Jewish foods.

“It was the usual spiral-bound community cookbook with contributors’ names next to their recipes,” says Bachrach, an illustrator and the mother of six children, three of whom attend her alma mater.

After a couple of lapsed attempts at updating the school’s first effort, an administrator posted a notice in its newsletter asking for volunteers to produce a new cookbook.

“I was the only one who responded to the notice,” says Valerie Kanter, a polymer clay artist and the mother of five children, four of whom attend the Arie Crown School.

The school’s staff told her: “The cookbook is your baby. Take over.”

“You can’t do this by yourself,” Bachrach told Kanter, a friend who lives nearby. At that moment, Crowning Elegance: A Kosher Culinary Experience was conceived, with Kanter as editor and Bachrach as assistant editor.

What makes Crowning Elegance different from all other community cookbooks? It’s a coffee-table volume with a real binding and more than 400 glossy pages of sophisticated recipes accompanied by 180 breathtaking photographs.

In a collaborative spirit, each woman brought something “to the table.” Bachrach comes from an Ashkenazi background; Kanter hails from the Syrian Jewish community of Brooklyn. This diversity influenced the range of recipes they chose.

“I’m totally connected to my roots,” says Kanter, explaining that she still wears the gold bangle bracelets customary among Syrian Jewish women. “I return to Brooklyn twice a year to see family and purchase Middle Eastern ingredients.”

Initially, the pair formed a committee to help them.

They sought trendy, elegant fare. All kosher, of course.

“We have a community of women--and some men--who love to cook,” says Kanter.

“We gathered recipes from committee members and weeded out the ones everyone has, such as potato kugel,” says Bachrach. “We wanted to introduce new ways of cooking or old recipes with new twists.”

Next, they needed an objective method of selecting the best recipes. They asked 25 school parents to prepare their most delicious dish and invited community mem-

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bers to tasting parties.

On a given night, 40 to 50 people gathered to sample the results, the chefs remaining anonymous. Kanter set an elegant tone by using fine china, stemmed crystal and silver flatware.

“This wasn’t a gorging party but a serious tasting of each dish,” she says. Each participant had to taste a minimum of 20 foods and then fill out a rating sheet.

Menu themes included Thanksgiving, dairy, meat, Chinese, Middle Eastern or appetizers. Participants were asked to keep socializing to a minimum so they could concentrate on their palates.

“Seventy percent of the tasters had to like a dish to qualify for possible inclusion. Some recipes showed promise but required refining before they were tried again,” explains Bachrach.

Judging was a sumptuous experience--once the manuscript was completed, Kanter says, many husbands kept asking, “When are you having another tasting party?”

But this was only the beginning. They now had to produce a book.

Bachrach explains that they wanted to “get away from the spiral-bound approach and give our cookbook a more professional appearance.” Recipe contributors are credited at the front of Crowning Elegance, but no names appear beside recipes. Gerta’s gefilte fish and bubbe’s chicken soup have been replaced by trendy, gourmet fare such as sake chicken, Cuban salsa, focaccia and praline truffles.

With no publishing house to back them, Kanter and Bachrach managed to produced an upscale cookbook that can compete with any title on the market by drawing on the school’s parent community--professionals in a variety of fields.

Interior designer Miri Rosenwasser has a flair for setting sensational table scenes. During photo shoots, she provided pieces from her outstanding collection of china, terrines, vases and napkins.

“We also mixed in stunning tableware from people who entertain a lot,” says Bachrach.

During 12-hour days in volunteers’ homes, Jay Friedman--a professional photographer who worked free of charge--often shot 40 different setups in succession. A

true craftsman, Friedman’s results are so irresistible that readers are tempted to dip their forks into pictured dishes.

In addition to its cornucopia of international recipes, Crowning Elegance features menu and wine suggestions for special occasions, such as Autumn Shabbos, Yom Tov, Break-the-Fasts, Oriental Dinners and Summer Barbecues. The cookbook is available at selected bookstores and can be ordered online at www.crowningelegance.com.

With the Jewish New Year approaching, what are Kanter and Bachrach likely to serve?

“Spinach, orange and pomegranate salad is yummy and sweet because the dressing contains honey,” says Kanter. It’s also a colorful, refreshing salad that will brighten your holiday table.

“Even though we’re Ashkenazi, my family loves the Moroccan couscous soup,” says Bachrach. This hearty autumn soup is brimming with chickpeas, vegetables and short ribs. It’s especially warming for Rosh Hashanah this year, which falls in October.

Braised stuffed veal breast is a dish worthy of Rosh Hashanah’s importance; it contains raisins, which like apples and honey symbolize sweetness in the New Year.

Apple spice cake is an old-fashioned confection exuding traditional autumn spices, prepared by hand the way it was when the recipe was created in 1958.

A labor of love, Crowning Elegance--its title chosen for the Crowns, a prominent Chicago Jewish family for whom the day school is named--has absorbed every spare minute of Kanter and Bachrach’s time since 2002.

Juggling several roles, each woman conceived her fifth child while nurturing the cookbook. Since then, Bachrach has given birth to a sixth child.

“Crowning Elegance had our heart and soul for the past three years,’’ says Kanter, who like Bachrach, considers the book her child. Launching it with love, they wish their creation a sweet future, the hope of all Jewish people everywhere at this special time of year.

SPINACH, ORANGE AND POMEGRANATE SALAD 1 medium pomegranate 2 bunches fresh spinach leaves, coarsely torn, stems discarded (about 8 cups) 2 navel oranges, peeled, pith removed, segments halved 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced Slice pomegranate in quarters. Remove seeds and set them aside. Place spinach in a large salad bowl. Add oranges, red onion and pomegranate seeds.

Continued on page 63

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The Challenge of Continuity pledged to foster justice and understandContinued from page 54 whether or not to accept the invitation to ing among the various religious groups in talk about Hanukkah at school. One year the city. “The stated goal of the LIC is to we invited all the kids in our children’s help Lincoln become A Village of classes to our house for a program because Kindness, Shel explains, “where each perwe wanted to discourage any observance in son is valued and respected.” the school. We worked hard on the pro“Judaism has been one of the major gram and it was very successful. forces to shape my political, social and “Hamburg was a good experience in family values,” Marcia adds. “I’ve tried to our lives and I believe it strengthened our pass those values to my children by examJewish identity. But when the kids got ple, through my involvement with the older, we agreed they needed to go to Nebraska Holocaust Commemoration, school where there were other Jewish my Zionist leanings, the several trips Shel children.” By 1962, the Kushners and and I have made to Israel and our suptheir four children--Cathy, Julie, Michael port of the State, the energy and financial and Benjie--were in Lincoln and part of resources I give to Jewish causes -- in the Jewish community. other words, my overall commitment to “We felt lucky to be in Lincoln,” Judaism. And of course we always try to Marcia says, “in this lovely town, in the celebrate the Jewish holidays in special bosom of the large Kushner family with ways. Pesach is the time our family really Shel’s three married siblings in Lincoln, tries hard to get together. This year twenhis brother Marshall and family in ty-two of us sat down in our new town Omaha, and our eventual combined total of 18 children.

“Passover dinners at Shel’s parent’s home were uproarious with marvelous food and singing. At my parents’ home in Council Bluffs we had the Tepperman Passover tradition, as well. Our children had loving grandparents and wonderful times. How can you measure the importance of a warm, close family. It’s such a gift.”

During those early years, Marcia “talked Judaism” with non-Jewish groups and non-Jewish friends, and signed on as a participant in The Panel of American Women. “This was during the civil rights movement. We’d go out to small country towns and speak to people who’d never seen blacks or Jews before.

My family called us the Bigotry Squad.”

Marcia is a past member of the Planned Parenthood Executive Committee and As President of the Lincoln Federation, Marcia Kushner has Past-President of The had opportunities like meeting author and Nobel Peace Lincoln-Lancaster Women’s Prize winner Elie Wiesel, above, and sharing the statewide Commission, an advisory Holocaust memorial candlelighting ceremony with survivors board that advises elected like Eli Modenstein, below. officials on issues that impact women. house--all our children, their spouses and Currently, she is president of the Jewish six of our eight grandchildren. We did a Federation of Lincoln, a member of the ‘Kushner’ seder with all my mother-inLincoln Seniors Foundation, and both she law’s paraphernalia, plus additions from and Shel serve on the Tifereth Israel Board our own practice. We all know it’s easier of Directors.“My mother was a delegate to to be Jewish in a big city, but Lincoln is the Iowa Democratic caucuses in the our home, our community. We belong 1970s and 80s, where she often lobbied for here and we’ll keep supporting it as long Jewish causes. My interest in politics and as we can.” social action is another gift she gave me.”

I ended the interview by asking Shel Shel Kushner’s love of Lincoln goes Kushner how he and Marcia spent a typbeyond its Jewish presence, and his con- ical late summer day. “A typical day? tribution to the Lincoln community at Monday and Thursday I go to shul, lead large is, in a word, large. As a member of services. It’s hard to get a minyan. Then 27th Street Marcia will go for a swim. We golf. We Lincoln’s North Redevelopment Plan, he took part in suc- sail a little in our boat on the lake. Play cessful efforts to revitalize the area, and as bridge. Read. Fiddle around with some Chair of Lincoln’s Kiwanis-sponsored family real estate. Play with the grandChildren’s Zoo Committee, he’s big on children. We have fun.” On this particusweat equity work. “That means paint the lar day, Marcia and Shel were baby-sitting benches, paint the reception area, lay two of their granddaughters -- Neva Pearl track for the little train in preparation for Kushner, 9 months, and Marina Max Zoo Day. It’s a wonderful event, free to Kushner, 81/2 years old. “Our oldest nursing home residents and kids. Two grandchild is twenty-nine,” Marcia said, thousand, sometimes three thousand “and our next- oldest grandson just people show up.” Shel has also served on called to tell us that he and his wife are the Board of Directors of the Lincoln expecting. We’ll be great-grandparents Interfaith Council, an organization soon. That’s Jewish continuity for you.”

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The Jewish Press will be closed for all the Jewish holidays: Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 45 for Rosh Hashanah, Thursday, Oct. 13 for Yom Kippur, Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 18-19 for Sukkot and Oct. 25-26 for Shemini Azeret and Simchat Torah. Because of the holidays, the deadlines for upcoming issues is noon as follows: Issue Deadline Monday, Oct. 3 Oct 14 Oct. 21 Education and Camp Issue Monday, Oct. 10 Oct. 28 Monday, Oct. 17

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 62

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

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Speaking Hebrew JOURNAL ENTRY FROM ISRAEL

by TEDDY WEINBERGER I’ve been using Hebrew as a spoken language now for eight years. I love the language. Hebrew seems to speak to something deep and important inside of me. It still gives me a thrill to do everyday things in Hebrew: speak to a waiter, buy a bus ticket, take a book out of the library, go to a parent-teacher’s conference.

My Hebrew was already good when I immigrated, since I had been schooled at the Yeshivah of Flatbush, where Judaic instruction is in Hebrew. Upon immigration, however, I realized there were two big problems with my Hebrew: my vocabulary and my accent.

I decided to work on my vocabulary by reading Hebrew novels. At first, I had to look up hundreds of words (often the same one over and over until finally the meaning stuck). Gradually, I needed to consult the dictionary less and less. Now, almost all of my pleasure reading is done in Hebrew, and two years ago I helped found Givat Ze’ev’s Hebrew Book Club.

As far as my American accent goes-well, I still very much have that. Unlike when I learned Spanish in college, where instruction on the Spanish accent was part and parcel of learning the language, at my day school we were allowed to speak Hebrew with the same accent that we spoke English.

Indeed, we made fun of the one girl (daughter of two Israelis) who spoke Hebrew with an Israeli accent. Because our teachers didn’t tell us otherwise, we found Israeli-accented Hebrew coming from the mouth of a classmate to sound funny, even pretentious. When I made aliyah I knew that my accent was bad but I also felt funny trying to speak with an Israeli accent--it didn’t sound or feel right to me.

As it turns out, my accent is not a bar to conversation with my Israeli friends.

The real problem comes when I have to call some Israeli company or utility or organization. I have approximately nine seconds to spit out what I have to say.

After that, the telephone operator will

become exasperated and conclude that it is impossible to communicate with me because I don’t know Hebrew. I want to say to them: “Listen, I am not an imbecile, and my Hebrew is really excellent. Haven’t you ever heard of John Wayne? How do you think he would sound in Hebrew?”

There is one area when it comes to speaking Hebrew that you have to experience before you fully internalize. Any person who has studied even a little bit of the language knows that in Hebrew all nouns are defined as masculine or feminine. But it’s one thing to memorize lists and it’s quite another thing to put it into practice.

Heck, your average American brain is just not built to have to think ahead of time whether to use the masculine or feminine ending for “black” if you want to say “could you please move that black table right up against the wall.” And G-d forbid if you get involved in a long sentence where you want to add that one of the legs of the table is shaky and you desperately have to search your brain in a fraction of a second to find the subject of the sentence and to decide if it’s masculine or feminine in order to add the appropriate ending to “shaky”.

And all this of course presupposes that you even knew the Hebrew word for shaky. It’s not like your day school teacher ever introduced a verse from the Torah by saying “here is where the Children of Israel go a bit shaky on the Lord.”

The biggest fans of my Hebrew are my children, who love making fun of my accent. I can send them into immediate paroxysms of joy by saying parparim (butterflies), shagreer (ambassador), or sha’aruriya (scandal). The combination of those flat American “r’s” struggling to extricate themselves from the Hebrew word tickles them silly.

If someone could wave a magic wand so I would suddenly start speaking pure unaccented Hebrew, that would be great.

In the meantime, I will continue to challenge my fellow Israelis to go beyond my accent to the content of my words.

Teddy Weinberger made aliyah with his wife, former Omahan Sarah Ross and their five children. He can be reached at: weinross@netvision.net.il

My Old Friend Continued from page 56 The day after their “Good Morning America” appearance (which I proudly watched and kvelled over), just as I was leaving the office on Friday to prepare for Shabbos, my cell phone rang. I hear Marty’s incredulous voice on the other end, and he was absolutely amazed at the spectacular sight he had just witnessed.

As he and his family headed to Battery Park to view the Lady in the Harbor, they passed through the streets of Brooklyn.

Erev Shabbos, my dear friend, the Prince, felt obligated to call me. “Wendy!” He said, breathless, “I’m in Brooklyn, and there are Jews every where!”

He continued, “I always knew that you dressed the way you did and your husband has his own… style…because of what you believed in…but there must be a million of your people here! My kids keep pointing and saying, ‘Look, that one looks like Wendy. That one looks like their kids. That one looks like…someone Wendy might know.’” Marty declared that this was one of the most amazing cultural experiences of his life.

And then it dawned on me. To a Prince from Omaha, NE, I had always been an oddity. He can’t have known the Mesora (tradition) that I have as a Jew, but he always made it his obligation to respect

my beliefs. Our friendship has always been based on his supposition that: “This is what Wendy does to honor her G-d, so I will assist her in every way I can.”

In Parshas Bereshis, (Genesis 23:5) it speaks of our Forefather, Abraham: “V’nivrichu b’cha kol mispacha ha’adama. Through you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Abraham, the first Jew, possessed a level of influence and goodness such that his non-Jewish neighbors turned to him to say: “We recognize the Prince of G-d in our midst.”

By living a strongly identified Jewish life and knowing that those around us, those peoples with whom we have dealings with, are blessed by that life, they will return to us saying: “You have been a prince or princess of G-d in our midst.”

Our goal is to teach our children that they were born with the Crown of Torah, so that they make the best use of their “birthright”.

Marty does not share my religion, my experiences with Shabbos, or my perspective. However, what he and I do have in common is more that I ever imagined.

We both enjoy a large tribe of extended family that provides us with comfort, joy, interesting recipes, answers to our past and great opportunities to affect change in the future.

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 63

Trendy Jewish Cookbook Continued from page 60 DRESSING 1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup red wine vinegar 2 tsp. honey 1/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. black pepper In a small bowl or jar, combine olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey, salt and pepper.

Drizzle salad with dressing and toss to coat.

Serve immediately.

Preparation time: 20 minutes Experience level: Beginner Yield: 8 serving MOROCCAN COUSCOUS SOUP 2 Tbsp. olive oil 2 onions, chopped 1 pound short ribs 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained 1 medium zucchini, sliced 1 head green cabbage, cut into thirds 1/2 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed 3 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch slices 2 chicken legs and thighs 10 cups water 1 tsp. turmeric 5 Tbsp. chicken-soup flavoring salt and white pepper to taste 1 (10-ounce) pkg. couscous parsley or cilantro sprigs, optional In an 8-quart stockpot over medium flame, heat oil, add onions and saute until translucent. Add short ribs. Turn until browned. Add chickpeas, zucchini, cabbage, squash, carrots, chicken, water, turmeric, chicken-soup flavoring, salt and white pepper.

Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and

reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 3 to 4 hours. Taste and adjust salt and pepper before serving.

Prepare couscous according to package directions.

For a hearty soup, place a few tablespoons of couscous in individual soup bowls. Ladle broth with vegetables, meat and chicken on top of couscous. As a main course, place all of the couscous on a large serving platter and spoon vegetables, meat and chicken on top.

Use the broth as a starter on its own with a simple garnish of fresh parsley or cilantro.

Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 4 hours Experience level: Beginner Yield: 8 to 10 servings BRAISED STUFFED VEAL BREAST 2 cups day-old Italian bread cut into 1/2-inch squares 1 cup rice milk 1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped 4 medium cloves garlic, slivered 1/2 lb. sliced pastrami, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces 1/2 cup pine nuts toasted (optional) 1/2 cup dark raisins soaked in warm water to re-hydrate, drained coarse salt to taste freshly ground black pepper to taste olive oil for drizzling, plus 2 Tbsp.

1 (4-lb.) veal breast. (Ask butcher to separate meat from bones. Take home meat and bones.) kitchen twine 4 hard-boiled eggs, shelled 1 cup red wine 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce 1/2 cup water

STUFFING In a large bowl, soak bread in rice milk for five minutes.

Using clean dry hands, squeeze out and discard excess rice milk. Add parsley, garlic, pastrami, pine nuts (if using) and raisins. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Drizzle with olive oil to moisten and mix thoroughly to combine.

VEAL Line counter with one or two 18-inch pieces of plastic wrap. Place veal on plastic wrap. Make a deep slice along side of veal breast, and fan open like a book. Lay another 18-inch piece of plastic wrap on top.

Using the smooth side of a mallet, pound veal until it’s about 1/2 inch thick, being careful not to tear veal. Discard top sheet of plastic wrap.

Rub surface of veal with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Lift veal and place 3 strands of kitchen twine across plastic wrap. Place veal across twine.

Spread stuffing evenly over veal, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Place the eggs lengthwise down the center.

Roll up veal jellyroll style, using plastic wrap for support. (Don’t roll plastic into veal. Discard it after veal is rolled.) Tie twine securely around veal.

Rinse veal bones. In a large roasting pan, over medium heat, place about 2 Tbsp. olive oil.

Carefully lift veal roll and place in roasting pan. Sear stuffed veal breast on all sides. Add wine, tomato sauce, water and veal bones.

Cover and simmer for 1 hour, turning and basting occasionally. Discard bones before serving.

Preparation time: 30 Minutes Cooking time: 1 hour

Experience level: Intermediate Yield: 6 servings APPLE SPICE CAKE (Pareve) 2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cubed 1 cup sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 11/2 cups flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. nutmeg 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. allspice 1 egg, lightly beaten 1/2 cup margarine, melted 1/2 cup nuts, optional 1/2 cup raisins, optional nonstick spray Preheat oven to 350º. Grease an 8x8inch baking dish with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, combine apples and sugar. Let stand 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, sift together salt, flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice.

Pour egg and margarine over apples.

Mix to combine. Mixing by hand, add dry ingredients and nuts and raisins (if using) to apple mixture. Mix until just incorporated. Push mixture into the baking dish.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes. Invert onto wire rack to finish cooling. (If left in a baking dish, cake will become too moist.) When completely cooled, cut into squares, three down and three across.

Preparation time: 15 minutes Cook time: 50 to 55 minutes Experience level: Beginner Yield: 9 servings.

Page 64

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

B’nai Israel Synagogue Council Bluffs, Iowa Young Seniors with Vision

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Jewish Educational & Library Services

Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year

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Sisterhood Kadimah USY BESTT

Wishing all our friends a “Shana Tova U’metuka.” May G-d grant us all our most fervent wish - A glorious year in which we will merit the coming of Moshiach.

Rabbi Mendel Katzman, Chabad of Nebraska

Sincere wishes for a Happy,Healthy New Year

JEWISH WAR VETERANS Epstein Morgan Post 260 Best wishes for a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year to all.

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HADASSAH

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This New Year, Follow Your Pathto Judaism so You can find Peace, Happiness and Prosperity.

Men’s Club BILU USY Hazak

NCJW extends its warmest wishes to the Jewish community for a Joyous New Year.

Best Wishes From Kalah Franklin Hatikavah Chapter

formerly American Mizrachi Women

Happy & Healthy New Year With Your Help We’ll Have A Great Past Ahead Of Us

Join us for an afternoon of Klezmer Music & Reception Oct. 23 2 p.m.

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The Congregation of Temple Israel

L’Shana Tova Wishing you and your family a year filled with good health, happiness and peace!

L’Shana Tovah BETH ISRAEL SISTERHOOD

Come see our great assortment of New Year cards in our Gift Shop.

League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly (Rose Blumkin Jewish Home Auxiliary)

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 65

Page 66

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

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Messages From Our Rabbi’s Community, Cooperation and Love

by RABBI JONATHAN GROSS Beth Israel Synagogue This past year may go down in history as the worst cinematic year ever. It seemed like every movie to hit the theater was either a sequel or a remake of an original that should have been left in the past.

The one gem that emerged from a box office filled with dross was Luc Jacquet’s spellbinding documentary, March of the Penguins. The story begins with the majestic birds emerging from the icy, arctic waters and follows them as they march to a specific location where they set up camp, mate, lay eggs, and eventually care for the newborn chick until it is old enough to make the journey home. During this grueling epic the penguins must endure extreme temperatures, starvation and fierce predator attacks from the land, sea, and air.

What is the secret that allows these seemingly innocuous creatures to survive the perils of nature?

Community: The penguins huddle together to form tight knit communities, drawing on the warmth of their neighbors to protect them from the bitter arctic storms.

Cooperation: The father and the mother must alternate the responsibilities of guarding the egg/chick and searching for food. Without full participation from all those involved, the chick has little chance of survival.

And finally, Love: Indeed, the film is an inspiring story of a species displaying its miraculous God given instincts to ensure its very survival. The narrator cautions the audience at the beginning not to overlook that the sacrifice and devotion exhibited by these creatures towards its progeny can be succinctly described as nothing less than a love story.

However harsh, Nebraska winters can hardly be described as arctic, and driving I-80 is hardly a trek through the icy tundra. Nevertheless, just as the penguins have their struggle on their continuous march we have our struggles on our path to Judaism. Historically, transmitting the Torah to the next generation has always been a daunting task. In the past our people overcame poverty or worse, vicious persecution in order to achieve this lofty goal.

We are fortunate to live in an affluent and tolerant society that allows us to practice and teach our heritage freely. However, that same freedom also allows for our children to be bombarded through a variety of media outlets with messages that are antithetical to the ethical teachings we try to impart.

Our path to Judaism is a different type than that which our predecessors took. They worried for their physical survival, while we must be more conscious to ensure our spiritual survival. Through community, cooperation, and love we too can overcome the challenges we face raising children in the 21st century. If our feathered friends in Antarctica are able to persevere and ensure that one day those chicks will make the same trek to produce chicks of their own, then surely we can fulfill our mission of raising a generation that will continue to perpetuate the beauty of Torah and Judaism in the world.

High Holiday Resolutions

by RABBI MORDECHAI LEVIN Beth EL Synagogue Jewish people across the world are engaged in preparations for Rosh Hashanah-one of the most important times in the Hebrew calendar. Rosh Hashanah has deep significance in that it marks the beginning of a process of reflection and self-examination that culminates in Yom Kippur. The High Holidays are our chance to start again, renew ourselves and renew our lives.

Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel (1907-72), a Conservative rabbi and theologian, wrote a book titled, The Sabbath, in which he explored the importance of time in Judaism.

Heschel wrote that Judaism teaches us to be attached to holiness in time, to be attached to sacred events, to learn how to consecrate sanctuaries that emerge from the magnificent stream of a year. The Sabbaths are our great cathedrals, and our Holy of Holies is Yom Kippur.

Heschel said that Judaism is a religion that aims to sanctify time. For some people, time is unvaried, homogenous. To them, every day is like every other day and every hour is like every other hour. But no two days or hours are alike. Each hour is unique and the only one given at that moment, exclusive and endlessly precious.

If before going to bed every night, we would tear a page from the calendar and say, “There goes another day of my life, never to return,” we might become aware of the value of time.

Time is life. Therefore, if we waste our time we waste our life.

The sounding of the shofar calls us to examine our lives: “Awake, you sleepers, and ponder your deeds; remember your Creator, forsake your evil ways, and return to God!” Therefore on these High Holidays, let us resolve to live a good life, a life of commitment and purpose.

Let us find the time to be grateful for the daily blessings that we are given. The blessing of life itself and the opportunity to enjoy our lives in the time we have.

Let us resolve to tell the people we love that we love them, to reach out to those who need us, to make amends with those who have hurt us and whom we have hurt.

Let us find the time to make a new Jewish beginning for ourselves and our families.

Let us resolve to study more Torah, to pray with kavanah (conscious intention and concentration) to speak kindness and love, and to live a life permeated with Mitzvot.

Let us find the time to make a commitment to our people and our heritage, to grow in our commitment to Jewish values and practices and to the land of Israel and Jerusalem.

This is the year. This is the time.

My best wishes for a year of life, health, fulfillment, justice and peace. Shana Tova!

September 30, 2005

The Flame of Jewish Life

by RABBI ARYEH AZRIEL Temple Israel The generosity of Jews is legendary. The generosity of Jews to causes, Jewish and nonJewish, is often stunning.

Name the cause, institution or program and our people are at the head of the list. Here I mean not only our people in the general sense but our own congregants as well. The generosity makes us proud.

But lately there are a growing number of Jewish leaders who are expressing a concern about a distortion in the focus and priorities of this generosity. There is a lack of balance that could be dangerous to the survival of Judaism, and, therefore, to the survival itself of the Jewish people. It is detrimental to the Jewish commitment of our own children, our own grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and their survival as Jews.

The fact that we Jews generously support the State of Israel, Jewish self-defense, Holocaust memorials, Jewish political action groups, hospitals, institutions, and programs of art and music of all kinds. This is due to a centuries-long process of the inculcation of a special kind of spirituality, a strong sense of Jewish identity which has always been religiously based, due to a value system rooted in a rich religious way of life.

The only Jewish institution, the only Jewish cause, the only force amidst a welter which has come and gone over the centuries that has produced this and continues to generate this spirituality, this sense of identity, this value system, this ever renewing generosity and inner strength and the sheer love of being Jewish has been the synagogue!

The central purpose of the Temple is to replenish Jewish commitment in each and every generation. It is to the synagogue

that every Jewish cause appeals for support, for the support of its leaders, for the support of its energies and resources.

The loss of focus in Jewish generosity, a kind of sublime foolishness, is potentially selfdestructive. The temple is the Jewish institution from which this large-scale generosity emanates, but which is not a recipient of this same generosity.

It has been noted by Jewish leaders, sociologists and historians, that while every institution asks a lot from Jews and the synagogue, the synagogue is the only force that creates Jews. While over the year other causes and institutions have, like Jonah’s gourd, grown up in a night and perished in a night, the synagogue has remained for thousands of years, the solid source of the development of Jewish commitment.

These days, the best of Jewish leadership, young and old, are recognizing that we have to intensify spiritual programming for our people, modes and setting of Judaic family experience, new settings for worship, hands-on contact with the ancient texts which form our identity, the teaching of observances which are the motivating force behind the best of all our values and our continued existence. This is the mission of the synagogue. Without adequate support of the synagogue, the Jewish future is dim indeed.

The synagogue is the altar on which the flame of Jewish life is kept alive. And from that altar, the spark of commitment is kindled in every Jew. But we need the fuel, solid fuel, to keep the flame alight. The synagogue must, and I think will, become the rallying call of this generation.

Shana Tova!

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 67

Elul: the Emotional Space to Work on our Challenges

by RABBI CRAIG MARANTZ Temple Israel It is difficult for me to imagine a singular path to Jewish enlightenment and fulfillment. There are so many rich and varied ways to discover Judaism I joyfully lose count. At best, perhaps, if one could find “the” path to Judaism, I imagine it would still be described as multifaceted.

In this spirit of variety, then, any particular journey we take as a Jew can and should move us in the following ways: intellectually, emotionally and behaviorally. This is especially true as we motion through the Jewish calendar.

Take the Hebrew month of Elul, for instance.

Elul is the 30-day period which precedes the High Holidays. Elul is the sacred time frame in which we prepare our way back to God’s path. That is, we ready ourselves for the teshuvah we need to do. This work, of course, prepares us for the Yamim Nora’im, the Days of Awe, so we may experience them and be transformed by them as powerfully as possible--so our teshuvah can be as complete as possible.

Throughout Elul, we engage our intellect. Historically, Jews have taken time out from their busy schedules during this period to study Torah and reflect upon their lives.

How many of us can improve our behavior and shape it more according to the values of Torah? We all can to one extent or another, and Elul gives us the time to sit down with one another and

think deeply about shaping our better selves.

Elul is an emotional time, too. Psalm 27, which we utter during every service throughout the thirty days, represents our cry for God’s help in grappling with our enemies. These enemies, however, are not merely external. They are internal as well.

How often do we fear having to confront our own areas of growth? How often do we find it painful to face our wrongdoings or the people we have hurt and make amends?

Elul gives us the emotional space to work out such challenges.

Last but least, Elul provides us ample time for action. I’ve spoke of study and prayer. But we do a lot more. We blow the Shofar each morning, as a spiritual wake-up call. We have a lot of soulful work to do before the High Holidays.

The shofar serves to heighten our awareness of the effort and improvement needed. We give tzedakah, mindful that our own teshuvah not only improves us as individuals but adds justice to the world.

And, of course, we continually re-examine our souls in search for our best selves, committing ourselves to a life of integrity, a life in which our deeds reflect our highest values.

Shana tova to one and all. I pray that your Jewish path brings you to a place of depth and understanding.

May the teshuvah for which each of us strives draw us nearer to Holy One and one another in mutual love and responsibility.

Page 68

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

Jewish, Despite the Difficulties

by RABBI ILAN EMANUEL Congregation B'nai Jeshurun , Lincoln (The South Street Temple) There is an old Yiddish saying that says, “It’s hard to be a Jew.” Jewish history is not a happy one, replete as it is with persecution, exile and struggle. And Jewish tradition is not an easy one to live up to.

Judaism demands much of us, ritually, spiritually, and above all, morally.

And yet, not only have Jews stayed firm over the ages, continuing to identify as Jews despite the difficulties, but we are today seeing a flourishing of interest in what Judaism has to offer. Generations of Jews are seeking to reconnect with their tradition and more and more non-Jews are finding that Judaism fulfills their spiritual needs.

Jewish tradition is ancient and distinguished. Jews have been participants in thousands of years of history from ancient Greece to modern Europe and America; from the ancient Near East to the modern Middle East. We have been influenced by and influential in every form of spiritual, social, political and intellectual movement of every era of human history. The collected body of wisdom and experience of the Jewish people in their wanderings across the globe is extraordinary in its depth and breadth, dealing with every facet of human life--from birth to death, from joy to tragedy, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

More and more people are recognizing how rich and varied Jewish tradition really is. The variety of Jewish experience and thought means that there is truly something for everyone. And there is Jewish ritual and wisdom that relates to every conceivable question or yearning in our lives.

Thus people from all backgrounds and all ages are seeking answers to their spiritually questions in Judaism.

For instance, in my small rabbinical school class of 10 were, among others, a Jew-by -Choice in her 40s who had been raised Catholic, a single mother who had been adopted by a non-Jewish family and later found that her birth mother was Jewish, and a man who had found the path back to Judaism through Native American spirituality. All these individuals, and more, despite their widely different backgrounds, have found a spiritual home in Judaism.

And, of course, the benefit is not only one way. Jewish tradition is as varied and rich as it is because we have been willing and able to adapt to the changing tides of history and culture around us, while at the same time holding on to what is unique and special about Judaism. We have stayed Jewish, while adopting and adapting the best ideas and ethics of the cultures in which we live.

Thus Maimonides embraced the concepts of Greek and Arabic philosophy and added invaluable insights to Jewish tradition and practice in the process; and thus we as American Jews have wholeheartedly embraced the ideals of liberty, freedom and democracy that make this country great.

Each one of us, whether we are born and raised Jewish, return to Judaism after a long absence, or choose Judaism on our own, brings new experiences and ideas to the enrich Jewish tradition. The Ethics of the Fathers (Pirke Avot), asks: “Who is wise? One who learns from all people.”

In the modern world we have many people to learn from and we should rejoice in the opportunity. We should recognize how fortunate we are as a Jewish people to have so many people finding a spiritual home in Judaism, and who are willing and able to contribute their own understandings and insights to the rich tapestry of Jewish tradition and history.

The God-Conscious Life

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of the religious life not only in Judaism, but in all religions. When man thinks of himself as the highest creature on the planet, chaos prevails, humans stoop to immorality (or their own versions of morality), and life becomes empty and meaningless. A Jewish God-consciousness presents the Jew with a center of gravity.

The Jew feels a sense of worth based on being created in the Divine image, doing Gods’ work, mending a broken world, completing the act of creation, unifying with God, and bringing about the redemption of the world.

By means of the berakhah, the constant acknowledgement of God’s presence, God’s continuous acts of creation, and God’s involvement in human history and in our individual lives, we aspire to a Godconsciousness and thus become spiritual beings rather than mere physical beings.

One of the principle themes of the High Holidays is teshuvah (repentance).

But teshuvah also has another meaning, return. Why the double meaning?

Because we tend to move away from God over the course of the year and the High Holiday season is the time of year when God calls upon us, “Return to Me”. The goal of Judaism is to have a God-consciousness; an awareness that God is always close at hand, listening to our prayers, supporting us, and lifting us up when we fall down. Sometimes the idea of the All-Powerful so close is frightening and uncomfortable.

We feel imperfect. We feel too small and insignificant. We know that we are all Continued on page 70

by RABBI ROYI ISRAEL SHAFFIN Congregation Tifereth Israel, Lincoln ShanaTova. Many of us may not have grown up in particularly observant homes, yet found our paths intersecting with Jewish tradition.

One of the most significant milestones on my personal path to greater Jewish observance was the recitation of berakhot (blessings).

While flipping through the pages of Siddur Sim Shalom again and again and gaining competency in all of the prayer services, I did not stop at the formal services. Rather, once I had mastered and memorized the services for the weekdays, Shabbat, and holidays, I went on to master and memorize the blessings for each and every food and occasion. Since then, it has been my goal to recite the traditional 100 berakhot per day. It has also been my goal to be aware of what I am seeing, doing, and eating and of the Source of all that is in the beautiful world in which we live, God. Through her book, The Path of Blessing, Rabbi Marcia Prager has influenced me to greater awareness of calling upon, thanking, and blessing the Divine Name both as my personal God who is very close and as the Creator and Master of the universe of whom I am in awe.

Rabbi Prager’s book concentrates on the formula of the berakhah itself, “Baruk Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melekh HaOlam” (Blessed Are You, Our God, King of the Universe), and taps into its reservoir of meaning and significance. Most important of all, however, I have found that it inspires a God-consciousness.

God-consciousness is the primary goal

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September 30, 2005

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Acting, Instead of Waiting

by RABBI MENDEL KATZMAN Chabad of Nebraska The story is told of a simple Jew who kept a tavern on a distant crossroads many days' journey from the nearest Jewish community. One year, he decided to make the trip to the Jewish town for Rosh Hashanah. When he entered the shul, it was already packed with worshippers and the service was well underway.

Scarcely knowing which way to hold the prayer book, he draped his tallit over his head and took a place against the back wall. Hours passed. Hunger was beginning to gnaw at his insides, but sounds of prayer around him showed no signs of abating. Visions of the holiday meal awaiting him at his lodgings made his eyes water.

What was taking so long? Haven’t we prayed enough?

Still the service stretched on. Suddenly, as the cantor reached a stirring passage, the congregation burst into tears. “Why is everyone weeping?” wondered the tavernkeeper. Then it dawned on him. Of course! They, too, are hungry. They, too, are thinking of the elusive meal and endless service.

But after a while the weeping let up, finally quieting to a sprinkling of pious worshippers. Our hungry tavern keeper’s hopes soared, but the prayers went on. Why have they stopped crying? he wondered. Are they no longer hungry? Then he remembered the cholent.

What a cholent he had waiting for him! Everything else his wife had prepared for the holiday meal paled in comparison. He distinctly remembered the juicy chunk of meat she had put into the pot when she set it on the fire the previous afternoon. And he knew one thing about cholent: the longer it cooks, the more sumptuous it is. A few hours of aching feet and a hollow stomach is a small price to pay.

Obviously, that’s what his fellow worshippers are thinking, as well. They, too, have cholents simmering.

No wonder they’ve stopped crying. Let the service go on, he consoled himself, the longer the better.

And on the service went. Soon the cantor launched into another moving piece. As his tremulous voice painted the awesome scene of divine judgment unfolding in the heavens, the entire shul broke down weeping once again. At this point, the dam burst in this simple Jew’s heart, for he well understood what was on his fellow worshippers’ minds. “Enough is enough!” he sobbed. “Never mind the cholent! It’s been cooking long enough! I’m hungry! I want to go home...!”

Comical as this may sound, we are all somewhat guilty or caught up in this same thought process. Often, rather than taking action--that which G-d awaits and expects from us, we get caught in the rhetoric, in the hype and the commentary of contemporary concerns.

Rather than talking about the tragedy of Katrina, let’s roll up our sleeves and reach out to her victims. If we see a need, let us race to offer assistance. Heart and soul, let us become more actively engaged in the mitzvot of the day the hour, and the moment. While the tavern keeper in our episode perhaps had an excuse for his ignorance and innocence, we do not have this luxury.

As the New Year begins, I offer my heartfelt wishes of Shana Tova U’metuka. May we all have the courage and determination to act upon the desires of G-d, to make decisions informed by G-d’s will.

May this be the year in which peace is finally achieved throughout the world through the coming of Moshiach.

The God-Conscious Life Continued from page 68 sinners. Despite this, the High Holidays hold a very important message for us. God is aware of the imperfect nature of humans. God is, after all, the One who created us. God never expected perfection from us. All that God ever asks is that we make the effort to be the best human beings that we can be, that we have a God-consciousness, that we always remember that God is observing our actions, and that we return to God in humility; admitting our imperfections and asking for another chance to do better.

During this High Holiday season, may we all merit to do teshuvah by returning to God and by embracing a God-conscious life. May this coming year be filled with berakhot that will illuminate our lives and inspire us to strive towards achieving the unachievable goal of selfperfection in the Divine image.

September 30, 2005

Ignorance of Judaism

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 71

SYNAGOGUES

by RABBI MYER KRIPKE Advisor for Beyt Shalom For the Reconstructionist group in Omaha and Council Bluffs, let me extend warm good wishes for the New Year 5766. Unlike all the other interpretations of Judaism in the United States, which were imported to America from abroad, Reconstructionism is native-born and home-raised.

As an American native, Reconstructionism is alive, alert and forward-looking. Reconstructionism looks on Judaism as a full civilization, for which religion is the most prominent member. In deed, in the United States, there is need to stimulate all of the elements that contribute to the vigor of that civilization.

First is the matter of language. Back at the very beginning of the 20th century, Solomon Schechter, who was brought from England to be the President of the Jewish Theological Seminary, understood instinctively that America was different from Europe, insisted that American Jewry must, and will, use English as its language of general use. But he insisted that American Jewry must be bi-lingual, and that Hebrew must become the second language of American Jews.

To the extent that we have succeeded, we are alive and well. To the extent that we have not succeeded, we have before us the great mountain we have yet to conquer.

Most American Jews can read the Hebrew words, for example, of the Siddur--that is to say, pronounce the words; but few have any real understanding of the language. If we are to continue, we must overcome this great flaw in our make-up.

The first line of attack is the adult. Course of study in the evening, after the work-a-day engagement, must give the adult Jew an opportunity to plunge himself into the vast sea of Judaism. He will start modestly, but eventually earn the rewards of full understanding. Those who don’t work at a daily occupation--and this number is constantly shrinking--have an advantage which the community should recognize and exploit. Education of children will follow closely, for adults cannot tolerate ignorance in their children.

When the community recognizes that ignorance of Judaism is the greatest vulnerability, it will be on the way Continued on page 73

Pulverente

BEYT SHALOM BOARD OF DIRECTORS President: Alice Weiss; Lay Leader: Marti Nerenstone; Treasurer: Jean Goldfein; Religious School Director: Jenni Schlossman; Board Members: Helene Lohman and Deana Liddy.

BAT MITZVAH Ariel Pilley, daughter of Dr. Mark Pilley and Karen Pilley.

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS President: Bonnie Bloch; Vice Presidents: Toba Cohen, Shami Jacobs, and Susie Shyken; Treasurer: Jake Besser; Secretary: Josh Gurock; Commissioners: Maggie Gerber, Mary Sue Grossman, Julee Katzman, Jonathan Kipnis, Ann Moskovits, Bruce Potash, Sheila Priluck, Lynne Saltzman, Dani Shrago, Dik Weiner and Norm Zevitz.

All past presidents who are members in good standing are members of the board.

SISTERHOOD CABINET Co-Presidents: Janet Kohll and Toba Cohen; Vice President of Fundraising: Bette Kozlen; Vice President of Membership: Maggie Gerber; Vice President of Programming: Annette Fettman; Vice President in charge of the Kitchen: Julee Katzman; Recording Secretary: Susan Polack; Corresponding Secretary: Sophie Schulman; Financial Secretary: Shirley Goodman Treasurer: Susie Shyken; Directors: Jane Cohen and Jeannette Nadoff. All past Sisterhood presidents are members of the Board.

NCSY President: Avigail Katzman; Vice President: Daniel Grossman; Co-Vice President of Outreach on the Midwest Region Board: Avigail Katzman.

BAR MITZVAH Yosef Abrahamson, son of Dinah Abrahamson.

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE President: Hyman Sukiennik; Vice Presidents: Sally Zipursky, Steve Pitlor, and Harold Zabin; Treasurer: Ron Feldman; Secretary: Sibby Wolfson; BESTT Chairman: Gloria Kaslow; Past president: Richard Fellman; Directors: Ellene Edelstein, Alan Goodman, Cary Grossman, Michael Hoberman, Shane Kotok, Jane Kulakofsky, Steve Meyer, Stanley Mitchell, Allan Noddle, Phil Ratner, Caryn Rifkin, Lloyd Roitstein, Dr.

Joel Schlessinger, Toby Schonfeld, Andrea Scioli, Melissa Shapiro, Dr. James Wax, Holly Weill, Harry Weiner, and Audrey Wiener SISTERHOOD President: Caryn Rifkin; Vice President of Program: Carole Lainof; Vice President of Membership: Carol Nathan; Secretary: Debbie Roitstein; Treasurer: Jorie Kravitz; and Past President: M’Lee Hasslinger.

MEN’S CLUB President: Harry Weiner; Vice Presidents: Ben Shapiro and Cary Grossman; Secretary/Treasurer: Scott Simon; and Past President: Larry Hasslinger.

HAZAK President: Jim Wax; Advisor: Alan Goodman; Secretary: Gloria Goodman; Treasurers: Ilse and Marcel Kahn; Program chairmen: Gloria Goodman and Natalie Rubin; Membership: Dee Goodman; Publicity: Frances Gottlieb; Members at large: Reva Oruch, Selma Sadofsky, and Tootie Simon.

UNITED SYNAGOGUE YOUTH President: Steve Meyer; Executive Vice President: Liatte Dotan; Religious Education Vice President: Seth Rich; Membership/Kadimah Vice President: Rachel Reno; Social Action Vice President: Aaron Murow; Communications Vice President: Ben Nachman; Freshman Representative: Salo Cemaj.

B’NAI MITZVAH Jaime Abramson, daughter of Mike and Sheri Abramson; Colin Belmont, son of Mark and Jill Belmont; Ariel Brodkey, son of Sharon Brodkey; Dayna Epstein, daughter of Jodi and Gary Epstein, Seth Fox, son of Dan Fox, Ben Gordon and Rebecca Gordon, son and daughter of Sandy and Bruce Gordon, Anna Grossman, daughter of Andrea and Cary Grossman, Sarah Hoberman, daughter of Tiffany and Michael Hoberman, Caroline Juster, daughter of Sorin and Sara Juster; Nathan Kahn, son of Kim and Marc Kahn, Jeffrey Libov, son of Marina and Dmitry Libov, Rachel Meyer, daughter of Marcia and Michael Meyer, Lev Nachman, son of Beth Staenberg and Gary Nachman; Shir Palmon, daughter of Roni Reiter-Palmon and Ophir Palmon; Rachel Preston, daughter of Sherri and Michael Preston, Jesse Reno, daughter of Juliana and Russ Reno, Brianna Sadofsky, daughter of Kelli and Paul Sadofsky, Marlee Skolkin, daughter of Andrea and Michael Skolkin, and Rachel Stein, daughter of Diane and Richard Stein.

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Page 72

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

SYNAGOGUES CHABAD OF NEBRASKA BOARD OF NEBRASKA Joel Alperson, Ed and Kathy Altman, Irving and Geri Epstein, Tom and Darlynn Fellman, Ike and Roz Friedman Foundation, Dr. Joel and Debbie Gellen, Donald and Maggie Gerber, Irwin and Ruth Goldenberg Leonard and Shirely Goldstein, Rabbi Allan and Rini Gonsher, R. L. Kaplan, Joe and Maxine Kirshenbaum, Milton and Marsha Kleinberg, Marvin and Sandra Kohll, David and Janet Kohll, Louis and Ivy Kohll, Justin Kohll Howard and Sharon Kooper, Denny and Lisa Lewis, Barbara Long, Dr. Eric and Julie Phillips, Sid and Regina Osten, Carl and Zoë Riekes, Michael and Fiona Scharf, Drs. Dan and Yaffa Schuller, Dr. Paul and Susann Shyken, Maury and Joan Udes, Dr. Tom and Elaine Urban, and Phil and Nancy Wolf.

Membership: Nancy Nogg and Linda Saltzman; Vice President of Development: Marta Fox; Vice Presidents of Religious Action: Becki Brenner and Susan Rothholz; Vice Presidents of Programming: Danielle Gordman, Bonnie Pfrenger and Rosie Zweiback; Vice President of Finance: Susan Lehr; Vice Presidents of Public Relations: Deb Marburg and Karli Newman; Vice Presidents of Religious Living: Jennifer Cohen, Wendy Reiss and Ellen Long; Recording Secretary: Jill Baron.

MEN’S CLUB President: Michael Silverman; Fredricks.

Treasurer:

Alan

OMAHA TEMPLE YOUTH GROUP President: Caroline Terry; Program Vice President: Sarah Bleicher; Social Action Vice President: David Anderson; Religious & Cultural Vice President: Samantha Long; Membership Vice President: Jacquelyn Neesman; Secretary: Sean Bernstein; Treasurer: Ashley Bernstein; Junior Youth Group Liaison: Anne Rips.

B’NAI MIZVAH Brittany Baines, daughter of Brigette and Kenny Baines; William Clark, son of Mindy and Wayne Clark; Alexander Finkle, son of Sue and Terry Finkle; Chloé Ginsburg, daughter of Cheri and Larry Ginsburg; Molly Goldberg, daughter of Wendy and David Goldberg; Scott Goldberg, son of Cindy and Bruce Goldberg; Hannah Grossman, daughter of Stephanie and Barry Grossman; Justin Idelman, son of Jill and George Idelman; Melanie Long, Samantha Long, Sarah Long, daugthers of Ellen Long; Aviva Marshall, daughter of Ilka Oberst and Gary Marshall; Daniel Pachman, son of Allison Latenser and Louis Pachman; Aaron Placzek, son of Kimberly and Matthew Placzek; Benjamin Prescott, son of Karen Schliefert and Mike Prescott; Brenna Robinson, daughter of Kimberly and Andrew Robinson; Julie Sadofsky, daughter of Linda and Rodney Sadofsky; Jack Schrager, son of Terri and Phillip Schrager; Nikolas Schrager, son of Laura and Richard Schrager; Joseph Slosburg, son of Martha and D. David Slosburg; Jordan Slutzky, son of Lesley and Jeffrey Slutzky; Alexander Terry, son of Dr. Michele Marsh and Dr. John Terry; Zoe Vann, daugther of Leslie Vann and Thomas Vann; Samuel Weinstine, son Melany and Marc Weinstine.

WOMEN OF REFORM JUDAISM-OMAHA President: Cindy Goldberg; President-Elect: Danielle Gordman; Past President: Nancy Nogg; Vice Presidents of

TIFERETH ISRAEL BOARD OF DIRECTORS President: Julie Brockman; Vice President: Debra

TEMPLE ISRAEL BOARD OF DIRECTORS President: Wendy Goldberg; President Elect: Jon Meyers; Vice Presidents: Andi Willensky and Sally Kaplan; Secretary: Amee Zetzman; Treasurer: John Lehr; Past President: Gary Kaplan; Board Members: Katherine Finnegan, Sam Fried, Edward Friedland, David Gilinsky, Cindy Goldberg , Danielle Gordman, Jill Idelman, Joan Marcus, Lois Milder, Murray Newman, Michael Norton, Magda Peck, Vicki Perlmeter, Jane Rips, Kimberly Robinson, Stacey Rockman, Janice Schneiderman, Jeffrey Schweid, Michael Silverman, Caroline Terry, and John Waldbaum

Evnen; Secretary: Jean Cahan; Treasurer: Howard Feldman; Trustees: David Brockman, Don Earl, and Jeff Mellen; Board Members: Charles Coren, Joyce Davidson, Michael Eppel, Robert Evnen, Richard Evnen, Dan Friedman, Jaine Graham, Nanci Hamicksburg, Rifka Keilson, Barb Kenyon, Marcia Kushner, Sheldon Kushner, Helen Misle, Jeffrey Payne, Betty Polsky, Rhoda Priesman, Al Weiss, and Cindi Weiss.

B’NAI MITZVAH Haleigh Brockman, daughter of Julie and David Brockman; Donnie Earl, son of Kim and Donald Earl; Emma Feldman, daughter of Lori and Howard Feldman; Ben Joseph Merliss, son of Lori and Andrew Merliss; and Kitra Liora Monnier, daughter of Elaine Monnier and Charles Geffen.

CONCERGATION B’NAI JESHURUN THE SOUTH STREET TEMPLE BOARD OF TRUSTEES President: Barbara Barron; Trustee and Communication Committee Chairman: David Feingold; Truste/Caring Committe Chairman: Sara Friedman; Trustee/Youth Education Committee Chairman: Tracy Gordon; Secretary: Lon Hollibaugh; Vice President and Membership Committee Chairman: Sarah Kelen; Trustee/Adult Education Committee Chairman: Rich Lombardi; Trustee and Social Hall Committee Chair, John Mosow; Trustee, Susan Poser; Treasurer/Financial Committee Chairman: Dave Rosenbaum; Trustee/Social Action Committee Chairman: Barb Straus; PastPresident/Fundraising Committee Chairman: Amy Zlotsky.

B’NAI MITZVAH Jonathan Feingold, son of David and Ellen Feingold; Nancy Catherine Ganz, daughter of Doug and Pam Ganz; Rachel Yael Lundholm, daughter of Janet Lundholm and Larry Lundholm.

May the New Year Bring You Health and Happiness

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September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

MARRIAGES IN 5765 Valerie Hoy Spellman and Aaron Zachary Batt Cathy Kully and James Benish Rachel Shyken and Jeffrey Bobrosky Sara Borodin and Dan Chandler Ann Greenfeld and Melvin Cohen Laurie Nicole Rhoten and Joshua Adam Cooper Laurie Brown and Jeffrey Epstein Rebecca Elaine Gitles and Clifford William Deutsch Stephanie DePorte and David Eshel Lesley Gendelman and Miles Ehrenkranz Robin Michelle Dann and Michael W. Ewoldt Christine Billings and Daniel Fried Judy Goodman and Kenneth Friednash Laura Grossman and Adam Frank Lisa Renee Coren and Bradford Stephen Green Heather Weiler and Ryan Joyce Zarina Kosinovsky and Elie Gorbatov Lisa T. Stewart and Forrest N. Krutter

Naomi Amdur and Ruvane Kurland Jamie Paper and Ryan Lercher Lourdes Secola and Sheldon Lerner Chavie Heifetz and Yonaton Myers Caryn Riekes and Andrew Parcel Erika Yabek and Noah Pollak Amy Cooper and Paul Rabinovitz Cari Perlmeter and John Rabroker Kate Koester and Daniel Rosen Teresa Kramer and Andrew Ruback Marcy Beth Krigsten and Kevin Aaron Saylan Carol Ann Schneider and Ed Schneider Angelyn Wollen and Jeff Shapiro Debbie Givner and Troy Schillie Stephanie Kucher and Michael Sigmond Sara Gordon and Asher Stoller Amy Renee Perlmeter and Brian Christopher Thomas Florina Yuz Mosenkis and Oleg Vinokurov

Page 73

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BIRTHS IN 5765 Japanese Sushi Shlomo, son of Aviva and Yosi Applebaum; Chana Helene, daughter of Keri and Phillip Bahar; Kaden Boyd, son of Mara and Kenneth Bates; Ella Joy, daughter of Terri Lynn and Mark Bornstein; Mika O’Mara, daughter of Kallen and Michael Bresel; Brittney Clignett, daughter of Eileen and Ed Clignett; Jack Ellison, son of Drs. Michael and Karen Cohen; Jemma Elisheva Coren, daughter of Abigail and Yehoshua Coren; Maya Bella, daughter of Ariela and Rabbi Baruch HaLevi; Elijah Charles Hoberman Becker, son of Robin and Brandon Becker; Noah Cohen Blair, son of Gabriella and Jason Blair; Isaac James, son of Saundra and Kevin Clarke; Ben Larmore, son of Emily and Josh Cooper; Sora Raizel, daughter of Mindy and Joel Forbes; Alex Michael, son of Jamie and Ted Friedland; Ashley Brooke, daughter of Paige and Chuck Gitles; Harrison Aron Goldstrom, son of Yesenia Osorio and Brad Goldstrom; Shira Rivka, daughter of Aviva and Ben Gonsher; Alexandra Shae, daughter of Debbie and Greg Greenberg; Camille Ella, daughter of Angel and Paul Horner; Haley Morgan, daughter of Laura and David Hornstein; Zoe Maya, daughter of Heather and Eric Jagher; Rena Bracha, daughter of Shanny and Yosef Katzman; Peyton Joseph, son of Heather and Mark Kelln; Brayden James, son of Amy Frankel and Evan Kleeberg; Zoe Grace, daughter of Marcy and Mike Klein; Jacob Gannon, son of Kelly and Thomas Kirk; Alec Absaroka, son of Ruth and Eric Konigsberg; Joshua Matthias, son of Debra Somberg and Johannes Koch; Reagan Ann, daughter of Jennifer and Brandon Koom; Alexander Michael, son of Traci and Lance Kugler; Neva Pearl Kushner, daughter of

Alissa and Benjamin; Benjamin Graham, son of Rachel and Josh Levitsky; Charles David, son of Tracy and Lester Lewis; Ivan Yan, son of Diana Senik and Dmitriy Masyuk; Katherine Isabel, daughter of Jennifer and Charles McKeag; Ainsley June, daughter of Jamie and Troy Meyerson; Abbey Michael, daughter of Emily Milder; Blythe Austin, daughter of Leslie and Todd Mogil; Tali Epstein, daughter of Rikki and Alon Mor; Isaac Joseph, son of Cindy and Joshua Persky; Manachem Richtman, son of Shani and Yosef Richtman; Jakob Noah, son of Rebecca and Brian Rosen; Jordan Elias, son of Karen and Rustin Ross; Ethan Ben, son of Erica and Barry Rubin; Nicholas Say, son of Tamara and Michael Say; Noah Harrison, son of Melissa and Michael Schop; Jordan Ava, daughter of Pamela and Matthew Schwab; Kayla Simone, daughter of Andreea and Michael Shnayder; Benjamin Reid, son of Debbie and Ken Shonfeld; Noah Solomon, son of Lesli and Michael Shrago; Aviva Chana, daughter of Liat and Gary Shyken; Ava Elizabeth, daughter of Claudia and Richard Sophir; Vivi Hope, daughter of Jane and Eric Spitz; Maxwell Phillip, son of Beth Spizman; Madison Aryn, daughter of Stacie and Michael Vereb; Ava Leigh, daughter of Ann and Adam Walter; Julia Weill, daughter of Holly and David Weill; Deena, Alon and Nadav, children of Sarah and Daniel Wigodsky; Julian Witkowski, son of Susan and Isaac Witkowksi; Mendel Solomon, son of Anette and Jeremy Wright; Allie Lauren, daughter of Elyse and David Zacharia; and Ruth Jeris, daughter of Jennifer and Ken Zeidman.

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DEATHS IN 5765 Rose Abrahams, William Abrahams, Helen Stein Babendure, Sarah Becker, Khaya Belenkaya, Gladys Bercutt, Sam Berk, Boris Bliacher, Diana (Dina) Bloom, Margaret Bloom, Ruth Allen Bonder, Pearl Bookin, Jack Brandt, Max Braw, Joel Louis Brezack, Benjamin Scott Brody, Lucille Weiss Brodkey, Joel Allen Brodsky, Norman Cain, LeRoy Canfield, Joel Newman Cherniss, Edith Cherwitz, Naomi Cohn, Audrey Cohen, Harold Cooperman, Marsha Coren, Sylvia Coren, Judith Ann Dandy, Ann Davis, Hannah Sperling Davis, Julia L. Davis, Stanely Diamond, Edith Edelstein, Leo Eisenstatt, Phillip Eisentstatt, Ida Fedman, Richard “Skip” Feintech, Lillian Lipsey Feldman, Joe Fellman, Arnold Fink, Bernard P. Fischer, Wendall J. Folsom, Josephine Rubnitz Fraenkel, Barbara K. Frankel, Dean Ellis Frankel, Rose Frankel, Fremette Fox, Harry W. Fox, Minnie Freeman, Philip Freeman, Robert E. Fry, Faye Gendler, Jonathan A. Goldstein, Sarah Goldstein, Bernice Gordon, Saul Graetz, Gerald Grant, Mildred Greenberg, Sue Hoberman Greenberg, Sarah Greenfield, Rose B. Gross, Joy M. Grossman, Monet Grossman, Fanny Manvitz Gummers, Willard “Bill” Worthington Halsted, Samuel Heyman, Virgil Hiatt, Warren Hoffman, Betty Hoppe, Brian Jackson, Lazar Gordon Kaplan, Meyer “Mickey” Kaplan, Yale J. Kaplan, Mildred Kayes, Bea Katz, Beatrice Diamond Katskee, Daniel Katzman, Evelyn F. Kenkel, John Kolm, Lillian Leiben Kurz, Norman Lain, Joseph Langnas, Mabel Lazer, Tibbye Levitz, Mark B. Levy, Golda Lieberman, Dorothy Kropman Lipp, Morris J. Lipp, Shirley Greenberg Maersch, Nathan Mandell, Milton Maurer, Bill Mazvinsky, Alice “Ally” Milder, Ben Miller, Beverly Morris, Thomas Mulnick, Gene McCreight,

Rosalie Zyser Newman, Ruth K. Nogg, Sam Norman, Harold Austen Oberman, Margaret Owen, Dorothy Parilman, Thelma Passer Reuben, Henry Riekes, Doie Robinson, Rabbi Irving Rosenbaum, Carl Rosenberg, Anne Rosenblatt, Mary Rosenbloom, Dorothy Rubinstein, Mark Salomon, Gavriel Sass, Betsy D. Rogoff Schekter, Betty Schekter, Ruby Schmidt, Ruby Schondelmeyer, Irwin “Irv” Schwartz, Judy Scioli, Edwin Esar Segall, Sara Seltzer, Ida Shafton, Claire Weitzman Shapiro, Irvin Sherman, Marva Sherman, Rose Sherman, Helen Slivka Sim, Gertrude Slutzky, Mark F. Salomon, Miriam Soshnik, Richard Spiegel, Sidney Speiglman, Helen Stern, Lois Stern, Fern Stone, Selwyn Sam Suvalsky, Gene Telpner, Garnet Tuttle, Dr. Frank G. Ullman, Constance Ellen Gordon Weiner, Albert White, Harvey Wine, Doris Wintroub, Monet Ziegman Wintroub, Michael Yablonski, Diane Granat Yalowtiz, and Syemour Zoob.

Ignorance of Judaism Continued from page 71 to rebuilding and reconstructing the fallen sukkah of Israel. May that day come soon!

All that having been said, it is apparent that we have indulged in this self-criticism in order to be sure that there is real meaning in our so-easily shared greetings for the New Year. May the New Year bring us closer to understanding and cherishing the heritage of learning that is ours. Learning is the key to strength and stability. It guarantees our future.

L’Shana Tova Tikatevu! We wish the whole community, including ourselves, a Happy and Productive New Year!

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

The Joys of Judaism

by GLORIA SHUKERT JONES One thing I learned while growing up, was never to discuss religion or politics.

These were taboo subjects by virtue of their being controversial if the people in question maintained opposing views.

However, I was recently approached by a non-Jewish friend, who asked me, “What’s it like to be Jewish?” Naturally, this gave me perfect opportunity to qvell about the special attributes of my heritage. I could have told her about the things I’ve come to love and appreciate about Judaism, which in some instances have gone without acknowledgement.

But at the same time, I didn’t want to discredit or offend anyone who wasn’t Jewish. I realize that not everyone is cut from the same mold, and that we are all individuals. While admirable traits do not belong to Jews exclusively, we can point to the pursuit of excellence, as one of our main characteristics. Our achievements take center stage, not only within minority parameters, but in the world at large.

We are all familiar with the outstanding contributions of Jews in the prestigious fields of science, medicine, education, arts and entertainment. These were easy issues to address, but still, I wanted a little time to think about what to say tactfully. So I suggested we meet for lunch the next day, and I would be happy to explain what I could.

As a child, I felt special and privileged to be Jewish, because I was taught we were the “Chosen” people. I am young enough to recapture the joy and delight of our festive occasions, and old enough to recall the days I went to Sunday School at the old Jewish Community Center on 20th and Dodge Streets. It was there I began to have an understanding of what Judaism is all about.

We are survivors. Our ancestors were persecuted, ostracized, made to endure unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust, and driven from their homelands.

However, we have emerged stronger than ever. I refer to the early 1900’s when there was an influx of Jews to our country from Eastern Europe, seeking asylum from Czarist oppression. During and following World War II, we again saw mass emigrations by European Jews, escaping Nazism and later, Communist Russia.

New Year Greetings

From Biblical times when Moses led us out of Egypt, to the present, where we are still fighting for peace in our beloved Israel, it seems we have come full circle.

We are of a hardy stock. Since volunteering at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, I’ve discovered that many of the residents, live well into their 90’s, some even reaching 100 or older. But longevity is not necessarily a paradigm of Judaism, nor is it the most important. I think it’s the way we live that sets us apart from the mainstream, and could conceivably add years to our lives, and life to our years.

We will continue to grow in our faith and endow future generations with our legacies of love and charity; we will continue to enjoy the quiet beauty, the values and rich traditions of Judaism. And finally, there is a certain indefinable aura surrounding us, which binds us together and keeps us unique.

We come from very close-knit families.

Our elderly parents are revered and cared for. We take pride in our children and see to it they are well educated and provided for. We give generously to charities, not only to our Jewish Federation and synagogues here at home, but also to our people in Israel, to our fighting troops in Iraq, and to other oppressed nations.

Fundraising for humanitarian efforts is the primary focus of many Jewish organizations.

We are serious about education. Our people have an insatiable desire to learn, and seem to have above-average intelligence. We have business sense; we have common sense. As a result, we strive for, and achieve success throughout life. We don’t take good health for granted. We are conscientious about what we eat, we work out in the gym or health club. We see our doctors and dentists when necessary, and yes, remember to fasten our seat belts.

We are law-abiding citizens. The crime rate and recidivism among Jews is very low. I worked in the criminal justice system of local government for 34 years, in

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both adult and juvenile divisions. During that time, very few Jews ever came before the courts. Substance abuse, and even traffic violations were comparatively minimal.

We are community oriented, spiritual, and worship in the synagogues of our choosing. We are always eager to lend a helping hand when needed, and are concerned for the welfare of others. We are kind, compassionate and caring.

These were just a few of the things I discussed the next day. I also explained that we were called the “Chosen” people because we were chosen to receive the Torah, our greatest blessing and the very essence of Judaism, and the Ten Commandments by which we govern our lives. Then she asked why, if we were the chosen people, did our ancestors have such a bad time of it? And shouldn’t we be up for a reward soon?

These were the more difficult questions, better left to the rabbis and learned scholars. And perhaps even they don’t have all the answers all of the time. If that be the case, then I am in distinguished company.

So in absence of certainty, I could only speculate. “Maybe we were being tested to see how quickly we could bounce back from adversity.” “Well,” she observed, “I think you’ve certainly proven yourselves in that area. And your people have helped make the world a better place in which to live. What more can you do? It would seem it’s payback time.”

Whatever will be, will be. No one can fully explain the centuries-old mystique of our religion. What’s important to us, is what’s happening right now. We will continue to grow in our faith and endow future generations with our legacies of love and charity; we will continue to enjoy the quiet beauty, the values and rich traditions of Judaism. And finally, there is a certain indefinable aura surrounding us, which binds us together and keeps us unique.

Hopefully, I helped my friend know just a little bit more about Jewish people, how they live, what they think, and who they are. Most important of all, I walked away from our meeting with renewed pride in being a member of our “Chosen” People --A winner’s choice, I might add.

Creating Jewish Memories

by KAREN TURPEN I do not have the childhood memories of Judaism of the born Jew. My path to Judaism was that of a convert drawn to the beauty, wisdom and truth of the Torah and Judaism.

Becoming a convert is not easy. It took a year of reading and study before I had learned enough to make an informed decision to join myself to the Jewish people. My rabbi repeatedly reminded me that I was not just changing religions, but I was joining an ancient desert tribe and it was important for me to understand and accept the traditions, customs and language of that tribe in order to be a full member of the community.

For me, the path to Judaism is through its traditions.

There is strength and comfort in keeping the Sabbath, praying the familiar prayers at home and in the synagogue and following the traditions as the year cycles around. Thousands of years have gone by since Abraham’s nomadic lifestyle became chapter one in the continuing story of the modern Jew. Our people have experienced war and peace, bigotry and prosperity, but we have never lost our identity. Some countries have tried to eliminate us; others have attempted to assimilate us into their cultures. No matter their methods, both have tried to stop us from being Jews. We have survived largely because our traditions have always been there to unite us and give us strength.

The unity of the language, prayers and customs has united a diverse people from all over the world into one people. As long as we cling to this, we cannot be defeated.

When I pray in B’nai Israel Synagogue in Council Bluffs and listen to the voices repeating the ancient Hebrew words, I am reminded that millions have prayed these same prayers before me and received the same comfort and feeling of unity and peace.

The future will not change this. Jewish people will continue to speak as one when they enter the presence of G-d and it is our traditions that define who we are.

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Compiled by TZVI KAHN FRANCE--Anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi for JTA slogans are scrawled on some 30 tombSEPTEMBER 2004 stones in a Christian cemetery.

CHICAGO--MRIs are more effective PARIS--Longtime Palestinian leader at detecting breast cancer caused by gene Yasser Arafat dies in a Paris hospital after mutations occurring in some two percent spending several days on life support.

Israeli of Ashkenazi women than are mammoWASHINGTON--Former graphies, according to a new study. The Cabinet minister and Soviet refusenik study involving the mutation to the Natan Sharansky’s new book, The Case BRCA genes, which have been linked to for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to breast and ovarian cancers in Ashkenazi Overcome Tyranny and Terror, wins him a Jewish women, is published in the meeting with President Bush.

Journal of the American Medical BOSTON--The City Council of Association.

Somerville, MA, considers a resolution to JERUSALEM--Two Israelis are killed divest city holdings in Israel. The local when a suicide bomber strikes near a Jewish community and national Jewish Jerusalem bus stop. organizations mobilize to defeat the iniWASHINGTON--U.S. officials revoke tiative, but divestment supporters the visa of a controversial Swiss Muslim pledge to try again.

JERUSALEM--Israel passes a law who was to be a visiting scholar at the University of Notre Dame, in Indiana. restricting interrogators in its domestic Under terms of the Patriot Act, the U.S. security service, Shin Bet, from using Department of State announces that it’s force against suspected terrorists. The law revoking a visa granted to Tariq rules out employing what the Shin Bet Ramadan, who has said that French calls “moderate physical pressure,” tactics Jewish intellectuals are more beholden to such as sleep deprivation and shaking their religious and ethnic identity than to meant to coerce terror suspects into cooperating with interrogators. universal values.

DAMASCUS, Syria--Hamas blames NEW YORK--Moshe Rivlin, a former Israel for the assassination of one of its leader of the Jewish National Fund/Keren top members in Syria. Izzadin Sheik Keyemeth LeIsrael, dies at 79.

Khalil, long on Israel’s list of terrorist JERUSALEM--An Israeli military fugitives, was killed by a car bomb in court sentences Azziz Mustafa Salha, 23, Damascus. Israeli officials say they have to life in prison for his involvement in the murder of two Israeli reserve soldiers in a no knowledge of the operation.

Ramallah police station in October 2000.

OCTOBER 2004 GENEVA--Col. Muammar Gadhafi’s Footage of Salha holding up his bloodson meets Israeli diplomats, which some stained hands for the Palestinian mob see as indicating a desire to normalize gathered outside the police station was shown around the world.

Libya’s relations with the Jewish state.

ROMANIA--On the country’s first Holocaust Remembrance Day, Romania’s president admits that Romanian Jews suffered during the Holocaust.

FRANCE--A French university cancels a lecture by a leading far-right politician accused of Holocaust denial. The University of Lyon III cancels the lecture by Bruno Gollnisch, a member of the European Parliament from the National Front, after President Bush waves to supporters at a Jacksonville, FL, rally, scores of students storm Oct. 23, 2004. He won re-election the next month against Sen. John Kerry (D-MA).

Credit: Bush campaign the lecture hall.

DECEMBER 2004 JERUSALEM--Israel marks a quiet JERUSALEM--Prime Minister Ariel 10th anniversary of its peace accord with Sharon fires four Cabinet ministers after Jordan.

JERUSALEM--The Knesset formally they vote against Israel’s 2005 budget. authorizes Israel’s withdrawal from the The ministers, members of the liberal Shinui Party, voted against the $60 bilGaza Strip.

NEW YORK--Benjamin Mehlman, a lion budget to protest funding for relifounder and former president of the gious groups.

WASHINGTON--President Bush signs Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, dies a bill touted by Jewish organizations that at age 94. would provide federal funding for disNOVEMBER 2004 JERUSALEM--About 20,000 Israelis abled students in religious schools Even gather to pray in Jerusalem to protest the many Jewish groups that have opposed government’s plan to withdraw from the other programs that give federa funds to private schools back the Disabilities Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.

WASHINGTON--George Bush earns Education Improvement Act of 2004, saying there is an obligation to fund eduabout 24 percent of the Jewish vote--up 5 percentage points from the 19 percent cation programs for students whose pubwho voted for Al Gore in 2000--in lic schools do not meet their needs.

NEW YORK--The FBI subpoenas four defeating Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) to retain the presidency. Jewish Rep. Martin senior staffers at the American Israel Frost (R-Texas) loses his seat to another Public Affairs Committee to appear incumbent, Pete Sessions (R- Texas) in a before a grand jury. The subpoenas folnew district, while Reps. Debbie low suspicions that a former Pentagon Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) an Allyson official passed a classified draft policy Schwartz (D-PA) gain new seats. After statement on Iran to AIPAC, which the election, there are 11 Jews in the allegedly then passed it on to Israel.

Senate and 26 in the House.

Continued on page 77

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 77

Highlights of Jewish News: 5765 Continued from page 75 JERUSALEM--Israeli Druse Azzam Azzam returns to Israel after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak reduces his 15-year jail sentence for espionage by half. In exchange, Israel frees six Egyptian students who were caught sneaking into the Jewish state from the Sinai and accused of planning to kill soldiers an rob a bank.

ATLANTA--A U.S. court rules in favor of an inmate who wants to wear a yarmulke and receive kosher food in jail. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit unanimously upholds a law passed by Congress that requires state prisons receiving federal funds to allow inmates to practice their religion.

CHICAGO--A jury in a federal courthouse rules that three Islamic organizations--the Islamic Association for Palestine, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and the Quranic Literary Institute--and an individual named Muhammad Salah must pay a Jewish family $156 million in damages for the 1996 murder of its son in Israel. The defendants had provided financial support to Hamas, the group responsible for the murder.

SOUTHEAST ASIA--A tsunami claims more than 100,000 lives, sparking aggressive relief efforts from numerous Jewish groups.

JERUSALEM--Prime Minister Ariel Sharon names Shimon Peres his senior deputy. The move comes as part of Sharon’s efforts to join forces with the Labor Party to push through his Gaza Strip withdrawal plan.

JANUARY 2005 LONDON--A British newspaper poll ranks Israel the country least deserving of international support.

JERUSALEM--Mahmoud Abbas handily wins the presidency of the Palestinian Authority in the first election since Yasser Arafat’s death, claiming 62% of votes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

JERUSALEM--The vice chairman of Citigroup,

Stanley Fischer, is named governor of the Bank of Israel. security zone in southern Lebanon in May 2000.

JERUSALEM--Israeli Attorney General Menachem JERUSALEM--Ariel Sharon’s new unity government is sworn in, consisting of the prime minister’s Likud Mazuz decides that the Jewish National Fund must Party, the opposition Labor Party and the United Torah make its land available to both Jews and Arabs.

KRAKOW, Poland--Close to 40 heads of state and Judaism faction.

WASHINGTON--President Bush nominates Michael foreign ministers are among 7,000 people attending a Chertoff, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the memorial marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, who is Jewish, to head of Auschwitz, including about 1,000 survivors. the Department of Homeland Security.

FEBRUARY 2005 NEW YORK--For the first time in its history, the WASHINGTON--Resolutions praising Palestinian United Nations marks the anniversary of the liberation Authority elections pass overwhelmingly in the U.S. of Auschwitz.

Senate and House of WASHINGTON--Condoleezza Representatives.

Rice, who has pledged to work diliWASHINGTON--In his gently on Israeli-Palestinian issues, is State of the Union address, confirmed as U.S. secretary of state, President Bush proposes replacing Colin Powell. Three Jewish $350 million in U.S. aid for senators--Barbara Boxer (D-CA); the Palestinians.

Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ); and Carl EGYPT--Prime Minister Levin (D-MI)--vote against her conAriel Sharon and Palestinian firmation: Authority President JERUSALEM--An Israeli governMahmoud Abbas declare an ment report finds that the number of Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire at violent anti-Semitic acts jumped draa summit in Sharm el-Sheik. matically in Britain in 2004 to 77, up NEW YORK--Civil rights from 55 in 2003. lawyer Lynne Stewart, NEW YORK--The American Jewish Thai villager Sukanya Waharak, whose children Arabic interpreter Mohamed Distribution Committee receive a scholarship from the American Jewish Yousry and postal worker Joint announces that it has raised more than Joint Distribution Committee, stands near her Ahmed Abdel Sattar are house in Krabi, Thailand. Credit: Guy Sharett/JTA convicted in federal court $12 million for tsunami relief.

NEW YORK--The United Nations rebukes Lebanon for providing material support to a terrorist organizafor continuing to claim a section of its border with tion. The three carried messages between members of an Israel. The Security Council resolution, which passes Egyptian-based terrorist organization and Omar Abdel unanimously, says the position taken by Beirut is “not Rahman, a cleric imprisoned for life for crimes including compatible” with U.N. findings that Israel had left an attempt to destroy several New York landmarks.

Lebanese territory completely when it withdrew from its Continued on page 78

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

Highlights of Jewish News: 5765 Continued from page 77 JERUSALEM--Israel names Yuval Diskin to replace Avi Dichter as head of Shin Bet, its domestic security service.

NEW YORK--The Artscroll publishing house completes its 73-volume translation of the Talmud, a $23 million project that took more than 15 years.

ROXBURY, CT--Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller, who is Jewish, best known for Death of a Salesman and The Crucible dies at age 89.

MARCH 2005 NEW YORK--Tens of thousands of Jews gather in Madison Square Garden and other locations throughout the world to mark the end of the Daf Yomi, a sevenyear cycle of Talmud study.

DETROIT--Max Fisher, a Jewish adviser to every Republican president since Eisenhower, dies at age 96.

WASHINGTON--President Bush nominates John Bolton as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, sparking a contentious battle between Democrats and Republicans over his confirmation. Bolton is an ardent advocate of U.N. reform.

WASHINGTON--The U.S. House of Representatives votes 389-43 to give $200 million in aid to the Palestinians.

WASHINGTON--President Bush nominates Paul Wolfowitz, who is Jewish, to head the World Bank.

WEST BANK--Israel gives the Palestinian Authority control of Jericho an Tulkarm as part of the cease-fire agreement reached between Israeli Prim Minister Ariel Sharon and P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas at a February summit.

PARIS--Attacks on French Jews and Muslims and their institutions have almost doubled--from 833 in 2004 to 1,565-- according to a report issued by Franceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Consultative Commission of Human Rights.

JERUSALEM--The Knesset approves the 2005 state budget, marking a major political victory for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and removing the las legislative obstacle to his plans to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

NEW YORK--Columbia University issues a report investigating charges that

pro-Palestinian professors bullied proIsrael students. The report finds that one faculty member â&#x20AC;&#x153;exceeded commonly accepted boundsâ&#x20AC;? in responding to a studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s question about whether Israel sometimes warns Palestinians before it undertakes military operations.

JERUSALEM--An Israeli-Arab player scores a key goal in the final minutes of a World Cup qualifying match, helping Israel advance to the next round of th tournament. Abbas Suwanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goal is greeted with roaring cheers from 40,000 fans in the soccer stadium near Tel Aviv.

APRIL 2005 ROME--Pope John Paul II, who made positive Jewish-Catholic relations a pillar of his papacy, dies at age 84. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany is selected to succeed him.

WASHINGTON--Sandy Berger, President Clintonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s national security adviser, pleads guilty to a misdemeanor for removing classified documents from the National Archives. He later is fined $50,000 for the offense.

BROOKLINE, MA--Nobel Prize-winning author Saul Bellow, who is Jewish, best known for such novels as Herzog and The Adventures of Augie March, dies at 89.

CRAWFORD, Texas--Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets with President Bus at his ranch. Bush reportedly insists that Israel not expand settlements without negotiating with the Palestinians, though he also repeats a previous statement that facts on the ground, including major population centers in the West Bank, must be taken into account in any peace talks.

WASHINGTON--Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL), the chairman of the U.S. House International Relations Committee, announces his retirement. Hyde, 81, was known to be friendly to Israel, particularly focusing on religious freedom for Christians in Israel.

WASHINGTON--The American Israel Public Affairs Committee fires two to employees--policy director Steve Rosen and senior Iran analyst Keith Weissman-due to allegations raised by an FBI investigation that they mishandled classified information.

WASHINGTON--President Bush signs legislation earmarking $200 million in aid to the Palestinians.

BERLIN--Germany dedicates its new Holocaust memorial. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is a sea of 2,700 cement steles in the heart of the city.

PARIS--A French appeals court finds Le Monde, the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading daily newspaper, guilty of â&#x20AC;&#x153;racial defamationâ&#x20AC;? for an article on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that was harshly critical Omahan Bea Karp, hidden as a child during the Holocuast, of Jews. is one of 18,000 who participate in the 18th anniversary of JERUSALEM--First lady the March of the Living in May in Poland.

Laura Bush visits Jerusalem as NEW YORK--The United Nations part of a Middle East tour.

Commission on Human Rights condemns NEW YORK--Israeli Prime Minister anti-Semitism in two separate resolutions.

Ariel Sharon comes to New York, where Israeli he defends his plans to withdraw from the JERUSALEM--Former President Ezer Weizman dies at age 80.

Gaza Strip in meetings with various CRAWFORD, TX--President Bush American Jewish groups. meets with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah WA S H I N G T O N - - P a l e s t i n i a n at Bushâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ranch. Bush reportedly stresses Authority President Mahmoud Abbas the need for the Saudis to offer financial meets with President Bush at the White support to the Palestinian Authority.

House. Bush offers $50 million in direct BEIRUT, Lebanon--Syria formally financial assistance to the Palestinian withdraws its troops from Lebanon, end- Authority, defying congressional direcing its 29-year occupation of the country. tions not to send the money directly to LONDON--Britainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Association of the P.A. because of its past corruption University Teachers votes to boycott two and ties to terrorism.

Israeli universities over Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s treatment JUNE 2005 of the Palestinians. The boycott, which NEW YORK--Gershon Jacobson, the sparks outrage in the Jewish world, is founder and publisher of the Yiddish-lanoverturned in May. guage newspaper Der Algemeiner MAY 2005 Journal, dies at age 70.

JERUSALEM--Natan Sharansky NEW YORK--Hundreds of thousands resigns from Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s government to of people march down Fifth Avenue in protest the planned withdrawal from the the annual Salute to Israel parade. Many Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. onlookers are clad in orange, signifying JERUSALEM--Israel freezes the hand- their opposition to Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plan to withover of West Bank cities to the Palestinians draw from the Gaza Strip. after they ignore pledges to arrest wanted CORDOBA, Spain--The Organization terrorists and disar terrorist groups. for Security and Cooperation in Europe KRAKOW, Poland--Some 18,000 holds its third annual Conference on marchers mark the 60th anniversary of Anti-Semitism and Other Forms of the liberation of the Nazi concentration Intolerance. For the first time, the meetcamps. At Birkenau, marchers take part in ing on anti-Semitism includes discussions what organizers describe as the largest on prejudice against other groups.

Holocaust memorial ceremony ever.

Continued on page 79

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Highlights of Jewish News: 5765 Continued from page 78 nominates Richard Jones, a former TAMPA, FL--A former professor at a ambassador to Kuwait and Lebanon, as U.S. university is accused of living a dou- the U.S. ambassador to Israel, replacing ble life as a conduit for Islamic Jihad as Daniel Kurtzer. the trial of Sami Al-Arian opens in NEW YORK--Two El Al flights leave Tampa. Prosecutors allege that the for- for Israel carrying the largest single-day mer University of South Florida professor aliyah of North American Jews to the raised money and organized operations Jewish state. The flights are sponsored by for the terrorist group.

Nefesh b’Nefesh and the Jewish Agency WASHINGTON--The U.S. House of for Israel.

Representatives overwhelmingly passes a BUENOS AIRES--Argentine President resolution urging the United Nations to Nestor Kirchner admits that previous address anti-Semitism and anti-Israel governments covered up facts that could policies. have helped solve the 1994 bombing of NEW YORK--Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, the AMIA Jewish community center, the longtime chancellor of the Jewish which killed 85 people.

Theological Seminary, the Conservative JERUSALEM--Prime Minister Ariel flagship institution, Sharon orders funding for a soccer stadimovement’s announces his retirement. um in the Israeli-Arab town of Sakhnin.

BOCA RATON, FL--Rabbi Nahum ROME--Israel is outraged when new Sarna, a leading Bible scholar at Brandeis Pope Benedict XVI neglected to include University, dies at age 82. the Jewish state in a list of countries that WASHINGTON--The U.S. Supreme had suffered terrorist attacks, despite Court rules that displays of the Ten recent bombing that killed five people.

Commandments are permissible on state WASHINGTON--Congress passes a grounds but not in courthouses. bill extending daylight-saving time. Some BERLIN--Germany modifies a tough Conservative and Orthodox groups fear immigration law, which took effect Jan. the bill will force observant Jews to 1, averting a feared clampdown on immi- choose between getting to work on time gration by Jews from the FSU. and saying prayers at the proper hour.

JULY 2005 AUGUST 2005 MOSCOW--The Reform movement WASHINGTON--After a contentious announces a plan to translate the Plaut nomination battle in the Senate ended in Modern Torah Commentary into Russian, a stalemate, President Bush uses a recess which would be the first modern transla- appointment to make John Bolton the tion of the Torah into Russian.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

NEW YORK--According to a report in NEW YORK--Jewish groups join to The Wall Street Journal, French and form a new Holocaust-study program for South African researchers find that cir- U.S. high school students. The Echoes cumcision reduces the risk of contracting and Reflections program was conceived HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, by 70%. by Yad Vashem, the Anti-Defamation WASHINGTON--SaveDarfur.org, a League and Steven Spielberg’s Survivors coalition of religious groups that includes of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. a number of Jewish organizations, holds JERUSALEM--A group of gay, lesbian a prayer weekend to protest the genocide and transgendered Jews visits Israel on a in Darfur, Sudan. In addition, a coalition mission sponsored by the United Jewish of Jewish groups calls on President Bush Communities federation umbrella organto intervene in the crisis. ization.

WASHINGTON--U.S. Supreme Court BERLIN--International leaders of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor announces Reform Jewry hold their first meeting her resignation. President Bush nomi- ever with Germany’s chancellor to pronates Judge John Roberts t replace her. mote Jewish pluralism in the European ATLANTA--The United Church of nation, but Gerhard Schroeder tells them Christ calls on members to employ “eco- that he doesn’t want to get involved in nomic leverage” against Israel, including internal Jewish matters. possible divestment, at its biennial synod, joining other mainline Protestant churches also considering economic pressure on Israel regarding its treatment of the Palestinians.

GAZA--Hamas declines Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ offer to join the P.A. government.

LONDON--Four suicide bombers kill 52 people, including three Jews, and wound more than 700 aboard three subway trains and a double-decker bus.

Two weeks later, more blasts on a double-decker bus and the sub- After the bombs struck on July 7, 2005, this London subway injure one person. way train near Kings Cross was halted, and passengers WA S H I N G T O N - - I s r a e l had to be evacuated through smoky tunnels. A passenger requests aid from the United took this photo with a cell phone. Credit: Adam Stacey States, totaling $2.2 billion, to support its Gaza withdrawal plan.

ROME--Jewish catacombs under the GLENEAGLES, Scotland--Industrial- ancient city of Rome thought to be ized nations meeting at the G8 summit in copies of Christian sites are found to preScotland pledge $3 billion in assistance to date them by at least a century, suggestthe Palestinians. ing that Christian burial practices may WASHINGTON--Condoleezza Rice have been modeled on Jewish ones. visits the Middle East in an effort to calm WASHINGTON--The U.S. Air Force tensions following several terror attacks issues new guidelines for religious tolerin Israel, including a bombing in Netanya ance that stress respect for others. The that killed five people, in advance of the guidelines come after cadets at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs said Gaza Strip withdrawal.

JERUSALEM--Israel hosts the 17th the academy had a strongly Christian feel.

NEW YORK--Cynthia Culpepper, Maccabiah Games--the Jewish Olympics.

An Israeli-Arab swimmer wins Israel’s believed to be the first pulpit rabbi to announce that she has AIDS, dies at 43. first gold medal at the 2005 games.

WASHINGTON--President Bush Continued on page 80

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 79

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Page 80

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

Highlights of Jewish News

Smell that Brisket! Recipes for Rosh Hashanah

Continued from page 79 WASHINGTON--Federal charges are filed against two former employees o the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman are charged with “conspiracy to communicate national defense information to persons not entitled to receive it,” starting in 1999. The two plead not guilty.

JERUSALEM--Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resigns, ostensibly to protest the Gaza Strip withdrawal.

NEW YORK--The Presbyterian Church (USA) says it may divest from four companies: Caterpillar, Motorola, ITT Industries and United Technologies unless they stop doing business with Israel.

JERUSALEM--Israeli soldiers and police forces evict thousands of settlers from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank as part of the government’s plan to “disengage” from the Palestinians. Despite predictions of civil war, the action passes relatively peacefully. The settlements are then bulldozed by Israel.

ROME--Members of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultation meet with Pope Benedict XVI, his first audience with an official Jewish delegation since assuming the papacy.

COLOGNE, Germany--Pope Benedict XVI visits a German synagogue rebuilt after being destroyed by the Nazis.

NEW ORLEANS--Jews from the Crescent City seek shelter with their brethren in Baton Rouge, Houston and elsewhere as a levee breach in the wake of powerful Hurricane Katrina sends floodwaters surging into the beleaguered city.

SEPTEMBER 2005 NEW YORK--A U.S. court froze the Palestinian Authority’s U.S. assets because of an unpaid court order for $116 million regarding a 1996 terrorist attack.

JERUSALEM--The exhumation of settlers from a Gaza Strip cemetery and their reburial in Israel were completed.

JERUSALEM--Israel sent personnel and relief supplies to help the U.S. Gulf Coast recover from Hurricane Katrina.

JERUSALEM--Palestinians ransacked and torched synagogues left behind after Israel completed its Gaza Strip withdrawal.

NEW YORK--Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf made a historic address to American Jewish groups coordinated by the American Jewish Congress. During the talk, Musharraf said his country would establish ties with Israel only after a Palestinian state is created.

VIENNA--Nazi hunter, Simon Wiesenthal, dies at age of 96. Wiesenthal sifted through tens of thousands of documents and followed countless leads, compiling archives that helped bring some 1,100 Nazi criminals to justice.

by BARBARA GOTTESMAN Making a brisket or noodle kugel doesn’t have to take hours. As the holiday season approaches, Manischewitz has an array of seasonings, foods, and condiments that can be used to create recipes that last a life time.

With Manischewitz products you can create the tastes and memories of your youth and still have time to enjoy the holiday with your family and friends. For a main entrée the first night of Rosh Hashanah, the night before Yom Kippur and any of the eight nights of Chanukah, cook a brisket ala Manischewitz: TRADITIONAL BEEF BRISKET WITH MANISCHEWITZ BRISKET & STEAK SEASONING 1/4 cup diced yellow or green peppers 1/4 cup diced onions 1/4 cup cider vinegar 1 tsp Manischewitz Brisket & Steak Seasoning 3 tbps vegetable or olive oil 1/2 cup Manischewitz Premium White Grape Juice 3 to 4 pound brisket Preparation time: 20 minutes.

Combine all ingredients except the brisket in a bowl. Place brisket in pan and sear on top of stove for 2 minutes on each side. Remove brisket and place in baking or roasting dish. Pour marinade over brisket and cover with top or aluminum foil and let marinade overnight in refrigerator. (If you can’t marinate overnight, do so starting in the morning of the day you plan to serve it.) After marinating, preheat oven to 375° and cook brisket, covered, for 11/2 hours. Turn it over and cook for another 1/2 hour.

Serves 4-6 people because the brisket tends to shrink.

For more company, buy two briskets and double the ingredients in the marinade.

Serve Brisket with Manischewitz Potato Pancakes, ready in less than 10 minutes and can be topped with Manischewitz Honey Apple Butter Spread.

Add even more delectable flavor to the holiday brisket and pancake entrée with Manischewitz Creamy Horseradish sauces. Serve a dollop of the Creamy Horseradish Sauce Original, with Dill or with Lemon right next to the brisket or place on table as a dipping sauce for the brisket, pancakes or vegetables.

But, no holiday meal is complete without Noodle Kugel. The following recipes use Manischewitz premium wide noodles or low-cholesterol noodles.

NOODLE KUGEL 12 oz Manischewitz wide noodles 3/4 cup raisins 3/4 cup chopped nuts 1 teaspoon salt 4 eggs well beaten 1/2 cup butter or margarine 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon Cook Manischewitz Wide Noodles according to package.

Drain well. Add sugar, raisins, nuts, salt and eggs. Melt fat in baking pan (about 8x12”). Grease the pan and pour the remaining fat into the noodle mixture. Blend well and spread mixture in the baking pan. Sprinkle evenly with cinnamon.

Bake in moderate oven 375º for 50 minutes or until browned.

“Everyone likes a good sweet noodle kugel at Rosh Hashanah time. Serving it in individual portions makes for an elegant presentation and helps with portion control/or the dieters at the table. I like using parchment paper cups or ramekins,” says Susie Fishbein, author of Kosher by Design.

INDIVIDUAL PEACH NOODLE KUGEL Non-stick cooking spray 1 tablespoon sea salt 1(12-ounce bag) Manischewitz® Premium Enriched Wide Noodles 6 eggs 1/2 cup sugar 1(8-ounce)can pineapple chunks, with juice 1(15-ounce)can diced peaches, with juice 1/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries 4 tablespoon margarine 1 tablespoon cinnamon 2 tablespoon sugar Preheat oven: 350º. Cooking Time: 35 minutes.

Serves: 9 Mini-Kugels Fill a large pot three quarters of the way with water.

Add 1 tablespoon of salt. When the water is boiling add the noodles and cook, as per directions on the package until al dente. If using ramekins, spray each one with non-stick cooking spray. While the noodles cook, crack the eggs into a medium mixing bowl. Add the sugar and the juices from the cans of pineapple and peaches. With an electric mixer, beat until combined and foamy.

Add the pineapple chunks, diced peaches, and cranberries. Stir with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula.

When the noodles are done, drain them and return them to the pot. Add the margarine and allow the heat from the noodles to melt the margarine, stir to combine. Pour the egg mixture into the pot and toss to combine. Ladle the noodle mixture into the ramekins or parchment cups. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet.

In a small bowl mix the cinnamon with 2 tablespoons sugar. Sprinkle evenly over the top of each kugel.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 81

High Holiday Humor

ORGANIZATIONS Midge Bowers, Ron Brodkey, Tuffy (Arnold) Epstein, Robert Evnen, Caryl Greenberg, Gary Javitch, Nan Katz, Janie Kulakofsky, Sheldon Kushner, Ed Malashock, Ira Nathan, Max Neiden, Vicki Perlmeter, Caryn Rifkin, Larry Roffman, Jan Wayne, Ex officio: Louise Abrahamson, Joanie Bernstein, Lois Friedman; Board Advisor Oral Histories: Ben Nachman; Board Advisor Archives/Exhibits: Doug Hartman.

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN OMAHA SECTION President: Roxanne Kahn; Executive Vice President/ Planning and Evaluation Chairwoman/Parliamentarian: Deb Marburg; Vice Presidents of Community Service: Becky Brenner and Harriet Epstein; Vice Presidents of Public Affairs & Education: Dana Cohn and Andee Scioli; Vice Presidents of Membership: Leslie Eades and Mimi Silverman; Vice Presidents of Fundraising: Tina Meyer and Shelly Pichik; Vice President of Public Relations: Sharon Bargas; Treasurer: Iris Ricks; Financial Secretary: Pam Friedlander; Corresponding Secretary: Traci Kugler; Recording Secretary: Julie Stein; Directors: Stacey Atlas, Jill Folsom, Nikki Kirshenbaum, Jamie Nogg, Linda Saltzman, Stacie Spies-Matz; Nominating Committee Chairwoman: Jenny Meyerson; Nominating Committee Members from General Membership: Pam Bloch, Joanie Jacobson, Linda Mann, Vicki Sanford; Alternates: Karin Levine, Nancy Nogg, Ann Osborne; Immediate Past President: Kate Kirshenbaum; SPA/BenchMark Chairwoman: Susie Norton; Finance Chairwoman: Beth Friedman; Past National President: Jan Schneiderman.

JEWISH WOMEN INTERNATIONAL President: Frieda Krizelman; Membership/Rainbow House: Lila Jacoby; Fundraising: Rosalie Greenspan and Beth Friedman; Membership: Lila Jacoby and Esther Wax; Treasurer/Direct Solicitation/Children’s Home: Esther Wax; Financial Secretary: Dora Goldstrom; Recording Secretary: Shirley Brody; Corresponding Secretary/Bulletin: Corinne Levin; Historian: Maxine Noodell; Publicity: Betty Goldstom; Courtesy Cards: Elaine Tepperman; Dolls for Democracy: Allison Latensor Pachman; Donor: Rosalie Greenspan and Esther Wax; Sweetheart Day: Rose Rosenberg; Mah Jongg Tournament: Rosalie Greenspan; Donor Luncheon: Rosalie Greenspan and Esther Wax; Telephone Committee: Anne Skolkin.

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

HADASSAH BOARD President: Georgia Ann Steinberg; Treasurer: Esther Wax; Secretary: Phyllis Fried; Cabinet: Sandra Kohll, Charlotte Kaplan, Madeline Katzman, Carol Lainof, Harriet Klopper, Julie Stein, Maxine Noodell, Bette Kozlen, Doris Shukert, Fay Ruback, Beth Ginsburg, Lesli Shrago, and Gloria Jones.

FRIEDEL JEWISH ACADEMY Executive Committe: Bonnie Bloch, Don Gerber, Jerry Gordman, Yaffa Podbilewicz-Schuller, Lloyd Roitstein, and Ben Shapiro; Board members: Saundra Clark, Debbie Denenberg, Bob Eisenberg, Susan FellmanWitkowski, Rhonda Hayward, Ian Jacobs, Joe Kirshenbaum, Dr. Alan Kricsfeld, Deborah Kronick, Jordana Kurtzman, Ruti Margalit, Kim Novak, Eric Phillips, Jim Polack, Margo Riekes, Steve Siref, Elena Andreea Shnayder, Brooke Shrago, Kathy Weiner, Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Rabbi Jonathan Gross.

KALAH FRANKLINHATIKVAH CHAPTER OF AMIT President: Charlotte Kaplan; Vice-President of Programs: Annette Fettman; Vice-President of Mother and Father in Israel: Sarah Landsman; Vice-President of Contributions: Ruth Babendure; Treasurer: Georgia Ann Steinberg; Advisor: Jeanette Nadoff.

NEBRASKA JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY President: Helen Epstein; Vice-President: Midge Bowers; Secretary: Rocky Stern; Treasurer: Bob Belgrade; Membership Chairman: Kevee Kirshenbaum; Past President: Helen Rifkin Chorney; Co-Founders: Mary Fellman and Oliver Pollak; Board: Harold Abrahamson, Hugh Abrahamson, Harold Bernstein,

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BYTE

by MARK MIETKIEWICZ High Holiday humor? Is this some kind of joke? Actually, yes.

Rosh Hashanah ushers in the most solemn period of the Jewish calendar that culminates ten days later on Yom Kippur. This is a serious time of introspection and “cheshbon nefesh”, a spiritual accounting. But Jews being Jews, there’s also time for a smile or two. Here are some things to ponder between your introspecting.

It seems several forward-thinking congregations are now finding it a competitive edge to allow you to choose specify your seat location for the High Holidays.

Here are excerpts from one form I came across: [www.jr.co.il/humor/hh06.txt] I want a seat located (Indicate order of priority:) ___ On the aisle. ___ Near the pulpit. ___ Where no one on the bimah can see/hear me talking during services. ___ Where I can sleep during the rabbi’s sermon [additional charge].

On the first night of Rosh Hashanah, there is a tradition to eat whose Hebrew names have dual meanings and are omens of an auspicious year to come. We eat pomegranates so “...that our merits increase like (the seeds of) a pomegranate”, apples and honey so “...that You renew us for a good and sweet year”, and the head of a fish or sheep so “...that we be as the head and not as the tail.” [http://tinyurl.com/88uvp] Pomegranates and sheep’s heads are fine, if you like that sort of thing. But here’s one suggestion for an updating of the custom: “Cut a raisin in two equal pieces and place it along with a piece of iceberg lettuce in a stalk of celery. While eating this, you should say, ‘Our Father in Heaven, lettuce half a raisin celery’. And I hope you get one for the New Year.” [www.jr.co.il/humor/hh03.txt] Humility is an essential quality for the repentant Jew, particularly on the Days of Awe. And that leads us to the story of the rabbi who stops in the middle of the Yom Kippur service, prostrates himself and cries out, “O God. Before You, I am nothing!” The chazzan is so moved hat he immediately follows suit, crying, “O God. Before you, I am nothing!” In the ensuing silence, a member of the congregation jumps from his seat, prostrates himself in the aisle and cries, “O God! Before You, I am nothing!” Seeing this, the chazzan nudges the rabbi and whispers, “So look who thinks he’s nothing?” [http://tinyurl.com/azvnk] Continued on page 84

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Page 82

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

Youth Find Meaning, Judaism by Helping the Less Fortunate Other Avodah participants are working at the lives,â&#x20AC;? Marsh says. Avodah encourages participants to â&#x20AC;&#x153;connect work with spirituality,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really Medicare Rights Center, the New York Legal Assistance been able to connect me with a lot of different worlds Group and the Urban Justice Center, all located in New York City, and some are at that I fit into.â&#x20AC;?

Metro TeenAIDS and For In addition to providing daily meals, Neighbors Love of Children in Together helps indigent and Washington.

The principles underlying homeless people navigate the complexities of Social Avodah are finding similar Security, Medicaid, educaexpression at a Washington tion, immigration and other summer program geared toward high school stugovernment programs.

One client, Janie Daniel, dents.

Micaela Klein had always 85, is visiting the center to been interested in political seek help after a fire and social activism. But destroyed her apartment, leaving her homeless and Denise Marsh, right, has worked for Neighbors Together rarely had Klein, who will with no possessions. The over the past year in conjunction with Avodah: The Jewish enter her senior year at Credit: Courtesy of Neighbors Together Edgemont High School in organization helped the Service Corps. overwhelmed senior find a new apartment and obtain Edgemont, N.Y., this fall, ever had the opportunity to channel her enthusiasm into direct political engagement basic necessities. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They have helped me rebuild my life,â&#x20AC;? Daniel says. in Washington--and within a Jewish framework as well. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was looking for a program that would cater to my â&#x20AC;&#x153;They have helped me in every area of my emergency.â&#x20AC;?

Another key aspect of the program is its emphasis on interests in activism,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Judaism has played a big community. All participants--who come from a wide part in my life, and I thought the combination of Judaism, activism and community service would be positive.â&#x20AC;? range of religious backgrounds--live together.

Fortunately for Klein, that combination constitutes a Aaron Divine, who has spent the past year at the Washington Jewish Community Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Behrend core element of Summer Jam, a leadership-training proBuilders Program, which serves the capitalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s low- gram for high school students organized by Panim: The income housing community, says of Avodah: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I thought Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values. The program it was a chance to be part of a community my age with brings some 60 students from across the country to the similar passions and motivations. You meet really inspir- U.S. capital every summer for three weeks of intensive ing people who are doing the kind of work you want to seminars on Jewish perspectives on political issues, meetings with politicians and Jewish leaders, and hands-on be doing.â&#x20AC;? work at social- service agencies fighting poverty. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The idea for them is to explore the connection between Jewish service work and political activism,â&#x20AC;? says Rabbi Jason Kimmelman-Block, who directs Summer Jam. The program aims â&#x20AC;&#x153;to show how Judaism and Jewish ideas can apply to every aspect of their lives.â&#x20AC;?

The seminars address a wide array of topics, including Judaism and the environment; war and peace; and global justice and poverty. Guest speakers have included Ruth Messinger, the president of the American Jewish World Service; Steve Culbertson, the CEO of Youth Service America; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (DFla.); and Jeffrey Berkowitz, the White House liaison to the Jewish community.

This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Summer Jam participants also visited an impoverished neighborhood on the outskirts of Washington, where they helped out on a local construction project. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I really thought I was making a difference,â&#x20AC;? says Annie Ben-Ami, who will be a senior at the Charles Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, MD. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t describe in words how amazing it was. My eyes have been open to the terrible poverty.â&#x20AC;?

Similar activities comprise a key component of Tiyul, a summer program that brings about 30 high school students to Maine, Colorado, Georgia and other states for six weeks of various community-service projects and leadership training.

Organized by the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, Tiyul, -X¸W IEWMIV XLER ]SY XLMRO 8LI [SVPH TVSHYGIW QSVI XLER IRSYKL VIWSYVGIW XS KS EVSYRH 8LEX MW [L] XLIWI Hebrew for â&#x20AC;&#x153;journey,â&#x20AC;? seeks to apply Jewish principles ,MKL ,SP] (E]W XLI 6IJSVQ 'SRWIVZEXMZI ERH 6IGSRWXVYGXMSRMWX QSZIQIRXW ERH ,MPPIP -RXIVREXMSREP EVI NSMRMRK to social action and to promote a pluralistic Jewish world 1%>32 % .I[MWL 6IWTSRWI XS ,YRKIV MR JYPĂ PPMRK XLI FMFPMGEP QERHEXI XS ÂľPIEZI XLI GSVRIVW SJ SYV Ă IPHW JSV XLI view that encourages respect and appreciation for variTSSV ERH XLI WXVERKIV Âś 8LI] ORS[ MX [MPP XEOI EPP SJ YW XS QEOI E HMJJIVIRGI MR XLMW Ă KLX 7S LIPT XEOI TEVX MR XLMW ous modes of religious observance.

I\XVESVHMREV] EGX SJ .I[MWL TPYVEPMWQ 8SKIXLIV [I GER WEZI PMZIW â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tiyul is six weeks of changing the world,â&#x20AC;? says Tamar Gersh, the director of the program. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We want these kids to feel that the world is open to them and that they are Â&#x160; open to the world.â&#x20AC;?

1%>32 % .I[MWL 6IWTSRWI XS ,YRKIV Â&#x2039; In Portland, Maine, the Tiyul group worked at a soup 7 &YRH] (V 7XI kitchen, volunteered at a camp for children with brain 0SW %RKIPIW '% tumors, and took blind adults to a baseball game. In ,-+, ,30= (%=7 Boulder, CO, the group visited Attention Home, a shel, DP QR ORQJHU ZDLWLQJ , ZDQW WR KHOS ter for abused and neglected students. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At the end of the summer, the kids will be able to % GLIGO TE]EFPI XS 1%>32 MW IRGPSWIH realize that every single person has a unique gift which only they have, and that they can use that gift to make 4PIEWI GLEVKI Q] GVIHMX GEVH the world a better place,â&#x20AC;? says Tiyulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s founding director, 1' (MWGSZIV %Q)\ :MWE Sharon Goldman, now the program director of the 92nd Street Yâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bronfman Center for Jewish Life.

'VIHMX 'EVH 2YQFIV )\T The program attracts students from across the denominational spectrum, which Gersh says reflects Tiyulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s phi2EQI losophy of Jewish pluralism. %HHVIWW Rachel Oscar, a Tiyul camper from Cleveland who is entering her junior year of high school, says the experi'MX] 7XEXI >MT ence of interacting with other students in various programs was particularly meaningful for her.

2EQI SJ 'SRKVIKEXMSR 'MX] 7XEXI â&#x20AC;&#x153;It really helps to open my eyes to discover what other people have to say about different aspects of Judaism,â&#x20AC;? she says.

by TZVI KAHN NEW YORK (JTA)--With flecks of paint peeling from the walls, cases of supplies strewn haphazardly about the stained tile floors, and ceiling fans circulating hot air, this dilapidated building in an impoverished Brooklyn neighborhood hardly is the ideal venue for a late-night stroll.

But for hundreds of local residents, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of the few places they can turn to for help. And for Denise Marsh, an Urbana, IL, native who graduated last year from Grinnell College, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a place where she can combine her passion for social justice and Judaism on a daily basis.

Marsh has signed on as a community advocate at Neighbors Together--a soup kitchen and social-service agency that serves hundreds of low-income Brooklyn residents. Marsh has been sent to the center by Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps., a program that places some 30 recent college graduates at various social service programs in Washington and New York for one year.

Avodah is one of a number of programs that have emerged within the past decade with the goal of integrating Judaism and social action. Indeed, of the 50 programs recently named as the most innovative in the Jewish community by the Slingshot guide, several focus on Jewish service.

One of these is the Jewish Coalition for Service (www.jewishservice.org), an umbrella organization for Jewish service groups.

Avodah provides participants with living expenses and a stipend. Participants are also required to attend weekly seminars on social issues, where they are encouraged to frame their day-to-day work experiences within a Jewish context. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think a lot of this program is focusing on what are Jewish values and how can we apply them in our daily

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September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 83

In Arizona Desert, Jewish Woman Helps Needy Mexican Immigrants

by LARRY LUXNER TUCSON (JTA)--Shanti Sellz says she never meant to be a troublemaker.

A college student just back from a seven-month biological research project in Ecuador, Sellz, 23, was driving the back roads of southern Arizona on July 9 looking for Mexican migrants in distress when she and a friend stopped to help a family suffering from dehydration. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I still remember very clearly this family: a man and a woman with two older teenagers, walking along the side of the road,â&#x20AC;? Sellz told JTA. The migrants were ill and had severe blisters; one was vomiting. After consulting two doctors and a nurse via satellite phone, Sellz was advised to take the Mexicans to a clinic in Tucson for emergency medical treatment.

But they never made it.

U.S. Border Patrol officers stopped her car and arrested Sellz and her companion, Daniel Strauss, also 23.

Their car was confiscated, and the two were charged with one felony count of transporting an undocumented person and one felony count of obstruction of justice.

Just four days later, the Border Patrol offered to drop the two federal charges if Sellz and Strauss would agree to enter a â&#x20AC;&#x153;diversion programâ&#x20AC;? including admission of guilt and probation for one year. They refused the plea bargain. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Humanitarian work needs to be applauded, not prosecuted,â&#x20AC;? Strauss told reporters at a recent press conference. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shanti and I are not accepting this plea because we committed no crime.â&#x20AC;?

According to news reports, Border Patrol officials said the men in the truck werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ill and refused medical attention once in custody.

A trial is set for Oct. 4 at the federal courthouse in Tucson. In recent weeks, more than 100 activists with the local group â&#x20AC;&#x153;No More Deathsâ&#x20AC;? have demonstrated in support of Sellz and Strauss and against immigration laws that make it illegal to bring undocumented migrants to a hospital or clinic, even if theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in obvious medical danger. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was not expecting to be arrested,â&#x20AC;? Sellz said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I still think, what if this was me on the side of the road? I hope to God anybody would do the same for me.â&#x20AC;?

The prospect of being holed up in a hot Arizona jail is a long way from Iowa City, where Sellz celebrated her Bat Mitzvah and was involved in the local Jewish community. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My parents are very proud of me,â&#x20AC;? she told JTA at a remote desert camp run by No More Deaths, located off a dirt road near the town of Aravaca, south of Tucson.

Sellzâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father, Michael e-mailed the Jewish Press after the interview to express his support. A 1970 graduate of Central High School, Michael said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Regardless of the politics involved, No More Deaths is purely giving humanitarian aid. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m very proud of my daughter.â&#x20AC;?

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Shanti is the granddaughter of Eileen Jacobson of Omaha.

The camp consists of little more than a trailer with a green tent, cots, blankets, first-aid equipment, water and food. A white flag flies from the top of a pole, making the camp visible for miles, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s under constant surveillance by Border Patrol agents watching from their vehicles on a nearby hill.

From here, Sellz and a dozen or so other volunteers fan out every morning during the hot summer, in pickup trucks and on foot, looking for Mexican migrants who need help.

Shanti Sellz, a Jewish human rights activist, relaxes at a camp near the Mexican border that assists migrants who try to cross the Arizona desert. Sellz was recently arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol and charged with conspiracy to transport illegal aliens.

Credit: Larry Luxner/JTA So far this year, 229 such migrants have died in Arizona. Last year, some 200 men, women and children died in Arizona trying to make the trek north.

The reason for the sudden jump in deaths, immigration activists say, is that the U.S. government has instituted an aggressive policy that has forced migrants who might otherwise have crossed through urban areas like Nogales, Ariz.; El Paso, Texas; and San Diego to cross through the dangerous deserts of the Southwest.

Since that blockade strategy began in 1995 with Operation Hold the Line, some 2,600 people have lost their lives attempting to cross the desert. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The deaths of these migrants is a direct result of that strategy,â&#x20AC;? claimed John Fife, one of Sellzâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most outspoken supporters.

But Jose Garza, spokesman for the Border Patrol, told the Dallas Morning News that No More Deaths goes beyond humanitarian aid and may itself be putting more lives at risk. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Smugglers are using these groups to lure illegal

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immigrants, saying â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Americans put food and water out there,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It gives a false sense of security.

Rob Daniels, spokesman for the Border Patrol in Tucson, told JTA: â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is against the law to transport illegal aliens if it is furthering their illegal entry into the United States, no different than if a smuggler were bringing them north. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pretty much viewed the same by law enforcement.â&#x20AC;?

Daniels said that in the case of Sellz and Strauss, â&#x20AC;&#x153;they spoke in detailâ&#x20AC;? with the Mexicans and knew they were in the United States illegally. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That is specifically why theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re set up in the desert.â&#x20AC;?

Daniels added: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The law is very clear as to what private citizens and humanitarian groups can and cannot do. We have had dialogue with these groups, which I have sat in on. They are told by Border Patrol personnel that it is not permissible for them to do what these two individuals did.â&#x20AC;?

During the 1980s, Fife--a retired Presbyterian minister and co-founder of No More Deaths--was convicted for helping Central American war refugees enter the United States illegally, â&#x20AC;&#x153;In the face of peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s human rights being violated by government policy, the government has chosen to try to criminalize people saving lives and providing humanitarian aid,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have every confidence this case will work to hasten immigration reform on the border.â&#x20AC;?

A day before she was arrested, Sellz had been trying to help a family find the remains of their lost daughter in the desert. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have Samaritan laws in Arizona that make it illegal to not stop to help someone in need,â&#x20AC;? she said, adding that No More Deaths follows an established protocol for dealing with migrants. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If we find someone in the desert, there are steps we go through to make sure itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a legitimate medical evacuation,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We always call a medical and legal expert.â&#x20AC;?

Bill Walker and Jeff Rogers, lawyers representing Sellz and Strauss, claim that transporting undocumented migrants who are in immediate need of medical attention does not violate federal law.

Regardless of the legal nuances, Sellz said she feels â&#x20AC;&#x153;very comfortable about the caseâ&#x20AC;? and wants to put the trial behind her so she can pursue a major in sustainable community development at San Juan College in Farmington, N.M. Even though sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a particularly observant Jew, Sellz said, she likes the faith-based principles that drive No More Deaths. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I know the world is unjust, but this is happening in my own backyard,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It pains me to know that these migrants are having to leave their homes, only to be met with such hatred and discrimination.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

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Page 84

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

High Holidays Services, Activities at Beth El Offer Something for Everyone in the Community

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator The High Holy Days serve as a welcome reprieve from everyday life for Jews around the world, offering a quiet time of spiritual inventory, forgiveness and renewal, and Beth El Synagogue will offer meaningful avenues to observe this holy time and welcome the new year for Jewish community members of every age.

The synagogue’s celebration of Rosh Hashanah will commence on Monday, Oct 3, 8:15 p.m; services will also be held Tuesday, Oct. 4, 9 a.m. (alternative service, 9:45 a.m. in the social hall) and 7 p.m., and Wednesday, Oct. 5, 9 a.m.

Traditional services will be held in the sanctuary, led by Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Cantor Gastón Bogomolni, and accompanied by the Beth El choir.

As an added highlight, Tuesday evening’s service will feature a discussion led by Rabbi Levin, who will explore the meaning of the High Holidays: everyone is welcome to attend and share their thoughts.

As in past years, Beth El is once again honored to welcome renowned scholar Rabbi Jules Harlow, who will lead the alternative service for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in the social hall, as well as present a D’var Torah during the first night and second morning of Rosh Hashanah in the sanctuary.

A member of the Rabbinical Assembly’s executive staff for 36 years, Rabbi Harlow served as editor of the first edition of Siddur Sim Shalom, the Conservative movement’s prayer book for Shabbat, festivals and weekdays; he also edited the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Mahzor. In addition, he is the literary editor of Etz Hayim, the Torah commentary of the Conservative movement. Rabbi Harlow will lead a thought-provoking study session--open to the entire community--on Thursday, Oct. 13, 4 p.m.

Kol Nidre services will begin on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 6:10 p.m.; the following morning, Thursday, Oct. 13, traditional services will be held in the sanctuary at 9 a.m.; the alternative service will begin at 9:45 a.m.

Children attending Beth El services will be treated to a special High Holidays Youth Program this year, filled with a variety of activities explaining the significance of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Age-appropriate activities for children from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade will include games, story-telling and music.

The youth program will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. during Rosh Hashanah; 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Yom Kippur. Cost is $18 or one hour of adult volunteer time per child. In addition, babysitting is available for infants and babies; for reservations, contact Program Director Margie Gutnik.

The poignant ser vice marking the conclusion of Yom Kippur, MinhaNe’ilah, will begin at 5 p.m. Continuing the tradition he established two years ago, Rabbi Levin has asked the congregation’s children (ages 12 and younger) to participate in a joyous processional and Havdalah service at the end of the service. All those wishing to participate are asked to meet in the chapel at 6:55 p.m.

In addition, Beth El members experienced in blowing the shofar are invited to take part in a group-sounding of rams’ horns at the conclusion of Ne’ilah. Anyone interested in marking the end of Yom Kippur with a blast is encouraged to contact Cantor Bogomolni for more information.

Following services, Hazak will once again sponsor its popular Break-the-Fast smorgasbord. Cost is $10.50 for adults, $5.50 for children ages 10 and under.

As an added plus, members of the Community Jewish Singles group will reserve a table during the festive meal; if you’re a single Jewish adult living in the metro area, you’re invited to break the fast with us at Beth El. Advance reservations are required and may be made by sending a check to Natalie Rubin, 2004 So. 138 Ave. Cir., Omaha NE 68144. For more information, please contact Gloria Goodman, 333.3351.

Every fall, the Jewish High Holidays--reflective and joyous alike--offer families throughout the community a great opportunity to celebrate together. Our doors are always open to newcomers and every member of the Jewish community--join us in welcoming a sweet new year with the entire Beth El family.

NEW YEAR GREETINGS May the New Year bring lasting peace and good health

High Holiday Humor Continued from page 81 Speaking of humility, here are a couple for the Jewish computer geek community. There’s the story of the modest, but ancient 286 PC that exclaimed, “I am but DOS and ASCII!” [http://tinyurl.com/d5m5p] And why didn’t the computerized shofar work on Rosh Hashanah?

The rabbi didn’t buy enough RAM. As for technology and the holidays, a big baseball fan comes running to his rabbi before Yom Kippur. “Rabbi, I have a dilemma. The Sox are playing their big game on Yom Kippur. What do I do?” The rabbi replies, “Well, what do you think they invented VCRs for?” And the person replies, “Rabbi, that’s a great idea! But... I didn’t know Yom Kippur services were on cable?!” [http://tinyurl.com/dc4zn] As important as Rosh Hashanah is, it doesn’t have quite the same pull as a holiday like Passover where families get together for the seders. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean parents don’t want to spend Rosh Hashanah alone. Check out how a pair of crafty parents got their kids to beat a path to their door for the holidays. [www.joyofjewish.com/jokes.html] On the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Hashanah, Jews will go to a nearby stream or body of water to perform the ritual of Tashlich. Prayers are recited and sins are symbolically tossed into the depths. Some people even shake out the hems of their clothing while others into the waters. toss breadcrumbs [http://tinyurl.com/75nup] With that in mind, forgive me for bringing back one of my favorite pun-laden site, a tongue-in-cheek look at the foods of Tashlich.

“Taking a few crumbs to on Rosh Hashanah to throw into the water for the Tashlich ceremony from whatever old bread is in the house lacks subtlety, nuance and religious sensitivity. Instead, this coming Rosh Hashanah, consider these options: [http://tinyurl.com/cdfq4] • For immodest dressing, Tarts; • For substance abuse, Stoned Wheat; • For being holier than thou, Bagels; • For dropping in without warning, Popovers; • For trying to improve everyone within sight, Angel Food Cake; and • For being up-tight and irritable, High Fiber or Bran Muffins.

Shana tova, umetuka.

Mark Mietkiewicz is a Toronto-based Internet producer who writes, lectures and teaches about the Jewish Internet. He can be reached at: highway@rogers.com.

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September 30, 2005

Bush Address Culminates Celebrate 350 Events

by DEBRA RUBIN Editor of the Washington Jewish Week A century ago, it was Theodore Roosevelt; a half a century ago, it was Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Two weeks ago, it was President George W. Bush’s turn to pay tribute to Jewish life in North America, and to be honored in return.

This month culminated a yearlong commemoration of American Jewish life that began last September with the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the first 23 Jews on the shores of what would become the United States.

Bush was the featured speaker at a national celebratory dinner in Washington on Wednesday.

“The story of the Jewish people in America is a story of America itself,” Bush said at the invitation-only program held at the National Building Museum in the District. Some 900 people, from 26 states, came to the black-tie event, which was co-hosted by Celebrate 350: Jewish Life in America and the Commission for Commemorating 350 Years of American Jewish History.

Bush received the Celebrate 350 Gold Medal. The Emma Lazarus Statue of Liberty Award, meanwhile, went to former New York City Mayor Edward Koch.

Posters along the large hall’s perimeter dealt with such themes as Jews in sports, education and social justice.

Prior to the dinner, Bush made a brief stop at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in the District, his first visit as president to a synagogue. There, he signed a guest book, writing, “May God continue to bless the Children of Abraham.”

from the surface. Speakers throughout the evening mentioned the disaster, with dinner organizers announcing the contribution of $50,000 to relief funds.

Bush, lauding aid to survivors from the Jewish community, said, “These are the good works of good people relying on the wisdom of the Good Book, a book that tells us how God rescued life from the flood waters. And like Noah and his family, we have faith that as the waters recede, we will see life begin again.”

Jody Portnoff, a student at Tulane University, said the outpouring of Jewish community support has made her realize that “no matter where I am, the American Jewish family is my family.”

The event was not without controversy.

Several invited Jewish scholars, led by New York historian Hasia Diner, Queens College sociologist Samuel Heilman and historian Leo Hershkowit planned to boycott the event, the New York-based Forward reported.

The trio of scholars, who served on Celebrate 350’s academic advisory council, reportedly objected to honoring Bush and were collecting signatures for a petition to that effect. But organizers pointed out that the White House honor was in line with the previous two celebrations.

“The honor bestowed upon the president follows the great wisdom of the rabbis who taught: ‘Pray for the welfare of the ruling power, since but for the fear of it, men would swallow each other alive,’” Brandeis professor Jonathan Sarna, Celebrate 350’s chief historian, said, “Even those who do not approve of the president currently in power

President Bush receives a medal marking the 350th anniversary of the first Jewish settlement in North America. With Bush at the Sept. 14 event in Washington are, from left, Gary Zola of the Commission for Commemorating 350 Years of American Jewish History, Kenneth Bialkin of the American Jewish Historical Society, and Robert Rifkind of Celebrate 350: Jewish Life In America.

Credit: 350th Anniversary of American Jewish Life

President Bush visited the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington, DC The President donned a yarmulke and entered the sanctuary hall with Rabbi Zvi Teitelbaum and Shelton Zuckerman. Rabbi Teitelbaum leads services and teaches classes and Zuckerman is Vice President/Treasurer.

They took the President onto the bimah, where he looked at one of the synagogue’s Torahs, rescued from the Dachau concentration camp.

White House photo by Paul Morse

In his dinner address, Bush called the shul-turned church-turned nondenominational synagogue--a nonprofit that was rededicated last year, thanks to the efforts of local businessmen Abe Pollin, Shelton Zuckerman and Douglas Jemal--“a jewel.”

He also praised the American Jewish community, stressed his commitment to Israel and argued for faithbased initiatives. “We’re a better and stronger and freer nation because so many Jews from countries all over the world have chosen to become American citizens,” said Bush, who also noted that “from the onset, the Jews who arrived here demonstrated a deep commitment to their new land.”

Turning to Israel, the president praised Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a man of courage and of peace. The two leaders had met at the United Nations earlier that day.

Bush said that in their meetings, “Once again, I expressed this nation’s commitment to defending the security and well-being of Israel. I also assured him that I will not waiver when it comes to spreading freedom around the world.”

The president’s remarks took on religious tones as he spoke of freedom as “Almighty God’s gift to each man and woman and child in this world,” and noted that “men and women throughout our history have acted on the words of Scripture, and they have made America a better, more hopeful place.”

He deplored anti-Semitism in general and, in particular, condemned “the desecration of synagogues in Gaza that followed Israel’s withdrawal.”

Israelis officials had opted not to dismantle the synagogues when the Jewish state completed its Gaza pullout this month, and Palestinian officials took no action to stop the torching of those buildings.

Although it was a night of celebration, the Gulf Coast destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina was never far

should show him the greatest deference and respect.”

While some other dinner guests privately said their applause was for the office, not for the man currently holding it, Koch had no difficulty showing respect for Bush.

After commenting on other presidents--saying Richard Nixon was an anti-Semite, but helped Jews; Jimmy Carter “didn’t like us”; Franklin D Roosevelt “did great things for which he has to be revered... but he did not take on the burden of saving Jews” during the Holocaust; read Harry Truman’s “diary and you’ll be shocked,” Koch declared that “George W. Bush loves us.” The president, he said, “respects us, and he doesn’t distinguish between us and any other group.”

Koch also praised Catholic Archbishop Theodore McCarrick’s appearance on the program. The Catholic Church “has reached out... and we have to reciprocate,” he said, pointing out that Jews and Christians must work together.

Fundamentalist Muslims “want to kill us. They want to kill Christians and they want to Jews,” Koch said, “so it’s extra important we work together.”

McCarrick, meanwhile, called the Jewish people “a gift” to America, and composer/songwriter Marvin Hamlish presented a medley of music by such American Jewish composers as George Gershwin and Richard Rodgers.

David Butler, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington’s president, led Hamotzi, the blessing over bread. The next day, he seemed to reflect the feelings of many who attended the dinner. “Last evening’s event was a wonderful celebration of Jewish life and the life of Jews in America,” Butler said. “While America has been enriched by the growth and contributions of the Jewish community over the past 350 years, we Jews have experienced unparalleled opportunities in America, an have benefited immensely from being a very important part of the growth and maturity of the American dream.”

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 85

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Page 86

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

Candlelighting Friday, Sept. 30: 6:49p.m.

Monday, Oct. 3: 6:46 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 4: no earlier than 7:43 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 nebraskajudaism.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 jewishnebraska.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

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

MEMORIAL SERVICE Mount Sinai Cemetery Sunday, Oct. 2, noon Rabbi Jonathan Gross will officiate

If you’re looking at this space, so are others!

YOUR AD CAN GO HERE...

to reserve space, call Allan Handleman, 334-6451

B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE FRIDAY: Shabbat Services, 7:30 p.m.

ROSH HASHANAH MONDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m., Ophir Palmon to speak.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4, Services, 10:30 a.m., Phil Wolf to speak.

FRIDAY, Oct. 7: Family Shabbat Service, 7:30 p.m.

All services led by Jeffrey Taxman.

MEMORIAL SERVICE SUNDAY, Oct. 9: Service at Council Bluffs Cemetery, 11 a.m.

BREAK-THE-FAST Thursday, Oct. 13, 5:30 p.m., following Yom Kippur services, a Break-the-Fast Potluck will be held at the synagogue. If you are planning to attend, please call 323.8885 to let us know what you will bring.

St. at 1 p.m; Contact the synagogue office for Mincha/Ma’ariv time.

ROSH HASHANAH MONDAY: Shacharit, 6:30 a.m. The synagogue office will close at noon; Mincha, 6:30 p.m.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Free Babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Reading, 10 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 10:30 a.m.; Sermon, 10:30 a.m. followed by Shofar service; Mincha, 6:30 p.m.

Oct. 5: WEDNESDAY, Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Free Babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Reading, 10 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 10:30 a.m.; Sermon, 10:30 a.m., followed by Shofar service; Mincha, 6:30 p.m.

Oct. 6: THURSDAY, Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Contact the office for Mincha/Ma’ariv time.

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE

BEYT SHALOM

Office Hours: Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

FRIDAY: Musical Kabbalat Shabbat Service, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Morning Services, 9:30 a.m., followed by Kiddush. Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6:55 p.m.

WEEKDAY SERVICES: Sunday, 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Weekdays, 6:55 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

SITTER SERVICE: During Friday night and Saturday mornings services, on a drop-in basis, at no charge.

ROSH HASHANAH MONDAY: Ma’ariv, 8:15 p.m.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4: Morning Service, 9 a.m.; Alternative Service, 9:45 a.m.; Tashlikh Service, 5:40 p.m.; MinhaMa’ariv, 7 p.m.

Oct. 5: WEDNESDAY, Morning Service, 9 a.m.

Note: Rosh Hashanah morning services will end at approximately 12:30 p.m. Newcomers are welcome to join us for High Holiday services.

FRIDAY, Oct. 7: MinhaMa’ariv, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY, Oct. 8: Morning services, 9:30 a.m.; MinhaMa’ariv, 6:45 p.m.

FRIDAY: Shabbat in the Home.

ROSH HASHANAH MONDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Taschlich, 5 p.m. at Zorinsky Lake. All services at the synagogue, unless otherwise indicated.

SATURDAY, Oct. 8: Shabbat T’Shuvah, 9 a.m. at the Blumkin Home.

MEMORIAL SERVICE SUNDAY, Oct. 9: Service at Beth El Cemetery, 10:15 a.m.

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Hours: MondayOffice Thursday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Friday, 8:30 a.m-2 p.m..

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat Services, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Free babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 10:30 a.m.; Kiddush sponsored by Sisterhood; Mincha, 7 p.m., Havdalah, 7:47 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Rabbi Jonathan Gross will lead Kever Avot services at the following cemeteries: Golden Hill Cemetery, 5025 No. 42, at 11 a.m, Beth Israel/Mt. Sinai, 78th & Crown Point at noon, BHH/Fisher Farms, 8900 So. 42

CHABAD HOUSE Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman.

FRIDAY: Minyan, 7 a.m.; Ima & Me, 10:30–11:45 a.m.

SATURDAY: Maamar class, 9 a.m.; Services, 9:30 a.m., followed by a Kiddush luncheon.

SUNDAY: Services, 8:30 a.m.; Mishne class, 9:30 a.m.; Chabad Cheder and Aleph Champs, 10 a.m.-noon.

ROSH HASHANAH MONDAY: Mincha/Maariv, 6:30 p.m.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Children’s Program, 1111:45 a.m.; Shofar Service, 11:45 a.m.; Annual Neighborhood Tashlich, 5 p.m. at the home of Shirley and Leonard Goldstein, Plaza; 11217 Woolworth Mincha/Maariv, 7 p.m.

Oct. 5: WEDNESDAY, Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Shofar Service, 11:45 a.m.; Mincha, 7 p.m.

OF GEDALIA, FAST THURSDAY, Oct. 6: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 7 p.m.; Fast Ends, 7:40 p.m.

SHABBAT SHUVAH, SATURDAY, Oct. 8: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush to follow service.

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

FRIDAY: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m.

ROSH HASHANAH MONDAY: Evening Service, 8 p.m.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4: Morning Service, 10 a.m.; Children’s

Service, 2:30 p.m.; Tashlich Service, 4 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5: No Hebrew class.

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

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME SATURDAY: Shabbat Services, 9 a.m., led by Marty Shukert.

ROSH HASHANAH MONDAY: Evening Service, 7 p.m., led by Andrew Greenberg.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4: Morning Service, 9 a.m., led by Andrew Greenberg. The shofar will be blown by Robert Mosenkis.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5: Morning service, 9 a.m., led by Robert Mosenkis, who will also blow the shofar.

Services will be held at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home Herbert Goldsten Chapel. All services are open to members of the community.

TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:30 p.m. Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, and Cantor Wendy Shermet will officiate. Rabbi Azriel will give the sermon. The Oneg Shabbat will be sponsored by the Women of Reform Judaism, Omaha.

SATURDAY: Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:30-10:15 a.m.; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m.

Sitter Service: Available each Friday evening for the 7:30 p.m. service, Saturday mornings when there is a b’nai mitzvah, and Sunday mornings when there is Religious School. Reservations and a $5 donation are appreciated. Sorry, no facilities for infants.

ROSH HASHANAH MONDAY: Evening Service, 7:30 p.m.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4: Young Children’s Service, 9 a.m.; Morning Service, 10:15 a.m.; Family Youth Service, 10:15 a.m.;

SHABBAT SHUVA FRIDAY, Oct. 7, 6 p.m.: Rabbi Azriel, Rabbi Marantz and Cantor Shermet will officiate.

The renewal of family emerges from the traditions and creative liturgy of this most sacred Shabbat.

ADULT EDUCATION SUNDAY, Oct. 2, 10:30 a.m.noon: Mensches with Wrenches. Len Burrell will demonstrate how to make repairs around the house without calling a repairman.

THURSDAY, Oct. 6: “Adult Study with the Clergy” with Rabbi Azriel, 10-11:30 a.m.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN There will be no services in October.

TIFERETH ISRAEL Services conducted by Rabbi Royi Shaffin.

Minyan, MONDAY AND THURSDAY, 7:15 a.m.

FRIDAY: Services, 6:30 p.m. with an Oneg following.

SATURDAY: Morning service, 9:30 a.m.

SUNDAY: Community Memorial Service, 1:30 p.m. at Mt. Carmel Cemetery ROSH HASHANAH MONDAY: Evening service, 6:30 p.m.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4: Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 11 a.m.; Evening Service, 6:15 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5: Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 11 a.m.; Evening Service, 6:15 p.m.

Bring a grocery bag of food to donate to the Lincoln Food Bank to the Temple at High Holiday services. This year, when you bring your donation, please especially remember the youngest and most vulnerable in our community: the babies. Include in your donation: Formula, Baby food, and Diapers and wipes.

September 30, 2005

Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

Page 87

Index of Advertisers Advertiser Page AAA Rents .................................................. 84 Abacus Consulting .................................... 45 Abraham Catering ..................................... 76 Abrahams, Kaslow & Cassmann LLP ........ 50 Absolutely Fresh Seafood Company .......... 58 Action Ink-Jet & Toner Refill ........................ 66 Acura of Omaha ........................................ 62 Advantage Mortgage Service, Inc. ............. 58 Aesthetic & Reconstructive Surgery, PC ..... 60 Alkar Billiards ............................................. 19 All Makes Office Equipment Co. ................ 20 All Seasons Home Improvement Co. ......... 81 Allens ........................................................ 40 American Friends of Magen David Adom ... 77 American Tile and Marble Co. ................... 54 AMIT Women ............................................ 64 AmSan Nogg Paper & Chemical ................ 46 Arboretum ................................................. 18 Arnold Weitz & Co. ..................................... 79 Associated Couseling Professionals ........... 22 B’nai B’rith Henry Monsky Lodge .............. 64 B’nai B’rith Youth Organization .................. 24 B’nai Israel Synagogue .............................. 64 Badger Body & Truck Equipment Co. ........ 54 Bag ‘N Save ........................................ 59, 65 Bagel Bin ................................................... 57 Belgrade Company .................................... 80 Bell, Angela Massage Therapist ................. 30 Bergman Incentives/Bergman Jewelers .... 18 Bernina Sewing Centers ............................. 41 Bernstein, Tom .......................................... 54 Beth El Synagogue .................................... 64 Beth Israel Sisterhood ................................ 64 Beth Israel Synagogue ............................... 64 Beyt Shalom .............................................. 28 BILU USY ................................................... 24 Bistro 121 .................................................. 57 Bloomfield Forum ...................................... 26 Blooms ...................................................... 55 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska .......... 42 Blumenthall Cady & Associates ................. 62 Body Basics .............................................. 55 Borsheim’s ................................................ 69 Brandeis Catering ...................................... 73 Brass Grille ................................................ 76 Bresel Family ............................................. 58 Broadmoor Development Company .......... 33 Broadway in Omaha .................................. 48 Brodkey’s .................................................. 50 Brownell Talbot .......................................... 78 Builders Supply .......................................... 14 Canfield’s Sporting Goods ......................... 51 Care Consultants for the Aging .................. 18 CB Richard Ellis/MEGA ............................... 6 CBS/Home-Gary Kuklin ............................ 33 CBS/Home-Toni Rosen ............................. 10 CBS/Home-Fred Tichauer ......................... 50 Centris ....................................................... 51 Chabad ..................................................... 64 Charlestons ............................................... 37 China Road ............................................... 76 Christel’s ................................................... 22 City Glass Co. ............................................ 58 Cohen Family ............................................ 29 Commercial Printing Co. ........................... 26 Complete Family Dentistry ......................... 40 Congregation B’Nai Jeshurun .................... 16 Congregation Tifereth Israel ....................... 16 Country Inn & Suites ................................... 5 Countryside Village ...................................... 7 Creighton University ................................... 11 Crown Pointe Retirement Community ........ 59 Crowne Plaza ............................................. 31 Dance Shoppe ............................................ 7 David Morton Food Marketing ................... 29 Direct Digital .............................................. 71 El Al ........................................................... 71 El Alamo .................................................... 13 Emanuel Contracting, Inc. ......................... 62 Enterprise Bank ......................................... 31 Eye Essentials ........................................... 46 Factory Eyeglass Outlet .............................. 30 Fahey, Mayor Mike ....................................... 5 Family Enrichment, Inc. ............................. 26 Fifth Third Bank ......................................... 70 First National Bank .................................... 39 First Westroads Bank ................................. 19 Fitzgerald, Schorr, Barmettler & Brennan, P.C., L.L.O. ..................... 75 Flatiron Cafe .............................................. 13 Frankel, Zacharia, Arnold, Nissen, Stamp & Reinsch, LLC ..................................... 58

Advertiser Page Fraser Stryker Law Firm ............................. 70 Friedel Jewish Academy ............................. 47 Gallner & Pattermann ................................ 41 Garbo’s Salons & Spa ................................ 68 Genzyme ................................................... 27 Girls & Boys Town ...................................... 12 Goldberg & Shrier ...................................... 74 Gordmans ................................................. 88 Grace/Mayer Insurance ............................ 35 Great Western Bank ..................................... 4 Grubb & Ellis/Pacific Realty ....................... 53 Hadassah ................................................. 64 Hadassah Upper Midwest Region ............. 68 Hagel, Senator Chuck and Lilibet .............. 50 Hampton Inn ............................................. 28 Harman Appliance Sales, Inc. ................... 45 Harris Center for Judaic Studies at UNL ........................................ 79, 83 Herzl Camp ............................................... 68 Hiro Sushi/Imperial Palace ....................... 73 Hoberman Family ..................................... 42 Hockenbergs ............................................. 44 Horizon Dental Center ................................. 6 Husker Auto .............................................. 36 Hy-Vee ....................................................... 25 I-Go Van & Storage ..................................... 52 Ideal Water ................................................. 14 Indian Oven ............................................... 73 Industrial Label .......................................... 19 Industrial Packaging Corporation ............... 21 Isuzu Truck of Omaha ............................... 46 Jacobson Fish Co., Inc. ............................. 26 Jams ......................................................... 76 Jewish Community Center ........................ 34 Jewish Community Center Live from the 92nd Street Y ............... 83 JCC Child Development Center ................. 29 Jewish Educational & Library Services ...... 64 Jewish Family Service ................................ 47 Jewish Federation of Lincoln ..................... 53 Jewish Federation of Omaha ....................... 3 Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation ... 17 Jewish National Fund ................................ 49 Jewish Press .......................................... 2, 24 Jewish Senior Services ........................ 52, 77 Jewish War Veterans .................................. 64 Jewish Women International ...................... 64 John A. Gentleman Mortuaries .................. 74 Julio’s ........................................................ 37 Katelman Company Antiques .................... 77 King Fong Cafe .......................................... 13 Kohll’s Pharmacy & Homecare .................. 41 KPMG LLP ................................................ 84 KPTM/KXVO ............................................. 44 Kramer, David for US Senate .................... 10 Kutak Rock .................................................. 9 Lakeside Dentistry ..................................... 30 Lakeside Hills Apartments ......................... 15 League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly .................................... 64 Legacy Dental ........................................... 20 Lerner Company ....................................... 36 Li’l Prince & Princess ................................... 7 Lion’s Automotive Upholstery .................... 34 Lisa Jo’s Special Services .......................... 33 Louie M’s Burger Lust ................................ 73 Louis Liquor Grill & Bar .............................. 76 Lynn Roberts International ......................... 79 Malashock Jewelry .................................... 80 Malbar Vision Centers ................................ 10 Marathon Realty Corporation ..................... 78 Mark Sanford Group .................................. 16 Marks Clare & Richards ............................... 6 Marriott Regency Hotel .............................. 68 Mazon ....................................................... 82 McGill, Gotsdiner, Workman & Lepp, P.C., L.L.O. .......................... 47 McGrath, North, Mullin & Kratz, PC LLO ... 40 MDK & Associates ..................................... 20 Mediterranean Bistro ................................. 13 Meehan Drywall ........................................ 38 Metropolitan Community College .............. 62 Mid-City Jewelry & Loan ............................ 53 Mid Con Systems Inc. ................................ 18 Midwest Box Co. ........................................ 78 Midwest Ear, Nose, & Throat, P.C. ............. 74 Midwest Woodworkers ............................... 54 Montemarano Landscapes, Inc. ................ 21 Mulhall’s .................................................... 14 N. Pitlor & Son, Inc. ................................... 21 Nan C. ....................................................... 80 National Council of Jewish Women ........... 64

Advertiser Page NCSY of Beth Israel Synagogue ................. 24 Nebraska Democratic Party ....................... 41 Nebraska Furniture Mart ........................... 70 Nebraska Jewish Historical Society ............ 64 Nebraska Press Statewide Classifieds ........ 87 Nebraska Warehouse & Cannonball Express ....................... 74 Nebraska Wine & Spirits, Inc. .................... 45 Nelson, Senator Ben and Diane ................ 27 New Cassel Retirement Center .................. 81 No Frills ....................................................... 9 Nobbies .............................................. 42, 80 Noddle Companies ................................... 30 Norm’s Door Service ................................. 20 Northwestern Mutual-Robert Randels ........ 28 Omaha Compound Company ................... 44 Omaha Kinghts Hockey ............................. 66 Omaha Paper Stock Co. ............................ 72 Omaha Performing Arts ............................. 67 Omaha Public Power District ....................... 8 Omaha Steaks .......................................... 40 Omaha Surgical Center ............................. 60 Omaha Temple Youth Group ...................... 24 Omaha Temporary Services ...................... 51 Omaha Trans Video ................................... 22 One Drake Place ........................................ 56 Osborne, Tom for Governor ....................... 35 Parsow’s .................................................... 69 Pasta Amore .............................................. 55 Pear’s Gourmet Coffee .............................. 81 Peterson Brothers Realty Co. ..................... 77 Pharmacy Express ..................................... 33 Planned Parenthood .................................. 45 Pollak & Hicks, P.C. ................................... 66 Prudential Insurance-Joseph John ............. 66 Pulverente Monument Co. ......................... 71 Randy’s Pharmacy .................................... 78 RDG .......................................................... 79 Re/Max-Jennifer Kully ............................... 18 Regency Court ........................................... 69 Regency Lodge .......................................... 60 Remington Heights .................................... 32 Residential Mortgage Services, Inc. ........... 38 Ricks, Iris and Marty .................................. 34 River City Star ............................................ 75 Roberts Dairy ............................................. 15 Rockbrook Floors ......................................... 9 Rockbrook Village ...................................... 55 Rossi ......................................................... 55 Rotella’s Italian Bakery ............................... 46 Russell’s ...................................................... 7 Ryco Packaging Corp. ............................... 29 Salon Aura ................................................. 36 Sarah’s ........................................................ 7 Savannah Pines ........................................ 34 Schwalb Realty ......................................... 46 Security Equipment, Inc. ........................... 56 Security National Bank .............................. 55 Senor Matias ............................................. 37 Sir Speedy ................................................... 6 Siref Family ................................................ 22 Sol’s Jewelry & Loan ................................. 42 Sonny Gerber Auto Sales ........................... 10 Soul Desires .............................................. 21 Sparks Computerized Car Care ................. 54 Spirit World ................................................ 13 St. Joseph Villa .......................................... 43 Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP .................... 75 Suburban Newspapers Inc. ....................... 38 Sunridge Village ......................................... 12 Superior Pools, Spas, Etc. .......................... 14 Swartzbaugh Farber .................................. 38 Sweet & Associates .................................... 56 Tandoor Indian Restaurant ......................... 74 Temple Israel ............................................. 64 Terry, Congressman Lee ............................ 43 Tilly ............................................................ 69 Topp’s ....................................................... 69 United Distillers Products Co. ...................... 4 University of Nebraska Medical Center ...... 63 V. Mertz ..................................................... 37 Valentino’s ................................................. 76 Vann Realty ............................................... 71 Visions ....................................................... 64 Wells Blue Bunny ...................................... 23 Wiesman Development ............................. 34 Winery ....................................................... 57 Wolf Bros. Western Store ........................... 22 Wolfson Used Cars .................................... 31 Wyndham Street Ltd. ................................... 5 Zio’s Pizzeria .............................................. 57 Zuerlein Dentistry ....................................... 61

Have a Happy and Healthy New Year!

EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press will be closed for all the Jewish holidays: Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 4-5, for Rosh Hashanah, Thursday, Oct. 13 for Yom Kippur, Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 18-19 for Sukkot and Oct. 25-26 for Shemini Azeret and Simchat Torah. Because of the holidays, the deadlines for upcoming issues are at noon as follows: Deadline Issue Oct 14 Monday, Oct. 3 Oct. 21 Education and Camp Issue Monday, Oct. 10 Oct. 28 Monday, Oct. 17 Questions? Call 334.6448.

Statewide Classified CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING works! Place your 25 word ad into thousands of Nebraska homes for $185. Contact the Jewish Press at 402-334-6451 or call 1-800369-2850.

BANKRUPTCY: ACT now to file under the old rules. Fast relief from creditors.

Statewide filing. Affordable rates. Call Steffens Law Office, 308-872-8327.

NEBRASKA MODEL for Pork Production offers farm families a way to build a viable livestock enterprise and help secure the long-term survival of Nebraska by returning youth to our rural communities. 888-627-7675. www.nepork.org.

INDIVIDUALS, BUILDERS, developers: Absolute auction with minimum bid on November 10. Call Agri Affiliates, 308-534-9240; www.agriaffiliates.com. Housing development potential on current pivot irrigated cropland. investment opportunity; individual house lots just north of Lake Maloney at North Platte.

ARE YOU making $1,710 per week? All cash vending routes with prime locations available now! Under $9,000 investment required. Call toll free (24-7) 800-953-2654.

ALL CASH candy route. Do you earn $800 in a day? Your own local candy route.

Includes 30 machines and candy all for $9,995. 1-800-814-6040. $$CASH$$ IMMEDIATE cash for structured settlements, annuities, law suit inheritances, mortgage notes & cash flows. J.G. Wentworth - #1 1-800-794-7310.

LOOKING FOR people that are motivated to earn extra income. Home based business.

As low as $49.00 + tax, one time investment. Call 1-877-207-6936.

LOW INVESTMENT franchise opportunity. Liberty Tax Service seeking 2 great entrepreneurs in area. Liberty’s on Entrepreneur’s Low Cost and Top 500 lists. Call 800-8192618...www.libertytaxfranchise.com.

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Stick to a plan, get out of debt & save thousands. Free consultation. 1-866-615-2524.

CareOne Credit Counseling.

HOT TUBS, State Fair display models while they last - $3,195 - $4,995. 3 pumps, 4060 jets, pricelist, 1-800-869-0406. Town Center Showcase Lincoln, goodlifespa.com.

ORANGE COUNTY Choppers. Distributors needed for new OCC Energy Drink product. $15,000 required for inventory. Protected territory and tv exposure. You can’t lose! 888216-5831.

SERVICE TECHNICIAN: Progressive GM dealership seeking experienced GM/ASE Certified tech. Must have own tools. Benefits, ongoing training, incentives. Contact Wyatt at Harchelroad Motors, Imperial, Nebraska, 888-462-4389.

INSTALLERS FOR DirecTV HSP has full time positions for satellite installations. We need individuals who work with a sense of urgency and a strong focus on customer service & safety. Earn top wages. Paid training, no experience needed. Apply: 1-866-7397737 EOE. CUSTER COUNTY Implement is looking for qualified technicians. Four store locations in Central Nebraska: Broken Bow, Ord, Ainsworth, O’Neill. Call 308-872-2497 for information.

ADMINISTRATOR/DIRECTOR of Public Works - Kimball, NE. Salary DOQ. Send resume to Mayor Greg Robinson, 223 S. Chestnut, Kimball, NE 69145. EOE. FEED DEALER wanted: Loomix(r) feed supplements is seeking a local dealer or dealer’s assistant. Motivated individual with cattle knowledge and community ties. Flexible hours and supplemental income. Contact Terri @ 800-870-0356; ttonso@loomix.com. $3000 + PER week, I do all the work. You do nothing. Don’t believe me? Call 1-877791-7486 id#JS4799. Only $1995 investment.

WYOMING’S LEADING agricultural newspaper is looking for a designer with experience in both InDesign and Photoshop. For a complete job description e-mail roundup@wylr.net.

ACT NOW Drivers - Flatbed, bulk tank and refrigerated divisions. Performance based pay. Experienced operators, independent contractors or company drivers. CDL instruction program available. 800-771-6318. www.primeinc.com.

DRIVER - O/OS - Independent Express! Choose load & hometime. $2,500 sign-on bonus. Flatbed. Company drivers - up to 45cpm, top L/P. Call today! Boyd Bros. 800543-8923. www.boydbros.com.

MIDWEST AND West Coast. Competitive pay and benefit package, scheduled hometime. Consistent miles and no East Coast. Recent OTR experience required. T-2000 Kenworth’s. Call 800-645-3748.

DRIVER: COVENANT Transport. Excellent pay & benefits for experienced drivers, O/O, solos, teams & graduate students. Bonuses available. Refrigerated now available. 1-888MORE PAY (1-888-667-3729).

EXPANDING FLEET, new trucks, Class A drivers needed! Dedicated lanes, sign on bonus, hometime. Top pay! Call Sunday or anytime, Priority Transportation. 800-7566675. EOE. DRIVERS 1ST year $40,000, excellent benefits, home time. Require CDL “A.” 6 months experience. Owner operators welcome! E. W. Wylie Corporation. Flatbed company, 1-877-967-7648, www.wylietrucking.com. $.37 TO start, $.38 in 6 months plus benefits, health, HSA, 401K, cafeteria plan. Ask about our $0 down O/O plan. Hinz Trucking, Inc. 800-523-4631.

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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE

September 30, 2005

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