Vol. LXXXVI No. 6 Omaha, NE
Harris Family Dedicates New Building for Goodwill by KRIS PACHUNKA Goodwill Community Relations Coordinator Earlier this month, Goodwill Industries, Inc., serving Eastern Nebraska and Southwest Iowa, held a building dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony at its newest retail, donation, and training facility near the northeast corner of 108th and Blondo in Omaha. The 15,500 facility replaces Goodwill’s store previously located at 108th and Maple. The newly constructed building has been named the Sheldon J. and Janice R. Harris Center after Shelly and Janice Harris. For the past 24 years, the couple has supported Goodwill’s mission. A partner in the law firm of Harris Kuhn, Shelly Harris has donated legal services related to real estate transactions to Goodwill since the late 1980s. He has served on Goodwill’s board of directors since 1982.
Janice and Shelly Harris, center, cut the ribbon to open the new Goodwill retail, training and donation facility. Continued on page 3
Celebrating 85 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
28 Tishrei, 5767 October 20, 2006
Emergency Drive Tops $320 Million Shifts Toward Rebuilding Israel’s North by JACOB BERKMAN NEW YORK (JTA)-Since the early days of Israel’s war with Hezbollah, the North American federation system has garnered some $320 million in pledges from the Jewish community. The Israel Emergency Campaign of the United Jewish Communities and local federations already has collected more than $100 million in cash. Of that $100 million, $94 million has been allocated and $54 million has been paid out, according to an allocations report released by the UJC last week. When it began in July, the During the Sukkot festival holiday last week, much emphasis has been drawn to the north of campaign was meant to take Israel, which bore the brunt of the Hezbollah rockets during the summer Lebanese war. care of the immediate needs Many thousands of Israelis as well as foreign visitors have been visiting the north as a sign of those in Israel’s battered of solidarity for the people there who endured hardships during the war. Above: The tradibomb tional summer theater has been playing to full audiences. The Festival of Alternative Israeli North--outfitting shelters with air condition- Theater in Acco--part of Omaha’s Partnership with Israel region--has offered many theatrical Copyright: ISRANET ers, lighting and televisions, productions and a variety of street theater. moving some 40,000 Jewish and non-Jewish children to the UJC’s president and chief executive officer, Howard summer camps out of the range of Hezbollah’s rockets Rieger, told JTA. Jan Goldstein, Executive Director of the Jewish and providing psychological help for those directly Federation, will be visiting Omaha’s Partnership with affected by the attacks. Now that the rocket fire has ended, the fund-raising Israel region--the Western Galilee--which was the hardcampaign is continuing. The focus now, say officials est hit during the summer war. She’ll be leading a cominvolved, is to make the northern region more inhabita- munity mission there from Oct. 22-27 and will see, firsthand, how donations from the Israel Emergency ble and actually draw people back to the area. “When the bullets and the bombs and rockets were Campaign are being used. “Based on past experience of flying, the imperative was getting kids out of harm’s way, IEC distributions a few years ago,” Goldstein explained, and I think we did a pretty damned good job of that,” Continued on page 2
The Bagel: An Immigrant Story Joan Micklin Silver and Matthew Goodman Team Up for a New Documentary Film
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT by LEO ADAM BIGA Bagels occupy much of acclaimed feature filmmaker Joan Micklin Silver’s time these days. That’s because the Omaha native and Central High School graduate, best known for Hester Street (1975) and Crossing Delancey (1988), two films about the Jewish experience in America, is preparing to shoot a new documentary that tells the history of the bagel in the U.S. in terms of the classic immigrant success story. Silver was turned onto this story by noted food writer Matthew Goodman, author of the book Jewish Food: The World at Table and the former Food Maven columnist for The Forward. Co-producers on the project, Silver will direct Goodman’s script. The bagel film project arose from a meeting Silver arranged with Goodman for his insights into the food of the Catskills, the famous East Coast Jewish resort that is the subject of a second documentary Silver is prepping. In the course
Inside Opinion Page see page 20
of their Catskills conversation he mentioned his findings on the bagel and suggested it might make an interesting film. According to Goodman, long an admirer of Silver’s films, she said, “’Would you like to work together on it?’ Of course, I was delighted. I think she has a wonderful literary sensibility when it comes to her work.” As research by these first-time collaborators reveals, the rise of the bagel has strong reverberations with the greater immigrant story in America and the assimilation and discrimination that is part of it. “It came from Poland, it struggled and strained and went through everything most other immigrants do before it prospered,” Silver said. “That caught my imagination so totally when we figured that out that we decided, Okay, let’s do this.” Immigrant tales have long fascinated Silver, whose parents, the late Maurice and Doris Micklin, came here in the wake of the Russian revolution. Hester Street explores turn of the century life for newly arrived Jews on the Lower East Side and their struggles to blend in. Crossing Delancey eyes contemporary Jewish life in Manhattan and the conflict of traditional versus modern values.
Scott Brezack, left, Sue Brezack, and David Brezack, owners of Omaha’s only kosher restaurant, The Bagel Bin, inspects a batch of bagels hot out of the oven. Sue moved to Omaha more than 30 years ago from--where else?--Brooklyn--with her husband, Joel, now deceased. She and her sons now run the business.
This Week: Arts & Entertainment Issue See Front Page Stories & More at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’
Line-up of Scholars for Klutznick-Harris Symposium: Pages 4-5
The now ubiquitous bagel was brought here by Eastern European Jews, among whose members were artisan bakers steeped in the closely guarded tradition of Old World--read: handmade--bagel baking techniques. “This was artisanal baking. These guys were the holders of the keys of the kingdom, as it were, when it came to bagels. This was the knowledge of the correct way to bake a bagel that had been passed down from generation to generation, going all the way back. The way to do it was a pretty tightly held secret,” Goodman said. “They took great pride in their ability. It was not easy to do. The ovens were not easy to work. The dough unwieldy. It took a long time. You had to apprentice awhile before you became a member. So these guys really were craftsmen,” he said. Continued on page 11
Coming Next Month: Election Issue, Nov. 3 Former Omahan Still Wowing Music Fans: Pages 18-19
Work Begins on Lincoln’s Holocaust Memorial: Page 24