October 21, 2011

Sponsored by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Endowment Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA October 21, 2011 23 Tishrei 5772 Vol. 92 | No. 6

Together we are doing a world of good

This Week

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMPAmerican cities, plus Canada, WRIGHT Mexico, Israel and Hungary to Editor of the Jewish Press Omaha. Also honored with the When M.C. Tom Fellman took Community Service Award was the the mike Monday night, he had JFStival, which celebrated a centusome great things to say about ry of JFS while recognizing Gloria Omaha and its Jewish community.

Kaslow as JFS’ Woman of the “All of us can be proud,” he told Century. the audience. “We’ve moved the The Bruce Fellman memorial JCC, the Sher Home, Beth El and Young Leadership Award was Beth Israel, and with a little mazal given to Mike Siegel, and Stacie Temple will be across the street Brodkey received the Lois Jeanne soon. As a community, we have Schrager Memorial Young proven again and again we can do Leadership Award. anything.”

Bonnie Bloch and Jim Farber He also stated that “tonight is a were the recipients of the Phil and celebration of our community Terri Schrager Spirit of Federation coming together under our new Award, which was presented by model of One Campus-One Terri Schrager.

Community, which translates into The evening’s entertainment was working together to keep Omaha provided in-house: under the guidthe very best Jewish Community.” ance of Director Fran Sillau, severTom was accompanied on the The evening’s M.C., Tom Fellman, left, Humanitarian of the Year Buddy Goldstein, al members of the JCC stage of the JCC theater by Jewish with Jody Malashock and Mike Silverman.

Community Acting Group perFederation of Omaha President Jody nity and serving the Jewish people.” the Jewish Press. formed a song from the upcoming Community volunteers who were “We are excited to see so many production of The Wizard of Oz. Malashock and Chief Executive Officer Mike Silverman. Together, honored by the agencies were: Ellie great leaders ,” said Mike Silverman.

The highlight of the evening was they introduced this year’s volunteers. Batt for the Jewish Federation; “When people step up like this, they the presentation of the “I am constantly inspired by you, Sharon Comisar-Langdon for the elevate our community and inspire Humanitarian of the Year Award to our volunteers,” Jody said, “because Center for Jewish Education; Bob others to do the same.”

Buddy Goldstein: “This is a big The 2010 Maccabi Games volun- deal,” Tom Fellman said. “It takes a you set the vision, and you make it Cohen for the Institute for Education; Kristy teers were honored as a group by the special person doing special things happen. Woking hand in hand, part- Holocaust nering with our excellent profes- McGuire for the Anti-Defamation Jewish Community Center, while to earn this honor, and I cannot Relations the Community Service Award went think of anyone more deserving sional staff we are moving forward League/Community with our eyes on the future, keeping Council; Jim Wax for Jewish Social to the 2010 Maccabi Games, which than Buddy Goldstein.” focused on building Jewish commu- Services, and Bobbi Leibowitz for brought over 1000 athletes from 24 See more photos on page 8.

Ten Commandments focus of Beth El Children’s Shabbaton Page 8

A full house with the Every Other Tuesday Night Poker Club Page 9

How Occupy Wall Street is Continuing the conversation like Israel’s summer protests

by ADAM CHANDLER NEW YORK (Tablet) -- As the Occupy Wall Street protest enters its fourth week, with demonstrations popping up in more than 10 cities,

naivete, others would argue) of the 1960s anti-war demonstrations. But it’s not Tahrir Square or Chicago in 1968 that Occupy Wall Street most resembles. It’s the protests for eco-

NBA lockout prompts a new motive for aliyah: basketball Page 16

Inside Point of view Synagogues In memoriam

Next Week

12 14 15

Jewish Camping

Protesters marching in lower Manhattan in an Occupy Wall Street demonstration, Sept. 26, 2011.

Credit: Paul Stein/Creative Commons

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

the protesters are aggressively pushing a comparison to the Arab Spring. Some say the movement has channeled the zeal (or perhaps the

nomic justice that swept Israel this summer.

Start with location. Like the J14 -the catchy name for the Israel protests, taken from the date, July 14, when they began -- the Occupy Wall Street activists have staked out their turf in the heart of the American banking industry.

In Tel Aviv, hundreds of protesters railed against the high cost of housing by setting up tents in the area of the city that houses Israel’s largest banks, specifically on Rothschild Boulevard, an exclusive street Continued on page 2

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMPmetal plates with a variety of mateWRIGHT rials, such as glass and metal, into Editor of the Jewish Press the kiln”.

It’s a question most artists are As Bialac worked, Jim watched. used to: what or who inspires you? “Then, I started to have opinions For photographer Jim Krantz it’s an easy one to answer. As a young boy, starting around the age of 12, Jim spent every Saturday with his grandfather. David Bialac was an accomplished woodworker and an artist, who taught Jim a thing or two about having an artist’s eye.

“My grandfather spent his entire life in Omaha,” Jim says, “operating Dave Bialac Sun Spot, 2007 Jim Krantz Builders, and doing custom woodwork for a liv- about the artwork,” Jim rememing.” Professionally, Bialac worked bers. “Being there with him, watchfor many different companies, ing this meticulous process, is what such as Mutual of Omaha, a vari- was directly responsible for me ety of restaurants and retail busi- looking at the world a certain way, nesses. “He did real high-end and it was like a non-verbal diawoodwork, but his true passion logue we continued as we were was abstract artwork,” Jim says. together. Seeing him experiment “On those Saturdays we spent and explore art was very inspiring.” together, I would be with him at During the mid-seventies, when his studio on Hamilton Street, and Jim was around 16 years old, he would experiment with differ- David Bialac had a stroke, and it ent mediums. He called it “baking limited what he could do. He gave cookies,” when he would put big Continued on page 9

2 | The Jewish Press | October 21, 2011

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Continued from page 1 haredi Orthodox, and focusing on one issue -- the untenable named after Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, a member cost of living -- J14 was able to unite Jews, Muslims, Arabs, of the famous Jewish banking family and a patron of Zionist Christians, Druze, gays, the religious, the secular, the left causes. wing and the right wing in In Lower Manhattan, the common cause. In its final Occupy Wall Street protesters rally on Sept. 3, some 400,000 have made their base 2 1/2 people participated -- approxblocks from the New York imately 6 percent of the counStock Exchange in Zuccotti try’s population.

Park. While there are no tents “We work for the richest allowed, hundreds of protestretailer in the world,” a man ers have made the park their from upstate New York who temporary home, camping out works at Walmart said in in sleeping bags despite rain Zuccotti Park. “And yet their and the early autumn chill. employees make jack s---.”

Rothschild Boulevard in Tel He wore a hoodie, which Aviv houses Independence partially covered a neck tatHall, the site where Israel’s too of the Hebrew letters Declaration of Independence aleph bet gimel, which he was signed in 1948. Zuccotti claimed was an acronym for Park has been rechristened “everybody’s equal.” On the “Liberty Park” by the protestother side of his neck were ers and is just a few yards four Hebrew words that away from Ground Zero. meant “God’s earth, God’s Demonstrators are quick to planet,” bisected by a tree in explain that the movement, the shape of a cross.

Occupy Wall Street, is leader“There’s a lot of love,” an less. This same lack of leaderunemployed Occupy Wall ship characterized the August Street protester named protests in Tel Aviv. (Yes, Donna told me.

Daphne Leef, a 25-year-old Some of the 700 people who attended a Kol Nidre service in On a Monday evening and film editor, was credited with solidarity with Occupy Wall Street protesters across from in the early morning hours sparking the protests when Zuccotti Park in downtown New York, Oct. 7, 2011. the next day, I saw what she Credit: Danielle Fleischman was talking about. The sound she pitched a tent in a Tel Aviv square to draw attention to the price of rent in Israel. of drums and guitars gave the space the feeling of a carnival.

But she remained a symbol more than a leader.) This lack of A quick tour of the plaza revealed a surprising abundance of real leadership has, at least so far, resulted in a fuzzy ideolo- provisions: anarchists with logistical acumen! There was gy and a dearth of concrete demands from the Occupy Wall more food than could be eaten, and no one knew from where Street crowd. it had come: deli sandwiches, Pop Tarts, apples, bananas, cofIn the small hours of a Tuesday morning, to take one fee, and bottles and bottles of Poland Spring. There was talk example, I watched as a 24-year-old protester named Chris of donating the excess food to homeless shelters. from Brooklyn tried to explain the movement’s goal to six of Countless supplies had arrived via UPS and from strangers New York’s finest: dropping off supplies throughout the day. There were tarps to “The reason is bigger than you can possibly understand,” sleep under and aluminum and cloth blankets for campers. A Chris said. compost station had been set up for leftover food. Two pro“So, explain to it to us,” one of the cops responded. “I work testers sat rolling cigarettes from mounds of tobacco, offering this job because I have a pile of bills to pay. What’s your regular or mint. I was offered a free umbrella. A similar camaside?” raderie had pervaded the Tel Aviv protests this summer.

“It’s not about the small scale,” Chris said, unable to articIn Zuccotti Park, a medical team roved the plaza giving ulate a better reply. “You don’t understand.” out vitamins. A sanitation crew kept the square clean.

“That’s where the difference is -- between reality and your Protesters used the bathroom in a nearby McDonald’s. side,” the cop said. “It’s time to move along.”

“They’ve been very nice to us,” Anya, who came from This inarticulateness has provided lots of fodder for blis- Iowa for the protest, told me. “The workers are part of the 99 tering satire. (“Because if there’s one thing New Yorkers percent.” At 1 a.m., a bounty of McDonald’s cookies and cofnever ignore,” Stephen Colbert quipped on his show, “it’s fee arrived. people sleeping in a park.”) At the same time, this big tent I met a guy named Max sipping McDonald’s corporate has served Occupy Wall Street, which has drawn a broad- coffee. yet-disparate coalition much in the way that the Tel Aviv “I work for the U.N. now, doing geospatial analysis,” Max protests did. Taking a lap through Zuccotti Park, you’ll hear said. He was more than a little drunk, skeptical of the movesnippets of conversations about the environment, gay rights, ment, and may or may not have been telling the truth. “I was police brutality, the Iraq War, Afghanistan, the drone pro- watching the Russians today on the Internet. And they are gram, tax cuts, foreign aid and more. following the protests closely.”

But the single overarching theme of the protests has been Max said he lived nearby and had just dropped by to check corporate greed. It is this one-note song of economic out the scene. inequality that has allowed a collection of students, the “The protesters have... no mission,” he told me. “It’s like unemployed, activists, anarchists, immigrants and union they are fighting a ghost.” members to form a coalition. They say they represent the 99 The same could be said of the Tel Aviv protests, which percent; the wealthiest 1 percent, they point out, controls 40 nevertheless galvanized an apathetic Israeli generation into percent of the country’s wealth. political engagement.

Similarly, by avoiding divisive political issues such as setAdam Chandler is a contributing editor for Tablet tlements, the status of Jerusalem, the future of the West Magazine. His work has appeared in Haaretz, the Bank, policy toward Iran and financial subsidies for the Jerusalem Post, The Huffington Post, and elsewhere.

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by JTA NEWS STAFF WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The Israeli general in charge of the West Bank is on the record opposing cuts in U.S. funding to the Palestinian Authority.

“Stability in the region includes the ability of the Palestinian Authority to pay its salaries,” Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon was quoted Wednesday as telling The New York Times. “Reducing the Palestinians’ ability to pay decreases security. American aid is relevant to this issue.”

The United States already has disbursed the $200 million in 2011 funds designated for Palestinian Authority infrastructure, but Republicans and Democrats in Congress are saying they are ready to cut all funds for 2012 because of the Palestinians’ U.N. push for statehood recognition and reconciliation talks with Hamas.

Lawmakers already have put on hold another $200 million

in 2011 funds for humanitarian assistance, which goes mostly to nongovernmental groups. Another $150 million in 2011 funds is designated for Palestinian security forces; it is not clear whether lawmakers plan on obstructing this money.

Alon’s comment was notable because it was on the record; he is to retire his commission soon.

However, Israeli defense officials for months have been quietly making the case to U.S. lawmakers and others that they favor funding the PA, despite its diplomatic rifts with Israel.

Democrats in Congress say they are taking the Israeli advice into account, but Republicans -- chief among them Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the chairwoman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee -say that as a matter of U.S. policy, no monies should go to an uncooperative Palestinian Authority.

October 21, 2011 | The Jewish Press | 3

Even as some Israelis worry about the price, Shalit deal sparks joy

by LINDA GRADSTEIN JERUSALEM (JTA) – There was a festive mood among the shoppers running around Emek Refaim Street in Jerusalem’s German Colony doing their last-minute shopping on the Wednesday before Sukkot, but the mood was about more than just the coming holiday.

The news late Tuesday night that captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit would be released sparked elation in many corners of Israel.

“When I heard about it, I almost cried I was so happy,” said Sammy Hevroni, 52. “It makes me feel that if, God forbid, something happens to my son who is in a combat unit in the army right now, someone will go and bring him home.”

But, Hevroni added, he is concerned about the price: the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners, many of them murderers, who could fuel a new round of terrorism in Israel. Still, he said, Israel had no choice when it came to the deal: It had to free Gilad.

Palestinians also welcomed the deal and the release of their prisoners.

“I think it’s one step in the direction of peace,” Mohammed Dajani, the founder of the relatively moderate Islamic organization Wataniya, told JTA. “The issue of the Palestinian prisoners and Gilad Shalit created so much tension on both sides. I am happy that Shalit is alive and will be coming home to his family, and I am happy for all of the families of the Palestinian prisoners, some of whom have been in jail for many years.”

Dajani said that the prevailing feeling on the Arab street before the deal was one of despair. He said the deal shows both sides that compromise can benefit everyone.

It is not clear why the deal was reached now, more than five years after Shalit was captured in a cross-border raid in June 2006. Israeli officials spoke of a “window of opportunity” that could be closing, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Egypt and Germany for their help in brokering the deal.

There was also a secret channel between Hamas Deputy Foreign Minister Ghazi Hamad and Gershon Baskin, the Israeli co-director of the dovish think tank IPCRI, the Israel Palestine Center for Research and Information. Baskin told Israel Radio that he and Hamad had exchanged lists of names of Hamas prisoners that Israel wanted included in the deal.

In an e-mail message to JTA, Baskin thanked Hamad, “who has been working with me for 5 years to secure the release of Gilad.” Baskin called Hamad “a person who I trust and who trusts me and someone who is the new face of Hamas willing to work for peace with Israelis.”

Some Israelis said the price -- some of the released prisoners murdered Israeli soldiers and helped suicide bombers that killed dozens of civilians -- was too high. National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau, one of three ministers who voted against the deal in the Israeli Cabinet, called the

Noam Shalit, the father of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, reacts at the protest encampment opposite the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem that a deal has been reached for the release of his son, Oct. 11, 2011.

Israelis in Jerusalem celebrate the news that an agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas for the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Oct. 11, 2011.

Credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90 deal “a victory for terrorism.”

Israeli intelligence experts rejected Landau’s warnings of a

new wave of terrorism in Israel.

“From past experience, most prisoners who have been in jail for many years do not return to terrorism,” said Meir Elran, an intelligence expert at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies. “If Hamas wants to carry out suicide bombings, it has plenty of recruits who are younger and better trained.”

Of the 479 Palestinian prisoners who will be released in the first stage, more than 200 will not be allowed to return to their homes in the West Bank. Most will be deported to the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas.

The issue of Palestinian prisoners is a top priority for Palestinians, and the deal is expected to strengthen Hamas in Gaza. Hamas had been losing ground to the rival Fatah faction, which controls the West Bank and whose leader, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, was cheered as a hero for petitioning the United Nations last month for Palestinian statehood recognition. This deal is seen as a victory for Hamas in the rivalry between the two factions.

The deal also may boost Netanyahu, at least in the short run. There is some hope in Israel that the agreement to free Shalit somehow could spark renewed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, creating an incentive for the Palestinian Authority to regain the momentum from Hamas by returning to the negotiating table. But many analysts are doubtful that either side is willing to make the necessary concessions on issues such as borders and the future of Jerusalem.

Over the past five years, Gilad Shalit had become a household name in Israel. In thinking about Shalit and the efficacy of such a prisoner exchange, parents in this country of mandatory army conscription invariably ask how they would feel if it were their son being held captive. Shalit’s parents, soft spoken but tenacious, have been tireless advocates for their son’s release.

Now, with Shalit set to be released, many wonder about his physical and mental state. In five years and four months of captivity, Shalit was allowed no international visitors. Two years ago, his captors released a brief video of Shalit issuing a call to Israeli leaders to agree to a deal for his release.

“The video showed he is functioning and speaking, but who knows what has happened to this young man,” Reuven Gal, the former IDF chief psychologist, told Israel Radio.

“Gilad was presumably held in physical and emotional isolation, and the result is likely to be serious trauma.”

Gal said the best chance for full recovery is for Shalit to spend as much time with his family as possible.

Despite the seemingly high price for Shalit’s release, Rabbi Ron Kronish, director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council of Israel, said the deal made him happy.

“There is a strong consensus in favor of the deal in Israel,” Kronish said. “I think it says something about the value of human life. I even like the timing -- the eve of the holiday of Sukkot, when it is a mitzvah to be happy.”

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Mainstreeters offer knock-out November

by OZZIE NOGG The days may be getting cooler, but Mainstreeters programming keeps heating up. The November calendar is filled with activities that give area residents -- age 60-plus -the chance to meet new people, exercise their brains, learn new skills and enjoy life to the fullest. Maggie Conti, Director of Activities and Outreach Programs at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mainstreeters are happy to offer such diverse programs, and we look forward to seeing many community members join in the excitement.â&#x20AC;?

Upcoming Mainstreeters dates to remember include: â&#x20AC;˘ Beginning Poker with Rosie: Thursday, Nov. 3 and 10, 23 p.m.

Instructor: Rose Pitlor, our High Priestess of Poker. Come learn the basic strategies and rules of this ever-popular game. Get the inside, straight low-down on the betting, the hand rankings, the showdown and other features sure to improve your skills. Class meets in the Husker Lounge on Main Street of the Blumkin Home. Poker With Rosie is free, but reservations are needed by Nov. 1. Please call Maggie Conti, 402.334.6521, to save your spot. For more information, call Rocky Stern at 402.393.4952. â&#x20AC;˘ Design Your Own Handcrafted Jewelry: Monday, Nov. 7, 1-3 p.m. Location: Papio Creek Gems and Gifts. 14614 West Center Road in Harvey Oaks Plaza by Bag Nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Save. Learn a

few simple techniques and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll walk out of the lesson with a one-of-a-kind bracelet to wear or give as a gift. Cost: $10 includes class instruction, beading wire and clasp. (Note: Students will pay for other materials from an extensive line of unique beads and gems ranging from two cents a bead to 79 cents a bead, depending on your design.) Reservations needed by Tuesday, Oct. 25. Please make checks payable to Jewish Social Services and mail to: MAINstreeters c/o Maggie Conti, 323 South 132 Street, Omaha, NE 68154. For transportation, call Maggie at 402.334.6521. More details are available from Rocky Stern. 402.393.4952. â&#x20AC;˘ Brownville Concert Series presents Todd Murray in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Croonâ&#x20AC;?: Sunday, Nov. 20.

Todd Murray is a songwriterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dream, singing the songs as they were written in a strong, stunning baritone. In this concert, Todd traces the history of crooning, defined as â&#x20AC;&#x153;singing intimately with a microphone.â&#x20AC;?

Cost: $17 a person includes show admission and deluxe coach transportation to Brownville sponsored by Jewish Social Services. Bus leaves from the JCC at noon -Todd Murray please be at the main entrance by 11:45 a.m. -- and returns at approximately 7 p.m. Please bring your own snack and water for the ride. Dinner, on

your own, is available after the concert at Piccolo Peteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s.

Concert reservations needed by Tuesday, Oct. 25. Please make checks payable to Jewish Social Services and mail to: MAINstreeters c/o Maggie Conti, 323 South 132 Street, Omaha, NE 68154. More details are available from Jim Wax. 402.393.4442 â&#x20AC;˘ The Omaha Symphony, 90 Years Young: Monday, Nov. 21, 12:30 p.m. lunch in the Blumkin Home Auditorium.

Join us as Music Director Thomas Wilkins discusses the future of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra.

Maestro Wilkins -- the 12th Music Director in the Symphonyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history -- is committed to promoting life-long enthusiasm for music. His Thomas Wilkins energy and passion appeals to audiences of all ages, whether they attend the Symphony dressed up or in jeans. Cost: $10 per plate. Choose either Hot Turkey Sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy or Citrus Baked Salmon over rice pilaf. Both entrees come with roasted mixed vegetables and apple pie. Reservations needed by Monday, Nov. 14. Checks should be made payable to Jewish Social Services and sent to Mainstreeters, c/o Maggie Conti, 323 South 132 Street, Omaha, NE 68154. For information call Linda Abrams Tederman at 402.468.4939.

Learn how Tehilim (Psalms) can help you through Einstein letter sells for $14,000

by JTA NEWS STAFF difficult times LOS ANGELES (JTA) -- A letter written by Albert

by AMBER PARTIN Administrative Assistant, Center for Jewish Education The next segment in the Center for Jewish Educationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Friday Learning Seriesâ&#x20AC;? will begin on Oct. 28, with the class, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tehilim (Psalms) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Timeless Prayers in Difficult Circumstances.â&#x20AC;? Taught by Dr. Guy Matalon, Jewish Federation of Omaha Scholar-in-Residence, the four-week course will explore â&#x20AC;&#x153;tehilimâ&#x20AC;? which have been recited by Jews and non-Jews for over two thousand years. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are 150 Psalms and they touch upon every Dr. Guy Matalon human event and help readers find comfort in them,â&#x20AC;? states Matalon. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In this four week course, we will look at some of the most important Psalms

in close detail. We will also discuss why we recite particular psalms at specific times.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tehilimâ&#x20AC;? is often referred to as the Book of Psalms, however the more precise translation is â&#x20AC;&#x153;praises.â&#x20AC;? Principally written by King David, the beautiful verses throughout Psalms express praise to God. There is a wide spectrum of feelings expressed â&#x20AC;&#x201C; thanksgiving, confession, hope, trust and of course, praise. Tehilim is described as being â&#x20AC;&#x153;intensely spiritualâ&#x20AC;? with writings to fit many different stages and situations in life. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tehilimâ&#x20AC;? will be held on Fridays, noon-1 p.m. in the Kripke Jewish Federation Library at the Jewish Community Center. Sessions will be held Oct. 28, Nov. 4, 11, and 18.

The class is free of charge to members in good standing of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. The tuition for non-members is $35 per person. Pre-registration is requested by calling 402.334.6463 or email apartin@jewishomaha.org.

The â&#x20AC;&#x153;Friday Learning Seriesâ&#x20AC;? continues in December, with a three-week class by Judy Rosenfeld, beginning Dec. 2.

Join us for Sunday Brunch!

Please join us for Omahaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newest Sunday Brunch.

Our menu includes Chef Archieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s famous fluffy omelette, eggs benedict, and chicken and waffles, which is a huge hit on the east and west coasts.

We open at 10 a.m. and serve brunch until 2 p.m.

We want to thank the Jewish community for their support, and we look forward to serving all of you in the future.

The first week of every month we serve Matzo Ball as our soup special.

If you need Matzo Ball soup for a gathering or a party, it is available upon request in gallon size. We do ask for a few days notice so we have time to prepare it.

We hope to see you at brunch on Sunday.

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Einstein to a Jewish New York businessman was sold at auction for nearly $14,000.

The purchase price by an anonymous buyer was nearly double what was expected. The typed letter, signed A. Einstein and on his personal embossed stationery, was put up for sale by a West Los Angeles auction house. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We [Jews] have no other means of self-defense than our solidarity and our knowledge that the cause for which we are suffering is a momentous and sacred cause,â&#x20AC;? Einstein wrote to Hyman Zinn on June 10, 1939, praising Zinn for his efforts to aid Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria.

Nate Sanders, the owner of the Los Angeles auction house that bears his name, told JTA that the letter had been consigned by a Norman Zinn, presumably a descendant of the original recipient.

One day before the auction deadline, the highest bid stood at $3,058, but Sanders, whose company specializes in autographs by famous personalities, had expected to sell the letter for $5,000 to $7,000.

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October 21, 2011 | The Jewish Press | 5

Zwetschgenkuchen, anyone?

Celebrating each family legacy

Encyclopedia of Jewish Food by Gil Marks (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2010), 656 pages $40.00 standing of the spread of food culture and its adaptation to local food resources and linguistic permutations.

In the last 25 years, cookbooks have been published on Jewish cuisine in Baghdad, Iraq, Andalusia, Aleppo, Spain, Iran, Hungary, and Yemen, where few Jews live, cook or eat. Marks concludes, “If Jewish communities no longer exist in their place of origin” their customs and food remain important.

The influence of Columbus’ European discovery of America introduced the avocado, corn, potato and tomato to world and Jewish cuisine, and led to five million Jews currently living in North America.

Palestine had 78,000 Jews in 1910; in 2010, Israel had five million citizens, and a vibrant cuisine.

The index provides access to subjects that are within a category but are not the name of the category or section. Indexes are only as good as their protocol. For instance, indexes unfortunately typically do not cover early portions of the book, that is, those pages numbered with Roman numerals.

Thus colorful literary references to Marcel Proust and James Joyce on vi and vii are absent in the index.

There are extensive entries following Ashkenazim, over 130, and at least 120 entries on the synthesis of Iberian and Ottoman cuisine that contributed to Sephardic cooking.

This book is an essential reference for all serious Jewish kitchens and synagogue reference shelves, and will provide entertaining and informative reading about our exciting and tasty Jewish cuisine heritage. Read it before preparing meals for Sabbath, Rosh Hashanah, breaking the Yom Kippur fast and Passover. It will enrich the understanding of the relation between ritual and symbolic food, and it may even change your menu. This book might be an ideal, if challenging, Hanukkah gift; it will no doubt enhance the holidays. It may well be a book passed on from generation to generation.

You will not read this book cover to cover, but users will be surprised at how easy it is to use and the refreshing light it sheds on old and new practices. Make a blessing the first time you get a food, sauce or wine stain on a page. Come to think of it, in addition to the blessings for the candles, wine and bread, in our urban life we could bless the kosher aisle of the retail food chains, Costco, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Food for Less, No Frills, Bakers, Hy-Vee, Bag ‘n Save, and the seasonal farmer’s markets.

This book is user friendly. If diligent search fails you, email your question to gil_marks@hotmail.com.

Losing someone close to you is never easy. That’s why we at John A. Gentleman Mortuaries do all we can to celebrate each family legacy. One of the ways we do that is by planting a living memorial at Lauritzen Gardens.

The historian’s footprint OLIVER B. POLLAK Encyclopedias are designed for “consultation reading,” an expression used by MacArthur Genius award winner Ann Blair in her phenomenal Too Much to Know (2010). Encyclopedias are arranged alphabetically. Gil Marks starts with ‘adafina,’ a Sephardic Sabbath stew, and ends more than 650 entries later with zwetschgenkuchen, plum pudding, a favorite dessert of my youth prepared by my mother in the 1950s, who brought her German culinary skills to England and America. The least used letter is U, it has only one entry, udder, the contents of which are surprising.

Marks, a chef, Rabbi, writer, historian and Jewish cooking expert, founder of Kosher Gourmet and nominated for the James Beard Award, studied the “cultural odyssey” of more than 2,500 years of Jewish cooking.

He concludes from his 25 years of study that “The central feature of Jewish cooking in the Diaspora has been adaptation.”

Encyclopedias have traditionally been multi-author collaborative projects. Marks is the author, not the editor, though he does thank almost one hundred people, 18 of whom have the last name of Marks.

At the end of the entry is the familiar “See also.” The Passover entry directs the reader to Afikomen, Chametz, Charoset, Gebrochts, Karpas, Kitniyot, Maror, Matza and Seder, while the index leads you to almost 50 further entries, but curiously not the Hillel Sandwich, which is found within Koraik.

Rosh Hashanah in the index directs you to 70 other subjects, apples to zvingous, Spanish deep fried balls of dough, thus confirming Marks’ assertion that the New Year dining table has more symbolic foods than Passover.

Marks reminds us that Hannah Glasse had some Jewish recipes in her 1796 edition of her popular The Art of Cookery, but it was not until 1815 that a dedicated Jewish cookbook appeared, Kochbuch fur Israeliten in Karlsruhe, Germany, by Josef Stolz. The Settlement Cook Book by Mrs. Simon Kander first appeared in 1901 and has gone through at least 33 editions. Incidentally, more that 25 Jewish cookbooks have been published in Nebraska. Writing and publishing Jewish themed cookbooks is a growth industry of which Joan Nathan is the impresario.

Apparently the term “Jewish Deli” was first recorded in 1954. The Deli section leads you to corned beef, hot dog, mustard, pastrami, pickle, rye and salami. The pickle section yielded a briny sweet and sour mouth-watering adventure. Marks states that, “a pickle cuts through the residue in the mouth, restoring the taste buds and allowing the flavor of food to emerge,” really, an amuse-bouche.

Cholent, also known as Shabbas Ganif, occupied 6 columns, Tsimmes or tzimmes occupied 6 columns, and Derma was under kishke. Blintz gets four columns, gefilte fish eight, horseradish and hummus four each, Kosher five, and Shabbat six.

There have been massive changes to where Jews lived and moved to. Reading between the lines one finds a sad cultural void. Many of the local cuisines, such as those of Iran, Iraq, Poland, Syria, where Jews no longer exist, leave a legacy that has historic interest. What emerges is an under-

Organizations B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Speaker to be announced for Wednesday, Oct. 26, noon at the Blumkin Home. An optional buffet lunch costs $10; beverage service is $3. For more information or to be placed on the email list call 402.334.6443 or bnaibrith@jewishomaha.org.

LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Yiddish teaches an optimistic vision that allows us to view the world with joy and hope. Come join us at the Blumkin Home, every Thursday in the board room, at 1 p.m., to reap “The Joys of Yiddish!” For information call Anne Skolkin at 402.343.1638.

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Out

Dining

6 | The Jewish Press | October 21, 2011

Beth El’s new Family Shabbat service

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by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Families are singing the praises of Beth El’s first-ever High Holidays Family Service, held this past Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Their enthusiastic feedback has led to the creation of a new monthly Family Shabbat Service at the synagogue, which will debut on Saturday, Oct. 29, at 10 a.m.

The High Holidays service, geared to a multi-generational audience, was led by Rabbi Steven Abraham, teacher Eadie Tsabari and Education Director Judy Rubin, plus children and teens of the congregation. The morning was highlighted by storytelling, creative movement, discussions, songs and a parasha play, as well as traditional liturgy.

Kelly Kirk, who attended with her husband, Thomas, their children Lauren, Emily and Jacob, along with her father, Fred Tichauer, enjoyed the service, saying, “I thought it was great. I’ve been to services at other synagogues before where the kids aren’t in the service the whole time; they would just come up for one prayer and they would leave. So this is the first time that I can remember the entire service being for families.”

Kirk sees this new service as a welcome and exciting addition to the High Holidays’ celebrations at Beth El, saying she wants her children to make a lifelong connection with their Judaism.

“Obviously, the children are the future generation of not only the Jewish people in general, but leadership of the synagogue, and I think it’s important to make them feel comfortable and welcome in the synagogue, she said, adding, “I want to be involved and I want my kids to be involved. I want them to love their religion, and the only way for that to happen is for them to experience their religion, and they cannot do that if they’re in babysitting. You get lost if you don’t play an active role.”

For Bobbie Epstein, the Family Service was a four-generation family affair, as she attended with her mother, Charlotte Adler, her children, Melissa and Michael Schop, and her grandchildren Sarah and Noah Schop. (Epstein’s husband, Bob, attended the traditional service in the sanctuary, she noted.)

Calling the service “haimisch,” she said, “I loved it. I loved going with my grandchildren – the service was geared to all of us. I loved that the tunes were familiar and that we could participate. I loved the energy in the room. I enjoyed seeing the high school-age kids participate. I thought it was incredible that they did the Torah portion in a little skit -- I was very impressed that they would participate like that.”

Epstein also applauded Rabbi Abraham, saying, “He exudes energy and happiness and he spoke to us, he didn’t speak down to the children. He was on everybody’s level and he’s just fabulous.”

Linda Saltzman also commended Rabbi Abraham, calling him “exceptionally personable” and saying “he is wonderful with people of all ages, including the kids, and I think they really like seeing him and the funny little amusing things he’d toss in here and there.”

Saltzman attended the Rosh Hashanah Family Service

with her husband, Kevin and their children Ari and Dina; on Yom Kippur they were joined at the service by Kevin’s parents, Rosalie and Ernie Saltzman.

“One thing I really liked about the Family Service,” Linda said, “was that it got all the kids in BESTT involved during different parts of the service. Judy Rubin called up different grades and they read a blessing that they had been working on in class, and I thought that was really neat to have the kids involved. It was neat for the parents to see their kids up there, but it was also more interesting for the kids to be participating.”

She also enjoyed the use of a special, kid-friendly siddur, but noted that above all else, “The biggest thing of all was that finally, finally, we could be with our kids during some of the holiest days of the Jewish year and share the services together, instead of wondering what they’re doing, are they learning, are they having fun, what’s going on … It is a family day and so it was great to be together as a family.”

Other three-generation Family Service attendees included Wayne Schwarz and Lori Kooper-Schwarz, their oldest daughter Melanie, and Lori’s parents Sharon and Howard Kooper.

“I thought it was a fabulous service; it made the High Holidays very enjoyable,” Wayne said. (The Schwarzes’ daughters, Courtney and Sabrina, participated in the synagogue’s tot service, “also a fabulous program,” according to their dad.)

“To watch all the kids interact and lead a portion of the service was great,” he added. “It was also great because it was standing-room only. They had to bring in extra books and extra chairs and the biggest problem was that they ran out of books – they should always have that problem!”

Rabbi Mordechai Levin expressed pleasure with the community’s response to the High Holidays Family Shabbat Service, saying, “We were pleased to add this new experience, a service which gave parents and their children the opportunity to celebrate together. This year, we offered different paths for people to participate: a traditional Conservative service in the sanctuary, an alternative service in the social hall, the family service in the West Court, and a tot service in the chapel. We received great feedback about these celebrations – many people found the options meaningful and enjoyable. We’re happy to build on this success and announce the creation of a monthly Shabbat Family Service, beginning on Oct. 29.”

The new service will be led by Rabbi Abraham, along with Tsabari and Rubin. Rabbi Abraham noted that the engaging, interactive program will feature the same high energy, creativity and teaching that were present during the High Holidays services.

“I’m a big fan of intergenerational programs,” he said, “and for parents to daven with their kids is a great religious experience.

“We want this service to offer another opportunity for our congregants to connect to Judaism,” he added, “and look forward to creating a warm, meaningful Shabbat experience for family members of all ages.”

Guide of the Perplexed OCT. 21–NOV. 20, 2011

A Guy’s view GUY MATALON, Jewish Federation of Omaha Scholar in Residence

by Pearl Cleage

(402) 553-0800 | (888) 782-4338 WWW.OMAHAPLAYHOUSE.ORG

A classic book is a text that transcends its historical period and is relevant for many generations. One Jewish Classic is Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed. Maimonides was born in Cordoba, Spain in 1135 and died in Egypt in 1204. He wrote The Guide toward the end of his life.

He wrote it, as he explains in the introduction, to help people who study science and philosophy understand the Hebrew Bible. His approach is both interesting and challenging. In the book he touches on every important question and provides an answer – the existence of God, God’s relationship to human beings and the world,

afterlife, why do good people suffer, evil and many other important topics. The Jewish Federation of Omaha is offering a six week guided tour into one of the most fascinating and difficult texts in Judaism. The class will consist of readings from the text with discussion and explanations. It is intended to stimulate thought-provoking discussions about fundamental concepts in Judaism. The course is open to learners of all levels and is free to members of the Jewish community.

There are several key Jewish books that we should be familiar with, and this is one of them. It is a complex text that is rich with penetrating insights and thought-provoking ideas. I am looking forward to the opportunity to share my love and appreciation of the text with others.

Rabbi Jonathan Gross, senior Rabbi of Beth Israel Synagogue said, “We are so fortunate to have this program available to the Omaha Jewish community. The works of Maimonides can be very complicated to learn, and having a guide makes the learning of this scholarly work accessible to the lay person. I am really excited for the class and I encourage everyone to come and learn.”

The class will take place on six consecutive Tuesdays beginning Oct. 25 (Nov. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29) at 8 p.m. at Beth Israel Synagogue. The course is offered jointly by the Jewish Federation of Omaha and Beth Israel Synagogue. To register for the course, please call either Beth Israel at 402.556.6288 or Dr. Guy Matalon at 402.334.6560.

JEWISH PRESS NOTICE sponsored by:

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The Jewish Press will be closed on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 20-21, for Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

Questions please call 402.334.6448.

October 21, 2011 | The Jewish Press | 7

B’nai B’rith Adult and Youth groups build sukkot

Standing: Michelle Jacobs, left, Linda Jacobs, Kathy and Spencer Jacobs, Ron Giller, Howard Kutler, Sitting: David Jacobs, left, Arthur Jacobs, and Steve Riekes, Event Chairman.

BBYO members Molly Paskar, left, Mallory Rogers, and Kevin Adler

by GARY JAVITCH President Emeritus, Henry Monsky Lodge of B’nai B’rith Almost immediately following the fasting of Yom Kippur, a stalwart group of teenagers from the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization

Child Development Center, and the Blumkin Home for the holiday benefit of all.

Led by B’nai B’rith chair and project organizer, Steve Riekes, the crews spent about an hour performing this annual mitzvah.

Afterward, the Monsky Lodge provided

pizza and pop for all the participants.

Jodi Levine, the BBYO youth director at the JCC, helped coordinate the teen group.

The pictures reveal a tired, mostly dirty group of workers enjoying their refreshments and taking a break.

lowed immediately by an inaugural reading of the Torah’s opening. This drives home the message that learning Torah can never be fully achieved. The more we learn, the more there is to learn.

“Simchas Torah feels different to those who have experienced the Torah’s cycle of study,” Rabbi Katzman explained. “For those who study regularly, the stories of Creation and the world’s early years, followed by the birth of our nation, the desert stories, and finally Moshe’s parting words become personal, pertinent, and moving. I urge those who have not tried to feast on Torah, to become cyclists this Simchas Torah,” Rabbi added.

Bonnie Pfrenger, also an honoree, wife and mother of four says, “There is so much information and knowledge in the Torah that I never knew existed. When Shani explains a story I thought I knew, she flips it upside down and takes it ten levels deep. Her manner of teaching makes it so much more powerful and meaningful!”

Simchas Torah is on Friday, Oct. 21. The ceremony and celebration begin at 11 a.m. and are open to the entire community.

Hakafot dancing and a bountiful Kiddush luncheon will be enjoyed by all. For reservations please email rsvp@ochabad.com or call 402.330.1800.

joined forces with a group of B’nai B’rith adults to build a sukkot on the Federation campus.

Over the years, the teens and adults have placed pine boughs on special sukkah setups placed at the Friedel Jewish Academy, the

Tuesday morning at Chabad

by SHANI KATZAMAN for Chabad House What started out as an opportunity for women to explore the meaning of life -marriage, parenting and self -- became a weekly discussion on the Parsha. Dubbed “The Tuesday morning group,” these gals spent the last year discovering how enriching and relevant the weekly Torah portion is.

They will be honored on Simchas Torah during a festive Kiddush at the Chabad Center for their dedication to study and for coming full circle in the Torah study cycle.

Several students of Chabad’s many offerings will present mini dvar Torahs and L’Chayim

toasts for this occasion.

Tippi Denenberg, one of the honorees, wife and mother of four, shares, “I enjoy studying with the bright and spiritual women in our group. I especially appreciate Shani Katzman’s enormous talent as a teacher. She has a way of bringing Torah to life, making it immediately applicable. I never thought the Torah could be accessible and useful to me personally until I studied it at Chabad House,” she continued.

Simchas Torah, the holiday which marks completion of the cycle of Torah/Parsha study is traditionally celebrated amidst great joy. The conclusion of the Torah study is fol-

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8 | The Jewish Press | October 21, 2011

Ten Commandments focus of Beth El Children’s Shabbaton

by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Beth El’s second- to fifth-grade students will be treated to a special, fun-filled Shabbaton overnight program from Saturday, Oct. 29 to Sunday, Oct. 30, themed “God’s Top Ten: Exploring the Ten Commandments.” The kid-friendly retreat will offer engaging activities and discussions revolving around the 10 Commandments, plus activities including a post-Shabbat trip to the JCC to swim and playing Israeli games in the gymnasium. Facilitators during the weekend will include Rabbi Mordechai Levin, Rabbi Steven Abraham, Youth Director Shiri Tene, and BESTT Education Director Judy Rubin.

Participants at last year’s BESTT 3rd to 5th Grade Shabbaton enjoy sharing an art activity. This year’s overnight program is scheduled for next weekend at the synagogue.

“The reason we chose the 10 Commandments as the theme is because we often reference them but don’t often explore them in depth,” Rubin explained. “‘God’s Top Ten’ are universal truths for any society. Our activities and discussions will help our students internalize these truths for their own lives.”

As a special highlight, the overnight will be capped off by continuing the fun of parasha Noach, during the synagogue’s first-ever Noah’s Ark Animal Parade and a blessing for the animals by Rabbi Abraham. All Beth El congregants are encouraged to bring their pets to the synagogue’s back lawn for this special event, scheduled for 9:45 a.m. (In case of inclement weather, the parade will be postponed.)

“This year’s Shabbaton is going to be a blast,” said Tene.

“The overnight will be spent not only learning about the 10 Commandments, but also spending some good, quality time with friends. This Shabbaton is a much-loved tradition at Beth El, and this year will be even better than the last!”

Drop-off will be at 9:45 a.m. on the 29th; pick-up will take place at 10:15 a.m., following the parade. Registrations are being accepted now, Rubin said, noting that thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, there will be no charge for the first 30 children to who sign up. After that, cost to attend will be $25. Reservations may be made by contacting Tene at 402.492.8550, or youthdir@bethelomaha.org; or Rubin, at 402.498.0904, or eddir@bethelomaha.org.

Together we are doing a world of good

Clockwise from above: Donald Goldstein, left, Kathy Goldstein-Helm, Humanitarian of the year Buddy and his wife Shirley Goldstein, Gail Raznick, and Molly Helm; Sharon and Howard Kooper accompanied by Jan Goldstein (Monday was Howard Kooper’s birthday, and he was serenaded at the end of the awards ceremony); Jim Farber and Bonnie Bloch, proud recipients of the Phil and Terri Schrager Spirit of Federation Award; Mike Silverman catches up with Beth Israel’s Rabbi Jonathan Gross; Jeff left, Terri Schrager, Schrager and Tom Fellman; Beth Seldin-Dotan and ADL/CRC Volunteer of the Year Kristy McGuire; Young Leaders Mike Siegel and Stacie Brodkey.

Arts+Entertainment The Omaha Symphony will play Prokoviev’s Fifth on Friday, Oct. 21, and Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Holland Performing Arts Center. Tickets range from $15 to $75; for availability or more information, please visit www.omaha symphony. org or call 402.342.3560.

Veteran journalist, Jewish Press contributor and author of the popular blog, leoadambiga.wordpress.com, will conduct seminars for aspiring and emerging writers: A Journey in Freelance Writing with Leo Adam Biga will be held Oct. 30, Nov. 13, and Dec. 11, 6-8 p.m. at the Brandeis building, 210 So. 16th Street, Community Room, use Concierge entrance. Cost of the event is $40.

If your book club, school, church or community organization hosts the seminar, group rates are available.

For details, call 402.445.4666 or email leo32158@cox.net Register at leoadmbiga.eventbrite.com/ Saturday Oct. 29, 7 pm, Omaha Symphony presents its Spooky Spectacular Weekend at the Holland Performing Arts Center, featuring the movie Psycho. The film is accompanied by a live performance of the score, conducted by Benjamin Wallfisch. The afternoon of Oct. 30 will have activities for a younger audience, including music, games, and crafts. For tickets and more information, visit www.omahasymphony .org or call 402 342 3560

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October 21, 2011 | The Jewish Press | 9

Full house

ESCAPE t h e c o l d SNOWBIRDS

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

Members of the EOTNPC - Brent Spivack, seated left, Elliot Brown (senior member), Stan Mitchell, back row: Tuffy Epstein, standing left, Morey Birenbaum, Harold Kosowsky, Steve Tipp, Les Kay and Roger Tederman

by STAN MITCHELL What do you get when you put 8 or 9 guys around a table? Perhaps a full house (don’t they wish it!). The Every Other Tuesday Night Poker Club has been playing for a few decades. For the past several years each player puts a dollar into the “pushke” on game night. The club makes annual dona-

tions to commemorate the yahrzeits of recent past members/players Howard Ruback, Max Bittner, Joe Ginsberg and Jack Duitch.

The group just presented $100 checks to Jewish Family Service to assist needy Jewish families and to CornerStones to provide scholarship assistance.

The right choice for personalized assisted living in a comfortable, home-like environment Social, recreational and cultural opportunities • Restaurant style dining • Transportation • Wellness center, library and game room •

Continuing the conversation Continued from page 1 him talking while I am working. Doing the camera he used for taking photographs this forced me to get back to the basics, and of his artwork to Jim, and “I have never the continuity is amazing.” put it down since then,” Jim says. “I Jim Krantz’ photographs of Chernobyl, became completely enamwhich focus on the signifiored with this precision cance of home, will be device, and this passhown at the sion and dedicaC ommonwealth tion continues Club in San to this day. If it Francisco. In wasn’t for my fact, that grandfather, opening my exporeception sure to art will occur on and phothe same tograhy may date and at never have the same happened.” time as the Which is one in Omaha. how Jim’s new Then, in March e x h i b i t , of 2012, the Generations Shared, Chernobyl project at Anderson O’Brien will be shown at Art Gallery, came to be.

KANEKO in Omaha.

While Jim’s abstract phoKeep an eye on the Jewish Untitled, 1968 David Bialac tographs will grace the Press to find out when walls of the gallery, David Bialac’s abstract this additional exhibit will take place. artwork will be displayed in the middle, For more information about Jim Krantz, representing the core of Jim’s inspiration. visit his website: www.jimkrantz.com, and As a tribute to his grandfather and the click on his ‘About’ link. As a true photoginfluence he has had on him, Jim has rapher, of course his bio is made up of decided to show their work together, and meaningful images; however, his tales of in a way, he says, it continues the shared driving west and meeting Ansel Adams are visual dialogue they started 45 years ago. extremely entertaining. “I’ve always “It’s partly fueled by gratitude and love,” he thought the typical photographer’s bio was says, “because he was the one who exposed wordier than it needed to be, so I did mine me to the creative process. But, it is also in photographs,” he writes. That may be so. about generations, about how the threads But whether in words or through images, connect one generation to another, about Jim Krantz has more than one fascinating how I’ve learned from him.” story to tell. Don’t miss this opportunity to Although Jim Krantz, like his grandfa- experience one of them. ther, also is very successful commercially Generations Shared will open with a (he just finished another large commercial reception on Nov. 4, 6-9 p.m. at Anderson ad campaign, and completed a book O’Brien Art Gallery, 1108 Jackson St.; Jim “Homage: Remembering Chernobyl”), for Krantz will attend this reception, which is this exhibit he stuck close to what he free, and open to the entire community. watched his grandfather do. “We do have The artwork will be on display through the same aesthetic, and seeing his work Nov. 27. For more information about Jim’s and mine together, it’s like we are continu- exhibit, visit aobfineart.com, or call the ing our dialogue. In my head, I can hear gallery at 402.884.0911

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Lithuania’s wartime remembrances

by ALEX WEISLER moting different projects. We are a democracy, not a Belarus VILNIUS, Lithuania (JTA) -- At first it seemed like a dictatorship,” Zingeris said. “We’ve struggled long enough potential breakthrough in Lithuania’s efforts to come to for the right to live in a democratic society, where there’s no terms with the Holocaust. way one can block an initiative to mark and reflect on and In September of last year, Lithuania’s parliament declared evaluate history.”

2011 to be the Year of Remembrance for the Victims of the Faina Kukliansky, a restitution lawyer who serves as the Holocaust in Lithuania. Yet only a week later, the parliament vice president of Lithuania’s approximately 3,500-member passed another resolution -- one that some critics charge has Jewish community, says it is important to remember that the also made 2011 the year of the perpetrators. country was under Soviet rule for 60 years and is only two The Lithuanian parliament declared 2011 the Year of decades into grappling with its role in the Holocaust.

Commemoration of the Defense of Freedom and the Great “You have to notice not only what is wrong but what is Losses. That designation marks the events of 1991, when the good,” she said. “Only to sit and criticize and not take part in Baltic state won its independence from the crumbling Soviet all these events... I don’t think it’s the best position.”

Union, and more controversially, 1941.

Kukliansky said that funding from the Holocaust rememIt was in 1941 that the Nazis drove the Soviets out of brance initiative has financed the commemoration of the Lithuania. Lithuanian fighters rose up against the year-old old Jewish cemetery in Vilnius and facilitated the proper Soviet occupation, burial of 64 people and Lithuanian natkilled during the ionalists formed a Holocaust. short-lived, NaziShe said the Jewish allied provisional community has been government. involved every step of While the antithe way, and if she has Soviet fighters are concerns about the seen as national other parliamentary heroes by many r e s o l u t i o n , Lithuanians, they are Kukliansky said she remembered by Jews knows better than to as having played a key bring them up now. role in the Nazi effort The Jewish communithat wiped out some ty has pushed for Jews 90 percent of the to be included in country’s Jewish popevents commemoratulation, with some ing victims of Soviet Lithuanian political and religious leaders commemorating the Holocaust mounting deadly pooppression, with some this summer at a ceremony held in connection with the country's Year of the groms against Jews success, she said.

Credit: Faina Kukliansky Holocaust initiative. even before the Nazi “We try to use it as killing squads arrived. much as we can, to commemorate the events, to educate It is a disconnect that continues to bedevil Lithuanian- people, to use it in our favor,” she said. “We’re not openly Jewish relations. fighting with the government about this issue.”

Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s The Holocaust commemorative year has brought tangible Jerusalem office, said the two resolutions “are inherently results, including 25 victim remembrance projects and the contradictory,” noting that while there is a desire “to honor passage of a law that will allocate $53 million in compensaLithuanian heroes, among them are people who were tion to Jewish communities. Zingeris noted that it also has involved in the mass murder of Jews.” spurred discussion about the construction of an upgraded Lithuanians have tended to focus on the brutality they memorial at Paneriai, near Vilnius, where some 70,000 Jews faced at the hands of the Soviets rather than their wartime were murdered during the Holocaust, along with thousands collaboration with the Nazis. In 2008, Lithuanian authorities of Poles and others. outraged Jewish groups by investigating anti-Nazi, SovietBut Zuroff said the Holocaust commemoration year is a aligned Jewish partisans for alleged complicity in war crimes publicity stunt. against Lithuanians.

“This is one big cover-up, and it’s part of a well-orchesMilan Chersonskij, the former editor of Jerusalem of trated and -financed campaign to fool world Jewry and help Lithuania, the country’s now-defunct Jewish newspaper, polish Lithuania’s image,” he said. “Everything that’s being said he finds the juxtaposition of the two parliamentary res- done is being done for all the wrong reasons, and I haven’t olutions troubling. He says the situation reflects an unwill- seen any serious effort to honestly face the past.” ingness to grapple with Lithuanian culpability in the For Zingeris, the year represents a chance to increase tolHolocaust. erance in Lithuania and remind the country of its substan“They want the European countries to forget and forgive tial Jewish heritage. them the Holocaust of the Jews. They’re doing all that they “I just happen to be a second-generation Holocaust surcan,” he said. “The Holocaust, they say, was made not by vivor and member of the parliament since 1990. If I would Lithuanians but by Germans.” not introduce this resolution, perhaps there would be no The text of the Holocaust remembrance resolution con- Year of the Holocaust Remembrance,” he said. “We have to demns “the genocide committed against Jews by Nazis and fight revisionist tendencies in our society. We have to honor their collaborators in Lithuania during the occupation by the victims, the fighters and the rescuers.”

Nazi Germany.” It also hails residents of Lithuania who Rabbi Sholem Ber Krinsky, who has served as the Chabad fought against fascism and rescued Jews. rabbi in Vilnius since 1994, said he has seen a noticeable The resolution was sponsored by Emmanuel Zingeris, a thaw in Lithuania’s historic unwillingness to examine its past.

Lithuanian parliament member who is Jewish. He said the “Everything here was frozen for 60 years. There’s new two initiatives simply honor different slices of the country’s wounds,” he said. “You can’t change people’s psyche in a day history. and you can’t expect to.”

A conversation and healthy dialogue between the two is Regarding the Holocaust initiative, Krinsky said, “They important, he says. took a big step, so let’s applaud it. Why sift through the sand “In our parliament we have different political groups pro- to find something negative?”

October 21, 2011 | The Jewish Press | 11

Doing the Sukkah Hop

Clockwise from top left: Igor, left, Robert and Anna Mosenkis enjoy the Sukkah Hop at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home; Jon and Denise Meyers with grand-daughter Elece Swanger; lunch at Beth El; Lisa, left, and Jillian Salomon get a hug from Rabbi Aryeh Azrie, the girls “hopped” with the Yachad group to the Sukkah Hop venues; Rabbi Yaakov Weiss and his daughter, Naama, trip the light fantastic at the RBJH finale of the Sukkah Hop; and Zoe Berman, left, and Yael Schuller amuse themselves with the holiday-themed “Sukkot Scramble” word-scramble game at Beth El.

Bnei Menashe in India get Sukkot’s four species

by JTA NEWS STAFF JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The Bnei Menashe community of northeastern India will celebrate Sukkot this year with lulavs and etrogs sent from Israel.

The Shavei Israel organization, which works to strengthen ties between the State of Israel and the descendants of Jews around the world, sent hundreds of sets of the four species to India prior to the holiday.

The Bnei Menashe, Hebrew for “sons of Manasseh,” claim descent from one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, sent into exile by the Assyrian Empire more than 27 centuries ago.

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They live in India’s northeastern border states of Manipur and Mizoram.

Some 1,700 Bnei Menashe live in Israel, including 450 who have arrived in the past three years and settled in the Upper Galilee. Approximately 7,300 remain in India.

“The Bnei Menashe are anxiously waiting for Israel’s government to pass a decision to allow them to come to Israel,” Shavei Israel chairman and founder Michael Freund said in a statement. “We hope the new year will bring good news and that the age-old dream of the Bnei Menashe to return to the land of their ancestors will soon become a reality.”

12 | The Jewish Press | October 21, 2011

Point of view

American Jewish Press Association Award Winner

Nebraska Press National Newspaper Association Association Award winner 2008

Mixing religion and politics

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Editor of the Jewish Press Primary season is here, and with the incumbent candidate for the US Presidency a Democrat, all eyes are currently on the Republicans. With a 24-hour news cycle, that means those candidates are under the microscope. After all, Doctor Murray can only fill up so much talking time.

So when a few weeks ago at the Value Voters Summit in Washington DC, Reverend Robert Jeffress called candidate Mitt Romney’s Mormon religion a cult, people paid attention. A religious leader making unfortunate comments that have no place in politics: is anyone else having déja vu?

Jeffress may live on a completely different planet than Jeremiah Wright, but at the end of the day, they are not so different.

Religion and politics shouldn’t mix; we all know that. Or do we? According to Gary Gutting in the July 27, 2011 New York Times, most Americans believe that religion, as a private endeavor, holds no place at all in political life, since politics concern the public sphere. But he also says: “Religion enters our public discourse as a voice on moral issues.”

It seems like a classical case of “do as we say, not as we do.”

The question is: are we even capable of leaving religion out of it when we discuss political ideals? I’m not talking about separating church and state; that is a different issue altogether.

I’m talking about the fact that our personal moral code, usually born from either religion or the absence of, guides what we believe politically. It’s not a black and white proposition.

The underlying problem is that we seem incapable of avoiding the value judgment. “Candidate X speaks out against abortion rights because of her church’s teachings, I disagree with her political viewpoint on abortion, and so I

judge her church, and everybody in it.” Everything else this church (and I’m just giving a theoretical example here) stands for automatically becomes suspicious.

Substitute ‘synagogue’ for ‘church’, and the argument becomes less theoretical and much darker. If Mitt Romney thinks he has a problem with people judging him for his Mormon religion, try suggesting a Jewish candidate for President. The first Jewish American politician to jump into a primary election is going to have to have some very broad shoulders.

It’s something nobody likes to say out loud. It’s an ugly, unspoken case of anti-Semitism that we’d rather bury. We have Eric Cantor, we have Joseph Lieberman, we have Gabrielle Giffords, Jan Schakowsky and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. But the chance of this country electing a Jewish President, well…let’s not hold our breath.

Of course, being Jewish is more than religion; it’s culture, history, and a strong sense of identity that envelops even the most secular Jew. However, for the majority of the American electorate, ‘Jewish’ invokes religion. Political correctness dictates no American say anything antiSemitic out loud, but that doesn’t mean much inside the voting booth.

I think Romney’s issue can teach us two things: one, that religion, even though we may not want it to have a place in politics, will always be on the table; and two, that that extends to culture and identity. What do we do with that knowledge?

I’m not endorsing anyone for anything in this newspaper.

However, I do hope, once the dust settles, that Mitt Romney stands up for who he is, and answers the Reverend Jeffresstypes of this world with his head held high. I hope he says: “Yes, I am a Mormon; so what? Yes, religiously, I represent a mere 1.9% of Americans; so what?”

Mitt Romney isn’t running for religious office, he is running for President. And that is an office that should serve all Americans, not just one specific group. It is high time the people who claim this President must be a Christian, and then only a certain type of Christian, learn to think broader.

And maybe, someday, we will be able to elect a President not because of his or her religion, but regardless of it.

Rebranding Tzedakah: From charity to sacred spending

Focus on issues DANIEL S. NEVINS (Sh’ma) -- The third paragraph of birkat hamazon, the prayer after eating, presents an odd conflation of concerns.

Opening with a petition for divine mercy toward Israel, its people, capital, temple and monarchy, the prayer veers into an anxious plea to escape material dependence on other mortals: “Do not make us dependent upon the gifts of people, nor on their loans, but only on Your full, bountiful, and capacious hand, that we not be ashamed or humiliated forever.”

Without even the slightest bridging attempt, the prayer then returns to its initial theme, asking that God rebuild the holy city of Jerusalem speedily in our day. What is the middle passage about financial insecurity doing in a prayer about Jerusalem?

It is unclear when this section was added. It is not mentioned in the Talmud’s brief discussion of the origins of birkat hamazon (Brakhot 48b), and it appears for the first time in the medieval Mahzor Vitri (83). But this passage’s anxiety about economic dependence on others is consistent with earlier rabbinic themes. Historian Seth Schwartz argues in “Were the Jews a Mediterranean Society?” that the rabbis created a countercultural ideal in rejecting Roman practices of patronage, honor and gift-giving (in the Greek, “euergia”). Rather, they held up the Torah’s ideal of dependence on God alone and viewed poverty relief as a divine commandment (mitzvah), not as a social favor for which one was owed gratitude.

Jewish reality, however, was and has remained that tzedakah is more commonly viewed as a voluntary act of generosity and kindness for which one is due gratitude and honor. The ancient rabbis had to accommodate this internalization of “Mediterranean” values within the Jewish community while still offering symbolic resistance.

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Perhaps this can explain the interpolation of the theme of economic independence in the prayer for Jerusalem.

Redemption will be signaled not only by the reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, but also by the reordering of society such that no person will be dependent upon the gifts and loans of another, but only upon God’s bountiful hand.

Tzedakah today exists in a fallen state much more akin to “charity” than to the obligatory actions of righteousness idealized in rabbinic sources. We have created a philanthropic culture that lavishes honor upon donors who have the “vision to invest” in chosen initiatives. Meanwhile, ordinary communal needs such as poverty relief, elder care and subsidized Jewish education suffer from benign neglect.

Part of our failure is cultural. We have internalized Western concepts of individual agency and patronage, wherever they lead, and largely abandoned the Jewish ideal of obligation. But other aspects of the failure are our inability to develop a coherent sense of priorities in Jewish spending and our graduated expectations of giving based upon financial capacity. Even as they seek to accommodate the demands of “donor relations,” Jewish professionals should define and project a countercultural ideal of tzedakah not as charity but as the responsible and righteous use of resources.

One way to do this is to reclaim ancient categories that align with a broad set of Jewish obligations. This is not a list of charities but of sacred spending that is mandatory for a religious Jew. • Peah, shikhecha v’leket — emergency food relief for the local, regional and global poor. This is a mitzvah that the rabbis say has no limit, yet they advise that at least 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent of income from field crops be surrendered to the poor. So, too, should contemporary wage earners give a tangible amount to support the hungry and vulnerable in their community and around the world. From the behavior of Boaz toward the Moabite woman Ruth, we see that such gifts are not limited to the Jewish poor.

• Terumah u’ma’aser — a tithe (10 percent) for religious services. In ancient times, this supported the landless priests and Levites who ran the Temple, taught Torah and represented the community. Today we could apply these funds to the religious organizations needed by the Jewish community: synagogues, day schools, seminaries and summer camps, which sustain and deepen Jewish identity.

• Ma’aser Sheni — a second tithe amounting to 9 percent, most of which was reserved for a family pilgrimage fund, while the rest was distributed to the local poor. In our day, such money could be allocated to a family’s own ritual expenses (sukkah, seder, Israel travel, synagogue dues, etc.) and to increase donations to ameliorate the poverty of elderly, ill, disabled and isolated individuals.

• Machazit Ha-Shekel — a final flat poll tax whose purpose is truly communal in that it supports central welfare organizations that serve the entire Jewish people.

It is possible to create a tzedakah spreadsheet akin to the Internal Revenue Service’s 1040 form — an attempt is already in progress — but the goal should not be to create a mechanistic approach to giving. People with greater resources can usually afford to spend a higher percentage of income on such sacred causes. Yet every family should use these categories to identify its Jewish obligations — to fund poverty relief, religious services, communal structures and their own Jewish experiences.

Families with school-aged children may need to allocate more to Jewish education, but even they must dedicate funds to poverty relief. Families without dependent children should not exempt themselves from supporting Jewish education, even if their philanthropic interests lie elsewhere.

Donors who are secular should be encouraged to spend time and money enriching their own Jewish lives.

No one wants to feel dependent upon charity; our goal must be to create a Jewish community that systematically Continued on page 13

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October 21, 2011 | The Jewish Press | 13

‘Pay to pray’ blues

Focus on issues JACK WERTHEIMER (Jewish Ideas Daily) -- In the middle decades of the 20th century they were called “mushroom synagogues.” They popped up in the waning days of summer to provide High Holidays services, then disappeared at the conclusion of Yom Kippur.

Today, “mushroom synagogues” are again in vogue — but with a critical difference. Where once they were organized mainly by entrepreneurs who saw an opportunity to make a quick buck, today quite a few of them announce, or even advertise, that attendance is free.

Two related factors have driven the seasonal demand for these services in recent years. One is that American congregations rely on a dues model to sustain themselves financially. Because there is more demand for High Holidays services than for other synagogue services or programs, congregations have been able to leverage a package deal: no membership, no High Holidays seats.

The second related factor is that relatively large numbers of American Jews are not affiliated with synagogues. In the late 1950s, at the peak of synagogue affiliation, an estimated 60 percent of Jewish families belonged to synagogues. But by the beginning of this century, according to the most optimistic reckoning, that figure had dropped into the 40 percent range.

Demographic surveys have found that synagogue membership is associated with income. Therefore, it is not surprising that the recent economic downturn has exacerbated the membership gap. Congregations have lost members who have fallen on hard times. The pattern is reminiscent of the

Great Depression, which has been described by historians as a religious Depression as well as an economic one.

What are non-affiliated Jews to do if they wish to attend High Holidays services? One response to the economic realities has been a call for synagogues to eliminate their “pay to pray” policies altogether. Churches, after all, charge no membership dues. They support their activities through voluntary giving — plate-passing, tithing or other types of offerings.

Why, some Jews ask, should synagogues maintain a heavyhanded, materialistic bar to participation precisely on the most sacred days of the Jewish calendar?

The simple answer is that congregations require funds to keep their doors open year-round. Also, over the past 20 years most congregations have instituted stratified dues scales: Most synagogues have lower fees for younger people just starting their careers; most offer reduced dues for widows and widowers, divorced people and singles; most are responsive to those who have financial difficulties.

Apparently, however, many Jews find it demeaning to ask for such financial accommodations and do not do so. For different reasons, others resist the idea of paying even token amounts to help defray the costs of running religious institutions.

Some synagogues have adopted a more radical approach.

Rather than charge a flat fee for a package of services, they have instituted a “fee for services” system. In this business model, the synagogue is envisioned not as an overarching community offering its members a comprehensive range of activities but as a department store in which Jews can select those services that appeal to them and take no responsibility for supporting the other departments.

The expanding network of Chabad centers comes close to

Can we befriend all the world’s nations?

Behind the headlines AMY EILBERG ST. PAUL, Minn. (JTA) -- For great numbers of Jews, the Jewish people is family, its concerns always primary in our hearts. Many take this to mean that we must always attend to our own community’s needs before working on issues of universal concern. Yet from our earliest history, Jewish tradition has contained universalist as well as particularist themes.

The High Holy Days liturgy contains many powerful prayers for all of humanity: “May all humankind become one single family to serve You wholeheartedly.” “May all people come to serve You.” “This is the fast I desire: To let the oppressed go free and to break off every yoke.”

These sacred words, along with many others from Jewish tradition, express a dream of commonality, harmony and well-being for the whole human family, far beyond the needs of the Jewish people alone.

While Sukkot is surely a uniquely Jewish festival, the Rabbis of the Talmud taught that the 70 bulls offered in the ancient Temple on Sukkot were sacrificed in order to atone for the sins of the “seventy nations” -- biblical language for the entire world. Think about it: The priests in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem prayed (through the ancient form of animal sacrifice) for the atonement and well-being of all the nations of the world. A radical concept.

I recently had a beautiful experience of religious leaders reaching across religious boundaries to pray together and work for the common good. I participated in the interstate Caravan of Reconciliation sponsored by the Marylandbased nonprofit Clergy Beyond Borders.

In 15 days the caravan traversed 3,000 miles, addressing some 5,000 people at university campuses, synagogues, churches and Islamic centers in 15 cities. We offered teachings from Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions in support of engaged, respectful engagement with people of other religions. We spoke of the dangers to American democracy posed by rising trends of religious intolerance, particularly against American Muslims. We shared our personal stories of passionate commitment to interreligious cooperation and intoned prayers for peace.

Back on the bus together, there were countless moments of spontaneous prayer, strategy sessions about pedagogy and media relations, hilarious exchanges of self-deprecating religious jokes, hugs and loving laughter. Traveling hundreds of miles a day in a small, crowded van, we were a microcosm of the world we seek to build, in which people of different religions connect deeply with one another and join their particular religious commitments to work together for a more just and peaceful society.

Our first Shabbat together, at The Temple in Atlanta, after a warm and joyful evening service, our friend Imam Yahya Hendi rose to deliver the sermon. He looked around the sanctuary, where 250 Jews greeted him with an air of wel-

come expectation, and he began to cry. Deeply moved to be received so warmly, as a Palestinian-born imam addressing a Jewish congregation, he began, “My sisters and my brothers, I love you all. We are one family.”

Sprinkling his sermon with references to Jewish liturgy, he spoke of the unity of all people. “Shema Yisrael,” he said, “Hear O Israel,” referencing the most beloved prayer in all of Jewish liturgy, “Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad,” “The Lord our God, the Lord is One.” We are one, he asserted: Jews and Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists, Israelis and Palestinians, Muslims and Westerners, old and young, black, brown, white, red and yellow. All of us come from dust and to dust we will return.

We are on this earth together. Together we can build a better nation and a better world.

His sermon was greeted by a resounding ovation, rounds of hugs and many tears. The imam had won the hearts of this community of Jews, and the synagogue was luminous with joy.

Our two weeks together included many such radiant moments, as well as moments of challenge. While we spoke to many supportive audiences, we encountered conservative Christians and Muslims who feared that interreligious understanding meant jettisoning their own religious beliefs and practice. In Tennessee, the caravan encountered people working to enact anti-shariah legislation, prohibiting Muslims from following their own religious law, just as many Jews turn to halachah/Jewish law to guide their lives.

I was sad to leave my treasured friends after our intense mission of peace building, filled with love, laughter and prayer together. But I will take with me the precious memory of this group of leaders, all of us passionately committed to our own religious lives and devoted to working together to build a better world.

Is this a Jewish way to be?

Just as the priests in ancient Jerusalem prayed for all the nations of the world, my friends and I commit to praying and working together for the benefit of all.

Rabbi Amy Eilberg is a consultant at the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning in St. Paul, Minn.

Rebranding Tzedakah Continued from page 12 addresses individual and collective needs, thus binding us together. Such a community would minimize shame and maximize dignity; such a community would be the very image of redemption.

Rabbi Daniel S. Nevins is the Pearl Resnick dean of the rabbinical school and dean of the division of religious leadership at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Reprinted with permission from the journal Sh’ma (www.shma.com) as part of a larger conversation on tzedakah and innovative, sustainable philanthropy.

this approach. If a family wishes to enroll children in a Chabad Hebrew school, the center typically does not require synagogue membership. This model reduces the cost of attending High Holidays services, though it does not necessarily eliminate fees altogether. The model might also capsize most congregations, which do not have large endowments and, for better or worse, sustain themselves by relying on dues from members who rarely avail themselves of all the services offered.

The other solution to the pay-to-pray dilemma, increasingly adopted by congregations and “freelancers,” is to offer High Holidays seats at low or no cost. Most Chabad centers follow one approach or the other. And quite a few mainstream congregations in recent years have set aside some seats for distribution at no charge. The altruistic reason for such a policy is to provide places for those who cannot afford payment. The more strategic reason is to draw newcomers to the synagogue in the hope that when they have the means, they will join.

These High Holidays arrangements have considerably eased the pain of the pay-to-pray blues often heard at this season of the Jewish calendar. At their best, however, synagogues are religious communities offering rich benefits for members prepared to pay in the currency of sustained commitment. Most such communities now offer low-cost or, as one advertisement puts it, “free, walk-in High Holidays services for those who are searching.”

But as the slogan implies, the lunch is not really free, at least in a moral sense. Those who avail themselves of such opportunities have an obligation to be actively “searching,” not passively expecting service. Synagogues should not be spiritual department stores or transient, once-a-year gathering places.

Occupy Wall Street v.

Tea Party

by RON KAMPEAS Why is Occupy Wall Street a mob and the Tea Party not?

Eric Cantor won’t say as of news time, according to the New York Jewish Week’s Adam Dickter.

Dickter spoke to Cantor when the Republican majority leader was in New York this week for a fund-raiser. Cantor did not repeat his derisive description of OWS as a “mob,” made at the weekend’s Value Voters Summit.

The interview was on the fly, so Dickter did not get a chance to press him on it. But Dickter -- and good for him -- was not going to let it go, especially considering White House pushback. He’s still waiting for Cantor’s answer.

The Tea Party has, especially since helping the GOP win the House, become more of an institution. But it’s early days were raucous: guns at political meetings, disruptions at town hall meetings of the order that just got ten Muslim students in California convictions.

Cantor’s other point -- that the radicalism among the OWS crowd will push Jews to the GOP -- I’m not so sure about.

I have yet to see a Tea Party event with a Kol Nidre service.

They like hasbara too

by RON KAMPEAS When I worked at the AP in Jerusalem, my boss Marcus Eliason would write the occasional color story about Israel, having nothing at all to do with the conflict. The stories were light and engaging, and got terrific “play” (what we called “hits” before y’all invented this Internets thingy, joonyer.)

The reaction among international media colleagues in Jerusalem stunned me: Stories like the Hamitzer piece were “propaganda,” I was told; “hasbara.” They distracted from the conflict. That was the real story.

I subsequently reported for the AP from London, and then here in DC. I had to cover “real” news -- governments elected and fallen, terrorist attacks, financial crises -- but I was also expected to turn in a quota of “quirky” stories. Why was this not permitted Israel? Why was saying anything even remotely positive about the country “hasbara”?

Yes, of course, the flacks who peddle these stories want to convey a positive image of Israel, but so what? Dismissing every positive take borders on racism, and worse, dives straight into outright stupidity.

Palestinians also have a “they’re all about the hating” image problem, and it’s equally as unfair.

It’s good to see, then, that they’ve taken to “hasbara,” in its most benign sense. Palestinian Surprises is a website that guides you gently away from the conflict into pleasant realities, like the Palestinian Oktoberfest, women race car drivers and ice hockey pros.

14 | The Jewish Press | October 21, 2011

Synagogues B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE 618 Mynster Street | Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 | 402.322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com FRIDAY: Services followed by Oneg, 7:30 p.m.

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California | Omaha, NE 68154-1980 | 402.492.8550 www.bethel-omaha.org Services conducted by Rabbi Mordechai Levin, Rabbi Steven Abraham and Cantor Beth Schlossberg.

FRIDAY: Morning Service (Hakafot), 9:30 a.m. and congregants Glen Fineman and Diane Axler Baum will be honored as Hatan Torah and Kallat Bereshit, respectively; Kabbalat Shabbat Service, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Morning service, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush sponsored by Beth El; Evening Service, 6:20 p.m.

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

SUNDAY: A World Without Jews?, with Andy Greenberg, and Bible Study Discussion Group, 10 a.m.; BESTT Chaverim Youth group (grades 2-5) elections, 10:15 a.m.; BESTT informational meeting for parents of 2013-’14 B’nai Mitzvah celebrants, 11:15 a.m.; USY/Kadima pumpkin-picking at Ditmar’s Orchard. Drop-off at Beth El at 12:45 p.m.; pick-up at 5:45 p.m. Cost to attend: $10.

THURSDAY: Women’s Book Club, 1 p.m. will discuss The Collected Stories by Grace Paley; USY/Kadima youth group members will bake pumpkin pies for donation to the Siena Francis House, 6-7:30 p.m.; Women’s Rosh Hodesh Group meets at 7 p.m., for a meet and greet with Shira Abraham at the One Pacific Place Residences clubhouse, 101st and Pacific St. RSVP to co-host Melissa Schop at melschop@hot mail.com or 402.319.9609.

SHABBAT IS FOR STUDY: Join Cantor Beth for this lunch ‘n’ learn group after Saturday morning services on Oct. 29, at 12:20 p.m. Sessions will focus on the history and meaning of the Shabbat service throughout the ages. No charge to attend; everyone in the Jewish community is invited.

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

sponsored by Sisterhood; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6:16 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Free babysitting service begins at 9:30 a.m.; Children’s Classes begin with Torah Parade, 9:45 a.m.; Kiddush is sponsored by Sisterhood; The Laws of Shabbat, 4 p.m.; Advanced Parshah Study for Kids (ages 10 and up), 5 p.m.; Rabbi Gross’s Twitter Topic Class, 5 p.m.; Mincha, 6 p.m., followed by Seuda Shlishit; Havdalah, 7:15 p.m.

SUNDAY: Gemara class, 8 a.m., learning tractate Kiddushin; Shacharit, 9 a.m. followed by breakfast.

WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m.

MONDAY: Weekly Teleconference Mishnah Class, 10:30 a.m. with Rabbi Gross. Contact the office for information on how to call-in to the conference call.

TUESDAY: Rabbi Mizrahi’s Weekly Class, 7 p.m.; A Guided Tour of the Guide of the Perplexed, a six-week course on the work of Maimonides with Dr. Guy Matalon, 8 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Scholars Club for fourth-sixth graders, 4 p.m. with Rabbi Mizrahi at the Blumkin Home; Rabbi Weiss’s Weekly Class, 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: Women of the Torah class, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Gross.

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

FRIDAY-Simchat Torah: Services, 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Hakafot; Evening Services, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Morning Services, 9:30 a.m.; MinchaMa’ariv, 6 p.m.

SUNDAY: Services, 8:30 a.m.; Soup in the Sukkah, a special women’s only night at 6 p.m. in the Chabad Sukkah.

WEDNESDAY: Hoshana Rabba Services, 7 a.m.; Hoshanot may be obtained by calling our office; Evening Services, 6 p.m. followed by Kiddush and Hakafot.

THURSDAY: Services, 9:30 a.m.; Yizkor Memorial Service, 11 a.m.; Evening Services, 6 p.m. followed by Kiddush and Hakafot.

All programs are open to the entire community.

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific Street | Omaha, NE. 68154 | 402.556.6288 www.BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org Office Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fri., 8:30 a.m-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Jonathan Gross and Rabbi Yitzchak Mizrahi.

FRIDAY-Simchat Torah: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Special Women’s program led by Ilana Weiss, 10:30 a.m.; Kiddush

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

FRIDAY: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m., with oneg following hosted by Jayne Draper and Julie Moore.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9 a.m.; Teen Torah

In other Jewish newspapers

by DANIEL TREIMAN NEW YORK (JTA) -- Here is a weekly roundup of Jewish newspapers from around the world.

Jewish secrets: A community art project now on display at a Montreal cafe asked young Jews to anonymously divulge their Jewish secrets on postcards. Among the spilled secrets cited by The Canadian Jewish News: “I’ve always been kosher but I wonder what I’m missing”; “I used to go to synagogue to pick up girls”; “I used to hate my Jewish nose … now I think it makes me beautiful,” and “I fake-cried when I landed in Israel.”

Chiefles in St. Louis: St. Louis’ Orthodox Jews have lost their community’s last chief rabbi with the death of Rabbi Sholom Rivkin, The St. Louis Jewish Light reports. The Jerusalem-born Rivkin had been the city’s chief Orthodox rabbi for more than two decades, until 2005, when he retired due to Parkinson’s disease and was not replaced.

The office was a holdover from a bygone era in which various American cities had their own chief rabbis. Shortly after returning to St. Louis to take up the post, Rivkin quipped: “I’ve already made a real difference in St. Louis.

The Cardinals have won the World Series for the first time in a long time!”

Feingold pans statehood bid: Former Democratic senator and progressive standard-bearer Russ Feingold is cool to the current Palestinian statehood bid. “I’ve long believed there should be a Palestinian state. But I don’t understand how you can ask the United Nations for membership when you don’t even acknowledge the right to exist of the country that’s going to be your neighbor,” he tells The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle.

Strike three for Hebrew charter: The state of New

Jersey rejected for a third time an application to start a new Hebrew charter school in Highland Park, citing unspecified “deficiencies” in its application, the New Jersey Jewish News reports.

Olympian food fight: Five members of the Olympia Food Co-Op in Olympia, Wash., are suing members of the co-op’s board, alleging that they failed to follow the co-op’s procedures when adopting an anti-Israel boycott, Seattle’s Jewish Transcript reports.

Voting values: In the wake of the Republican victory in a New York special congressional election -- in which some Orthodox rabbis opposed an Orthodox Democrat over his support for gay marriage -- New York’s Jewish Press looks at the debate over whether religious values should determine how Orthodox Jews vote. The election, the paper reports, “brought to the forefront an issue that has increasingly become the subject of debate among Orthodox Jews -- the propriety of mixing politics with religion. In other words, should a Torah-observant Jew bring his or her religious values into the voting booth or leave them at home?”

Stage fright: Israel’s Habima Theatre has been invited to perform for the first time at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre as part of an international festival this spring. Britain’s Jewish Chronicle reports on worries that the company’s planned performance of “The Merchant of Venice” will be disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters like what happened with a recent London concert by the Israel Philharmonic. “I hope it will be OK, but I have my concerns, and it’s very expensive for the company to go to London,” Habima’s Rut Tonn tells the J.C. “It’s very important for us to do it and also for Israel that it goes well.”

Candlelighting Friday, October 21, 6:16 p.m.

Study, 10:30 a.m. led by Rabbi Craig Lewis; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. on Parashat Bereshit, lay led SUNDAY: LJCS Gan through Grade 7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; Hallah High, 10 a.m.-noon at South Street Temple.

WEDNESDAY: LJCS classes (grades 3-7), 4-6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel.

Tot Shabbat Service, Friday, Oct. 28, 6 p.m. with Ms. Jennifer at Tifereth Israel. All tots and families are welcome.

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

NEIGHBORHOOD PRAYER GROUP 1317 North 57 Street | Omaha, NE 68132 | 402.551.6609 There will be no services starting Sept. 30 until after Simchat Torah. Services will resume Oct. 28.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME 323 South 132 Street | Omaha, NE 68154 FRIDAY: Simchat Torah Service, 9 a.m. led by Andy Greenberg.

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Marty Shukert.

THURSDAY: LOVE Board of Directors meeting, 7 p.m.

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

TEMPLE ISRAEL Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 7023 Cass Street | Omaha, NE 68132-2651 | 402.556.6536 www.templeisrael-ne.org FRIDAY: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. led by Rabbi Azriel and soloist Tami Field. We will honor everyone who celebrates a birthday or anniversary in October with a special blessing.

SATURDAY: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m.; Shabbat Service, 10:30 a.m.

SUNDAY: No Religious School.

TUESDAY: Kol Rina Rehearsal, 6:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Grades 3-6, 4-6 p.m.; Family School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Family School, 6 p.m.; Grades 7-8 B’nai Tzedek Program, 6:30 p.m. at the JCC; Brothers, The Acclaimed Israel Film: Religious vs. Secular, 6:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: Adult Study with the Clergy with Cantor Shermet, 10-11:30 a.m. Newcomes are always welcome. To register, contact Program Director Wendy Goldberg, wgoldberg@templeisraelomaha.com or 402.556.6536.

TIFERETH ISRAEL Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Boulevard | Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 | 402.423.8569 www.tiferethisraellincoln.org Services conducted by lay leader Nancy Coren. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

FRIDAY: Services, 8:30 a.m.; Evening Services, 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Study Session on Pirkei Avot, 9:30 a.m.; Morning service, 10 a.m. followed by Kiddush lunch.

Card of Thanks Many thanks to my family and friends for all the gifts, flowers, cards and contributions for my 90th birthday.

Ann R. Kaiman

Personal The family of Norman Lincoln asks you to accept this way of thanking all of you for your generous contributions and loving cards in Norman’s memory.

In Appreciation, Marge Lincoln and Family

To submit announcements: Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press with attached photos in .jpg or .tif files to jpress@jewishoma ha.org; faxed to 402.334.5422, or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154 (with photos we will scan and return).

Forms are available through Omaha and Lincoln synagogues, by contacting The Jewish Press at 402.334.6448, or by emailing: jpress@jewishomaha.org.

Readers can also submit other announcements -- births engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies or obituaries -- online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements.

Pulverent e

October 21, 2011 | The Jewish Press | 15

In the beginning...of?

In memoriam THOMAS ROSS KULLY

Sparks from the word RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parsha Bereishit The first word in the Hebrew Bible already presents a problem for grammarians.

It does not mean “In the beginning.” What it means is: “In the beginning of!”

Beginning of what?

The 11th century scholar Rashi noted the problem. He trasnlated the first word not as “in the beginning,” but as “For.” Then, Rashi suggested Israel, or mankind, or Torah.

Those who know Hebrew well can immediately understand what Rashi meant. It solves the problem that seemed so difficult to grammarians.

It was for the sake of Torah, for the sake of Israel, for the sake of mankind that the worls came into being. The problem dissolves itself. It is reassuring to know that scripture actually means that the world came into being for the sake of mankind!

Jewish Celebrity Roundup by 6NOBACON STAFF NEW YORK -- Mitch Winehouse, father of the late soul songstress Amy Winehouse, is writing a book about the singer. It will be called Amy, My Daughter and will be released

by HarperCollins next summer, according to E! Online.

Father and daughter were tight throughout her life. In fact, Amy had “Daddy’s Girl” tattooed on her body.

Winehouse promises that the book will include childhood stories and anecdotes that preceded the singer’s meteoric rise to fame, as well her well-documented struggles with addiction.

“I feel the need to write this book to tell the true story of Amy and to help with my personal recovery,” he explained.

The profits from the sale of the book will go to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which was started in the singer’s memory to help disadvantaged children and young adults.

Bono & Sukkot One, the poverty-and-disease-fighting outfit founded by Bono, has released a Sukkot-themed guide aimed at rallying efforts to combat famine in Africa.

Live after Yom Kippur, it’s Ben Stiller Ben Stiller hosted this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live,” which came right after Yom Kippur, as he pointed out.

“My father is Jewish, my mother is Irish Catholic, which means according to the Torah, I’m not actually Jewish,” he explained. “But according to all of the mirrors, I am.”

Wah, wah.

It still seems that Stiller had actually fasted; during the monologue he started getting lightheaded from hunger.

That’s when Andy Samberg appeared before him as the Jewish Willy Wonka (JWW) -- Gene Wilder.

JWW took Stiller on a tour of Jewish food. “It’s every taste you’ve ever dreamed of -- from salty to fishy!” he explained to the starving Stiller.

Asked who made all of the magical food, JWW replied, “I have an army of little men.”

“Oompa loompas?” Stiller inquired.

“No,” JWW responded, “just regular Jewish men.”

Zing!

Demi & Ashton’s Kabbalah campfire One day after Yom Kippur, when the allegedly troubled couple attended services together at the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore were seen building a campfire outside of Santa Barbara near Cachuma Lake, People reported. But they were not alone. In addition to the ubiquitous paparazzi, the pair were joined by Yehuda Berg, the pair’s Kabbalah teacher.

Roseanne returns Just a few weeks after her reality show Roseanne’s Nuts failed miserably, Roseanne is back with a new television show, Downwardly Mobile. According to Hollywood Reporter, the show is a multi-camera ensemble set in a “mobile home community.”

Hey, Romeo! Nu, Juliet?

Deadline reports that* Shirley MacLaine* has signed on for The Local, an indie adaptation of Romeo and Juliet that will feature Jewish and Italian families. Sue Kramer is slated to direct.

Plus there is talk of adding Alan Arkin and Vera Farmiga to the cast. It is still uncertain what role MacLaine will play.

Kramer told Deadline, “These two cultures have so much in common: love of gab, love of food, they talk with their hands, and they feed you with guilt.”

For more Jewish celebrity news, visit http://www.6no bacon.com/, the illegitimate child of JTA.

Thomas Ross Kully passed away at age 70. Services were held on Oct. 16 at Temple Sholom in Chicago.

He was preceded in death by brother, Bill He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Sandra; children, Debbie and Jon; grandchildren: Andrew and Alex; brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Connie Kully; sister-in-law, Leslie Kully; an uncle, cousin and friend to many.

Tom gained much satisfaction from his work as a Research Analyst and Hedge Fund manager at William Blair, William Harris and Railsplitter in Chicago. He dedicated himself to his community, Jewish Vocational Services, the Pulmanary Fibrosis Foundation, the Israeli Policiy Forum, the Anti-Defamation League and many other charitable organizations.

Memorials may be made to The Pulmonary Foundation, 811 W. Evergreen Ave. Suite 204, Chicago Il., 60642-2642.

Israeli medical residents say they’ll ignore back-towork order

by JTA NEWS STAFF JERUSALEM (JTA) – Hundreds of Israeli medical residents who resigned said they will not obey an order by the National Labor Court sending them back to work.

The court issued its decision Wednesday morning, declaring that the resignations were a collective action and therefore invalid. The resignations came in the form of personal letters.

Two days earlier, the state prosecutor had asked the court to issue an injunction against the resignations and order the residents back to work as they continue to negotiate for a solution to a labor dispute. Hundreds of residents had resigned and did not show up for work this week, leaving hospitals understaffed.

Non-urgent surgeries were canceled in hospitals throughout the country and outpatient clinics were closed. Patients reportedly also were turned away from some hospital emergency rooms.

According to Ynet, the residents are considering a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court. Some had said before the ruling that they would not honor any injunctions.

The resignations originally were scheduled to take effect in September, but were delayed by the court. The residents then agreed to stay on until Sunday in order to get past the Yom Kippur holiday.

Approximately 500 residents did not show up for work Tuesday, according to reports. More than 300 had not shown up the previous day.

The residents are dissatisfied with a nine-year agreement signed recently between the government and the Israel Medical Association. They also rejected an offer by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is the acting head of the health ministry, that would have provided an increase in the salaries of young doctors who worked only in the public health system.

Many of the residents already have secured positions in other countries, Ynet reported.

Netanyahu on Monday asked the residents to delay their resignations by another two weeks to allow him to help find a solution.

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NEW YORK (JTA) -- Yiddish signs briefly sprouted on Brooklyn trees asking Jewish women to step aside when a man walks down the sidewalk.

The plastic signs bolted to trees in the Brooklyn neighborhood of South Williamsburg read, in Yiddish, “Precious Jewish Daughters: Please move over to the side when you see a man cross,” the Brooklyn Paper reported last week.

Parks maintenance workers removed 16 of the signs last week because they were nailed to public-owned trees, a violation subject to a $150 fine.

Sources told the Brooklyn Paper that the signs were part of a campaign by a rabbinical group, the Central Rabbinical Congress, that has published other decrees, including one in June forbidding women to wear tank tops.

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CORRECTION In last week’s edition of the Jewish Press, the Sunday, Oct. 23 starting time for the Klutznick Harris Symposium was inadverrtently given as 8:30 a.m. This was incorrect; the actual time is 10:30 a.m. The Jewish Press regrets the error.

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16 | The Jewish Press | October 21, 2011

NBA lockout prompts a new motive for aliyah: basketball

by JESSICA STEINBERG With U.S. tryouts in Florida for the past four seasons, he has JERUSALEM (JTA) – Call it circumstantial Zionism. sent more than 15 Jewish American players to Israel on aliyah, There’s been a recent uptick in North American aliyah -- including this season’s Canadian guard Simon Farine, New of basketball players.

Yorker Sylven Landesberg and former NCAA More than a dozen North Division I guard Todd Lowenthal, who is playAmerican players have become ing for a second division team.

Israeli citizens and joined pro“For the Jewish American players, playing fessional Israeli basketball professional basketball in Israel is a unique teams and second division way to connect to their heritage,” said Rosen, squads in the past few years. who wants to make Maccabi Haifa into a It’s not exactly a trend but viable option for top Jewish American players. the result of Israeli league The aliyah organization Nefesh B’Nefesh rules, the NBA lockout and recently created a sports aliyah program to the dreams of one particular encourage athletes to move to Israel. team owner.

“Aliyah is aliyah,” even if it’s primarily for With an Israel Basketball professional reasons, said Nefesh spokesAssociation rule requiring at woman Yael Katsman. “Look, Scheyer was least two Israelis on the court stuck because of injuries and he wanted to at all times and a limit of four give it a try here. The process of aliyah is so non-Israeli players per team -much easier now, and Israel is better known combined with a shortage of as a solid marketplace.” skilled local players -- Israel Scheyer had his initial NBA dreams dashed long has turned to foreign after an eye injury and a bout of mononucleshores for players. The United osis.

States has been an obvious “I was out all last year and then played in the source, with its share of talentNBA D-League, which was definitely not what ed Jewish American basketball I’d planned,” he told JTA. “Maccabi had been players who can become talking to me since the end of college and I Former Duke University basketball star Jon Israeli on the court by immithought it was a really unique opportunity.”

Scheyer, who will be playing pro ball for grating under Israel’s Law of Certainly any basketball player wants to Maccabi Tel Aviv, at Ben Gurion Airport in Return while keeping dual play in the NBA, says the former AmericanIsrael following his group aliyah flight, Aug. American citizenship.

Israeli basketball star Tal “Mr. Basketball” Credit: Sasson Tiram 30, 2011.

This year, Maccabi Tel Aviv Brody, who gave up his own NBA dreams 40 signed former Duke University standout Jon Scheyer to a years ago when he played in the Maccabiah Games and decidtwo-year contract, and the Chicago-born Scheyer became an ed to stay. But when circumstances prevail, Israel is considered Israeli with his move here in August. One of his new team- a reasonable backup plan. mates, NBA point guard Jordan Farmar of the New Jersey “Players of the stature of Jon Scheyer or Jordan Farmar would Nets, signed a one-year contract with Tel Aviv in the wake of say that their first desire is the NBA,” says Brody, who initially the continuing lockout. Farmar is eligible for aliyah but has played for Maccabi Tel Aviv and is now Israel’s goodwill ambasyet to make a decision about immigrating. sador. “Look at [former Maccabi Tel Aviv player] Anthony Then there’s Jeffrey Rosen, who purchased the Maccabi Parker, who’s now playing for the [Cleveland] Cavaliers.”

Haifa team in 2007 wanting to turn it into “Israel’s team for But Brody, a native of Trenton, N.J., and an Israel Prize America.” laureate -- says the athlete aliyah trend is about the global-

ization of basketball.

“Anybody can play with anybody, so you have a Greek team with few Greeks, an Italian team with few Italians and Israeli teams with less Israelis,” he said.

For other players, an Israeli team may offer an opportunity not available back home.

Farine acknowledges that it was a professional decision for him to make aliyah because as a Canadian, he had less access to professional team opportunities than his American colleagues. And having an Israeli father, he can now make contact with an extensive network of relatives.

“Making a living playing basketball in Israel is better than an office job in Canada,” said Farine, who signed a two-year contract with Maccabi Haifa. “I hope to be living here and playing basketball for years to come.”

Maccabi Haifa’s most highly touted player, the 21-year-old Landesberg, is in his second year with the team and thinks of Israel as a home away from home. Landesberg, the son of a Jewish father and a mother from Trinidad, says he sees the same reaction when people find out that the 6-foot-6 guard with Trinidian features is Jewish. And now Israeli.

“They all get the same facial expression,” he says with a chuckle. “Their eyes get wide open.”

For an American Jew, playing basketball in Israel is about much more than the game, says Brody, considered Israel’s first modern sports hero.

When he first came to Israel in 1965, Maccabi Tel Aviv had never made it past the first round of the European championships. After successfully leading the U.S. team to a gold in the Maccabiah, Brody decided to give a year of his life to Maccabi Tel Aviv and help them advance past that crucial first round.

Israel won its first Euroleague championship in 1977 and has won four more since, making it to the finals 14 times in all.

“The conditions were primitive at the time,” Brody recalls of the early days. “We traveled around Israel, and I saw all that I had studied in Sunday religious school and saw people living it. I said OK, why not?

“I’ve watched the progression of Israeli basketball for the past 45 years and seen the impact on the American players that have come here,” continues Brody, who served in both the U.S. and Israeli armies. “It’s very positive. People have come to play basketball here but have wound up staying.”

2011 Shirley & Leonard Goldstein Lecture on Human Rights

“The Black Swan of the Middle East” Presented by

Sarah Leah Whitson Executive Director, Middle East and North Africa Division Human Rights Watch

Tuesday, 25 October 7:00 p.m.

The Thompson Center at UNO