Vol. LXXXVII No. 9 Omaha, NE
Celebrating 86 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
27 Cheshvan, 5768 November 9, 2007
Darfur torch, lit at Temple, on its way to Olympics in China
Crowd warms to author
by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator In front of the flame of Temple Israel’s Holocaust Memorial plaque, donated by Sam Fried, a Holocaust survivor, Mimi Silverman, representing Temple, and Anna Sully Sparwasser, from the Save Darfur: Omaha Coalition, lit a torch last month “to tap into the ideals of the Olympics and also to call on the host of the 2008 Olympics, the government of China, to do more to help end the genocide” in Darfur, a region of Sudan in Africa,” announced Sparwasser. Continued on page 6
Michael Oren, left, entranced event co-chairmen Andi Scioli, her parents Bruce and Pam Friedlander, and husband, Anthony Scioli, at a major donor dinner which preceded last Thursday night’s Federation Campaign community event. Author of several books including Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present, Oren spoke to a crowd of about 300 at Omaha’s Downtown Hilton. More photos on page 2.
Anna Sully Sparwasser, left, representing the Save Darfur: Omaha Coalition, and Mimi Silverman, co-chairman of Temple Israel’s Social Justice Committee, lead the procession out of Temple.
Four decades later, Diaspora Museum finds lessons in Soviet Jewry fight by DINA KRAFT TEL AVIV (JTA) -- The ink has begun to fade on the long, scroll-like piece of paper on which 300 Jews from the Soviet Union bravely penned their names and addresses to demand permission to move to Israel in the 1970s. At the time this seemingly innocuous action put them at risk of state harassment at best and years condemned to prison camp at worst. The scroll is among hundreds of documents on display in a new exhibit at Beit Hatefusoth, the Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora in Tel Aviv. The exhibit opened Oct. 30 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Soviet Jewry struggle. “There is no end to the stories here,” said Rachel Schnold, the exhibit’s curator. “People paid a very heavy price.” The unique display, titled “Jews of Struggle: The Jewish National Movement in the USSR, 19671989” presents historic perspective to a struggle that mobilized Israel, Poster for Solidarity Sunday March, NYC 1970s, Soviet Jews and the Jewish Diaspora from the exhibition Jews of Struggle: The Jewish in an unprecedented show of unity. National Movement in the USSR 1967-1989. Credit: Artist: Julia Noo Nan, It is one element of the Diaspora courtesy of Susan Green Museum’s recently launched $50 million campaign to revitalize the institu- media platforms, explains Hasia Israeli, tion, which fell on hard economic times director general of the museum. “We are in recent years. The goal is to modernize looking for those stories that have a mesthe museum and its message of Jewish sage and that strengthen the sense of unity for a 21st-century audience, belonging and what it means to be part of upgrading exhibits with interactive dis- the Jewish people,” Israeli said. As part of its revitalization plan, the plays, digitized archives and other multi-
Inside
museum also has launched an educational institute. The International School for Jewish Peoplehood Studies develops curricula, trains teachers and offers educational programming for students from around the world. The school is supported by the Nadav Fund, a charitable endeavor founded by Russian-Israeli billionaires Leonid Nevzlin, Vladimir Dubov and Mukhail Brudno, all of whom made their fortunes in the oil business. Nevzlin is the chairman of the museum’s board of directors. Israeli says the exhibit on Jews from the USSR is one of the finest examples of “Jews taking responsibility for one another -- a story of wanting to be Jewish.” The familiar chant “Let my people go” -the rallying cry at protests across the world -- echoes from posters covering the exhibit’s walls. Among the posters are placards once held high in demonstrations from Mexico City to Moscow. The movement to liberate Soviet Jews was a grass-roots effort involving housewives, students and community leaders who stood shoulder to shoulder sending letters and lobbying governments to take a stand. The exhibit reflects this, with photos of demonstrations big and small, from college students dressed in prison uniforms to the mass rally in 1987 at the Washington Mall. Some of the posters might look familiar to Diaspora visitors, such as one from the 1980s calling on New York Jews to join a Solidarity Sunday where marchers would make their way from City Hall to Battery
This Week: Salute to veterans: pages 4-5
See Front Page Stories & More at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’ Opinion Page see page 12
Jewish Film Festival opens this month: Page 3
Park, in lower Manhattan, demanding freedom for their brethren in the Soviet Union. Doreen Gainsford, a founder of the 35’s Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry, said the exhibit is meant to show people what really went on inside the struggle. “I don’t think Jews in the Soviet Union realized, and I don’t think Jews around the world realized the real struggle that took place -- that this was about a few people with the courage, force and motivation that gave them incentive to do this despite the threat of the Gulag,” she said. “There were a few people who stood up, and what we did is to respond to them.” Gainsford said the exhibit reflects the sense that “this is a piece of Jewish history, and it was people power and it was Jews standing up and fighting for themselves.” Included in the exhibit are postcards Sharansky received from his wife, Avital, while in prison -- a censor left thick lines in blue marker across half of the sentences. Avital Sharansky’s campaign for her husband’s release made Natan Sharansky a household name around the world. Sharansky will relate those days to an audience in Omaha when he speaks about human rights as part of the annual Shirley and Leonard Goldstein series at the University of Nebraska. The lecture will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 7 p.m., at the Milo Bail Student Center Ballroom on the campus of UNO. Continued on page 2
Coming This Month: Hanukkah issue on Nov. 23 Visiting scholar to lead teacher training: Page 8
Teaching Jewish literacy beyond Book Month: Page 11