Sponsored by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Endowment Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA
Historical Society publishes This grocery store history Week November 11, 2011 14 Cheshvan 5772 Vol. 92 | No. 9
USY celebrates 60th anniversary at Beth El Page 8
All you need is L.O.V.E. Page 9
by RITA SHELLEY Freshly arrived from Europe a century ago, thousands of men and women found work in South Omaha’s packinghouse and stockyards. South 24th Street grocer Witte Fried, also a first generation American and a widow with children from ages 2 to 7, knew something of her neighbors’ struggles to survive and prosper. She also knew they needed to eat. According to her descendants, Fried took care to mark prices on the merchandise in her store in several languages. She wanted her customers, regardless of their German, Irish, Italian, Russian, Polish, Greek, Czech or other origins, to have an easier transition into their new world. Fried’s story is one of many featured in Memories of the Jewish Midwest: Mom and Pop Grocery Stores. Scheduled to be published in November by the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society (NJHS), the book includes recollections of Jewish grocers and members of the families who operated stores throughout
Central Market in 1938 at 16th and Harney Omaha, Lincoln, Council Bluffs and surrounding areas from the early 1900s to the present. The book was a dream of Dr. Ben Nachman, an NJHS volunteer whose father owned a small store on North 27th Street. Dr. Nachman died in
Rose Blumkin Home hosts family dinner British anti-Semitism Page 16
Inside Point of view Synagogues In memoriam
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by OZZIE NOGG The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home’s annual Family Night Dinner is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 17. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. with cocktails on Main Street. Dinner follows at 6 p.m. “This year we’ve set things up to look like a French Bistro,” said Maggie Conti, RBJH Director of Activities and Outreach Programs. “We’ll have guest dining everywhere on Main Street, with tables in the Schrager Café, the Husker Lounge as well as in the Blumkin Home Auditorium. The residents always look forward to these festive meals when they can dress up a bit and enjoy being together with family and friends. It’s a very special time for everyone at the Home, and we invite the community to join us for this harvest celebration.” Strolling violinist Deborah Greenblatt brings her special brand of soothing background music -classical, Jewish favorites and
2010; publication of the book is dedicated to his memory. “A history of Jewish owned stores is also a history of the grocery business,” Renee Ratner-Corcoran, NJHS executive director, said. “Beginning with peddlers who trav-
eled from farm to farm to trade their wares for farm produce to sell in the cities, through one-room Mom and Pop stores with adjoining living quarters, to the first large self-service grocery stores, to today’s discount stores that sell housewares and groceries under the same roof, the Jewish community played a vital role in the grocery industry.” Children of early Jewish grocers who were interviewed for the book or submitted recollections recall the hustle and bustle of buying produce from open air stalls downtown (today’s Old Market) as early as 4 a.m. to stay ahead of the competition. Before there were automobiles, grocers’ children were responsible for the care of the horses that pulled delivery buggies. Mixing the flour and water paste to use for painting prices of the week’s specials on the front window was also the responsibility of children. So were dividing 100-pound sacks of potatoes into five- and 10-pound packages, grinding and bagging Continued on page 3
The Israel experience In the summer of 2011, a group of local teens and young adults visited Israel as part of the Israel Experience Grant Program. These are their stories.
Hebrew school was finally real. Everything I learned was so unimaginable, but reality really hit me in the town of Tikochin. We started by visiting the town’s syna-
Denise Ipock and her mother Ida American standards -- to the evening, and Natalie Osborne will take complimentary family portraits in the RBJH Chapel prior to dinner. The Family Night Dinner menu includes Kreplach Soup, Chicken Marsala with Mushroom Sauce, along with Wild Rice Pilaf, Green Beans Almondine and Pumpkin Pie. The cost is $17.00 per plate. Children under 12 can enjoy delicious Chicken Fingers for $8.00 a plate. “Residents’ meals are provided at no charge,” Conti said. For more information or to make reservations, please call Maggie Conti at 402.334.6521.
Team Omaha at the Wall AARON ZIPURSKY USY’s Israel Pilgrimage/ Poland Seminar This summer I spent 5 weeks with 42 other Conservative Jewish teenagers from around the country on USY’s Israel Pilgrimage/Poland Seminar. My experiences during these five weeks were incredible. Here are a few of my life-changing experiences. The week in Poland was very meaningful because everything I had learned for so many years in
gogue, now a museum. From there we walked to the town square where our guide told us the story of the Jews in Tikochin. At the start of World War II, the town was about 2/3rds Jewish. When a Nazi SS unit arrived in the town, all of the Jews were gathered, and those who did not report to the town square were forced by volunteers from the Christians of the town. From there, the Jews were marched to the nearby Lupochova Continued on page 2