Vol. LXXXV No. 11 Omaha, NE
Celebrating 84 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
Israel Says: Come Visit!
After Decades of Exclusion, Magen David Adom Expects Change
A hard hitting campaign by the Ministry of Tourism to encourage tourism to Israel from the United Kingdom begins this month with advertising in the national press and television. Among other media possibilities, some London taxis have been specially prepared with slogans to find out more about holidays in the country. The emphasis will be on Eilat, the Dead Sea, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The Ministry of Tourism hopes that the public will respond to the significant
demand for winter sun holidays away from the long northern European winters. In the first eight months of this year there was a 7% increase in the number of tourists coming to Israel from the UK over the same period in 2004. In Ireland over the same eight-month period there was an increase of 81%. Overall, the first eight months of this year have shown an increase world-wide of 25% in tourism to Israel over the Copyright: ISRANET same period in 2004.
Founder of Builder’s Supply Dies
Bestselling Author Judith Viorst to Speak at Jewish Book Fair Luncheon
by JOAN K. MARCUS Maurice Udes, the owner of what was Omaha’s largest construction company suppliers, died Nov. 15 at the age of 83. Services were held Nov. 17 at Temple Israel with burial in Temple Israel Cemetery. Udes was originally from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He was an avid football fan, tennis player and sometimes enjoyed scuba diving. However, he was best known for his prowess on the ballroom dancing floor. He and his wife, Joan, were winners of many contests. They even built a dance Maurice Udes floor in their homes. His circle of Omaha dance friends often remarked, “It’s like a dance club in the basement!” He was a leader, even in college, when he won a speech contest while attending Purdue University. He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering and went on to serve three years in the Army Field Artillery during World War II. After the war, he took a job with Lyon Metal Products in Omaha. However, the demand for housing in Omaha was great and materials were hard to get. He said, “Finding building materials was more of an acquisition contest than a sales contest.” In 1951, Udes started Builder’s Supply in an old coal yard site at 24th and Fort Streets. The company first sold lumber and later branched out into millwork. He Continued on page 15
Inside Opinion Page see page 12
by GARY KATZ Library Administrator The acclaimed bestselling author of Forever Fifty and Suddenly Sixty, Judith Viorst will be speaking at the Jewish Book Month luncheon on Thursday, Dec. 8, 11:45 a.m. in the JCC Auditorium. The cost is $15 and reservations are required. Viorst now tackles the ins and outs of becoming a septuagenarian with her usual good humor in her latest bestseller, I’m Too Young to Be Seventy: And Other Delusions. Readers will nod with recognition when she asks, “Am I required to think of myself as a basically shallow woman because I feel better when my hair looks good?” and when she graciously--but not too graciously--selects her husband’s next mate in a poem subtitled “If I Should Die Before I Wake, Here’s the Wife You Next Should Take.” Viorst is also the author of Necessary Losses which appeared on The New York Times best-seller list for two years as well as the award-winning children’s classic Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Following the luncheon, she will sign copies of her recent book in the Kripke Jewish Federation Library. For more information contact the Kripke Jewish Federation Library at 334.6462 or gkatz@jewishomaha.org
This Week: Monthly Calendar: Pages 8-9 YJO Celebrates Awards, Role in Community: Page 3
Part IV of JTA’s Tainted Teachings: Page 7
23 Cheshvan, 5766 November 25, 2005
by CHANAN TIGAY NEW YORK (JTA) -- Riding the coattails of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Magen David Adom appears to be on the verge of securing full-member status in the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies after close to 60 years of exclusion. On a recent visit to Israel, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey announced that she would shortly convene a conference at which signatories to the Geneva Conventions would consider an amendment calling for a neutral emblem. That would smooth the way for Israel to shed its observer status in favor of full partnership in the international association. “It’s been long overdue,” said Arye Mekel, Israel’s consul general in New York. “It’s the new and improved atmosphere” following the Gaza withdrawal. Arab opposition has shut Israel out of the organization for years. The fledgling Jewish state’s candidacy was rejected during the Geneva Convention in 1949, which insisted that new aid groups adopt the Red Cross emblem. Among the major stumbling blocks has been Arab and Muslim states’ refusal to accept the Magen David, or Star of David, as an official symbol, despite the inclusion of the Islamic Red Crescent. The changes to be discussed early next month in Geneva include creation of a new, neutral emblem to be used by member states that do not wish to use the cross or crescent. The new symbol would be a red crystal, a square resting on one of its corners.
A new Red Crystal symbol would help Magen David Adom become a full member of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Above are a possible version of the Red Crystal, left, and the symbols of MDA, center, and the Red Cross. The MDA--for whom full membership could mean increased funding in addition to resolution of its diplomatic isolation--will be free to display the Magen David either inside or next to the red crystal when its members work abroad. The MDA has come close to securing membership in the International Red Cross before. Following several decades at arms length, the group inched closer to the international organization in the late 1990s. The rapprochement has gained steam with staunch support for MDA from the American Red Cross -which since 2000 has withheld dues to the international body to protest Israel’s exclusion -- and from the U.S. Congress, which has passed a series of measures demanding that MDA be granted full membership. The upcoming conference is “a positive step toward reaching universality for the Red Cross movement,” Marty Evans, president and CEO of the American Red Cross, said in a statement. “We are hopeful that a diplomatic conference will adopt” the amendment, “thereby paving the way for MDA to become a full voting member of the movement.” While Israel’s image recent boost probably helped MDA’s cause, the agency’s status has been improving for several years, said Yonatan Yagodovsky, director of the International Department of MDA in Israel. He cited several other countries as having been particularly active on Israel’s behalf, including the United States, Norway, the United Kingdom, Jordan, France, the Netherlands, Canada, Turkey and Bulgaria. Continued on page 2
Coming Next Month: Annual Hanukkah Issue on Dec. 16 Omaha Writer Interviews Former Huskers’ Coach: Page 11
Early Elections for Israel: Page 16