Sponsored by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Endowment Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA
Partnership2GETHER Visionaries
December 19, 2014 27 Kislev 5775 Vol. 95 | No. 14
This Week
Friedel Hanukkah play Page 5
A time of rededication Page 7
by MARY SUE GROSSMAN Center for Jewish Life A picture of the wide diversity found in the Western Galilee was shared by four accomplished women from the Western Galilee Diana Bletter, Dr. Janan Farraj-Falah, Kineret Hadar and Galit AviramCohen, along with Noa FriedmanEpstein, visited Omaha on December 9yh through the Partnership2 GETHER program. Their day was packed with a combination of individual meetings and community presentations. Diana, an author, led a writer’s workshop for the Friedel 5th and 6th grade students, met with Dr. Leonard Greenspoon’s senior seminar class at Creighton University and talked to students in Ron Azoulay’s Hebrew class at UNO. Janan, the first Druze woman in Israel to earn a Ph.D., joined Eliad Eliyahu for “Eye on Israel.” Later in the day, Janan, along with Galit, both of whom work with various women’s groups, visited the Women’s Center for Advancement. Kineret, the legal advisor for the city of Akko, met with attorneys in the City of Omaha’s legal department and later visited the Omaha Small Business Network. In the evening, the four, were members
Visionaries Delegation members: Diana Bletter, left, Dr. Janan Farraj-Falah, Kineret Hadar, Galit Aviram-Cohen and Noa Friedman-Epstein. of a panel led a discussion titled “The Rich Tapestry of the Western Galilee.” Partnership2GETHER, a program of the Jewish Agency and the Jewish Federations of North America, is an extraordinary global platform con-
Polsky family donates Amud
necting some 550 communities around the world in 47 partnerships. Omaha is one of 12 U.S. Jewish communities partnering with the city of Akko and the Matte Asher area in the Western Galilee through cultural, ed-
ucational, social, medical and economic programs. Omaha’s Partnership2GETHER programs are coordinated by the Center for Jewish Life. For more information, call 402.334.6445.
Music and Memory
Knife attack at Chabad headquarters raises security questions Page 12
Inside Point of view Synagogues In memoriam
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Betty and Hyman Polsky by NANCY COREN, SUSAN BASS and ALAN POLSKY When Hyman Polsky was born in 1917, in Lincoln, Nebraska, the now
century old Tifereth Israel Synagogue, was only four years old. The new congregation became a very important place for young Hyman. He became a Bar Mitzvah at Tifereth Israel, was an active member of AZA, and joined the congregation on his own as a young adult. After Hyman returned from five and half years of serving in the army during World War II, he met his future bride, Betty Rosenberg of York, Nebraska, at a Yom Kippur “break-the-fast” Synagogue dinner/dance. The couple spent the next 64 years of their Continued on page 3
Blumkin Home resident Danny Goodman listens to a personal playlist of Mariachi music, Big Band and Barbra Streisand on his iPod Shuffle, courtesy of the Home’s new Music & Memory program. “Danny’s a drummer,” Maggie Conti said. “Music is in his blood. He didn’t miss a beat.” by OZZIE NOGG Home activity staff, neighborhood Music is a popular recreational clerks and Colin Heskin, RBJH Opactivity in long-term care facilities, erations Intern, recently completed and with good reason. Residents the MUSIC & MEMORY℠ Certifilove performances and sing-alongs. cation Program. “We received all Music uplifts the spirit. New re- the training and equipment at no search shows that personalized charge, thanks to Dan Cohen, the music playlists, delivered using founder and Executive Director of iPods or other digital audio devices, Music and Memory,” said Maggie can help even more, and transform Conti, Director of Activities and the quality of life for individuals Outreach Program at the RBJH. struggling with a wide range of “We were given thirty iPods, 30 physical and cognitive impair- headphones and $500 in iTunes. ments. With that goal in mind -- to Our interns downloaded an improvide therapeutic benefits to res- pressive music library of 650 CDs idents -- the Rose Blumkin Jewish Continued on page 3