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SERVING NEBRASKA AND IOWA SINCE 1920
Vol. LXIII No. 60 Omaha, Nabr.
24 Av, S74« Friday, Auguat 29, 1986
Federation names Campaign leadership team Saranne Gitnick, chairman of the Jewish Federation of Omaha's Campaign Committee, has announced the formation of the 1987 Campaign leadership team. Leonard Lewis and Joan Lehr will serve as the chairman of the Men's and Women's Campaign respectively. Bert Lewis will provide her support as vice chairman in the Women's Division. In making the announcement, Mrs. Gitnick referred to the past leadership demonstrated by all three. "They are interested and involved—keenly aware that Jewish survival and quality Jewish life call for active Jewish involvement. They are "goal-oriented people who will help us move ahead with our Campaign." Leonard Lewis, in accepting the position of chairman of the Men's Campaign, stated "The needs of our community and those of Israel are enormous and must be met. We hope to inform people of those requirements and persuade them to give a high priority to meeting our obligations." Mr. Lewis has been actively involved in the Federation Campaign for many years and, for the past two years, chaired the Grand Gifts Division.
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Leonard Lewis Mr. Lewis has served on both the Campus Building and Grounds Committee and, for the past three years, on the Federation's Budget and Allocations Committee. He is also a member of Beth El Synagogue, Cony busker Lodge of B'nai B'rith, and is a past president of the Sheet Mettd Contractors Association. An Omaha native, Mr. Lewis is married to Bert, vice chairman of the 1987 Women's Division and is president of the Sol Lewis
Joan Lehr Engineering Company. They have four children. Stephen, 38; Joel, 34; Shelley, 33; and Lisa, 31. Joan Lehr has a long history of volunteer work in the Jewish community. Involved for many years with the Federation's annual campaign, in 1984 Mrs. Lehr was the assistant chairman for the Women's Division and in 1986, she assumed the position of Campaign co-chairman. She currenUy is also serving a term on the Executive Board
BoiLewia of the Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Tenqjle Israel has also benefitted from Mrs. Lehr's involvement. After serving as treasurer and vice president of Temple Israel, she was elected president of the congregation in 1977, the first woman to hold the senior position in an Omaha synagogue. She had previously been the president of the Temple Israd Sisterhood and had taught (Conthined to Page 2)
Kansas City rabbi to give convention keynote address
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As 100 delegates from Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, and South Dakota arrive in Omaha the week end of Sept. 19-21 for the 36th Biennial Convention of District No. 20 of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods (NFTS), many of them wiUbe leaving their families for a few days in order to listen to and discuss critical issues facing today's families. NFTS is the women's agency of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC), central body of Reform Judaism in this coimtry and Canada. Rabbi Michael R. Zedek, spiritual leader of the Teoqile, Congregation B'nai Jehudah in Kansas City, will d^ver the Convention keynote address on Friday afternoon, Sept. 19, at the Red Lk>n Inn. He will define the family in its many forms: single parent and . sin^ woman families, the congregational family as it relates to Sisterhood service and programming, and the family as the wwld impacts upon it. Rabbi Zedd( will be serving as Rabbi-in-RMidence at the Convention.
Reared in Albany, N.Y., Rabbi Zedtdt studied at Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Rdigion in CindnnatL He spent his third year of rabbinical studies in Israel at KibbuU Revivim and the Hebrew University. In 1974, Rabbi Zedek joined Temple B'nai Jehudah, a congregation of more than 1700 families, the largest in Greater Kansas City. When he became senior rabbi in 1977, he was the youngest rabbi in the country to lead a congregation of that size. In addition to his rabbinic responsibili^, the rabbi serves on the Executive Committee of the Metropditan Interfaith Coalition on Aging. He is also a member of the Boards of the Jewish Federation, the Jewish Community Relations Bureau, Jewish Family and Children's Services, tha Jewish Education Council, and the State of larad Bonds National Rabbinic Cabinet for the Midwest Region. Among Rabbi Zedek's other commitments are his memberships on the Board of (CoDtianed to Page 2)
The end Of tiie trip? In thia photograph are the railway tracJtB leading into one of the NMI death camps. One of Uie nSroid engineers who drove-the trains to thia camp la toterv^ewed in the film BHOAH. This award-wlnntng docwmeatary wHl be shown at the Jewish Commmdty C«.ter u>d at the Unlverjrfty of lW»«*««t<^8*P^14.S~ Commentary m page 10. For additional infonaatloii cafl the JCC, 3»4-8aW. •'i ;"'''lt3r."^r^>.','?i,;:^.
Mrs. Bella IQsenberg (left) and Dr. Livia RothUrchen at the Federation Library hi the Jewish Community Center. Many of Dr. RothUn^en's books are in the library.
Visiting professor aware of Willa Gather's Nebrasl<a E^tor's note: In the cooraa of biterviewing Dr. Livia RothUrchen, the Jewish Press learned that Dr. Rothldrdien's goiitioB as viaitiiig professor of Holocanst stodiea at the University of Nebraska for 196^87 waa fmided by Robert Eisenberg, Mrs. Susie Buffet and Mrs. Raquel Newman in honor of Robert'a. mother, Mrs. BeDa Eisenberg. Mrs. Eisenberg was reluctant to have her name and the names of her friends and eon mentioned hi the article, but was persuaded to do so by Dr. RotUdrchen on the grounds that such public exposure might encourage others to help provide funds for a permanent chair in modem Judaism and Holocaust studies at the University of Nebraska. The hiterview with Dr. Rothldiehen follows: By Morris Maline When British soldiers entered BergenBelsen on April 15,1945—the first concentration camp to be liberated by the Allies— Livia Rothkirchen was among the survivors. Eager to study, she returned to her country of origin and Aood in a long line of students at the University of Charles in Prague, Czechoslovakia. She was seeking information. But, when others in line noticed the numbers tattooed on her arm, they pushed her to the front shouting, "Ycni don't have to wait."
There she was—without documents—and the dean of the University engaged her in conversation. "He made me enroll, my documents arrived later, but he gave me immediate entry to the University." While earning her PhD at the University of Charles, Dr. Rothkirchen also was pursuing a childhood ambition. In her younger years, she had heard a radio address by the President of Czechoslovakia. He spoke of a "bridge between East and West." "When I heard those words, they stayed with me and 1 thought in such terms for my advanced education. Perhaps, I could be such a bridge." Dr. RotUdrchen's pursuit of Slavic studies coupled with her abilities in a variety of languages including Czech, Russian, English, Hungarian, German and Hebrew paved the way for an academic career in lecturing and writing. Her studies, and her personal experience in concentration camps, focused her du«ction to the plight of the Jews during the Hok)cau8t. She edited books and wrote about the history of Uie Jews of Slovakia, the history of the Jews of Hungary, the history of the Jews of Bohemia-Moravia. The latter work is deacribiad as a comprehensive history to be published within the framework of the multi-volume Historical Project of )f Yad " "H Vasbem on the Holocaust. (Continued to Page 2)
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