January 21, 1994

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Vol. LXXI No. 18 Omaha

'Silent architect' to speal( at Kajlah Weekend By Seth Bonutein, KaJDah chalrmaii Dr. Yair Hirschfeld, who has been called one of the silent architects of the 1993 Israeli-PLO negotiations, will speak at Omaha area synagogues during Kallah Weekend, Feb. 18 - 20. The historic signing on the White House lawn last year was the culmination of many years of informal and secret negotiations by Dr. Hirschfeld. A lecturer at the University of Haifa, Dr. Hirschfeld spent nearly a decade becoming acquainted with leading Palestinian figures, including Hanan Ashrawi. He refrained from meeting outright FLO officials until Arafat signaled his recognition of Israel's right to exist at the end of 1988. From that point on, he set up secret meetings between Israeli leaders and Palestinians. He developed key position papers which recommended where and where not to compromise. Dr. Hirschfeld's presence at Kallah Weekend will afford the Omaha community the opportunity to learn more about the inner workings of one of the most important events of the late twentieth centu17Kallah Weekend is sponsored by the Jewish Cultural Arts Council in cooperation with Omaha area synagogues and is supported by the Morton A. Richards Endowment Fund and the Philip dnd Ethel Klutznick Fund in Jewish Civilization. For information, call Beth Seldin Dotan at the Jewish Cultural Arts Council office at 334-8200.

Beth El hosts Ari Goldman

Super Sunday includes ciiiidren's tzedakaii views

Beth El Synagogue will host a SclA|rfl|Residence weekend with author and joui^^st Ari L. Goldman from Feb. By Barbara Chandler, 11-13. His talks will Federation public relations director draw on his reporting experiences, personal Students from Temple Israel Religious School, anecdotes and educationFriedel Jewish Academy and United Talmud Torah al background. The proof Omaha participated in a Super Sunday project for the 1994 UJA/Federation Campaign, drawing gram is being made possible by the family of the posters to illustrate their views of tzedakah. late Dr. Leon Fellman. These children have already given something to Mr. Goldman will Super Sunday. Their unique contributions will crespeak after dinner folate a focus we hope will inspire callers and donors lowing Friday night on February 6," commented M'Lee Hasslinger. Shabbat services on Feb. Larry and M'Lee Hasslinger are 1994 Super Ari Goldman Sunday chairmen. 11, and will present the D'var Torah during Saturday morning Sabbath serIn order to view the 156 posters that students vices Feb. 12. The final study session will be a lec- turned in to the Federation, the Hasslinger's ture and brunch Sunday morning, Feb. 13 spread them on tables in the J.C.C. auditorium. Mr. Goldman spent 20 years as a reporter for "It was quite a moving experience to see so many The New York Times before joining the faculty of ideas and feelings, drawn by our children, filling the Columbia University Graduate School of the room," remarked Mrs. Hasslinger. " The posters Journalism in 1993. For most of his career at The portrayed the donation of much more than money Times, he wrote about religion with a special — they depicted caring for each other, sharing emphasis on Judaism and how it relates to other work, and donations of houses, clothing, toys, gifls, faiths. Among the stories he covered were the 1991 and even hair bows! Their ideas reflect not only Black-Jewish riots in Crown Heights, the visit of their own families, but in a sense, the entire comPope John Paul II to the United States, and the munity in which we live. It is their insight that we scandals of the television evangelists. He continues hope will help lead us to our Super Sunday goal." to write a religion column for the newspaper that All of the posters will be displayed on Super Sunday at Richman Gordman's Corporate Offices appears every other Sunday. Mr. Goldman is also the author of the best-sell- where volunteers will be making calls. ing book The Search For God At Harvard," an The Hasslingers noted that more volunteer account of a year he spent at Harvard Divinity callers are needed for Super Sunday. Anyone interested in helping should call the federation office. School while on leave of absence from The Times.

Jewlsli institutions iiit By Tom Tugend LOS ANGELES -(JTA) — The University of Judaism, several prominent synagogues and Jewish communal facilities suffered severe damage as the Jewish community, along with the rest of Los Angeles, tried to reorder its life after the devastating earthquake that struck early Monday morning. The epicenter of the quake was in the San Fernando Valley, abutting Los Angeles in the northwest. Although the quake affected homes, buildings and freeways throughout the metropolitan area, the severest damage was in the Valley, home to 240,000 Jews. "At this point it is still rather chaotic," Steven Windmueller, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Committee said Tuesday. "It's rather unclear as to the total scope of damage, and to the depth of how our community and the larger society has been affected,' he aaid, While engineers were still assessing the structural damage of the region's buildings, severe damage was reported by the University of Judaism and the adjacent Stephen S. Wise Temple, which closed for the week. Also hit were the BrandeisBardin Institute in the Simi Valley, which apparently lost its main and adjoining buildings, and Valley Beth Shalom, whose rabbi, Harold Schulweis, planned to give a sermon this Friday on "An Act of God?" The 6-yaar old Bernard Milken Community Campus, housing the main Jewish agencies for the western San Fernando Valley, which was already being closed down temporarily to correct m^jor construction deficiencies, suffered m^jor water damage. Water from burst pipes also damaged the Freda Mohr Center of the Jewish Family Service, while the agency's western ofHce was badly damaged, Possible structural damage to the Jewish Community Building in West-Contral Lot Angeloi was still being assessed.

NE 69598-1651

As in homes and offices throughout the area, floors were littered with papers, crockery, photographs and computers. Windmueller of the Jewish Community Relations Committee reported that several offices were blocked by filing cabinets that had fallen against office doors. Most Jewish schools reportedly escaped with minor damage, and some were to reopen Wednesday. The Jewish Federation Council and its agencies reactivated the emergency program put in place during the devastating Los Angeles firestorms of early November, including an emergency hot line and provisions for providing food and shelter for the homeless. Marlene Adler Marks of the Jewish Journal, who had barely escaped the fire and was shaken by the quake, recalled the biblical plagues and asked rhetorically, "What's next? Locusts?" In New York, the Council of Jewish Federations announced that it was setting up an earthquake emergency fund and would consult with Jewish officials here on needed assistance.

Lincoln plans showing of Schindler's List The Jewish Federation of Lincoln will kick off its 1994 Campaign with a private showing of Schindler's List, underwritten by the Federation. According to Herbert Friedman, president, the showing will be followed by a lunch at the Elleven Restaurant. Cost, including lunch, will be $2.50 per person and the double event is open to all members of the Lincoln Jewish Federation. The motion picture will be shown at the Stuart Theater on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Leo Hill is chairman of the Men's Campaign and Helen Misle is chairing the Women's Campaign.

Con^tributioni can be sent to the CJF Earthquake Emergency Fund at the Jewish Federation of Omaha, 333 South 132nd St. Omaha, NE 68154. Federation will consider contribution Howard Bloom, executive director of the Omohn Federation, said that a recommendation would be made to the Federation Board at its Jan. 26 meet ing for a contribution to the Emergency Fund. B'nai B'rith Intemationol also announced that contributions could be s«nt to the B'nai B'rith Disaster Relief Fund at 1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W., Washington, DC. •HW.Ui. The Union of American Hebrew Congregations has also established a disaster rollefflind. (Conlributing to this report was JTA staff writer Larry Yudalson in New York.)

Sarah Farber celebmtcd hor lOOth birthday last week with a party at the Koso Blumkin Jewish Uomo.

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FRIDAY. JANUARY 21 VISIONS General meeting, 11:30 a.m. Venice Inn

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 23 Now Parent Information Night, 2 p.m., Friedel Academy

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MONDAY, JANUARY 24 YES, 10:30 a.m. JFS Board, 7 p.m. BJE Teacher In-Service, 7:30 p.m. Mission information Meeting, 7 p.m. at Steve Pitlor's home

SAMJ.ZWEIBACK Services for Sam J. Zweiback were held Jan. 13 at Golden Hill Cemetery. He died Jan. 12 at the age of 85. Mr. Zweiback was bom in Poland and came to Omaha at a very young age. He was the owner of State Coal Company, the last coal company in Omaha. Sam Zweiback After his retirement, he was active at the Dr. Phillip Sher Home where he provided rides for the residents. He also drove the "LOVE bus" for the Rose Blumkin Home. Mr. Zweiback was one of the charter members of the Oldtimers and served as president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. Survivors include his wife, Gertrude (Gussie); two daughters, Maxine Kirshenbaum and Marcia Bessinger, both of Omaha; three sisters, Minnie Frank of Phoenix and Anne Grossman and Evelyn Fellman of Omaha, seven grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. Memorials may be made to charity of your choice. JEANETTE (KATZ) KATELMAN Services for Jeanette Katelman, 87, of Council Bluffs were held Tuesday at Cutter Chapel. Rabbi Dan Fink officiated. Burial was in Bikhor Cholim Cemetery. She was preceded in death by her husband, Joseph B. Katelman, two-term mayor and long time Council Bluffs City Councilman. Katelman Park in Council Bluffs was developed on land donated to the city by the Katelmans. Survivors include two brothers. Dr. Robert Katz of Englewood, Colo., and David Katz of Albuquerque, N.M., and many nieces and nephews. Memorials may be made to B'nai Israelj Synagogue in Council Bluffs, Iowa. LOTTIE BOGRAD ABRAMSON Services for Lottie Abramson, 83, were held Jan. 16 at Temple Israel Chapel. Burial was in the Golden Hills Cemetery. Survivors include a son, Allan Bograd; a sister. Hazel TuTchin; three stepsons, Harold Abramson of Canoga Park, Calif, Bill Abramson of Las Vegas, and Marvin Abramson of Omaha. Memorials may be made to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. CLAYTON T. BLOCK Services for Clayton Block were held Wednesday at Beth El Cemetery. Survivors include his wife, Myrna; two sons, Richard of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Alan of BtiiTalo, N.Y.; a daughter, Carol Olson, and four grandchildren.

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DR. DENNIS PASSER Sfervices for Dr. Dennis Passer of New York City, formerly of Omaha, were held Tuesday at Temple Israel. Rabbi Azriel officiated. Burial was in the Temple Israel Cemetery. He died Tuesday at Roosevelt Hospital at the ^ge of 49. Dr. Passer moved from Omaha in the early 1980s to pursue a private practice in Greenwich Village, which was affiliated with New York Downtown Hospital. He worked extensively to provide outpatient care to HIV-infected patients, according to his brother, Dr. Jeffrey Passer of Omaha. "He just wanted to keep them out of the hospital for as long as he could," he said. Dr. Passer graduated from Westside High School in 1962. He received a biology degree from Creighton University and graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine in 1969. After serving two years as an Air Force Medical Officer, he returned to Omaha and was affiliated with the Physicians Clinic. Survivors include his brother; his father, Stanley Passer of Omaha; a son, Arthur Passer, and a daughter, Lori Passer, both of New Orleans. Memorials may be made to Temple Israel or the Nebraska AIDS Project, 3624 Leavenworth St. LUCILLE F. ZELINSKY Services for Lucille 1 Zelinsky, 72, were held Monday at Temple Israel. Burial was in j Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Mrs. Zelinsky served I on the Bureau of Jewish Education financial aid committee for many years; was chairman of the LOVE committee at the Rose Blumkin Home; Lucille Zelinsky was former president of Beth Israel Sisterhood and former president of Jewish Family Services. She also was Volunteer of the Year for the Jewish Federation of Omaha in 1984. She was an associate professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Survivors include two daughters, Ellen Gordman and Linda Chapman; a son, Edward; a sister, LaLa Richards; six grandchildren and one great-grandson. Memorials may be made to the Barak Zelinsky Memorial Fund, c/o The Gan School, 765 Elm St, New Haven, Conn., or the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. ROBERT A. SMITH Services for Robert Smith were held Monday at Fisher Farm Cemetery. He died Sunday at the age of 78. Mr. Smith was a veteran of WW II and First Company Commander of the 172nd Transportation Company Reserve Unit at OflRitt AFB from 195052. Survivors include his wife, Lorraine; two daughters, Shelli Smith and Barbara Carlisle; two grandchildren and nieces and nephews. Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society. BETTY F.MARX Services for Betty Marx, 86, were held Thursday at Temple Israel. Rabbi Aryeh Asriel ofTiciated. Burial was in Temple Israel Cemetery. Survivora include two daughters, Lenore M. Paaach of Seattle and Joan M. Bernstein of Omaha; four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Memorials may be made to the American Red Cross or the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

Yeshiva creates controversy JERUSALEM (JTA) — Tensions between local Arab and Jewish residents in the area are approaching the boiling point because of Beit Orot Yeshiva. I^stablished three and a half years ago by Rabbi Benny Eton, the yeshiva now wants to expand its facilities to an a4jacent plot of land. The lot belongs to Irving Moakowitx, an American Jew who purchased the land in 1B8S. The problem is that the municipality of Jerusalem promised local villaiiers years ago that a secondary school w • the site. For many Arab. i. "another example of Zionist imponnliRm.

January 21,1994

rnagogues Candlelii^tiiig: 5.-06 pjn. BETB ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE 1502 No. 52nd Street Omaha, NE 68104 556-6288 Office hours: Monday through Thursday, 8 a.in. to 4:30 p.m.; Friday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Services are conducted by Rabbi Joseph Friedman. FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat service is at 6:05 p.m. SATURDAY: Morning services are at 8:46 a.m. in the Sanctuary and Goldstein Chapel. Babysitter service is provided by Sisterhood, who also sponsors this week's Kiddush. Study Talmud with Rabbi Friedman at 4:05 p.m. Mincha is at 5:05 p.m. Shalosh Seudot, Ma'ariv and Havdalah conclude the services. SUNDAY: Services are at 9 a.m. Breakfast and a study session follows in the Beit Ha Midrash with Rabbi Friedman and Rabbi Gonsher. Evening services are at 6:05 p.m. WEEKDAYS: Services at 7 a.m. and 5:05 p.m.Sisterhood Sisterhood Social, Saturday, Jan. 29, 7:30 p.m., "Italian Coffee House." Senior NCSY Regional Shabbaton The Midwest Region Shabbaton will b& Jan. 2830 in Memphis, Tenn. Register today. Junior NCSY Regional Shabbaton The Omaha chapter of the Junior NCSY will sponsor the Midwest Region Shabbaton, Feb. 4-6. A full Mechitza will be in the main Sanctuary for this event. Register now.

B14AI ISRAEL 618 Mynater Street Council Blufh, Iowa 51603 322-4705 Rabbi Sheryl Shulewitz is the spiritual leader. For information on any synagogue activities, call 322-4705. FRIDAY: Family Shabbat services at 7:30 p.m. Families with children are particularly invited to participate. SUNDAY: Religious School from 10 a.m. to noon. FRIDAY, Jan. 28: Rabbi Shulewitz will conduct the Tu B'Shevat Seder. Each household is asked to bring a dessert made with fruit or nuts for the Oneg. SATURDAY, Jan. 29: 11 a.m. Torah study service at the synagogue at 11 a.m. 5 p.m. — Rabbi Shulewitz's course on "Exploring Jewish Values from a Reconstructionist perspective' continues at the home of Deana and Mike Liddy, 9820 Spring St, Omaha. Potluck dinner and Havdalah will follow at 6:30 p.m. SUNDAY, Jan. 30: Religious School from 10 a.m. to noon at Westside Community Education Center.

CHABAO HOUSE 1822 So. llMh Street Omidia,NE 68144 607-1124 SATURDAY: Davening is at 9:30 a.m., followed by Kiddush. SUNDAY: Davening it at 9:30 a.m. Talmud CliuMa Talmud class, 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Advanced Talmud, 12 p.m. Thursday. ChumaahClaw Chumash class for adulU, 7 p.m. Tuesday!. Yiddish "Hooked on Yiddish' lessons, Wednesdays at 7 p.m. at Chabad House. English ClaM "Think Jewish and speak English* classes on Jewish topics for new Americans. Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. afChabad House.

Jewiah Preaa

PiceS

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE TIFERETH ISRAEL 14506 California 3219 Sheridan Blvd. Omaha, NE 68154 Lincoln, NE 68502 492-8550 423-8569 Office Hours: Services are officiated by Rabbi Elihu Milder. Monday through Thursday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. FRIDAY: Friday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Light candles no later than 5:13 p.m. Services Services are conducted by Rabbi Paul Drazen are at 8 p.m. and Cantor Emil Beikovits. ^AT^RDAY: FRIDAY: Siervices are at 9:3iO a.m. Services are at 6 p.m. SATURDAY: B'NAIJESHURUN Services are at 9:30 a.m. IQddush following ser20th and South StreeU vices. Lincoln, NE 68502 Sitter service starts at 10 a.m. 435-8004 TSS (Torah and Siddur Skills) meets at 10 a.m. Services are oHlciated by Cantor Michael Shabbat story time is the first and third Weisser. Saturday at 11 a.m. FRIDAY: Minha-Ma'ariv and Havdalah services at 6:15 Shabbat evening service at 7:45 p.m. p.m. SATURDAY: Weekly Torah study, an English discussion of Torah study and service at 10:30 a.m. the Torah portion with modern commentaries, SUNDAY: meets 30 minutes after services. Hebrew school at 9 a.m.; Religious school at 10 SUNDAY: a.m. Services are at 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. TUESDAY: WEEKDAYS: Adult education classes at 7:30 p.m. Services are at 6:55 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. THURSDAY: Choir practice at 7:30 p.m. Judaica Shop Open Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME Sunday, 10 a.m. to noon, and by appointment. SATURDAY: Women's League Shabbat Services are held in the Goldsten Chapel at 9 Members of Women's League will participate in a.m. the Shabbat services Saturday morning. They will Members of the community are invited to join also host the kiddush following services. residents for the service and the kiddush following. Special memorial services are held on the last Lunch 'n Learn Lunch 'n Learn with the Rabbi continues Saturday of each month. Thursday. Call the office on Wednesday to reserve OFFUTT your place. Capehart Chapel Adult Siddur Class 25th Street and Capehart Adult Siddur Class continues Monday from 10 to Omaha, NE 68123 11:30a.m. 294-6061 Kidia Kabbalat Shabbat FRIDAY: Kids Kabbalat Shabbat, for families with grade Services start at 8 p.m. school and younger children, is Friday (today) at 7 p.m. An Oneg Shabbat follows. Women, Can We Talk? ^ "Women, Can We Talk?" discussion series led by Susie Drazen will continue Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

B'nai Israel plans Tu B'Shevat celebration

TEMPLE ISRAEL 7023 Case Street Omaha, NE 68132 556-6636 FRIDAY: Shabbat evening service is at 7:30 p.m. Rabbi Azriel and Cantor Karen Webber-Gilat will officiate. A Tu B'Shevat Seder celebration will follow a brief Shabbat service. The Oneg Shabbat is sponsored by Marge and Jim Bresel in honor of Michael Bresel's Bar Mitzvah and by the Temple Sisterhood. SATURDAY: Shabbat morning service is at 11:15 am. Simcha B'Shabbat, an alternative Torah study service, will be in the Chapel. The regular Shabbat service will be in the sanctuary. BarMitsvah Michael Allen Bresel, son of Marge and Jim Bresel, will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah at the Shabbat morning service on Saturday. Sitter Service Sitter service is available each Shabbat evening service and the Saturday morning Shabbat service when there is a Bar/Bat Mitzvah. Please make a reservation so we may plan accordingly. There are no facilities for infants. -TOW" Torah on Wheels (TOW) will be held Tuesday from 12 to 1:15 p.m. at Omaha Steaks, Inc., 10909 John Oalt Blvd. Hosts are Alan, Fred, Stephen, Todd and Bruce Simon. Reservations are required. Call the Temple office at 556-6536. Adult Education Sisterhood Adult Education, Thursday from 10 to 11:30 a.m., "Jewish Ethics,' led by Rabbi Azriel. Twentyaomethlng "Is There God in Our BadroomT?" is the program olTered by the Twentysomething group at Temple Israel Sunday at 7 p.m. Refreshments will be served, Call the Temple for information.

By Martin Rosenberg, Director of Education On Friday evening, Jan. 28, at 7:30 p.m., B'Nai Israel will hold one of its favorite observances - the annual B'nai Israel Tu B'shevat seder. In celebrating this "New Year of the Trees" we focus our attention on nature and our responsibilities to the earth on which we live. iH In this seder, we will eat special fruits and drink ^ wines to celebrate the richness of nature. The children of B'nai Israel Religious School have been preparing by learning songs about trees and painting still-lifes of fruits to decorute the synagogue. Linda Sadofsky and Mindy Clark, who are organizing the seder, ask everyone to bring a dessert, preferably made with fruit or nuts for the Oneg fol- w lowing the service. • The celebration is open to the entire Jewish community of Council Bluffs and Omaha. Please RS.V.P. to 322-4705.

One Night Onlyl

Italian Coffee House Saturday night, January 29,7:30 p.m. B6th larael Synagogut featuring mu8i(»l entertainment by Rabbi Josaph Friedman and Don Qeiter hon'doatMMk Isvand ootse* and dtsasits; It per pefson

Jewish Press

January 21, 1994

Sparks from The Word By Rabbi Myer S. Kripke Parashat BeShallah — Shabbat Shirah A Note on Language Permit me to restrain my earnest desire to comment on the major themes of our Sidrah — the actual Exodus and its accompanying events and the great Song of the Sea — the Ode of Triumph after the successful passing through the waters to safety. Here instead is something that some may consider trivial, but that some, including me, consider interesting. Three days after crossing the waters, the people realized that they had no water to drink. They complained to Moses. At God's instruction, Moses threw a branch of a tree into some bitter water, which thereupon became sweet so that they could drink. Now they are told, "If you will heed the Lord your God diligently, doing what is upright in His sight, etc., etc.," "then I will not bring upon you any of the diseases ... of Egypt, for I, the Lord, am your Healer." Now who spoke the beginning of that sentence? If you assume that it is the Lord, He would be speaking of Himself in the third person: "If you will' heed the Lord your God ..." If it is Moses, then the end of the sentence has to introduce, without warning, another speaker, the Lord, who says: "For I the Lord am your Healer." Some translations leave the matter to the individual reader: perhaps Moses spoke only the beginning of the verse and the Lord the end, or perhaps the Lord spoke both parts, speaking of Himself in the third person at the beginning and in the first person at the end. Both the old and the new JPS translate the verse as though it is the Lord who speaks both parts. The famous Abrabanel, 15th-century economic adviser to kings of Portugal and Spain and later to municipalities in Italy — after he was expelle4 with other Jews in 1492 — had noticed a grammatical peculiarity of Hebrew. Unlike English, classical Hebrew may change the person speaking or the person addressed rather freely. There is such a change, he points out, in many b'rakhot: "We praise you. Lord our God, King of the Universe, for He has chosen us from among the people and has given us the Torah . . ." This usage is so frequent that when we are called to the Torah and recite that b'rakha, we scarcely notice this anomaly of the Hebrew. In English, we could not say it; but in Hebrew it is quite acceptable. Abrabanel therefore interprets our verse with this in mind. He accepts the beginning of the verse as Moses speaking, and then, abruptly, the Lord continues, now speaking in the first person, "For I, the Lord, am your Healer."

News and Views By Bemie Mosow Dorothy Kushner was the personification of the word LADY. A woman of honor, high standards and gentility not oflen found in one individual were all a part of Dorothy's personality. I wish I could have known her better — could have been privy to her vast storehouse of memories. I am sure she could have helped me to become more tolerant, understanding and as forgiving as she was. But I am thankful that I did have the opportunity to spend even the short time I did getting to know this remarkable Jewess. Certainly Dorothy Kushner ranks with Sarah, Kebecca, Leah and Rachel. She was a treasure and beloved by all who were privileged to know her.

The Tu B'Shevat Seder By Rabbi Sherri Shulewitz, B'nai Israel Synagogue One of my favorite celebrations at B'nai Israel is our annual Tu B'Shevat seder. The New Year of the Trees, Tu B'Shevat, falls on the full moon of the month of Shevat (which means that we celebrate it in January or February). Its origins are ancient indeed, the Mishnah (our earliest compilation of law, dating to the beginning of the ttiird century CE.) explains that there are four New Years on the Jewish calendar: in Nisan, Elul, Tishri (Rosh Hashanah) and Shevat. The Mishnah states "according to the school of Hillel, the fifteenth of Shevat is the New Vear of the Trees." Not much more is said about celebrating Tu B'Shevat until the 1500s, when the Kabbalists of Safed celebrated Tu B'Shevat with a ritual seder to honor all nature. The seder was a four-part ceremony with readings, blessings, fruit and wine to honor the four worlds. The four worlds are: Assiyah (physicial/world of reality), Yetzirah (world of emotion/formation), Briyah (the mind/creation) and the highest world of all, Atzilut (pure spirit). Each world is represented at our seder by a different type of fruit and color of wine or juice. A fruit or nut with a hard outer and soft inner surface (walnut) and white wine represents Assiyah (the physical world - Winter). A fruit with a soft outer and hard inner surface (olive, date) and white wine to which a few drops of red wine are added represents the second world, Yetzirah (the world of formation - Spring). The third world Briyah (the cerebral - Summer) is represented by a fruit that is soft throughout (strawberry, raisin) and the wine that is mostly red, with some white added. The fourth and highest Atzilut (spiritual world Autumn) has no fruit at all because it is pure essence and red wine. Kabbalists understand nature to be actually symbolic of the divine. Nature is not simply inspirational for the mystics of Safed, but really able to impart information. The lowest world Assiyah is the material world, our world, the dwelling place of human beings. It is the only world which we can perceive with our ordinary senses of sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing. Yet the higher realms are not reachable or unknowable, because each of them has exactly the same underlying structure. What is true in our world then, is also true in the higher worlds of Emotion, Thought and Spirit. Therefore, if we study the natural world of Assiyah we can know something about the structure of the upper worlds, even the ultimate world of Atzilut, the perfect realm where the Holy One dwells. Not just knowing the upper worlds, the Mystics believed that human beings have enormous power to affect the upper worlds. We have the power to restore the collective soul of creation by performing acts of connection between nature and the divine. At the Tu B'Shevat seder we say many blessings over the varieties of fruits we eat. We meditate on the fruit and strengthen our resolve to protect our environment and behave responsibly towards the natural world in which we live. Therefore, for the 16th-century mystics, and for we late 20th-century environmentalists, the Tu B'Shevat seder is a wonderful tikkun (repair of the world) an act of restoration that humans can do to 'fix' the damage of the universe.

United Way of Ihe Midlands It's you. Ifs me. Ifs all of us.

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A Foundation Featurette^ By Claudia Sherman i Foundation public relations director Children of a needy Jewisji family in Omaha would not have had any Chanukah gifts last month without help from Jewish Family Service. "In fact, nearly 25 children had a brighter 'Chanukah as a result of the generosity of our Jewish community," said Glen Fineman, executive director of Jewish Family Service. It's not only a few new presents for the children. If it were not for Jewish Family Service, some families in our community would not be able to enjoy traditional kosher meals on Rosh Hashanah, Chanukah or Passover. "We have a relatively small amount of money in the budget to provide services for needy families," said Mr. Fineman. "But the budget is supplemented by funds through The Foundation of the Jewish Federation. We rely on supplemental donations like the Jake and Maiy Wine Fund, the Edith and Paul Goldstein Endowment Fund as well as some anonymous donors to implement our services and programs," he added. The families are helped on an on-going basis during times of economic crisis. The funds help pay for medical expenses and utility bills as well as for holiday meals. "If we had additional funds, we could provide transportation to doctor and dentist appointments, job interview^, social service agencies and synagogue services," Mr. Fineman noted. Additional funds would also encourage attendance at activities made more affordable at the Jewish Community Center and help supplement the cost of clothes for Bar and Bat Mitzvahs and other Jewish celebrations, mentioned Mr. Fineman. More than half the 35 needy families assisted by Jewish Family Service have young children. Some of the families are on low or fixed incomes. "Many are lonely and feel isolated from the Jevrish community. They look forward to the food deliveries for contact with other Jewish people. They greatly appreciated the assistance," Mr. Fineman emphasized.

NJHS exhibit The Nebraska Jewish Historical Exhibit "A Century of Jewish Women in Business" in the gallery at the JCC will end Jan. 21. However, the stories and photos of the nuiny women in the exhibit will be moved to the Corridor of Jewish History starting Jan. 24. "Mom and Pop" stores will be highlighted. Above are Frieda and Max Kriselman of Krixelman Plumblaf. Also, photos of the oelebratioa of Mrs. 8*8 100th birthday will be on display and the opening reception of the "Jewish Women ia Buslaess" exhibit.

Board of Directors Jack B. Cohan, visa pnaidniti SyWia WtgMr, tnaninr; ROM SelniBack, aaeiatanr; SUra Daaon, Muvl Oallnar, Dtbbto JoatphaoB, Sti»ry\ LM, SUT* htriamn, Bathar Malchai, Jaaa Riaa, ~' AlTta Boia, Audray Shapiro, Maynard IVIpnar and Ban WUn

Editorial* axpnaa tha viaw of tha writar and ara not oaeaaaartly rapraaanUti*a o( Iha viawa of Iha Jawiah Praaa Board, tha Jawlih FWdaration of Omaha or tha Omaha Jawlih Community aaa wh<rfa. Tha Jawiah Praaa la not raaponaibia Ibr Ih* Kaahnith of an; pfoAut or aatabllthmanl.

Janiuiy 21,19M

ByAnnCBrillant Hie Reporter Binn^amton. NY

Jewish Prau

GIs remember the liberation

What was the role and fate of American Jewish mihtary men during World War II? This was t^e ' question that sent me from the archives and library of^he U. S. Holocaust Menvorial Museum in Washington, D.C. to a little-known small gem of a museum, tha National Museum of Jewish Military History. Their recent exhibit, "GIs, Remember: Liberating the Concentration Camps," recounts an aspect of Jewish army service I hadn't known about. The centerpiece of the exhibit contains six vertical display cases of pictures, medals, uniform caps and jackets and other memorabilia of the experiences of six liberators of different backgrounds and army units. Visitors can listen to three-minute taped first-hand accounts on phones mounted before each display case. "I wanted to prove a Jew can fight; that's what motivated me," was written on a caption on the display of Morris Eisenstein, bom in Poland but raised in my home town of Chicago. Promoted to sergeant and in charge of a heavy weapons platoon, Eisenstein proved his bravery in campaigns in Southern France, Germany and Austria by winning two Silver Stars and three Bronze Stars for heroism in battle. There his medals were, in the case. I looked at his picture of a smiling, but tough and confident young soldier; then I was moved by his voice, an emotional account of being ordered to go to Dachau with no idea of why and there finding horror. He relates an encounter with "a little Jewish fellow in a comer, weeping and wailing." He wanted to give the man a pile of deutsche marks captured earlier from the SS, but the man said he had nothing to give in return but his yellow Jewish star. Did the man make it to Israel? Eisenstein never knew. I looked more closely at the case and there it was — in the lower left hand corner of the display case, a star so faded it was barely yellow.

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The American liberation is presented chronologi- that we were sick, ,wounded, hungry wretches, cally in the first room of the exhibit, beginning on barely alive, pathetic in our efforts to smile at you, April 4,1945 with Ohrdruf, in Germany, which was to touch you, to reassure you. I remember that you a slave labor camp for an underground rocket facto- wept. ry. Other camps in this exhibit, also liberated by Uncontrollably, unashamedly. We tried to conJewish soldiers before Hitler's surrender on May 8, sole you. I remember that you treated us with such 1945, are Buchenwald, Nordhausen, Bergen- tenderness. It was your humanity that helped us to Belsen, Dachau and Mauthausen, in Austria; also restdre our humanity. Salzwedel, Landsberg, Woebbelin, Gunskirchen "Survivors and Liberators are now among the and Ebensee. , last who can bear personal witness to a calamity In this room, I was drawn immediately to the whose lessons for mankind have grown more indisphotographs and letters of W. Gunther Plaut. Rabbi pensable with each passing year. Plaut is known to the Reform community as the Possessed of that awful but precious knowledge, editor of "The Torah: A Modern Commentary." I we have an obligation: to launch an appeal to which was interested to learn that Plaut, having fled the no one can remain deaf, an appeal against hate, Nazis from his native Germany in 1935, enlisted in against violence, against war, against the degradathe U.S. Army as a chaplain the day after receiving tion of human beings, against forgetfulness. We his U.S. citizenship, in Cincinnati, in 1943. He was must invoke suffering in order to spare suffering to eventually assigned to the 104th Infantry Division others." "Love and Renewal" is the final section (Timberwolf). In Germany and Belgium he served of the exhibit. as a frontline chaplain. Jewish solders helped with the rebuilding The display caption relates his experience in process, some re- enlisting or staying on after the March, 1945, when the Division captured Cologne. war, to find relatives, food, shelter, even routes out Many Jews and non-Jews of the 104th and Jews of Europe. Chaplains led services and performed who came out of hiding attended the first public marriages and circumcisions. synagogue service. Shortly after, he celebrated the Some GIs fell in love with and married camp surfirst seder in Bonn, but was interrupted when the vivors, such as Morton Horvitz, guest curator of the Division was ordered to move out. He then distrib- exhibit. Horvitz, a rabbi's son and a U.S. Army uted the rest of the supply of matzot as the Division chaplain and camp liberator, served with the 808th left. Field Artillery. As he said in an interview with The Plaut was with the 104th on April 11, 1945, Annapolis Sunday Capital newspaper, when asked when it overran the Dora-Nordhausen to do the work, "I just jumped at it. I knew I had to Concentration Camp. "I made the burghers of do it. It was a matter of heart." Nordhausen bury the dead, while they objected The JMH is located at 1811 R St. N.W., only a that such a request was clearly 'inhumane.'" The half-hour subway ride from the Smithsonian starving survivors did not ask for food, said Plaut, Station subway entrance (near the Holocaust but for religious items and for our troops to contact Museum). relatives in the United States or elsewhere. The JMH Museum is free and open 9 am to 4:30 On one wall is reprinted the text of a letter from pm, Monday through Friday and 1 pm to 5 pm on Elie Wiesel: "Dear GIs, Although you may no Sundays. longer remember me, I remember you. I remember it takes about one hour to see the main exhibit your face was ashen as you looked and looked and and the permanent exhibit of artifacts from the looked. It was as if you could not move your gaze Revolutionary and Civil Wars up to the Gulf War away from the sight in front of you. I remember on the lower floor.

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I Jewiah Press

January 21,19M

'Flexible Friedel Program' Offers choices By Diane Axler Baum Friedel public relations Friedel Jewish Academy took a mtyor step in individualizing Judaic learning this week, with implementation of the 'Flexible Friedel Program," Mike Katzman, Chairman of the FJA Board, announced. The new program got underway Jan. 18, start of the spring semester. "We are extremely excited about this innovative program, which offers our students and parents the opportunity to choose their desired approach for pursuing the Jewish studies curriculum at Friedel," Mr. Katzman said. "The choice pertains primarily to emphasis," he said. "Within different grade levels, one group will master the material in breadth, while the other group—approaching the material in exacting depth—will focus on the basic skills of 'learning"," he said. "In other words, different methodologies will be used to.follow the same curriculum." Dr. Richard Freund, FJA's Jewish Studies Consultant, designed the program after he examined similar progrrams in community day schools across the country. Dr. Preund, a rabbi and Friedel parent, is a professor of religion in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Related new developments at Friedel include the Prayer study session, which is being offered as an alternative to the Prayer service that starts the school day; an optional course in conversational Hebrew; and an intense Hebrew program for certain students. Michele J. Riojas, Director of the Academy, said two new teachers have joined the FJA staff to teach in the Flex Program. Bluma Bratman, who has four years of intensive Jewish educational training in Israel and New York, will teach intensive study of Jewish texts, songs, and Bible plus related foundational skills to one group of K-1 students.

Miss Bratman arrived in Omaha recently to become involved in Jewish studies home education for Rabbi and Mrs. Mendel Katzman, Mrs. Riojas said. Rabbi Joseph Friedman, of Beth Israel Synagogue, will teach a group of students spanning Grades two through six in an intense atmosphere of one-on-one teaching and individual 'learning,' Mrs. Riojas said. The group, she said, will focus on such subjects as Rashi, Hebrew, Humash, values, history, and current events. , To clarify the distinctions between the groups in the Friedel Flexible Program, Dr. Freund offered the following examples, which pertain to the teaching of Rashi to older students: "In one group, the teachers will give selected examples from throughout Rashi's teachings as a means of exploring how the commentaries work. Students will learn how to read Rashi's commentaries by learning how to read exemplary parts of his writings in the original and in translation. They will learn how 'to learn' Rashi on their own by becoming familiar with how Rashi tl^ought and wrote and by understanding his methodology. "In the other group, the teachers will teach consecutive and sequential parts of Rashi's commentary on specific parts of the Bible. They will teach every single detail of a single commentary in the original and in translation. "Understanding Rashi's methodology will emerge after a student masters these consecutive and sequential parts of a specific part of the Bible." Mrs. Riojas expressed enthusiasm for the Flexible Program's diversity and choice. "By offering options, we will meet students' spiritual needs even better than before. Each student's Jewish«education at Friedel will reflect the student's preferences, interests, and abilities," she said. She also said the Academy has taken steps to ensure that group placements will not detract from the closeness and unity which always have contributed to Friedel's nurturing environment. "The entire student body will meet every Wednesday for singing, will continue to get together at regular lunch periods, and will share the joy of a special Shabbat lunch every Friday," she said.

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Donald Schwartz wins contest (Donald R Schwartz has been named the firstplace award winner of the Mellen Poetry Press National Epic Narrative poetry contest for 1993, it was announced by Professor Herbert Richardson of Mellen I University and director of Mellen Press. "Mr. Schwartz's 95page poem, entitled. The Cross-Country Run of ' Josephine X. Dreifus: A Tribute to Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's Journey to Sakhalin, was far and away the award Donald R. Schwartz winner. None of the other entries came close, in terms of theme, in terms of poetic unity, and in terms of realization of the concept," Mr. Richardson said. He added that Mellen Poetry Press will publish the book, either the winning poem by itself, or in a collection with the second- and third-place award recipients. Mr. Schwartz, the humanities coordinator for cooperative internships and a faculty member at Peru State College, also has been notified that two short stories of his will be published this winter, in national literary magazines: Z and the Mosquitoes, in SX-U.G Jest Magazine, and A Party in Omaha in Pleiades Magazine. Also, his one-act play, "Sacrifice," received its first reading recently at the CAJE Conference at Trinity University. Mr. Schwartz advised the Jewish Press that he has now published or had produced over 100 pieces, including a novella, The Curse of the Days, under The International University Press imprint, entries in encylcopedias, articles in scholarly journals, reviews and criticisms, stories and plays. He is working on a biography of Lillian Russell for Greenwood Press, and has contracted with Jason Aronson Publishers for a book on biblical scholarship. Following announcement of the poetry award, Mr. Schwartz also was notified that Mellen University would convene a Ph.D granting committee to consider his academic record and other achievments with a view to awarding the degree status. A similar request also came from his alma mater, the University of Kentucky, to apply for an honorary doctor of letters degree. Mr. Schwartz is married to Ann Kibel Schwartz, educational director at Temple Israel. He serves as a member of the mentoring faculty for bar/bat mitzvah students. Their son, Mordy, studies religion and philosophy with Rabbi Dr. Richard Freund at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

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'January 21,1994

Jewish Preca

Oldtimers Review

MISSION'

It was an emotional day

By Suaie Mogil (Tbe author was one of 14 women who went on the Women's Leadership Mission to Israel from October 20-31). After breakfast, our day began with a visit to the Rabbinic Court. We were greeted and introduced to two rabbis and a counselor of the court. The purpose of our visit was to learn how the court functioned. The informal discussion was dominated by the topic of the "get," a legal document needed for divorce, which can only be obtained by the husband. I left the court that day feeling frustrated about the status of women in Israel, but with hope that the rabbis of the court would arrive at broader interpretations of Jewish law and gain greater insights about women with legal problems. Our next stop was a shelter for battered women. The reality of life is that there are women being battered physically and verbally regardless of who they are or where they live. It was enlightening to see facilities in Israel, staffed with dedicated and caring people, where battered women can go for help. We had the opportunity to meet with residents on a personal level. This type of activity was available because we were on a U.J.A. Mission. Later that day we visited Yad Vashem, a memorial to the holocaust victims. We toured the museum, the art gallery and Yad Layeled, a memorial to the children who perished in the holocaust. It was an emotional experience. After the tour, we participated in a special Yizkor service for the millions of ' I .|\ srMMi;K \ MISSION l() ISUAI.l. jl^I•:2f.-.l^I.^ (•

INFORMATION MEETINGSMISSIO'.-^ NOTE CHANGE OF DATE! Monday, January 24 at 7:30 p.m. Monday, January 31 at 7:30 p.ni. at Ibe home of Marcia and Steve PiUor Fbr more infonnation, call Jan Perelman at tbe Federation ofTioe, 334-8200.

A counselor and a rabbi of the Rabbinic Court.

By Henry Stem Thanks, Harry Paskowitz, for your excellent report while subbing. At a big gathering at the Earlybirds, Harry Lobel commented on the 60-million of us who have high blood pressure. Sam Rosenstein was moderator and we welcomed Jack Levy and Stan Gerber. A report from those who have talked with Norm Komey. President Sam Kaplan commented on an article in the B'nai B'rith magazine regarding Spielberg's movie "Schindler's List." Comments were made on a radio address and speech by Mr. Buffet, richest man in America. So far, all we have learned is that Coca-Cola was a good stock to buy. Also, comments on athlete Calvin Jones. More power to him. ^ Charlie mentioned Clinton's detractors. We learned that the pro-Nazi Russian Zhirinovsky has a Jewish father. On to lunch. Motzi by Doc Margolin. Benschen by Keith Peltz. Norm Wohlner reported that Si Green, Mart Kolnick, Irv Kaplan, Mart Caine and Ray Kessbuck are hospitalized. Mayor P.J. Morgan spoke on crime and what it takes to control it. Parents should be involved. He also talked about pro football and the millions of dollars it would entail to become involved in a Canadian football league. Questions and answers followed.

Jews who lost their lives. It was a time for me to reflect, to remember the past and to pledge myself to helping secure a future for Israel. By the end of the day, I was emotionally drained but grateful. Grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the mission, grateful and proud to be a Jew. I realized that being a Jew is more than being a part of a religion. Touring Israel cemented in my mind that I am part of a history and part of a people with a very significant heritage. The trip also strengthened my commitment to keep Israel a safe homeland for all Jews, for as CORRECTION Jews we areone — one people, one homeland, one In last week's article concerning the family misdestiny. A special thanks to the Jewish Federation of sion, Jason Hoberman was incorrectly identified. Omaha and to U.J.A. for maJcing these missions Jason is the son of Ken and Roxanne Hoberman and Beth and Steve Leeds. possible.

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Jewish PreM

PkgeS

January 21,1994

Debate centers on social phenomenon of intermarriage ByWiaatonPickett Long Island Jewish Woiid With little noise, less fanfare and hardly a television camera in sight, a keen debate is being waged for the hearts and minds of America's Jewish policy planners. At its core is an issue that has caused more soul-searching, more tears and has consumed more reams of paper than any social phenomenon in the history of American Jewry. Its name: intermarriage. Barely a week goes by without some new piece of information streaming into an already cluttered field of discourse. New sociological studies are commissioned, startling statistics quoted, passionate entreaties delivered from synagogue pulpits. Families and couples wrestle with its consequences. In a post-Holocaust age, with the memory of decimation by more drastic methods is still fresh, intermarriage is an issue that haunts the psyche of the American Jews. And no wonder: According to the 1990 National Jewish Population Study (NJPS) commissioned by the Council of Jewish Federations (CJF), Jews are now intermarrying nationally at a rate of 52 percent. In other words, for every Jew who marries a Jew, another Jew marries a non-Jew. The result is an inevitable thinning of the ranks. Moreover, of the 600,000 Jews who have intermarried, only 28 percent have chosen to raise their children as Jews. And if this erosion from within were not enough—an attrition that one observer describes as stemming "not from pogroms but from love"—the actual growth rate of America's Jewish community has slowed as well. The same CJF study, for example, found that from 1970 to 1990, while the general population of the U.S. was growing at a rate of 22 percent, the number of "core" Jews—those who [ identify themselves as Jewish by birth or religion and have not converted to another faith— grew by just 2 percent. For more than a decade, while the "intermarriage crisis" churned, sociologists, rabbis and communal leaders sought to find ways to lessen its

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By Deborah Kalb WASHINGTON (JTA) — Although Sunday's meeting between President Clinton and Syrian President Hafez Assad is being hailed by the U.S. administration as a positive move toward Middle East peace, others here are saying it is too soon to tell. "I don't think there's a lot to go on firom what was said publicly the other day," said Richard Haass, a top Middle East adviser in the Bush administration who is now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. At a news conference following Sunday's meeting in Geneva, Assad spoke of the possibility of "a new era of security and stability in which normal peaceable relations among all shall dawn on the region." Assad's use of the word "normal" was trumpeted by Clinton administration officials and others as representing a step forward in the peace process. Afler Assad's remarks, Clinton said that the Syrian leader sought "not just an end to war, but the establishment of real and comprehensive.peace with Israel that will ensure normal, peaceful relations among good neighbors." "The key out of Geneva was that Assad succeeded in having President Clinton act as his interpreter, of his interpretation of peace," said Robert SatlofT, an analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Clinton also said at Sunday's news conference that he hoped the Assad statement would "provoke a positive response in Israel." "The fact that he called on Israel to respond to

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the National Jewish Outreach Program was formed. Setting its sights toward Jews before intermarriage takes place, it aims to reduce intermarriage by strengthening Jewish social and other ties through adult education and such nationwide programs as "Turn Friday Night into Shabbos." As the debate continues, two' communal figures have emerged in center court, each bearing different interpretations of how intermarriage data should be interpreted and how American Jews should address the problem. At times polite to the point of scholarly abstruseness, and at. other times exchanging pointed and occasionally heated barbs are sociologist Egon Mayer and historian Steven Bayme. In several appearances earlier this year, two of which this reporter followed at Temple Beth Sholom in Roslyn knd the Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan, Mayer and Bayme presented their arguments, bringing the debate into clearer focus. For 20 years Mayer has been one of the foremost authorities on intermarriage, publishing Love and Tradition: Marriage Between Jews and Christians and series of studies on intermarriage for the American Jewish Committee. He is probably the most oft-quoted expert on the subject. A professor of sociology at Brooklyn College and acting director of Jewish studies at the City University of New York, Mayer is also one of the researchers who assembled the NJPS, which was conducted by the North American Jewish Data Bank. Bayme, who likes to refer to himself as "not a sociologist" but an "intellectual historian," is the director of Jewish communal affairs of the AJCommittee and the author of numerous papers on intermarriage, and other studies. Since arriving at the AJCommittee years ago to preside over the writing of the same kinds of studies that helped make Mayer a household name, he has sought to reshape the intermarriage debate along more traditional lines. (Continued on page 9 )

Analysts see no breakthrough with Syria

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impact. Many took their cue from the Reform movement, which launched a national campaign in 1978 welcoming intermarried couples into Jewish life, encouraging non-Jewish spouses to convert, and finding ways to ensure that the children of mixed marriages are raised as Jews. Its name: outreach. For a while, it looked like intermarriage ^d outreach would become the yin and yang of the Jewish communal agenda. To cope with consequences of the one (so went the methodology), vigorously pursue the other. But as quickly as the pairing took hold, another watchword entered the vocabulary of survival: Jewish continuity. At last year's CJF General Assembly, Jewish leaders and policy makers came together to examine critical issues facing American Jews, and devoted an entire day to Jewish continuity. Outreach took a back seat with other ways to ensure Jewish identification: education, synagogue affiliation, philanthropy, maintaining the Jewish social service network. Throughout the debate, lingering questions resurfaced. Does outreach serve to legitimate intermarriage, or even encourage it by making the Jewish community's attitude more hospitable toward it? Does it threaten to dilute the integrity of the community by blurring distinctions between inmarried and intermarried? Is outreach essentially an educational, therapeutic activity or a missionary one? The Conservative movement, at 890,000 American Jews strong, offered its own challenge by pondering whether a radical emphasis on outreach sends signals that intermarriage is in fact now permissible, thus violating a centuries-old precept that Jews should marry only Jews. Afler much deliberation, without rejecting outreach, the Conservative movement chose to make •"inreach"—encouraging Judaism and in-marriage—its top priority. Modem Orthodoxy—^^a small but vocal segment of 355,000 Orthodox Jews in America—has opposed such efforts from the start. And seeking to reclaim the mantle of authority and the very terminology.

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Assad's statement may contradict the non-interfering role the Americans have adopted," SatlofT said. Satloff pointed out that the success of the IsraeliPalestinian discussions in Norway leading to last September's landmark autonomy agreement was in part due to American' restraint firom active involvement. For his part, Haass said that Assad's words were a possible "indication that Syria may be willing to entertain' a concept of peace reaching beyond nonbelligerency. But he said that if Syria really wanted to send clear signals regarding the peace process, it was more likely to do so "in private and in return for something." Satloff said that he hoped the administration had received private.assurances from Syria that went beyond Assad's public statements, because otherwise, the public statements do not merit the level of success attributed to the meeting. "It's the quintessential brilliance of the Syrian president," Satloff said. "He succeeded in making American diplomacy stand on its head for using a single ac^jective." For months now, negotiations between Israel and Syria have been stalemated over definitions of peace and withdrawal. Israel wants Syria to define what type of peace it envisions between the two countries. The Israeli government wants normal relations with Syria, including tourism and trade, not just a state of nonbelligerency. The Syrians, meanwhile, want Israel to commit to total withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

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"Intermarriage is an inescapable fact of life" ^^P (Continued from page 9 ) H^*^" For Mayer, intermarriage, while lamentable, is an inescapable fact of life. It is a sociological fruit of successive generations of Jews who have yearned to enter the mainstream and become members of a society where love takes precedence over tradition. Mayer cites additional factors to support his outlook. Prominent among them is social and geographic mobility. As recently as 30 years ago, drastically fewer Jews went away to college than now. Those who did tended to return to their ethnic enclaves to settle down. The sheer feasibility of geographic relocation and baby-boomers' willingness to go where their jobs took them changed that pattern forever. Ranging farther afield, beyond the main areas of Jewish settlement, Jews now meet more non-Jews, fall in love, and tend to assimilate into a wider gentile world. Sociologist Nathan Glazer, writing in the 1987 American Jewish Year Book, described the phenomenon succinctly. "Intermarriage is a result of the acceptance of Jews by the surrounding society and of Jewish unself-consciousness in taking part in it," he wrote. "Doing so inevitably leads to education with nonJews, work with non-Jews, and political participation and social life with non-Jews. A perfectly understandable integration results—no consequence of a desire to assimilate." Said Mayer at the Temple Beth Sholom debate: "It's not that the American Jewish community didn't control it, or didn't tell its children 'Enough.' It simply hasn't been able to control the greater sociological forces at work." In fact, 80 strong are those forces, said Mayer, "It is naive to think that a stronger stand [against intermarriage] will change it." If intermarriage is irreversible, by reason of what Mayer calls a "demographic revolution," the communit/s response must be pragmatic, an evolution from the "shrei gevalt" response of the past.

"We must go," said Mayer, "from outrage to outreach." Since sounding that call in the 1980s, Mayer has maintained that the Jewish community should make outreach a mtyor priority. He cites a directory he has compiled, which shows nearly 600 programs for adults or children in intermarried families at some 400 Jewish institutions around the country. These range from courses introducing adults to Jewish life, culture, belief and the holidays, to workshops for interfaith families. The Jewish community, explained Mayer told his audience, is "dealing with it better than before." Mayer supports his analysis with additional data from the Union of American Hebrew Congregations' Commission on Reform Jewish Outreach, which reported during the mid 1980s that in up to a third of the cases, the intermarriage had resulted in conversion of the non-Jewish partner. Viewed in this light, says Mayer, intermarriage is a window of opportunity and a vehicle for increasing Jewish ranks. His own studies and additional research, he says, support the claim: Jewish levels of observance and identity where a spouse converts are nearly equal to couples where both partners are Jewish. In fact, says Mayer, efforts to encourage conversion to Judaism should not be restricted only to non-Jewish partners in intermarriage. Claiming that "American Jews are rapidly arriving at consensus" that the optimal strategy toward non-Jewish intermarrieds is outreach and conversion, Mayer espoused "taking Judaism public" to the greater segment of "unchurched" Americans— more than two years before the Reform movement's decision this month to resume Jewish proselytizing. "Under the general rubric of 'outreach' Anierican Jewry is poised to become a missionary enterprise for the sake of its own survival," wrote Mayer in the August 1992 issue of Moment magazine. Only when an assertive, vibrant Judaism can be put on the "o1)en market," says Mayer, will it be

able to reach both the vast numbers of interfaith families and unaffiliated Jewish families. For Bayme, however, what Mayer calls a growing American Jewish consensus is anything but In fact, he says, suggestions that outreach should be the community's top priority in dealing with intermarriage are drawing increasing fire. The primary reason is what could be called the not-so-hidden signal. By declaring uncontrollable the forces that lead to intermarriage, Bayme said in one of his face-offs with the Brooklyn College sociologist Mayer sends out a dangerous communal message: "Don't fight it." "In Mayer's view resistance to intermarriage is futile, the battle cannot be won and communal opposition to it wrill get us nowhere pragmatically," he told the Roslyn audience. In particular, Bayme especially singled out Mayer's public statements, such as one he made in the New York Times in June 1991: "The battle for intermarriage is over; now is the time for a new focus on outreach." "Statements like that," said Bayme, voice rising, "are dangerous. They create a cultural climate whereby opposition to intermarriage is politically incorrect." Worse still, he said, such public pronouncements "in and of themselves create a climate in which the message is proclaimed loudly that the Jewish community no longer resists intermarriage. That climate itself contributes to the ever-increasing intermarriage rate." What is at stake, insists Bayme, is not the ability of the Jewish community to "control" intermarriage—a phenomenon which, like Mayer, he believes is a sociological inevitability. ^ Rather, what is at stake is the wilf among Jews to create and support a climate of opinion that Jews should date, and eventually marry other Jews. 'Jews can tilt the balance in favor of in-marriage," he says. For this reason, Bayme advocates adhering to a three-tiered strategy: prevention, conversion and outreach. (To be continued)

Births

CRESTRIDGE CONSTRUCTION

Cathy and Joe Gluck of Chicago, III., announce the Jan. 2 birth of a son, Raanan Isaac. They also have a daughter, Yael, 4, and a son, Avi, 2. Grandparents are Shirley and David Goodman of Omaha, Jerry and Ruth Ann Spitzer of Hutchinson, Kan., Malka Gluck and Ted Gluck, both of Chicago. Great-grandparents are Lillian and Harry Noodell and Malvina Spitzer, all of Omaha. Bob and Maria Cohen announce the Dec. 3 birth of a son, Joshua Miles. Grandparents are Elberta Cohen and the late Harry B. Cohen, Manny and Carol Goldberg and the late Elaine Goldberg. Great-grandparents are Fannie Wintner of Omaha and Irving and Sarah Becker of Hollywood, Fla.

Plan for referendum JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's bombshell announcement late Monday that he would hold a national referendum before agreeing to a withdrawal from the Golan Heights came as a surprise even to the members of his own Cabinet But political observers here are united in their praise for the move, which they describe aa a defl and resourcefVil tactic likely to shore up Rabin's political strength and reinforce his narrowly based coalition government Some observers believe that the referendum will never take place, but that Rabin will prefer to hold general elections fbrther into the term.

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Jewuh Preu

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January 21,19M

By Ben Bryant Good Shabbas. This week's Torah portion is BeShalach. In it, the Jews escaped from Egypt and the "Song of the Red Sea'was sung. The escape ftom Egypt involved a lot of faith. The Midrash says that when the Israelites saw the Egyptians coining after them, they cried out to Moses to ask Hashem to do something to save them. Hashem told Moses to tell the Jews to start walking into the sea. As they walked, the water got hi^er and higher. When it got up to their nostrils, thai, and only then, Hashem gave Moses the power to act Moses split the Bed Sea by raising his staff BO the Jews could get through. This Midrash shows that we have to do all we can before we ask Hashem for help. If we just throw up our hands and rely on Hashem for everything, we will not get anywhere. For example, if we had to pay rent on a house and we didn't have the money, before relying on Hashem, we should do everything in our power to earn the money ourselves. Just like the Israelites in today's portion, we must also have faith and do all we can, not only for ourselves, but also for other Jews, especially the Jews in Israel right now. When you are fighting for your home, your children or your own life, it is hard to have faith.

By Bert Lewis So tell me, have you won the four-million-dollar sweepstakes yet? Did the big guy you see on TV call you and personally congratulate you? Have you decided exactly how you're going to spend all that money? ' If'^o" is the answer to all of the above, then join the r^st of us. I suppose someplace on this planet there are actually people who ^ter all of those contests, hoping to get lucky. A few of them do win. I don't know how many magazines they subscribed to along the way, even though it says plainly "no purchase necessary to enter.' Sure. You don't have to buy anything; but wji^y do I have the feeling if you don't, your entry goes into the trash? OLDTIMEStS The reason I brought up the entire subject has to Oldtimers will meet Tuesday at the JCC. do with the great number of these contests going Earlybird discussion group will start at 10:30 a.m. on. It seems like every day there's another one in Following lunch at noon, a video on "Oldtime the mail, from yet another outfit just pleading with Comedy* will be shown. you to take advantage of this sure-fire way to get WALK-IN DROP-IN rich. Walk-In Drop-In will meet Thursday. Exercise I was astonished to see one the other day from class, English class pd bingo starts at 10:30 a.m. Mexico . . . and the come-on was something like Bring a sack lunch to eat at noon. Following lunch, "here it is — the BIG ONE. THE MEXICAN a video on "The Golden Age of Comedy" will be SWEEPSTAKES." I'd like to send them a one-word viewed. Transportation is available. message: DAYENU! And also advise them we have plenty of American-sponsored contests from which VISIONS Vision's will host a "Theater Party" at the to choose, but thanks anyway. I will admit, I got hooked on one of them not too Bellevue Little Theater, which will feature the show "Sugar," Sunday, Feb. 27. Dinner will follow long ago. I went along with each request, no matter at Caniglia's Restaurant on 7th St. Cost is $19 and how silly. And one fine day I was informed I was a includes transportation from the JCC, theater tick- winner . .. probably. That went on for several more et, dinner, tax and tips. Bus will depart from the mailings, until I got the notice: my prize was ready JCC at 1 p.m., and return at approximately 7:30 for me to receive. I only had to send $11.95 for shipp.m. For reservations and choice of entree, call ping and handling and they would comply. That was exactly the point where I said Ethel Goldston at 393-7368, or Harry Alloy at 661ENOUGH. I stuffed the entire business in the 6871, by Feb. 13. Visions will host a 3-day trip to attend the Pella waste basket and proQiised myself to do the same Tulip Festival from May 12-14. Afso included is a with any and all future sweepstakes notices. And in addition, I will promise that if Ed tour of Kalona, the largest Amish community west McMahon or any of those other guys ever show up of the Mississippi, and the Amana Colonies. Cost is $239, with a $26 deposit due by March 1. at my door, I'll be polite, but the/11 have to show For information, contact Hany Alloy at 651-6871, me actual green, spendable American cur.rency before I believe them! or Amy Potash at 330-4272. In the meantime, I wish somebody would declare BREADBREAKER8 a moratorium on million-dollar sweepstakes. P.T. Bob Warming, head coach of men's soccer at Bamum was right about people being fooled . . . Creighton University, will speak to B'nai B'rith some are fooled all the time, some are fooled some Breadbreakers Wednesday at noon at Regency of the time. And some of us must WANT to be West Best Western, according to Howard Kutler, fooled; how else do you explain the number of peoJanuary chairman. Cost is $7.60 and the public ple who send in an entry? may attend. Enter, don't enter... in case you do, good luck!

YES YES will meet Monday at the JCC. "YES Talk" discussion group, bingo and Eng^sh class starts at 10:30 a.m. Following lunch at noon, Mayor P.J. Morgan will speak. YES choral group will rehearse following the program. For transportation, call 3304272. YES will attend the show 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat' at the Omaha Community Playhouse on Sunllay, Feb. 20, at 2 p.m. Cost for the theater ticket is $17. Transportation is available to and from the JCC for an additional $2. Reservations must be made no later than FeJa. 10 with Tony Kutcher at 391-7674.

In tlie News Susan Jacques has been appointed president and chief executive officer of Borsheim's Fine Jewelry and Gifts, according to Warren E. Buffet, chairman. She succeeds Donald A. ^ale, whose resignation for personal reasons was announced several months ago.

Bert's Eye View

Organizations

Teens on Torah

Susan Jacques

llie Department of Education of the Jewish National Fund will hold its Second Quiz and Essay Contest for students of Jewish schools that participate in its Tu BiShevat program. For information, contact Dr. Solomon Goldman, director, JNF Department of Education, 114 E. 32nd St., Suite 1501, New York, N.Y. 10016. Phone: (212) 779-0310; Fax: (212) 689-3974.

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A review bv Elizabeth H. Tape

Schindler's List chronicles mass murder of Jews A screening of Schindler's List for the Omaha Jewish community will take place Monday at 6:45 p.m. at the Cinema Center theater, 2828 South 84th Ave, sponsored by ADL/CRC and proceeds will benefit the AntI Defamation League/Jewish Foundation for Christian Research, an ADL division founded In 1987 to necognize and provide monthly awards to more than 1,200 aged and needy Christian rescuers In 20 countries. For tickets, call tha'ADUCRC office at 333-1303, Steven Spielberg's new film, "Schindler's List," recounts events in the life of Oskar Schindler, a Czech businessman living in Poland at the time of the Nazi take-over in 1939. Scripted by Steven Zaillian from the award-winning 1982 novel by Thomas Keneally, it chronicles events in Schindler's life, and in Poland around him, through the next several years as the mass murders of the Jewish people escalated. At the film's start, the lifestyle of Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) is depicted at one of exorbitance. Relying in part on his contacts vnth highranking Nazi officials, Schindler attempts to take over an enamelware plant in occupied Krakow, convincing several Jewish investors incarcerated in the ghetto to form an odd sort of partnership. They lend the money, accountant Itzhak Stem (Ben Kingsley) runs the operation, and Schindler prepares to make his fortune at the expense of others. Such is his attitude, the filmmakers strongly communicate, at the start of "Schindler's List." The film depicts the establishment of his pots and pans factory, from his decision to ask Itzhak Stem to run the business for him, through his means of convincing the investors to get involved, through the machinations of arranging for workers to labor there and, much later, through his very gradual change in attitude, as he finds himself rethinking the brutality and horrors of Naziism and the methods of his Nazi colleagues. Amid all of this, director Spielberg also portrays examples of Nazi atrocities, such as, relatively early in the film, the random murder of one of Schindler's workers, an elderly gentleman with one arm, who, the day before, had thanked Schindler for his life. As the war progresses in the film, the cruelty and the extent of Nazi inhumanity also worsens, Spielberg shows in his film, with glimpses of cattle cars taking Jews to their deaths in the death camps, and with harrowing images of the metictilous disposal of their belongings, their suitcases, their shoes, their jewelry, and, yes, the gold from their teeth. What sets this film apart from others at many moments is director Spielberg's uncanny ability to communicate enormous feeling with minute detail.

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For example, in one of the film's few images in color, "Schindler's List" opens with a prayer being said, as the camera concentrates on a candle sitting on a simple wooden table. And from the smoke created with the flickering out of that flame, the film moves to the smoke stack of a factory, either in Nazi hands or soon to be so. From light, we are moved to darkness. From life, we are moved to death. As another example, also in the first moments of the film, we are taken from the minutia of the Nazi's attempts to organize the re-settling of the Jews to the minutia of Oskar Schindler's preparations for his evening out on the town. From Nazi insignia stamps, we are moved to cuff-links. From people taking the last steps in their free lives, we are moved to drunken soldiers, elegant dining and cabaret singers. It's a truly harrowing beginning to a film that we know will only get worse. Much, much worse, to the point of true incomprehensibility. In preparing to write a review of "Schindler's List," one problem that emerges is pondering how many words in the English language exist for brutality. For sadism, for inhumanity, for atrocities, for annihilation, as is used ("Shoah") in Hebrew. And how many words exist to convey meaningfully how powerful, how devastating, how unsettling, how horrible are the images of this movie are. Which may in part explain the very intensity of the film, because these images move beyond words. They speak in ways and words cannot. In one scene, for example, we watch Nazi officer Amon Cjoeth (Ralph Fiennes) standing on the porch of his home that towers above the labor camp he runs. He directs his rifle downward towards the prisoners below, and seems to aim it in a particular direction, a human being. An instant later, he stops. Then, appearing quite systematic, he removes the cigarette that has been dangling from his mouth and places it on the ledge next to him. Without a moment's hesitation, he then re-takes the rifle, and aims it again, and kills someone. The camera then shows us his still-burning cigarette: it remains intact. This man has just murdered an innocent human being, a random act of

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insane ruthlessness, the film communicates so effectively. And then there Goeth is, afler the fact of his murder, smoking his cigarette and using the bathrooin. Killing someone, the film suggests, means no more to him than these other "activities of daily life." And if the filmmakers are attempting to heighten the film's sense of horror by equating the impact, to this Nazi, of smoking a cigarette to the taking of a human life, it has succeeded, because the moment, like so many in "Schindler's List" screams out from the screen. There is so much to be admired about this film. The understated, yet fervent of Ben Kingsley as Itzhak Stem, for one, providing in many ways, the anchor of the film. And the powerful performance of Embeth Davidtz as Helen Hirsch, the young woman taken in as a slave house-keeper by the evil Goeth. One aspect of the film that has clearly received considerable attention by the filmmakers is the delineating the details in machinations of these Nazi atrocities, such as the papers, the inkwells, the stamps. Or the lining-up of the desks and chairs where Nazi officers would then sit and make decisions that would mean life or death for the Jewish victims there. Another sense the film attempts to convey is, in addition to the mass murders the Nazis carried out with such an exacting organization, there was also a randomness to many of these unspeakable acts of killing. The film also depicts moments of soldiers, armed with rifles and devoid of any humanity, the film suggests, thinking little of raising that rifle and killing people without any hesitation, and, apparently, without remorse, the film suggests further. At the close of "Schindler's List," the filmmakers have chosen to include images of some of the Jews whom Oskar Schindler rescued, appearing with the actors who played their roles in the film. It's another of the film's many haunting moments, making so much more real the actuality of this man's efforts. The film also notes, in its closing moments, that although only 4,000 Jews remain in Poland today, the descendants of the Schindler Jews number approximately 6.000, a figure that adds further impact to the importance of this story.

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Jawiah Preaa

January 21,1994 TT

I

1994 UJA/Federation Campaign

SuperSunday '94 '•

February 6, 1994

Convincing Reasons To Pledge Your Support On Super Sunday ^

1

THINK ABOUT YOUR PARENTS AND THEIR PARENTS What will you do when your parents or grandparents reach an age where they need assistance in order to continue to live on their own?^t*s not a subject most of us like to think about, but it's important that someone does. The Jewish Federation allocates support for the Bureau for the Aging which provides community services for indqxaident senior citizens. The Bureau's professional staff offers individual and family counseling as well as the YJE.S., Oldtimen and Visions programs. Consider how these projects give people, like your parents and grandpanaits, « better quality of life;

2

THINK ABOUT YOUR CHILDREN

3 4 5

THINK ABOUT OUR FAMILIES

6 7

'

Your contribution supports educational, recreational and social programs for Jewish children. Our community can be very proud of the synagogue rclipous school programs, subvented by the Federation and supported by the Bureau of Jewish Education. The Bureau also administeis scholarships for Jewish camjx and summer Israel experiences. The Jewish Community Center offers excellent preschool and youth programs, as well as sports, theater, dance and art programs and activities for people of all ages. Your pledge is an investment in tomorrow.

Jewish Family Service provides assistance to needy Jewish families in Omaha. In addition, they strengthen fanjily life through counseling services, adoption services and family education programs.

I

THINK ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE MIDDLE EAST Recent strides toward peace hold great promise for Israel's future, but she will need our help. Peace will bring dramatic increases in inunigration to Israel from the former Soviet Union. Through your campaign gift, UJA provides aid to Israel for medical needs, as well as education, immigration and welfare programs. Now, more than ever, your support is needed to secure the future of Israel.

THINK ABOUT THE THREATS TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RIGHT HERE IN THE U.S. AND ABROAD

/ Just pick up the newspaper today and you'll se« what we're talking about. Anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world, embodied by neo-Nazi groups. Prayer in the school and other policies aimed at blurring ihr separation of church and stale are being advanced by well-funded religious lobbies. These issues affect you. Our ADIVCommimity Reiiitions Committee works to secure the rights of the Jewish community as well as the righu of all citizens. THINK ABOUT OUR COMMUNITY Every week, the Jewish Press keqx us informed about local, national and international news of Jewish interest, including the activitiec of our synagogues, Jewish organizations, and the Fedent^ and its family of agencies. The Jewish Library serves oui community as a wondoful resource of Jewish knowledge.

THINK ABOUT WHAT WE CAN ACCOMPLISH TOGETHER When you are called on Super Stinday, please make a pledge — every penny counts)

y\ Omaha, the BEST of Jewish Communities

"EVERY PENNY COUNTS'

I