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22 Adar H, 57S5, March 24,1995
Federation strategic plan involves community-wide input By Forrest Krutter, strategic planning committee chairman (Excerpted b^m Federation Shabbat D'var Torah at Beth El) A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to deliver the D'var Torah during Federation Shabbat concerning the role the Federation plays in our community. I was tempted to take the easy way out and discuss the duty of paying a half shekel which opened the Torah reading. When the Federation is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is the annual campaign. Admittedly, the Federation does have a heavy responsibility in raising the funds and endowments to support our community institutions and Israel. While the need for these contributions is great and the Federation has the key role in raising the needed money, the Federation is more than just its annual campaign. Occasionally we must step back and consider the broader issues — the strategic issues facing our Federation. I believe that these issues are important to all of us as Jews in Omaha. Importance of planning and implementation A few months ago, Federation President Jerry Slusky and board of directors, directed a reexamination of the Federation's role in the community. The goal of this reexamination was to present a strategic plan to address some of the difficult issues we now face. Planning for the future is a difficult task. In the last five portions of the Book of Exodus, Shmot, we read about the planning effort that went into building the Mishkan, the Sanctuary, where the sacrificial service was performed in the desert and in Israel until the time of Solomon. Rabbi Akivah observed that each word in the Torah was placed there to convey a meaning. The sages used that principle to analyze the Torah's meaning. In the previous two weeks, we read of God's instructions to Moses on how the Sanctuary was to be built. In the next two portions, we read how the Sanctuary was actually built. Four portions are devoted to the construction, two on planning to build, two on the implementation. Given that there
are only 54 Torah portions, this is an incredible emphasis. This emphasis must lead us to the conclusion that the Torah placed great importance on both the planning and on the implementation. Construction without planning is foolhardy; planning without implementation, a waste of time. A Good Heart is the Key In the Ethics of the Fathers, Pirke Avot, Rabbi Shimon observed that one should try to understand the outcome of one's actions. While 1 know of no one who actually succeeds in that task, an important attribute of the wise person, or in our case wise community, is the willingness to occa- From left: Forrest Krutter, Strategic Planning sionally think of what the implications of one's day Committee chairman, Arnie Weitz, Howard to day actions are for the future. Continuing that Kooper, Bob Lepp, Harlan Noddle, Advisory thought. Rabbi Shimon then observes that one Committee chairman, Jane Rips, Joel attribute of an evil person is that he or she borrows Alperson and Anne Broder. without planning how to pay back the debt. We have benefitted in this community from past planning and generosity that set up the community we now eryoy. We must be sure to plan to repay that debt by passing on a strong community to the future. Interestingly, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zachai««the preeminent leader of the Jewish people at the time of the destruction of the Temple, responds to Rabbi Shimon that a good heart is key. Planning must be done with a proper background of values.
Five Strategic Issues for Omaha As the Federation has begun the planning process, we have identified five strategic issues which must be addressed: I. Who will do the work? How do we develop the human resources necessary for our community to continue to prosper? We have made a wonderful start with programs for young leadership development. The Federation has an obligation to build interest among the younger (Continued on page 14)
Physician to speak on Nazi medicine By Morris Maline A California physician who has researched the actions of the German medical profession during the Nazi period will speak at four Omaha locations next week. Dr. Michael J. Franzblau, clinical professor of dermatology, and a lecturer at the University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco, will speak at Creighton University Medical School on Thursday, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Medicine, Department of Preventive and Societal Medicine, Friday at 1 p.m.; following services Friday night at B'nai Israel, and at the Shabbat morning service at Beth El Synagogue. His topic will be: 'Ethical Values in Health Care in 1994: Lessons from the Nazi Period," The lectures are open to the public. The topic, as described in literature offering a course at the Stanford University Center ^r Biomedical Ethics and the Human Biology program, is described further as examining chnical experimentation, the physicianpatient relatioDihip, rationing of health rare, active and passive euthanasia and (ene therapy in the context of social, economic and political currents •haping the values and behavior of health care •ffwidan in Nazi Gannany and the United States. Dr. Franzblau's appearance in Omaha it part of a nationwide lecture tour being undertaken as a pub^•Hrvic* to provide historical docuinentation to PHttones of racial medicine in Oanmany fl-om [1B921990.
Dr. Michael Franablau According to the announcement, the lecture tour ia being undertaken to share ethical concerns with the expectation that those coming out of medical training will have a moral code capable of coping with ethical challenges. As an example, Dr. Franzblau la one of some 600 doctors from California who have said they will refute to implement California's Proposition 187, which denies public medical care to undocumented aliens. He Is quoted as saying that doctors in Germany during the Nazi era complied with similar dictates as they applied to Jews and helped bring about the Holocaust
FE»IB left: C«ro| Katzman, Marty SI Don Yale, Jan Schneiderman, Bobbie Epetein, Howard Epstein, Julee Katzman, Steve Nogg and Margo Riekes. (Not pictured): Mike Abramson, Mary' Fellman, Fred Simon, Norm Veitater, Jerry Slusky, Joe Kirshenbaum, Advisory Committee chairman, and Advisory Committee members David Friedland, Howard Kaslow, Tom Fellman and Joodi Veitzer.)
Yom HaShoah The community-wide Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Commemoration, will take place Sunday, April 23, 7 p.m., at Temple Israel, 7023 Cass Street. The program will begin with candlelighting by Holocaust survivors and a special memorial service, followed by a musical program, 'Silenced Voices". The testimonies of three of our local Holocaust survivors will be read by second- and third-generation survivors during the program. The music of'Silenced Voices" will be played by members of the Omaha Symphony. The program features the works of three Jewish victims of the Holocaust; Ervin SehulhofT, Vitezslava Kapralova nnd Gideon Klein. Ervin Schulhoff was born in June, 1894, in I'rague, Czechoslovakia nnd died on Aug. 18, 1942J in Wulzburg Concentration Camp. His early lif^ and career showed all the earmarks of potential greatness. He was a prodigy at the age of 10 nnd had begun his piano studies at the Prague Conservatory (at the urging of Antonin Dvortik). ^ By 19I8, he had won the Mendelssohn PrizeS twice, once for piano and once for composition. By 1929, he was teaching composition and score-reading at the Prague Conservatory while continuing to make a name for himself as a composer, pianist,, and also as a Jaxz musician. He was imprisoned during the Nazi occupation < Ctechoslovakia and died in the Wulzbur| Concentration Camp on Aug. 18, 1942. Vitezslava Kapralova was bom Jan. 24,1915, in] (Continued on page 8)