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Why Omaha. Shecky?
By Morris Maline (Editor's Note: rm on a flnt-name baaia with Sol Panow. More than 40 years ago, Sol Parsow was decorating the front window of his haberdashery store next to the Orpheum theater. A young man walked in and complimented Sol on 'the professional arrangement of the clothing, then idelivered some rapid one-liners designed to ; unnerve the Omahan. Sol, however, came right back with some cracks about New York, and their instant relationship turned friendly. Shecky, the entertainer, was in town to perform ,at the Seven Seas Saloon around the comer from the Orpheum. Shecky invited Sol to see the show at the Seven Seas. He left the club convinced that this was a dynamite show and that Shec^ was "utterly fantastic." Coincidentally, Sol was trying to boost atten: dance that weekend at Beth El Synagogue's supper club. "We only had 25 reservations so when I told my co-chairmen about this new comic in town, they said, "bring him here."* ' Sol asked Shecky if he would perform at the synagogue, and the answer was an enthusiastic "Yes, 'ni bring my quartet and it won't cost you a dime." When word got out that Shecky was coming to Beth El, the reservations quickly moved up to 150 couples and the result was comedy history in Omaha. "He had us rolling in the aisles, and even then we didn't have enough. All 300, including the late Rabbi Katz, went to the Seven Seas to catch his act ' the:'e and provide another standing ovation," Sol ! recalled. Over the years, the two friends kept in touch by telephone, and occasionally Sol and his wife, Lee Jane, would catch the comic's act in various parts of the country. "We lost track for a time," Sol said, explaining that Shecky, for many years, was experiencing problems with alcohol and gambling, and eventually, throat cancer. They met again last year, this time in Palm Desert, the first time in 15 years. This meeting came at a time when Sol found out that he and Lee Jane were going to be the honorees of an upcoming benefit for the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. *I asked Shecky if he would come to Omaha as a guest, and his response was, 'For you and Lee Jane, Fll come to Omaha as a guest.'" When word got out that Shecky was willing to come to Omaha, the question became," Will he pfer^ibrm?" When Sol approached Shecky on whether he would perform, he replied, "Yes, but I'll need a stage." So the stage is set. Shecky will perform at the Orpheum on Sept. 10, , and for patrons he may do a little shtick, at Sol's :party on Sept. 9.
Jews of Yugoslavia avoid stance on Bosnia ByGUSedwa BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (JTA) — As fighting continues to rage in Bosnia, the Jews of neighboring Yugoslavia are doing their best to avoid taking sides in the conflict "Of course, we are against the war," Aca Singer, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Yugoslavia, said in a recent interview. "But we do not want to support one side or another." There are 8,000 Jews in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which includes the republics of Serbia and Montenegro. The two republics had formed part of the larger Yugoslavia that broke apart in 1991. At that time, the former Yugoslav Republics of Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Macedonia declared their independence. Prior to World War II, some 82,000 Jews had lived in the unified Yugoslavia. About 67,000 — some 82 percent of the community — perished in the Holocaust, leaving only 15,000 survivors. In Serbia and Montenegro alone, 29,000 of the 40,000-strong community were killed. In Croatia, where followers of a nationalist puppet regime actively fought alongside the Nazis in an effort to destroy Jews and Serbs alike in neighboring Serbia, some 20,000 Jews perished in the notorious Jasenovac concentration camp. Long-simmering memories of the Croatian atrocities committed during the war have created a bond between Jews smd Serbs. The bond remains strong — despite the fact that most of the world community perceives Serbs as having committed the worst human rights abuses during the fighting in Bosnia.' But Yugoslavia's Jews, playing a delicate game of political acrobatics, avoid pointing fingers at either the Serbs or Muslims.
Vann seelcs $200 million for Rotary International
By Morris Maline Despite traveling hundreds of thousands of I miles and visiting scores | of countries, Howard D. Vann is not about to i rest As outgoing vice president of Rotary International, he has j accepted a new portfolio. He will assume the I vice chairmanship of the { Tenth Decade Howard D. Vann Committee which is seeking a permanent fund endowment of $200 million by 2005. "My anticipation is that we will do much better than that if our earlier experience is a guide,' he said, explaining that in '87-'89, Rotary raised $242 million in its worldwide campaign to eradicate polio. Mr. Vann, president of Vann Realty Co., and his wife, Judy recently returned from an eight-day trip to Rotarys District Conference in Israel. "It is not widely known, but there are 1,800 Gore fires speechwriter Rotarians in Israel, and amazingly, 1,100 attended By Matthew Dorf the conference.' WASHINGTON (JTA) - Vice President Al Gore He pointed out that Israel's Rotarians have an has Qred a speechwriter after learning that the ' advocacy program to help the court system, anothHarvard University professor compared the Israeli er program aimed at studying the use of material domestic intelligence agency to the Gestapo in a from figs to fight cancer, and the establishment of 1992 book review. a hot line for those seeking to enter the profesRichard Mariua, who heads the expository writ- sions. ing program at Harvard, where be has worked In addition, some 40 Rotarians were involved in a since 1978, was let go only days before he was to mission to Morocco to help the peace process. begin working at the White House full time. An interesting point, said Mr. Vann, is that the The 62-year-old professor has written numerous past president of Jordsn's Rotary Club visited speeches for the vice president Rotarians in Israel recently.
"There are no good guys at bad guys. It is hard to tell who is more to blame for the present tragedy. They are all guilty," seud Singer, 71, a survivor of both the Auschwitz concentration camp and the Communist prisons of the late leader of Yugoslavia, Marshall Tito. The fall of communism in Yugoslavia has done much to revive the Jewish community. Many Jews who had concealed their religion during the Tito era have come out of hiding. Jews are openly joining the cqmmunity because it provides them with a sense of belonging and because they receive financial assistance. That is a strong inducement for some in the current econom.ic situation, made more difficult by the international economic sanctions levied against Belgrade because of its support for the rebel Serbs in Bosnia. "Every day we admit new members into the community," said Rabbi Yitzhak Assiel, a 31-year-old convert who recently returned to Belgrade after more than six years of rabbinical studies in Israel. "The community has come back to life." Some 7,000 Yugoslav Jews have made aliyah in recent years. Those who remain are mostly elderly Jews. Another task facing the Yugoslav Jewish community is preserving the memory of the past. Almost an entire floor in the Jewish community building is occupied by the Jewish Museum, which has an extensive exhibit of Jewish history in Yugoslavia dating back to the 13th century. In a building adjacent to the museum, two women sit across from each other at a table and compare notes from a seemingly endless pile of documents. Each document contains the personal data of a Holocaust victim. The documents are being gathered together to be sent to Yad Vashem.
Need for Israel Bonds "compelling and urgent" By Morris Maline Barry Farber, who has been telling the Israel Bonds story for 34 years, said here last week that the need for Israel Bond purchases today is compelling and urgent. "No, Israels survival is not at stake. Israel is not in mortal danger, but there is a battle going on now that Israel might not win," Mr. Farber told the Jewish Preas. Mr. Farber, a national broadcaster and syndi Gated radio talk-show host, said the challenge today is to build an economic infrastructure rapidly to provide jobs and opportunity for the millions of Jews still in the former Soviet Union. "They want to leave for Israel, but the lack of jobs — particularly in the scientific and technical fields — makes them reluctant to take advantage of their immigration opportunities," Mr. Farber pointed out Mr. Farber said that he has traveled across America and to many foreign locations in his 34 years as a spokesman for Israel Bonds, and at this point he is trying to get the point across that dan ger to Jews is just a breath away and that an iron curtain for immigration could descend at any moment He asserted that the current Israel Bonds cam paign may be the last of the great efTorts because once peace is established and the building of Israel's economy is sufficient to accommodate the heavy influx of immigrants, Israel should be able to stand on her own legs. Mr. Farber said that American Jewry has shown a "spectacular commitment* to the Israel Bonds program and that the current hope is that Bonds be used to connect more individuals, including youth, to the land of Israel.