NE HIST SOCIETY 1500 R ST LINCOLN NE 6 8 5 0 8 - 1 6 5 1
Serving Nebraska and Eastern Iowa for more than 75. Years Vol. LXXVI
No. 3 Omaha, NE
12 Tishrei, 5759
will never be .the samel" by Claudia Sherman
So predicts Dr. Ruth Westheimer, psychoSexual Currently, Dr. Ruth is an adjunct professor at therapist who helped pioNew York university neer the Held of media and has taught at severpsychology, who will be al other colleges speaking at the Federthroughout her career. ation Women's Division She is a fellow of the Campaign Backoff Lunch' New York Academy of eon, Tuesday, Oct. 20, Medicine, has her own 11:30 a.m., at Beth El private practice, and Synagogue. leads seminars for residents and interns in Dr. Ruth said she will pediatrics on adolescent talk about sexuality in the sexuality at Brookdale Jewish tradition, the Hospital. She lectures importance of being sexufrequently at universially literate, and her book, ties across the country Heavenly Sex. She will and has twice been also refer to her newest named College Lecturer book, Dr. Ruth's Guide to of the Year. Grahdparenting, which is about transmitting values. Possibly best known for her radio program, Born in Frankfurt, "Sexually Speaking," Germany, in 1928, Dr. which began in 1980 as a Ruth was sent to a school 15-minute show. airing in Switzerland when she after midnight on Sunwas 10 years old. The Dr. Ruth Westheimer days on an NBC affiliate school became an orphanage for most of the German Jewish students who in New York, Dr. Ruth eventually dispensed her had been sent there to escape the Holocaust. An expertise .via television, books,: newspapers, games, only child. Dr. Riith lost raest of her family Jirthe- home video, computer software;'»)rid a -page• on the Holocaust, including her parents a^d grandparents: Worldwide Web (http^/www.drruth com)."•'•'•'.;; ' '.•' Dr. Ruth's unique style aired on TVs Lifetime At 16, she went to Israel where she fought as a member of the Haganah, Jewish freedom fighters. channel and was seen in London and Hong Kong Subsequently, she moved to Paris where she as well as in this country. In 1991, she was executaught kindergarten and studied at the Sorbonne. tive producer for a documentary on Ethiopian Jews In 1956, she immigrated to the United States,. called Surviving Salvation, a documentary on their where she earned a Master's Degree in sociology exodus to Israel. Two years'later, she had her own from the New School of Social Research in New weekly series in Hebrew on Israeli television. York. She received her Doctorate of Education in Currently, she is working on a documentary the Interdisciplinary Study of the Family from called No Missing Link, about how grandparents Columbia University's Teachers College. transmitted values, particularly: religious values, Dr. Ruth became interested in studying human during 70 years of communism in Russia. (Continued on.page 11) sexuality when she worked at Planned Parenthood.
N.Y. Board of Rabbis issues survey of rabbinic cooperation by Debra Nussbaum Cohen
NEW YORK (JTA) - The New York Board of Rabbis has released a collection of hundreds of recent examples of rabbinic interdenominational cooperation from across the country. The examples of cooperation range from some that seem ground-breaking to others that don't involve substantive interdenominational cooperation at all, like when rabbis offer their own views of the pluralism debate in panel discussions or when congregations around the country, connected with all of the movements, separately host a crash course in Hebrew offered by the National Jewish Outreach Program. • \ Many of the examples came in two arenas where joint interdenominational work has long been practiced: chaplaincy and adult Jewish education. Other examples in the New York board's report include: • •*• New/York Orthodox synagogue Kehillath Jeshurun opening up space in its Ramaz Day . School to Conservative congregation Or. Zarua,. which used the room for High Holidays services and its community seder. . * * A workshop on intermarriage, held in East Bay, Calif, last June, drawing about 25 Orthodox, ; Conservative, Reconstructaonist and Reform rabbis. * In Portland, Maine, rabbis frota each of the four denominations meeting last June to discuss establishing a community mikvah, community day school and kashrut oversight committee. , (Continued on page 11) ' ,
Omaha surveyed for rabbinic cooperation According to Rabbi Paul Drazen of Beth El Synagogue, the.New York Board of Rabbis did inquire about Omaha's rabbinic cooperation. ; Rabbi Drazen cited such examples as the "Mark the Fast with Food" campaign held with all Omaha/Lincoln congregations'for three years on Kol Nidre/Yom Kippur. I n addition to the (joint) Yom Hashoah service, the rabbinical council produced study materials which were distributed through all the synagogues to allow individuals the opportunity to mark Yom Hashoah with a common section to study," he added. The synagogues have also cooperated with joint Cantors' Concerts, held at Beth Israel in 1997 and Temple Israel in June, and have held joint services for Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, rotating the location among the Reform, Conservative and Orthodox synagogues of Omaha. In addition, the senior rabbis also have permanent seats on several boards of directors: the Jewish Federation, Jewish Educational and Library Services, Friedel Jewish Academy, and Jewish Senior Services. • "We have, what I hope, is; hot a unique situation," added Rabbi Howard Kutner of Beth Israel Synagogue. "The rabbis of the various synagogues actually get along!" •"•'•. ' (Continued on page 11)
October 2,1998
Klutznick Symposium slated for Nov. 1-2 by Leonard Greenspoon
The eleventh annual series of fall symposia will be part of the worldwide commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the State of Israel. Sponsored by Creighton University's Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization, the symposium, •'A Land Flowing with Milk and Honey: Visions of Israel from Biblical to Modern Times", will take place Sunday and Monday, Nov. 1-21 As the title suggests, the Klutznick Symposium will feature a number of presentations that highlight both the land of Israel itself as well as the Zionists and other pioneers who championed its founding. The lectures will run the gamut from high culture to the popular culture of postcards, travel photographs and movies. Literary portraits of Israel have also been powerful - beginning at least as early as the Hebrew Bible itself, from which the well-known phrase, "a land flowing with milk and honey", derives. Speakers will deal with literature from antiquity through the Middle Ages and 19th Century to the poetry of post-World War II era and will cover Jewish, Christian and Islamic materials. As is true with visual representations, these literary portray- . als come from a number of sources and present distinctly different pictures. ••;•••:• Even within a single tradition, multiple views of the land can be found. This is easily appreciated by anyone who follows the often acrimonious debate among Israelis, themselves on what constitutes the 'appropriate version ofIsrael for its' next halteentury. Several speakers will address these concerns as well. . . This year's symposium begins Sunday, Nov. l'at 12:15 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center; the afternoon program continues until 5 p.m. After a break, the evening's event, featuring keynote presentations, begins at 7 p.m., also at the JCC. The second day of the Symposium begins Monday, Nov. 2 at 8:30 a.m. through 3:30 p.m. at the Skutt Student Center on the Creighton campus. All events are free and open to the public. The full Klutznick Symposium program is available at its website: http://www. mockingbird.creighton.edu/english/worldli t/e vents/klutznick.htm For more information, contact the Klutznick office at 280-2303 or 280-2304, or e-mail Ugrn@creighton.edu ' Leonard Greenspoon holds the Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization at Creighton University.
Healing the Jewish spirit and chicken soup by Shane Kotok, Jewish Senior Services
Come experience the potent remedies that Judaism offers to strengthen the body and spirit. Rabbi Eric Weiss shares his extensive knowledge on Jewish spirituality and healing on Thursday, Oct. 29, at noon in the JCC auditorium. Rabbi Weiss is associated with Rabb. Eric Weiss the country's only fully functioning Jewish healing agencyRuach Ami (spirit of my people) Bay Area Jewish (Continued on page 11)