ewish Press
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SERVING NEBRASKA AND WESTERN IOWA FOR MORE THAN 75 YEARS VoL LXXVm
No. 5 Omaha, NE
Former Omahan offers grim assessment from Russia and Ukraine by Llndsey Paige Taxman
(Editor's note: Iindsey Taxman, whose family still resides in Omaha, was in Russia and the Ukraine this past summer, for the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, UCSJ. She is National Coordinator of UCSJ's Yad I/Tad partnership program. This article has been excerpted and edited from the 26-page report she submitted to the UCSJ upon her return.) Though the purpose of the UCSJ trip this summer was to acquire information about the condition of Jews in Russia and the Ukraine,, insights into these communities were discovered...the lives and struggles, joys and hardships. These connections are important for both Western contacts and those in the former Soviet Union in order for everyone to know there is someone else who cares about basic survival of the Jewish people worldwide. The cities visited were St. Petersburg, Pskov, and Orel in Russia, and Lviv, Novograd-Volynsky, Ternopil, Kiev and Trustyanets in Ukraine. In each community, the question, "What is your dream?" was asked. Though the communities have different needs, the answers are similar. ~ Many Jewish communities want to stand on their own, support themselves and enrich their lives with Jewish culture and spirituality through a wide range of practices. The people are poor and desperate, just like everyone else in the FSU. The economy continues to worsen and many people these feel it will spiral downward before it improves. Jews there are also susceptible to the missionary efforts of. cults and Christian groups; they worry, too, like Americans, about assimilation without any historical or cultural knowledge of Judaism. Take the community of Orel in Russia. Nearly 3000 Jews live there; about 75% are elderly. The Jewish leaders there dream of a community center which could encompass all activities, from sports and music for children to programs for the elderly. They need teaching materials, Jewish literature and medical reference books. In discussing life under Communism, one Jew in Orel said, "We used to celebrate Passover in secret. Our houses were close together, so families would visit one another and bring presents to pretend it was a birthday party. "Once, our neighbors asked, If it's a party why is there no music?" "Oh, we always dance to the accordion," was the " reply, "the man who plays it forgot to bring it." Due to failing health and poor nutrition of both the elderly and children, medical needs are rising. In addition to asthma inhalers, other medicines are needed for chemotherapy, diabetes, heart disease and bronchitis. Hospitals are now recommending that patients bring their own syringes, TVs and
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The Klutznick Symposium
"The End of Days?: Millennialism from the Hebrew Bible to the Present" unfolds this weekend, Oct. 9-11, in 14 thought-provoking sessions
Saturday night and Monday at Creighton University Sunday afternoon and evening at the Jewish Community Center For more Information, call 280-2303.
28Tishrei,5760
October 8,ii/^
Human rights on the agenda for Soviet Jewry activist by Morris Maline
The struggle.for human rights in China has come to the attention of Omaha as a result of the inaugural Shirley and Leonard Goldstein lecture at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Human rights in China is not just a cauBe for the Chinese people because international pressure is critical to bringing about change, Xiao Qiang, executive director of Human Rights in China, told an audience of more than 200 at UNO's Alumni Center last week. Chinese activist Xiao Qiang, left, meets with Soviet Jewry activist "China is changing with Shirley Goldstein and her husband, Leonard, at the opening lecture economic openness, but on human rights, sponsored by the couple at UNO. political institutions have not changed. A free market economy and a rigid held accountable for withholding human rights and demonstrating for individual freedom, he added. political system can't go together." Examples of courage included two mothers who The 37-year-old ex-doctoral student in astrophysics at Notre Dame University urged Amer- lost their sons in the massacre. They submitted icans to contact Congress and encourage the papers for an unprecedented legal action to the American government to change its "flexible policy" Beijing office of the Supreme People's toward China to a policy, moreattuned,to promot; Procuratorate. ing human rights.; ' '' - " ' •;••"••" • 'These, papers included a request, signed by 105. ; Qiang became a human rights activist following the victims and family members of those killed in the 1989 crackdown, to institute an investigation into Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4,1989. He said the work of his organization, based in New criminal acts committed in the imposition of marYork City, is to work worldwide to change the culture tial law in Bering. Along with the petition, they submitted evidence of impunity for human rights abuses which has preof the crimes ordered by the leadership including vailed in China throughout the last 50 years. Many courageous Chinese also are activists in former Premier Li Peng. (Continued on page 12) their own way trying to get the government to be
OCTL inaugurates program year by Carol Katzman
To mark the inauguration of the Omaha Center for Torah Learning, a Champagne and Dessert Reception will be held to honor its first Rosh Kollel (director) Rabbi Shlomo Levin, on Sunday, Oct. 17, 7 p.m., in the Jewish Community Center Gallery. Rabbi Jeffrey Wohlgelernter, spiritual leader of Congregation Adat Yeshurun in LaJolla, CA, will speak on "Jewish Community Building." Rabbi Wohlgelernter was approached by a rabbi vacationing in Southern California 13 years ago to come to LaJolla as a full-time pulpit rabbi. With the help of six other families, the tiny group began hosting services in a nearby hotel and the rabbi's home. Within three months they outgrew home hospitality and moved into an office at a professional center. The 900-square foot space, which seemed too big initially, has been outgrown as well and this year more than 700 adults and children attended High Holiday services. Prior to his arrival in Southern California, Rabbi Wohlgelernter held the position as "in-house" rabbi for Masada College in Sydney, Australia, and as rabbi of KehillatMasada. He received his smicha (rabbinical ordination) from Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore, MD, and from Mishkan HaTorah Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem. "People are attracted to learning and knowledge," said the rabbi about his upcoming visit here. "We've taken non-committed Jews in Southern California and turned them into committed ones.
Rabbi Shlomo Rabbi Jeffrey Levin Wohlgelernter "Why?" he continued. "Because we've told them in a non-threatening way how beautiful the Torah is." His congregants have demanded Jewish education on a daily basis. His own weekly schedule includes 26 different classes, both an early morning and a late evening DafYomi session (a page a day of Talmud), and classes in Bible, ethics, Talmud, prophets, and practical halacha (Jewish law), among others. "Jews assume that Torah is a list of what you have to do and what you can't," Rabbi Wohlgelernter added, "but if they start with basic thoughts on everyday living, like Pirke Avot, the Ethics of the Sages, they will learn that Torah has a real message for their lives today." (Continued on page 12)