Hewish Prest
SERVING NEBRASKA AND WESTERN IOWA FOR NEARLY 80 YEARS VoLIiXXVUl
No. 17
LINCOLN MR' 6G503-1651
Omaha, NE
'Super Bowl Sunday' theme for Kids' Super Sunday
2000 $3,075,000
UJA/Federation Campaign Update
by Pam Monsky, Federation Communications Director Pledged to date: $1,799,000
Goal: $3,075,000
$1,799,000
No Gift Touches More Lives. $500,000 Magician Joe Cole will return to perform for Kids'Super Sunday, The third Annual Kids' Super Sunday will be held on Sunday, Jan. 30, from 12:30-2 p.m., at the Jewish Community Center. Kids' Super Sunday gives children, pre-kindergarten to 12 years, the opportunity to participate in tzedakah, and enjoy a fun, kids^only day to celebrate. Children in Omaha's religious schools and the Child Development Center will decorate tzedakah boxes and take them home tojcollect change. They \irill br|ng the boxes to the JCC where the money will be collected and the kids will enjoy their party. There is no minimum dollar amount required for the tzedakah. : This year, the money collected will go towards the Federation's Hunger Relief Initiative for the elderly Jews in the former Soviet Union. Kids' Super Sunday will feature a magician and
Living in three centuries! by Joan K. Marcus
Justin Norton and his dad, Mike, add their change to the tzedakah box from Kids' Super Sunday'99. story teller, a clown, games, cartoons, a moon walk, crafts and a Super Meal featuring pizza donated by Zio's. Past Kids' Super Sunday events have attracted over 150 kids and parents. Volunteers are needed to help run the games and serve the Super Meals. All volunteers will get a Super Sunday T-shirt and lunch. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Jeanette at the Federation office, 334-6429.-; The Super Sunday Committee includes Chairpersons Deb and Dan Marburg, Susan and Greg Bramhall, Kevin and Patty Gilinsky, Steve and Patty Goldstein, Mark and Kim Schwartz and Jim and Sally Zipursky. : And don't worry, Dads, you'll be home in time to watch the Super Bowl on TV!
2000 UJA/Federation Campaign The Jewish Federation of Omaha
Upcoming events of 2000... Shabbat of the Centuries starts at 4 p.m. this afternoon at Beth El Synagogue, with candlelighting at 4:45 p.m., followed by Kabbalat Shabbat services at a Gala Shabbatdinner.- Moreirrfbrmatiorrvnpage 3. Moollenium, one of 300 life-sized fiberglass cows, painted by Chicago artists, will be on display at the Dale Clark Library, 58:30 p.m. tonight, and then on permanent display at Greater Omaha Packing; see story and photo on page 8.
Pashchenkos continue to improve their lives through Federation Scholarships by Claudia Sherman, Foundation Public Relations Coordinator
When Gene Pashchenko was a school boy in more. Soon, Sophie Tepperman Kaplan will have lived Ukraine in the former Soviet Union (FSU), he had After waiting five years to get an interview with in three centuries! "a hard time," because he is a Jew. the Immigration Service in Moscow, the PashchIn hjs teacher's gradebook in which she recorded enkos were granted one in 1993. They waited her students' "nationalities," Gene's nationality another year before learning they would be leaving was Jewish. Other children threw rocks at him for Baltimore, MB. Some of Gene's family membecause of his "nationality." bers, including an aunt, uncle and cousin, were To apply for a driver's license, a passport or to a already living in New York. university, Pashchenko would have to, disclose his After'the flight to New York, the Pashchenkos identity as a Jew on every application form. were met there by representatives of the Hebrew Whether due to the economy or his religion, jobs (Continued on page 10) were hard to get, explained Gail Pashchenko, Gene's wife. She is from Latvia and was able to "cover up" her Jewish identity because her father was Byelorussian, not Jewish. Gene and Gail left their lives in the FSU behind in 1994 and immigrated to the United States. Sophie and Dave Kaplan-1921 "There was no future The oldest current resident of the Rose Blumkin there," Gene said. "I Jewish Home, was 102 in June. She was born on didn't want that for June 13,1897, and came to the United States from Julia," the Pashchenko's \ Stolengin, Russia, when she was 16, with her two daughter, who IB now 15. .'sisters, Frieda and Manya, and two brothers, Ed Gene and Gail didn't want to have to hide and Mai Tepperman. .••'. \ their Jewishness any(Continued on page 10) • Gene, Gail and Julia Pashenko