JEWISH PRESS yol-LXXX)
No. 13
Omaha, NE
22 Kistev, 5762
December 7,2001
SERVING NEBRASKA AND WESTERN IOWA FOR 80 YEARS
Israel Retaliates for Murders Schrager Foundation of 25 in Weekend's Suicide Bombings Awards Six New Community Grants
fay JEWISH PRESS News Service
by CLAUDIA SHERMAN
There has be —?. a steady stream of people visiting the scene of Saturday nighfs double suicide bomb blast in downtown Jerusalem, which took the lives of 10 Israelis hetween the ages of 14 and 20. On Sunday, American peace envoy Anthony Zinni placed a wreath, at the spot; Representatives of diplomatic missions in Israel also visited and placed wreaths.
Since the blast, hundreds of people have come to light memorial candles. By Monday, the IDF had shelled Gaza City and Jenin and Ramaliah. Ari Fleischer, spokesman for President Bush, told reporters, "Israel is a sovereign state and has the right to defend itself." More on Omaha's Solidarity Mission on page
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Photo by ISRANET.
Foundation Public Relations Coordinator Since it was created in 1984, the Phillip and Terri Schrager Supporting Foundation has allocated thousands of dollars to help support charitable, educational and religious activities of the Jewish Federation and other organizations in the Omaha area. At the Schrager Foundation's recent meeting in October, sis new grants were approved. .Temple Israel's Women of Reform Judaism's Days of Awe-some Discovery for Children, a program intended to provide children with meaningful Jewish content-based curriculum on the High Holy Days, received a grant. The curriculum, geared to children who are a year old through fourth grade, is meant to provide age-appropriate activities while adults are attending services on Rash Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Young children who are not able to sit still through a lengthy service will learn that their place is in the Temple on the High Holy Days while developing a sense of what it means to be Jewish, according to the grant request. The long-term impact of this program will help children understand why the Jewish holidays are celebrated and honored. A grant was also awarded to the Girl Scouts, Great Plains Council, and the National Council of Jewish Women, Omaha Section, which are among the sponsoring organizations of The Yellow Dress: Doln'the Right Thing, a community collaborator to build healthy relations among children and youth. The grant will help fund productions of the programs for Title 19 eligible schools (which offer free or reduced price breakfast and lunch programs due to family"economics) and/or agencies. (Continued on page 9)
The Project Dreidel Chronicles
Avi's Story by PAM MONSKY, Federation Communications Director
Welcome to the second installment of The Project Sara juggle their Dreidel Chronicles. Starting with the very first kids' activities, Project Dreidel Chronicle story last year, maintain- schlep them here ing the privacy and integrity of the people who and there, do the receive services from. Jewish Family Service has Hebrew school been paramount. rounds and cook Up until now, we have respected their wishes by meals. changing their names and altering details that If you've raised a members of our community might recognize. Since family, then you're last year, JFS has seen an increase in the number of familiar with the local Jewish families and individuals who are in daily grind. But famcrisis or faced with overwhelming challenges. ily life is also stressThis week's Project Dreidel Chronicle is different ful and exhausting. because Doug and Sara Wolfson want you to know Doug and Sara and exactly who they are. They wish to raise our aware- their three children, nessof'thedevelopmentally'-disabled segment of our Aaron, 17; Naomi, Avi Wolfson Jewish community. 15; and Avi, 12,.deal And the Wolfsons want you to know about their with the same things that other families do. And 12-year-old son, Avi, and how caring for him affects then some. That's because Avi has severe developtheir family. Educating the rest of us about the mental disabilities that require constant care and developmentally-disabled among us is so important, supervision. The level of daily care he requires is to the Wolfsons, they were willing to expose some of enormous; as a result, the family's usual daily routhe intimate details of their family life with the tine, even on a good day, would overwhelm even entire readership of the Jewish Press. What follows the busiest family. is an honest and poignant account of what life is Avi has a genetic disease called mitochondrial like for One family with a child like Avi. . myopathy. It's progressive, degenerative and life threatening. It causes limited mobility, seizures, Life in a "normal1' Jewish household with two and mental disabilities along with many other posworking "parents and three active kids (two sible symptoms. Its ravages have compromised Avi teenagers and a 12-year-old), can be described as enough that he requires extensive help to dress and hectic and boisterous mixed with healthy doses of wash himself, to be toileted and to feed himself laughter, friendship and love. The home of Doug Since he cannot speak, he communicates using sign language and special picture cards. He requires and Sara Wolfson is all of the above. like other "normal" Jewish families, Doug and constant supervision.
Doug and Sara know how tedious their life appears to others. They acknowledge that managing Avi's specialF needs takes a physical and! emotional toll on the entire* family. They sometimes can't believe how things have turned out to be so different from the life they had envisioned. But Avi continues to amaze them and he enriches their lives in ways they didn't expect. Avi leads a stimulating and satisfying life despite his limitations. He attends Westside Middle School where he's mainstreamed into seventh grade and participates in many activities at Temple Israel including Hebrew school, and will become a Bar Mitzvah in June, 2002. Like any other 12-year-old, Avi has fun... he plays, runs and can laugh himself silly. He also has quite a reputation as a flirt. But the truth is that Avi will" never have the kind of life that Doug and Sara thought he would when he was born. Avi's story begins when he was 21/2 years old. (Continued on page 12)
INSIDE: Teen Age Maccahi Delegation.
Diggingfor the Truth.
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