JEWISH PRESS VoL LXXXH
No. 20
Omaha, NE
14 Shevat, 5753
January 17,2003
CELEBRATING 82 YEARS OF SERVICE TO NEBRASKA AND WESTERN IOWA
Omahan Receives Hillel Award of Excellence by "CAROL KATZMAN, Editor
Washington, pus community D. C . - - L a s t consists of over month, Sarah 3,000 students, Raful has been Raful received at the forefront the Richard M. of student leadJoel Exemplar of ership developExcellence 2002 ment, program award at the planning and annual Hillel engaging stuInternational dents to become Professional involved with Staff Conference Hillel. in Princeton, NJ. Currently the The award was Jewish Student renamed this Life Coordinator year to honor Joel who is leavat Hffiel at the ing in June to George WashSarah Raftil and former become presiington Universident of Yeshiva ty, Raful spent a Executive Director Richard Joel. year as a Steinhardt Fellow for Hillel University. at the University of Massachusetts, The largest Jewish campus organifollowing her graduation from the zation in the world, Hillel: The University of Illinois at Campaign- Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, is committed to creatively empowerUrbana in May, 2000. "Sarah inspires and provokes a ren- ing and engaging Jewish students aissance of Jewish life on her campus through its network of over 500 camand serves as a model for the entire pus Foundations, Program Centers Hillel community," said Hillel's and affiliates. Its long-standing dediPresident and International Director cation to building Jewish identity, while nurturing intellectual and spirRichard M. Joel. "I have yet to meet a Jewish profes- itual growth in a pluralistic community, positions Hillel as a leader in buildsional as dedicated, as committed and asflat-outtalented as Sarah Raful. She ing a stronger Jewish people and is, without doubt, the most magnetic stronger Jewish future. Raful is the daughter of Larry and and energetic Jewish professional I have ever worked with," said GWU Dinah Raful and a 1996 Jewish of Omaha Teen Hillel Executive Director Simon Amiel. Federation At a school where the Jewish cam- Leadership award winner.
New Professionals Invigorate JELS by RAM MONSKY
Federation Communications Director
When Jewish Education and Library Services (JELS) Executive Director Carolyn Novicoff left Omaha. for Seottsdale to begin a new career as CEO of CMldHelp, USA earlier this month, the JELS Board could have faced a hiring nightmare. Under NovicofiTs threeyear tenure, the agency entered a period of renewed vigor and scope, CooMe Katskee most notably by installing Prof. Guy Matalon the agency is responsible for administhe popular Florence Melton Adult tering academic scholarships and Mini School, as well-as overseeing the. administrative and financial helm at financial aid for college, preschool, Friedel, Jewish experience trips and Friedel Jewish Academy. The new Executive Director for summer camps. JELS is Guy Matalon who took the JELS is one of five Centers of post on Jan. 6. CooMe Katskee has Excellence under the umbrella of the been hired as the new Principal of the Jewish Federation. The other Friedel Jewish Academy. Matalon has Centers (or agencies) include; the already begun setting priorities that Anti-Defamation League/Community reflect a new vision of American Relations Committee, Jewish Jewish education—and has set some Community Center, Jewish Family ambitious goals for the agency. Service and Jewish Senior Services JELS directs the Kripke Federation (fee Jewish Press and Foundation are Library, the College of Jewish committees of the Federation). Learning, adult Jewish educational ; Mataloh's goal is to shatter the negprogramming and the Community ative connotation many Jewish adults Teacher program (which provides have when they hear the words qualified Jewish educators who imple- 'Jewish Education.' ment the Jewish curricnluni at The key to invigorate and strengthFriedel, as well as teach at the syna- en Jewish identity is Jewish educagogue religious schools). In addition, (Contmued on page 12)
Anne Frank's Step-sister to Speak Following Theater Performances by SANDY HEATHER
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Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss, friend and step- Center, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 7p,m. sister of Anne Frank, will speak next month about The program is free and open to the her experiences during World War II following per- public. A reception will follow the formances of the Nebraska Theatre Caravan's mov- program. The community is also invited to ing play, And Then They Came for Me: view the artwork of Eva Schloss' Remembering the World of Anne Frank. In March 1938, the Germans invaded Austria and brother and father in the Pennie Z. young Schloss (then Geiringer) and her family Davis Gallery for Holocaust became refugees. They fled to Amsterdam, where Education which, will open, the they, hid from the Nazis until they were betrayed evening of the program. and arrested in May 1944. Erich and Heinz Geiringer took up Schloss was 15 years old when she was sent to painting to pass the time as they hid Auschwitz, the same age as her friend and neighbor from the Nazis hi German-occupied Anne Frank. Together with her mother, Eva Holland in 1942. Using oil paints endured the horrors of the camp, and suffered the given to them by their host in the town loss of her brother and father. Following the war, of Soestdijk, they crafted pieces of her mother married Otto Frank, the only surviving expressing their isolation and hope for member of the Frank family. Only after 40 years freedom. Before leaving the house, was Schloss able to tell her story. they stashed 30 paintings under a Written by James Still, the multi-media play, And floorboard in the attic with a note that Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World ofread, "Property of Erich and Heinz Anne Frank, weaves videotaped interviews with Geiringer from Amsterdam who are in Paintings by Erich and Heinz Geiringer-brothers of Eva be exhibited at the JCC. The paintings were hidHolocaust survivors alongside live actors recreating hiding and will collect the goods again Schloss-will en after the war" ^ throughout WWII, until Schloss retrieved them. scenes from their lives during World War II. They did not survive, but later, Eva Schloss The play follows the lives of Anne Frank, her INSIDE: first boyfriend, Ed Silverberg, and Anne's neigh- returned to retrieve the artwork. The exhibit bor, Eva Schloss. The performance incorporates includes part of the collection that is now traveling Lieberman Declares Candidacy.... page 2 oral history, dramatic action, direct address, and to communities throughout the United States. issues of memory Schloss' visit to Omaha is made possible in coopWhere Are Tkey Now? ....page 7 Schloss will address the audience following the eration with the Plains States Regional Office of the Caravan's special performance of And Then They Anti-Defamation League. For more information, The Promising Land ...page 8 Came for Me to be held at the Jewish Community call the ADL, 333-1303.