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The Jewish Press (Founded in 1920)

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Annette van de Kamp-Wright

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Abby Kutler, President; Eric Dunning, Ex-Officio; Danni Christensen, David Finkelstein, Candice Friedman, Bracha Goldsweig, Margie Gutnik, Natasha Kraft, Chuck Lucoff, Eric Shapiro, Andy Shefsky, Shoshy Susman and Amy Tipp. The mission of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to build and sustain a strong and vibrant Omaha Jewish Community and to support Jews in Israel and around the world. Agencies of the Federation are: Community Relations Committee, Jewish Community Center, Center for Jewish Life, Jewish Social Services, and the Jewish Press. Guidelines and highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: wwwjewishomaha. org; click on ‘Jewish Press.’ Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole. The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment.

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Israeli Politics 101

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT

Jewish Press Editor If you think our recent elections have been (and continue to be) a bit of a hot mess, at least we can find comfort in the fact that eventually it will be over. Win or lose, a President will be inaugurated later this month and we can focus on other things. Try this on for size: Tuesday, Dec. 21, the Knesset dissolved Israel’s Parliament. This means the country will have new elections, again: its fourth in just two years, and the sixth earlier-than-expected in a row. Time to take a closer look at how all this works. Unlike the United States, where we really only have two players on the national stage, Israel has many parties. Until recently, 13 different parties were represented in the Knesset. In addition, there are 36 parties that did not have government seats. In a crowded field, it is very unlikely any single party will hold a 50% majority. That means, when elections are held, some of the bigger players will form a coalition government. You end up with a Cabinet, formed and led by the Prime Minister (usually the top candidate from the party with the most votes is appointed by the President). The advantage of a coalition is more varied seats at the table. There is not one single party ideology that informs policy. The downside is, sometime compromises become too big of a stumbling block. If that happens, the Cabinet can fall. And it does, often. The average lifespan of the Israeli Cabinet is two years. The current President, Reuven Rivlin, has served since 2014. His term will be up this year; the Israeli presidency is term limited, the president signs laws and appoints the Prime Minister, in addition, he or

RABBI BENJAMIN RESNICK

JTA Pixar’s Soul, released on Friday on Disney+, is a tender balm of a movie about an aspiring jazz musician who dies on the day he gets his big break. Watching Soul, which is set in a richly imagined New York City, as well as in a blissed-out, blue-ish, and minimalist realm of unborn souls, in the final days of 2020 is once elegiac (the riotously crowded New York it depicts sure isn’t there at the moment) and soothing, like applying a poultice to a wound. The New York of our dreams may be in limbo, but there’s still Pixar offering its pastel take on, well, limbo.

Soul may not feature the nuanced emotional intelligence of the previous Pixar hit Inside Out, which takes place mostly inside the head of an 11year-old girl, nor the devastating power of the opening minutes of Up, but it is the first to make its central subject a question of metaphysics. The question of metaphysics. Namely, what is the body and what is the soul? For those of us who take Pixar’s metaphysical questions seriously — and as a Jew, a rabbi, the father of young children, and an adult who remembers being wowed by the first Toy Story in the theater, I take these questions very seriously indeed it over the weekend with our two boys gave us a most welcome opportunity to talk about some bigticket Jewish questions as well as an occasion to sit back and inhabit a lush world beyond the little realm of our apartment. For a movie about the nature and destiny of the soul, Soul is wisely spare when it comes to explicit religious content. Quite simply, there isn’t any. The abstract beings (all named Jerry or, in one case, Terry) that guide souls in the hereafter and in the Great Before are somewhat godlike, but they certainly don’t seem to be gods. And the subject at hand isn’t why things work as they do, or, really, what the capital-M Meaning of it all is. Instead, the story of Jamie Foxx’s poor Joe Gardner is focused squarely on questions surrounding the nature of his soul’s “spark” (and the spark of one other lost soul, voiced by Tina Fey) and what that has to do with his body and his path through life.

Soul offers a variety of sweetly packaged, life-affirming answers to these big questions, answers that have resonances in a variety of world religious traditions. Certainly, in the Jewish mystical tradition, there is much ado about soul sparks. There are also cognate visions of the Great Before, my personal favorite being the Kabbalistic image of the tree of souls, hung richly with the fruit of future lives, which, when ripe, are blown down to earth by a light wind. This particular image doesn’t appear in Pixar’s version of things, but it is certainly of a piece with the gentle realm where new souls are nurtured before birth. It doesn’t give too much away to tell you that one of the movie’s central messages is that true personhood is rooted in the union of body and soul, that they are both indispensable ingredients of life’s confection. If Joe Gardner’s adventure with an unborn corporeality and spirituality are intimately bound up with one another. Each is incomplete, perhaps woefully so, without the other. And of the many ideas that Pixar gracefully bandies about in Soul, it is this she endorses the credentials of ambassadors and of Gantz becoming Prime Minister and holding up receives those of foreign diplomats. There is no the budget was a surefire way to avoid it. vice-President; the president is elected by the Knes- Now that new elections are coming (supposedly set, rather than in open elections. You can compare late March) there are a lot of moving parts. Foreign this position to the European royalty, which at this Minister Gabi Ashkenazi left the Blue and White point in time is ceremonial. That means, if such a Party, while Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai started a head of state doesn’t cooperate, the government brand-new party, called ‘The Israelis Party.’ The can displace him- or her. mayor of Eilat joined ‘New Hope,’ the party Gideon Sa’ar formed after leaving Likud. Sa’ar has his eyes on the Prime Minister position; Likud members worry Rivlin might help him get there. And those are just a few of the headlines currently keeping Israel distracted. Of course, all this is happening in the context of a third COVID-19 lockdown. Plus, in addition to not passing the 2020 or 2021 budget, this whole mess comes with a price Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the media at the Knesset “The cost of holding Isbuilding in Jerusalem, Dec. 22, 2020. Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 rael's upcoming election, So, why did the cabinet fall this time? The sim- scheduled for March 23, 2021, is estimated at close plest answer: failure to pass the budget. “A coalition to 500 million NIS ($155.4 million),” Joshua Shuman formed earlier this year by Prime Minister Ben- wrote for the Jerusalem Post. jamin Netanyahu and the centrist Blue and White There are 120 seats in the Knesset. As of this writleader Benny Gantz had been shaky from the start,” ing, the polls tell us Netanyahu’s Likud Party is set Gabe Friedman wrote, “As Netanyahu balked at the to earn 28 or 29 seats (they previously won 36) stipulation that Gantz become prime minister after while New Hope polls at 20 seats. Benny Gantz’s 18 months.” Blue and White is predicted to get five. Stay tuned; Netanyahu wasn’t so enthusiastic about the idea things are getting interesting.

How Pixar’s Soul borrows from an ancient Jewish idea

— Soul offers a great deal to think about. Watching

Jamie Foxx voices the main character in Pixar's Soul.

Credit: Screen shot from YouTube soul named 22 yields any concrete moral, it is that tag: one that strikes me as the most profoundly Jewish. On this very subject, there is a famous midrash, or ancient rabbinic homily, about a body and soul separated by death and standing before God in judgment. The soul, pleading her case, argues that all of her sinful behaviour was caused by the body’s base desires. The body, not to be outdone, makes the point that without the soul he would have been entirely lifeless and therefore unable to transgress. Accepting their arguments, God puts them back together and punishes them in unison. I have always found this story irresistibly charming (very much like a Pixar movie) not because I am in love with the idea of divine retribution, but rather because, as an embodied soul myself — or, if you like, as a body who happens to be ensouled for the moment — it simply rings true. One of the enduring contributions of the ancient rabbis is their forceful insistence that we are Jews not only because we have Jewish souls (though they did believe that) but also because we have Jewish bodies, the product of Jewish families and pumping with Jewish blood. The human being, in this view, is not a metaphysical construct — as Tina Fey’s character somewhat derisively describes the realm of souls. Nor is the human being only a soft, perishable body. Rather, a human being is a luminous, fragile and ultimately temporary marriage of the two. In Soul, it is only when our heroes discover and inhabit this truth that they both get to where they need to go. In a year in which so many bodies have been ravaged — and in which so many souls have been frayed — you can do a lot worse than sitting back and, for just under two hours, allowing Pixar to offer up some humane and very Jewish answers to some very deep questions. The movie itself is perhaps somewhat slight, given its rather weighty subject matter, and the answers it gives may not knock your socks off. But they just might soothe your soul, and, as we close the book on 2020, I say that’s plenty. I give it three out of four sparks.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

LEONI JESNER

This article originally appeared on Alma. Born on a roadside during Operation Solomon, which airlifted over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1991, Ashager Araro’s start to life was far from conventional. Her name, meaning “going forward” in Amharic, is fitting, given the nature of her birth en route from her family’s small village of Gondar in Ethiopia to the capital of Addis Ababa in hopes of rescue. One of approximately 160,000 Ethiopian Jews now residing in Israel, Ashager is part of an integral thread in the Jewish state’s historically rich fabric. Now 29 years old, the ambitious feminist Zionist was named one of Jewish News Syndicate’s top 40 global advocates for Israel online in 2020 and is loud and proud in her mission to unite people from all Jewish backgrounds. Graduating at the top of her class as a lieutenant paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces, much of Ashager’s tenacity springs from time spent in a male-dominated unit. “It was there I learned how to speak up and conduct myself in a confident manner, and I’ve built on this strength in future areas of my life,” she said. During her studies of government, diplomacy and strategy at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, she served as an ambassador at StandWithUs, an American pro-Israel advocacy organization, enlightening global Jewish communities through impactful storytelling. “This opportunity was really a turning point, providing a springboard where I could use my voice to represent my community and fill a gap in the knowledge of Jewish people globally — many of whom remain unaware of Israel’s Ethiopian Jewry,” she said. As a Black Jewish woman, Ashager is no stranger to the bigotry and racism facing millions around the world. “I can hide my Jewish background as an Ethiopian Jew, yet out of respect to my parents and religion, this is something I would never do,” she said. “But the color of my skin is there on the surface, so I can also relate to the discrimination felt by many Black people from all backgrounds.” However, as an Ethiopian Jew, it runs deeper. “Before escaping to Israel, my parents lived in danger due to their religious beliefs,” Ashager said. “They were referred to as ‘falash’ [‘strangers’ in Amharic] and subjected to tremendous hatred for being Jewish.”

Ashager Araro says, “Owning and narrating our own stories has the power to educate, inspire and fend off discrimination —

often born from ignorance.” Credit: Ashager Araro Although Ethiopian Jews have come a long way integrating into Israeli society, unrest and racism remain pressing issues. Just last year, thousands of Ethiopian Jews gathered in Tel Aviv to vent their frustrations over racism and police brutality in a mass display of unity. Similar to scenes from the recent Black Lives Matter protests that spanned the globe, crowds assembled in anger and anguish to honor 19-year-old Solomon Tekah, an Ethiopian Israeli who was tragically shot dead by Israeli police in the Haifa neighborhood Kiryat Haim. Ashager, coming from a long line of strong women, was spurred into action to protest in the way she knows best — education. Last year she founded Battae, a first-of-its-kind EthiopianIsraeli heritage center located in Tel Aviv’s eccentric south neighborhood. Its humble roots blossomed first as a restaurant, run with Ashager’s aunt and serving traditional Ethiopian cuisine, before fully blooming into an interactive cultural hub welcoming hundreds of people to soak up the beauty of Ethiopian culture through dance, art and history. “We offer an important leadership-building program for youth, sharing ideas of Zionism through influential characters in Ethiopian-Jewish history,” Ashager said. “It’s incredible to see a shift in perspectives from the simple act of exploring new ideas, and how owning and narrating our own stories has the power to educate, inspire and fend off discrimination — often born from ignorance.” With Jews around the world living in growing fear of antiSemitism — Tel Aviv University’s annual report found an 18% jump in anti-Semitic attacks in 2019 — Ashager also speaks to a sentiment common to many Jews living around the world. “This apprehension is felt among many young Zionist Jews, who feel uneasy to speak openly of their support of Israel,” she said. “I’m a madly optimistic person and I truly believe that if Jews from all walks of life unite as one, we can protect our history and dismantle anti-Semitism one step at a time.” Her message to the next generation of Jewish leaders is clear — follow by example. “If we are bold and proud in owning our truth, then no one else can define it for us,” she said. Moving forward, Ashager will continue her life calling as an educator in Black-Jewish history. “In taking ownership of and defining our own narratives in history, and celebrating our differences, we can give each community space for their stories to grow in an accepting and open Jewish community of Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, Ethiopian Jews and those of all religious connotations,” she said. In doing so, Ashager hopes to shift the perspective of a complex history. “If we can take away one message, it’s this: Never underestimate the power of a story,” she said.

Leoni Jesner is an international culture and lifestyle writer for a variety of digital publications. In her spare time, she can be found on the mat teaching Pilates.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

REAL ESTATE