THE KAIMAN FAMILY CAMP GRANT
AMY BERNSTEIN SHIVVERS
JFO Foundation
Executive Director
The family of Howard Kaiman, of blessed memory, is proud to announce a heartfelt gift to our community: the Kaiman Family Camp Grant. This grant honors Howard’s legacy and his lifelong dedication to Jewish values, education, and community life, providing significant support for Jewish youth to experience the transformative joy of summer camp in 2025.
As Howard’s sister, Donna Kaiman Gilbert, lovingly shared, “My brother Howard’s greatest memories of growing up included his time at overnight camp.”
HOWARD KAIMAN’S LEGACY OF COMMITMENT
Howard Kaiman, who passed away on April 11, 2023, at the age of 93, was a pillar of the Omaha Jewish community. Born on October 31, 1929, he was raised in a close-knit family that instilled in him a strong sense of Jewish identity and service.
Howard’s distinguished career as an attorney, specializing in corporate law, estate planning, and personal injury, earned him great respect. Beyond his professional success, Howard was deeply involved in Jewish communal life, serving on the boards of Temple Israel and the Jewish Federation of Omaha. He was an advocate for Jewish education and a mentor to many, embodying the values he cherished. In his own words, “We know the beauty of Judaism. It makes the ordinary extraordinary.”
GRANT DETAILS
The Kaiman Family Camp Grant is designed to enable Jewish youth in Omaha and Lincoln to forge lasting memories and strengthen their Jewish identities through the immersive experiences of summer camp.
GRANT AMOUNTS
• $1,000 per overnight camper
• $250 per JCC camper
See The Kaiman Family Camp Grant page 2
Wildfire Crisis Relief Jewish Business Leaders Hall of Fame
Wildfires across Greater Los Angeles have displaced tens of thousands, caused immense destruction, and tragically claimed lives. Jewish institutions, including a 100-year-old synagogue, are among those deeply affected.
Jewish Federations in Los Angeles, Ventura County, and San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys have opened a Wildfire Crisis Relief Fund to provide critical assistance to those impacted. Your support ensures aid reaches Jewish communities and others in
need during this devastating time. Find more details about available resources and contacts, questions about what is needed and how you can help at www.jewishla.org. If you wish to donate, you can do so on our website. If you wish to send a check, please make your check payable to JFEDLA and send to P.O. Box 54269 Los Angeles, CA 900540269. In the memo line of your check or accompanying documentation, please indicate this is for the Wildfire Relief Fund. The Los Angeles Jewish community has mobilized to provide essential resources, including mental health support, warm meals, shelter, and space for displaced individuals, families, and institutions. The information on the website is continuously updated as the situation changes.
If you have additional resources to suggest, please email FireResponse @jewishla.org
JFO Director of Community Development
Tom Fellman and Howard Kooper of Broadmoor Development were inducted into the Jewish Business Leaders Hall of Fame at the
JAY KATELMAN
event’s largest-ever turnout on Dec. 20 at Happy Hollow. Both men are icons in our community, and their induction was well overdue. Hearing stories from Tom about how they became partners, and See JBL Hall of Fame page 2
Larry Kelberg, left, Willie Theisen, Howard Kooper, Tom Fellman and Bob Stratton
THE KAIMAN FAMILY CAMP GRANT
Continued from page 1
ELIGIBILITY
• Available to Jewish families residing in the Omaha and Lincoln metro areas.
• Open to campers attending Staenberg Omaha JCC Summer Day Camp or a residential camp recognized by the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation.
AWARD LIMITS
moved to bring joy to Jewish families in our community by helping their children experience the transformative magic of Jewish summer camp.
Howard Kaiman believed deeply in the
• Grants are capped at 72 overnight campers and 100 JCC campers for the summer of 2025.
PAYMENT DETAILS
• Grants are paid directly to the camp.
• If camp costs have already been paid in full, submit a camp statement showing proof of payment to receive reimbursement directly.
HOW TO APPLY
Please scan QR code to apply for each camper or email Diane Walker at dwalker@jewishom aha.org for a link to apply.
The Kaiman Family Camp Grant officially launched at the start of Hanukkah. The family is
power of Jewish education to “make the ordinary extraordinary.” Through this grant, his enduring passion for community, learning, and Jewish values will continue to enrich the lives of future generations.
The Kaiman Family Camp Grant is more than financial support—it’s a legacy of love, learning, and unforgettable summers. Together, let’s create meaningful camp experiences for our youth and strengthen the bonds of our Jewish community. Applications are now open! Let’s make 2025 a summer to remember!
JBL Hall of Fame
Continued from page 1 their many years together was fascinating. The ups and downs of the real estate industry and how hard work and a little luck helped them to build Broadmoor into what it is today, one of the Midwest’s largest apartment owners with thousands of units across several midwestern states.
“When I think about a new project,” Tom said, “I ask myself, ‘Would my mom or sister want to live there?’ Broadmoor doesn’t cut any corners.” Howard and Tom know the importance of hard work, loyalty, integrity, and giving back to community. You can tell they live these values by the attendance of over 200 guests at the event, many of whom have known them in both business and life for many years.
JBL Founder Alex Epstein said:
“I started JBL in 2017 to bring the business community together. I had recently moved back to Omaha, and heard successful stories about how the Schragers grew Pacesetters in the 1970s and 1980s. I wanted to hear all the stories, and that included how Tom Fellman and Howard Kooper grew Broadmoor one apartment community at a time. Then I realized: it’s not appropriate to approach all these guys on Kol Nidre, the one time a year all our Jewish peers are together in a room. I knew I needed to create an outlet for it. Louri Sullivan helped me spearhead the program and helped make the idea into something real. Seeing where we are today, the community needed this outlet. Early on, I asked Tom how we could get someone like himself to come. He said something along the lines of: ‘I go to enough stuff with the old guys. If you young guys show up, I’ll show up, but your generation needs to be there to make this happen.’”
It’s fair to say that in seven short years, JBL has turned into a force. As Tom predicted,
“not just the old guys show up’.’ JBL has blossomed into a robust program that draws a diverse crowd with members from all walks of life. As we’ve grown, we’ve added sponsors, and recently Michael Staenberg and an anonymous donor have both stepped up with matching donations to create “The Jewish Business Leaders Legacy Fund” at the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation. This will help JBL continue to grow for many years to come.
A special thank you to our Platinum sponsors: Bridges Trust, OMNE Partners, Jetlinx, CFO Systems LLC, and Security National Bank.
Also, thank you to our Hall of Fame Event Sponsors: Broadmoor, Dvorak Law Group, LCC, Frankel, First Westroads Bank, Northmarq, and FNBO
Please look for information for our next Jewish Business Leaders event on April 4 with Gary Green, owner of Union Omaha.
IN THE NEWS
The Old Avoca Schoolhouse in Avoca, Nebraska will be streaming three online I’m in the Mood for Modes Penny Whistle Workshops for penny whistlers with a D whistle. Each of the seven music modes evoke a different mood and offers the player opportunities to explore unique melodic pathways. A better understanding of modes can help us appreciate what a 6hole whistle is capable of.
The Workshops will be on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 7 p.m., Central Time, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 10 a.m., Central Time, and Friday, Feb. 7, 7 p.m., Central Time. There is limited enrollment, and pre-registration is required. The cost for each workshop is $15. For more information, and to register for the workshop, please visit https://www. greenblattandseay.com/workshops_whis tles.shtml
Mazal tov, Hannah!
Ten outstanding former Pioneer student-athletes became members of the Grinnell College Athletic Hall of Fame this past fall. Among them is a familiar face.
Hannah Wolf Schmidt, daughter of Nancy and Phil Wolf, was on the Omaha Maccabi team for four years, and was a member of the USA Maccabi team, with which she played in Australia and Israel. She also played on a travel team in Europe one summer. She attended Millard West HS, and spent many, many hours playing basketball at our Omaha JCC. Hannah established herself as one of the best players in Grinnell College women’s basketball history, recording a stellar playing career that wrapped up in 2008. She is listed in Grinnell’s record book 50 times and still owns numerous school records, including career 3pointers with 323. That is 127 more than the second player on the list. She is also first in career 3-pointers attempted with 913 and ranks second in total points (1,668), scoring average (19.2 points per game), field goals (571), field goals attempted (1,434) and 3-point percentage (35.4 percent), as well as fourth in free throw percentage (80.2 percent).
Far from just a scorer, she ranks sixth for career steals with 143, seventh in steals average with 1.6 a game, and ninth for assists with 230. Hannah also owns school single-season records for 3-pointers (99 while leading the NCAA in 3-pointers per game in 2004-05) and 3-point attempts (250). She has Grinnell’s game record for free throw percentage by hitting 100 percent of her shots in a 2007 contest. She holds four of the program’s top six 3-point totals for a season. Besides her record-setting total in 2004-05, she had 80 treys in 2006-07, 75
in 2005-06, and 69 in 2007-08. She also has seven marks in the record book for 3-pointers in a game, with a high of eight and several contests with seven. In addition, she has two of the top point tallies in a game with 42 and 39.
Hannah’s contributions were evident by the fact that Grinnell rose at least one spot in the Midwest Conference standings during each of her four seasons. Her accomplishments were certainly noticed by others. She was the Grinnell College Women’s Freshman Athlete of the Year in 2005 and the Grinnell College Outstanding Female Senior Athlete in a Team Sport in 2008.
She is only the second player in program history to earn AllRegion honors twice and also one of Grinnell’s few four-time All-MWC performers, earning a spot on the second team her first two seasons and making the leap to the elite unit as a junior and senior. Hannah also excelled in the classroom and is one of just four Grinnell basketball players to earn Academic All-Region honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). She was Academic All-Conference on three occasions, while majoring in psychology. She went on to earn a master’s in education from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Since graduation, she has been teaching middle school math, including two years for Teach for America in Kansas City, 13 years in OPS and then at Andersen Middle School at Millard Public Schools in Omaha. She married Grinnell graduate Mike Schmidt ’08 in 2010 and they have two daughters, Talia (5) and Nora (2).
A celebration of all recipients was held during Grinnell College’s 2024 Fall Athletics Weekend.
Ganges River Cruise (2015)
We went up and down the Ganges River in 2015 in eastern India with a rivercruise boat, if you can call it that. The Ganges is sacred to Hindus. A dip in the river is felt by the Hindu believers to cleanse sins, according to the goddess Ganga, and help
achieve salvation. But the Ganges River was very polluted, especially in the lower reaches, so the Hindu faithful were risking their lives to go for a dip in remission of their sins. We did manage to cruise down the river without swimming in it.
The Ganges runs about 1500 miles from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. It has the largest delta in the world, stretching 250 miles from India to Bangladesh. We boarded near Kolkata (Calcutta). The food was good, if you like IndianAmerican food without a lot of spice.
One day we disembarked near a Catholic church. The next day we toured the Muslim mosque. Third, we saw in-depth a Buddhist temple. The fourth day we visited the Hindu temple with the prominent goddess Ganga. We had anticipation for the next day: what would day five bring? Remember, no Sikhs or Jews or Protestant Christians were established here. Day five brought us to a full day visit to the world headquarters of Hare Krishna. Located in Mayapur, India, it’s a sprawling
site with lots of commercial products to sell. So the world headquarters of Hare Krishna didn’t really impress us. Invented in New York City in 1966, Hare Krishna has over a million adherents in the USA and a lot of believers in India. As a branch of Hinduism, Hare Krishnas repeat “Hare Krishna, Krishna Hare”
endlessly. What happened to the folks who prosyletize Hare Krishna in airports? They lost the case in the US Supreme Court in 2016, but they are now getting more followers in the USA by just preaching their gospel to them.
That’s what we remember of the Ganges River cruise: lots of temples and mosques and churches, and the world headquarters of Hare Krishna.
ORGANIZATIONS
B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS
The award-winning B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS speaker program currently meets Wednesdays via Zoom from noon to 1 p.m. Please watch our email for specific information concerning its thought-provoking, informative list of speakers. To be placed on the email list, contact Breadbreakers chair at gary.javitch@gmail.com
RICH JURO
Above: Fran disembarking our Ganges River cruise ship (notice the guy holding the “portable” pole which Fran is clinging to) and right: Hare Krishna headquarters.
KELLAH HOME CARE
The Passion of Caregiving
402-706-6894
www.kellahhomecare.com
“Run for Their Lives,” Newton Chapter
Each week across the United States, groups gather to show support for the hostages and their families. Many of these groups are part of an umbrella organization called “Run for Their Lives.”
My sister-in-law Charlotte Ross is a devoted participant in the organization’s Newton, MA chapter. Rain or shine, sleet or snow, the group convenes on Newton Centre Green. I asked Emily Brophy (32), one of the organizers in Newton, to reflect on the group’s work.
The first gathering of our chapter was on Jan. 22 2024. A group of us gathered on one of the coldest days of the year to honor the youngest hostage Kfir Bibas’s first birthday. It collectively broke all of our hearts. Words were shared, prayers were read, and we walked around the Green with posters of the hostages, chanting, “Bring them home!”
As we began to evolve, we would choose a new hostage to honor each week. I took it upon myself to research each hostage and tell our audience everything about them before Oct. 7th. Were they a mother? Father? Sister? Brother? What is their favorite activity? How did their best friends describe them? How did their siblings describe them? It was my goal to paint a picture for our audience each week so that they could hold on to something memorable and meaningful. I am also blessed to have amazing co-leads who also bring so much to the table. One of our leads, Behzad Dayanim, has added a beautiful musical component that provides a very muchneeded healing element. He brings speakers, microphones and an electric piano, and each week he leads us in Acheinu, which is a prayer for freeing the captives, and Hatikva. After the program concludes and we begin our walk around the Green, he will then play inspiring Jewish music up until the last person completes the walk.
Due to the cold New England weather, it took a few months for the community to commit to being outside for our program. With the rise in antisemitism on college campuses and around the country, we felt that we could not advertise, and so we had to rely heavily upon word-of-mouth. In the beginning we would have about the same thirty people show up each week.
Our community was shaken to its very core on August 31, when it was announced that Hamas had murdered Hersh Goldberg Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Almog Sarusi, and Alexander Loba. Hersh in particular had many ties to our Newton community. He knew students from Gann Academy in Waltham, he accompanied the Cohen Camps on their summer trips in Israel, and his aunt Bonnie Polin lives in Newton. The gathering the next day, Sunday September 1, was unlike anything I had seen thus far. Almost 300 people showed up, people I had never seen before whose hearts were completely shattered. As my normal attendees began to show up, their eyes were flowing with tears. I was embraced by so many tight hugs which made my chest tighten up, and I had to fight back my own tears so I could manage to get through the program. At this point I had spoken for almost 30 weeks straight, but nothing could really prepare me for this moment. But then I remembered what Bonnie had texted me while on her way to Hersh’s funeral in Israel: “Please thank the community for all that they’ve done, and please remind them that there are still more hostages that need to be rescued. Don’t forget them.” I spoke to the crowd about our collective sorrow, and about how even though many of us didn’t know the six hostages that were murdered, we considered them our family. We are a small community, but together our strength is unbreakable.
Our Jewish community around the world has been on a nonstop rollercoaster of some of the highest highs and the lowest lows. But we’ve seen what we can do when we all come together and stay resilient. We know what we are capable of and we know who will lift us up when we need it most. Our voices are powerful and carry truth and strength. I encourage you to go online and look for “Run for Their Lives” in your local community, and if you don’t have one, start one! We are truly an unbreakable and resilient family.
I pray that by the time you read this column, many of the living hostages will have returned to Israel and many of the murdered hostages’ bodies will have received proper burial. Amen. Teddy Weinberger, Ph.D., made aliyah with his wife, former Omahan Sarah Jane Ross, and their five children, Nathan, Rebecca, Ruthie, Ezra, and Elie, all of whom are veterans of the Israeli Defense Forces; Weinberger can be reached at weinross@gmail.com.
Jimmy Green’s South Omaha campaign, part 3
RICHARD FELLMAN
THE JEWISH PRESS IS LOOKING FOR A SUMMER INTERN.
If you are currently a high schooler age 16 and up, or college student up to 24 years old, and want to become more involved in our community, this is your chance.
If you are interested, please send your resume and cover letter to avandekamp@jewishomaha.org.
WE CAN’T WAIT TO MEET
SUMMER INTERN The
The Pheasant Bar and Grill, a wellknown and usually busy “watering hole” in South Omaha was really its own institution. It had a long bar on one side, and down the other side all the way to the kitchen in the back were tables and chairs. It was located right in the middle of the busiest block on 24th Street. During the noon hour it served lunch and was crowded. The rest of the day the crowd varied. In the morning hours it was filled for coffee breaks, but starting in the late afternoon and into the evening the bar was busy. Essentially, it was a meeting place in those days for gamblers and bookies, men who took bets on every type of sporting event, especially the horse races when the Ak-Sar-Ben track was in operation, which was all summer long. In addition to the gamblers, the crowd seemed to include all types. There were business men, lawyers and a couple of doctors, newspaper reporters from the Sun papers which had a South Omaha office, and clerks and sales folks from the neighborhood. Among the people Green spoke with was Jackie Gaughan, then a young man just getting started as a bookie. In later years, he moved to Las Vegas and ended up owning more than one of the major hotels and casinos. Omaha was his home and served as a training ground for him and others.
Omaha had a major “lay-off” facility downtown called “Baseball Headquarters.” From the street no one would have known what it was. It was a plain looking storefront, with a small room and almost nothing in it except a dusty glass counter with a single box of stale cigars which were never
sold. In the large room behind it were tables filled with telephones and men taking wagers from across the country.
In those days, the Pheasant Bar was sort of a front for gamblers. Police knew all about it and just left it alone. The food was excellent. The menu was “old world,” right out of Central Europe. We sat in a booth and ordered lunch. Our waitress was an elderly woman everyone knew and called by name. She walked around wearing worn-out house slippers and what in those days was called a “house dress.” It lacked all sense of style and nearly reached her ankles. But she knew every customer. She wrote nothing down when we ordered, and brought each person exactly what they had requested.
Green met and spoke with everyone in the room: bookies, gamblers, bartenders, customers having a meal, and then went into the kitchen where he shook hands with every cook and waitress.
We finished, he again went around the room, and then we went back to 24th Street.
There were drug stores on each of the corners on 24th Street, the only South Omaha movie theatre in the middle of the block on the west side, and small stores of every description up and down the street. Individual merchants sold clothing for men, women, and children, work clothes for men, shoes for the family, household goods, furniture, and every other item any one could want.
He was in and out of all of them, telling everyone that he was running for mayor and asking for their vote.
South Omaha in 1961 was a busy place. One long day, from breakfast at Eddies, up and down 24th Street, and back to Eddies. I was tired, but Jim Green was happy and pleased.
Editor’s note: the first two installments of this story ran in our January 10 and 17 editions.
TEDDY WEINBERGER
RICHARD FELLMAN
Hanukkah Extravaganza
Above: It’s so fantastic to see the Mah Jongg Ladies back at RBJH!
Below: RBJH celebrated Law Enforcement Appreciation Day on January 9th to honor the men and women who put their lives on the line daily to protect citizens. A huge shout-out to Officer David Ackerson for educating us on the daily tasks of being an officer in the Omaha Police Department.
On
Lincoln’s Hanukkah celebrations Clockwise from above: Members of the Lincoln Jewish Community light candles before Kabbalat Shabbat services at the South Street Temple; Participants at the Young Jewish Initiative (YJI) Hanukkah Party in Lincoln. The YJI connects young Jewish adults 25-45 for social activities throughout the year; Bob Evnen and Rabbi Alex Felch share a laugh at the Lincoln Jewish Community Pre-Hanukkah Latke Party; Elise, Marin, and Isaac Weisser at the Lincoln Jewish Community PreHanukkah Latke Party; and Cindi and Marlon Weiss show off their matching Hanukkah pajamas at the Lincoln Jewish Community Pre-Hanukkah Latke Party.
SP O TLIGHT
PHOTOS FROM RECENT JEWISH COMMUNITY EVENTS
SUBMIT A PHOTO: Have a photo of a recent Jewish Community event you would like to submit? Email the image and a suggested caption to: avandekamp@jewishomaha.org
GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY
Beth El winter activities Clockwise from above: Beth El students compete during Maccabeah games in a dreidel battle, Kindergarten and first grade students at Beth El cook with Mika, Beth El students work together to solve a puzzle during an Escape Room activity at Winter Break Day, Teens at Beth El prepare to lead Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat services, and Gesher USY participants at Beth El compete in silly games during Gesher Lounge Night.
Above and below:
Wednesday, Dec. 25 we made 111 stops, and distributed 375 boxes of goodies with over 4500 baked goods in addition to donated snacks!
The Kripke-Veret Collection
SHIRLY BANNER
JFO Library Specialist
YOUNG ADULT:
Maybe it Happened This Way: Bible Stories Reimagined by Leah
Rachel Berkowitz
Take a fresh look at the Bible stories you think you know, retold using the Jewish concept of midrash.
Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Moses. We think we know their stories, but the Bible tells us only part of it. What if we could see the full picture?
Maybe we’d discover that…
…Adam and Eve were challenging the rules, growing up.
…Noah felt fearful and angry, desperate for any kind of hope.
…Abraham and Sarah gleefully, recklessly smashed idols in his father’s workshop, and were stunned by a revelation that would change their world.
…Moses could not imagine that the Israelites would want to follow him, and felt dread at being asked to lead.
Maybe these iconic figures of the Bible were people just like us, filled with fear and joy, jealousy and passion, mischief and love.
This is a modern take on Bible stories, with relatable characters; not earnest and reverent, but not transgressive either. It explores timeless themes of interest to kids, including fairness, sibling rivalry, perseverance, forgiveness, courage. Maybe It Happened This Way also covers many lesser-known narratives and lifts up the stories of women in the Bible as well.
ADULT:
A Place to Hide by Ronald H. Balson
mark, and Holland, the screws tighten and law after virulent law is passed to threaten the lives, indeed the very existence of the Jewish people. When Teddy and his girlfriend Sara are introduced to an orphaned young girl named Katy, who has been abandoned on the grounds of a nursery school, they agree to adopt her. Teddy comes to realize that he holds the key to saving lives, whether five, fifty, or five hundred and makes the dangerous and selfless decision to join with underground groups and use his position at the Consulate to rescue those with no other avenue of escape.
Powerful and dramatic, National Jewish Book Award winner Ronald H. Balson’s A Place to Hide explores the deeply-moving actions of an ordinary man who resolves, under perilous circumstances, to make a difference.
Horse by Geraldine Brooks
Includes an introduction explaining of the Jewish concept of midrash--stories created to add new layers to our understanding of the Bible; a discussion guide with questions; an index of values; and a guide to sources for each Bible story.
Theodore “Teddy” Hartigan is the scion of a wealthy Washington, D.C. family who place him into a comfortable job at the State Department and a placid diplomat’s career. In 1938, as Hitler’s inexorable rise continues, Teddy is re-assigned to the US Consulate in Amsterdam to replace fleeing staff. Teddy’s job is to process visa applications, and by 1939, refugees from Nazi-conquered Poland, Austria, and other countries are desperate to secure safe passage to America. As Hitler sweeps through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Den-
A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history
Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamor of any racetrack.
New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance.
Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse—one studying the stallion’s bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success.
Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism.
Special guests join the JCRC for Third-Annual Jewish Day of Action
MORGAN GRONINGER
JCRC Program Manager
On Feb. 4, 2025, the Jewish Community Relations Council and community members will come together at the Capitol in Lincoln for the third annual Jewish Day of Action. This year, a special group of guests will join in the event to learn about advocacy and the legislative process in Nebraska: students from the Friedel Jewish Academy.
“Friedel is excited to be partnering with JCRC to include Jewish Day of Action as an annual event for our seventh and eighth graders,” said Beth Cohen, Friedel Jewish Academy’s Head of School.
Students will have the opportunity to meet and learn from senators about the legislative process and participate in advocating on issues that could affect the Omaha Jewish Community.
The seventh and eighth graders are working with the JCRC ahead of the event to prepare and put their best foot forward when they represent the Jewish community.
“Students [are learning] about the workings of the Unicameral, how bills are introduced, researching bills that may impact the Jewish unity, and developing talking points to lobby state senators,” Cohen said.
With the 109th Session of the Nebraska Legislature underway, the JCRC is closely monitoring bill introductions, working with our lobbyists, the Public Policy and Civil Rights Commitee, the JCRC’s Advisory Board, community members and partner organizations to determine the best plan of action to advocate on behalf of the Jewish community.
The JCRC invites any interested community members to join other advocates in Lincoln on Feb. 4 for the Jewish Day of Action. Community members will have the opportunity to meet with state senators and ensure that the Jewish community is heard during this critical legislative session.
If you are interested in attending, please RSVP to Pam Monsky, pmonsky@jewishomaha.org before Jan. 31. A detailed itinerary will be sent out to attendees ahead of the event.
Voices
The Jewish Press
(Founded in 1920)
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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 JFO are: Institute for Holocaust Education, Jewish Community Relations Council, Jewish Community Center, Jewish Social Services, Nebraska Jewish Historical Society and the Jewish Press Guidelines and highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: www.jewishomaha.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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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.
Sledgehammers and pry bars
ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT
Jewish Press Editor
Last September, retired Rabbi Peter Mehler and his son Zechariah made headlines.
“Milwaukee was abuzz over a mural that had gone up on the side of a commercial building in the city’s sixth district,” JTA’s Andrew Lapin wrote. “Painted on slabs of vinyl affixed to the brick, the mural — a large rectangle about the size of the building’s ground floor — featured a background that appeared to depict mass graves, weeping mothers, drones and other scenes of carnage in Gaza. At the center: a Jewish star with a swastika inside it, along with the words, ‘The irony of becoming what you once hated.’”
The father-son team went to work. Armed with an ax, a sledgehammer and a pry bar, they destroyed the mural. They were arrested two weeks later for destruction of property, and the case is expected to go to court this month. “Heroes or Hooligans?” Lapin titled his story. It’s a valid question.
Remember that scene in The Sound of Music, where Captain von Trapp comes home from his and Maria’s honeymoon, and he finds the Nazi flag flying from his house? He tears it down, and rips it to shreds. It’s a gratifying moment, and no matter how many times I’ve watched that movie, that moment excites me. And yes, it’s a film, it’s a sound studio, nothing about it is real, even if the story is based on true events. I like to imagine that, were I to see a swastika in real life, I’d be just like the Captain.
I’m also reminded of that piece of Nazi art that was bought at auction by a donor who planned to
blow it up, in South America, I believe—Sam Kricsfeld wrote a story about it. Of course, the donor bought the art first, so he could do as he pleased. Still, blowing up a Nazi artifact? Yes, please. Far be it from me to advocate for vandalism. At the same time, if one wants to express their sympathy for Gaza, but does so by mixing and matching our Mogen David with a swastika, my empathy dries out. I’m just about fed up with the anti-Zionists using Nazi imagery to make their wobbly case. There is a larger question that needs to be asked: when we decide to fight back, what does that look like? Do we answer that question on a personal level, as well as on an institutional and organizational level, and do our answers match?
One thing is sure: Israelis are fighting a different battle than Jews in the diaspora. That does not mean we don’t have a place in this fight. We have to push back, monitor what’s happening, attempt to convince the world to make room for us any way we can. At the same time, we have the responsibility to keep living Jewishly. Fighting doesn’t just mean meeting our adversaries, it also means fighting for our way to live. We must keep Shabbat, celebrate holidays and simchas, raise our children with Jewish pride. We have to continue to be a light. Because what we fight for is as important as how we fight. Keeping our Jewish pride intact will also help our mental health. It’s not easy, being Jewish today, but it is worth everything. If that weren’t the case, we
would have disappeared a long time ago. Maybe the Mehlers –even if we don’t outright condone their actions—can serve as a reminder of what’s at stake. This fight we find ourselves in isn’t just about Israel, it’s about our Jewish existence
everywhere. Let’s be honest: there are many people out there who wish for us to disappear. And just like during the pogroms, just like the inquisition, just like the Holocaust: we are not going anywhere. If someone somewhere needs to use a sledgehammer and a pry bar for that, then so be it.
But maybe the rest of us can use a mental sledgehammer, in the form of light, mitzvot, and Jewish pride.
What an obituary writer learned by saying goodbye to lots of people
ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL JTA
In June, the writer Lore Segal, who had started hospice at her home in Manhattan, sent an email to her friends. “I am not sad or angry or afraid,” she wrote, according to a profile in the New York Times Magazine. “Why aren’t I? It seems that having had a good 96 years will do very well.”
Starting in 2023, I edited a weekly obituary newsletter for JTA. Segal, who died on Oct. 7, provided a fitting epigraph for the newsletter, which we called “Jewish Life Stories.” In brief obituaries we tried to capture the good years of the recently deceased, and the ways they made the communities they lived in better or more interesting places.
JTA is putting the newsletter on hold as I take on other assignments. My colleagues and I will continue to write obituaries, but it’s a good occasion to reflect.
The job is easier, of course, when the deceased live long lives, and die with what Ecclesiastes calls a “good name.” We said goodbye to many Holocaust survivors, most memorably to those — a cardiothoracic surgeon, a pioneer of laparoscopic surgery, a tailor to presidents and movie stars — who dedicated themselves to endeavors that affirmed life in the face of illness or tragedy. We remembered influential scholars, like the feminist studies pioneer Frieda Johles Forman and Shoah historian Yehuda Bauer.
I also wrote full obituaries for artists who helped create distinct visual vocabularies seen in thousands of Jewish homes.
It was more difficult when the subject was a young person cut down too soon, or even elders who appeared to have had years of life ahead of them. We wrote too many obits for Israelis killed on Oct. 7, and soldiers who fell in the subsequent war. We remembered a classical music producer whose death from cancer came astonishingly quickly, a newlywed and matchmaker who died days after giving birth, and a former New York Jewish Week colleague killed by an ambulance while crossing the street.
But even difficult obituaries are an opportunity to take the measure of a life, celebrated or otherwise.
“There is no such thing as an uninteresting human being,” says Ann Wroe, who writes the lyrical obituaries that appear every week on the back page of The Economist. Some of the most gratifying obitu-
aries recall people who may not have been household names, but who had a huge impact in places where they lived.
In writing their obituaries, I wanted to do right by their families, and leave a historical record ensuring that their full lives, and not just their passing, were recorded and remembered.
But I’ll admit to a selfish motive in taking on what the celebrated obituary writer Marilyn Johnson affectionately calls “the dead beat.” Every obituary is not just a tribute to the deceased, but a goad to consider one’s own life and ask, will it do “very well”? I found it inspiring and therapeutic to dig into the lives of accomplished people — the writings they left, the testimonies they gave to oral history projects, the awards they won, the reminiscences of their friends and loved ones. It was a privilege to have so many models for leaving a “good name,” and to witness the varieties of Jewish experience. Even the most secular Jewish celebrity would inevitably leave a bread crumb describing the way their Jewishness had shaped their life and work.
Of course I would casually draft my own obituary, an occupational hazard. It’s a good exercise, and not just in a spiritual, self-help sort of way. I spent enough time searching down the basic facts of an individual’s life that I can offer practical advice to anyone who is thinking about posterity for themselves or their loved ones.
First of all, don’t wait until it’s too late to gather stories. Major newspapers often sit down with celebrities for a “pre-obit” interview. You might find it morbid, but think what a blessing it is to have and share those stories. Start with the c.v. version of a
person’s life — where born, where educated, major jobs and milestones — and dig deeper. Wroe is famous for obituaries that go beyond the facts and get inside the heads of her subjects. “I look at little tiny things like the phrases they like to use, and the way they walk and the clothes they wear and that sort of thing,” she explained in a webinar last year. “It’s like putting little dots of color on a canvas.” Wroe also looks for people’s obsessions: the things they collected, the teams they followed, their hobbies and passions.
Keep this information in a place and format that you can easily access and organize when the time comes — or, preferably, well in advance. The obituary and eulogy you write between the time of death and the funeral may have the benefit of immediacy, but it will only be improved if you have thought it out well ahead of the crisis.
And as a journalist, I’ll make another self-serving suggestion: Make public the facts and details you’ll want others to read or write about. The mundane details like date of birth and date and place of death. List the survivors. Write down the jobs, the titles, the degrees, the marriages. You can share them on Legacy.com or on a personal page or even in a social media post.
And make available a good photograph. All of us deserve an image that says who we are and were, and not a low-resolution snap from an old yearbook or a blurry vacation photo.
And if you do find the whole exercise morbid, consider the words of longtime New York Times obituary writer Margalit Fox, who features prominently in Obit, a 2016 documentary film about the Times’ obituary department.
“The obits section is quite misunderstood. People have a primal fear of death, but 98% of the obit has nothing to do with death, but with life,” she told the Paris Review. “There are maybe two sentences in there about when or where the guy died and with the rest, you let the person’s life guide the treatment. “We like to say it’s the jolliest department in the paper.”
Andrew Silow-Carroll is editor at large of the New York Jewish Week and managing editor for Ideas for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Credit: JTA illustration
Peter and Zechariah Mehler, Jewish Milwaukee residents, freely admit to having torn down a pro-Palestinian mural depicting a Star of David turning into a swastika. Credit :Courtesy
‘Just things’ — like what my LA neighbors have lost — are what makes houses into Jewish homes
RACHEL STEINHARDT
JTA
The antique silver menorah. The shabbos candlesticks. The tiny tefillin set. The last remnants from Europe that my grandparents, all Holocaust survivors, managed to shlep to America. And I need to get them out of my house. Right now.
I had this thought during a moment, earlier this week, when the Palisades Fire raced unchecked in all directions, including south toward my Santa Monica home. I threw a few documents, clothes and photo albums in a pile on the living room floor, and on top of those I placed these Jewish family heirlooms in a Trader Joe’s paper bag.
I haven’t needed to evacuate my home. The fire’s southern trajectory has slowed. As I write this, I have not yet unpacked my Judaica-filled go-bag (just in case), but I know I am inordinately lucky. As I learn of each new devastation that continues to ravage the Los Angeles area, including my Pacific Palisades synagogue community where at least 300 Jewish families saw their homes consumed by fire, I cannot begin to fathom all they have lost. Every home taken by fires, no matter the family’s cultural background, contained a lifetime of memories and artifacts. “They’re just things,” these stunned, newly homeless people are told. “They’re just things,” they repeat to themselves with dismay. Nearly all of these things are, in theory, replaceable. It’s the remembering, in the heat of the moment, which rarefied objects are actually irreplaceable, that understandably eludes so many.
We Jews tend to treasure the contents of our Judaica cabinets. I suspect, if given just one more moment to think with a clear head, Jewish evacuees would sweep the contents of
Celebrating Shabbat in
RABBI PAUL KIPNES
JTA
So many questions swirled in my head, each one demanding urgent attention. Will the power be on at the shul, or will we need to accept one of the many kind invitations to join another synagogue for services? Should we pack the cars before heading out for Erev Shabbat, ready to evacuate if the fires — just five miles away — move closer? If we leave our home, will we return to it intact, or will it be gone?
These questions pressed against my mind. What was the
The Palisades fire spread through Mandeville Canyon towards Encino on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in Los Angeles. Credit: Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
right thing to do? How should we prioritize when everything feels so uncertain, so urgent? The weight of these decisions was exhausting, yet the answers remained just out of reach. As a rabbi, I wondered — I worried: What wisdom could I offer the couple who lost their new home and everything in it? As I sat with them, I questioned whether anything I could say would matter. So instead of filling the space with words, I listened. I gave them permission to mourn — mourning the zecher (remembrances) of their lives: the mementos that reflected their love, the memories of raising their three remarkable children, the sense of safety that was taken so abruptly. I reminded them that their choice to protect life — l’chaim! — was an act of profound Jewish faith.
I struggled: Should I rush back to prepare for services, or drop by another home to light Shabbat candles with a family who had just returned after an evacuation? Dropping by meant delaying the mounting responsibilities of the evening, but I didn’t want to miss this sweet opportunity for connection with people I care deeply about. I chose to drop by. We lit candles together, recited kiddush, and said the words of hamotzi. We were reminded that while their homecoming might not yet feel whole, the act of reciting blessings is a deeply Jewish way to begin healing. That small act of holiness, amidst all the chaos, was Shabbat itself.
I ruminated: What could I say during Shabbat services to comfort the weary without offering empty reassurances? I turned to lessons learned from the 2018 Woolsey Fire, when our community faced similar devastation. I thought of the line in the Tanakh: “… but God was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still small voice” (1 Kings 19.12). I shared this passage with the congregation, reminding them that even when we are over-
these cabinets into a bag. Whether passed-down heirlooms or recently acquired, the presence of these Jewish objects have long represented the portable home of a people on the move. When we unpack them and put them on display, we have consecrated and transformed a space into a Jewish home. My grandparents obtained the menorah, the candlesticks and the tefillin after the war when they were, in effect, homeless. Acquiring these Judaica pieces was an act of faith that they would once again build a Jewish home.
I watched on social media as synagogues offered evidence of Torahs being retrieved from their arks (these, modeled after the famously transportable original) and hustled to safety outside the fire zone. I then saw my favorite Los Angeles rabbi, Kehillat Israel emeritus Rabbi Stephen Carr Reuben, bereft and shaken, sharing with the world his regret that he grabbed documents and
clothes when the evacuation order came to his Palisades home. Not the family artifacts he wished he had, if he’d understood that he’d never return, that there’d be nothing to return to. “If you ever get told to evacuate, don’t do what I did,” he said. “Think ‘forever.’ What are the things that really matter?” Few of the evacuees who lost their homes understood they were leaving forever.
Tova Fagan, a Malibu resident who lost her home in the fire, shared on Instagram her grief at leaving behind her mother’s menorah and Shabbat candlesticks when she was forced to leave. Friends found her an identical menorah, but she commented that her son was eager to sift through the char and ashes to see if the original was perhaps spared.
The Jewish grief over these lost objects is a lasting one. Aimee Miculka lost her home to a fire in Colorado in 2021. She told me how, in her rush to evacuate, she “yanked her ketubah down on the way out the door.” But watching news of the Los Angeles fires compelled her to post about the despair she still feels about what she left behind: her grandmother’s Shabbat candlesticks and the shofar she kept since childhood. “Those are the things I wish I had time to grab.”
Fortunate Angelenos want to do everything they can to help forlorn neighbors rebuild. Finding them shelter is priority number one. Down the road, I will be thinking about how we, as an L.A. Jewish community, can support those among us who are starting over to fill their new spaces with the meaningful Jewish objects that make a house, well, heimish.
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.
Los Angeles: Amid the fires, a still, small voice
whelmed, exhausted, and grieving, we can find that still small voice in the love and presence of others. In the quiet strength of our community, we hear the divine echo that reminds us we are not alone. I thought about how, through kehillah, community, we can begin to rebuild — not just homes, but hearts. A critical question: Should I cancel my therapy appointment because there’s so much to do, or take the time to care for myself so I can better care for others? Back in 2018, I fell into deep trauma from trying to be Superman — trying to hold everything and everyone up, without taking time to let myself process and grieve. So I kept the appointment, talking to my therapist while driving to visit the family who lost their home. We explored the emotional toll of holding so much trauma — from the 2018 Woolsey Fire, from this moment now. I reminded myself of my daily spiritual practices that help me stay grounded: offering blessings each morning to awaken gratitude, studying Torah to fill my soul, eating better, exercising, setting boundaries, and being realistic about what I can and cannot accomplish. Continuing those practices doesn’t erase the weight of this moment, but they help me carry it.
Most excruciatingly, my wife Michelle and I debated whether to evacuate even though we weren’t officially in a warning
zone. The decision felt heavy with layers of guilt and anxiety. If we stayed, were we being reckless? If we left, were we abandoning our home too soon? We decided to leave, spending Shabbat with friends. I thought about how this decision, while difficult, was in line with pikuach nefesh — the principle of preserving life above all else. Perhaps leaving was not only an act of selfpreservation but also a way to model thoughtful, life-affirming choices for our children.
Then Shabbat came, and I struggled to let go of the struggles and achieve some sacredness. I lit the candles, recited the blessings, and closed my eyes, hoping to let their flickering light guide me toward stillness. I thought of the couple who lost their home, imagining them lighting candles with the new Shabbat set I had brought as a gift from Or Ami. A small act of rebuilding, even in the midst of so much loss. I struggled to release the weight of the questions and embrace the sacred pause that Shabbat demands.
This Shabbat, the questions didn’t stop. Will the fires shift? Will our home be spared? What comes next? But Shabbat reminded me of the neshama yeteirah — the “extra soul” that tradition teaches we receive each week. It is that divine breath that allows us to pause, to breathe, to gather strength in the stillness and the light. And to know that we will endure.
Deficiencies in Polish Museum’s core exhibit
STEVEN J. WEES
Editors note: The below editorial is in response to the article in The Jewish Press of Nov. 8, 2024 entitled ‘Poland’s Jewish museum marks its first decade’.
I read with interest the article by Shira Li Bartov entitled ‘Poland’s Jewish museum marks its first decade’. I had the opportunity to personally tour the POLIN Museum in November, 2023. Additionally, I viewed the very recent virtual tour of POLIN museum’s core exhibition (done in conjunction with the Museum at Eldridge Street) which is available on YouTube.
Let me start by stating that the museum provides important information about the history of Jews in Poland dating back to their arrival in the 10th century. This information is welcomed and the museum should be commended for this.
However, there are serious deficiencies in the core exhibit which are rather troubling, requiring ongoing reassessment of the museum’s mission. Indeed, these concerns extend beyond the museum and involve Poland as a whole.
First, there is minimal attention paid to the many centuries of antisemitism amongst the Polish population. This includes only cursory information regarding anti-Jewish violence and pogroms. Pogroms by Poles date back to the 15th century, and continued into the interwar period of the 20th century, during WWII, and even post-WWII.
Beyond pogroms in the 20th century, there was near universal hostility of the Polish population with waves of violence throughout Poland toward Jews returning to their original homes at the end of Word War II, driving them out of Poland. This anti-Jewish activity further exploded following
the Six Day Arab-Israeli war in June,1967, which was the final near decimation of the Polish Jewish community, driving it down to approximately 10,000 Jews today remaining in all of Poland (estimates range from 5000-6000 to perhaps 15,000) .
Second, currently there is a Polish government directed and well financed plan to revise and sanitize the long history of Polish antisemitism and anti-Jewish violence which has continued to the present. Most recently and concerning is the Polish Holocaust Law passed in 2018 outlawing accusations of Poland or Poles of any complicity in the Holocaust. Ms. Bartov makes mention of this in her article, yet fails to emphasize the stifling effect it has on historical truth. She also fails to make clear that the Polish government is pursuing historical revision and sanitation via multiple modalities including the POLIN museum exhibit.
Third, the POLIN museum and Ms. Bartov’s article fail to acknowledge the increasing growth of antisemitism amongst the general Polish population today, particularly the far-right which is gaining support amongst the younger generation. So, ironically the Holocaust eliminated the Polish Jewish community almost entirely, but did not eliminate antisemitism. You now have the paradoxical situation in Poland of antisemitism essentially without Jews.
So, where does this leave us? The Polish government’s failure to come to grips with its past, and its current activities to revise, deny, obfuscate, and to some extent extinguish historical truth is dangerous. Why? This leaves in place the same dynamics that led to the past events with potential for recurrence in the future.
Credit: Collage by JTA; background image: Cecilia Sanchez / AFP via Getty Images
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For information about our historic synagogue, please visit our website at www.cblhs.org or contact any of our other board members: Renee Corcoran, Scott Friedman, Rick Katelman, Janie Kulakofsky, Howard Kutler, Carole and Wayne Lainof, Ann Moshman, MaryBeth Muskin, Debbie Salomon and Sissy Silber. Handicap Accessible.
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Deborah Lipstadt is hoping for the best
LAUREN MARKOE
WASHINGTON | JTA
In her last week in office, Deborah Lipstadt, whom President Joe Biden charged with fighting antisemitism around the world, expressed doubt as to whether the incoming Trump administration will be up to the challenge.
“I certainly hope so — I don’t know,” said Lipstadt, during her final roundtable with the Jewish press at the State Department after 15 months of spiking bigotry against Jews globally.
While President-elect Donald Trump has not yet named a successor to Lipstadt, one of the world’s
foremost scholars of the Holocaust and antisemitism, she added that she has faith in Marco Rubio, the Florida senator and Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, who oversees the role. She has in the past criticized Trump’s team. But on antisemitism, she said, Rubio “gets it — 100%.”
Whoever succeeds Lipstadt will take the helm of an office that was elevated to an ambassadorship and saw its budget quadruple to $2 million under her leadership.
Ticking off her accomplishments in three years in the role, Lipstadt cited bringing antisemitism to the fore in high-level meetings around the world, securing 42 signatories on new international guidelines to combat antisemitism, and expanding the office to include a core of experts set up to continue their work under Trump.
“You can’t have a functioning state department office if every time there’s a change of administration, the entire office goes away and has to be re-
home, 1145 Mockingbird Ln N. If you'd like more information or would like to be added to the group please contact at oohhmmm.barb@gmail.com.
WEDNESDAY: LJCS Hebrew School, 4:30-6 p.m. at TI; Adult Ed Movie Night, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at SST.
THURSDAY: Life & Legacy Informational Meeting for SST Members: Learn how you can leave your Jewish legacy in Lincoln through a Life & Legacy bequest to the Temple, 7 p.m. via Zoom.
FRIDAY-Jan. 31: Shabbat Candlelighting, 5:25 p.m.; Fifth Friday Festivities: Community Shabbat Dinner, 6 p.m. and Shabbat Services, 7 p.m. led by Rabbi Alex at SST.
SATURDAY-Feb. 1: Shabbat Service, 9:30-11 a.m. led by Rabbi Alex at TI; Torah Study, noon on Parshat Bo led by TBD via Zoom; Havdalah, 6:28 p.m.
FRIDAYS: Virtual Shabbat Service, 7:30 p.m. every first and third of the month at Capehart Chapel. Contact TSgt Jason Rife at OAFBJSLL@icloud.com for more information.
In-person and virtual services conducted by Rabbi Benjamin Sharff, Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin, and Cantor Joanna Alexander.
FRIDAY: Drop-In Mah Jongg, 9 a.m. In-Person; Shabbat Shira Service, 6 p.m. In-Person & Zoom.
SATURDAY: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. In-Person; Shabbat Morning Service and Bar Mitzvah of Ezra Feinstein 10:30 a.m. In-Person & Zoom..
SUNDAY: Grades PreK-7, 9:30 a.m. In-Person; Temple Israel Welcomes URJ Six Points Camp, 9:30 a.m. In-Person; Temple Tots, 10 a.m. In-Person; Prayer Preparation: Chanting and Reading Prayers, 1 p.m. InPerson.
WEDNESDAY: Yarn It, 9 a.m. In-Person; Grades 36, 4:30 p.m. In-Person; Hebrew High: Grades 8-12, 6 p.m. In-Person; How the Israelites Became The Jews, 6:30 p.m. In-Person.
THURSDAY: The Zohar: Thursday Morning Class 11 a.m. with Rabbi Sharff and Rabbi Azriel — In-Person & Zoom; Israel-Palestine Class Part II, 6:30 p.m. InPerson.
FRIDAY-Jan. 31: Drop-In Mah Jongg, 9 a.m. In-Person; Shabbat B’yachad Service, 6 p.m. In-Person & Zoom.
SATURDAY-Feb. 1: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. In-Person; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. In-Person & Zoom.
Please visit templeisraelomaha.com for additional information and Zoom service links.
OBITUARY CHANGES
As of January 1, 2025, the Jewish Press will charge $180 for the inclusion of standard obituaries, up to 400 words. Photos may be included if the family so wishes. For many years, we have held off on making this decision. However, it is no longer financially responsible for us to include obituaries at no charge. For questions, please email avandekamp@ jewishomaha.org. Obituaries in the Jewish Press are included in our print edition as well as our website at www.omahajewishpress.com
built from scratch,” Lipstadt said.
But she acknowledged the size of the problem she was tasked to address — one that data released Tuesday, January 14, by the Anti-Defamation League suggests has only grown in recent years. “I’m too much of a historian to think that someone can solve it,” she said.
Lipstadt, 77, lamented how normal it has become in recent years for Jews to face antisemitism in their daily lives. She mentioned a conversation with a Canadian family trying to pick a university at which their daughter would feel safe as a Jew, and another with an Upper East Side mother afraid to send her adolescent child to synagogue without a baseball cap covering his kippah. “That’s pretty sobering,” she said.
Whoever her successor is, Lipstadt said, “I hope it’s someone who will be a barn builder and not a barn burner.”
Read more at www.omahajewishpress.com.
B’NAI ISRAEL
BETH EL
BETH ISRAEL
CHABAD HOUSE
In Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, Hamas looms
DEBORAH DANAN
TEL AVIV | JTA
“They are in our hands,” IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on the huge screen that was broadcasting the tense release of the three hostages returned to Israel, Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher.
The statement, echoing the famous 1967 declaration after the Israeli army’s capture of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, was met with raucous cheers from the thousands gathered in Hostages Square.
Over the course of three hours, crowds had gathered to watch the livestream in almost total silence, broken only occasionally with ripples of political chants and religious songs — “All of them, now!” and “Am Yisrael Chai.”
Finally, images of the three women, released together in a single vehicle, were broadcast to whoops and tears of joy. In one image, a small smile from Damari captured the screen and the crowd.
But footage showing rows of armed Hamas fighters flanking the vehicle and appearing to stave off crowds of Palestinian bystanders rattled some well-wishers.
“I’m feeling a huge sense of relief obviously but it’s also scary seeing Hamas like that,” said Gila Levitan, a psychotherapist and tour guide who is originally from Australia. “How scared they must be during the transfer, and also seeing all those crowds behind them. Does Hamas have control of them? Will they be able to control them in future transfers?”
The footage of the Hamas fighters also offered a stark reminder that the terror group remains in charge of Gaza, despite 15 months of war that has eliminated many top leaders, decimated the ranks and battered the territory.
Israeli officials say just two of the group’s 24 battalions remain operational, and President Joe Biden said on Sunday that he was not worried about the group’s resurgence. But the organization has been regrouping under the leadership of Mohammed Sinwar, the younger brother of the leader Israel assassinated in October, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week that the U.S. assessment was that Hamas had gained as many fighters as it has lost.
Later, drone footage would show that the dense crowd of Hamas fighters was not deep. But as it was broadcast, the handover of the three women on Sunday was virtually identical to those that unfolded in the last week of November 2023, when 105 hostages, mainly women and children, were released during a temporary truce. Masked Hamas fighters in uniform, with green headbands, rode with the women before sending them off into the arms of the Red Cross — reportedly with “gift bags” containing maps of Gaza and certificates of their captivity.
“It’s scary to think they still call the shots,” said Hodaya, who declined to give her last name.
Hodaya went on to say that she was concerned about the price of the hostage deal, in which nearly 2,000 security prisoners are expected to walk free.
“It’s nerve-wracking because it’s such a high price to pay, but at the same time every price is right,” she said. “This is how
much we value life. We just have to trust that the state will know how to deal with it.”
For some in the crowd, even seeing the women alive did not offer relief.
“I can’t breathe. I’m very nervous, I don’t believe or trust Hamas. I’m not going to relax until I see their faces crossing the border,” said Adi, a reservist who declined to give her last name. “The Gazans look like they’re ready to hurt them.”
Shay Dickmann, cousin of Carmel Gat, who was found dead in a Hamas tunnel in Rafah along with five other hostages at the end of August, also said she had mixed feelings.
“I’m very excited but also scared this will fall apart,” she said, adding that her fears were exacerbated because she had learned her cousin would have been released if the November 2023 truce had held just one more day.
“She could have been here with us today, waiting for these women to be released,” Dickmann said. “But she’s not. We have to make sure everyone comes back.”
Like Hodaya, Dickmann said that concerns over future violence — including hostage-taking at the hands of released terrorists — was secondary.
“The most important thing is to save them now,” Dickmann said. “We’ll worry about later, later. Hopefully then we’ll know what to do.”
Some in the crowd have been regulars at the weekly rallies in Hostages Square. Shmuelik Warshaw is one of them. When footage of the Red Cross car appeared on screen, he helped his wheelchair-bound daughter, Einav, to her feet before embracing her tightly, tears streaming down both their faces.
“This is one of the best days for the people of israel. Feeling the togetherness of being here is amazing,” he said. “And it’s also a great day for democracy. Not just ours, but also others who helped us — like the USA, Germany and UK.”
Warshaw echoed the sentiments of so many others. “We don’t just want the three of them, we want all of them. We won’t rest until they’re all home. These families can’t suffer any more.”
Holding a sign bearing her former pupil’s name, Chani Nachmani — who taught Emily Damari in elementary school for four years — has also been attending Hostages Square every week. On Sunday, she had a new purpose.
“Today, I came here to return the poster,” she said. “For the first time, I’m not going home with it.” Others were participating in the recent Israeli ritual for the first time. Lev Kandinov, who was visiting Israel with his family from Hollywood, Florida, said it was his first time in Hostages Square.
“I can’t describe my feelings being here. It’s very, very overwhelming. I’m very happy we are finally at this point,” he said. “Unfortunately, the price is really high — not only the amount of terrible monsters that are being released but also all the soldiers who have been killed. Still, every life is precious.”
Read more at www.omahajewishpress.com.
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Hostages released as Israel-Hamas ceasefire sets in
PHILISSA CRAMER AND BEN SALES
JTA
This is a developing story.
Three women whom Hamas held hostage in Gaza for more than 470 days are returning to Israel as a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war went into effect on Sunday morning.
The women were all alive and exited on their own from a Hamas vehicle, according to footage streamed from Gaza. Representatives of the Red Cross met them there in preparation for returning them to Israel, where their families and medical professionals are waiting.
The women, civilians abducted when Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, were the first hostages freed from among 33 set for release over six weeks, according to a ceasefire deal struck last week. They are:
Emily Damari: The only British citizen to remain in Gaza, Damari, 27, was shot on Oct. 7 but seen alive in Gaza by other hostages who returned. She was abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
Romi Gonen: Taken hostage from the Nova music festival, Gonen, 24, was shot on Oct. 7 but seen alive in Gaza by other hostages who returned.
Doron Steinbrecher: Taken hostage from her home at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Steinbrecher appeared alive in a video released by Hamas in January 2024.
No official announcement was made about their condition before their release, but Romi Gonen’s father told an Israeli radio station that he understood that his daughter would be returning alive. Their mothers were called to Reim, near to the site of the Nova massacre, to be reunited with the women.
Israeli authorities have prepared to provide medical and psychological treatments to hostages as they return. There remain 98 hostages, of whom 33 will be released over six weeks during the first phase of a ceasefire deal, from more than 250
taken on Oct. 7.
Separately, Israel announced that it had retrieved the remains of Oron Shaul, a soldier who was killed in the 2014 Gaza war and held hostage since then. Shaul is one of 36 people abducted from Israel who are known to be dead; under the terms of the ceasefire, their bodies would be returned only after Israel fully withdraws from Gaza and reconstruction of the territory begins.
The ceasefire began slightly later than planned because of a delay in announcing the names of the hostages to be returned, which Hamas attributed to “technical difficulties” in communicating within the territory.
t also followed Israel’s Supreme Court rejecting petitions from Israelis who oppose the deal, mostly because of the large number of Palestinian security prisoners, including convicted murderers, who will be released under the agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces intense pressure over whether to continue the war after the six-week
pause. A crucial right-wing government partner has threatened to exit his coalition if fighting does not resume at that time. But Donald Trump, who is being sworn in Monday as U.S. president, has strongly pressed for a permanent end to the war.
In an extended statement on Saturday, Netanyahu said both Trump and Joe Biden, the outgoing president, had endorsed a resumption in fighting in the future.
Calling the current pause a “temporary ceasefire,” Netanyahu said, “Both President Trump and President Biden have given full backing to Israel’s right to return to the fighting, if Israel reaches the conclusion that the second stage negotiations are ineffectual. I greatly appreciate this.”
Donald Trump celebrated the release of three Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity, and has signaled that he is committed to fully implementing the ceasefire in Gaza.
“Hostages starting to come out today! Three wonderful young women will be first,” the incoming president posted on social media. He wrote the post hours before Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher and Romi Gonen returned to Israel as the first stage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire set in.
Trump, who will take office on Monday, has long vowed to bring peace to the war-torn region. He escalated his pressure for a ceasefire in the weeks before the inauguration, threatening “hell to pay” if the hostages remained in captivity. His team was involved in the negotiations for a deal.
Now, he is sending signals that he intends to see the ceasefire through.
The first stage of the ceasefire will last six weeks and see the release of 30 more hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners. The second and third stages, which have yet to be negotiated, would include the release of the remaining 64 hostages, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the reconstruction of the territory.
LOCAL PRIMARY ELECTION
A previous photo of Israeli hostage Emily Damari in Hamas’ hands. On Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, she returned to Israel along with hostages Doron Steinbrecher and Romi Gonen as part of a ceasefire deal. Credit: Screenshot