February 2, 2018

thejewishpress AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA

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Speaking out about suicide

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anneTTe van de KaMP-WriGHT Editor, Jewish Press “Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all.”

- Bill Clinton n June of 2017, Jennifer Beth Kay, daughter of Helen and Les Kay ended her life. It’s a difficult fact to come to terms with, not in the least for family and friends left behind.

“It’s so hard to talk about,” says Helen. “Our experience is not necessarily similar to what other parents in this situation deal with; when it comes to mental health issues, it can be different for everyone. We don’t have the answers, but we do feel it is important for people to know that help is available.”

In December 2017, Helen and Les Kay initiated the Jennifer Beth Kay Memorial Fund at the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation to make that help available to community members who may not be in a position to pay for that help. Suicide and mental health counseling are See Suicide prevention page a2

Listen to the future Page a6

B’nai Israel welcomes Kitty Williams Page a8

Sha’arei Pruzdor students discover Omaha

Harissa Lamb Meatballs Page B8

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Sha’arei Pruzdor arrives in Omaha Mary Sue GrOSSMan ture making a trek to Omaha. It is Executive Director, Beth Israel Synagogue likely the students, teachers and parOn Jan. 18, the students of Sha’arei ents felt these 26, 9th grade students Pruzdor, a yeshiva high school on were heading to a “third world counLong Island, began a unique adven- try” with few amenities and certainly no Jewish life.

Fortunately, they discovered their assumptions were far from reality.

Discovering Omaha has a mikveh, an eruv, a Jewish day school, a Jewish nursing home, a weekly Jewish newspaper, a Jewish funeral home and a Jewish Community Center was a definite surprise. The smiles were broad when told local Krispy Kreme locations are kosher. And in response See Sha’arei Pruzdor page a3

Jewish Business Leaders

Harley Schrager and Todd Simon

anneTTe van de KaMP-WriGHT Editor, Jewish Press Jewish Business Leaders of Omaha brings together the Jewish business community to showcase the entrepreneurs, founders and change-makers in our community while creating opportunity to connect, teach and leverage each relationship. During its Jan. 18 meeting, Jewish Business Leaders welcomed Todd Simon from Omaha Steaks as the featured speaker. Attendees heard the in-

spiring story behind Omaha Steaks’ success, networked, and had the opportunity to ask Todd questions on business philosophy, trends and philanthropy.

Harley Schrager, who will be the featured speaker at JBL’s next breakfast meeting, generously sponsored breakfast for those attending.

Todd Simon is a fifth generation owner of the Omaha Steaks® group of companies, serving as Senior Vice President of See Jewish Business Leaders page a3

A2 | The Jewish Press | February 2, 2018

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Suicide prevention

Continued from page A1 provided by Jewish Family Service.

“We are extremely grateful to Jennifer’s family that they have chosen to honor their daughter’s life by reaching out and wishing to help others through this fund,” Karen Gustafson, Executive Director of Jewish Family Service, said.

“Every single death is tragic, and deaths which are presumably preventable are even more tragic. Sadly, there are a growing number of families in Omaha and within the Jewish community who have experienced this unique form of grief. Whether you have lost a child, sibling or parent by their own hand, the death is unimaginable to those family members left behind and increases the risk to the surviving family members.

“Due to a rising number of suicides, both locally and nationally, JFS made a conscious decision to partner with the Kim Foundation, a local suicide prevention philanthropy which provides training, support services, referrals and implements a LOSS (Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors) Team. JFS has worked hard, through the Omaha Jewish community, to promote Q.P.R. (Question, Persuade, Refer) Training, a suicide prevention program, taught by Region 6 Behavioral Health. We have hosted four trainings throughout the community and hope to offer more in the near future.

“The Kay family is the most recent family in Omaha to have created a Fund through the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation, in order to support mental health services and suicide prevention training through Jewish Family Service. I hope that everyone who reads this article will take away the knowledge that cost of mental health services does not need to be the barrier to help. JFS therapists are here to work directly with

Jennifer Kay a family or in partnership with other providers for care that provides “wrap around” services to meet the needs of each individual family.”

Quite often, Helen Kay said, the people who need the most help will be the last ones to ask for it. It’s up to the loved ones to help them recognize that need.

Jennifer Kay struggled with mental health issues her entire life. She suffered from Bi-Polar Disorder and Anxiety; with that came drugs and alcohol, which can often lead others to place the blame on the person, rather than the disease. But Jennifer was more than her diagnosis. She was also very creative, smart, started her own small business and had a lot of IT knowledge. She was extremely loyal to her friends and a kind and giving person who absolutely loved watching scary movies with her sons. Jennifer, Les and Helen say, would have approved of this fund.

“She ended every conversation with us saying ‘I love you.’ She loved and she was loved.”

“When your child suffers from mental health issues, it is very tempting to keep it quiet,” Helen added. “We knew Jennifer struggled from an early age.

She was diagnosed early on and we tried so many different things, from parenting classes to medication and therapy, but ultimately Jennifer lost her battle.”

“There are so many misconceptions,” Les said. “If you think you see a problem, you should consider it is real. I think people are often in denial; they don’t want to discuss it because it’s beyond uncomfortable.”

“Don’t be afraid to approach someone else,” Helen and Les insist. “Remember Jennifer for the beautiful person she was and honor her, yes, but go beyond that. If you need help, get help. If you see someone else struggle, reach out and open up.

We really can’t be silent about this.”

“It is incredibly important to remember Jennifer didn’t choose to be this way,” Les says. “But while that may be obvious to a parent, because they watch the daily struggle up close, it is not always obvious to society as a whole. I put on the face people want to see, because even though I’m heartbroken, that’s not really the answer people expect when they ask how I’m doing. Right now, I really want others to get help and step past their inhibitions, financial or otherwise.

Whatever is stopping you from getting the help needed, we hope these funds will remind people that help is available.”

Patty Nogg’s brother Pete took his life in June of 1996.

“My sister and I, along with our husbands, created The Richard “Pete” Lee Memorial Endowment Fund soon after,” Patty said. The fund is intended to create awareness of and education about mental illness and suicide prevention.“It is almost impossible to believe that over See Suicide prevention page A4

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Jewish Business Leaders

The Jewish Press | February 2, 2018 | A3

Continued from page A1 Omaha Steaks International, Inc., President of OSSalesCo, Inc., and Vice-Chairman of Omahasteaks.com, Inc. In his various roles, Mr. Simon is responsible for consumer sales and marketing of Omaha Steaks branded products and services. Mr. Simon joined the family business over 25 years ago after graduating from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

He carries on the strong commitment that Omaha Steaks and the Simon Family have always had toward community philanthropy.

Mr. Simon is extremely involved in shaping his family’s leadership in supporting the arts as well as social and human services agencies and programs. He has been active on the boards of a number of philanthropic organizations including Jewish Family Service, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, the Omaha Community Foundation and the Young Presidents’ Organization.

During his presentation, Todd Simon shared the Omaha Steaks Mission Statement: “We bring exceptional experiences that bring people together.” It’s a phrase that is brilliant in its simplicity and a sentiment that carries over into JBL’s purpose itself.

“I was very inspired by this quote from Todd Simon,” JBL President Alex Epstein said: “Don’t just ask yourself the cost of doing something. Ask yourself the cost of not doing something.”

It’s what JBL is about: bringing local business leaders together to share experiences and learn from each other.

“The generations before us accomplished so much,” Epstein said. “It is up to us to listen to successful stories and keep those stories going. If we learn from each other, we can make our community go from good to great, from great to even greater. You have to get outside these walls, lend your advice, have a coffee and build relationships.”

Epstein believes that with stronger relationships we’ll build an even stronger community. To illustrate, he points to the “flywheel effect,” which is a topic in the business book Good to Great by James Collins. Collins wrote: Picture a huge, heavy flywheel—a massive metal disk mounted horizontally on an axle, about 30 feet in diameter, two feet thick, and weighing about 5,000 pounds. Now imagine that your task is to get the flywheel rotating on the axle as fast and long as possible.

Pushing with great effort, you get the flywheel to inch forward, moving almost imperceptibly at first. You keep pushing and, after two or three hours of persistent effort, you get the flywheel to complete one entire turn.

You keep pushing, then, at some point—breakthrough! The momentum of the thing kicks in your favor, hurling the flywheel forward, turn after turn... its own heavy weight working for you.

You’re pushing no harder than during the first rotation, but the flywheel goes faster and faster. Each turn of the flywheel builds upon work done earlier, compounding your investment of effort.

There was no single defining action, no grand program, no one See Jewish Business Leaders page A4

community

Sha’arei Pruzdor

Continued from page A1 for Shabbat visitors. The feedback from the host families was to a conversation overheard between two of the students, they overwhelmingly positive about their guests. found there is also plenty of hot water.

In addition to multiple learning sessions each day, the So how did Sha’rei Pruzdor connect with Omaha and Beth group experienced Omaha in a variety of ways. Activities inIsrael Synagogue? cluded basketball at the JCC, a The connection was made visit to the farm of Clare and through Sha’rei Pruzdor Gayle Duda, ice skating, Sky founder and director, Rabbi Zone, and visiting the Old Elli Merenstein and Rabbi Ari Market. They led an amazing Dembitzer, Beth Israel’s senior Kabbalat Shabbat at the rabbi. Friends since childhood, Blumkin Home and visited inthe idea to have a school visit dividual Residents. During to Omaha began shortly after Shabbat dinner attended by the school opened this past 160 people, the boys shared fall. Conversations continued, words of Torah and they led the school embarked on a services on Shabbat morning. campaign to raise funds to Following a musical havdalah, cover travel expenses, a date the boys shared their flair for was finalized, and plans were fun with a talent show. On under way in both New York Sunday morning they assisted and Omaha. with youth classes. Early MonVisiting the farm of Clare and Gayle Duda The goal of the visit for day morning, the group Sha’arei Pruzdor was to introduce the students to a Jewish com- boarded a plane for Colorado for a few days of skiing before munity much different from their own and share their passion returning to New York. for yiddishkeit. Rabbi Ari’s was to introduce congregants and “It was really great to have the boys with us,” shared Rabbi community members to an enthusiastic group of young men Shlomo Abramovich, Beth Israel’s visiting scholar. Rabbi with a passion for learning and a zest for all things Jewish.

Abramovich and his wife Hodaya, who is a religious studies In talking about the experience, Rabbi Merenstein said “As teacher at the day school, were a host family. “They were such adults, we at times forget just how deep and capable kids are. fun and very polite and our three boys loved hanging out with It was an amazing sight to see ninth grade boys leading a them.”

Shabbos full of joy, dialogue and teaching by example the inThe final evaluation was the weekend was a great success herent joy of living life as a true Torah Jew.” Smiling, he added, and conversations have already started about next year’s visit.

“This trip marked the first yeshiva to ever visit Omaha and I Author’s Note: As the synagogue executive director, you am proud to say that the MSP boys did an extraordinary job can understand that when the idea of hosting a visit with 26 advertising what a great product the yeshiva system can build. yeshiva boys was first discussed, my initial reaction was “Oy It was a gamble to send ninth graders out into the big world, vey!” I am happy to report my fears were totally unfounded. but our belief in their ability to excel won out.”

The boys were a delight, continually expressing their appre“I have never seen a high school with no cliques or barriers ciation for everything being done and repeatedly asking how among the boys,” shared Yaakov Jeidel, Beth Israel’s outreach they could help. Perhaps more impressive was their willingdirector and visit organizer and coordinator. “They genuinely ness to engage in conversation with staff and congregants at felt comfortable expressing their individual and unique talents, every event. My compliments to the families and Sha’arei not just among themselves but also to the community.” He Pruzdor for guiding these young men to the pleasant indiadded “It was a pleasure to have them, and for someone who viduals they are today. grew up in the system, this yeshiva is a breath of fresh air!”

For more information about Sha’arei Pruzdor, please call Visitors were hosted by Beth Israel families, with a group 516.374.6777. For Beth Israel, visit www.orthodoxomaha.org also staying in an apartment at the synagogue, which is used or call 402.556.6288.

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A4 | The Jewish Press | February 2, 2018

community Suicide prevention

Continued from page A2 20 years have passed since my brother Richard “Pete” Lee took his own life,” she added. “Twenty years of missing him... 20 years of this amazing thing we call “life” that he has missed out on... 20 years of me wondering what more I could have done or what I “missed.”

“If you think you are depressed, tell a friend or close family member. Seek help from someone who can prescribe medication and/or give therapy. If you think that someone you know is depressed, reach out to them. Urge them to get help. Depression is a mental illness that is treatable for most people and should be viewed the same as any other illness.

“The best way I can honor and remember my brother is to talk openly. By sharing my feelings about the stigma of mental illness and suicide, I can try to create awareness about this often hushed up issue. Suicide and depression NEED to be talked about!

“Why am I so passionate about this?

I’ve been there... I was so lucky to find the right meds and good medical help when I needed it... and I was so fortunate to have family and friends to support me during that dark time in my life. I will never stop fighting to bring mental health and depression issues out of the closet!”

“Les and Helen are heartbroken over Jennifer’s suicide,” Howard Epstein, Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation, said. “Yet they have stepped forward during their own grief to provide financial assistance so others can get counseling, hopefully to prevent another tragedy. The Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation is here to build the financial resources Omaha’s Jewish community needs for this and many other causes. Through

the Jennifer Beth Kay Memorial Fund, the Richard ‘Pete’ Lee Memorial Fund, the Mickey (Sturm) Stern Memorial Endowment Fund and other funds, we are able to provide financial help to those who most need it. We are most grateful to Les and Helen Kay, Patty and Steve Nogg, Judy and Jim Brantz, Robert B. Sturm and their friends and relatives who have so generously made it possible to help those with counseling needs.”

Wednesday March 14 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention-Nebraska Chapter will host State Capitol Day. AFSP State Capitol Day brings together passionate volunteers to advocate for state policy changes that will improve mental health and prevent suicide. Participants will meet with State Senators to share with them why suicide prevention is important to everyone in our community, educate them about the work being done in our community to prevent suicide and teach them what more must be done. Lunch is provided and the event will include a brief train-

ing session on the basics of an effective advocacy visit and current policy issues.

Visits with State Senators will be scheduled ahead of time. Location is Room 1023 at the Nebraska State Capitol and the registration deadline is March 11, 2018. For more information, please contact Aileen Brady at abrady@com mail.org.

The Third Annual Elkhorn South “Out of the Darkness Walk” is scheduled for May 12 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Elkhorn South High School, 20303 Blue Sage Parkway in Omaha. This event will include a one mile walk around the track, resource booths from local organizations, raffle prizes and more. For more information, please contact Ellie Sorensen at 402.595.8619 or email elliesorensen3@gmail.com.

All proceeds will benefit the AFSP. If you or someone you know needs help, or for more information, please contact Jewish Family Service today by calling 402.330.2024 or visiting the website at www.jfsomaha.com. All correspondence is kept confidential.

Haim Sperber lecture

Partnership2Gether and the Schwalb Center for Israel & Jewish Studies are proud to invite you to a lecture by Dr. Haim Sperber, Senior Lecturer for the Western Galilee College on 19th and 20th Centuries Jewish Philanthropy on Tuesday Feb. 20, from 6-7 p.m. at the Community Engagement Center Room 201 (at UNO). The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, find the Schwalb Center on the web at https://www.un omaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sci ences/schwalb-center/.

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nAnCy Coren Tifereth Israel’s Purim Extravaganza will be held on Wednesday evening, Feb. 28, at the Coren home. This multi-generational gathering will include a light dinner beginning at 6 p.m., followed by a full reading of the megillah, and entertainment by comedian, T. Marni Vos. Young children will have activities to engage them as well.

An award winning humorist and former educator, Marni is funny and inspiring. Her humor is fresh, refreshing, honest, and clean.

Since ADAR is the T. Marni Vos month to be happy, she will leave those in attendance full of laughter and inspired to use humor to build relationships.

Jewish Business Leaders

Continued from page A3 killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no wrenching revolution.

Good to great comes about by a cumulative process—step by step, action by action, decision by decision, turn by turn of the flywheel— that adds up to sustained and spectacular results.

Epstein said this applies to our community: “One person can’t do it all. However, if we all come together, push together, work together, build upon the foundation of the community together, our momentum will continue. Fortunately, the generation prior got the flywheel going; we need to keep pushing it together. We can’t take things for granted.”

“Many young Jewish professionals in our community,” he added, “would love a chance at doing business with long-standing Jewish companies; many young professionals could use a first chance, a chance to hear advice over coffee. That’s how we keep the momentum rolling. From generation to generation, L’dor V’dor – we build the community not through one person’s actions, but when everyone pulls in the same direction.

“Be each other’s client, customer, co-worker, boss or mentor. The prior generations did this; we have to continue it. Who knows what synergies our relationships will bring?”

The next JBL breakfast meeting is scheduled for April 18 at Happy Hollow Country Club from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. For more information and to register for JBL, please contact Steve Levinger at 402.334.6433, email him at slevinger@jewishomaha.org or visit www.jewishomaha.org.

The Jewish Press | February 2, 2018 | A5

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Hebron

recently made my first trip to Hebron in 35 years. Despite coming on aliya in 1997, I had avoided going to the area, even though it is home to a major Jewish holy site (the Tomb of the Ma- TEDDY triarchs and Patri- WEINBERGER archs). The onceflourishing city center has been turned into a ghost town. Hebron is home to 200,000 Arabs, as well as 800 Jews, who live in four separate compounds. Since the Second Intifada in 2000, security requirements have led to the closing of hundreds of businesses (primarily open-air merchants) along the city’s main drag of Shuhada Street. A permanent military force of 650 soldiers is stationed in the area; and on weekends the proportion of Jewish residents to soldiers increases to 1:1.

I felt (and still do) that the old status quo was the best that could be expected in an imperfect, unredeemed world: Jews had access to the Tomb for prayer services (including on Sabbaths when they could walk down from the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba); but due to security concerns, they could not live in Hebron. The current status quo strikes me as sinful; it has emptied the center of the city of its Palestinian businesses and, indeed, of its Palestinians (who, except for four families, cannot access Shuhada Street). Unlike many of my fellow Jewish religious Israelis, I do not delight in the mere fact that Jews are now allowed to live in “the city of our fathers.” Not everything done in the name of living near a Jewish holy site is acceptable.

I decided to break my personal boycott a few months ago because I had the opportunity to accompany a study tour led by Maia Carter Hallward, Associate Professor of Middle East Politics with the School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding and Development at Kennesaw State University. Unlike Jewish tours of the area, which glorify the “pioneering spirit” of the Jewish settlers of Hebron, I knew that this trip would be more nuanced.

Professor Hallward had told me that her group was going to be led by members of a non-profit organization, but only after our van was on its way did I find out that we would be guided by the spokesperson for an

organization that has been severely criticized for airing Israel’s dirty laundry to an international public. Our guide was Dean Issacharoff, spokesperson for Breaking the Silence. According to its website, “Breaking the Silence is an organization of veteran combatants who have served in the Israeli military since the start of the Second Intifada and have taken it upon themselves to expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories. We endeavor to stimulate public debate about the price paid for a reality in which young soldiers face a civilian population on a daily basis and are engaged in the control of that population’s everyday life. Our work aims to bring an end to the occupation.”

By now, Dean is infamous in Hebron. The soldiers at the check-point to the area containing the four Jewish enclaves recognized Dean and refused us entry, since Dean is viewed as provoking settler violence. Dean told us that this policy is illegal but that on the spot he is helpless to do anything about it. While we were waiting, Dean was verbally taunted for quite some time by a Jewish resident. After about an hour, we were allowed into a very limited area of Hebron. I have to admit that I felt ashamed walking around with this group of Christian Americans, seeing all the shattered storefronts of what was once a thriving city center.

I am perfectly willing to say that Jews have a right to live in Hebron, but the question is whether or not we should exercise this right.

It really does not matter who is more at fault for the inability of Jews to co-exist with Arabs in Hebron (there are instances of violence and abuse on both sides). And I reject the argument that says if Jews willingly abandon any part of Israel, then they might as well shutter the whole project known as the State of Israel, to which millions of Arabs object.

We can return to living in Hebron when peace breaks out or the messiah arrives. Until then, our matriarchs and patriarchs will rest much more peacefully in their Tomb if we revert to the status quo ante and Jews content themselves with living in Kiryat Arba.

Teddy Weinberger, Ph.D., made aliyah in 1997 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 Israel Defense Forces; Weinberger can be reached at weinross@ netvision.net.il.

Omaha Community Playhouse presents Parade Tickets for Omaha Community Playhouse’s upcoming production of Parade are on sale now through the OCP box office. The production will run Feb. 9 through March 11 in OCP’s Howard Drew Theatre.

Parade is the Tony Award-winning musical based around the trial of Leo Frank, a Jewish man wrongfully accused of murder in Marietta, Georgia in 1913. The events surrounding the investigation and the trial led to the birth of the Jewish civil rights organization, the Anti-Defamation League.

Religious intolerance, political injustice and racial tensions are already prevalent in this small Southern town, and when reporters begin to sensationalize the case, the likelihood of a fair trial is put in jeopardy. With a book by Alfred Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy) and music by Jason Robert Brown (The Last Five Years, The Bridges Of Madison County),

this true story reveals the beauty of the human condition, even when faced with tragedy.

Disclaimer: Contains language and situations related to racial tension and mob violence.

Parade features soaring music written by Jason Robert Brown, which garnered the 1999 Tony Award for Best Original Score and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in the same year.

Tickets are available at the OCP Box Office, by calling 402.553.0800 or online at OmahaPlay house.com or www.TicketOmaha.com. Single tickets start at $42 for adults and $25 for students. Ticket prices are subject to change based on performance date, seat location and ticket demand. Call the OCP box office for current prices.

For groups of 12 or more, tickets are $30 for adults and $20 for students.

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OzziE NOgg through ensemble programming and school Building on the success of last year’s Chai enrichment services. Together with individCelebration marking Maestro Aviva Segall’s ual music lessons and school music educa18th season with Omaha Area Youth Orchestras, the OAYO will return to the Jewish Community Center Auditorium on Monday, Feb. 19, with a performance of live chamber music. The concert, sponsored by the Karen Sokolof Javitch Fund, begins at 7 p.m. and is open to the community at no charge.

“We are thrilled to have a Javitch program this spring that includes ensembles from all four OAYO orchestras that offer chamber music,” said Sophia Potter, Director of the Chamber Music Ensemble Program for the Omaha Area Youth Orchestras. “This is an exciting opportunity to see where young musicians start out and where they can end up in our program.”

The Javitch program also underwrites Pre-Concert Education Workshops lead by Maestro Segall and Ms. Potter.

In January of 2017, Ms. Potter visited the Friedel Jewish Sophia Potter, Director of the Chamber Music Ensemble ProAcademy, Pennie Z. Davis gram for the Omaha Area Youth Orchestras, introduces the cello Child Development Center to students at the Friedel Jewish Academy during a Pre-Concert and the Rose Blumkin Jewish Education Workshop.

Home, where her outreach focused on how string instruments are made tion, OAYO creates highly skilled musicians and the kinds of sounds they can produce. and citizens with a love for the beauty and “The workshops ended up being a really discipline of live orchestral and chamber good introduction to string instruments,” music who are eager to share their passion Sophia Potter said, “and I know several kids with others.” got excited about learning to play one in the Maestro Aviva Segall is “excited the comfuture. I’ll make more visits to Friedel this munity will have an opportunity to hear our February. The students enjoy the sessions and chamber musicians. I like to tell anyone who so do I.” will listen: if you want to have faith in the fuOAYO Chamber Ensembles scheduled to ture of this country, all you need to do is perform during the Feb. 19 concert come spend about five seconds with any one of the from the Youth Concert Strings (ages 8-12); musicians in the Omaha Area Youth OrchesYouth Debut Orchestra (ages 12-16); Youth tras. Through ensemble experience, they Philharmonic (ages 12-18); and Youth Sym- know when to lead and when to follow, how phony (ages 14-18). “The Omaha Area Youth to listen well and when their ‘voice’ is the Orchestras is not a music conservatory or most important. In short, every characteristic school,” explained Rana Scarlett-Johnson, you hope to see in the ideal citizen has alOAYO Executive Director, “but rather a pro- ready been practiced and experienced over fessional arts organization serving youth and over by a young ensemble musician.”

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Leading with Purpose

beTH coHen Head of School, Friedel Jewish Academy Members of the friedel Jewish Academy leadership team recently attended a two-day seminar, “Lay Leader institute: Leading with Purpose,” presented by Prizmah: the center for Jewish Day Schools, and by the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Davidson Graduate School of Jewish education. omaha participants included: Ari kohen, left, Vice President at friedel Jewish Academy, beth cohen, friedel’s Head of School, and Jeff Zacharia, friedel’s board president. The seminar, held in Dallas, focused on strategic thinking and planning, leadership development and training, and strengthening the board/Head of School relationship.

Gary Hill speaks at Tifereth

nAncy coRen Tifereth Israel’s Lunch and Learn Series will feature Gary Hill speaking about Normality in Prisons. The session which be held on Shabbat morning, feb. 17, after services, will discuss different approaches to prison and programming for inmates.

Gary, a life-long member of Tifereth Israel, is the Scientific Coordinator of the International Scientific Gary Hill and Professional Advisory Council of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Program (ISPAC) and is the Staff Training and Development Director of the International Prison and Corrections Association. Gary has coordinated the non-governmental (NGO) activities and ancillary meetings at the last seven UN conferences on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (Italy, Cuba, Egypt, Austria, Thailand, Brazil, Qatar).

He has provided in-country consultation to the correctional systems of 35 nations and has authored more than 40 draft training manuals for the United Nations or specific nations and worked with the Best Practices Unit of the United Nations Office of Peacekeeping Operations to produce a Lessons Learned document and a Guidance Manual for use by UN personnel and consultants who may be asked to serve in Peacekeeping Operations.

The Jewish Press | February 2, 2018 | A7

community Announcing Chai Life Nebraska, advocating for Jews with developmental disabilities

c

DouG WoLfSon hai Life Nebraska, a new organization formed by a group of Jewish parents and community members who have loved ones with developmental disabilities, held its introductory meeting at the JCC on Sunday, Jan. 21. The non-profit group’s mission is to establish a Jewish residential option in Omaha, where adults with disabilities can live with fellow community members in a supported-living environment.

At the meeting, co-founders Doug Wolfson, Beth Dworkin, Debbie Salomon, and Claudia Sherman announced that Chai Life Nebraska has secured $600,000 in pledges toward its goal of building an apartment complex.

Wolfson gave a brief history of the group’s progress to date, and Chai Life members discussed the ideas and logistics involved in moving the project forward. Bob Wolfson, chairman of the Beth El inclusion committee, also spoke about the plans for maintaining the support of the larger Jewish community in this effort.

Chai Life members bonded over pizza and swapped their stories and experiences, as they came together to champion the cause of Jewish living for their friends and loved ones. The recent community survey revealed that there are over 75 Jewish youth in Omaha who identified with special needs, which indicates a future need in addition to the present need. Many at the meeting ex-

MARk kiRcHHoff Community Engagement and Education “Purim” is the topic for the three sessions of The Friday Learning Series in February. Rabbi Shlomo Abramovich, Visiting Scholar at Beth Israel Synagogue will present his teachings in the Kripke Jewish Federation Library on Feb. 9, 16, 23 beginning at 11:15 a.m. to noon. The sessions are open to the community at no charge; reservations are not required.

The festival of Purim is celebrated every year on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar (late winter/early spring). It commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Haman’s plot to “destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, infants and women, in a single day,” as

recorded in the Abramovich will discuss the Megillah (book of importance of the holiday and Esther). “The rabwhat makes it so special. He bis tell us that this is will explain how the carnival the holiest holiday nature of the day is related to of the year,” said its holiness. The question of Rabbi Shlomo. “In “Why do we dress up on this the Torah; Yom day?” will be asked and anKippur is called swered. Attendees will gain in‘Yom HaKippurim,’ sights into the day through which literally Rabbi Shlomo’s historical permeans ‘like Purim.’ spective. Participants will In this context, surely make noises and join in even though Purim the festivities of Purim this is thought of as a Rabbi Shlomo Abramovich year with a deeper underminor holiday, it is at a higher level than standing and appreciation of their JewYom Kippur,” he further explained. ish traditions. Be sure to mark the dates There is something to learn here and on your calendars; but more importantly, be sure to attend one or all of Fridays are good days for learning.

In these three sessions, Rabbi these sessions.

Purim: Greater than Yom Kippur

pressed conviction that it is time to offer these community members a living option that will provide the Jewish experience and fellowship they crave, alongside the support they need.

“We would like to thank everyone who attended for their involvement and enthusiasm, and extend a welcome to anyone who is interested in the Chai Life mission to participate in our efforts,” said Doug Wolfson. If you know someone who may like to reside in a Jewish supported-living apartment, or if you’d like to know how to lend your help to this project, please call Doug Wolfson at 402.968.6364. Chai Life will be holding future programs to gather support and bring the community together around its mission.

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Deadline approaching for Financial Assistance

NaNcy Wolf working as a waitress, and after learning English, a telephone or ten years now, Kitty Williams has shared her per- operator. It was here she met an American pilot from Council sonal story of being a Holocaust Survivor countless Bluffs, Iowa. They married, and she began a new life in the times, heard by thousands and thousands of listen- Midwest. ers. Her audiences have been When I approached Kitty about speakmostly middle and high ing at B’nai Israel for our Shabbat Speakschool age students, but also adults. She ers series, she wondered aloud just what has received hundreds of letters from a she would say that our visitors haven’t variety of sources in response to her already heard. After all, she has been presentations. gracious enough to have shared her Kitty’s story has been chronicled in story on other occasions at the synathis newspaper, the Jewish Press, most gogue. So then we visited about what recently in February, 2014; the Omaha kind of impact the telling and re-telling, World Herald and the Council Bluffs, of her life story has been for her as a Iowa Daily Non-Pareil. There is also a person. Just how has 10 years of sharing fine tribute on the website for the Instito countless listeners influenced who tute for Holocaust Education. Please Kitty Williams is today? reference any of these sources for a That’s when Kitty told me about the more in-depth history of the life of letters. Hundreds of letters, mostly from Kitty Williams. young people, middle school and high To briefly recount, Kitty, Katalin school students, but some from parents, Ehrenfeld, was born in 1924 Hungary. teachers and other adults. Individuals Kitty was able to avoid detection and telling her just what it meant to them to capture for a time, but in late 1943, she hear her story. Receiving and reading lost her freedom. Kitty survived four those letters have meant a great deal to Kitty Williams months in Auschwitz and then endured Kitty, in turn. And it continues to mean forced labor in a munitions factory work camp, where she was a great deal each time she rereads them. Another thought she forced to handle toxic chemicals during 12-hour work days. shared: “I think I have received more out of telling my story In March, 1945, the camp commander announced the war than those hearing it.” I wonder... was over and that she, along with the other prisoners, were Please join us on Friday Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m., at B’nai Israel free. The 20 barracks-mates traveled together, finding food in Council Bluffs, as we extend a warm welcome to Kitty and shelter as they could and chanced upon meeting a group Williams. Kitty will share a little about how the telling of her of American troops who treated these women survivors with personal story of Holocaust Survivor has impacted her life. special care. The Americans helped them find their way to Stay for the oneg afterward, enjoy a sweet and visit with Fritzlar, once a Luftwaffe base, where Kitty spent two years friends.

GaBBy BlaIr Staff Writer, Jewish Press For those seeking financial assistance during the 2018-19 academic year, please remember the deadline for applications and supporting documentation is March 1, 2018.

This deadline includes those looking for assistance to attend: The Pennie Z. Davis Child Development Center, Friedel Jewish Academy, JCC Summer Day Camp, Jewish Residential Summer Camps, Israel programs, college, vocational and technical schools, and adult Jewish education classes. The financial aid award committee is unable to accept late applications and urges applicants to begin preparing their packets now to avoid unforeseen issues that could cause delays.

“We don’t want to turn anyone seeking assistance away,” explains Diane Stamp, JFO executive assistant, “but it is imperative that legible, completed applications and required supported documents are received by the March 1 deadline.

Scholarship and grant applications can be found on the Jewish Federation of Omaha webpage at: http://www.jewishomaha.org/ education/scholarships-and-grants/. Completed financial assistance packets and supporting documentation should be sealed in a manila envelope, marked “Scholarship information; confidential” and can be mailed or dropped off at the JCC main desk, Member Services, Jewish Federation offices or at Jewish Family Services.

The Financial Aid Committee will review all requests during the month of March and award letters will be mailed out no later than April 1, 2018. All decisions made on Financial Assistance awards are final and there is no appeal process. Questions? Please contact Diane Stamp, JFO Executive Assistant at 402.334.6407 or dstamp@jewishomaha.org.

a8 | The Jewish Press | February 2, 2018

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B’nai Israel welcomes Kitty Williams

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The Jewish Press | February 2, 2018 | B1

section2 COMMUNITY

JCC employee Appreciation Annette vAn de KAmp-Wright Editor, Jewish Press he Jewish Community Center recently honored its employees, with special mention of several who had five-, ten- or even 25year anniversaries.

One of those anniversaries belonged to Executive Director Mark Martin who has implemented countless new policies and improvements during the last five years.

These changes include an increase to the membership, a much-improved budget process, growth in programming across the board and, of course, the expansion project.

Three years ago, during the Omaha Jewish Reunion, Mark struck up a conversation with Michael Staenberg who was born and raised in Omaha. The two kept in contact; Staenberg has since donated funds to upgrade and overhaul the JCC Fitness Center. Currently, a new outdoor pool complex is under construction thanks to Staenberg, Tommy Fellman and Howard Kooper.

“It continues to be on schedule,” Mark said.

“The floor for the competition pool and splash pad have been poured, as have the foundations for the permanent buildings by the new pool.”

“Mark has always made himself available to

me whenever I have needed him.,” Bruce Friedlander said. “He is loyal and very knowledgeable about his responsibilities, which are numerous. Mark has a terrific work ethic that was founded in his lifelong work as a retailer.

I am proud of Mark’s accomplishments, and

ther Katz congratulated Jessica Westerlin: “Jessica has worn many hats here at the JCC. She started out as a student; my first year teaching, she was a senior in high school.

I remember her senior year performance!

After working as a camp counselor, she

thankful to call him my friend.”

Jason Epstein added: “Mark’s dedication and passion for the JCC is a driving force behind the positive momentum and vibe that is apparent in all of the various operating departments. He takes great pride in motivating and empowering the staff to strive to operate the best facility possible while still operating in a fiscally responsible manner. I cannot thank Mark enough for his five years of dedicated service that have done so much to drive the overall mission of the organization.”

Dance Cultural Arts Executive Director Es-

joined the staff as the 2010 JCC Maccabi Assistant Coordinator. She began teaching dance in 2009 and became Assistant Dance and Cultural Arts Director in 2013.”

Several people at the Pennie Z. Davis Childhood Development Center received recognition as well.

“Kristin Hogan has been a Lead Teacher at the CDC for five years, working in a 3’s room and now with Pre-K,” according to CDC Executive Director Jeanine Huntoon. “Her daughter Kenzie has grown up at the CDC and is now a Pre-K student. Kristin is an ex-

cellent teacher who is always ready for new challenges, and comes to work every day with a smile on her face. She was also our 2017 Eileen S. Erman Educator of the Year.

“Angel Pina has been an assistant teacher at the CDC for five years,” Jeanine Huntoon said.

“It has been a joy and a pleasure to watch her grow into a confident and engaging teacher. She is now a mom herself and is also taking classes to become a nurse. I really appreciate Angel’s sense of humor and her willingness to go into any classroom when needed— all of the teachers love to have Angel in their rooms. I’m certain that with her confidence and dedications she will definitely have a bright future.”

Lisa Cooper celebrated ten years. “Lisa is my right hand,” Jeanine Huntoon said, “—and my left. I couldn’t do my job without her, and I’m very proud of how she has made the switch from being a Lead Teacher—a job she held for eight years-- to being my Assistant Director, which she has done for the past two-and-ahalf years. Lisa’s son Henry has grown up at the CDC and will be four years old in April.”

Susan Gann has celebrated 25 years at the Pennie Z Davis, Child Development Center.

She was here even before our new building opened in 2000. Throughout her career, she has touched hundreds of children’s lives.

B2 | The Jewish Press | February 2, 2018

community

I

Oscar nominations 2018: Five Jewish takeaways JTA

f one thing jumps out about the nominations for the 90th annual Academy Awards, it’s the lack of big Jewish headlines to be plucked from them. e Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro’s latest fantasy-tinted film, about an amphibian creature housed in a government laboratory, led the pack with 13 nominations.

Nevertheless, here are the Jewish nominations and storylines from another year of great cinema.

Timothee Chalamet, the Jewish actor up for best actor this year, shown at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, Jan. 21, 2018.

Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Call Me By Your Name gets four nominations.

Call Me By Your Name is the biggest Jewish triumph in this year’s nomination slate. e film, an adaptation of Egyptianborn Jewish novelist Andre Aciman’s book of the same name, traces a romance between two young Jewish men in 1980s Italy and is full of Jewish themes. It garnered nominations for best picture, lead actor (Timothée Chalamet, who is Jewish), adapted screenplay and best original song (Mystery of Love, written by indie rocker Suan Stevens).

Was James Franco snubbed after #MeToo backlash?

A few months ago, the Jewish actor was considered a shooin for the best actor category. His comedic performance in e Disaster Artist as Tommy Wiseau, the eccentric (that word might be generous) director of the real film e Room — considered by some to be the worst film of all time — was

almost universally hailed by critics. He won a Golden Globe for the role earlier this month. But less than two weeks ago, the Los Angeles Times published an article with accounts of five women who accused Franco of sexual misconduct. While the best actor category is loaded with talent this year (from Denzel Washington to Gary Oldman), multiple headlines called Franco’s exclusion a response to the misconduct reports — and a snub.

Israel’s best film didn’t make the cut.

Foxtrot, an Israeli drama about the aermath of a military tragedy, had been on the shortlist for best foreign language film aer winning a prestigious prize at last year’s Venice International Film Festival, stoking hopes for what could have been Israel’s first Oscar win. In the Fade, a German drama that centers on a neo-Nazi murder story and won a Golden Globe in this category, didn’t make the final Oscar list either.

Surprise! Two Jewish industry legends are nominated yet again.

Yes, Daniel Day-Lewis has won the best actor award three times already — but he announced last year that he is retiring, so this might be our last chance to see the Jewish actor grace us with his presence at an awards night. e iconic method actor is nominated for his performance in Paul omas Anderson’s Phantom read, in which he plays a famous dressmaker.

Steven Spielberg’s latest film, e Post — a drama about the Pentagon Papers starring perennial Spielberg collaborator Tom Hanks — is up for best picture. at seemed inevitable, but the one relative surprise here is that Spielberg didn’t get another coveted best director nomination. He was passed over for talented newcomers Greta Gerwig and Jordan Peele, in addition to del Toro, Anderson and Christopher Nolan (for Dunkirk).

It was another good year for a pair of Jewish composers.

For the prolific Jewish composer Hans Zimmer, 2017 was business as usual. He wrote or co-wrote scores for three films, including one for Dunkirk that earned him an Oscar nod.

Benj Pasek, one half of the musical duo behind the score for the Broadway hit Dear Evan Hansen and the lyrics of La La Land, added to his rapidly growing legend with a nomination for best original song for is is Me from e Greatest Showman — a musical about P.T. Barnum.

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Temple Israel Purim Bash l a v i n r a c ’ s d i k not your Saturday, February 24th 21+ Age Open Bar Heavy Hors d’oeuvres DJ Games Stations Save the date! $18 per person.

Put your costume on & meet us at Temple Israel!

RSVP by February 20th

LISA LuCOFF Growing up, Purim meant games, costumes and bringing home live goldfish from the fish duck pond at Temple Israel... remember those good times? Why do the kids always get to have fun? This year, Temple Israel is hosting an Inaugural Adult Purim Bash so we get to have the same great time minus the goldfish! Please join us as we celebrate Purim with Esther, Mordechai, Vashti, Haman and King Ahasuerus. Each character will have a signature drink and a station for games and activities. There will be a costume contest with prizes to delight your inner child, and your adult sensibilities will be pleased to enjoy the open bar, heavy hors d’oeuvres, a DJ and lots of socialization! This event is for adults only (21+) and is open to the entire community.

Cost is $18. Please RSVP to Temple Israel, 402.556.6536, rSVP@templeisrael.com, or https://tisrael.wufoo.com/forms/ adult-purim-bash-not-your-kids-carnival/ by Feb. 20.

Organizations

B’nAI B’rITh BreAdBreAkerS

B’nai B’rith Breadbreakers meets weekly on Wednesdays at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home auditorium from noon to 1 p.m. For specific speaker information, please email Gary.Javitch@Gmail.com, Breadbreakers chairman. For more information or to be placed on the email list call 402.334.6443 or bnaibrith@jewishomaha.org.

Class of 2018 HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS

High School Seniors and Parents

We will be publishing our annual High School Graduation Class pages on May 18, 2018. To be included, fill out the form below with a photo and send it to us or you can email the information and photo to: jpress@jewishomaha.org by May 1, 2018.

High School Senior Information ______________________________________________ Name ______________________________________________ Parent(s)’ Name(s) ______________________________________________ Current High School ______________________________________________ College you plan to attend Send by May 1, 2018 to:

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The Jewish Press | February 2, 2018 | B3

In Moderation

MArK KirchhoFF Community Engagement and Education With an audience of nearly 70 people, Ari Kohen, PhD and Bob Evnen, Esq presented divergent per-

Laura Alexander, PhD. The “In Moderation” series is sponsored through the Phillip & Ethel Klutznik Chair at Creighton University in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Next sessions will be pre-

Celebrating Our History PASSOVER 2018

Left picture: Ari Kohen, PhD and Bob Evnen, Esq.; right picture: Laura Alexander, PhD.

spectives on the topic of American Jews in the Time of Trump. The evening was moderated by

sented Feb. 27 and March 26.

Food: What to eat and how to eat MAry SuE GroSSMAn Executive Director, Beth Israel Synagogue Everyone has heard the old joke describing Jewish holidays - “They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat.” Not only is food a focus on Jewish holidays but throughout Jewish life. Join Rabbi Shlomo Abramovich as he discusses the spiritual and practical sides of food on Sunday, Feb. 4 and 11 from 10-11 a.m. at Beth Israel Synagogue. “Food is obviously a basic need for everyone” shares Rabbi Shlomo. “How we deal with food also shows how we deal with other physical needs which also has a deep spiritual as-

Shabbat songs

pect.” Brachot will also be covered during this two-session series. The class is open to the community, free of charge. Registration is appreciated on orthodoxomaha.org or by calling 402.556.6288.

In March, Beth Israel’s special Sunday morning classes will continue when Rabbi Ari Dembitzer leads a class The Haggadah on March 11 followed by How to Make Pesach Kosher on March 18. In April, Rabbi Shlomo will talk about Yom Hashoah on April 8 and Rabbi Ari will discuss Yom Ha’atzmaut on April 15. All classes are open to the community.

publishing date | 03.23.18 space reservation | 02.07.18 Promote your business in this very special issue.

Contact our advertising executive to advertise in this very special edition.

Susan Bernard

402.334.6559 | sbernard@jewishomaha.org

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The rose Blumkin Jewish home recently welcomed a group of high school students from new york. The young men ate lunch at the Star Deli, and graciously serenaded the residents with Shabbat songs. See the full story on page A1.

New Orleans rescinds human rights resolution JTA e City of New Orleans rescinded a resolution, celebrated by anti-Israel activists, that would have prohibited investment with human rights violators.

Although the measure passed 5-0 on Jan. 11 did not mention Israel or the Palestinians, it was draed by the New Orleans Palestinian Solidarity Committee, which cheered its passage. e resolution, authored by Mayor-elect LaToya Cantrell, “encourages the creation of a process to … avoid contracting with or investing in corporations whose practices consistently violate human rights.”

Both pro-Palestinian supporters of the resolution and anti-Israel opponents say the resolution could be used to target Israel as

part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel.

But two weeks aer passing the measure, the council unanimously rescinded it, 7-0. e resolution had come under fire from the Anti-Defamation League and the local Jewish federation. City Council members said they were surprised the measure was portrayed as anti-Israel.

“By withdrawing the resolution, it allows the opportunity for a clean slate to begin to engage in meaningful, transparent and inclusive dialogue on how this community advances issues of civil rights and human rights, and how we collectively build a better New Orleans reflective of our commitment to these values,” read a joint statement by the ADL and New Orleans Jewish Federation.

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B4 | The Jewish Press | February 2, 2018

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F

ANNETTE vAN DE KAmP Editor, Jewish Press or the past few days I’ve wondered what on earth I was going to fill this weekly page with.

Vice President Pence in Israel? Abbas’ hissy fit? The latest round of Trump’s DACA ‘Deal or no Deal?’ Meh. Sometimes I feel as if everything has already been said, several times over. And so I sit back, waiting for one of my many earmarked online sources to spit out something bizarre, silently daring them.

The Internet never disappoints, because the world is full of people who make seriously odd choices.

Here we go: “A gun parts business in a suburb of St. Louis said it will no longer sell a yellow patch in the shape of a Jewish star that reads “Gun Owner.”

Come again?

Gun parts dealer T.J. Kirgin owns a store named Tactical S**t (yes, classy name) and gets those patches from a place called the “Violent Little Machine Shop.”

The stars are meant to suggest that gun owners, just like the Jews during the Holocaust, were persecuted under President Barack Obama.

This was the sales pitch before the merchandise was taken down: “We do not invoke this historical symbol lightly. The similarities of the current attitude of the legislative environment and the systematic persecution that this star represents are uncanny. There’s no difference.”

Kirgin’s shop stopped carrying those dreadful starshaped patches because “they are no longer relevant under a Republican President and Congress that opposes many restrictions on gun ownership.” He also said there were “religious implications.”

On the VLMS website, these so called “Morale Patches” come in a variety of designs. There is #BlackRiflesMatter

and your usual misogynistic and homophobic drivel. Many of them use language I can’t repeat here, but I’ll give you a hint: the most often used word starts with the letter “F.” You can also get notebooks with the title People to Kill, in handy red, white or black so they don’t clash with your Nazi paraphernalia. And hand sanitizer, called “Dr. Little’s AIDS Cure.” My favorite? The greeting card that states “Your an Idiot.” Who needs grammar?

I’m not entirely sure where to start.

The problem with the Star of David patch is not that Kirgin stopped selling it for not entirely kosher reasons; the problem is that it exists at all.

Whenever these types of things hit the news, I ask myself: How? How can anyone not know it is wrong to misappropriate a Holocaust symbol?

How is it that some people just don’t seem to care?

We often talk about ignorance, the need for more Holocaust education, but the situation is so much worse than we think it is. A few years ago, I watched a documentary that addressed this lack of education in high schools around the country. Currently, only California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey and New York have a State Law that mandates Holocaust education. The difference between kids who had received Holocaust education and those who had not was stark.

Questions like “What is Auschwitz?” and “Who was Adolf Hitler?” were met with blank stares. Students with other-

Don’t destroy the two-state solution JONAThAN A. GREENBLATT NEW YORK | JTA Several recent political measures in Israel -- including announcements by Israel’s parliament, attorney general and ruling party -- have significantly begun to undermine the possibility of achieving a two-state solution.

Let me be clear: When discussing why the peace process has been stalled for so many years, one has to begin with the Palestinians. There is little evidence to suggest that the Palestinians have yet made the necessary qualitative leaps to accept the legitimacy of the Jewish state, to negotiate in good faith on the outstanding issues or to stop inciting its people to violence and instead prepare them for peace.

In past decades there were several occasions – the 1993 Oslo Agreement, the 2000 Camp David summit, and the 2007-08 Annapolis process – when it looked as though Palestinian leaders could be on the verge of accepting Israel in a serious and responsible way. Unfortunately, that hope foundered as former Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat and then Mahmoud Abbas refused to make serious, specific responses to significant Israeli peace proposals.

In sum, principal responsibility for the absence of peace rests with the Palestinian side, even while they do have some legitimate grievances and aspirations.

We at the Anti-Defamation League have long held that the two-state solution is important for the safety and survival of the Jewish people. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself has stated Israel’s commitment to such a solution.

However, the central committee of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ruling party voted on Jan. 2 to demand “free construction and application of Israeli law and sovereignty in all liberated areas of settlement.” Doing so could make any potential Palestinian state unviable by annexing far-flung settlements to Israel that separate Palestinian population centers from each other.

This is something Israel, under both right — and left-wing governments for 50 years, has refrained from doing, in part for international legal reasons.

Instead, Israel has maintained judiciously that the difficult situation on the West Bank is only a temporary one, albeit long-lasting, because of the absence of peace.

But that distinction was also blurred by a Dec. 31 directive from Israel’s attorney general, who under pressure from the country’s justice minister instructed government agencies to apply new civilian laws when possible to cover the West Bank as well as Israel proper.

wise excellent records, smart kids with 4-point-0 G.P.A.’s, who didn’t know who the allied forces were, or how to define the word ‘Nazi.’ Unless every single state makes Holocaust education a requirement, this will only get worse. The road from ignorance to denial is a short one. If we don’t address this in the schools, across the board,

these bright kids will end up in management, in politics, maybe they’ll become teachers themselves. Perhaps they’ll start a thriving business that makes Star patches.

And I have to ask: what else do they not know?

taking a position on any final status issues, including the specific boundaries of the Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem.” He similarly confirmed that Jerusalem would remain “one of the most sensitive issues in those talks.”

ADL welcomed the president’s speech because Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel since its founding and the spiritual home of the Jewish people for millennia. But we also called on the parties to redouble their efforts to foster conditions necessary for an eventual twostate solution and to resume negotiations immediately.

Whatever one’s views on the particulars of any future peace agreement, however remote it may seem today, three priorities for Israel should be respected by all: Israel’s fundamental right to security; its need to maintain a substantial Jewish majority; and the need to protect and strengthen Israel’s democratic values and institutions. At the Yasser Arafat, left, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin in 1994 after winning same time, it is essential that a the Nobel Peace Prize for their roles in the Oslo Accords. final resolution also address Finally, Israel’s parliament voted on Jan. 2 to the concerns of the Palestinian people and allow make it well-nigh impossible for Israel to give up them to control their own destiny through some any part of Jerusalem in peace negotiations. It form of statehood. And we continue to believe that raised the bar for Knesset approval of any peace such a mutually beneficial outcome, one that deagreement that would include ceding part of livers on the needs of all people, will be deterJerusalem to a foreign entity from a majority to a mined only through direct negotiations between supermajority of 80 of the body’s 120 votes. the two parties as both sides make the tough The law itself might be reversed by a simple ma- choices that are required to achieve peace. jority vote at a later date, but it also sends worrying A two-state solution still offers the only hope to signals about Israel’s long-term intentions. This achieve all these goals. Security is possible with the was further exacerbated that same day by Presi- right terms. A Jewish majority can be assured by dent Donald Trump’s ill-advised tweet stating “we separating from the Palestinians. And Israel’s demhave taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the ne- ocratic character and respect for civil rights degotiation, off the table.” pends upon its continued pursuit of the two-state That telegraphs the wrong message to Israelis solution. It is complicated and challenging, but it and Palestinians, and it stands in direct contradic- still must be the ultimate goal. tion to the president’s own historic speech on the Jonathan A. Greenblatt is CEO and national dimatter. On Dec. 6, Trump recognized Jerusalem as rector of the Anti-Defamation League. the capital of Israel and specified that “we are not

The Jewish Press | February 2, 2018 | B5

We need to stop using Jewish men need to talk about #MeToo the phrase ‘More Jewish’ rachel MinkowSky Kveller via JTA My family joined a synagogue a few months ago, and overall it’s been wonderful for us. But after our first family Shabbat service, I realized I had a lot to learn. And I wanted to learn.

I wanted to be a good example for both my children, but especially my seven-year-old, who was thriving in Hebrew school.

Somewhere during a frantic, late-night Google search for Jewish classes and seminars, I stumbled upon a group called Jinspire. It was linked with the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project, a group that offers trips to Israel for Jewish mothers.

The trip is a different concept than Birthright. Participants in JWRP trips are expected to regularly engage with the group that accepts them. There are challah bakes, workshops, even Mommy and Me events. It sounded amazing. My husband completely supported my desire to apply.

I interviewed with three women and liked them instantly.

I told a few friends about the trip.

“Come with me!” I said. “It’ll be fun!”

One friend shrugged her shoulders.

“That’s not really my thing,” she started. “And you’re more Jewish than me.”

I resisted the urge to scream. That wasn’t the first or last time I’ve heard “more Jewish.” As a writer and a counselor, I have been trained to respect the power of words. And this phrase has a weird sort of power over me. Each time I hear it, I’m overwhelmed by a mix of frustration, irritation and embarrassment. Because really, what does “more Jewish” even mean?

Am I more Jewish because my family belongs to a local synagogue? Am I less Jewish because, at 37, I am still learning how to daven?

Am I more Jewish if I join a group of Jewish mothers on a trip to Israel? Am I less Jewish if I opted to stay home?

Am I more Jewish because I married a Jewish man? Would I be less Jewish if I fell in love with someone who practiced a different faith?

Am I more Jewish because I bake challah, light candles and sing songs with my children on Friday nights? Am I less Jewish because I use my Mr. Coffee on Saturday mornings?

Am I more Jewish because I eschew pictures with Santa, a Hanukkah bush and a Mensch on a Bench? Am I less Jewish because I send out winter-themed greeting cards adorned with my children’s pictures?

I don’t adhere to every single Jewish law. I appreciate tradition, but realize there are times that I need to do my own thing. But my connection to Judaism is not like playing a sport, where victory goes to the person that’s accrued the most points. Being Jewish is my identity. It’s my family. It’s my history. It’s my future. It’s how I know I’m not alone.

Last month, as Jews celebrated Hanukkah, millions of menorahs were lit simultaneously. We’ll forgo healthier dinner options and eat foods fried in oil. We’ll celebrate the fact that we’re Jews, and that despite thousands of years of adversity, we’re still here. That is a miracle, too.

A Jewish life, like a miracle, cannot be weighed and measured. We are Jewish. Just Jewish. No more, no less.

Rachel Minkowsky works as a school counselor in New York City. She is married and the mother of two daughters.

Kveller is a thriving community of women and parents who convene online to share, celebrate and commiserate their experiences of raising kids through a Jewish lens. Visit Kveller.com.

See full digital issues https://issuu.com/jewishpress7

Daniel Brenner our first sexual encounters.

JTA Few of the messages we received are unique to Jews or JuLike a lot of other Jewish men, I have been quietly keeping daism. But just as we take credit as a community for the ways a scorecard of the number of Jewish men in the #MeToo Jews and Judaism do good in the world, we need to own the headlines. ways we fall short.

Harvey Weinstein, Dustin Hoffman, Jeffrey Tambor, Mark Now, both as a father of teen boys and a teen girl, and as a Halperin, Leon Wieseltier, James Toback, Israel Horowitz, Al Jewish educator who trains Jewish men to mentor teen boys Franken, James Levine, in 150 Jewish institutions, I Jeremy Priven, Woody feel obligated to work toAllen, Brett Ratner, ward not only better comMichael Oreskes, Bruce munication but a better sex Weber -- all have been acethic in general, for Jews cused in one way or anand expressed in a Jewish other of sexual assault or vocabulary. And to advance harassment, primarily in that work, I sense that two the workplace. Let’s not conversations are necesforget that Anthony sary.

Weiner is currently in a The first conversation is cell in a federal penitenone that I will be having tiary in Massachusetts for with the Jewish men in my sending obscene material life. These include rabbis, to a minor and Rabbi educators, family members, Barry Freundel will be friends and my own sons. spending the next five In this conversation we will years behind bars for need to ask: Credit: Tabitha Kaylee Hawk/Flickr Commons What are the cultural, revideotaping women as they prepared for a ritual bath. The list is even longer, and as ligious and communal factors that influence how we as Jewthe list has grown, so has the quiet shame that many Jewish ish men think about sex and sexuality? men are feeling.

What messages do we as Jewish men give one another about When Larry David opened his latest monologue on Satur- what is “right” and “wrong” in terms of sexual activity? day Night Live by joking about the “very disturbing pattern” What is our responsibility when we suspect that another of Jewish men among the accused, he was slammed by the man is behaving inappropriately or abusing his power?

Anti-Defamation League for being both “offensive” and “inWhat role do we play in helping those who have been vicsensitive” and got an earful from the Twitter-verse. When tims of abuse?

Mark Oppenheimer wrote in Tablet magazine that Weinstein How might the fantasies we have been presented about sex is a “deeply Jewish kind of pervert,” he had to follow up contribute to harassment and abuse? quickly with a public apology for implying that there was a And, most important, what can we do to help create a unique type of Jewish sexual perversion. more equitable and safe environment for everyone?

Most Jewish men I have spoken with have explained the Wrestling with these questions will help us, as men, to relong list of Jewish men in the headlines by saying something spond in positive ways to the challenges that #MeToo has relike “This is not a problem with Jewish men, it is a problem vealed. But men cannot simply engage in a conversation and with men. And since there are many Jewish men who are in then pat themselves on the back. entertainment, media and politics, the number seems inMen have a responsibility to work with people of all genders flated.” to bring about cultural change. In the Jewish community, that In many respects, I agree with this argument. And I cer- means that men who lead, work within or serve on the boards tainly do not want to join the group of Jew haters (like those of Jewish institutions should be advocating for clear policies at the Daily Stormer) who accuse Jews of sexual deviance, regarding sexual harassment across all levels of the organizaviolence and perversion. tion. They should learn to watch out for common signs of haYet I think that many Jewish men are avoiding a tough rassment and abuse, and encourage efforts that make for safer conversation that we should be having: an internal, commu- workplaces and volunteer organizations. nity-focused dialogue about the intersection of sex, sexuality And Jewish men in the field of education should work with and power in the lives of Jewish men. And if we do not ask people of all genders to help the next generation navigate a if there are specific Jewish ways that men have been taught world with confusing messages about sex, sexuality and about sexuality and power, we will be unable to come up with power. Jewish educators should ask: specific Jewish ways to address them.

How can we do a better job of teaching about sex and sexGrowing up, traditional Jewish religious boundaries of- uality in Jewish schools? fered me one vision of how I should view the “opposite sex.”

How do we foster safer summer camp environments where Comic films and novels written by Jewish men shaped my college students, preteens and teens are learning to respect adolescent view of sexuality as a clash between male desire one another’s bodies? and female demurral (see Allen, Woody; Brooks, Mel; Roth, How do we help parents to be in conversation with their Philip; Simon, Neil). As cis-gendered straight Jewish teen children on issues of sexual health and well-being? males in summer camp and in youth group settings, we were These questions have never been very high up on the Jewtaught by our rabbis and teachers that sex is only holy in ish communal agenda, but I hope that in the wake of #MeToo marriage (and a “double mitzvah” on the Sabbath). At the more people will see how important it is for the Jewish comsame time, we learned from the general culture and each munity to take them seriously. other that a man should make the first moves, dominate sexRabbi Daniel Brenner is the chief of education and proually, take “no” as “maybe” and brag to our friends about how gram for Moving Traditions, www.movingtraditions.org, far around the bases we could get. which seeks to embolden teens by fostering self-discovery, Like many males, we had no idea what good sexual com- challenging sexism, and inspiring a commitment to Jewish munication looked like and nobody to teach us. It goes with- life and learning. This essay is excerpted from a longer piece out saying that many of us did damage to others as we had available at Medium.

B6 | The Jewish Press | February 2, 2018

synagogues B’naI Israel synagogue

618 Mynster Street Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 712.322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com

BeTh el synagogue

Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California Street Omaha, NE 68154-1980 402.492.8550 bethel-omaha.org

BeTh Israel synagogue

Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific Street Omaha, NE. 68154 402.556.6288 BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org

ChaBad house

An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 South 120 Street Omaha, NE 68144-1646 402.330.1800 OChabad.com email: chabad@aol.com

CongregaTIon B’naI Jeshurun

South Street Temple Union for Reform Judaism 2061 South 20th Street Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 402.435.8004 www.southstreettemple.org

offuTT aIr forCe Base

Capehart Chapel 2500 Capehart Road Offutt AFB, NE 68123 402.294.6244 email: oafbjsll@icloud.com

rose BlumkIn JewIsh home

323 South 132 Street Omaha, NE 68154

Temple Israel

Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 13111 Sterling Ridge Drive Omaha, NE 68144-1206 402.556.6536 templeisraelomaha.com

TIfereTh Israel

Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Boulevard Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 402.423.8569 tiferethisraellincoln.org

B’naI Israel synagogue

Please join us for our upcoming events: Join us for our monthly Shabbat Speakers Series on feb.

9, at 7:30 p.m. with guest speaker Council Bluffs resident and Holocaust Survivor, Kitty Williams. Our service leader is Larry Blass, and as always, an oneg to follow service. Everyone is always welcome at B’nai Israel!

For information on our historic synagogue, please contact any of our board members: Scott Friedman, Rick Katelman, Carole Lainof, Marty Ricks, Sissy Silber, Nancy Wolf and Phil Wolf.

BeTh el synagogue

Services conducted by Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman. frIday: Six String Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. saTurday: Shabbat Services, 9:30 a.m.; Mini-Minyannaires, 10:45 a.m.; Mincha-Ma’ariv, 5:30 p.m. weekday serVICes: Sundays, 9:30 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.; weekdays, 7 a.m. & 5:30 p.m. sunday: BESTT Classes and World Wide Wrap, 9:30 a.m.-noon; Torah Study, 10 a.m.; Torah Tots, 10:30 a.m. monday: Enchanted Circles with Dr. Liora (Lou) Lukas, 6:30 p.m. wednesday: BESTT Classes, 4:15-6:15 p.m.; USY/Kadima Purim Prep, 5:15-615 p.m.; Minor Prophets with Leonard Greenspoon, 6 p.m.; Hebrew High and Dinner, 6:15-8 p.m.

Thursday: Shanghai, 1 p.m.; Hebrew Reading in your Pajamas, 8-9:30 p.m. For access to this online class, email Hazzan Krausman at hazzankrausman@bethel-omaha.org.

Kadima Kinnus, friday, feb. 9-sunday, feb. 11.

Shabbat’s Cool, Grades 3-7, saturday, feb. 10, 10 a.m.

Hamantashen Bake-A-Thon, sunday, feb. 11, 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. For questions or to RSVP to event chair Linda Saltzman at linda_saltzman@hotmail.com.

All classes and programs are open to everyone in the Jewish community.

BeTh Israel synagogue

Services conducted by Rabbi Ari Dembitzer. frIday: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Candle Lighting and Mincha, 5:24 p.m. saTurday: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Insights into the Weekly Torah, 4:25 p.m.; Mincha/Seudah Shlishit, 5:10 p.m.; Havdalah, 6:27 p.m. sunday: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Kashrut — What to Eat with Rabbi Shlomo, 10 a.m. monday: Shacharit, 7 a.m.

Tuesday: Shacharit, 7 a.m. wednesday: Shacharit, 7 a.m.

Thursday: Shacharit, 7 a.m.

ChaBad house

Office hours: Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and Friday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. frIday: Shacharit, 7 a.m. followed by coffee, treats, study and shmoozing. saTurday: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. weekdays: Shacharit, 7 a.m. followed by coffee, treats, study and shmoozing. monday: Personal Parsha class, 9:30 a.m. with Shani. wednesday: Mystical Thinking, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Katzman.

Thursday: Talmud Class, noon with Rabbi Katzman.

All programs are open to the entire community.

CongregaTIon B’naI Jeshurun

Services conducted by Rabbi Teri Appleby. frIday: Candlelighting, 5:28 p.m.; Family Shabbat Service and Dinner, 6:30 p.m. with a special activity for children. saTurday: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study on Parashat Yitro, 10:30 a.m.; Havdalah (72 minutes), 6:59 p.m. sunday: LJCS Gan through Grade 7, 9:30 a.m.; LJCS Gesher, 10 a.m.; Beginning Adult Hebrew, 11:30 a.m.; Purim Spiel Rehearsal, 1 p.m.; Come learn and play Pickleball, 7-9 p.m. All equipment furnished. Wear comfortable clothing. For questions, call or text Miriam Wallick at miriam57@aol.com.

Tuesday: Introduction to Judaism: Theology/Encountering G-d, 7 p.m.

wednesday: LJCS Hebrew School, 4 p.m.

Our Chesed branch (Caring Committee) is looking for volunteers to provide transportation for Temple members and friends who aren’t able to drive themselves to doctor’s appointments and other commitments. Volunteers are also being sought to help caregivers in our Temple community when they need a little time to get things done for themselves. Contact Chesed Branch Head Vicki Edwards at vgrandma1947@gmail.com if you would like to help with this important mitzvah.

It's not too soon to be thinking about summer camp! All Federation families are eligible for Camp Incentive Grants of $300 per camper to pay the initial camp registration deposit.

offuTT aIr forCe Base

frIday: Services, 7:30 p.m. every first and third of the month.

rose BlumkIn JewIsh home

saTurday: Services, 9:15 a.m. led by Jim Polack.

Services will be held in the Chapel. Members of the community are invited to attend.

Temple Israel

frIday: First Friday Shabbat Service and Dinner with Grades 1 and 2, 6 p.m. Join us for a congregational dinner after services. Cost is $5/person, max of $20 per family.

RSVP required. saTurday: Temple Tots Shabbat, 9 a.m.; Torah Study, 9:15 a.m.; Shabbat Service, 10:30 a.m. sunday: Kids’ Choir, 9:30 a.m. All children in grades 25 are welcome to join Temple Israel’s Kids’ Choir. Contact Cantor Shermet for more information; Grades PreK-6, 10 a.m.; Love and Logic Parent Training Class, 10 a.m. taught

by Karen Gustafson, MS, NCC, LIMHP, Executive Director of JFS and a licensed independent mental health practitioner.

Registration required; Social Justice Committee Meeting, 10:30 a.m.; Caring Committee Meeting, 10:30 a.m.; Annual Super Bowl Party, 4:30 p.m. Come watch Super Bowl LII with us on our big projection screens. We will be providing all-you-can-eat appetizers and nonalcoholic drinks. BYOB. There will be activities for kids and sitter service provided.

The suggested donation for the evening is $7 per person or $15 per family. RSVP required. wednesday: Grades 3-6, 4 p.m.; T’filah for School, 4:30 p.m.; School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Grades 7-12, 6 p.m.; Family School, 6 p.m.; Guiding Principles for the Synagogue Community: Al Harish’a: Look for the Good in Others, 6 p.m. with Rabbi Aryeh Azriel.

Thursday: Jewish Heroes, Heroines, and Personalities: Paul: The Jewish Apostle, 10 a.m. by Rabbi Emeritus Aryeh Azriel. The Symposium will be taught by Temple Israel clergy, with guest sessions led by our Tri-Faith clergy partners and other teachers in the Omaha Jewish community.

Old School Shabbat Service, friday, feb. 9, 5:45 p.m. In partnership with PJ Library, we invite you to join us for an Old School Shabbat dinner & songs. We welcome all families with young children, young couples, or anyone wanting to meet new people at Temple Israel. Dinner is included and we will eat, talk, sing, pray, and enjoy Shabbat together. Cost:

$5 per child, $7 per adult, max $25 per family. RSVP to Temple Israel, 402.556.6536, by Tuesday, feb. 6.

Taste of Tri-Faith, sunday, feb. 11, 12:30 p.m. Temple Israel is proud to host it this year. Join us as we welcome our Tri-Faith members to share food with each other and the community all around us. This year, in addition to bringing a dish to share, we ask that you also bring non-perishable food to donate to Countryside Community Church’s food bank.

Rosh Chodesh Event: Poetry Slam and Storytelling, Tuesday, feb.13, 6:30 p.m. As we welcome the month of Adar at our upcoming Rosh Chodesh gathering, Ellen Platt is hosting an exciting evening of creative writing and sharing. You don’t have to have to prepare anything or have any writing experience, only the willingness to learn and have fun. Cathy Kessler, a Creative Writing and English teacher, will be our guest of honor and will teach us how to capture our stories and share them in a supportive group setting. RSVP to Temple Israel, rsVp@templeisraelomaha.com or 402.556.6536, by friday, feb. 9.

TIfereTh Israel

Services conducted by lay leader Nancy Coren. Office hours: monday-friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. frIday: Services, 6:30 p.m. saTurday: Shabbat Morning service, 10 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 11 a.m.; Services will be followed by a light Kiddush Lunch; Come join the GOT SHABBAT kids and their families as we say farewell to Shabbat, 5:45 p.m. at Tifereth Israel hosted by Brenda Ingraham and Evey Friedman. Mac & Cheese Dinner will be served. The kids will have the opprotunity to make Havdallah spice boxes and play games. sunday: LJCS Gan through Grade 7, 9:30 a.m.; LJCS Gesher, 10 a.m.; Join us for a 45 minute session of yoga on at 1:30 p.m. in the synagogue gym with ATC certified athletic trainer, Casey. All levels welcome. Please wear comfortable stretchy clothes that are easy to move in and bring a bottle of water to class. The class will be low intensity so don't anticipate getting too sweaty! If you are doing exercises out of a chair, bring a yoga mat or towel; Come learn and play Pickleball, 7-9 p.m. All equipment furnished. Wear comfortable clothing. For questions, call or text Miriam Wallick at miriam57@aol.com. monday: Second Half of the DVD Course Beginnings of Judaism, 7:30-9 p.m. wednesday: LJCS Hebrew School, 4 p.m.

Thursday: Hebrew classes for adults, 6:30-7:30 p.m., with Esti Sheinberg. Each meeting will include listening, speaking and a little reading.

Lunch and Learn Series on shabbat morning, feb. 17, after services with Gary Hill speaking about "Normality in Prisons." He will discuss different approaches to prison and programming for inmates.

Dr. Michael Eppel has recently returned from Bangladesh where he did humanitarian work in a large camp housing Rohingya refugees from Myanmar and he will be speaking on sunday, feb. 18, 3 p.m. at Tifereth Israel about the current conditions he witnessed in the refugee camp and his understanding of the plight facing the Rohingya people.

It's not too soon to be thinking about summer camp! All Federation families are eligible for Camp Incentive Grants of $300 per camper to pay the initial camp registration deposit.

Application packets are availible in the Tifereth Israel foyer.

Holocaust survivors living in poverty JTA newsTAff One-third of Holocaust survivors in the United States continue to live at or below the poverty line, according to an aid organization.

The Blue Card, which provides financial assistance to survivors, reported the statistic ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Last year, the same proportion of survivors were at or below the poverty line, according to CNN. The 2018 report also said that 61 percent of the 100,000 survivors in the United States live on less than $23,000 a year, or double the poverty line. The median income for individuals in the U.S. was about $31,000 in 2016.

Blue Card said it sees requests for aid grow 20 percent annually. Three quarters of the approximately 3,000 survivors the group aids are older than 75, and saw a 10 percent increase this year in aid requests for survivors battling cancer.

“For those senior citizens that survived the atrocities of the Holocaust, many are struggling to make ends meet in the face of a growing number of medical issues, the rising cost of living

and challenges navigating the health system,” said Blue Card Executive Director Masha Pearl. “The time to help is now.”

Separately, the Jewish Federations of North America announced $2.8 million in grants to 30 organizations that provide “person-centered, trauma-informed” supportive services to Holocaust survivors in the United States.

JFNA, through its Center for Advancing Holocaust Survivor Care, will distribute $2.2 million to 21 organizations for new projects and an additional $662,500 to last year’s awardees to sustain ongoing programs. Combined with matching funds required by the grant, the funding for Holocaust survivor services will total $4 million. JFNA launched the Center for Advancing Holocaust Survivor Care in 2015, following an award from the United States Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Community Living for up to $12 million over five years.

“It is critical that we deliver these lifesaving and life-enhancing services to Holocaust survivors,” said Mark Wilf, chair of JFNA’s National Holocaust Survivor Initiative.

The Jewish Press | February 2, 2018 | b7

lifecycles in memoRiam

shiRleY bRoDY

Shirley (Bloom) Brody passed away on Sunday Jan. 21 at age 96. Services were held Jan. 26 at Menorah Chapels and United Hebrew Cemetery in Staten Island, NY. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Alfred W Brody, grandson, Benjamin Brody, sister and brother-in-law, Thelma and Tedde Rosenblum, and brother-in-law, Donald Brody.

She is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, BettyAnn Brody Bucksbaum and Steven Bucksbaum of Glenview IL, Carolyn and Frank Schwarz of Pittsburgh, PA, daughter, Francie Brody of Pittsburgh, PA and son and daughter-in-law, Robert and Pam Brody of Weston, MA; seven grandchildren: Tim and Jennifer Schwarz, Matt Schwarz, Jennifer Brody, Zachary Brody, Noah Bucksbaum and Teddy Bucksbaum; great grandson, Owen Schwarz; brother-in-law, Victor Rosenblum and sister-in-law, Belle Brody.

She was born and raised in New York City and she lived her last 64 years in Omaha. She celebrated her 71st anniversary with her husband in 2014. She was very involved and generous with her entire extended family including many nieces, nephews and cousins.

She received a bachelor degree at Brooklyn College, NY in Economics and Statistics. When her children were young, she focused on being a mother and homemaker. After the youngest of her children reached high school, she earned her teaching certificate and master's degree in Counseling at Creighton University in Omaha. She was the first female houseparent at Omaha Boys’ Town.

She and her husband loved bridge, tennis and exercise. She gave up playing tennis at 89. She was an avid photographer at all family gatherings.

Memorials may be made to any of her favorite organizations: Dundee School, Dundee Memorial Park, Jewish Community Center or Chabad House in Omaha or the organization of your choice.

Leonard Cohen wins a Grammy

JTA newsTAff Aer more than a dozen albums and a little more than a year aer his death, singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen won his first Grammy.

At Jan. 28 Grammy Awards in New York City, Cohen posthumously won the award for best rock performance. e winning tune is the title track from his final album, “You Want It Darker,” which was released 19 days before his death in the fall of 2016. e song also happens to be one of Cohen’s most Jewish performances, including Hebrew phrases (“Hineni, hineni,” or “Here I am”) and chants from the choir of the Shaar Hashomayim synagogue in Montreal, Cohen’s hometown.

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We are introduced to the Ten Commandments in this Torah portion. The number ten is significant in Judaism.

We have the ten utterances that G-d created the world with. Ten spies, ten plagues, ten for a minyan, and the Ten Commandments. Ten represents the Rabbi aRi first number of unity after the individ- DembitzeR ual numbers. It represents uniting Beth Israel Synagogue heaven and earth. G-d creates a world in which his presence is hidden. Our job is to reveal his presence through the 613 branches of the ten root commandments. Let us get to work.

Shabbat Shalom.

Pence’s Tweet

JTA newsTAff Vice President Mike Pence’s tweet to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day has angered some who have accused him of using the terms of his evangelical Christian faith to honor the victims. e tweet posted Jan. 27 included a short video clip showing Pence and his wife, Karen, laying a memorial wreath in Yad Vashem’s Hall of Remembrance.

“A few days ago, Karen and I paid our respects at Yad Vashem to honor the 6 million Jewish martyrs of the Holocaust who three years aer walking beneath the shadow of death, rose up from the ashes to resurrect themselves to reclaim a Jewish future,” the vice president’s tweet said.

Critics pointed to the use of the terms “martyrs” and “resurrect,” calling them “Christ imagery” and a “Jesus analogy.”

Journalist Matthew Yglesias, who is Jewish, tweeted, “I really thought last year’s thing where they le out the Jews was a Holocaust Remembrance Day low point but Pence has taken this to new places in an amazing way.”

Central to Christian theology is the belief that Jesus was resurrected three days aer his martyrdom by the Romans. But Israeli leaders have also used “resurrection” and “martyr” imagery in their statements about the Holocaust, Haaretz pointed out. In 2017, speaking with Holocaust survivors, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to “the story of our people climbing back from the pit of death — this is our story of rebirth.”

Pence returned last week from a visit to Jordan, Egypt and Israel.

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Harissa Lamb meatbaLLs

kitchen

Harissa Lamb Meatballs

Y

sHannon sarna The Nosher via JTA ou might say I am a tad obsessed with harissa these days. Harissa roasted chicken. Harissa Bloody Mary.

And now these harissa lamb meatballs. Sorry, not sorry.

To take a step back for just a second, harissa is a North African condiment made from chilis, peppers, herbs, oil and other ingredients depending on the region, family, etc. I have made my own, but I have also fallen madly in love with NY Shuk harissa, which is way easier and more delicious than making my own.

Harissa is very popular in Israel, where it was introduced

by Moroccan, Tunisian and other Jews of North African descent. As Israeli food has gained a following in America, it’s a condiment that is increasingly easy to find: I have seen it gracing the shelves of Shop Rite, Stop & Shop and Whole Foods.

I made an enormous batch of these meatballs for a recent shindig we hosted, and there was not one meatball le over, so I figured they might be a hit. For the party I served them with toothpicks, refreshing the platter as the evening went on.

But I have also served these on top of a bed of freshly fluffed couscous and a little extra fresh herbs for a satisfying, but not too heavy, dinner. ese can be made the night before, and they reheat very well on the stove over low heat.

Shannon Sarna is the editor of e Nosher. Her first cookbook, Modern Jewish Baker: Challah Babka Bagels and More, was published in 2017 by Countryman Press. e Nosher food blog offers a dazzling array of new and classic Jewish recipes and food news, from Europe to Yemen, from challah to shakshuka and beyond. Check it out at www.e Nosher.com.

Ingredients: For the sauce: 1-2 tbsp. olive oil 1 small onion, finely diced 2 garlic cloves Pinch caraway seeds 2 tbsp. tomato paste 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes 3 heaping tablespoons of harissa paste (you can add more to your taste) 1 1/2 cups of water 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. black pepper For the meatballs: 2 pounds ground lamb 3 tbsp. minced mint 3 tbsp. minced flat leaf parsley 2 garlic cloves, minced

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2 large eggs 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. fresh lemon zest Vegetable oil for frying Directions: To make the sauce: Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Saute onion until translucent and soft, around 6-8 minutes. Add garlic, pinch of caraway seeds and tomato paste, and saute another 2 minutes.

Add canned tomatoes, harissa and water, and bring to a low simmer. Cook for 30-40 minutes, covered over low heat. The tomato sauce will be done when the tomatoes have broken down and the sauce has reduced slightly and is a deep color To make the meatballs: Combine ground lamb, mint, parsley, garlic, eggs, salt and

lemon zest in a large bowl. Using your hands, combine until mixed throughout, but take care not to overwork the meat.

Form tablespoon-sized meatballs, using your hands or a cookie scoop. Roll gently and place on a plate until ready to fry.

Heat vegetable oil (or other neutral oil) over medium heat in a large saute pan. Fry meatballs in batches until brown, rotating them to ensure they have been browned on all sides.

Remove from pan. You may need to add a little more oil in between batches.

Add the lamb meatballs to the sauce (as well as additional liquid from frying) and allow to simmer another 15 minutes.

Serve with couscous and chopped fresh herbs if desired.

Serves 6.