February 3, 2023

The Jewish Press

Teen & Parent Education Series

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT

Jewish Press Editor

Starting in February, Jewish Family Service in collaboration with the Jewish Federation of Omaha will sponsor presenters from the Set Me Free Project and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Parallel sessions will be offered to middle school and high school students as well as their parents. On Feb. 7, the topic is Red Flags to Recognize Human Traffickers; Feb. 21, Tools for Navigating Online Safety; Feb. 28, DEA: Is Rainbow Fentanyl in Omaha Yet? and March 14, Building

Healthy Relationships. The sessions will take place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the North and South sides of the Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Community Engagement Venue and in the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Reception Room at the JCC. Each session stands alone, and you can attend as many as you like.

Stephanie Olson and Danielle Howell from the Set Me Free Project will present most of the topics in our four sessions, except for the DEA presentation. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Omaha Division representatives are Emily Murray and her colleagues. Their main focus will be on the dangers of Fentanyl.

Princess Diana the musical returns to the JCC

The Set Me Free Project™ is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to bring prevention education to youth and families to stop human trafficking before it begins.

Its curriculum is informative, interactive, and flexible, reaching students (K-12th grade), educators, parents and leaders in every facet of our communities.

The Set Me Free Project™ is unique in its use of engaging, age-appropriate curriculum in every presentation. With a focus on defining human trafficking and helping students identify why and how they could be at risk, the organization provides a foundation for all students to recognize the intrinsic value in every human being.

CEO of The Set Me Free Project Stephanie Olson is a speaker, an author and a podcaster. Before founding the Set Me Free Project, she worked with women in the area of sexual and domestic violence, addiction, and homelessness. She also worked with youth teaching healthy relationships. After extensive training, research in the study of human trafficking prevention education and social media safety, she co-founded The Set Me Free Project.

Stephanie also helps leaders build resilience. Her work on teaching resilience in leadership has inspired people across the United States with topics such as, leadership, trauma, See Teen & Parent Eduacion Series page 2

Beth

El hosts MLK Jr. Day of Service

REGULARS

Spotlight 7

Voices 8

Synagogues 10

Life cycles 11

The Alan J. Levine Theater at the Jewish Community Center will play host to ‘One For All Musical Theater’s’ production of Princess Diana the Musical, written by Karen Sokolof Javitch and Elaine Jabenis. Princess Diana the Musical was written in response to the tragic death of the ‘People’s Princess’ and its effect on millions of people around the world. The Princess de-

voted her life to helping others: the downtrodden, the sick, and she was the first famous person to hold the hand of an AIDS patient. Her compassion was endless, and we lost her because of a senseless car crash. The musical delves into Princess Diana’s relationship with her husband, now King Charles, and her coping with the challenges of being a Princess with a husband who was in love with another woman.

More than a year after her death, with Karen and Elaine Jabenis writing the story and Karen composing the music along with the lyrics, the first production of the Princess’ story debuted in Omaha. With a musical score arranged by Mannheim Steamroller’s Chuck Penington, the show See Princess Diana page 3

Beth El Engagement Coordinator

Monday, Jan. 16, was Martin Luther King Jr. day, a day to focus on service to others in celebration of Dr. King’s legacy. Beth El Synagogue hosted several activities for the community to take part in. All activities were made possible due to a grant from the Special Donor-Ad-

vised Fund of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation.

At Beth El that morning, congregants and friends of Beth El were engaged with two activities: making lasagnas for the nonprofit organization Lasagna Love and making blankets for Project Linus. Project Linus provides newly made tied See MLK Day of Service page 2

The UNO Samuel Bak Museum Page 3

Chabad Bistro Night Page 6

Michael Twitty’s Koshersoul, a memoir of food and identity, named Jewish book of the year Page 12

ROBBY ERLICH

MLK Day of Service

Continued from page 1

blankets for children of all ages in local hospitals. Lasagna Love is a nationwide organization that matches lasagna bakers to those who need a lasagna no matter the reason. Participants were able to assemble and bake 23 lasagnas in three hours in Beth El’s kitchen. Eight blankets were made in just under four hours of volunteering for Project Linus.

Beth El members also had the option to volunteer at The Food Bank for The Heartland, or at Together Omaha for a morning shift. At both locations, volunteers assisted with packing or restocking shelves. For Beth El member Andi Gordman, it was important for her to do

service in honor of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. “It felt great to help that day”, says Gordman. “Beth El made it easy to choose from the different activities. Knowing that my service had an impact on others, truly made my day meaningful.” In addition to congregants participating in the service project, staff and congregants from St. Luke Methodist Church partnered in the day of service.

A total of 39 people came out to participate in one or more service project.

We thank the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation for their sponsorship of this day!

Teen & Parent Education Series

Continued from page 1

a toxic workplace, mental health, resilience, and DEI. As a woman of color and a survivor of domestic and sexual violence, Stephanie brings lived experience, research, and humor to impact lives. She is a sought-after speaker on women, youth, human trafficking, and social media safety while leading The Set Me Free Project to help prevent youth and young adults from personally experiencing trafficking.

Danielle Howell is a Nebraska certified teacher with B.A. and M.Ed. degrees in Elementary Education. She is an experienced classroom teacher and administrator, with six years teaching Kindergarten and Pre-K and four years as a Curriculum Director, leading and training a staff of over 45 teachers. She has

planned and implemented staff training on various topics, including child development, positive discipline, classroom management, language and literacy, and communication.

As Curriculum Specialist for The Set Me Free Project, Danielle currently develops curriculum and speaks to middle and high school students to prevent youth and young adults from ever experiencing human trafficking.

For more information and to register, please visit jewishomaha.org. This series is sponsored by the Lazier L. and Harriet B. Singer Memorial Fund for Youth, the Howard and Judy Vann Family Education Fund and the Ann Goldstein Education Programming Endowment Fund at the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation.

RENT is coming to the Omaha Community Playhouse

RENT is the cultural phenomenon that has inspired audiences for a quarter century. A raw and emotional year in the life of a diverse group of friends and struggling artists, chasing their dreams under the shadow of drug addictions and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize, this iconic rock musical has become a cultural touchstone, rite of passage and source of joy and strength for millions.

The production runs at the Omaha Community Playhouse in the Howard Drew Theatre from Feb. 10 – March 19, 2023. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased by visiting the OCP Box office at 6915 Cass St., calling the OCP Box Office at 402.553.0800, or visiting omahaplayhouse.com

ESTATE

The UNO Samuel Bak Museum

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor

In 2022, following years of work, UNO announced its museum and community-focused learning space dedicated to the life and work of renowned artist and Holocaust survivor Samuel Bak would open in February 2023 under the direction of new executive director Hillary Nather-Detisch. That time is now.

In the current phase, the Museum will house 99 pieces of Bak’s work through rotating exhibitions as well as classroom and presentation spaces for tours, lectures, and curated programming.

“Our collective world history is one of triumph, but not without significant tragedy as well. It's through conversation about these difficult times from our past and present that can help us understand ways to change the future,” UNO Chancellor Joanne Li, Ph.D., CFA said. “We want to provide spaces where those tough conversations and questions can take place.

This will be a true space for enhancing and supporting the intellectual curiosity of our students, our citizens, and our future leaders.”

The public will have opportunities to experience the works of Bak for themselves and hear from the artist in a special event. First, the Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center, will be open to the public on Saturday, February 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m The space is located at 2289 S. 67th Street in Aksarben Village across from Stinson Park. Admission is free.

Please join Joanne Li, Ph.D., CFA, Chancellor, University of Nebraska at Omaha and Hillary Nather-Detisch, CFRE, Executive Director, on Saturday, February 4 at 7 P.M. for an event commemorating the opening of Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center. It will feature a conversation with Samuel Bak; Bernie Pucker, who has long managed Bak’s works; and Mark Celinscak, Ph.D., executive director of UNO’s Sam and Frances Fried Holocaust and Genocide Academy. The discussion will be accompanied by a musical performance by Ittai Shapira inspired by the art of Samuel Bak. This event will take place at the Thompson Alumni Center located at 6705 Dodge Street. RSVPs are required, so please visit www.unomaha. edu/samuel-bak-museum-the-learning-center/index. php to reserve a spot.

Beginning with a visit by Bak to UNO in 2019 and following his donation of more than 500 works by the artist, the announcement of the creation of Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center and hiring of its executive director mark an important step forward for the campus-wide initiative that is spearheaded through UNO Academic Affairs.

Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center is led by Hillary Nather-Detisch, who began her role as executive director in

Princess Diana

Continued from page 1 premiered at the Joslyn Art Museum and has been produced in more than 20 cities since then.

“For those of you who saw it more than twenty years ago, Princess Diana’s story is still relevant to our lives today. Elaine and I have made many changes since its debut and we hope you will be drawn to the show even more,” Karen says. She is excited that “One For All” will have a live orchestra to play her music.

“One For All Musical Theater” is a faith-based, 501(c)(3)

July of 2022, following a national search to identify the inaugural leader for the vital effort. She joined UNO after spending eight years as director of development for Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum.

In her new role, Nather-Detisch reports to UNO’s senior vice chancellor and works closely with leaders from across campus and the Omaha community, including philanthropic, government, and corporate partners, to develop the museum’s foundational operations and structure.

“As a campus that is nationally recognized for our community engagement efforts, there is no question that we must be a leader in Omaha and our region for high-quality educational experiences that are available to everyone,” Deborah Smith-Howell, Ph.D., interim senior vice chancellor for academic affairs said. “With her vast experience in developing community relationships in the Omaha area, Hillary brings not only the skills needed to make this project a premiere national landmark for human rights education and art engagement, but also an understanding of how our communities can most benefit from this important resource.”

An Omaha native, NatherDetisch earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from San Francisco State University before earning a Master of Public Administration from UNO. In addition to her role as director of development at Joslyn Art Museum, she has held previous planning, project development, grant making and fundraising roles at Boys Town National Research Hospital, Inclusive Communities, Omaha Children’s Museum, the Omaha Community Foundation, and United Way of the Midlands.

“This project is a unique opportunity to serve as a hub for intercultural dialogue and education for the region, where art becomes the tool to begin a safe discussion for all visitors,” Nather-Detisch said. “My personal goal is to create a welcoming, accessible facility that will inspire meaningful and thoughtful discussion between students, faculty, staff, the greater Omaha community and beyond.”

On Feb. 16, Hillary Nather-Detisch, will speak at the Institute for Holocaust Education (IHE) about University of Omaha’s (UNO) vision for a future facility and hub for art and dialogue around art, Holocaust education, human rights and genocide. She will also address how to visit and engage with the Phase 1 temporary space in Aksarben Village.

For questions about Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center, please call the Musuem main line at 402.554.6100, or email at unobakinfo@unomaha.edu

For information about visiting, tours, etc. and to RSVP for the opening lecture, please visit bak.unomaha.edu

non-profit organization that embraces all ages, 3 years through adult. They mount high-quality musicals where no one is turned away. Kim Moore, Executive Director and Founder says, “One For All Musical Theater” is a safe place for all to come and experience not only the best of musical theater, but also a place of unconditional love and acceptance, a place that is “One For All” indeed!” Performances will be at 7 p.m. on Feb. 9, 10, and 11 and 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 12. Tickets are at: OneForAllMu sicalTheater.org

Trade scholarships available for the 2023-24 academic year

An anonymous donor in our community has created two trade school scholarship opportunities, up to $5,000 each, to go towards the 2023-24 academic year. Not every student who advances into higher education signs up for a four-year curriculum. Some high school graduates seek job training that lasts a year or two and then places them in the workforce. Such opportunities include, but are

not restricted to: Information Technology, Construction, Industrial, Transportation and Horticulture. It is not too late to apply for this upcoming school year!

Qualified students who have unmet needs regarding tuition for either a two-year trade school program or a trade certificate program can contact the Jewish Press at avandekamp@jewishom aha.org or jpress@jewishomaha.org for more information.

Top: The Samuel Bak exhibit, above left: Samuel Bak, above right: Hillary Nather-Detisch.

Spielberg’s Fabelmans earns seven Oscar nods, WWI epic with anti-Nazi past gets nine

ANDREW LAPIN JTA

The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical drama about his Jewish upbringing, had an expected strong haul of Oscar nominations, picking up seven nods on Jan. 24.

A remake of a movie once targeted by the Nazis, a blockbuster embroiled in a lawsuit with an Israeli family and a documentary by the program director of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival also got recognized in a list jam-packed with Jewish characters, stories and artists.

Spielberg’s movie overcame an anemic box office showing to score nominations in the major categories of best picture, director and screenplay, for Spielberg and celebrated Jewish playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner. The directing nomination brings Spielberg’s total nominations in the category to nine, tying him with Martin Scorsese for the second-most directing nominations in Oscar history.

The film also scored acting nods for Judd Hirsch, who is Jewish, and Michelle Williams, who recently said she is planning to raise her two children with Judaism.

The Fabelmans was the best picture nominee with the strongest Jewish themes, but it wasn’t the only one. The psychological drama Tár, starring Cate Blanchett as a problematic conductor, picked up six nominations, including for picture, actress and director; the film weaves Jewish mysticism into its storytelling.

All Quiet On The Western Front, Netflix’s new German-language adaptation of the classic 1929 novel about the horrors experienced by German soldiers during World War I, was also nominated for nine Oscars, including best picture, international feature and adapted screenplay. The film’s source material was once banned and burned by the ascending Nazi Party, which believed its anti-war stance made the German military look weak and constituted a threat to their plans for world domination.

When the book’s initial 1930 film adaptation, directed by Jewish filmmaker Lewis Milestone, was released in Germany, Nazis led by Joseph Goebbels set off stink bombs, released mice into the theaters and called the movie a “Judenfilm” (or “Jewish film”). Germany and Austria banned the film from being shown in their countries, and the public censorship campaign led the novel’s author, Erich Maria Remarque, to renounce his German citizenship (Nazis were erroneously labeling him as a Jew).

In response, Jewish studio head Carl Laemmle Sr., agreed to heavily edit the movie and remove material deemed objectionable to the Nazis in order to improve its commercial prospects in Germany. One possible silver lining for the remake’s producers: The 1930 film went on to win best picture that year.

Back to this year’s Oscars: Top Gun: Maverick, the action blockbuster sequel, picked up four nominations, including for best picture. The film’s distributor, Paramount, is currently embroiled in a copyright lawsuit with the family of Israeli journalist Ehud Yonay, whose magazine article about a Navy fighter pilot school was the basis for the original Top Gun in 1986. In November, a judge dismissed Paramount’s attempts to throw out the suit and ruled the Yonay family could proceed with their claims.

The writer, director and actress Sarah Polley also scored a nomination for best adapted screenplay for her drama Women Talking, about a group of abused women in an isolated Mennonite community, which was also nominated for best picture. Polley has a Jewish biological father, whose secret parentage she explored in her 2013 documentary Stories We Tell.

The Jewish film producer Gail Berman also scored her first Oscar nomination for producing best picture nominee Elvis,”while Jewish producing partners Darren Aronofsky and

Ari Handel scored their own best picture nomination for The Whale. The movie, which Aronofsky directed, stars Brendan Fraser (also nominated) as a morbidly obese English professor.

In the performing categories, one actor was nominated for playing a real-life Jewish convert: Ana de Armas received a best actress nomination for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in Netflix’s Blonde. Monroe converted to Judaism in the 1950s and remained devoted to the religion even after divorcing her husband, Jewish playwright Arthur Miller.

Also, veteran actress Jamie Lee Curtis — whose father, Golden Age Hollywood actor Tony Curtis, was Jewish — picked up her first-ever Oscar nomination for her supporting role as a sinister tax officer in the multiverse sci-fi comedy Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Curtis is nominated in the category alongside her co-star Stephanie Hsu, who is also known to fans of the very Jewish TV series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as Mei Lin, a Chinese restaurant owner who gets together with co-lead Joel Maisel. Early buzz on the upcoming fifth season of Maisel says that Hsu’s character will convert to Judaism.

Another Everything Everywhere co-star, Jewish actress Jenny Slate, helped a different film score an Oscar nomination in the best animated feature category: the stop-motion mockumentary Marcel The Shell With Shoes On. Slate co-wrote the feature with her ex-husband Dean Fleischer-Camp, who directs; Slate also voices the lead role of Marcel. However, she is not one of the nominated producers on the film.

All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, a portrait of the outsider artist Nan Goldin and her years-long activism campaign against opioid manufacturers the Sackler family, was nominated in the best documentary feature category and is favored to win. The film documents how Goldin was born to Jewish parents but had an emotionally abusive family life and left home in her teens. The Sacklers are also Jewish.

The documentary short category saw the second nomination in a row for Jewish filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt, whose documentary How Do You Measure A Year chronicles many years of his daughter Ella’s birthdays. Rosenblatt is the program director of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

Veteran Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski was also nominated in the international feature category for his drama “EO,” told from the perspective of a donkey. Skolimowski’s father was a member of the Polish Resistance and his mother hid a Jewish family in their house during World War II.

Jewish composer Justin Hurwitz, who won an Oscar for his work on La La Land, was nominated again for the score for Babylon, a follow-up production with that film’s director, Damien Chazelle.

And in the original song category, Jewish songwriter Diane Warren extended her nomination streak to 14 for the number Applause, from the feminist documentary Tell It Like A Woman. Warren has never won a competitive Oscar but did receive an honorary Academy Award last year.

Israeli raid in Jenin kills 9 Palestinians

RON KAMPEAS

JTA

At least nine Palestinians were killed in Jenin during the first major Israeli raid on the city since Israel’s new right-wing government took office last month.

Israeli authorities say they killed six militants in the raid Thursday, January 26, on what they said was a safe house. They said the raid was aimed at heading off a major attack on Israel. Palestinian officials said nine were killed, including civilians,

among them a 60-year-old woman, and that Israeli forces blocked entry to first responders for hours.

The raid, the largest in months, comes as the new Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the most right-wing in history, is in its first weeks. Before he stepped down earlier this month, the previous head of the Israel Defense Forces warned that the coalition’s plans, especially around governance in the West Bank, could ignite conflict and make Israelis less safe.

Producer Kristie Macosko Krieger, left, co-writer/producer/director Steven Spielberg, Seth Rogen, Julia Butters, co-writer/producer, Tony Kushner, Keeley Karsten and Sophia Kopera on the set of The Fabelmans. Credit: Merie Weismiller Wallace/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment

Coffee and Contacts

Clean Speech: Do good with your words

PAM MONSKY

JCRC Assistant Director

mindful of how we speak to each other when we disagree, inspired by Jewish values.

JAY KATELMAN

JFO Director of Community Development

On Jan. 10, 2023, the Jewish Federation of Omaha proudly hosted the Greater Omaha Chamber event Coffee & Contacts for the first time in three years. Coffee & Contacts is a networking event for business professionals to grab coffee and network with others. The Federation was honored to host this wonderful event. More than 150 people registered for the event, held in the Shirley & Leonard Goldstein Community Engagement Venue.

During the event, Executive Director of Philanthropy & Engagement for the Jewish Federation of Omaha, Jennifer Tompkins, spoke about what the Jewish Federation stands for and what it does daily. Mark Mar-

INFORMATION

ANTISEMITIC/HATE INCIDENTS

tin, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Center, shared some history and current information about the Staenberg Omaha Jewish Community Center. We also had staff members available to provide tours to those that wanted to see the recent renovations. It was a terrific morning full of coffee, great food, and fun networking! The Jewish Federation of Omaha loves hosting this kind of event. It is a privilege to meet new people and show our space to those who might not otherwise know we are here. The Jewish Federation of Omaha would like to thank the Greater Omaha Chamber for allowing us to host Coffee & Contacts, and we look forward to doing it again soon. Also, a special thank you to everyone who came out, for this special morning.

If you encounter an antisemitic or other hate incident, you are not alone. Your first call should be to the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) in Omaha at 402.334.6572, or email JCRCreporting@ jewishomaha.org. If you perceive an imminent threat, call 911, and text Safety & Security Manager James Donahue at 402.213.1658.

Clean Speech Nebraska is a communitywide, month-long campaign to clean up conversations, one word at a time. By encouraging mindfulness and personal awareness, we can create a more peaceful and respectful world where our communities are united and connected. Clean Speech began in Colorado in 2019 with the mission to unite Jewish communities across North America in improving the dynamics of human relationships through Jewish mindful speech. New York City did it last November, as did Colorado, Cincinnati, Illinois, Cleveland and Ottawa. St. Louis and Minnesota just completed theirs. This month, it’s our turn—and Los Angeles and the United Kingdom are doing the program as well.

Presented by the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) Clean Speech Nebraska will kick off in February 2023 with a month of videos and a workbook focused on being

Just as Jewish tradition offers guidelines for respectful, community-oriented speech,

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Clean Speech Nebraska encourages people of all faiths to cleanse their speech and be more mindful of the language we use. In fact, Clean Speech Nebraska will be the first local initiative to focus specifically on respectful, community-building speech. Once you sign up, you will get daily reminders (short emails with long impact!) and videos created by our JCRC to remind us that the way we speak to each other matters.

For more information and to sign up, please visit https://cleanspeech.com/nebraska/ #involved-bottom or contact Pmonsky@ jewishomaha.org

Documentary follows the Jewish legal fight for abortion rights after Roe

STEPHEN SILVER

JTA

Last summer, in the days after the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that protected the right to an abortion, Paula Eiselt was doing press work for her acclaimed documentary Aftershock

The film — which documents how the American healthcare system disproportionately fails to keep women of color healthy during and after giving birth — kept her busy with interviews as it earned a wide audience on Hulu and in theaters. But Eiselt felt pulled into thinking about a project tied to the Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe.

Staying true to her Jewish roots, Eiselt found a Jewish angle: the rabbis and Jewish organizations who are helping lead the charge in bringing lawsuits against the Dobbs decision.

“As a Jewish woman, a Jewish mother, to see that there are Jews, rabbis, organizations, standing up to these bans, to the Dobbs decision, and finding ways to flip the script on many of these laws was very inspiring,” said Eiselt, whose first film focused on an Orthodox female emergency responder service in Brooklyn.

Her new short documentary Under G-d, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday and plays there throughout the week, shows how Jewish people and institutions are using state laws called Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRAs) —

often used in the past by religious organizations on the opposite side of the abortion issue — to argue that Dobbs violates their religious freedom as American Jews. Traditional Jewish law permits (and even requires) abortion in some circumstances, particularly when the life or health of the pregnant person is at stake.

Among the first lawsuits aimed at Dobbs came from Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor in Boynton Beach, Florida. Its rabbi, Barry Silver, is a figure in Eiselt’s film, alongside Elly Cohen, an Indiana activist and mother who is part of the Hoosier Jews for Choice group; Jeremy Wieder, a leading rabbi at the theological seminary of Yeshiva University; and Rachel K. Laser, who in 2018 became the first woman, Jew and non-Christian to lead Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

“The test is this: Are you going to use RFRA only to protect fundamentalist Christians and their intolerance,” Silver asks in the 24minute film, “or do Jews get to use it too?”

Cohen’s group led a lawsuit that led to a judge issuing a preliminary injunction in December against Indiana’s abortion ban, blocking its enforcement for now. Laser’s group joined a lawsuit filed in Missouri just last week. And three Jewish women filed a lawsuit alleging infringement of their religious freedom in Kentucky in October.

“The fact that Jews were leading this tactic and this battle, really no other group was thinking about it this way,” Eiselt said. “But as Jews, we know what it’s like when there is no See Documentary follows the Jewish legal fight page 11

On Monday, Feb. 6 from 5-7 p.m., Chabad will host yet another Kosher Bistro Night. The past kosher bistro nights were successful thanks to people like you who are so generous and supportive of programs like this.

This time, we are going Italian. Menu items include Italian wedding soup, chopped salad, a meatball sub or spaghetti topped with Mama’s special Sugo, and of course spaghetti and meatballs! For dessert, we offer rugelach. Everyone is welcome, even if you didn’t pre-order. We look forward to seeing you again!

ORGANIZATIONS

B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS

The award-winning B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS speaker program currently meets Wednesdays via Zoom from noon to 1 p.m. Please watch our email for specific information concerning its thought-provoking, informative list of speakers. To be placed on the email list, contact Breadbreakers chair at gary.javitch@gmail.com

Rabbi Barry Silver, who is leading a lawsuit against Florida’s anti-abortion law in the wake of the Dobbs decision, shown in the documentary Under G-d Credit: Under G-d

SP O TLIGHT

PHOTOS FROM RECENT JEWISH COMMUNITY EVENTS

SUBMIT A PHOTO: Have a photo of a recent Jewish Community event you would like to submit? Email the image and a suggested caption to: avandekamp@jewishomaha.org

GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY

Left, above and below: On Sunday, our preschool friends and their families joined us for Little Hands, Big Hearts: A Family Day of Caring with PJ Library Omaha. We made stuffed animals for children at Project Harmony, created paper flowers for Residents at the Blumkin Home, and more! Thanks to the donors who helped make this possible; Congregations of Temple Israel, Beth El Synagogue, and Beth Israel Synagogue, Omaha for partnering with us; and everyone who attended!

You Light” and the Residents had the opportunity to share what gives them joy while making a decorative votive candle.

Above: Helen Sweet, RBJH Resident Council President.

Top, above, below and bottom: The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home Residents recently enjoyed an inspiring art program with Dr. Hillary Rubesin of Jewish Family Service. Hillary asked the question, “What Gives

Above, right and below: JCC dancers performing at the Moving Company Up and Coming Choreographer Showcase at UNO, last December.

Below and right: Temple Israel’s Jennie Gates-Beckman, Rabbi Deana Berezin and Jay Asher at Tot Shabbat. Yes, those are dinosaur onesies.

Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole.

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Fame

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT

Jewish Press Editor

In America, fame is a bizarre concept. You can be famous for anything, especially with the invention of reality shows. You can be a Kardashian, or a really good tennis player. You can be a singer, an actor, a director or a politician; you can even be a plumber (remember Joe?).

It’s not always a choice: people get caught on cell phone cameras doing things like calling the cops for silly reasons, or yelling in public. Or setting off a fire extinguisher in an airport. In most cases, though, people want to be famous—it gets them attention, self worth, whatever- and there is not necessarily anything wrong with that.

Unless the reason you seek fame is because you want to spread hate. Then, we do have a problem.

Nick Fuentes (see story on p.10) recently made headlines because as part of the ongoing Twitter dumpster fire, his account was reinstalled. In case you don’t know him, Fuentes is known for saying things like :

“We’ve got to make America a Christian nation again. And you can understand why influential Jewish people in conservative media are not really gung-ho about that. They’re not promoting white identity. They’re not promoting this.”

Upon returning to Twitter, Fuentes wasted no time making antisemitic comments. He also held a Twitter Spaces live chat “that 14,000 people attended at least part of, during which he said he backed Ye’s comments and praised Hitler multiple times. He also reportedly said that regaining his au-

dience on Twitter would allow him to ‘go to war’ with the Jews.”

Apparently, he enjoys receiving attention from neo-Nazis. He must get some kind of gratification from spreading this hate, and receiving hate in return. And hate as a motivator has a lot of power.

at least in part fueled by low self-esteem, but I’m not a therapist, so who knows. I just cannot imagine someone like him feels good about himself.

When I see him quoted anywhere, it is always in a negative context-because I don’t frequent the spaces that offer him a home. And I wonder: what’s the function? As in, where does he think this will end? Does he think that talking about ‘going to war on the Jews’ actually makes any sense? Does he honestly believe in this nonsense, or does he fake it all just to get a reaction, like one of those wrestlers who says mean things and wears strange outfits just to amuse the public? But certainly, he knows this subject matter is much too serious for that?

That’s a lot of question marks, I know. And truth be told, we shouldn’t pay any attention to this clown. We should focus on happy things, on building rather than tearing down, loving instead of hating.

“Hate-motivated behavior is a public health threat with structural, interpersonal, and individual antecedents and effects,” it states at healthaffairs.org. “There is a need for interdisciplinary, multilevel research to better understand the causes of such behavior and to test prevention strategies and interventions.”

I think that’s academic speech for ‘We don’t really know enough about how this works.’ What we do know is that people like Nick Fuentes and those who follow him are angry. Most likely, that anger is

JESSICA FISHER JTA

I recently attended a bris in my community where the mohel announced to the new parents and the whole room, “Raising this child is the most important and impactful thing you will ever do.”

These words were offered to anchor the already exhausted and overwhelmed couple in the sanctity of the job they are embarking upon; the holiness of shaping a person into adulthood; the pride in doing something meaningful and lasting.

At the same time, these are the sentiments that form the foundation of parent’s guilt when they have to work or when they choose to be with friends and not their children. They create the basis of self-recrimination when a child struggles and the parent is made to feel they are to blame. They foment anxiety over not enjoying aspects of parenthood or feeling lonely or isolated in the endless exhaustion of rearing children.

These are also the words that shame those of us who have no children.

The year I turned 30, I was not on any identifiable path to parenthood. I was, however, in rabbinical school and deeply committed to the ways I could and would serve the Jewish people as a rabbi.

As part of a counseling course in rabbinical school, I was assigned a reading where I learned that 13.9% of married women ages 30-34 experience infertility (a percentage that only increases after 35). Thirty years later, the author who shared this data did so again at an all-school gathering, reminding us that women pursuing education were largely responsible for the decline in Jewish population, since the ideal age for a woman to get pregnant is 22. He added, in essence, “Don’t come crying to me when you finish your education and realize you missed your window.”

I was shocked by his callousness and also by the overt implication that delaying parenthood for the sake of education was damaging to the Jewish people — an assertion, overt and implied, reached by many Jewish social scientists, as others have pointed out. Apparently, nothing I could do as a rabbi would ever have the same impact on Jewish

peoplehood and the Jewish future as producing babies above “replacement level.”

While the presentation surprised me, the idea that the ideal role of anyone with a uterus is to bear children is embedded in our scripture and liturgy. Even the way many of us have chosen to add women into

But that’s the problem when someone’s famous for bad behavior in this day and age: it’s too easy to get a platform, and it’s almost impossible to avoid the fallout.

At the same time, there is an upside to this. For every Fuentes, there is a Lizzo. For every Kanye West, there is an Andrew Koji Shiraki (Google him!). The easy accessibility of social media means that there are countless people who are using platforms for good. Don’t believe me? Spend a few minutes looking up the completely viral Miami Boys Choir and you will see what I mean. Sometimes fame can be a force for good.

makes a tremendous impact on the Jewish future.

According to the most straightforward reading of the Torah, Miriam, the daughter of Yocheved, sister of Aaron and Moses, does not marry and does not bear children. And yet, Miriam played a crucial role in ensuring the possibility of a Jewish future. She was the sister who watched over Moses as he floated in a basket, and the prophet who led the women in joyous dancing when the Israelites finally attained freedom.

the daily amidah prayer to make it more egalitarian attests to this role: Three times a day we chant, “Magen Avraham u’foked Sarah,” that God is the one who shields Abraham and remembers Sarah.” This line about remembering Sarah refers to the moment when God undid Sarah’s barrenness, giving her a child (Genesis 21:1). Every time we recite these prayers we are reifying the idea that a woman’s relationship with God is directly linked to her fertility.

I know I am not alone among my peers in expressing frustration. If we truly believe that a person’s value is derived from being created b’tzelem elohim, in the image of the Divine, then we need to demonstrate this in the ways we speak and teach about parenthood and fertility, celebrating the role and value of an individual within a community with no correlation to the number of children they raise, how they parent, or how those children connect to Judaism.

While there are plenty of sources in Jewish literature and a range of sociological data that offer all kinds of reasons that Jews should “be fruitful and multiply” — often expressed with urgency after the devastation of the Holocaust — the Torah, our most ancient and sacred text, also presents a model for what it means to be a person without a child who

In a recent conversation, Rabbi Rachel Zerin of Beth El Temple in West Hartford, Connecticut, pointed out that what is powerful about Miriam is that she appears content with her life. Unlike most of the women we encounter in the Hebrew Bible who do not have children, we never see Miriam praying for a child; she is never described as barren or unfulfilled and yet she is instrumental in securing the Israelites’ — our — freedom.

Through this lens, we can understand that the Torah offers us many models of a relationship to parenthood: Some of us may yearn for it and ultimately find joy in it, some of us may experience ambivalence around bringing children into the world, some of us may encounter endless obstacles to conceive or adopt, some of us may struggle with parenting the children we have, some of us may not want to be parents at all, and some of us may experience all of these at different times.

Like Miriam who fearlessly added her voice to the public conversation, we, too, can add more voices to the conversation about Jewish continuity that counteract the relentless messaging that raising children into Jewish adulthood is the most consequential thing we might do.

Yes, parenting can be miraculous and beautiful, something we should continue to celebrate. But we each have so many gifts to offer the Jewish people — our communities just need to create space for all of us to contribute in a broad variety of ways, by making fewer assumptions and speaking about parenthood with more nuance, expansiveness and compassion.

Jessica Fisher serves as a rabbi at Beth El Synagogue Center in New Rochelle, New York.

I am a single rabbi without children. I shouldn’t be made to feel I am not ‘doing my part.’

Credit: Image right: mattjeacock for Getty Images. JTA montage by Grace Yagel

Jewish comedian Modi Rosenfeld is gay. So what?

JACKIE HAJDENBERG JTA

Mordechi Rosenfeld, the Jewish comedian, insists that the recent Variety article in which he reveals he is married to a man is not a “coming out” piece.

“This article is showing that I’m a veteran comedian and I’m married to a man,” said Rosenfeld, who is known to his friends and fans by the nickname Modi. “This is it. It doesn’t feel like a coming-out piece to me because I’ve been out.”

Anyone who has listened closely to Rosenfeld’s podcast in the last year would know that he and his husband have been married since 2020. The pair talk about living and traveling together, and in a recent episode revealed they would be vacationing on Fire Island, which has a famous gay scene, with prominent gay Jewish cookbook author Jake Cohen.

But the news could easily have come as more of a surprise for one swath of Rosenfeld’s core audience: Orthodox Jews from communities like the one where he grew up, where LGBTQ inclusion remains an unfamiliar and often frownedupon frontier. Rosenfeld has delivered his signature blend of highly informed Jewish comedy, which often digs into the technical details of Jewish law, on kosher Passover cruises; at benefits for Orthodox organizations including yeshivas, Young Israel chapters and Hatzalah, the Orthodox ambulance service; and on the annual Chabad-Lubavitch movement telethon. But until recently, his routine has contained little whiff of his personal life — in fact, some of his jokes suggested to his fans that he had a wife named Stacy.

“Stacy” is in fact his manager and husband, Leo Veiga, a millennial raised Catholic in South Florida whom the 52-year-old Israel-born, Long Island-raised comedian met on the New York City subway in 2015. The split content has reflected Rosenfeld’s long-espoused belief that the only way comedy can work is to tailor the set to the crowd.

“Even though some religious organization has brought me in and people are coming to see me, I understand I’m under the umbrella of a certain demographic that I need to respect and know the audience,” Rosenfeld told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “If you put me in front of an audience, I give them what they need. And they don’t need gay material — they need the material for this audience.”

“But when I’m on the road doing my material, I can do

whatever I want,” he added. “They came to see me.”

The Variety article was born of Rosenfeld’s deepening belief that it’s possible to merge his Orthodox and gay identities more publicly — something that he has long done as a congregant and sometimes-cantor at the Modern Orthodox synagogue he attends in the East Village.

“The prayers are done in an Orthodox way. And somehow, gays have been attracted to come to this synagogue,” he said. “We have a whole group of gay people and we have a whole group of trans people welcome.”

“The rabbi’s thing is no one should ever feel bullied, no one should ever feel excluded,” Rosenfeld said. “Be you. Be a proud Jew and be you.”

Rosenfeld’s “not a coming out piece” is significant and part of a broader recent pattern, according to Rabbi Steve Greenberg, the founding director of Eshel, an advocacy organization for LGBTQ Orthodox Jews and their families.

“You used to leave. Coming out meant [you] had to go. Because you could either stay and be silent, or speak up and leave,” Greenberg said. “What has begun to change the story is people insisting on not choosing between their religious identities and their queer identities and insisting on staying in Orthodox communities.”

The Variety piece comes at a time of tension around LGBTQ inclusion in Modern Orthodoxy. Yeshiva University — where Rosenfeld studied at the Belz Cantorial School of Music — has made headlines for fighting for the right not to recognize an LGBTQ student club. This month, a synagogue affiliated with the Modern Orthodox flagship also made news for its treatment of a transgender congregant; Yeshiva’s top Jewish law authority said she could no longer pray there.

The episode ignited strong feelings for Rosenfeld.

“To torture someone like that, somebody who’s religious, who’s keeping the mitzvahs, who’s teaching, who’s doing that,

and to open that up and to do what they did is so terrible,” Rosenfeld said. “It’s so, so terrible. That’s the only thing I can tell you.”

For Rosenfeld, there’s no tension between Jewish observance and being gay — although his articulation of why reveals an awareness of the pain that others might feel in trying.

“Being gay, you can keep Shabbos, you can keep kosher, you can keep anything you want to do,” he said. “You can learn Talmud, you can learn Torah, the only thing you can’t do is kill yourself. You can’t die by suicide. That’s not even on the table as an option.”

When Rosenfeld shared the Variety article on his Instagram page, the vast majority of the nearly 800 comments left by fans and friends showed support for his public embrace of his gay identity.

“It’s amazing that you announce that you are gay,” one fan wrote. “You are an example to all the Jews struggling with their gayness. You are a role model to me. Cheers.”

Rosenfeld doesn’t anticipate that the Variety article will lose him any gigs. If anything, he says, it might actually increase his audience. Since he has started adding gay material to his repertoire, his audiences have been increasingly LGBTQ, like at some of the “Holidazed” shows he performed in December at Sony Hall in New York.

Still, he noted, “onstage, I’m more Jewish than I am gay.” Greenberg, the executive director of Eshel, said Rosenfeld’s commitment to Orthodox ideas and practices could work in his favor.

“Maybe some of those organizations that have hired him before will actually think this is an even more important reason to have him,” Greenberg postulated. “Some people will see this as a kind of affirmative step that you don’t have to abandon your religious identity because you’re gay.”

It’s an idea that is central to one of Rosenfeld’s signature jokes. For him, being Jewish means praying with tefillin every day, eating kosher food and observing Shabbat — while also being married to his husband. “I always say: the Jewish people — we’re not the chosen people, we’re the choosing people,” Rosenfeld said. “Being Jewish is a lifestyle — like Equinox.” This article was edited for length. Read more at www. omahajewishpress.com.

Comedian Modi Rosenfeld on stage.

Credit: Rosenfeld

Synagogues

B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

618 Mynster Street

Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766

712.322.4705 www.cblhs.orb

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

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY:

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 rbjh.com

TEMPLE ISRAEL

Union for Reform Judaism (URJ)

13111 Sterling Ridge Drive Omaha, NE 68144-1206

402.556.6536 templeisraelomaha.com

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY:

TIFERETH ISRAEL

Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

3219 Sheridan Boulevard Lincoln, NE 68502-5236

402.423.8569 tiferethisraellincoln.org

B’NAI ISRAEL

Monthly Speaker Series Service, Friday, Feb. 10, 7:30 p.m. with our guest speaker. Our service leader is Larry Blass. Everyone is always welcome at B’nai Israel!

For information on COVID-related closures and about our historic synagogue, please contact Howard Kutler at hkutler@hotmail.com or any of our other board members: Scott Friedman, Rick Katelman, Janie Kulakofsky, Howard Kutler, Carole and Wayne Lainof, Mary-Beth Muskin, Debbie Salomon and Sissy Silber. Handicap Accessible.

BETH EL

Services conducted by Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman.

VIRTUAL AND IN-PERSON MINYAN SCHEDULE: Mornings on Sundays, 9:30 a.m.; Mondays and Thursdays, 7 a.m.; Evenings on Sunday-Thursday, 5:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: Pre-Neg & Tot Shabbat, 5:30 p.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat 6 p.m. at Beth El & Live Stream.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Shira, 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Jr. Congregation 10 a.m.; Havdalah, 6:20 p.m. Zoom Only.

SUNDAY: Hamantashen Bake, 9 a.m.; BESTT (Grades K-7), 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10 a.m.; USY Board Meeting, noon.

TUESDAY: Pirkei Avot, 11:30 a.m. with Rabbi Abraham at Beth El & Live Stream.

WEDNESDAY: BESTT (Grades 3-7), 4:15 p.m.; Hebrew High (Grades 8-12), 6 p.m.

FRIDAY-Feb. 10: Gesher Kinnus in Kansas City (Grades 6-8) thru Feb. 12; Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. at Beth El & Live Stream.

SATURDAY-Feb. 11: Shabbat Shira, 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Jr. Congregation 10 a.m.; Havdalah, 6:30 p.m. Zoom Only. Please visit bethel-omaha.org for additional information and service links.

BETH ISRAEL

FRIDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, 5:24 p.m.; Candlelighting, 5:25 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat 10:45 a.m.; Mincha 5:10 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity, 5:40 p.m.; Havdalah, 6:28 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit 9 a.m.; Daf Yomi 4:50 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 5:30 p.m.; Tu B’Shevat Seder, 6 p.m.

MONDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Daf Yomi 4:50 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 5:30 p.m.

TUESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Parsha Class for 4th-8th graders, 3:45 p.m. at FJA; Daf Yomi, 4:50 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 5:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Daf Yomi 4:50 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 5:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Daf Yomi 4:50 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv 5:30 p.m.; Parsha Class 6 p.m.

FRIDAY-Feb. 10: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, 5:33 p.m.; Candlelighting, 5:34 p.m.

SATURDAY-Feb. 11: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:45 a.m.; Mincha, 5:20 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity 5:50 p.m.; Havdalah, 6:36 p.m.

Please visit orthodoxomaha.org for additional information and Zoom service links.

CHABAD HOUSE

All services are in-person. All classes are being offered in-person and via Zoom (ochabad.com/academy). For more information or to request help, please visit www.ochabad.com or call the office at 402.330.1800.

FRIDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 5 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ochabad.com/Lech ayim; Candlelighting, 5:25 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 6:27 p.m.

SUNDAY: Sunday Morning Wraps: Video Presentation, 9-9:30 a.m. and Breakfast, 9:45 a.m.

MONDAY: Shacharit 8 a.m.; Personal Parsha, 9:30 a.m.; Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Kosher Bistro Night (Italian Style), 5-7 p.m. at Chabad. Pre-order until Feb. 2 at ochabad.com/ bistro; Parsha Reading, 6 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

TUESDAY: Shacharit 8 a.m.; Hebrew Grammar, 6 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

WEDNESDAY: Shacharit 8 a.m.; Tanya Class, 9:30 a.m.; Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Hebrew Reading, 11:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

THURSDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Hebrew Reading, 11 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Talmud Study (Sanhedrin 34), noon; Hebrew Reading, 6 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Jewish Law Class, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY-Feb. 10: Shacharit 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 5 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ochabad. com/Lechayim; Candlelighting, 5:33 p.m.

SATURDAY-Feb. 11: Shacharit 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 6:35 p.m.

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: B’NAI JESHURUN & TIFERETH ISRAEL

Services facilitated by Rabbi Alex Felch.

Note: Some of our services, but not all, are now being offered in person.

FRIDAY: Shabbat Candlelighting, 5:28 p.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat Service with Rabbi Alex and music by Nathaniel and Steve Kaup with the Star CIty Kochavim, 6:30 p.m. with guest speaker: Amy Zlotsky at SST; Oneg host: SST.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex at TI; Torah Study, noon on Parashat Beshalach; Havdalah, 6:30 p.m.

SUNDAY: LJCS Classes, 9:30 a.m.; Men's Bike/Coffee Group continues to meet during the winter

months, 10:30 a.m. at Rock-N-Joe, just off of 84th and Glynoaks. For more informatoin or questions please email Al Weiss at albertw801@gmail.com; LJCS Tu Bishvat Seder/Planting, 11 a.m.; Pickleball, 3 p.m. at TI. For more information please contact Miriam Wallick by text message 402.470.2393 or email at Miriam57@aol.com. Wear comfortable clothes and appropriate footwear.

WEDNESDAY: LJCS Classes, 4:30 p.m.; Adult Ed class: The Modern History of Israel, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at SST.

FRIDAY-Feb. 10: Shabbat Candlelighting, 5:37 p.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat Service with Rabbi Alex and music by Leslie Delserone and Peter Mullin with Steve Kaup, 6:30 p.m. with guests: UNL Hillel and Sigma Alpha Mu at SST; Oneg host: SST.

SATURDAY-Feb. 11: Shabbat Morning Service 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex at TI; Torah Study, noon on Parashat Yitro; Havdalah, 6:38 p.m.

Joint Synagogue Boards Meeting, Sunday, Feb. 12, 1:30 p.m.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE

FRIDAYS: Virtual Shabbat Service, 7:30 p.m. every first and third of the month at Capehart Chapel. Contact TSgt Jason Rife at OAFBJSLL@icloud.com for more information.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME

The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home’s service is currently closed to visitors.

TEMPLE ISRAEL

In-person and virtual services conducted by Rabbi Batsheva Appel, Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin, and Cantor Joanna Alexander

FRIDAY: Drop in Mah Jongg, 9-11 a.m.; Shabbat Shira/Regugee Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SATURDAY: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SUNDAY: Grades PreK-6, 9:30 a.m.-noon; Temple Tots Sunday, 9:30 a.m.-noon; Tu B’Shvat Seder, 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Yarn It, 9 a.m.-noon In-Person; Grades 3-6, 4-6 p.m.; T’filah, 4:45 p.m.; Grades 9-12, 6-8 p.m. at Temple; Grades 7-8, 6:30-8 p.m.; Community Beit Midrash, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY: Thursday Morning Class 10 a.m. with Rabbi Azriel — In-Person & Zoom; Brooks Luncheon, 11:30 a.m. (RSVP Required)

FRIDAY-Feb. 10: Drop in Mah Jongg, 9-11 a.m.; Shabbat B’yachad Service, 6 p.m. In-Person & Zoom; Confirmation Class & Dinner, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY-Feb. 11: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. In-Person & Zoom; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. InPerson & Zoom.

Please visit templeisraelomaha.com for additional information and Zoom service links.

White supremacist Nick Fuentes returns to Twitter with antisemitic comments

PHILISSA CRAMER

JTA

The white supremacist and far-right provocateur Nick Fuentes was reinstated to Twitter on Jan. 24 and returned to the social media platform with a volley of antisemitic posts and comments, including praise for Hitler.

Fuentes is a Holocaust denier who first gained prominence after participating in the white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017 and was banned from Twitter in July 2021, amid the platform’s crackdown on far-right extremists, particularly in the wake of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He burst back onto the public stage in November, when he and Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, had dinner with former President Donald Trump shortly after Ye embarked on an antisemitic spree on social media and in interviews.

Fuentes’ reinstatement comes as Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter last year, restores the accounts of many people who had been banned for advancing far-right extremist ideas on the platform. A coterie of far-right figures, including the Jewish Republican Laura Loomer and Andrew Anglin, founder of the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website,

had publicly lobbied for Fuentes’ reinstatement after their own accounts were restored.

Fuentes made clear upon his return to Twitter that he planned to pick up where he left off, posting a series of comments reflecting the brand of antisemitism that he has continued spreading in spaces that have provided refuge for far-right extremists after Twitter and Facebook cracked down on them. (Ye, too, returned to Twitter with an allusion to his criticism over antisemitism.)

Fuentes posted a gif in which the logo of Ye’s 2024 presidential bid, which he is managing, morphs into a sign that says “DEFCON 3,” a reference to Ye’s vow to go “death con 3 on Jewish people” that prompted his first Twitter ban last year. Fuentes then held a Twitter Spaces live chat that 14,000 people attended at least part of, during which he said he backed Ye’s comments and praised Hitler multiple times. He also reportedly said that regaining his audience on Twitter would allow him to “go to war” with the Jews.

He subsequently posted a tweet with two antisemitic catchphrases alongside emojis. Both of them — “Globalist American Empire” and “Zionist Occupied Government” — are catchphrases among white supremacists who believe that the U.S. gov-

ernment is controlled by Jews.

He then shared a Politico story from Jan. 24 about how the Republican National Committee will vote soon on whether to condemn Ye, Fuentes and others for promoting antisemitism. A resolution drafted by the committee characterizes Fuentes as “laughingly comparing Jews killed at concentration camps to baking cookies in an oven,” according to Politico’s report.

Fuentes’ tweets don’t appear in Twitter searches, but his account is visible to anyone who seeks it out. He has nearly 150,000 followers on the platform. His posts on Jan. 24 received a mixture of critical and supportive replies.

Watchdog groups including the Anti-Defamation League have sharply criticized Musk for welcoming far-right extremists on Twitter. The CEO has personally responded to comments from some of those extremists questioning why more people are not seeing their posts, and on Jan. 22, the company’s new director of product management and a trusted Musk ally, Ella Crawford, tweeted, “The future of humanity depends on our ability to ensure that more conversations happen between people who disagree with each other.”

Life cycles

STEPHEN H. NEWMAN

Stephen H. Newman (Hiam Solomon ben Yehuda) passed away on Jan. 10, 2023 at age 101 in his Condominium at Delvista Towers in Aventura, FL. of natural causes of natural causes. Funeral services were held on Jan. 15, 2023 at The Beth David Memorial Gardens of Hollywood and were officated by Rabbi Johnathan Berkun of Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center.

He was preceded in death by wife, Rosalie, who passed away in 2004 and granddaughter, Stefanie Stine, who passed away in 2003.

He is survived by his daughters and sons-in-law, Arlene and David Stine of Columbus, OH, and Laurie and Steve Weiner of Gig Harbor, WA; son and daughter-in-law, Larry and Bobbi Newman of Phoenix, AZ; six grandchildren: Aaron Stine and Alyssa Kim of Chicago, IL, Joshua Stine and Nicole Friedman of Columbus, OH, Jerad and Tori Newman of Otsego, MN, Randy and Kelly Newman of Hartland, WI, Jordan Weiner of WA, Danny Weiner of WA; and five great-grandchildren: Josie Newman, Ezekiel Newman, Grayson Newman, Bree Newman, Eli Stine, and Avi Stine.

Stephen was born in Warsaw Poland on April 4, 1921. His father was named Yehuda and his mother was named Shifra and he also had two sisters. Unfortunately his entire family perished during the Holocaust and he was the only family survivor. The war interrupted his education as he was only 18 when it began. He married Rosalie Zyser in 1945 in Stuttgart Germany after the war. They met in an Allied Hospital where they fell in love and quickly married. After living in Paris for a time they returned to Stuttgart where their daughter, Arlene, was born and then they immigrated to the United States in 1949. They settled in Omaha, NE where both Stephen and Rosalie took jobs working alternate shifts, day and night to support their family. Stephen worked in a mattress company where he learned the skills of cutting and sewing and rose to management ranks. He decided to break out on his own and he opened Newman's Upholstery, which he grew

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor,

Jason Epsenhart is our Director of Facilities. He shares his thoughts about what it means to find a home in our community.

I was born in Brooklyn, NY and was blessed to be surrounded by a large and vibrant Jewish Community. My grandparents were both survivors of the Holocaust and we were taught at an early age to be proud Americans and proud Jews. We were taught how Jews have always contributed to this great country and are an important part of the American culture. It was very easy to understand in Brooklyn; we were surrounded by kosher restaurants busy with Jews and non-Jews alike. Everyone enjoyed the food, the culture and even some Yiddish phrases. It wasn’t unusual to hear Priests say oy or meshugana when something didn’t go as planned. I never feared being Jewish or felt I had to hide my identity.

When, in the 1990s, I moved to Las Vegas for work, there wasn’t much of a Jewish community there. I felt like a stranger in a strange land. My star of David was tucked in my shirt and remember not being able to buy Matzo for Passover locally. Friends would send what was needed from NY. I felt isolated from my people and all the protections I took for granted were gone. I would not discuss my religion with anyone and kept it to myself. Shabbos was celebrated at home without community. I became more aware of the threats that we face and the groups that wanted to cause us harm. I could hear my grandparents’ reminding me to be proud of being Jewish and imagined how scared they were during the war. It gave me strength to ignore the fear and carry on with life.

over the years into a thriving business. He loved helping people and often volunteered his time to a variety of organizations that supported Holocaust Survivors along with time donated to St. Vincent de Paul and Boys Town. He even donated Torah covers to Beth El Synagogue in Omaha where his family were members for many years. He was appointed an honorary Admiral in the Nebraska Navy along with many other recognitions. Stephen had a great sense of humor, a large personality, loved to dress up for parties, and was always working the room.

The family wants to thank his longtime friend Elsa Glucksberg for her support and friendship over many years. Additionally, we would like to thank Ella Khadishat and Tamar Mor for their loving care over the last year plus of his life.

All our love to our Dad Memorials may be made to the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC in Stephen's name.

MICHAEL ANDREW SKOLKIN

Michael Andrew Skolkin passed away on Jan. 25, 2023 in Omaha from quick but hard fight with cancer. Services were held Jan. 30, 2023, at Feldman Mortuary, in Denver, Colorado with burial at Rose Hill Cemetery.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Anne Skolkin.

He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Andrea; children, Marlee, Maddison and faithful dog, Bella; and cousin, Marion Wulfson.

Michael was born in Denver, grew up in Los Angeles, graduated from UCLA and later lived in Hawaii and Minnesota prior to moving to Omaha and retiring from his insurance sales career. He was a kind man with a big sense of humor that be deeply missed and treasured in his family and friends memory forever.

Memorials may be made to OneWorld Community Health Centers, 4920 South 30th Street, Omaha, NE 68107, or to the Rose Blumkin Home 323 S. 132nd Street, Omaha, NE 68154, or by planting a tree in Israel through the Jewish National Fund.

Since leaving Las Vegas, I have lived in Florida, Washington DC, Nebraska City, and Mississippi. When I left Nebraska in 2015, I missed it and wanted to come back. The feeling of community and the amazing people here made me appreciate life more. Even if I was not surrounded by a large Jewish Community in Nebraska City, I felt welcomed and I was allowed to be a proud Jew again.

I am not afraid of hate, because I am surrounded by my community. Jewish Omaha offers resources, keeps us informed, and educates us about threats and how to report them. The JCRC makes me feel safe, empowered and useful in the fight against antisemitism. The IHE keeps multiple generations aware of our painful history, but also helps guide us all for the future. The Jewish Press team reaches Jews everywhere and takes time to celebrate our achievements as a community, but also keeps us safe with critical information and advance notifications of upcoming events. James Donahue leads security for the campus. As a director I could not ask for a better person in that role. His passion and knowledge made all of us safer.

I bring this to you for no other reason than to share my thoughts with you as an Omaha Jew who is still relatively new to our community. I am home in Omaha. I am surrounded by my people, my faith, and our amazing Rabbis. This community may be small, but it is powerful and brave. It is securing a Jewish Future here in Omaha and helping Jews around the country and the world. I am a proud Omaha Jew, and here to serve my community. Mom, Grandma and Grandpa would be proud.

JASON EPSENHART

Documentary follows the Jewish legal fight

Continued from page 6 separation between church and state, and this is the prime example of that.

“Of course, now there are many communities joining in with Jews, but Jews are kind of the one who started this,” she added. “I think that’s really true to Jewish involvement in civil rights and human rights, and it was inspiring.”

She noted that people from across the Jewish spectrum were included in the film — which ends with a rally that includes a Havdalah, or post-Shabbat service — and that the overwhelming majority of American Jews favor abortion rights, more than any other religious group, according to studies. “Diverse Jews, different denominations,” the director said of her interview subjects. “The vast majority of Jews agree on this, from Orthodox to non-observant. There are very few Jews who will say that these bans are in line with values and law.”

Wieder, from Yeshiva University, says in the film that a minority view within Orthodox Judaism believes that “life begins at 40 days after conception,” while the majority says life begins at birth, and seemingly no Jewish religious tradition states that life begins at conception.

Eiselt, a mother of four, identifies as a Modern Orthodox Jew and is a board member of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Al-

liance, where she focuses on reproductive justice issues. She describes the group as “a feminist organization within the Orthodox space that uplifts women’s leadership and participation in Jewish ritual.”

Her first film, 93Queen, told the story of Ezras Nashim, a female ambulance corps that had to fight for acceptance in the Borough Park haredi Orthodox community.

Funding for the new film came from various film companies and philanthropic organizations, including Concordia Studios and the Sundance Institute, as well as Jewish Story Partners, the foundation backed by Steven Spielberg that launched in 2021.

The film debuted Jan. 22 — on the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling — and is showing in competition at Sundance. After that there are other plans: A “large impact campaign,” as Eiselt described it, will include screenings around the country, including with “Jewish groups, political groups, and reproductive rights groups.”

“Whatever communities you’re in, women are having abortions,” Eiselt said. “Whether they’re mothers, not mothers, whether they have five children, no children. This is part of women’s health care, so it affects everybody and in certain communities, such as more Orthodox communities where I come from, people don’t really talk about it, but it happens commonly.”

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Michael Twitty’s Koshersoul, a memoir of food and identity, named Jewish book of the year

ANDREW LAPIN

JTA

Koshersoul, chef Michael W. Twitty’s memoir about his career fusing Jewish and African-American culinary histories, was named the Jewish book of 2022 by the Jewish Book Council.

Subtitled The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew, Twitty’s book provides “deep dives into theology, identity, and, of course, food — giving readers the impetus to reflect on their heritage and religion in a new way,” the council said in naming Koshersoul the Everett Family Foundation Book of the Year.

The winners of the 72nd National Jewish Book Awards were announced Wednesday at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan as part of its inaugural Books That Changed My Life festival.

Dani Shapiro won her second National Jewish Book Award, and her first JJ Greenberg Memorial Award for Fiction, for her novel Signal Fires. Her first novel in 15 years traces the effects of a fatal car crash on a family over a 50-year time span.

Ashley Goldberg won the Goldberg Prize for Debut Fiction with his novel Abomination, about a scandal at a Jewish day school and the paths taken in its aftermath by two of its students, one secular and one religious. Miriam Ruth Black won The Miller Family Book Club Award for her novel Shayna, a novel of early 20th-century immigrants set in a shtetl and New York’s Lower East Side.

In other nonfiction categories, Michael Frank was the win-

ner in both the new Holocaust Memoir category and the Sephardic Culture category for his book One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World. The book is based on his conversations with Levi, a Holocaust survivor

Auschwitz to Warn the World, about Rudolf Vrba, whose eyewitness report of the death camp was largely ignored by the various allied government officials who read it. Kenneth B. Moss’ An Unchosen People: Jewish Political Reckoning in Interwar Poland, won the Gerrard and Ella Berman Memorial Award in history.

Danya Ruttenberg’s On Repentance and Repair, a rabbi’s rumination on apologies and forgiveness in contemporary culture, won the Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice Award.

The council also honored Ellen Frankel, who served as the editor in chief and CEO of the Jewish Publication Society for 18 years, with its Mentorship Award in Honor of Carolyn Starman Hessel — given in honor of the council’s longtime director, who retired in 2014. Frankel, who herself stepped down in 2009, was cited for mentoring authors, staff and students at the Philadelphia-based publisher, as well as championing women scholars.

Other winners include:

The inaugural Hebrew Fiction in Translation Jane Weitzman Award: Mayan Eitan, Love (self-translated)

Children’s Picture Book Tracy and Larry Brown Family Award: Shoshana Nambi, The Very Best Sukkah: A Story from Uganda, illustrated by Moran Yogev

who remembers the once-vibrant Sephardic Jewish community that had thrived on Rhodes, an island in the Aegean Sea.

American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York, by Nomi M. Stolzenberg and David N. Myers, won for best book in American Jewish studies.

Jonathan Freedland won the Biography Award and Holocaust Award for The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of

Young Adult Literature Award: Susan Wider, It’s My Whole Life: Charlotte Salomon: An Artist in Hiding During World War II Middle Grade Literature Award: Stacy Nockowitz, The Prince of Steel Pier

Jane and Stuart Weitzman Family Award for Food Writing and Cookbooks: Benedetta Jasmine Guetta, Cooking alla Giudia Berru Poetry Award in Memory of Ruth and Bernie Weinflash: Sean Singer, Today in the Taxi

Koshersoul, chef Michael W. Twitty’s memoir about his career fusing Jewish and African-American culinary histories, was named the Jewish book of 2022 by the Jewish Book Council. Credit: Clay Williams