March 17, 2017

thejewishpress AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA

this week

WWW.JEWISHOMAHA.ORG

SponSoREd BY tHE BEnjAMin And AnnA E. WiESMAn FAMiLY EndoWMEnt Fund

Remembering the Holocaust, one witness at a time

MARCH 1 7 , 2 0 1 7 | 1 9 AD AR 5 7 7 7 | V O L. 9 7 | NO . 2 3 | 2 SECT IO NS | C A nd LELi g H ti ng | FRID AY , MARCH 1 7 , 7 : 1 5 P. M.

Jason Gewirtz presents the story of the IDF’s most elite unit page A6

Israeli teens to visit Omaha pages A7, A8, A9 & A11

A

Magda Brown Liz FELdStERn Executive Director, IHE s previously covered in the Jewish Press, the testimony of Holocaust survivor, Marion Blumenthal Lazan, will be shared with the public on Tuesday, March 28 at 7 p.m.

Robbie Waisman

Sonia Warshawski

at Countryside Community Church.

That event is a collaboration with the Center for Faith Studies and is free and open to the public.

The talk at Countryside will be the public face of this year’s Week of Understanding program. Week of Understanding was created seven years ago in

partnership with the Omaha Public Schools, in order to create the opportunity for students in middle schools and high schools across Nebraska to host a Holocaust survivor or U.S. military liberator and learn from their experiences first-hand.

See Remembering the Holocaust page A2

Enslaved comes to UNO

PJ Library Pre-Purim Bash page B3

Yom HaShoah

Ela Weissberger

inside Viewpoint Synagogues Life cycles

12 14 15

CuRtiS Hutt The eighteenth annual Leonard and Shirley Goldstein Lecture on Human Rights, organized by the Religious Studies department at UNO, will be held on Thursday April 6 at 7 p.m. at the Barbara

Weitz Community Engagement Center. The 2017 lecture will be given by the international humanitarian photographer Lisa Kristine.

In addition to bringing Lisa Kristine to Omaha, the organizing committee will also be putting on display at UNO her highly acclaimed photography exhibition Enslaved: A Visual Story of Modern Slavery. Fresh off showings at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and the National Civil Rights Museum, Enslaved will be housed from March 23 to May 19 in the Dr. C. C. and Mabel L. Criss Library and the Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center at See Enslaved page A3

AnnEttE vAn dE KAMp-WRigHt Editor of the Jewish Press The 2017 Community Yom HaShoah Commemoration is scheduled for Wednesday, April 26 at 7 p.m. Host this year is Beth Israel Synagogue. As always, Liz Feldstern, Executive Director of the Institute for Holocaust Education, in collaboration with all three synagogues, is putting in her time and effort to ensure everything will run smoothly.

A volunteer committee made up of community members, with Debbie Kricsfeld as Chair, is helping take care of the details.

Rabbi Ari Dembitzer and Mary Sue Grossman, Beth Israel Executive Director, are selecting cere-

mony readings while Temple Israel Program Director Scott Littky and Beth El Hazzan Michael Krausman are in charge of musical accompaniment. Overseeing the candle lighting ceremony are Caryn Scheer and Debbie Kricsfeld, Survivor transportation is being arranged by Janie Murow, Joye Wees and Shelly Fox. Karen Cohen will oversee the lobby decorations and Friedel Jewish Academy Head of School Beth Cohen, together with Beth El’s Director of Congregational Learning Eadie Tsabari, is in charge of Youth music.

“The annual Yom HaShoah Commemoration is a meaningful event for our community,” Liz See Yom HaShoah page A2

A2 | The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017

TIME TO SELL!

Inventory is scarce and there are plenty of buyers looking to purchase. Don’t hesitate!

Give us a call and we would be happy to do a market analysis on your home, help with staging, and get it on the market for you.

With more than 100 years of experience we have the skills and knowledge to exceed your highest expectations.

Marty Cohen

Alan Cohen

Anne Cohen

402-690-1591

402-677-2524

402-850-4161

Associated Counseling P ro f e s s i o n a l s G l e n F i n e m a n , L I C S W, L I M H P C l i n i c a l S o c i a l Wo r ke r

Family & Children Issues Marriage Counseling Depression, Anxiety & Family Problems Grief & Loss

2255 So. 132nd Street | Suite 200 | Omaha 402-334-1122 | fax: 402-334-8171 www.acpcounseling.com

Medicine Man Pharmacy

Get ready for Passover We carry a large selection of wines

We will price match any advertised competitor’s prices/coupons.

t o g e v ’ e W rcure! you 132nd & Dodge 402-496-9757

Mayoral Forum

Scott Littky Program Director, Temple Israel on Sunday, March 5, Heath Mello, candidate for mayor of omaha, presented his views for the future of omaha. over 70 people were in attendance.

Remembering the Holocaust

continued from page A1 Between March 27 and 31, the IHE has arranged 25 speaking engagements that will reach some 5,000 students.

Some of these engagements will take place with local speakers such as Dr. Tom Jaeger, Dr. Fred Kader, Marcel Kahn, Bea Karp, Kitty Williams, and U.S. Army Liberator, Col. Roy Long. To learn more about these and other local survivors, you can check out the “Nebraska Survivor Stories” section on the IHE website, or tour the Pennie Z. Davis Gallery on the JCC Campus.

Other schools will welcome Holocaust survivors who have agreed to travel to Omaha especially for the Week of Understanding program. The guests who will be joining us in 2017 will be: Marion Blumenthal Lazan Following Hitler’s rise to power, the Blumenthal family -father, mother, Marion, and her brother, Albert -- were trapped in Nazi Germany. They managed eventually to get to Holland, but soon thereafter it was occupied by the Nazis. For the next six and a half years the Blumenthals were forced to live in refugee, transit, and prison camps that included Westerbork in Holland and the notorious BergenBelsen in Germany. Though they all survived the camps, Walter Blumenthal, Marion’s father, succumbed to typhus just after liberation.

It took three more years of struggle and waiting before Marion, Albert, and their mother at last obtained the necessary papers and boarded a ship for the United States. Marion started school in Peoria, IL, at the age of 13, and without a word of English. After graduating from high school, she married Nathaniel, a US Air Force pilot. Marion is the author of Four Perfect Pebbles and frequently travels to speak about her experiences.

Robbie Waisman Robbie was born in Skarzysko, Poland, in 1931 to a closeknit and observant, Jewish family. When the Holocaust struck, his entire family was murdered except for one sister, Leah. He managed to survive the Holocaust in various concentration camps as a slave laborer in ammunition factories.

The American Army liberated Robbie from Buchenwald on April 11, 1945. He spent the next four years in France where he caught up on his schooling and rehabilitation.

In 1949, Robbie was sent to Calgary as a war orphan.

There he eventually started a family and led a successful career. Today, Robbie gives a great deal of his time to Holocaust Education speaking to thousands of students every year about his experiences in the Holocaust. He also lent his quiet dignity to two documentaries, Children of the Storm and The Boys of Buchenwald.

Sonia Warshawski Sonia Warshawski grew up in Międzyrzec, Poland. She was 17 years old in 1942, when the Germans forced her and her family into the ghetto where she worked as a slave laborer.

When the ghetto was liquidated, Sonia and her mother were deported to the Majdanek death camp. Her mother did not survive. Sonia was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and then to Bergen-Belsen where the British liberated her. At the Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp she met her husband John. The couple came to Kansas City in 1948. She is the subject of the recently released documentary, “Big Sonia”.

Magda Brown Magda is from Miskolc, Hungary. She grew up in a safe, loving home and enjoyed a normal childhood. After German troops occupied Budapest, Magda and her family were sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland. After arriving, Magda was separated from her mother, father, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was the last time she saw them -- they were sent directly into the gas chambers. After two months, Magda was “selected” to be

sent to a work camp. At the end of March 1945, Magda was sent on a death march to Buchenwald. Magda and several prisoners decided that they were going to attempt to escape.

They hid in a nearby barn for almost two days until American soldiers discovered Magda and the other women and liberated them. Extended family members welcomed Magda into their home in Chicago in September 1946.

Magda is a member of the Speaker’s Bureau of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.

Agnes Schwartz Agnes is from Budapest, Hungary. Upon occupation by Nazi forces in 1944, she was forced to move into a ghetto. At 10 years old, the family maid (Julia Balazs) took Agnes in as her “niece” who was “fleeing from the Russian army”. During Allied bombings, Agnes was sent underground to hide for months. Agnes’ father was saved by Raoul Wallenberg and hidden in one of his safe houses. Her grandmother, grandfather, and aunt were drowned in the Danube. Her mother was deported and perished at Bergen-Belsen. Agnes now lives in Skokie, IL, where she is an active volunteer and speaker at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center.

Week of Understanding is an effort to maximize the opportunity for Nebraskans to hear from Holocaust survivors and liberators while these eye-witnesses are still among us. The program is made possible by generous support from Omaha Public Schools, Wahoo Public Schools, and the Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Supporting Foundation (of the JFOF).

yom HaShoah

continued from page A1 Feldstern said, “and becomes even more meaningful when we all work together. Having so many people from the different segments of our community as well as all synagogues represented in both the committee as well as the actual event is tremendously important.”

Take, for instance, the Youth Program.

“Having different generations represented is essential,” Feldstern says. “In addition to teaching our youth, it is important to remember the Holocaust. We welcome the opportunity to pair some of our survivors with our youth. Because they spend time together, they make a more personal connection.”

The youth program includes grades 8-12 and begins at 5:30 p.m. This year the program invites all children of Holocaust survivors (2G’s) to attend the Youth program and help facilitate small group discussions between the teens and our local survivors.

Tentative guest speaker this year is Ela Weissberger, who is the last remaining survivor of the original Brundibar cast in Theresienstadt. Some of you may have met Ela in 2009, when she came to Omaha for the Brundibar performances at the Rose Theater, organized by Opera Omaha and the Institute for Holocaust Education.

Ela Weissberger was born in June of 1930 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. At the age of eleven, Ela, her sister Ilona and their mother were sent to Terezin. While much was forbidden in Terezin, many art forms were allowed and Ela created several drawings depicting life in Terezin.

Some of these drawings will be on display in the lobby of Beth Israel on Yom HaShoah.

Ela is a wonderful speaker, and we are looking forward to an incredible experience sharing her story with the community.

For more information about this year’s Yom HaShoah, please contact Liz Feldstern at lfeldstern@jewishoma ha.org.

B’nai Israel speaker series

T

he professional staff at The Jewish Federation of Omaha is trending younger and the “baby of the bunch” will be our April 14 speaker. Come join us to hear from Nate Shapiro. He might be the baby by age, but mature by his experiences in the Jewish world. After growing up in Wayne, NE, Nate enrolled at University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Part way through UNL, he made a major decision to delay his formal education and join the Israel Defense Forces as a “Lone Soldier”.

We were fortunate to hear about Nate’s IDF experience when he spoke at one of last year’s High Holy Day services. After ending his IDF program, Nate returned to Lincoln and received his Bachelor’s degree Nate Shapiro in English and Judaic Studies. During that time, he taught in Lincoln’s Jewish Community School, the joint program of Tifereth Israel and Congregation B’nai Jeshurun. After graduation, Nate worked for Developmental Services of Nebraska from 2011-2014. He joined United Way in Omaha in 2014 and in the spring of 2016 replied to an internet posting for a development position at the Jewish Federation. Besides his development work at the Federation, Nate coordinates “Young Jewish Omaha”, the “Partnership with Israel” program and other areas. In conjunction with “Partnership”, he recently returned from Israel and will discuss his trip and other areas of concentration. For directions to B’nai Israel, call Marty Ricks at 402.301.4038 or email him at omaharicks@yahoo.com.

The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017 | A3

Enslaved

community

Continued from page A1 UNO. During the almost two months that the exhibition will be at UNO, over two dozen affiliated events sponsored by academic units at UNO and community partners related to the topic of slavery will be held. A full list of events and associated sponsors can be found below.

Lisa Kristine is more than just a photographer. She is a unique storyteller who has documented in dramatic images the lives of oftentimes ignored people from over 100 countries across the world. Her art always supports important social causes and the Enslaved exhibition coming to UNO is no exception. Kristine has worked on the topic of modernday slavery across the globe for several years. Enslaved provides a gripping visual story of the lives behind the most vulnerable suffering this grave abuse of human rights. The victims documented in the photography show labor in mines and fields, brothels and construction projects. A few find their way to freedom. Several of the images in the photography exhibition have attained iconic status. Many of them are disturbing. Lisa Kristine has published five books.

Four documentaries have been made about her work and she has been honored by the United Nations, Pope Francis, the Dalai Llama, and Amnesty International amongst others. The Oscar award winning movie SOLD, released in 2014, includes a character inspired by Lisa Kristine and played by Gillian Anderson of X-Files fame. Kristine’s collaborations with the NGO Free the Slaves have shined a light on contemporary slavery from Asia to Africa to the United States.

The Goldstein Lecture on Human Rights has an almost twenty-year history. In addition to bringing scholars and public figures like Kenneth Roth, Natan Sharansky, Winona LaDuke, and Temple Grandin to UNO, it has served as a staging ground for an even more impactful faculty-led initiative related to human rights education on campus. Last

year, a new minor in Human Rights was established in the College of Arts and Sciences. Presently, the Religious Studies department at UNO is hiring a tenure track position in religion and human rights who will become the first Goldstein Family Community Chair in Human Rights. The 2017 Goldstein Lecture on Human Rights, given by Lisa Kristine, will be at the Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center on April 6 at 7 p.m.

Tours of the Enslaved exhibit are also available upon request. To learn more or to schedule a tour, contact Crystal Sierra at crystalsierra@unomaha.edu. Self-guided tours are also available anytime during regular business hours.

UNO’s Criss Library, which will house most of the exhibit, is open Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 12 a.m., Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 12 a.m. The Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center is open Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The exhibition has several co-sponsors including the The Goldstein Lecture on Human Rights (UNO Religious Studies Department); The College of Arts and Sciences; Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center; Dr. C. C. and Mabel L. Criss Library; Suburban Rotary of Omaha; and, Humanities Nebraska.

Jewish Press readers, If you do business with any of our advertisers, please tell them you saw their ad in the Jewish Press. It really helps us!

The father-daughter bond is a close one; you two can talk about anything. Don’t let discussing retirement living put an end to that. We’ll provide information and advice to make the conversation a little bit easier. See where the conversation goes. You might just find a place uniquely your own. Give us a call at 402-691-8434 or visit Immanuel.com

You’ve had plenty of awkward conversations.

What’s one more?

Affiliated with the Nebraska Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

a4 | The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017

community

Three Rabbis to inspire teens at Young Jewish Giving event

danieLLe GOrdMan Young Jewish Giving B’nai Tzedek Program Director Rabbis Steven Abraham, Aryeh Azriel and Ari Dembitzer will conduct a fun and lively discussion with teens at the March 21 Young Jewish Giving event. Tzedakah and tikkun olam will be the focus, but with these three who knows where the conversation will go! All teens in grades 7-12 are invited to attend, whether or not they have a Young Jewish Giving account.

The event is free, but reservations are required as dinner will be provided.

Dinner begins at 6 p.m. with the discussion following at 6:30 p.m.

Due to a scheduling conflict, Michael Staenberg will now speak at the Young Jewish Giving year-end Giving Shuk (market) on tuesday, april 25 at 6 p.m. in the JCC Auditorium. The Giving Shuk will provide teens the opportunity to visit with various non-profit organizations, learn about their programs and make their annual contribution. The addition of Michael Staenberg to the evening will surely add inspiration and encouragement for the teens. This event is also free and open to all teens in grades 7-12. about Young Jewish Giving The goal of Young Jewish Giving is to engage and empower teens to change the world through philanthropy, by establishing individual giving accounts and through educational events. Through fun, social, energetic and insightful programming we hope to create a commitment to life-long giving and a love of the Jewish mitzvah of tzedakah. Each student can open their own fund with a contribution of $125, which will be triple matched by the community with an additional $375 for a fund total of $500. Through Young Jewish Giving, our teens will learn how to make informed decisions about charitable giving and deepen their commitment to social and Jewish values by actually becoming donors to charitable causes.

Organizations

B’nai B’rith BreadBreakers

a representative from israel will discuss the great economic miracle of the “Start Up Nation.” How is it that Israel, started 69 years ago, has economically surpassed almost all the Arab countries in the Middle East? The details are fascinating on Wednesday, March 22, noon. For more information or to be placed on the email list call 402.334.6443 or bnaibrith@jewishomaha.org.

d

Beth el presents JewAsian authors Ozzie nOGG

A 2007 interview in the Times of Israel described how uring the weekend of Friday, March 31 the Jewish-American Leavitt and the Korean-American through Sunday, April 2, Beth El Synagogue Kim -- by then married and soon to become parents to will host Helen Kiyong Kim and her husband, the first of their two children -- began to notice that it Noah Samuel Leavitt, the leading, and virtuseemed not a week went by without at least one Asianally only, experts on Asian-Jewish intermarJewish couple appearing in the New York Times wedding riage in the United States. “We’re happy to have Kim and announcements section. When Facebook’s Jewish founder Leavitt as our Scholarsand CEO Mark Zuckerin-Residence to discuss berg wed Chinese-Amertheir new book, Jewican physician Priscilla Asian: Race, Religion, Chan in 2012, Asianand Identity for America’s Jewish marriages weren’t Newest Jews,” said Rabbi so unusual, and many Steven Abraham. “The pundits found no reason book explores whether to even mention the marriages between Jews inter-ethnic aspect of the and Asians is becoming a union. As academics, trend, what draws these Kim and Leavitt took couples together, and note of this absence of how they decide to raise exploration of the subject their children. The topic of Jewish-Asian couples, is timely, and Kim and despite there already Leavitt are engaging prebeing a significant senters.” amount of sociological On Friday night, literature on intermarMarch 31, at 5:15 p.m., a riage in general.

Pre-Neg with appetizers Since that ah-HA moin the Community Court ment, Kim and Leavitt will be followed by Kabhave published two studbalat Shabbat services at ies on Asian-Jewish fam6 p.m. led by BESTT stuilies: the first focusing on dents. Following servcouples, the second on ices, Kim and Leavitt will noah Leavitt and helen kim, authors of JewAsian, with their children grown children of Asiandiscuss The Making of Je- ari and talia.

Jewish parents. The work wAsian. Tot Shabbat will run concurrently, and babysitdeals with the everyday lives of Jewish-American and ting plus child-appropriate programming is available by Asian-American couples and the decisions they make in reservation. terms of racial, ethnic, cultural and religious identities as On Saturday, April 1, Shabbat morning services start at they raise their children, how the grown children of such 9:30 a.m. Kim and Leavitt will address A Deep Dive into families perceive their own Jewish identities, and what all Pew - What Have We Learned Two Years Later? and also this means for the American Jewish community as a participate in a Q & A during a light Shabbat Kiddush. whole. “The most significant thing about talking with the The learning session on Saturday evening -- Interfaith couples as well as the kids, is that these families are defiMarriage: A Blessing, not a Curse -- begins with Mincha at nitely creating Jewish homes and raising their kids as 7 p.m., followed by Ma’ariv and Havdallah. On Sunday Jews,” Kim said. “The concern always raised with intermorning, April 2, Kim and Leavitt will explore Instilling marriage is about Judaism disappearing. That’s definitely Jewish Identity in Children. The session begins at 11:15 not happening for the couples and the adult kids that a.m. and is part of Beth El’s Sunday Speakers Series. we’ve talked to.”

Helen Kim and Noah Leavitt met in 1997 as graduate stu“We are both immersed in a liberal arts college where dents in the Division of Social Sciences at the University of students are highly concerned with the question of idenChicago. Kim is currently an Associate Professor of Socioltity,” Leavitt said. “Many of our students are multiracial ogy, and Leavitt an Associate Dean of Students at Whitman and multicultural, and are also looking ahead to how they College in Walla Walla, Washington, where they live with will create their own households that will likely involve see JewAsian page a5 their 8-year-old son, Ari, and 5-year-old daughter, Talia.

TONI ROSEN

CERTIFIED RESIDENTIAL SPECIALIST

402.630.8664

ToniRosen@cbshome.com

NatioNal

SIDING AND WINDOWS

Hail damage specialist Free Estimates Roofing Siding | Windows | Gutters Mike Sadofsky

402.672.8171 nationalsiding@gmail.com

The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017 | A5

Second Seder at Temple Israel ScoTT LITTky Program Director, Temple Israel A highlight each year in the programming calendar of Temple Israel is our annual 2nd Night Passover Seder to be held, Tuesday, April 11 at 5:30 p.m. This year’s Seder will be conducted by Rabbi Darryl Crystal, Rabbi Deanna Sussman Berezin and Cantor Wendy Shermet.

We hope that you join us for our family friendly Passover Seder with delicious food, thought provoking discussion, joyful song and activities for children. The Passover Seder is one of the Jewish peoples’ most treasured traditions. To this day, in every corner of the world, Jewish families come together to reconstruct that original Passover Seder, again and again, year after year. And every year, there is more to learn. We look forward to sharing this tradition with you and your family this year at Temple Israel. Dinner will include matzah ball soup, roast brisket, potato kugel, salad, chocolate-dipped macaroons for dessert, and all the traditional favorites such as charoset, gefilte fish and, of course, matzah. Kids are advised to get their detective skills ready to search for the afikoman.

Over the years, Passover Seders have held different meanings for those who have participated. One universal theme each year has been to emphasize one of the four names for Passover such as Hag ha-Herut (The Feast of Freedom). Freedom is the primary theme of the Seder, with numerous other recurring

Ben Gurion Society

themes and motifs. The Seder permits Jews to worship God through prayer, study and learning by taking part in what is essentially a lesson of Jewish history, literature and reli-

ARE YOU A SNOW BIRD AND READY TO MIGRATE? Let ME help you find your next winter rental or your new second home!!!!! gion. Participation in the Seder lets one symbolically and vicariously relive the Exodus, where past and present merge. During our meal this year we will be sharing stories of freedom and participants will be able to discuss different ways that they can get involved in helping to secure freedom for all.

Reservations are a must! Please contact the Temple Israel office RSVP@templeisr aelomaha.com or 402.556.6536, by Monday, April 3, to reserve your seats. Cost of the dinner is: $27 for adults, $14 for children ages 6-12, and no charge for children ages five and under. After April 3, the cost of the dinner is: $37 for adults, $24 for children 6-12, and no charge for children ages five and under. Your payment will serve as your reservation confirmation.

"GUFS MJWJOH JO 0NBIB GPS NPTU PG NZ MJGF NZ GBNJMZ BOE * IBWF SFDFOUMZ SFMPDBUFE UP 1IPFOJY "SJ[POB * IBWF WJTJUFE UIF 1IPFOJY BSFB GPS PWFS ZFBST BOE BN WFSZ GBNJMJBS XJUI UIF EJòFSFOU SFBM FTUBUF BSFBT *G ZPV QMBO PO NPWJOH UP UIF 1IPFOJY BSFB GVMM UJNF * XPVME MPWF UP IFMQ ZPV HFU BDRVBJOUFE XJUI UIF BSFB *O BEEJUJPO JG ZPV BMSFBEZ IBWF B TFDPOE IPNF IFSF * DBO IFMQ ZPV NBOBHF ZPVS IPVTF JO UIF NPOUIT ZPV BSFOhU IFSF * IBWF B SFBM FTUBUF MJDFOTF JO "SJ[POB BOE JO /FCSBTLB 1MFBTF HJWF NF B DBMM XJUI BOZ SFBM FTUBUF OFFET ZPV NJHIU IBWF OFFET

$ &NBJM PQTDKFò!BPM DPN

Please join us for cocktails and appetizers as we celebrate current and potential Ben Gurion Society members in our community.

Saturday, March 25 from 7:30-9:30 p.m., Danny Cohn and Andrew Miller invite you to their home at 11330 Pine Plaza. RSVP to Louri Sullivan at lsulli van@jewishomaha.org or call 402.334.6485.

The Ben Gurion Society is a national donor recognition society for young adults ages 25-45, who make a contribution of $1,000 or more to their local Jewish Federation as a sign of their commitment to leadership in the community.

JewAsian

continued from page A4 racial and ethnic mixing.

There are assumptions out there that mixed race kids who ‘don’t look Jewish’ don’t have a robust Jewish identity and practice,� Leavitt said. “This is wrong.� “There’s been a generational shift,� Kim added. “Today’s young adults don’t let people’s questioning the authenticity of their Jewish identity discourage them.

They are proudly and actively Jewish. On a community level, we hope JewAsian will foster or be part of a continuing conversation on racial difference within the American Jewish population and the need for inclusivity, especially in terms of Jews of color.� Anna Stockily Weir, Publicist at the University Press, publishers of JewAsian, said, “Noah and Helen are exceptionally dedicated.

Their book is thoroughly researched and

well-organized. They go above and beyond to share their findings with the world, and they live their research every day.�

For a fun infographic on JewAsian, visit https:// unpblog.com/ 2016/09/ 07/infogra phic-factsand-points-from-jewasian/ Pre-orders of the book are available at http://www. nebraskapress.unl. edu/product/ Jew Asian,677187.aspx The March 31-April 2 Scholar-in-Residence weekend with Helen Kim and Noah Leavitt is generously sponsored by the Isaac H. and Ruth S. Friedman Endowment Fund and the Friedman Family. All events during the weekend are offered to the community at no charge, but registration is encouraged and available on the Beth El website: www.bethel-omaha.org.

Trusted Leadership for Omaha’s Future

www.JeanStothert.com | Paid for by Jean Stothert for Omaha Committee | 440 Regency Parkway, Ste. 132 | Omaha, NE 68114

a6 | The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017

Jason Gewirtz presents the story of the IDF’S most elite unit

Class of 2017 HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS

High School Seniors and Parents

We will be publishing our annual High School Graduation Class pages on May 19, 2017.

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, 2017.

High School Senior Information

________________________________________________________________________ Name ________________________________________________________________________ Parent(s)’ Name(s) ________________________________________________________________________ Current High School ________________________________________________________________________ College you plan to attend Send by May 1, 2017 to: The Jewish Press | 333 So. 132 St. | Omaha, NE 68154

Mark kIrchhoFF Program and Communications Assistant In an age of increasing sophistication in technology and military weapons, just having boots on the ground, ships on the sea, and planes in the air is not sufficient. To maintain a strategic edge over the enemy, Israel has created a special, secretive IDF unit called Talpiot to meet this challenge. On Wednesday, March 29, at 7 p.m. in the Social Hall of the Jewish Community Center, former IDF soldier Jason Gewirtz will share his insights into the workings of this specialized unit by discussing his recent book, Israel’s Edge: The Story of the IDF’s Most Elite Unit – Talpiot.

In an article in The Jerusalem Post, Gewirtz explains that “Instead of being trained to fight immediately, the few soldiers each year selected for Talpiot are taught how to think. In order to join this unit they have to commit to being in the army for 10 years, rather than the three years a normal soldier serves. Talpiot members are taught advanced level physics, math and computer science as they train with soldiers from every other branch of the IDF. The result: young men and women who can take their classroom experience and combine it with battlefield experience in order to become research and development machines,” he added. New recruits take science classes at the Hebrew University for their first three years while simultaneously training with ground forces, paratroopers, naval units and the air force. After three years of this regimen, the Talpiot are matched with an opening in their area of interest and expertise. This might be in the conventional branches of service, but could be with a defense company, or potentially as an agent for the Ministry of Defense. Some work with the Israeli space industry. The areas in which they contribute are broad.

Jason Gewirtz is currently an executive producer for the business network CNBC.

He has worked as a producer at the network since 2001 and has covered Israel and Israeli business extensively for CNBC. He worked for the network from northern Israel during

Jason Gerwirtz the Second Lebanon War in 2006. He followed Warren Buffett to Tefen, a town in our Partnership2GETHER region, when the billionaire investor bought the metalworking company ISCAR from the Wertheimer family.

Jason covered the attacks from Gaza on southern Israeli towns like Sderot and examined the economic impact. He produced Beyond the Barrel: The Race to Fuel the Future, which was shot on five continents and was largely focused on several Israeli-born energy technologies. He currently produces Power Lunch which is broadcast live each day jointly from CNBC’s Global Headquarters and the New York Stock Exchange and can be seen all over the world.

Jason graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has a master’s degree from Syracuse University. He has worked extensively as a volunteer in Israel.

Gewirtz’s presentation on March 29 at 7 p.m. in the Social Hall of the Jewish Community Center is open to the public free of charge. He is coming to Omaha through the Jewish Federation of Omaha and the Jewish Book Council. Please also mark your calendars for presentations by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin on April 20 at 7 p.m. at Temple Israel and for Janice Kaplan on June 7 with time and location TBA.

Israeli teens to visit Omaha

The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017 | A7

NAte ShAPIRo In preparation for this year’s teen mission in Israel, Omaha will be hosting a delegation of 10 Israeli teens from our partnership region. We are looking for volunteers that would be interested in being involved in their visit. We are bringing them to our community because we feel it’s important to foster people-to-people connection between our teens in Omaha and teens in Israel. We also want our teens to look forward to visiting their Israeli friends in December. If you are interested in helping the Jewish Federation of Omaha with this delegation, please contact nshapiro@jewishomaha.com.

In the meantime, allow me to introduce you to the first half of this delegation.

Shalom, My name is Raz Pinto and I’m 15-and-a-half years old. I live in a small community called “Kibbutz Gesher – Haziv” in the Western Galilee and study in Sulam Zor high school which is in my Kibbutz. I major in Chemistry and Arabic.

Shalom, My name is Noam Avichay Carasenti and I live in Haifa, Israel.

I study in Ktziney Yam-Acco. It’s a nautical boarding school. My major is nautical mechanic systems. I am 16 years old. I want to be a machine engineer when I finish my military service in the navy.

My interests are: music, riding horses, and hanging out with my friends. My family is very important to me and I love them very very much.

I live with my mother and I have a sister who is older than me. Her name is Lilach and she’s 23 years old. My mother’s name is Sigal.

I don’t know my father and I didn’t grow up with him.

I came to the delegation because I think it’s important to present Israel and the population in Israel to the rest of the world. My expectations from the delegation is to meet new people and share my part to present Israel in the best way I can.

I am very excited towards our meeting.

See you soon!

Noam

Me at a family Bar Mitzvah

In my free time I like to run, do sport, and be with my friends and my family. I love spending time at the beach because it’s relaxing and it is 10 minutes’ walking from my house.

I have two younger sisters and an older one.

We are only sisters in our family.

My favorite place in Israel is the Dead Sea because the view is extraordinary and the atmosphere is relaxing.

When I will be older I want to travel the world.

See you soon, Raz

Shalom, My name is Amit Lekach. Amit in Hebrew means ‘a friend’. I am 16 years old and I live in a small community called kibbutz Rosh Hanikrah. Rosh Hanikrah is a wonderful place near the sea. I go to Sulam Tzor high school

Me, in the center, with my parents and my brother

which is in our area. I am obsessed with music! Music is basically my life, I listen to music everywhere, all the time. I like to hang out with my friends and family and watch movies and series.

I love my family. I have a twin brother and a little sister and parents whom I love. I am the oldest of my siblings.

I major in Electronics and Arabic in school.

My favorite place in Israel is the Negev, the Israeli desert. There is something in the desert, quiet and relaxing, that I like.

My goals for the delegation is to experience new things, have fun, collect memories and meet new friends.

See you soon, Amit

community ADL condemns executive order on immigration as another Muslim ban

New York, NY | March 6, 2017 The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today strongly condemned President Trump’s new executive order on immigration and refugees, saying the order was still effectively a Muslim ban that will be challenged in the courts.

“While some of the initial executive order has been revised, the message is the same: that Muslims and refugees who are fleeing for their lives are not welcome on our shores,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “To be sure, rigorous screening for everyone seeking to enter the U.S. is vital, but this order appears to be designed to exclude one religious group and is nothing less than a page taken from the anti-immigrant movement’s playbook. This is an appeal to xenophobia and fear.”

Although the executive order has slightly different language and provisions, much remains the same. It still bars all refugee resettlement for 120 days, blocks entry into the United States for people from six majority-Muslim countries for 90 days and calls for “extreme” vetting.

The 9th Circuit and other courts around the country blocked enforcement of the President’s first executive order on immigration and refugees.

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

Enterprise Bank Makes Buying Your Home Easier.

See Israeli teens page A8

We are a full service community bank that offers competitive mortgage rates.

Enterprise Bank 12800 West Center Road Omaha, NE 68144 402/330-0200 210 Regency Parkway Omaha, NE 68114 402/392-0400

www.enterprisebankomaha.com

Mortgage Loan Officers

Janet Bowie 402-898-1464

Steve Winterhof 402-829-7261

24 HOUR APPROVAL CALL TODAY!

a8 | The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017

Greetings Jewish Press readers!

community Israeli teens

continued from page a7

Shalom, My name is Ofer (in Hebrew Ofer means bambi or baby deer), I live in a small Moshav near the sea which is very close to the city of Akko. I am in 10th grade and my majors in school are biology and chemistry. I like to play with my dog, travel in Israel, play on my computer and meet with my friends.

My favorite food is basically everything, but I’m not a fan of very spicy food. I have 3 younger brothers and sisters and a dog whose name is Tyson (because when I first saw him he tried to bite my ear). Most of the time my dog is convinced that he is a cat.

I really like to watch movies; my favorites are Unbroken, The Shawshank Redemption, The Fast & The Furious (1-7 and hopefully 8), Paper Towns and others.

My plans for the future are to be a pathologist – a postmortem surgeon. My biggest hope is to own a Lycan Hyper Sport but I’m missing $3.4M. Can’t wait to see you.

Lehitraot! ofer Shalom, My name is Ya’ar Lazar. I’m 16 years old and I live in Shlomi, which is in north-west Israel. I have one older brother and one little sister.

I study in the nautical boarding school in Akko, and my major is electronics. I am very much interested in this field.

I like to travel with my family so I have visited a lot of places in Israel. My hobbies are football and playing the guitar and my favorite food is pizza and hamburger.

I joined this delegation because I like to meet new people and travel to new places.

Looking forward to seeing you!

Ya’ar Hello, My name is Efrat. I am 15 years old and I live in Acco (You probably already realized that I live in Israel...).

Life in Israel is just as yours, and I do most of the same teenager stuff. I have 3 siblings: Adva, Eldad and Orit. I’m the second of the four.

In Hebrew, all our names in our family begin with the same letter (even our last name).

I have played the clarinet for seven years, I love to travel and I’m in a youth movement that travels across the country. This year I became a counselor. I draw for fun, and I read quite a lot.

I never cut my hair unless it is to donate it to sick children. I’ve already donated my hair four times, and I plan to keep doing it as long as I can.

Looking forward to seeing you soon, efrat

see israeli teens page a9

TM

Shalom, My name is Yonatan Shemla, I’m 16 years old and looking forward to graduate high school in two years and join the military (IDF- Israel Defense Force).

my brother, sister and me in Tel aviv port.

I live in Shavey Zion in the Western Galilee.

Shavey Zion is a Moshav by the sea.

I am the oldest of three; I have one brother, Elay, and one sister, Noa. My parents named us all after characters from the bible.

I study in Manor Cabri high school, and I major in cinema and Arabic.

The main reason I joined the delegation is because I believe that the connection between the Jewish people around the world is very important. Meeting each other will help us know better about each other’s life -- the differences between us and the similarities.

My hobbies include drumming and I have been doing it for seven years. I also like to go to the cinema. As to my eating habits: I don’t like onion and garlic in my food and my favorite food is Couscous.

Lehitraot, looking forward to meeting you, Yonatan

I had the privilege of outlining the “State of the City” in front of our fellow citizens at the City Council Chamber on Feb. 18.

I am more optimistic about the future of our great city than I have ever been.

The efforts of so many community leaders and organizations in Omaha during my time as mayor has provided the foundation for much of what we have accomplished.

Omaha is stronger and safer. Our city is growing. Employment and wages are up. Construction and development are strong and our economy continues to expand.

Homicides and gun shootings are down, 56 new police officers are on the streets, city savings accounts are at record highs, budget deficits of the past have been fixed, the city property tax rate has been reduced twice, and transparency across city government has improved.

Just as importantly, we’ve dedicated the public resources necessary for more job training, enhanced summer youth employment opportunities, and more high quality affordable housing. The new Human Services Campus in North Omaha will bring needed assistance to homeless men, women and families.

In my speech, I told the public I want to increase the budget for the Step-Up summer jobs program for at-risk youth. This is a wonderful program that invests in our young people.

Over the next four years, I look forward to leading efforts to further enhance public safety, significantly increase our funding for critical infrastructure and street repair, and implement improved public transportation options. In addition, we will provide more support for neighborhood initiatives, complete numerous high-profile and exciting development projects, and support entrepreneurship and small business.

Omaha is a caring and generous community and I enjoy working with so many dedicated community leaders and volunteers.

During the last four years, I have had many opportunities to learn about and support efforts important to the Jewish Community. Thank you for including me in events for B’nai B’rith and the Chabad House.

I am proud to support the Tri-Faith Initiative and the work being done to improve interfaith understanding and promote shared values.

I also appreciate having the opportunity to outline my vision for a stronger, safer, and more supportive city over the next four years in this publication.

It is an honor and privilege to serve as the mayor of Omaha and I respectfully ask for your support this spring for second term. Thank you.

Jean stothert, mayor of omaha PAID ADVERTISEMENT

To submiT announcemenTs

Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press at jpress@jewish omaha.org; faxed to 402.334.5422, or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154. Readers can also submit announcements -- births, b’nai mitzvahs, engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies or obituaries -- online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements.

SCHWALB REALTY Luxury apartments, duplexes and townhome rentals at affordable prices throughout the Metro Area

402-551-9494 www.schwalbrealty.com

The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017 | A9

How is this publication thinking about the future?

By becoming part of the past. This publication is available from ProQuest Information and Learning in one or more of the following ways:

Israeli teens

Continued from page A8

Shalom, My name is Ronit Kovarsky, I’m 16 years old and I live in Nahariya.

Nahariya is at the north-west of Israel.

My parents called me Ronit because they wanted me to have an Israeli name so I would feel like everyone else. They made Aliyah (immigrated to Israel) from Ukraine in 1995, six years before I was born.

I go to Amit Kennedy school in Akko and my school is a religious school. At my school, I major in physics and new media.

My hobbies are go shopping with my friends and basically just spend time with them. I also like to eat pizza and frozen yogurt with my friends and talk while eating.

I have two brothers -- my older brother lives with his wife at Hadera and my little sister and I live with my parents.

My goals for the delegation are to have fun, meet new people and experience new things.

My favorite place in Israel is Tel Aviv because there are so many different people there, with different beliefs and different lifestyles which is to me a very interesting thing to see as a visitor.

Can’t wait to see you!

Lehitra’ot, Ronit Shalom, My name is Hoshen Segev López, I’m 16 years old and I live in moshav (village) Liman at the north side of Israel. It’s like five minutes away from the beach, and during the summer time I spend most of my time there.

I love the sea and anything that includes water.

I have two brothers, Asaf and Tzur and one sister named Shaked. My parents, Sara and Dotan, have been divorced since I was five years old. Today, my dad lives in Haifa and I live with my mom in Liman. My mom moved to Israel from Spain when she was fourteen.

In our house we usually speak Spanish most of the time (a big part of my family lives abroad and most of them live in Spain).

I go to Sulam Tzor High school, and my major is biology and Arabic. I love animals, especially dogs and horses, I’ve been riding horses since I was six years old, and since then I can’t get down from a horseback. I love traveling and discovering new places.

My dad traveled a lot, so maybe it’s in my genes. I love a good challenge. I speak several languages: Hebrew, English, Spanish and a little bit of Portuguese and Arabic. I

Shalom My name is Noam Avitov, I am 16 years old and I live in Kibbutz Evron in the Western Galilee.

I go to Ofek school, which is located in my Kibbutz.

I walk to school every day and the advantage of this is that I can decide when to go to school every morning.

I major in biology and film making (cinema) and I enjoy learning those classes.

In my free time I like to watch videos on youtube or TV and hang out with my friends. I’m also a counselor for 6th graders in the “Hashomer Ha’tzair” youth movement.

I like hiking, especially with my family. What I mostly like about hiking is seeing new places and being outdoors. I also like to go to the beach with my family.

I have a twin brother and a younger one, and we all look alike. Having a twin brother is not as fun as it seems, and we try to get along (not very successfully).

I like most foods but my favorites are hamburger and chocolate.

When I think about the future I want to be a doctor, but right now I want to do what I do in the best way I can and enjoy it.

The main reason I joined this delegation is because I like to meet new people, see new places, learn and try new things and I saw it as a good opportunity to do all those things toghether.

I hope I’ll have fun and learn new things, including about myself.

Can’t wait to meet you!

Noam

• Online, via the ProQuest® information service • Microform • CD-ROM • Via database licensing

Electronic Databases

Microform & Print

Chadwyck-Healey

Curriculum Products

For more information, call

1-800-521-0600, ext. 2888 (US) or 01-734-761-4700 (International) www.il.proquest.com From

The Omaha Chamber Music Society and the Omaha Jewish Community Center present love all kinds of food, especially “Tortilla de papa” (a Spanish dish), I can eat a ton of it, I also love pizza and candy.

I’m really excited to meet you guys; this project means a lot to me. I think and believe that it’s an amazing opportunity for us to get to know each other better.

I can’t wait to meet you all, I’m sure it will be an amazing experience.

See you soon, Hoshen

Voices

See Israeli teens A11

Omaha Chamber Music Society to return to JCC with free concert called Voices Unique instrumentations and expressive tone colors will fill the JCC theater when the Omaha Chamber Music Society presents its annual spring concert on Sunday, March 26, at 7 p.m.

The concert, titled Voices, is free and open to the public thanks to the generosity of the Sokolof Javitch Music Fund.

Favorites of JCC and OCMS audiences will share the stage for the concert with other outstanding professional musicians: Thomas Kluge, Principal Violist of the Omaha Symphony; Brian Sherwood, the Symphony’s Associate Principal Violist; Carmelo Galante, Principal Clarinetist; Elizabeth Furuta, Second Associate Concertmaster; acclaimed local pianist Yulia Kalashnikova; new-to-Omaha cellist Sam Pierce-Ruhland; violinist Juliet Yoshida; and soprano Jamie Reimer, an Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The program will feature three exciting pieces: Sonata Pastorale, by Lillian Fuchs; Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Cello and Piano, by Max Bruch; and Karl Weigl’s Five Songs for Soprano and String Quartet.

Lillian Fuchs, regarded as one of the greatest violists of her time, was celebrated also as a composer and teacher. She held positions at the Manhattan School of Music, the Julliard School and the Aspen Music Festival.

Bruch, a German composer, had his clarinetist son in mind when he wrote the collection represented in this concert.

Viennese-born composer Weigl, a contemporary of Mahler, began his career in Austria but emigrated with his family to the U.S. in 1938.

More information is available at omahachambermusic.org. And please join us for a reception following the concert!

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

Sunday, March 26 7:00pm The Jewish Community Center

Admission Free Reception following

Concert Hall Sponsored by the Sokolof Javitch Music Fund

A10 | The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017

Tritz Plumbing Inc. 402-894-0300 www.tritz.com repair • remodel

commercial • residential

family owned and operated since 1945

W

Artist in Residency in Nahariya: Amos Frölich

MARk kiRchhoFF “The Jews paid for every speck of sand acquired here. We Program and Communications Assistant never took any of it by force,” Amos states with conviction. He hether it is lamb’s blood smeared on doorexplains that the 63 hectors (156 acres) that was to be Shavei posts, or cow manure smeared on clothing, Tzion had been purchased by a prior delegation in 1937. His Jewish people find ways to combat oppresfather had been one of the delegates who arranged for the sive, impossible situations. Armed with the purchase. They bought the land from a Turkish princess who tools of commitment, courage and selfhad to sell because her husband had lost all their money in a preservation, they build new lives from gambling casino in Baden-Baden. When the sands in new lands. Amos Frölich of the group from Rexingen arrived, they the moshav Shavei Tzion in the Western didn’t know what to do. They needed food Galilee presents an intriguing story of of course, but they knew nothing of farmescape, hardship and victory that contining. They were strong-willed and commitues to seek a lasting peace. ted to hard work, and endured much Amos is sitting comfortably at the picsuffering and figured out what to do. It nic table on his patio, sipping cool lemon was amazingly difficult in the early stages water, enjoying the shade and the reof settlement. “Compared to life in Gerfreshing breeze. The sun beats on the rest many at that time, it really wasn’t all that of the moshav promising to fulfill the bad,” Amos says reflectively. prediction of oppressive heat for the day.

As a young lad growing up in Shavei He has a son, Ronen, who has a business Tzion, Amos relished every moment he in Tenerife, Spain; a daughter, Irit, a psyspent learning in the grade school. “It was chologist in Shavei Tzion, and a daugha good school and the number of students ter, Dorit, who teaches kindergarten in for every teacher was low.” Age 14 marked Amos Frölich Hararit – a village in the Western Galilee the time when schooling ended and chilregion. He maintains contact with them through phone and dren began to work next to their parents in the farm fields.

Skype. With a chuckle and feigned exasperation he says that Even though his passion for more education was strong, he talks with them “every day – two, three times a day!” as if Amos was no exception to this rule. He put in long, hard less often would be sufficient. It likely wouldn’t be. days of work, never abandoning the dream of pursuing more “Now that I am retired, I don’t do anything,” relates education. He pleaded his case more than once to be granted Amos, with a whimsical smile. As if to punctuate the fact, the privilege to leave for a period of time to study. At last, at he adds, “I don’t even do the veterinarian care for my own age 17 he was allowed to leave to attend Mikve Israel, the dog.” But Amos is far from being a “do nothing” guy. While best agricultural school there was. He was there no longer he has learned that life in retirement goes on without work, than four weeks when the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 erupted. he keeps busy. He swims and does gymnastics every day. He Shavei Tzion became occupied by the Arabs and people takes walks, rides horses and enjoys traveling. He has never could not travel in or out freely. As a result, Amos was unsmoked or used alcohol, and while he doesn’t object to parable to continue his schooling for six months. His sister was ties, they aren’t something he has ever enjoyed. “They aren’t killed in the fighting. Her daughter just turned 70 years old. the most productive way to spend your time.” He has visited When the war was over, he returned to school, completing a Thailand, China, Turkey, Morocco, and the east coast of the three-year program in 10 months. Upon his return to Shavei United States. His destination of choice is Europe, especially Tzion he was placed in charge of orientation for new people. in August and September when it is extremely hot and He was later named Operations Manager – an incredible rehumid in Israel and where his native German tongue is a sponsibility for a young man in his twenties, especially concomfortable companion. sidering that all other leaders at that time were in their fifties.

In 1938 he was a boy of seven living with his parents, two Amos worked hard and took his responsibility seriously, older sisters and an older brother in the area of Rexingen, while still clinging to a desire to further his education. He Germany, near Stuttgart. “All the Jews ever wanted was to wasn’t sure he could make it, but he wanted to try for a unibe good German citizens,” Amos reports with the convicversity degree. The people of Shavei Tzion valued hard work – tion of one who knows. “They walked proudly as Germans. the leaders held the firm conviction that additional education They stood in the front lines during WWI – even though added nothing to what needed to be done for the moshav. It some were ridiculed and bullied. They were the first to give was very rare for anyone to attend a university. Amos’s persisttheir money to support the country. They had accoment pleadings and his promise to return after completing his plished many things. There were good schools, places to degree eventually reaped its rewards. He was off to Munich, care for children, and many community associations. They Germany, where he studied, earned a degree and became a always felt pride and solidarity about their German herveterinarian. True to his word, he returned, not as a member itage. Because of their loyalty they thought that nothing bad of the moshav this time, but as a dedicated employee. He was would ever happen to them.” History shows that assumpthe veterinarian for an area extending 30 – 40 km. “I never tion to be wrong. When it became evident that terrible said ‘no’ to anyone, no matter what time they needed help or things were on the horizon for Jews in Germany, it was too even if I had to carry a gun to go through a dangerous area,” late for many thousands of people.

Amos relates without a hint of self‐promotion. He speaks as a A group of people from the area where his family lived man who has been dedicated to work all his life and who gathered together and resolved to leave for the land of their holds Shavei Tzion and all of Israel dear to his heart. As he fathers. They planned a future life based on socialism where slowly moved to retirement, he stepped back and made room each person would give what he could and receive what was for other veterinarians. There are now approximately 20 pracneeded. Unlike some settlements they had heard of, they ticing in the area that he once covered by himself. would have separate houses for each family; children would Through the years, Amos has witnessed a lot about Israel. not live in separate areas, and there would be no central “It is amazing to think that Israel accepted anyone who dining hall. With those convictions and other concepts in wanted to come here – not 10%, not 50%, but 100% of those mind, and a strong commitment to depart as a group, they who wanted to come,” Amos says. “Israel took in fugitives finalized their plans to leave. from Europe and surrounding Arab states as well. People Leaving meant purchasing a certificate of departure, and came nearly naked from underdeveloped countries as fugiobtaining a certificate meant passing the scrutiny of a Gertives of war and Israel made sure that everyone received the man official coming from Berlin. They had resolved to leave help they needed.” He contrasts this with surrounding areas as a group, and the best way to accomplish that was to dewhere the people see themselves as persecuted and fugipart as a group of farmers. While they weren’t farmers, they tives. “They never made anything from where they were. were clever. In order to convince the official, they smeared They have been fugitives for 70 years – generation after dirt and manure on their clothing – sure signs of their ocgeneration – and they can’t quit thinking that way. Yet Israel cupation and evidence enough to be issued a certificate – has thrived and become a beautiful place to live.” paid for with money Jews from all around the world were It is distressing to Amos to observe the way in which Israel sending to Jews in Germany to help. On February 3, 1938, is portrayed in the media – in Europe especially. “We are Simon and Martha Frölich and their four children, Amos portrayed as if we are Goliath and the lowly David is being the youngest, departed Germany to begin a new life coming to bring us down. In fact, it is just the opposite.” in the land of their Jewish ancestry. Tragically, tens of thouHe explains how Jews wish to get along with their neighbors.

See Amos Frölich page A11 sands of others never made it out.

Trump envoy Jason Greenblatt to visit Israel to talk settlements JERUSALEM | JTA Jason Greenblatt, President Donald Trump’s special representative for international negotiations focusing on the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, reportedly will visit Israel next week.

Greenblatt’s visit aims to help determine the Trump administration’s policy on Israeli settlements, Israel’s Channel 2 first reported on Wednesday.

Among the topics of discussion will be the new settlement promised to the former residents of the West Bank Amona outpost, which was evacuated and dismantled last month, according to the report. It would be the first new official settlement in 25 years.

Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Monday told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that annexing the West Bank will lead to a “crisis” with the Trump administration, citing what he called a “direct message” from the United States.

An Orthodox Jew and Yeshiva Univer-

Israeli teens

The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017 | A11

community Amos Frölich

Jason Dov Greenblatt sity graduate, Greenblatt studied at a West Bank yeshiva in the mid-1980s and did armed guard duty there.

Continued from page A9 Shalom, My name is Ido Sade and I live in Kibbutz Eilon. I have one sister and one brother. My sister’s name is Amit and my brother’s name is Omer. I’m 16 years old and I have lived on the kibbutz with my whole family since I was born.

I like to play Basketball and cook. I cook in the restaurant in the kibbutz. In school, I major in theater and History; among other topics, we study the history of the United States.

I came on this delegation to see how Jewish people are living in other countries and to get to know new people. I hope I will be able to represent Israel and how beautiful it is.

I cannot wait to meet you!

Continued from page A10 Israel has no desire to fight, but when others proclaim to be your enemy, “we have had to make security and protecting ourselves a major part of our lives. Without security we can do nothing.” He states his conviction that the government is wrong if it takes the approach that “this is our land, we can do whatever we want. We don’t have to compromise on anything.” He adds, “I have always tried to get along with Arabs – they are our neighbors. In the Western Galilee there are more Islamic and Christian people than Jews, and everything goes well.

We must do our best to get along.”

Amos points out that even within Israel people criticize the government a lot.

“Maybe half the population is not content with the government, but no Israeli should go to any other country and criticize Israel.

Other people do not understand the complexity of the situation that we face.” He draws a parallel of this to a time when he was watching European TV. An Arab was berating Israel for over thirty minutes – complaining about how Arabs are treated, complaining about being treated worse than Jews, many such complaints. After all his complaining he then said, “but it is a better place to live than anywhere else around.”

And what about the future? “You can only hope. There are big worries for the next generation. When you have no lasting peace, life is difficult. One hundred years of no peace is enough. A nation cannot live

like that forever. You can only hope.” He is critical of the handful of people in Israel who stir everyone up. These are the fanatics.

They tell everyone that they are living a nightmare, that the Arabs are making life terrible for them, and that Israel has a right to do anything it wants. “When such people are ruling, it is hard to be optimistic. If they would put as much effort into peace as they put into war, solutions could be found.”

Amos noticed that I had finished my glass of lemon water and asked if I would like another. That sounded very refreshing.

I accepted.

On May 14, 2015, seven photographers from the United States and one from Budapest, Hungary, met in Nahariya, Israel, to participate in the “Artist in Residency” project conducted through the Partnership 2GETHER program. The goal for the week was for each photographer to photograph and interview four people each in order to document the richness and diversity of the people living in the Western Galilee region of the country. The photos and narratives in this four-part series are the work of Mark Kirchhoff, Program and Communications Assistant for the JFO.

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

Let Us Do the Work!

Passover to Go Brisket Chopped Chicken Liver Roasted Chicken Charoset Gefilte Fish Loaf Chopped Chicken Liver

1/2 pound 1 pound 1/2 chicken 1 pound 3 pound loaf 8-10 servings 1 pound

Matzoh Ball Soup (2 Balls) Sweet Potato Tzimmes Matzoh Dressing Mashed Potatoes Roasted Vegetables Chocolate Cake $11.00 Apple Kugel $14.00 $10.00 $9.00 $8.00 $18.00

Contact Please place orders by Thursday, April 6, 2017

Mike Aparo 402-334-6522

Jennifer Addison 402-334-6523

maparo@rbjh.com

jaddison@rbjh.com

1 cup serving 12 servings 12 servings 12 servings 12 servings 1/4 sheet 12 servings

$5.00 $25.00 $25.00 $18.00 $25.00 $25.00 $25.00

a12 | The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017

viewpoint thejewishpress

(Founded in 1920) Eric Dunning President annette van de kamp-Wright Editor richard busse Creative Director susan bernard Advertising Executive lori kooper-schwarz Assistant Editor Thierry ndjike Accounting Jewish Press board Eric Dunning, President; Andy Ruback, Past-President; Sandy Friedman, Treasurer; Andrew Boehm; Paul Gerber; Alex Grossman; Jill Idelman; Mike Kaufman; David Kotok; Debbie Kricsfeld; Abby Kutler; Pam Monsky; Paul Rabinovitz and Barry Zoob.

The mission of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to build and sustain a strong and vibrant Omaha Jewish Community and to support Jews in Israel and around the world. Agencies of the Federation are: Community Relations Committee, Jewish Community Center, Center for Jewish LIfe, Jewish Social Services, and the Jewish Press.

Guidelines and highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: wwwjewishomaha.org; click on ‘Jewish Press.’

Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole. The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content.

The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment.

Editorial The Jewish Press is an agency of the Jewish Federation of Omaha.

Deadline for copy, ads and photos is: Thursday, 9 a.m., eight days prior to publication. E-mail editorial material and photos to: avandekamp@jewish omaha.org; send ads (in TIF or PDF format) to: rbusse@jewishomaha. org.

letters to the Editor Guidelines The Jewish Press welcomes Letters to the Editor. They may be sent via regular mail to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154; via fax: 1.402.334.5422 or via e-mail to the Editor at: avandekamp@jew ishomaha.org.

Letters should be no longer than 250 words and must be single-spaced typed, not hand-written. Published letters should be confined to opinions and comments on articles or events. News items should not be submitted and printed as a “Letter to the Editor.” The Editor may edit letters for content and space restrictions. Letters may be published without giving an opposing view.

Information shall be verified before printing. All letters must be signed by the writer, but the name can be withheld at the writer’s request. The Jewish Press will not publish letters that appear to be part of an organized campaign, nor letters copied from the Internet. No letters should be published from candidates running for office, but others may write on their behalf.

Letters of thanks should be confined to commending an institution for a program, project or event, rather than personally thanking paid staff, unless the writer chooses to turn the “Letter to the Editor” into a paid personal ad or a news article about the event, project or program which the professional staff supervised. For information, contact Annette van de Kamp-Wright, Jewish Press Editor, 402.334.6450.

Postal The Jewish Press (USPS 275620) is published weekly (except for the first week of January and July) on Friday for $40 per calendar year U.S.; $80 foreign, by the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Phone: 402.334.6448; FAX: 402.334.5422.

Periodical postage paid at Omaha, NE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154-2198 or email to: jpress@jewishomaha. org.

american Jewish Press association award Winner

nebraska Press as- national newspaper sociation association award winner 2008

W

Predators on Campus annETTE van DE kamP-WriGHT Editor of the Jewish Press hen you send your kids off to college, there is plenty to worry about. I can only imagine it, since I’m not quite there yet (although it’s headed for my husband and me like a freight train). Read the news and you’ll find that dangers lurk in every corner.

Wild parties, too much dating and financial strain; distractions and challenges that will keep your beloved child from studying. Never mind the worry about whether they’ll be able to find a job afterwards.

Of course, many of us made it through just fine and it’s important to remember that. As with everything in life, we can focus on the negative and be fearful, we can stick our heads in the sand, or we can live somewhere in the middle.

The middle is a good place. That means educating ourselves and our kids about who’s out there trying to ruin what could be a beautiful experience.

Right now, that attempt appears to come from the white supremacist corner.

“White nationalist and supremacist groups are ramping up efforts on American college campuses—in what the AntiDefamation League is calling ‘unprecedented outreach efforts’. As of March 6, there have been 107 white incidents on American college campuses since the school year began in September [...]. Sixty-five of those incidents have taken place since January,” Sam Kestenbaum wrote in the Forward.

Some names to know: Nathan Damigo, the man who runs a group called “Identity Evropa.” He has launched a campaign called Project Siege, posting regular Twitter updates. There is also “American Vanguard,” whose members have launched something called the “Northern Propaganda Campaign.” Then there is Jared Taylor, who Kestenbaum calls “ a sort of elder statesman among white nationalists.” He ran the “white consciousness campaign” during Black History Month.

From The New York Times (3-6-2017): “At Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., a printer, sus-

pected to have been hacked, spurted out anti-Semitic fliers gressive social justice are “bad ideas.” in January. At Central Michigan University in Mount PleasHow do we counter this? How do we give our kids the ant, Mich., an Adolf Hitler-themed Valentine’s Day card, tools to recognize white supremacism for what it is? It’s a unauthorized by the school’s College Republicans, made its combination of things. It means raising awareness of who way into a bag at one of the group’s meetings in February. these people are, ensuring our kids know the names of And at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Richard Spencer, Jared Taylor, Nathan Damigo and Milo a vendor was discovered to be selling items with swastika Yiannopoulos. It means teaching them to be conscious of symbols before being asked to leave.”

Now, what was it I said about ‘living in the middle?’

Right.

Here’s all you really need to know about where this type of drivel comes from. The aforementioned Nathan Damigo is “a former Marine Corporal who discovered his inner white nationalist by reading the work of Holocaust-denying ex-Klansman David Duke while serving five years for armed robbery (while drunk, he put a gun to the head of a cab driver he thought was Iraqi and stole $43).” (sPlc.com) That’s one of the most amazing run-on sentences I’ve ever read. Seriously, you should White supremacist richard spencer after he was booted from the conservative Political action conference in February. read it out loud.

Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Far be it from me, though, to laugh off the increase in white nationalist trouble on college campuses their surroundings, teaching them they have a voice. The nationwide. We no longer have that luxury. Three, maybe fliers are over the top, in-your-face racist and anti-Semitic. even two years ago we probably would have made fun of I think most of our kids will sound the alarm when they see posters that say: “White guilt is a weapon! Disarm your op- a poster with a swastika. But what about the more subtle ponent and free yourself!” However, it just hits too close to type of racism, the micro-aggressions that so often pave the home these days. way for something worse? None of us should wait to speak The purpose of the fliers is obvious: find converts to the up when we hear or see something hateful. Because if we nationalist cause. They have been distributed near and on let the small stuff slide, we are boiling the frog. campus’ parking garages, on street signs, billboards, utility Our kids have the right to go to college feeling excited and poles and the like; QR codes you can scan with your smart- optimistic. We as parents have the right to worry about the phone are included in case you want to know more. Colleges potential for wild parties. We should also have the right to not are considered “bastions of anti-white propaganda,” accord- worry about white supremacists preying on our kids and creing to white supremacist Jared Taylor. Feminism and pro- ating an atmosphere in which our kids are no longer welcome.

JTA Shots fired into a classroom window at an Indiana synagogue. Cemeteries desecrated in Pennsylvania, Missouri and New York. Swastikas scrawled on Jewish buildings. More than 100 bomb threats called in to Jewish commu- EllEn HErsHkin nity centers.

History doesn’t always repeat itself, but echoes of the darkest chapters serve as warnings. We study the past and preserve our tradition so that we’ll recognize the signs. For these troubled days, the observance of Purim -- commemorating the defeat of a plot to massacre the Jews in ancient Persia -- was a timely reminder.

But as troubling as the recent anti-Semitic outrages are, the United States is not prewar Europe, let alone ancient Persia, where for all Queen Esther’s courage, protection depended on a king’s will. Here, the protection of the law and the fabric of society are with us.

The FBI is aiding local authorities in investigating the crimes. During his first address to Congress, President Trump condemned antiSemitism. The House of Representatives’ Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism has called on the president to take additional steps -involving resources for the Justice Department and interagency coordination -- in the fight against anti-Jewish hate crimes.

We’ve seen an outpouring of support from fellow citizens. Many non-Jews stood in line to clean and repair the Chesed Shel Emeth cemetery outside St. Louis, where more than 150 tombstones were overturned. Muslim organizations launched a crowdfunding campaign to pay for the damage, quickly raising $100,000 -- far surpassing the $20,000 goal.

I can’t help but share my pride at the Jewish re- America it also accelerated the impulse for Jews sponse to equally appalling attacks against Musto involve themselves in public life, to insist on lim institutions. When a Muslim man launched a equality for all and to wear their identity proudly. fundraising drive to help repair a Tampa mosque The more we learn from history, the more damaged by an arson attack last month, he nolikely it is to reward us. Let us use the celebration ticed many donations in multiples of $18 and discovered that they were attached to Jewish names.

Generosity and solidarity can be unleashed by acts of hate. I have full confidence, and there is bountiful evidence, that America’s soil is especially rich for the cultivation of good.

But we can never be complacent, nor can we expect America to fulfill its potential, without constant vigilance. The idea that anti-Semitic crimes are not just a Jewish problem, but also an American one, must be Protestors demonstrating at a rally at independence mall in Philadelacknowledged.

Credit: Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images We have to speak out, express our phia. march 2, 2017. values, and demand justice every day. All hate of Purim as a reminder that even while evil exists crimes must be punished to the fullest extent of we, our society and our government, have the cathe law. We should all exercise our right to insist pacity to defeat it. that Congress and the administration redouble Ellen Hershkin is president of Hadassah, the their efforts to fight all forms of anti-Semitism Women’s Zionist Organization of America, and all hate crimes at home and abroad.

Inc. The heroine of the Purim story is a queen who raised her voice to save her people. Until she To submiT announcEmEnTs asked for his support, the king didn’t know his Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press at own wife was Jewish. Esther, her Persian name, jpress@jewishomaha.org; faxed to 402.334.5422, or was part of her cover -- her Hebrew name was mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154.

Hadassah.

Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization Readers can also submit announcements -- births, of America, was founded in the season of Purim b’nai mitzvahs, engagements, marriages, commitment in 1912, inspired by the recognition that altering ceremonies or obituaries -- online at the Jewish Federathe course of history required learning its lestion of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org. Click sons. Modern Hadassah combines the legacy of on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements.

Queen Esther, the Jewish national liberation Deadlines are normally eight days prior to publication, movement and the determination of women to on Thursdays, 9 a.m. Please check the Jewish Press, become leaders. While the central goal of Zionfor notices of early deadlines. ism was the establishment of a Jewish state, in

Battling hate in the spirit of Queen Esther

The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017 | A13

JCC bomb threats are weapons of fear ANdrew SiLow-CArroLL JTA The “fear itself ” thing? FDR was on to something.

The rash of JCC bomb threats and cemetery desecrations, combined with a general sense that the country is becoming more intolerant, has Jews on edge in ways they haven’t been in years. The head of a major American Jewish organization wrote to me that the recent outbreak of anti-Semitic activity “is the worst America has seen since the 1930s.” (It’s not.)

Ronald Lauder of the World Jewish Congress has declared that “in recent weeks and months we have witnessed an unprecedented and inconceivable escalation of anti-Semitic acts in the United States” -- again, an exaggeration.

The stats, tracked rigorously but narrowly by the AntiDefamation League and haphazardly by the FBI, aren’t in for 2016 or early 2017, the period covering the presidential campaign and that presumably would include the kinds of “spikes” many would like to attribute to Donald Trump’s racially and ethnically charged campaign and emboldening of the “alt-right.”

One of the more worrisome accountings came from the NYPD, which found that anti-Semitic incidents were up 94 percent in the city over this time last year, with 35 anti-Semitic incidents reported in January and February.

But such numbers don’t yet point to an “unprecedented and inconceivable escalation” in anti-Semitism. And they don’t take into account the counter-evidence, like a Pew study that found that Jews are the most “warmly” regarded religious group in the U.S. (“Great news!” said parents and staff huddled outside an evacuated JCC). Or the acts of kindness and concern that followed many of the attacks, from Muslims raising money to restore a vandalized cemetery to the unanimous Senate letter urging the White House to boost security measures at Jewish institutions and assure the investigation and punishment of hate crimes.

Nor can it be overlooked that American Jews are as comfortable and accepted as they have ever been in history. No school, no neighborhood and no profession is off limits. Jews are over-represented in politics, academia and media. Even the high rate of intermarriage is a sign of social acceptance of Jews. Unlike many parts of Europe, where armed guards protect synagogues and observant Jewish men often hide their kippot under caps, American Jews can be out, proud and as loud as they want to be.

But the numbers and sociology can’t account for the way Jews feel, and right now many are not feeling good. The high

levels of Jewish anxiety fueled by a combination of the commander in chief, the political mood, the nature of the JCC attacks and the media.

Let’s start with President Trump: Most Jews didn’t vote for him, and regarded his campaign antics as particularly unsettling, from his appeal among white supremacists and ethnonationalists to his willingness to exploit the country’s racial and ethnic divides.

Police block off a parking lot at the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, Feb. 27, 2017.

Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images In his embrace of a fiercely chauvinistic “economic nationalism,” White House strategist Steve Bannon represents something “unprecedented and inconceivable” in the minds of many Jews. Until Trump, resurgent nationalism seemed very much a problem for Europe, where economic malaise, fear of immigrants and the ghosts of the 20th century have combined into a particularly toxic brew on the right.

Recent Republican and Democratic administrations alike gave at least lip service to the idea of America as a vivid tapestry in which people of all races, religions and nationalities are welcome. Bannon, you’ll recall, is not just a foe of illegal immigration, but of legal immigration, which has “kinda overwhelmed the country,” as he said in a 2016 radio interview with (wait for it) Trump advisor and speechwriter Stephen Miller.

Even for those who believe Trump is the savior Israel has been waiting for, and who accept his disavowals of the alt-right, it upset Jewish assumptions about their position as a privileged minority when Trump couldn’t bring himself to forthrightly denounce the JCC threats and other anti-Semitic acts.

The nature of the JCC attacks are diabolically brilliant in their ability to unsettle Jews. I imagine a lone wolf or a team

of hackers, armed with some cheap electronics and a motive to maximize mischief, working off an easy-to-find list of institutions with “Jewish” and “community” in their very names. There are far fewer JCCs than synagogues, but targeting JCCs assures you of hitting at least one easily identifiable Jewish institution in every consequential Jewish community across the country. I’m betting it’s only an unhappy accident that the hoaxer picked one of the few Jewish places that cuts across all movements and ideologies, and even attracts nonJews to their fitness centers and childcare programs. That potentially puts every Jew on edge.

Coverage of these attacks, while unavoidable, also instills fear. As the editor of a Jewish news service, I feel implicated: What if in the name of informing the community, we are merely spreading anxiety? Readers rely on us to cover acts of anti-Semitism large and small. These include nasty anti-Zionist demonstrations on college campuses, grotesque internet “memes” originating with the alt-right and increasingly bizarre examples of swastika graffiti, including some carved in snow and one shaped out of human feces.

But do these various acts, in a country of over 300 million, represent a growing trend or the salacious exception?

And what if we and the anti-Semitism watchdogs are wrong?

What if the JCC attacks aren’t the vanguard of the New AntiSemitism, but a weird and personal vendetta on the part of the hoaxer? Sure enough, Juan Thompson, a suspected copycat charged last week in at least eight of the JCC attacks, turns out to be an unhinged young man whose apparent motivation wasn’t even anti-Semitism but revenge on an old flame.

That doesn’t make the targeted Jew or Jewish institution feel any better. Fear has its own dynamic. JCCs aren’t talking about the members or preschool students they’ve lost as a result of the hoaxes, but word is getting out that the numbers might be significant. You can’t blame the families who just don’t need the tsuris, but you can look at your own behavior and ask in what ways you are making a bad situation worse.

So yes, we need strong enforcement of our hate crimes laws.

And institutions that have the security they need. And careful monitoring of anti-Semitism in all its forms. And government leaders who have the backs of targeted minorities and pledge to defend the diversity of multicultural America.

But we also need a reminder that Jews have it pretty good here, and that we shouldn’t give too much power to a kid with a Sharpie, or a hacker with a speed-dial, or a disturbed, disgraced stalker. We have to stand up and say these institutions are ours, and we’re here to stay.

a14 | The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017

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

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

Join us for our monthly Shabbat Speakers Series on april 14, at 7:30 p.m. with guest speaker Nate Shapiro, Jewish Federation of Omaha who will discuss his recent trip to Israel.

Oneg to follow service. Everyone is always welcome at B’nai Israel! Our services are led by lay leader Larry Blass.

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: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. saturday: Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. Bar Mitzvah of Jack Scioli, son of Andrea and Anthony Scioli; Junior Congreation, 10 a.m.; Mini-Minyannaires, 10:45 a.m.; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 7:30 p.m. weekday serViCes: Sundays, 9:45 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.; weekdays, 7 a.m. & 5:30 p.m. sunday: BESTT Classes, 9:45 a.m.; BESTT Torah Tots, 9:45 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:15 a.m.; Siddur Celebration, 11:15 a.m.; Sunday Speaker Series, 11:15 a.m. featuring Marty Shukert on Musical Midrash: An examination of various Jewish composers and singwriters and their works, centered on specific themes. tuesday: Rabbi Abraham’s A Wisdom Tradition -- An Inside Look at Ethical, Moral and Spiritual Lessons of Judaism, noon at Whole Foods. wednesday: BESTT Classes, 4:15 p.m.; Rabbi Abraham’s A Wisdom Tradition -- An Inside Look at Ethical, Moral and Spiritual Lessons of Judaism, 6:15 p.m.; Hebrew High Classes, 6:45 p.m.; Hazzan Krausman’s Echoes & Reflections - A Multimedia Approach to the Holocaust, 7:30 p.m.

No BESTT Classes, sunday, march 26 Sunday Scholar Series, sunday, march 26, 11:15 a.m., featuring Marty Shukert Musical Midrash.

Cantor’s Concert, sunday, march 26, 4 p.m.

Women’s Book Group, tuesday, march 28, 7 p.m.

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

Beth israel synagogue

Office hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and Friday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Ari Dembitzer. friday: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv & Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:15 p.m.; Candle Lighting, 7:15 p.m. saturday: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; March Simcha Kiddush, 11:30 a.m.; Insights in the Weekly Torah Reading, 6:15 p.m.; Mincha/Seudah Shlishit, 7 p.m.; Havdalah, 8:16 p.m. sunday: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Bagels and Beit Medrash, 9:45 a.m. monday: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Reb Nachman Class with Rabbi Shlomo, noon; Hebrew America Class-Level II, 7:30 p.m. with Rabbi Shlomo. tuesday & wednesday: Shacharit, 7 a.m. thursday: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Ethics Class with Rabbi Ari, 7:45 a.m.; Woman’s Class with Rabbi Ari, 9:30 a.m.; Learn with Rabbi Shlomo, noon at UNMC.

ChaBad house

Office hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and Friday, 9 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. followed by a festive kiddush luncheon. sunday: Shacharit, 8:30 a.m. followed by Sunday Secrets: Jewish Fun Facts class at 9:15 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: New Tanya Series -- The Anatomy of Your Soul: Who Are You?, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Mendel Katzman. thursday: Advanced Talmud Class, noon with Rabbi Mendel Katzman.

Family Passover Seder, monday, april 10, 7:30 p.m.

Farewell to Pesach, Moshiach Feast, tuesday, april 18.

All programs are open to the entire community.

Visit us at jewishomaha.org

Congregation B’nai Jeshurun

Services conducted by Rabbi Craig Lewis. friday: Pre-neg, 6 p.m. hosted by Linda Glaser; Shabbat Evening Service, 6:30 p.m.; Candlelighting, 7:18 p.m. saturday: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. on Parashat Ki Tisa; Havdalah (72 Minutes), 8:49 p.m. sunday: LJCS Gan through Grade 7, 9:30 a.m. at Tifereth Israel; LJCS Gesher, 10 a.m. at South Street Temple; SST is partnering with "We Can Do This" to provide weekend meals to the children of the F Street Community Center. Join us as we provide lunch on the third Sunday of every month.

Food/monetary donations, meal preparation and assistance with setting up, serving, and clean-up are needed! We will serve at 2:30 p.m. For more information, email Sarah Beringer at sarah.m.beringer@gmail.com.; Winter Lecture Series, 7 p.m. at Unitarian Church: Panel Discussion with James Goddard of Nebraska Appleseed, Scott Young of Foodbank of Lincoln and Anta Seth of UNITE/HERE, New Haven. tuesday: Ladies Lunch Group, noon at Piedmont Bistro, 1265 S. Cotner Blvd. Please contact Deborah Swearingen with any questions; Kochavim Rehearsal, 6:45 p.m. wednesday: LJCS Hebrew School, 4 p.m. at Tifereth Israel; The Faithful Fight: How to Work for a Just World and Tend Your Soul at the Same Time with Rev. Kim Morrow, 6:30 p.m., at First-Plymouth Mayflower Hall. thursday: Choir Rehearsal, 7 p.m. adult eduCation tuesday: Intro to Judaism, Session #12, 6:30 p.m. led

by Rabbi Lewis.

Book Club, sunday, march 26, 1 p.m. at Scooter’s on 84th & Van Dorn and will discuss Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventuresof a man who rescued a million Yiddish books

by Aaron Lansky.

LJCS CAMP ISRAEL, July 10–July 21, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. at Tifereth Israel. Kosher lunch and snack provided. LJCS enrolled students entering. Tuition for each week is $75 and if you are enrolling two or more children, the cost is $50 per child, per week. This program is open to children entering kindergarten through sixth grade. Please send tuition checks payable to LJCS to Andrea at Tifereth Israel no later than July 1. Camp registration is required through LJCS. President’s Office Hours, sunday mornings, 10 a.m.– noon at SST. If you have any Temple business you would like to bring before the Board of Trustees, potential programs, or new ideas, please let us know! Call for an appointment at the Temple at 402.513.7697. Or if you prefer, email David Weisser at president@southstreettemple.org.

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.

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

temple israel

friday: Cantor-in-Residence, Cantor Patti Linsky: The Spirituality of Recovery, 6 p.m. saturday: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m.; Shabbat Morning

Services, 10:30 a.m. Torah Reader: Brent Bloom and Haftarah Reader: Miles Remer. sunday: No Religious School. tuesday: Executive Meeting, 6 p.m.; Board of Trustees Meeting, 7 p.m. wednesday: No Grades 3-6; No Grades 7-12; No Family School. thursday: Meanings within Meanings, Stories within Stories: Uncovering the Wisdom of the Torah, 10 a.m. with Rabbi Crystal.

Come Meet Omaha's Candidates for Mayor, sunday, march 26, 10 a.m. Mayor Jean Stothert will visit Temple Israel to share her vision for the city and to respond to questions from congregants.

The Magic of Hebrew Chant: Healing the Spirit, Transforming the Mind, Deepening Love with Rabbi Shefa Gold, sunday, april 2, 10 a.m. We will explore the power and magic of Hebrew Chant as we transform the words of prayer into spiritual practice.

Passover Family Seder: Let Us Make the Seder for You!, tuesday, april 11, 5:30 p.m. Join us for our family friendly Passover Seder. Reservations are a must! Your payment is your reservation.

Please contact the Temple Israel office, rsVp@ templeisraelomaha.com or 402.556.6536, by monday, april 3, to reserve your seats. Cost of the dinner is: $27 for adults, $14 for children ages 6-12, and no charge for children ages five and under.

After April 3, the cost of the dinner is: $37 for adults, $24 for children 6-12, and no charge for children ages five and under.

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 Services, 10 a.m. followed by a special Kiddush Luncheon in honor of Max Neiden’s 94th brithday and Max will sponsor lunch that day. sunday: LJCS Gan through Grade 7, 9:30 a.m. at Tifereth Israel; LJCS Gesher, 10 a.m. at South Street Temple. tuesday: Ladies Lunch Group, noon at Piedmont Bistro, 1265 S. Cotner Blvd. Please contact Deborah Swearingen with any questions. wednesday: LJCS Hebrew School, 4 p.m.

Lunch and Learn final Shabbat Scientist Series with Al Weiss on Climate Change in our World, saturday, march 25 after services. Al was a Argicultural Climatolody professor at UNL from 1974-2010.

Book Club, sunday, march 26, 1 p.m. at Scooter’s on 84th & Van Dorn and will discuss Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a man who rescued a million Yiddish books

by Aaron Lansky. Please contact Zoya Zeman with questions.

Join us for a communal seder at Tifereth Israel on monday, april 10 at 6 p.m. A Passover seder for all ages or tuesday, april 11 at 5:45 p.m. for families with children ages 0-13.

Make your reservations now! This is a free event to all but donations to help defray expenses may be contributed to the Layleader Discretionary Fund. Please RSVP to the office at 402.423.8569 to say you're coming or e-mail ncoren@tifer ethisraellincoln.org.

LJCS CAMP ISRAEL, July 10–July 21, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. at Tifereth Israel. Kosher lunch and snack provided. LJCS enrolled students entering. Tuition for each week is $75 and if you are enrolling two or more children, the cost is $50 per child, per week. This program is open to children entering kindergarten through sixth grade. Please send tuition checks payable to LJCS to Andrea at Tifereth Israel no later than July 1. Camp registration is required through LJCS.

Jewish elderly advocates take aim at GOP’s health care bill

WASHINGTON | JTA Two Jewish agencies charged with elderly care sharply criticized the new Republican health care bill. B’nai B’rith International, which sponsors low-income housing for the elderly, and the Jewish Federations of North America, which advocates for funds for the poor and the elderly, took aim at changes contained in the American Health Care Act, the bill Republican leaders hope to pass as a replacement for the Affordable Care Act. “Congress and the Trump Administration appear to be moving quickly to pass potentially devastating cuts to Medicaid,” JFNA said in an action alert sent this week to its constituent groups.

The organization said the cuts “would greatly impact Jewish federation partner agencies that provide health, long-term care and home and community-based care,” noting that federation

partner agencies get about $6 billion from Medicaid each year.

The bill proposes to cap Medicaid funding to each state according to the number of eligible participants at the beginning of the fiscal year. B’nai B’rith and JFNA said such caps would not take into account changes in enrollment numbers and other unexpected health care cost increases.

“Changing any portion of the Medicaid funding to a per capita cap proposal would have a significant negative impact on seniors, because capping federal funding for Medicaid would add an additional layer of pressure to state budgets, and put the health care and financial security of millions of older adults at risk,” B’nai B’rith said in its March 8 statement.

B’nai B’rith also took aim at a component of the bill that would reduce premiums for younger, healthier Americans, citing studies predicting “low-income adults in their 60s could see dramatic increases in premiums.”

The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017 | A15

lifecycles BIRth

DAVID SOLOMON MARCOVItZ

Tziporah and Max (Mordechai) Marcovitz of Jerusalem, Israel, announce the Feb. 19 birth of their son, David Solomon.

He has a two sisters, Hadassah and Batsheva and a brother, Nachum.

Grandparents are Mimi Rogers and Scott Farkas.

Great-grandparents are Ronald and Elaine Marcovitz and Jerry Farkas.

BAR MItZVAh

ELI MARIO LOPEZ

Eli Mario Lopez, son of Amanda and Mario Lopez, will become a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, March 25, at Temple Israel.

Eli is a seventh-grade student at Millard Central Middle School.

Eli enjoys playing video games, baseball and football and is on the MIllard Central football team. He spends his spare time with his family, friends and his dog Little Dude.

For his mitzvah project, Eli volunteers in the Rose Blumkin Home.

Grandparents are Mario Lopez Fuentes, Miriam Magdalena Dominguez Negrete, Patricia Gay Lankford and Tom Lankford.

The Community is invited to celebrate Eli's bar mitzvah

IN MEMORIAM

ROSE COhN PERELMAN

Rose Cohn Perelman passed away Feb. 19 at age 95.

She was preceded in death by parents Zalman and Jennie Katz, brother Maurice Katz, sisters, Sara Zalkin and Phyllis Crandel, first husband, Lyman Cohn and second husband Harold Perelman.

She is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law, Larry and Margaret Cohn of San Diego and Jeffrey and Pamela Cohn of Omaha; grandchildren: Danny Cohn and Andrew Miller, and Michael and Asmita Cohn; great-granddaughter, Nora Alice as well as many loving nieces and nephews.

She was a beloved sister, mother and grandmother.

Memorials made be made to the organization of choice.

BARBARA ANN uEhLINg

Barbara Ann Uehling passed away March 6 at age 65. Services were held March 9 at Beth El Cemetery, 84th and L. She was preceded in death by parents Samuel and Delma Goodman.

She is survived by husband, Fred; sons, Michael and Matthew; brothers and sisters-in-law, Steve and Toni Goodman and Robert and Barbara Goodman; nieces, Andrea and Lisa, nephew, Eric and their families.

Memorials may be made to the Samuel and Delma Goodman Youth Fund at the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation.

On Purim, Israeli politicians are just like us

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri was close to former Chief Sephardi Rabbi of Israel Ovadia Yosef, the late spiritual head of the Shas political party that Deri has headed for three decades (minus a three-year break he spent in jail on corruption charges). But since Yosef died in 2013, the relationship has been called into question, including by the release last month of a video of Deri rubbing an onion on his eyes to make himself cry during the filming of a 2015 election campaign video memorializing the late spiritual leader. In this Facebook photo from March 12, Deri dresses as a historical spiritual authority, the great Jewish sage of the 2nd century CE, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, known as the Rashbi.

Holocaust memorial groups and scholars urge Trump to keep special envoy

NEW YORK | JTA Over 100 Holocaust remembrance institutions, scholars and educators called on President Donald Trump to maintain a government office dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism following a report that he was considering nixing it. e 120 signatories -- among them Holocaust museums, anti-genocide groups, Holocaust studies programs, and Holocaust scholars and educators in the United States and Europe ii released a statement calling on Trump to strengthen the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, which fights anti-Jewish sentiments abroad. e signatories also urged Trump to create a new office to combat anti-Semitism in the United States.

Last month, Bloomberg reported that Trump was considering cutting a number of special envoy positions, including the one dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism, as part of a budget proposal. “e need becomes clearer by the day as hatred, like a tidal wave, sweeps across the nation,” read the statement, which was written by members of the Association of Holocaust Organizations.

It cited vandalism of cemeteries, synagogues, churches and mosques, anti-Semitic vandalism and bomb threats made against Jewish institutions.

Congress mandated the position of special envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism in 2004 with the passage of the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act. e measure directs the State Department to establish the Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, to be headed by the special envoy.

Jewish groups and lawmakers have urged the president to keep the office, including the American Jewish Committee and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Earlier this month, a bipartisan House task force on anti-Semitism called in a letter on the Trump administration to rebuff reports that it was planning to cut the office. On Monday, Rep. Eliot Engel, DN.Y., one of the task force’s members, said in a release that 167 House members of both parties had signed on to a separate letter to Trump making the same demand.

Ira Forman, the former executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, most recently served in the envoy position under President Barack Obama. Forman’s LinkedIn page lists him as having served in the position; Trump has not named a replacement.

“I can’t believe someone at the White House won’t have better sense than to realize that this is a disaster,” Forman told Jewish Insider.

“I just can’t believe that they would even think of this given the relatively small budget needed to run this office. e office exists by legislation. It’s just a matter of someone signing up to fund it. is is as bipartisan an issue as you can get, and I just hope folks at the White House come to their senses.”

Pulverente MONUMENT CO.

60 Years Experience With Jewish Lettering and Memorials

1439 So. 13th 402-341-2452

Frank L. Ciciulla, Jr.

You are the most powerful influence in your child’s daily life.

Kids who learn from their parents or care-givers about the risks of drugs are: • 36% less likely to smoke • marijuana than kids who don’t • 50% less likely to use inhalants • 56% less likely to use cocaine • 65% less likely to use LSD

For more information call:

1-800-648-4444 http://www.prevlink.org

NEBRASkA StAtEwIDE CLASSIFIEDS

CLASSIFIED ADVERtISINg works! Place your 25 word ad into thousands of Nebraska homes for $225. Contact the Jewish Press or call 1-800-369-2850.

BANkRuPtCY: FREE initial consultation. Fast relief from creditors. Low rates.

Statewide filing. No office appointment necessary. Call Steffens Law Office, 308-8728327. steffensbankruptcylaw.com. We are a debt relief agency, which helps people file bankruptcy under the bankruptcy code.

LuNg CANCER? 60 or Older? If so, you and your family may be entitled to a significant cash award. Call 800-542-4434 to learn more. No risk. No money out of pocket.

AFFORDABLE PRESS Release service. Send your message to 170 newspapers across Nebraska for one low price! Call 1-800-369-2850 or www.nebpress.com for more details.

BuLLS FOR lease. Angus, Red Angus, Hereford, Charolais. 1-800-428-2855 or 308530-1144.

DISh tV - Best Deal Ever! Only $39.99/month. Plus $14.99/month Internet (where available). Free Streaming. Free Install (up to 6 rooms). Free HD-DVR. Call 1-800-5209176.

SAVE ON internet and TV bundles! Order the best exclusive cable and satellite deals in your area! If eligible, get up to $300 in Visa Gift Cards. Call now! 1-800-261-1870.

gRADINg CONtRACtOR hiring for new projects! Oilers, surveyor, motor scraper, dozer, backhoe & motor grader operators. 100% paid health insurance & simple IRA. Apply to: Commercial Contractors Equipment, 701 NW 27th Street, Lincoln, NE 68528.

402-476-1711. ccei@neb.rr.com. EOE.

hAYES COuNtY Commissioners are soliciting applications for a FT Road Maintenance Supervisor. Applications are available by calling 308-286-3413 or online at http://www.hayescounty.ne.gov/webpages/links/public_notices.html. Submit resumes/application to Hayes County Clerk, PO Box 370, Hayes Center, NE 69032. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Hayes County is an EOE.

hAMPtON wELL Drilling in Mullen, Neb., is looking for a full time and/or part time employee. Call Travis Hampton at 308-546-7278.

gOt AN older car, boat or RV? Do the humane thing. Donate it to the Humane Society. Call 1-800-540-1568.

A16 | The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017

Martin “Marty” Staenberg The Staenberg Co. circa 1962

“We give to remember the past and to flourish in the future”

The Jewish Press | March 17, 2016 | B1

section2

C O M M U N I T Y

a

Jake Lucoff can’t wait for summer camp erika Lucoff s a parent it is my hope that I raise my children to become strong, independent, well rounded and accepting adults. Achieving this goal is not easy, and figuring out how to help them develop these traits can often be challenging. I believe children have the best ability to develop these traits if, in addition to having their parent as positive role models, they also have other positive people in their lives helping to guide them throughout life. You know the saying... It takes a village to raise a child. My family is fortunate to have a strong village to assist. Our village consists of friends, family, coaches, our synagogue and their school (just to name a few).

Our village also extends past our local community. Both my children, Jake (12) and Ollie (10) attended sleep away camp for the first time this past summer. They went to Camp Timberlane, which is an all-boys camp in northern Wisconsin. This is the camp that my husband and his brother attended as kids and has been part of the Lucoff village for over 30 years.

Throughout the country there are countless sleep away camps to choose from and each offers slightly different experiences. Choices include: religious vs secular, co-ed vs same sex, theater focus, sports, etc. Regardless of the specific camp a family chooses to send their child to, sleep away camp provides benefits to youth, which stick with them throughout life. Camp teaches kids to be independent.

For some it is the first time that they have been separated from their parents for any extended period of time, and this enables a child to learn to do things on his/her own and make decisions on his/her own. Other benefits of sleep away camp include: developing new skills, experiencing new challenges, making new friends, getting to know and learning from other youth/young adults from different

backgrounds and the experience of living in a close community.

Sleep away camp is a privilege that can benefit all children. Unfortunately not all children have the opportunity to experience going to camp. The unfortunate reality is that camp is extremely expensive so cost can be a huge barrier. Four weeks at a sleep away camp can cost close to $6,000, which is out of so many family’s budgets.

This year my son Jake has begun to prepare for his Bar Mitzvah, which is scheduled in September 2017. Part of his preparation includes deciding on his mitzvah project. To help narrow down ideas, Jake Lucoff he and I talked about the important things in his life, and the first thing that he said was: “sleep away camp.”

When talking about camp he shared, “Camp is awesome!

I met kids from Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis, Mexico and Russia. I got to try activities I many not have been able to try. My favorite activities were going on a canoe trip where me and my group camped out for 2 nights, learning to waterski, and playing trampball (which is the best game ever where you bounce on trampolines and try to get the other players out). I can’t wait to go back this summer!”

He and I continued our conversation and talked about how not all kids have the opportunity to experience camp

because of how expensive it is. He decided that he wanted to help other families send their children to camp so they can have the same opportunities he had. After meeting with Howard Epstein, Executive Director at the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation, he decided to open a Young Jewish Giving Fund. The funds will be distributed to families who need assistance with sending their children to sleep away camp.

Now came the hard part... figuring out how to raise money to distribute. After continued discussion it was decided to coordinate a fun run/walk. He participated in one a few years back that Friedel Jewish Academy hosted and he had a blast, so he decided to organize another one.

On Sunday, April 30, 2017, the Lucoff family and The Omaha Jewish Community Center are partnering with Beth El, Beth Israel and Temple Israel to host Spring Sprint for Summer Camp. Registration begins at 1 p.m. and the run/walk begins at 1:30 p.m. at the Omaha JCC pavilion. There is a 5 K or 1 mile route to choose from. Cost is $30 for adults and $10 for children 15 and under.

We would like to thank Kohll’s Pharmacy and Beth El Synagogue for sponsoring this event.

To register, contact JCC Member Services or Laura Wine at lwine@jccomaha.org or 402.334.6419. If you register by April 12 you will receive a Spring Sprint t-shirt. For more information contact Erika at elucoff@yahoo.com or Breann at blundblad@jccomaha.org. All proceeds for this event go to the Jake Lucoff Sleep Away Camp Fund.

We hope you can join us! If you are not able to attend the event but would like to support this cause, donations can be made to the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation and note it is for the Jake Lucoff Sleep Away Camp Fund.

HDR World Headquarters - Aksarben Village

I-80 | Hwy 370 Commerce Center

West Farm / South Farm - 144th & W Dodge Rd

River’s Edge - Council Bluffs, Iowa

B U I L D I N G

B E T T E R

C O M M U N I T I E S 2285 S. 67th Street, Suite 250 Omaha, Nebraska 68106 402 496 1616 www.noddlecompanies.com

B2 | The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017

community

Uncovering my family’s hidden Holocaust stories NOah LedermaN JTA rowing up, I had always heard the names Otwock and Karczew. Both are neighboring towns near Warsaw.

Before the Holocaust, Otwock was home to some 14,000 Jews. Karczew had about 500 Jewish residents and became home to a Nazi forced-labor camp during World War II. While both places may have little name recognition around the world, in my family the names loomed large.

They were as common to all of us as the names of Poppy and Grandma’s murdered siblings.

My grandparents had grown up in Otwock. They fled to the Warsaw Ghetto following the summer of 1942, when they were teenagers, after the Nazis had murdered 12,000 of the 14,000 Jews living in their town.

Years later, having survived the war and immigrating to the United States, my grandparents had children. They raised their two kids as best they could, often falling back on their Holocaust stories. But because of these grim bedtime tales, my father slept with a packed suitcase beneath his bed. The Nazis, he assumed, would inevitably storm his Brooklyn apartment. My aunt developed an eating disorder.

Nightmares were constant.

But Poppy and Grandma learned from their mistakes -by the time the grandchildren were around, their Holocaust stories were reduced to whispers. Discussions about Otwock, Karczew, the ghettos and the camps were off the table. Though I constantly pressed them for stories, they kept silent.

In 2004, however, I traveled to Otwock. I discovered the four synagogues had been dismantled, the town hall had no records, Grandma’s street had vanished from the map, the supposed “Jewish Center” had no Jews.

While the trip was disappointing, my visit broke Grandma’s silence. For the next six years, Grandma shared her stories. I also interviewed other survivors, pored through texts, wrote to tracing services, begged for records and watched my grandparents’ Shoah Foundation testimonies.

The research left me with questions unanswered -- there were, I realized, concentration camps without records and histories that vanished without a trace.

Karczew was among those mysteries. In April 1942, 400 Jewish boys from Otwock were sent to a labor camp set up in Karczew. The “Karczew Boys,” as they were known --

The Jewish cemetery in Otwock

Credit: Noah Lederman

Poppy, my grandmother’s father and two brothers, among them -- dug irrigation channels.

But once the murders happened -- 4,000 Jews were massacred in Otwock’s forest, in addition to the 8,000 who were rounded up and sent to Treblinka’s gas chambers -- they received new orders: Bury the dead.

My grandparents eventually escaped Otwock, ending up in the Warsaw Ghetto. They nearly died in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and were later persecuted in Auschwitz and Majdanek.

But at least these places had museums or memorials.

Even Otwock, a town that forgot its Jews, was mentioned in American Holocaust museums and in literature documenting the Nazis’ crimes.

Facts on Karczew, however, seemed nonexistent.

In 2000, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum tasked researchers with creating an encyclopedia that would be the most comprehensive, single-source record to document the

#1 IN COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE SERVICES WORLDWIDE www.cbre.com/omaha

At CBRE|MEGA, we bring together the most comprehensive service offering, strongest brand and most talented real estate professionals in Omaha and around the world. For one reason alone—to best serve our clients.

Now that’s teamwork.

Omaha, Nebraska 68154 +1 402 334 8877

HOMETOWN HEROES SAVINGS PROGRAM!

I want to thank our heroes right here in our hometown by giving back 25% of my side of the commission to the buyer or seller!

Who is eligible? Military, firefighters, EMS, police, teachers, nurses, and some other medical personnel. Contact: Judy Kramer, 402-598-8424, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Ambassador Real Estate, 331 Village Pointe Plaza, Omaha, NE 68118.

©2014 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently owned and operated franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc. “Equal Housing Opportunity.”

SALES LEASING PROPERTY MANAGEMENT PROJECT MANAGEMENT

11213 Davenport Street, Suite 300

thousands of Nazi-established persecution sites. At the time, they estimated 5,000 sites existed, including forced labor camps, military brothels, ghettos, POW camps and concentration camps.

But by 2001, their estimate doubled. When all seven volumes are published, the Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945 will contain more than 42,500 sites that the Nazis had used to persecute, exploit and murder their victims.

“Quite frankly,” Geoffrey Megargee, the project leader told me, “you could put it much higher than that.”

According to a 2013 New York Times article on the project, “The numbers astound: 30,000 slave labor camps; 1,150 Jewish ghettos; 980 concentration camps; 1,000 prisoner-ofwar camps; 500 brothels filled with sex slaves; and thousands of other camps used for euthanizing the elderly and infirm, performing forced abortions, ‘Germanizing’ prisoners or transporting victims to killing centers.”

Two volumes have been published, totaling nearly 4,000 pages and more than 2,200 camps and ghettos.

These discoveries shocked me. Last year, I started writing an article about the project. For the story, I would travel to Germany and visit some sites. Since only two of the seven volumes have been published, I asked to preview forthcoming entries. I asked for Karczew, which will be part of Volume 6, slated for publication in 2020.

The entry was shocking. Poppy’s name -- Leon Lederman -- appeared in the text. I changed my itinerary to include Poland. I had to stand in the horrifying place where my grandfather, barely out of boyhood, worked past exhaustion as a gravedigger.

I stood along the fence at the locked Karczew cemetery, staring at the assemblage of Jewish tombstones atop the hill.

I was grateful it was protected but saddened I couldn’t visit the graves. (I was told the key had gone missing.) By contrast, the Jewish cemetery in Otwock, hidden deep in a red pine forest, where tipped tombstones were accompanied by smashed beer bottles and deserted campfires, had no gate.

Since my first visit 12 years before, Otwock had made some changes. A stone was placed to remember the site of one synagogue, now a shopping mall; another stone memorialized 2,000 Jews killed at one location in the forest. There was also a small museum with a modest exhibit about the local Jews. (It had actually existed in 2004, but none of the residents or employees at town hall, where the museum had originally been housed, knew about it.)

See hidden holocaust stories page B4

INVESTMENT SERVICES

PJ Library Pre-Purim Bash

The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017 | B3

Friedel celebrates Purim

PJ Library’s Pre-Purim Bash March 5 at the Omaha Children’s Museum entertained over 200 individuals (50+ families) for dinner, Purim-themed craft projects, a science show and lots of fun running around the exhibits.

PJ Library provides free Jewish books each month to children – but it’s more than just books! Programs like this bring families together to learn, relax, have fun and get to know one another. Reach out to Jennie Gates Beckman, JFO Director of Community Engagement & Education at 402.334.6445 or jbeckman@jewishomaha.org for more information.

Friday March 10, Friedel Jewish Academy students experienced an early start to the Purim weekend by doing crafts, wearing their best costumes and parading through the Jewish Community Center. Even the teachers dressed up, with a little help from Head of School Beth Cohen, who made the emoji costumes herself.

Snowbirds

Please let the Jewish Press know in advance when you are leaving and when you are returning. Sometimes several papers are sent to your “old” address before we are notified by the Post Office. Every time they return a paper to us, you miss the Jewish Press and we are charged! Please call us at 402.334.6448 or email us at jpress@jewishomaha.org.

LK

Let us help create your ideal space 402.934.8088 contact@lkdesign.biz www.lkdesign.com

Voted Omaha’s Best Interior Designer

B4 | The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017

Come in and be inspired!

Hidden Holocaust stories

The defunct mill in Karczew, where there once was a Nazi forced-labor camp.

Credit: Noah Lederman

8600 Cass Street | 391-7733 | Open Mon.-Fri. 9-6, Sat. 9-3

Non-Profit Organizations

Continued from page B2 This time, I met with the curator, Sebastian Rakowski. He showed me a photograph of the Karczew Boys. Somewhere in that roll call, I knew, stood Poppy.

Rakowski showed me a book he had written about the persecution of Jews in Otwock during the war. It contained a a photograph of an old mill -- when I reached this mill, he said, I’d be standing on the site of the Karczew camp.

I headed there by car immediately. The mill was defunct: windows smashed, concrete chipped, grass overgrown. Grapes grew in the shade like smoothed amethysts.

Next to the mill was a scrap-metal yard with everything crushed beyond recognition.

Fences and climbing plants hid homes, as if no one wanted a reminder.

Standing there, my family’s Karczew stories came flooding back to me: Grandma, who had hidden in the boys’ camp after her mother was murdered, once told me about the time the Nazis came searching the barracks. A small boy hid in the bunks.

Grandma begged him to follow her, but he wouldn’t.

“They killed him,” she said.

I thought of Poppy’s escape from the Karczew camp during the liquidation of Otwock. He was attempting to save his family but ended up on a train to Treblinka. Using a wire he hid around his waist, however, he sawed through the bars of the cattle car, survived the fall and the Nazi gunners, and watched his friends and family journey to their deaths. He ran back to Karczew and was put to work digging graves. Until the grim task was complete, the camp was one of the last places in Otwock or Karczew where a Jew could survive.

I looked around Karczew. The barracks and irrigation channels were gone, but this time I knew the record -- however small -remained. I pulled up the encyclopedia

The Lerner Company

Coming publishing date | 04.21.17

in

space reservation | 04.12.17

april camera ready deadline | 04.14.17

Promote your business in this special issue with an ad and a short article.

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

Susan Bernard | 402.334.6559 | sbernard@jewishomaha.org

entry on my phone.

“The 400 Jewish forced laborers,” it read, “were put to work digging drainage channels along the Jagodzianka River.”

I felt chills. Poppy -- an unnamed fighter in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a Jewish teen who stuck a pitchfork through a Nazi’s neck -- was no longer overlooked.

“According to Leon Lederman,” the text said, “those working in the camp were watched mainly by around 30 members of the Jewish police from Otwock.”

I tried to picture the Karczew Boys.

“Leon Lederman also recalls that when his own family was deported to Treblinka from the Otwock ghetto, a group of Jews from the Karczew camp was taken there to dig a mass grave for the Jews killed locally during the Aktion.”

I tried to imagine the horrors of that task.

“Leon Lederman also noted that [in the fall of 1942] around 300 of the remaining inmates of the Karczew camp ‘were sent to the Warsaw ghetto,’ although he says he went into hiding first for a while and then went to the ghetto.”

To read these words reminded me that Poppy mattered, and that Karczew mattered.

Every single one of these encyclopedia entries -- chronicling the tens of thousands of places like Karczew -- all matter. They will paint a picture of what was lost -- and encourage remembering by all of us.

Noah Lederman is the author of the memoir “A World Erased: A Grandson’s Search for His Family’s Holocaust Secrets,” published Feb. 7 by Rowman & Littlefield. His articles have been featured in the Economist, the Boston Globe, the Miami Herald, the Washington Post, Slate, Salon, the New Republic, Tablet Magazine, the Jerusalem Post Magazine, Tikkun and elsewhere. He writes the travel blog Somewhere Or Bust and tweets @NoahLederman.

The company has developed nearly 4 million square Based in Omaha, NE, The Lerner Company is a full service commercial real estate firm servicing feet of retail projects and has a current leasing portclients throughout the country since 1985. With folio of 7 million square feet. We currently manage decades of experience in commercial real estate, our retail properties such as lifestyle centers, enclosed real estate professionals offer the skills and talent regional malls, neighborhood strip centers and standto provide our clients with the best resources avail- alone buildings totaling over 3 million square feet. able to satisfy their needs and achieve their objecAs a ChainLinks affiliate since 1993, the brokertives. Our team has proven experience in age division represents over 50 national and regional development, brokerage, retailing, research, real es- clients including JoAnn Fabrics, Mattress Firm, tate law, financing, property management, tenant Dick’s Sporting Goods, Autozone, Planet Fitness and representation and other disciplines.

Fareway Foods.

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

In Budapest, Roma and Jews turn alternative JCC into anti-government hub

CnAAn LIphshIz review last year’s activities, including the group’s weekly BUDAPEST | JTA Shabbat services in their small egalitarian synagogue and lthough she lives in the undisputed nightlife celebrations of Jewish holidays. capital of Central Europe, Andi Angelip knows In addition to religious services, Marom also organizes edof only a handful of bars here where she is truly ucational activities in schools about the Holocaust, programs comfortable bringing a date. for street children, and cultural events like film screenings Angelip, a 19-year-old student and activist for and experimental music concerts. It also hosts political dislesbian and gay rights, said she avoids “rainbow” establishcussions, such as a sold-out Jan. 30 debate on populism feaments that cater only to homosexuals. Yet in a country where violent far-right activists regularly intimidate gays and lesbians, she also avoids romantic situations in mainstream clubs.

“It’s not so comfortable to be a minority in a country whose politicians preach for discrimination on a daily basis,” she told JTA last month.

Two years ago, Angelip found at least one place where she does feel comfortable: an avant-garde Jewish community center called Aurora. Since its reopening in 2014 in a poor neighborhood of Budapest, it has become one of the city’s hippest coffee bars – Activists preparing an educational activity at the Aurora Jewish community center, April 23, and a major hub for social and Credit: Aurora opposition activists fighting the 2016. policies of Hungary’s right-wing government. turing László Majtényi, an outspoken critic of Orban.

“I come here because it’s just a cool place, but also be“We work with non-affiliated Jews who would never go cause I feel safe and comfortable here, like I belong,” said to a synagogue or even the Balint Center,” said Adam Angelip, who is not a part of Hungary’s Jewish population Schoenberger, the president of Marom, referring to the of approximately 100,000.

Jewish community center in central Budapest funded by She is not the only minority rights activist who regards Au- the Joint Distribution Committee. “So we try to sneak Jurora, a 6,500-square-foot center located in a small building in daism into our programming, just to give them a taste and the crime-stricken 8th District, as a sanctuary from reality in whet their appetite: a klezmer concert here, a Hanukkah Hungary. Critics of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s governcandle lighting there.” ment here say it is mainstreaming hate crime and Holocaust As Schoenberger talks to a visitor, in an adjacent room revisionism, as well as promoting censorship of the press. three activists from the Roma Press Center hammer out a Marom, the Jewish association that runs and owns Austrategy for covering the landmark trial at the European rora as part of its outreach mission to young unaffiliated Court of Human Rights on the role of Hungarian police in Hungarian Jews, provides office space and facilities to allowing hundreds of rioters in 2012 to attack the home of about a dozen non-Jewish activist groups committed to a Roma family in the village of Devecser. fighting these perceived trends. They include the Roma The court’s Feb. 8 ruling against the police – one of hunPress Center, Budapest Pride, the Migszol refugee advodreds of hate crimes against Roma, or gypsies, recorded cacy group and the Zold Pok agency for social activism. annually in Hungary – was hailed by Amnesty InternaWhile Angelip and a female friend chatted over beer on a tional as a “drop of hope in a sea of fear.” recent Monday in the Aurora bar – a cozy space with 1970s “Not only is the far right party, Jobbik, the third largest décor and music by the French protest singer Manu Chao - in parliament, but the ruling Fidesz party has drifted see Alternative JCC page B6 - Marom’s staff of about 12 met in their upstairs office to

PAUL GERBER A U T O S A L E S 2423 North 72nd

402-571-1335

Peterson Bros.

Realty Inc. Sales & Management

8720 Frederick St .

Suite 101 Omaha, NE 68124

402-397-8700

The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017 | B5

worldnews Reform movement leaders meet with Mahmoud Abbas

JTA NEWS STAFF Leaders of the U.S. Reform movement met with Palestinian Authority President President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

The delegation of around 30 leaders from the Union for Reform Judaism, led by its president, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, met with Abbas and other Palestinian officials. Discussions included the two-state-solution, Israeli settlements and the Trump administration.

"I was impressed with the president’s clear and unequivocal commitment to the two-state solution," Jacobs said in a statement. "He clearly is frustrated with the lack of progress, or even the existence of ongoing negotiations. I share that frustration."

Jacobs also said he learned from Palestinian officials that they had spoken with the Trump administration, which had confirmed that U.S. policy continues to support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At a joint news conference last month with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump had said he “can live” with either a one- or two-state solution, a statement Palestinians slammed for breaking with decades of American policy.

One unnamed Palestinian official told Israel Radio that the president’s words were “the biggest disaster it was possible to hear from the American president.” Liberal and centrist Jewish groups also criticized Trump's statement.

During Thursday's meeting, the delegation also spoke with Abbas "about the Palestinian Authority’s responsibility to stem anti-Israeli incitement."

“He acknowledged it was a real challenge, just as it is in Israel, and called for reviving the anti-incitement trilateral committee led by the U.S.,” Jacobs said.

Daryl Messinger, chair of the URJ North American Board, acknowledged that the two sides disagreed about some issues.

“We clearly did not agree on everything, nor did we expect to. We were warmly received, and I found our conversation to be positive," Messinger said.

The URJ delegation, which arrived in Israel on Monday, also met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Jewish Agency President Natan Sharansky, as well as members of the Knesset. The group is scheduled to speak with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also.

Also on Thursday, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick for ambassador to Israel in a narrow vote.

David Friedman's nomination will now go before the full Senate for approval.

Friedman's critics cited his past skepticism of the two-state solution and his deep philanthropic investment in the settlement movement as well as his past insults of Jews with whom he doesn’t agree. Friedman had called J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, “worse than kapos,” the Jewish Nazi collaborators.

Visit us at jewishomaha.org

B6 | The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017

worldnews Alternative JCC

Continued from page B5 further and further in its negative attitudes towards Roma,” the group said.

Against this backdrop, and amid a government-led crackdown on independent media, the Roma Press Center is “the only outlet that will bring the news about assaults in the countryside to the few news portals that are still not muzzled by the government,” Schoenberger said. “We find it very important that they be a part of Aurora.”

The press center, a nongovernment organization with a shoestring budget, receives a significant discount on rent from Marom.

The cooperation with Marom revolutionized the work of the Roma center, which was founded in 1995, according to the organization’s president, Szilvia Suri.

“We were renting office space in the center before we came here,” she said. “It was more expensive but more crucially, we were isolated there, whereas at Aurora we are better connected not only to the other organizations working here, but to the many Roma people who live in the 8th District.”

The Jewish-Roma partnership at Aurora is unusual in a country where the two minorities rarely act in unison, according to Eszter Hajdu, a Hungarian filmmaker who has studied that relationship.

“While both groups encounter some xenophobia, the Roma are far more vulnerable,” Hajdu said. And while Jewish groups at times participate in educational and charitable activities to assist Roma, “I can’t say the Jewish community is the first one to offer help” to the other minority, she added. She also said that part of the problem is negative biases each group holds of the other in Hungary.

The discounts that Marom offered its partner groups last year on using Aurora facilities and utilities amounted to $25,000 -- a substantial sum in a country where the average monthly salary is about half that of the United States.

Marom generates 90 percent of its annual budget and receives the rest from donations by JDC, the UJA-Federation of New York, Masorti Olami and others.

Building an alliance of liberal groups would be unremark-

Adam Schonberger, standing, with other participants at the 2016 seder dinner at the Aurora Jewish community center in Budapest, April 22, 2016.

Credit: Marom able for a Jewish organization in most other Western countries. But in Hungary, it places Aurora squarely at the center of opposition to a government-led campaign to root out foreign-funded grassroots organizations that do not conform to the party line, and to significantly limit the work of nongovernmental groups to local funding only.

Officials from Orban’s Fidesz party have already vowed to root out the network of NGOs that receive funding from the liberal Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, who is Jewish, and have limited the work of other groups with funding from Norway. Now, most other local groups with a progressive agenda are bracing for intervention by the government.

Marom has experience with such intervention.

In 2014, Budapest officials kicked the group out of its former site in the city center on a building safety pretext. The eviction notice came two days after opposition activists used the space to plan an anti-government sit-in.

It was one of several opposition activities hosted by Marom in recent years, including in the 2013 student protests. Marom’s previous site was also the birthplace that year of the LMP Green party.

Mazsihisz, the umbrella group of Hungarian Jewish communities, has objected in recent years to perceived attempts by the government to whitewash Hungarian authorities’ complicity in the Holocaust, including by celebrating known anti-Semites. But Mazsihisz has remained nonpartisan.

And with good reason, according to Slomó Köves, a Chabad rabbi and leader of the local EMIH Jewish group, which is not part of Mazsihisz.

The government funds Jewish community life with hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, supports Israel in international forums and protects religious freedoms, Koves said. And while “it can be argued that it needs to be firmer on anti-Semitism, progress is being made there, too.” Ultimately, he argued, Hungarian Jews are safer and more secure about their future than their brethren in France.

But for Marom, which began in 1998 as an apolitical group, the penchant for opposition activism is inescapable, according to Schoenberger.

This is partly because “most unaffiliated Jews in Hungary seem to be liberal,” he said. But ultimately, “our opposition activism owes to the government’s war on core Jewish values of tikkun olam,” a Jewish concept of “repairing the world” and helping the needy, Schoenberger said.

“We did not choose to become political,” he added. “But when the government is targeting the poor, the different, the foreign – then we have no choice.”

The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017 | b7

Keeping Israel’s military friendly to women and gays

S

ANdrew TObiN TEL AVIV | JTA hahaf Ben-Yakov always found it maddening when her ability as a combat soldier was questioned just because of her gender.

Nonetheless, she dismissed as nonsense the notion that army service “has driven our girls crazy” -- as a rabbi who runs a pre-military academy in the Eli settlement claimed in a speech broadcast on Israeli television, hours ahead of International Women’s Day. “e army was the first time I realized not everyone saw me as equal, and I needed to prove myself and fight for my rights as a woman,” Ben-Yakov told JTA. Ben-Yakov, 25, is part of a new group of women and LGBT officers that aims to speak out for diversity within the Israeli army and push back against growing religious influence. e group, Pride in Blue and White, has launched a crowdfunding campaign to support what it said would be the first army preparatory courses and mentoring programs specifically for female and LGBT youth. e ultimate goal of the campaign -- called Israeli Pride Times Two – is to double the number of women in combat positions and the number of openly LGBT soldiers in the Israeli army. e army is already relatively progressive on those fronts. Jewish women are conscripted like their male counterparts, but for two years rather than three, and allowed to hold a growing number of combat positions.

Gay and lesbian soldiers have been allowed to serve openly since 1993, the same year the United States issued its infamous Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, even if many report being fearful of doing so. But with the growing influence of religious Zionist officers and soldiers, Ben-Yakov and her colleagues worry this progress is in jeopardy.

“We’re all officers. We all fought in the army. And we feel that our home is under attack,” said Oren Nahmany, the 27-

year-old founder of Pride in Blue and White. “In Israel, everyone has to go to the army, so it has to be pluralistic and liberal. What the rabbis are trying to do is push out women, push out LGBT people and bring their own people in.”

Rabbi Eli Sadan -- who along with Levinstein founded the first army prep school, Bnei David, in the West Bank settlement Eli in 1988 -- rejected such criticisms in a paper last year.

He said religious Zionists had no desire to take over the army and accused critics of promoting hatred of his community.

Omer Nahmany In the decades since Credit: Pride in Blue and White Bnei David opened its doors, religious Zionists have quickly moved up the army echelon. ere are no official statistics that classify soldiers as secular or observant, but a study by the Defense Ministry journal Maarachot found that the percentage of religious Zionist infantry officer cadets grew from 2.5 percent in 1990 to 26 percent in 2008, according to Reuters. More recent research shows religious Zionists now account for between one-third and one-half of cadets.

To protect and advance the rights of women and LGBT soldiers, Pride in Blue and White is now opening army prep courses of its own. Since Levinstein’s speech to several hundred graduates of a religious academy aired, they have raised well over $1,000. With three weeks le, they are almost 40 percent of the way to their goal of about $20,000.

In his speech, Levinstein said women soldiers lose their Jewish “values and priorities,” and called the idea of women

LAUNCH HEARTLAND

USA

Some view the Heartland as flyover country— we beg to differ. At Colliers International, we see the Heartland as a new frontier of entrepreneurial spirit that is dissolving boundaries and developing solutions. Partnering with Colliers can help your business reach new heights—elevating your vantage point so you can see the broader landscape more clearly. Team up with us and prepare for takeoff. colliers.com/omaha

commanders “madness.” He ridiculed families led by two gay fathers, saying, “it’s an insane asylum.”

Amid the public outcry, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Wednesday he would reconsider Levinstein’s “fitness to prepare young people for service in the Israel Defense Forces.”

In November, Eyal Karim’s appointment as chief army rabbi was put on hold because he had said women’s army service is “entirely forbidden” for reasons of modesty and opposed women singing at army events. He later apologized for the remarks.

Nahmany, a 27-year-old political science student at Tel Aviv University, said Levinstein was right to be worried about religious Zionist soldiers learning acceptance in the army.

Unlike many gay soldiers who hide their sexuality in the army, Nahamy was upfront about being gay, starting in basic training. He said he was generally accepted, and took pride in setting an example as a combat officer in the Air Force.

“I was known as the gay officer, and I’m proud of that because that meant new recruits knew they were free to come out,” he said. “I also had religious soldiers, and they always told me they never thought I was what a gay person looks like. I am certain that I changed the way they saw the LGBTQ community.”

Ben-Yakov, who studies political science with Nahamany, agreed. Even though men in the army oen doubted whether she was capable of combat, those she worked closely with came to respect her, and she them, she said. at kind of interaction is what has made the army, and Israeli society in general, increasingly accepting, she said. “e first goal of the army is to protect Israel, and it needs women and LGBT soldiers,” she said. “Rabbi Levinstein is afraid of the inevitable future, that religious people will meet the rest of Israel. en, they will realize women can actually go out of the kitchen and do other things.”

B8 | The Jewish Press | March 17, 2017