March 19, 2021: Passover Edition

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Synagogue Life PA S S O V E R 2 0 2 1

Maurycy Gottlieb Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur

A2 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

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A strange chapter

Welcome to our annual Passover issue! It’s early January as I think we must. What’s more: if there is one community I’m writing this, Jan. 3, to be precise. Of all the Passover mes- who has what it takes to make it through all this craziness, it’s sages I’ve written, this one feels the most bizarre and part of Jewish Omaha. And Lincoln, and Council Bluffs. me wants to skip the whole thing. For now, at least; surely, I It’s been more than two decades since I first came to can write it closer to deadline? Hanukkah is barely over. Does Omaha. Over the years, I’ve seen first-hand what this commuit have to be this early? nity is made of. Together, we can do this.

Well, yes, it must; deadline is in a month and we have a million things to do. Some of those things are the same as other years: contact writers, schedule interviews, constantly rework the topic list, dig through the archives. At the same time, we are all hyper-aware that nothing is the same.

We chose ‘synagogue life’ as our theme. It’s an odd choice, because most of us haven’t been to shul in almost a year. But we think it’s also an appropriate choice: more than ever before, we understand the role synagogues play in our lives. Maybe we’ve taken them a little bit for granted, these buildings and all they provide for us inside.

It begins and ends with the clergy and staff. It’s amazing, the work they have done during this past year, putting services online, staying in touch with congregants, dealing with the changed reality of funerals with almost no attendants, no shared meals, no hugs, no in person conversations. It makes it all the more obvious exactly how big a role they all play in our daily lives and our communal well-being.

Then, there is the vast number of volunteers who add their energy to the mix. How many of us have, at one time or another, stepped up and come to synagogue to help out? And how many services have we at- Credit: Yoninah via wikimedia commons (en.wikipedia.orh/wiki/GNU_ tended, weddings, lunches, Purim spiels, Free_Documentation_License confirmations, Yom HaShoah commemorations, B’nai MitzNormally, this is the part where I thank everyone who made vah, scholar-in-residence weekends? How about religious this Jewish Press edition possible. This time, I want to thank school? Kol Nidre? The list is endless; I can go on all day. The everybody, no matter who you are, or how far from Omaha things we miss: we probably all have our own personal list of you may have moved. You are all part of something that will favorites—the power of communal life is evident in the many continue to defy the odds. different ways we connect. Personally, I miss seeing people. I We all know the question: There are Jews in Omaha? miss Lourdes’ four kisses (never fewer) on my cheeks on FriYou bet there are. And they are beautiful, amazing, loyal, day night. I miss walking into Temple Israel’s kitchen and see- dedicated and just stubborn enough to make it past all the ing my friends, strapping on my apron and getting busy. I miss roadblocks. praying together, singing together.

This past year will forever be a strange chapter in our col- Chag Pesach kasher vesame’ach, lective history. At the same time, we don’t know what’s going to happen next. Each time we utter the words ‘when this is all ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT over...’ we know, deep down, it might never be truly over. If Editor, Jewish Press there is one thing we’ve all learned: the future is uncertain and we can’t predict anything.

So, what’s next? Is this a story of what we miss, what we’ve had to give up, a story of sadness and loneliness? Or is there a deeper lesson to be found, can we rewrite this chapter as one of unbridled optimism? Do we, after everything that has happened, find the chutzpah to push through? Do we stubbornly refuse to give up?

The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | A3

Rabbi Brooks ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor Sidney H. Brooks was born April 3, 1920 in Buffalo, New York. He married Jane in 1944 in Atlantic City, NJ; together they had two children, Miriam and Joel. He became senior Rabbi at Temple Israel in 1952, after being ordained by the Hebrew Union College in 1946 and a short tenure at Temple Shalom in Springfield, Ohio.

One of the first tasks he encountered upon arrival in Omaha was the relocation of Temple Israel from Park Street to a new building at a location on 72nd and Cass, which was at the time at the very western outskirts of the city. From inception, Rabbi Brooks shepherded the project through to completion while Temple business, classes and worship services were conducted from the JCC building downtown. He also oversaw three additions to the building on Cass: the religious school wing, the Livingston Chapel and the Milder Conference Center. He and Jane were there when a tornado hit in 1975, and while repairs were underway worked out of five different locations to keep the congregation together.

Writing about Rabbi Sidney H. Brooks is a monumental task. While the Nebraska Jewish Historical files usually can be easily carried in one manila folder, Rabbi Brooks’ papers warrant an entire box.

And I needed the research; I never met him. What others before me deigned important enough to preserve is what I have to go on. Fortunately, Miriam Brooks has been kind enough to perch on my shoulder and guide me. She does not know this, but there are entire conversations between us, centering on what’s important, what we should put in the story, will I mess this up? There is so much material, how do I narrow it down?

“The Rabbinate is not, in the strictest sense, a profession,” said Rabbi Brooks in 1983. “It is a calling that derives from deep within the soul of the Rabbi. This calling comes from a soul-born desire to teach Torah. And to represent Judaism, wherever we are and for as long as we live.”

In trying to learn about Rabbi Brooks, in trying to get a sense of who he was, it is that phrase that jumps out: “The soul-born desire to teach Torah.”

Passover

And so this article will focus on that: the evidence that what drove Rabbi Brooks was the desire to teach Torah.

He did so by sometimes using interesting props: “Boys and Girls! Do you know what this is?” The fidgeting and whispering would stop and children and their parents would hang on every word as Rabbi Brooks helped the children “discover” a pertinent idea from the teachings of Judaism during his now famous services during the High Holy days. Rabbi Brooks used such diverse items as a hula hoop, a gnarled shofar from Israel, a toy clock, an Israeli Coke bottle, a white robe with a note from the cleaners (“This stain cannot be removed”), bread, a phone, British bone china, a horseshoe, a fossil, a diamond willow walking stick, petrified wood bookends, a seashell, a geode, a deer antler and, of course, Lucky, his beloved 16year-old three-legged dog.

“Sidney’s convictions were painstakingly formu-

lated,” wrote Rabbi Stanley Dreyfus, his friend of over 60 years, on Rabbi Brooks’ first Yahrzeit, “and published in pulpit, classroom, and meeting hall without his calculating whether people would approve them or undertake to refute them. What he taught and urged his congregants to implement in their homes, their schools, their Temple, their social and professional life was rooted in the classic values of Judaism and upon his own reverent and persistent inquiry into the application of Torah to the spiritual and moral enhancement of the community.”

Reading through Rabbi Brooks’ letters, a picture emerges of someone who is always teaching, with passion and dedication to the truth as he found it in Torah. But, not without a sense of humor, as evident in a letter he wrote to Temple’s congregation after the 1975 tornado: I could not help but recall the title of my last column in the Temple Tidings. It said Enough is Enough See Rabbi Brooks page A4

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Rabbi Brooks Let my people LEGO: Temple Israel virtual community seder RABBI DEANA SUSSMAN BEREZIN Join Temple Israel for a fun, interactive Community Seder on Sunday, March 28 at 5:30 p.m. Together, we will tell the Passover story, tracing the Israelites’ journey from slavery to freedom through LEGO! Upon signing up for our Seder, congregants will be asked if they would like to take part in telling the story by illustrating a section of it with the ultimate construction material – LEGO blocks! During our Seder, we will ask our community members to share their LEGO creations, piecing together the story that we all know and love! Alongside our creative storytelling techniques will be all of your Seder favorites – we’ll hear the Four Questions and sing Dayenu together; we’ll eat the Hillel sandwich and search for the Afikomen, and more! All of the materials your family will need to participate will be provided in our Seder Kits, which you will be able to pick up at Temple Israel on Sunday afternoon (March 28) while you wave hello and say a quick, socially-distanced, hello to our clergy and staff ! For more information on how to sign up and join us for this creative, engaging, and most importantly, fun Seder adventure, visit TempleIsraelOmaha.com. You will also be able to order your Seder meals and view our helpful Passover guide!

Continued from page A3 but wasn’t and you all know what happened days later on May 6.

That ought to cure the lot of you who ask for my intervention with the Divine in matters ranging from the fate of Big Red to the weather. I’m just no good in that field.

When Louise Abrahamson interviewed him in 1990, she asked him about Rabbinical school, and what he and Jane lived on while he was in school and they were newlyweds.

The answer: “I robbed banks and sold dope.” When another interviewer asked him what his favorite holiday was, he replied: “Christmas. Unless it’s a Friday, I know I’ll have the day off.”

Rabbi Brooks served Temple Israel for 33 years as senior Rabbi and was named Rabbi emeritus in 1985. The same words keep popping up when one reads the testimonials from the congregation as well as the wider community: teacher, counsel, a ‘pastor’s pastor.’ Many people have written many things about Rabbi Brooks: “a trailblazer in civil rights, interfaith relations and community youth work” wrote Julia McCord in the Omaha World-Herald. ‘A Prophetic Figure,’ according to another article in the same newspaper. The Jewish Press called him a ‘giant,’ Phyllis Glazer called him ‘powerful.’

He’s been called a ‘mover and shaper,’ ‘altruistic,’ ‘gregarious.’

It is, however, his own words that give us a real sense of who he was.

Perhaps his 1969 High Holy Days sermons, titled A Human Manifesto, published in a special booklet at the time, are exactly what we need.

“Life is perilous, adventurous, staggeringly complex,” he told the congregation on Erev Rosh Hashana. “Survival is more than just staying alive. Many who are alive are not really surviving. Though human loss and gain remain ever the same, each of us tonight has his own unique reflections.

“Since last we met there are new lives in our families and there are empty places among us. The rich tapestry of last year has its own distinctive pattern. The particular color combinations of defeat and victory, hope and despair, anguish and happiness, illness and health, have made the year what it was for each of us. If our lot has been good, we thank God for it. If our fate has been hard, we ask for strength to

bear it. And we will pray that next year our honest desires will match our opportunities so that it may be a good year insofar as we ourselves may make it so for us and for all.

“These are truisms. But they are not without consequence.

For when the history of human thought and achievement of our times is compiled, this year will be a turning point of gigantic proportion in the age of man.”

He might as well have written it yesterday, especially when we take these words into account: “You will think about your identities as Jews and the relevance of our traditions and thoughts to the cataclysmic changes and problems of the modern world.”

Rabbi Brooks, besides a great teacher, was a prolific writer.

A writer of letters to the newspaper (and to the end of his life to and from his daughter), of sermons, of missives to his congregation, containing sometimes uncomfortable pieces of wisdom that we nonetheless should all read. I leave you with this passage from his 1969 Erev Yom Kippur sermon, in which he speaks of communal responsibility: “Judaism does not ask perfection. No figure in our entire history is portrayed as perfect. We are asked quite simply to be the best of which we are capable. And even that most of us do not do. And so the vocabulary of the prayer book disturbs most Jews. The whole concept of sin and forgiveness, of guilt and atonement seems out of place to many. Part of the reason, I think, is that we do not ordinarily think in these terms. Unlike some others, we Jews have been schooled to believe that man has a vast potential for goodness and that we redeem ourselves through righteous action. We cannot believe that human nature itself is necessarily sinful. We are not sin-conscious in the cosmic sense. We are behavior conscious in the context of now.”

‘The context of now:’ it constantly changes. At least we think it does; the world looks very different than it did when Rabbi Brooks wrote these words. And yet, from his sermons, from his writings, from that entire box of files, rises the figure of a man who talks of what’s permanent, what’s true, what’s deeper than what we see right in front of us. The ultimate lesson of Rabbi Brooks, then, is that Torah is always relevant— and so are its teachers.

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The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | A5

You are not alone: Synagogues keeping youth connected GABBY BLAIR Jewish Press Staff Writer Whether homebound since March 2020 or carrying on in as much of a preCovid fashion as possible, ‘normal’ life has changed a lot for everyone in a very short amount of time. Disruptions to how we work, play, learn, pray, shop, and socialize have required many adapta-

kids. I just want them — and their parents- to know that Beth El is here for them.”

Though it has been challenging, Dworin has come up with innovative ways to keep kids connected. With a background in special education to draw on, Dworin finds that adaptation and creativity are key in designing pro-

activities through school or sport. As such, there has been a decrease in attendance for our online events, but our socially distanced and masked in-person outdoor events- which we try to hold once a month -have been very popular.”

Beth El youth has met for sledding, drive-in movies, and celebrated Hanukkah with “Parking LOTkes” (gotta

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Above left: Cadee Scheer enjoyed sledding in Beth El’s backyard; above center: Beth El Director of Youth Engagement, Amy Dworin, always has a big smile on her face even though these days, it is masked; above right: Ethan and Ari Finklestein were ready for a snowball fight during a socially distanced Beth El snow day! Below left: Ben Cohen at Sukkot and below right: Temple Israel Youth.

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tions that are always overshadowed by Covid. These societal changes are stressful and can be isolating for young and old alike. I caught up with the Directors of Youth Engagement at Beth El, Beth Israel and Temple Israel to find out what what our community has been doing to keep teens connected during this particularly strange and unprecedented time.

With synagogues closed, Amy Dworin from Beth El has a message for her middle and high schoolers. “First, I want to say that even though you may not see us in person, we are here for you. We miss you.

We care about you. You are not alone.”

Dworin laments that while teens today are perhaps the savviest at adapting to a new technologically centered life, Zoom classes and online interactions- while sufficient- often lack the quality and spontaneity that we, as sociable creatures, crave and are used to. “Our teens — especially our high schoolers — have finally reached the age of increased independence only to be faced with limitations on many social and creative outlets and concerns about the future because of Covid. They are keeping up on their school work — whether in person, remotely or through some hybrid schedule — but they are not able to fully enjoy the fun parts of high school life right now.

Things that we typically take for granted, like hanging out with friends, going to the movies, cheering on school teams, participating in sports or performing arts, attending dances... even graduation and planning for what comes next... so many of the things teens usually look forward to have been paused or modified.

It’s a bummer and I really feel for our

gramming to meet the needs of synagogue youth during this unique time.

“Youth groups are designed to help kids learn how to be part of a community after completing Hebrew School. As these kids have grown up together, they have learned our rituals, songs, prayers and language. They have celebrated Shabbats, Holidays and each other’s B’nai Mitzvot. Typically, USY and Kadima help provide a safe Jewish space to hang out and build those deeper connections while growing into young adults and our future generation of leaders. When kids come together in person at shul, there is so much more that happens than learning a curriculum- there is the building of community. USY and Kadima provide the opportunity to hang out with peers who go to different schools and have different interests all in a space where the comfort of shared commonality brings us together... here, you don’t have to explain or defend yourself, everyone celebrates your holidays and understands a bit of who you are on a different level.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, Dworin organized BILU check-ins and began reaching out to middle and high schoolers on a regular basis. It took a little time, thought and a lot of listening to come up with ideas and activities that could hopefully fill some void that our “quaranTEENS” might be experiencing.

“Teens are kind of burned out on Zoom meetings, online learning and ‘virtual life,’ something I think most adults can empathize with. A lot of our teens have gotten jobs to keep busy and in some cases, to help their families.

Others have found options for in-person

love a good pun!) “The high schoolers set up tailgate styled cooking stations in the Beth El parking lot and our BESTT families drove through to pick up hot, freshly fried latkes. It was fun, different and everyone had a good time getting out and seeing each other, even if it was from a distance.” A drive-by Purim ‘CAR’nival scavenger hunt and a virtual postpassover pizza party were in the planning stages at the time of writing this article.

“Its not realistic to expect kids to have pre-pandemic behaviors and outcomes when their entire environment has changed. Even though socially distanced, these events provide an opportunity for connection and stability while giving our youth something good to do, together,” explains Dworin. “We will keep working hard to provide safe options for interaction and fun in a Jewish space, just like we always have.”

Ben Cohen at Temple Israel echoes much of Amy’s sentiments regarding the challenges teens face during the pandemic. Cohen, a native of St. Louis, Mo, joined Temple in July 2020 after completing his degree in History and Judaic Studies at Denver University. Coming into a new leadership position in the midst of a pandemic has required a lot of outreach and forward ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking.

“I was advising a NFTY event last year when I met Ben Mazor. We had such a positive and productive conversation which led me to visit Temple Israel early last March, just before Covid was fully realized. I am thankful I had the opportunity to glimpse the vibrancy of prepandemic life here and meet with See Youth Groups page A6

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Learning, events, activities and more for youth of all ages.

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A6 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

Youth groups

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Continued from page A5 Temple congregants, leaders and youth during that visit. I really fell in love with the community and was excited to become part of it.”

Cohen continues: “Obviously, youth engagement today looks a lot different than anything anyone could have anticipated but I think we are doing a pretty good job. While a lot of our teens understandably have ‘Zoom fatigue’, many are more engaged than ever before. I think a big reason for this increased engagement is, in part, being asked to help to lead in ways that they might not have had the opportunity or desire to do before now.”

setting and flow of in person activities online, but we are doing the best we can and hope to have some socially distanced in-person activities when the weather improves and school obligations are paused for the summer.”

Rabbi Yoni Dreyer, his wife Shiran and their four young children moved to Omaha from Ariel, Israel in November 2019. This energetic and creative couple are a power team filled with ruach and ideas that have helped keep Beth Israel youth connected during the past year. “We were interested in becoming Shlichut as we wanted to develop a better connection to Jews outside of Israel. We are

The Lincoln Jewish Community wishes you a Sweet and Joyous Pesach!

Above left: Rabbi Yoni Dreyer and above right: Youth gather to pray and learn on Beth Israel’s back deck, Summer 2020.

Rabbi Alex Felch Congregation B’nai Jeshurun The South Street Temple

The Jewish Federation of Lincoln

Union for Reform Judaism Nicholette Seigfreid, president 2061 South 20th Street Lincoln, NE 68502 402/435-8004

Part of the Network of Independent Communities of the Jewish Federations of North America Stacy Waldron, president P.O. Box 67218, Lincoln, NE 68506 402/915-3659

Congregation Tifereth Israel Member of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism Seth Harris, president 3219 Sheridan Boulevard Lincoln, NE 68502 402/423-8569

On Witty and touching, The Drawer Boy is a testament to the transformative power of storytelling.

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Cohen shares that nearly 75% of registered teens join regularly which he considers a success given that all youth programming at Temple is conducted virtually.

“We have revamped our Wednesday night teen program into clubs. Our teens generate ideas for these break out clubs; they are interested and involved because they are invested and passionate. There are many topics they have come up with ranging from philosophical to hands on activities. Temple clergy, staff and myself help the kids create curriculum and design a format for the club ideas that generate interest amongst peers. It is constantly evolving and new ideas are always welcome.”

Some examples of Temple’s teen youth clubs include social and criminal justice through the lens of Judaic teachings, deeper understanding about the meanings and origins of Jewish holidays, what Jewish life looks like in different parts of country and the world, cooking classes and creating Judaic inspired art with materials from around the home.

“From listening to what is said- and sometimes left unsaid- teens miss that Jewish space that existed in synagogue pre -Covid and the naturally occurring depth that their shared experiences provided. By involving our youth in the creation and leadership of clubs driven by their own interests and our shared faith, we hope to recreate some of the energy they have been missing.”

Cohen continues: “In addition to clubs, we are trying to provide a fun monthly Zoom activity where the focus is less on education and more on hanging out virtually. We did some baking for Rosh Hashanah, had a Hanukkah Trivia night, and Jewish Art projects.Teens have only met in-person twice since Covid began. Once for school supply box pick up and another time to help with a drive though food drive. Even from a distance, they were overjoyed to see each other and do something together.

“Obviously it is hard to recreate the natural

so happy to be part of this community and we know that we are right where we are supposed to be; B”H, we will help to make positive impacts in Omaha.”

Dreyer continues: “Our community very much depends on personal interactions and relationships. It is not always easy to think outside the box to find ways that keep our youth connected. Of course, we have classes and learning opportunities online, but honestly, the kids are kind of tired of it. There is important value in getting out of the house a little and seeing one another in person and we are able to do this safely by following guidance for social distancing, maintaining small groups and wearing masks.”

When the weather was nice, Beth Israel youth would meet outdoors to pray, learn and play. In an effort to stay connected in a more personal way, Beth Israel’s youth enjoy receiving small care packages of snacks and holiday kits. Examples include Tu B’shevat To-Go bags filled with goodies and activities for a community Zoom Seder, followed by a motzei Shabbat teen night. “A little learning, a short seder and then iceskating- an activity we can do together, but separate,” explains Dreyer.

“For Hanukkah, we held a ‘blind donut decorating’ event that ended up being really fun,” explains Rabbi Dreyer, who also happens to be a professionally trained culinary chef. “The kids blindfolded themselves while a friend on the opposite end of the table gave directions on how to decorate sufganiyot with ingredients that were laid out. “It was a little weird at first, everyone at their own tables away from each other in masks, but it ended up being really great. It was simple and silly but it was nice to do something fun together in real life.”

“I think the most important thing for our teens to know is that we won’t give up on them. They are part of a large community family and that means we will get through this together, with Hashem’s help.”

The Omaha Community Playhouse presents The Drawer Boy The Omaha Community Playhouse (OCP) production of The Drawer Boy opens Friday, April 9.

Seeking inspiration for his new play, Miles, a young actor from Toronto, moves in with Angus and Morgan, two aging bachelor farmers, in rural Ontario. Angus, who suffered a brain injury during World War II, finds joy and solace hearing Morgan retell stories from days gone by. But when Miles includes one of these stories in his play, he sets off a chain of events that will leave all three of the men for-

ever changed. Witty and touching, The Drawer Boy is a testament to the transformative power of storytelling.

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Tickets may be purchased at the OCP Box Office, located at 6915 Cass Street, by phone at 402.553.0800 or online at OmahaPlay house.com. The show will run in the Hawks Mainstage Theatre at OCP from April 9 through May 29, 2021. Performances will be held Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | A7

A vision for visually impaired children: Beth El Synagogue’s Braille Group raise bumps that became letters for the visually impaired.

JEANNETTE GABRIEL AND BEN JUSTMAN Bernice Wolfson was the chairman of Sisterhood at Beth This machine was the only one of its type in the Midwest at El Synagogue in the fall of 1957 when she began to work on a the time. The group members received training to become project to assist the blind. Based on her certified Braille transcribers and discovery that schooling did not exist began producing materials. for visually handicapped children under One of the first projects of the group the age of nine, she reached out to Beth was to transcribe 150 copies of a chilEl Sisterhood members Ruth Katskee dren’s book written by Dorothy Kripke, and Ruth Sokolof for help in establishLet’s Talk About Right and Wrong. The ing a pre-school for visually handiBraille group distributed copies of the capped children at Beth El. By January book to children and schools for the 1958 the Children’s Sight Center, a free blind across the country. Their next pre-school for all visually handicapped project was a transcription of chilchildren regardless of their religion or dren’s songs in response to a request race was opened at Beth El. Ruth from the Nebraska School for the Sokolof would continue to run the nursBlind. The group also transcribed into ery school as a project of Beth El’s SisBraille textbooks and distributed terhood for the next decade. Karen them to visually impaired teachers, Sokolof Javitch remembers as a little girl ministers and Bible school students watching her mother teach, “She was throughout the state of Nebraska. unbelievably kind, compassionate, yet The Braille Group then embarked motivational, doing everything to inon their most ambitious project, the spire those kids to learn. I knew then creation of the first English-Hebrew Bernice Wolfson when I grew up, I wanted to teach blind Braille Passover Haggadah. Wolfson’s children and I did. After college, I worked for Omaha Public son, Bob remembers that he, “got to work in the Braille room Schools as a traveling teacher for visually impaired children.” at Beth El, fully supported by Rabbi Kripke and the board, on Wolfson and Sokolof began holding Christmas parties in copying the first ever Braille Haggadah. It was amazing to be 1960 where eight visually impaired students received spend- part of such important work at such a young age.” The Braille ing money and taken shopping to purchase gifts for their Haggadahs were distributed all throughout North America. families and friends. Ruth and Phil Sokolof funded the ChristIn the summer of 1958 Wolfson worked with the Omaha mas Party for the rest of their lives and their daughter, Karen, section of the National Council of Jewish Women to establish continues to financially support The Ruth Sokolof Christmas a week-long summer camp that paired a sighted volunteer Party for Blind and Visually Impaired Children, organized accompanying each blind camper. The camp initially was through the Nebraska Foundation for Visually Impaired Chil- held at the Salvation Army Camp on the Platte River near dren. Each year The Foundation connects over 140 visually Plattsmouth and then moved to the Esther K. Newman Camp impaired children with over 200 high school volunteers to located near Louisville. By its fifteenth anniversary, the camp purchase and wrap gifts and enjoy a lunch together. engaged over fifty children who came from all over Nebraska Emboldened with the success of the pre-school, Wolfson to attend. It was funded by the National Council of Jewish and Sokolof approached Rabbi Kripke and asked for his sup- Women and local Lions Clubs. Camp counselors took special port in establishing The Braille Club that would operate under training to help make the blind children feel welcome and the auspices of Beth El Sisterhood and provide a range of re- safe in the camp setting. Camp activities included campfire sources for visually impaired children. Rabbi Kripke and the groups and singalongs, crafts and boating and swimming, as Beth El congregation supported the formation of the Club and well as horseback riding and hiking. The overall goal of the provided the group a small office in the synagogue basement. project was for the blind children to develop greater self-conThe Braille Group, which was part of Beth El Sisterhood for fidence and a sense of independence. the next twelve years, wanted to develop Braille resources.

Wolfson and Sokolof realized they needed a larger structure Through support from the Omaha Section of the National to maintain these important projects. The early support they Council of Jewish Women, the group purchased Braille type- received from Beth El Synagogue and the National Council writers and Braille duplicator machine which reproduces of Jewish Women had been critically important in building a Braille text and tactile graphics by heating special paper to See Bernice Wolfson page A10

AUTOMOTIVE UPHOLSTERY Curtiss & Lisa Driver

Always our home: Marilyn Warren

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor Ed. Note: A little backstory: Marilyn and I have never met. I don’t even know how we know each other, probably a phone call having to do with Press business at some point—but over the years we’ve stayed in touch through email. When she found out about this year’s Passover theme, she sent me this. We can write all the stories we want and do all the research we desire, but it’s gems like these that really make for the best reading. We hope you agree!

It isn’t always easy to feel Marilyn Warren a congregation is home. Although my parents were members of Beth Israel and Marty(z’l) was brought up in a New York Orthodox congregation, when he and I were planning our 1961 wedding, we decided we would be more comfortable in the Conservative movement.

So, we joined Beth El and were married there. After two years, we decided to return to Beth Israel, but after attending several services at Temple Israel, we decided to become members there. At that point, Marty said “if this doesn’t work, we’ll have to go to pay TV!” How could he have known that fifty years later we would be sitting in front of our TV streaming services every Friday night!

Shortly after we enrolled our son in the Temple Preschool, Rabbi Brooks (z”l) spoke at a parents’ meeting. He told us that the Temple was not a laundry where we leave our children, drive off and pick them up later; our children would not benefit from the Temple unless they saw us in the building. So, I took Rabbi’s words to heart, joined the Sisterhood and volunteered to set tables.

From setting tables to serving on various other committees, I eventually became president of the Sisterhood, became active in the Sisterhood region, and, upon moving to St. Louis, became active in the Sisterhood and our Temple here. Imagine remembering words from a speech for over fifty years!!

See Marilyn Warren page A8

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A8 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

B’nai Israel: Past, present and future Marilyn Warren Continued from page A7 When our sons were about three and six years old, we, together with our closest friends who had two sons the same ages, attended a family Hanukkah dinner. Shortly after we sat down, Rabbi and Jane Brooks took the two remaining chairs at our table. Four little boys stared in disbelief at the man they had only seen in a black robe on the bima — they couldn’t believe their eyes, and I don’t think any of them touched their food that night!

Who could forget May 6, 1975? The tornado swept through Omaha and that evening I received a call that the Temple had been hit. The next morning, I was in disbelief as I joined the volunteers in cleaning up the debris. I actually cried to see the destruction — but then I laughed when I found that the kitchen had not been touched, and not one piece of our ugly dishes had been broken!

The office moved to temporary quarters, as did the preschool.

Shabbat services were held at the J, and High Holiday services were at Boys Town. It was a difficult year, but we got through it. Today, I have a small piece of green glass from one of the original stained glass windows sitting on my kitchen windowsill.

My sister and brother-in-law eventually joined the Temple, as did my parents. It was such a joy on the High Holidays as our family took up an entire row. I never realized that whenever we attended a service we sat in the same row until Rabbi Azriel once remarked that he always knew where to find us — in the seventh row!

I have lived in St. Louis for thirty-one years. I am happy to say that I am still a member of Omaha Temple Israel. I was delighted that the phone number wasn’t changed when we moved to the new building. I may not remember what I ate for dinner last night, but I can still pick up the phone and dial the Temple number by memory. Omaha Temple Israel will always be “home”!

GABBY BLAIR Jewish Press Staff Writer In 1833, Alexander Levi became Iowa’s first naturalized citizen and Council Bluff ’s first Jewish settler. He was soon followed by a smattering of Jews seeking safe haven as they fled instability, persecution and pogroms in their home countries throughout Europe and Russia. By 1881, 25 charter members established Council Bluffs’ first congregation, Bikur Cholim, which was run by lay Orthodox leaders in rented spaces. According to The National Registry of Historical Places website, it is “from these beginnings that the Chevra B’nai Yisroel Congregation was eventually organized and incorporated in 1903 with a membership of 14 men.”

The congregation purchased the lot at 618 Mynster Street in Council Bluffs and built a wood framed synagogue for the cost of six thousand dollars in 1904. On June 19 of that year, B’nai Israel’s first officers - Isaac Gilinsky, George Whitebrook, M. Frieden and M. Solomon- helped to lay the the cornerstone of B’nai Israel along with other congregants.

For 26 years, B’nai Israel flourished as a home for Council Bluffs Jewry, until a devastating fire razed the synagogue on March 5, 1930. Miraculously, members of the congregation managed to save the Torah and other religious items from the blaze. A building committee, consisting of George Whitebook, B. Gilinsky, Abe Gilinsky, Morris Hoffman, Dave Fox, and Simon Shyken, hired local architect J. Chris Jensen to design a new brick synagogue. B’nai Israel was rebuilt and the salvaged cor-

nerstone from the 1904 synagogue was reinscribed for the new 500 seat synagogue, which was completed Jan. 11, 1931.

Following World War II, the congregation continued to grow, shedding some of its Orthodox traditions. While services remained traditional, the synagogue began to see some significant changes, including the use of English in services, mixed gender seating, and an official name change to ‘B’nai Israel’ in 1953. In 1963 the building and classrooms were renovated, and a chapel was added on the ground level.

The growth of B’nai Israel, however, was short lived. Historical records show that the congregation began to decline in size by the late-1960s, due in large part to the westward movement of Council Bluffs Jewry into neighboring Omaha and the loss of their full time rabbi, Rabbi Jay Karzan. This role was filled by Rabbi Emil Klein until his departure in 1969, which prompted B’nai Israel to close its Talmud Torah and end its Sunday school program. Plans to close and auction off the synagogue were being discussed in the early 1980s, but the congregation’s remaining members banded together to save the building, and successfully recruited young families and new members. Historical Registry details say “their objective was to embrace a more contemporary approach to religion by forming a congregation that was more progressive in religious and social philosophy. The result was an even further divergence from the congregation’s initial orthodox roots.”

Reconstructionist Rabbi Sharon Steifel took a part time leadership role at B’nai Israel in 1989. According to the Synagogue’s See B’nai Israel page A10

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The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | A9

Neither war nor coronavirus can keep us from connecting JILL KUSHNER BELMONT In this surreal time of COVID-19, connecting has never been easier. Thanks to technology, we can connect anywhere, at any time, with anyone. Laptops, tablets, and smartphones provide a lifeline as we navigate through a volatile global pandemic. We livestream. We Zoom. We FaceTime. And while these options are no substitute for hugs or face-to-face contact, they soften the blow of isolation during these challenging days.

me to take, but I assure you, Marshall, that I was with you in spirit on that day, rooting for you, suffering with you, and rejoicing with you as you received the plaudits of the congregation.

He went on to recall, in amusing detail, the B’nai Mitzvah of Dad’s three brothers. He wrote about Dad’s parasha, Bereshit, and the importance of beginning anew. He called my grandparents “the swellest people that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.”

This was so much more than an oblig-

‘We’ve got to get you out of here.’ But they could never appreciate how everybody in the congregation becomes your family. You become a football fan, naturally, if you’re at Nebraska. You even go out to their rallies sometimes. And you’re in the fraternity house. You’re with the kids all the time, and the girls come to you with their problems. It kept me young. And people say to me today, ‘Chronologically, you’re old, but you don’t act like an old man! You’re youthful in spirit. How did you get that way?’ And I have to go back

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Rabbi Harry Jolt

Now roll the clock back to 1945, when staying in touch was also a challenge -not because of a pandemic, but because a war separated families and friends.

Sure, there were telephones, but they weren’t always dependable or available, so people relied on pen and paper, typewriters, and the U.S. Postal Service.

In October 1945, the rabbi from Congregation Tifereth Israel in Lincoln, Nebraska, used his small, manual Royal typewriter to connect with a young congregant who had just celebrated his Bar Mitzvah. That doesn’t sound noteworthy until you learn that the letter was mailed from Kure, Japan, where the rabbi was a chaplain for the Armed Forces during World War II. And although he was thousands of miles away in the midst of war, Rabbi Harry Jolt took the time to type a page-long letter to the newly minted Bar Mitzvah -- my father, Marshall Kushner.

My dear Marshall, Now I can speak to you “man to man.”

You will never realize how sorry I was that due to war conditions, I had to miss that most important occasion in your life, when with unflinching determination and with an air of unassuming bravado, you made that historic announcement to your friends and relatives, “Today I am a man.”

Do you realize that even though I was thousands of miles removed from you, I was sweating it out with you on the “Day of Days,” Oct. 6, when the last of the Max Kushners was making that terrific leap from childhood to manhood. I was on the high seas bound for Japan, on a ship that was tossed about by the angry waves like a little toy boat. As the ship rocked and pitched and swayed, my stomach made very annoying flip flops; my knees felt that they would give way any minute; my head kept spinning in mad circles, yet my vision was clear and undimmed. I could see Marshall standing there on the pulpit raising that hoarse but exciting voice of his above a feeble whisper and chanting the Haftorah to the accompaniment of his knocking knees, quivering heart and throbbing head.

I knew that he would come through with flying colors as you undoubtedly did.

To miss the Bar Mitzvah of the youngest of the Kushner clan was a hard blow for

Rabbi Jolt, flanked by several students; including Marshall Kushner, second from right; in the sanctuary at Tifereth Israel, circa 1947.

atory message of congratulations. I was touched by this note and curious about the rabbi whose affection for a skinny 13-year-old boy and his family resonated so clearly. Who was this guy?

So I asked that once-skinny 13 year old, now 88 years old.

“I just loved him,” Dad said. “He was the epitome of what I conceived to be the ideal rabbi. He was even-handed and kind to everyone. He was in touch with the whole community.”

Dad also recalled Rabbi Jolt as a dedicated teacher and an inspiration to his students.

“He was very intense and scholarly, a multi-faceted guy. He had a penetrating way about him: it was warm, but it could be stern. You could see that look in his eyes.”

He hesitated and then added, “But when he smiled, you would just want to give him the world.”

Rabbi Jolt was innovative for his time, incorporating unconventional hooks – namely sports -- into his teaching methods. Dad remembered the time he used football to engage his young class.

“We were reading Hebrew in teams, with one pitted against the other,” he said. “Rabbi Jolt kept track of each team’s progress on the blackboard. If you made a mistake you went back 10 yards. It was competitive.

“When I got a little older I realized that this is how he taught us the Sh’ma.”

Tifereth Israel was Harry Jolt’s first pulpit; he served there from 1928 to 1947.

During this time, he met and married the love of his life, Lincolnite Helen Finkelstein. He also established a Hillel chapter at the University of Nebraska in 1940, wanting to provide a Jewish connection on campus for students not affiliated with the Jewish fraternities and sororities.

In an interview published in the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society Journal in 1994, the rabbi reminisced about his time in the Cornhusker State.

“I was in Lincoln nineteen years,” he said. “Everyone asks me how you could stay in a small community like that for that long. ‘Why didn’t you leave?’ And the seminary representatives, every one of them would come through saying,

to the origin of my rabbinate, just being in a college, a university town.”

After two-and-a-half years of military service for which he earned a Bronze Medal, Rabbi Jolt returned to Lincoln for a short time before leaving to lead Beth Judah Congregation in Ventnor, New Jersey. He remained there until his retirement in 1969.

He and Helen relocated to the warm climate of Miami Beach. His retirement, however, was cut short after the rabbi at a local synagogue asked if he would be willing to lead a class every now and then. Always a teacher, he agreed, and found a new home at Temple Beth Sholom. ‘Every now and then’ turned into a regular gig. During the last 31 years of his life, he taught classes, led a havurah for seniors, and gave the benediction each week at the end of Shabbat services.

He was given the title “Auxiliary Rabbi.”

Rabbi Robert A. Davis of Temple Beth Sholom not only worked with Rabbi Jolt for over six years, but also shared a close, personal relationship with him, serving as his caretaker during the last five years of his life.

“He was this steady, kind mensch,” Rabbi Davis said, “jovial, very small – about 5’2” – with thick glasses. He was a comforting, symbolic exemplar of menschlichkeit, knowledge, wisdom, kindness, and commitment to the Jewish people. He was a beautiful guy.”

The elder rabbi was also a dedicated Torah reader. He continued to read on Saturday mornings, even during his later years when he was almost blind, Rabbi Davis said. “He knew it by heart.

It was remarkable.”

Rabbi Davis was not surprised by Rabbi Jolt’s letter to my father, and said he had written similar notes through the years. One such letter, written in May 1945, offered condolences to a grieving mother whose son had been killed by enemy fire in the Philippines. Rabbi Jolt, who oversaw the young man’s burial, assured her that Jewish rituals had been followed. He told her the exact location of her son’s grave. And in hopes of sending her comfort, he honored the fallen soldier in a heartfelt tribute.

See Rabbi Harry Jolt page A11

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Rabbi Karzen in the main sanctuary (1963) Continued from page A8 website this was a time of rebirth for the congregation. Rabbi Steifel was followed by Rabbi Sheryl Shulewitz, and lastly by Rabbi Ruth Ehrenstein.

While B’nai Israel has no current Rabbi, the synagogue is lovingly tended to and kept alive by its dedicated board and members. Lay leaders from Council Bluffs, Omaha, Bellevue and beyond are devoted to maintaining and improving this important part of our area’s Jewish history. Today, the B’nai Israel board include Scott Friedman, Rick Katelman, Howard Kutler, Carole Lainof, Wayne Lainof, Mary Beth Muskin, Debbie Salomon, and Council Bluffs original, Sissy Silber.

In a 2017 article appearing in the The Daily Nonpareil, longtime board member Sissy Silber reflects fondly upon growing up at B’nai Israel. “I have been on the other side of the river for a long time, but my heart belongs to Council Bluffs.” During a recent phone interview, Silber shared stories of growing up at B’nai Israel and expresses hope that the Covid vaccine will allow safe in person events to resume in the near future. “B’nai Israel has overcome many hurdles in its long history... Natural catastrophes, fire, vandalism, economic hardship and dwindling membership... and yet it is too special of a place to allow it to just fade away.

B’nai Israel is near and dear to many hearts in our community and is a place of significant historical importance. It is a labor of love.”

And so, B’nai Israel not only survives, but lives on and is the process of restoration. Silber, always able to find a silver lining in any cloud, shares that while local members really miss gathering in person for services, lectures and onegs, that attendance at the once a month Zoom services have been very successful. “Snowbirds and friends who live in other places are able to join us at the push of the button,” she marvels. “I look forward to the day when we can again meet in person,” explains Silber who misses being able to hug friends, “but I have to admit, Zoom services make it so easy to attend regardless of weather or geography, it isn’t so bad... it is easy to get used to!”

Council Bluffs native Patty Nogg is flooded by nostalgia when asked about B’nai Israel. “I always say that while Beth El is my heart now, B’nai Israel holds a most tender place in it.

Such memories I have growing up at B’nai Israel... attending services with my grandparents in the chapel named for my uncle, Irving Cohen, whose plane was shot down in World War II, going to Hebrew school there... It is bittersweet you know. Growing up, Council Bluffs’ Jewish community was such a lovely and vibrant place yet so little is left of our presence there today. Only a handful of Jews still live in Council Bluffs as most moved to Omaha or beyond long ago. That said B’nai Israel has

deep roots that really helped shape my life and the Jewish experience of this area and it should be preserved and honored. Nogg has been instrumental in helping maintain Council Bluff ’s Jewish Cemeteries -Bikor Cholim and Oak Hill- through securing the means and planning for its future upkeep. “It may sound odd, but I really love the cemetery and visit there often. It is a tangible reminder of the village I grew up in. It holds many people dear to me.

What better way to honor our families and our history than to take care of the gifts our predecessors had the foresight to invest in for us.”

Long time congregant and former board member Nancy Wolf shared in a 2018 interview with The Jewish Press that her family discovered B’nai Israel after friends, Sherry and Jeff Taxman, invited them to High Holiday Services where Jeff would be serving as cantor as he has for over 20 years. Their family began attending the once a month Shabbat Service and in 2012, joined the board, committing themselves to helping maintain and grow the synagogue. Wolf credits the dedication of lay leaders, like the Taxmans and Larry Blass (AF Ret.), who has led shabbat services on the second Friday of each month in the chapel since 2012, along with so many others in keeping B’nai Israel alive.

Board member Howard Kutler agrees. “Both Jeff and Larry have kept us going as a unified congregation and, in some ways, we are even stronger during the past year through the restrictions of Covid-19 by leading via Zoom.”

Howard Kutler joined the board in January 2019. “Marty Ricks proposed that I take his place on the board upon his departure. I jumped at the opportunity to give back to this special synagogue where I have long family ties. My Baba Sarah and Zeda Harry Kutler moved to Council Bluffs in 1913 from Kiev in Russia. My father, Ben Kutler, was born in Council Bluffs in 1920 and attended Hebrew school and celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at B’nai Israel.”

Kutler continues. “B’nai Israel has such a special place in the history of the Omaha/Council Bluffs Jewish community and thanks to the dedication and work of many people in recent years this old building stands proud and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The current board of directors along with a wonderful and supportive congregation are looking to the future.”

Indeed, renovations to the building continue and the board is considering ideas to celebrate a 100-year anniversary. “We hope to open the building to other Jewish groups for meetings and special events once it is safe for the resumption of such things. This summer we’d like to have an open house that will be fun for the entire Omaha/Council Bluffs community.”

See B’nai Israel page A11

Bernice Wolfson Continued from page A7 track record of success with a community of dedicated volunteers. Their next step was to establish The Nebraska Foundation for Visually Impacted Children (NFVIC) based on a generous initial endowment from Gene Eppley. Wolfson and Sokolof were deeply involved as officers of NFVIC for the rest of their lives and today their children, Karen Sokolof Javitch and Doug Wolfson, continue their work within the organization. The important work that the two women began in the basement of Beth El Synagogue continues on today with a range of programs provided by NFVIC including the summer program through Camp Abilities Nebraska.

The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | A11

B’nai Israel Rabbi Harry Jolt

Scribes studying the scrolls at B’nai Israel Continued from page A10 He continues. “We will also be hosting the first B’nai Israel Poker Run to benefit Omaha Based Jewish Charities, so keep an eye on the Jewish Press for details! Our hope is to get people to come experience firsthand what a truly special place this historic synagogue is.”

Today, B’nai Israel is a non-denominational synagogue that welcomes all who wish to attend. Still standing at 618 Mynster Street, The National Registry of Historical Places describes the synagogue as a “well preserved representation of a diminishing number of buildings associated with the Jewish religious experience in the State of Iowa.” It further highlights B’nai Israel’s “local historical importance within the Council Bluffs-Omaha vicinity for its association with the settlement and evolution of the Jewish religious and ethnic community” in western Iowa.

That B’nai Israel still stands ready to serve the Jewish Community in spite of the trials of time, is a testament to the love and dedication the community has poured into it.

Continued from page A9 His care and attention to others was genuine, said Rabbi Davis, who called him “incredibly present.”

He recalled asking Rabbi Jolt what he considered to be his best sermon. The elder rabbi answered, “When I stopped preaching to the congregation and started talking to the crying person in the back row.”

Rabbi Davis also shared an amusing exchange between Rabbi Jolt and his wife. One Shabbat morning, the elder rabbi had delivered an especially beautiful sermon, “a homerun,” Rabbi Davis said. Following the service, the couple was walking home from the synagogue. He was feeling pretty good about the sermon and asked, “Helen, how many truly great rabbis do you think there are?” Her response? “Harry, one less than you think.”

In December 2001, Harry Jolt died at the age of 97. He held the distinction of being the Jewish Theological Seminary’s oldest alumnus, and had spent 74 years serving three grateful congregations.

Through most of those years, he was accompanied by that small manual typewriter – the one he used to touch so many hearts.

The one he ordered from the Royal Typewriter Company in New York City.

That typewriter now sits in Rabbi Davis’s office. He cherishes it, and not just because it belonged to his beloved colleague. You see, when Rabbi Jolt ordered that typewriter in 1939 from the Royal Typewriter Company in New York City, Rabbi Davis’s father – then just

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Above: Rabbi Harry Jolt, being sworn into the Army Chaplains’ Corps, February 1944. Credit: AAF Training Command, right: Rabbi Davis’s office is home to Harry Jolt’s well-traveled typewriter, along with several pairs of his eyeglasses.

Credit: Rabbi Robert A. Davis

18 years old -- happened to work there as a shipping boy.

And after some online sleuthing using the typewriter’s serial number, Rabbi Davis learned that his father was, in fact, the person responsible for shipping that typewriter to a young rabbi in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Connections can reveal delightful surprises.

They may come from unexpected places. A photograph. An old letter. A game of Jewish geography. Technology that brings us together, if only on a screen. A typewriter.

Our days have become unpredictable during this historic pandemic. We grieve our be-

fore-COVID lives and have been forced to settle into a strange, new ‘after.’ And yet, we must remain hopeful. I think about Harry Jolt’s favorite quote, a wise reminder spoken long ago by the artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir: “The pain passes, but the beauty endures.”

And to paraphrase the prophetic words this special rabbi wrote to my father: Although our knees feel as if they may give way any minute, although our heads are spinning in mad circles and our hearts are quivering, we hope to come through this with flying colors.

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A12 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

‘This is where I worship:’ The Tri-Faith Garden and Orchard Allison Newfeld GABBY BLAIR Jewish Press Staff Writer Synagogue has always been Allison Newfeld’s second home.

As a child growing up in South Orange, New Jersey, Newfeld credits her family’s connection and commitment to Shul life with influencing her life and career. “I loved our synagogue and community deeply and I know my love was directly nurtured by our family’s dedicated involvement. My father, who served as Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel vice president, was a big influence in my life.

Growing up, I watched him leading minyan and torah study and serve on many boards of the synagogue. Through middle and high school, I was mentored by the Religious School Director and volunteered as much as I could at Temple. There has never been a time where synagogue hasn’t been part of my life and for that, I am so very thankful.”

As a young adult while attending college, her father became ill. Upon her return home, she began working at Temple, first as a religious school secretary, then as administrative assistant to the administrator of the Religious School. This foray into Synagogue administration was a blessing and helped focus Newfeld’s career ambitions. “Obviously, I had always been involved in synagogue life- as a child, student, volunteer and teacher, but it wasn’t until I began working at Temple that I realized how much I cared about really helping build and grow a Synagogue.”

Newfeld spent the next six years as Executive Director of B’nai Israel, a Conservative congregation in Rumson, NJ, similar See Allison Newfeld page A13

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor Bonni Leiserowitz feels lucky. While it has become nearly impossible to participate in indoor activities, most doors are shut and almost everything has moved online, she and her covolunteers at the Tri-Faith Garden and Orchard have been able to continue their work. What’s more, that work enables them to give back—something that is essential during this time.

“I am so grateful we were able to have our garden and orchard up and running before the pandemic,” Bonni said. “I remember when we first Bonni Leiserowitz planned for it, we weren’t sure if we would be able to get enough volunteers. Now, it’s the one thing that has continued as before and even grown, because everything we do is outside. Sure, we wear masks nowadays, but other than that, we haven’t had to make too many changes related to COVID-19. The garden is the one place we can all still go and connect. It has provided us with a very strong core of engagement. We may not be able to meet each other inside our respective buildings, but out in the garden and orchard, we are more engaged than ever.”

Volunteers are needed year-round to assist with preparing soil, planting, watering, tending, harvesting and transporting fresh fruits and vegetables to local food banks. So many people are involved in the Tri-Faith Garden and Orchard that it is impossible for Bonni to name them all. “It is a glorious sisterhood,” she said. “And there are many different ways for people to be involved and feel like they have real purpose, from grant writing and planning to administrative tasks in addition to the physical labor of digging in the soil.”

During the past year, eight more garden beds have been added as well as several large plots. The foundation for a shed

has been poured and an herb garden has been added. The Tri-Faith Garden and Orchard has also begun a partnership with Sacred Seeds. Sacred Seeds seeks to protect and preserve the genetic diversity of original seeds, while promoting local, traditional, and sustainable agriculture to offer healthy

and low impact food to our communities.

“I came to know Taylor Keens, the man behind Sacred Seeds, and we hit it off immediately,” Bonni said. “the first time we connected we ended up talking for two hours. I think Taylor and Rabbi Azriel are secretly the same person.”

10 years ago, a mentor of Taylor Keens approached him and posed the question, “What are you doing to protect your corn?” The subsequent conversation led to an idea, which became a dream. This dream brought Taylor on a personal journey to help bring the tradition and history of indigenous and heirloom seeds back to his native Omaha and Cherokee people and away from the Industrial faming practices of our time.

In 2014, Taylor made this dream a reality with the establishment of Sacred Seed.

Since the idea became a reality, Taylor has helped form Sacred Seed into an established non-profit with its overarching goal still well within sight and the community ready to help get him there. Partnering with Creighton University students and the greater Omaha community, Sacred Seed has begun See Tri-Faith Garden and Orchard page A14

The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | A13

Preserving our history ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor The synagogue: it’s where we pray together, learn together, cook together and eat. We attend religious school and make friends-forlife, we reaffirm community and celebrate the holidays.

And every once in a while, lightning strikes and we meet our soul mate.

Jeannette Gabriel and Ben Justman met at B’nai Israel Synagogue in Council Bluffs during High Holiday Services. Ben had been an active participant at B’nai Israel for several years and Jeannette came into town to speak about her work on the Jewish Women in Iowa project at the Iowa Women’s Archives.

They discovered they had more in common than a fondness for Friday-night service.

Jeannette Gabriel grew up in Fond du Lac, WI and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BA in History. She received an MA from Rutgers University and a PhD from the University of Iowa. She has been the Director of the Schwalb Center for Israel and Jewish Studies for two years.

Ben Justman grew up in Chicago and graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka.

He graduated from Central College in Pella, IA with a BA in History and Western Illinois University with a MA in History and also holds a Museum Studies Degree from Northwestern School of Professional Studies. Ben has been the Executive Director of the Sarpy County Museum since 2010 and recently won the Person of the Year award from The Bellevue Leader.

Unlike most of us, Jeannette and Ben still spend much of their time inside the synagogue; in addition to working on Temple Israel’s archives, they have also begun similar work at Beth El. “Mindi Marburg reached out to us about setting up the Temple archives.” Jeannette said, “because she had heard about our expertise as professional historians with a

strong interest in the local Jewish community.”

They found Temple Israel’s congregation had done “a remarkable job in preserving its early history and documenting a broad range of Temple activities,” Ben said.

Happy Passover

“However, there was a large closet full of materials, but the congregation did not know what was there and as a result could not tell its own story.”

A story Jeannette and Ben are happy to help with, all the while creating a story of their own: they plan to marry later this year.

How has the experience been for the two of you to do this together?

It’s always fun when you can translate a personal relationship into a positive working relationship. We’ve been able to bring our particular talents and skills together to turn this into a great project.

What surprised you most about the archive?

It turned out that Temple had a small museum made up of historical artifacts in the See Preserving our history page A15

Allison Newfeld Continued from page A12 in size to Omaha’s Beth El. “I loved everything about it except the two hour commute!” she recalls laughingly.

She left B’nai Israel for Temple Har Shalom in Warren, New Jersey shortly after her sister gave birth to triplets. Obviously, family has always been extremely important to Newfeld serving as a cornerstone in her life. “Having a child is a big adjustment for any new parenthaving three at once is definitely something you need reinforcements for! When the opportunity to become the Executive Director for Har Shalom opened up, I had to take it. It was literally 10 minutes from home and allowed me to help my sister and those sweet babies. I absolutely adore my nephews and am thankful I lived so close to them when they were small. They usually come spend a few weeks with me during the summer and their Bar Mitzvah is this coming Spring. Obviously, Covid has cut down on our visits and their Simcha will look a lot different than we had planned, but I know they will do great and we will find ways to make it special for them.

Those boys are such a blessing in my life!”

After her time at Har Shalom, Newfeld worked as an Executive Director at orthodox congregations in Maryland and then for a reform congregation in Texas before finally landing in Omaha, which she feels is her forever home. “There was something special and exciting to me about Omaha from the first time I visited. The search committee and the congregants I met were so welcoming and au-

thentic. Not only did they embrace me with such chesed but the love and respect they had for Larry DeBruin, former Beth El Executive Director, was really heartening. I knew this was a place I wanted to belong to, even though I had never really considered moving to Nebraska before then. I know it may sound cliche, but Omaha felt comfortable, like the home I had been seeking for my adult self.

This place and our congregation has rejuvenated my spark of purpose and I hope that my work here is a blessing to the community that has blessed me so much over the past five years!”

Newfeld couldn’t be more proud of Beth El’s staff, clergy and community’s lay leaders response to the pandemic, which has certainly changed the way Synagogue functions. “Its the people are who make the Synagogue and what a crazy year it has been. Our team has pivoted above and beyond anything I could have imagined and has done an amazing job adapting to accommodate our congregation through providing services, educational content, meals and general support. Further, it is no small feat to take the transcendent experience of in person service and move it exclusively online, especially on Shabbat and Holidays where we would typically eschew technology. Covid has resulted in lot of personal sacrifice and compromise for our congregants and staff alike, but our priority and responsibilities lie keeping our congregants safe and we are grateful for the support of our community. G-d willing, next year in person.”

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A14 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

Liora Herskovitz ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor Liora Herskovitz became Beth Israel’s Executive Director in July 2020, when she followed in the footsteps of Nate Shapiro and before that, Mary Sue Grossman. Liora holds a Master’s of Arts in Gerontology from the University of Southern California’s Davis School of Gerontology and a Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene. During her time in Omaha, she first worked for a title company and most recently has been working in the dental field. She was an active NCSY regional board member in her teens and worked as an advisor for many years.

Liora has an ongoing commitment to learning, stressed from an early age by her parents, who were both teachers. She and her four siblings attended Jewish day schools throughout their elementary and high school years. During one interview she commented that one of strengths was her desire to “learn everything.”

“The search committee was impressed with Liora from the

Liora, Caleb and Yoni Herskovitz

beginning,” said Jeff Kirshenbaum, Beth Israel president. “The committee reported her enthusiasm, forthright answers, and desire to help move the synagogue forward made an immediate impact on each of them.” He continued saying “During my conversations with Liora, I quickly realized she would be an excellent fit for the Beth Israel team. I look forward to working with her in the coming years.”

It was not the easiest time to start a new job, especially one that relies heavily on social interaction.

“My husband Yoni and I are both originally from Los Angeles, California,” Liora said. “We moved to Omaha in 2015, so my husband could attend UNMC’s MD-PhD program. We have an adorable 1 1/2 year old son named Caleb, who loves dogs, nightly dance parties, and playing outside no matter the temperature!”

In spite of the unique circumstances, Liora feels blessed to be part of such a warm and unique community: See Liora Herskovitz page A15

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Continued from page A12 to bring the tradition, culture, and importance back to indigenous and heirloom crops. (Source: SacredSeeds.org) There are accidental and incidental opportunities to learn when you are digging in the dirt, Bonni said. “It is incredibly gratifying to hear people from different faiths say they wouldn’t know what they would have done without this garden. It doesn’t matter whether it’s nice weather or cold outside—every season, we are out there. When we can’t plant, we still come together to talk, to learn and to plan. Working together makes our belief concrete. It is a living process.”

They never know who is going to stop by to chat for a while, she said. Often, Rabbi Azriel drives up and “we all run to his car to say hi. He loves the garden, and so did Elyce. Being in the garden, I often feel like I can still talk to her.”

The garden will feature prominently in Temple’s religious school as well. It allows religious school students from all three faiths to spend time outside of the classroom. In addition, Ilene Arnold, a regular volunteer has started a gardening blog titled A seed grows in the garden.

“The Tri-Faith Garden and Orchard is more than just a plot of land to plant seeds or grow fruit trees,” Arnold wrote. “This garden grows our understanding of the interfaith community with volunteers from a church, a mosque, and a temple. New friendships grow from fellowship while tending the garden.

Volunteers share their gardening expertise so we all learn together to gain insights and respect for diverse beliefs in our community.”

“Ilene is a retired vet,” Bonni said, “and she has taught us so much about the insects that live in and around our garden and orchard. She even brought an etymologist over to share knowledge about the ‘wildlife.’

Last summer, students from UNO visited the garden and orchard. They helped plant trees and moved compost. “Those kids will never forget the time they spent here, I bet,” Bonni said.

The produce grown in the garden is donated to various food pantries around Omaha. In the past year, the garden and orchard gave away over 2,000 lbs. of produce. What’s more, volunteers will come and pick vegetables and fruits from private gardens if people grow more than they can handle. Before winter, the garden gets “put to bed,” everything is mulched and covered. Eventually, they hope to support a small greenhouse so produce can be shared year-round.

In January, the fruit trees will be pruned—Bonni feels optimistic that in 2021, the peach trees will be allowed to flower for the first time. “We are also planning berry bushes, because growing berries is essential to promoting food equity.”

“This is where I worship,” Bonni added, “and people from every faith group tell me the same. It’s become such a community. Out here, you go beyond the guts, beyond yourself, and that’s what prayer is all about.”

The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | A15

Preserving our history Liora Herskovitz Jeannette Gabriel and Ben Justman

Continued from page A13 1960s that was developed by Cantor Manfred F. Kuttner, a German refugee who left in 1938.

How do you process something like this, i.e., what do you do with paper items, what about religious items, what are the next steps?

An archival collection gets organized into both main topics and also formats – such as artifacts, multimedia, photographs, and paper documents.

Will any of it be on permanent display? Who decides that?

This is a decision for Temple Israel.

Our task is to make sure the archival collection is protected and preserved.

What has been the most challenging?

There really haven’t been any challenges, we’ve received a tremendous amount of support from Temple Israel to make sure this project happens in the best way possible for the institution.

How do we make sure that 100 years from now, we don’t need another Ben and Jeannette to do this all again?

An archive is a living, breathing collection that is constantly expanding to reflect the new activities of Temple Israel.

Are there things you discovered that make you sad, or elated, or worried, or incredulous?

We were excited to find the Burial Records from the congregation because they are full of rich documentation of the lives of the members.

When you do this type of work, where do the personal and professional meet?

We work together on several projects, including sitting on the Board of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society. It’s really fun to have so much in common and have opportunities to work together documenting and preserving Omaha’s Jewish history.

If you could access any archive in the world, what and where would it be?

Ben: The British National Archives in

London. During my undergraduate studies I had an opportunity to work at the Churchill Museum, which is part of the Imperial War Museum, in London.

While I was studying in London I spent a few days at the British National Archives and would like to return.

Jeannette: I am interested in spending time in Yad Vashem in Jerusalem based on my interest in post-Holocaust refugee resettlement. I have had a few opportunities to spend time in the Holocaust Museum Archives in Washington, D.C. examining the wide breadth of collections documenting a rich diversity of Shoah experiences and I would be very interested in examining the rich trove that Yad Vashem offers researchers.

While the community is unfortunately not able to come inside at the moment, Jeannette and Ben continue to write our story. Less Oneg, more organization: it’s a welcome silver lining during this pandemic.

Continued from page A14 “Being able to give back to this community that I have grown to love is so incredibly rewarding. I am very lucky.”

When asked to look ahead, she said: “Call me an optimist, but I see a future where children want to be scientists; where people prioritize being with friends and family; where employees feel comfortable using sick days and people treat store employees with more respect. I see goodness and I see growth and the beautiful promise of a brighter future.”

She expects people will look back at this time with tears and with humor.

“I think we will laugh at how masks became fashion statements, toilet paper became a luxury and how bored everyone became. But I think that amusement will always be tinged with sadness as we remember those we lost and those who had to endure so much loneliness. I hope we learn from this pandemic. I hope we grow from it. I hope it brings us closer and makes us better. I hope we find meaning.”

Her favorite holiday is, how appropriate, Pesach.

“As a child, I loved staying up late with my cousins and looking for the afikoman. Pesach is such a child-focused holiday and I have always appreciated that fact. Plus, I secretly love the fact that it forces me to clean my house.” One added factor is her favorite matzah topping: Nutella.

In normal years, Liora and her husband spend seders with their extended family.

“Sometimes this means spending Pesach in LA and sometimes it means family coming to Omaha to spend Pesach with us. This year we are trying to stay optimistic and hope to spend Pesach with my sister and her family in Cincinatti. I have not seen her or her children since October 2020 and my arms ache to hug them!”

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Happy Passover

Andy, Teresa, Max, & Chloe Ruback

A16 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

B1 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

Passover S EC T I ON 2

The view from the pulpit ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor The changes to our way of life brought by the pandemic have been difficult in many different ways, for different people and different segments of society. What made it hard for health care workers was not the same as what made it tough for restaurant workers. Teachers and students struggled, so did those in retail and seniors who live alone. The same goes for clergy everywhere, including our own. As Rabbi Ari Dembitzer said, while our buildings sit empty, the biggest challenge has been “trying to keep everyone engaged in a real way.” But what does that mean, ‘a real way?’ We asked some of our Omaha Jewish clergy members what the past year has taught them and how they have dealt with this strange new world.

“When I think about this pandemic,” Temple Israel’s Rabbi Deana Berezin said, “I’m not sure what we would have done without our Temple Israel teachers. When I say that they have gone above and beyond, I’m understating, not overstating. Led by our Director of Congregational Learning, Ben Mazur, our teachers have hit the ground running from the moment that we realized last March that we would have to teach virtually. They met during what would have been their spring break to make necessary adjustments last year, and when we announced that we would be continuing in a virtual space this year, they didn’t miss a beat. They attended trainings to learn how to adapt their curricula to a virtual experience. They experimented with ways to engage their students in high quality, creative learning.

And most importantly, they found ways to connect with their students, ensuring each one of them felt known and cared for through it all. At the beginning of second semester, our teachers took the time to drop of materials at each of their students’ homes so that they could connect with them, personally, in a safe and socially distanced way. To our teachers -- Sophie Budwig, Daniel

Christensen, Eileen Clignett, Naomi Fox, Marlen Frost, Dora Goldstrom, Jill Idelman, Natasha Kraft, Aliyah Lasky Ruf, Diana Williams, Danielle Howell, Bonni Leiserowitz, Ariella Rohr, Carmela Kramer, Becki Smedlund, Vikki Crystal, and Mindy Burroughs – thank you for all you have done, and continue to do, for our children.”

See Omaha clergy page B2

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B2 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

Omaha clergy Anchored in Torah: Dan Gilbert

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor Dan Gilbert took over as president of the Temple Israel Board of Directors in June 2020. Despite the pandemic and all the challenges it has caused, he sounds optimistic and engaged. He sounds awake. It takes much more than a virus to make Dan throw in the towel.

“What has helped me through the pandemic,” he said, “is the fact that I rely on people’s intentions. The intent of our congregation, our staff and clergy has always been one of kindness, togetherness, support and collaboration. Not being able to enter the building and physically come together has not changed that—we have a strong foundation. Counting on that intent is what inspires me.” In a matter of months, the entire Temple community has learned new ways to carry forward our traditions and beliefs.

“Such a big part of being Temple president is interacting with people face-toface. It’s something I was really looking forward to, the social aspect, whether talking during oneg, walking down the hall or when you accidentally run into a familiar face at Target, it’s that face-time that I love. But at the same time, it means I am extra inspired when I see the lengths people go to in order to still connect. People adapt to new things,

The Gilbert Family

new ways, they don’t stand still and give in but find new avenues to collaborate.

Just look at the numbers of people who attend virtual services and programming, it’s very heartening.”

He’s proud of the level of meaning Temple staff and clergy has been able to convey through their adapted programming.

“It’s not easy to manage all the technical aspects,” he said. “Setting up the Zoom calls, the individual programs, Torah study and services, making all the arrangements from sound to having great music, mastering all the logistics

all while maintaining a spiritual presence has been an amazing feat. Somehow, staff, clergy and the congregation have collaborated in energy and effort to make this work.”

While the Board of Directors continues to meet virtually, much of the focus is on balancing short-term priorities with envisioning the post-pandemic synagogue.

“It’s very difficult to know what the next 12 months will look like,” Dan said.

“What’s happening with the vaccine?

See Dan Gilbert page B4

Continued from page B1 “Learning a whole new mode of connection, musicality and community via computers was a steep learning curve,” said Temple Israel’s Cantor Joanna Alexander. “It still leaves me personally challenged and drained. I know we’ve been successful with connection and community, but I also know it doesn’t lead to the same nourishing heights as our in person connections did. This has been challenging personally and professionally.”

Rabbi Steven Abraham at Beth El agrees: “One of hardest aspects of the pandemic has been keeping the community together. Not seeing people ‘in person’ is very difficult. Zoom is nice, but it’s not the same as an in-person community. The concept of social distancing is antithetical to Judaism and building community. Keeping a community together during this Rabbi Ari Dembitzer time through online classes, services, social programming is the best we can do, but it’s not the same as being in the building.”

“For me, like many others, the biggest challenge has been staying connected in meaningful ways,” added Rabbi Berezin. “When I pick up the phone or connect to Zoom to speak to someone, I want to dig deeper than the social niceties. I think when we speak to people and we’re not faceto-face, its harder to be vulnerable whether in happy moments or in sad moments. It’s more difficult to share when we’re hurting, or to express when we’re feeling disconnected or lost. It’s more challenging to convey when we’re celebrating and genuinely happy, and to feel safe sharing joy when we know others are struggling. When I can see people in person, I can pick up on their non-verbal signals and see when they need a listening ear or someone to share their story with. Over the past year, I have worked to develop new ways of delving deeper on the phone and through zoom, ensuring that the community knows that regardless of our ability to See View from the pulpit page B3

Wishing the Omaha community

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View from the pulpit

Cantor Alexander added. “The mere thought Continued from page B2 be face-to-face, I am always here for them. I’m of filling the room with energy and sound still here to celebrate the special moments, to brings me to tears.” share in their joy, to delight in their achieveRabbi Abraham echoed the sentiment: “I ments. And I’m still here to listen, to sympa- personally cannot wait to finish services on a thize, to commiserate, and to grieve. Connecting on that deeper level with my congregants is of the utmost importance to me, both personally and professionally.”

“Engaging people means providing a meaningful connection between and among the community and Our Creator,” Beth El’s Hazzan Michael Krausman added. “This was especially evident as the High Holidays approached. Thanks to the use of technology Cantor Alexander and Hazzan Krausman that I never before used in this manner, I was able to involve over 20 peo- Shabbat morning and be able to sit and sople from all corners of our community in the cialize. To check in on people, hear the crazy services. Hundreds of people connected to stories over the past year. One day, be able to our High Holiday prayers – many of whom shake hands and maybe even one day give continue to join our Shabbat and weekday each other a hug. I am also looking forward services. We continue to learn how to make to learning how we can incorporate the lesthis connection work as we go.” sons of the past ten months through Zoom There are other positive things that hap- and other mediums to create meaningful expened: “in March/April 2020 we had a num- periences for people both inside and outside ber of congregants who were unfamiliar with the synagogue.”

Zoom,” Rabbi Abraham said. “The outreach “I am most looking forward to getting away to help them feel more confident with the from my computer,” Rabbi Berezin said. “As software was incredibly kind and thoughtful. immensely grateful as I am for this technology There are plenty of other justice programs that has allowed us to remain connected and from grateful goodies to MLK Day where con- see each other’s faces in a time when we gregants took time to give back to the Omaha would otherwise be isolated, I am so looking community. forward to leaving the technology behind for “I never would have thought daily services, a little while and devoting time each day to inclasses, shabbat, etc. would be so well at- person meetings. I look forward to setting up tended. I never imagined that our audience shop at Summer Kitchen in my favorite booth, would reach far beyond Omaha, that people ordering my favorite chai tea lattes (hot or would log in for programming and services cold depending upon the season), and confrom Omaha, to New York, to Florida and necting, face-to-face with my community!” everywhere in between. The Jewish commuWhile Rabbi Dembitzer misses being able nity has become flat; you don’t need to be in to hug people and looks forward to not havNY to experience Central Synagogue or B’nai ing physical separation, he was pleasantly Jeshurun and you don’t need to be in Omaha surprised by people’s strength to keep the shul to take part in services and programing being vibrant. put on by Beth El. The numbers who have at“I really wish to appreciate all the things we tended daily minyan have surprised me as took for granted before. This past year hopewell. We have always been very blessed to get fully made us grateful. I truly hope we don’t a minyan while in person at Beth El, but we forget that and go back to taking these things have almost doubled our attendance on a for granted.” daily basis. Not only are folks in different loRabbi Abraham still thinks the phone and cations, but some are driving home from email are amazing tools to check and see how work and are calling in to participate and feel people are doing. “The greatest gift we can a sense of community.” give to many of our members is to drop them “What has been the most surprising is that a call or email asking how they are doing and we have had record attendance at all of our tell them we miss seeing them,” he said. “The services from the moment we switched from knowledge they are missed and we noticed is in-person to Zoom,” Hazzan Krausman incredibly important.” added. “From the middle of March until “It is my fervent hope that people will retoday, we have never been short for our daily member not to take each other for granted,” minyan – a problem that had surfaced now Rabbi Berezin said. “Prior to the pandemic, and again in the past. Folks have told me that most of us were caught up in the chaos of they cherish the daily opportunities to con- everyday life. We were constantly rushing nect with the community, some have shared from one thing to another – rushing to leave that the evening minyan helps to punctuate for work, to make dinner, to get our kids to their day, giving them a fixed time to leave bed, to get to the next meeting, to meet the their virtual offices. Our concerts, programs, next deadline. We didn’t take time to slow classes and speakers have similarly all been down and spend time with our friends and well attended. Even though I can’t hear the our families. In the constant rush to get to the congregation, seeing them moving to the next thing, we didn’t make time for what was music of our prayers is a source of energy and really important – our relationships. Relationinspiration. Our synagogue pivoted from in- ships take time and care; they need to be lovperson to online in a day or two and never lost ingly tended to. This pandemic, if nothing a beat.” else, has caused us to slow down and to take Hazzan Krausman is most looking forward time to focus on the things that matter. We to human contact. “A hug, a handshake, a pat have had to make more of an effort to connect on the shoulder, even a high five. Sitting with to the people we care about. I hope that when a group of dear friends and enjoying a meal things return to “normal” we will continue to and a laugh together. To hand a kiddo a candy slow down and make time for the things and bar, to sing with a congregation of people who the people that matter most.” are in the same room, to feel their energy and “I know we’ve had people feel even more hear their voices blend with mine, and then connected to community now that we are onto stop singing and to hear the voices of our line,” Cantor Alexander said. “Some have congregants united in heartfelt song will be physical challenges that leave them unable to wonderful!” drive to Temple, some live across state lines, “I cannot wait to sing with other people,” See Omaha clergy page B5

The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | B3

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B4 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

Beth El: Preparedness for the future is a long running theme GABBY BLAIR Jewish Press Staff Writer Conveniently located off Dodge and 144th streets, Beth El was the first Omaha Synagogue to migrate westward in 1991.

Nearly a decade later, it would be joined by Beth Israel and most recently Temple Israel. This congregational movement to the west officially established the concentration of Omaha’s Jewish heart between Dodge and Pacific Streets, with the Omaha JCC, which opened at its current location in 1974, at its center.

By now, most local folks know the history, more or less. All congregations began in the oldest parts of the city to the east. As more immigrants settled here in the mid to late 1800s, they brought their religion with them and put down roots, the first of which were deep enough to reach back to within a year of Omaha’s establishment in 1856. Over the years, congregations met in many small groups as Omaha’s Jews created their own neighbor opportunities for worship in

private homes and rented spaces with services ranging from Orthodox to Reform. The building of dedicated brick and mortar synagogues came second to the establishment of Jewish cemeteries, which were the priority.

It wasn’t until 1929 that the Conservative congregation that

would evolve into Beth El began to form. Weekly services began on September 13, 1929 and were held at the Jewish Community Center, which at that time was located on 20th and Dodge Streets. The first Conservative services were reportedly attended by over 1,000 people and the congregation soon had a membership of over 200 families.

During its first year, the congregation was led by Rabbi Abraham Bengis followed by Rabbi David Goldstein, who served as spiritual leader for the next 15 years. Its first elected officers included Sam Beber, J. Harry Kulakofsky, Mose Yousem, Jack Marer and A.B. Alpirn. While there was plenty of support for the idea of building a synagogue of their own, the timing proved less than ideal in light of the depressed economic conditions of the 1930s.

Thanks to a generous donation of land by the Zimman family in 1935, the promise of a physical home took one step closer to reality. With their future site at the corner of 49th and See Beth El page 6

Dan Gilbert

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Continued from page B2 When can we reopen? What will that look like, and how do we manage until then? It seems likely we will eventually go to some kind of hybrid model, where we will continue to put our technology to good use. That way we will be able to continue reaching out to people who might not be physically present. At the same time, we are all eager to come together. However, six months from now we may have different fears that we don’t even know about in this moment. How will we feel?

How do we want to feel?

When we do open, how many people can we accept in the sanctuary? What will Dan Gilbert that sanctuary look like? The board’s job is to surface all those questions, it is for the clergy and staff to attempt to answer them, which is a tough job and we will always support them in that.”

The biggest lesson, Dan said, “is we have all learned we can handle ambiguity. The love and emotion we share has not been diminished by the pandemic—we have a very strong ability to adapt. Many seniors in our community are thriving in their newly acquired comfort with technology.

We’ve believed for a long time that past a certain age, seniors can’t do technology; we now know better. For me personally, watching four generations on the same Zoom call has been awe-inspiring. And when Fiona Benton had her Bat Mitzvah, seeing so many different family members log in from across the country was fantastic. The conversations that spring up when people come together online are sprinkled with kindness, enthusiasm and sheer joy. There is nothing like it. Kudos to the clergy for making those B’Nai Mitzvah happen with so much warmth, even while families are apart!”

One thing about the president’s job: “We have to recognize we exist beyond the physical and the geographical,” Dan said. Being a lay leader during this time means not being able to completely rely on other’s experiences and having to invent and experience new circumstances. At the same time, presidents who come after him will look at his experience, going through the current changes. This existence ‘beyond the physical’ will very likely not be undone; synagogues now occupy a different landscape.

“We are bigger than our immediate geography,” Dan said.

“For instance, we draw people to our daily Minyan from all over the country. At the same time, I recently attended Torah study at the synagogue where I grew up. We are all becoming aware of how we can participate Jewishly around the world, which comes with more options. And while I don’t think of synagogues as being ‘in competition,’ at the same time we all have a limited number of hours to dedicate to Jewish connections. If you want to attend a service and just watch, you can find that online. At Temple Israel, we strive to blend practices and rituals with deep connections and personal conversations.

“As a city, we have a general feeling of collaboration and community in Jewish Omaha. It’s a big advantage of being here; there is a level of confidence that this entire community truly cares. At the same time, we’re all acknowledging that our community is changing faster than it ever was before. The question now is not ‘how do we come back?’ but ‘how do we move forward?’

“No matter how big this disruption has been and continues to be,” he added, “we have an incredible anchor in our Torah and that will never change.”

The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | B5

Dennis DePorte ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor Although he loves being in the background, Dennis DePorte has been a steady, constant presence at Temple Israel since he became Executive Director in November of 2004. He retired in 2020, but the planned goodbye party had to be reorganized as a drive-by celebration.

“Pam and I had many plans for my retirement, trips we wanted to go on, but this wasn’t the year for that,” he said. “I had lunch with Henry Davis on March 6, 2020, and haven’t been to a restaurant since, especially now that the weather doesn’t even allow anything outside.”

For a self-described ‘foodaholic’ like Dennis, that’s a big change. It’s not just the food, it’s the people who enjoy that food together that he misses. His favorite holiday is Passover, “because of the big gatherings,” he said. “All holidays are good, but at Passover there is so much tradition. At Temple seders, we would have anywhere from 200-300 people and I really enjoyed that. I’ve always loved being the host.”

He loves chopped liver, or a good kugel.

“I also love a good deli. I remember Deli Night, Temple hosted that for almost 20 years and in the old days we’d serve up to 600 people. It was a lot of fun.”

When he initially came to the Executive Director position, he thought he’d do if for a year or two. It ended up being 16; a time during which he watched Temple make the move from Cass to Sterling Ridge. Temple was the first building to go up at what is today the Tri-Faith Campus, with the AMI Mosque and Countryside Community Church as its neighbors.

In 2020, the Tri-Faith Center opened its

doors—a far cry from that muddy, cold day when Temple first broke ground.

Dennis DePorte

I remember when we just began talking about moving West,” Dennis said.

“We had engaged some sites, but had not made a decision. At the same time, the Ironwood golf course was struggling and it became apparent they weren’t going to make it. John Waldbaum was instrumental in helping to develop what would become our Tri-Faith Campus.”

He remembers the day of the groundbreaking: “There were plywood boards, because it was so muddy and we had a tent set up. It was exciting and scary, because now we had to raise the money.

The construction guys found so many golf balls!

“August of 2013, we moved. The timing was crazy because it was one week before the High Holy Days. We didn’t plan it that way, but as with all construction, there were delays and it just

worked out that way. But: we had a fantastic staff, our team did phenomenal work, and I remember the great energy on the day we moved the Torah scrolls and walked from Cass to Sterling Ridge.”

Dennis is a people person, and it’s the relationships at Temple he misses the most now that he is retired.

“I always had great relationships with the staff and with congregants. No two days were alike. I never knew when I woke up in the morning who would show up at my door with problems or solutions. When I started, my daughter, who was a Jewish educator at the time, gave me this candy dish. She told me: ‘keep it full of chocolate.’ That dish was a tool to get people to walk in and talk about whatever was on their mind.”

As for cooking, he still does a lot of that. Not a day goes by that someone in the community doesn’t reach out to him to ask for advice on how to best prepare a certain dish.

“I’ll go to a cookbook and use it as a starting point,” Dennis admits, “but that’s it. Once I read about the basics, I’ll take it from there and put my own spin on things. I change whatever I feel like changing; it’s the best way to cook.”

His ideal Oneg?

“My first step would be to call Sandy Nogg and give her the date, because Sandy and I worked great together. She would take care of all the decorations and get any volunteer bakers together.

A good Oneg, you can’t just go to the store and buy stuff—you have to prepare it yourself, so you need volunteers willing to do that. As for the food, the best Oneg has finger food. Mini Reubens, See Dennis DePorte page B6

Omaha clergy

Continued from page B3 some have found the timing more convenient. I hope we don’t lose or diminish those relationships and their importance to our community as we open our focus to those in person in front of us. The most challenging way to teach is to engage both an in person and online audience, and learning to do that well is something we will need to excel at. I also hope we will continue to honor and elevate the time spent with families and at home, recognizing that we (the greater we of American culture) were out of balance in the before time, and returning exactly as before should not be the goal.”

“I will always treasure the family time this pandemic has enabled,” Hazzan Krausman said. “For the first time in decades, I was able to sit in services with my wonderful wife and children.

I have had the great privilege to sing and lead services with my son Zach beside me on guitar. Every Wednesday and Sunday I teach religious school with my son Zev who is going to college in Florida. Even while overcoming the personal tragedy of the loss of my father, I am able to be with my sister, who lives in Canada, at services. The great philosopher Immanuel Kant urges us to find meaning even in the darkest situations, perhaps this is meaning that I have found in the pandemic.”

“When the story is written about Covid and the Jewish community,” Rabbi Abraham added, “I hope the community will remember that we came together to keep our community going and thriving. That we looked for ways to continue to engage and bring together our members both in the Omaha community and outside. That we continued a long tradition in the Jewish Community that when we face adversity, we do not shrink to the moment but rise to meet the challenge of the time we face.”

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B6 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

Beth El

Dennis DePorte

Continued from page B5 chicken meatballs, kosher hotdogs from Hebrew National, hand rolled in dough. You might have some meat at the end of the table to carve for sandwiches. People have always loved my Swiss cheese spread, I could make that in bulk and it still wouldn’t be enough. And of course, a nice white and a nice red wine to accompany it all.”

His advice for his successor, Nate Shapiro, is ‘have patience:’ “I have learned it over the years. You have to be a good listener and hear the meaning behind the words people speak.”

In addition, an executive director at the synagogue has to be there for the clergy.

“Many times,” Dennis said, “if they had anything to discuss, they would come to me. I never expected I would have so much of a mentor role to the clergy, but they are regular people who deal with everyday stuff like all of us. They are human, and we sometimes forget that.”

Dennis is proud that he was able to leave Temple better than he found it. “It wasn’t bad before, but we have been able to secure great financials, great lay leadership, and an endowment for the future. We switched our investments and I take pride in having been a good steward. I was always the one who said ‘no,’ because that is what an executive director does.”

He didn’t do any of it alone, he said. “Everything I did, I was able to do because of the support from my wife, Pam. We are truly a team.”

He misses the kitchen (and the kitchen misses him). The current Temple kitchen is as much Dennis’ baby as anything: “I was able to tell Mo Feingold exactly what I wanted. He told me the area had no flow, but I reminded him we are not a restaurant.

Cooking at Temple is a social affair. It means being together, doing things together, talking and socializing while you create great food. Those who are in the kitchen must face each other and connect. It’s how friendships are forged. Food is a conduit.”

Continued from page 4 Farnam Streets secured, the Conservative congregation officially became known as Beth El. In 1936, the congregation published its very first issue of The Beth El News, predecessor of today’s Kol. Cantor Aaron Edgar joined the staff, and the Beth El choir made its debut.

A Talmud Torah program was established a few years later, in 1938, with meetings taking place at various locations throughout the Dundee neighborhood for a number of years.

In 1939, a full decade after Congregation Beth El organized and held its first services, construction of the synagogue finally began. Designed by John and Alan MacDonald, Beth El was completed and dedicated during Hanukkah in 1941, one week after the United States entered World War II. Rev. Alexander Katz began a lifetime of service to the congregation when he was appointed assistant to the Rabbi in 1944. Rabbi Myer S. Kripke became spiritual leader of the congregation in November 1946 and he was instrumental in guiding and growing Beth El for nearly 30 years.

Within a decade of first opening its doors, Beth El had grown so much that an addition was necessary. The new wing of the synagogue, added in 1952, saw the addition of a chapel, kitchen, recreation room and the expansion of classrooms and office space.

According to the Beth El website, “In 1975, Rabbi Myer Kripke assumed emeritus status, and Rabbi Kenneth Bromberg held the pulpit until 1982, after which Rabbi Paul

Drazen became spiritual leader of Beth El for the next 20 years.”

“In 1972, Cantor Edgar was succeeded by Cantor Chaim Najman, who served the congregation until 1979, followed by a two-year stint by Cantor Robert Shapiro. Cantor Emil Berkovits came to Beth El in 1981, serving as both cantor and teacher during his 22-year tenure.”

Over the years, as Omaha’s Jewish population moved westward, Talmud Torah classes were moved to church buildings and the Jewish Community Center in west Omaha to accomodate the congregation. It became increasingly apparent that Beth El would need to relocate.”

Forward thinking led to Beth El, the youngest of present day Omaha’s 3 major synagogues, to lead the westward movement of Jewish houses of worship. Beth El’s website shares, “Land was acquired, funds generously contributed, and in July of 1991, 50 years after construction of the original synagogue building, Beth El moved nearly 100 blocks west to 14506 California Street, to its new home, designed by Notter, Finegold and Alexander Inc. of Boston. (Beth El’s original home on 49th & Farnam now serves as offices for an architectural firm, following a brief life as home of Opera Omaha.)”

The synagogue houses a sanctuary which can accommodate 900 people; a chapel, a spacious social hall for wedding dinners, Bar/Bat Mitzvah parties and other simchas, offices and a large kitchen.

Just as was the case in 1952, Beth El was pressed for more See Beth El page B8

The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | B7

Excerpts from Consider the Years: Temple Israel 1871-1971 SILVIA ROFFMAN AND SUZANNE SINGER In November of 1873, articles of incorporation were filed with the Douglas County Clerk for Temple Israel. In spite of having no full-time rabbi, the congregation continued to hold services. There was a succession of itinerant rabbis until 1878 when reverend David Stern ministered to the 20-member congregation for an eight-month period.

Reverend George E. Harfield was engaged as rabbi of the congregation in 1883. Then, on September 18, 1884, the first synagogue was erected, at the cost of $4,500. The simple frame building was distinguished by a stained-glass window with an insert of a Mogen David with Hebrew lettering.

From 1890 on, the Harney street building became increasingly inadequate to serve the congregation’s needs. A fundraising committee was organized in 1891 and, throughout the next ten years, the dream was alternately shelved and revived.

In the meantime, the Ladies’ Sewing Society continued to shoulder the cost of redecorating and repairing the existing Temple. At the same time, their benefits netted thousands of dollars for the building fund.

By 1906, a lot at 29th and Jackson had been purchased and John Latenser was hired as architect. The cornerstone was laid on June 2, 1907.

The gold-domed building was unanimously acclaimed one of the most elegant in Omaha. Although news clippings erroneously refer to its architecture as “French classic styling,” they credit it with “grace and beauty and at the same time, a massive and impressive appearance.”

The north and south walls of the sanctuary featured stained glass windows depicting a young David playing the harp and Moses descending Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. A contemporary Jewish historian wrote that the Temple was situated “upon one of the city’s high places. Its beautifully curved dome may easily be seen from any part of the city in the northwest and from most points east and south in the city.”

Shortly after World War II, there was a growing realization that the congregation needed a larger and more conveniently located synagogue. Nearly four decades had passed since the Park Avenue building was dedicated. The Jewish population of Omaha had shifted westward and the existing building demanded an increasing number of extensive repairs.

Post-War global problems weighed heavily on Jewish hearts.

It was felt by many Temple Israel members that their financial priorities should be directed to the resettlement of survivors of the Holocaust and to the support of efforts for the defense and establishment of the State of Israel.

It was not until 1951 that the congregation purchased 27 acres between 69th and 72nd on Cass, after having sold the Park Avenue building to St. John’s Greek Orthodox Church.

In 1952, Rabbi Sidney Brooks succeeded to the pulpit. In

Happy Passover Dr. James Wax

May 1953, Rabbi Brooks conducted the last services in the Park Avenue building. For the next year, he and the Temple Staff operated from interim offices at the Jewish Community Center and held Shabbat services in its auditorium. The See Temple Israel page B8

B8 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

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Helping the synagogue: Jeff Kirshenbaum

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The Kirshenbaum Family: Alyssa, left, Sharon, Lauren and Jeff Kirshenbaum

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor Beth Israel is where Jeff Kirshenbaum grew up. Today, he is its president.

“I remember my dad being president in the early 1970’s. It’s where I had by bar mitzvah.

It’s where Sharon and I were married. When I was first asked to serve on the board, I knew it was something I wanted to do to help the synagogue. Beth Israel is an important part of the Omaha Jewish Community. I want to insure that continues for years to come.”

A synagogue board, he said, is a representation of its membership, with everyone from

young parents to senior members reflected.

“Our goal is to insure that Beth Israel is here for future generations. However, while that may be our underlying, long-term goal, it cannot be our board’s immediate focus. That said, long-term financial health is always at the top of the list of goals.”

Beth Israel is growing, he added.

“We have an active membership – even during Covid – and want to continue that growth. Prior to Covid, it was not uncommon to have well over 100 people – with many being children – at Shabbat services. What See Jeff Kirshenbaum page B11

Beth El Continued from page B6 space and required an addition to accommodate its growing congregation. In 1996 a school building was added with eight classrooms and offices.

“For years the congregation has reaped the benefits of enthusiastic and talented clergy members. From 2002-2013, Rabbi Mordechai Levin served as the spiritual leader of the synagogue, offering innovative religious services, creating new adult education programming, and expanding programming for all ages. From 2003 to 2008, Cantor Gaston Bogomolni electrified the congregation with his infectious enthusiasm and extensive musical talent, and his successor, Cantor Beth Schlossberg infused both services and synagogue events with her joy-filled music from 2008 to 2012.”

“In August 2011, Beth El welcomed Rabbi Steven Abraham, who brought a special warmth and creative energy to the congregation as our Assistant Rabbi. In August 2012, Hazzan Michael Krausman joined the clergy team. Hazzan Krausman endeavors to reach out to each member of our congregational family with his desire to teach and exemplify the spirituality, life and meaning of our sacred liturgy and music in partnership with Rabbi Abraham, who became Beth El’s congregational Rabbi in August 2013.”

Beth El has adapted remarkably to serve congregational needs since the Covid pandemic began and has made the purposeful decision to put the health and safety of its congregants over the desire to fill a building.

From Zoom services and lectures to online educational opportunities and Hebrew school, Beth El always has something going on. “Finding creative ways outside of the ‘normal’ has been a challenge our staff, clergy and congregants have risen to,” shares executive Director Allison Newfeld. “Beth El has offered holiday and shabbat meals and programming, organized community volunteer efforts and donation drives and hosted socially distanced parking lot events.”

Though Covid may have necessitated closing the building, it is clear that Beth El is very much open to serve the community’s needs.

Improvements and updates to the 20 year old

building are in the planning stages and will be soon underway to ensure that Beth El will be prepared as it continues to serve the community far into the future, regardless of what that future holds.

Temple Israel Continued from page B7 Masonic building, as it did in the 1870s, offered the use of its building for High Holiday services. In May of 1954, the congregation officially moved into its new synagogue. Formal dedication services were held the weekends of September 14 and 21, 1954.

The Jewish Press described the building thus: “The new Temple is contemporary in design and features traditional symbols in a modern motif. Finished in buff brick, it has a sanctuary seating 300, a social hall seating 500, 11 classrooms and a kitchen.

Sculptured panels on the front exterior portray the fundamental concepts of Judaism: truth, peace and Torah.”

Such to this day are the names and dates, events and programs, the building and the achievements of our congregation.

But greater than all these are the hopes and dreams—the steadfast faith in the eternity of our people and the faith of Judaism that has made all that has gone before us.

The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | B9

B’nai Israel: A conversation with Howard Kutler ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor A little bit of history about B’nai Israel: it was during the 1850s that Jewish people began to move to Council Bluffs, Iowa. The Chevra B’nai Yisroel Congregation was officially organized in 1903; the building was completed in 1904. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the original building in 1930, but the rebuilding started immediately. The current building was completed in 1931. In 1953, the name of the congregation was changed to B’nai Israel. The building was renovated and classrooms as well as a chapel A pre-pandemic Howard, were added in 1963. B’nai Israel serving up brisket at celebrated its 100th anniver- Chabad in early 2020. sary in 2004 and its building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

Although unlike other synagogues, B’nai Israel does not hold an office of ‘President,’ but it does have a Board of Directors filled with enthusiastic lay leaders. Howard Kutler is a member of that board and in that role agreed to answer some questions on behalf of the other members. Those other members are Scott Friedman, Rick Katelman, Jane Kulakofsky, Carole and Wayne Lainof, Mary-Beth Muskin, Debbie Salomon and Sissy Silber.

What motivates you in your lay leadership, i.e., what was your main reason to say ‘yes’ when you were asked?

I am motivated to serve on the board of B’nai Israel Synagogue to keep our congregation’s history, which dates to 1903. I want to help on keeping our synagogue vibrant and See Howard Kutler page B10

Beth El Synagogue: A cornerstone of Jewish Life in Omaha

Despite the setback, progress did occur. Former interim mayor JEANNETTE GABRIEL AND BEN JUSTMAN On a Friday evening in November 1926, over 200 people and city commissioner, Harry Zimman and family donated land joined together into the lodge room at the old Jewish Com- at 49th and Farnam Streets and a building fund was initiated. munity Center on 20th and The building came with a Dodge Streets to hear visiting $106,000 price tag but through Rabbi David A, Goldstein decommitment the funds were liver his sermon advocating for raised throughout the 1930s. In traditional Judaism. The mes1939, ground was broken with sage was well received and the the architectural undertakings following Monday, a larger being completed by father and crowd reconvened to hear the son team, John and Alan MacRabbi once again speak on the Donald, the men responsible for the design of the pink marbled necessity of establishing a conJoslyn Art Museum. servative congregation. Previous efforts to organize a In time for high holidays, the conservative synagogue had first services were held in the occurred in Omaha but these synagogue on Friday, Oct. 2, ultimately fell short of their 1940. More than 900 people atgoal. However, Goldstein was tended the following morning the spark the Jews of Omaha Rosh Hashanah services. The needed to organize and about Junior Hadassah group meetGround Breaking of School Addition 75 of those in attendance ing, book club, funerals all ocsigned membership cards and pledged $3,000 to support a curred shortly after the doors were opened. The first large rabbi and services. wedding in the new shul was held in January 1941 when AkDespite the more than a reported 1,000 attendees for the Sar-Ben princess Ethyl Kulakofsky married Loyal Kaplan. Synfirst formal services of Beth El on Sept. 13, 1929, it would still agogue life was in full swing before the building dedication took be more than a decade before the congregation could move place to coincide with Hanukkah in 1941. The commemoration from the JCC and have a shul of their own. The stock market occurred just one week after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Rabbi crash the following month in October 1929, would begin a Goldstein served as master of ceremonies for the event and downward spiral into the Great Depression and would delay was joined by Catholic, Episcopal, Presbyterian clergy. efforts to construct Omaha’s conservative synagogue.

See A cornerstone of Jewish Life page B11

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B10 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

Howard Kutler Beth Israel Synagogue: The crown jewel of Omaha orthodoxy SAM KRICSFELD The Omaha Orthodox Jewish community has existed since 1883. Since then, its numbers rose and fell, rabbis came and went and its population moved westward. Despite nearly endless change, Omaha Orthodoxy has had one constant since 1951: Beth Israel Synagogue.

Before Beth Israel, the Omaha Orthodox community was disjointed – Beth Hamedrosh Hagadol (the “Litvische Shul”), B’nai Israel Adas Russia (the “Kipplier Shul”), B’nai Jacob Anshe Sholom (the “Kapulier Shul”) and Beth Hamedrosh Adas Yeshurun all existed separately. B’nai Israel Adas Russia and Beth Hamedrosh Hagadol merged to form the Union of Orthodox Congregations of Omaha. When the B’nai Israel lot was bought by Omaha for the Civic Auditorium, the UOC decided to use the architect Clarence Kivett of Kansas City to design a large synagogue on 52nd Street.

In 1948, the Omaha World-Herald published that Eliahu Epstein, the newly formed State of Israel’s first representative to the United States, would attend and speak at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new synagogue.

A 1949 Omaha World-Herald article about the construction of the new shul

reported that “Beth Israel will be one of the most modern synagogues in the world and one of the largest in the Mid-

and social hall spanned 200 feet without support columns.

According to the World-Herald, the

west.” The World-Herald reported that the building cost $450,000, would seat 1500 and had an impressive folding “door” – the largest of its type in the U.S. at the time - that separated the sanctuary from the social hall. A 2000 Jewish Press article about the history of Beth Israel said that the building’s sanctuary

cornerstone-laying in May of 1950 was plagued with a downpour. Despite “threatening” clouds, everything went well during the new Beth Israel Synagogue’s dedication on Sept. 23, 1951. The World-Herald reported that around 800 people attended the dedication services.

See Beth Israel page B12

Continued from page B9 meaningful for future generations. My father Ben Kutler was born in Council Bluffs in 1920. My Jewish roots were planted across the Missouri river in that building at 618 Mynster Street in Council Bluffs.

Why do synagogues need a board of Directors, what is their goal?

The age of our building requires a dedicated board of directors to keep focused on building improvements and maintenance. We work together on our Shabbos service schedule which is held on the second Friday night of the month. We work together to invite a guest speaker for services. Plans are also made for holding the High Holiday services each year.

New discussions for the board have been ideas on how we can open the building up for other Jewish organizations who would like to use our historical building for meetings and special events.

What is the most exciting thing about your synagogue?

Mary-Beth Muskin gets the credit for this answer: “B’nai Israel maintains a Jewish presence in Southwest Iowa and preserves the heritage and tradition of the Jewish history of the Council Bluffs/Omaha metropolitan area. The synagogue is a designated landmark making it a natural historical repository.”

What about being president was not at all what you expected?

Serving on the board for B’nai Israel has exceeded all my expectations. I am so glad to be able to serve on our board.

How has the synagogue met the challenges during the past year?

We have transitioned, I feel successfully, to holding Shabbos and High Holiday Services on Zoom. Under the leadership of Jeff Taxman for the High Holidays and Larry Blass for our Shabbos services, we have stayed together through the warmth of smiles coming through on our electronic devices.

And we want to acknowledge Jason Rife for his technical skills in supporting our safely distanced services.

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The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | B11

A cornerstone of Jewish Life

2021 HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS

HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS AND PARENTS

We will be publishing our annual High School Graduation Class pages on May 21, 2021.

To be included, send us an email with the student’s name, parents names, high school they are attending, the college they will be attending and photo to: jpress@jewishom aha.org by May 3, 2021.

The Jewish Press Continued from page B9 As Jewish life in Omaha continued, a new wing of the building was required. The annex completed in 1952, provided a more dynamic space that included nine new classrooms for Jewish education and a near 300-person capacity chapel. The rabbi had a new executive office and study. For onegs and social functions, the addition provided an expanded recreation room and of great importance, a brand-new kitchen.

Through the years, a multitude of religious services, life cycle events and a litany of other occasions were held at the synagogue in Dundee even as congregants moved into the hinterlands of the western outreaches of Omaha. By the 1980s, the congregation was holding classes and smaller events at nearby churches and the recently relocated JCC in favor of commuting to the original 1941 synagogue. The issue of distance was only exacerbated by growing issues of an aging boiler and other infrastructure as well as parking limitations and handicap accessibility shortcomings added to considerations of a new home. The original synagogue had served Beth El for 50 years, but it was clear that a more permanent answer of relocating the building to be closer to the congregants of the synagogue was needed.

On a cold and windy day in late March 1990, more than 100 members of Beth El bundled up to break ground on the new building.

Rabbi Emeritus Myer Kripke joined Rabbi Drazen and a delegation of community leaders to dig the first ceremonial shovels of dirt.

Happy Passover

The occasion marked nearly 20 years of planning towards the future.

After repeating the process of acquiring land and funds, Beth El Synagogue made the journey west in 1991 to its current location.

The makings of the “new” Beth El were truly a congregational wide effort. A variety of committees including those focused on the architectural selection, building, fundraising, finance, public relations, construction and real estate helped to ensure that many hands made light work in transforming vision to reality. A moving day committee brought the physical items of the synagogue the 100 blocks and included a police motorcade to assist in transporting the Torahs. Finally, a dedication committee marked the historical occasion and the many who actively participated in the undertaking. Thirty years after the move and dedication, Beth El Synagogue at 14506 California Street continues to be a center of Jewish life and learning in Omaha.

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Jeff Kirshenbaum Continued from page B8 can we do to grow its membership? How do we develop programming that remains relevant? These are issues that every synagogue board faces. It’s how boards address them is what differentiates boards.”

Most exciting, for Jeff, is walking into Beth Israel prior to daily evening minyan, and seeing Rabbi Yoni Dreyer leading a class of teens in the social hall.

“To me,” he said, “that defines the very essence of what Beth Israel stands for. These teens are not being forced to be there. They are choosing to be at Beth Israel. Every day is an opportunity to learn and study. They want to be there. The pandemic has forced us to alter many things – no kiddush, no dinners and congregational social events – but it has not forced us to give up learning and studying. I look forward to the day when we can once again have a full sanctuary and social hall.

Being a synagogue president, Jeff said, “is more challenging than being a JFO agency president –but in a good way. Our members have different opinions on a wide variety of issues and topics. Making sure that all of our members’ voices are heard is imperative.”

Like most other synagogues, Beth Israel closed the building when the pandemic

began in March of 2020. That meant rethinking programming and, no less important, the holidays. Where initially it looked like Pesach would have to be adapted, it soon became clear the High Holidays would be equally affected. But rather than focus on what they couldn’t control, Beth Israel’s team worked on what they could. They could bring people together outside, wearing masks, while the weather was still good.

“Our synagogue immediately began to offer classes and programs online,” Jeff said.

“By mid-May, we devised a plan with input from both government health care officials and doctors to safely resume daily minyan.

We were fortunate to have both a permanent outdoor sukkah immediately adjacent to the sanctuary/social hall to conduct services and classes. Rabbi Ari Dembitzer, Rabbi Yoni Dreyer and our executive director Liora Herskovitz developed a plan to safely conduct High Holiday services in tents. It was a huge amount of work that was much appreciated by our members and many in the community. We continually work to make sure our building is safe in order to allow it to remain open. I cannot praise Liora, Rabbi Ari and Rabbi Yoni enough for how they have adapted how we do things to allow us to continue to remain open over the last year.”

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Nate Shapiro: Positive leadership

Beth Israel

GABBY BLAIR Jewish Press Staff Writer Nate Shapiro has become a well known leader in the Omaha Jewish Community. A native of tiny Wayne, Nebraska, Shapiro intimately understands the importance of community and faith. Growing up Jewish in rural Nebraska meant the family would occasionally make the trek to Congregation Beth Shalom in Sioux City for services, holidays or simchas.

He spent summers with other Jewish youth at Camp Young Judea and met his future wife, Carly, during his time as a counselor. The couple were married in 2016 and hold the distinction of being the only couple to have a chup-

Continued from page B9 Twenty-two Torahs were carried into the new shul – 10 from Beth Hamedrosh Hagadol (which eventually was razed in 1960) and 12 from B’nai Israel, whose congregants had held farewell services the same day. Beth Israel’s first rabbi, Rabbi Sydney K. Mossman, led the opening prayer and dedication address.

Nate and Carly’s improptu Chuppah in the Riekes Museum 2016.

pah at the JCC’s Reikes Museum. “Lincoln’s Rabbi Lewis helped us with all our pre-wedding counseling and preparations. He travelled to Omaha to have us sign our ketubah ahead of our scheduled wedding. We met at the JCC, where I was working as Director of Development for the Jewish Federation of Omaha, to take care of business. The Reikes Museum was a very special space. The ambiance of the museum, filled with the remnants of Omaha’s Jewish beginnings, just had such an appeal to me and I loved occasionally hearing Friedel kids in morning prayer and song when walking into work. I was inspired as Carly and I met with Rabbi See Nate Shapiro page B15

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Beth Israel proudly stood on 52nd Street for over half a century. Originally, it featured some aspects not typically found at an Orthodox synagogue, including a microphone system and mixed seating. According to the Jewish Press, throughout the 1990s, Beth Israel moved to become a “more authentic” Orthodox synagogue by eliminating the use of the microphone and adding a mechitza to separate men from women during services (the World-Herald reported in 2002 that Beth Israel had lost members because of this).

According to the Beth Israel website, the membership approved the construction of a new synagogue in 1999 at the site of the old Jewish Day School on 126th and Pacific (the day school had previously been Beth Israel’s Talmud Torah). The reason for the move was simple: most Omaha Jews lived or were moving westward. At that point, Beth El Synagogue had moved to 144th and Dodge Street and the JCC had been on 132nd Street for decades. In fact, the Press reported in 2004 that Rabbi Isaac Nadoff, Beth Israel’s rabbi from 1965-1990, had told Joe Kirshenbaum that the shul should move west as early as 1978.

The World-Herald reported in 2002 that the building would cost $2.5 million and seat 350. The building was designed by Marty Shukert and Bob Krupa of Renaissance Design Group of Omaha. The concept of a folding “door” that separated the sanctuary from the social hall was carried over from the old shul. Twelve stained-glass windows representing the 12 tribes of Israel flank the sanctuary. An etched glass mechitza divides the sanctuary in two, and an artistic depiction of the Hebrew letter Aleph is on the cover of the Ark. The sanctuary’s centerpiece is the “Menorah Window” which the Press wrote “frames the Ark and is shaped and leaded in the form of ” a menorah. The right branches reflect the heavens and the left branches depict the seas. Carved into the stone above the Ark is a phrase that translates to “know before whom you stand.”

The new Beth Israel opened in February of 2004. Rabbi Howard Kutner and other lay leaders held a symbolic walk with the shul’s Torahs, according to a 2004 World-Herald article. Later that year, the World-Herald reported on the building’s formal October dedication, which featured Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, Jewish Federation of Omaha president Zoe Riekes and speeches from Rabbi Kutner and Beth Israel board of commissioners president Bonnie Bloch, who were both out of town. The dedication also invested Rabbi Jonathan Gross as the new Beth Israel rabbi.

Beth Israel stands today as the crown jewel of Omaha Orthodoxy. Currently, the shul is lead by Rabbi Ari Dembitzer, who was introduced to Omaha as a high holiday chazzan in 2001 and became Beth Israel’s rabbi in 2015. Rabbi Yoni Dreyer is assistant rabbi. The current president of the board of directors is Jeff Kirshenbaum.

Beth Israel Synagogue is located at 12604 Pacific Street, Omaha, NE 68154. Beth Israel’s office can be reached at 402.556.6288.

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Women’s contributions to building Beth El Synagogue: The first thirty years JEANNETTE GABRIEL & BEN JUSTMAN Women’s organizations in Beth El were an important part of the congregation from its inception. The early Women’s Auxiliary performed the important task of fundraising with Folgers coffee sales and bake sales and annual dances, but also organized a range of events highlighting Jewish culture and history. The cultural program committee in 1935 headed up by Mrs. David Goldstein and Mrs. M.F. Levenson featured a seven lectures by Rabbi Goldstein on the Bible as literature and a series of presentations on famous Jewish women given by members of the auxiliary. From 1934 through 1936 the Women’s Auxiliary hosted a series of theatrical and dance skits known as Conservative Capers. The final performance held at Central High School included twenty-one Jewish students who attended Central.

As the congregation prepared for the first Synagogue Dedication at 49th and Farnum in 1941, the Women’s Auxiliary organized a High Holidays fundraiser. Joint events were also held with Sisterhood organizations from Temple Israel and United Orthodox congregations to host regional Hadassah events. During World War II, Beth El Women’s Auxiliary partnered with fourteen organizations that made up the women’s section of the Jewish Welfare board’s army and navy committee to open a soldier’s canteen at the Jewish Community Center. The Jewish Federation of Omaha hoped the JCC canteen would help build cultural understanding by providing opportunities for soldiers from across the country to interact directly with the local community.

The Beth El Sisterhood chapter was established at the end of WWII and in the immediate post-war years the organization shifted its focus to holding luncheons such as the annual observance of national brotherhood week and an annual spring luncheon and card party. Fundraising programs featured theatrics with an annual benefit, Fun Nite Follies, and a series of concerts. The organization retained some of its educational focus through a series of lectures and book discussions with Rabbis Kripke and Mossman.

The Beth El community flourished in Omaha in the 1950s and by the early to mid 1960s, Sisterhood reflected and was one of the most active organizations of the congregation.

They honored their 30-year members and continued to grow each year. Throughout the 1960s, Sisterhood held their traditional donor luncheons with fashion shows and also branched out into an Israel Art Exhibit in 1963 held in concurrence with the annual choir concert and annual Congregational Dinner. The exhibit featured eighty-six original drawings, paintings, woodcut lithographs and wood carvings by thirty-five Israeli artists.

For Beth El’s 30th Anniversary events the congregation celebrated by holding an exposition in January, a banquet in May and monthly events that were sponsored by Sisterhood and

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the Men’s Club. Five hundred people attended Beth El 30th Anniversary Ball which was organized by Sisterhood at Highland Country Club.

With a nod to the Men’s Club, a card room set up for the non-dancers.

The second annual Jewish Home Tour which Beth El Sisterhood organized in October 1961 highlights creative way the women of the congregation merged together the joys of suburban domesticity with deeply engrained Jewish traditions.

The home tour featured five homes in a small area within “The Bagel” in the DundeeMemorial Park neighborhood.

These homes represented the apex of Jewish financial success and women’s homemaking talents, and also focused on Judaism’s home centered traditions where “it is good and pleasant for brethren to dwell together.”

Dr. Abe and Betty Fellman’s home presented eight tapestries featuring the seven days of creation designed and created by Seldon and Muriel Helfman from St. Louis especially for this event. Muriel Helfman later gained international attention for her Holocaustthemed tapestries. The tapestries presented during the home tour featured each of the seven days of creation as told in Genesis through brilliant colors and rich woven texture. The eighth tapestry featured The Burning Bush.

The Meyer and Nellie Katzman home showcased a kosher kitchen and the event program explained for the tour participants the religious basis of Jewish dietary laws placing it within the context of Judaism’s attempt to sanctify the act of eating by teaching a reverence for life.

Gary and Ross Gross’ home featured education for Jewish living. This display, designed by Carol Gendler, explained Jewish religious education for both children and adults. The exhibit explained the significance of the bar and bat mitzvah and also showcased workshops for women to help make holiday observances more meaningful within the home.

Women’s contributions to the development of Beth El Synagogue during its first few decades were critical for building financial stability and maintaining the interest and engagement of the congregation.

Some uncommon conversions...

OZZIE NOGG In 1969 (or thereabouts), when Beth El was located on 49th and Farnam, the Board voted to convert the white wooden house next door to the synagogue into a duplex for two invaluable staff members: Mr. Bernap and my father, Rabbi Alexander Katz. Mr. Bernap, a heating/cooling/ plumbing whiz and Beth El’s all-round custodian, would live on the top floor. My parents would occupy the main floor. This arrangement meant Bernap was available to replace synagogue furnace filters and unclog toilets 24/7, and (since Poppa’s eyes were failing), afford the aging Rabbi a quick, safe walk to and from shul every day to lead Pesukei d’Zimra, read Torah, teach students, oversee morning and evening minyan or grab a schnapps in the kitchen, etc. Sort of like ‘living above the store’ when Judaism is your stock in trade.

Considering the hours he spent there, I could joke that my Poppa lived at Beth El Synagogue. Which segues us to Jihad Al-Mohammed who, in 1990, took refuge in an old abandoned building in war-ravaged Saida (aka Sidon), a town just south of Beirut, Lebanon. “It was filled with rats and garbage,” Mohammed explained, “so I cleaned it up and moved my wife, my six children and my mother in.”

Mohammed’s new digs boasted high domed ceilings, lofty arches, marble floors, and was located in an area called ‘Haret al-Yahud,’ the Jewish Quarter, “but I didn’t think much of it,” Mohammed said. For a decade, he apparently didn’t give much thought to the wrought-iron Stars of David on the skylight above his head, either. “Then tourists started coming by, asking to see my home. Ten years after I moved in I realized I’d been living in what used to be a place of Jewish worship.”

Let’s forgive Mohammed’s naivete and appreciate, instead, his efforts to repurpose the historic synagogue with at least a modicum of respect. He covered the Hebrew lettering of the Ten Commandments under a wash of blue paint, divided the building into bedrooms for his family, added a modest kitchen and transformed the space where men once prayed into a living room. Mohammed’s flatscreen TV sits in the ark that held the Torah scrolls. According to Nagi Gergi Zeidan, a specialist on the Jews of Lebanon, the Saida synagogue once housed fifty Torah scrolls dating to Roman times which were seized by the Israelis during their 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

See Uncommon conversions page B14

B14 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

Uncommon conversions

Continued from page B13 Zeidan’s research shows Lebanon’s Jewish population dwindled from 7,000 in 1967 to just thirty-five souls in 2006, though the real exodus began after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

“The departure of the Jews of Lebanon was like tearing an arm from a body,” Zeidan said.

Now that tourism is relatively safe again in Mohammed’s neighborhood, international visitors find their way to his door. “They show me photos of their Jewish Lebanese ancestors from Saida,” Mohammed said. In turn, he stores photos of these visitors on his smartphone, including a shot of two Israeli rabbis.

“They came and prayed here in 2012. It was the first prayer held in this building for forty years.”

Though several Lebanese synagogues are being restored, Zeiden feels there’s little chance Mohammed’s will return to its former purpose. The building continues to decay, the blue paint continues to peel, and chunks of walls and ceiling fall off every day. But for Mohammed, this ancient house of worship is home. “I am attached to this place,” he said.

He plans to live in his synagogue as long as he’s allowed. “And while I’m here, visitors are welcome to come around.”

The Saida synagogue story is not unique.

Across the United States, once-active places of worship are sprouting ‘for sale’ signs as attendance continues to plummet. Chicago’s former Agudas Achim Synagogue, built in 1922, closed shop in 2008 and was revisioned as Synagogue Flats. The three-story building

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Got a pooch? Ante up another twenty bucks in rent, please. A cat? Another ten, though where one would discreetly stash a litter box in such minuscule quarters is a puzzlement.

(Adding a few pebbles and a tiny rake to the Fresh Step might fool your guests into thinking it’s actually a small Zen sand garden.) As of this writing, just one unit in Synagogue Flats is available.

Daniel Davidson, a tech entrepreneur, is not on the Flats waiting list. When he moved from New York City to Miami, Davidson spotted a for sale sign on the 1930s Art Deco Kneseth Israel Synagogue, located a few blocks from the beach. Smitten with the property’s architecture and grand dimensions, Davidson snapped up the roughly 16,400 square-foot building in 2003 for $1.125 million. He then spent two years and many millions more to remodel the synagogue into his personal home, which includes five bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms and a kitchen area that formerly served as classroom space for the congregation.

Davidson also added a second-floor infinity pool under an open-sky roof. “At night you get the stars and moon,” Davidson said. “The home is an amazing oasis of tranquillity and peacefulness and calm.” Exactly the ambience you’d hope for in a synagogue, right? In 2014, Davidson put the house on the market for roughly $17 million, not a bad return on in-

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The lobby at Synagogue Flats.

vestment. The price includes a stone Buddha bought in Bali.

One abandoned synagogue in New York City had a storied history before it rose (literally) from the ashes. Built in 1847 as a residence for a wealthy Jewish family, the home eventually became a Lower East Side tenement until an Orthodox congregation turned it into the Eighth Street Shul, where they davened until the 1960s. With declining membership, the shul sat idle for decades. After a fire in 1982, squatters took up residence. To the rescue came Martin Davis who bought the ruin for $1.3 million in 2004. Now renovated as a fourstory townhome, it rents for $30K a month.

“When I first saw the property, I was blown away by the soaring windows on the front of the shul,” Davis told Claudine Zap of realtor.com. “I told my family about it and later found out that when my grandfather

emigrated to America in 1908, the first place he lived was in a tenement, literally directly behind my building. It turned out to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come full circle back to where my family’s story began in the U.S.,” he said.

The damage suffered from the fire was significant, the multi-year restoration work massive. The home’s exterior honors the building’s history with an exact replica of the windows, inscribed with the Star of David, that were installed when it had been a synagogue. The interior transformation — described as a temple to art and design — features 22-foot high ceilings, walls of glass, exposed brick, an open kitchen with a 20-foot island, four bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms (artfully covered with mosaic tiles), three outdoor terraces, a library with wet bar and fireplace, a media room plus See Uncommon conversions page B15

The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | B15

Nate Shapiro lining, in my opinion, is the hard pivot into the 21st century Continued from page B12 Lewis that morning and we ended up having an impromptu that synagogues have had to make across the board. While ceremony which was pretty amazing. Rabbi Ari Dembitzer we are unable to meet in person, we are more connected than happened to be walking in at the moment and together, with ever before thanks to technology like Zoom for classes and a few colleagues, we pulled it off. They held a tallit over us as meetings. It is also more important now than ever before to a chuppah; it was simple and lovely.” bring synagogue to our congregants in any way possible since Shapiro attended UNL before pausing his studies to join the they cannot come to us physically. Through streaming, we are IDF as a lone soldier in the able to provide that spiritual Nachal combat battalion in home for people through 2008. “I studied at University in prayer services, burial services, Haifa for one semester before intimate family simchas and drafting into service for two life events and broadcast it to years. Living and serving in Isinclude anyone at the touch of rael really helped to further a button and I think people shape my identity and develop need and appreciate that aca deeper understanding of, and cess right now.” relationship with, Israel.” Upon Temple Israel has offered spehis return from service, Shapiro cial take out meals for the High returned to UNL in 2010 and Holidays and Hanukkah and is completed his degree the folplanning to offer a Passover tolowing year. “You know, before go meal as well. While the I left, everyone told me to prekitchen is not currently staffed, pare for a major culture shock,” their in-house caterer, Chef he shares. “While life there was Hattam, helps to prepare these certainly different and not meals. With the kitchen under without challenges, I honestly utilized at the moment, felt adapting to life back in LinShapiro explains that the space coln upon my return to be is still being used for a good more difficult. Israel has a way Silver linings: The Shapiro family celebrated the birth of cause; storing food that is doof somehow feeling like home.” daughter Naomi in 2020. nated to food drives and delivDuring his tenure as Director of Development with the Jew- ered to pantries. Temple also completed a Mischloach Manot ish Federation of Omaha, Nate was a team player who helped fundraiser for Purim. “We provided and delivered premade further the JFO mission through his dedication to building Mischloach Manot. Community members were able to purcommunity. He left the JFO to take the position of Executive chase gifts for friends and family for the holiday. and everyone Director at Beth Israel Synagogue. “My time at Beth Israel, in our congregation received a surpise on their doorstep.” though short, was a wonderful experience. The congregation, While Shapiro wishes there had been more directed guidclergy and staff were instrumental in educating me how a syn- ance early on from lawmakers in response to the pandemic, agogue works from the business side of things. The role of the he expressed gratitude and appreciation for the government’s synagogue in such a closely knit community is an essential assistance through PPP loans, for which Temple qualified. part of life, from managing the building and all that takes place “Dues have long been the norm in synagogue models. Right in it to maintaining cemeteries and adhering to proper burial now, many people are struggling or facing economic uncertraditions, Beth Israel not only serves Omaha’s Orthodox com- tainty and we certainly feel it. This was a much needed infumunity, but the greater Jewish Community as a whole.” sion at a moment when our revenue is significantly down and Shapiro stepped up to fill the leadership role at Temple Is- for that I am grateful. While I think better direction from the rael as Executive Director in May 2020 in the midst of the federal and state level would have made life a little easier for Covid-19 pandemic. When asked about his 2020 in general us in making decisions, in the end, you shouldn’t have to be and his experience at Temple thus far, Shapiro is hopeful and told to do what is in the best interest of the health and safety positive, yet frank. of your congregation and public. As a religious community, we “First off, in spite of every hardship 2020 brought with it, it have to make decisions based on our personal responsibilities was one of the best years of my life because my wife and I were and what is morally right, in line with our teachings. It is blessed with our first child, Naomi. Becoming a parent has painful to not be able to use our beautiful synagogue the way just changed my perspective and understanding of life. I have it was intended for, but this physical separation is only temmy dream job here at Temple. My staff and clergy are wonder- porary. I cannot overstate how much I, and all the staff here, ful to work with and our congregation is warm and supportive. appreciate the overwhelming support of our Temple and comWe are somewhat limited in what we can do given the current munity members. Together, we shall overcome this and G-d situation with Covid, but are making the best of it. One silver willing next year, we will be sitting at seder together.”

Uncommon conversions

Continued from page B14 a secluded master suite that includes a private terrace with hot tub, perfect for skinny dipping.

According to the rental brochure, “If you are looking to rent a truly unique space and you like the look, you’re in luck. The home comes fully furnished, including artwork. And (the sales pitch continues) an original, now restored, Star of David back-lit glass window graces the dining room. At the very least, it could be an amazing setting for your next Passover seder.” Dayenu.

Of course, not all former houses of worship become residential spaces. When Omaha’s Temple Israel relocated to the TriFaith Campus near 132 and Pacific from 70th and Cass, a

developer was determined to raze the vacant Temple complex and replace it with a 430-unit high rise apartment. The withering outrage and opposition from Fairacres and Dundee-Memorial Park neighbors scuttled the plan. Instead, in a perfect example of adaptive reuse, the Temple building is now the Omaha Conservatory of Music, a place to nourish the soul and spirit.

As most readers know, the old Beth El Synagogue building on 49th and Farnam has been the address of Holland Basham Architects since the congregation moved west, thirty years ago. The white frame house next door is long gone. As are the people who lived there. May their memories be for a blessing.

Along with the memories of synagogue life in my beloved Beth El of my childhood.

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C1 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

Passover S EC T I ON 3

The synagogue gift shop ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor What is a synagogue without a gift shop? Granted, it’s still a synagogue—shopping is not the number one reason we come to shul, but still. When you are Jewish and live in Omaha, Nebraska, as wonderful as our community is, it can be hard to find appropriate decorations for your home, Shabbat and the holidays.

Sandy Nogg has worked in the Temple Israel gift shop for almost 30 years.

“I volunteered as a stay-at-home mother,” she said, “became a full-time volunteer, continued when I went back to work and then on into retirement. I just love it. And I’m now serving a second generation of Temple members, having sold them candy at the Cass Street Temple, and now I’m selling Hanukkah gelt to their kids.”

At Beth El, that person is Caryn Rifkin.

“How long have I worked with the gift shop?

That’s a good question! It’s something I can never remember as I’ve enjoyed it so much. I believe I started in 2005. The Judaica shop was run by Beth El Sisterhood and when Enid Blumenthal retired from managing the shop, I volunteered to take it over.”

Normally the gift shop is open during Sunday School and Hebrew School on Wednesdays, but also by appointment, Caryn added.

“I spend about eight hours a week on tending the shop, setting up holiday displays and buying for the shop. Debbie Roitstein and M’ Lee Hasslinger also help with staffing.”

Lynne Saltzman has managed the Beth Israel gift shop since 2014:

Temple Israel Gift Shop

“The time I devote varies. We have holiday supplies that are stored in the basement and I display them before each holiday. If I see items are running low, then I order things to replenish stock. It doesn’t take that much time. I enjoy seeing all the new items that come out. It is important for a shul to have a gift shop for the convenience of the com-

munity like Omaha, because there is no easier place in town to purchase Judaica. If you run out of Havdalah candles, you can always pick one up at the synagogue.”

The Beth Israel gift shop sells “anything that people need,” she said, “from Shabbat candles to gifts See The synagogue gift shop page C2

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C2 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

Synagogue life

The synagogue gift shop Continued from page C1 for the holidays and Shabbat. We also have kitchen accessories, like labels for dairy, meat and parve. We have cards and Jewish books for kids, including board books. We carry Shofars and even battery operated candlesticks and yahrzeit candles for people that go into assisted living or nursing homes, where they cannot have any open flames.”

“On Sundays at Beth El, the gift shop becomes a social center with children, teens and adults dropping in to shop, grab a piece of chocolate gelt, or just to talk,” Caryn said.

“Teachers take their class on a tour of the shop to show them items used in our Jewish lives. I miss the story time held outside the shop as the kids are so cute and the 3rd-8th graders participating in the Minyan service with their joyful singing. My grandson Sam always stops in to say “Hi” and for a piece of chocolate on Sundays. This year his brother Jake would have joined him. I miss all of this, and synagogue life - celebrating and worshiping together.”

Sandy hopes the gift shop serves community members with gifts, various Judaica for the home, but also a friendly atmosphere to shop or just wander around.

“I love being in the gift shop because it gives me the opportunity to provide a

Beth El Gift Shop

service for our members, as well as the occasion to meet and greet members old and new in a very casual setting,” she said.

At Beth El, the shop sells Judaica items that support Jewish traditions and life cycles like tallit, mezuzot, Shabbat candles, and holiday items. The most unique item she’s ever carried? Dog toys with Yiddish words. Caryn said the shop

is important, because, “You can find everything on the Internet these days, but a physical shop gives people a chance to ask questions, or try on a tallit or a necklace. Besides, our prices are often lower!”

During the past year, browsing came to a halt, as all our lives were dominated See Synagogue gift shop page C4

Growing up as a member of Beth El Synagogue, I spent a great deal of time there – some of the time by my own accord and some of the time honoring someone else’s desire. What I learned at Beth El created a foundation of what I think a synagogue’s strength is, and that is bringing people together. I have many fond recollections of being at Beth El. Besides my Bar Mitzvah ALAN POTASH and wedding there were several expe- Chief Executive riences that have forever been imbed- Officer, JFO ded in my memory.

First and foremost I was working for Lucy. On Bar or Bat Mitzvah Shabbats she needed help with setup and cleanup of the luncheon. Several of us jumped at the opportunity to get out of services early and run down to the kitchen to help.

I once used this experience on my first job application. I applied to Gallagher’s, and the application asked if I had any kitchen experience. I said yes, and put Lucy down as a reference. I got the job.

Another experience was Yom Kippur of 1973. Israel was under attack and several of us hopped into someone’s car to listen to the news, then reported it back to the congregation during services.

I have written about this next experience many times, because it probably had the most profound effect on me of any event at Beth El (except for my wedding). During Hebrew school, we were all gathered into the library to watch a black and white movie about building the State of Israel. If it was a propaganda film, it worked. I have been connected to Israel ever since.

The final experience I hold close to me is Havdalah. My father must have been saying kaddish for either his father or brother, and I would go with him (not sure again if it was my choice or he bribed me). Rabbi Katz would ask the youngest person to stand next to him while he recited the Havdalah blessings and ask them to hold the Havdalah candle. As a nine- or ten-year old, I was usually the youngest person there so I did this often. On one occasion as he handed the candle to me, he whispered in my ear, “Don’t flinch when the wax See Synagogue life page C3

Wishing you joy and many blessings at Passover and throughout the year!

The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | C3

Top children’s books feature a Passover tale and two coming-of-age debut novels PENNY SCHWARTZ BOSTON | JTA A heartwarming and beautifully illustrated Passover tale and two poignant coming-ofage debut novels are this year’s gold medal winners of the Sydney Taylor Book Awards for the best in Jewish children’s literature.

The awards, given by the Association of Jewish Libraries, were announced Monday at the American Library Association’s midwinter meeting as part of the ALA’s Youth Media Awards ceremony. The ALA conference was held remotely due to the pandemic.

In Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail, by Leslea Newman and illustrated

by Susan Gal, a young boy celebrating a Passover Seder with his family is united with a lonely kitten shivering at his doorstep on a cold, windy night. The lyrically written story, echoing with the holiday’s theme of welcoming strangers, won in the picture-book category.

Newman is the award-winning author of more than 70 books, including the trailblazing Heather Has Two Mommies and Gittel’s Journey.

Turtle Boy, by M. Evan Wolkenstein, won in the category for middle grades. In this stirring work, seventh-grader Will

Levine is a shy loner paired for his bar mitzvah project with a terminally ill hospitalized teen longing for adventure. Kveller, a sister site of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, described the book as a “marvelous comingof-age story about bravery and the redemptive power of friendship,” and finding meaning in Jewish ritual.

In the young adult category, the top prize went to Dancing to the Pity Party, by Tyler Feder.

The critically acclaimed graphic-style memoir explores the loss and grief following the death of Feder’s mother. It’s funny and sad, according to Rebecca Levitan, chair of the Sydney Taylor Award Committee, who in a news release described the book as a “singular achievement.”

Six silver medalists and 11 notable books were recognized.

The Sydney Taylor Book Awards honor books for children and teens that exemplify “high literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience.” They are named in memory of the author of the mid-20th century series All-of-a-Kind-Family.

The winners will receive their awards at the Association of Jewish Libraries’ annual conference, which this year will be held remotely at the end of June.

Happy Passover!

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Synagogue life Continued from page C2 drips on your hands. Just don’t let it drip on the new carpet.”

(I didn’t let the wax drip.) After he finished the blessing he would extinguish the candle in the wine, then dip his finger in the wine, rub a little on my eyes, ears, and mouth, and have me put a little in my pocket. He would then say to me, “Now your eyes will see holiness, your ears will hear holiness, your mouth will speak holiness, and you will carry holiness with you through the week.”

During this time of COVID, as we have not been gathering as a community in one physical location, I have come to ap-

preciate what the synagogue means for me. I prefer to think of the space in the Hebrew – Beit Knesset (house of gathering) versus Beit Tefilah (house of prayer). During the past year it has been the gathering that I and, I believe many of us, miss the most – the coming together more than the praying. Even though we have adapted to the virtual space and gather in two dimensions, I miss being together as a community for the traditional prayers when a minyan of ten people is required – especially saying Kaddish. Could it be done safely, I would be happy to join together now for such an occasion. No bribery required.

Serving this community for over 50 years.

Ari D. Riekes Steven J. Riekes Philip B. Katz Elizabeth Stuht Borchers Kristina Murphree Jeffrey P. Welch Cahterine Dunn Whittinghill

C4 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

Rabbi in Moldova helps save a life and scores matzah for his community CNAAN LIPHSHIZ JTA Last week, Mendy Axelrod was working to secure a supply of matzah for his Jewish community in Moldova ahead of Passover. It’s no easy task this year, as air and land traffic into the small Eastern European country has been suspended due to the coronavirus.

Then near tragedy struck.

Axelrod, a Chabad rabbi working in the capital Chisinau, had to drop everything to save the life of an Israeli tourist, a man in his 40s who was teetering on the brink of death from a severe case of the coronavirus in a poor country with a fragile public health system that has been overwhelmed by the pandemic.

The timing was disastrous. But Axelrod, who moved to Moldova four years ago from his native Israel, ended up solving

A view of the Chabad synagogue in Chisinau, the Moldavian capital. Credit: Isabelle Ligner/AFP via Getty Images

both problems at once, he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Recently, he got the insurance firm MedAssis to load boxes of matzahs onto the medical airplane that flew in from Israel to take the patient back home, where he is recovering.

“Caring for the patient took a lot of effort,” Axelrod said. “We ended up buying a ventilator for him and caring for him in a rented apartment” to avoid having the patient be hospitalized in Moldova. The public hospitals there are prone to spread infections and are short on medical supplies.

Axelrod procured “shmurah” matzah, a crispier and more expensive version of the unleavened bread that requires manual labor by those who are tasked with ensuring it does not become leavened — a concept derived from a verse in the book of Exodus that states “You shall guard the matzot” (shmurah means guarded). Some, including Axelrod’s Hasidic ChabadLubavitch movement, consider it a mitzvah to consume the shmurah variety because it upholds the commandment of devoting special attention or effort to guarding the matzah.

Axelrod, his wife Chaya Mushka and other Chabad emissaries are currently negotiating the import of regular matzah into Moldova through the border with Ukraine, where the Jewish community is at least 10 times larger than Moldova’s Jewish population of 5,000.

During last year’s lockdown Passover season, regular matzah made it through to most if not all the European communities where there was demand through the efforts of Chabad, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and other groups. But shmurah matzah, which is produced commercially only in a handful of places in Europe, was in short supply throughout the continent.

With 4,000 COVID-19 deaths in a population of 2.6 million, Moldova has the world’s fourth highest death rate per million inhabitants following an outbreak that appears to have peaked last week.

Strapped for cash, Moldova’s government only began vaccinating against the virus on Tuesday — nearly three months See Rabbi helps save a life page C6

Synagogue gift shop Continued from page C2 by the pandemic. Shuls closed, and with them, the gift shops.

“The thing I miss most since being closed,” Sandy said, “is schmoozing with people who come in with a specific request and those who just come in to browse or get ideas.”

“For Hanukkah this year,” Caryn said, “Beth El’s leadership and the gift shop staff worked together to provide families with candles, gelt and dreidels for free. Not surprisingly, business during Covid has dropped by more than 60%, it is a stark example of what other small retail shops must be enduring. I am hopeful that in the future, shoppers and visitors will come to count on the shop again for items for their holiday and celebrations.”

People can still shop, she said: “Anyone who would like to shop now should call Beth El and the wonderful staff will help them out. They can also call me and set up an appointment.”

“This year we couldn’t sell anything for the holidays,” Lynne said. “I think sales have been down. I know I have not ordered anything new! If people need anything now, they can contact the office to see when they can come to the Shul, or they can call me to see if we carry whatever they need.”

Under normal circumstances, Beth El’s gift shop benefits a variety of causes, including the Miriam Initiative programs; The Linus Project, making blankets for children in the hospital; the Hanukkah give-away in 2020, and it has made donations to the Food Bank during the pandemic.

“Since opening in the Sterling Ridge Temple,” Sandy said, “Shari Hess has been my sidekick and dear friend. She’s in charge of the storeroom, but is also very helpful on the sales floor, if I can prevent her from giving away the store (a semi-true joke between the two of us). Years ago at the Cass Street Temple Nancy Epstein and I had fun for a couple of years when she had time to volunteer. Also in that location many Sisterhood members volunteered during the Hanukkah season. I also want to give a very appreciative shout out to Michelle and the Temple staff for opening the shop when I’m not there. Their assistance has been invaluable to our customers.”

“I miss going to Shul and seeing my friends and customers,” Lynne said. “The pandemic has made everybody hunker down at home and it can be very lonely, especially after almost an entire year of living this way. I especially miss playing Mah Jongg at the Blumkin Home and at Temple Israel. I miss getting together for kiddush and celebrating Simchas with everybody!”

The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | C5

Omaha Chabad again offering Seder-to-go

GABBY BLAIR Jewish Press Staff Writer As the second Passover during pandemic approaches, Omaha Chabad is again offering a free Seder-to-go kit to the community. While this program has been serving homebound and hospitalized Jews for several years, it was expanded in 2020 in order to help Omaha’s Jews celebrate a Passover in isolation and lockdown due to the plague of Covid.

“We came up with the idea to expand it to every individual (or family) who is home for the holiday. With synagogue buildings closed and the continued need for physical distancing, we wanted to ensure that all have the opportunity to celebrate Passover and remind them that they are part of a community that cares about them. They are not alone,” said Rabbi Katzman in a 2020 interview with the Omaha World-Herald.

Seder-to-go is just one of the many kits Chabad has available for holidays and Shabbat, but is amongst its most popular. Seder-to-go kits include matzos, wine or grape juice and all items needed for the traditional seder plate- maror, See Seder-to-go page C7

God-talk and the Passover Seder Two years ago I wrote about my friend Valeria’s “Catholic Tsuris” [I have used pseudonyms for all names in this column.] Despite Valeria’s providing her son Michael with parochial school education, Michael went ahead and found himself a Jewish girlfriend, Lisa. The couple is still together and my friend is now resigned to having Jewish grandchildren. Over the past few months due TEDDY to Covid-19 accommodations, Valeria WEINBERGER has spent a lot of time with Michael and Lisa. To her surprise, Lisa told Valeria that growing up through all her (Reform) Jewish educational frameworks (Sunday school, summer camps, etc.), there was absolutely no talk about God. Talk about ritual and practice, yes; God, no. Valeria was dumbfounded since for her God-talk is a key part of Catholicism. The truth is that since Lisa attended and still attends Passover Seders, she was exposed to much discourse about God--at least in print. The Haggadah is replete with God talk. Indeed, Moses is completely absent from the Haggadah’s narrative in order to concentrate our attention solely upon God’s role in the Exodus.

For Lisa this powerful theological message got lost amidst the ritual meal with its four cups of wine, matzo, maror and haroset.

With so much going on at the Seder, it is perhaps understandable how God could get overlooked, and yet what about the entire course of Lisa’s Jewish education? Apparently the strategy that guided Lisa’s teachers was as follows: with a limited amount of time for Jewish education, it’s best to emphasize what is unique in Judaism (i.e., Jewish ritual and tradition). If this strategy was designed to increase intra-Jewish marriage, my hunch is that Lisa was not the only one for whom it was misplaced. At any rate, it’s hard to square such a strategy with the Hagaddah’s bold God-talk; for example take the Hagaddah’s dialoguing with Exodus 12.12: “And I will pass

through the land of Egypt; I and not an angel. And I will smite every firstborn in the land of Egypt; I and not a seraph. And I will carry out judgments against all the gods of Egypt; I and not a messenger. I am the Lord; it is I and no other.”

This year, during your Seder, I encourage you to engage in God-talk. Questions are especially encouraged on this night (indeed one explanation for certain portions of the Seder, such as the hand-washing before eating the Karpas vegetable, is that they are designed to stimulate questions)--so please don’t feel that you have to go easy on God. For example: Why was it part of God’s plan for the people of Israel to be enslaved; after all, remember that God told Abraham: “Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years” (Genesis 15.

13). And after the Holocaust, can we really speak about how God saves his people “in every generation.”

There is no getting around the fact that American Jews are a tiny minority amidst a huge nation with a majority Christian culture. Talking about God may therefore not do anything to lower the assimilation numbers, but it certainly does better justice to Judaism in general and to the Seder night in particular.

POSTSCRIPT/PASSOVER GIFT: Because Israel is a majority-Jewish culture, it regularly happens that artists find inspiration in Judaism. In a brilliant move, 28-year-old singer/songwriter Adi Avrahami cuts the first syllable from the classic Haggadah song/text “Ve-hee she’amda” (and it has stood) to create a catchy and women-empowering song called Hee She’amda (she has stood), ending with the words, “and in every generation she will stand in the light”: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=lXyqdcpyGaA. Teddy Weinberger, Ph.D., made aliyah with his wife, former Omahan Saraj Jane Ross, and their five children, Nathan, Rebecca, Ruthie, Ezra, and Elie, all of whom are veterans of the Israeli Defense Forces; Weinberger can be reached at weinross@gmail.com.

C6 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

Rabbi helps save a life

Shmurah matzah is even crispier than the typical unleavened bread, as it is closely watched by its bakers. Credit: Yoninah/ Wikimedia Commons

Continued from page C4 after countries such as the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom.

The Axelrod family and many others are observing a selfimposed confinement in order not to contract the virus, which according to some tests has already infected most Moldovans.

This makes public Passover events unlikely, Axelrod said.

But that only makes providing Jewish families with matzah even more important in a country formerly east of the Iron Curtain where that food used to be a major link to Judaism.

“Because of communism, there is a huge attachment to matzah here,” Axelrod said. “It seems like everyone who were alive under communism have a story about getting matzah — standing in line at a secret bakery, getting a package from friends.”

At a time when communist authorities frowned on religious worship, and especially by Jews, “matzah provided an easy link to Judaism. It was just a piece of bread,” he said. “It didn’t involve the risk of going to synagogue or actually holding a religious ceremony.”

To this day, he added, Passover prompts more engagement by local Jews in Moldova than Yom Kippur, which many Jews consider the holiest day of the year.

“Coming from Israel, it surprised me to see more Jews in synagogue on Passover than on Yom Kippur,” Axelrod said.

“But it’s part of this place’s specific history.”

In new Passover children’s books, a bespectacled lion reads the Haggadah and a Depression-era mitzvah PENNY SCHWARTZ BOSTON | JTA On the eve of Passover during the Depression, a juggler in ragged clothes is invited into the home of a poor family that has a bare Seder table. It’s a poignant scene in The Passover Guest, the captivating debut picture book by author Susan Kusel, a longtime Judaica librarian who was inspired by a classic Yiddish tale, The Magician, by I.L. Peretz.

By lovely coincidence, readers have that rare opportunity to enjoy another retelling of the beloved story in a new publication of The Magician’s Visit, adapted by Barbara Diamond Goldin, with new illustrations by Eva Sanchez Gomez. The original 1993 edition was among the earliest books by Goldin, now one of the country’s most acclaimed writers of Jewish children’s books.

A different Seder table takes center stage in The Four Questions, where a bespectacled lion reads from a Haggadah at a lavish ceremonial meal with guests that include a zebra, a young monkey and other whimsical animals. The gloriously illustrated book is a new edition of the 1989 classic by the late artist Ori Sherman with text by the acclaimed novelist and poet Lynne Sharon Schwartz.

These are some of the standouts in this spring’s crop of engaging new children’s books for Passover, the eightday Festival of Freedom that begins this year on the evening of March 27.

Other titles feature lighthearted humorous stories and a lively interactive family Hagaddah with tips for this COVID-19 era, when many Seder guests may be joining remotely.

Baby Moses in a Basket | Caryn Yacowitz; illustrated by Julie Downing| Candlewick; ages 3 to 7

In simple rhyming verse, Yacowitz reimagines the biblical story of baby Moses as his mother sets him adrift in a basket on the Nile to save him from harm from the Egyptian Pharaoh. The river’s creatures protect baby Moses until he is discovered

by Pharaoh’s daughter. Downing’s beautifully colored double-page illustrations of a wide-winged ibis, a hippo, crocodile and an escort of butterflies bring the story to life.

Seder in Motion: A Haggadah to Move Body and Soul | Rabbi Ron Isaacs and Dr. Leora Isaacs; illustrated by Martin Wickstrom| Behrman House; all ages Here’s a lively family Haggadah that encourages Seder participants of any age to feel a personal connection to the Passover story. The engaging style follows the traditional order of the Seder and features Jewish customs from around the world along with thought-provoking questions. There are plenty of tips to include remote guests.

Meet the Matzah: A Passover Story | Alan Silberberg | Viking; ages 3 to 5 In this playful and zany story, the award-winning cartoonist Silberberg sets the humorous action in an imaginary classroom where the “students” are types of breads. Alfie Koman, a shy matzah, tries to retell the story of Passover, but the school sourdough, Loaf, takes over and stirs trouble. Alfie must decide whether to leave his hiding place to confront the mean-spirited Loaf. Expect lots of laughs from Loaf ’s made-up version of the Ten Plagues (among them no WiFi and broccoli for dessert).

Matzah Craze | Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh; illustrated by Lauren Gallegos | Kar-Ben; ages 4-9 At Noa’s multicultural school, the kids like to swap what’s in their lunch boxes. But during Passover, when Noa has an unusual See New Passover books page C7

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New Passover books

Continued from page C6 looking cracker – her matzah – she explains to her friends that she can’t swap. In Kiffel-Alcheh’s delightful rhyming story, the spunky Noa, with coppertoned skin and frizzy red hair, figures out how to share her favorite ways to eat matzah.

The Great Passover Escape | Pamela Moritz; illustrated by Florence Weiser | Kar-Ben; ages 4-9 It’s the eve of Passover at the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem, and Elle the elephant and Kang the kangaroo are eager to find a way to escape and find a Seder. Their friend Chimp answers their Passover questions and joins the adventure. Will the trio get past the locked zoo gate and find a ritual meal? Pamela Moritz’s humor-filled story is embellished with Florence Weiser’s brightly colored illustrations.

The Passover Guest | Susan Kusel; illustrated

by Sean Rubin | Neal Porter Books/Holiday House; ages 4 to 8 Set in Washington, D.C., in 1933, during the Depression, Kusel’s warmhearted story takes its inspiration from Uri Shulevitz’s version of Peretz’s Yiddish tale The Magician, which she loved as a child. On the eve of Passover, a young girl named Muriel wanders around her favorite sites in the nation’s capital. She’s in no hurry to go home because her family does not have enough money for a Seder.

At the Lincoln Memorial, Muriel is enchanted by a juggling magician dressed in rags. When the stranger turns up at her family’s door and is invited in for Passover, their bare table miraculously fills with an abundance of food for the Seder.

Could the mysterious guest have been Elijah?

Sean Rubin’s vibrant, expressive illustrations pay tribute to Marc Chagall, Rubin writes in

an artist’s note.

The Magician’s Visit | Based on a story by I.L. Peretz; adapted by Barbara Diamond Goldin; illustrations by Eva Sanchez Gomez | Green Bean Books; ages 4-8 In this masterful retelling of Peretz’s Yiddish tale, Goldin takes readers back to an old world shtetl. In the days before Passover, a stranger dressed in rags mesmerizes the villagers with his spellbinding magic. When he turns up at the door of a couple who have become too poor to make their own Seder, the magician produces a wondrous and full table.

May they partake in this Seder? the couple asks. And who is the stranger, who has disappeared when they return.

Gomez’s colorful illustrations capture the era and the magic of the story.

Moses Could Have Been Selfish | MJ Wexler | MJ Wexler Books; ages 3 to 7 In this simply told rhyming story, Wexler retells the story of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt in an accessible style for young kids, emphasizing standing up against injustice. Questions at the end encourage discussion.

The Four Questions | illustrated by Ori Sherman; text by Lynne Sharon Schwartz | Levine Querido; ages 8 and up In this exquisite pairing of text and art, Sherman and Schwartz captivate readers – kids and adults – with the Four See New Passover books page C8

H A P PY PA S S OV E R

The Jewish Press

Abby Kutler, President | Eric Dunning, Past-President

Danni Christensen | David Finkelstein | Candice Friedman | Bracha Goldsweig | Margie Gutnik Natasha Kraft | Chuck Lucoff | Eric Shapiro | Andy Shefsky | Shoshy Susman | Amy Tipp

Happy Passover May your cup overflow with health, happiness, peace and well-being this holiday season and throughout the year.

Dana Wayne Gonzales 402-850-9007 | dana.gonzales@bhhsamb.com

WISHING THE ENTIRE JEWISH COMMUNIT Y A

Happy Passover

Seder-to-go Continued from page C5 charoset, karpas, zeroah, beitzah. A seder plate placemat and instruction guide with songs and inspirational reading materials are also included.

Seder-to-go kits are free for those who request them. Volunteers to help assemble kits and donations are always appreciated.

Community members who know someone who could use a Seder-to-go kit are also encouraged to nominate recipients. While not included with the kit, a Passover meal can be requested.

Additionally, Chabad will be hosting a small in-person socially distanced seder for friends able to gather, based on the most recent CDC guidelines. Space is limited and RSVPs are requested. More information can be found on the ochabad.com website.

“While this past year has certainly been challenging, it has also provided us with the opportunity to reset, reconnect and reach out in ways that we might not have before,”

shares Shani Katzman. “In some ways, this pandemic has been a great equalizer of sorts. Each and every one of us have been impacted by Covid- whether physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually or otherwise. Now that we, as a community, have experienced first hand the impacts of isolation, restrictions and concerns about health, we can develop more understanding and compassion for those who lived this reality before Covid. It is more important now than ever to reach out to one another... to help each other... and to remind everyone that community support exists in many ways. At Chabad, our door is always open and we are ready to help!”

To request or gift a Seder-to-go kit or to RSVP for the socially distanced in-person seder, please visit ochabad.com/seder.

For questions or more information on any of our programs, reach out to Omaha Chabad at shalom@chabad. com or call 402.330.1800.

MARY ANN BORGESON Douglas County Board District 6 Paid for by Mary Ann Borgeson for County Board, 12503 Anne Street, Omaha, NE 68137, Treasurer Linda Love

C8 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

Vaccinations and tests enable some families to gather for Passover Seders this year SHIRA HANAU JTA The Darvick family did Jewish holidays by videoconference long before a pandemic forced them.

“We call it Skypanukkah,” Elliot Darvick told The New York Times in December 2011, when the family was featured in an article about celebrating Hanukkah over Skype. So when Zoom Seders suddenly became standard last year, the Darvicks were prepared.

But this Passover, the Darvicks will be together again.

By the time the holiday begins later this month, both Debra Darvick, 64, and her husband, Martin, 73, will have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as will one of their children.

Those vaccinations are making the couple feel comfortable getting together with their kids and grandkids from Chicago

A family celebrates the Passover Seder with other family members joining via Zoom, April 8, 2020. Credit: Ezra Shaw/ Getty Images

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and New York at their home in Birmingham, Michigan.

“We’ve Zoomed with Olivia a lot. I haven’t felt totally bereft,” Debra Darvick said of her oldest granddaughter, whom the Darvicks had hoped to visit every month or so but mostly saw over Zoom. “But I know what we’ve missed.”

While Purim 2020 may have been the first Jewish holiday to be altered by the then-novel coronavirus, Passover was likely the one in which the most North American Jews felt the impact. As the most widely observed Jewish holiday ritual in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center’s 2013 study of American Jewry, Passover Seders mark a moment where large family get-togethers double as an opportunity to pass down traditions from one generation to the next.

For many households last year, those gatherings were replaced by small Seders among members of the same households or conducted over Zoom.

But this year, with some 54 million Americans having received at least a first dose of the vaccine as of March 4 and with the rate of vaccinations ramping up to approximately 2 million doses a day, some families are considering ways to celebrate in person.

While Americans wait for new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control as to which activities can be resumed safely after vaccination, many experts have said those who are vaccinated can likely gather in small groups with others who have taken the COVID shot without taking on major risk.

“Interactions of people who are fully vaccinated with other people who are fully vaccinated (or immune due to previous infection) likely come with a very low risk for everybody involved,” Florian Krammer, a vaccinologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, wrote in a recent See Some families to gather for Passover page C9

New Passover books Continued from page C7 Questions traditionally recited by the youngest child at the beginning of the Seder. The lavishly illustrated book is a new printing of the original first published in 1989.

Like the Seder itself, the book has the air of mystery and intrigue. Schwartz answers the Four Questions with a lyrical narrative of the Passover story and its rituals. Sherman fills the bordered pages with gloriously colored illustrations of whimsical elephants, monkeys, fish, goats and birds.

Turn the book upside down for a view of the Four Questions written in Hebrew calligraphy and other illustrations.

A back page note by Ori Z. Soltes, a scholar of Jewish art, explains that Sherman’s dazzling art carries forth traditions from hieroglyphics to illuminated Jewish manuscripts and the centuries-old painted murals of Eastern Europe’s wooden synagogues.

The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | C9

Some families to gather for Passover dren again after such a long separation.

Continued from page C8 Twitter thread about how vaccinated people should think “Every single mundane task I have to do, maybe normally about changing their behaviors.

I’d say what a pain in the butt,” Fran Grossman said. “Now I’m But in the absence of clear guidelines on how to balance saying I’m the luckiest person to be able to afford a safe ticket, the risks with the benefits of gathering, many have come up to be able to have been vaccinated.” with their own plans to gather She added: “I’m feeling such as safely as possible. For some gratitude for being able to be families, those plans include a in the place and time to be strict schedule of quarantining able to do this.” and testing before gathering.

For Adina Avery-Grossman, For others, vaccinations or re59, of Teaneck, New Jersey, cent COVID infections and planning the Seders is usually positive antibody tests mean a multiweek project replete they feel safe getting together. with spreadsheets to manage For Lesley Herrmann, 74, who her menus and grocery lists. lives in Manhattan with her This year, a vestige of those husband, this year’s Seder may huge spreadsheets lives on in include as many as 10 people. the color-coded calendar The Herrmanns have already A woman wears a mask while shopping for Passover items at she’s prepared to keep track been vaccinated, as have many a grocery store in Overland Park, Kan., April 7, 2020. Credit: of the quarantine and testing of their relatives with whom Jamie Squire/Getty Images schedule her family will unthey normally share a Seder. Others in her family who may at- dergo to assemble this year. tend have recovered from COVID and still have antibodies.

“We had a meeting and we went over this, and first we For Herrmann, who said Passover is her favorite holiday, called the doctor,” Avery-Grossman said of her plan. this year will still be smaller than the usual 15-20 person The plan requires the guests to limit their activity starting Seder she usually hosts. But it will be a major improvement about two weeks before Passover, be tested about a week beover last year, when she and her husband stayed home and fore the Seder and then stay home while awaiting test results did the Seder by themselves with family joining over Zoom. until arriving at the Seder. Adding to Avery-Grossman’s peace “We made haroset and chicken soup, but it was sad,” Lesley of mind is that some of her Seder participants will already be Herrmann said. “I’m thinking this year will be a lot more vaccinated. cheerful.”

“We told everybody, if it’s not really conducive to you, we’ll For Joel and Fran Grossman, 66 and 70, Passover this year pick it up next year,” she said, noting that the plan requires strict marks a few significant milestones. adherence to the rules. “But everyone wanted to be together.”

To see their son for the first time since the pandemic Avery-Grossman usually hosts some two dozen guests, sugstarted and their daughter for the first time since last sum- gesting this year’s gathering of seven could seem like a sadly mer, the couple will fly from Los Angeles to New York and small group. But that’s two more than last year, when she spent spend the Seders with their children in Brooklyn. The couple Passover with her husband, daughter, son and daughter-in-law. wouldn’t have considered making the trip before receiving “Adding two more people, it feels like we’re beginning to the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine last month and make that journey from slavery to freedom. The strictures are are still taking precautions — like buying upgraded seats to opening up again,” she said. ensure adequate distancing and holding the Seders outdoors.

Of course, the vaccine rollout continues to be sluggish in They say it’s worth it for the opportunity to see their chil- See Some families to gather for Passover page C10

Passover Sermons

JTA | April 8, 1934 “Immortality is a persistent human idea, but the twentieth century men and women must be contented, not with ironclad guarantees, but with poetic abstractions regarding the future life,” said Rabbi Louis I. Neuman in a Passover sermon to Congregation Rodeph Shalom Friday morning.

Rabbi Newman counseled full development of innate capacities. In this way, he said, by leaving behind us the memory of our works, we may become immortal.

“Merely to have existed, merely to have an integer in the great universal system is also a form of eternality with which modern men and women may consider themselves satisfied.

Whatever follows need not make us anxious. Life contains its own purgatories for punishment, and its own heavens for rewards. We must not demand that they exist unendingly.”

THE SERVICE OF WOMEN “In supporting the synagogue as well as in the rebuilding of Palestine the woman has been conspicuous,” said Rabbi Jacob Katz in a sermon to the Montefiore Hebrew Congregation in the Bronx Friday.

“The woman,” Dr. Katz explained, “was given a position of recognition in Jewish history. Her contributions have been inestimable. In ancient days, Moses sang first and Miriam followed.

Today she has the opportunity of leading in the victory of spiritual life through the institution of the synagogue and the school.”

“Would that all religions might stress things they hold in common with emphasis equal to that placed upon the things they have in difference!” Rabbi Israel Goldstein declared in his Friday morning sermon before Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, Eighty-eighth street, west of Broadway.

“Let it be said for Judaism,” Dr. Goldstein went on, “that it has been the first of the great world religions to have sounded See Passover Sermons page C11

2021 HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS

HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS AND PARENTS

We will be publishing our annual High School Graduation Class pages on May 21, 2021. 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@jewish omaha.org by May 3, 2021.

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The Jewish Press

Synagogues

C10 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

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

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: B’NAI JESHURUN South Street Temple Union for Reform Judaism 2061 South 20th Street Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 402.435.8004 www.southstreettemple.org

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE

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

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME 323 South 132 Street Omaha, NE 68154

TEMPLE ISRAEL

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

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: TIFERETH ISRAEL Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Boulevard Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 402.423.8569 tiferethisraellincoln.org

B’NAI ISRAEL Join us via Zoom on Friday, April 9, 7:30 p.m. for evening services. Our service leader is Larry Blass.

Everyone is always welcome at B’nai Israel!

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

Handicap Accessible.

BETH EL Virtual services conducted by Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman.

VIRTUAL MINYAN SCHEDULE: Mornings on Sundays, 9 a.m. and Mondays and Thursdays, 8 a.m.; Evenings on Sunday-Thursday, 5:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m.; Bioethics During A Pandemic with Rabbi Gary Gerson and Dr. Carol Gerson, 11 a.m. following services; Havdalah, 8:10 p.m.

SUNDAY: Torah Study, 10 a.m.; BESTT (Grades K7), 10:30 a.m.; Hebrew High (Grades 8-12), 12:15 p.m.

MONDAY: Book of Ruth with Rabbi Abraham and Pastor Johnson, 6:30 p.m.; Jewish Law with Rabbi Abraham, 8 p.m.

TUESDAY: Biblical Literacy with Rabbi Abraham, 11:30 a.m.; Virtual Office Hours with Eadie and Amy, 4 p.m.; Guest Speaker Joanna Sasson, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Coffee & Conversation with Rabbi Abraham, 2 p.m.; BESTT (Grades 3-7), 4:30 p.m.; Beit Midrash — The Never-Ending Story, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY: Shacharit/Siyyum B’khorim, 8 a.m.; Virtual Office Hours with Eadie and Amy, 4 p.m.

FRIDAY-March 26: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY-March 27: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m.; Candlelighting, 8:26 p.m.

Please visit bethel-omaha.org for additional information and Zoom service links.

BETH ISRAEL Virtual services conducted by Rabbi Ari Dembitzer.

Classes, Kabbalat Shabbat and Havdalah on Zoom, WhatsApp or Facebook Live. On site services held outside in Sukkah, weather permitting. Physical distancing and masks required.

FRIDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 am.; Deepening Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Laws of Shabbos, 8 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Pesach Seder To-Go Orders Due, noon; Mincha/Candlelighting, 7:17 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Kids Class, 6:50 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 7:20 p.m.; Havdalah, 8:10 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Jewish Law in Depth, 9:45 a.m. with Rabbi Moshe; Monthly Kid’s Craft and Class, 12:15 p.m.; Daf Yomi with Rabbi Yoni — 30 mins prior to Mincha; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:20 p.m.

MONDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 am.; Deepening Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Laws of Shabbos, 8 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Daf Yomi with Rabbi Yoni — 30 mins prior to Mincha; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:20 p.m.

TUESDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 am.; Deepening Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Laws of Shabbos, 8 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Daf Yomi with Rabbi Yoni — 30 mins prior to Mincha; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:20 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 am.; Deepening Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Laws of Shabbos, 8 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Daf Yomi with Rabbi Yoni — 30 mins prior to Mincha; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:20 p.m.

THURSDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 am.; Deeping Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Laws of Shabbos, 8 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Character Development, 9:30 am. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Daf Yomi with Rabbi Yoni — 30 mins prior to Mincha; Pesach Seder To-Go Pick-Up, 6 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:20 p.m.

FRIDAY-March 26: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 am.; Deepening Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Laws of Shabbos, 8 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Pesach Seder To-Go Pick-Up, 10:30 a.m.; Chometz Burning at Beth Israel, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m.;

Mincha/Candlelighting, 7:25 p.m.

SATURDAY-March 27: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Latest time to eat chometz, 11 a.m.; Latest time to dispose of chometz, 12:15 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:30 p.m.; Candlelighting and earliest time for first seder, 8:26 p.m.

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

CHABAD HOUSE Virtual services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. Due to Coronavirus, all services and classes have moved online. For schedules and more information or to request help, please visit www.ochabad.org or call the office at 402.330.1800.

FRIDAY: Minyan, 7 a.m.; Lechayim, 4 p.m. with Rabbi Katzman; Candlelighting, 7:17 p.m.

SATURDAY: Minyan, 10 a.m.; Shabbat Ends, 8:17 p.m.

SUNDAY: Minyan, 8:30 a.m.; The Freedom to be You, 7 p.m. Pre-Pesach class with Rabbi Katzman.

MONDAY: Minyan, 7 a.m.; Personal Parsha class, 9:30 a.m. with Shani Katzman; Advanced Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Professor David Cohen; At Home "Seder-To-Go" Kits orders are due.

If you have any questions, please contact: Chabad Office at shalom@ochabad.com or call Rabbi Mendel Katzman at 402.578.6724.

TUESDAY: Minyan, 8 a.m.; Virtual Pirkei Avot Women’s Class, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Minyan, 7 a.m.; Mystical Thinking (Tanya), 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Katzman; Introductory Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Professor David Cohen; Introduction to Hebrew Reading, 11:30 a.m. with Professor David Cohen.

THURSDAY: Minyan, 8 a.m.; Fast of the First Born; Advanced Hebrew Class, 11 a.m. with Professor David Cohen; Talmud Study, noon with Rabbi Katzman; Fun with Yiddish, 1 p.m. with Shani Katzman; Chametz Search after 8:11 p.m.

FRIDAY-March 26: Minyan, 8 a.m.; Burn Chametz by 12:27 p.m.; Lechayim, 4 p.m. with Rabbi Katzman; Candlelighting, 7:25 p.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY-March 27: Minyan, 9:30 a.m.; Eat Chametz until 11:23 a.m.; Nullify Chametz by 12:26 p.m.; 1st Seder Night; Light Candles after, 8:26 p.m.

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: B’NAI JESHURUN & TIFERETH ISRAEL Virtual services facilitated by Rabbi Alex Felch.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat Service, service leaders/music: Rabbi Alex, Nathaniel & Steve Kaup, 6:30 p.m. via Zoom; Candlelighting, 7:20 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. led by Rabbi Alex via Zoom; Torah Study on Parashat Vayikra, 11:30 a.m. via Zoom; Havdalah (72 minutes), 8:20 p.m.

SUNDAY: LJCS Gan-Gesher, 10 a.m. via Zoom;

Adult Ed: Intro to Judaism Class, 11:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex via Zoom; Board of Trustees Meeting, 1:30 p.m. via Zoom; Jewish Book Club, 1:30 p.m. via Zoom.

MONDAY: Makers of Jewish Things, 7 p.m. via Zoom.

TUESDAY: Synagogue Staff Meeting, 10 a.m.; Tea & Coffee with Pals, 1:30 p.m. via Zoom.

WEDNESDAY: LJCS Grades 3-7, 4 p.m. via Zoom.

THURSDAY: Fast begins, 5:59 a.m.; Fast ends, 8:18 p.m.

FRIDAY-March 26: Kabbalat Shabbat Service, service leaders/music: Rabbi Alex and Elaine Monnier, 6:30 p.m. via Zoom; Candlelighting, 7:27 p.m.

SATURDAY-March 27: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. led by Rabbi Alex via Zoom; Torah Study on Parashat Tzav, 11:30 a.m. via Zoom; Havdalah (72 minutes), 8:28 p.m.

Passover Community Virtual Second Seder, Sunday, March 28 at 6 p.m. led by Rabbi Alex complete with wine, questions, and plenty o'plagues.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE All services canceled until further notice.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME

The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home is currently closed to visitors.

TEMPLE ISRAEL

Virtual services conducted by Rabbi Brian Stoller, Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin and Cantor Joanna Alexander.

DAILY VIRTUAL MINYAN: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.

Join us via Zoom.

FRIDAY: Tot Shabbat, 5:30 p.m. Join us via Zoom; Shabbat Service — Racial Justice Sermon Series: “The Power of Reflection and Repair”, 6 p.m. Join us via Zoom.

SATURDAY: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. Join us via Zoom.

SUNDAY: Youth Learning Programs, 10 a.m.; Book Club: Beggar King and Secret of Happiness by Joel Ben Izzy, 10:30 a.m.

MONDAY: Jewish Law & the Quest for Meaning, 11 a.m. Join us via Zoom.

WEDNESDAY: Mindful Meditation with Margot, 9 a.m. Join us via Zoom; Youth Learning Programs: Grades 3-6, 4-6 p.m.; Grades 7-12, 6-8 p.m.; Community Beit Midrash, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY: Thursday Morning Discussion, 9:30 a.m. with Cantor Joanna Alexander. Join us via Zoom.

FRIDAY-March 26: Shabbat Service — Racial Justice Sermon Series: “Questions for the Self: Race, Identity and Us” with Tarirov Nussinov, 6 p.m. Join us via Zoom.

SATURDAY-March 27: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. Join us via Zoom.

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

Some families to gather for Passover Arnold said. “I haven’t seen my parents for a year Continued from page C9 parts of the country. While President Joe Biden and it’s really sad.” has announced that the United States will have Lisa Goldman, an editor living in Montreal, is enough vaccines for all of the country’s adults by also spending this Passover alone, a far cry from May, the manufacture and distribution have the usual Seders when she would host over a dozen proven erratic. people and spend a week cooking in preparation.

For many, this Passover will look much like it Goldman celebrated the High Holidays by heardid last year: alone but perhaps for the company ing the shofar blasts from her Hasidic neighbors’ of faces on a computer screen.

Although Rachel Arnold’s parents, who live in Rhode Island, have been vaccinated, she does not want to take any risks by visiting them because she goes into an office regularly for her job.

Arnold said she hopes to make this year feel special by looking at her Seder preparations as a fun cooking project.

“I’m going to do a roast chicken and tzimmes. I’m also going to make the Members of Tzedek Chicago hold a Passover Seder in 2018. chopped liver, and I’m thinking about Credit: Tzedek Chicago making matzah ball soup,” she said. outdoor holiday services. But at Passover, when But the cooking project doesn’t make it any less Montreal is often still cold and snowy, outdoor upsetting that she’ll be spending another Seder celebrations aren’t a good option. And the idea of alone. signing onto Zoom for Seder again makes her sad.

“When my parents and I talked about it last “You’re going to be sad if you go and sad if you year, we thought we’ll do it again next year,” See Some to gather for Passover page C11

The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | C11

Some to gather for Passover the smaller Seder with just a few family Continued from page C10 members. don’t go, so it’s lose-lose,” Goldman “Maybe we’ll do one big Seder and one said. “I can really see myself lying in really intimate Seder,” she said. bed with a book.”

But Goldman, after two Passovers But still, after a year of relentless alone, is hoping for a triumphant return tragedies, the themes of the Seder this to her pre-pandemic Passover Seders in year feel especially resonant for many, 2022, with family and friends together particularly with the light at the end of at her apartment for the big event. the tunnel provided by the vaccines.

“I’ll probably have to get an extra Debra Darvick plans to make those themes tangible this year, with special A full table at Lisa Goldman’s 2019 Seder. table,” she said. “I’ll make the biggest attention to the fact that her two Goldman hopes to host a big Seder again in brisket in history.” grandchildren will be part of the Seder. 2022. Credit: Goldman She plans to put blue paper with fish stickers on the walls of her basement stairs, then lead the family up the stairs — a metaphorical Red Sea — to freedom and the Seder table.

“COVID has been constriction and it has been a plague,” Continued from page C9 Darvick said. “So yeah, some of the questions will be what do the values of human brotherhood and to have conceived we hope to do in this coming year? What has this year of conof the whole of humanity as one great family under the Fastriction meant?” therhood of God.” Avery-Grossman, too, is thinking about what she may hold The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes aronto from these pandemic Passovers into future years. While ticles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the she enjoyed the big, boisterous Seders she hosted in years journalistic standards and practices of the time they were past, she’s not sure she will rush back to that, having enjoyed published.

Passover Sermons

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C12 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

JEWISH WAR VETERANS of AMERICA Epstein Morgan Post 260

Have a happy Passover!

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and peaceful Passover.

We invite all Jewish veterans to join us Contact: Jay Benton, Commander 402-250-6133 Due to COVID-19 concerns In-person meetings have been postponed for the time being.

Happy Passover League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home Auxiliary

from the LOVE Board

Remember your loved ones with a L.O.V.E. Card!

Contact Sabine Strong 402-334-6519 sstrong@rbjh.com

National Council of Jewish Women Nebraska

NCJW extends its warmest wishes to the Jewish community for a Joyous Passover.

B’nai Israel Synagogue Wishes the Community a Happy Passover!

National Register of Historic Places A Century of Tradition 618 Mynster Street, Council Bluffs, IA

You’re always welcome at B’nai Israel!

It is an obligation to tell the story.

Wishing the community a Happy Pesach!

Preserving Our Past for Future Generations

Happy Passover Give a gift for future generations.

Each year the IHE shares the history and lessons of the Holocaust through the arts, community programming, school programming and continuing education for teachers.

Gold $250 | Patron-1 Year $100 | Sponsor $72 | Regular $36

Please visit: www.ihene.org | 402.334.6576 | info@ihene.org

Beth Israel Synagogue wishes you and your family a happy and healthy Passover.

Wishing the entire community a

Happy Passover

Happy Passover From the staff of

Freedom is the incessant human drive to draw on one’s divine, infinite potential and reach beyond the self.

Chag Sameach

Rabbi Mendel Katzman, Chabad Board, Staff and Volunteers

Subscribe to The Jewish Press. or send a gift subscription $30 for the balance of this year $80 foreign rate

Call 402.334.6448

Best Wishes for a Happy Passover

Henry Monsky Lodge B’nai B’rith

402-334-6443

FOOD T H E

P A S S O V E R

E D I T I O N

A supplement to The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 Credit: Christopher Testani, Clarkson Potter/Publishers

D2 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

Food

Breaking bread GABBY BLAIR Jewish Press Staff Writer Ah. Back in my day, Jews from all over town used to congregate in an actual brick and mortar Synagogue. We would come together to pray, to have meetings and plan events, to study and to learn, to dance and to celebrate, to comfort and grieve... in person , no less! Can you imagine such a thing?

Not only that but afterwards, we would sit together and schmooze with old friends and acquaintances... maybe even meet newcomers or special visiting guests. We’d have the opportunity to drop out of the warp speed of our own personal lives and catch up with members of our Tribe that we don’t usually have to opportunity to see outside shul.

And the kicker? We would do this in large groups, with no less than 10 individuals at one single table over food and drinks. We didn’t even have to wear masks! We would laugh and talk, shake hands and hug while sharing stories with little to no thought about the germs we might spread.

And our kids? They’d go and sit with their friends at their own tables before running off to play soccer or tag at the far end of the hall. The Shul staff would set up a self serve buffet where everyone used the same spoons to dish up food from large open bowls of bagels, tuna and egg salad, lox, kugel and fruit.

Such a luxury that we took for granted.

Kiddish lunches. Onegs. Holidays and carnivals.

L’chaims after service. Nothing quite brings our community together like food. It didn’t have to be elaborate or fancy. It could even be bland at times, but what I wouldn’t give to have a bagel and

Chef Mike Newell in Beth El’s Kitchen

shmear with a side helping of kugel in Shul right now. I am not even a big fan of kugel, so that is saying something!

Even though we are not congregating in person, Shuls have been trying to find ways to feed people.

I know when we were facing a particularly challenging time preparing for a move this past fall, Beth El

reached out and offered us a Shabbat meal. And you know what? It meant a lot. One little meal we didn’t have to prepare or plan for. One little meal that was a much needed reminder that even though we are in a small bubble right now, we belong to something bigger, where people care about us.

See Breaking bread page D5

The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | D3

Happy Passover

The synagogue kitchen ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor There are few places where thriving congregations did not, at one point or another, produce a Jewish cookbook. Sharing recipes mean sharing culture and building on a long tradition of Jewish meals. More often than not, these recipe collections were gathered and printed by the local Sisterhoods. Nowadays, they often sit on the shelf gathering dust—it’s too easy to go online and look up what you need. That is a shame. Because while some of especially the turn-of-thecentury cookbooks have some questionable advice (Anchovies-paste, anyone?), there is a wealth of story-telling and shared memory hiding in those pages. We recommend you check your bookshelf, dig up whatever is left from your grandmother, your great-aunt and open the pages-don’t mind if they are sticky. If you are really lucky, there might even be some handwritten notes hiding in there. Sometimes, that is how our ancestors talk to us. And with the pandemic having sent many of us into the kitchen, there is no better time.

“Many of these recipes,” Georgia Ann Steinberg wrote for the Beth Israel cookbook in 1993, “reflect our traditional Jewish way of cooking, having been handed down from mother to daughter, generation to generation. In today’s world, moderation and substitution are needed regarding nutrition, cooking and eating.” She wasn’t kidding; look at any recipes from 1970 or earlier and you will be surprised at the amount of schmaltz. For good measure, we’re also including a few Hadassah recipes.

The Jewish Press realizes not all above recipes are kosher for Passover.

However, that does not diminish their historical value, and we figured with the pandemic still going on, you might want new inspiration after the holiday.

For more recipes see The synagogue kitchen page D5

BANANA NUT CAKE Mrs. Isaac Nadoff, Beth Israel, 1993

Nick & Tori Haussler-Lemek and family

Have a Happy and Healthy Passover from

Bagel Bin

Baked fresh Est. 1978

Bagel Bin, Inc.

1215 S. 119th & Pacific • 402-334-2744 www.bagelbin.com

Credit: Taste of Home

Ingredients: 7 eggs, separated 1 cup sugar 1 cup mashed banana 3/4 cup cake meal 1/4 cup potato starch 1 cup chopped walnuts Directions: Beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and lemon color. Add mashed bananas and mix well. Combine dry ingredients and add to egg mixture.

Add nuts; mix well. Beat egg whites until they stand in stiff peaks. Fold into egg mixture. Turn into an ungreased tube pan. Bake one hour in a preheated 325-degree oven. Invert pan and cool completely before removing cake.

Certified Kosher & Pareve Our products are certified Kosher U by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

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Wishing our friends and customers a Happy Passover 6949 South 108th Street 402-592-6600

D4 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

KOSHER FOR PASSOVER now available at 144th & Center

Manischewitz Passover Matzos 16 oz.

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While Supplies Last. Subject to Availability. Sorry No Rainchecks

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The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | D5

Food

Breaking bread

Continued from page D2 It was grounding and it fed my heart. It also got me thinking about the Synagogue kitchen and the staff our community relies on for kosher meals. Usually a place bustling with activity and plans, I wondered how the pandemic had impacted this integral, yet mostly behind the scenes, part of our Shul community.

I caught up Beth El’s chef, Mike Newell to find out.

Chef Mike has been with Beth El for nearly 2 years. An Omaha native, Mike ran a catering company in Northern California before returning home. When asked if he was able to keep busy over the past year of Pandemic, his response was a pleasant surprise. “Honestly, I have been kept amazingly busy for which I am thankful. Beth El has been dedicated to offering a Shabbat meal to-go every other Friday since early on in the pandemic. We have served anywhere from 120-160 meals each Shabbat we offer dinner, no small feat given that I do not have any kitchen staff right now! We have also offered Shabbat lunches to-go for those who miss the traditional kiddush lunch. The whole Beth El staff has really stepped up helping to coordinate deliveries, pick ups and orders. It has really been an extraordinary effort and I am proud to be part of this team,” he said.

Beth El has also been providing the opportunity for community members to order kosher foods through Kosher Mart every few months along with freshly made Kosher meals to congregants as needed.

“Sometimes it’s for families who are quarantining or recovering from illness. Sometimes it’s just for folks who need a break from cooking,” Newell said. “I have also made quite a few meals and cakes for special occasions; such as birthdays and anniversaries. Obviously there are not many Kosher take out alternatives available in Omaha and I am happy to help those who do keep Kosher have an option.” Newell also works to accommodate community members with other dietary considerations such as those who are vegetarian or who suffer from food allergies and gluten sensitivity.

Chef Mike credits his culinary successes here with his dedication to using the freshest ingredients, especially his own blends of herbs and spices. Another key he shared was preparing dishes as close to delivery as possible. “A chef takes great satisfaction in not only preparing a delicious meal, but also in presentation and serving it fresh from the kitchen. I miss being able to do that and all the wonderful personal interaction that happens when we meet in person. Until those opportunities return, I will continue working to serve our congregation and community to the best of my ability.”

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HAPPY PASSOVER from

The synagogue kitchen Continued from page D3

PRALINES Temple Israel, 1906 Directions: Boil 2 cups of sugar with one cup of water until it strings, put in 3 full cups of nuts and stir a minute or two while on the stove and sprinkle a bit of cinnamon. Take from fire and spread on a platter, break apart before they cool.

ARTICHOKE DIP Dottie Rosenblum, Beth El, 2004

CHEESE TORT Hadassah, 1928 Ingredients: 3/4 of a box of Zwiback 1 cup sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon Butter, size of one egg, melted Directions: Mix all ingredients together Filling: Cream 1 cup of sugar, 6 yolks for 10 minutes, 1 lb. of cottage cheese put through a colander, 3 Tbsp. of flour, 1/2 tsp. baking powder, juice of 1/2 of a lemon, 1 tsp. of vanilla, 1 tsp. of salt, 2 cups whipping cream and add stiffly beaten whites last. Bake in spring form pan in moderate oven for 1 hour.

FOAM TARTE Hadassah, 1928 Ingredients: 4 egg whites (well beaten) 1 cup sugar 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, added drop by drop 1 Tbsp. vanilla Directions: Beat for 20 minutes, line spring form with this batter. Bake in moderate oven for 45 minutes. Serve with sliced bananas, peaches and cream or strawberries.

For more recipes see The synagogue kitchen page D6

Credit:meaningfuleats.com

Ingredients: 1 15-oz. can or 1 package of frozen artichoke hearts, plain 1 cup mayonnaise (low-fat is ok) or 1/2 cup mayonnaise and 1/2 cup plain yoghurt 1 cup grated parmesan cheese (fresh is best) 1 tsp. lemon juice dash of paprika desired seasoning Directions: If using canned artichokes, drain well. Chop or cut artichokes into small pieces. Blend mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese (and yoghurt) and lemon juice together. Fold in artichokes. Season. Grease or spray a 2-cup ovenproof bowl or 2 1-cup bowls. Place mixture in dish and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Use as a dip or spread with crackers, chips or cocktail breads after it is baked.

Can be served cold or hot.

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Passover

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D6 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

The synagogue kitchen

Food

Continued from page D3

APPLE FRITTERS (NOT KFP) Temple Israel, 1906

The Pesach conversion table Source: The Beth El Cookbook One thing we all have to familiarize ourselves with every year (if we don’t have a brain like a steel trap, and really, who does?) is how to substitute during Pesach. I want to make my favorite recipe, but it asks for bread crumbs. I have a fabulous dip, but I can’t put it on toast. How do I thicken the sauce? Below is a list to keep handy for this time of year, plus a few more recipes.

One teaspoon of baking powder can be swapped for 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar.

Need breadcrumbs? Take soup nuts and crush them.

You need an ounce of chocolate but you forgot to buy KP

chocolate chips. Instead, you can use 3 tablespoons cocoa powder plus 1 tablespoon shortening.

Cornstarch can be replaced with potato starch.

For flour, use equal amounts of Kosher for Passover cake meal and potato starch, sifted together.

If you normally thicken your sauce with flour, you can substitute with either 1/2 tablespoon of potato starch or 1 egg yolk.

Graham cracker crumbs: ground soup nuts or Passover cookies. Add a teaspoon of cinnamon if you want.

For more recipes see The Pesach conversion table page D7

PASSOVER APPLE MATZO KUGEL Natalie Rubin Ingredients: 6 matzo 3 eggs plus 1 egg white 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 cup sugar 2 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 cup margarine, melted 3/4 cup chopped walnuts 1 cup raisins 4 apples, peeled and chopped 1 stick margarine Directions: Break matzos and soak in water until soft. Drain, but do not squeeze dry. Beat eggs with salt, sugar, cinnamon and melted margarine. Add in matzos, stir in walnuts, raisins and apples. Pour mixture into greased casserole dish. Dot the top with additional margarine and bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees. Yields 4-6 servings.

Credit: mrfood.com

Directions: Mix and sift 1/3 cup of flour, two teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt. Add gradually, while stirring constantly, 2/3 cup milk and one egg well-beaten. Core, pare and cut 2 medium-sized sour apples into eights, then slice the eights and stir into the batter. Drop by the spoonful into hot deep fat and fry until delicately browned. Drain on brown paper and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

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Have a Happy and Healthy Passover!

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The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021 | D7

The Pesach conversion table Continued from page D6

PASSOVER CHOCOLATE ROLL Helen Epstein and Sherry Shapiro

ions t i d a t tr n e i c an ssover ce e h t May of Pay and peyaear. jo t the g n i r b ughou thro

and Coffee 402-392-2600

Credit: sallysbakingaddiction.com

Ingredients for cake: 5 eggs, separated 2/3 cup sugar 2 1/2 Tbsp. potato starch 1/3 cup sifted cake meal 3 Tbsp. cocoa 1 cup whipping cream or parve whipped topping 1/4 cup Passover powdered sugar (if you cannot find this at the store, you can make your own: put 1 tablespoon potato starch and 1 cup granulated sugar in food processor and pulse for about 2 minutes. Allow to settle for a minute before removing cover)

Ingredients for chocolate frosting: 1 cup powdered sugar 2 Tbsp. melted butter or parve margarine 3 Tbsp. cocoa 2 Tbsp. hot coffee

Happy Passover

Directions: To make the cake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat egg yolks in large bowl until light.

Gradually add sugar and continue beating until lemon colored. Add potato starch, cake meal and cocoa. Beat egg whites in another bowl until stiff. Fold into chocolate mixture.

Coat bottom of a 9X13 inch baking pan or jellyroll pan with nonstick vegetable spray.

Line bottom of pan with waxed paper and coat paper with spray (parchment paper works as well). Spread batter in pan and bake until cake springs back when touched, about 12 minutes.

Invert cake onto a clean dish towel which has been sprinkled with powdered sugar or cocoa. Remove waxed paper and trim hard edge off cake. Roll cake into towel from the short end and let it cool. Beat whipping cream with 1/4 cup powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Unroll cake and spread with cream. Reroll without towel and refrigerate.

To make the frosting: Mix ingredients together well and spread on top of chocolate roll.

Yields about 10 servings.

Note: This cake can be made ahead and frozen.

SPINACH-VEGETABLE SQUARES Selma Sadofsky Ingredients: 3 large carrots 1 10-0z. package frozen spinach, thawed 1 medium onion, cut into quarters 2 medium green peppers, cut into quarters 2 stalks celery, cut into 2” pieces 1 cup bouillon (beef, veg. or chicken) 3 eggs 3/4 cup matzo meal Salt and pepper to taste Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square pan. Insert grater blade

in food processor. Grate carrots and set aside. Change to metal blade and chop spinach, onion, green pepper and celery with 2 pulses. Place in 2-quart saucepan.

Add grated carrots and bouillon and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until vegetables become soft, and liquid is reduced to 1/4 cup.

Place eggs and matzo meal in food processor and process for 30 seconds.

Stir mixture into cooked vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Spread mixture evenly in baking pan. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes. Cut into squares.

Yields 9 servings.

Senator Bob Hilkemann Nebraska Legislature | District 4 Paid for by Hilkemann for Legislature

D8 | The Jewish Press | March 19, 2021

Happy Passover!

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