March 23, 2018: Passover Edition

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M AR CH 23, 2018 | 7 NI SAN 5778 | VOL . 98 | NO. 23 | 4 SECTI ONS | C A nd lEli g h ti ng | FRI DAY, M AR CH 23, 7: 21 P. M .

Celebrating Our History P A S S O V E R 2 0 1 8

A2 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

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Happy Passover!

ThE hiSToRy of our community cannot be told in words alone. Whatever possessed Mary Fellman and Oliver Pollak to think up the great endeavor that is the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, I will be forever grateful to them. They started something that has been continued for many years by many different people. Over time, generous community members have donated items, documents and photographs. Many have recorded their own story, which can be shared in perpetuity. Endless volunteers have dedicated endless hours collecting, cataloguing and caring for all these treasures.

I write few stories for this paper without first running to Renee Corcoran, Executive Director of the NJHS, to ask her for files. She never disappoints. For all these reasons, we decided to dedicate this Passover issue to the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society and the stories it allows us to tell. We dove into the archives and went in the basement — which is a little bit like a treasure hunt. Not being from here and not knowing many of the older people who have left something behind, I can only imagine what it must be like for those of you with deep Omaha roots. You’d probably never leave that room in the basement.

This issue, as all holiday issues, was a group effort. First of all, I want to thank Renee Corcoran and NJHS President Bob Belgrade. Your enthusiasm is truly infectious. A warm thank you to Oliver Pollak, Gabby Blair, Pam Monsky and Ozzie Nogg, who all contributed to this issue’s content. Gabby, in particular, because she joined our agency as a part-time writer during the past year: you are such a great addition to the team!

No part of this edition would have come to fruition without Susan Bernard, Sales Manager extraordinaire, bringing in our advertisers. We are grateful to these advertisers as well, of course. Assistant-Editor Lori Kooper-Schwarz, my right hand (and some days, my right brain) without whom I would lose my head several times a week: thank you for being you. Last, but certainly not least: Richard Busse. I’m going to say it, even though I know you hate it: you’re a genius and I appreciate you more than I can put into words.

Just like the NJHS, and any other agency around here, we cannot function without volunteers. I want to thank Andi Goldstein, Margaret Kirkeby, Deborah Platt, Silvia Roffman and Dottie Rosenblum for proofing every single article on every single page, week after week. You are awesome and tireless and we are so grateful.

I want to thank the Jewish Press Board President

Eric Dunning, for always having my back, as well as the other members of the Jewish Press Board. You all make such an awesome group.

Passover is, hands down, my favorite holiday, including the weeks of cleaning beforehand. It’s the one holiday we really, really have to prepare for, in big ways and small. I always feel as if with each kitchen cabinet that is cleaned, my head gets a little cleaner

as well. Yes; it’s a lot of work, but at least we’re cleaning and organizing for a real purpose. Much better than just cleaning because the kids made a mess, don’t you think? And afterwards, you get to sit with friends and family and relax for an extremely long dinner. You get to tell and hear an age-old story, a story of which we know the ending, and yet it still fascinates us. What’s not to love?

I wish you all a very happy Passover. May we all continue to tell the stories we’ve heard before!

Annette van de Kamp Editor, Jewish Press

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | A3

Queen of the archives: Mrs. B Annette vAn de kAMp-wRiGht Editor Jewish Press OftentiMeS when i visit Renee, I ask for ‘so-and-so’s file,’ in the hope that the folder will be nice and fat, include articles from different decades, great photographs and, if I’m lucky, a bio sheet. Sometimes I get more than I bargained for and there are two files, or even three. But never have I felt so impressed and overwhelmed as when I first realized how much material there is that pertains to Mrs. Rose Gorelick Blumkin.

Mrs. B., of course, needs no introduction. Still, we must include the story of how, long before there was such a thing as ‘selling cheap and telling the truth,’ she came to Omaha.

She was born on the eve of Hanukkah, 1893. At age six, she told her mother: “When I grow up, I’ll get a job, earn money, go to America and send for you and the family.” But after she and Isadore married in 1914, America had to wait for Rose.

With World War I looming and only enough money for one passage, Isadore went first and settled in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Rose had never heard of Fort Dodge and had no idea where it was.

Three years into the War, it’s her turn; somewhere in the files, there is a map of the route she took, going

east from Shchedrin to America. It’s a sobering sight, the little picture of the train on the map.

“Mrs. B’s journey to America began January 2, 1917. She rode in a horse and carriage to Krasnaberrie,

passover “For seven days she rode the train with a stop at Irkutsk and Chita in Siberia. At the border town of Zabaykai’sk, Russia, to cross over into China, Mrs. B. told the Russian border guard: “I am going to buy leather

Sara Gorelick and her daughters, from left, Mary, Ruth, Sara Gorelick, Anne, Rebecca and Rose. a railroad station connection to the Trans-Siberian railroad station at Gomel. Newspaper vendors in Gomel were shouting: “Extra, extra, Rasputin killed!” Mrs. B. with no ticket, no passport and very little money, boarded the train and hid under a wooden bench.

for the army. When I come back, I will bring you a bottle of vodka.” He is still waiting for the vodka.

“The train stopped next in Harbin, Manchuria in China and three days later, January 13, she arrived in Tientsin. Mrs. B. embarked from the boat from Tsientsin to Japan, with

stops at Hiroshima, Kobe and Yokohama on Jan. 23, 1917. For two weeks, she waited for the ship to America.”

Feb. 7, she finally boarded the peanut ship, where she traveled in steerage. She spent the majority of the time too sick to eat and arrived in Seattle, Washington, on March 10.

By March 15, a tag with her name and destination around her neck, she arrived in Fort Dodge, Iowa, where she was met by her husband and her brothers, Sam and Mayer Gorelick.

The Red Cross had alerted them she would be on the train. The rest, as they say, is history.

“After her passing, Frances Batt called me and asked me to take her files,” Renee remembered. “It was quite an undertaking; week after week I drove over and loaded the back of my car. I am so grateful for not only the richness of the material, but also for the fact that Frances offered to pay to have it catalogued.”

That catalogue is more than a few pages: “The Rose Blumkin Collection consists of 55 cubic feet of material contained in 37 boxes,” it states.

“Twenty-nine of the boxes contain duplicate material stored in the eight catalogued boxes. The catalogued material covers the life of Rose See Queen of the archives page A4

Your friends at Creighton University wish you a Happy Passover.

Since Creighton’s founding, we have shared core values of prophetic justice, love of wisdom and education of the whole person. May your remembrance of liberation bring peace.

Learn more about our traditions and values. creighton.edu

a4 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

passover

I

Preserving our past

have woRked foR the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society for almost 20 years. I started by helping to archive materials collected mostly by Mary Fellman, while my daughter was in grade school. Then when Mary decided to step down as executive director, I was asked to assume her job in 2001. I accepted the position with her blessing, which Renee RatneR was a great compliment.

Having worked outside of our Jewish com- CoRCoRan munity for many years, I knew little about it, NJHS Executive Director let alone the history. With the help of Mary and Dottie Rosenblum, I learned a great deal. They taught me the importance of preserving our precious history for our children and grandchildren. Also, stories shared with me about my family made my work at the Society personal. I am proud of the generations before me.

The NJHS has grown through the years mostly because of the people who have been involved and their dedication to our cause of preserving our Jewish community’s history. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with wonderful presidents, board members and volunteers. I always appreciated their advice and guidance and remain close with many of them.

The Dr. Ben Nachman Oral History Program continues to be a very important program of the NJHS. Ben, a dear friend and colleague, had a vision for our community to have one of the largest oral history collections in the country. I would like to thank all those who have been interviewed and will be interviewed for keeping Ben’s vision alive.

Please believe me when I say it is one of the best things you can do for your children and grandchildren.

It is wonderful to be able to share the good work of the NJHS with our community inside and outside of the Jewish community. To hear researchers say, “I can’t believe you have all this” or “I had no idea this was here” is very rewarding. We work hard to properly archive and catalog our collection.

Thank you to all the members, donors and foundations that support the Historical Society. You are greatly appreciated. Without you we could not continue our day-to-day operations of printing and publishing our newsletter and editions of Memories of the Jewish Midwest, plan and install new exhibits, maintain our website, properly archive and catalog our collection and conduct oral histories. You understand the importance of our job.

I believe everyone has a story to tell. When you are downsizing, moving or just cleaning, the photographs, records and memorabilia that you think no one wants, please remember the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society. These items are part of your story and maybe your family.

Let us properly preserve your history; it’s important!

Queen of the archives

Continued from page a3 Blumkin and her businesses. The Rose Blumkin Collection includes two boxes of photographs and four oversized folders.”

It’s divided into 12 series, from awards and recognitions to audio/visual tapes, from Mrs. B’s involvement in the Home named after her, the Rose Theater and, of course, the Nebraska Furniture Mart.

There is miscellaneous personal material and a plethora of photographs. In the box pertaining to her death, memorial cards, eulogies and thank you notes are included. Articles written about her range from pre-1960 to the present time. There is correspondence from the desk of Michael Eisner, who had plans to turn Mrs. B.’s life story into a Walt Disney movie. And then, there is her wedding dress.

Looking through her list of awards, it becomes once again apparent that, for a woman, it can’t have been easy to reach this level of success.

She was named among Omaha’s Super Women by the Omaha Sun in 1985; the Jewish Federation of Omaha Woman of the Year (also in 1985) and was among 75 Women of Achievement in 1987. In 1995, the League of Women Voters presented her with the Shattered Ceiling Award. Yet, it’s the gender-neutral awards that are probably even more meaningful, such as the Distinguished Nebraskan Award (1986) or the award for Entrepreneur of the Year, which she received in 1993.

Box 5, shelf A-3 has her Alien Registration Receipt Card and there are several book proposals. One quite aggressive proposal has a note scribbled in the margin: “Mrs. Blumkin is not interested at this time.”

With a life this long and eventful and this well-documented, it can be difficult to know where to look. Every once in a while, a deeply personal piece of writing floats to the surface, as is the case with this 1998 letter, written by Louise Abrahamson:

Retreat yourself...

Dear Mrs. B., For so many years I have wanted to write to you, but I have been putting it off. Now, I take the time to write to you because there is something I need for you to know and understand.

Throughout my life you have been a true inspiration in the way I live my life. As I’ve read about you, from knowing you personally, and from your actions, you have shown me how to be an independent woman, a woman who cares about others, a person who strives for the best and lives up to my potential. I have not reached the height of success in dollars that you have in my life but I have learned to fill my life with the deeds I can do, working each and every day to the best of my ability, reaching out to others, teaching my children and grandchildren the importance of family values (at a time when family values are almost forgotten), respect for others, and I could go on and on. A good name is what we leave behind and as I reflect your life during my life, you have reached each and every category.

Life goes by so fast and we fail to do so many of the projects we set out to do for ourselves. I have shared with you so many wonderful happenings throughout your life (some known and oh so many unknown). I am proud that you are of our Jewish heritage, I am proud that during my lifetime our paths have crossed in the business world, as part of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, and just as a fellow American. You are and have been a blessing to mankind.

May God be with you always!

Sincerely and fondly, Louise Abrahamson There is a copy of each and every newspaper article ever written and printed. There are hundreds; one of them is featured on the “Style-”page in the Washington Post of May 24, See Mrs. B page a6

Happy passover

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MID-CITY

It all began with Mary

Gabby blair anD briTTney Hamor on THe eve of her 21st birthday, a young woman named Mary Arbitman sat down at her desk, in her dimly lit bedroom, and wrote a letter to her future 40-year-old self. In this letter, dated March 1, 1938, Mary outlined the kind of person she wanted to become, the accomplishments she hoped to achieve, and the importance of the Jewish Community in her life. When the letter was completed, she sealed it with nail polish; it remained untouched for 19 years. Upon her 40th birthday, Mary Arbitman Fellman read her words from those many years prior, and was satisfied to find her youthful aspirations fulfilled.

The journey outlined in her letter began when Fellman was 22-years-old. She was elected National Secretary of Sigma Delta Tau (SDT) where she received a lot of local publicity. She then became SDT National Treasurer for two years before moving on to Alumni Director.

She described this time in her life as a turning point. “It gave me much more of a worldly view of things; working

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Kevin Almquist Physical Therapist for SDT allowed me many opportunities to travel and get to know people from all over the country. Secondly, it gave me a name in Omaha,” said Fellman in a previous interview.

In 1939, Mary graduated from the University of y it Nebraska with r o r So elta Tau D a Bachelor’s Degrees in Jourm ig S nalism and Sociology. Within four years, Fellman became one of the first woman editors in Nebraska when she took the helm at The Jewish Press in 1943. This was a milestone in her career and she ultimately helped pave the way for future strong female leaders within the community to thrive. “Mary was a force to be reckoned with; always looking for new ideas and goals to go after,” explains Renee Corcoran, Executive Director of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society. Corcoran goes on to say, “the impact Fellman made for future and current women within the community was inspiring. Mary showed people how to set goals and just do it; especially for women of the time.”

Even as Mary stayed busy on professional and volunteer levels, she always made time for her family, explains son, Ron Fellman. “Family was of the highest importance to my mother. Just about anyone who had a connection to either her or my father, Morris, or her children, was considered to be like family and she opened her home to all in a warm and accepting way.” Ron ends by saying “Mary’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren remember her love of family, energy, and commitment to living life to the fullest and with the well-being of others being of the highest interest.”

Indeed, Fellman lived her life fully and was an enthusiastic advocate for many organizations, most notably The Omaha Symphony and the NAACP. However, her commitment to Judaism and Israel, both of which she loved dearly, were her passion. She was a community leader and was involved with many Jewish organizations at the local, regional and national levels. She served as President of Beth El Synagogue Sisterhood, the Midwest Branch of the National Women’s League and of the Omaha chapter of Hadassah. In 1978, Fellman became the first woman to be elected president of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. “Mary also started a Jewish matchmaking service with her sister, Annie Allen, and was passionate about creating connections between and amongst Jewish singles,” says Marsha Zimmerman, Mary’s daughter. Zimmerman goes on to say that of all her mother’s accomplishments, Fellman was most proud of starting the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society. “I think if anything survives me, it will be the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society and that makes me very pleased and very proud. I think it’s one of the best things to have happened in this town and in this state,” Fellman said in a previous interview with The Jewish Press. “I think it’s exciting and it offers people an opportunity to know who came before them, who the people were who built this community, who had the vision and who developed it. If I had a small part in that, I feel very good about it.”

See mary Fellman page a7

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Ben Nachman

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Best Wishes sover for a Joyous Pas

annette van de kamp-wright Editor, Jewish Press Ben nachman, long-time volunteer for the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society and interviewer for Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation, passed away in August of 2010. His obituary also mentioned he was a Korean War veteran, on active duty from 1951-53 as Staff Sergeant and Forward Observer for the U.S. Infantry.

As volunteers go, he was one of the best: “The NJHS lost a piece of the organization’s heart with Ben’s passing,” Joanie Bernstein, herself an NJHS past-President, said at the time.

Renee added: “Ben’s passion was enormous; after his family, which always came first, the work he did for the Historical Society was everything to him. His goal for the NJHS was to have the largest collection of oral histories in the country. He strongly believed that these stories needed to be told before they were buried. He left us with many previously untold stories that needed to be shared.”

Ben Nachman’s own story, as it comes out of what he left behind, is one of summary: he attended Creighton, he fought in Korea, he worked as a dentist, he retired. He was married and had children, he volunteered. They are highlights from which we can draw conclusions; there is a clear beginning, middle and end, but the real story is in how he facilitated the stories of other people.

He traveled far and wide to collect stories of Holocaust survivors for the Shoah Foundation, something that shows more than dedication: it shows enormous strength of character.

Just imagine, for a second, the atrocities he heard.

Now, more than ever, these personal accounts are beyond valuable. With fewer and fewer eyewitnesses among us, having a record of the survivors is essential if we want future generations to understand anything about the Holocaust. Thanks to Ben Nachman and those like him, our children and grandchildren can hear the story told in first-person.

“Ben Nachman dedicated a good part of his adult life to researching the Holocaust which claimed most of his extended family in Europe,” Leo Adam Biga wrote in 2010. “Ben became a self-taught historian who focused on collecting the testimonies of survivors and rescuers. It became such a big part of his life that he accumulated a vast library of materials and a large network of contacts from around the world. Ben’s mission was to help develop and disseminate Holocaust history for the purpose of educating the general public, especially youth, and he did this through a variety of means, including sponsoring the development of curricula for schools and hosting visiting scholars.”

Biga also wrote about Ben Nachman’s focus on rescuers: “The rescuers came from every station in life. They included civil servants, farmers, shopkeepers, nurses and clergy. [The foundation] Hidden Heroes is the brainchild of Ben Nachman, who decades ago began an indepth quest to try and understand the madness that killed 23 members of his family in the former Ukraine. While his despairing search turned up no satisfactory answers, it did introduce him to Holocaust scholars around the world and to scores of survivors, whose personal stories of survival and rescue he found inspiring.

“He said he formed the non-profit Foundation ‘to promote specific Holocaust education efforts and to promote the good deeds of hidden heroes. Most people are aware of only a handful of individuals, like Oscar Schindler or Raoul Wallenberg, but there were many more who risked their lives to save others. Our mission is to bring to light the stories of these dynamic people and organizations and their little-known activities. We hear enough about the bad things that went on.

We want to tell the story of the good things and so our focus is on life rather than on death.’”

Nachman spent equal energy to recording the local history of the Omaha Jewish community, work that continues to this day.

“Ben never intended for these projects to begin and end with him,” Renee said.

“I don’t think many people realize the magnitude of what Ben has done,” current NJHS President Bob Belgrade said. “He visited hundreds of families over the years.

Besides, he did it so professionally. Imagine: someday a greatgrandchild will walk into the Historical Society to watch an ancestor tell his or her story. That is an amazing thing and it is why we are all so determined to continue his work.”

continued from page a4 1984 allows the reader a taste of what Mrs. B. sounded like — long after the fact. Even the parts where she is not quoted directly sound like she could have written them: staccato, direct and to the point.

She is 13, a native of the town of Shchedrin, near Minsk. Her father is a rabbi, her mother runs a grocery. She has a new pair of shoes, that day she sets out for the big town to find a job, but she doesn’t want to wear them out too fast, so she carries them 18 miles to the train. Once she gets to town, she goes to 25 places, but even though she tells everybody she has experience in business from her mother’s grocery, they tell her she’s too young and to go away.

Finally she hears of someone in a dry-goods store whose girl—most fortunate of creatures—is leaving for America.

“You’re a kid,” the store owner says.

“I’m not a beggar,” says Rose. “I got four cents in mine pocket. Let me sleep in the house, tomorrow I go to work.”

The story continues: Rose begins working at the store, gets married to Isadore Blumkin and eventually comes to America.

This morning, standing beside a senator, a priest, a lawyer, a biologist and a poet, she receives an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Commercial Science from New York University.

How to explain how one goes from having four cents in one’s pocket to receiving that degree? It all has to do with work ethic, with attitude, with a spine carved in iron.

Soon, like the dinosaurs, they will be extinct, the Rose Blumkins—the ones who lost families in the pogroms, the ones who dug potatoes for 10 cents a day and remember the day Rasputin died, the ones who consider it a joy to have a business to go to every day, the ones whose voices are built in layers, first the mother tongue, Yiddish, then Russian, then English. Not always a perfectly comfortable fit, the English, but a vigorous, forceful tongue, in which the purpose shines through just the same.

mrs.B

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Writing the Council Bluffs book Joey Hoffman

I Was a twice-a-year Jew. Growing up in Larchmont, New York, 27 miles north of NYC, temple to me meant stockings (too tight), sitting (“Mom, may I please hide in the, er, go to the bathroom?”) and sermons delivered by our JFK Lookalike rabbi Rick Jacobs, now president of the Union of Reform Judaism. Yes, I had shpilkes, yet once I settled in I’d practice a favorite pastime: people watching. A husband would drape his arm around his wife, she’d lay her head on his shoulder as their children whispered and I’d wonder what’s their story? Novelist Umberto Eco said: “To survive, you must tell stories.”

Like a Polaroid, my Jewish story developed over time. In my mid-20s, I became a writer living in Greenwich Village where there were more Jews in my apartment building than there are in Nebraska and Iowa. Since I’d had just one year of Hebrew School and a family who fast-forwarded through Seders, pausing only for the farfel kugel portion, my education was limited. But it’s our culture, community, spirit and kibbitzy ways which have helped shape Jewish me.

In 2003, I gave birth to Daisy. My muse. She lived for seven months in a New York City Neonatal Intensive Care Unit as she was born with Gastroschis, an intestinal anomaly which caused her organs to malfunction. Craving a connection to my faith –and a way to stay semi-sane—I befriended the NICU Rabbi.

“How do I get closer to God?” I asked.

“Perform a Mitzvah,” he said. “Light Shabbat candles.”

I did. The golden glow balmed my soul.

In 2006, we traveled to Omaha where Daisy received a small bowel, liver and pancreas transplant at Nebraska Medicine. Our intended short stay turned into, now, 11 years. Unlike my faith-free

childhood, Daisy attended Hebrew School since she was six and while studying for her Bat Mitzvah in January of 2016 at Temple Israel, I witnessed my daughter, chant by chant (“Mi chamocha...”) walk her Jewish journey, absorbing the privilege of being part of our local and larger community. Daisy’s dive into Judaism allowed me to go deeper into the waters of our faith—a bridge to our lineage.

There are no coincidences. When Renee Corcoran, Executive Director of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, asked me to write a book about Jews from Council Bluffs and their family stories, it was like coming home. Together, we have laughed, cried, broken bread at Christy Kreme and Pizza King, strolled Bikur Cholim Oakhill Cemetery and attended B’nai Israel’s Friday night and High Holiday services.

As a New York writer, the city was my beat. I covered the best (fill-in-the-blank), reviewed restaurants and interviewed highwatt subjects. Yes, it was glam and fun for my palette, yet no project has given me more nachas than hearing your stories. I feel nostalgic for a time and a town in which I never lived.

Thank you. Thank you for inviting me into your lives, for allowing me to bear witness to your history, Council Bluffs chapter. My prayer is you will read and reread these stories, share them with your kin and theirs... May they shroud you in the love of your ancestors. You, their legacies, brought this to life. L’Chaim!

Joey Hoffman is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The new york Times, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Condé nast Traveler and new york magazine. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Joey lives in Omaha with her daughter Daisy and two kleptomaniac rescue dogs, Sadie and Nala.

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | a7

passover Mary Fellman

Continued from page a5 According to the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society website, the organization was founded in 1982 by Mary Fellman and Oliver Pollak. Its overall goal is to collect, publish and display materials which pertain to the social history of the Jewish community in Nebraska. “I’m impressed with the energy and determination you have dedicated to creating and nurturing your historical society,” Project Director of the Iowa Jewish Historical Society Caspe Heritage Gallery, Jody Hramits, said in a letter to Fellman. “If we are able to accomplish only a small percentage of all what you have, we will be grateful.”

The Historical Society was taken over by Corcoran in 2001 when Fellman retired.

“I feel extremely blessed that she chose me to take over the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society,” Corcoran said. “We have been getting more and more involved with the community and receiving awards. I think she would be very proud of where we have taken the historical society today.” In Fellman’s 91 years, she inspired many people to take their lives in new directions. Corcoran explained that Fellman was the definition of a ‘one-of-kind’ human being and no one could ever fill her shoes, confident that she would be happy about where the community is today.

No words can fully describe the legacy Mary Fellman left behind when she passed from this world in 2008. She was truly ahead of her time. Her determination and perseverance within the Jewish community ultimately paved the way for current and future Jewish women in Omaha. Although she was involved in a variety of activities throughout her lifetime, she never forgot who she was and what truly mattered to her.

Visit us at jewishomaha.org

great memories: Louise Abrahamson

a8 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

passover

a

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annette van de kamP-wrigHt Editor Jewish Press tHe First time I met Louise Abrahamson was at her Boys Town store, The Clothesline, which was later renamed “Louise’s Clothesline.” We didn’t really know much about her beyond the fact that she was always kind and went to our synagogue; what we did know was that our boys loved visiting her store. Everything was free, they could look at everything and if they saw something they liked, they could just have it. We’re not talking second-hand merchandise: everything came directly from the manufacturers. When you live in a home with eight teenage boys, growth spurts are a given and a drain on the budget — being able to shop without price tags is heaven. It’s also where our daughter Isabella got her first shoes: tiny blue-and-white Nikes that wouldn’t fit any of the teenagers, so Louise gave them to Isabella.

However, the store wasn’t the only place where our boys benefited from Louise’s hard work. Several times a week, my husband or I would stop by the high school kitchen to pick up bread, cakes, donuts (there were always donuts!) which Louise had picked up from a variety of places, donations she would schlep back to Boys Town so Family Teachers could pick up whatever they felt their kids would eat. There was other food too, random donations from restaurants who found their freezers too full.

You had to kind of know to ask for it, though. I’d go to the head of the kitchen and ask him if he was hiding anything in the freezer; he’d open it and come out with surprises. I remember the time he “found” a big pile of gallon-sized bags containing Olive Garden Afredo sauce and said: “You have boys? Take it all.” Thanks to Louise, our boys ate pasta Alfredo for weeks. Then, we went through a pizza phase. Apparently, one of the local Pizza Hut restaurants would make them ahead, there would be too much, the leftovers would come to us. It took them months to figure out they could just pre-make fewer pizzas and they wouldn’t be forced to give them away. It wasn’t unusual for our boys to come home from school and find a stack of 15 personal pizzas waiting on the counter. Louise’s hard work in securing food donations also meant there came a point when I had to learn how to cook crab legs.

Not until I began working at the Jewish Press did I fully understand how much Louise really accomplished when she put her mind to it. What she did for Boys Town was just the

Happy Passover FROM SENATOR THERESA THIBODEAU

tip of the iceberg.

“Volunteerism has always been a part of my life,” Louise wrote in 2008. “I enjoyed being involved in Jewish youth programs and civic activities and pushed myself to the limit so I could be involved. I always set aside time for helping others.

It made me feel good when I knew that I could be a part of helping others.”

Louise served as President of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society from 1991 to 2003; it comes as no surprise her NJHS file is very comprehensive. In addition to numerous

steve, Louise, and Hugh abrahamson

newspaper articles and awards, there is even a bound volume, titled Memories and Reflections.

It’s very easy to write about Louise and laud her many, many accomplishments. It would end up as a seemingly never-ending list of things she did for others. She helped countless youth, both in the Jewish community and outside of it; she was a tireless advocate for the handicapped and a businesswoman. Looking at her life, there is no doubt she lived to serve and wanted to leave behind a world that is better for her having been in it. But Louise was also an accomplished poet and writer. Thanks to her foresight and her hard work at the NJHS, we have the ability, to this day, to get to know her. Here is Louise, in her own words.

My husband and I met at an AZA dance at the Chieftain Hotel in Council Bluffs. On our first date, Norman told me that he and I would be married someday. We dated for about a year and became engaged on my birthday at the Paxton Hotel on Sept. 7, 1940. We were married the following spring on April 27 at the new Beth El Synagogue (49th and Farnam) by Rabbi David A. Goldstein. We had a large wedding of about 300 guests with a reception at the synagogue and dinner at the Fontenelle see Louise abrahamson page a10

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The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | a9

Brandeis Department Store

PaM Monsky Just about everyone knows the history of Brandeis and its legendary family. The store’s impact on me and my family is a lesser known story.

First, the history. Jonas Leopold Brandeis arrived in Omaha via Prague in 1881 with his wife and four children. He opened a small store called “The Fair” on South 13th Street. Jonas’ three sons, Arthur, Emil and Hugo entered the business and became partners in what was now called “J.L. Brandeis & Sons.” After Jonas died in 1903, the three sons continued to grow the business and built the Brandeis Building at 16th and Douglas in 1906.

In 1912 Emil Brandeis went down with the Titanic, and Hugo, aged 43, died on the operating table a few months later. George Brandeis, a cousin from Chicago, came to Omaha to help Arthur run the business. When Arthur died in 1916, his son E. John became the president. When E. John died in 1974, he was the last person with the Brandeis family name to head the business.

Alan Arthur Brandeis Baer, a nephew of E. John, became the owner and president of Brandeis in 1974. Alan was the driving force behind the company’s expansion from one store in 1959 (the year he was named executive vice president) to 11 stores by 1974.

Brandeis lost its major store and much of its public approval when the Downtown store closed in 1980. The downtown Lincoln (former Gold’s) location followed soon after in 1981. It was the end of an era.

The Crossroads anchor became the new Pam and Henry Monsky’s Brandeis wedding flagship store, but had lost its power over the Omaha and Nebraska markets. When plans came for a new Dillard’s at Crossroads Mall in the mid-1980s, Brandeis executives knew that there was no chance of competition. They made a deal with Younkers, and sold in 1987.

Our family came to Omaha because my dad, Sidney Pearlman, was offered the job of President of Brandeis in 1980. I had just finished my first year of college at Ohio University (our family lived in Pittsburgh at the time) and was not at all on board with this move. But with little choice, I gamely went along.

I do remember the thrill of entering the downtown store for the first time. It was huge and gorgeous and, as a seasoned shopper, I was hooked.

It was so fun to walk with my dad through the different floors and departments of the store. He knew almost everyone’s name quickly and they all called him Mr. Pearlman.

However, Dad was also the guy who closed the downtown store. I remember him feeling awful and attacked when the announcement was made. Among the comments that made it back to him, was someone calling him an “East coast hatchet man.” He was from the East coast (born in Rochester, NY), but this comment particularly stung. “Do you know what that means?” he said to me afterwards. “It’s code for anti-Semitism, that’s what it means!” Maybe, maybe not, but it sure rankled him. I also found this nugget in the Omaha World Herald archives from Monday, May 5, 1980, after the announcement of the store closing: “According to a letter signed ‘Group of Employees and X Employees,’ and sent to The World-Herald, employee morale has suffered recently because Pearlman’s daughter (yours truly) was hired in the Westroads cosmetics department at a time of other employee cuts. Pearlman said his daughter is among a number of part-time and full-time clerks hired recently, some for Christmas seasonal work and some as permanent employees. His daughter is a permanent part-time employee, he said.”

I honestly had no idea that my working there had caused any turmoil!

It was a great job and it helped me through college.

The Jewish Press interviewed him in 1982, and in that story Dad addresses his Jewishness. “I believe being Jewish is much more a state of mind, a personality.” That’s exactly how he lived his life. In that same article, he brings up an episode involving his decision to go to work on Rosh Hashanah. “I had to go to work. It was just a situation where we were in the middle of closing the store and there were just some very major decisions to be made. I felt at the time it was in the best interests of the job that I was being paid to do that I could not afford to take an entire day and not be there.”

Speaking of Rosh Hashanah, he took a lot of flak for holding a big sale during the holiday. We received more than a couple of calls from friends see brandeis page a10

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Happy Passover to our friends and clients,

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A10 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

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The Cohens Alan & Anne Marty, Jack, Sam & Will

Louise Abrahamson Continued from page A8 Hotel. My mother, a beautiful seamstress, made my wedding gown. In fact, she made most of my clothes until I got married.

Norm and I couldn’t afford a honeymoon, so we borrowed Norm’s dad’s car and drove to Sioux City, Iowa. We stayed at the Sioux Apartment Hotel for a dayand-a-half, then we both had to get back to our jobs. Norm worked for Bakers Shoe Store and I worked for the GlandO-Lac Company. This was a pesticide serum company owned by Joe Rice. I later changed jobs because I was offered more money ($15 a week) and worked for Max and Rena Wasserman at the Excel Novelty Company.

When we were first married, we lived in a one-room furnished apartment at 19th and Jones in Omaha. Helen and Mort Soiref, Bernice and Norman Harris and Rose and Lyman Cohen all were newlyweds and we all lived in the same complex.

Our first child, Harvey Roger, was born on March 10, 1942. He died of respiratory complications two days later and is buried at Fisher Farm. After we lost our child, Norman was reclassified as 1A, meaning he was immediately eligible for military service. He knew he’d be called up, so he enlisted in the Air Force and left in February of 1943. I moved in with my parents until I was able to follow him to the various bases where he was stationed. He attended Bombardier school in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and upon his graduation he was chosen to train Chinese Nationals at Carlsbad, New Mexico.

I worked as a secretary on the various military bases where Norm was stationed, and because I had obtained a Civil Service rating, I could get housing for us. I also worked as a public stenographer, sales person and court reporter.

Brandeis

Continued from page A9 in the community who were very upset, but I have a feeling that they made time to attend services and hit the big sale.

When my husband Henry and I got engaged, Alan and Marcia Baer threw an amazing party at their home for us. I adored Alan and Marcia; we all did.

Alan was one of the most eccentric people I’ve ever met, but what a generous man. When my dad was hired, he sent him a terra-cotta planter that was decoupaged with newspaper clippings and photos about dad’s appointment as store president. I still have it on a bookshelf in my house.

At our wedding, the getaway car was festooned with a banner reading “This wedding sponsored by Brandeis,” a pretty accurate statement. I bought my wedding dress at Brandeis and we were able to furnish our first apartment with furniture from the close-out of the fur-

From time to time when I returned home, I worked as a secretary for Max Wasserman at Excel. Norm was stationed in Lincoln as a Second Lieutenant

Clockwise from top: Louise Miller Abrahamson; Louise Abrahamson, left, Bob Kerry and Fr. Richard Walbert ; and Louise and Norman Abrahamson and Bombardier in the Air Force and was ready to go overseas when the war ended.

He returned to Omaha after being discharged in October of 1945 and went back to his job at Bakers Shoe Store as an Assistant Manager.

Norm and Louise had two more children: Hugh, born in 1945 and Steve in 1947. In 1967, Steve was involved in an accident that left him paralyzed; the doctors predicted he would remain in a vegetative state for the rest of his life.

Louise did not accept that answer and not only did she spend the next year-

Pam and her dad, Sidney Pearlman niture department.

When Brandeis was sold to Younkers in 1987, it was a shock to us all. Dad was hired as the vice-president of Younkers and my parents moved to Des Moines, where they spent the remainder of their

and-a-half helping him rehabilitate, she would go on to advocate tirelessly for those with disabilities. She was the Chair for the Governor’s Committee for Employment of the Handicapped, the Nebraska state Chair for the U.S. Council for the International Year of Disabled Persons and a Representative for Persons with Disabilities Conference in Washington, D.C.—to name but a few of the many ways in which she fought for the differently-abled population.

Steve would progress so well, he returned to Bellevue College first and eventually graduated from the University of Nebraska in Omaha. In 1987, Louise wrote an open letter to Steve that was published in The Exceptional Parent.

“You have not become a passive spectator of your own life,” she wrote. “And you have learned to live your life to the fullest. You know and understand that as a disabled person there is tension between developing your own unique personality and complying with the demands from those who surround you. Attempt to make society feel at ease with you and be as much like others as possible, but never deter from being yourself.”

She continues: “Some ‘normalization’ is necessary to develop and be accepted by society. An ideal society should not require ‘normalization,’ but, as you realize, I’m sure, society frequently will not and does not accept difference.”

Her words ring as true today as when she wrote them more than 30 years ago.

Louise Abrahamson did everything with a unique sense of gusto. When she moved into the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home permanently, it didn’t take long before she found herself crowned Purim Queen. That, too, she embraced wholeheartedly, showing up at many occasions wearing her crown. I ended up calling her ‘Queen Louise’ for an entire year. She was, after all, true royalty in our community.

days. He retired from Younkers in 1990 and they both enjoyed full and productive lives. Dad died unexpectedly from an aortic dissection on Feb. 18, 2010. In his obituary in The World-Herald, Helmuth Dahlke, a retired Brandeis executive, said: “He did come in at a very precarious time for Brandeis. Our financial situation was very bad. He really saved and kept Brandeis going. We became healthy.

We made it. I give Sid all the credit for saving the Brandeis department store for the next eight years. He was a very strict and a very kind mentor.”

He was also the kindest, most generous and funniest man I have ever known. He was an incredible husband, father and grandfather. We all miss him every day.

I know there are thousands of people who have personal and cherished memories of Brandeis. I’m honored to share mine with all of you.

Dottie Rosenblum

annette van De kamp-wRight Editor Jewish Press foR 22 yeaRs, Chicago native Dottie Rosenblum poured her energy into the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society. That’s not all: she has volunteered for many years at Children’s Hospital, is a past-President of the National Council of Jewish Women Nebraska and proofreads this paper during the weekend—every weekend. In addition, she comes to the Press office on Mondays to proofread the synagogue page and the Editor’s oped, since that usually doesn’t get finished until Sunday night.

Dottie entered college at the same time many service members had just returned from WWII and came back to continue their studies. She graduated from the University of Iowa in 1950 with a degree in Speech Pathology and took a summer position at a speech and hearing camp in Fairbault, Minnesota. While working at the summer camp, she interviewed with the school system in Minneapolis; she didn’t get the job, but — lucky for us — she did get a phone call from someone in Omaha.

“The person in charge of special education for OPS called and they flew me to Omaha. Being flown in: that was a pretty big deal at the time. I had never been to Omaha. I ended up working with a team of people; there were several of us who had graduated from the University of Iowa.”

Together, the group of speech pathologists tackled many different areas of the OPS district, thus giving Dottie the opportunity to get to know the city quite well.

“We went into the elementary schools and with the Principal’s and teachers’ help, we would identify the kids who needed extra assistance,” she said. “Speech and hearing was a newly created part of Special Education; what was really great about it was that we would change the group around and have individual assignments in many different schools.

It was something out of my experience and I learned so much! I ended up working in five different schools in North Omaha — I could reach them all by bus, which was great because back then, I didn’t have a car.”

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | a11

Through one of her colleagues she met her future husband. In February of 1957, they welcomed son Michael (he goes by Mick); two months later Dottie realized she was pregnant and daughter Marcy was born in October of that same year. Son Mark was born in 1968.

“I met my husband the first weekend I came to Omaha,” Dottie said. “We had the wedding in December because he didn’t want to wait for Spring. He worked as an accountant and Spring was a bad time to schedule a wedding.”

Dottie said there has always been an interesting mix of people here with deep Omaha roots, and newcomers.

“I’ve always thought this must be a great place to grow up,” she said. “The size and make-up of this city, the composition of its people with different religions, different backgrounds and different stories make it a great place to connect. I love connecting in unexpected ways.”

Dottie herself grew up on Chicago’s West Side and has many wonderful memories of that time. Her father was an OB-GYN and worked at two different hospitals, one of which was Jewish and taught at the Med School.

“At the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, saving the history of local families reminded me how many unexpected connections there are,” she said. “Whether families stay or move away, come through because of the military or simply move here as newcomers, they all have a story.

“One of my favorite projects was when we worked with Boys Town on the Father Flanagan-Henry Monsky exhibit, which was shown at the Jewish Community Center for six months and then found a permanent home at Boys Town’s Hall of History. That, in and of itself, was of course a great see Dottie Rosenblum page a12

i

passover

Don’t skip Passover

love the Jewish holidays, all of them. I turned 70 in March. I am not a holiday expert but I did spent my entire life selling food. We pray, we eat.

All my holidays centered around family.

My grandfather had four daughters so we had a large family. When we gathered, we ate. I have nothing but great memories of those holiday meals. bRuce In a few weeks or days (depending upon fRieDlanDeR publication) will come Passover. Let’s talk President, JFO about the Passover food: 1. Matzah 2.

Shank bone 3. Boiled egg 4. Bitter herbs 5. Charoset 6. Karpas. That will finish your seder plate. I watch the food channel. I think Bobby Flay would get chopped if given those ingredients to prepare dinner.

To avoid the chopping block, we observe the holiday, but we have taken decades of mostly European recipes to enhance our dinner. First is Matzah, used to make “matzah brei” - matzah, eggs, and sugar or syrup. Also fluffly farful muffins. Second, the “shank bone” or short ribs, cooked slowly to become tender, a perfect addition to tzimmes.

Third, “boiled eggs” cut up in salt water. Fourth, “bitter herbs” or red wine horseradish. My favorite is from Russ and Daughters in New York City, and best to also buy their gefilte fish and carefully eat it together. Fifth, “charoset” or chopped up Granny Smith apples with nuts, wine, or honey. Last is “karpas”, or fresh parsley, used mostly as a garnish for your matzah ball soup, Jewish penicillin. Don’t forget dessert, chocolate flourless cake, a real treat.

Tell the Passover story, open the door for Elijah, hide the afikomen, and enjoy this priceless time with your family. Don’t forget to sing the beautiful songs of Passover (my favorite is Adeer Hoo) so that you, too, will have a heart full of memories.

Happy Passover.

Paid for by Jean Stothert for Omaha | 5909 S. 119th Plaza | Omaha, NE 68137

dottie Rosenblum

a12 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

passover Renee Corcoran: The whole story

annette van de kamp-wRight Editor Jewish Press Renee RatneR CoRCoRan’s daughter Ashley was in fifth or 6th grade when her teacher asked her to do a paper for a school assignment. Renee was aware the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society would have files, so she took her daughter there to do some research. It proved to be a life-changing decision.

“A few days after our visit,” Renee said, “NJHS Dottie Rosenblum called me. She asked if I was interested in coming back to help out organizing the files. I was interested; I started part-time. Since Ashley was still in grade school, working around her schedule was attractive.”

By 2001, Louise Abrahamson reached out and asked Renee to join the NJHS full-time.

“It was a great vote of confidence from Louise,” Renee said.

“Louise was such a great friend to me throughout the years, so I said yes.”

The biggest difference between when she first became involved and the present time, according to Renee, is the level of organization.

“Mary Fellman started this organization with one shelf. Then, she had a telephone, then a broom closet that was turned into an office. When I came, we had the office at the end of the hallway and in 1998 we moved to the current location. When I started, they asked me to organize everything, from donor files to boxes and files filled with papers and photographs. What we needed was structure and procedures. I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished over the past 20 years. Not only have we catalogued and organized massive amounts of Omaha records,

we started the oral history program, we did the World War II veterans’ project and South Omaha, the grocery book and the recent one on Council Bluffs.”

For the Oral History project, countless Omahans have agreed to record their story so it can be preserved in their own voice.

“People often think, oh, who wants to hear my story?”

Renee said. “But when their children or grandchildren find out it’s there and they have the chance to hear and see for themselves, it’s often a very touching moment. “ The Historical Society receives new materials all the time. Community members move to a smaller home, or retire and suddenly find they have time on their hands.

“We’re always happy to help if there’s a question of what needs to be saved,” Renee says. “Right now, we are not in the position to take any more Above: Bob Belgrade and large objects because our storage is very full, but Renee Corcoran, left, when there are docuRenee Ratner Corcoran ments, photographs you don’t want to throw away but have no space for in your house, come to us and we’ll take a look at it.”

Sometimes, we go a while between donations, Renee says. Other weeks, they receive ten different piles in one week. Donations can come from anyone, whether they still live here, or whether they are former Omahans who saved their files when they moved away.

One of the coolest things Renee has seen in recent years: “The Jewish Federation of Omaha received a box full of photographs from a construction worker who had rescued it from the Brandeis building. Someone called over here and said, ‘You better come take a look.’ Finding treasure like that is so gratifying.”

As the Executive Director, Renee of course has her own file. see Renee Corcoran page a14

Continued from page a11 connection. But just think of it, how does a Jewish girl from Chicago end up in Omaha, working side by side with representatives of a Catholic organization?”

There were many different exhibits Dottie worked on during her years at the NJHS. “I often walk the hallways at the Jewish Community Center and remember. One of my favorites is the Belzer family exhibit, located right by the NJHS entrance,” she said.

So, what’s in Dottie’s NJHS file? A young Dottie graced the pages of this newspaper when the Organizations’ Showcase was announced for September 17—but there is no year written on the sheet. We can make a guess, looking at the photo of her and that of Ann Goldstein (maybe early 1980s?). The Organizations’ Showcase was a pilot program, chaired by Ann and Dottie, where newcomers to the community had the opportunity to learn all about the purposes and programs of all Omaha Jewish organizations. Again, it’s all about connections.

In 1981, Dottie was named Chairman for the Jewish Family Service Resettlement Committee. This committee evaluated the future needs of newcomers from what was then the Soviet Union and began the process of restructuring working committees to meet those needs.

In 1989, the National Council of Jewish Women Nebraska honored Dottie with the Distinguished Service Award. It was the inaugural one; Dottie was the first recipient ever, in recognition “for outstanding years of service to and/or impact on NCJW Nebraska and in recognition for the loyalty, commitment, dedication and overall awareness of NCJW, volunteering with a willingness to work at any level.”

“Dottie’s volunteer life with NCJW began in 1955,” the NCJW newsletter read, “when she was asked to help prepare and serve lunch for a Council meeting at the old Jewish Community Center. Following this, Dottie volunteered in many NCJW projects, including the Children’s Hospital Project, selling NCJW stationery, helping with bowling parties and at our Camp for the Blind, driving for the visually impaired pre-school, testing newborns at the Section’s NeoNatal Project at University Hospital and working at the Omaha Hearing School.”

Many years after she became involved with Children’s Hospital through NCJW, that particular connection remains a constant in Dottie’s life. She continues to volunteer there at least once a month.

Happy Passover WISHING YOU A JOYOUS AND BLESSED PASSOVER

Happy Pesach!

10050 Regency Circle, Suite 300 | Omaha, NE 68114 | 402.397.5050 | www.ajg.com

Dr. James Wax

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | a13

The Jewish Welfare Federation of Omaha in 1924 annette van de kamp-Wright Editor Jewish Press iF One is ever curious about what was going on in Jewish Omaha during the early 20th century, there is a way to find out.

In the archives of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, there is an unremarkable file cabinet, easy to overlook, that holds a treasure trove of early board minutes. They are bound and typed, during the days before correction tape (errors are X-ed out), in two-year installments.

On Sunday morning, Jan. 13, 1924, there was a regular meeting of the Board of Directors of what was then called the Jewish Welfare Federation of Omaha.

There were 31 Directors present; there is no note of absentees. Is it possible every single member showed up? As it turns out, no; the list of names for this board was extremely long. On average, about 30 people would attend regularly back in the 1920s, but according to this motion from May 11, 1924, it wasn’t enough:

Bound minutes from the Jewish Welfare Federationbefore it became the Jewish Federation of Omaha.

“A motion was made, seconded and carried that the Directors at large, who have not been attending the monthly meetings regularly, be notified to that effect and asked to attend the meetings in the future.” I for one would love to be a fly on the wall during any Board of Director meeting with more than 60 people in the room.

How did they get anything done?

“Minutes of the preceeding meeting of the Executive Comittee during December and January were read and approved. As were also the financial and statistical reports for the month of December, 1923.

Report of the Wise hospital, showing charity work during the Month of December amounting to $474.50, with thirteen cases, was read and ordered filed.”

Those statistics and financials are fascinating, as is the list of organizations and who reported on them: “Mr. A. B. Alpirn reported for the City Talmud Torah.

Mr. H. Marcus reported for the South Side Talmud Torah.

Mr. I. Rosenthal reported for the Old Peoples Home. It was regularly moved and seconded that the O.P.H. Committee be requested to present a more extensive report to the Board of Directors as soon as possible.

Mr. S. H. Shaefer reported for the Y.M.H.A., outlining the important activities

of the Y. Mr. H. Lapidus reported on the contemplated new Jewish Community Center.

The Chairman then called on Rabbi J.M. Charlop, who spoke on Jewish Social Work.”

The Federation’s Cash Deficit on Nov. 30: $585.16. There was $3,439.22 in receipts, from things like the Flower Fund, subscriptions and the Needle-Work Guild. A total of $1,056.50 was spent on local relief, with $90.75 spent on transients and $74.18 on clothing and medicines. $3.55 was put towards trust funds. The Federation disbursed $750 to the Y.M.H.A., $200 went towards the Jewish Community Center, $425 to the City Talmud Torah and $65 to the South Side Talmud Torah. The Daughters of Israel Aid Society received $250.

The Federation had 18 old and recurrent relief cases and three new ones; there were 32 transients, 18 Social Service Field Cases (six juveniles and 12 adults), as well as 9 instances of European Relief Work. In December 1923, there were zero immigration cases.

It paints a very different picture and drives the point home that much has changed during the last century. At the same time, some things sound awfully familiar: “The superintendent read his report for the month of January, which was a message to the Board of Directors to help carry on the work of the Federation. It was moved and seconded that this report be placed on file and that it be printed in the next issue of the Jewish Press.”

Sometimes, board minutes include bombshells, as on Feb. 18, 1924: “Samuel Shaefer, Superintendent of the Federation, announced to the Executive committee that for some time past he had been receiving offers from other communities for his services in their work. That during the past week he had received an offer from the National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives at Denver, which was so attractive that he could not in justice to himself refuse to accept it. He thereupon tendered his resignation as Superintendent of the Jewish Welfare Federation and Director of the Y.M.H.A., effective April 1st.”

While we can imagine what that meeting was like, it’s difficult to explain the following passage from March 23, 1924: “A communication from the Public Kitchen Meah Shearin (sp.) of Jerusalem, Palestine, was read, asking the Federation to pay the appropriation for 1923, promised by the Committee to the Representative of the Public Kitchen. (A check was previously mailed to Jerusalem, Palestine, covering the appropriation to the above institution, but the letter was returned unclaimed, and was therefor held at the office until further advice from the Palestine Institution). On motion duly made and seconded the Committee instructed the office to mail the check to the institution in Palestine, advising them that next year the Federation will not take care of them, nor of any other Palestine institutions.”

Times have changed since 1924. Nowadays, the Jewish Federation of Omaha has strong relationships with Israel and allocations are made to a variety of Jewish institutions both in Israel and around the world.

Those meeting minutes from 1924 don’t see Jewish Welfare Federation page a15

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Passover

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Kathy Weiner loves her job annette van de Kamp-WrigHt Editor Jewish Press august 2001, Louise Abrahamson told Kathy Weiner in passing there was a part-time job opening at the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society. Kathy had married Harry in 1994; son Max was born in 1997.

“Max was four years old and went to the Pennie Z. Davis Childhood Development Center at the time,’ Kathy recalls. ‘The NJHS could work around my schedule, so it was a perfect fit for me.”

She applied and was subsequently hired: ‘I was thrilled! I had stayed at home since Max was born and felt ready to be back in the work place.’ She never looked back; 17 years later, she continues to put her research talents to use.

“The NJHS had just obtained “Past Perfect,” the museum software and I had to learn how to use it.

Once I became familiar with it, I began to add names and I went from there.”

Kathy keeps busy with recoding donations from members of our Jewish community. Those donations can range from Judaica and personal records to family photos; she records it all and makes sure it finds a home.

She also gives tours of the Riekes Museum, located at the front entrance of the Jewish Community Center: “To tell that Jewish history when people who are originally from Omaha come back is very gratifying,” she said.

“I really enjoy sharing our Jewish history. Sometimes we also have non-Jewish visitors, which gives us a great opportunity to tell our story to the larger community. Oftentimes, people are surprised there are Jews in Omaha, so through giving them a tour of the museum, we can adjust that perception. It’s all about telling our

Renee Corcoran

Continued from page a12 “My mother saved everything! I brought it all here when I cleaned out her house. There’s all this stuff she saved without my knowledge; I had no idea. It was fun to see it all—there are a lot of pictures of me with very different hair.”

There are also articles from the time Renee was active in the world of politics.

The Omaha Word Herald of Nov. 24, 1976, features a photograph of Renee and then Senatorelect Edward Zorinsky. The article deals with Zorinsky’s switch from Mayor to Senator and all that it entailed. In 2008, the Jewish Press published an article titled Political activist made her father proud. In it, she talks about how she started working for Mayor Gene Leahy. She stayed at City Hall until 1974, when she began working for United States Congressman John McCollister. Life before the NJHS was very different; Renee gave it up before her daughter Ashley was born in 1987. Lucky for us; without Renee Corcoran, the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society would not have grown so exponentially.

One thing is for sure, throughout the years, the NJHS has relied heavily on community involvement. In addition to people sharing their family memories, there have been endless volunteers who have dedicated time and energy to cataloguing it all and the donors, without whose support the

story to as many people as possible.”

Kathy’s favorite part of the job is the endless research she does, especially for family members of former Omahans who now live elsewhere and are trying to find out more about their family history. With each discovery, the story grows.

“Finding things out for people, being able to share facts,

Kathy and Harry Weiner

records or photographs they weren’t previously aware of, is very exciting,” she said.

“Any time I discover something new and can share it, it’s just very satisfying.”

Doing research brings Kathy’s own family to mind: “We all have a story, but sometimes parts of that story get lost. Reconnecting with our own personal history teaches us about perseverance, of other families, just like our own.”

NJHS would not be able to operate.

“The list is so long, I wouldn’t even know where to start,” Renee says. She does have a special place in her heart for Louise Abrahamson, Frances Batt and Ben Nachman. The latter was instrumental in starting the 2011 publication about Omaha Jewish grocery stores, which you can read about elsewhere in this paper.

Many funds and individuals have supported the NJHS throughout the years, from Herbert Goldsten to the Donor Advised Fund, from Leonard and Shirley Goldstein to Michael Staenberg, but Renee also does not want to forget about all the individual members, who still fill out annual donation cards.

So, what’s next?

“We’d love to digitize everything,” Renee said. “But for that, we neither have the funding nor the staff at the moment. Collecting all this data is certainly a challenge, but collecting our history is such important work and it needs to be done the right way.”

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My primitive Passover scavenger hunt

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | a15

Linda Pressman Apples and walnuts and honey and wine. Oh, and they Kveller via JTA wouldn’t happen to have four shankbones hanging When i see the giant gefilte fish and matzah display around, would they? One time when my mother was at Costco in late February, it sends me into a panic. I alive, she had a craving for real kishke. I went to the think, is it time for gefilte fish already? I think that store with her instructions: I needed rendered fat and finding the holiday foods, including that gigantic jar casings. The butcher seemed mystified. of gefilte fish, is not easy and maybe I should stockpile How did I become my mother? Or, rather, my now. I start thinking about how many people I’m hav- grandmother, great-grandmother and great-greating for Passover – a lot or a little? One manageable grandmother, all the way down the line? How did I get table or an impossible four? so fascinated with the Most of the year I’m a pretty butchers at all the normal American woman. I grocery stores in look normal. I dress in a fairly town, interrogating normal manner. I walk in grothe staff about their cery stores and have a vaguely briskets, their normal shopping list. Yes, there chicken livers, the are certain Jewish holidays here weights and when and there where I’m maybe they’re expected? shopping for 20 pound bags of When I’ve bought potatoes in the winter, apples everything on my list, and honey, round challahs and I start cooking very smoked fish in the fall, or meticulously. I cling poppy filling in March. All a litto the idea that if I’m tle odd. organized about this, But then there’s Passover.

I can be ready. I can’t Costco, of course, can only Gefilte fish is an easy find at Passover. really be ready.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons satisfy a few needs for this holSometimes while I’m iday. Though I’m willing to out shopping, I run bounce back and forth between its kosher smoked fish into the rest of the world. There they are, happy normal case and the Passover display, both forming a minia- people, out shopping for regular groceries, like bread, ture Pale of Settlement in the store for Jewish shoppers or in the Easter aisle buying chocolate eggs, squishy to cling to, eventually I must venture out to the Jewish Peeps and giant chocolate Easter bunnies. I’m somewhat section of the regular grocery stores, to their Pesach surprised that the world is just ticking along as normal, tables, and to the kosher stores to get everything else and there’s not an emergency in their kitchens like there I need. is in mine. Because no matter how far ahead I start, no Shopping for Passover is like being on the worst matter how much I’m sure I’m finished the night before, scavenger hunt ever. My grocery list looks like it was it never fails that two hours before the seder I have to written in medieval Poland. I need a really big brisket. call my sister for emergency backup, for parsley sprig Like maybe an entire cow. And chicken livers. Like the placement or peeling boiled eggs. whole chicken.

Back at the store, I find the last thing on my list, And maybe 10,000 eggs. horseradish root for the seder plate — a gnarled, primI need horseradish – red and white. I need fish and itive-looking thing that I grasp in my matching potatoes, matzah and parsley. Coconut and carrots. gnarled hand — and I head home.

passover Jewish Welfare Federation

Continued from page a13 include any discussion, which surely must have been enlightening.

By March 30, the Executive Committee found and hired a new Superintendent: Mr. Wm. R. Blumenthal, with whom they had “a favorable interview.”

June 7, the Budget Committee had their 1924 allocation meeting. A total of $6,150 was allocated (including $25 to the National Desertion Bureau!); in addition, $15,000 was allocated to Local Relief and Transient Relief.

Reading these minutes, it paints a picture of a community wedged between the after effects of World War I, before the crash of 1929, when its members still had no idea of what was headed for the Jews of Europe. It’s tempting to envision being in the room, hearing stories of hardship and how to allocate limited resources between the many needy institutions. It makes me wonder what people will think of us, a century from now. The story these minutes tell is that of a community that put helping others at the forefront, lay leaders who tirelessly donated time, energy and dollars to make the world better. I hope they’ll say the same about us.

I’ll leave you with a closing note from the 1924 Semi-Annual meeting, held June 12th, in the Jewish Community Center at 8:30 p.m.: “Miss Rosalind Holdsberg sang Yiddish folk songs; Mrs. H. S. Kamen gave several readings. In conclusion America was sung by all, accompanied

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The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | b1

section2 PASSOVER

museum offers glimpse of Omaha’s Jewish roots Gabby blair Staff Writer, Jewish Press Omaha has a number of large, well known museums that attract visitors from far and wide. Some of these include The Joslyn Art Museum, The Durham Museum, and of course, The Omaha Children’s Museum. But did you know that our city also boasts a number of small, eclectic museums that pay homage to the cultural and industrial histories that helped make Omaha unique?

One of these small exhibits includes the Omaha Jewish community’s own historical tribute; The Henry and Dorothy Riekes Museum. Beautifully reconstructed using salvaged pieces from some of Omaha’s now defunct first synagogues; The Riekes Museum not only does a remarkable job connecting our past to our present, but serves as a functioning place of worship. The students at Friedel Jewish Academy use the museum for Morning Prayer services, and small weddings have taken place within the sacred space created there.

Thanks to the foresight and efforts of Nebraska Jewish Historical Society co-founder Mary Fellman, many early 20th century architectural features and artifacts from the now defunct “Kapulier Shul” were salvaged when its doors closed in 1985.

The closing of this synagogue from her youth inspired Fellman to work towards the creation of a Jewish history museum.

In a 1995 Omaha World Herald article announcing the opening of the original Riekes Museum, Fellman was quoted as saying: “Such sadness when it [Kapulier Shul] closed in 1985. I thought we should save it somehow. A carpenter friend helped disassemble the pews, the ark, and the bimah in order to get them out and into storage... A kid

growing up today would have no idea this shul ever existed; they wouldn’t know where their parents and grandparents came together to daven.”

Fellman was determined to achieve her goal and approached Henry and Dorothy Riekes for help establishing a Jewish museum to preserve the memories of Omaha’s synagogues. After all, Henry’s father and mother, Samuel and Dora Riekes, had formed and nurtured Shaare Zion, better known as “The Riekes Shul,” between 1926 and 1958, and this project appealed to them greatly. They enthu-

siastically accepted, with Dorothy stating, “This gift is our opportunity to give something important and lasting to the Omaha Jewish Community which has given so much to us.”

An agreement was signed in 1994 between The Jewish Federation of Omaha, The Nebraska Jewish Historical Society and the Riekeses, which officially established space for the museum in the soon-to-be constructed Dan and Esther Gordman Education Center. With community support and donations for this project totaling around $150,000, Mary Fellman’s dream from a decade earlier became reality. The artifacts she’d saved from the scrapyard came out of their exile in storage, were reassembled, refinished and once again honored with having purpose.

In 2012, The Riekes Museum moved to its current location, just off the entrance of the Omaha Jewish Community Center, where its quiet beauty catches the eye of all who pass by the large picture windows. Entering the Riekes Museum is like stepping into a shul from a bygone age; softly lit and serene, calm holiness is tangible as you enter this lovely reconstruction.

The one-room synagogue museum, while small, contains an impressive amount of history. Upon the far side is the Herbert Goldsten Wall of Synagogue History, funded by the Herbert Goldsten Trust. This tasteful display features a detailed timeline history of all temple and synagogue see The riekes museum page b3

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passover

Herbert Goldsten

annette van de kamP-wriGHt Goldsten Trust have totaled approximately $2,367,000.

Editor Jewish Press Howard Kaslow and Joe Kirshenbaum continue tHe neBraska JewisH Histori- to serve as Trustees and cal File of Herbert Goldsten is have been joined by full of generosity—like the man himself. The June 29, 1984 Jewish Press announcement of the NJHS Board of Directors at its second annual meeting shows him flanked by Oliver Pollak, Mary Fellman and Lois Friedman. I wish I could have been in the room.

Goldsten gave $5,000 at that occasion, to go towards “the research and preparation of an exhibit of photographs of Jewish landmarks in Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa.”

He started early: as a young man, he donated $500 to the old Jewish Community Center on 20th and Dodge. “That was just the beginning,” Claudia Sherman wrote in 1993. “Now, two years after his death, his estate continues to provide funds for projects in the Jewish Community.” He stayed in the real estate business for the rest of his life; he and his brother owned several properties in the 3100 block of Leavenworth Clockwise from above: Herbert Street. One of the major gifts he made dur- Goldsten, eva Goldsten and sarah ing his lifetime was a $100,000 contribu- esther Goldsten. tion to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, previous Jewish Press editor Morris Maline wrote in 1990.

Robert Belgrade, Janie Murow and NorOnce upon a time, Herbert Goldsten worked for the J.L. man Veitzer; the late Ann Goldstein was a Trustee as well.”

Brandeis company. His earnings: $10 per week. When he But the advantage of having his NJHS file is that we have asked for a raise of $2.50, he was told ‘no,’ and quit. He even- immediate access to earlier writings, including those of Mortually ended up in real estate, together with his brother David. ris Maline, who knew Herb personally. Those types of articles At the time, he couldn’t have guessed the 1990 Jewish Press paint a more intimate picture. Two articles jump out: a piece headline would read: “Herbert Goldsten Trust activated with Morris wrote in 1986, four years before Herb’s death and an potential of $1.7 million.” editorial from 1993, after the trust had been established.

In 2014, this paper ran a robust front page article, detailing “This week,” Morris wrote in that editorial, “I want to talk the many different programs, agencies and synagogues that about the late Herbert Goldsten, a man of vision. have, since he left his trust, benefited from Herbert’s generosity.

“I shall call him Herb, because I knew him quite well and I “Since then,” I wrote at the time, “total grants by the Herbert see Herbert Goldsten page B4

Remembering Edith Rogert

P

Oliver B. POllak assOver is in the air and Edith Rogert is puttering around the JCC putting together her model miniature Seder, a project that she performed for a quarter of a century. Edith Josephine Tatum Rogert was born on June 27, 1946, in McCook, Nebraska. She was the oldest of seven children. She converted to Judaism and by the early 1980s was active in the Omaha Jewish community. She died on May 19, 2010 at the age of 63. Four of her siblings predeceased her.

She quickly took on the mantle of volunteer organization woman.

By 1981 she was a member of Pioneer Women, Na’amat, its President in 1985, and went to Los Angeles in 1987 for the biennial Na’amat convention. In 1988 she was named Jewish Cultural Arts Council Volunteer of the Year. She served on the Executive Board, Co-chaired 1987 Yom Ha’atmaut celebration, Chaired Matzo Bakery, and Chaired Yom Ha’atmaut Dinner Committee for three years.

Starting in 1984 she prepared a miniature Passover table with a Seder plate, goblet, china, silver and crystal courtesy of Borsheims Fine Jewelry. She went to thrift and antique stores to set up her displays. In 1985 she published with the Jewish Cultural Arts Council the Children’s Guide to Passover of which I have been unable to locate a copy.

People enjoyed her Seder Table in the JCC gallery, saw photographs in the Jewish Press, and in 1994 and 2001 it was reported in the Omaha World-Herald. In 1997 it served as the cover of the Press Passover edition.

Edith was a familiar face around the JCC. We would chat a few words, share ideas, appreciate her annual joyous effort at model miniature doll house size Passover Seder. A Cabbage Patch Doll sat at the table. Sometimes my wife Karen would help with the preparation. see edith rogert page B4

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The Riekes Museum

Continued from B1 first, the congregation was quite transient, buildings in Nebraska and Council Bluffs, IA holding services in a variety of locations inwith unique visual components. cluding the old Labor Lyceum building off A handsomely refinished Aron HaKodesh, a raised bimah and pews take up the majority of space in the museum.

Cases of salvaged and donated artifacts and embellishments ranging from building receipts and booklets, to prayer books and ritual items such as yads, rimonim and torah covers are displayed in glass cases throughout the room.

Display items came Above: Steve and Carl, from three former syna- sons of Dorothy and gogues, all with their own Henry Riekes, for unique and rich histories: whom the Riekes MuB’nai Jacob Anshe seum is named. Their Sholom, Beth Hamadrosh grandparents helped Adas Yeshuron and form Omaha’s Shaare Zion.

Riekes Shul (1926B’nai Jacob Adas Yeshuron 1958). They are (B’nai Jacob Anshe Sholom sitting on a bench “The Kapulier Shul” (Est. 1906) from the Kapulier & Beth Hamedrosh Adas Shul; behind Yeshuron (Est. 1920)) them, the HerThe merger and consol- bert Goldstein idation of Omaha’s Jewish Wall of Synacongregations during the gogue History, first half of the century funded by the Herbert Goldstein Trust. was not uncommon.

Many small congregations were organized, 22nd and Clarke Streets, a vacant house at reorganized and consolidated as populations 1821 N. 20th Street and in the former Amerfluctuated and moved westward. Some be- ican Upholstering Company building at 1548 came the building blocks for today’s Temple N. 20th Street. Shaare Zion remained at this Israel and Beth Israel congregations, others last address for the better part of a decade ceased to exist. until the city announced plans to develop The The merger of B’nai Jacob Anshe Sholom Logan Fontenelle Housing Project in that area. and Beth Hamedrosh Adas Yeshuron in 1951 In 1939, the congregation moved into a resulted in the creation of B’nai Jacob Adas two-story house at 1552 N. 19th Street, Yeshuron. owned by Samuel and Dora Riekes, thus Better known amongst community mem- earning the nickname of “The Riekes Shul”. bers as “The Kapulier Shul,” as a nod to the The makeshift synagogue took up the entire Russian shtetl of that name from whence first floor of the house and the upper level many of the founding members had immi- helped generate income as a rental apartgrated, B’nai Jacob-Anshe Sholom was ment. Samuel Riekes cared very deeply for founded in 1906. Services were originally the shul, and out of concern for the shul’s feaheld off 22nd & Cuming Streets in the Hun- sibility, slowly assumed full responsibility for garian Hall until the congregation purchased it. Riekes dropped any requirement for dues, and remodeled a Presbyterian Church build- and covered all expenses. As the neighboring off 24th and Nicholas Streets in 1909. hood changed, and Jewish families moved Forty years later, the congregation opted to further into west Omaha, minyans became move the entire building to a lot off 31st & increasingly difficult to come by. With attenCuming Streets after learning that the City of dance faltering, Shaare Zion closed its doors Omaha wanted to demolish their synagogue in the fall of 1958. to make way for the newly planned Kellom Mary Fellman wanted a museum that was School. In a considerably difficult and highly designed to preserve Omaha’s Jewish roots. orchestrated move requiring the removal of In her own words, she sought to “provide a many tree branches and electrical lines, the concrete, three dimensional link to the Jewish structure was lifted off its foundation and world in Europe from which most immibegan the journey to its new location. Unfor- grants who settled in Omaha, arrived in the tunately, the transport got stuck off 23rd & decades around the turn of the century.” She Cuming Streets during the worst snow storm achieved her goal, and then some. of the year and blocked the road for several What she started has become so much months until the spring of 1949, when it fi- more than just a museum. Consider if you nally arrived at its new address. will, how remarkable it is that today, in 2018, Two years later, Beth Hamedrosh Adas a full 60 years since the shuttering of ‘The Yeshuron, a smaller shul located off 25th and Riekes Shul’ and 33 years after the final servSeward Streets, merged with B’nai Jacob ices were held in ‘The Kapulier Shul’, the apAnshe Sholom. After the 1951 merger B’nai parent demise of these three synagogues has, Jacob Adas Yeshuron was still referred to as apparently been exaggerated.

‘The Kapulier Shul’ until its closure in 1985.

These shuls, and the heart, grit and deterShaare Zion “The Riekes Shul” (1926-1958) mination of their founding fathers and the This small congregation was established in sparks of the members who made up those 1926 and provided a spiritual home for many congregations continue to live on and funcnewly relocated immigrants. Over time, it also tion as they were first intended so many years became a congregation for many holocaust ago: as a synagogue, as part of our people, as survivors until its doors closed in 1958. At part of our history and as part of our Omaha.

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Joanie Bernstein wants to hear your story annette van de kamp-wright Editor Jewish Press when Joanie Bernstein first became involved with the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, it was Mary Fellman herself who extended the invitation. She joined a year after Bob Belgrade got involved, which caused Joanie to tell Mary she should put him in charge of something. Mary’s answer is something Bob might never live down: “Him? He’s just a young whippersnapper. He’s still wet behind the ears.”

But both Bob and Joanie would go on to build on what Mary Fellman started; they are deeply and enthusiastically involved to this very day.

Joanie is married to Terry; they have a son, Mark who lives with his wife Terri and children Jacob (19) and Ella (13) in Skokie, Illinois; daughter Tracy lives with sons Charlie (12) and Casey (9) in Santa Monica, California.

“I ended up running the Annual Meetings,” she said, “and Mary had me find people who would give us materials to build our archives. Working closely with Bob Belgrade on many projects was always fun and he is inspiring.

And then she met Ben Nachman.

“Getting to know him was my favorite part of being an NJHS volunteer,” she said. “Ben decided I should be recording people’s stories and work on the oral history database, just like him.”

One of the very first --and to this day, favorite-- interviews she completed for the NJHS was the one with Louise Abrahamson:

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Continued from page B2 like to think of him as a friend who added some beautiful moments to my life.

“I remember visiting Herb in his bachelor apartment where I went to gather material for a story in connection with his plan to set up a trust to benefit the Jewish community.

“He was a remarkable record-keeper and he took great pride in his ability to pull out bills and receipts going back 50 years or more. I got quite a chuckle when he showed me a $5 receipt for repairing body damage to a car he owned in the 1920s.

“During that initial interview, the story of his life became clear as he pulled out his Army records, his real estate license and various other documents he retained during his 90-plus years of life.

“After the story appeared, he called to express his gratitude, but continued to minimize his role in setting up the trust to benefit the Jewish community. I was privileged to have many in-person and many telephone conversations with Herb before he died in 1990, and during those sessions he would tell me about his hopes for the way his trust would serve the Jewish community after his death.”

The story Morris refers to is the one I mentioned earlier, published in April of 1986 (coincidentally, that year’s Passover edition).

“I played right field and third base and in 1910 was given a medal,” Herbert told Morris then. “The sponsor of the team was Omaha Public Market.”

“Although,” Morris wrote, “”Mr. Goldsten admits to being a ‘pretty good’ player, he said he didn’t come up to the ability displayed by former teammate Johnny Rosenblatt.

“Mr. Goldsten, who never married, also had a reputation in the community as being quite a good dancer. He even recalls doing some dancing at the Fort Worth, Texas, Jewish Community Center during World War I. “On Monday, he generally attends the luncheons put on by the older adult group at the Jewish Community Center. And many times, he will stop off at the Jewish Press for some conversation. And kidding!

“Are you the Herb in the Burger King commercial,” I would ask.

“My first one was a sort of “teaching interview.” I believe it was several hours long. What a warm and caring lady. She was as good at politics as she was at compassion for others.”

Joanie just wants people to talk, she said, and not get in the way of the memories that sooner or later bubble up. Interviews usually start with the subject introducing themselves, they can give their names and those of their parents and grandparents, whatever they prefer.

“I want to know where they went to school and who their friends were, because that really helps us tie different community members together. They can talk about family members, careers, avocations, interests as well as their participation in both the Jewish community and in greater Omaha.”

Once she gets her subjects talking, she tries not to say anything.

“I do remind them not to say anything they want to keep private while they are on camera!”

Oral histories, Joanie insists, are a legacy and a gift to both the families and the community as a whole. People can include photos if they wish—and most people do.

“Being at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home often, I do keep an eye out for people who might be interested in recording their story, but we also talk about it at the Historical Society often,” she said. “And sometimes people come to us of their own accord.” see Joanie Bernstein page B6

“After the fun, however, came the story about his thoughts for the future of the Jewish community, and his plans for the Herbert Goldsten Trust. Editor’s note: Now that the news is out, I fully expect my Monday morning visitor to come into the Press office and say: ‘What did you do such a big story for?’ I’ll save you the walk, Herb... your Jewish community feels you deserve it.”

It is those personal memories that are the real treasure when it comes to what’s in those files. Editors like me, who weren’t born here and didn’t grow up here, often rely on the memories of others. It is one thing to get all the facts, but it is the human angle, the emotion behind the facts that can make a decent story a great story. Like how, long before she knew the impact Herbert Goldsten’s gift would have on the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, Renee Corcoran worked at City Hall and would see Herbert and David Goldsten walk down the street.

It’s the old black and white photographs, impeccably preserved and meticulously catalogued, it’s the many stories written. Herbert Goldsten, the man who saved all his receipts, would appreciate it. Thanks to what is kept in his file, in 2018 we can still see the man behind the gift, rather than simply the numbers.

Edith Rogert

Continued from page B2 Edith had a grace and force, a smile, and a delightful handle on putting together a model miniature Seder at the entry to the JCC. She was a consummate volunteer serving many organizations. But again, for me what stood was her beaming smile while she doted over her Seder table.

I am not sure what her motivation was because it was unlikely that she had Seders as a child. Perhaps it was being around other Jews and watching their activity as Passover got closer and closer.

Whatever the reason she was inspired and it clearly brought joy to everyone who saw it.

Wish I had gone to her funeral to pay last respects, but we were in California. So eight years later I am making amends.

A great past ahead annette van de kamp-wriGht Editor Jewish Press in 2002, the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society celebrated its 20th anniversary with a special mailing illustrating what had been accomplished up to that point.

Founded in 1982 by Mary Fellman and Oliver Pollak, it established quite a legacy during its first two decades.

Throughout its first years, the NJHS had a number of exhibits that made it more than obvious to the community why the organization was — and is — so necessary. Each exhibit, from the Men of Vision, showcasing Henry Monsky and Boys Town’s Father Flanagan, to Jewish Women in Business, the NJHS exhibits are a visual reminder of our community’s history.

Other exhibits included Weddings and Brides, Memories of Jewish North 24th Street, 100 years of Jewish Organizational Life, and L’Dor V’Dor, which showcases past to present photos of Jewish youth. Visitors can take tours of the Riekes Shul, which is now located at the entrance to the JCC. For several years, it called Friedel Jewish Academy home, giving scores of young children memories that are unique to Omaha.

Other permanent exhibits grace our building, like Remembering our Rabbis, which tells the story of clergy in Omaha and Council Bluffs. Another favorite is Honor thy Father and Mother, in the hallway just between the Jewish Federation offices and the can-

teen. It marks 50th wedding anniversaries and family celebrations and includes photographs of many familiar faces. Directly across is the sculptural wall highlighting the founders of the Jewish merchant community in Nebraska and Council Bluffs. In case you’ve missed it: the small hallway to the left of the NJHS office houses the Belzer Family Gallery; it is worth a visit.

The NJHS office itself also has a number of permanent pieces that can be accessed and are sure to excite any visitor, whether they are locals or former Omahans who make the trip home. There’s that old-fashioned Brodkey’s clock; you see it opposite Kathy Weiner’s desk when you walk in.

“I’m pretty sure Mary was the one who brought that donation in,” Renee Corcoran said. “It was here when I began working at the Historical Society. Bob Belgrade fixed it so it now has LED lights inside, which makes it extra bright. I love that clock!”

And then, there is a window, a massive stained glass star of David encased in a round wood frame that marks the window between the Historical Society and the Jewish Federation of Omaha

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | b5

Kripke Library.

Although its origins haven’t been verified, it is believed the window is a surviving remnant of the B’Nai Israel Synagogue, the Russishe Shul at 18th and Chicago Streets, which was torn down in 1951, according to an article in the Jewish Press of March 16, 1999. It was purchased from Wolfe’s Antiques in the Old Market, whose owners bought it from Rusty Harmsen. Rusty had used it as decoration in his restaurant, Spaghetti Works.

“Rusty was such a lovely man,” Renee said. “He also owned Gallagher’s and lived on J.E. George Boulevard. I have great memories of him.”

Going even further back, it was owned by Helen Novak from Franx Antiques.

Carol and Alan Parsow purchased the window from Wolfe’s and graciously donated it to the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society. After the window was beautifully restored, it was unveiled at the NJHS’ 16th Annual Meeting in February of 1999.

“It was in bad shape, but once it was restored, you couldn’t tell,” Renee said.

“Joe Erman’s company, City Glass, was instrumental in placing it where it is today. We are still not entirely sure the Russishe Shul is where it came from, but we’re grateful the various owners held on to it throughout the years so that now it is back home where it belongs, in our community.”

passover

Our history, our stories

Gabby blair Staff Writer, Jewish Press Great, and perhaps not so great, moments in history have a tendency to be recorded, taught, and memorialized.

“Lest we forget; so that we do not repeat; a golden age that we should try to achieve again.”

While large scale historical events are certainly important and worthy of study, I believe it is the little stories; the personal accounts and oral histories; the funny anecdotes that are repeated like lore through families; the somber first person accounts. These are what really capture the history of a place, of a community and even of a people.

One of the greatest pleasures of writing, in my opinion, is meeting with ordinary, everyday people, and learning the extraordinary stories that each one holds. Our own little pieces of history; accounts from everyday life, that may not be remembered, grandly marked or taught, but that form an important piece of our humanity, just the same. In today’s day and age of internet searches, blogs, social media and oversharing, more stories than ever are being told to a larger audience on a greater platform far exceeding anything else in our history. see Our history page b8

Omaha Chabad: Living history and rooted tradition

B6 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

passover

GABBy BlAir Staff Writer, Jewish Press

Joanie Bernstein

Continued from page B4 Another favorite of Joanie: the oral history she recorded with Irv Forbes.

“Irv was able to go up and down North 24th Street and remember every business, every person on that street. His interview was one of my early ones, and it was phenomenal.”

Thanks to the Oral History Project, that interview can be shared with future generations for years to come. Joanie records these stories whenever someone is willing and able, sometimes once a month, sometimes once a week.

“Not everyone likes to talk about himself or herself,” she said. “But we need these stories, the community needs these stories because once they are gone, they are gone forever.”

When Joanie first began learning from Ben Nachman, the focus was mostly on Holocaust survivors. Nowadays, that has shifted to getting as many stories about the members of this community as possible.

“I remember when Ben was working with Steven Spielberg, there were many Holocaust survivors willing to talk on camera—they ended up talking about their experiences during the Nazi regime, quite often they did so for the first time ever. Once they started, it was difficult to stop.

Ben did so many of these, which was a great gift to our community.”

After Joanie completes the interview, it is Renee Corcoran who listens to the entire thing and puts it in the correct order so the story flows, Joanie said.

“She doesn’t edit things out, she just organizes it.”

Among the things that make Joanie care so much, she said, is “The passion of people like Renee Corcoran, Bob Belgrade, Mary Fellman, Oliver Pollak, Ben Nachman, Louise Abrahamson and many more. This passion is for the stories that are hidden and should never be lost, but instead be shared with the entire community.

During the renovation of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, an exhibit area was added near the main entrance. The first exhibit shown there was of Rose Blumkin; there have been many more since then. The NJHS is responsible for most of the exhibits.

“It’s been great to be able to share some of the materials of the NJHS with the residents. Memories are especially important to the comfort of their daily living.

Joanie wants people in the community to see the whole picture.

“It takes time, money and space to continue to do this, but there is enormous value in preserving the past. We strive to add to the education of young people so the leaders of our community will not be forgotten. We need the younger members of this community to care deeply, because they are part of the story. One of our goals is to get more young Jewish Omahans involved and help them to gain an understanding of the importance of preserving the past for the future.”

rABBi Mendel KAtzMAn and his wife, Shani, made Omaha their home in 1986 on behest of Rabbi Schneerson, the Rebbe, who had begun to send Chabad emissaries to communities worldwide. With no previous external connection with Omaha, the Katzmans have become a vital and vibrant part of our community’s infrastructure over the years.

In addition to raising their family of 12, the Katzmans serve the community tirelessly, always striving to do one more mitzvah. The family runs a food pantry and has hosted countless classes, services, celebrations and events around Omaha and at the Chabad House located at 1866 S. 120th Street. “We do not work in a vacuum,” explains Shani Katzman.

“Hundreds of financial partners and volunteers make up the broader Chabad-Katzman family. This interdependence breeds positive change and results; in Omaha, Chabad has touched Jews of all economic, social and religious standing, and we are proud to be part of this wonderful community.”

Anyone who has visited Omaha’s Chabad House has surely seen the handsomely carved Ark and Bimah within; most may not recognize, however, that these pieces have a rich and storied history stretching back to the turn of the 20th Century.

According to The Nebraska Jewish Historical Society and Rabbi Katzman, these pieces, along with pews, lecterns,

yahrzeit display cases, Torah covers and other items, are part of Omaha’s Jewish history, having been a part of the now defunct Kapulier Shul. In an agreement drafted March 6, 2002, between Mary Fellman, NJHS founder, and Rabbi Katzman, these many items, relegated to storage in the basement of the JCC in the late 1980s and destined to be scrapped for lack of space and interest, were given a new lease on life as part of Omaha’s Chabad House.

“Mary Fellman was passionate about preserving Omaha’s Jewish history and these pieces were important to her,” explains Rabbi Katzman. “When you have material, physical items that have been used in holy ways, I believe holiness is absorbed within them. This is partially why we bury siddurim, and worn or damaged ritual items like tallit.” Rabbi goes on to say that he and Mrs. Fellman agreed that these items should be preserved, their life extended, rather than dis-

Above: the Chabad Bimah, left, Chabad Ark

carded and forgotten. “These items are part of our community’s immigrant story, culturally, physically and spiritually.

Today’s society is quick to throw things away in the pursuit of the newest, hippest items, but I feel that some things should not be so easily disposed of. Mary Fellman worked hard to save these items in 1985, in addition to relics from other shuls as they closed. I was very pleased that we, at Chabad, could not only help save them in 2002, but restore purpose to them by using them as they were meant to be used.”

Shani Katzman agrees, “There is something very special about using these artifacts in our worship today. These items have been given a new lease on life at Chabad and are symbolic of the new life and vitality that Chabad breathes into the See Omaha Chabad page B8

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The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | B7

Bob Belgrade: A passion for history

annette van de kamp-wright there are personal items or stories Editor Jewish Press about their parents or grandparents, “mary Fellman had there is such joy! When we have the vision,” Bob Belgrade foresight to share, many years from said about one of his now those memories will provide an mentors. “Her day-to- incredible window. It is a special day planning skills were thing to see evidence of the people impressive; she knew who came before, because it allows us what she wanted and to really appreciate our history.” went for it. She singleMuch has changed since the early handedly preserved 1990s, Bob said. many things that didn’t “The collection keeps growing and see the light of day for who knows we are not just stashing it away—we how long.” take the opportunity to share it with Bob became involved with the the public very seriously. The materiNJHS because “Mary told me to.” It als are supposed to be seen and rewas that simple. searched, not “She wanted a hidden. It’s accessigood cross-section ble not only to our of people from the own community, community,” he but to many people said, “and I’ve been beyond that. As the involved one way collection itself or another ever evolves, so do the since.” Mary Fellmethods of how it is man knew what she shared, with more was doing. Once he links, including had a taste, he video and audio on didn’t look back. the NJHS website.”

Bob Belgrade curThat website conrently serves his tains a phenomenal second term as photo gallery and NJHS President information on how Bob Belgrade and is as enthusiasto obtain materitic as ever about the mission of the als—especially catered to out-oforganization. towners who need something mailed.

“To have all these materials we’ve Of particular interest is the section on collected over the years archived in a local cemeteries, about which you can climate controlled space, it’s some- read elsewhere in this paper. thing we should all be grateful for,” he “I don’t feel I spend an inordinate said. “We don’t just receive materials amount of time on the Historical Soand memories, we take great care ciety,” Bob said, “I just try to be there that they are kept under the best con- for Renee when needed and help ditions possible. Memories need with overall goals and vision. Board proper care, they need to be cata- members are there to help with ideas logued properly, with the best possi- and budget issues and policies, but ble software and the Nebraska Jewish above all, to support the staff in what Historical Society takes that respon- they do.” sibility very seriously.”

When Bob was named Jewish FedBob feels it’s important, when peo- eration of Omaha’s Humanitarian of ple donate items and files, they know the year, he said: it is babied and watched over care“The culture of Omaha’s Jewish fully. Quite often, people donate community comes from many people things that have been in the family for taking ownership. I am simply a years. Once it is catalogued and clas- product of this community. We’ve all sified through the software, there are had mentors whom we are fortunate different ways to share with the com- to know and learn from. Things only munity. work because of the cumulative wis“There have been countless exhibits dom in the room.” over the years,” he said, “from North That cumulative wisdom is part of 24th Street to the Rabbis, from the the total picture and the total story.

Riekes Museum to There was Film in While we may never be able to save the Camera, some temporary, some or remember everything, thanks to permanent. There’s our ongoing Oral volunteers like Bob, we can come History Project, which so far includes close.

600 interviews, newsletters and jour“Bob is someone who is extremely nals, the list of what we have to offer supportive,” Renee Corcoran says, is endless.” “and who cares deeply about Bob cares, because so much of longevity. I can talk to him about anywhat’s valuable to remember gets lost thing and everything and working in the shuffle. with him is always exciting and fun.

“People often don’t realize it at the Cataloguing the past and preserving time, how important certain memo- the footprint of this community for ries are to future generations. We all the future is important to him.” have to try to imagine the kind of enWhen you have a free moment, joyment children and grandchildren, check out the NJHS website at even great-grandchildren, get out of www.nebraskajhs.com or schedule a seeing remnants of the past. People visit to the NJHS office, and see for frequently check out the archives and yourself what it is that Bob Belgrade when children stop by and discover is so passionate about.

B8 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

Omaha Chabad

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Continued from page B6 community. It’s about taking the old, the history, and the past and making it fresh, and relevant. It’s about reframing old values and showing how meaningful and precious they are.”

Looking at the Ark today, elaborately carved and of excellent craftsmanship, one would never guess it had been covered in layers of paint and subject to neglect. “I remember when we had them in stor- Bus Rubin Bar Mitzvah age,” recalls Renee Corcoran, Executive Director of the NJHS. “Mary had so many things saved downstairs, it was hard to keep track of where exactly everything came from. That Ark though, it was in pretty bad shape. It had been painted over a few times in white and blue paint.

Chabad lovingly restored the Ark, having the layers stripped away, and refinished it. It is absolutely gorgeous now.”

In addition to the Ark, Rabbi Katzman draws attention to a wooden and glass display case from one of the area’s lost Shuls. “There are monthly Yahrzeit charts kept within that date way back; some of the older entries are written in calligraphy, others in script. There are many familiar names on the lists and people still come and do Kadish for those whose names are contained within, which is very meaningful.” Rabbi has also had old Torah scrolls mended and fixed, extending their life; these sacred texts bridging today’s community to yesterday’s.

Rabbi Katzman shares that he is honored to make use of other ritual items from our community’s past. “This Talmud was brought over from the old country by the grandfather of Rabbi Brooks, who served Temple Israel for over 30 years. Rabbi Brooks decided rather than display the Talmud or chance it being packed away and forgotten, he’d prefer it to be used as it had been for generations and asked if we would accept it, which of course we did. It is very special to use it at my weekly Talmud class.” Another example he cites is a miniature ark carefully crafted by the grandfather of Phil and Harvey Schrager.

“Even though it is a model, it shows the deep love that our predecessors had and poured into their Judaics; people want to preserve and pass down that link to the past and to their histories.”

When asked if Omaha Chabad maintains

Our history

Paid for by Committee to Elect P.J. Morgan

Continued from page B5 While the daily news of the world is often a cause for dissention or distress, perhaps the silver lining is that there has been no richer time for storytelling and sharing of experience and hope. Our differences are not as great as the big story dominating today’s daunting headlines would have us believe, and our small histories can help us to remember this.

Our individual histories are important, just as each thread used to sew a great tapestry are important. This Passover, as we gather together to recall the history of our ancestor’s plight in Egypt, and the miracles that delivered us from bondage, we have the unique opportunity to add our own histories to this year’s story.

In every generation, in every year, there seems to be a Pharoah; that which enslaves and burdens us. It is important to remember when faced with the ob-

archives detailing their history of action in Omaha, Rabbi Katzman says they do not maintain detailed records of every activity they are involved with the way some organizations might. “Our priority is to focus on the

Credit: Chabad of Nebraska

spiritual and the opportunities for fulfilling mitzvot; to teach others about ritual and meaning. Sure we have records, newsletters, event flyers... but our priority is to do good when and where we can and not necessarily on recording our deeds. A good analogy is that we focus more on the large windshield in front of us and less on the small rearview mirror”.

Rabbi is humble, as many in our community know firsthand that much of the work Chabad does is quiet, and done without accolades, benefitting not only those in our Jewish community, but within the greater Omaha and regional community as well.

Surely if there were to be detailed archives of their work, they would be overflowing.

A particularly poignant story Katzman shares is that of Elliot “Bus” Rubin, long time Omahan who, at the age of 90, had his Bar Mitzvah in 2009. In a 2009 article by Gary Javitch detailing the event, Rubin’s son, Danny, was quoted as saying “One day after being disciplined a little too harshly by his teacher, and with his father’s approval, my father quit Hebrew school and never had his Bar Mitzvah.” Fast forward 77 years; Bus was now a resident at the Blumkin home when he was befriended by Rabbi Katzman and daughters Shevi and Mushka, who encouraged him to fulfill his desire for a Bar Mitzvah. After learning to read Hebrew with help from community member, David Cohen, Bus had his Bar Mitzvah at the Chabad house with friends and family gathered. Rabbi Katzman reveals that upon entering Chabad House for the first time on the day of his Bar Mitzvah, Bus was shocked and overjoyed to see the Ark from his youth standing there, resplendent as it was in days of yore, waiting for him to complete his Bar Mitzvah, all those years later.

stacles life brings us, that our personal stories do not have to be about the day’s current Pharaoh. Our stories are about love, life and perseverance in the face of all odds. Our stories are about community, family, friendship and growth through good times and bad alike. Our stories are about joy, sorrow and faith.

After listening to the Haggadah this year, consider having your seder guests, young and old, share a small story about themselves. If you are feeling particularly ambitious, help record those small histories that make up the fabric of our community. Think also about stories and photos your family could share with each other or, even with The Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, so that tomorrow’s community can draw inspiration from us.

The stories we share have the power to bring us together. They are our legacy. This Passover, as we share our history, think of ways to share your history too, and together, may we leave Mitzrayim behind.

Beth Israel history: The Citation Dinners

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | B9

Annette vAn De kAMp-wrIght There was just this, much less optimistic passage: “World tensions, with atomic warfare just around the corEditor Jewish Press Box 319, FIle E, Shelf 2 at the ner, make it compulsory that we unite our forces, so as to Nebraska Jewish Historical So- muster every ounce of strength. Your Synagogue should be ciety contains seven files. In- the center of your activities, so that your community has one side, there are stories about the central spot to which all men and women turn, not alone for famed Beth Israel Annual Din- spiritual guidance but for planning and counsel in the hour ners, black and white photos of of emergency.”

It’s enough to give anyone pause. It’s easy enough to look at President Truman, visiting Beth Israel. Famous performer old photographs (look how young, and the clothes, the hair, Eddie Cantor is sitting down the hats!); it’s just as easy to forget what the world was like in with congregants, as is UNL’s 1956. In March of that year, no fewer than 96 Congressmen signed the Southern Manifesto, trying to fight the 1954 Chancellor Dr. Reuben Gustavson.

Supreme Court ruling The Beth Israel Souvenir Brown vs. Board of EducaJournal from 1952, printed tion. Marilyn Monroe marfor the first Annual Dinner ried Arthur Miller and the in the then new synagogue at phrase “Under God” was 52nd Street, features a foreadded to the Pledge of Alleword by Rabbi Sydney K. giance. Jackson Pollock died Mossman: in a car crash and Elvis “Did you ever have a Presley appeared on the Ed dream come true?” He asked.

Sullivan Show for the very “Has the realization of a wish first time. The Yankees won ever been greater than the the World Series, incumexpectation? Did you ever bent Dwight Eisenhower long for something so hard defeated Adlai Stevenson in that at times you just didn’t the Presidential election and believe that it would come America found itself in the true? I think that for all of us very thick of the Cold War. at Beth Israel the answer to First Annual Citation Dinner, Sunday, March 1, 1953 all these questions is “yes.”

Special guest at the “As we came to the Annual Dinner,” he continued, “from 1956 dinner was Cantor Moshe Kusevitsky; the event was afar, we could see the synagogue blazing with light. The billed in the Beth Israel Bulletin as The Kusevitsky Dinner: whole neighborhood was lit up with the beacons of searching “Mr. Maurice Katzman and Mr. Dan Gordman, co-chairlight and our hearts were aflame with the new lamp that our men of the Fourth Annual Beth Israel Citation Dinner, reBeth Israel has kindled within us.” ported at the last progress meeting that the demand for Beth Israel’s President at the time was Joseph L. Dienstfrey. reservations for the Kusevitsky dinner has been overwhelm“Therefore this, our first Annual Dinner in the new Beth ing. Reservations for the concert portion of the program will Israel, is a great moment in our lives, for it marks the achieve- be available until the seating capacity is filled.

“Tickets for the concert portion of the evening, scheduled ment of our great dream of the day when we might celebrate this very dinner in our new house of G-d,” he wrote. to begin at 8:30 p.m., are still available. Admission to the conThe Fourth Annual Citation Dinner was held in 1956 and cert will be three dollars ($3.00) per person.” the Souvenir Journal held no President’s or Rabbi’s message. See the Citation Dinners page B10

passover Out with despair, in with joy

“t

CAt kIng Director of Engagement and Communications, Temple Israel he SeDer IS a protest against despair,” says Jonathan Safran Foer in the beautiful New American Haggadah. I remember when this book came out about five years ago and was delighted that one of my favorite authors (Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) had created a Haggadah with Nathan Englander. As you know, the Haggadah is a small book we read aloud at the Passover Seder to commemorate the Exodus. It helps us fulfil the Torah’s command to tell our children the story of the liberation from Egyptian slavery, and there are as many ways to tell the story as there are children to tell it to. Of course, the word “seder” means order and there is an order to the traditional story and ritualized meal that we enjoy for Passover, but what I’m talking about is flair, personality and customization of the actual content.

For example, the first Seder I ever went to was at Stephanie and Barry Grossman’s house in 2005. I wasn’t even Jewish yet, but they welcomed me, a stranger, into their home to celebrate their version of a Pesach Seder. It was crowded, chaotic, and uproarious. It was a delight for every sense. It was bounding with joy and weighted with meaning. We threw plastic frogs and ping-pong balls and tried to keep our elbows to ourselves at the crowded tables. I had never experienced anything like it.

See out with despair page B10

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B10 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

passover Out with despair

Continued from page B9 Recently, I found the Grossman Family Haggadah, 2006 edition, as I started my preparations for Passover 2018. Talk about flair: this thing is in full color with photos and clipart and font changes galore. There is a Klingon translation of the four questions. There is a story that explains how the orange on the Seder plate came to be added by lesbians and now exists, for some, as an important addition to the Pesach menu to represent those who have been marginalized and silenced.

There are excerpts from other Haggadot such as Uncle Eli’s Haggadah, the Extremely Reform Passover Haggadah, and the Monty Python Haggadah. “To help us remember the story of the first Passover, we have assembled various symbolic foods on a Seder plate. There’s egg and spam, shank bone and spam, greens and spam, bitter herbs and spam, charoset and spam, and spam, and spam, spam egg and spam…Spam!

Lovely spam!” I am laughing twelve years later as I look through this highly personalized family Haggadah.

Does your family have a favorite Haggadah? Have you created one of your own? It might be fun to try it! What strikes me most about the Grossman Family Haggadah is that it is unabashedly a product of the Grossman Family. To do something so bold, and weird, and fun, especially with such a ritualized and ordered tradition, is truly in keeping with the spirit of the holiday. They liberated themselves from the constraints of the rules while still following the rules.

Pesach is a holiday that codifies this contradiction. We recline and enjoy an elaborate meal, reminding us of how far we have come into freedom, yet it is full of moments where we remember all the ways we are not free and all the people who do not know the freedom we enjoy: the saltwater for tears, the unleavened bread, the stories of plagues and hardships, and the open door for the stranger. Whether your Pesach family traditions include a personalized Haggadah or not, by sharing a Seder you are building your history into the larger history of our people, and celebrating our freedom to do so. It is a mitzvah. It is a protest against despair. And it can be a whole lot of fun. May you have a wonderful Pesach this year, and next year may all be free.

The Citation Dinners

Continued from page B9 The Bulletin also lists the songs suggested to Cantor Kusevitsky (one wonders if he argued?) and that arrangements have been made to have Kusevitsky “personally autograph his latest RCA Victor long-play album, containing ten of his most cherished selections. These outstanding mementos will be available for guests at the concert at the nominal fee of five dollars per album.”

In 1957, it was President Harry S. Truman’s turn to come to Beth Israel’s Annual Citation Dinner. Truman’s Presidency lasted from 1945 to 1953; having him accept the invitation so soon after he left office must have been quite a coup.

“The announcement (...) has evoked tremendous interest in the community and in Jewish circles throughout the country,” the BI Bulletin stated. “The newsworthiness of the announcement was underscored by the fact that it was carried by every leading news service in the country, including the Associated Press, United Press and International News Service.”

As President, Truman had recognized the State of Israel eleven minutes after it declared Independence. Truman later wrote in his memoirs: “Hitler had been murdering Jews right and left. I saw it, and I dream about it even to this day. The Jews needed some place where they could go. It is my attitude that the American government couldn’t stand idly by while the victims of Hitler’s madness are not allowed to build new lives.”

There is a famous picture of President Truman in the Oval Office, receiving a Hanukkiah from Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, while Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S., Abba Eban, looks on.

“Dan Gordman, general chairman of the Citation Dinner,” the Beth Israel Bulletin continued, “announced that he had contacted Premier Ben Gurion, telling him that President Truman was coming to Omaha to accept Beth Israel’s Citation on March 3, “In view of President Truman’s extremely sympathetic attitude towards the State and the peo-

ple of Israel,’ said Mr. Gordman. ‘We take the liberty of suggesting that it would be singularly appropriate for the head of the State to take note of the Citation that will be tendered to the President by the Synagogue.’

“Maurice Katzman, program chairman, revealed that Ambassador Eban had also been invited to participate in

Above: Harry Sidman and Harry S. Truman, left, Eddie Cantor the Citation Dinner.”

Approximately 700 people attended the dinner, the Omaha World Herald reported the next evening. Accompanied by a photo of the President reading the World Herald, the newspaper also pointed out Truman dismissed two policemen who were posted outside his room at the Sheraton-Fontenelle Hotel. He left Omaha for Independence, Missouri, and was accompanied to the Burlington Station by Dan Gordman, Beth Israel President Harry Sidman and Rabbi Benjamin Groner.

The following year, 1958, brought a very different guest to the Citation Dinner in Edward Israel Itzkowitz, who was an American “illustrated song” performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor, and songwriter. You probably know him better as Eddie Cantor. I had to look him up on See The Citation Dinners page B11

What’s in my file?

AnneTTe vAn de kAMp-WrIghT dants have something to look at long larly, yet somehow, we were incapable of Editor Jewish Press after I’m gone. updating it. Maybe because it is rare for IT’s The begInnIng of The question is: what am I going to all of us to be in the same picture; when February (eight days until put in that file? we are, someone always makes a face, I deadline!) and for the past Photos, definitely, are a must. There look older than I think I am, or my two months I’ve been are few things better than finding phe- daughter is in one of her theater getups, positively obstrange wig and outrageous sessed with the make-up included. Not really Nebraska Jewwhat my mother has in mind, ish Historical trust me.

Society. Several So, one family photo: times a day, I check. I think I’ll add some traipse over to other pictures as well, espeRenee Corcocially those I’ve swiped from ran’s shop, I’ve my grandmother’s photo borrowed, copied and pealbum. But after that? I’m not rused more files than I can so sure. I write about people, count and have written more people don’t write about me. words than I ever have for Oh, wait; there was that iniany holiday issue. It’s my tial announcement when I 17th special issue and I’m began working for the Jewish having more fun than ever.

Press in 2010. Back when I Not that the other ones was wide-eyed and had no The Wright Family: Jeremy, left, Mendel, Isabella and Annette weren’t, they were, but this idea what I was getting mytime? I’m in a rabbit hole, for sure. It’s nomenal photos in a file. Over the past self into. Maybe I’ll look that one up and an absolute miracle Renee isn’t sick of eight years, there have been numerous add it. My children’s B’nai Mitzvah anme yet. times that I ran to Creative Director nouncements could go in as well.

I keep thinking about something Richard Busse’s desk to share a truly After that, I’m stumped. Perhaps it is Renee said: If you don’t do it for your- great photo. Luckily, I actually have a enough to simply start the file and hope self, save your story for your children fairly recent one of my husband, me, our other things pop up? Should I write my and grandchildren. I had a taste of that daughter Isabella and son Mendel. It was story up until this point, un-proofed, when I called on editor’s privilege (or taken at Mendel’s Bar Mitzvah, Nov. 11 un-published, and just shove it in there? abused?) and interviewed my own at Temple Israel. Less than three months That’s an option. mother for the groceries story. And my ago, which is much more of a coup than I come to the realization: building my ego is just big enough to begin thinking you think. Up until recently, my mother own file is much harder than I thought. about starting my own file, dumping had a photo displayed in her living room I dare you to try it. Thank goodness that random and not-so-random things on that was taken before Mendel was one most of the time it’s Renee and Kathy Renee and Kathy’s desk, so my descen- year old. She complained about it regu- who do the heavy lifting.

The Citation Dinners

Continued from page b10 ‘Nth’ degree!” assisting underprivileged children and Wikipedia, because although I know his Beth Israel had an award committee for years has been the guiding spirit and name, I didn’t know much else: that selected Cantor as that year’s recip- patron of Surprise Lake Camp for boys “Familiar to Broadway, in upper New York State. radio, movie, and early Mr. Cantor has won television audiences, this tremendous esteem for “Apostle of Pep” was rethe numerous benefit pergarded almost as a family formances he has premember by millions besented throughout his cause his top-rated radio brilliant career for every shows revealed intimate worthwhile cause, irrestories and amusing anecspective of color or creed. dotes about his wife Ida “His services on behalf and five daughters. Some of the State of Israel and of his hits include Makin’ the UJA have placed him Whoopee, Ida, If You in the forefront of modKnew Susie, Ma! He’s beth Israel dinner Committee: Lottie kaplan, left, pauline sidman, ern Jewish lay leadership Makin’ Eyes at Me, Baby, bess hornstein, edith goldstein, sophie neveleff, ethel grossman, Lil in this country. Said Mr. Margie, and How Ya Weinstein, and Lil Joseph.

Gordman: ‘Eddie Cantor’s Gonna Keep ‘em Down on visit to Beth Israel on the Farm (After They’ve Seen Paree)? He ient; its Chairman was Morris Jacobs, April 20th offers us a tremendous opalso wrote a few songs, including Mer- who was a former Ak-Sar-Ben King and portunity to pay tribute to a great and rily We Roll Along, the Merrie Melodies the President of the Nebraska Board of beloved personality.’ (Beth Israel BulWarner Bros. cartoon theme. His char- Education. Jacobs was himself the recip- letin, March 1958)” ity and humanitarian work was exten- ient of the 1955 Beth Israel HumanitarIn 1995, Beth Israel honored Maurice sive, and he is credited with coining the ian Award and had had his own Katzman for the role he played in bringphrase, and helping to develop the Citation Dinner, so he knew what he ing the Citation Diners to the synaMarch of Dimes.” was doing. Mayor John Rosenblatt acted gogue. At that event, Katzman relayed Maurice Katzman was excited: on behalf of the committee and person- the story of how he and the late Dan “To have the opportunity of confer- ally handed the invitation to Eddie Can- Gordman were able to persuade Presiring our Humanitarian Award upon the tor. Here’s why the committee selected dent Truman to to accept the Beth Israel illustrious Eddie cantor is extreme Cantor: Humanitarian Award: good fortune in itself; to be blessed with “This Award has been presented an“We knew that the President had two such capable leaders as Dan Gord- nually as a tribute on behalf of the syn- lunch at a Kansas City hotel every Tuesman and Sam Hahn as co-chairmen of agogue to an outstanding personality day afternoon, so we telephoned him this historic event, is more good for- who has distinguished himself in char- one day and guess who answered? His tune than we should logically expect; itable and philanthropic activities. Mr. wife, Bess. She called her husband to the but to number among our congregants Cantor has long been identified with in- phone, we met for lunch and he acthe dedicated and loyal team of co- numerable Social Service projects to cepted our invitation.” workers who so unselfishly gave of which he has devoted the greater porAnd President Truman paid for their time and efforts with unparalleled tion of his time and energies. lunch. Those were, indeed, very differzeal and enthusiasm is ‘mozel’ to the “He has been especially interested in ent times.

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | b11

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b12 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

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Join us on March 25th to experience this Tibetan prayer brought to life.

The Livingston Foundation Fund: A model in philanthropy Gabby bLair Staff Writer, Jewish Press The LivinGsTon FoundaTion has long been one of the most generous and forward thinking supporters of Omaha’s Jewish community. Howard Epstein, Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation, explains that “The

dent and grand-nephew of the Livingstons, The Livingston Foundation Fund committee “has been steadfast in supporting what we believe Milt and Corrine’s interests would be in the community today. We usually meet a couple times per year to review grant applications, but are always willing to convene to consider appropriate requests for our participation. I believe that for the members of The Livingston Foundation Fund Committee, it is gratifying to be open and receptive in listening to the needs of our c o m m u n i t y .”

Kully goes on to say that he is proud that The Livingston Foundation Fund’s approach to philanthropy has served as a model and catalyst for other groups who are helping to make contributions to our community. “Considering where we started back in 1948, what we Corrine and Milton Livingston have been able to give Milton S. & Corinne N. Livingston Founda- back to the community is pretty amazing!” tion, which transitioned from a private charAccording to Renee Corcoran, Nebraska itable philanthropy to a donor-advised fund Jewish Historical Society Executive Director, of the JFO Foundation, has been a significant The Livingston Foundation Fund has been contributor dedicated to growing and amongst the NJHS’s greatest supporters. strengthening Jewish Omaha for the past 70 “Their generosity has helped us to preserve years. Mr. Livingston was a well-known and and archive Omaha’s Jewish history, and I behighly regarded businessman, successful in lieve Milton and Corrine would be pleased to distributing appliances and technologies that know this. Over the years, many special projwere cutting edge in the 1930s-1960s; televi- ects, exhibits, books and even general operasions, radios, washing machines, and other tions have been funded, at least partially, electronics we take for granted today. His de- through The Livingston Foundation.” A few sire to share his success with the community examples of NJHS projects in which Livunderscores how important the future stabil- ingston grants have been used include the ity of Omaha’s Jewish community was to his publication ‘Memories of Jewish Midwest: family. The Livingston Foundation, which Mom & Pop Grocery stores of Omaha, Linhas invested wisely, has given away millions coln, Greater Nebraska and Southwest Iowa’; of dollars to the community over its lifetime the NJHS Youth Exhibit; a commemorative and has helped with a great many projects, project, in conjunction with the Douglas scholarships, buildings and initiatives.”

County Historical Society, on the 1913 torFounded in 1948 by Milton and Corrine nado; the redesigning of the Our Story exLivingston with a mission to support Jewish hibit; and the transfer and digitization of institutions and projects in addition to health, audio cassette tapes containing oral histories. educational, cultural and social services in Corcoran recognizes the value and importhe greater Omaha area, The Livingston tance of community support for furthering Foundation has been a model of philan- the mission of The Nebraska Jewish Historithropy. Over the nearly three quarters of a cal Society. “The NJHS is so fortunate to have century since its establishment, The Liv- the support of the community; The Livingston Foundation has had but three presi- ingston Foundation Fund, The Herbert dents; Milton Livingston (1948-1968); Jule Goldsten Trust, the individuals and groups M. Newman (1968-1991); and Bob Kully, who donate their financial support, their who was elected to its leadership in 1991 after time, their histories, photos, and memoranearly a decade on its board. bilia — we are thankful to them all, because According to Mr. Kully, committee presi- they make our work possible.”

omaha Chamber Music society’s annual concert

The Omaha Chamber Music Society is proud to owed by her brother Felix. Yulia will then join present its annual concert at the Jewish CommuOmaha Symphony Principal French Horn Brett nity Center, generously supported by the Sokolof Hodge for Clearfield’s Songs of the Wolf, a virtuJavitch Music Fund. The free performance at 3 osic exhibition for Hodge. Finally, eight performers p.m. on March 25 will feature the works of fe– and a conductor, a first for OCMS! – will gather male composers Fanny Mendelssohn and Andrea for Clearfield’s Lung-Ta: the Wind-Horse, a work Clearfield, played by members of the Omaha Sym- based on a Tibetan prayer for peace. Clearfield phony and their fantastic colleagues in the Omaha wrote it in collaboration with Maureen Drdak, community. Yulia Kalashnikova will perform who’s gorgeous Lung-Ta Triptych can be seen on Mendelssohn’s Notturno in G minor, a work that our accompanying ad and materials. Lung-Ta was demonstrates the incredible talent that Felix presented to the Dalai Lama as a gift in 2009, and Mendelssohn’s sister exhibited both as a comwe’re thrilled to be able to present its premiere to poser and a performer, though often overshadthe Omaha community.

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Blumkin Jewish Home on the The residents received three meals a day. Breakfast at 7 a.m., JCC Campus. Before that, the dinner (lunch) at noon and supper at 5 p.m. Old newspapers Dr. Philip Sher Home for the frequently served as table cloths. In the afternoon, fruit or Aged on North 52nd Street. And cheese was served. before either of those facilities, Playmate, come out and play with me. There was no organOmaha boasted an official resi- ized schedule at the home, and residents could stay up as late dence for the elderly on 25th and as they pleased and come and go at will. There were no Charles. Surprised? Here are the planned activities, and residents often spent their day at the down and slightly dirty details. synagogue across the street, or sat around the kitchen table Any place I hang my hat is home. Once upon a time, in or in the living room on stiff chairs. There was a Victrola, 1912 to be precise, the Chevre B’Nai Israel Synagogue auxil- but no radio. iary (aka Daughters of Israel Aid Society) raised $5000.00 everybody ought to have a maid. The staff at the home conand purchased a two-story wooden house — formerly a pri- sisted of an older married couple (paid $40 a month plus vate dwelling — located at maintenance) who lived in 25th and Charles in one of one of the upstairs bedthe city’s poorer neighborrooms, and the mikvah athoods. They dubbed this tendant (paid $30.00 a house: The Jewish Old Peomonth plus maintenance) ple’s Home. With an addiwho lived in another of the tional $2200.00, a mikvah — second floor bedrooms ritual bath house — was built with her mentally chalnext-door. By January of lenged daughter. A char1918, both the home and woman came in daily mikvah were up and running. ($6.00 a week) and a janitor We’ll have a blue room, a attended the furnace in the new room, for two room. winter ($1.50 a week). AlThe house, by all accounts, though the residents dewas sizable. The first floor clined to express included a living room, dinthemselves freely to meming room, kitchen and bathbers of the Daughters of Isroom, plus two bedrooms rael Aid Society, it was with a capacity of five beds, understood that there was generally occupied by males. The Jewish Old People’s Home on 25th and Charles. Where old some dissatisfaction with Upstairs were two bath- folks are made happy. the staff ’s temperament rooms and six bedrooms. and qualifications.

One was used as an isolation room for a sick resident, and Brother, can you spare a dime? In its first 10 years of operathree rooms were used for three female residents. An addi- tion, the home served thirty-seven people, admitting two to tional three basement rooms in the mikvah housed residents three a year with a maximum of eleven persons at any one as well. Obviously, these were not desirable rooms because time. In 1928, it cost about $1.50 per day or $500 a year to of the cement floors and the heat from the nearby boiler. Po- care for each resident. Of the first thirty-seven residents, litical correctness not having yet taken hold in 1918, resi- seven were cared for entirely free, seven residents paid a dents at the 25th and Charles Street home were known as lump sum of $300 to $500 and the remainder paid an arbiInmates. Just saying... trary amount ranging from $3.00 to $60.00 a month for their All I want is a room somewhere. The floor plan of the care. Starting in 1931, the occupancy of the Home showed a house offered the residents little or no privacy, and although steady decrease, and by 1938 there were only four. the rooms were maintained in a fairly clean and neat condi- Takin’ Care of Business. Old Peoples Home Expenses, March tion, they did not resemble photo layouts in House and Gar- 1932. den Magazine. The furniture was worn-out and ugly. The • Kindling wood: $2.00 living room, dismal and forbidding.The beds, old and iron.

• M. Resnick & Sons, fish: $7.30 The basement, dirty and untidy. Although the caption on a • S. Levine, chicken and eggs: $16.31 1924 picture of the home read: Where the old folks are made • L. Baum, groceries: $58.27 happy, I have my doubts. This was a drab place to live, with See Our house page B15 1000 N. 90th St., Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114

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The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | B13

W

passover

Wondering/Wandering

HaT iS yOur connection to the past? I look at most of our Jewish holidays as opportunities to reflect on our history as a people who have wandered the globe in pursuit of safety and to put down roots.

Some moves have been better than others.

Currently we live in a time and place where alaN POTaSH being Jewish is both easier and harder.

Spending time during the Seder and recalling Chief Executive Officer, JFO the past can be very inspiring.

I recently heard what the teller said was a joke. I can’t tell if it was really a joke or something deeper, but it went like this: “Do you know the difference between being Jewish and being just Jewish? Those that were just Jewish crossed the Red Sea when it parted and those that are Jewish waited for the sea to come back and swam across.” Now I am not sure how funny that actually is, but it has a point. Moreover, we often get credit for just showing up instead of showing up and working towards something.

I sometimes feel I am wondering in the desert – not wandering, not the physical action – but wondering – allowing my mind to feel curiosity and drift over situations or events. You may be aware that insights often come while the mind wanders. Albert Einstein conceived his theory of relativity only after letting his thoughts stray from mathematics.

One of my unique Passover experiences involved sitting in the Sinai.

One year while living in Israel, I decided to enter Egypt rather than fleeing as our ancestors did. I wanted to experience being in the desert without the conveniences of modern life: running water or electricity – you know, camping! I wanted to reflect on our ancestors, camping in the desert for forty years and coming out with the promise of a homeland. Sitting on the beach in Sinai for a week, getting back to nature, experiencing the magic of the desert and Red Sea, and contemplating the difference between life in the desert and life in the city is a little like that joke. It is easy just to hang out; there is peace in sitting back and watching. But the rewards come when we get back into the real world; when we show up and do the work.

This Passover as you sit around the table with family, friends and maybe invited strangers, think about your life – allow your thoughts to wander. Are you okay with just sitting back and watching, or do you want to jump in, take action and impact the world around you?

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B14 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

passover The Temple Israel files

aNNeTTe vaN de kaMp-wRIghT Editor Jewish Press OpeNINg TeMpLe ISRaeL’S historical files at the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society is no small task. With a synagogue that’s been around for 147 years, that’s not really a surprise. There are eight boxes and one oversized file; they include copies of Temple’s Tidings from 1939 through today, endless photographs, details about activities, files on anything from groundbreaking to constitutions and bylaws, confirmation lists, B’Nai Mitzvah lists and youth groups—and then some. Where to start?

Lest this entire issue would be taken up by the rich and long history of Temple Israel, the Jewish Press decided to randomly select two areas: The Temple Israel Sisterhood and the Men’s Club.

The Sisterhood file (Box 343 File E. Shelf 5 #17) was as expected: lots of stories, clipping, meeting notes and activities announcements. But when we opened the Men’s Club file, there was disappointment. Two small diaries from the 1960s that were left blank, one newspaper clipping. It’s very, very tempting to draw the conclusion that women in general are much better at record keeping, but that might be rude. At the same time, bringing those massive Temple files down to manageable proportions for the purpose of writing this story means sometimes erring on the side of caution. Only one story? We can work with that.

So, in light of the meager findings, which one story was im-

portant enough to actually make it into the file?

Lipp Heads Men’s Club, the May 10, 1940 headline reads.

“David Goldman Honored at Stag Held on Tuesday” is the subtitle; there is no byline so we won’t ever know who wrote it.

“Permanent officers of the Temple Israel Men’s Club were named Tuesday evening at the dinner held at the Blackstone, to honor David Goldman, retiring president of the Temple.

“Louis E. Lipp was electedpresident; Max Holzman, vice-president; Joe Jacobs, secretary and Paul Blotcky, Temple Israel Sisterhood: Minette Zacharia, left, Jennie Raznick Neuman and Lillian Bergman. treasurer.

So there you have it. For the Temple Israel Sisterhood, we “Trustees unanimously elected are: David Bialac, Lawrence Gross, Donald Brodkey, Edward Schimmel, Edwin Sommer, get to dig a little deeper.

Amidst the files is a neat little green-bound book from Lou Somberg, George Spitzer, Millard Krasne, Dave Block, 1972, containing the constitution, which was adopted in 1963.

Dave Feder, Sam Wertheimer Jr. and Richard Hiller.

“The name of this organization shall be known as the Sis“Isidore Ziegler presented a gift to Mr. Goldman on behalf terhood of Temple Israel, Omaha, Nebraska,” it tells us. “The of the organization.

“Rabbi David H. Wice in the principal address traced the object of this organization shall be to further every interest history of the Jews in the United States from colonial times of the congregation; to cultivate the religious, educational to the present, Mr. Lipp was toastmaster.” (Note to self: it and civic interests of its members; to promote fellowship among its members; and to advance the program of Temple would be fun to find a copy of that speech!!).

The story also tells us that past presidents sat at the Israel and the purpose of the National Federation of Temple speaker’s table. The Men’s Club had 150 members and they Sisterhoods.”

If you have been a member for a “long or valuable” time, or were all paid up, and the evening included a musical program

by Ernest Priesman at the organ and vocal soloist Leah Gibbs. See Temple Israel files page B15

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Happy Passover

The Temple Israel files

Continued from page B14 if you reach the age of 80, you can be designated as an Honorary Member, if the Board of Directors wishes it to be so. Honorary members also included wives of all full-time professional staff members (but, we can assume, not the husbands — if there were any). As an Honorary Member, you can vote but you don’t have to pay dues.

It’s funny: under article V, section v, it states: “The Rabbi, his wife, and the wife of the President of the Congregation of Temple Israel shall automatically be members of the Board of Directors, with voting privileges.”

Much has changed in the years since 1963, especially with regards to gender equality. By the way, if you miss two meetings in a row (unless you’re sick or out of town), you are automatically removed from the Board.

Temple Israel Lu ncheon Co-chairs Looking at the list of 1972 Sisterhood : Barbara Rips an d Harriet Cherni Board members, it is immediately obvious ak that they were expected to get stuff done. You could be in 1913.)” charge of lunches or dinner, NFTY or nursery school, Family The history of the Sisterhood during its education or Uniongrams. Maybe Special Projects were up first 100 years, as told by Silvia and Suzanne, is too compreyour alley, or the Judaica Shop, or you wanted to be involved hensive to reprint in its entirety here, but if you’ve never read with the Temple choir. You could be a donor chairman or deal their book, I highly recommend you do so—not only the with the book sale; or perhaps, the Kitchen and House Com- chapter on Sisterhood, but all of it. mittee is where your talents were needed. The list of volunteer Finally, we found a story with the following headline: Tempositions takes up four pages in the publication. Another ple Sisterhood/Men’s Club plan joint Shabbat service. It’s from thing that jumps out? Every woman is named by her married 1990 and introduces Ethel Bodwin, a leader in the Kansas (last) name only, as in: Mrs. Sherman Neff, who was in charge City Jewish Community as the featured speaker. During the of Special Projects. Or Mrs. Avrum Greenberg, who was the service in question, Sisterhood installed Debbie Josephson as Executive Vice-President. its 1990-91 president; Judy Siff and Beth Seldin-Dotan as coWith that many active lay leaders, it is no surprise that the education vice presidents; Wendy Manvitz and Sue Fredricks file contains a large volume of stories about events organized as co-membership/programming vice presidents; Allison by the Sisterhood. There are fashion events, conventions are Latenser as treasurer; Martha Lerner as recording secretary; hosted and dinners are organized. There is (yay) a history of Ricky Skog as corresponding secretary and Mary Kay Davis the Sisterhood, included in Silvia Roffman and Suzanne and Sandy Passer as dues secretaries.

Singer’s excellent 1971 book Consider the Years.

Something that really jumps out: That speaker, Ethel Bod“In 1886, a Ladies Sewing Society was organized with Mrs. win, is introduced as “a successful business woman and the Meyer Hellman as president,” the story reads. owner of her own real estate management [firm].” In addition, “Its purpose was to sew clothes for the poor. It later merged by 1990, the Jewish Press identifies women by their first and with the Ladies Aid Society to provide more complete serv- last name, making it much easier for future generations to ices for the needy. In addition, these ladies contributed to- identify them. In the history of the Temple Sisterhood, we see ward the Building Fund for the proposed new Temple. In the changing role of women reflected; with their names in 1898 their donation amounted to $2,570—the net receipts of print comes a time when it is first acceptable and eventually a fair they gave! a regular occurrence that women everywhere join the work “With the guidance of Rabbi Abram Simon, the Sisterhood force full time. More women joining professional life means of Temple Israel was organized in 1903. (Rabbi Simon’s wife fewer volunteer hours, but that is a story for another time. organized the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods in

Our house

Continued from page B13 • Mr. Colnic, milk: 14.00 • S. Epstein, meat: $12.50 • Mrs. Kantowich, salary: $30.00 • Mrs. Mayrowich, salary: $40.00 • NW Bell Telephone Co: $3.75 Nebraska Power Co: $5.80 Balance in bank, April 1, 1932: $529.88 It is noteworthy that every impartial committee appointed since 1928 to study and report on the old people’s home returned with the recommendation for its closing. Yet the home remained open.

People. People who need people. In 1940, the following letter was sent from the Omaha Family Welfare Department to Jewish vocational services and employment agencies in Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis and Minneapolis: Sirs - We are interested in securing a practical nurse superintendent for our Jewish Old People’s Home. We prefer a woman between the ages of 40 and 45 who is able to speak Yiddish, and has knowledge of kashrut.

The Jewish Old People’s Home is a two-story building located on 25th and Charles Street in a Jewish-colored neighborhood.

The residents of the home consist of five men ranging in age from 70 to 90. The nurse would be expected to plan the menus, and to supervise the work of a maid and cook. She would be expected to give the men bedside care when needed, see that they maintain personal cleanliness, and carry out any medical instructions left by an attending physician. The salary would

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be $50.00 per month and maintenance. May we have an immediate reply as to persons registered in your Bureau who would fulfill the qualifications.

Sincerely Yours, Etta Frisch, Supervisor Omaha Family Welfare Department If you’re ever up a tree, call on me. Dear Miss Frisch. Was just informed by Mrs. Rauch of the Jewish Federation Service in Minneapolis of the position you have open. I have taken care of old folks for the past twelve years. I am a rabbi’s daughter and understand all of the Jewish methods and customs. I am 44 years old and in perfect health. I am not a tall woman, 5 ft. weigh 130 lbs. I am to take a position by Sunday but if you think I will qualify for your position I would appreciate an immediate answer so that I can notify the other folks before Friday. Hoping to prove satisfactory to you.

Sincerely, Mrs. Gertrude Gelb The Nebraska Jewish Historical Society Archives contain no record of whether Mrs. Gelb was hired or not. Have info?

Let the NJHS know.

Happy days are here again. WW II apparently preoccupied the concerns of the Omaha Jewish community, thus no significant changes were made regarding care of the elderly.

Eventually, a Federation committee undertook a study which led to the opening in 1948 of the Dr. Phillip Sher Home on 52nd St. The Sher Home was replaced in 1982 by the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home adjacent to the Jewish Community Center on 132nd Street. Yes, everything’s coming up roses...

A T

L A W

A Passover wish for Peace and Prosperity. mgwl.com

B16 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

Passover’s Fifth Question.

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Help secure the financial future of Omaha’s Jewish community through the LIFE & LEGACY™ initiative. LIFE & LEGACY is a collaboration between the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, and our local Jewish partner organizations: The Jewish Federation of Omaha and its Agencies, Beth El Synagogue, Beth Israel Synagogue, Temple Israel, Chabad House, Anti-Defamation League/CRC, Friedel Jewish Academy, Institute for Holocaust Education, and Nebraska Jewish Historical Society.

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The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | C1

section3 PASSOVER

Honoring the dead a first priority for Nebraska’s Jewish Settlers Gabby blair Staff Writer, Jewish Press ConsiderinG the relatively small size of Nebraska’s Jewish communities, mostly concentrated in Omaha and the eastern part of the state, it is an interesting and somewhat curious revelation that there are at least a dozen distinct Jewish burial grounds here. While the majority of these are located in or around Omaha, it should be noted that care was taken to establish proper burial locations as far west as Scottsbluff. The history of Nebraska’s Jewish cemeteries exists within the archives at the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, local area synagogues, first person accounts and from cemetery managers. omaha The city of Omaha was founded in 1854. The first Jewish settlers arrived in the city two years later, in 1856; a full 11 years before Nebraska officially became a state in 1867. Mostly immigrants from Eastern Europe and the Russian Empire, these working class families, merchants and businessmen established The Congregation of Israel, the first organized Jewish Congregation in Nebraska, in January of 1871.

The first order of business for the Congregation of Israel, which officially became Temple Israel in 1889, was to form and establish a burial society and acquire land for a cemetery in order to provide proper ritual services to Omaha’s small, but growing Jewish community. According to Temple Is-

rael’s website, “Max Meyer, Emmanuel Simon and Meyer Hellman recognized the need for a sanctified Jewish burial ground. They formed the B’nai Israel Society in March 1871, for the purpose of aiding the sick and burying the dead. In August 1871, they bought five acres of land for a cemetery at North 42nd and Redick which became Pleasant Hill Cemetery. The B’nai Israel Society then deeded the cemetery to the Congregation of Israel which later became Temple Israel.”

Chevra Bikur Cholim, a traditional congregation which formed in 1881, acquired a tract of land adjacent to Pleasant Hill in 1885 and formed the Bikur Cholim Cemetery. Within months of its formation in 1906, B’nai Jacob Anshe Sholom, better known as The Kapulier Shul, purchased a tract within Pleasant Hill shortly after the turn of the century for their congregation. Today, Temple Israel owns and maintains its own cemetery, along with B’nai Jacob and B’nai Shalom Cemeteries, which, according to the Temple’s website, “is a lovely, park-like setting which provides a contemplative atmosphere for remembering our beloved departed family members and friends.”

According to Renee Corcoran, Executive Director of The Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, cemeteries were the first priority for the state’s fledgling Jewish communities. “Cemeteries are so holy, so important. Before anything else, be it a building, a synagogue or otherwise, land was purchased to establish a proper place to bury our dead and worn or damaged prayer books. My father, Phil Ratner, Z”L, served on Beth El’s cemetery committee for a long time and taught me the importance of this; our people take this very seriously.” Indeed, the purchase of land specifically for the establishment of cemeteries immediately following the formation of a congregation emphasizes Corcoran’s point precisely.

In 1883, the same year a tragic Diptheria epidemic wiped out much of his family, a gentile farmer in rural Sarpy County, Willard W. Fisher, and his wife, Christina, deeded an acre of their land specifically to be used as a Jewish cemetery to see honoring the dead page C2

Every Passover Elijah has a standing invitation.

No matter what. We open our door. Set a place at our table. And fill his cup. This year, let's do the same for those in need. No matter what.

We thank you for your generosity and support of the Jewish Federation of Omaha's Annual Campaign, and Foundation’s endowments and charitable funds.

Together we can make a difference in the lives of those in need, here at home and around the world.

It’s more than a donation.

BRUCE FRIEDLANDER, PRESIDENT | ALAN POTASH, CEO alanpotash@jewishomaha.org | 402-334-6574 | www.jewishomaha.org

t’s your legacy.

TED FRIEDLAND, PRESIDENT | HOWARD EPSTEIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR hepstein@jewishomaha.org | 402-334-6498 | www.jfofoundation.org

Sol Kutler, as told to the NJHS

C2 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

passover

Honoring the dead

Continued from page C1 the newly formed Beth Hamedrosh Hagadol (a.k.a. ‘The Litvische Shul’), for $150 dollars. The Fisher family plot lies just outside the fence of the larger adjacent Jewish cemetery. Within the larger Jewish cemetery is the tiny Hrabik Cemetery, also established on the Fisher’s land, containing but two burials within it. A few years later, in 1913, Adas Jesurun founded B’nai Abraham cemetery on the same grounds. This combination of four cemeteries became collectively known as The Fisher’s Farm Cemetery. The two Jewish cemeteries that comprise the majority of the land are under the care of today’s Beth Israel Synagogue, according to B.I. Executive Director, Mary Sue Grossman.

Beth Israel also maintains two additional cemeteries in Omaha, according to Ms. Grossman. The first is Golden Hill, 5042 N. 42nd Street, established in 1888 by Chevra B’nai Israel Adas Russia (a.k.a. The Kapulier Shul), a congregation formed after a split from the Litvische Shul in 1885. The other is Mt. Sinai (also called the Beth Israel Cemetery), at 7800 Crown Point Ave. According to Renee Corcoran, whose grandparents were amongst the first to be buried there, Mt. Sinai was established in 1934.

Omaha’s conservative synagogue is the youngest of Omaha’s three movements, first organizing in 1929. It wasn’t until 1935 that the conservative synagogue became known as ‘Beth-El’.

According to the Beth El website, their cemetery, located at 84th & ‘L’ Streets, “was established in 1939 and is situated on

W Joey Hoffman

three acres. In May of 1999, the Etta and Harold Epstein Family Chapel of Remembrance was dedicated on the grounds, enabling congregants to hold indoor services at the cemetery.”

While the vast majority of Jews settled in the Omaha area, provisions were made for Jews in Lincoln, Nebraska City, Hastings, Grand Island and Scottsbluff, as well.

LinCoLn According to The Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, “Samuel and Rachel Polowsky bought property in Lincoln’s Belmont section in 1886, which they sold to the Chevra B’nai Jehuda Cemetery Association. This burial ground is known as the Mount Carmel Cemetery and is located off N. 14th Street. Several years later, Lincoln’s B’nai Jeshurun Congregation, which formed in 1884, acquired a section of the non-sectarian Wyuka Cemetery in 1904 and called it Mount Lebanon Cemetery.” nebraSKa City To the south, NJHS records show that, in addition to “a family plot on the Novak family farm outside of Nebraska City called Tel Shalom, Mount Nebo Hebrew Cemetery was established sometime between 1850 and 1888.” This cemetery became part of Wyuka Cemetery-Nebraska City in 1941, after two years of negotiations in which perpetual care and maintenance of all Hebrew burial plots in the Jewish section were agreed upon in exchange for land.

HaStingS, granD iSLanD anD SCottSbLuff While Jewish merchants, fur traders and trappers were See Cemeteries page C3

Hen tHe JeWS from Russia and Poland came to the U.S. in 1910, they came in through Galveston, Texas, because many Jews had been coming through New York. HIAS, the organization that took care of immigrants, arranged for the Jews to come through Galveston. My parents were from Kiev Gaberne in a town called Pavolitch (which is no longer in existence in the Ukraine as it was completely destroyed by the Nazis when they came into that area). So in 1910, my dad came through Galveston.

My dada was born in 1889. His name was Harry Kutler, but his Russian name was spelled Kotlyer.

In the United States, Cutler is always spelled with a C, so this differentiated our family. HIAS originally sent him to St. Joe, Missouri, Dr. Sol Kutler where he worked. He did not speak the language and he barely had money to exist.

At one time, he worked in a meatpacking plant, but later worked as a carpenter for the railroad. In 1913, he went back to Russia to marry my mother Sarah and brought her to Council Bluffs. They opened a restaurant on Broadway between 7th and 8th Streets where they worked for a few years.

Before moving a little further down the block to 732 West Broadway, he opened a clothing store: The Open Front Bargain Center. The uniqueness of the store was that the front could be opened up entirely, customers did not have to go through a door, they just walked by, took one step and were in the store.

I was born May 24, 1927. My Hebrew name is Bitzalel (he was the architect of the first temple in Israel). My parents were Orthodox, we walked to shul—the way we pronounced it is “shiel,” See Sol Kutler page C4

Wishing the Omaha community

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Cemeteries

Continued from page C2 known to be in the Hastings area as early as the 1860s, the first official Jewish congregation, Mt. Sinai Hebrew, did not form until 1886. According to an excerpt from “The Jews of Adams County,” written by Max Prostok and David Rosenberg, “the Mt. Sinai Cemetery Association was also formed at this time and immediately purchased just over six acres of land for the Mt. Sinai Hebrew Cemetery from Hasting’s Parkview Cemetery. Records and markers show that several Jews were buried in a small cemetery at the Hastings city limits off East 12th street in the late 1880s. This congregation and cemetery association had membership from other towns within Adams County and beyond, including Harvard, Sutton, Holdrege, McCook, Kearney, Grand Island, Central City, Aurora, Blue Hill, Red Cloud and Ainsworth.”

In 1997, Mt. Sinai Cemetery merged with Hastings Parkview, allowing the majority of Mt. Sinai’s land to be used for the expansion of the city’s cemetery.

Agreements were made for the perpetual care of all Hebrew graves and historical designation of the Mt. Sinai section; and an acre was set aside that would remain undeveloped, reserved for adherents to Judaism.

Grand Island, Nebraska, also has a section set aside for Jewish burial within the city’s local cemetery off W. Stolley Park Road. Based on a recent phone conversation with an employee, there are a number of Jewish headstones located in the Northwest corner of the older part of the cemetery, which was established in 1897. Dates on these stones typically range between 1918 and the 1940s, but little additional information is currently available.

Fairview Cemetery in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, was established in 1901. While no information existed in NJHS archives aside from the cemetery name, an interview with long-time superintendent Vince Kelly has provided new information. Mr. Kelly explained that the first Jewish burial took place in Fairview in 1978. Around the same time, 32 additional plots were purchased by the Shapiro and Russhel Families on behalf of a congregation called Beth Shalom. Mr. Kelly explained that only a quarter of the graves are currently occupied and that the daughter of Irving Shapiro, Marlena, was the point of contact for these graves.

Ms. Shapiro kindly shared her intimate knowledge of the cemetery’s history by phone, explaining “My parents were both concentration camp survivors originally from Poland.

They met in a displaced persons rehabilitation camp in Germany before moving to Montreal. After gaining sponsorship from a distant cousin in Alliance, my parents arrived in Nebraska and eventually settled in Gering in 1956.

“After the passing of my mother Clara, in 1978, my father made the decision to purchase additional plots with help of a few local families so that anyone to whom Judaism was important would have a final resting place should they need it.

Through the establishment of a small non-profit, money was raised for the land which was purchased and has been held under the name Beth Shalom. Beth Shalom also purchased Holocaust education materials that were donated to the Scottsbluff and Gering public schools and libraries in an effort to bring Holocaust education and awareness to the area.”

Ms. Shapiro explains that receiving a phone call out of the blue regarding the cemetery brought back a rush of nostalgia and highlighted the importance of sharing and writing down our histories, and she goes on to share a personal epiphany.

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | C3

“I had the realization that I am the last of the five members of my family that settled here. This little Jewish cemetery is one of the last times my brother and sister (Z”L) and I were all together. We had this ritual, that whenever we came back to Gering/Scottsbluff, the first thing we did was to have a picnic at Fairview cemetery at the foot of my parents’ headstone.

We’d revisit family stories, laugh and cry, between bites of

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This happy memory and the realization that the Jewish cemetery in Scottsbluff is now the center of “family get togethers” has made me share this story with my son to whom I have handed the responsibility of continuing that tradition when he goes back to his birthplace, Scottsbluff.”

CounCil Bluffs Lastly, while not in Nebraska, it would be remiss to not include Oak Hills and Bikur Cholim cemeteries in Council Bluffs, Iowa, which serve as the final resting place for dozens of families whose roots run deep in the area. The rich history of Council Bluffs Jewry, which dates back to 1833, and these historic cemeteries are an important part of our past, and are near and dear to many in our community. These beautiful and peaceful cemeteries, laying adjacent to each other, were established in 1887 and are just a short drive from Omaha. A 2003 merger of the two cemeteries was designed to protect the sacred grounds from reverting to city control by consolidating the management and ensuring perpetual care of the property, honor the dead and bring comfort to their living families, many of which have been an integral part of our community for generations.

When Jewish Nebraskans travel, the age old question asked of us all at one time or another is: “Are there really Jews in Nebraska?!” The answer is a resounding YES! Not only are there Jews in Nebraska, but our people have a long and rich history here; older than the state itself. Our congregations are long-established and storied, our businesses vital and our contributions many. Our people live here and die here; we are one with the land. We are part of Nebraska history, just as Nebraska is part of us.

Please note that every effort was made to provide accurate information for this article based on historical records from the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society archives, community member accounts, and cemetery database information available online. The topic of cemeteries can be sensitive; please forgive any unintentional inaccuracies. If you possess additional information on the history of area Jewish Cemeteries that can help improve historical accuracy, please contact The Nebraska Jewish Historical Society.

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TheSe TWo overSize, overthe-top beautiful cookbooks in this series: a two-book anthology, celebrate all that is seasonal, simple, and wholesome. Both cookbooks feature 68 recipes with 97 variations. The illustrations are beyond finger-licking gorgeous full page photographs, also by the author. The aim of the recipes is “aspirational and liberating” with cooking choices and alternatives as seasonally available. The “Cook’s Notes” sections detail the options. As the weather warms we enjoy the emerging produce available at local markets from local farmers and growers. As we

Sol Kutler

ease into spring after the warm, nurturing meals of root vegetables, enjoy the transition with lighter meals.

The chapters for Spring/Summer: Essentials, Breakfasts, Toasts, Bowls, Plates, Vegetables, Mains, LoiS Friedman Snacks, Desserts and Dairy. For Fall/Winter: Essentials, Fermented and Grounding, Breakfast, Toasts, Bowls, Plates, Burnt, Mains, Snacks, Desserts. Essentials cover the building blocks, the foundations and the cooking guides. Not only is the format large, so is the size of the lettering.

Some of the recipes that could be included in your Passover Seder are Spring Salad, See read it and eat page C5

Continued from page C2 the teachers crazy. We’d go outside the door and which is the Russian pronunciation—and we were yell: “Who’s a bum? He’s a bum! Rosenblum!” And very observant during the holidays. For instance, we we’d run away. Rosenblum only lasted one year! wouldn’t turn on a light at Yom Kippur and we Then we had a Cooper. He thought that he would would fast. mollify us by sending me to My parents were observant, the grocery a block away to I was not. Although when get bananas for the kids. I you’re living there you had don’t know if he thought we better be observant! You do were all monkeys. what your parents want you One time, the rabbi picked to do. I was a good boy, so up Mickey Roffman and when I was asked: “Do you threw him out the door, but believe in God?” Of course, he was holding on to the desk otherwise I’d be a bad boy! at the same time, so the And I went to cheder. I really whole desk and Mickey flew didn’t care to go but made the out the door! And we had one best of it. However, I did look teacher who used to hit our forward to playing touch foothands with a stick! We had a ball in front of the synagogue new rabbi every year, except before class. We played with a rabbi Cassel; he did my Bar Cheri and dr. Sol Kutler stocking cap.

Mitzvah. I liked Sunday We’d roll it up! Some of the boys in my class school because they taught history: the Temple, the were Marvin Richards, Jack Brown, Herbie TepperBabylonians, the Romans. I love, love history. man, Mickey Roffman and Millard Seldin. By the [My family] weren’t ultra-Orthodox. I think if they way, Marvin Richards and Eddie Cherniss made up a had to travel on Saturday that wasn’t a problem, song about Council Bluffs: Council Bluffs, Council but we kept kosher and observed all the holidays to Bluffs. How you made me shiver/ with your nice the Nth degree. My dad was a businessman who clean streets and your muddy Missouri River/ Oh was open every day of the week. He opened at 7 how I love you with my heart and I love you with my a.m. and closed at 10 at night. If someone knocked liver/ Council Bluffs—by the river. on the door after 10—we lived above the store—my And the Omaha kids would sing, In the river. dad opened up, too. It was a different lifestyle and In shul, the older men were like good uncles or work ethic in those days. grandfathers who had an old-world way about If my dad had to eat lunch or something, I’d come them. They’d come over and pull your ear, always down and watch the store even as a kid, at eight or nice and friendly. Conversations were going on all nine. If someone came in the store, we had a buzzer the time, nobody was listening, only talking, and the which would ring upstairs and my dad would come kids would run through the synagogue. In desperadown and take care of the customer. tion, the president of the shul, Sam Shyken, would We grew up during the Depression and World War pound the lectern and in Yiddish would shout: “Zy II. Those were great equalizers. So there was no Shtill!” or “Law zein shah!” “C’mon, be quiet!” great distinction or difference among the Jews in They could pinch your cheek! It hurt! And they’d status. It was almost like one big family. We knew talk Yiddish. “Klainer!” A klainer’s a small person. all the little solipsisms, their mistakes, their accents “Mr. Klainer”—either cute, nice or terrible. It’s all and their wisdom from what they’d been through. It the same! Yiddish played a big part in our growing transferred, it came to you. up; it was used often in the synagogue. Even my The 2017 nebraska Jewish historical Socibrother, at his Bar Mitzvah, gave two speeches, one ety’s publication, Council Bluffs, Iowa: History in English and one in Yiddish. If someone was getand Stories of the Jewish Midwest, is an imting up on the bima to talk, like Mr. Shyken, who pressive tome. Written by Joey hoffman, it seemed to be there forever, they’d speak in Yiddish. was made possible through the generosity of In fact, when the synagogue was first formed, all ellie Batt, Patty nogg, The Ted Seldin Family the rules and regulations were originally written in Fund and The Special donor-advised Fund of Yiddish! They talked in an accent and were practithe Jewish Federation of omaha. above is a secally all immigrants. We were the up-and-coming lection from Chapter 10: Sol Kutler’s story, American generation. And, of course, the women which will give you a taste of what this book is sat up top and the men down below, and we’d go all about and why it should be on your bookand see our mothers and they’d all kvell over us. shelf. Copies of Council Bluffs can be obtained Nobody liked to go to Hebrew school. I don’t by contacting nJhS executive director renee know anyone that ever liked to go! We would drive Corcoran at rcorcoran@jewishomaha.org.

A conversation with Oliver B. Pollak edited by Annette vAn de KAmP-wright Editor Jewish Press Oliver POllAK hAs written about the founding of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society

in the air. The American Jewish Historical Association, then in Newton, Mass., started a local society section. Conventions were held in Chicago, Denver, Hartford, Los Angeles, and in 1990, in Omaha.

Essentially, NJHS has remained parochial.

Colorado has the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society and Iowa has the Iowa Jewish Historical Society. Missouri has the Holocaust Museum and Learning Center bein St. Louis, and fore: and talked Kansas has the about it many more Midwest Center times. He was there, for Holocaust with Mary Fellman, education in at the very beginOverland Park. n Pollak ning. In 2001, Ben When I hear Oliver and Kare Nachman taped a the name ‘Nefull interview for the braska Jewish Historical Society,’ I think Nebraska Historical Society’s archives. about volunteers, patrons, officers, the contell me what goes through your mind when tinuous growth of the collection, and how it you hear the name “nebraska Jewish historiassisted me in my research. I want to recogcal society.” nize Dottie Rosenblum who, as an anonySometimes, people come together success- mous proofreader, helped me at the Jewish fully. Omaha is a Jewish Community where Press and at the NJHS. She makes us all look all branches of Judaism are balanced in brick better to the reader. and mortar with a long standing weekly what was it like to work with mary Fellman? newspaper and a Jewish Community Center, “A force of nature,” that was Mary Arbitwhich provided the foundation for success. man Fellman, and a lot of fun. She brought We had the right leadership to make it together Lois Friedman, Joie Simon, Silvia happen. Personal agendas blended into a Roffman and myself for lunch on Western shared agenda. People pitched in on things Ave. to strategize. Mary took life’s bumps that particularly interested them. Mary Fell- and turned them into opportunities. When man picked the founders carefully. They Morris, her husband of 36 years, died in were all interested in the history of their syn- 1983, she redoubled her efforts in the direcagogue or temple and were well known in tion of Jewish public service. The Midwest the Omaha Jewish community.

Jewish Singles Connector, assisted by Rabbi In the 1980s, local historical societies were see Oliver b. Pollak page c6

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | c5

passover Read it and eat continued from page c4 Asparagus with Butter, Burnt Carrots, SkilletCharred Greens, detailed information on making hard boiled eggs and Cured Eggs.

The award winning author, blogger, photographer suggests this quick pickle recipe.

Lois Friedman can be reached at ReadItAndEat@ yahoo.com.

PicKles

ideas for ingredients to pickle to be sliced, diced or left whole, depending on personal preference.

Fruit: grapes, apple, peach, blackberry, Anjou or seckel pear, nectarine, elderberry, cherry, rhubarb, apricot, plum, husk cherry, bayberry, gooseberry, huckleberry and wild strawberry.

Vegetables: green tomato, cucumber, cabbage, fennel, poblano pepper, carrot, cauliflower, green bean, mushroom, turnip, chili pepper, beet, corn, radish, shallot, pearl onion, ramp, spring onion.

Other: golden raisin, currant, watermelon rind, edible flower, chive blossoms.

Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups white wine vinegar 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 1 bay leaf

1 tsp. whole black peppercorns 1 tsp. mustard seeds 1 tsp. coriander seeds 1 cup fruit, vegetable or other item to be pickled Directions: Combine the vinegar, 1/2 cup water, sugar, salt, bay leaf, peppercorns, mustard seeds and coriander seeds in a 2-quart saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low; cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Pack the item to be pickled into a clean quartsized jar. Pour the brine into the jar and let cool.

Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours, stirring gently once or twice.

Storage: Refrigerate in a sealed jar for up to one month.

Makes 1 pint.

Happy Passover!

May we all be reminded of the blessings of Liberty and Peace that have been given to us.

PAID FOR BY DON BACON FOR CONGRESS

C6 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

passover Nine things you didn’t know about Passover MJL StAff My Jewish Learning via JTA

Here Are nine things that many likely wouldn’t know about the Festival of Freedom: 1. in Gibraltar, there’s dust in the charoset.

The traditional charoset is a sweet Passover paste whose texture is meant as a reminder of the mortar the enslaved Jews used to build in ancient Egypt.

The name itself is related to the Hebrew word for clay. In Ashkenazi tradition, it is traditionally made from crushed nuts, apples and sweet red wine, while Sephardic Jews use figs or dates. But the tiny Jewish community of this small British territory at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula takes the brick symbolism to another level, using the dust of actual bricks in their recipe.

2. Abraham Lincoln died during Passover.

The 16th American president was shot at Ford’s Theatre on a Friday, April 14, 1865, which coincided with the fourth night of Passover. The next morning, Jews who wouldn’t normally have attended services on the holiday were so moved by Lincoln’s passing they made their way to synagogues, where the normally celebratory Passover services were instead marked by acts of Abraham Lincoln was assassimourning and the singing nated during Passover in April of Yom Kippur hymns. 1865.

American Jews were so Credit: Wikimedia Commons affected by the president’s death that Congregation Shearith Israel in New York recited the prayer for the dead — usually said only for Jews — on Lincoln’s behalf.

3. Arizona is a hub for matzah wheat.

Hasidic Jews from Brooklyn have been increasingly sourcing wheat for their Passover matzah from farmers in Arizona.

Excessive moisture in wheat kernels can result in fermentation, rendering the harvest unsuitable for Passover use. But See things you didn’t know about Passover page C9

Oliver B. Pollak

Continued from page C5 ily, business and social histories of the Jewish Community Allan Gonsher and Forrest Krutter and myself, aimed to of Nebraska and Council Bluffs.” bring Jewish singles together. Online J Date followed in 1997.

People downsized, moved, and died. Their possessions, Mary was frequently the “first woman” to enter a previ- letters, scrap books, memorabilia and other artifacts were ously male domain. She edpicked over by the survivited the Jewish Press in the ing spouse, their children, 1940s. She recalled her perhaps interested grandtrepidation interviewing children and friends. There the lionesque Henry Monwas no future for many prisky. She was the first female vate personal possessions.

President of the Jewish Donations to thrift stores Federation. She mentored and the dumpster were raw many, former Jewish Federchoices. ation President Saranne Paper and photographs Gitnick among others. She take space. The digital age would draw up lists of prevails: “I can get it on the likely donors to match to web.” Sometimes it feels particular projects. She enlike Passover and Spring joyed putting together ice cleaning all year long. Accream socials. cumulators, savers and colMary loved her Judaism, lectors are treated with she loved Beth El, and she some derision and opproloved her Nebraska. Drivbrium, as though they were ing to Lincoln or Pawnee obsessed or demented City to a Chautauqua she hoarders out of sync with would exclaim “Isn’t Nethe environment. Archives braska beautiful?” as we are the appropriate reposiKaren Pollak and Mary fellman passed corn fields and vertory for family papers. dant hills. She talked about her brother who died in the What may be considered trivial today may provide precious Army in 1941, her mother and father, Mom and Pop gro- and valuable insight for future generations of researchers. ceries, her sister Annie, her children and grandchildren in Libraries overwhelmed with space issues may deactivate Minnesota and Boston, and her many uncles, aunts, cousins, collections. We have out-spaced ourselves; a feature comnieces, and nephews. Mary treasured family. mon to successful libraries and archives who establish lowerMary sensed needs before they were articulated. She cost off-site storage with access and options for retrieval. matched needs to constituencies. “Life would be better if we How do you think this benefits the community? future generahad this.” “They are doing this in Philadelphia, why don’t tions? Out-of-towners? we do it here?”

“An unexamined life is not worth living” – Was Socrates Back then the Jewish Press came in the Friday mail, setting correct? Cities, civilizations, and cultures thrive when there her mood for Shabbos. At her Shabbos dinners she is memory and the present is preserved for the future. Even adamantly would not let you in the prepping kitchen nor where there are more cows than people, and no traffic lights, admit you during the cleaning stage. you may find a museum; it reflects our values and the imShe had an extraordinary fertile intuitive mind and was portance of identity and heritage. the quintessential organizer. My wife Karen added: “There Out-of-towners come in two categories; people who write was never a dull moment, she was always one step ahead.” letters, send emails and telephone, and people who visit.

Mary’s vision led to the Corridor of Jewish History, Henry People all over the United States and in Europe occasionally & Dorothy Riekes Museum, the Herbert Goldsten Wall of send letters to the Federation searching for a relative, friend Synagogue History, and many other tangible and intangible or classmate. Every so often I get a call, help as much as I can amenities. and refer them to the NJHS or Federation as appropriate.

Mary died on July 6, 2008, in Minneapolis at the age of Out-of-towners visiting Omaha for simchas, JCC events 91. She is missed. Sometimes I ask, ‘What would Mary do?’ and The Klutznick Symposium are given tours of the JCC is today’s massive collection what you expected when you and are invited to stop in at the Historical Society and the first started this?

Riekes Museum. The Museum is front and center as you It started out as an idea, a cardboard box, housed in the Ham come into the J’s main entrance.

Radio Operator closet. Our first exhibition, One Hundred By the way, historians are loath to make predictions and Years of Jewish Life in Omaha (1984), still hangs in the JCC. with good reason. In 1983 I counted the Council Bluffs JewMary and I gave presentations at sisterhood luncheons ish community off the map. Boy, was I wrong! In 2017, they and from the bimah in Omaha, Lincoln and Sioux City. Our received over 50 new chairs courtesy of Shirley Goldstein, pitch: making congregations aware of our existence and and various renovations are planned for the building conmission. We spent much time framing our mission, “To col- structed in 1931. lect, publish and display materials which pertain to the fam- See Oliver B. Pollak page C8

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | C7

groceries

aNNette vaN de kamP-wright Editor Jewish Press iN 2011, the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society published a volume with the title Mom and Pop Grocery Stores.

It’s dedicated to the memory of Ben Nachman who inspired the project: “Ben believed everybody had a story to tell. He felt that instead of traditionally burying loved ones with their stories, we desperately need to preserve them,” reads the foreword.

“He believed that way about the history of Jewish grocers in our area and the people who owned and operated the small stores on which every

a grocery store in her or his family history?

There’s Abe’s Groceries and Meats, owned and operated by Abe and Rose Cohen. Abe came from Russia to the United States in 1923; Rose came later that year from Lithuania. They met at night school, married in late 1924 and had two children, Florene and Alvin.

Abe purchased the store in 1942: “Although Florene was only eight years old when the store was purchased, she worked the checkout counter (after a crash course in how to use an adding machine, cash register and scale).”

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Joris and Pietertje in front of their store in Pernis, Netherlands, ca. 1954

neighborhood depended. The kind of stores where both owner and spouse could be found behind the counter for long hours every day. Ben felt an affinity with these people, perhaps because his own parents were among the vast number of such “mom and pop” small business owners.”

Looking through its pages, I can’t help but think about my own greatgrandparents. I never met them, but there is a picture of them standing outside their store in Pernis, the Netherlands. Apparently, there was not enough room for the photographer to go inside—although I have no way of knowing if that story is actually true. Time to call my mother.

After an hour of asking questions, I come away with a much more complete history about my great-grandparents and I wonder why it took me this long to ask. It drives home — in a very personal way — why Renee Corcoran, Kathy Weiner, the lay leaders and donors put so much effort into preserving these stories.

More than 150 grocery stores in Omaha, Greater Nebraska and Southwest Iowa are represented in the NJHS publication. It makes one wonder, is there anyone who doesn’t have

Of course, Baker’s Supermarket is included. The first one was located in Walnut, Iowa, and opened its doors in approximately 1927. Ultimately, there would be 12 Baker’s Supermarkets in total; one of them is located within five minutes of my house—my daughter shops there all the time. We used to have a closer one but that’s since been turned into a Fresh Thyme.

But I still tell people to ‘turn right after Baker’s Square’ when I give them directions to our house.

There’s Epstein’s Family Store on 20th and Martha; Tuffy Epstein remembers: “We lived above and behind the store. I was four years old and my brother Ira was seven. It was at this time that he was put to work in the store. He could make change and keep track of “charged” groceries and do most anything else an adult clerk could do. Three years later when I was seven, I was expected to do the same. Since I made an error in making change to perhaps my first customer, I was never again allowed behind the cash register.”

From the section on Handy Dandy Grocery (surely one of the best names ever): “It was a little neighborhood store.

It seemed like there was a little store on every corner. Thinking back, there had to be ten or 12 small grocery stores close. As an example, Dave Wine had a store around the corner from us. There was an O.P. Skaggs store on 19th and California. There was a store on 20th. I think the Lipseys had a store on 20th. The Plotkins had a store on 20th and Cass See groceries page C10

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Continued from page B6 How about the benefit to the non-Jewish community?

You don’t have to be Jewish to study Jewish history. Numerous history graduate students at UNO work on topics that intersect with Omaha Jewish life.

The well-organized archives and the institutional memory of volunteers from Mary Fellman, Sharon Kirshenbaum, Susan Silver, Ophira Behar to Barbara Bressman, professionals like Renee Corcoran and Kathy Weiner and the scores of people who served on the Board of Directors opened doors to the past.

Public and private school students, college and university undergraduates and graduates, people writing papers, theses and dissertations all benefit from their hard work.

Plus, of course, the same audience can see the fruits of this research in Memories of the Jewish Midwest, now in its 15th volume, and the Newsletter which is distributed well beyond the Jewish community through library subscriptions. The NJHS is a beacon welcoming all interested in local culture and the larger context of the Jewish World.

What do you think the future of the NJHS looks like?

Non-profits have overheads. Historical societies rely on memberships and donations. Culture, art and performance may benefit from tourist revenue, public support and endowments. Mary Fellman knew how to tap pockets, and how to match projects to the donor’s interests. She pioneered the “ask” before the term was common. It’s about institutional “sustainability.” Dreams of exhibits and programs lead to identifying likely angels. We will soon see how the December 2017 tax reform affects charitable giving. As Cecil Rhodes said, “Pure philanthropy is very well in its way, but philanthropy plus five percent is a good deal better.”

How do you think collections will change, now that so much of what we collect and communicate is electronic?

That’s a tough one. Smart people predicted in the late 1960s that card catalogs would be replaced by online catalogs, books would give way to reading on a screen, and newspapers would slowly decline. They were right. I can access a wide range of electronic sources from home. It’s efficient, saves mileage, and saves thousands of hours. I can now locate in a fraction of a second information that would be so overwhelmingly time consuming that I would not otherwise attempt it. Correspondence, letters, postcards, manuscripts, photographs, legal documents are invaluable primary sources. Email, Instagram, texting and the ever-expanding array of non-print communications will change research procedures. They also open up the potential for using metadata and algorithms to process huge amounts of material and produce global theories.

When I was a graduate student in the 1960s, miniaturization, reproduction, microfilm, microfiche and micro cards were the rage. Although state of the art, they were user-unfriendly. That is no longer the case.

Affordable information science technology, the word processor, was in its infancy. I got my first desk top, with floppy disks, in 1984. Photocopying was a big boon, as is the iPhone camera.

On a Sunday afternoon in January 2018, I presented The Fleyshik State: Episodes in Nebraska Jewish History at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center. Almost all the guests had Nebraska connections; Omaha, Lincoln,

McCook. In preparation, I looked at my 1982 essay on Omaha peddlers and compared it to what today is available electronically.

I found several clippings in the Omaha World-Herald and the Omaha Daily Bee. The World-Herald had an early morning Bull Dog, a morning, afternoon and evening, and sporadic extra editions. Electronically, these news reports were available within seconds.

While my 1982 story does not materially change, what I found online did enhance, enrich and provide a finer grain to the story. Alas, no second editions for journal articles.

Do you know what’s in your own file?

I have an idea what is in my file. My mentor, Professor John S. Galbraith at UCLA had deposited the letters I wrote him from Rhodesia to the University of California at San Diego Archives. The archivist wrote, “Of special interest are letters from Oliver Pollak during the 1970s. Pollak taught in South Africa, and he discussed in his letters the political problems which beset the region.”

I have donated research material accumulated in writing 10 books and over 700 articles, quite a paper trail, to the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Creighton University Law School and Archives, the University of Nebraska, Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, Nebraska State Historical Society, the Douglas County Historical Society, University of Iowa Archives, YIVO, and Leo Baeck Archives. It’s out of my hands, except for 12 linear feet of my publications, 160 linear feet of notes, files and research material, and three thousand books.

What would you like to say to community members about how they can use the Historical Society?

The Jewish Bulletin ran from 1916 to 1920. The Jewish Press started in 1920 and is approaching its centenary. The Federation Library was started by Paul Veret in 1947. The Historical Society dates from 1982. The resources of these three institutions form a finer understanding of society. Each enriches and complements the other.

Oh, my gosh. Family history is hot.

Genealogy is hotter! DNA research is a booming business. As people retire, they may have time for unfinished or new projects. I have three cousins seriously investigating their German, Austrian, French, and Swiss backgrounds.

When I started researching and writing Jewish history in the early 1980s, I knew little about Jewish history and less about Nebraska history. I read the Jewish Press 1916-1982, cover to cover, microfilm from 1916 to the 1940s, hard copy after that, twice. I identified what looked interesting and took notes on what to come back to. The first fruit, The Jewish Peddlers of Omaha, appeared in Nebraska History in 1982.

My interest in Jewish history started in Omaha.

When we were looking for a house in the mid-1970s, the MLS listed the parish the house was in. My parochial interest leaned to Jewish. Our eldest son Noah started Hebrew School at Beth El. I taught a film course at UNO which included the 1929 film Disraeli: Man of Mystery, starring George Arliss, which I also showed on a Sunday afternoon at the JCC in 1980. This led to conversations with Mary Fellman and Judge Sam Cooper.

My first Jewish Press articles appeared in the April 1981 Passover issue, Journey to the New World and A Modest Man, about Eli Bitner.

So when Mary approached me about doing something about Omaha, Nebraska and Midwest Jewish history, I was prepared.

The Historical Society is part of a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle.

Thankfully, we have an alphabet. History is not permanent; it changes. Detectives follow leads, and one thing leads to another. In December 2017, my cousin showed me a letter he received from our grandfather from Theresienstadt, dated Aug. 16, 1945. I contacted Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and by midJan. 2018 I had 30 documents about my German grandfather and Austrian Grandmother.

What I learned from the NJHS was how to invest in the community. Very soon after arriving in the Bay Area, I contacted the Richmond Museum of History, housed in a 1919 Carnegie Library, and fell into a Holocaust project that morphed into a museum exhibition, Pioneers to the Present, The Jews of Contra Costa County, set to open in November 2018. The seven years it took me to engage in Omaha took two months in California. My longish Omaha learning curve was amply rewarded.

Beth El from inside the architect’s head

OzzIE NOgg

If YOu OPEN the Hebrew Bible to the Book of Kings, you’ll find a description of King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. You’ll learn its dimensions in cubits, picture the windows placed high in the Temple walls, the building blocks of quarried stone and roof beams of cedar planks. You’ll also read how Solomon formed within the Temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place, where he set the Ark of the Covenant. Architectural details abound, but the biblical narrative gives little insight as to what inspired Solomon to design the Temple as he did.

If you open Archival Box 312 at the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, you’ll find a copy of remarks given by Moe Finegold, the architect who designed Beth El Synagogue on 144th and California.

Titled From Concept to Reality: The Architect’s Vision, Moe’s remarks were delivered from the Beth El bimah on Friday night, Dec. 6, 1991, during the synagogue’s dedication weekend. His speech, paraphrased below, offers a glimpse of what influenced Moe Finegold when he designed Beth El Synagogue. The next time you enter the building or sit in the Chapel or Sanctuary, consider these words:

Where does the goal come from? How does the vision start? Beth El wanted a synagogue that would express the spirit of the congregation and be considered a home by all its members. A Sanctuary in which the Jewish requirement for community worship could be fostered in a space that was warm, intimate and accessible. So the vision begins with these intangibles, mixed with a knowledge and philosophy of building design in general, and synagogue design in particular.

The Hebrew word zachor - remember - is a word dominant in our liturgy and in our daily lives. Over the years I’ve reexamined my ancestral roots and wondered what it was like for my grandfather in Russia at the turn of the century under the Czar.

How was it possible to survive and observe Jewish traditions, and in what kind of space did my grandfather confirm his faith every day. During the years I spent working on the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, I learned a great deal about lost communities and their places of faith. I looked through history books and found certain images had an irresistible pull that said, ‘Remember.’

Out of those visions, the Beth El space developed.

A space that recalls early wooden synagogues of our Eastern European roots, with windows that recall the arched space often found in the architecture of the Middle East and in Jerusalem itself.

See Inside Beth El page C11

Michael Halsted, MD

Peter Whitted, MD, JD Mark Emig, MD David Hanks, DO Teri Geist, OD Martin Mizener, MD Scott Greder, OD Mindy Dickinson, OD David Ingvoldstad, MD

Jill Grennan, MD Jerry Damme, OD Abigail Jackson, OD Michael Feilmeier, MD Krystal Wells, OD Matthew Willis, OD Matt Appenzeller, MD Rachel Mercer, MD

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | C9

passover Things you didn’t know about Continued from page C6 rain is scarce in Arizona, which allows for a stricter standard of matzah production. Rabbis from New York travel to Arizona in the days leading up to the harvest, where they inspect the grains meticulously to ensure they are cut at the precise moisture levels.

4. At the seder, Persian Jews whip each other with scallions.

Many of the Passover seder rituals are intended to re-create the sensory experience of Egyptian slavery, from the eating of bitter herbs and matzah to the dipping of greenery in saltwater, which symbolizes the tears shed by the oppressed Israelites. Some Jews from Iran and Afghanistan have the tradition of whipping each other with green onions before the singing of “Dayenu.”

5. Karaite Jews skip the wine.

Karaite Jews reject rabbinic Judaism, observing only laws detailed in the Torah. That’s why they don’t drink the traditional four cups of wine at the seder. Wine is fermented, and fermented foods are prohibited on Passover, so instead they drink fruit juice. (Mainstream Jews hold that only fermented grains are prohibited.) The Karaites also eschew other staples of the traditional seder, including the seder plate and charoset. Their maror (bitter herbs) is a mixture of lemon peel, bitter lettuce and an assortment of other herbs.

6. Israeli Jews have only one seder.

Israeli Jews observe only one Passover seder, unlike everywhere else where traditionally two seders are held, one on each of

the first two nights of the holiday. Known as “yom tov sheni shel galuyot” — literally “the second festival day of the Diaspora” — the practice was begun 2,000 years ago when Jews were informed of the start of a new lunar month only after it had been confirmed by witnesses in Jerusalem. Because Jewish communities outside of Israel were often delayed in learning the news, they consequently couldn’t be sure precisely which day festivals were meant to be observed. As a result, the practice of observing two seder days was instituted just to be sure.

7. You’re wrong about the orange on the seder plate.

Some progressive Jews have adopted the practice of including an orange on the seder plate as a symbol of inclusion of gays, lesbians and other groups marginalized in the Jewish community. The story goes that the practice was instituted by the feminist scholar Susannah Heschel after she was told that a woman belongs on the synagogue bimah, or prayer podium, like an orange belongs on a seder plate. But according to Heschel, that story is false. In that apocryphal version, she said, “a woman’s words are attributed to a man, and the affirmation of lesbians and gay men is erased. Isn’t that precisely what’s happened over the centuries to women’s ideas?”

8. “Afikomen” isn’t Hebrew.

For many seder participants, the highlight of the meal is the afikomen — a broken piece of matzah that the seder leader hides and the See Things you didn’t know about page C10

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C10 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

passover Things you didn’t know about

Continued from page C9 children search for; the person who finds the afikomen usually gets a small reward. Most scholars believe the word “afikomen” derives from the Greek word for dessert. Others say it refers to a kind of postmeal revelry common among the Greeks. Either theory would explain why the afikomen is traditionally the last thing eaten at the seder.

9. For North African Jews, after Passover comes Mimouna.

Most people are eager for a break from holiday meals when the eight-day Passover holiday concludes. But for the Jews of North Africa, the holiday’s end is the perfect time for another feast, Mimouna, marking the beginning of spring. Celebrated after nightfall on the last day of Passover, Mimouna is marked by a large spread of foods and the opening of homes to guests. The celebration is often laden with symbolism, including fish for fertility and golden rings for wealth.

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

Groceries

Continued from page C7 the nearby factories. During herring season, ferry; running an errand like that would Street. Ben Wine had a store on 18th and from June to September, he’d stand outside take at least an hour and a half, sometimes California. Going west there was a store on and bake fresh herring.” two hours.

24th and California, and a store on 24th and My great-grandmother, Pietertje Masten“In 1956, Grandma had a stroke. It hapChicago. These were little grocery stores, broek, often took my mother with her to the pened while she was behind the counter. mostly owned by Jewish people. A lot of store when Mom was little. She’d take a taxi, Grandpa sent notice to my father to please them lived behind the grocery store, where then get on the ferry to where the store was have me come over right after school, so I they raised their families.” (Don Dandy) where my mother loved to play as a child. went and found her very confused. I took It goes on and on, story after story, mem- When Mom was older, they put her to work: her with me on the ferry and then took a ories, personal anecdotes, photographs taxi and brought her home. It was the bethat facilitate a true understanding of ginning of the end; she became bedridhow hard those early generations worked. den and eventually didn’t recognize When I spoke with my mother, I found anyone. Except for one time, when I had out my great-grandparents didn’t have cut my hair. I was a teenager and I wanted one, but two stores. The first one was short hair. Grandma loved my long hair even smaller than the one I have the and when she saw me, she reached out photo of, about four by five meters. They and put her hand on my neck. She said: opened it when my great-grandfather “Your hair.” I regretted cutting it so much, Joris Poldervaart, who was a sailor, was I remember it to this day. She died at age no longer allowed on any boat due to the 82 and my grandfather closed the store War. They didn’t own the store but rented soon after she died. He was at least three it from someone else; they sold milk, years younger than she was and lived some groceries, served coffee and tea on until 1967.” the premises and when they ran out of My Mom, Petra and her sister Immy at school during Had Renee not handed me this book, I supplies, Joris got into a fight with a Ger- the late 1950s might not have asked my mother any man soldier who insisted he was hiding questions. I wouldn’t have known that the food. According to family legend, he became “The sailors would come off their ships to photo I have was of the second store. I would so enraged, he physically grabbed the soldier get groceries and refill their tobacco; they’d not have known about that moment that my and shoved his head into the icebox so he stay for coffee with cake. It was a sort of can- great-grandmother broke through her fog to could see for himself it was empty. I asked teen, as much a place to hang out as do your notice my mother’s hair. This story wouldn’t how he survived that encounter, but my shopping. When the factories nearby had have run so long, and if you’ve read this far, mother has no idea. “If that story is true, he’s their lunch break, the workers would come thank you for indulging me. lucky he wasn’t shot on the spot,” she said. to the store as well. They’d often tip me a The NJHS Grocery project was funded by They opened a new store after the War. It dime or 15 cents—which I was allowed to Stan and Norma Silverman; the Herbert didn’t have a name, but was simply called: keep. It added up! Grandpa would open the Goldsten Trust; the Special Donor Advised ‘the store.’ It was slightly bigger, there were store at 7:00 in the morning, Grandma Fund of the JFO Foundation; the Milton and a few small tables inside where people could would get there by 8:30 or so—she always Corrine N. Livingston Foundation, Inc.; the drink their coffee and eat pastries. took a later ferry. Sometimes we’d run out of Murray H. and Sharee C. Newman Support“It had a small kitchen, so my grandfather cake or cigarettes and Grandpa would send ing Foundation; Doris and Harry Alloy; could cook. During the winter months, he me back to town to get more. So I’d get on Sheila and John Anderson; Toby Fellman; would make large pots of pea soup for the the ferry, run to the warehouse and get extra Doris Raduziner Marks; In Honor of Larry customers who came from the harbor and supplies on credit, run back, get back on the Roffman’s 80th Birthday.

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Inside Beth El

Continued from page C9 I was also struck by a phrase from the Book of Exodus that describes the time when Moses stood before the burning bush and God said, “...take off your shoes from your feet, because the ground on which you are standing is holy unto me...” This quotation suggests that perhaps it is not just the space itself, but the way one approaches a space - or ‘stood before it’ - that evokes its spiritual quality. I have often asked myself what makes a space holy or spiritual, and this is one of the questions that guided me as I thought about the Beth El design.

I wanted very much to have the synagogue building separate from the parking. I understand the need for parking and close access, but I also believe that one needs to move gently from the outside into a worship space. The solution was to place the building on an earth podium that separates it from the asphalt, permits a green space all around, and facilitates a sequential entrance, beginning with the outside forecourt. It is a separation, like the Havdalah service, separating the spiritual from the secular.

I also wanted to create a single point of entry, so people could enter the heart of a unified a building and always be near or in the presence of the Sanctuary. The single point of entry maximizes the opportunity to meet one another whenever one is in the synagogue, whether for prayer, for a meeting, for business, or for celebration. This coming together happens in the Community Court, the interior public square of the synagogue, a place for kiddush or other small gatherings. A space that encourages people to stay a while and connect with one another.

The Chapel was designed to be a jewel, the shape of the ceiling a play on the geometry of the Star of David, so you feel you’re standing inside the facets of a jewel, rather than being on the outside looking in.

The Chapel colors are a metaphor for Joseph’s coat of many colors.

The natural light coming in around the Ark is a continued connection with nature and the changing quality of light, just as it may be experienced in the Sanctuary.

The word ‘synagogue’ is a Greek word whose origins are from the root to bring together, and from earliest times synagogues have been gathering places which served many functions: as a House of Prayer, a House of Study and a House of Assembly. The prayer/study function has been the subject of theological debate, and the design of the Beth El sanctuary reflects the belief that study and prayer are not separate functions, but that they overlap. The Ark is often considered a profound symbol representing the centrality of the law, the written tradition. The bimah is the symbolic representation of the importance of the congregation in study. In the Beth El sanctuary, we brought the bimah forward, closer to the congregation, so they could more easily participate in the study and reading of Torah.

The Sanctuary is surrounded by a work of art in fabric. Functionally, these curtains act as a closure to the expansion pods. Conceptually, the curtains represent the six active days of creation, in color and in symbol. The curtain on the north depicts the First Day and the creation of light, a bright sliver, like the world emerging from a great eclipse.

The sun and the cloud represent the ability to differentiate between light and darkness, between day and night. The days of creation go sequentially around the Sanctuary with the seventh day, the Sabbath, represented in the Ark doors — a composite of the previous symbols.

The theme is carried further in the design of the ner tamid, the eternal light. The central volume, the sun, is surrounded by a larger geometry representing the universe. The menorah is a three-dimensional tree-like See Inside Beth el page C12

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The best vegetarian matzah ball soup Vicky cohen and Ruth Fox The Nosher via JTA

Let’s Face it: There’s just something wonderfully soothing about seeing a steaming bowl of matzah ball soup with its pillowy-plump dumplings swimming in a bath of golden broth.

This healing vegetarian matzah ball soup delivers all the “ah” of its traditional cousin with precisely the right amount of goodness (and good-for-you-ness) thanks to a clever use of shiitake mushrooms, tomato paste and a pot full of seasonal vegetables. Whether you add our healthy matzah ball soup to your Friday night dinner routine or prepare a large pot for lazy Sunday afternoons for the family, this soup is certain to satisfy the stomach and soul.

When we first considered a vegetarian alternative to chicken soup, we knew that we didn’t want to use bouillon cubes, powders or vegetable broth. The question was, how could we create a deep, rich taste that would satisfy our family? The first thing we did was caramelize some tomato paste with olive oil in order to enhance the flavors of the tomatoes and oil; then we added fresh shiitake

inside Beth el

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continued from page c11 configuration. Together with the Torah holders, these works in patinized bronze form a family of sculpture.

What I designed is not a simple, pure statement, but an eclectic composite of references and ideas.

The Beth El sanctuary is a space that can be enjoyed as a whole volume, or by focusing on the aesthetics of a particular detail — the dark toned arches that form a dome, the lighter wood trusses and roof, the bimah wall with the Commandments, or by looking up at the arched windows to notice a passing cloud. The Beth El sanctuary is a space intended to bring support, comfort and joy to those who gather together in worship or in celebration of life cycle events.

The Book of Kings tells us that after Solomon completed his Temple, he asked, “ ...but will God indeed dwell on earth? Behold, the heaven cannot contain Thee: how much less this house that I have built...” Try as we might to build a spiritual place worthy of our tradition, a synagogue is, after all, a

mushroom tops for their chicken-like texture and rich almost-smoky flavor.

Additional depth came from a cheesecloth bag filled with delicious ingredients — red and yellow onions (skins still on to create a rich-colored broth), carrot, parsnip and celery, dill, parsley and a whole head of garlic.

We also cooked the matzah balls in the vegetable broth instead of cooking them separately, so they could absorb the flavor of the broth. The result was a rich, deep-flavored broth where the chicken was not missed.

This soup is easy to make and can be dressed up or down. Try serving it in an elegant china bowl with a steamed bundle of julienned carrots, zucchini and yellow squash for a sophisticated first course to a formal dinner. You can also cut plenty of root vegetables (sweet potato, turnips, butternut squash) into a large dice and cook together in the soup for a delicious more rustic soup.

Vicky Cohen and Ruth Fox are sisters who were raised in Barcelona, Spain. Their parents are Syrian-Lebanese Jews but now they live, cook and blog from the East Coast of the U.S. about their family recipes and healthy eating at MayIHaveThatRecipe.com.

The Nosher food blog offers a dazzling array of new and classic Jewish recipes and food news, from Europe to Yemen, from challah to shakshuka and beyond. Check it out at www.TheNosher.com. see Best vegetarian matzah ball soup page c14

Above: Bob epstein, left, Louie Blumkin and steve Riekes; far left: Rabbi kripke and left: Don nogg

structure made by man.

This brings me to the unfinished niche in the Beth El entry vestibule. Meant to be a reminder of the destruction of the Second Temple and other losses in Jewish history, the unfinished space is also — for this architect — a reminder that no man-made work is ever perfect. It is, at best, a striving for the best solution to a particular problem.

I am honored to have been your architect, and hope that your synagogue — this Beth El — will bring you years of communal and spiritual fulfillment.

Maurice (Moe) Finegold, Faia, architect Friday, Dec. 6, 1991

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The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | C13

passover The NJHS vault of treasures

Clockwise, from left: George and Jacque Sacks donated this sign from The South Omaha synagogue; Lloyd Krasne gave this cash register, Bubb’s Grocery store, Council Bluffs; Bust of Henry Monsky; Violin donated by the family of Hariet Dogoff-Fishel; Bread box donated by Hanna and David Gradwohl; Irv Yaffe’s Nebraska jacket; Lloyd Krasne’s WW II foot locker; Ozzie Nogg donated this mohel knife set that came from her father, Rabbi Alex Katz.

Happy Passover

W I S H I N G T H E E N T I R E J E W I S H C O M M U N I T Y A

Best vegetarian matzah ball soup

C14 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

passover the nJhs in print

annette van de kamp-wright Editor Jewish Press in the summer of 2003, the Journal of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society bore the usual title: Memories of the Jewish Midwest. But it was a special edition, going beyond the usual board updates and annual reports: inside are stories of Jewish veterans, in memory of Sam Klein.

Sam Klein was a nephew of Mrs. Rose Blumkin and died in Italy, 1944, at age 19, while serving his country. The publication was made possible through funding by the Rose Blumkin Foundation.

In its foreword, NJHS President Louise Abrahamson wrote: “Through journals such as the one now being presented to our members, as well as the foresight and cooperation of Cynthia Schneider and Frances Batt, we owe a debt of gratitude in helping to collect, preserve, disseminate and publish stories of our Nebraska Jewish servicemen and other memories of the World War II era.”

In addition to Sam Klein, the booklet includes a portion of Yale Richard’s autobiography: No One Even Knew Where Pearl

Continued from page C12

Harbor Was. Captain Kevee Kirshenbaum’s Navy memories are included, as is Irving Forbes’ story about being a baker on Navy ships in, among other places, the Pacific, Pearl Harbor and New Guinea.

The stories from the veterans are interspersed with memories from those who stayed behind. Rationing, blackout tests,

coupon cards and working in the munitions plant in Mead, Nebraska: these are sobering tales that are nonetheless an important chapter in Jewish history.

“Shirley Goldstein celebrated her first wedding anniversary in November of 1943 in the kitchen of the home where she had grown up.

She baked a chocolate cake, decorated it with one candle, took a picture of the cake and sent the picture to her husband Buddy overseas.”

The essay by Linda Mirvish titled What did see nJhs in print page C15

Credit: Vicky Cohen and Ruth Fox

vegetarian matzah Ball soup

Ingredients: For the soup: 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 4 tbsp. tomato paste 16 fresh shiitake mushrooms, thoroughly washed, stems and caps separated and caps sliced 1 to 1 1/2 tsp. salt ( adjust to taste) 1/2 tsp. turmeric 1/4 tsp. black pepper 3 medium carrots, cut into chunks 1 large parsnip, cut into chunks 1 yellow onion, unpeeled, quartered 1 red onion, unpeeled, quartered 3 celery stalks, cut into chunks 1 head of garlic, unpeeled, cut in half width-wise 1 bunch of fresh dill 1 bunch of parsley For the matzah balls: 1 pack of matzah ball mix, prepared according to directions (or make homemade) Directions: Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot.

Add the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes over medium high heat, stirring constantly. Add the

sliced shiitake mushroom caps, stir well and cook for another minute.

Add 10 cups water, salt, turmeric and pepper (don’t add all the salt at once here, you can adjust to taste later).

Place the shiitake stems, carrots, parsnip, onions, celery, garlic, dill and parsley in a cheese cloth. Tie it well with kitchen twine and place it in the soup pot. Bring to a boil and let it cook for 5 minutes.

Cover, reduce heat to medium low and simmer for an hour. The broth should be ready and should be flavorful. If it’s not, continue cooking for another 15-20 minutes.

While soup cooks, prepare the matzah balls following the package instructions.

Remove cheesecloth from the soup and place it in a colander with a bowl underneath. Squeeze as much liquid as you can from the cheesecloth and pour it into the soup pot (the liquid will be hot, so use a wooden spoon or another utensil). Discard vegetables.

Prepare matzah ball according to directions on the box, and chill in fridge for 30 minutes. Or, you can make a homemade version.

Place the matzah balls directly into the broth and cook, covered, for 20 minutes. Serves 6.

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The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | C15

The NJHS in print

Continued from page C14 lies, the ‘other side of the world’ turned out you do in the war, Grandma? tells the story of to be South Omaha, Nebraska, where a burthe Youth Army Navy Committee Service, geoning meatpacking industry needed workYANCS for short, “which began in Omaha in ers. During years spanning the first third of 1942 to provide a ‘home the 20th century, several dozen families of from home’ for the immigrant Jews many Jewish serviceorganized men who were statheir lives tioned in Nebraska around the during the war.” orthodox It had been started synagogue

by Mary Fellman who, the first artogether with a group rivals had esof young women tablished at the “under the guidance corner of 25th and chaperonage of and J Streets.

Mrs. Ruth Neuhaus Like the other arranged to have a immigrant popubasement room off lations of the the gym at the neighborhood, community centhey lived where ter converted they could walk to into an attractive worship and to meeting place” work. Employment for service opportunities—the members. meatpacking plants, Kevee Kirshenb Breakfast was the stockyards and the aum 1951 served on Sunday railroads—all were morning, there was a jukebox and a nearby.” piano, among other things, the canteen was On these pages, you find names like open in the evenings and visiting servicemen Meilach Katzman, Yitzhak and Morris Sherwere able to use the gym facilities. Mary Fell- man, Joe Tess and Jake Kaplan. What was life man managed to get over 200 women in- like for Ben and Edna Garelick? How about volved and wrote a weekly update for the Morris Goldenberg, or Herman Cohen? Read Jewish Press, YANCS in Action. And yes, they about Philip Greenberg, who owned and opset up a dating service, resulting in several erated Philip’s Store on 24th Street, or Abe marriages and “many other romances,” ac- Lipsman, or the Rosinsky family who built a cording to Fellman. thriving business out of buying and selling Phyllis Sherman funded the printing and scrap metal. publication of the 2006 NJHS Journal, titled It is not enough to collect memories; the Jewish South Omaha. It was dedicated to her story of where our community comes from husband Irv, 1918-2004. and how we got here has to be told and retold.

“The people who built the community that Not just for our community’s sake, but so we became Jewish South Omaha and the subse- can understand those we share this city with. quent generations who led Omaha’s meat“The neighborhood continues to thrive,” packing industry were ambitious, the NJHS stated in its introduction. “Today, hardworking, innovative ‘doers,’ who looked many of its residents trace their origins to forward, not back, and who blazed trails, Mexico, South America and Asia. A Thai both professionally and personally.” restaurant occupies a location across 24th It was Louise Abrahamson’s idea, she re- Street from South High School that once was portedly said: “The stories of Jewish North Louis Sokolof ’s fruit market. The former synOmaha are well-documented. What about agogue houses a Catholic church where servSouth Omaha?” ices are in Spanish. Once again, families that To get an idea of how marvelous this edi- originally settled here to work in packing tion is (and you should read it if you haven’t plants, own retail businesses in South Omaha. yet), we’re including a portion of the intro“When history repeats itself, today’s immiduction here: grant South Omaha families will become less “For Jewish families of the late 1800s and concentrated in a single neighborhood. They early 1900s, staying in the ‘Pale’ of Poland, will move into new neighborhoods and to Russia and Lithuania offered poverty, limits other cities, only to be replaced by the next on land ownership and choice of occupation, generation of new Americans. Just as Jewish harassment from gentile neighbors and the families relied on ‘landsleight.’ A network of ongoing threat of sons being drafted into the friends and family from the old country who Czar’s army. helped one another get settled, today’s immi“Fresh opportunities awaited on the other grants draw on familiar resources to make side of the world. For several of those fami- their way in a new country.”

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

st WisWishes hes for afor Haa ppHappy y, HealthPassover! y New Year!

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PASSOVER BRINGS THE FAMILY

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The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | D1

section4 PASSOVER

the little sheel on 25th and Seward “Big” Joe KirSHenBAum FirSt, let me explain the difference between ‘sheel’ and ‘shul:’ there is none. ey both mean the same thing, a synagogue. A synagogue is called either a sheel or shul in Yiddish, with a difference in pronunciation that is not unheard of in that language.

It also depends on what part of Russia the speaker came from. I hope you are not too confused by this difference in pronunciation.

Another example of difference in pronunciation is the English word ‘butter.’ ose who call it ‘piter’ in Yiddish, call their synagogue a sheel, while those who call it ‘puter’ call it a shul.

It’s just like the different accents in different parts of the United States.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Jews from Eastern Europe, especially those from Germany and Russia, suffered from pogroms, riots, persecution and anti-Semitism, so they began to migrate. However, many countries had immigration quotas, meaning they would only allow so many immigrants from certain areas each year. e United States insisted each family coming to the U.S. had to have two sponsors. Each sponsor was required to disclose how much money she or he

earned, as well as how much they had in the bank. ey had to guarantee the families coming to the U.S. would not become a public responsibility.

Omaha. My father came here because my uncle Joe and his wife had relatives from Kupel already living in Omaha. e typical family that came from Kupel in the

Beth Hamedrosh - Adas Yeshuron, 25th & Seward, Dec. 9, 1925 Jewish people who migrated did so mainly to areas where people from their homes in Russia and Europe had already settled; those from the Kupel area in the Ukraine followed others to

1900s were poor, kept strictly kosher and were very Orthodox. Most of them settled in the North 24th Street area. ey kept two sets of dishes and See the little sheel page D2

From Generation to Generation The Rose Blumkin Board, Staff and Residents wish the community a Happy and Healthy Passover

323 South 132nd Street | Omaha, NE 68154

Why Passover is about a lot more than good food

D2 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

passover

the little sheel

Continued from page D1 utensils, one for meat and one for dairy and never mixed them. ey also kept separate meat and dairy dishes for Passover.

Initially, these immigrants were very religious, attending both morning and evening services. In later years, synagogue attendance began to drop off, as people became accustomed to a new way of life. However, on Friday nights, Saturdays and during the holidays, they would walk to services. ey never drove; they would walk as far as two to three miles, depending on where they lived.

Most Jews who lived in the North 24th area had a Shabbos goy, who was a non-Jewish person, paid to come to the house during Shabbat to turn the lights off and on and put coal in the furnace.

As Jewish immigrants became more Americanized, this changed; people began working more, just like their American neighbors.

When the first Jews settled in the North 24th Street area, they held services in living rooms or temporary buildings. In the early 1900s, the Kapulier Shul purchased and remodeled the Second Presbyterian Church at 24th and Nicholas. In 1911, Beth Hamedrosh Hagadol completed their synagogue at 19th and Burt Street.

So many Jews came from the Kupel area of the Ukraine, that it became necessary to build their own synagogue. e Adas Yeshurun Synagogue was built in 1922 and existed for 33 years. Although it is no longer a synagogue, the building still stands all these years later. e little sheel had one Shamos, a caretaker by the name of Mendel Herzberg.

Incidentally, Herzberg was Renee Corcoran’s great-grandfather. I still remember most of the names of the founders of the synagogue: Mittlman, Rosen-

baum, Herzberg, Kirshenbaum (Keva with sons Joe, Max, Meyer and Abe), Wintraub, Bush, Somit, Albert, Linden-

“Big” Joe Kirshenbaum baum, Staenberg, Gendler, Fellman, Gitnick, Krizelman, Shukert, Cohen, Silverman, Shrago, Finkle, Micklin, Potashnik and Guss and Yarmulnick Rochman. I may have forgotten a few, but remember my age. So many Kirshenbaums belonged to the synagogue; it was sometimes referred to as “the Kirshenbaum synagogue.” We had fun with that nickname for many years.

In the 30 years, the little sheel only had one rabbi, whose name was Rabbi Nathan Feldman. Feldman was a typical Orthodox rabbi, distinguished-looking, with a short beard, who spoke in broken English but mostly in Yiddish. Even I could converse with him, in spite of my poor Yiddish. When he died, his wife hired a van and had his body moved to Chicago in the middle of the night, so he could be buried in the family plot.

I realize I am probably the only 97-

year-old who was a member of the original sheel from the time it was built. It would be interesting to hear some stories about that little sheel from some of its past members’ children, grandchildren and others. What do they remember?

Because of World War II, many changes came to Omaha. e Jews who lived in the North 24th Street area began to move West and joined larger synagogues such as Beth El, Beth Israel and Temple Israel. e synagogue on 19th and Burt moved and merged with Beth Israel on North 52nd Street, the synagogue on 24th and Nicolas moved to 30th and Cumming. e little sheel was the only synagogue le in the North 24th Street area but soon, their members started moving out as well. Eventually, it closed; most members joined one of the other synagogues. e little sheel was sold and became an African American church. Its pastor was blind, but nonetheless walked all over Omaha to sell brooms. Once you bought a broom, you became his customer for life; I once bought six brooms from him for my stores. Aer that, he never missed us when he was in the area.

Having lived next door to Adas Yeshurun for 12 years, I came to know every nook and cranny, including the best places to hide when that was necessary. I was in and out of the synagogue almost every day and knew every person by name. e members referred to me as ‘Josele, the Kirshenbaum boychik.’ ere are so many memories and stories I could tell you about the little sheel, but there is one that stands out from all the others.

On Saturdays and holidays, when the Torah was being read at the sheel, it was like intermission for the kids. ose under 13 would come to my house, see the little sheel page D3

W

Joshua RatneR My Jewish Learning via JTA hat is the essence of Passover? On the one hand, it seems obvious: Passover is about gathering together with loved ones to recall, through sumptuous home rituals, the exodus from Egypt. We gather round our seder tables and quickly become engulfed in the warmth of family and friends, the culinary delights of a delicious meal, and the comforting, vaguely familiar words and songs we recite year after year.

Passover is, indeed, a beautiful opportunity for rejoicing and celebrating. But it also can be much more.

When looking closely at the Passover Haggadah, we can see that the rabbis who crafted it did not choose to make Passover a holiday solely focused on celebrating the past. Like the Fourth of July (or Hanukkah), Passover could have been a day to recall passively our independence from an oppressive regime as a historical remembrance; to commemorate the past and salute our Founding Fathers (or Maccabees). Instead, Moses (as Founding Father of the Israelites) is largely shut out of the story — he appears but once.

While remembrance of the Exodus — from the enslavement of the Israelites to the Ten Plagues to the crossing of the Red Sea — forms a major portion of the content of the “Maggid” (retelling) section of the Haggadah, that remembrance is but a means to larger ends. The end of the Maggid section reveals why. It says: “In each and every generation people must regard themselves as though they personally left Egypt, as it says, ‘Tell your child on that very day: “This is what God did for me when I left Egypt.’”

The Holy One of Blessing did not redeem only our ancestors, but God even redeemed us with them, as it says, ‘God brought us out of there in order to bring us to and give us the land that God swore to our ancestors.’”

The seder specifically and Passover more broadly are about remembering God’s deliverance of the Israelites, not as a one-time, see Passover is more than good food page D4

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | D3

BURNT BROCCOLI

Here’s a Passover menu low on calories and carbs MEgAN WOLf JTA

I’M A BIg fan of healthy whole grains, but they can easily become heavy -- even the healthy ones. Instead of packing my Passover meals with heavy dishes, I’m offering a lighter, lower calorie and lower carbohydrate option this year.

If you have seen my recipes before, you may know that I love cauliflower as a stand-in for potatoes and rice. There is truly no better substitute! Not only is it delicious, it’s now incredibly easy to find already riced. And who can’t use a time saver in the kitchen?

I prefer frozen riced cauliflower to fresh.

SIMPLE LEMON SALMON

The more I make these dishes, the more I realize this is by far the best method of purchase. I think it works so well in part because there is already some water in the cauliflower and it helps the vegetable to cook more evenly.

These recipes are delicious and well suited for any time of year, but they are especially welcome at Passover, when we’re all looking to lighten our load a bit!

I also love how these dishes come together in color, taste and texture. The sweet and crunchy aspects of the broccoli play off the creamy cauliflower and punchy salmon.

Ingredients: 2 heads broccoli, cut into florets 2 Tbsp. olive oil plus more for drizzling 1 Tbsp. honey Salt to taste Directions: Steam broccoli until just tender and bright green, about 2 minutes.

Toss broccoli with 2 Tbsp. olive oil and place on a large baking sheet, roast until crispy and starting to char, about 15-20 minutes.

Microwave honey until it’s liquid then immediately pour evenly over broccoli and drizzle with olive oil, season with salt.

See Seared Mushroom Cauliflower Risotto page D5

“Happy Passover!

We wish you and your family great joy, peace, and many blessings.”

– The Deavers

Paid for by Matt Deaver for Legislature • 18435 NORTHERN HILLS DRIVE – BENNINGTON, NE 68007 Ingredients: 4 6-ounce salmon portions Salt and pepper 2 Tbsp. olive oil 2 lemons, juiced 1 lemon, sliced Directions: Preheat oven to 400 F., place sheet pan in the oven to heat.

Whisk olive oil and lemon.

Season salmon with salt and pepper. Brush salmon with half of the lemon mixture.

Place salmon skin side down on the hot sheet pan, roast until cooked to your liking, or about 8-10 minutes.

Serve salmon by topping the fish with the remaining oil mixture and sliced lemon.

The little sheel

Continued from page D2 which was next door, and play. Next, the women would come over to rest, to socialize, visit with my mother and enjoy tea and cookies. It was the custom that aer services, there would be a Kiddush for the men only. ere was always time for a glass or two of schnapps, wine, herring, honey cake and chickpeas.

I will never forget the Kol Nidre service, held the night before Yom Kippur. It was the quietest the synagogue ever was, it was solemn and as the cantor began to sing, his voice would break until he cried the words. Before he finished, the entire congregation was singing and crying with him. Such a beautiful service, one can never forget. e majority of Jewish people coming from Kupel couldn’t agree on how to spell the name. I have found at least four different spellings: Kupel, Kopyl, Kupiel and Kypel, and all show up in passports—it is your choice as to which is correct.

I trust that those of you who read this will understand the passion and love I still feel for the little sheel. I also trust your own memories will resurface.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/MattDeaver10 • Website: www.MattDeaver.com

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d4 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

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Perhaps the biggest misconception when it comes to Sephardic Jews is that they all eat rice on Passover. Like anyTHE SEdERS Of my adult life thing else in Judaism, there are myriad customs and traditions are quite different than those I depending on where your family lived in the old country or experienced in my youth. The even from where they originated generations before they main reason for this is that I ended up in that particular city. am married to a Moroccan IsMoroccan Jews, for example, are a diverse group with difraeli who has his own rich traditions ferent customs depending on their ancestry. There are those from which to draw. who came after the destruction of the First Temple in Early in our marriage, my husband Jerusalem and settled among the Berbers. Others came in experienced his first Ashkenazic seders 1492 from Spain and Portugal like my husband’s family. Most at my parents’ home. However, once we Moroccan Jews do not eat rice on Passover, but they do eat decided that we were ready to host our other kitniyot including legumes, fresh beans and fresh peas. own seders, we happily merged cusIn researching this piece, I came across a quote by a man toms from both of our backgrounds to who said that his father had told him that the reason that the create our special family experience.

Spanish Moroccan Jews ate this way was because Spain was Perhaps the most unique close to Ashkenaz (the area Moroccan custom of our along the Rhine River in seder occurs early on when northern France and western the head of the household -Germany) and the gzeira in my husband’s family, his (edict per Jewish law) remother would do this -- holds garding kitniyot crossed the the seder plate over the head border and both Sephardic of each guest separately and Jews and Jews of Spanish orichants the following: “Bibhilu gin accepted the decree.

In general, Moroccans eat yatṣanu mi’miṣrayim, hadifferently on Passover than lacḥma ‘anya bené ḥorin.”

Ashkenazim. Their reliance This roughly translates to the year-round on a variety of following: “In haste, we went salad dishes translates well out of Egypt with our bread for Passover, and I often feel of affliction and now we are as if my diet during the holifree.”

Moroccan Jews in synagogue in Marrakesh last year.

I have taken on this unCredit: Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images day is not so different from our normal fare -- with the usual ritual, which has beexception of matzah, of come one of the highlights of MOROCCAN HAROSET course. our seder. Our Ashkenazic Ingredients: However, during the seder friends love this tradition, 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped itself there are some differand with a glass seder plate it 1/2 tsp. ground cloves ences, no doubt due to the is even more entertaining!

1 tsp. ground cinnamon availability of vegetables in One interesting take on the 1 grind freshly ground nutmeg Morocco. For example, roritual is that is it connected 1 pound dates, pitted and chopped maine lettuce and not horseto Kabbalah. It is believed 1 1/2 cups grape juice radish is used for maror and that Rabbi Isaac Luria, who is Directions: parsley, not potatoes, for known for revolutionizing Put the dates into a pan with the wine, cinnamon and cloves, karpas. The haroset is also the study of Jewish mystithen simmer, stirring occasionally, until you have a soft paste. Put noteworthy with the absence cism through Kabbalah, conthrough the food processor if you want a smoother texture. Let it of apples. I have included a nected the various items of cool and stir in the walnuts. traditional recipe for Morocthe seder to the 10 kabbaliscan Haroset adapted from tic sefirot, the mystical dimensions that described the divine attributes of God, and so Claudia Roden. I have also made haroset without any spices the seder plate became a sacred symbol of God. In this sense, using only dates, walnuts, wine and raisins. For those who are when raising the seder plate, one is being blessed by the nut free, the haroset can also be made without the walnuts.

This haroset, especially when using raisins, is quite thick Shechina (the Talmud defines the Shechina as the divine that lives within the world, on earth with the Jewish people, and and thus can last throughout the entire holiday and enjoyed accompanies them when they are exiled), in addition to en- as a snack with matzah.

Betai’avon (Bon appetite)! joying the Shechina’s presence at your seder table.

Natasha Cooper-Benisty has been a Jewish educator in Another interesting difference is the ritual accompanying the recitation of the Ten Plagues. Instead of the Ashkenazic both day school and religious school for the past 10 years. finger or a knife dipping, Moroccans fill a large bowl with She enjoys educating her students about Moroccan Jewish water and wine (two different glasses pour the liquids into culture and creating Moroccan feasts for her Ashkenazic the bowl as each plague is recited). The idea here is that one friends.

This piece appeared originally on Jewish&, the blog of Be’chol can see the effect of the first plague as the Egyptians witnessed Lashon. http://bechollashon.org/. their precious Nile River become contaminated with blood.

Passover is more than good food Continued from page d2 historical event, but as something that is perpetually happening in the present. Redemption from slavery to freedom is intended to be an experience that we, too, can and should have during our seders. But why?

I believe that the seder is a literary means of experiential education.

The Haggadah wants each of us to recall that we were once estranged, disenfranchised and marginalized, so that each of us will cultivate a sense of empathy for the estranged, the disenfranchised and the marginalized in our society today. We honor our past by acting in our present.

So as we get ready for Passover, cleansing our houses of hametz, preparing our Haggadah selections and invite lists, may we also take action to cleanse our society of poverty, bigotry and hatred.

There has been an explosion of new and creative social justicethemed Haggadahs and seder inserts created in recent years by Jewish organizations. Last year alone, there were new additions about global justice (American Jewish World Service), LGBTQ rights (Keshet),

hunger and military families (Mazon), wealth inequality (RRC), racial justice (RAC), mass incarceration (T’ruah), and refugees (Repair the World/HIAS), to name but a few. So please consider using any of these, tweet at #ActOnpassover or make use of other resources that speak to you and help you concretize our ongoing mandate to seek out freedom and redemption for all of God’s children.

And may each of you be blessed with a happy, fulfilling and meaningful Passover. Chag sameach (happy holiday)!

Rabbi Joshua Ratner is the rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami in Cheshire, Connecticut. He also worked as an attorney for five years prior to entering rabbinical school.

This piece originally appeared on the Rabbis Without Borders, a dynamic forum for exploring contemporary issues in the Jewish world and beyond. Written by rabbis of different denominations, viewpoints and parts of the country, Rabbis Without Borders is a project of Clal-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership.

From a Passover of alienation to a Passover of empathy HAnAn SCHLESInGER My Jewish Learning via JTA

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | D5

passover

next generation. And the focal point of Passover is the seder night with its Haggadah text. The Haggadah tells us: “In every generation one must see himself as if he personally went out of Egypt.” We spend the whole night bringing alive the events of slavery and redemption.

Toward what end? What is the takeaway? Clearly the answer ought to be to develop within us the historical memory that will constantly remind us and inspire us to love the

OnE OF THE most oft-repeated themes of the Torah is that we must remember that we were slaves and strangers in the Land of Egypt, and that God redeemed us with an outstretched hand. Both the experience of slavery and the experience of redemption are meant to radiate one central and fundamental call to action that the Torah comes back to again and again: Slavery and strangerhood: Love the stranger and care for him, provide for him and show him empathy. Feel his pain and act to alleviate it, deal kindly with him, for you yourself know what it means to be a stranger and a slave.

Redemption: Walk in the footsteps of God, who redeemed us from Egypt, and redeem the slave and the downtrodden. Provide for them as God provided for us. Just as God’s mercies are upon all His creatures, so ought our mercies to be upon all His creatures.

The seder brings alive the events of slavery and redemption.

The world is divided into us and them. That is Credit: Essdras M Suarez/The Boston Globe via Getty Images the way that it has to be. In order to experience the security and the love of the family, the clan, the nation, stranger and redeem him from his suffering. there have to be those who are not part of our inner concenYet this message is completely missing from the Haggadah. tric circles.

It certainly harps on our misery in Egypt, but instead of using At the same time, however, one of the most central direc- that experience to nurture empathy for those who suffer, it tives of the Torah is that this division must never be so stark sees in it a paradigm for the panorama of Jewish history, reas to alienate the us from the them. Our love and concern minding us in every generation they rise against us to annihimust radiate out beyond the us toward the them. Our sense late us, and the Holy One Blessed be He saves us from them. of us must empower our people to reach out to them.

The reason for this lacuna – at least one of the reasons – We recall and relive our experience in Egypt on the holiday may be that during the 1,000-plus years during which the of Passover, the centerpiece of the Jewish year and the focal Haggadah text developed, we Jews were the slaves and the point of the process of handing down the tradition to the See A Passover of empathy page D6

Continued from page D3

SEARED MUSHROOM CAULIFLOWER RISOTTO

Ingredients: 1 Tbsp. olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 10 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped 4 cups frozen riced cauliflower 1/2 cup dry white wine 2 cups water or more 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese 1 lemon, juiced 1 pint crimini mushrooms, quartered 1 Tbsp. olive oil Salt to taste Directions: Sauté onions and garlic over low heat until cooked through and translucent.

Add frozen cauliflower and mix to combine. Add white wine and continue stirring.

Add water 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently and adding more water as each batch is absorbed.

While the cauliflower is cooking, sauté mushrooms in olive oil in a separate pan, set aside.

Once the cauliflower is soft and resembles risotto, add Parmesan cheese and stir to combine.

Serve risotto with mushrooms atop or stirred into cauliflower, topped with lemon juice.

The New Passover Menu and Paula Shoyer

D6 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

passover

The New Passover Menu | Paula Shoyer | Sterling Epicure Publishers | $24.85 hardcover | $27.95 in Canada | 1260 pp

A Passover of empathy

Sybil KaPlaN

Continued from page D5 strangers, and the dominant cultures were antagonistic to our way of life and often to our very existence. We were the other and little love was lost on us. Our forefathers were too busy surviving to find room in our hearts and in our texts to teach ourselves about love of the stranger and empathy for his suffering. The larger message of Passover was postponed for the distant future.

That future may have arrived. Reality today is different, in Israel and to a large degree in many parts of America, from that which our forefathers knew. We are no longer the other that we used to be, and there are other peoples, cultures and ethnic groups that have taken our place. In Israel we are the dominant culture and in America we are part of the mainstream.

These are the conditions of life that the Torah envisioned, and not the circumstances under which our forbears have lived for the past 2000 years. As such, it is time for our Haggadahs and our celebration of Passover, as well as our Jewish consciousness and our behavior, to reflect that change and to go back to basics.

Let the seder be our forum to proclaim and inculcate an ethic of empathy for the other emanating from two intertwined experiences: 1. Never again! Never again shall any people suffer what we suffered in Egypt. And 2. We take it upon ourselves to continually struggle to redeem the other, just as God redeemed us.

Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger lives in Alon Shvut, Gush Etzion, and serves as the director of international relations for Roots/Judur/Shorashim, the Israeli Palestinian Local Initiative for Understanding, Nonviolence and Transformation.

He also frequently travels to Dallas, where he serves as the executive director of the Jewish Studies Initiative. His website is www.ravhanan.org.

This piece appeared originally on Rabbis Without Borders, a dynamic forum for exploring contemporary issues in the Jewish world and beyond. Written by rabbis of different denominations, viewpoints and parts of the country, Rabbis Without Borders is a project of Clal-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership.

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

There are MaNy jokes about “the four questions,” Mah Nishtanah, but a “fifth” question might well be, do we need another Passover cookbook and how is this cookbook for Passover different from all other Passover cookbooks?

Paula Shoyer answers that: “The New Passover Menu features updated traditional dishes that provide a nostalgic pleasure of family favorites, along with a raft of contemporary recipes developed to please creative cooks who do not want to compromise their taste for sophisticated recipes during the holiday.”

Readers have the fun of choosing from eight menus, breakfast and desserts with 65 recipes and enjoying 73 magnificent, mouthwatering, color photographs.

The menus and some recipes include: Updated Ashkenazic seder chapter has a fresh salmon gefilte fish loaf; the International Seder chapter has a whole chicken with dried fruit stuffing; the Shabbat chapter has a seder plate salad; the Yom Tov chapter has spaghetti squash fritters; the French Dairy chapter has seared tuna with olives and capers; the Italian Vegetarian chapter has potato gnocchi with pink sauce; the BBQ Dinner chapter has garlic marinated steak with onion jam; and the Easy Chicken chapter has crunchy quinoa with sweet potatoes and cranberries. Do these sound like Passover foods?

Among recipes in the Breakfast chapter are: gluten free waffles or pancakes and crumb cake muffins. The Dessert chapter has triple-chocolate biscotti, orange tea cake cupcakes, cheesecake with roasted cashew and chocolate crust and Toronne candy.

Every recipe gives the number of servings, preparation time, cooking time, advanced preparation information and equipment to use. If that is not enough, this is followed by an anecdote related to the recipes, which makes this a wonderful read!

Ingredients are given in American and metric systems; directions are paragraphed with the first word of each paragraph in capital letters.

We wish a happy Passover for you and your family.

Shaded paragraphs for many recipes include hints and tips such as cleaning leeks, toasting nuts, cubing a whole butternut squash, slivering basil, making vanilla sugar and more This is definitely a book to buy for you and as a gift. No creative kosher cook should be without one.

Meeting Paula Shoyer in Jerusalem: A few years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Paula Shoyer and sitting with her in a Machaneh Yehudah shuk café. Meeting this food writer, cookbook author, Frenchtrained pastry chef, you are immediately caught up in the high-energy enthusiasm of someone who is passionate about what they do.

She came to Israel to research Israeli pastry.

“The food scene here is so developed,” she exclaimed to me.

She had asked everyone she met, “where do you like to go to eat pastry? what is different? what is unique to Israel?”

Israel is no stranger to this 50something year old. She came to Israel when she was 16; then she returned for her junior year from Brandeis University on the Hebrew University program.

She also has a brother living here since 1985.

After graduation, she became an attorney and speechwriter, and she lived in Europe.

While in Paris, she enrolled in a pastry course for fun. This led to operating a dessert catering business in Geneva, Switzerland, for two years and teaching classes in French for Jewish organizations.

When she returned to the U.S., she began teaching classes in French pastry in Washington, D.C. where she lived. Married with four children ages 23, 21 and 18 year-old twins, she now operates a pastry cooking school in Chevy Chase, Maryland; appears on radio and TV shows; writes freelance for newspapers and magazine; and develops dessert recipes for companies.

While in Israel then, she presented a demonstration in the home of the American ambassador to Israel hosted by his wife, with samples from her cookbooks, The Kosher Baker and The Holiday Kosher Baker. She also visited bakeries and pastry shops in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Here are two recipes from The New Passover Menu, with instructions numbered by this author.

See The New Passover Menu page D8 for the recipes

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The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | d7

the big question this passover

t

he 4 Questions of the Mah Nishtana are a cinch compared with the question facing Israeli society this Passover: What to do with the approximately 38,000 Eritrean and Sudanese refugees in Israel? The State of Israel has proposed the following: A grant of $3,500 each and a one-way flight to an African country, or indefi- teddY nite incarceration. The refugees have WeinBerGer until April 1 (the second day of Passover!) to decide.

There is much internal opposition to the move to expel the African refugees. Petitions against the expulsion have been brought by Israeli pilots, doctors, retired diplomats, Holocaust survivors, professors, rabbis, architects, and musicians.

Often the Holocaust is invoked, a time when millions of Jews were desperate for refuge--only to find the world largely indifferent. I frankly am not persuaded by an argument from the Holocaust. I’m not sure that the fact that Jews could not find refuge 75 years ago from Nazi Germany is relevant to the realpolitik of contemporary Israel. While Israel allowed Hitler to basically dictate our immigration policy (the Law of Return being the obverse of Hitler’s racial laws, with one Jewish grandparent marking a person for citizenship rather than death), that’s probably as much influence as we want Hitler to have upon Israeli society.

A better argument against expulsion comes from democratic principles of fairness, due process, and equality. The number of black African refugees represents about one-third of the “illegal” residents in Israel (most of the other two-thirds are Russian speakers). It does not seem fair that the Africans alone are being targeted. Also, the refugees work at menial jobs such as those in the hotel and restaurant industries. Since all agree that if we expel the refugees we would have to replace them with other foreign workers, and since there is little danger of large numbers of new refugees arriving (thanks to a 2012 steel barrier constructed along the 150-mile border with Egypt), on what grounds should other foreign workers be preferred to the refugees?

The best argument against expulsion comes from the story of Passover—not so much because of our people’s experience of slavery, but in the divine commands that issued forth about that experience; e.g.: “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I the Lord am your God” (Leviticus 19.34). A believing Jew will try to obey God, and thus a believer ought to side with critics of the expulsion policy. But what the vast majority of these critics, many of whom are not religious, don’t understand is that without a turn to faith, their argument is at best weak and at worst racist. If the Bible is not sacred, if it is just an important text of the Jewish people, this is not enough of a reason to oppose the government of the Jewish State. In the absence of religious command, and yet in the presence of many surrounding enemies, why must Israel act like the most enlightened of Western countries in terms of immigrant policy?

Because of our Jewish genes? Because of our Jewish blood?

It all comes down to how you view Passover: Is it just the Jewish people’s spring holiday, or is God somehow involved?

If you answer the latter question in the affirmative, however you want to define “God,” it seems to me that you have to be against the expulsion. After all, the Bible seems fixated upon the fair treatment of “strangers,” mentioning this an astonishing 36 times. Here’s another example: “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 23.9).

A good way of not oppressing strangers is not to expel them.

Happy Passover!

Teddy Weinberger, Ph.D., made aliyah in 1997 with his wife, former Omahan Sarah Jane Ross, and their five children, Nathan, Rebecca, Ruthie, Ezra, and Elie, all of whom are veterans of the Israel Defense Forces; Weinberger can be reached at weinross@netvision.net.il.

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JDC celebrates Passover Jamie epstein

this passover, thousands of Jews across the former Soviet Union will partake in festive holiday activities — Seder meals, volunteer opportunities, cooking workshops and cultural performances — sponsored by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and its network of Hesed social welfare centers and Jewish community centers.

JDC also will deliver more than 50,000 boxes of matzah to needy elderly Jews through its partnerships with the Claims Conference, and through the IFCJ Food and Medicine Lifeline, its operational partnership with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ). Scores of Jewish volunteers — representing a growing multigenerational movement of individuals aiding their neighbors in need — also will deliver holiday packages and visit homebound elderly as part of JDC’s annual Passover celebrations.

“For generations, JDC has proudly helped Jewish communities celebrate Passover’s enduring message of freedom in the face of oppression. Most poignantly, the Jews of the former Soviet Union, whose Jewish identity was almost extinguished, are now observing Passover with enormous vigor, innovative cultural fare, and a focus on ensuring

their neediest fellow Jews share in the holiday,” said David Schizer, CEO of JDC. “As Jews around the world gather to celebrate our collective journey to freedom, let’s follow this powerful example and re-

member the neediest by leaving a place at the table for those whose lives can be made better by our care.”

For Nadya B., a 65-year-old in Ukraine with severe heart disease living on a pension of only $44 per month, Passover can be a particularly lonely time when the toll of poverty and illness becomes more acute. However, through the IFCJ Food and Medicine Lifeline, Nadya is receiving a box of matzah that reminds her of traditions from her see JdC celebrates passover page d9

d8 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

The New Passover Menu Continued from page d6

Ingredients: 1/2 - 1 cup potato starch or matzoh meal 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil plus 2 Tbsp.

2 large whole chickens, cut into 8 pieces salt and black pepper 2 large onions, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces 3 ribs celery, cut into 1/3-inch pieces

smOThered ChICken wITh wIne and herbs

4 large peeled carrots, cut into 1/3-inch cubes 5 roughly chopped garlic cloves 6 fresh sage leaves 6 fresh basil leaves 1/2 cup white wine leaves of 6 sprigs thyme or 1 tsp. dried thyme

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place potato starch in a shallow bowl.

Heat oil over high heat in a large saucepan with 2-inch sides.

Sprinkle chicken pieces with salt and pepper, then dip into potato starch to coat, shaking off the excess. Cook in batches until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side, Place browned pieces in a large roasting pan, skin side up.

Add chopped onions, celery and carrots to the saucepan and cook 5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any chicken fat or pieces and mix in. If the pan looks dry, add another 1 or 2 Tbsp. oil.

Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes.

Chop sage and basil into small pieces.

Add wine to pan and cook until wine is almost evaporated. Add salt and pepper.

Pour cooked vegetables over chicken pieces, sprinkle with sage, basil and thyme. Cover in roasting pan and bake 1 hour. Uncover and bake another 10 minutes. Spoon into a serving bowl with vegetables on top of chicken pieces.

Makes 10 servings.

Orange Tea Cake CupCakes

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Ingredients: 1/2 cup boiling water 1 black tea bag 1 cup sugar plus 1 tsp. for tea 4 large separated eggs 1 1/4 tsp. orange zest 2 Tbsp. fresh orange juice 1/2 cup matzoh cake meal 1/2 cup potato starch dash salt Icing 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar 4 tsp. tea Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place paper liners in muffin tins.

Measure water into mixing bowl Add tea and 1 tsp. sugar and let steep 5 minutes.

In large bowl, beat egg yolks, 3 Tbsp. tea (reserving rest), egg yolks, orange zest, orange juice and sugar with electric mixer on low speed.

Add cake meal and potato starch and continue until combined.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites and salt on high speed until stiff peaks form. Using a silicone spatula, gently fold the whites into the bowl with egg yolks, and then fill the muffin cups three-quarters full with the batter.

Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and let cool while you make the icing.

Place confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl. Add 4 tsp. tea and whisk until you have a thick icing. Scoop up the icing with a measuring set teaspoon and place in the center of each cupcake.

Garnish with additional orange zest if desired.

Makes 14 cupcakes.

Your favorite Jewish foods, updated for Passover

ShAnnon SARnA JTA Two of my family’s favorite dishes are schnitzel and rainbow cookies, and I have a feeling your family may feel the same. Here’s some great news about both: They very easily translate into Passover-friendly versions with minor adjustments.

While you could serve them for your seder meals, both are great to enjoy during chol hamoed, the intermediate days of the holiday, when you’re sick of eating leftover brisket and coconut macaroons.

See your favorite Jewish foods page D11

Ingredients: For the cake: 4 eggs 1 cup white sugar 4 ounces almond paste, broken into little pieces or processed in food processor for 30 seconds 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter or margarine 1/2 cup matzah cake meal 1/2 cup blanched almond flour (not almond meal) 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. kosher-for-Passover vanilla extract Red and green food coloring (about 8 drops each) For the chocolate glaze: 1 cup dark or semisweet chocolate chips 1 Tbsp. vegetable shortening or vegetable oil Pinch salt Special equipment: 3 square baking pans, offset spatula, food scale Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease your pans. Add parchment paper to bottom of each pan. Grease again and add light dusting of matzah cake meal. Tap pan to remove any excess flour.

Using a hand mixer (or whisk attachment to stand mixer), mix eggs and sugar until thick and yellow. Add crumbled almond paste and combine.

Add melted butter (or margarine), matzah cake meal, almond flour, salt and vanilla.

Divide batter into 3 even amounts. (Try using a food scale if eyeballing is too difficult). Leave one plain. Add green food coloring to one batch of batter. Add red food coloring to the other batch of batter.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 8-9 minutes, or until

Credit: Shannon Sarna just set and no longer wet in the middle.

Allow to cool completely.

Place chocolate, shortening and pinch of salt in a glass bowl.

Microwave for 30-second intervals until melted. Stir vigorously to ensure there are no clumps.

Place a piece of parchment paper on top of a platter or baking sheet. Add red cake layer to parchment paper. Spread thin layer of raspberry jam. Top with white layer. Add another thin layer of raspberry jam. Top with green cake.

Carefully spread half the melted chocolate on top. Place in refrigerator for 15-20 minutes or until completely hard.

Turn over and spread remaining chocolate on other side. Place back in refrigerator for 30 minutes or overnight.

Trim edges and slice into cookies.

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | D9

passover JDC celebrates Passover

Continued from page D7 childhood, a time of life she fondly remembers spending with her Yiddish-speaking grandparents. The food and medicine support she receives through the IFCJ Food and Medicine Lifeline is delivered by the JDC’s Hesed social welfare center in Odessa, where dozens of Jewish seniors in similar circumstances to Nadya will gather to create a community and to celebrate a Seder meal.

In other parts of the former Soviet Union, like the Moldovan capital of Kishinev, dozens of volunteers of all ages from the local JCC will be delivering boxes of matzah, and cooking and serving a Passover meal for poor, Jewish seniors. These volunteers, eschewing the lingering Soviet disdain for philanthropy and service, are part of efforts in their country and wider region, to strengthen Jewish life and care for the most vulnerable. In the Moldovan city of Beltsy, JDC youth club volunteers will visit homebound seniors to ensure they don’t celebrate the holiday alone.

About JDC The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) is the world’s leading Jewish humanitarian assistance organization. JDC works in more than 70 countries and in Israel to alleviate hunger and hardship, rescue Jews in danger, create lasting connections to Jewish life, and provide immediate relief and long-term development support for victims of natural and man-made disasters.

For more information, please visit www.JDC.org.

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Children’s books for Passover

D10 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

passover

Remembering that carp in my Grandparents’ bathtub

M

Lynne Daroff foosaner Kveller via JTA y granDMother was a super shopper even before the advent of supermarkets and coupons. In those days, each food group had its own store, so that every neighborhood had a butcher shop, fish market, dairy, deli and grocery.

Shopping with Grandma was an allday experience. Time stood still as she filled her cart with the biggest, the fattest, the freshest, the juiciest of foods. Her culinary talents were legendary; the local shopkeepers greeted her by name and brought out their finest products for her inspection. Grandma, trained as a professional chef in the “old” country, ratcheted into high gear during holiday seasons, especially Passover.

Passover brought us to the most exciting adventure of all: the fish market.

The fish market was a hoot. In those days, fish wasn’t displayed in a refrigerated case, packed in ice or neatly shrink-wrapped. Nor was it available as little sticks or cakes, all filleted, breaded, seasoned and boxed in the freezer section.

No, in the days when “fresh” meant “alive,” fish swam freely in long wooden troughs outfitted with rubber hoses to bubble and circulate see Carp in my grandparents’ bath tub page D12

sybiL KapLan the passover parrot | evelyn Zusman (z”l) Kar-Ben Publishing | $17.99 hardcover | $7.99 paperback 32 pp. | Spring 2018 reissue thirty-five years ago, Evelyn Zusman, a teacher in New York and Los Angeles wrote this book.

She died in 1995, but now it is being reissued on this anniversary.

A neighbor of Leba (Lily) in Brooklyn, moves away and leaves her parrot with this Jewish family right before Passover. They name it Hametz.

The story is very cute for 3 to 8 year olds. Lily teaches the Mah Nishtanah to the parent and reads the book to find out what happens on seder night.

Kyrsten Brooker, who lives in Edmonton, Canada, has illustrated more than 20 children’s books and provides detailed and beautiful collage and watercolor color illustrations. pauLie’s passover preDiCaMent | Jane sutton Kar-Ben Publishing | $17.99 hardcover |$7.99 paperback 32 pp. | Spring 2018 Paulie is a Jewish moose who is excited to host his first seder for his friends. But what happens when he misinterprets the symbols of the seder plate and makes a lot of faux pas? Children 3 to 8 will laugh at the cute mistakes Paulie makes when they celebrate the seder. And who will find the afikomen?

Barbara Sutton lives in Lexington, Massachusetts, and has written a number of children’s books.

Barkers Vaghozzi lives in Bologna, Italy, and provides colorful, fun illustrations. the hurry-up exit froM egypt | gary bower Tyndale House Publishers | $14.99 oversize hardbound | 32 pp.

This is the farmer sowing his corn, That kept the cock that crowed in the morn,

That waked the priest all shaven and shorn, That married the man all tattered and torn, That kissed the maiden all forlorn, That milked the cow with the crumpled horn, That tossed the dog, That worried the cat, That killed the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the last verse of the Mother Goose version of an 18th century British nursery rhyme which may have been derived from a 16th century Haggadah with the Aramaic/Hebrew song about the goat, Chad Gadya, sung at the end of the Passover seder since it was written in the same style.

It is this style and rhythmic flow that Gary Bower uses in telling the story of Exodus 1214 for children 4 to 7.

Gary Bower has written 20 books, six in 2017. This book is part of a series of storybooks to reinforce Bible stories. He and his wife live in Traverse City, Michigan, where they have a business and ministry, retail division and publishing company.

Jewish parents should not be concerned that this book was written by a Christian and published by a Christian publisher because it is quite faithful to the original Biblical story.

Barbara Chotiner, a free-lance designer from Philadelphia, adds colorful, charming whimsical art work to accompany this text.

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The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | D11

Passover song origins sybil kaPlan

We sing them every year, but do we ever wonder: where did the Passover songs originate?

Chad gadya Chad Gadya or One Little Goat is a playful cumulative song in Aramaic and Hebrew, sung at the end of the Passover seder.

According to Wikipedia, the melody may have its roots in Medieval German folk music. It first appeared in a Haggadah printed in Prague in 1590, which makes it the most recent inclusion in the traditional Passover seder liturgy.

The Haggadah was a project that was initiated by the Anshei Knesset Hagedola, the members of the “Great Assembly” – the supreme council of sages that ruled during Temple times in Jerusalem. They were the first to compile and canonize many of the texts that we have today. The Haggadah, however, was only started during that era but it was not completed until much later.

Your favorite Jewish foods Continued from page D9

Credit: Shannon Sarna

Passover-FrienDly ChiCken sChnitzel

Schnitzel is satisfying and easy to make, and will be the perfect dinner served with some roasted potatoes and a simple green salad.

Ingredients: 2 pounds chicken cutlets salt and pepper 2 eggs, beaten 2 tsp. kosher-for-Passover mustard or hot sauce 1 tsp. water 1 1/2 cups matzah meal 1/2 cup almond meal 2 tbsp. sesame seeds (optional) 2 tbsp. dried parsley 1/2 tbsp. smoked paprika 1 tsp. sea salt 1/2 tsp. black pepper vegetable or canola oil for frying Directions: Combine eggs, mustard or hot sauce and water in a large bowl.

Combine matzah meal, almond meal, sesame seeds (if using), parsley, paprika, salt and pepper in another large bowl.

Dredge each chicken cutlet into egg mixture, then into matzah meal mixture, pressing down to ensure the entire piece is covered.

Lay flat on a plate or baking sheet.

Pour oil into large sauté pan to about 1 1/2 inches high over medium-high heat.

Fry chicken cutlets in batches, 2-3 at a time, until golden on each side -- depending on thickness of chicken, around 3 minutes each side. Take care not to over crowd the pan or chicken will not cook properly.

Remove from pan and allow to cool on a wire rack.

While chicken is still hot from pan, sprinkle each cutlet with additional pinch of salt.

Chad Gadya only found its way into the Haggadah at a much later time. This is because Chad Gadya was written in Aramaic (not in Hebrew!), which was the vernacular of the

Jews of Babylon. The slaughterer, the Angel of death and the Holy one, blessed be he, are in Hebrew.

Some suggest that Chad Gadya was written by Rabbi Eliezer Rokeach (12th century). According to some modern Jewish commentators, the song may be symbolic. One interpretation is that Chad Gadya is about the different nations that have conquered the Land of Israel: The kid symbolizes the Jewish people, the cat, Assyria; the dog, Babylon; the stick, Persia; the fire, Macedonia; the water, Roman Empire; the ox, the see Passover songs page D13

d12 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

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Brooklyn residents demonstrate against matzah factory JTA

The factory burns coal and wood during the he residents of a Brooklyn baking of the matzah.

One neighborhood resident, Rosa Ortiz, neighborhood demonstrated against the smoke coming from a told WPIX that the smoke is irritating her 9year-old child’s asthma. She said the smoke local matzah factory.

Dozens of members of the South wakes them up in the middle of the night.

5th Street Block AssociaFactory officials refused tion in Williamsburg to speak with WPIX reprotested Sunday against porters. the Congregation SatA year ago, the bakery mar’s factory. was heavily damaged in a The residents told fire caused by a new wood-burning oven that WPIX-TV that the fachad been used for the first tory spews what they detime. scribed as toxic coal Its specialty is handsmoke, which is so bad in A Brooklyn matzah factory has anmade shmura matzah, the the early morning that gered its neighbors. disc-shaped some residents say they Credit: Fishman/ullstein bild via artisanal, have to wear masks in Getty Images type considered extra special because the ingrediorder to get to the subway.

They added that they have been complaining ents are “guarded” against leavening before the wheat is harvested. to the city for seven years to no avail.

Carp in my Grandparents’ bathtub Continued from page d10 the water. The general wetness of the environment was augmented by thrashing, splashing fish.

Grandma always tried to restrain me, but my curiosity and perseverance won every time. While she sized up the creatures, I stood on a wooden bench and hung over the edge of the trough, leaning into the swirling mass of coldblooded vertebrates, hands extended, trying to capture myself a pet.

In honor of Passover, the fishery annually brought in unusually large stocks of huge, fierce-looking carp that flopped about wildly. Grandma, in respectful awe of the sizable beasts, insisted I wait just at the edge of the puddle-soaked floor while she sidled into the sea of kerchiefed women who shouted, jabbered and pointed out fish to the workers.

Once she turned her attention to the task at hand, however, I always managed to wiggle through the crowd and take my place on the wooden bench.

I watched Grandma’s intense concentration, amazed that she could select exactly which fish she wanted. The hapless carp was captured, tagged and then delivered alive to Grandma’s house, where it swam freely in the bathtub for one day. I would drive Grandma crazy visiting it. Ignoring Grandma’s pleas not to get too “friendly” with the fish, I would name it, then lean over the rim of the bathtub and get soaked trying to pet it.

The following morning the household rose especially early. It was the first seder day and there were endless chores to finish and mountains of food to prepare. That’s when my Grandpa grimly appeared at the bathroom door, surveyed the situation and wrestled that fish into a waiting towel. It squirmed and thrashed in Grandpa’s arms. Naughty words sprang from Grandpa’s mouth, in English, Yiddish, Hungarian, Russian and Polish — he was a multilingual curser!

In a desperate last thrust for freedom, the fish flew out of Grandpa’s arms and onto the floor.

Grandpa began to sweat profusely before he finally managed to half-drag, half-push it across the floor into the kitchen. Unfortunately, it was also Grandpa’s job to hasten the fish to its greater reward in heaven. Grandma stood by, waving a dish towel, criticizing, suggesting, directing -- but mostly crying for the fish’s imminent death, even though it was the natural order of things for carp to be transformed into gefilte fish patties. Grandma, with a soft heart for all living creatures, often passed up eating her own homemade gefilte fish. I, on the

other hand, had no difficulty gobbling up my previous one-day pet.

As the years passed, the Passover carp scenario played out over and over. Supermarkets eventually supplanted the fishery and all the mom-and-pop stores. Live food disappeared from view, except for the occasional lobster, replaced with prepackaged and sanitized choices.

My mother did not follow in Grandma’s footsteps. Mother would not play hostess and executioner to a live fish, even if it meant no gefilte fish for Passover. But fortunately for Mother, by the time she assumed the mantle of matriarch, gefilte fish was available ready to eat from jars and cans.

Mother created a new Passover tradition in our family. My children’s memories consist of watching their grandmother wrestle blobs of gefilte fish out of a jar, wipe off the weird jelly stuff and plop the patties onto a waiting platter of lettuce.

Today, with my grandma and mother both gone, I’m the new matriarch and a grandmother, too. It is my responsibility and joy to prepare the Passover table. But even with all the modern conveniences and choices available to me, visions of my grandma and our carp-drenched bathroom fill my heart, to say nothing of the melt-in-your-mouth fish made tastier by the added ingredient of Grandma’s love.

To me, Passover is gefilte fish and no grandchild of mine should eat an assembly-line appetizer from a jar like my mother served.

No, my grandchildren deserve old-fashioned, handmade food. So I plan to have the entire meal catered.

Lynne Daroff Foosaner is a freelance writer, political activist, artist and grandmother, not necessarily in that order.

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

Recalling lessons of Passover, Israelis pray for their Syrian ‘enemies’ Andrew Tobin TEL AVIV | JTA

emancipation came through the suffering of the Egyptians.

If inheritors of that Jewish tradition can find room to forgive AT A ShAbbAT service in Tel the biblical Egyptians, he said, Israelis can certainly sympaAviv on Friday evening, con- thize with Syrians, with whom they have battled and never gregants recited the mourner’s made peace. prayer for those killed in “Despite the fact that Israelis can identify the Syrian peoSyria’s civil war. ple as our enemies, the vast majority of us feel deeply sadStanding before a mural of dened about what is happening next door,” he said. “We are the Tree of Life, the rabbi of using this tradition to remind us to have sorrow for the sufBeit Daniel, the largest Re- fering of all people.” form synagogue in Israel, deZeev Keinan, a longtime leader in Israel’s Conservative, livered a sermon on the Jewish or Masorti, movement, delivered a Torah commentary on obligation to condemn the savagery of the war. And a bar Friday at his Maayanot synagogue in Jerusalem about mitzvah boy led a prayer for peace in honor of the Syrian whether Israelis should pray for the Syrians. His conclusion people, whom Israelis have – yes – was not a surprise to long considered enemies. anyone who read the prayer “When you include he wrote several months something in your prayers, ago for the Syrian people you push it to a higher level on behalf of the movement. of consciousness,” said He said the prayer, which Gilad Kariv, the head of the has been widely distribReform movement in Israel uted, is being read at his and a member of Beit synagogue and others Daniel. “We declared that throughout Passover. the Syrian people are Appropriately, Keinan rooted in the deepest part noted, a line from the prayer of our soul as individuals is taken from a passage of and as a community.”

Exodus that refers to the afAfter an apparent chemtermath of the final plague ical attack in Syria last year A view of the Suruc refugee camp in Turkey, which houses God inflicted on the Egypkilled dozens of people, in- some 35,000 Syrian refugees. Credit: Carl Court/Getty Images tians: the death of every cluding children, liberal non-Jewish firstborn son. and Orthodox Israeli Jews alike adapted their Passover Keinan, whose mother is a Holocaust survivor, said reprayers to address the tragedy unfolding just across their purposing the phrase “there is not a house without one northern border. They found inspiration to pray for Syrians dead” (Exodus 12:30) is in keeping with the Passover tradiin the story of the holiday, which some Jews have long in- tion. In addition to the spilling of the wine, Keinan referred terpreted as urging sympathy for the oppressed -- and even to the Talmudic story that God stopped the angels from rethe oppressor. joicing when the Egyptian soldiers who were pursuing the Israel’s Reform movement asked its members to dedicate fleeing Israelites drowned in the Red Sea, saying, “How dare the Sabbath before Passover, called Shabbat Hagadol, to the you sing for joy when My creatures are dying.”

Syrians and refer to them at least twice during the seder, In the Orthodox world, a prayer for Syrians has been which recounts the Israelites’ biblical exodus from slavery making the rounds online ahead of Passover. Written in in Egypt. The first mention is to come before a prayer for 2013 by a leading religious Zionist ethicist, Rabbi Yuval peace by the 18th-century Hasidic rebbe Nachman of Cherlow, the prayer reads in part: “We beseech You in Braslav, which some may add to the Haggadah. The second prayer to arouse in the killers their basic humanity and should come when seder participants spill a drop of wine evoke mercy in their hearts, that they may recognize that for each of the 10 plagues God visited upon the Egyptians we are all created in the image of God, and that there are to win the Israelites’ freedom. limits even to human cruelty.”

Kariv cited the view that the wine ritual symbolizes that Cherlow said he wrote the prayer, despite a reluctance the Jewish “cup of joy” is diminished because the Israelites’ See recalling lesons of Passover page d15

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | d13

passover Passover songs

Continued from page d11 Saracens; the slaughterer, the Crusaders; the angel of death, the Turks. At the end, God returns to send the Jews back to Israel. The recurring refrain of two zuzim is a reference to the two stone tablets given to Moses on Mount Sinai (or refer to Moses and Aaron).

Versions of the song exist in Ladino (Un cavritico), JudaeoItalian and Judaeo-Arabic.

Avadim hayinu We know that the Avadim Hayinu (We Were Slaves) section was written by Rabbi Eliezer Hagadol (2nd Century). It is an introduction to the formal narration of the exodus from Egypt, based on the views of Samuel (Pes. 116a). Passages of unknown origin supplement the narration stressing its importance. echad Mi Yodea Echad Mi Yodea is another cumulative riddle with versions in Hebrew and Yiddish.

According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, this song is first found in Ashkenazi Haggadot of the 16th century. It is believed to have originated in Germany in the 15th century, possibly based on a German folk song Guter freund ich frage dich, which means Good friend, I ask you.

The song relates the 13 basics of Judaism. After relating G-d’s wonders and kindness, and the events of the Exodus, the song demonstrates how everything can and should relate to G-d. dayenu Dayenu is a Hebrew song, traditionally sung during the celebration of Passover. The word itself essentially means “It would have been enough for us.” Day is the Hebrew word for “enough” and the suffix enu means “our” This traditional up-beat Passover song is over one thousand years old. The earliest full text of the song occurs in the first medieval haggadah, which is part of the ninth-century Seder Rav Amram.

The song goes through a series of gifts believed granted by G-d to the Israelites (such as Torah or Shabbat), proclaiming that any of them alone would have been sufficient, to express greater appreciation for them as a whole.

It is 15 verses long, sequentially recounting each divine intervention in the story of the Exodus. After each divine act, the chorus “(if G-d had done only this) it would have been enough for us” is sung.

Michele Landsberg is a Canadian journalist, author, public speaker, feminist and social activist.

See Passover Songs page d15

d14 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

synagogues b’nai israel synagogue

618 Mynster Street Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 402.322.4705 email: BnaiIsraelCouncilBluffs@ gmail.com

beTh el synagogue

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

beTh israel synagogue

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

chabad house

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

congregaTion b’nai Jeshurun

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

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Capehart Chapel 2500 Capehart Road Offutt AFB, NE 68123 402.294.6244

rose blumkin Jewish home

323 South 132 Street Omaha, NE 68154

Temple israel

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

TifereTh israel

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

b’nai israel synagogue

Join us for our monthly Shabbat Speakers Series on april 13, at 7:30 p.m. with guest speaker Jeannette Gabriel on Locking up Al Levy: Omaha’s Struggle Against Jim Crow during WWII. Our service leader is Larry Blass, and as always, an oneg to follow service. Everyone is always welcome at B’nai Israel!

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

beTh el synagogue

Services conducted by Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman. friday: NE AIDS Lunch, 11:30 a.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m.; USY Chapter Retreat, Downtown. saTurday: Shabbat Morning Services, 9:30 a.m.; Mincha following Morning Services; USY Chapter Retreat, Downtown; March of our Lives, noon. weekday serVices: Sundays, 9:30 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.; weekdays, 7 a.m. & 5:30 p.m. sunday: BESTT Classes (K-7), 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10 a.m.; Siddur Celebration with Grade 3, 11 a.m.; USY Chocolate Seder, 6 p.m. at Eadie’s House. monday: Intro to Judaism Class with Rabbi Abraham, 7 p.m.

Tuesday: The Ethical Life with Rabbi Abraham, noon at Whole Foods. wednesday: BESTT School Seder (Grades 3-7), 4:15 p.m.; Miriam Initiative: Knitting, 5:45 p.m. at Personal Threads Boutique; BESTT Hebrew High Classes (Grades 8-12), 6 p.m.; The Ethical Life with Rabbi Abraham, 7 p.m. friday, mar 30: Shacharit/Siyyum B’khorim, 7 a.m. followed by Biur Chametz; Kabbalat Shabbat/Ma’ariv, 5:30 p.m., a shortened service that will allow everyone time to return home for First Seder. saTurday, mar 31: Shabbat Morning Services, 9:30 a.m.; Passover Around the World Family Seder: Warmup, 5 p.m., Mincha, 5:30 p.m., Seder, 6:15 p.m.

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

beTh israel synagogue

Services conducted by Rabbi Ari Dembitzer. friday: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha and Candle Lighting, 7:22 p.m. saTurday: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Insights into the Weekly Torah Portion, 6:20 p.m. with Rabbi Ari; Mincha/Seudah Shlishit, 7:05 p.m.; Havdalah, 8:22 p.m. sunday: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; The Haggadah — It’s a lot more than just Four Questions, 10 a.m. with Rabbi Ari; PJ Library, 10:30 a.m. with Rabbi Shlomo; Paysie and Susie’s “Pre-Pesach Perfect Pasta Dinner, 10 a.m. with Rabbi Ari weekdays: Creating Spiritual Life, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari. monday: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Talmudic Tales with Rabbi Shlomo, noon.

Tuesday-wednesday: Shacharit, 7 a.m.

Thursday: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Connecting to Our Fatih, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Ari; L’Dor V’Dor — Generational Learning, 6:30 p.m. with Rabbi Shlomo; Character Building for 712th grades, 6:30 p.m. with Rabbi Ari; Talmud, 7:30 pm. with Rabbi Shlomo. friday, mar 30: Chometz Burning, 11 a.m. at Beth Israel; Mincha and Candle Lighting, 7:29 p.m. saTurday, mar 31: Mincha/Seudah Shlishit, 7:15 p.m.; Passover Across America Seder, 7:30 p.m.; Candle Lighting, 8:30 p.m.

chabad house

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

Tuesday: Celebrate the impact of the Rebbe on his birthday and see how he cherished every individual, 7 p.m.

RSVP to office@ochabad.com or online at ochabad.com/ rsVp.

wednesday: Mystical Thinking, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Katzman.

Thursday: Talmud Class, noon with Rabbi Katzman. friday, mar 30: Join us for a delightful Family Seder, 7:30 p.m. Relive the Exodus, discover the eternal meaning of the Haggadah, and enjoy a community Seder complete with hand-baked Matzah, wine, and a wonderful dinner spiced with unique traditional customs. saTurday, mar 31: Shachairt, 10-11:30 a.m. followed by a Kiddush.

All programs are open to the entire community.

congregaTion b’nai Jeshurun

Services conducted by Rabbi Teri Appleby. friday: Shabbat Evening Service, 6:30 p.m.; Candlelighting, 7:24 p.m.; Oneg, 7:30 p.m. hosted by Marc Shkolnick. saTurday: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study on Parashat Tzav, 10:30 a.m.; Havdalah (72 minutes), 8:55 p.m. sunday: LJCS Gan through Grade 7, 9:30 a.m.; LJCS Gesher, 10 a.m.; Adult Beginning Hebrew, 11:30 a.m.; Board of Trustees Meeting, 1:30 p.m.; Come learn and play Pickleball, 7-9 p.m. All equipment furnished. Wear comfortable clothing. For questions, call or text Miriam Wallick at miriam57@aol.com. wednesday: LJCS Hebrew School, 4 p.m. friday, mar 30: Erev Pesach/First Seder — No Services at Temple. saTurday, mar 31: Pesach Day 1 — No Services or Torah Study at Temple; Community Seder, 6 p.m.

Passover Home Hospitality: First Seder, friday, march 30. Would you like to be hosted for a Passover Seder Friday night? Do you have extra room at your Passover table to host someone? If so, please contact Rabbi Appleby: rabbi@south streettemple.org.

Online registration for our 2018 Annual Second Night Seder is now available. You can also RSVP to the office by phone at 402.435.8004 or e-mail office@southstreettem ple.org. RSVP’s due by march 26 at 5 p.m.

LJCS CAMP ISRAEL is gearing up for another great twosession July 9–July 20, 2018. Make plans for your child to attend this summer.

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

offuTT air force base

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

rose blumkin Jewish home

saTurday: Services, 9:15 a.m. led by Alan Shulewitz. saTurday, mar 31: Services, 9:15 a.m. led by Marty Shukert.

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

Temple israel

friday: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. saTurday: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m.; Shabbat Service, 10:30 a.m. Torah Reader: Robert Friedman and Haftarah Reader: Miles Remer; Uncork and Unwine(d) with Tish!, 7 p.m.

Spirit World, 6680 Center St. We invite folks in their 30’s and 40’s to join us for an evening of wine and cheese tasting in Aksarben. We will be sampling three different Pinot Noirs; one from Oregon, one from California, and one from France! Our wines will be perfectly paired with veggies and hummus and cheese plates. This is the first event hosted by our new group “Tish,” a group for Temple-ish people who are 30-ish to 40-ish, single-ish or married-ish, Jewish and Jewish-ish. RSVPs required. sunday: Kids’ Choir, 9:30 a.m.; Madrichim Meeting, 9:30 a.m.; Discovery Tour for Grades 1 and 2, 9:45 a.m.; Grades PreK-6, 10 a.m.; Temple Tots Sunday, 10:30 a.m.; Temple TED Talk, 10:30 a.m.; Pride Task Force Meeting, 10:30 a.m.; Tri-Faith Committee Meeting, noon; Teacher Appreciation Lunch, noon. wednesday: Grades 3-6, 4 p.m.; T’filah for School, 4:30 p.m.; School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Grades 7-12, 6 p.m.; Family School, 6 p.m.; Guiding Principles for the Synagogue Community: Avodah; Remember that Our Work is Service, 6:30 p.m. with Rabbi Brian Stoller.

Thursday: Jewish Heroes, Heroines, and Personalities: Leonard Bernstein and Arnold Schoenberg, 10 a.m. taught

by Cantor Wendy Shermet. Class meets at Temple Israel.

No Services at Temple Israel, friday, march 30. Since so many in our community will be hosting or attending a firstnight Seder on March 30, we will not hold a Shabbat service at Temple Israel that evening.

Passover Breakfast, saturday, march 31, 9:30 a.m.

Passover and Shabbat Service, saturday, march 31, 10:30 a.m.

Passover Family Seder, saturday, march 31, 6 p.m.

RSVPs required.

Concluding Passover Service and Yizkor, friday, april 6, 10:30 a.m.

April First Friday, friday, april 6. Candle lighting and Kiddush in the Simon Community Court, 5:45 p.m. Services, 6 p.m., Oneg immediately following.

TifereTh israel

Services conducted by lay leader Nancy Coren. Office hours: monday-friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. friday: Services, 6:30 p.m. saTurday: Shabbat Morning service, 10 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 11 a.m.; There will be no Kiddush Lunch after services as the kitchen is closed for Passover. sunday: LJCS Gan through Grade 7, 9:30 a.m.; LJCS Gesher, 10 a.m.; We will be cleaning our kitchen for Passover in the morning; Bob Hutkins will be joining NRP Science Correspondent Joe Palca at 3 p.m. for Afternoon Science with NET at the NET Headquarters (1800 N. 33rd). Admission is free, but you must register on-line; Come learn and play Pickleball, 7-9 p.m. All equipment furnished. Wear comfortable clothing. For questions, call or text Miriam Wallick at miriam57@aol.com. wednesday: LJCS Hebrew School, 4 p.m.

Thursday: Hebrew classes for adults, 6:30-7:30 p.m., with Esti Sheinberg. Each meeting will include listening, speaking and a little reading. friday, mar 30: Synagogue office closed; The unveiling ceremony for the monument of Max Neiden, 3 p.m. at Mt. Carmel Cemetery. Please join the Max’s family and the family of Gail Wishnow as we remember their loved one and say mourner's kaddish; Adult centered Seder, 6 p.m.; Candlelighting, 7:32 p.m. saTurday, mar 31: Shabbat Morning service, 9:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 11 a.m.; There will be no Kiddush Lunch after services as the kitchen is closed for Passover; Child centered Seder, 6 p.m.; Candlelighting, 8:33 p.m.

You're part of the puzzle...Don't be a missing piece! Join us for a Communal Seder at Tifereth Israel. You can choose from 2 options: friday, march 30, 6 p.m. — A Passover Seder for all ages. saturday, march 31, 6 p.m. — A Seder geared for extended families with children ages 0-13. Reserve a Place Now for yourself and your family! Cost: Free to all but donations to help defray expenses may be contributed to the Lay-leader Discretionary Fund. RSVP to the office at 402.423.8569 to say you're coming or e-mail ncoren@tifer ethisraellincoln.org.

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

Application packets are availible in the Tifereth Israel foyer.

As you start to make summer plans, consider sending your child to LJCS CAMP ISRAEL, July 9–July 20, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. at Tifereth Israel. Light Kosher dairy snack and lunch included. Tuition for each week is $75. This program is open to children ages 5-14. We require ALL campers to be registered through the LJCS, therefore we cannot accept drop-in guests.

early deadline noTice

The deadline for the April 6 issue is Tuesday, march 27, 9 a.m. Questions? Call 402.334.6448.

To submiT announcemenTs

Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press at jpress@jewish omaha.org; or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154. Readers can also submit announcements -- births, b’nai mitzvahs, engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies or obituaries -- online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewish omaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements. Deadlines are normally eight days prior to publication, on Thursdays, 9 a.m. Please check the Jewish Press, for notices of early deadlines.

The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018 | D15

Recalling lessons of Passover Continued from page D13 among Orthodox Jews to add to Jewish liturgy, out of concern for the “civilians and children” in Syria. He said Jews are commanded “as part of our going out of Egypt” to observe that they are allied with any oppressed or displaced people. But Cherlow acknowledged being uncertain about what exactly to ask of God, given that most of the warring parties in Syria could be considered enemies of Israel.

“In this case, I can’t say we know what we wish for,” he said. “While I can’t use the term ‘happy,’ I prefer the bad people shoot each other and not kill me.”

Echoing the overwhelming sentiment in this country, Cherlow said Israel has little choice but to maintain its policy of nonintervention in Syria. Most Israelis feel getting involved would accomplish little and risk incurring the wrath both of Syrian President Bashar Assad and his backers Iran, Hezbollah and Russia, as well as the radical Islamic rebel groups, including the Islamic State, that seek to topple him.

Still, Cherlow emphasized that prayer is not enough in the face of evil, and said the events in Syria also inspired him to demand action. He recently recom-

mended to the army’s chief of staff, Gadi Eizenkot, that the Israel Defense Forces expel reserve soldiers who assist as mercenaries in conflicts in African and South American countries, among others, and formally add ethical considerations to its decisions about weapons sales.

According to Kariv, Israel’s Reform movement plans to issue a letter on Wednesday demanding that Israel, which has not taken in any Syrian refugees, welcome 100 orphan children from the country -- a plan proposed earlier this year by haredi Orthodox Interior Minister Aryeh Deri.

Continued from page D13 She wrote The Women’s Dayenu, which is as follows: If Eve had been created in the Image of God and not as a helper to Adam, DAYENU If she had been created as Adam’s equal and not been considered a temptress, DAYENU If Lot’s wife had been honored for compassion for looking back at the fate of her family in Sodom, and had not been punished for it, DAYENU If our mothers had been honoured for their daughters as well as for their sons, DAYENU If our fathers had not pitted our mothers against each other, like Abraham with Sarah and Hagar, or Jacob with Leah and Rachel, DAYENU If the Just Women in Egypt who caused our redemption had been given sufficient recognition, DAYENU If Miriam were given her seat with Moses and Aaron in our legacy, DAYENU

If women had written the Haggadah and placed our mothers where they belong in history, DAYENU If every generation of women together with every generation of men would continue to go out of Egypt, DAYENU. Adir Hu Adir Hu (Mighty is He) is a hymn naming the virtues of G-d in order of the Hebrew alphabet, expressing hope that G-d will rebuild the Holy Temple speedily.

The tune of Adir Hu has undergone several variations over the years, but the origin is from the German minnesinger period. The earliest extant music for Adir Hu is from the 1644 Rittangel Hagada; the second form was in the 1677 Hagada Zevach Pesach; and the third and closest form can be found in the 1769 Selig Hagada. In the 1769 Hagada, the song was also known in German as

the Baugesang (the song of the rebuilding of the Temple).

There are 24 short simple lines, each beginning with an attribute of G-d. Most of the virtues of G-d are adjectives (for instance, Holy (Kadosh) is he); however, a few are nouns (for instance, Lord is he). The traditional melody is a bouncy, major one. Other melodies, however, have been composed for the alphabetical song.

There is also a feminist variant of the song by Rabbi Jill Hammer which calls G-d “She” and, quoting Rabbi Hammer, “emphasizes G-d’s sharing in human joys and griefs, and G-d’s ability to renew life through the strength of the earth.” Rabbi Hammer is an author, teacher, midrash expert and poet; she is Director of Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion in Yonkers, New York.

Passover songs

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D16 | The Jewish Press | March 23, 2018

H AV E A H A P P Y A N D H E A LT H Y

Passover National Council of Jewish Women Nebraska

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

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

Happy Passover wishes its friends in the Jewish community a Passover filled with good health, happiness and peace.

JEWISH WAR VETERANS of AMERICA Epstein Morgan Post 260

from the LOVE Board

League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly

Send Best Wishes for a Happy Passover with a Love tribute card

The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home Auxiliary

Available from Sabine Strong 402-334-6519

With Your Help We’ll Have A Great Past Ahead Of Us

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and peaceful Passover.

Happy Passover

FREE membership to all active-duty personnel Contact: Jay Benton, Commander 402-250-6133 We welcome any and all new members

Join us and give a gift for future generations.

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

Happy Passover

Henry Monsky Lodge Best Wishes for a Happy Passover

B’nai B’rith

402-334-6443

It is an obligation to tell the story.

Wishing the community a Happy Pesach!

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

From the staff of

Chag Sameach Rabbi Mendel Katzman, Chabad Board, Staff and Volunteers

Wishing the entire community a

Happy 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

712-322-4705

Send a gift subscription.

You’re always welcome at B’nai Israel!

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

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

Enclosed is a check for $30 (which covers the balance of this year, regularly $40), $80 foreign rate, made out to The Jewish Press.

Name of new subscriber: Gift from Name: ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Address: Address: ________________________________________ ________________________________________ City, State, Zip: City, State, Zip: ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Mail today to: The Jewish Press | 333 So. 132 St. | Omaha, NE 68154-2198