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YOM HASHOAH
A return to being together
Purim at Friedel Page 2
SCOTT LITTKY Institute for Holocaust Education Executive Director ach year it is an honor for the Institute for Holocaust Education, along with our local congregations, to plan our annual Yom HaShoah commemoration. Over the past two years, due to the restrictions imposed because of the COVID-19 virus, we had to observe together virtually. This year we are very happy that we will be able to be live and in-person and will also provide a Zoom link for those who want to attend virtually. This year we will be holding our annual Omaha Holocaust Commemoration on Wednesday, April 27, at 7 p.m. in the Alan J. Levine Theater at the Jewish Community Center, 333 South 132nd Street. To register for the
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Additions to the Kripke Library’s collection Page 5
Play-Doh Passover at Temple Israel Page 6
Diaspora: The Jews of Iran
REGULARS Spotlight Voices Synagogues Life cycles
Gerald Steinacher
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ANNETTE VAN DE KAMPWRIGHT Jewish Press Editor For the past few months, the Jewish Press has brought you stories about various Jewish communities in the diaspora. We are timing our topic to coincide with lectures on April 5th by visiting scholar, Dr. Lior Sternfeld, Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies at Penn State University. Dr. Sternfeld will speak here on the Staenberg Kooper Fellman Campus during a dinner program titled Iranian Jews in the Diaspora - The Making of Jewish TehrAngeles ( focusing primarily on Jews from Tehran who have created community in Los Angeles, CA). Dr. Sternfeld will also give a lecture at UNO at 1 p.m. titled, Jewish Histories of Iran: Transforming Communities in Times of Upheaval and Revolution.
This presentation is hosted by The Schwalb Center for Israel & Jewish Studies at UNO and the JFO and will include a 6 p.m. Persian dinner from
Lior Sternfeld
local restaurant Ahmad’s Persian Cuisine. Registration for the program is required and can be submitted by selecting the “Iranian Jews in the Diaspora” slider at www.jewish omaha. org. Dr. Sternfeld is a social historian of the modern Middle East with particular interests in Jewish (and other See Diaspora page 3
online option, please go to – https://tinyurl.com/y3avkmxs. The Institute for Holocaust Education is honored again this year to be working with our local Omaha clergy to plan the evening program. Along with clergy participation, we are honored to have Survivors, 2nd Generation Survivors and Liberator 2nd Generation Survivors participating in the candle lighting ceremony. Sivan Cohen, our Omaha Community Shalicha will also be reading a poem. Our featured speaker this year will be Dr. Gerald J. Steinacher, the James A. Rawley Professor of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who will speak on his recent exploration of the Vatican archives. Dr. Steinacher’s research focuses on 20th Century European History with an emphasison the Holocaust, National See Yom HaShoah page 3
Local author series: Sari and Cass ANNETTE VAN DE KAMPWRIGHT Jewish Press Editor Jan Schneider Lund is a retired adjunct assistant professor of French at Creighton University and a long-time high school French and English teacher. She has authored poetry and articles, is the winner of numerous teaching awards and an active community volunteer in the arts and education. In 1999, she received France’s highest education honor of Chevalier de l’Ordre Des Palmes Académiques. In 2013, she was promoted to the rank of Officier in the same order. She and her husband, Blake, live in Omaha. Her novel, Sari and Cass (2020), is a robust work, to say the least. The trilogy goes from Iowa City to Paris to Chicago, following two young women as they come of age during the 1960s. In 115 chapters, two epilogues and 765 pages, the author lays out the lives of her protagonists in tremendous detail. While the volume may seem overwhelming at first, the story pulls you in quickly. Lund’s ability to
develop characters means it’s easy to care about Sari and Cass’ every thought. Who hasn’t read a book too fast, only to feel dissatisfied at the end and wish there was more?
Jan Schneider Lund
Jan Lund gives the reader more. She knows these characters inside and out, and by the end, so will the reader. Sari and Cass come from very See Jan Lund page 2
