April 8, 2022: Passover Edition

A N AG E N C Y O F T H E J E W I S H F E D E R AT I O N O F O M A H A

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Let My People Go

Passover 5782 A collaboration of the Institute for Holocaust Education and the Jewish Press

A2 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

Welcome

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Working together

There are many different pieces that make up the mosaic of Jewish Omaha. But while we may all have different areas of expertise, different things we do and love, unique roles to play and varying goals we feel passionate about, we have one thing that unites us: whatever we strive to do, we cannot accomplish it alone. Collaboration is key, because when we do that we not only strengthen each other, we learn from each other and we all become better in the process.

On that note, we thought that doing a special edition of the Jewish Press, which we always do for Pesach, was a natural place to reach out to another agency. And so we sat down with the staff of the Institute for Holocaust Education and got to work.

What you are looking at is the result of that collaboration. The IHE inspired the majority of the stories in this edition, and we hope those stories illustrate the hard and necessary work that has been done these past 20 years. Of course, we also have some holiday-specific content (what would the Passover edition be without recipes?).

It also serves as a reminder that, although we may have very different-looking days, we all have the same end goal. To keep this community strong and vibrant, we all have to do our part, but when we do it together and we are facing the same direction, we get there so much faster. I’m sure that was true for our people during the Exodus as well, although that’s a bit of an overdramatic comparison.

Speaking of Passover. As I’m always writing these messages way ahead of schedule, I am still unsure whether my own family will have guests at the Seder or whether it will be just the four of us. Planning ahead has become a bit of an uphill battle.

I try not to think about it too much, because I miss big, boisterous, messy dinners that take three days to clean up after. I miss having a house full of noise, conversation, groups of people hovering in different rooms, having too many guests to all fit in our tiny dining room. Obsessing over the things we miss doesn’t actually bring them back faster, I’ve realized.

Before I make you all depressed, let’s get to the part where we thank everyone who helped create this edition. First of all, a big thank you to the IHE staff: Scott, Kael and Ariel, as well as the IHE Board President, Gloria Kaslow. Thank you for your enthusiasm and your willingness to do this and even help with the content.

Our Jewish Press writers, Gabby Blair and Sam Kricsfeld, thank you for jumping in early. It is always a little confusing to be working on Pesach when the Hanukkah presents are barely unwrapped, but you did it anyway. Our Creative Director Richard Busse, Sales Manager Susan Bernard and Assistant-Editor Lori Kooper-Schwarz: thank you for stubbornly hanging in these past two crazy years. You never give up, no matter what and that’s something to be very grateful for.

Thank you to our volunteers, Pam Friedlander, Andi Gold-

stein, Margaret Kirkeby, Ann Rosenblatt and Isabella Wright for always meticulously checking our pages. Any mistakes and typos that still get missed are entirely my responsibility.

I also want to thank JP Board president Margie Gutnik and the JP Board of Directors for generously giving your time and support. A pandemic is a really difficult time to be a board member; not having as much face-to-face time but doing so much of this on Zoom has made things more challenging than we ever could have predicted. Plus, I don’t get to feed you during meetings anymore, which I personally think is a big loss.

Add to that the fact that it has gone on and on, and we should be grateful you’re all still here. Thank you!

Finally, to my colleagues in the building: no matter what de-

partment you’re in, you’ll never know how much it means to be able to work with every single one of you. We’ve had a weird few years and no one knows if the end is in sight. Yet, coming to work and seeing all your faces always makes my day better.

We have an amazing group of people in this building. Do we always agree on everything? Of course not. But at the end of the day, we are all here for reasons larger than ourselves and that is something to be truly grateful for.

I wish you all a Chag Pesach Vesame’ach—a happy and joyous Passover!

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor

The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | A3

I

Passover

To provide purpose and meaning I remember as a young person growing up in Detroit, I would often spend Sunday afternoons at our Jewish Community Center in those days. The man who handed out towels in the locker room had a tattoo of numbers on his arm. It was through that experience and memory that my journey to understand the Holocaust began. As an undergraduate and graduate student at SCOTT LITTKY Michigan State University, Wayne State Executive Director, University and UNO I took classes that IHE would help to shape my understanding of antisemitism, the Holocaust and prejudice.

As a Jewish educator, I became fascinated by the approaches and curriculum for the subject of Holocaust Studies.

Then, in the late 80s or early 90s, I remember Bob Wolfson, director of the ADL, arranged for a number of Nebraska teachers to go to Israel in order to visit Yad Vashem for a Holocaust education program. At the time, I thought to myself that one day, I too needed to go.

So fast-forward to when I was an education director in Alexandria, Virginia, and I began my next journey as a Holocaust educator by attending my first education seminar at Yad Vashem. To say that the course was life changing is an understatement. During the next ten years, I worked on curriculum and teacher training for supplementary religious schools in the United States.

My desire, though, was to somehow make my passion for the subject my profession. When my family moved back to Omaha during the summer of 2014, it appeared that this

would not happen. Then, in the spring of 2018, Liz Feldstern, who was the executive director of IHE, and her family, decided to return to Israel. That left an opening at the IHE. So, as they say, the rest is history, and I continue to be honored to serve the Institute for Holocaust Education.

As the current executive director, I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with amazing staff and a very dedicated Governance Council under the leadership of Gloria Kaslow.

IHE continues to offer strong programs. I am very proud of the new programs we have introduced. Our monthly Third Thursday IHE ‘Lunch and Learn ‘program, which began during COVID, continues to thrive each month and offering it by Zoom has allowed not only participation from within Omaha but also from others throughout the country. This past fall we began a new program that will run every November. Using the Portraits of Survival that were created for the 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht as our focus by having them displayed in the JCC gallery, we centered three different programs around the theme of survival. We look forward to again offering this program next November.

IHE continues to be about the relationships we have built.

I am honored to be able to work with so many dedicated teachers and members of the community. Our future is strong, and I hope that we will continue to make an impact in the field of Holocaust education throughout Nebraska. As the executive director I will continue to always look for the opportunity to educate and to make a difference. I hope that we will always continue to teach empathy, understanding and how to be an upstander and not a bystander!

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A4 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

Portraits of Survival Sam Fried and The Nebraska State Holocaust Memorial MARTY RICKS Jewish Federation of Omaha, Consultant In my fourteen years as Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation, I became very close friends with some of our donors. One was Sam Fried (Z”L) and his second wife Frances.

Over the years, much has been written about Sam and Frances in this paper as well as the Omaha World Herald, especially regarding Sam’s quest to speak out about his experiences as a Holocaust survivor. Sam educated others so that present and future generations of all races and religions never experience what he and his first wife Magda went through. They survived the Holocaust, but millions did not, including many of their family members. Magda passed away in Omaha in 1985.

Although not a Holocaust survivor, Francis had teamed with Sam in creating various programs to educate “never again” about terrors of the past, the Holocaust, Rwanda, Darfur, etc. At the University of Nebraska-Omaha, with the financial backing of Louis (Z”L) and Frances Blumkin, along with donations from the Fried family and others, UNO now hosts The Sam and Frances Fried Holocaust and Genocide Academy.

I met Sam around 2000 when he was planning his project to donate the Six Million Lights memorial plaques to the Omaha synagogues. At the same time, he established a fund at our JFO Foundation. Sam and I hit it off immediately.

He was so smart, engaging, caring and passionate about carrying out his plans to educate people of all ages about the horrors of the Holocaust.

A few years later, I received a call from

A mother and child at the Portraits of Survival exhibit, November 2021.

Frances and Sam Fried

Lincoln resident and activist Yale Gotsdiner. Yale explained that Nebraska was one of the few states (possibly the only state) that did not have a memorial to the Holocaust and that he and others had been working on the project to build a memorial for some time, but were not able to raise the capital to carry through with the project. They had chosen a wonderful location for the memorial within Wyuka Cemetery, the stateowned cemetery in the heart of Lincoln.

Yale indicated they had some prelim-

inary drawings and some conceptual ideas to move forward with, but were stuck without additional funding. My first thought was to call Sam who, like me, was unaware that Lincoln was working on a Holocaust Memorial. Sam then contacted his close friend Jerry Kohll and it wasn’t long before they travelled to Lincoln to meet with Yale and his committee. In the following few years, Sam and Jerry raised sufficient funds to complete the Memorial.

See Sam Fried page A6

GABBY BLAIR Jewish Press Staff Writer This past November, a crowd gathered in the JCC Gallery to view Portraits of Survival. Attendees were led by local photographer, David Radler, who created this striking exhibit to honor those who rebuilt their lives in Omaha after surviving the life-changing experiences of the Holocaust.

“Originally composed and first shown at the Joslyn Art Museum in 2008 in conjunction with programming on the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the exhibit was long housed in the small Pennie Z. Davis Gallery, which was adjacent to the Institute for Holocaust Education (IHE) in the JCC before being packed away for recent building renovations. With the JCC Gallery renovations completed, it was time to bring these striking portraits and the stories they tell back into the light,” IHE Director Scott Littky said.

Radler paused at each portrait, passing on the stories that were shared with him and recalling his profound experience meeting with and photographing the Survivors.

“I was honored and humbled to work on this project which is so dear to me,” he said. “Even after all this time, Portraits of Survival is without a doubt, the most important project I have ever done.”

Radler explained that he and longtime assistant, Justin Limoges, aimed to successfully capture the essence of each subject in a simple manner, incorporating a little of their environment in an effort to capture where each person was in that moment.

“Over a period of a few months, we went to each person’s home to photograph them. I kept it very simple, as I wanted to be as respectful and non-disruptive as possible with most meetings lasting under an hour. Justin and I have worked together for a long time and do so seamlessly. As my righthand man, he knows exactly what I want in regards to the technical aspects of my work, such as lighting, without direction which was essential in ensuring each visit we made stayed See Portraits of Survival page A7

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The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | A5

IHE memories: Liz Feldstern president of her United Synagogue Youth ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT (USY) chapter in high school and went on to Jewish Press Editor From March 2013 until July 2018, Liz Feld- become a USY youth director. As a counselor stern held the position of Executive Director on USY on Wheels trips in 2001 and 2002, at the IHE. She arrived in Feldstern met two men Omaha to fill some very big who would later change the shoes: replacing native Omcourse of her life. On the ahan Beth Dotan, who first trip, it was Rabbi moved to Israel.

Steven Abraham of Beth El “In a somewhat ironic Synagogue and on the sectwist,” the JFO said at the ond, her future husband, time, “Feldstern moved Yonatan. Currently, Liz and here from Israel. During her Yonatan have three chil8 1/2 years in Jerusalem, dren: Yishai - age 12, Gila she earned her master’s deage 11 (on Passover!) and gree in Conflict ManageNadav - almost 6. ment and Resolution from The most meaningful part Hebrew University and of the work she did at the Liz Feldstern worked as the Foreign RelaIHE was, she said: “that tions Coordinator for the Israel Center for Ex- coming to Omaha and joining the IHE gave cellence through Education. While pursuing me my first exposure to students, educators, her degree, she conducted extensive research and community members who might not on the displaced persons camps that housed know very much about Jews or Judaism. I Holocaust survivors in the years immediately found teaching about the Holocaust (and the following World War II.” rich culture that it nearly destroyed) to be In her professional role, she planned educa- particularly meaningful in this context.” tional programming for thousands of stuWhen asked why she wanted to do the dents in Israel, India, Singapore and the U.S., work, she said: “It might sound corny, but I and coordinated teacher training and profes- genuinely believe the well-known quote that sional seminars for more than 200 teachers when we don’t learn from history, we are annually. It is the melding of her research and doomed to repeat it. Seeing teenagers grapple scholarship in Holocaust studies with her ed- with some of the darkest truths of how ucational expertise that made her uniquely human beings have treated others - and qualified to head the Institute for Holocaust earnestly talk about how they hope to do betEducation. ter - is deeply rewarding.”

Feldstern is the oldest of three siblings, and How do you think the IHE makes a after her father passed away when she was difference in Jewish Omaha? ten years old, her mother returned to her JewThe Holocaust survivors who settled in ish roots and enrolled her kids in Hebrew Omaha contributed greatly to the commuschool; even hiring private tutors so they nity. It’s very fitting that the IHE serves, in could catch up to their classmates. She was See Liz Feldstern page A6

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Continued from page A4 However, Sam also became very involved in the planning of the layout and design. He worked closely with Canadian artist Morton Katz, who designed the sixteen foot high centerpiece Star of Remembrance. Sam and Frances were so very proud of the final product. Some of Sam’s family who perished are pictured as part of the Memorial.

The Memorial was dedicated fifteen years ago on April 15, 2007. Presently, the Memorial is under the supervision of the Lincoln Community Foundation and the JFO Foundation and administered by a volunteer managing director, Gary Hill. Maintenance has been done in recent years and continues on a volunteer basis by the members of Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity at UNL. Sam and Frances, Jerry and his wife Gail were very proud of the Memorial. The members of the committee, mostly Lincoln residents, especially Yale and his wife Irene also were proud that it was their idea to build this Memorial and pleased that it finally came to fruition.

Wyuka Cemetery is located at 3600 “O” Street in Lincoln.

Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) is April 28-29.

If you have never visited our beautiful Nebraska State Holo-

caust Memorial, I encourage you to pick a beautiful day this spring and drive to Lincoln to Wyuka Cemetery. A lengthy description of the Memorial is on the internet. If you would like

Nebraska State Holocaust Memorial Wall

to support the upkeep and long-term maintenance of the Memorial, an engraved pavement brick can be purchased for $100.00. Contact Laurie Peatrowsky at the Jewish Federation Foundation, lpeatrowsky@jewishomaha.org. Each inscription may contain up to three lines.

Liz Feldstern

current outlook (or has it)?

Continued from page A5 Our family LOVED living in Omaha! The community was so part, to honor their role. Beyond that, IHE serves as the adwarm and welcoming, dress for Holocaust and we each had the teaching, books, culopportunity to learn tural events, research and try new things (at and more - both within Friedel and the ECC, and outside the Jewish serving as lay leaders, community. ice skating, you name What have you been it!) in ways that we apup to since going preciated and brought a back to Israel? lot of meaning.

In addition to getting our family reacclimated What is the best and settled in advice you can give Jerusalem, I manage to Scott Littky?

I’m pretty sure Scott strategic partnerships doesn’t need my advice. at JDC (American JewBut I will say that the ish Joint Distribution Omaha community’s Committee). It’s an inYonatan Feldstern with Yishai, Gila and Nadav credible organization unique ability to come and my work brings me in contact with inspiring Jewish com- together for events like the Yom HaShoah Commemoration munities in the former Soviet Union, Latin America, Europe, is special and should be a point of pride for the community and of course North America and Israel. and the IHE. I hope this model of collaboration continues to be used in other ways as well.

How has your experience in Omaha changed your

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Portraits of Survival cluding Bob Cohen, who so perfectly encapsulated the brief Continued from page A4 as low-stress and not overly produced as possible. I used only summaries of each Survivor that accompanies the portraits one light source and took relatively few photographs -maybe based on existing testimonies they had provided, and Shelly a dozen or two- at each locaFox, Director of Jewish Senior tion, which was much different Outreach. than a usual photoshoot. I A natural choice for being made the decision from the a part of this project, Shelly start that these portraits Fox has long been an advowould be in black and white, as cate, friend and supporter of color seemed an inappropriate many of those photographed. distraction or embellishment “Working as I do for JSO, I from what I was trying to have the honor of knowing so achieve. It was important to many of our cherished me that the portraits captured friends in the Survivor coman honest, intimate, and munity. While I was not inmaybe raw feeling, nothing volved in the conception or overtly staged. I didn’t direct publication of Portraits of them, preferring to capture Above: David Radler and Kael Sagheer and Scott Littky of the Survival, I did work as a liainatural and organic expres- IHE, below: Jeff Schweid in front of a portrait of his mother, son between Survivors and sions and body language in be- Margot. the project team.” tween conversation. I let our She continues. “Beth or I hosts guide our meetings, and accompanied David and they spoke as much or as little Justin to each home during on topics of their choosing as our photo session. Those they felt comfortable doing. In who agreed to take part unthis way, this project was derstood that this was not an slightly more journalistic, perinterview, as many who were haps. I am still struck by the comfortable sharing their trust they gave us to come into stories had already done so, their homes, listen to their stobut a portrait session in a priries and photograph them.” vate space comfortable to Radler credits Beth Dotan, them. Still, many did share founding Director of the Instistories of life, and while I had tute for Holocaust Education, been in many of their homes for developing the idea for Portraits of Survival and coordi- due to their being JSO Community clients, I couldn’t have nating the effort to make it a reality. ever imagined just how special an experience it would have “I was beyond honored when Beth reached out to me to been for me to be part of this project. I will always carry it work on this project. We worked out the logistics and had in- with me and I am just so humbled to have had even a tiny depth discussions on how best to do it. It was very important part in this project. Our Survivors are true treasures to our to me that that this project not be about me, but about the community and I am glad to see them honored as such.” subjects I was photographing.”

In the booklet that accompanies the exhibit, Dotan is quoted: Radler commends Dotan on building an amazing team, in- See Portraits of Survival page A8

IHE: The early days

SAM KRICSFELD Beth Dotan was the Founding Executive Director of the Institute for Holocaust Education. She held that position for over a decade and educated countless Nebraskans, both Jewish and non-Jewish, about the Holocaust and survivors. The Jewish Press asked her about the early days of the IHE. How did the IHE start, and what role did you play in its beginning?

I returned to Omaha in 2000 on a joint agreement with the Ghetto Fighters’ Beth Dotan House [GFH] museum and the Omaha ADL/CRC’s Jewish Federation office to work for two years on the International Book Sharing project, which was a project of the GFH between schools in the US and Israel as part of a Jewish Federation “Partnership” with the AkkoWestern Galilee region... I worked at the museum in Israel and with the teachers involved with the Book Sharing project. An Omaha school [Beveridge Middle School] was matched with an Israeli school in the Book Sharing Project.

At that time, Bob Wolfson [then Executive Director of the Great Plains Region of ADL] had an abundance of requests from educators in town for Holocaust materials and lessons.

It seemed like the perfect match to bring my work-knowledge in Holocaust pedagogy to address both the book-sharing tools and my experience with Holocaust education.

As we started to integrate ADL Holocaust programming into the educational system in Omaha, we saw that there were See The early days page A8

A8 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

The early days Portraits of Survival

nounced “that every November henceforth, Portraits of SurContinued from page A7 “The idea to photograph Omaha’s Survivor community in vival will be displayed in the JCC Gallery in conjunction with conjunction with the commemoration of the 70th anniversary two weeks of educationally enriching and historically relevant of Kristallnacht arose from the programming for the broader desire to honor those who surcommunity.” vived the horrific life-changing In 2021, the opening of Porexperiences of the Holocaust traits of Survival kicked off a and who found their way to number of IHE-sponsored Omaha after the War and reevents and programming inbuilt their lives in our commucluding: personal testimony nity. The goal of this project from Buey Tut, a survivor of was not to ask the Survivors to the humanitarian crisis in the recall painful memories, but to Sudan; the showing of Syncapture each person as they drome K - a documentary that are today, in a peaceful, quiet recounted the narratives of moment. As a result of the tal- Community gathers to hear from Portraits of Survival photog- three Roman Catholic doctors ent and sensitivity of photogra- rapher, David Radler in November 2021. who saved Jews by convincing pher David Radler, viewers feel as though they are looking into Nazis that they were infected with a contagious and deadly the essence of each of our beloved members of the Survivor disease- at the Jewish Film Festival; and premiered When We community. The exhibit is an appropriate and meaningful way Go Away, written by playwright J.R. Dawson. Commissioned for the IHE to show our deepest honor and respect to the Sur- by the IHE, When We Go Away interweaves the testimonies of vivors in our community.” local Holocaust survivors Dr. Fred Kader, Rachel Rosenberg, She continued: “Personally, this has been one of the most Helena Tichauer and Katherine Williams to shape a monuimportant projects I have ever been involved in since the cre- ment of remembrance to this shared history. ation of the IHE in 2000. It was an emotional experience to be “Over a decade after inception, the images, stories and teswelcomed into so many homes, to reflect on the amazing timony supplied through Portraits of Survival provides a powstrength and resiliency of each of these individuals and to erful and tangible connection to those in our community watch each life being captured in a unique way. I thank every- today,” Littky said. Through the foresight in creating this imone for their hospitality and for the opportunity to honor portant and striking exhibit, the IHE will continue to honor them. I am sorry that not all of the Survivor community was Omaha’s Holocaust Survivors while helping us to consider the able to participate and that so many others are no longer with harder question of what ‘never again’ really means.” us. We hope that the spirit of the exhibit will serve to honor For more information regarding IHE programming, please the entire Survivor community.” reach out to Executive Director, Scott Littky at slittky@ At the conclusion of the exhibit tour, Scott Littky an- ihene.org.

Continued from page A7 centers being developed in other communities and universities around the county. There was discussion about whether we should continue doing this work under the auspices of the ADL or whether a Holocaust resource center should become an independent entity under the Jewish Federation.

Bob Wolfson, Larry Raful (then ADL lay chair), Debbi Zweiback (then ADL/CRC education staff), and I started to look at other communities like Kansas City [which has the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education], to identify our direction better. We also spoke to community survivors. Along with Gloria and Howard Kaslow, we then developed a Governance Council and created the Institute for Holocaust Education.

It was really by osmosis that the IHE was established. This was part of a national movement, and it was very exciting to be on the ground floor. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) had recently been established and provided critical educational frameworks, so I was able to also become aware and connect to those advancements.

I joined the Association of Holocaust Organizations — a professional organization of like-minded center directors and educators — and the opportunities opened up for us in many ways.”

Why were you interested in helping found and being involved in the IHE? I had not planned to stay in Omaha beyond the two years that were funded for me to work in the ADL office as a liaison for the Book Sharing Project. Living in Israel is very important to me, but I saw that the work we were doing community-wide in Omaha was extremely important and part of a larger national trend. It was needed, and we were in the midst of something really tremendous.

We also had an important role in supporting the community survivors and their families. We had liberator families connecting with the office. Once we understood that we could integrate ADL Holocaust programming, the local/ state interest, and better address the needs of the survivor families, it was clear that it wasn’t yet time for me to leave.

Who else was involved in the early years of the IHE? Our early Governance Council members included Bea Karp (Z”L), Lori Miller, Carol Gendler, Bob Cohen, Eunie See IHE: The early days page A10

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Gloria Kaslow: The desire to educate ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor In 2011, Gloria Kaslow was recognized by JFS as Woman of the Century for all the work she has done for that organization.

She served several times as its president and is the ‘goto’ person during times of change. Her projects over the years have included (but are not limited to) resettlement of Soviet Jews, Chairing the Education Committee which provided English language tutors and programs, designing the Women’s Symposium and Men’s Forum, volunteering for the BB Bible Quiz (which she co-founded), initiating ‘JFS Friends campaign,’ and helping JFS Gloria Kaslow transition from a separate agency to being a key component of Jewish Social Services.

Gloria has taught Beth El’s Talmud Torah for 25 years, and served as the chairperson of Beth El’s school board. She also volunteers with OPS as teacher of English as a second language, is past Chair of the JFO Kripke library, served on the JFO Board and the former Center for Jewish Education and is past member of Beth El’s Board of trustees. Together with her husband Howard, she is a familiar face to many in our community as both are quick to volunteer help where and when it is needed. Last, but certainly not least, Gloria and Howard both sit on the governance council of the Institute for Holocaust Education—the reason for this article.

“Gloria Kaslow has a life-long dedication to Holocaust education,” IHE Executive Director Scott Littky said. “She taught Holocaust education classes at Beth El Synagogue Hebrew High School approximately 25 to 30 years ago and still teaches it to Beth El teens. She is a terrific sounding board, always willing to give good, sound, well-reasoned advice.”

Gloria first became involved with the IHE 22 years ago, when Beth Dotan returned to Omaha from Israel to start the Institute for Holocaust Education.

“As a Holocaust educator,” Gloria said, “I was very excited to assist or collaborate in any way. Beth was gracious enough to let me work with her on curriculum development, and thus began a wonderful friendship along with my involvement and commitment to the success of IHE, which has continued through the years.”

The IHE is an integral part of the wider Omaha community, because one of its primary goals is to educate that wider community.

“Underlying the desire to go outside the Jewish community to educate about the Holocaust,” Gloria said, “is the fact that too few people know about the Holocaust. We believe it is our responsibility, and even our duty, to honor the victims by remembering them in a way that turns memory into understanding of the Holocaust’s lessons. There is so much hate in the world right now; the lessons of the Holocaust are needed more than ever. One of the primary ways of accomplishing this is by teaching the history of the Holocaust and demonstrating its continuing lessons and relevance in the context of 21st century issues. With that purpose in mind, IHE began training public and parochial school teachers in the best methods and curricula to guide their students in encountering the history of the Holocaust in an age- appropriate way.

As the Institute established itself in the community, it reached out in collaboration with the Omaha Symphony, Opera Omaha, Film Streams and other arts programs to educate further through the music and art created by victims and survivors of the Holocaust. The community exposure to this history was also extended in a Week of Understanding every year that brings Survivors and liberators to give testimony to their experiences face to face with students and the broader public, including annual presentations at the Durham Museum and Countryside Church. Such encounters with this living history can be transformative for audiences of all ages, helping them to think in a new way about their role in society.

With these programs, IHE reaches more than 10,000 people a year, a number that we hope to continue to grow.”

Gloria knows our Institute is “a tiny, hidden gem.”

Although it is housed in the Jewish Community Center in the ADL offices, it is a separate and independent organization, supported financially impact by the Jewish Federation of Omaha, but mostly funded privately by grants and donors.

“Its modest budget allows for only one full-time person, the Executive Director Scott Littky, a part-time educator, Kael Sagheer, and a part-time administrative assistant, Ariel O’Donnell,” Gloria explained. “Yet this small staff has created meaningful and impactful programs that have touched the lives of tens of thousands. Today we at IHE and in society at

large face many challenges: the rise of antisemitism, increased Holocaust denial, the demise of the eyewitnesses to the Holocaust, and the rising tide of hatred and indifference. This is a pivotal time in human history in which the crimes of the Holocaust and what led up to them feel very relevant. The goal of IHE is to teach this relevance to students and the community at large in ways that empower them to make a difference.

That’s a tall order, but this tiny Institute devotes itself to the task with passion, creativity, and dedication every day.”

As is the case for all non profit organizations large and small, financial stability is a challenge during the best of times.

That has not changed in recent years, and community support is essential if we want Holocaust education to continue.

“When thinking about the future of IHE and Holocaust education, the first major concern that comes to mind is financial security,” Gloria said. “The Institute has a year-to-year budget, hoping each year that grants will be awarded and donors will be generous. Our Executive Director has had many

a sleepless night worrying about whether we will be able to fulfill our budgetary needs. Because of this grave concern, Howard and I and Milton and Marsha Kleinberg have very recently established an Endowment Fund with the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation with the hope of raising a significant amount of money to secure the Institute’s future.

The funds that the Endowment Fund can provide annually, along with the Federation’s support and annual grants, can allow the Institute to continue its vital work of preserving the knowledge and memory of the Holocaust and teaching its much needed lessons to future generations. But to be a meaningful source of funds for IHE, the Endowment Fund needs to grow, and we encourage the community to consider a gift to the Endowment Fund now or as a future Life and Legacy Gift; the Foundation staff will be glad to help direct such a contribution to the IHE Endowment Fund.”

Our community, Gloria added, has been so very fortunate See Gloria Kaslow page A11

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IHE: The early days

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Additionally, we established the Nebraska Holocaust EduContinued from page A8 Denenberg (Z”L), Paul Smith, Ellen Wright, Janice Woolley cation Consortium. The Nebraska Department of Education and Jama Samiev. formally recognized the IHE and later adopted State social After Bob Wolfson left the Omaha ADL office, Alan Potash studies standards with our lead. was an incredible support and made sure that the IHE became We took a group of lay leaders and survivors to Poland and a staple in the community. Linda Pollard, manager of the ADL later to Israel. The trip to Israel included board member Jama office, also was a constant support.

Samiev and his grandfather, Sami Djalalov. Sami was a soldier Various Omaha Jewish Federation department staff played in the Red Army from Tajikistan who had been taken prisoner roles in making sure the survivors and programs had support. to the camps and forced on a death march. He was liberated Mary Sue Grossman worked on in Italy by an American unit that, Yom HaShoah programming with upon further research, we discovus, Shelly Fox worked closely with ered was based in Iowa. Sami the Survivor families, Karen came to Nebraska to visit his adult Gustafson of Jewish Family Servgrandsons with the IHE’s help and ices provided support, and many spoke in numerous schools. With more helped. assistance from the IHE, we visited Dotan also recognizes ADL the USHMM in Washington, D.C., staffers and Beth Katz and their where Sami donated personal work with Project Interfaith. She items to the archive, including his is grateful for the assistance she Red Army I.D. card that he hid in received at the IHE from Ilana his sock during the war.

Weiss, Laura Stastny, and Hilary Some of the most significant proFletcher. “Each played a significant grams we held were in connection role in helping the IHE forge to the Omaha Arts community. We ahead,” she said. staged Hanna’s Story, directed by Fran Sillau at the Jewish CommuWhat were some of the early nity Center Theater. We held a IHE programs?

One of the earliest programs was Kristallnacht 70th anniversary prothe adoption of the National ADL gram at the Joslyn Art Museum, Rescue of the Danish Jews Essay where over 700 people attended.

Contest. The IHE brought on JorPhotographer David Radler credana Glazer to reach out to ated a beautiful exhibit and photo Bea Karp and Beth Dotan schools to participate in the essay book of Nebraska Survivors titled contest for 9th – 12th graders. We had a significant connec- Portraits of Survival for that commemoration event. tion to Dana College [in Blair, Nebraska] and John Mark NielIHE programming included the Brundibár production that son and his wife, Dawn, who were very much a part of telling involved student actors and singers from throughout the city, of the Danish Rescue of the Jewish community to Sweden. in conjunction with Opera Omaha, Omaha Symphony memADL had an exhibit we brought to Omaha about the Danish bers, staged at The Rose Theater. Nearly 10,000 students Rescue, and the contest came under the auspices of the viewed that production and heard Terezin survivor Ela WeissOmaha ADL office and the IHE, continuing to run today. We berger speak about her experiences as a child in the concenwould receive over 700 entries in the years following 9/11. To tration camp. this day, community members return to read and judge the We proceeded to curate an exhibit, Searching for Humanity, essays annually. Thousands of students have written essays with artist Matthew Placzek and survivor Sam Fried (Z”L), throughout the years. which has become a permanent exhibit at the Strategic Air We were also part of the Echoes and Reflections educational and Space Museum between Omaha and Lincoln. curriculum launch, training teachers across the state. We proMusical programs with the Boston-based Hawthorn Quarvided countless professional trainings in Holocaust education tet - Remembrance, Creativity, and Transformation brought toand co-taught courses for teachers through UNO and a US gether the Omaha Symphony, Omaha Area Youth Orchestras, History grant. The Omaha and Lincoln Archdiocese educators school and afterschool programs, and the Union of Contemparticipated in a national program titled ‘Bearing Witness’ porary Arts from North Omaha. through the ADL and was adapted with the IHE specifically All this activity was assisted by devoted community volunfor Nebraska Catholic educators. Many of these events were teers and organizations. Of course, the annual Yom HaShoah possible due to grant money awarded to the IHE for substitute commemorations gave us time for reflection and hope as we teachers and summer seminars on various topics.

See IHE: The early days page A12

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Catching up with Donna Walter GABBY BLAIR Jewish Press Staff Writer When speaking with Donna Walter, her lifelong passion for education -as both a teacher and as a student- is evident. The Ottumwa, Iowa native taught language arts in middle schools for 35 years in both Iowa and Nebraska before taking on the position of being the first Education Coordinator for the Institute for Holocaust Education. I spoke with Donna to find out more about her role at the IHE and what drew her to the field of Holocaust Education, specifically.

How did you become involved in Holocaust Education?

As a middle school teacher, Holocaust education had always been a part of my curriculum in some form. When I began teaching, there were limited options for Holocaust education. I was delighted when the IHE began offering teacher workshops that provided growth for me and lessons that were classroom ready. Beth Dotan’s workshops became the gold standard for Omaha area educators. I was also fortunate to connect with Holocaust Survivors to bring their testimony to my students. For many years, Cantor Leo Fettman spoke to my eighth graders; Bea Karp also became a yearly speaker.

It was through my connection with Beth and the IHE that I learned of a regional program for educators in Catholic schools called Bearing Witness: Anti-Semitism, The Holocaust and Contemporary Issues. Beth brought this program to Omaha. It was done in partnership with the ADL, the United States Holocaust Museum, and the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops. This pro-

Donna Walter

gram was very transformational for me.

It provided a variety of perspectives on lessons of the Holocaust and was one of many insightful, important opportunities for educators that Beth provided.

The Bearing Witness program made us all more aware of the complicated process of teaching the Holocaust accurately. The program examined the roots of antisemitism, Jews and Judaism in the New Testament, and the relationship of the Catholic Church with Jews and Judaism. This added an additional perspective to teaching the Holocaust.

Two years later I attended Bearing Witness Advanced. Each year 30 educators are chosen from regional participants to be a part of this wider program. It included preparatory time in Baltimore and then a six day program in Israel. It was another transformational experi-

ence that expanded my knowledge and classroom curriculum.

I also was a member of the Nebraska Holocaust Education Consortium. The Consortium is a group of dedicated Holocaust educators from across the state who strive to make sure educators have the materials and methodology necessary for sound Holocaust education. The Consortium had also worked with the Nebraska Department of Education, Nebraska State School Board of Education, the Nebraska State Council for Social Studies and multiple other entities to help maintain understanding of the core principles of teaching lessons of the Holocaust.

How did you come to be the IHE’s first Educational Coordinator?

After several years of leading the IHE solo, Beth was in a position to add staff.

To this point she had handled establishing the IHE, setting up and facilitating programs for the community and beyond, curating exhibits, working with Survivors, and securing funding. She built a phenomenal organization from the ground up. Eventually she added part time positions of administrative assistant and marketing to help with the load. How she managed all the parts of the IHE on her own is a testament to the remarkable person she is.

In 2012, the stars aligned for me. I was in a position to come on board at IHE part time as the Education Coordinator.

It was -and still is- a mission I am very passionate about. After years of building a relationship with Beth through her IHE programming and my own educational journey delving into Holocaust See Donna Walter page A13

Gloria Kaslow

Scott Littky and Gloria Kaslow

Continued from page A9 through our 22-year history to have dedicated, passionate people staff the Institute.

“Our three directors – Beth Dotan, Liz Feldstern and Scott Littky—all fully embraced the work of fulfilling the mission of teaching both the history of the Holocaust and what must be learned from its story. They, along with our amazing educators-first Donna Walter and currently Kael Sagheer, have created curricula and programs that are meaningful and engaging, often using technology to reach new audiences. They have the full support of an active Governance Council that is formed from both the Jewish and non-Jewish community, helping to assist and advise the Institute and to ensure its stability and security for years to come. The truth is that as important and vital as this mission is, without the people who possess a passion and commitment to see it implemented, it couldn’t happen. I, for one, am deeply grateful for the people who make IHE happen.”

A12 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

IHE: The early days The role of theater: J.R. Dawson these stories, even Rainbowland, were about ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT a found family, a place where misfit toys could Jewish Press Editor Jen Dawson graduated with a BFA in Play- come together and learn from each other. writing and English Literature from DePaul By sophomore year of high school, “there University, an MS in Secondary Education from were a bunch of writing projects clogging up a the University of Nebraska bunch of hard drives,” acOmaha, and an MFA in Popcording to Dawson. After ular Fiction from Stonecoast. graduating from Omaha They were born in Central, they shot off to Omaha, and started writing Chicago to study playwriting at four years old, thanks to at The Theatre School at Detheir Grandma: Paul University: “ Some“Grandma folded stacks times, I would skip classes to of paper and stapled them explore the city with a friend down the middle,” Jen and scribble down my book wrote. “She told me to write projects (and yes, the classes and illustrate anything I were made up... mostly). As wanted into my own little the years kept on, there J.R. Dawson books. This meant the start came a realization while I of Rainbowland, Halloween Friends, and Uni- had a love for theater, I had a bigger love for corns (don’t be fooled by the title, it was a lot books. So, I declared an English major during like a grittier version of the Power Rangers).” senior year and founded the DePaul Writer’s Later on, Dawson’s mother joined in and Guild, a writing group that brought together bought Dawson a gigantic notebook and said all writers from all majors and backgrounds to fill it up. So, heading into fourth grade, around campus. The Writer’s Guild is still acDawson started writing small novels and tive on campus, over ten years later.” never stopped. One story was based on a After college, Dawson moved back to Omaha dream: a little girl, kept hidden by her father and became a high school drama teacher. because she had a magic power to turn any“Three weeks after moving back,” Dawson thing she imagined into a full-fledged illusion. said, “true love struck. The sort of once-in-aThen one summer night, young Dawson went thousand-years kind of love. We were engaged to the circus and saw a trapeze swinger. So out within six months, though graduate studies came a paragraph about the trapeze swinger, would keep us apart for four years.” and then it was immediately lost. But all of See J.R. Dawson page A14

Continued from page A10 started a tradition to bring Omaha Jewish youth and survivors together in the synagogues during the community events.”

What were some of the problems that the IHE faced?

We had to define who we were in the Jewish community — and in the larger community — when the organization started. Being a grassroots organization provided opportunity, yet that status created challenges for funding our goals. Nevertheless, we were able to overcome these challenges. The mission of the work became clear and grounded.”

Have the goals of the IHE changed at all since its establishment?

I believe the goals of the IHE have been steadfast. Both Liz Feldstern and Scott Littky, who have worked as IHE Executive Directors, continue to provide the community quality educational programming, create meaningful events and commemorations, and support the survivor families. Along with their educational coordinators, Donna Walter and Kael Sagheer, the school programming continues to blossom.”

Do you have any memories from the first few years of the IHE that stick out to you?

There are endless memories from my first few years of development of the IHE. Getting to know the Survivors and their families was most significant in understanding why this work was so critical and necessary. At some point, I thought, perhaps we will come to a time when students will know about this his-

torical period well, and we won’t be so busy.

But then 9/11 came, and Darfur, Kosovo, Rwanda, and other genocidal events. Our purpose to teach about the unique history of the Holocaust became solidified as we forged ahead with our development.

One of the most heartwarming components of the experience at the IHE is reflected in the funding and financial support received. Not only have numerous Jewish Federation Foundation grant opportunities given the IHE legs and wings, but members of the Jewish community — individually and through family donor-advised funds — saw the significance of the work. That list is lengthy and so honorable. It honestly leaves me speechless as I look back on the long list of who believe in the work. I am greatly moved that an Endowment will soon be in place to ensure the future of the IHE. We knew that this organization could not only be a Jewish-funded and supported program. We sought and secured community funding as well. Some of these sources included the Cooper Foundation, Nebraska Arts Council, Humanities Nebraska, the Sherwood Foundation, Scott Family Foundation, the Holland Foundation, the Baer Family Trust, and the Daugherty Charitable Foundation.

I believe the IHE has succeeded in teaching the community that the Holocaust is not just a Jewish tragedy. I believe the educational message runs deep, and the “village” we created among diverse entities will continue to have strength, especially in this politically divided world that we live in today.”

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Donna Walter Continued from page A11 Education, I accepted the position to help further the mission of the IHE. As Education Coordinator, I helped find new and innovative ways to support educators and expand Holocaust education in the classroom for students.

When Beth moved to Israel in 2012, shortly after I came on board, I was fortunate to have plenty of wonderful support from IHE and ADL staff. I am particularly grateful to Administrative Assistant Laura Stastny who knew the programing and was able to keep me afloat. I am also grateful to then ADL Director, Alan Potash and Governance Council Chair, Gloria Kaslow. Without their support it would have been very difficult to continue the work of the IHE until the selection of our new Executive Director, Liz Feldstern. I could not have been more thrilled with the Governance Council’s choice of a new Executive Director. I greatly enjoyed my time working with Liz. She continued growing the IHE with creative programs.

When Liz decided to move her family back to Israel, knowing I was considering retiring, she asked me to stay on until a new Executive Director could transition into the position. Together we looked for possible candidates for my position. Liz made the awesome decision to hire Kael Sagheer. I was able to help both Kael and Scott Littky settle into their new roles.

Scott and Kael are a wonderful team. In spite of the wrenches that COVID has thrown into life, they are busier than ever, continuing to grow IHE programming and resources, in person and virtually, which is impressive.

I chose to retire from my position as Education Coordinator in part because I felt that students would be more receptive to a younger educator. I also wanted the opportunity to spend more time with family since my husband was also retired.

That said, if IHE had a part time opening today, I would probably jump at the chance to return in some capacity. As a lifelong educator and student I am always ready to return to teaching and learning!

Upon my official retirement, I joined the IHE Governance Council. The Council helps brainstorm ideas to help support IHE programming, funding sources, networking opportunities and provides insights, ideas, suggestions and guidance to Scott and Kael. I am always amazed at how much good work they are doing and am happy to be able to serve in a capacity that supports them and the IHE mission.

What did you do as IHE Education Director? Any particularly special programs or moments you care to share?

Throughout my time working with IHE, I was fortunate to be a part of developing and implementing quality programs to support Holocaust Education within Omaha and beyond.

We continually sought to build important relationships with area schools and educators. The Holocaust can be overwhelming and emotional to teach. By providing quality resources to educators and students, the IHE is able to support age appropriate and historically accurate curriculum. Through these resources we are able to help accomplish our vision of inspiring the creation of a more just and equitable society.

Beth curated Searching for Humanity Exhibit: Veterans, Victims and Survivors of World War II, the Holocaust exhibit at the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum, before I came on board. Promoting the exhibit was a part of my responsibilities. I began putting together a field trip opportunity to the exhibit that would also incorporate Survivor testimony.

It became a program that rotated students through three stations: the Searching for Humanity exhibit, selected taped testimony of local survivors that also incorporated Holocaust history and a museum docent led tour of airplanes. The field trip culminated in live Survivor testimony. Liz was a huge asset in fine-tuning the program so that it could accommodate up to 75 students. Museum personnel were also very accommodating in making the field trips happen. The program gradually evolved to add ADL anti-bias curriculum and a Holocaust related lesson that looks at current genocides. The exhibit and live Survivor or 2G testimony remain the core parts of the field trip. Today this trip has been further refined

by Kael and Scott and has become a capstone field trip running at least once a month for area schools.

The program I am most proud of developing is Art and the Holocaust. Our essay contest brought high school students into contact with the IHE. I wondered how we could engage middle school students as well. Art in the Holocaust, became a highly successful program for middle school students. The program began with a professional development workshop about the Holocaust, and specifically about art during that period. Teachers then shared the IHE’s model lesson with their students before embarking on the visual arts portion of the project. Students were given pictures of Holocaust victims from our own Portraits of Survival exhibit and from the Memory Project. Each picture had a brief bio of the person. Students created charcoal drawings of the person of their choice.

Select works would be displayed in a special exhibit at the JCC. I am very grateful to Omaha Public Schools Art Curriculum Coordinator Angela Fischer for supporting this program with

Donna Walter and Kitty Williams

her art teachers. We expected 100-or-so participants for our inaugural run. Teachers were asked to select 10% of their students’ work for submission. We were blown away when we had over 800 participants! The quality of the artwork was beyond our wildest dreams. The art teachers clearly knew how to draw the best out of their students. A special reception is a part of the program. Students, parents, teachers, administrators and local Survivors are invited. It is so moving when a student can meet face to face and speak with the local Survivor they drew. One interesting result of this project was having a local Survivor tour the exhibit and to find a picture of her father on display. The original photo came from the Memory Project. It was from her parents’ wedding photo – only her father was in the picture the students received. We did not know of the connection before she told us. This is one of the many “coincidences” that occur in Holocaust education. A copy of the student’s drawing was given to the Survivor.

See Donna walter page A15

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Continued from page A12 Dawson currently works as a teaching artist with Nebraska Writers Collective, The Rose Theater, and other theatre and creative writing nonprofits. They became involved with the Institute for Holocaust Education while acting for Fran Sillau in his production of Shrek at the Rose.

“After my audition,” Dawson said, “he asked me to come read for this new project that was happening over at IHE, My Broken Doll. I got the honor of playing Bea, and originated the role. We were on the road with the play for about three years, until the pandemic struck.

It’s the longest time I’ve spent with a character, and it gave me a new family in the cast and production team. I never left.”

There’s a lot of talk in Holocaust Education about the inevitable change coming, Dawson said: “The Survivors won’t be here in a few years.

Holocaust Education will look different, forever changed. And how does the work carry on when everyone has passed? So, one of the solutions is telling the story with theater. One of the strengths theater has is bringing a catharsis to the audience, and breathing life into written words. I think that’s where the intersection is.

“There’s also the same obstacle in Holocaust Education that there is in theater: how do we uphold and honor a narrative without coating it with biases, pre-existing beliefs, dramaticisms, and the fact that we are here and they were there? There’s this ongoing undercurrent of ‘we will never understand what we’re trying to teach.’ We will never be able to empathize completely. And neither will our audience/students. With that in mind, what can we do?”

Different Holocaust-themed projects Dawson has been involved with include “a lot of education with my students,” they said. “This was back in the days before Broken Doll. I developed the curriculum for Night and directed

Anne Frank. I’ve also created outreach workshops with JFO at the Rose. I hope the future brings more work I can contribute.”

Dawson also was brought on as a collaborator for When We Go Away.

“As a playwright, they commissioned me to take the transcripts of survivors who live/lived in Omaha, and turn it into a 45minute play for middle schoolers. It took me about six months altogether.”

Dawson thinks being an audience member is “really difficult. I also think that writers, directors, and actors who get involved in a show that is Holocaust-related need to do a lot of mental self-care. I’ve noticed over the years that for cast and crew members who are Jewish, or grew up in the Jewish community, it hits in a very personal way. There’s no shock factor, it just smacks them in the gut. Those who have never entered the community, they need some adjustment to get over the shock factor. The overall brutality of the Holocaust smacks them across the face. I think that taking care of yourself after seeing something difficult is really important, whether you’re in the seats or on the stage.”

About the challenges in putting Holocaust education on a live stage, Dawson said: “Living in 2022 Nebraska, and looking back at history, that’s all you can do. Look back, listen to the stories, and you of course can relate to certain aspects, but the Holocaust itself ? You need a lot of humility, because going into this thinking, ‘I am going to hit the nail on the head,’ you’re not. I’m not a survivor. My parents and grandparents are not survivors. The only thing you can do is follow the transcripts as closely as you can, because you’re not there to do anything but tell someone else’s story and trust the survivor’s words to be the most important and sacred resource.

See The role of theater page A15

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Donna Walter Continued from page A13 Beth had invested in state-of-the art video conferencing technology with the idea that we could begin distance learning and educational and Survivor testimony opportunities for those outside of our immediate area. Of course today, Zoom has become the norm, but at that time this was a forward-thinking idea. The equipment was under-utilized. So when schools outside our immediate area wanted survivor testimony, we began suggesting video conferencing. This led to relationship building with teachers who were searching for Holocaust education opportunities and stumbled upon our website. One of those multi-year relationships was with an all-boys Catholic high school in Hawaii.

There are so many highlights I cherish from my time at the IHE. The production of My Broken Doll, a play directed

by Fran Sillau based on Bea Karp’s story that travelled to schools and was also performed at the JCC Theater; Remembrance, Creativity and Transformation with the Hawthorne String Quartet; Fabric of Survival a collection of tapestries telling a survivor’s story and Carole Dorfman’s family story presented through dance were all moving ways we helped to build connections and educate.

Of course, the greatest of all my experiences from my time at the IHE are the relationships I was privileged to make with Holocaust Survivors. They have touched my heart deeply.

They are examples of resilience, determination, positivity, humor, and the best teachers of the lessons of the Holocaust.

They have changed my life, and I will NEVER FORGET. What do you want people to know about the IHE? I want people to know that the IHE is a great source of ageappropriate, historically accurate materials for Holocaust Education. The IHE has some of the best educators in the nation on this topic and will work to support parents, students and teachers with programming suggestions, literature advice and curriculum direction wherever they are. As a whole, society is in a rather precarious place right now with rhetoric and vitriol running high. The IHE is a voice of calm and support for all educators and students seeking to navigate the topic of Holocaust education. Teaching about the Holocaust is more than just talking about Nazis and gas chambers. The people who died and who survived the Holocaust are real people, not just gray photographs of some nameless victims. Their stories are of deep love and unimaginable loss, resilience and rebuilding, heritage and traditions lost and reclaimed. Their stories deserve to be spoken about and remembered. They deserve to have their stories heard in their own voices without narrative or agenda. It is so very important to remember how society came to the point of allowing such large scale atrocities to be committed, so that we never come to that point again.

There is grave importance in shedding stereotypes and bias, in recognizing that we, as humans, are vastly more alike than we are different. I know that the IHE and their fellow educators see their work of Holocaust education as a vital and important labor of love to attain a peaceful future.

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The role of Theater Continued from page A14 “I think there are also a LOT of pitfalls in Holocaust-themed theater, and books and movies as a whole. We’ve seen it with what is currently happening with MAUS. I went to Art Spiegelman’s online lecture this past week, and boy howdy. What’s going on right now with the discourse is heartwrenching. It seems like Americans want the hippy-hoppy story of how American GI’s liberated the poor, poor prisoners (Mr. Spiegelman pointed out, it wasn’t Americans who liberated Auschwitz).

There has to be this happy ending, this ‘both sides-’ing, even if it’s subtle. Anne Frank is a beautifully written story, but it also ends with her saying she believes in the good of people... before she is deported and killed. How many teachers really spend time talking about Hanneli and Anne’s meeting? How Anne died?

How all of them but Otto died?

“So if MAUS, which is very Jewish in its telling of “things are dark, the world is cruel, now how do we still find the light?”, is going to be substituted in the curriculum by something else, then what is it going to be? Boy in the Striped Pajamas? We have to be careful what stories we are carrying on, especially with the Survivors not here to guide the discourse. Mr. Spiegelman said recently, “My house was a suburb of Auschwitz.” And “Do you wanna know where Krypton is? It’s a shtetl in Eastern Europe.” When they wanted to take out the word “bitch” from the book to censor it and instead put in an italicized “blintz”, he joked that maybe they could put some old Jewish family recipes on the back cover. The Holocaust was not a feel-good story of overcoming evil. It’s a real-life event that killed six million Jews, and eleven million people total. It was cruel and evil and horrific, and if it’s sanitized, then how are we going to recognize it if we see it happening again?

“At the same time, I also have seen a lot of media focused on shock factor. What is that line between being voyeuristic in these stories and getting the brutality across? This was something we struggled with in reading the transcripts and adapting them for the stage. There were at least two moments where I originally included them, then slowly moved them to the footnotes, then just tried to not show the exact image but get the emotional point across. Mr. Spiegelman talked about

this (look, he’s a genius, I gotta talk about him), when he broke down different cells for us from his book. You don’t see the actual violence, but you see the swing happen, the seconds before. Or you see just an inch off to the side. He did this so the emotional truth would be shown, but it wouldn’t be some sort of horror-for-thesake-of-shock. I’m still young, and I’m still learning. But it seems like there’s this very thin line between people coming to gawk and people coming to learn, and how do you as a writer or an educator make sure they’re learning?”

The other thing to keep in mind, Dawson said, is--who are these stories for?

“A lot of the narratives are geared toward the non-Jewish community, so perpetration stops. This is very, VERY important. But I also think that books like MAUS sometimes get left behind because it’s a different sort of education. I watched My Best Friend Anne Frank a few weeks ago, and it was the first time I saw something that seemed made for the Jewish community. It’s the story of generational and community trauma.

I don’t have all the answers, but it’s a very important conversation the country is having right now.”

Back in the day, when Broken Doll was first developed and performed, Bea Karp spent quite a bit of time with the cast and crew. She even joined them a few times on stage to answer audience questions.

“I wish I could teach everyone the same exact thing Bea Karp tried to teach us,” Dawson said. “She always said that we need to be kind to one another, and if we see someone bullying another person, we stand up and we do something about it. Don’t just sit there and be a bystander. Don’t coat yourself in the feel-good tropes. Understand that yes, the world can be very dark, and we need to combat that with small but difficult acts of compassion.

“A teaching artist’s main job is to lead outreach programs that teach students how to find their voice and express themselves through art,” Dawson said. “Because telling our own stories is a way that we get to say to the world, This is who I am.

This is what happened. No one has allowed me to say it out loud. But now I scream it.”

A16 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

B1 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

Passover

T S EC T I ON 2

The role of theater: Fran’s story

he co-wrote the book and directed the world premiere at the ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Rose Theater in 2019. The Omaha World Herald said, “Families Jewish Press Editor There are multiple ways to tell the stories of the Holocaust, should flock to this one.” He currently is working on his second to educate your public, to share important truths and convey collaboration with Ms. Denenberg, set for production in 2023.

Fran serves as the Director meaning. The theater is one of Accessibility at The Rose such avenue, and an enormous Theater, where he is leading an amount of thought goes into expansion of the popular Every what it looks like to put the Single Child Program (a multiHolocaust center stage. layered program that serves an Fran Sillau has worked exaverage of 35,000 students tensively within the world of each year at more than 70 theater for young audiences for school buildings). The expanover 20 years. He is a profession will develop production sional playwright, director and and residency programming producer and proud husband for students in self-contained to composer Mark Kurtz, his special education classrooms frequent collaborator. Fran in the Omaha area. He also dican also be found in the classrects mainstage productions room as a theatrical teaching at the Rose. Some of his credits artist and inclusion consultant. include Shrek: The Musical, He’s no stranger to the Jewish Go,Dog.Go! and the Omaha Community Center, where he premiere of Hana’s Suitcase. spent quite a few years directFran also serves as Executive ing musical theater.

Artistic Director of Circle The“My passion for performing, atre, Omaha’s theater for indicreating and imagining began viduals of all abilities. Under early in my childhood,” he said. his leadership, the Circle co“While others were involved Fran Sillau commissioned My Broken Doll, with sports and other physical Credit: Dana Rose a play based on the life of Holoactivities, I preferred the arts.”

Fran also spent seven years collaborating with theatrical caust survivor Beatrice Karp, adapted by Ernie Nolan, and producer Deborah Denenberg (Dodger Productions and Big Over the River, a play about friendship by Ellen Struve. Both League Productions) on The Doll Maker’s Gift. After tracking plays recently toured the state of Nebraska. In December of the book author down to her home in St. Petersburg, Russia, See Fran Sillau page B2

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B2 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

Fran Sillau Tribute to the Rescuers Essay Contest

SCOTT LITTKY IHE Executive Director Engaging students with topics on the Holocaust is a paramount objective to the work of the Institute for Holocaust Education. Central to the mission of IHE is to help students we work with understand the role of the Righteous Among the Nations — the 25,000 people who stood up during World War II and risked their personal safety to save the lives of at least one Jew. Their act of humanity is central to the concept that IHE teaches of speaking out and learning to be an upstander. Every year, hundreds of students from area schools submit essays which examine the relationships between moral courage, the Holocaust, and historical figures. Students are asked to showcase the importance of moral courage in connection to the Holocaust and how they can apply this to their own

lives, communities, and even conflicts in the world today. Through these essays, IHE believes that each student can work to make a positive change in the world, and this programming is a step in that direction for many of them.

The essay contest is named in honor of the Danish people who organized a national effort to send 7,200 Jews by fishing boats to neutral Sweden in 1943.

These heroic actions led to Danish Jews having the highest Jewish population survival rate in Europe. Each year during the contest, six students are recognized for their essays — three in the 9th/10th grades and three in the 11th/12th grades. A highlight of the program is the awards evening where the first-place winners in each group have the opportunity to read their essay. Another highlight at the awards ceremony has been Harold Mann, who is a trustee from the

Carl Frohm Memorial Foundation that supports the contest each year. In his presentation, Mr. Mann shares with the group the dedication Carl Frohm had to youth, education and teaching about the Holocaust. Also featured is a guest speaker, Dr. Ari Kohen from the University of Nebraska, who has often given a presentation on how to learn to be a hero. In his very important and very relatable talk, Dr. Kohen says that to be a hero, one must practice so that if they are ever called upon, they can act. His message is very timely and very much in line with our lesson on the importance of showing both moral courage and acting like what we learned from the Danish during the Holocaust.

For more information regarding the Tribute to the Rescuers Essay Contest, please visit www.ihene.org/essay contest.

Continued from page B1 2016, Sillau directed a regional premiere of A Charlie Brown Christmas. This production incorporated American Sign Language, shadow interpreting, audio description, as well as actors with various physical and developmental disabilities.

He is also currently developing new original TYA work for the Institute for Holocaust Education.

Fran is a past Aurand Harris Fellow with The Children’s Theatre Foundation of America and a winner of The Access Grant from The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he is a frequent contractor. He holds an MFA specializing in directing and inclusion from Goddard College. Fran works nationally as an inclusion consultant, as he is a theatre artist with a disability and a member of the LGBTQ community.

“I performed in both community and professional productions through high school,” Fran said. “I decided to major in communications and theater, graduating with a BA from Buena Vista University. Later, I received my MFA from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont.”

With some friends in college, he began a community production company, Rusty Horse Productions.

“That was where I produced my first production, And Then They Came For Me, Remembering the world of Anne Frank, by James Still,” Fran said. “The play shared the story of two actual friends of Anne Frank and combined video testimony and real-life character portraits. It was the first of its kind, and this was my first experience collaborating with the Institute for Holocaust Education.

“Beth Seldin Dotan, then the director of the institute, generously gave me time and resources to create the play in this small rural area. This was the first production about the Holocaust this community had ever seen. And Then They Came for Me began my passion on this difficult, complex subject.”

Fran first learned about the IHE when he produced And Then They Came for Me. “I called the ADL asking for guidance,” he said, “and they connected me to Beth. I knew I needed to gather as much information as I could on this subject, and the institute was very helpful. We found that we were good collaborators, and we held similar goals when it came to utilizing programming See The role of the theater page B4

The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | B3

Searching for Humanity: Veterans, Victims, and Survivors of World War II at the SAC Museum

GABBY BLAIR Jewish Press Staff Writer The Strategic Air Command (SAC) & Aerospace Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate, lies just west of the Platte River in Ashland, Nebraska, between Omaha and Lincoln. According to their website, “This impressive facility utilizes over 300,000 square feet of exhibit, education, and event space to educate, inspire, and entertain its guests who come from Nebraska, across the country, and around the world. The museum first opened in 1959 with the mission to commemorate the aircraft of the Strategic Air Command. The museum became well-known by giving the public the opportunity to visit an impressive array of aircraft that helped SAC preserve the peace during the Cold War. In a natural extension of the Omaha community’s civic pride and longstanding support for Offutt Air Force Base, community leaders began a campaign to develop a new state-of-the-art facility that would not only house SAC aircraft and artifacts, but also provide a venue for the restoration of aircraft, preservation and display of historical artifacts, and the education of future generations in the areas of history, technology, and science. The museum moved to its current location in 1998 upon its completion.”

Amongs the many fascinating exhibits and hands on activities including old aircrafts, flight simulators and a museum store, the SAC Museum also houses a permanent exhibit in collaboration with the Institute for Holocaust Education called Searching for Humanity: Veterans, Victims, and Survivors of World War II. The SAC Museum website shares the following: “This unique and moving exhibit asks its audience to consider the search for humanity during the Holocaust and to reflect on man’s obligation to humankind. Nationally-known artist, Matthew Placzek, sets an affecting environment with photos, memorabilia, and testimony of Nebraska Holocaust survivors, soldiers, and those whose courageous actions liberated prisoners from concentration camps in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Upon entering the exhibit, an emotional journey unfolds for visitors as the images chronicle remarkable personal experi-

ences of confronting one of the most inhumane periods in our world’s history.”

Scott Littky, IHE Director, and Kael Sagheer, IHE Education Coordinator, share that this moving exhibit has been part of the SAC Museum for the past 13 years. It was first created by IHE Founder, Beth Dotan.

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Happy Passover Kael Sagheer, IHE Education Coordinator, leads students through the Searching for Humanity Exhibit at the SAC Museum.

“At the center of this exhibit is a letter written by a local soldier named Clarence Williams to his wife about the liberation of Dachau, of which he was a part. His family thoughtfully donated historical artifacts, letters and personal testimony of Mr. Williams, which served as the founding stone of the exhibit which has in turn served over a decade of students — young and old alike — in the study of the Holocaust,” Littky said.

Kael Sagheer said that the IHE works together with many wonderful middle and high school teachers throughout the state and in western Iowa to provide a full-day field trip to supplement the Holocaust education in their classrooms. “On average, IHE staff, together with the ADL facilitators, offer at least one field trip per month throughout the school year.

Thanks to the foresight and generosity of our original donors who made this exhibit possible, and to the Shirley and Leonard Goldstein fund which has graciously underwritten this program for the past three years, we have been able to offer this important Holocaust Education program to close to a thousand students annually.”

Kael credits the many teachers who have built a deep personal relationship with the IHE for the incredible curriculum they have chosen to build, ensuring their students understand the importance of the Holocaust. IHE would like all schools See Searching for Humanity page B5

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B4 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

2022 HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS

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To be included, send us an email with the student’s name, parents names, high school they are attending, the college they will be attending and photo to: jpress@jewishomaha.org by May 1, 2022.

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The role of the theater

torical context. It is imperative that producing Continued from page B2 that had a broad impact on the community. organizations find authentic collaborators who Beth trusted me, and she changed my life. I will be able to connect the appropriate historwill be forever grateful! I enjoyed the collabo- ical material for actors and the production ration so much that I apteam to examine. The most improached them to produce pactful theatrical presentations Hana’s Suitcase next.” also include pre-and-post-eduHe calls theater a tool used cational material and educafor understanding and said, “I tional workshops that can wish that I could teach everyenable participants to underone that theater has power to stand the material at its highest keep these stories alive and level. Great care must be taken can help ensure that their that production team members memories can be a blessing. As and actors have the tools they time passes, we, as a world, beneed to process feelings.” come further away from the Of course, there are chalHolocaust. Yet, we must never lenges: “The biggest challenge forget. In addition, we must for actors,” Fran said, “is trying recognize that these events to really put themselves in the Fran Sillau happen and continue to hapsituations of the people they pen. Theater provides a window for us to are playing. There is absolutely no way we can share these historical events. The world has understand what Holocaust survivors went been blessed with survivors that are willing to through... all we can do is tell their story as share their experiences. As these survivors best we can.” pass, theater has the ability and the obligation He calls his work with the IHE “the most to keep their memories alive. Theater can il- important work I have ever done. Directing lustrate the facts of this time in history, bring- theater and collaborating with IHE is not just ing stories alive in a genre that is accessible any theater... it is theater that changes lives to students.” and creates opportunities to ensure we can The many Holocaust-themed projects he stop hate and all its forms. I am disabled. I has been involved with include And Then have cerebral palsy, and I walk with crutches.

They Came for Me: Remembering the World of I once heard my parents speaking about the Anne Frank, by James Still; Hana’s Suitcase, Holocaust. I realized then that if I were Jewadapted by Emil Sher; Brundibar, a children’s ish, I would not have survived. This realizaopera; My Broken Doll, adapted by Ernie tion began my connection with the Jewish Nolan and When We Go Away, written by JR people. My connection to the Jewish faith is Dawson. strong because of my work with the IHE. “I spent seven years developing The Doll When I started this work, I was unsure about Makers Gift,” he said. “Creating a Holocaust- my Christian faith, but connecting with, themed production is a tremendous responsi- learning from, and becoming part of the Jewbility. The production must be developed with ish community in Omaha has enabled my the highest level of detail, dramaturgy, and his- own faith to be stronger.”

The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | B5

Searching for Humanity

Continued from page B3 to teach about the Holocaust and is eager to support any teacher who needs resources to cover this particular topic.

“We work with a number of schools in Omaha and beyond to supplement their curriculum and get them the resources and assistance they need. Some schools choose to participate in Art and the Holocaust, Week of Understanding, or the Tribute to the Rescuers Essay Contest in addition to coming out to the museum. That said, relatively few Omaha schools send classes to our SAC museum tour. Most of our field trips come from outside the metro area. Visiting the SAC Museum is often a capstone trip tied into an in-depth curriculum specifically designed by teachers who understand the importance of adequately teaching about this subject. The majority of our teachers have been bringing their respective classes to SAC over many years, and it has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on both students and their teachers.”

She continued, “When students arrive, they have already studied the Holocaust and have some understanding of the unimaginably horrific atrocities committed; it is a lot to process, but they are not thrown into the trip blindly. It is presented in such a way to provide them with both information and questions to ask themselves. The morning includes time with the exhibit, time to learn more about the Holocaust, and time to investigate their own thoughts and learn about ‘othering.’ All field trips include testimony from a Holocaust Survivor or a 2G/3G presenter that we coordinate though our

The power of three... plus many!

Hazzan Michael Krausman, a 2G Speaker, shares the story of his father, Henry Krausman (Z”L), a Holocaust Survivor with students at the SAC Museum.

Speaker’s Bureau. It’s a full-day experience that hopefully plants a lot of seeds for future learning.”

Littky and Sagheer both emphasize and appreciate the importance of having such a good working relationship with the SAC Museum. “The SAC has been wonderful partner and is incredibly easy to work with. We couldn’t ask for a better host for this important exhibit. Our regional community is fortunate to have such a resource available to students,” Littky said.

The Searching for Humanity: Veterans, Victims, and Survivors of World War II exhibit is open to all visitors to the museum and is included with admission.

The IHE program is designed for students in grades 6-12 and can accommodate groups up to 75 per visit, with a minimum of one chaperone per 25 students. Field trips include a tour of the exhibit, interactive Holocaust education lessons, an interactive anti-bias lesson, a lunch break and Survivor or 2G testimony. Student admission is $7 with one free chaperone admission per 20 students. Limited stipends towards admission costs are available.

For more information, questions or to schedule an IHE led field trip to the SAC Museum, please visit www.ihene.org or reach out to Kael Sagheer, IHE Education Director at Ksagheer@ihene.org.

KAEL SAGHEER I often refer to the Institute for Holocaust Education as small but mighty since we only have one full-time and two part-time employees, yet we are able to do some pretty extraordinary programming. The secret sauce to this small but mighty recipe, I daresay, is the teachers who partner with us.

We simply could not do what we do without them. The programs and relationships that started with Beth Dotan — and continued to grow with Donna Walter, then Liz Feldstern— have provided IHE with a wonderful foundation upon which to build. A great deal of that growth comes from the teachers across the state who teach the Holocaust.

I realized quickly that the work of Holocaust education draws together what I call kindred spirits. My first introduction to these kindred spirits was during a Nebraska Holocaust See The power of three page B6

B6 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

Week of Understanding The power of three Continued from page B5 Education Consortium (NHEC) meeting in Ashland, NE, shortly after I started my job in 2018. This consortium, however, started in 2006, long before I did, and has been instrumental in putting on workshops and professional development opportunities with IHE across the state. These teachers support IHE, support each other, and recruit and assist teachers new to Holocaust education. Hence, the network of Holocaust educators has grown organically.

IHE personally knows over 50 teachers statewide that teach the Holocaust in their social studies, English, or art classes. Last summer, during a multi-state conference about Holocaust education mandates, this number astounded and delighted my colleagues.

Consequently, I was able to transfer the idea of small but mighty from the IHE three to the NHEC 53+.

We know there are teachers across the state teaching the Holocaust that we have yet to meet. But we will. Kindred spirits, you know. This “work”— both teaching in general and Holocaust education specifically — is more of a calling than a job.

It is not just teaching safely and factually about what happened, even though that is certainly a very important part. It is about

making connections to now, and this requires making connections to each other and ourselves. If we truly are to make a more just and equitable society, as IHE’s vision states, we have to see how we are all connected and how making stronger and more plentiful connections can fulfill both IHE’s mission and vision.

Teachers... the secret sauce... the spokes in our wheel... the thread that helps the garment take shape. Whichever metaphor you choose, it all comes down to these wonderful teachers from Chadron, North Platte, Taylor, Adams, Kearney, Grand Island, Lincoln, Nebraska City, Omaha... well, you get the picture.

SCOTT LITTKY IHE Executive Director The core purpose of the Institute for Holocaust Education is to continue the work of teaching Holocaust lessons and testimonies for generations to come. The Week of Understanding is a period of programming which gives Omaha community members, specifically students at various middle schools and high schools, an opportunity to hear from a Survivor, or one of their family members, about experiences during the Holocaust. The Week of Understanding was the idea of Omaha Public School teacher Laura Geiger when she was teaching at Omaha North and former IHE Executive Director Beth Dotan. Each year, the program has grown, and last year over 7,000 people participated. The program continues to give audiences an immersive experience of Holocaust testimonies and ensures that the memories of the millions lost during the Holocaust are never forgotten.

Each year, along with members of our Omaha Survivor community, we have had the opportunity to bring Survivors in from other communities throughout the United States. In addition, IHE has been very fortunate to be able to hold Week of Understanding programs with the Durham Museum, our local synagogues, Countyside Community Church and the Tri-Faith Initiative. Each program has given our greater community the chance to hear and learn from a Survivor. In each program, our speakers have left the audience with the message of hope, understanding and that they can and should work to better the world we are living in.

See Week of Understanding page B8

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IHE’s student-guided Anne Frank exhibit teaches rural Nebraskans about the Holocaust SAM KRICSFELD Jewish Press Staff Writer The Institute for Holocaust Education provides small-town high schools in rural Nebraska with an opportunity to host a traveling, educational exhibit about Anne Frank and the Holocaust. The exhibit, Anne Frank: A History for Today, is a partnership between the IHE, the University of South Carolina’s College of Education and the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

have been dismantled had they been Jewish in Nazi Germany.

“The students see the systematic nature of what was happening,” Kael said. “They see that this was gradual, methodical and deliberate. It takes them aback because we’ve made it directly related to their lives.”

Kael said that many of the students in rural Nebraska had never been exposed to the history of the Holocaust. She said a freshman from Overton told her about a house nearby that had a swastika flag. The student said she knew it was bad, but now she understood why. Many students are shocked when they learn about the horrors of the Holocaust.

“There’s something about Anne Frank’s story that is antithetical to the American approach of teaching,” Kael said.

“There is not a happy ending.”

In addition to learning about the story of Anne Frank and

the Holocaust, students are taught about assumptions, biases and judgments that could lead to discrimination, ostracization and dehumanization. Various activities developed by the Anne Frank House teach students to recognize their implicit preconceptions and prejudices. For example, Kael asks students to guess her age, religion, gender identity, sexuality, marital status, and other personal information, forcing them to see their judgments and making them uncomfortable but more open-minded in the process.

“They are learning about me; they are learning about themselves; they are learning about each other,” Kael said.

“Through that, they’re learning about prejudices, stereotypes, discrimination and judgment — the things that our brains do without us even realizing that we’re doing it.”

See Anne Frank exhibit page B9

Kael Sagheer, right, facilitates student-led activities at training sessions for Anne Frank: A History for Today.

IHE Education Coordinator Kael Sagheer was the driving force behind bringing the program to Nebraska. Kael met with Megan Helberg, a Holocaust educator from Burwell, Nebraska. Helberg knew Doyle Stevick, an associate professor at the University of South Carolina, who worked with the Anne Frank Center, also based at USC. The Anne Frank Center is the North American partner of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Through this chain, Kael and the IHE were able to secure one of the Anne Frank House’s traveling exhibits to stay in Nebraska, with the goal of reaching more rural towns far west of Omaha.

“I wanted something where I could help teachers bring Holocaust education outside of the (Omaha) metro area,” Kael said. “We do a lot of great things for middle and high school students and teachers in the metro area, but I was trying to figure out how we could get to the middle of the state and reach out to the Panhandle.”

The IHE’s Anne Frank: A History for Today exhibit is one of multiple copies created by the Anne Frank House. It consists of 30 vinyl panels that are each held up by simple scaffolding.

Each panel contains three or four images and information in both English and Spanish.

The exhibit is unique in that its tours and engagement aspects are entirely student-guided. Students attend a two-day training session to prepare them to guide their peers through the exhibit.

Almost immediately, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the exhibit to remain in the IHE’s office for over a year and delayed Kael’s training for facilitating the exhibit’s unique guidance aspect. By the summer of 2021, however, Kael was able to go to South Carolina and learn how to prepare students for the exhibit.

When the exhibit is booked for an area, Kael drives the contents (which she said can fit in the back of a Toyota Prius) to the training location. She then facilitates the two-day training, after which the exhibit is passed off between local high schools until she returns to pick it up.

Kael was impressed by the Anne Frank House’s curriculum and the peer-guidance methods she was trained to employ during the two-day training sessions for students.

“I think the premise of this peer-guided facilitation is if you give students enough time and opportunity, nine times out of 10, they will come to the point that you are trying to make,” she said. “It is more meaningful because they’re doing the work themselves instead of just being told. I call it magic.”

The gravity of the years leading up to the Holocaust is introduced to the students through an activity called “A Normal Day.” They are asked to write out their daily schedule in detail.

Kael then hands out papers with the antisemitic decrees of Nazi Germany that slowly dehumanized and ostracized Jews, gradually makng the students realize that their daily lives would

HAPPY PASSOVER TO THE OMAHA JEWISH COMMUNITY

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B8 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

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Week of Understanding Continued from page B6 Over the years, The Week of Understanding has also had to adapt to situations outside of our control. IHE has looked at this as an opportunity to grow and rethink and evolve. In March of 2020, at a moment’s notice, we were forced to throw out our plan for our normal Week of Understanding as a result of the closures caused by COVID-19. The thought of outright canceling was not an option in our book. The use of Zoom and other virtual platforms was not yet in practice, so we created our Week of Understanding using prerecorded testimonies from our Survivors. Not only did we share this with schools in Nebraska but also our resources were shared with schools throughout the country through education networks from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Last year, we realized in the fall that COVID-19 was still very much taking a hold on our programming year. Having the opportunity now to plan, we decided to hold the Week of Understanding totally by virtual formats. The program was very successful, and schools and communities who in the past did not have the opportunity to participate now did. Teachers were thrilled, and we realized that we should always have a virtual component to the program.

This year, our plan had been to use both in-person and virtual programming, but in late January, with COVID-19 still in the picture and with schools having staffing issues, we asked our teachers which format would work best for them.

The reply was almost universal.” Please offer this year’s program to us virtually. So we did, and again it was very successful.

The Week of Understanding is made possible each year by the work and support of many volunteers, teachers and community organizations. The Institute for Holocaust Education is very thankful for the support provided by the Jewish Federation of Omaha, the Sherwood Foundation and the Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Supporting Foundation who have continued to provide the funding to make sure that the words, “Never Again!” ring throughout our state!

The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | B9

Anne Frank exhibit The Passover Seder: It’s not about knowledge

Students plan their own tours to give as docents to their peers.

Continued from page B7 The training opens students’ minds to diversity. At trainings, Kael has witnessed Latino, Indian, and LGBTQ+ students feeling comfortable enough to express their personal experiences and struggles as people of minority populations in predominantly white and Christian rural towns.

Near the end of the training, students begin ideating the tours they will each give as docents to their peers and teachers.

They are told to imagine a thread that they will pull through the exhibit’s 30 panels, stopping and highlighting 20 pictures that resonate with them. Kael said many student tours last 45 minutes. The exhibit remains on display for up to three weeks at each school, also allowing people to do self-guided tours.

The IHE provides this exhibit, valued at $3,000, at no cost to public schools.

“I was a public school teacher, and I know that funding is hard. It was not uncommon for me to be buying my own things to bring into the classroom,” Kael said. Because of the financial help of the Staenberg Family Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation, all that is asked of the schools is their time, space, and transportation to the two-day training.

The IHE estimates that nine different Nebraska towns will display Anne Frank: A History for Today this year and hopes that 12 will host it next year. Recent and upcoming cities include Burwell, Overton, Auburn, Humboldt/Table Rock/ Steinauer, and Nebraska City.

The following is based on a holiday message from my friend and teacher Rabbi Lior Engelman.

There are many families where Seder night is an intellectual delight. No wonder: after all, many beautiful insights can be gleaned from practically every word of the Passover Hagaddah — our nation's original Declaration of Independence.

And yet it seems that the Seder night TEDDY asks us for something else. As the Ha- WEINBERGER gaddah tells us: “Even if all of us were scholars, even if all of us were sages, even if all of us were elders, even if all of us were learned in the Torah, it would still be our duty to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt.” We are supposed to tell the story even to those who already know everything. In other words, this night is not meant to add knowledge. This is not a night meant for profound Torah commentary. This is a night meant to tell the story.

Anyone who has ever read a good story realizes that you do not necessarily get from it information that you did not previously know. A story is not necessarily an opportunity to receive new wisdom, but a really good story makes you feel and experience the narrated events. Sometimes you are able to feel this right in your body—to sweat at moments of fear, to tremble at moments of excitement, and to shed a tear at moments of pain or of deep emotion.

This is exactly what is supposed to happen on Seder night.

We don’t need the Seder to inform us about the Exodus from Egypt — we already know about that from our ritual life throughout the year. The Friday night Kiddush over wine speaks

of the Sabbath as “a memorial to the Exodus from Egypt,” and the Shemaa prayer recalls the Exodus for us every morning and every evening of every day: “I the Lord am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I, the Lord your God (Numbers 15.41). “ On Seder night, therefore, there is no need to learn about the Exodus — we must feel as if we ourselves have left Egypt. Not to know the story and not to become wise, but to experience it in our souls. To do this, we must dive into the depths of the story. To tell what our ancestors felt in bondage and in redemption, to point to the bread of affliction as if this was all the meal we have, and to savor the afikomen as if this was the Passover sacrifice that was eaten to satiety. Instead of piling on the sermons, we need to refine our senses.

On Seder night, parents and children gather around the Seder table. Ostensibly, this night is meant to teach children what they do not know, but children do not necessarily seek knowledge; they are thirsty for a story. They seek to feel, and in order to reach their hearts, the adult, the storyteller, must feel for themself. And no less than the children need an adult to tell the story, the adult needs the child to have someone to whom to tell the story and to truly feel the story.

Note: Readers will be interested to learn that Rabbi Engelman himself is a professional storyteller. In addition to his various teaching and rabbinical duties, Rabbi Engelman is the author of two well-received novels and regularly conducts writing workshops around the country. Happy Passover!

Teddy Weinberger, Ph.D., made aliyah with his wife, former Omahan Saraj Jane Ross, and their five children, Nathan, Rebecca, Ruthie, Ezra, and Elie, all of whom are veterans of the Israeli Defense Forces; Weinberger can be reached at weinross@gmail.com.

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Passover seder plates and afikomen Creighton University presents: From Nuremberg to The Hague GABBY BLAIR Jewish Press Staff Writer Creighton University’s summer program, From Nuremberg to The Hague, gives law students in the United States and Germany the opportunity to learn firsthand about the Holocaust in Nuremberg, the Bavarian city that hosted the Nazi war crimes trials after World War II, which is considered the birthplace of modern international criminal law.

Co-sponsored by Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, the Institute for Holocaust Education, Michael Kelly the War Crimes Documentation Center, the U.S. National Section of the International Association of Penal Law, and the Staenberg Family Foundation, students participating in this program spend a month in Germany and The Netherlands and visit Poland.

By combining classroom instruction with field trips to actual crime scenes, places of conspiracy and current trials, students are exposed to an unprecedented array of historical and legal experiences. Two three-credit courses are held for students at Erlangen University, near the center of Nuremberg’s Old City. Classes include: International Criminal Law—Taught by Professors Mike Kelly and Sean Watts, the class explores the theoretical and

practical reaches of major international crimes, such as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression.

From Nuremberg to The Hague—The Impact & Legacy of the Holocaust on the Law—taught by Creighton School of Law Adjunct Professor Michael S. Bryant, the class is designed to foster a greater understanding of how traumatic events like the Holocaust impact the law and alter the trajectory of the law’s development.

International Criminal Law Moot Court—Students from as many as 30 countries compete in an international moot court competition, drafting briefs and presenting oral arguments, mimicking a case at the International Criminal Court. Arguments are held in the historic Nuremberg Palace of Justice, with later rounds argued before prominent international jurists in Courtroom No. 600, the venue for the criminal trials of the Nazi leadership.

An integral part of the class experience is spent taking field trips to former concentration camps, such as Dachau in Germany and Auschwitz in Poland. Students also travel to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest retreat in the Alps; The Hague; Netherlands, and Poland, where war criminals are being prosecuted in the International Criminal Court.

Michael Kelly, Professor of Law and The Senator Allen A. Sekt Endowed Chair in Law at Creighton University, said, “ The spark that ignited the launching of Creighton’s International Criminal Law Summer Program was a combination of people and factors, the first of whom was Sam Fried, an Auschwitz survivor, who had been coming to my class over the years to talk about his experiences. A child victim and survivor of Auschwitz, Sam managed to escape as Stalin’s Red Army See From Nuremberg to The Hague page B12

SYBIL KAPLAN The home ceremony, known as the seder, is based upon the Biblical injunction, “And thou shalt tell thy son in that day, saying: It is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt” (Exodus 13:8).

The Mishnah gives the formula for the four questions, and the Haggadah is based on the seder service prescribed by the Mishnah.

WHERE DOES THE IDEA OF SEDER PLATES ORIGINATE? The origin is not clear, although there is mention of a special plate in the time of the Mishnah. Obviously, these were designed to hold the symbolic foods for the seder.

Ashkenazic haggadot from medieval times show tables with large round plates, while wicker baskets are shown in some Sephardic and Italian manuscripts.

Plates which are still in existence that date from the Renaissance. We know these and later ones were made of all types of materials.

See Passover seder plates and afikomen page B13

Happy Passover

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The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | B11

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

SYBIL KAPLAN What food is an essential component of the traditional wedding dinner in southern Germany and served with cooked beef?

It is also used as salad served with lamb dishes at Easter in Transylvania and other Romanian regions; in Serbia, it is an essential condiment with cooked meat and freshly roasted suckling pig; in Slovenia, it is a traditional Easter dish, grated and mixed with sour cream, hard-boiled eggs or apples; in southern Italy, it is a main course with eggs, cheese and sausage.

It is probably indigenous to Eastern Europe but has been cultivated since antiquity and was known in Egypt in 1500 B.C.E. If I give you the final hint, you will know immediately. According to the Haggadah, we are to eat it to symbolize the bitterness of slavery in Egypt. “And they embittered their lives with hard labor, with mortar and with bricks and with all manor of labor in the field; any labor that they made them do was with hard labor” (Exodus 1:14).

Maror is one of the foods on the seder plate which we bless, then dip into haroset to symbolize the mortar which the Israelites used to bind the bricks. Shaking off the haroset, we eat the minimum amount of maror, the volume of an olive.

Yes, horseradish. The English of the 1590s coined the word combining “horse,” meaning coarse or strong, and the word radish.

According to John Cooper in Eat and Be Satisfied—A Social History of Jewish food, “the Mishnah enumerated five vegetables that could be utilized as the bitter herb for the Seder service, all of which should have leaves.

The five are: chazeret, ilshin, tamcha, charchavina, and maror.”

Chazeret refers to lettuce; ulshin is either endive or chicory or both; tamcha was a leafy, dull green herb also known as horehoud which has none of the Talmudic characteristics and is used in cough medicine and liqueur; charchavina was either field eryngo or sea eryngo. Maror may be wormwood or a See Horseradish page B13

Wishing you a Happy Passover!

It’s not manna from heaven, but this Passover, provide something just as crucial to the survival of the Israeli people.

Whether it’s a missile attack, a new Covid variant, or serious car crash, your gift to Magen David Adom ensures its 30,000 emergency medical technicians and paramedics have the supplies and resources they need to save lives. So this Passover, while you recount the story of the Jews’ redemption from slavery, your gift will help modern-day Israelis survive the threats they face today.

Make a gift to Magen David Adom today. Pesach kasher v’sameach.

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From Nuremberg to The Hague Continued from page B10 advanced on the camp. He and his new wife, also a Survivor, made their way to America after the war. When American Nazi parties formed and marched on Skokie, Illinois, in 1977, Sam was moved to begin sharing his story far and wide, speaking to classes just like mine. It was Sam’s mission to speak the truth of what happened during the Holocaust and preserve those memories — that testimony — by connecting with students and teachers who would bear witness. His was a message of hope; he believed that hope was the spark that helps Survivors of such atrocity emerge from trauma... the hope that sharing stories, even when painful, would be enough to prevent another Holocaust from ever happening again.”

Kelly continued. “Over the course of several years and many conferences in Germany that focused on genocide and the Nuremberg Trials, I became friends with retired Israeli Supreme Court Justice Gabriel Bach. In 2011, with the support of Sam Fried and others in the Omaha Jewish Community,

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Justice Bach and his wife, Ruthie, arrived in Omaha to deliver a remembrance on the 50-year anniversary of the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial in Jerusalem, for which he served as deputy prosecutor. The case, which was the first to be broadcast on television to millions around the world, was very closely followed by Survivor communities as Eichmann was the lead architect of the Nazi concentration camps. On the day of the lecture, Sam arrived with a yellowed, typed transcript of the trial for Justice Bach to sign. It was a truly moving and historical moment to witness Sam Fried, Holocaust Survivor, thanking Justice Bach for convicting one of the men who designed the nightmares that wore Auschwitz and other concentration camps. This moment also provided the catalyst for Creighton’s Nuremberg to the Hague summer program which began the following year, in 2012. It was also thanks to Sam that I was connected to the IHE and the relationship between our two programs grew from there.”

Professor Kelly said, “As we began to incorporate more Holocaust education into our summer program through the stand-alone class for three credits taught by Professor Michael Bryant, The Holocaust and the Law, to our excursion to Krakow and the program there led by Professor Michael Bazyler, who holds the Holocaust Studies chair at Chapman University, and Dr. Edyta Gawron (together they lead the Krakow immersion that includes the Camp, lectures, the Jewish Museum, the Jewish Quarter, and the Schindler Factory), the expenses of delivering this kind of education began to rise. That’s when the Jewish Federation and Howard Epstein of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation stepped in with Michael Staenberg to support our program. With his gift, we were able to keep tuition low so that more students could participate. Scott Littky and I had been collaborating already, but with the Staenberg gift, we were able to take this partnership between the Law School and IHE to a new level so that Scott does educational programming with our students both here in Omaha and in Krakow. Our students will then go with the IHE team to help with their annual Week of Understanding programming in area high schools. We recognized that two unfortunate trends are happening: more and more Survivors are passing, and antisemitism is on the rise. To combat these trends, we are offering 30 new law students each year who are intensively educated about the Holocaust on site so that they can begin refilling the ranks of these passing witnesses at a critical time in our nation’s history. Michael’s support is ensuring that we continue to strengthen the bulwark against denialism while also providing much-needed historical education where it is needed most.”

“The IHE is pleased to be a cosponsor of this program with the generous support of the Staenberg Family Foundation,” said Scott Littky, Director of the Institute for Holocaust Education. “Over the past three years, the IHE has hosted Creighton Law students for educational evening programs and pre-trip programming; we are planning to host ‘lunch & learn’ sessions in the future. IHE staff had planned to participate in last year’s trip, but due to the disruption of Covid on travel, this opportunity was delayed. We have curriculum planned, and IHE staff will attend future trips as student participants and as educators pertaining to the Holocaust.”

Littky continued. “Next fall we are also planning to offer a post-trip joint program on the experience after students have time to reflect and digest what they witnessed and learned on the trip. Working with Creighton Law provides a wonderful opportunity to expand the IHE programming locally, nationally, internationally and within. Experience is so important to education, and Creighton’s Nuremberg to The Hague program provides a unique opportunity for law students and the community alike. It is an absolute honor to work with Creighton Law School, and we are very fortunate to collaborate with such esteemed and dedicated Holocaust educators.”

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The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | B13

Passover seder plates and afikomen Horseradish Continued from page B11 thistle. Sephardim interpret chazeret as Romaine lettuce.

Rabbi Alexander Suslin of Frankfurt, who died in 1394, was the first authority to permit the use of horseradish where lettuce was not available, although this vegetable was primarily a fleshy root that did not strictly conform with the halahic requirement of eating leaves. The Talmud also says that besides leaves, maror should have latex sap and dull green foilage, neither of which is in horseradish. The medieval German rabbinic authorities appear to have identified horseradish incorrectly: Merretich in German with “merirta,” the Aramaic form of maror, the Hebrew for bitter.

Prior to this, according to Gil Marks (z”l) in the Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, Eliezer ben Nathan of Mainz, who lived from 1090 to 1170, mentions chrain to make charoset. Rabbi Eleazar ben Judah of Worms in Sefer ha-Rokeach (published around 1200) included it in his charoset ingredients.”

Germans used whole pieces of horseradish for maror while Eastern Europeans grated it.

It was not until Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman en Nathan Heller (1579-1654) of Moravia, in his commentary on the Mishnah considered it to be one mentioned in the Talmud, tamchah.

In Central and Eastern Europe, it is called khren, which is also Yiddish. Red horseradish is mixed with red beet root, and white khren contains no beet.

In Hebrew, it is called chazeret, which is on the Talmudic list of accepted types of maror.

Horseradish is actually a root vegetable in the same family as mustard, wasabi, broccoli and cabbage.

When this plant grows, it can reach 4.9 feet and is cultivated See Horseradish page B15

Continued from page B10 The oldest seder plate in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem is from 15th century Spain, probably ordered from a pottery shop in the town of Murviedo by a merchant around 1480.

Whereas Spanish plates were most often ceramic, this one is majolica in brown, blue and yellow with the words Pesach, matza and maror. There is also a hole in the edge where it was hung after glazing. Majolica plates were made through a process of firing earthenware and applying a tin enamel.

When dried, it formed a white, Credit: Chelsea Kyle/epicurious.com opaque, porous surface on which the design was painted. A Passover story, the order of the ceremony and Hebrew intransparent glaze was then applied, and it was refired. This scriptions.

Originally, three matzot were put in an embroidered bag. resulted in a richly colored, ornamented glazed pottery. Majolica plates were also produced in 16th century Italy. The ma- This then led to seder plates with three tiers attached so the jolica seder plates of the 17th century were produced by the three matzot could be accommodated as part of the actual Azulai and Cohen families. The Cohen plates were identified plate. These probably originated in the 18th century, and in by a crown on the back as the manufacturer’s mark to denote some are preserved in Germany.

Moroccan Jewish craftsmen produced seder plates of brass priesthood. They were decorated with text from the haggadah or copper with the names of the symbols but not with specific and vignettes.

Seder plates with special indentations for the symbols were indentations.

In Jewish Family Celebrations, Arlene Rossen Cardozo writes first made of pewter, probably because they shone like silver, were easy to keep and could be engraved upon. These appear that the six items placed around the plate constitute a “mini in 19th century Austro-Hungarian Europe and in Eastern Eu- history” of the development of the seder. Originally, only bitter rope. They were most frequently decorated with the paschal herbs, reminiscent of the bitterness as slaves in Egypt, and a lamb or a star in the center. Late 19th-century seder plates roasted bone, a symbol of the Temple sacrifice, were eaten, were made of silver and decorated with scenes from the See Seder plates and afikomen page B14

B14 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

Seder plates and afikomen

Continued from page B13 along with the matzah. Although this is not certain, then the haroset, for the mortar and bricks used by the Hebrews was added.

The roasted egg, another symbol of the Temple sacrifice, and greens, reminding the Jews of a new season and freedom, were derived from GrecoRoman times. This is also the period when each symbol was given a specific meaning which pertained either to the Exodus or to a more recent exile after the destruction of the Temple.

ABOUT THE AFIKOMEN Ask any young child what is the best part of the seder, and the answer will probably be looking for the afikomen.

The afikomen is the name of the middle of the three portions of matzah which accompany the seder plate. As part of the seder, the leader breaks the middle matzah into two pieces. The larger portion is known as the afikomen.

Several interpretations of this word have developed over the years. One is that it is of Greek origin, possibly from the word epikomas or epikomios, which could mean aftermeal songs and entertainment or dessert.

This meaning would then be the basis for the custom that one is prohibited from eating or drinking after eating the afikomen, to prevent emulation of the Greek custom of going to parties after eating and drinking.

This is based on considering that “afiko” means remove and “mane” means dishes. In other words, we have finished, so let’s go to another place and continue celebrating.

Abraham Chill, in his book The Minhagim (customs), writes that in ancient times, after concluding a meal, people would call out afikomen, a combination of the words “afiko,“ meaning to take out, and “man,” meaning the sweets. Since the afikomen matzah symbolized the paschal lamb, this referred to the idea that by eating the afikomen, it would be the last taste in our mouths after the seder, and one would continue to think and talk about the Exodus.

Happy Passover

The Mishnah says, “One may not add afikomen after paschal meal.” Chill relates that the lamb was the last portion of food eaten on seder night. Since the destruction of the Temple, the afikomen became the symbol of the paschal sacrifice which took place in Temple times on Passover night.

Before the end of the seder, it is customary for the leader to hide the afikomen. After the meal, the children try to find it and ransom it back for money or presents. Tradition also says the idea was a gimmick to encourage children to stay awake during the seder.

Jews of Iran, Afghanistan, Greece, Kurdis-

tan and Bukharia keep a piece of the afikomen matzah to protect against the “evil eye,” and for good luck.

Pregnant women, among some Jewish groups, carry a piece of the afikomen with salt and coral to hold during delivery.

In Iraq, children have the afikomen wrapped in a piece of material tied to their backs. They leave the room and pretend to be travelers. When they return, the seder leader asks: where are you from, and they reply, Egypt. The leader then asks, where are you going, and they respond, Jerusalem.

Some Sephardic groups and others do not follow the custom of “stealing.”

Yemenites also do not participate in this custom. They say the Hebrew letters in the word afikomen are aleph, peh, yud, kaf, vav, mem and nun. They stand for the following words: aleph for egozim (nuts); peh for payrote (fruit); yud for yayin (wine); kaf for keliyot (granules of grain); vav for uvasar (and meat); mem for mayim (water); and nun sofit for nerd (spices).

Sybil Kaplan is a Jerusalem-based journalist, lecturer, book reviewer, food writer and author (Witness to History: Ten Years as a Woman Journalist in Israel) and, nine cookbooks (including What’s Cooking at Hadassah College). She leads walks in English in Machaneh Yehudah, the Jewish produce market.

Happy Passover

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The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | B15

Passover Stuffed Cabbage Rolls CHANIE APFELBAUM This article first appeared on The Nosher.

There’s nothing like Passover to remind us where we come from. In many Jewish homes, Passover traditions are carried down from father to son, establishing the family’s customs and setting the standards for their Passover pantry.

Growing up, my family’s standards were quite stringent. We did not eat any processed ingredients, and we only used produce that could be peeled. My mother prepared simple syrup in place of sugar, and we seasoned our dishes minimally with kosher salt, no spices allowed. Thankfully, I married into a family whose customs were slightly more lenient. My in-laws allow a variety of fruits and vegetables, including cabbage, as well as some minimally processed foods, like tomato sauce.

When I spent Passover with my in-laws last year, I decided to pay homage to my roots by adapting my grandmother’s stuffed cabbage recipe for the holiday.

While my grandmother would never have made this recipe for Passover, to me, it signifies the union of my husband’s familial customs with my Eastern European heritage. And that is precisely how we celebrate Passover.

Stuffed cabbage is popular in Ukraine and is known as holubtsi, which literally translates as “little pigeons.” Make some in solidarity with the Jews who were forced to flee their homes during this year’s RussiaUkraine war.

PASSOVER STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS Ingredients: 1 head of green cabbage 1 lb. ground beef 1 heaping cup leftover mashed potatoes 1 small onion, grated 1 egg salt and pepper, to taste For the sauce: 2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated 1 large tomato, finely chopped 1/3 cup sugar Juice of 1 lemon salt and pepper, to taste Directions: Place the cabbage in the freezer overnight. Remove and place in a colanStuffed cabbage is popular in Ukraine and is known as holubtsi, which literally translates as “little pider in the sink to defrost. This makes the geons.” Credit: Chanie Apfelbaum cabbage pliable for rolling and stuffing. and cover with sauce ingredients. If you had Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage like a bowl.

Place a small handful of filling towards the any leftover cabbage or meatballs, add them and discard. Peel the remaining large leaves, taking care not to tear the cabbage as you go. base of each leaf and fold over the leaf from to the pot as well.

Bring the sauce to a gentle boil over medium Set the whole leaves aside and chop up the re- the left side. Roll the cabbage leaf up and using your finger, stuff the loose end of the heat and reduce to a simmer. Cover the pot, maining cabbage for later.

In a bowl, combine the ground beef, pota- leaf inward, pushing it into the center. Rolling leaving it slightly open so that the steam does the cabbage this way ensures that they hold not force the cabbage rolls to open. Cook for toes, onion, egg, salt and pepper. Set aside. approximately 2 – 2 1/2 hours, until cabbage is Set up a stuffing station with your whole together nicely during cooking.

Continue with remaining leaves. If you have tender and sauce has thickened. cabbage leaves and ground beef mixture. With a paring knife, trim the thick part of the stem any leftover filling, simply roll them into meat- VARIATION: for unstuffed cabbage soup, off the base of the leaves, taking care not to balls to place in the pot alongside the cabbage shred the cabbage and roll the meat into balls.Place everything into a pot and continue cut through the rest of the leaf. Place the rolls.

Place the stuffed cabbage rolls in a large pot as above. leaves upright so that they are curling upward

Horseradish Continued from page B13 for its root which has hardly any aroma. When the root is cut or grated, cells break down and produce an oil which irritates the nose and eyes.

German immigrants in the late 1800s began growing it in Collinsville, Illinois, a Mississippi River basin area adjacent to St. Louis. The self-proclaimed horseradish capital of the world has been hosting the Horseradish Festival since 1988 because this is where most of the world’s supply is grown. Six million gallons are produced here annually.

The first American Jewish cookbook, published as Jewish Cookery in 1871, included a recipe for “Horseradish Stew.” When the Settlement Cookbook was published in 1901, “Horseradish Sauce” and “Beer and Horseradish Relish” were included.

H.J. Heinz processed and bottled horseradish in 1869. In 1932, Hyman Gold and his wife, Tillie, processed and bottled horseradish in their Brooklyn apartment. Today, Gold’s and other private labels produce 90,000 bottles a day of the classic plain and grated beet horseradish without sugar.

My late husband liked to tell the story of coming home from school one day before Passover, at the age of eight, and going into the kitchen where his grandmother (z”l) was grating the horseradish. She would make horseradish almost every week. He jumped up on a chair, took one big whiff and fell over backwards!

Thank goodness his father was in the room and caught him.

Think about some of this history when you take a piece of horseradish for the blessing over maror this Passover or place some on your gefilte fish.

Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, lecturer, book reviewer and food writer in Jerusalem. She has compiled and edited nine kosher cookbooks, and is the author of Witness to History: Ten Years as a Woman Journalist in Israel. She also leads English-language Shuk Walks in Machaneh Yehudah, Jerusalem’s produce market.

Wishing you a joyous Passover

Paid for by Tony Vargas for Congress. TVC22007

B16 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

WISHING THE COMMUNITY A

Happy Pesach!

It is an obligation to tell the story.

E a c h ye a r t h e I H E s h a re s t h e h i sto r y a n d l e ss o n s o f t h e H o l o c a u st t h ro u g h t h e a r t s , co m m u n i t y p ro g ra m m i n g , s c h o o l p ro g ra m m i n g a n d co n t i n u i n g e d u c a t i o n fo r te a c h e r s .

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

C1 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

Passover

A S EC T I ON 3

A biblical ceremony in the Land of the Bible

SYBIL KAPLAN A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to take a bus trip to Judea-Samaria and stop in Nablus or Shekhem to learn about the Samaritans.

It brought me back to a trip I had taken there 40 years ago.

In the biblical hill country of Samaria (Shomron in Hebrew) sits the town of Shekhem or Nablus. It is only 40 miles north of Jerusalem and is the largest city in the Shomron, but for many, it is a step back thousands of years.

Shekhem is mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Genesis, just after Abraham arrived in the land and offered a sacrifice to G-d at a place identified as Alon Moreh (oak of Moreh).

It was here that Jacob came, pitched his tent and bought Culture of The Samaritans on Mount Gerizim Credit: Daniel Ventura, licensed under the Creative land (Genesis 33:18-19). Joshua Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license made it a town of refuge; the bones of Joseph, whose tomb conquest of Samaria by Assyria (722–721 BCE). The biblical we saw from a distance, were brought there from Egypt for account in II Kings 17 had long been the decisive source for the formulation of historical accounts of Samaritan origins. Reburial.

The Encyclopaedia Judaica (under “Samaritans”), 1972, Vol- consideration of this passage, however, has led to more attenume 14, col. 727 summarizes both past and present views on tion being paid to the Chronicles of the Samaritans themselves.

With the publication of Chronicle II (Sefer ha-Yamim), the the Samaritans’ origins. It says: “Until the middle of the 20th century, it was customary to fullest Samaritan version of their own history became availbelieve that the Samaritans originated from a mixture of the able: the chronicles, and a variety of non-Samaritan materials. people living in Samaria and other peoples at the time of the See Biblical ceremony page C2

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

323 South 132nd Street | Omaha, NE 68154

C2 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

Biblical ceremony The Speaker’s Bureau their lives and the long-term impact the GABBY BLAIR trauma of the Holocaust has had on their Jewish Press Staff Writer One of the most profound ways to learn families over generations. about the Holocaust is to hear an account Scott Littky, IHE Director, explained the imfrom a Holocaust Survivor. While there is no pact of the COVID-19 pandemic: shortage of testimony, literature and docu“As a result of COVID-19, the Speaker’s Bumentation, Survivor reau has evolved based speakers not only testify on the reality of our situto the extent of the Holoation. From March 2020 caust, but they also proand throughout much of vide a human face to the 2021, a vast majority of facts and figures that the speaking engagemight otherwise seem ments we coordinated impersonal. had to be done virtually Since its inception, the via Zoom. While IHE Institute for Holocaust representatives are usuEducation has coordially present and hosting nated a Speaker’s Buthese Zoom sessions, reau, bringing Survivors there are varying degrees to speak to schools and of comfort with this virgroups throughout Netual platform for our braska and western Survivors and some have Iowa.

Over time, taken a step back. AlFred Kader Omaha’s Institute for though there have been Holocaust Education has become a regional windows of time in which limited in-person leader helping to coordinate speakers across engagements have been able to safely take the country. place, Zoom continues to allow this imporAs the years pass and the number of Sur- tant educational resource to continue, and vivors decline, the IHE has begun coordinat- even thrive, thanks to the ability to reach a ing second and third generation speakers. wider geographical audience from the comThese 2G and 3G speakers are the children fort and safety of home.” and grandchildren of Survivors, intimately fa“While the Speaker’s Bureau rarely turns miliar with not only the the stories of their down a request,” he added, “we at the IHE are loved one’s survival, but of the rebuilding of See The Speaker’s Bureau page C5

ulation and transferred people from different Continued from page C1 According to the former, the Samaritans are lands to populate Samaria. the direct descendants of the Joseph tribes, The Samaritans believe they are descenEphraim and Manasseh, and until the 17th dants of the Israelites that remained in the century CE they possessed a high priesthood descending directly from Aaron through Eleazar and Phinehas. They claim to have continuously occupied their ancient territory and to have been at peace with other Israelite tribes until the time when Eli disrupted the Northern cult by moving from Shechem to Shiloh and attracting some northern Israelites to his new followers there. For the Samaritans, this was the “schism” par excellence.

On Mount Gerizim and the Mount Gerizim. Credit: Daniel Ventura, licensed under the Creopposite mountain, Mount ative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license Ebal, the Samaritans believe are three holy country after the ten tribes were deported. places: the 12 tribes of Israel were assembled The Bible says they were descendants of peoby Joshua to give thanks for having entered ple who intermixed with those from into the land; it was on Mount Gerizim that Mesopotamia and were placed in Samaria by Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac; and a slab the King of Assyria. of grey stone is where the Israelites re-erected Other authorities say the Samaritans origthe Tabernacle when they arrived in Israel. inated about the 8th century BCE. For these reasons, the Samaritans look to According to one biblical tradition, the Mount Gerizim as their holy city rather than Samaritans wished to participate in the reto Jerusalem. building of the Temple, but the Jewish leadIn Samaritan Hebrew, the Samaritans call ership would not allow them. Whatever their themselves “Shomerim,” which is derived precise origins, they have remained a distinct from the Ancient Hebrew term meaning and separate community from the main“Guardians/Keepers/Watchers [of the Torah/ stream of Jewish communal life because of Law]”. some ancient political discrepancies.

In the 12th century, the Crusaders took their SO WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE AND city, and the Templar Knights destroyed it.

FROM WHERE DID THEY COME? The whole area of Samaria was the capital Under 16th century Turkish rule, Shekhem of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In 721 was the capital of the Shomron district. From BCE, the Assyrians invaded, exiled the pop- See Land of the Bible page C3

Wishing the Omaha community

Happy Passover from

Karoline S. Anderson | John Andresen | Marie Belin Thomas M. Byrne | Kimberly Christner | Michael D. Cohen Kurt A. Davey | Mary C. Dek | Elizabeth Larson | Patrick J. Steinauer 18018 Burke Street | Omaha, NE 68022 | Corner of 180th and Burke | 402.573.7337

The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | C3

Land of the Bible precise instructions explain the taking of a lamb for a houseContinued from page C2 1948 until the liberation of this area by the Israelis in 1967, hold, the assembly gathering at dusk, and the duty to eat the Nablus or Shekhem was the largest of the Jordanian-occupied flesh on that night after it is roasted, accompanied by unleavArab towns. ened bread and bitter herbs.

Once a year, the Shomronim Suddenly, some of the men would climb 2,848 feet above broke ranks, others were sea level to Mount Gerizim, singing and clapping. The their holy mountain. Here they sheep were grabbed, brought would celebrate the festival of to an area with pits and quickly Passover as it is written in the slaughtered. The men hugged Bible. and kissed each other; they During the year, it was posdabbed blood on each other’s sible to visit their synagogue in foreheads and on the foreheads the town of Shekhem and talk of their wives and children. The with their members. dead sheep were then put on At Passover, one could witgrates over the pits and washed ness an unforgettable re-enactwith boiling water and salt. ment of a Biblical tradition Nearby were the women— when the Samaritans would dark haired, beautiful women, leave their homes in the town Mount Gerizim. This image was taken as part of the Elef Millim heads uncovered, wearing of Shekhem, climb to homes project trip to Mount Gerizim, near the town of Nablus (biblical makeup and dressed in modthey maintained atop Mount Shechem) which was held on Friday, April 26 2013. Credit: Ovedc ern clothes. Some held or Gerizim and perform the paschal sacrifice as it was done in stood with small children.

Biblical times.

The skins of the sheep were removed, and the sheep were Since the 1980s, when there was violence during the First salted, but everyone continued kissing each other, clapping Intifada, most of the Samaritans relocated to the village of and singing. Wicker trays with rolled, unleavened bread were Kiryat Luza, on Mount Gerizim, adjacent to the Israeli com- then brought in. munity of Har Bracha. It is the last wholly Samaritan village, By 8n p.m., the sheep were speared on long, wooden stakes half of their population living there and half in Holon. The vil- by 17 men; six sheep were taken to each of the three deep pits. lage houses the museum of the Samaritans. All that remains Fires had been carefully built and tended. At one signal, all the of the Samaritan community in Nablus itself is an abandoned staked sheep were plunged into the pits. Each pit was covered synagogue. Shekhem is under joint Israeli and Palestinian con- by a grate. trol, and the Israel Defense Forces maintains a presence in the A great fury occurred among the people. The white clothes area. Kfar Luza is in an area under Israel Defense Forces con- were now covered in blood. The boots were muddy. Each man trol because it falls within Area A; its public services, though, seemed to be a leader telling someone else what to do. Little are provided by the Palestinian Authority. boys rushed madly to throw brush atop the grates. Men then furiously threw wet mud upon the pits. Only the edges of the A MEMORY OF 40 YEARS AGO When I went there, it was sundown on the 14th day of the stakes were pointing out. It was like a contest; the first group month of Nissan. Visitors stood by the roadside atop the to finish began clapping, singing and cheering. mountain, watching a group of perhaps 50 men and small For the next three hours, everything was informal. The sheep boys walking. All wore baggy white pants, white long sleeve were roasting in the pressure cooker pits. Before midnight, the knit shirts and black rubber boots. Here and there was a gold- sheep would be taken out of the pits, the clay would be peeled banded red fez; a few men wore green satin robes. Many wore off, and the meat would be put into large bowls. Later on, the stocking hats. hooves, horns and the stakes would be burned.

The “high priest” led the group, walking with a prayer shawl The families would then return to their homes with their over his head. The other men chanted as they all walked into portions. There they would eat the meat with bitter herbs and a fenced-in, sacrificial area—decorated for the occasion with unleavened bread. grandstands on either side, for the press and visitors.

An ancient ceremony had been celebrated by an ancient The chanting continued in Aramaic for 15 or 20 minutes. people.

Little boys then began to gather by their fathers.

SO WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? On the side were 18 sheep, calmly nibbling and sniffing Those living in Kiryat Luza are in many ways nationally and when people came to observe them. The high priest then culturally Palestinian. They speak Arabic, study in Palestinian climbed atop a small rock and read Chapter 12 of the Book of schools and universities and work in Palestinian government Exodus, which describes the preparations for Passover. The See Biblical ceremony page C5

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C4 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

2022 HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS

HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS AND PARENTS We will be publishing our annual High School Graduation Class pages on May 27, 2022.

To be included, send us an email with the student’s name, parents names, high school they are attending, the college they will be attending and photo to: jpress@jewishomaha.org by May 1, 2022.

The Jewish Press

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies SHANNON SARNA This article first appeared on The Nosher.

I love it when people taste my pareve desserts and say, “Wow—this is pareve!?”

It’s the same rule with Passover dishes and desserts. Which is why I am on a never-ending search for the perfect Passover desserts that are good enough to eat all year and just happen to also be Passover-friendly.

In one of my searches I came across this

recipe for Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies which I realized could easily be made Passover-friendly just by swapping out the peanut butter for almond butter. I adjusted a few ingredients and the result is a super tasty, chewy cookie that is good enough to enjoy all year. Your guests are sure to ask incredulously, “Are you sure these are kosher for Passover?”

Truly the ultimate compliment.

ALMOND BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

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

Passover-friendly almond butter cookies are a super tasty, chewy cookie that is good enough to enjoy all year. Credit: Shannon Sarna

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

Happy Passover FROM ANNIE AND PJ MORGAN

Ingredients: 1 cup almond butter 1 egg 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 tsp. vanilla 1 cup chocolate chips 1/2 cup chopped walnuts thick sea salt (optional) Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together almond butter, egg, brown sugar and vanilla.

Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Spoon out tablespoon-sized mounds onto ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with pinch of thick sea salt on top if desired.

Bake for 11 minutes, and then allow to cool for 5 minutes while cookies remain on the baking sheet. Transfer to baking rack to cool completely.

Happy Passover

Patrick

BONNETT Papio-Missouri River NRD Board #9 Paid for by Patrick Bonnett

The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | C5

Biblical ceremony Continued from page C2 offices. Their holy language is Paleo Hebrew. The scroll of the Torah, which is over 1,000 years old, is written in this language.

The Samaritans believe that their religion is closer than Judaism to that of the original Israelites from before the Babylonian Exile. Their religion is free of rabbinical interpretations and commentary such as the Talmud.

The Samaritans believe in Gd, Moses the only prophet, the Torah and the sanctity of Mount Gerizim, their holy mountain.

They only observe the festivals mentioned in the Torah-the first day, and the seventh day of Passover; Shavuot and Samaritans’ Passover Credit: the first day of the 7th month Generic license. (which Jews call Rosh Hashanah.) The Samaritan year starts at the beginning of the first month Nissan, two weeks before Passover. Other observances are Yom Kippur, the first day of Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret.

In addition, they have added Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) to their holidays. Prayers are said twice every day but privately in their own homes. Women do not go to the synagogue.

Samaritans living in the Palestinian controlled territory of the West Bank are also integrated members of that society, although they have reported instances of discrimination for being “Jewish.”

They marry only Samaritan women who are virgins. If a man marries out of the community, there is no form of conversion; rather his wife joins the community. In addition, they use patriarchal descent to determine religion.

Family purity is observed in the strictest of ways. When a woman has her period, she cannot touch or be touched by anyone. She stays in a special room in the house for seven

The Speaker’s Bureau

Flavio, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0

days. She has full freedom, but there is complete separation.

The husband and the children take over all the duties of the household. At the end of seven days, the woman bathes in a home ritual bath with running water. She purifies everything she touched or wore during her impure days with fire or water. The formal mikveh is something which the rabbis formulated and is not written in the Torah, so the Samaritans do not require it. If a woman has a baby boy, she is in purdah for 41 days and for a baby girl, 80 days, as mandated in the Torah. This is a very private time for the woman.

Shabbat is observed very strictly. Samaritans put on traditional Shabbat clothes, switch off all electricity, and stop communicating with the external world until the end of Shabbat.

It is a day of praying, and, between prayers, chapters of the Bible are read. No electric timers are used, so any necessary lights are simply left on. Likewise, the food fully cooked before Shabbat is placed under a hot towel to keep it warm, but not upon a hot plate which would turn on and off.

See Land of the Bible page C6

Continued from page C2 mindful to not overschedule engagements, regardless of platform, as a matter of respect to our Survivors. Even after years of voluntarily sharing their stories, it can be taxing and traumatic. We also consider the group and the goal of the request.

For example, if a group is looking for more of a general Holocaust education, rather than a testimony as a part of a curriculum, IHE staff can easily cover that.”

Indeed, a wide array of groups ranging from schools, churches, Rotary and professional clubs all the way down to neighborhood book clubs request various types of engagements.

“The sharing of these first-hand accounts and messages about humanity that they convey is important for our society, especially for the younger generations for whom the Holocaust may be little more than another event in a history book.

See Speaker’s Bureau page C6

C6 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

Land of the Bible Speaker’s Bureau

Continued from page C5 Our cherished Survivors still walk among us, their children and grandchildren are our coworkers and classmates and friends. Such a service our Survivors provide to society; sharing their stories, though they may be traumatic, raw and even uncomfortable for both the Survivor and the audience, helps to strengthen what it means when we say ‘Never Again.”

The Speaker’s Bureau is available by request through the Institute for Holocaust Education’s website at www.ihene.org.

Questions? Contact the IHE at 402.334.6576.

with a large prayer shawl that has Continued from page C5 Like the ascent to the Gerazim 22 buttons, representing each letMountain, no allowances for age or ter of the Hebrew alphabet. health are made; everyone is supThey don’t trust Jewish kashrut posed to observe Shabbat this way. and have their own shochat (ritual Women are allowed to particislaughterer) who is paid a tithe pate, but they choose not to exlike in ancient times. Samaritans cept on important festivals and believe in Messiah, who will be fast days when they come to get Taheb, Josef ’s son. the kohen’s blessing. When they Samaritan food is based on fresh do come, they are seated sepaproduce and meat – never frozen. rately from the men.

Spices such as anise, coriander, Boys and girls are taught to cumin, paprika, turmeric and zaread the whole Torah at ages 5 ’atar are fixtures in their cuisine. through 7. When they can chant One of their most special dishes, the blessing of Moses (Deuteron- Samaritans synagogue, Holon Credit: Laliv G., licensed nazaleh (Arabic for ‘going down’), omy 33 and 34) by heart, there is under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 includes eggplant with rice, onion International license a ceremony. and chicken. The juice of the eggEvery Samaritan has two names—one is Arabic for official plant trickles down throughout the dish, and gives it its flause; the other is Hebrew for use within the community. vor, hence the name nazaleh. The culinary traditions of the The Samaritan mezuzah is not a scroll on every doorpost Samaritans developed from the same roots as Palestinian in the house, but is typically etched on a stone block at the cuisine, so the two have much in common. A typical Samarfront door. itan dessert, for instance, is knaffe, a delicious sugary treat The Jewish calendar and the Samaritan calendar differ be- ubiquitous in Palestinian kitchens. cause the Jewish calendar is calculated from the date of creSamaritans have the Right of Return and the Israeli Rabation, whereas the Samaritan calendar is calculated from the binic authorities consider Samaritanism to be a branch of Judate that Joshua Ben Nun entered the land of Israel. daism; however, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel requires In 1954, the president of Israel, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, helped to Samaritans to officially go through a formal conversion to Juestablish a Samaritan quarter on the outskirts of Holon. The daism in order to be recognized as Halakhic Jews. quarter was named Neve Pinchas after Pinhas Ben-Abraham, Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, lecturer, book reviewer, the high priest of the Samaritan community. food writer and author (Witness to History: Ten Years They have a school for teaching about the Samaritan reli- as a Woman Journalist in Israel), nine cookbooks (ingion after regular school hours. The children attend one of two cluding What’s Cooking at Hadassah College.) She lived schools locally-a Palestinian school or the local Israeli school. in Israel from 1970-1980; she and her husband, Barry, Many of them are quite well-to-do people. Practically all came to live in Jerusalem in 2008, where she works as a of them have their own houses and cars. The men serve in foreign correspondent for North American Jewish publithe IDF. cations, lectures to senior citizen residences, leads walks At the entrance to a synagogue, they take off their shoes, in English in Machaneh Yehudah, the Jewish produce as Jews used to do 2,000 years ago at the entrance to the Tem- market and wrote stories about kosher restaurants in ple. The Samaritans don’t wear skull-caps and don’t put on Janglo.net from 2014 to 2020 which Barry photographed. tefilin, because they consider it an invention of Rabbis from She has been book reviewing for 40 years. the exile. They wear a white robe which resembles a kittel

Happy Passover from Douglas County Attorney

Don Kleine

Don

Kleine

FOR DOUGLAS COUNTY ATTORNEY

Paid for by K leine for Douglas County Attor ney 15471 Stevens Plz, Omaha, NE 68137

The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | C7

These Passover Pancake Noodles are better than matzah balls

LIZ SUSMAN KARP AND NATALIE GORLIN This article first appeared on The Nosher.

Last April, as the pandemic raged in my area, I opened my front door to my dear friend Natalie, who literally threw at me from a distance a plastic sandwich bag containing her family’s cherished Passover tradition: flädla.

Less commonly known than the universally beloved matzah ball, these Passover egg noodles are made from a thin crepe that’s coiled and cut into strips, over which steaming broth is poured. Natalie’s family recipe was handed down from her mother’s tante Ilse, who emigrated from Germany in 1939 post-Kristallnacht.

Ask around about flädla and, like the history of any good noodle, you’ll discover the topic covers a lot of ground. Flädla, also spelled flädle, didn’t start off as a Passover food, but evolved into a dish that reflects the ingenuity and frugality of Jewish Eastern European cooks, who repurposed leftover dough or pancakes into noodles.

Noodles were a significant part of the Ashkenazi diet. In medieval times, Europeans began boiling dough in water rather than baking or frying it. In the Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, Gil Marks writes that noodles were predominantly used in soup and that some cooks cut up matzah meal blintzes into the liquid. No name was ascribed to that noodle or dish.

Recipes for Passover noodles are included in numerous Jewish cookbooks, notably June Feiss Hersh’s compilation of recipes from Holocaust survivors titled, Recipes Remembered: A Celebration of Survival, illustrating how deeply ingrained the dish was in people’s memories. Sometimes called lokshen, the Yiddish word for noodle, the recipes use matzah meal or potato starch, and always the same method of frying a thin crepe and cutting it into strips.

Pinpointing when, where, or who first adapted these noodle ribbons for the holiday is a challenge. “What is most fascinating to me,” says Gaby Rossmer, coauthor with her daughter, Sonya Gropman, of The German-Jewish Cookbook, “is how these food traditions travel. They do follow routes. You can see it, but you can’t tell exactly which one came first, which came second.”

Many Jews, like Natalie’s ancestors and Rossmer, lived in southern Germany; in the Swabian region, pancakes are known as flädle. The recipe has been handed down over generations; tradition dictates the crepes be thin and crispy.

Flädlesuppe was a popular dish, but “never for Passover,” says Rossmer. She was a year old when she came to America from Bavaria, but fondly remembers frequently frying flour crepes with her father; the goal was always to have enough left over to make flädlesuppe.

The noodles are a key component of a comparable, popular Austrian soup called frittatensuppe, or pancake soup, which is always made with beef broth, says Nino Shaye Weiss, a blog-

ger at JewishVienneseFood.com and Jewish food guide in Vienna. There, the crepes are called palatschinken; cut up they’re referred to as frittaten. “Jews do seemingly love them as they cannot live the eight days of Passover without them,” he comments, adding that frittaten for Passover are simply known as Peisachdike lokshen (kosher for Passover noodles).

Legend has it that frittatensuppe may have originated in 19th century Austria to feed Austrian, French, and Italian diplomats secretly meeting during the Congress of Vienna.

One participant was Conte Romano de Frittata, whose coachman prepared the pancake. Frittata comes from the Italian word friggere, to fry; perhaps suggesting that the dish was named after the coachman’s employer. However, the only similar Italian-Jewish recipe I could find was for Minestra di Sfoglietti Per Pesach, a soup containing noodles of baked dough, in The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews by Edda Servi Machlin.

If the story is true, the dish did not make its way back to Italy.

Holocaust survivor Cecile Gruer, 86, is known as her family’s

chef. She movingly recalls eating flädla in 1946 at the first Passover she celebrated with her family in an Austrian displaced persons camp after they were reunited. Then a teen, she watched her mother prepare the noodle as her mother had done in Hungary. Greuer makes flädla year-round, using potato starch, matzah meal, or quinoa or almond flour for gluten-free relatives. Sometimes she’ll just mix egg and water, essentially an omelette. Gruer suggests adding any herb, such as dill or cilantro, to heighten the soup’s flavor. She continues these traditions because, she says, “You do not want to break the chain.”

Gruer’s and Natalie’s families enjoy their flädla in chicken broth with matzah balls. The Lubavitch sect, who follow the custom of gebrokts and don’t eat any dish where matzah can touch liquid, have just the noodle in their soup, says Leah Koenig, author of The Jewish Cookbook. Gruer confides she doesn’t like chicken soup. How does she eat her flädla? She laughs. “I would have it on the plate!”

PASSOVER PANCAKE NOODLES

1007 Leavenworth Street Omaha, NE 68102 (402) 342-0282 nature.org/Nebraska

These Passover egg noodles are made from a thin crepe that’s coiled and cut into strips. Credit: Getty Images Ingredients: 4 eggs, separated 3/4 tsp. salt 1/4-1/2 cup (to taste) chopped chives 4 Tbsp. potato starch 1/4 cup of chicken broth oil Directions: Separate the eggs and add the salt to the yolks.

Mix chives and potato starch in with the egg yolks. Add as much chicken broth as is necessary for the mixture to be the consistency of pancake batter.

Beat egg whites until stiff and add to yolk mixture (mix occasionally while cooking batches to avoid separation).

Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan and add enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan. Fry like a crepe, and remove from pan. Lay fladla on paper towels to absorb any excess oil.

Let cool, then roll each crepe and cut into thin strips.

Fladla can be made a few days in advance and refrigerated.

Serve in hot soup and enjoy.

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Become a Member! Call Eliza at (402) 342-0282 x 1012 or go to www.nature.org/Nebraska

C8 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

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Happy Passover

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The Jewish Press Passover issue in 1992 ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Editor, Jewish Press The front page of the 1992 Jewish Press Passover edition shows a woman kissing her husband with the following caption: “Pam Monsky is off to the office, her husband Henry finishes his breakfast, and daughter Rachel looks forward to seeing her friends at day care in the Jewish Community Center—a family changing with the times.”

The opening article inside relays why that front page was chosen: it’s inspired by the findings of the Highlights of the Nation Jewish Population Survey, which was released by the Council of Jewish Federations.

It was the most comprehensive study of the US Jewish population ever undertaken; results were sold to the public for $10 per copy in the summer of 1992. It showed that more than 90% of American Jews were born in the US; the total population in the survey numbered 8.2 million, living in 3.2 million households where at least one member was Jewish.

That Passover issue featured headlines like Jews moving up America’s social ladder and The Cantor and the grand dragon. Norm Sheldon is seen working his muscles, and a very young Alex Epstein shows up in a photo accompanying a story about how the J is expanding its services for children.

There’s a story about Galina, Gregory and Lina Kogan, who had immigrated just a few years prior. There is also a story about Shani and Rabbi Mendel Katzman, and their five (remember, it was 1992) children. “I can change a Pamper in 30 seconds,” the Rabbi is quoted as saying.

For the Passover meal, the Jewish Press recommended Carrot Nut Torte and Chocolate

Fudge Cake—and of course coconut macaroons. Sarah Spellman celebrated her 100th birthday (Mary Fellman wrote about her) and Cory Kirshenbaum was promoted to JCC Assistant Executive Director. The Reconstructionist Movement issued a comprehensive policy statement, calling for complete and unconditional equality for the Gay community.

Bert Lewis wrote: “We weave a pretty strong fabric for ourselves, as Jews. We believe so implicitly in the true meaning of charity, of helping those who need us, of the obligation to make the world better, of behaving honorably and respecting others. We have perhaps remained a viable segment of humanity because we respect the rights of other religions, as we hope they respect ours.

“And while we note respect for other religious beliefs, let’s not forget that among ourselves, as Jews, there are differences. We don’t all follow the exact same set of rules, but that doesn’t make any group better than the other.”

There are many other stories, mostly centered on how familiy dynamics are changing, but what is obvious when reading this 30 years later is how much we have stayed the same. Not because we haven’t grown or changed, not because we haven’t learned many things and experienced both joy and hardships, but because the essence of this community remains the same.

“The image of the traditional family is changing,” Glen Fineman, then-director of Jewish Family Service, wrote. But he also added: “The yearning for family ties has remained intact. Family today may mean something different to many people, yet the need for closeness and emotional security is more evident than ever.”

The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | C9

The Pesach Dishes MERRI UKRAINCIK Like the children of Israel leaving Egypt, the dishes emerge from the darkness of the Rubbermaid bins at the back of my garage, launching a reunion with long-gone relatives who come rushing across the parted sea into my patient, waiting arms. Slowly, I unfurl the newspaper wrapping and announce Pesach’s arrival in my home.

My thoughts are of childhood seders, when we would crowd into my grandparents’ Bronx apartment, encircling a table that spent the rest of the year pushed against a wall in the entryway. On Pesach, though, it made its way to the center of the living room, where the narrow surface was miraculously unfolded and extended and widened to seat whatever number of us had gathered together.

I delighted in Grandpa’s presence as he reigned from his easy chair at the head of the table. Conducting much of the seder in an undertone, he would cue us when to dip the karpas vegetables, when to eat the maror and when to ask the Four Questions. I sat there, lulled into a trance by his Hebrew muttering, the mysterious melodies and the aromas emanating from the kitchen.

During the meal, Grandpa would amuse us between courses with songs from the Vaudeville act he once had with two of his brothers.

My eyes would flit between his antics and the knaidlach bobbing in and out of the chicken soup, served in real China bowls even to the children. Brisket followed, joined by a bountiful feast of delicious Yiddish recipes from the Old Country — chremslach, meichel, ingberlach — along with the nachas my grand-

parents took in having us all there together.

All too suddenly, the time came for Grandpa and Grandma to hand off the sedermaking reins, as their mutual health began to ebb and her time was devoted almost exclusively to his care. His strength fled right on the heels of his memory, leaving me desperate to preserve my own, of his magical silli-

ness and his love, while struggling to keep the newer images — of his frailty and his inability to know who we all were — at bay.

Nearly forgotten at the back of her infinitely deep bedroom closets, Grandma’s Pesach dishes grew weary from disuse in warped cardboard boxes, but their sadness was eclipsed by Grandpa’s death. I mourned him.

I mourned the loss of those enchanted holiday evenings in their apartment. I mourned the silver trim and dainty pink flowers on those dishes that represented everything blessed and beautiful in my childhood.

Years later, a few months after my wedding, Grandma rang me early in the day and asked me, with a rarely employed urgency in her voice, to take the train up to the Grand Concourse that evening. Curious and concerned, I entered the apartment to find her See The Pesach Dishes page C10

Terror attacks in Israel

weeks as the major Jewish, Muslim and ChrisSHIRA HANAU AND RON KAMPEAS tian holidays converge during the spring.

JTA An assailant killed four people at a shopOn Sunday, March 27, two people were ping mall in Beersheba, Israel, March 22, in killed during a suspected terror attack in the what Israeli authorities are describing as a Israeli city of Hadera. terrorist attack.

The man injured at least one other person in the attack in the southern city on Tuesday, Israeli reports said.

The attacker hit a cyclist with his car, killing the cyclist, then exited his car at the mall and stabbed three people to death before being shot to death by a bus driver.

The dead included three The scene of a car ramming and stabbing attack outside the big women and a man. Po- shopping center in Beersheba, Israel, March 22, 2022. Credit: Flash90 lice are searching for a suspected second asThe two gunmen opened fire at a bus stop sailant. in the city, which was located near several Kann News, a government-run news station, restaurants. Both of the gunmen were killed said the attacker was an Israeli citizen and a by undercover police officers who happened Bedouin. The Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror- to be eating nearby, according to The Times of ist groups praised the attack but did not di- Israel, and six others were wounded in the rectly claim responsibility. shooting.

Kann reported that there have been repeated The attack came as Israeli Prime Minister calls by Islamist terrorist groups for knifing at- Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair tacks on Israeli citizens in recent weeks. The Lapid met with leaders of Bahrain, the United Jerusalem Post reported that this was the third Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Egypt, in the stabbing attack in Israel in a week.

Southern city of Sde Boker to discuss regional Israeli security officials have warned of an threats and security in an unusually large increased risk of terror attacks in the coming meeting of Arab leaders in Israel.

Happy Passover

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

C10 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

FROM THE JEWISH PRESS ARCHIVE:

We quit Egypt today The Pesach Dishes Continued from page C9 in the bedroom, at the back of one of those unending closets, dragging out the treasured stories stashed away with the Pesach pots and pans.

I listened as she reminisced about seders we had celebrated together, about those led by her father when she was still a young girl and the first ones with Grandpa. She talked about her mother, too, who bequeathed to me a remarkable legacy and a Yiddish name, and that night, a shallow chopping bowl and a mixing spoon.

Trembling, I opened my palms to accept Grandma’s nutcracker that had reduced thousands of walnuts to bits for charoset and the manual eggbeater, bent from her firm grip.

But it was the folder of recipes, written in her distinctive hand on the backs of envelopes and pantyhose packaging, that finally broke me as I considered the inevitability of her passing from this world into the next.

By the time that day arrived, she had already missed several seders, simply too weak to join us those last few seasons of her life. No one would ever fill her place at the table, but I could still speak with her in the weeks leading up to the holiday, seeking seder-making advice and the chance to hear her crackling

laugh just one more time.

Now that she has gone, the first things I unpack when I set to cooking are the items she herself once used to make Pesach — a spoon that remains from her mother’s silver service, a sifter, the nutcracker — and gently lay them out on the counter. With the eggbeater, I froth egg whites into snow-capped peaks, working the crank around and around, as if I could turn back the hands of time at the moment when I miss her most.

While the soup boils in her stockpot, I set the table with her delicate, white porcelain, my finger tracing the floral garlands tied in ribbon. I deploy Grandpa’s kiddush cup to the center of the table for Eliyahu Hanavi. After so many rounds of packing and unpacking, the pedestal on which it rests leans to the side, as we all do when we drink the four cups of wine, like royalty, as he was for me.

I sigh exultantly, placing a dinner plate where my husband, my children, my parents, and my guests will each sit. My mother arrives in time to light candles.

Another year together, she offers, admiring the table. Another year without them, I respond.

Merri Ukraincik is a freelance writer and professional artist who lives in Edison, N.J., with her husband and their boys.

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

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT It’s a great headline, isn’t it? It comes from an old Passover edition of the Jewish Press-the front page, no less. The story is accompanied by other headlines, such as Terror, Panic Grip Country, 600,000 gathering at Succoth, and Canaan Fear Israel Invasion, Scouts report, which claims, “Scouts returning from Canaan tell of the paralyzing fear that has gripped the inhabitants of that country in the wake of the news concerning the Israelites’ release.”

Other highlights from this tongue-incheek front page: “The Israelites will not use the coastal route to Canaan, it was announced by Moses. This route is regarded as too dangerous. For security reasons, Moses refused to divulge the road to be taken.”

How much fun must it have been to create that edition? (For those of you who want to look it up, it’s the April 1, 1977 edition). The material used came from The Chronicles, a publication of the Reuben Foundation, which looks at history through contemporary eyes.

The theme of that issue was “Freedom,”which is something that was appropriate then, and is appropriate now. Morris Maline was the editor, and Judy Marburg

the Associate Editor. The Jewish Press staff attempted to touch on the many different ways in which we as Jews enjoy freedom.

Maybe one of the most interesting articles, from today’s perspective, is the one about a reunited Jerusalem. In 1977, the city had only been reunited for ten years—let that sink in.

“On Monday, June 5, 1967,” Harold U. Ribalow wrote, “an uneasy peace lay over the divided, beautiful and holy city of Jerusalem.

“At 11 a.m. that morning, Jordanian forces opened artillery fire against Jewish Jerusalem.

Israel counter attacked. After two days and nights of bitter hand-to-hand fighting, Jewish forces captured the Old City as well as other areas previously held by Arab forces.

“Divided 19 years earlier, Jerusalem was again united. For the first time in nearly two millenia, Jews were free to visit and pray at the Western Wall, the site of the ancient Temple of Solomon, without any restrictions and under the protection of an independent and sovereign Jewish State.”

From “quitting Egypt” to an uneasy peace, it’s a road we are still on, and it’s anyone’s guess where it will take us. Maybe 50 years from now, some future JFO employee will dig up this page and have something to say about that. We’ll hold our breath until then.

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

WISHING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY Happy A HAPPYHanukkah PASSOVER

RUNNING FOR DOUGLAS COUNTY COMMISSIONER – DISTRICT #6 Paid for by Mary Ann Borgeson for County Board

The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | C11

A vegan or vegetarian Passover: Putting Jewish values into practice

RICHARD SCHWARTZ Passover and vegetarianism or veganism (veg*ism henceforth)? Can the two be related? After all, what is a seder without gefilte fish, chicken soup, chopped liver, chicken, and other meats? And what about the shankbone to commemorate the paschal sacrifice. And doesn’t Jewish law mandate that Jews eat meat to rejoice on Passover and other Jewish festivals? Yet, an increasing number of Jews are turning to veg*ism and they are finding ways to celebrate veg*an Passovers while being consistent with Jewish teachings.

Contrary to a common perception, Jews are not required to eat meat at the Passover seder or any other time. According to the Talmud (Pesachim 109a), since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, Jews need not eat meat to celebrate Jewish festivals. In scholarly articles by Rabbi Albert Cohen in the Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society and Rabbi J. David Bleich in Tradition magazine, this concept is reinforced. Also, Israeli chief rabbis, including Rabbi Shlomo Goren, former Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel, and Rabbi Sha’ar Yashuv Cohen, former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Haifa, were or are strict vegetarians.

The use of the shankbone originated in the time of the Talmud as a means of commemorating the paschal lamb. However, since the talmudic scholar, Rabbi Huna, states that a beet can be used for this purpose, many Jewish veg*ans substitute a beet for the shankbone. The important point is that the shankbone is a symbol and no meat need be eaten at the seder.

Jewish veg*ans see veg*an values reinforced by several Passover themes: 1. At the seder, Jews say, “Let all who are hungry come and eat”. As on other occasions, at the conclusion of the meal, birkat hamazon is recited to thank God for providing food for the world’s people. This seems inconsistent with the consumption of animal-centered diets which involves the feeding of 70% of the grain grown in the United States to animals while an estimated nine million of the world’s people die of hunger and its effects annually.

Although he is not a vegetarian, Rabbi Jay Marcus, Spiritual Leader of the Young Israel of Staten Island, saw a connection between simpler diets and helping hungry people. He commented on the fact that “karpas” (eating of greens) comes immediately before “yahatz” (the breaking of the middle matzah for later use as the “afikomen” (dessert) in the seder service. He concluded that those who live on simpler foods (greens, for example) will more

readily divide their possessions and share with others.

Many Jewish veg*ans see connections between the oppression that their ancestors suffered and the current plight of the billions of people who presently lack sufficient food and other essential resources. Veg*an diets require far less land, water, fuel, pesticides, fertilizer, and other resources, and thus enable the better sharing of God’s abundant resources, which can help reduce global hunger and poverty.

2. The main Passover theme is freedom.

While relating the story of our ancestors’ slavery in Egypt and their redemption through God’s power and beneficence, many Jewish veg*ans also consider the “slavery” of animals on modern “factory farms.” Contrary to Jewish teachings of tsa’ar ba’alei chayim (the Torah mandate not to cause unnecessary “pain to a living creature”), animals are raised for food today under cruel conditions in crowded confined spaces where they are denied fresh air, sunlight, a chance to exercise, and the fulfillment of their natural instincts. In this connection, it is significant to consider that according to the Jewish tradition, Moses, Judaism’s greatest leader, teacher, and prophet, was chosen to lead the Israelites out of Egypt because as a shepherd he showed great compassion to a lamb (Exodus Rabbah 2:2).

3. Many Jewish veg*ans advocate that we commemorate the redemption of our ancestors from slavery by ending the current slavery to harmful eating habits through the adoption of veg*an diets.

4. Passover is the holiday of springtime, a time of nature’s renewal. It also commemorates God’s supremacy over the forces of nature. In contrast, modern intensive livestock agriculture and animal-centered diets have many negative effects on the environment, including air and water pollution, soil erosion and depletion, the destruction of tropical rain forests and other habitats, and contributions to global warming.

Jewish veg*ans view their diet as a practical way to put Jewish values into practice. They believe that Jewish mandates to show compassion to animals, take care of our health, protect the environment, conserve resources, and share with hungry people, and the negative effects that animal-centered diets have in each of these areas, point to veg*ism as the ideal diet today.

Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus, College of Staten Island and author of Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, Revitalizing Judaism.

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Wishing The Community A Happy Passover

Best wishes John Sieler

State Board of Education Paid for by Friends of John Sieler, 1712 N. 73 St, Omaha, NE 68114

H A P PY PA S S OV E R

The Jewish Press Margie Gutnik, President | Abigail Kutler, Past-President Danni Christensen | David Finkelstein | Bracha Goldsweig | Mary Sue Grossman Les Kay | Natasha Kraft | Chuck Lucoff | Joseph Pinson | Andy Shefsky | Amy Tipp

C12 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

This Holocaust survivor wears this hand-knit sweater every Passover

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practices take place outside of synagogues,” she told me. She TANYA SINGER also reflects on the power of crafted objects, describing them New York Jewish Week Every Passover for the last 75 years, Helena Weinstock as “talismans of safety and resilience.”

Weinrauch, a 97-year-old Holocaust survivor, has worn a viEichler-Levine’s book is about how crafters keep Judaism brant blue hand-knit sweater to the first seder, which she alive. She studied how “everyday acts of creativity are a crucial hosts in her Upper West Side apartment building. part of what makes a religious life,” and learned that “the act The sweater is a chic, 1940s of making is just as important as number with fluffy angora sleeves, the object itself, particularly in a sparkling metallic blue bodice troubled times.” and a delicate, scalloped V-neck.

As Eichler-Levine notes, “Crafting But this is no ordinary fashion is an act of generative resilience statement. The sweater was knit by that fosters the survival of both Helena’s friend, Ann Rothman, who giver and recipient.” stayed alive during the Holocaust These words resonate with me by knitting for Nazi wives while a deeply on a personal level. Knitprisoner in the Lodz Ghetto. ting became central to my healing Rothman was motivated to surafter my 13-year-old son undervive and, as Weinrauch tells it, “She went brain surgery in January 2017 became known in the ghetto. She — I left my career behind and aswas so good at knitting that she sumed the role of full-time mother knitted coats for the wife of the Gerof a child in constant pain. Over man people and it became known the course of his long recovery, that Ann can knit skirts, a blouse — knitting, I realized, was the key to anything you want, she can knit it.” stitching myself, and my family, When I first met Weinrauch in back together. person in December 2021, I was After a long, three-month period struck by her classic, Old Hollyof recovery, my son returned to wood-like glamor, her storytelling school. Shortly afterwards, I read and her pride in the many sweaters a story about Weinrauch in Moher friend had knit for her throughment Magazine. It struck a nerve. out their decades of friendship.

It combined my passions for all Tiny in stature, with a soft voice, Holocaust survivor Helena Weinstock Weinrauch, 97, models things Jewish, knitting and the inWeinrauch’s presence filled the the hand-knit sweater that she's worn to the first Passover credible juxtaposition of the two, room. I hung on her every word. seder every year for the past 75 years. Credit: Karen Goldfarb igniting within me a drive to know When she spoke of her brilliant blue Passover sweater — more. I wondered how women knit to stay alive, what other which she treats as a ritual object — she seemed to sparkle knitted objects I might find. I launched a project, Knitting like its bright blue bodice. When neighbors or other seder- Hope, which aims to share the ways knitting or knitted objects goers in her building noticed her unusual sweater, she’d say, helped women to resist, remember those they lost, and find “It’s the Passover sweater,” as if everyone has one. renewal after the horrors of the Holocaust.

After meeting Weinrauch, I was convinced that she was I knew, straight away, that Weinrauch’s Passover sweater onto something: Everyone should have a Passover sweater — would be an important knitting project to share with the and not just because it is beautiful and festive. For Weinrauch, fledgling community of knitters, survivors and supporters that the sweater holds the power of remembrance, freedom and I was building. Weinrauch’s life, after all, is a lesson in reconnection. And she’s far from the only one to make the con- silience: She survived a three-day-long interrogation by the nection between crafting, resilience and religious observance. Gestapo, three concentration camps, the Death March from In her 2020 book Painted Pomegranates and Needlepoint Rab- Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen, and near-death starvation. bis, Jodi Eichler-Levine, Berman Professor of Jewish CivilizaHer parents, sister and 16 other family members did not. tion at Lehigh University, draws upon ethnography to study But Weinrauch did not just survive the horrors of the Holothe power of craft for the Jewish People. “If we look at Judaism caust — she built a life filled with love and beauty. When the as an ever-evolving process, then Jewish crafts — which are war ended, she was nursed back to health in Sweden, which all about process — can help us to see how many vital Jewish See The Passover sweater page C14

We can’t wait to meet you!

The Jewish Press

The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | C13

Things you might not know about Pesach

IN GIBRALTAR, THERE’S DUST IN THE HAROSET. In Ashkenazi tradition, haroset is made from crushed nuts, apples and sweet red wine, while Sephardi Jews use figs or dates. The texture is supposed to remind us of mortar and the word ‘haroset’ is related to the Hebrew word for clay. But the Jewish community of Gibraltar takes the brick symbolism to another level, using the dust of actual bricks in their recipe.

NEPAL HOSTS THE WORLD’S LARGEST PASSOVER SEDER. Each year, members of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement hold their “Seder on Top of the World” in Kathmandu for Jewish locals and travelers alike. They’ve had over 2,000 people attending at once.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN DIED DURING PASSOVER. The assassination of President Lincoln (April 14, 1865) 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 mourning and the singing of Yom Kippur hymns.

JEWS IN ISRAEL 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.

FOR NORTH AFRICAN JEWS, AFTER PASSOVER COMES MIMOUNA. 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.

Sources: MyJewishlearning.com and Huffpost.com

FROM THE JTA ARCHIVE: 1934

Pesach is near! Matzoh factories go on schedule!

Notwithstanding Hitler, Dollfuss, the blizzard of 1934, crises, riots and civil commotion, Pesach is still Pesach, an investigation in to the matzoh situation discloses; and matzohs are still being turned out and shipped to the four quarters of the world on schedule.

In anticipation of the festival of festivals, the matzoh industry, which is centered in and about the New York sector, is preparing to go into a double shift. Already, trucks groaning with consignments of matzoh, matzoh-meal, farfel, cake-meal, cake-matzoh, whole wheat, hygienic and dietetic matzoh, crisp and delicious, are determinedly deploying in all directions.

Hard by the East River, on Grand Street, harassed Sam London, distracted by a broken machine-belt which was tying up production in the four-story bakery that produces 2,000,000 pounds of unleavened bread a year, gazed through a pair of glasses covered with matzoh-dust, and boasted of his argosies carrying matzoh to far-flung Jewish communities from the Yukon to Cape Horn and from Hawaii to South Africa.

On piled cartons in the dim warehouse of the plant, pencilled addresses could be made out of consignees in Texas, Cuba and Brazil. Bearded patriarchs covered with flour wandered

Making handmade Matzot Credit: Avishai Teicher via the PikiWiki - Israel free image collection project, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license

about in pursuit of their duties, trundling packages of farfel, matzohmeal and what not, convertible into knaidlech and kreplech and taiglech and all the happy outward forms of the oldtime Pesach seder, without which Passover would be unrecognizable.The belt adjusted and everything under control again, Mr. London disengaged himself from a knot of flour-covered bakers

and observed that he was one of the proprietors of the oldest matzoh-baking firm in the country, the business having been founded in 1871. It ordinarily employs fifty persons in distributing its quota of some 1,000 tons of matzoh, but in the weeks preceding Passover the number goes up to eighty and more.

The matzoh industry is confined See Matzoh factories page C15

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C14 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

The Passover sweater The case for nonprofit security RON KAMPEAS WASHINGTON | JTA President Joe Biden wants to increase federal funding for security for nonprofits from $250 million to $360 million, a key request advanced by Jewish organizations in the wake of attacks on Jewish institutions.

Biden included the funding in the homeland security section of the $5.8 trillion federal budget he released Monday.

Presidential budgets function as wish lists, and not every component will likely pass congressional muster, but including the request gives its chances of adoption a significant boost.

“In prior years, before President Biden, there were presidential budget proposals submitted to Congress that did not contain any requested funding for the nonprofit security grant program — let alone what we are advocating for,” Nathan Diament, the Washington, D.C., director of the Orthodox Union, said in an email.

For this year, Congress increased funding from $180 million to $250 million. But Jewish groups intensified their effort to increase the funding even more after a hostage-taking crisis at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, in January.

A number of lawmakers, including Sen. Chuck Schumer have pressed for the $360 million figure since 2019, when annual funding for nonprofit security was just $90 million.The Jewish groups cite what they say are increased antisemitic attacks and the vulnerability of other minorities.

Elana Broitman, the vice president for the Jewish Federations of North America, noted a recent spate of bomb threats on Jewish institutions and historically Black colleges and universities.

Separately, JFNA said Monday that a drive to raise money to secure smaller Jewish communities that cannot afford the security infrastructure enjoyed by larger communities has surpassed its goal of $54 million, and has raised $62 million.

develop a knitting pattern as a homage to the Passover sweater.

Continued from page C12 took thousands of Jewish refugees. “The Swedish people re- She immediately said yes. “As a Jewish knitwear designer, Jewish stored my faith in humanity,” she said, adding that she’ll advocacy has always been a passion, especially when it comes “never forget their humanity.” to carving out space in the vast knitIn Sweden, she volunteered ting community for Jewish patterns at a hospital where she “never to thrive,” she told me. “I knew imtook a dollar,” in order to repay mediately that this could be a ‘patthe Swedish people for their eftern to launch a thousand ships,’ so forts. Then, in 1947, Weinrauch to speak. The idea of a blue sweater connected with one of her only revolution, with blue sweaters at living family members, a stepevery seder to symbolize resistance, uncle in the U.S. She lived with hope and community, was what ulhim for a short time in New timately called me to the project.”

York City, which is where she The Dayenu pattern, as we’ve met and married Joseph Weinnamed it, created as a contemporauch, who became a successrary homage to Weinrauch’s origiful travel agent. nal sweater, is now available on the When the two sought to start popular knitting site Ravelry and a family, Weinrauch experienced on Payhip. The cost is $10, and 20% multiple miscarriages which she of pattern sales will be donated to attributes to all the trauma she KAVOD, an organization that proendured. When Weinrauch fivides emergency aid like food and nally conceived, her doctor ormedicine to Holocaust survivors. dered her to strict bedrest — and In these weeks leading up to that’s when she taught herself Passover — which begins this year how to knit, because she was Inspired by Weinrauch’s story, the author is hosting a knit- on the evening of April 15 — along for anyone wishing to make their own, updated version Kramer and I are hosting a virtual “going crazy in bed.”

Weinrauch gave birth to a of the Passover sweater. Credit: Tanya Singer knitting circle, or a knit-along. daughter, Arlene, in the early 1950s. She died from breast can- Though knit-alongs are common practice in the wider knitting cer in the 1990s. Weinrauch’s husband went into a deep de- community, so far as I am aware, none has invited Jewish knitpression and died in 2006 — and she was alone once again. ters to join in creating a garment for a Jewish holiday, and cerNot one to wallow, in 2013, when a flier from a local dance tainly none has drawn so profoundly on Jewish themes of studio landed in her mailbox, Weinrauch, then 88, decided to remembrance and freedom. Special guests include Jayna learn ballroom dance — which enabled her to feel joy in mov- Zweiman, co-creator of the Pink Pussyhat; Karen Goldfarb, the ing to music. These days, her closets overflow with beautiful, filmmaker behind Fascination: Helena’s Story, and Stephanie beaded gowns, and every room in her apartment features Butnick, host of the podcast Unorthodox. While created with photos of her beaming at ballroom dance events. As she Jewish knitters in mind, the circle meets weekly and is open quips in the documentary Fascination: Helena’s Story: “As long to knitters and non-knitters alike, and to people of all faiths. as I can walk, I will dance.”

The knit-along is free and knitting is optional. Each week, In hopes of preserving other aspects of her incredible story we’ll be joined by a special guest, who will shed light on — and, of course, that fabulous sweater — I reached out to Passover, Helena’s story and the power of knitting. Join by Chicago-based knitwear designer Alix Kramer and asked her to Zoom by registering for emails at KnittingHope.com.

Happy Passover!

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The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | C15

Matzoh factories Continued from page 13 mainly to five or six large bakeries in New York and Jersey City, which supply the rest of the country and foreign parts, South America, Canada, Africa and Australia. These firms get orders even from Europe and strangely enough from Palestine, too.

By far the largest is the Manischewitz bakery in Jersey City, which employs five hundred people and occupies 200,000 square feet of space in its extremely efficient six-story, mechanized bakery.

As a matter of fact, all the matzoh-bakeries are highly mechanized, using remarkable robot-like ovens that take a batch of pesachdicke dough into one end of their systems and spreading, baking, and grooving the mixture, continuously eject hot, dry, finished matzoh at the other end.

Horowitz Bros. and Margareten, over on the East Side in New York, employ about 100 bakers in a modern four-story plant. Goodman’s on East Seventeenth street and Streit’s on the lower East Side employ another 100 between them.

A few scattered bakeries contribute their toll of matzoh to the rest of the country–in Chicago, where there are two, in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and other Jewish centers. But the matzoh industry is definitely New York’s like most other Jewish things.

The most important personage about a matzoh bakery is, of course, the bearded “mashgiach,” the rabbinical representative, clad in yarmelker, who oversees the ritual details of baking operations. All matzoh bakeries have a “mashgiach” supervising, and preserving the traditional “kashres” of the unleavened bread, the symbol of Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness for the forty years between the Exodus from Egypt and the first sighting of the Promised Land.

An interesting sidelight on the matzoh situation is the competition between round matzoh and square matzoh, an entirely irrelevant distinction which has nothing at all to do with the purity, the “kashres” of the traditional bread, but still has an effect on the policies of the various bakeries. It appears that certain communities in Eastern Europe had got into the habit of baking their matzohs square, while others baked theirs round. This preference has its repercussions in the Jewish scene in America, and one firm, Goodman’s, has a following which demands round matzohs and will not be satisfied with anything else.

The demand for American-made matzohs in Palestine, of course, is likewise explained by the fact of habit. So many American Jews transplanted to Palestine soil naturally look upon America as their fathers looked upon Russia and Poland. It seems more “Yiddish” to perform the ceremonies as our fathers did. So American matzohs from New York grace many seder tables in Zion.

For those with an incurable matzoh-tooth, the bakeries continue to furnish an all-yearround supply of unleavened bread. Following the Passover holidays, they busy themselves mainly, however, with the production of noodles and macaroni.

But when the Pesach season approaches, the “mashgiach” is notified, the plant, the warehouse, the whole organization undergoes a purification and a re-birth. The trucks begin their annual dance of excitement, the work-shifts are doubled, salesmen scurry over the continent. Then matzohs begin to trickle, by train and boat, to all the dispersed communities of Israel.

The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008.

Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.

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H AV E A H A P P Y

PASSOVER

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The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | C17

FROM THE JTA ARCHIVE: 1989

10,000 Soviet Jews in Italy expected at Lubavitch Seders

Some 10,000 Soviet Jews waiting in even those who came out two weeks Italy will sit down this week to what is for ago,” said Chazan. most of them their first Pesach seder ever.

In the town of Santa Marinella, LubavThe Chabad-Lubavitch organization itch announced it would begin distributis making the seders and has sent in ing a kilo (2.2 pounds) of matzoh to each rabbinic student volunteers from New family representative at about 9 a.m. last York and Israel to lead them.

Sunday. “We had a crowd of about 800 to Like the Hasidic tale of the Jew who 900 by 6 a.m.,” said Chazan. “The local still remembered the tree in the forest, residents didn’t understand what was but no longer remembered the prayer, going on. They called the police.” for most of these Soviet Jews, “it was a Monday afternoon, he said, about 800 tradition to remember the matzah, but people gathered in the town’s main not all the halachot,” said Rabbi Yitzhak square for a lecture about what the Chazan, the Lubavitcher rebbe’s emisseder will be. Tuesday, there was to be sary in Rome, who is overseeing the a communal “bedikatz chametz” giant operation. (search for the chametz) in each of the Chazan, in a telephone interview towns in which the refugees are temfrom Rome, said, “80 percent might porarily living. know the details of Pesach” and “some The seders Lubavitch has arranged for maybe remembered to get matzah, but Credit: Dror Avi via the PikiWiki - Israel free them will be gargantuan. A seder for image collection project not to keep kosher for Pesach.”

1,200 will take place in an athletic field But of all the 9,600 Soviet Jews now in Ladispoli and sur- in Ladispoli, which the town’s mayor has let them use at no rounding Italian towns, only “about one to two percent” have charge. ever experienced a Pesach seder. Chazan estimated.

In Santa Marinella, 1,800 Soviet Jews will sit down in two That is how many Jews are now registered in the transit rooms of one building. center in Rome, he said, but Jewish agencies are expecting a Although it is a time of frustration for the Soviets “waitniks,” full 10,000 will be gathered in the Italian towns by Wednesday most of whom wish to come to America as refugees, the time night, when Passover begins. “Each day, there are 100 arrivals,” being spent in Ladispoli and other towns may turn out to be Chazan said. a blessing in disguise.

Chazan likened this time to the 40 years the Jews spent wandering in the desert after leaving Egypt, unlearning their past ALREADY KNOW ‘FOUR QUESTIONS’ Lubavitch, which is working in tandem with the American and preparing themselves anew for entry into a Jewish life.

Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, has been holding “It’s a good moment for them to get closer to Yiddishkeit,” classes for these Soviet Jews on the meaning of Passover, the he said. “I think most of them don’t get to know something if festival of freedom. they go straight to America.”

Of the Soviet Jewish children in the Italian towns who have The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles been attending schools administered by Lubavitch and the published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalJoint, “most already know the ‘Ma Nishtana’ (Four Questions), istic standards and practices of the time they were published.

FROM THE JTA ARCHIVE: 1989

Cuban Jews ready for Passover, says leader of Havana Community

Cuban Jews have received their Pesach food shipments and are ready to celebrate the Jewish holiday, said Dr. Jose Miller, head of the Cuban Jewish community, who appeared Tuesday morning on CBS Morning News broadcast from Havana.

CBS News host Harry Smith interviewed Miller as part of the network’s coverage of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s first visit to Cuba. Smith also spoke to Miller’s brother, David, and David’s son Joe in Miami, as Jose Miller sat at Smith’s side.

The Havana surgeon, smiling and laughing, said he had no problems and no desire to leave Cuba.

Nephew Joe said in Miami that he lamented the fact that he could not know his cousins, that “we cannot be in temple together and pray together.”

Jose Miller is president of the Comunidad Hebraica, the Jewish community of Cuba.

The Canadian Jewish community sent Pesach foods to Havana, and the Appeal of Conscience Foundation will be sending a shipment of wine and shmura matzah direct to Havana from New York shortly.

The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.

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Synagogues

C18 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

618 Mynster Street Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 712.322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE

Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California Street Omaha, NE 68154-1980 402.492.8550 bethel-omaha.org

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific Street Omaha, NE. 68154 402.556.6288 BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org

CHABAD HOUSE

An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 South 120 Street Omaha, NE 68144-1646 402.330.1800 OChabad.com email: chabad@aol.com

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

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE

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

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

TEMPLE ISRAEL

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

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

B’NAI ISRAEL Join us on Friday, April 8, 7 p.m. for evening services with a guest speaker, Steve Kaniewski. The service will be led by Larry Blass.

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

Handicap Accessible.

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

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

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Jr. Congregation, 10 a.m. at Beth El; Havdalah, 8:35 p.m. Zoom only.

SUNDAY: Siddur 101 with Hazzan Krausman following morning minyan; BESTT (Grades K-7), 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10 a.m.; BESTT 4th & 5th Grade Wedding, 11 a.m.

TUESDAY: Mussar, 11:30 a.m. with Rabbi Abraham at Beth El & Zoom.

WEDNESDAY: BESTT (Grades 3-7), 4:15 p.m.; Chametz-Free Forms & Food Donations Due, 5 p.m.; USY Chocolate Seder, 6:30 p.m.; Community Beit Midrash, 7 p.m. via In-person at the JCC or Zoom.

THURSDAY: Revisting the Classics, 7 p.m. with Hazzan Krausman FRIDAY-Apr. 15: Shacharit/Siyyum B’khorim. 7 a.m. followed by Biur Chametz; Kabbalat Shabbat, 5:30 p.m. (Early Time for Passover) SATURDAY-Apr. 16: Passover Day 1/Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Mincha, 6 p.m. at Beth El & Zoom; Passover Seder, 6 p.m. at Beth El; No Havdalah this week.

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

BETH ISRAEL Virtual services conducted by Rabbi Ari Dembitzer.

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

FRIDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Deeping Prayer, 7:45 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat/Candlelighting, 7:39 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Torah Class/Kids Class, 10:30 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:45 a.m.; Kiddush, 11:30 a.m.; Daf Yomi, 7 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha, 7:40 p.m.; Shalosh Seudos/Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity, 8 p.m.; Ma’ariv/Havdalah, 8:41 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Pesach, 10:30 a.m.; Daf Yomi, 7:10 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:50 p.m.

MONDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Deeping Prayer, 7:45 a.m. (Zoom); Daf Yomi, 7:10 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:50 p.m.

TUESDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Deeping Prayer, 7:45 a.m. (Zoom); Kids Class, 3:45 p.m.; Daf Yomi, 7:10 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:50 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Deeping Prayer, 7:45 a.m. (Zoom); Hagaalat Kelim, 6-7:30 p.m.; Daf Yomi, 7:10 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:50 p.m.

THURSDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Deeping Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Character Development, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Medical Ethics, noon with Rabbi Yoni at the Med Center; Chometz Sale Forms Due, 3 p.m.; Daf Yomi, 7:10 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:50 p.m.; Bedikat Chometz, 8:46 p.m.

FRIDAY-Apr. 15: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Taanit Bechorot (Fast of the Firstborn) Siyum, 7:30 a.m.; Deeping Prayer, 7:45 a.m.; Lastest time to eat chometz, 10:47 a.m.; Chometz Burning, 11 a.m.-noon at Beth Israel; Synagogue Office Closes Early, noon; Latest time to dispose of chometz, 12:06 p.m.; Min-

cha/Kabbalat Shabbat/Candlelighting, 7:46 p.m.; Earliest Time to start first seder, 8:47 p.m.; (Sat) Chatzot Layla (Must eat afikomen by this time), 1:24 a.m.

SATURDAY-Apr. 16: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Torah Class/Kids Class, 10:30 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:45 a.m.; Kiddush, 11:30 a.m.; Daf Yomi, 7:10 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha, 7:50 p.m.; Shalosh Seudos/Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity, 8:10 p.m.; Ma’ariv/Candlelighting, 8:47 p.m.; Pesach Seder, 9 p.m. at Beth Israel.

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

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

FRIDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 5:45 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ochabad.com/Le chayim; Candlelighting, 7:39 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 10 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 8:40 p.m.

SUNDAY: Sunday Morning Wraps, 9 a.m.

MONDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Personal Parsha Class, 9:30 a.m. with Shani Katzman; Advanced Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

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

WEDNESDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Mystical Thinking (Tanya), 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Katzman; Introductory Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Introduction to Hebrew Reading, 11:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

THURSDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Advanced Hebrew Class, 11 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Talmud Study (Sanhedrin 18 — No advance experience necessary), noon with Rabbi Katzman; Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) Class, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY-Apr. 15: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 5:45 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ochab ad.com/Lechayim; Pesach Seder, 7:30 p.m. Free of Charge. All are welcome! RSVP at seder@ochabad. com; Candlelighting, 7:46 p.m.

SATURDAY-Apr. 16: Shacharit, 10 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Light holiday candles after 8:48 p.m.

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

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

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat Service, service leaders/music: Rabbi Alex, Leslie Delserone & Peter Mullin, 6:30 p.m. at SST; Shabbat Candlelighting, 7:41 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex at TI; Torah Study on Parashat Metzora, noon; Havdalah, 8:42 p.m.

SUNDAY: No LJCS Classes; LJCS Passover Family

Engagement Activity, 10:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex; Men's Jewish Bike Group of Lincoln meets Sundays at 10 a.m., rain or shine, to ride to one of The Mill locations from Hanson Ct. (except we drive if it’s too wet, cold, cloudy, windy, hot or humid) followed by coffee and spirited discussions. If interested, please email Al Weiss at albertw801@gmail.com to find out where to meet each week; We will put pickleball on hiatus while we are not holding in-person services.

When we start up again, remember that everyone is welcome; just wear comfortable clothes and tennis or gym shoes. If you need a paddle, contact Miriam Wallick by email at Miriam 57@aol.com or by text at 402.470.2393 before Sunday.

TUESDAY: Tea & Coffee with Pals, 1:30 p.m. via Zoom.

WEDNESDAY: LJCS Classes, 4:30 p.m.

FRIDAY-Apr. 15: Fast Begins, 5:21 a.m.; No Erev Shabbat Service; Fast Ends, 7:48 p.m.; Shabbat Candlelighting, 7:48 p.m.

SATURDAY-Apr. 16: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex at TI; No Torah Study; Community 2nd Night Seder, 6 p.m. at SST; Havdalah, 8:50 p.m.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE

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

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME

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

TEMPLE ISRAEL

In-person and virtual services conducted by Rabbi Brian Stoller, Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin and Cantor Joanna Alexander.

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

FRIDAY: Drop-In Mah Jongg, 9 a.m.; Shabbat B’yachad: Scrolls of the Season, 6 p.m. via Zoom or InPerson.

SATURDAY: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. via Zoom or InPerson; Shabbat Morning Service and Bat Mitzvah of Mia Simon, 10:30 a.m.

SUNDAY: Second Sunday Breakfast Service, 9 a.m. at Stephen Center; No Youth Learning Classes.

MONDAY: Jewish Law & the Quest for Meaning, 11 a.m. via Zoom. . WEDNESDAY: Yarn It, 9 a.m.-noon; No Youth Learning Classes; Community Beit Midrash, 7 p.m. via In-person at the JCC or Zoom.

THURSDAY: Thursday Morning Class, 10 a.m. with Rabbi Azriel via Zoom or In-Person.

FRIDAY-Apr. 15: Drop-In Mah Jongg, 9 a.m.

SATURDAY-Apr. 16: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. via Zoom or In-Person; Passover Service, 10:30 a.m.; Passover Family Seder, 5:30 p.m.

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

War in Ukraine affects matzah prices JTA On Feb. 24, two shipping containers laden with 20,000 pounds of shmura matzah were slated to head out of port in Odessa, Ukraine, on their way to Orthodox Jews in the United States.

Two hours before they were to be loaded onto a ship, Russia invaded.

The shipment was the last of 200,000 pounds of unleavened bread that Ukrainian matzah bakeries shipped to the U.S. this year, in addition to what they ship to Europe and Israel.

Now, technically outside of Ukraine’s customs zone, it could neither be returned to the country nor travel on to the U.S. Rabbi Meyer Stambler, head of the Chabad-affiliated Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, estimates that his factories in Ukraine account for about 15-20% of the market share in the U.S. for shmura matzah, the carefully “guarded” variety preferred by devout Jews during the seder.

Shmura matzah is handmade in small batches with a higher level of supervision than most other types of matzah. That already makes it signifi-

cantly more expensive than the factory stuff. A single pound box of shmura matzah could go from anywhere between $20 and $60, the Forward reported in 2018. In contrast, Instacart offers at least three different brands of regular matzoh that come in under $10 for a 5-lb. box.

“I think the U.S. market will feel it,” Stambler told JTA. “I think we are probably going to have a deficit of shmura matzah this year.”

An already over-extended shipping industry after two years of pandemic hasn’t helped the situation either.

Still the rising prices are a testament to Ukraine’s continued role in supporting Jewish life not just in Eastern Europe but around the world.

Barely over a month ago, he would have said business was booming, Stambler explained.

Beginning baking around Hanukkah time, the Ukrainian factories supply shmura matzah to Jewish communities in the entire former Soviet world in addition to their customers in the U.S., Israel and Western Europe.

They are sold in the U.S. under the brand names Tiferes and Redemption, among others.

The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | C19

FROM THE JTA ARCHIVE: 1975

Israel in full swing for Pesach

Preparations are in full swing for the Passover holiday that begins at sundown today, Community seders have been arranged at absorption centers for immigrants who have no families in Israel. Foreign students studying at the Beit Midrash of the World Zionist Organization’s religious education department will conduct seders for soldiers at army camps.

Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren was “authorized” by the Finance Ministry to sell the State’s “hametz” (leavened material) to a Druse soldier today, thus symbolically ushering in the holiday. It will be repurchased, for the same nominal sum, after Passover.

Passover is the traditional time for house cleaning and housewives all over the country are busy washing, scrubbing and dusting. One unhappy result has been an increase of patients in hospital emergency rooms for treatment of dislocated limbs suffered in slips on wet floors or falls from ladders and an increase in cases of poisoning by cleaning fluids that were not kept out of the reach of children.

The tourism outlook this Passover is good, though not as good as in past seasons. Despite the renewed tension in the Middle East, most planes arriving at Ben Gurion Airport are filled to near capacity. By the seder night El Al will have brought more than 9000 passengers to Israel on 50 flights.

Hanoch Givton, director general of the Ministry of Tourism, reported that hotels in Tel Aviv and Haifa were 75-80 percent full and in Tiberias the occupancy rate

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Above: Preparing fishes for Passover, Settlements in Israel Credit: Kfar Masaryk Archive via the PikiWiki - Israel free image collection project and below: Credit: Dr. Avishai Teicher Pikiwiki Israel licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license

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was as high as 85 percent. Jerusalem hotels lagged with a 50 percent occupancy rate, although Givton said it was satisfactory. The King David Hotel, the oldest and most famous of Jerusalem’s top grade hostelries, ran an advertisement in yesterday’s newspapers announcing that “due to the early departure of a press

group that accompanied Dr. Kissinger there are still a few rooms available for the seder night and the rest of the holiday.”

The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.

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C20 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

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FOOD T H E

P A S S O V E R

E D I T I O N

A supplement to The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 Credit: Courtesy of FOOD52

D2 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

Food

T

A picky eater’s Passover diet SAM KRICSFELD The seders and the story of the Exodus are important, and I have no problems with them.

My issue with Passover is that I can’t have chametz. I understand why we don’t eat leavened foods, and I agree that keeping kosher for Passover is important and should be observed. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Every one of my favorite foods is not kosher for Passover. I like chametz more than I care to admit, and everyone who’s ever eaten with me knows I’m going to gravitate to the pasta, rice, breads, pizzas, crackers and cakes.

Because of this, my options for enjoying food on Passover are limited. Sure, I like matzah ball soup, my mom will make some fleishig dinner that I’ll eat, and I might even (*gasp*) eat a fruit or vegetable (potatoes are vegetables — I Googled it). I get through eating at the seders. But I can’t have mac and cheese, and just knowing that makes me a little sad.

So, what do I eat for sustenance? Matzah pizza.

During my Passovers in middle and high school, despite the guarantee that it would be a soggy mess, either my mom or I would make matzah pizza every morning and wrap it in aluminum foil. At lunch, I’d unwrap the goo that it had turned into and confuse all my non-Jewish friends. I kid you not, during Passover 2015, I ate matzah pizza for 14 meals.

In 2018 and 2019, against the rules of my college dorm, I brought from home a toaster oven that we only use on Passover for the sole purpose of making matzah pizza. When it wasn’t in use, I hid the toaster under my bed, under a blanket. I’m sure everyone could smell the odor of singed matzah and cheese, but still, I was never caught.

Matzah pizza is my primary source of nutrients during Passover, which might explain why I don’t feel the best for eight days every spring. (Here’s a tip — don’t try stacking matzah pizzas to make a “matzah lasagna” unless you hate your stomach).

There is, however, one other category of Passover food I enjoy: cakes. The only problem is that as much as someone will frown at me for constantly eating matzah pizza, they will scowl at me if I only eat cake.

Of course, I mean Passover cakes. The Manischewitz marble Passover cake is as close to perfect as a cake-mix cake can be — Passover or not. But even better is my Bubbie’s homemade Passover sponge cake, which contains more eggs than there are people on Earth. My argument to people that my Bubbie’s cake has protein from the eggs, and therefore should count as a meal, has never worked (the same goes for my grandmother’s “hockey puck” Passover biscuit/muffins).

See Picky eater page D5

The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | D3

FROM MY KOSHER JERUSALEM KITCHEN

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International meat dishes after the seder After eating all the wonderful seder dishes of our families, I find it fun to try dishes that are unusual and not from our backgrounds.

Here are some you might want to try.

JANET THOMAS

Happy Passoverr To All Our Friends & Customers

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This Italian-influenced dish was created by Hillary Sterling for Vic’s, her New York City restaurant.

MEATBALLS Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups crumbled, unsalted matza 2 1/2 Tbsp. water 1 1/4 pounds ground brisket 1 large egg 1 Tbsp. olive oil salt to taste 1 1/2 tsp. ground fennel seeds (optional) 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper pepper to taste

TOMATO PASSATA Ingredients: 1/4 cup sliced garlic 1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil 1 28-ounce can crushed, drained plum tomatoes 1/8 cup fresh marjoram leaves 2 1/2 4x1-inch orange peel strips salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Set a wire rack inside a large baking sheet and coat with vegetable spray.

Combine crumbled matzo and water in a bowl. Add brisket, egg, oil, salt, fennel (if using) red pepper and black pepper. Mix with hands until combined. Shape into 8 meatballs. Arrange meatballs on sprayed wire rack. Bake in preheated 425 degree F. oven until browned, about 22 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a frying pan, cook garlic and oil for passata, stirring often, a minute and a half. Add crushed tomatoes, marjoram leaves, orange peel strips, salt and red pepper. Bring to a boil then remove from heat.

Transfer meatballs to tomato passata in frying pan.

Garnish with crumbled matzot, fresh marjoram leaves and chile oil.

Serve warm. Makes four servings. *Passata is an Italian word meaning “go through,” because the cooked tomato puree goes through a special machine.

See Meat dishes page D5 for another recipe

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D4 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

HAVE A JOYOUS PASSOVER

The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | D5

Meat dishes

Continued from page D3 Egyptian-born Claudia Roden is the master of Middle Eastern Food and author of 20 cookbooks. Now 84 years old, she lives in London. I met her in the 1970s when she came to Israel and we had a wonderful visit.

This is her recipe from the New York Times Passover Cookbook, adapted from The Book of Jewish Foods which she wrote, characteristic of the Middle East.

MATZOH-MEAT PIE

Ingredients: 1 large chopped onion 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil 1 1/2 pounds ground lamb or beef salt and pepper to taste 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. allspice 2 Tbsp. raisins 2 Tbsp. pine nuts or walnuts 1 cup warm beef stock 5-6 matzot 1 small beaten egg

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a pie plate with vegetable spray.

Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a frying pan and fry onion over medium heat for 10 minutes until golden. Add ground meat, salt, pepper, cinnamon and allspice. Cook, stirring until meat has browned but is still moist, about 10 minutes. Add raisins.

In another pan, fry the nuts in 1 Tbsp. oil for 1 minute, stirring until nuts are lightly colored. Add to meat mixture and stir.

Place beef stock in a large, shallow rectangular pan. Soak matzot one at a time, pressing them gently to absorb the liquid.

Press 2 or 3 softened matzot into a pie plate. Place meat mixture on top of matzot. Cover pie with remaining matzot.

Brush top with beaten egg. Bake in preheated 375 degree F. oven 30 minutes or until top is golden.

Serves four to six.

Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, compiler/editor of nine kosher cookbooks (working on a 10th) and food writer for North American Jewish publications; she lives in Jerusalem where she leads walks of the Jewish food market, Machaneh Yehudah, in English.

Food FROM MY KOSHER JERUSALEM KITCHEN SYBIL KAPLAN

I can’t believe they’re for Passover desserts I grew up when sugary candy in fruit flavors and sponge cake were the only desserts I remember for Passover.

Now, there is almost no dessert we can’t make.

Here are a few.

MOM’S (Z”L) CREAM PUFF BUNS

Ingredients: 2/3 cup water 1/3 cup oil 1/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. sugar 3 eggs 1 cup matza meal

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Spray a cookie sheet with Passover vegetable spray.

Place water, oil, salt and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil.

Add matza meal and one egg at a time. Blend well.

Spoon dough in pieces on a cookie sheet. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 30 minutes.

When cool, cut a lit off top of each.

Fill with a favorite custard.

Makes 9-12 buns.

See Passover desserts page D6 for another recipe

Picky eater Continued from page D2 A Passover cake in the Kricsfeld household usually lasts a day and a half. Granted, they are pretty tiny, but I eat a much larger amount of each cake compared to everyone else. I am not exaggerating when I say we often go through five or six Manischewitz cake mixes per Passover.

I am well aware that my Passover eating habits are more than a little unhealthy. To answer the questions that you are bound to have: No, I do not like to try new foods. No, I don’t like toppings on my matzah pizza. And yes, my Passover diet wreaks havoc on my gastrointestinal system.

Annette asked for something fun, so I therefore chose to bare my soul and stomach to you. There’s nothing wrong with eating like a six-year-old eight days out of the year — or 365 days out of the year.

Next year in Jerusalem — but only if they have matzah pizza.

D6 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

Passover desserts

Food FROM MY KOSHER JERUSALEM KITCHEN SYBIL KAPLAN

Passover sweets: Cookies and candies In Jerusalem, as soon as Purim is over, everyone begins to get ready for Pesach. Two and a half weeks ahead, macaroons are already in the stores as well as the various products for the holiday. Here are some various desserts to try from traditional to unusual.

Continued from page D5

TRUFFLE TART This came from a food magazine but I am not sure which one or the year.

CLASSIC ALMOND MACAROONS This recipe is adapted from an American food magazine (not sure which).

Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups blanched almonds 1/4 cup sugar 2 egg whites 1/4 tsp. almond extract 3/4 cup sugar 4 tsp. confectioners’ sugar Directions: Place almonds in a pan, cover with water and bring to a boil.

Boil 10 seconds. Remove one almond and see if the almond slips out of its skin. If not, boil a few seconds more. Spread on paper towels and pat dry.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.

Grind almonds with 1/4 cup sugar in processor. Add egg whites and extract and blend 20 seconds. Add remaining 3/4 cup sugar in two batches, blending 10 seconds after each addition.

Roll 1 tablespoon mixture between moistened palms into ball. Repeat until all mixture is used, spacing cookies 1 inch apart. Flatten each to 1/2 inch high. Brush each with water.

Sift confectioners’ sugar over each. Bake in preheated 325 degree F. oven 25 minutes.

Lift one end of paper and pour 2 tablespoons water onto baking sheet. Lift other end and pour 2 tablespoons water under. Tilt to spread water. When water stops boiling, remove macaroons.

Makes 20 macaroons.

Ingredients: 3 cups coconut macaroon cookies 1 cup semisweet chopped chocolate 1/3 cup chopped unsweetened chocolate 6 Tbsp. margarine or butter 1/2 cup sugar 3 large eggs

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Vegetable spray a springform pan.

Process macaroon until fine crumbs form. Sprinkle crumbs in springform pan. Press crumbs to bottom and up sides of pan.

In saucepan, melt chocolates with margarine or butter. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar.

Add eggs and whisk until blended. Pour chocolate mixture into macaroon crust. Bake in preheated 350 degree F. oven 15 minutes. Cool tart completely. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

Serves 12.

See page D7 for more Passover desserts

Have a Happy and Healthy Passover!

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The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022 | D7

Passover sweets Continued from page D6

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

CHOCOLATE BISCOTTI Ingredients: 3/4 cup margarine or butter 2 1/8 cup sugar 6 eggs 2 Tbsp. vanilla extract 3 1/2 cups matza flour 1 1/4 cups potato flour 3/4 cup cocoa 1 Tbsp. Passover baking powder 5/8 cup ground almonds 2 cup chocolate chips

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a cookie sheet.

In a bowl, cream margarine or butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla.

In another bowl, combine matza flour, potato flour, cocoa and baking powder. Gradually add to batter.

Add nuts and chocolate chips and combine.

Form into two logs and place on cookie sheet. Bake in preheated 375 degree F. oven 30 minutes. Let cool.

Slice. Return slices to cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes.

TOFFEE MATZO This is my favorite sweet for Pesach but this version is an Andrew Zimmern contribution from Food & Wine magazine internet columns with a few of my changes.

Ingredients: 1 cup salted butter or margarine 5 pieces of matzo 1 cup packed brown sugar 2 cups chocolate chips 1 cup mixed chopped nuts Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with vegetable spray. Line with parchment paper and

spray with vegetable spray.

Arrange a layer of matzo on the sheet.

Melt butter or margarine with brown sugar in a saucepan. Cook 5 minutes. Pour over matzo. Bake in preheated 350 degree F. oven 5-8 minutes until bubbling.

Remove from oven and spread chocolate chips on top, letting them melt for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle nuts on top. Let cool or refrigerate to cool.

Break into pieces.

MARILYN’S CHOCOLATE BRANDIED CANDY

Marilyn is a friend of mine for many years who came from the Boston area and has lived in Israel since 1949.

Ingredients: 3 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (a candy bar works fine) 1 cup raisins, soaked in cherry brandy 1 cup chopped walnuts 1 cup matza pieces

Directions: Melt chocolate in a saucepan. Add raisins, walnuts, and matza and mix well.

Drop by tablespoon into small cupcake papers. Refrigerate.

Passover desserts Continued from page D6

LEMON MERINGUE CHARLOTTE A Charlotte is a classic French molded dessert which can be served hot or cold. My recipes comes from an old Passover brochure.

Ingredients: 2 cups scalded milk 2 broken matzot 3 Tbsp. lemon juice 1 Tbsp. grated lemon rind 3 Tbsp. melted pareve margarine 2 egg yolks 1 whole egg 1/4 sup sugar 1/4 cup sliced strawberries 2 egg whites 1/4 cup sugar Directions: Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease a baking dish.

Place broken matzot in a mixing bowl, pour milk on top and let sit 15 minutes.

Beat matzot-milk mixture with mixer. Add lemon juice and lemon rind, margarine, eggs and sugar and mix well.

Pour into greased baking dish. Set dish in a pan of hot water and bake in preheated 300 degree F oven 30 minutes. Spread top with strawberries.

In a bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Gradually beat in sugar until mixture is smooth and glossy. Spread atop baked mixture and return to oven to brown, about 15 minutes.

Chill before serving.

Serves six.

Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, author, compiler/editor of nine kosher cookbooks and food writer for North American Jewish publications, who lives in Jerusalem where she leads weekly walks of the Jewish food market, Machaneh Yehudah, in English.

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D8 | The Jewish Press | April 8, 2022

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