April 12, 2024

OAYO honors

Aviva Segall

ABIGAIL C.K. LILL

OAYO Marketing & Media Manager

For a quarter of a century, Aviva Segall has been a key part of the Omaha Area Youth Orchestras (OAYO), shaping young musicians into accomplished performers and nurturing a love for music within the community. As her remarkable 25-year journey with OAYO draws to a close, an evening of celebration awaits on April 21. This precedes a captivating annual side-by-by performance featuring the Omaha Symphony Orchestra and the OAYO Youth Symphony.

Aviva’s tenure with OAYO commenced in the fall of 1999, marked by her steadfast commitment to cultivating musical talent and fostering an environment of growth and friendships. Her leadership has raised OAYO to prominence, making it a cornerstone of musical education and enrichment in the Omaha area.

Aviva’s passion for music and mentorship has left an unforgettable mark on countless young musicians. Under her guidance, OAYO has not only refined the technical skills of its members but also instilled in them an appreciation for the power of music. Through rehearsals and performances, Aviva has inspired young musicians to strive for excellence and embrace the joy of musical expression. Aviva’s final concert on April 21 promises to be a touching collaboration between OAYO and the Omaha Symphony Orchestra. The performance and gathering for Aviva and her achievements, past and present, will allow OAYO families and alumni to come together to honor Aviva and her passion for music.

For more information about tickets for the performance and to learn more about Aviva’s time with OAYO, please visit www.OAYO.org

Camp JYE BI 2024: Get ready for fun!

MARY SUE GROSSMAN

“It’s such fun,” “I love spending time with my friends,” “I got to use a hammer,” “The water slide was awesome,” were just some of the comments from campers last summer who attended Beth Israel Synagogue’s Camp JYE BI. Since the start of the camp, its popularity has grown each year. This summer, it expands to a month-long camp, and the fun and learning will expand as well. Scheduled for July 126, the official camp hours will be 9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. with early drop-off from 8:30-9 a.m. and extended care available from 1:30-4 p.m. Advertised to include sports, water activities, campouts, art, learning, cooking,

dancing, and more, the fun is open to kindergarten through 8th grade, based on ages for the 2024-2025 school year.

Ilana Ester Geiger, sister of Rabbi Mordechai Geiger, will be head coun-

selor for the camp and she is thrilled and excited to be part of the experience. Ilana, who teaches first grade in a Jewish day school in Los Angeles, See Camp JYE page 2

Volunteers of the Year

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMPWRIGHT Jewish Press Editor

The Jewish Federation of Omaha is pleased to announce our Awards Night & Annual Meeting, which this year will be held at 6:30 pm on June 3rd in the Alan J. Levine TheaterIt is a privilege to honor those in our community who give tirelessly and selflessly to make our Jewish community the best it can be.

Presenting the 2023 Volunteers of the Year: Jewish Federation of Omaha’s Volunteer of the Year is Richard Heyman. Richard is a JFO Governing Board member and the current chair of its governance committee. He has guided the JFO through bylaw changes that have enhanced the CEO structure and has advised on the delegation of authority policy. In addition, Richard recommended board changes across all agencies and navigated those changes with both volunteers and staff. He made recommendations to the JFO Governing Board on how to become a better board for our community and acted as a trusted advisor to both the JFO Board Chair and the CEO. Richard also reviewed the processes that are currently in place, and made recommendations on how to improve them.

The JFO Foundation’s Volunteer of the Year is Steven Bloch. Steve began serving on The Foundation board in the 1996-1997 fiscal year –that’s 28 years of service and counting! Steve served as President of The Foundation from 2003 to 2009, overseeing the distribution of over $36 million, primarily within the Omaha Jewish community. Despite a significant market downturn, measurable increases in investment assets were achieved during his tenure. During his first two years as Board President, Steve was instrumental in establishing The Foundation as a separate supporting foundation entity, benefitting the Jewish Federation of Omaha, where formerly it had been a committee of the Federation. This was See Volunteers page 4

Aviva Segall

Continued from page 1 has been working in summer camps since her middle school years. For the past five years, she has been the lead teacher for summer kindergarten groups in addition to leading pre-Pesach camps. “I am thrilled to be a part of Beth Israel’s summer camp,” Ilana said. “Summer is such a great time for kids to recharge and have fun and camp provides a great opportunity to instill a love for Judaism.” Ilana holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and will begin work soon for a graduate degree in social work. When asked about any favorite sessions she is planning, she said she loves dancing and is also planning a special weekly musical Shabbat Oneg. Laura Dembitzer, Rabbi Geiger, and Ayelet Geiger are working with Ilana on the plans for each day. Beth Israel teens will once again be an integral part of the camp, lending their energy and enthusiasm to the programming. Many Beth Israel congregants will lead sessions, lending his or her areas of interest with the campers.

“We are super excited that the BI camp will be four weeks long this summer,” shared Laura Dembitzer. “The past few summers were two weeks and after the success of the camps and the disappointment of the kids when camp was over, we decided to expand this year.

Camp JYE

Ilana Geiger is an exciting addition to the camp team. With her camp experience, I have no doubt it’s going to be another excellent summer.”

Last year’s camp featured an amazing variety of experiences including the following.

• Dr. Howard Gendelman, complete in his white coat, gave an interactive session on health.

• Fred Weiss led the campers in building bird houses.

• Campers headed north of Omaha to learn about goats at the farm of great friends of Beth Israel, Gayle and Claire Duda.

• Visits were made to Sterling Ridge, sharing custom made Shabbat cards and artwork plus singing and dancing

for the residents.

• There were a number of opportunities in the Beth Israel kitchen ranging from challah baking to healthy snacks and more.

• Aftercare campers enjoyed extra activities including a movie and popcorn afternoon, painting, and an escape room adventure.

The camp cost is $150 per child per week, with a discounted rate of $100 per week for each additional child from the same family. After care is $100 per week. Space is limited with registration needed by April 29. The registration link is available in the weekly Beth Israel email or on the shul website at orthodoxoma ha.org. For additional information, please call Rabbi Geiger at 402.556.6288.

2024 Anything Grants

DIANE WALKER

JFO Foundation Fund & Scholarship Administrator

The Jewish Federation of Omaha is pleased to offer the Staenberg Family Foundation “Anything Grants™” for 2024! Based on a generous commitment from Michael Staenberg and the Staenberg Family Foundation, this program will continue, as it has since 2017, to offer a wide range of support for Jewish organizations and synagogues in the Omaha, Lincoln, and Council Bluffs communities.

If you are looking for extra funds to hire a nonprofit consultant, purchase technology, try a new program, or work on staff or board professional development; we’re looking for you!

Since inception, more than $360,000 has been awarded in Anything Grants supporting the Omaha, Lincoln, and Council Bluffs Jewish communities. We have seen projects as varied as cemetery repairs and tree removal, scholars in residence, field trips, technology upgrades, staff training, building repair and beautification and purchasing playground equipment.

Grants will range from $1,000 to $5,000. Continuing this year, component parts of larger projects will now be eligible for Anything Grants. For example, an Israel mission trip would not be eligible because of the size of the budget, but a day in the Partnership or a special dinner might be. And while you will still be required to raise matching funds, inkind donations will be accepted again this year as part of that needed match!

The Anything Grant application can be found on the Jewish Federation of Omaha website – www.jewishomaha. org. Applications are due by June 3, 2024. Selection will be completed by June 30, 2024; all projects must be completed by June 30, 2025

Questions? Please contact Margo Parsow, at 402.334.6458 or mparsow@jewishomaha.org or Diane Walker at 402.334.6551 or dwalker@jewishomaha.org

Visit us at omahajewishpress.com

Mother’s Day

Left: Getting to know the goats at the Duda farm and right: Challah baking, camp style.

“And the walls came tumbling down”

The other day I was working—as I am wont to do—on the Greek and Hebrew texts of the Book of Joshua. “Wouldn’t a phrase from Joshua make a good column?” I wondered. With this in mind, I turn to a favorite episode from that book, the walls of Jericho (found in the Book of Joshua chapter 6) and see how it has shown up in the popular press.

Sometimes, it’s the very word “Jericho” that attracts attention. This is clearly the case with the ups and downs of a television show, Jericho, when fans strongly reacted to its impending cancellation. As reported in The Montreal Gazette, the CBS network promised to bring the show back, “but fans have been warned: If the numbers don’t pick up from last season, the walls will come tumbling down for good.” Not content with a single biblical allusion, this writer observes: “Jericho... was raised from the dead last month after fans protested en masse.” Alas, as the New York Daily News reported, this was only a temporary resuscitation. In a story, headlined Nuts! ‘Jericho’ Can’t Overcome Wall of Resistance, we read, “The walls of Jericho crumble again tonight, and this time it’s a good bet they ain’t comin’ back.”

More frequently, the popular press is attracted to the sounds of music that caused the walls to tumble. This is the case in a Washington Post review of a biography of jazz great John Coltrane: “Some listeners attached religious significance to Coltrane and his music, making him ‘a kind of martyr... a kind of seer,’ as if he were shaking

the walls of Jericho and breaking the shackles of bondage with the sound of his horn.

Such musical connections can show up in unexpected places. Consider this account, again from the New York Daily News, of a museum at Woodstock, site of the famed 1969 summer music festival. The connection to our topic? The article elucidates: “The museum is one element of the Bethel Woods Center... which opened in 2006 after many years of debate over what should happen to the land that, quite by chance, hosted the most famous music festival since Joshua blew his trumpets outside the wall of Jericho.”

The image of tumbling walls can be invoked for a seemingly endless series of causes. Thus, Canada’s National Post chronicles the activities of an American who had “launched a ‘Pray at the Pump’ group to ask God to bring down gas prices, just as the ancient Hebrews called for divine intervention to bring down the walls of Jericho.”

Our last example comes from The Scotsman, in a story that features, “100 of the worst [pick-up] lines that have been gathered by one of the largest religious dating sites: Our users “are no more or less likely to use bad chat-up lines, but they were more likely to use the Bible for references, however obscure. For instance, only those familiar with the story of Jericho’s walls tumbling down will be in tune with the line: ‘How many times do I have to walk round you before you fall for me?’”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t find this narrative of Jericho obscure at all. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s the very one I used to attract my wife, Ellie, decades ago. And we are celebrating our 56th anniversary, with no tumbling walls in sight!

LEONARD GREENSPOON

SUSHI | JAPANESE | CHINESE

Volunteers

Continued from page 1 a prudent change which separated the investment assets of The Foundation from its operating assets, necessary by the realities of our litigious times.

Fortunately, Steve continues to serve on The Foundation board, sharing his vast knowledge and experience. In a tribute from the May 2009 Jewish Press, his presidency was described as marking “the end of an era,” highlighting his efforts to secure financial resources for the growth of Omaha’s Jewish community. Recognized by many in the community, Steve’s commitment to The Foundation’s growth and asset security was commended by leaders such as Bob Lepp and Murray Newman.

as their Volunteer of the Year. Janie has been an important volunteer for both agencies. Every task she has taken on, she has given it 150%. The success of educational programs offered by both IHE and JCRC, such as the Willesden READS program, could only have succeeded through Janie’shard work and dedication to both agencies. Furthermore, she is always an excellent sounding board for new ideas. Janie is truly an example for all of us!

WEST MAPLE | 3655 N. 129th St. | 402.933.0091

OLD MARKET | 1308 Jackson St. | 402.933.5168

MILLARD | 17664 Welch Pl. | 402.702.8800 OMAHA

SOUTH LINCOLN | 5730 Hicote Dr. | 402.318.5188 LINCOLN

HAYMARKET LINCOLN | 601 R St. #100 | 402.261.9388

www.Hiro88.com

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The Jewish Press is looking for a part-time sales person, with the following responsibilities:

• Digital sales

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Requirements:

At the conclusion of Steve’s presidency, the board established the Steven Bloch President’s Fund as an expression of appreciation for his service and a testament to the crucial role he played providing valuable legal counsel and contributing to major gifts. Steve continues to serve on the board, is a member of the Investment Committee and is involved in finalizing the Alan J. Levine gift, one of the largest single gifts to The Foundation. His vision, service, participation, and ongoing support are deeply appreciated. The Foundation extends its gratitude to Steve for his continued dedication to The Foundation’s mission.

The Jewish Press Volunteer of the Year is Margie Gutnik. For the past three years, Margie has been the Jewish Press’ capable and effective President. She is involved, a great communicator, not afraid to ask questions and able to meet the staff where they are at. She is available to bounce ideas off any time of the day, and if she happens to be traveling, that doesn’t stop her. The list of volunteer tasks Margie has taken on over the years is extensive and our community has benefited greatly from her dedication. Margie also understands how important it is to have joy while doing the work. Together with Norm Sheldon, Margie was the 2023 recipient of the Spirit of Federation Award. A St. Louis native, Margie has made Omaha her home by stepping up and putting in the work.

The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home Volunteers of the Year are Tina and Joe Meyers. They have volunteered with the RBJH since 2022. When the Home needed volunteers at the front entrance COVID-19 screening area, the Meyers answered the call. Tina and Joe stepped up whenthe Home needed help the most; assisting daily with visitor monitoring, screening and testing. In addition, they assist Residents during special events, transport them to appointments, play games with them and take them out for rides on the Home’s side-by-side bike. Tina and Joe have been incredibly dependable, and the RBJH staff appreciate them very much.

The Institute for Holocaust Education together with the Jewish Community Relations Council chose Janie Kulakofsky

The Nebraska Jewish Historical Society Volunteers of the Year are Ben Justman and Jon Meyers. Ben led the NJHS from being an independent organization to a member of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. The merger was a long and at times challenging process and Ben’s leadership, patience and guidance paved the way for success. Ben and his advisory board were committed to the NJHS and its transition to a Federation agency. We are grateful for his efforts.

Without Jon Meyers’ love and devotion and his constant attention to detail, the Kleinberg Heritage Center would still be a work-in-progress. He recruited and convened a working content group and helped us tackle the difficult work of selecting pictures and text to tell the story of Jewish Omaha. In addition, he worked tirelessly with the specialists and vendors who were charged with bringing the space to life. Today, the Kleinberg Center is open to the public, and a treasured addition to our campus.

The Staenberg Omaha JCC Volunteer of the Year is Doug Heikel. Doug is a 29-year veteran of our JCC. Not only is he an active and long-time member, he is our neighbor. He is an outspoken advocate for the JCC, and throughout the years many members have begun to address him as ‘Mayor of the Fitness Center.’ Every morning he attends group exercise class, and in the evenings, he comes back to sit at the Fitness kiosk answering member questions, giving directions and espousing the virtues of being a JCC member. Doug is tireless in his passion!

The Jewish Family Service Volunteer of the Year is the JFS Reimagining Committee, consisting of Marti Rosen Atherton, Sally Kaplan, Gloria Kaslow, Alan Kricsfeld, Marti Poulos, Shayna Ray, Norm Sheldon and Sonia Tipp. The committee volunteered many hours of their time, as well as many years of combined knowledge and expertise to the process of assessing the current services offered by JFS. In addition, they analyzed the needs of the community and concluded that JFS could become an even greater asset to the Jewish community and the community at large. They helped us expand the agency’s scope and services; through their vision and foresight, the committee inspired and supported JFS in carrying out an enhanced mission, now and in the future.

The Jewish Federation of Omaha wishes all these deserving recipients mazal tov, and thank you!

• Previous experience in a sales-related role is

• a plus

• Great customer service skills

• Excellent written and verbal communication

• skills

Interested?

Send your application to Avandekamp@jewish omaha.org today. We cannot wait to meet you!

• Website development and management The

Emotions: Free to flow through you

JESSICA EDELBAUM, MA MFT

AND TRAVIS STRICKLAND MSW

Let’s talk about emotions. Emotion=Energy in motion. We experience our emotions through bodily sensations. However, for many of us we learn to stuff down, ignore, hide, and even fear our emotions which leaves this energy stagnant and stunted. Have you ever seen a body of water that’s been sitting there for a while? It tends to collect moss, bacteria, odor, etc. A common reaction is to not want to go near the water. However, ignoring this doesn’t make it go away. Sometimes when we pretend it’s not there, it can intensify and affect the whole water supply. What assists the situation is figuring out a way to clean it and create flow.

For those of us who dare be with our emotions, there is a tendency to want to THINK our way through them, swim in circles in the stories and reasons why. Because cognition and sensations are different, you won’t find your answer in your thoughts. Your harmony lies in being willing to ride the wave of what is present in your body.

In a society that tends to value the ‘cognitive’ more than your heart, body, and soul, many of us find it easier and even necessary to live from the shoulders up. When we do this, we become detached and de-sensitized to our body’s communication (sensations). So how do you transition from stagnation to flow?

If you are willing, give this a go:

1. Get in a comfortable position.

2. Become aware of your inhale and exhale.

3. Bring your attention to the tip of your nose.

(When the mind wanders, which it will, bring it back to notice this single focus point.)

4. Feel the air coming in and out of your nostrils. Repeat several times.

5. Expand awareness to your body and notice a sensation (e.g., tension, pressure, heaviness, warmth, steadiness, tingling, spaciousness).

6. Place your hand(s) on the sensation. To the best of your ability, guide your attention to your hand and the space underneath. (When we turn towards our emotions, sometimes they intensify. Trust this emotional wave will crest and release. This frees up that energy to once again be part of the flow of you.)

7. When this feels complete or you want See Emotions page 6

Annual Meeting: Save the Date!

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor

Join us for the Jewish Federation of Omaha Awards Night & Annual Meeting, Monday, June 3 at 6:30 p.m. We will gather in the Alan J. Levine Performing Arts Theater, and celebrate our community and many of our volunteer leaders. You will hear highlights from our year at the Federation.

Of course, there will also be a kosher reception, provided by Star Catering. We will celebrate BBYO’s 100th anniversary and have an opportunity to hear from visiting scholar Rabbi Joseph Telushkin.

There is no need to RSVP and attendance is free. We hope you will mark your calendars and help us celebrate! Please stay tuned; more details are coming soon.

Chicken & Biscuits opens April 19 at the Omaha Community Playhouse

Who knew a funeral could be so fun? We invite you to this new family comedy, Chicken & Biscuits, opening at the Omaha Community Playhouse on Friday, April 19, 2024. The show will run in the Hawks Mainstage Theatre through Sunday, May 12, with performances on Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Laughter and love seep from this uproarious new family comedy. When the Jenkins family comes together to celebrate the life of their patriarch, skeletons in the closet are revealed. Family members at odds are challenged to accept each other for who they are—the good, the bad, the ugly and the hi-

See

larious. Love and commitment to family is at the heart of Chicken & Biscuits

Tickets are on sale now, with prices varying by performance. Tickets may be purchased at the OCP Box Office, by phone at 402.553.0800 or online at OmahaPlayhouse.com

The Omaha Community Playhouse is supported in part by the Nebraska Arts Council, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and the Douglas County Board of Commissioners. Established in 1924, the Omaha Community Playhouse is the largest community theatre in the United States based on memberships sold and facility size, among other factors. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

SPONSORED CONTENT

Travis Strickland and Jessica Edelbaum

Profiles in Service

LINDA POLLARD

JFO Foundation Endowment Assistant/Staff Writer

The Foundation’s mission is to ensure the ongoing and future sustainability of Jewish Omaha by managing donor assets and distributing funds. These funds are instrumental in providing support for scholarships, grants, special projects, programs that benefit both Jewish Omaha and secular and Jewish charitable organizations near and far chosen by our donoradvised participants. Your support enriches Jewish Tomorrows.

We take great pride in our dedicated board members, each of whom plays a vital role in advancing our mission. Throughout the year, we will be spotlighting members to recognize their valuable time, talents, and contributions to making our community stronger.

As a past Federation Budget Chairman and synagogue president, I understand the needs of the community today and a vision of the needs we will have tomorrow.

JAY GORDMAN has served on The Foundation board since 2022.

WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO BE ON THE FOUNDATION BOARD?

The Foundation Board is made up of our community’s most experienced and influential leaders. I continue to strive to grow as a leader and contributor to the community and being on the board allows me to learn from the best.

WHAT ABOUT BEING ON THE FOUNDATION BOARD INSPIRES YOU?

The board members care so much about the community. Not only is there a focus on ensuring financial stability, but there is also a level of leadership focused on creating a thriving community for many years to come.

WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE STRENGTHS YOU BRING TO THE BOARD?

With a background in marketing, I can help bring more awareness of The Foundation and the ways we can help families with their planned giving that will help the community for many years

WHAT ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE BOARD ARE YOU PARTICULARLY PROUD OF?

I am impressed with how active the board is. This is not simply a board that shows up to meetings. Everyone is involved in some way to help move The Foundation forward. I am also impressed at the relationship between the board and the staff. This relationship makes for a stronger Foundation.

HAS SERVING ON THE BOARD CHANGED YOUR PERSPECTIVE OF JEWISH OMAHA IN ANY WAY? IF SO, HOW?

I have a better understanding of the investment and giving tools The Foundation has available to help families plan for the future and execute their planned giving. I also have a better perspective on how The Foundation staff works tirelessly to help families plan for the future which in turn, creates a stronger community.

WHAT DO YOU THINK PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE FOUNDATION?

The community needs to know the important work The Foundation does to support the future of the Jewish Community. People should also understand that The Foundation has a broad set of financial planning tools that every family in the community can utilize regardless of income level.

Emotions

Continued from page 5 to stop, gently release your hand, focus on the expansion and contraction of the breath.

8. Lastly, open your eyes, look around and simply notice. There is no right or wrong, just an opportunity to observe and BE with what is.

Venturing into emotions can feel scary and it can be easier with someone alongside your journey. You are worth the support.

Find a 5 min. guided meditation for the steps above at: https://on.soundcloud.com/xBwCU

We dedicate this to our cousin, Jennifer Kay, who left before she was able to recognize her magnificence. This series is sponsored by the Jewish Press and the Jennifer Beth Kay memorial fund.

JCC School Break Special

Monday, Apr. 15, the JCC has a School Break Special with the theme: Spring Fling. It’s spring, so let’s enjoy the warmer days! We will have all sorts of spring themed crafts, treats and games.

School Break Specials are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. programs for kids who are out of school for scheduled breaks, for members and non-members, for kids from K through 7th grade.

Registration is $35 per day for members and $45 for nonmembers; drop off and pick up are at the JCC Youth Lounge. Before & Aftercare are available. Additional registration is required. Visit www.jccomaha.org to register.

Questions? Contact Amanda Welsh at 402.334.6409.

We’ve updated some of the terms of our registration policies for Youth programming.

If a registration is received less than 1 week prior to the program a $20 late registration fee will be assessed.

If you cancel less than 1 week prior to the program you will receive a credit to be used for future programs at the JCC.

If you do not show up for a program and have not notified staff, no refund or credit will be given. If you cancel prior to 1 week before the program, a full refund will be issued or you will receive credit for future programming.

Bob’s Israel Journal: Part 3

BOB GOLDBERG JFO CEO

MARCH 3, continued

The program started with a geopolitical lecture from retired Brigadier General Ilan Lavy. It was fascinating, a bit frightening and he charged us with being the messengers to our communities about the reality of the situation. The lecture and Q&A lasted well over 90 minutes, so there was plenty to digest. The key points were that Israel was fighting Iran. Iran is aiming to be a superpower and have regional and even global influence. Iran funds, trains, and arms its proxies around the Middle East, in South America, in Africa, and in East Asia. The most well-known are of course Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Houthi’s and others.

He spoke at length about the fighting in Gaza. He spoke at length about Hezbollah, its weapons and fighters and the likelihood of war in Lebanon. He spoke about the tunnels in Gaza, Lebanon and how they were trained by North Korea on building tunnels and that Hamas and Hezbollah are trained together in Iran and that the lessons Hamas is learning now in Gaza are being communicated to Hezbollah. He is sure Israel will win. He spoke briefly about Israel’s failure on Oct. 7, but said that discussion will be for another day. We had dinner and visited. It was a good start to a very serious program and serious conversations that involve all of us and our future.

MARCH 4

The morning started with breakfast in the hotel and a short drive south to Regba to the offices of the Matte Asher Municipality. Matte Asher takes its name from the Biblical Tribe of Asher. Matte Asher is referred to as a Regional Council. It is an area like a county, and it includes eighteen kibbutzim, nine moshavim, two Arab villages, and three other villages. We met with Matte Asher Mayor Moshe Davidovitz, who is a longtime friend of the Partnership. I had the special honor of introducing Moshe to the group. Moshe spoke about his personal experience on the morning of Oct. 7 and his decision that day to evacuate communities along the northern border. Community members from evacuated northern communities today have been dispersed amongst dozens and dozens of places across Israel. So, you could have a kibbutz with a couple hundred residents and today those residents might be living in 5060 separate locations around the state. This means kids are not in school with their peers, people are not able to operate their businesses in the kibbutz, and people are refugees in their own country. Folks want terribly to return to their homes but cannot until the rockets and threats from Hezbollah are addressed. This became a significant theme for the day.

After a great visit with Moshe and his leadership team, we headed north to Kibbutz Matzuva with Matte Asher Chief of Security, Shai. Standing in an evacuated community, seeing Lebanon just a couple of miles into the distance, gave us a real sense of displacement many northern residents are dealing with. Only a couple of members of the kibbutz were present. Those charged with security for the area and a couple of folks coming to harvest the fruit from the orchards. Otherwise, it is a ghost town.

We then went to the Galilee Medical Center. Many in Omaha know of the GMC and have visited. It is the primary care center for the 650,000 residents of the north of Israel. The hospital is led by Dr. Masad Barhoum, who is an Israeli Christian Arab, and his Deputy Director is Dr. Khetam Hussein, who is an Israeli Druze Arab. The GMC represents a true picture of Israel as a place where Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Druze come together to care for

its residents. The hospital built a fully functional underground facility after the Second Lebanon War in 2006 (with the help of funds raised from our Partnership) and have been operating in this underground facility since October 7. The underground facility has less capacity than above ground and as such, the facility is full, and there is a waiting list for those needing care.

The doctors and administrators are operating from an underground safe control room where they are preparing to continue their work in the face of ongoing hostilities. The hospital was a regular target of Hezbollah in 2006 and took a direct hit from a Katusha rocket during the Second Lebanon War. It is only six miles from the Lebanese border, and the hospital anticipates being targeted in future conflicts. As such, they are preparing to work without electricity, without internet, and have planned, practiced, and trained for such emergency wartime circumstances. During our visit, a second trauma room was dedicated. The room was made possible by generous contributions from our Partnership friends in San Antonio. We then headed to the Akko Municipal building and met with the Akko CEO Yaniv Ashur and his leadership team in their command center. Yaniv is a former police officer and longtime Akko resident and former Director of Security for Akko. They spoke at length about efforts to work amongst the various faith communities, primarily Jewish and Muslim, to ensure everyone’s safety in tumultuous times. There were riots in Akko in the aftermath of the May 2021 fighting between Israel and Hamas and city leaders are working hard to ensure that the same is not repeated. Akko, like Nahariya, has seen steady growth over the years, with more Israelis moving north to avoid the prohibitive costs of living in the center of the country. Israel, and its North are reliant on tourism for much of its economy and as you can likely imagine, tourism has been almost nonexistent, so between the aftermath of COVID, the 2021 riots and now this war, businesses and families are struggling financially and it puts stress on the city and country to support the multitude of needs.

Afterwards, we visited a couple small businesses in Akko including our friend and visionary Uri Jeremias at his 5-star hotel, The Efendi. Uri is best known for his fish restaurant Uri Buri. He is a legend and the best advocate for Akko, and for peaceful coexistence. Uri’s staff at the hotel and at his restaurant are Jewish, Muslim, Druze, Christian, and many have been with Uri for decades. We sat in the wine cellar of the Efendi and toured some of the rooms in the hotel. It is a truly spectacular space. If you get to Akko (and you should), you must check out the Efendi and visit Uri.

Then we visited a meat market in Akko. By the way, everywhere we went, we were told immediately where the shelter was and that we would have 15 seconds to get to the shelter if the alarms sound. The owner of the meat market took over the business from his father who started it in 1948. He spoke about the challenges for him and his business during tough times but also his resolve to remain in Akko and continue operating his family’s business. He was grateful for our visit. I walked inside and saw Black Angus from Nebraska in their display case, with a label of a large cow and an American flag.

The messages we received from everyone today were the same….

1. Israel has a moral obligation to eliminate future threats from Hamas and return the hostages.

2. War with Hezbollah is not a matter of if, but when.

3. War with Hezbollah will come with an extremely high price, and Israel will win.

Above left: Nancy Schlessinger and Bob Goldberg, above right: Bob with Uri Jeremias and below: Matte Asher Mayor Moshe Davidovitz.

UNMC’s Behavioral Health Connection

Since its start four years ago, Behavioral Health Connection has helped thousands of people access mental health and substance use services.

The free program connects individuals with existing services in the community, such as psychotherapy, support groups and psychiatric care. Behavioral health connectors assist individuals and families in identifying the type of support they need and helping them access it.

“We are connecting people with services that patients and families may not know about or cannot access,” says David Cates, PhD, director of Behavioral Health for Nebraska Medicine. “In addition, we help families overcome obstacles to accessing care, such as lack of transportation, housing instability and being uninsured.”

finding help is not uncommon, according to Dr. Cates. “Even individuals with access to resources can struggle to identify the right support among a bewildering array of programs, services and provider types,” he says.

The program has received more than

tion has been funded by a partnership between the Noddle family and Nebraska Medicine. However, expanding funding sources will allow the program to grow, Noddle says.

“There is a limitation to what any individual, family or institution can do on their own,” he says. “There is a huge need for this program; we have proof of concept and know this works. Now it’s time to expand the program, and including other funders is critical to meeting this goal.”

The program began after Jay Noddle, president and CEO of Noddle Companies, and his family struggled to identify mental health services for a family member. They subsequently approached Nebraska Medicine and helped launch Behavioral Health Connection.

“People don’t know where to start when faced with behavioral health challenges,” Noddle says. “We lived it ourselves and realized everyone needs a single source that can provide direction and is easily accessible, well known and free.”

The Noddle family’s challenges in

11,000 requests for help from over 7,000 individuals. As word has spread, callers from as far as California have requested information, though most individuals served live in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

In contrast to social workers or case managers, who typically work with patients within a health care system, the program does not require individuals to be Nebraska Medicine patients.

“Anyone can call, and we will help them,” Dr. Cates says. “You don’t need to be in treatment with us or with anyone in order for us to help.”

Until now, Behavioral Health Connec-

Emily Tiensvold, Senior Sirector of Development, Clinical Programs, University of Nebraska Foundation, agrees and adds, “With additional donations, we can maximize the program’s reach and effectiveness.”

As an example, Tiensvold points to the program’s involvement with the Nebraska Medicine Community Wellness Collaborative in North Omaha. At the new center, a behavioral health connector will regularly provide presentations on mental health resources.

“More funding could provide additional services at this location or in other under-resourced areas,” she says. “We are actively working to make sure Behavioral Health Connection is sustainable in the long term.”

To learn more, please contact Tiensvold at emily.tiensvold@nufou ndation.org or 402.502.4107.

Rabbi Geiger’s Weekly Torah Expedition

PARSHA METZORA

I once heard a Rabbi talking about the couples that come in for counseling. What was fascinating to him was the topics of their fights. Rarely if ever did he have a couple say something along the lines of; he’s a Republican, I’m a Democrat, we just can’t do this anymore! No, the complaints would go more like this: She always buys the wrong toothpaste! I’ve told her a million times! Well, he never puts the toilet seat down! The fights are not about big things but little, seemingly inconsequential points. Why is this?

RABBI

MORDECHAI GEIGER

Beth Israel

In this week’s parsha, the torah continues to describe the concepts of tumah (spiritual impurity) and tahara (spiritual purity). It is only the Kohen (priest) who is prohibited from becoming impure, for that would stop his ability to serve in the Temple. However, for anyone else, there is no problem with them becoming tamay (impure), although there are rules about how they cannot interact with holy things. What is interesting, though, is that the verse says the Jewish people should be careful of spiritual impurity. Why is this point stressed? Tumah, like the toothpaste, is seemingly a minor issue. But the truth is that tumah keeps a person from connecting with G-d. It might not be prohibited to become impure, just as there is nothing evil about leaving the toilet seat up. However, it sends a message. It says I don’t care about what’s important to you. I don’t care about connecting with you. Our connection with G-d (and our spouse) is not about doing what we have to, it’s about the message we send by doing what they ask.

Shabbat Shalom

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College of Saint Mary to receive Anne Frank sapling

LEEANNA ELLIS

College of Saint Mary is pleased to announce it has been chosen as one of six new recipients of saplings grown from Anne Frank’s horse chestnut tree that towered behind the Secret Annex in Amsterdam.

CSM was chosen by the Anne Frank Center USA, an organization honoring the legacy of Anne Frank.

“We are deeply honored to have been chosen as a recipient of a sapling grown from Anne Frank’s cherished chestnut,” CSM President Heather Smith said. “It is a privilege to be entrusted with this living memorial, and we eagerly anticipate its profound impact as a symbol of resilience, hope and remembrance.”

With each sapling planted, the center shares Anne Frank’s love of nature with organizations across its coalition that are committed to honoring Anne Frank’s memory through education, free expression and belief in humanity.

the Holocaust.

“The mission of our university is deeply rooted in the values of the Sisters of Mercy and both align brilliantly with Anne Frank’s legacy and the incredible work that she has inspired throughout the world,” said Gudgel, who teaches a course on the Holocaust in film and literature. “The College of Saint Mary is deeply honored; we are dedicated to being excellent stewards of the tree as it grows, eager to receive visitors, and committed to furthering the legacy of Anne Frank by continuing to provide young women with an education that will help them to become leaders in this world.”

Mark Gudgel, assistant professor of education, spearheaded CSM’s effort to be considered a site for one of the saplings. He said it is fitting that an institution dedicated to the education of young women should be the home of this tribute to

CSM will host a planting ceremony on April 26, Arbor Day.

Details of the event will be released later.

Other locations receiving a sapling are Anne Frank LA, Los Angeles, CA; Community Day School, Pittsburgh, PA; Gratz College, Melrose Park, PA; Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center, White Plains, NY; and Raritan Valley Community College, Branchburg, NJ.

From her only window to the outside world, Anne Frank could see the sky, birds, and a majestic chestnut tree. “As long See Anne Frank sapling page 10

RBJH: Joe & Tina Meyers

JFO Foundation: Steven Bloch

JFS: The JFS Reimagining Committee:

Marti Rosen Atherton

Sally Kaplan

Gloria Kaslow

Alan Kricsfeld

Marti Poulos

Shayna Ray

Norm Sheldon

Sonia Tipp

Our next Community Theater performance is...

Our next performance: Seussical the Musical!

The community is invited to attend our production held at the Alan J. Levine Theater at the J. on Thursday, May 30 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, June 2 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Tickets for Seussical will go on sale May 1

The Cat in the Hat tells the story of Horton, an elephant who discovers a speck of dust that contains the Whos, including Jojo, a Who child sent off to military school for thinking too many “thinks.”

Horton faces a double challenge: not only must he protect the Whos from a world of naysayers and dangers, but he must guard an abandoned egg, left in his care by the irresponsible Mayzie La Bird.

Although Horton faces ridicule, danger, kidnapping and is put on trial for the crimes of “talking to a speck, disturbing the peace, and loitering... on an egg,” the intrepid Gertrude McFuzz never loses faith in him. Ultimately, the powers of friendship, loyalty, family and community are challenged and emerge triumphant.

New this year: all tickets can be purchased online through our ticketing system! Visit www.jccomaha.org to reserve your seats. Advanced purchase is strongly recommended. Any remaining tickets will be available for purchase at the door.

General Admission Tickets are $12.50 in advance and $15

Seussical is a musical comedy by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, based on the many children’s stories of Dr. Seuss, with most of its plot based on Horton Hears a Who!, Gertrude McFuzz, and Horton Hatches the Egg while incorporating many other stories. The musical’s name is a portmanteau of “Seuss” and the word “musical.”

Although it did not do well initially, it has spawned two US national tours and a West End production, and has become a frequent production for schools and regional theaters.

at the door. Thank you to our sponsors: the Karen Sokolof Javitch Music Fund, the Foundation IMPACT Grant, and the Special Donor-Advised Funds JCC Theatre Program Endowment Fund, Morton A. Richards Youth Endowment Fund, Myron (Mike) Milder II Memorial Fund. Security for this event is provided by the Etta & Harold Epstein Security Fund of the JFOF. Auditions for our fall musical will be held on Sunday, Aug. 25. This fall we will also hold a new “Audition Prep: workshop to help you get ready! The title of the Fall musical will be announced this summer. Registration will open on Monday, July 22, at 9 a.m. for JCC Members and 9 a.m. on Wednesday, July 24, for Non-Members.

Continued from page 9

as this exists,” she wrote in her diary, “how can I be sad?” Anne Frank wrote about her beloved chestnut tree in three separate diary entries in 1944, marking the changing of the seasons as she and others hid from the Nazis.

FEB. 23, 1944

“The two of us looked out at the blue sky, the bare chestnut tree glistening with dew, the seagulls and other birds glinting with silver as they swooped through the air, and we were so moved and entranced that we couldn’t speak.”

APRIL 18, 1944

“April is glorious, not too hot and not too cold, with occasional light showers. Our chestnut tree is in leaf, and here and there you can already see a few small blossoms.”

MAY 13, 1944

“Our chestnut tree is in full bloom. It’s covered with leaves and is even more beautiful than last year.”

In a 1968 speech, Anne Frank’s father, Otto Frank, reflected the impact of the chestnut tree on his youngest daughter.

“How could I have known,” he asked, “how much it meant to Anne to see a patch of blue sky, to observe the seagulls as they flew, and how important the chestnut tree was for her, when I think that she never showed any interest in nature.”

“Still,” he acknowledged, “she longed for it when she felt like a bird in a cage.”

The Sapling Project began in 2009 with the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam’s efforts to preserve the original chestnut tree by gathering and germinating chestnuts and donating the saplings to organizations dedicated to Anne Frank’s memory.

Despite efforts to strengthen the original chestnut tree, the aged, diseased tree toppled in a windstorm in 2010. It was one of the oldest chestnut trees in Amsterdam.

Over the last 10 years, Anne Frank Center USA has awarded saplings to sites across the United States, including the U.S. Capitol, the United Nations Headquarters, and others. Taken together, these trees form a living memorial with branches reaching from coast to coast.

The annual Graduation Issue will publish this year on May 24, 2024. Senior photos will run in that issue and we know you’ll want to highlight the achievements of your high school graduate! Congratulatory ads are available in two sizes. Limit of 25 words.

We are so proud of your achievements – membership in NHS, varsity letter in tennis and a Merit Award from B.E.S.T.T. Photohere

Above: Purim in Lincoln.

Above, below and left: Purim at Temple Israel.

Above: Mark Kelln and Preston Gordman show off their pied faces at the Beth El Purim Carnival.

Above: Purim at Beth El.

Above, right and below: Purim at Friedel Jewish Academy.

Left: Four superheroes, including Mrs. Esther Silver and Rabbi Ari Dembitzer and below: Beth Israel’s Rabbi Ziv reads the Megillah at the RBJH.

(Founded in 1920)

Margie Gutnik President Annette van de Kamp-Wright Editor Richard Busse Creative Director Howard Kutler Advertising Executive Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Editor Gabby Blair Staff Writer Sam Kricsfeld Digital support Mary Bachteler Accounting Jewish Press Board Margie Gutnik, President; Abigail Kutler, Ex-Officio; Helen Epstein; Andrea Erlich; Seth Feldman; David Finkelstein; Ally Freeman; Mary Sue Grossman; Chuck Lucoff; Suzy Sheldon; Joseph Pinson and Larry Ring. The mission of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to build and sustain a strong and vibrant Omaha Jewish Community and to support Jews in Israel and around the world. Agencies of the JFO are: Institute for Holocaust Education, Jewish Community Relations Council, Jewish Community Center, Jewish Social Services, Nebraska Jewish Historical Society and the Jewish Press Guidelines and highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: www.jewishomaha.org; click on ‘Jewish Press.’ Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole. The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment. Editorial

The Seder Intention

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish

Press Editor

The email screams at me: WHAT’S YOUR SEDER

INTENTION THIS YEAR? All caps; because why not. My answer is, I don’t know. Yet. That’s okay; the email goes on:

Might some passover meditations help ease your mind? Or if "namaste" makes you sashay away, try journaling or a seder playlist to get in the mindset. See more intention-setting tips on our blog and explore our library for plenty of seder inspiration!

One rabbit hole, coming up. I do love it when spam email is targeted and matches the calendar. It used to be, all I got for Pesach was emails with offers of kosher cruises. And reminders that Jesus died for me too and there’s still time to convert, because it’s Easter and that’s the sort of email Jewish professionals receive in the spring.

But, back to that original question: what is my intention? Since I already deleted the email, I no longer have the link to that supposedly helpful blog. I wouldn’t have clicked on it anyway, who am I kidding.

So I google “Seder Intention” to see what pops up.

(boo) and a current event seder.

Apparently, hanging your seder on a certain theme is a thing. I never really thought about that—for the decorations, sure, I’ll pick a color and a vibe, but as far as the haggadah is concerned, we

and making sure that everyone invited actually has our address (I often forget that).

Of course, ‘intention’ has everything to do with how we approach this time of year. The other night in synagogue, I heard the sentence “We are still in Egypt.” I don’t remember if it was a prayer, a song lyric; I do remember sharing a look with my friend—both of us felt the gravitas of those words.

Fun fact: there are 809,000 results. they range from spiritual instructions to educational websites about how to have a seder for Christians, to tips for first-timers and online seders (we don’t miss those).

There are articles about how to have an earthcentered seder, a solo seder, a ‘simplified’ seder

don’t really mess with that. Unless you count the year I purchased the Dave Barry comedy haggadah just to see what the fuss was about (it stank-don’t buy it).

Still, what is my intention? It’s a valid questioneven if it is a little difficult to answer amid the hustle and bustle of Passover shopping, meal planning,

We are still in Egypt. In addition to commemorating that we were once liberated, we can perhaps remind ourselves that we can be liberated again? That our modernday Egypt can learn, like the Egypt of old, that Hashem is on our side and will keep us safe? And can we learn that lesson ourselves? Because liberation is a message to the oppressor, but also to the newly free.

I don’t know.

It feels heavy, and like somehow this year’s Pesach will be different than any Pesach we have ever experienced. And I wonder if we can ever go back to a time when Pesach prep is not a constant reminder of the hate that is again (still) directed at us.

At our seder this year, we will have a second cup of wine next to Elijah’s; we will remember the hostages in the tunnels, and pray for their release.

I guess my intention is to remember, like I do every year. It’s just, the list of things I must remember has grown quite long.

What I told my children when our synagogue was graffitied with a swastika

ERIN BESER

WYNNEWOOD, Pennsylvania| JTA

On Saturday night, I watched an episode of We Were the Lucky Ones, Hulu’s new Holocaust series. On Sunday morning, I woke up to a traumatic scene in my own community: a red swastika painted on the banner that sits on the front lawn of the suburban Philadelphia synagogue where my husband is the rabbi.

Even though it wasn’t shattered glass, or broken bones, it was painful to see it there, right there, in our own backyard, on our property, on our beloved banner that advertises our early childhood program and the summer camp my children will attend. It was vandalism, an ugly symbol that has only one meaning for generations: Jews, you are hated. Jews, you are not welcome. Jews, you should be afraid.

My husband and his committee of leaders and professionals from the synagogue, Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El, sprang into action in response. I left on a planned hike with my children, ages 4 and 7, keeping them away from the news vans and police cars that occupied the parking lot of their school and synagogue.

I knew what was unfolding back at the synagogue was notable. On Easter, our police came to investigate, Christian clergy called to support us and spoke at our vigil and prayer service, and politicians all reached out — from our state senator to our congressman to Gov. Josh Shapiro. It was a miraculous response when you consider the arc of Jewish history, when Jews have often felt alone in the face of so much persecution, oppression and violence, especially on Christian holidays.

But it wasn’t until I answered my children’s questions that I felt comforted.

They asked, “Where is Abba? Why has he been gone all day?” Here’s what I answered: Abba is gone because he is taking care of our community and helping everyone feel safe and feel better, because right now they are sad. Someone — we don’t know who — drew a picture on the blue sign and it’s a picture that represents a way of being mean to Jews and hating Jews and when Jewish

people see the picture, it makes them feel sad because it reminds them that there are some people in the world who hate Jews.

They asked: “Why do some people in the world hate Jews?”

I answered: Jews as a people have been around for thousands of years and as long as there have been people, people have been hating other people for being different. Being with people who are just like us makes us feel safe, and sometimes when we see someone who is different, or go somewhere new, we feel afraid. And we don’t like to feel afraid, so we tell ourselves a story about our fear — that the other people must be bad. And that reason isn’t true, because those people aren’t all bad: Every person makes good choices and bad choices, but all people are just people making choices every day, just like us.

who sends his children to Jewish day school and celebrates being Jewish and is proud of represent-

But some of the things that people don’t like about Jews is that we do different things and we like to stay different. Some Jews wear different clothes, some eat their own special food, we like to celebrate our holidays at a specific time and even when some Jews like to share our special traditions, sometimes it takes a lot of work to understand what they mean. So as long as there have been Jews, there has been something called antisemitism, which is a word that specifically means hatred of Jewish people. And the people who perhaps hated Jews the most were called the Nazis, and they lived a long time ago in Germany, where they used the same picture they painted on our banner to inspire other people to hate Jews also.

Today, you are safe. You are not in any danger because you are Jewish. We live here in America, where Jews have never been safer or freer in the whole history of being Jewish. The governor of Pennsylvania himself is a proud, practicing Jew

ing his country through his service to his state. The police take care of us when we are hurt. You can go to school where there are Muslims, and Christians, and people of color who are Jewish and similar to you and different from you, and on most days we all get along. It is rare and it is a big deal that someone draws a hateful picture, and the reason we make a big deal out of it is that we want to teach and show everyone that this picture means something hateful, and you can’t draw it anywhere.

But since the war in Israel, more and more people are drawing these pictures, and writing words in graffiti, and protesting Jewish-owned businesses and Israeli embassies because of the war between the Israelis and the Palestinians. And while we don’t know this for sure, it’s likely that the person drew the hateful symbol on our banner because it was talking about Israel. The banner says, “Our community stands with Israel.” And this is true. Our community stands by the people of Israel, the right of the Jewish people to have a homeland in their ancient home, the right of Jews to live free from persecution and oppression, the right of Jews to feel safe and secure, the right of Jews to protect See Our synaogogue was graffitied with a swastika page 13

After their family's synagogue was the target of antisemitic graffiti, Erin Beser took her children on a planned hike. A meaningful conversation ensued. Credit: Synagogue picture courtesy Jada Eldrich; picture at right: credit: Erin Beser

Credit, Edsel Littlelicensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Growing up Jewish on the Upper West Side ‘when housing was a

human right’

ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL

New York Jewish Week

When Jennifer Baum’s parents bought their three-bedroom, postwar apartment on the Upper West Side in 1967, they paid $3,800 — a bargain even at the time, when the neighborhood was still gritty and New York on the cusp of steep decline.

For a middle-class Jewish couple committed to living in the city where they grew up, the 14th floor apartment at RNA House, a 212-unit concrete slab on West 96th Street, was a dream come true. Their two daughters could grow up in a diverse neighborhood, a block and half from Central Park and a walk or subway ride from all that the city had to offer.

It was a dream made possible by a state and city program that subsidized middle-income rentals and co-ops across New York from the 1950s up until the fiscal crisis of the late ’70s. When the middle class was fleeing to the suburbs, the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program (named for the politicians who championed it in 1955) was a boon for people too welloff to qualify for public housing and too poor to afford market-rate homes.

“It celebrated the idea of the common good,” Baum told me in an interview. “It was a very comprehensive, unusual experiment that enabled the Upper West Side to retain a feeling of diversity — economically, culturally — at a time when government really believed in trying to make the city a livable place for all.” Baum writes about growing up in a Mitchell-Lama building in Just City: Growing Up on the Upper West Side When Housing Was a Human Right. A memoir for which Baum took a deep dive into the history of city housing, the new book arrives as cities such as New York face an affordable housing crisis — and just as New York state legislators are calling for “Mitchell-Lama 2.0.” The state Senate’s “One House” budget proposal includes the creation of a housing corporation to finance a mix of new affordable rentals and co-ops on state-owned land; the Assembly has also earmarked $500 million for a plan to finance limited-equity co-ops in the Mitchell-Lama mold. (Negotiations over the state budget are expected to extend to Thursday.)

The book is also a nostalgic look at a vanishing Jewish New York. While the relatively diverse Upper West Side still has a large and largely liberal Jewish community, the gaps between haves and have-nots are only growing wider and the housing stock is out of reach to all but the affluent.

Baum, 61, a filmmaker and writer now living in Brooklyn, remembers a funkier, less gentrified UWS, known for its Cuban-Chinese, Kosher, Middle Eastern, Italian, Greek, and Irish restaurants, Jewish refugees who’d escaped Hitler and pogroms, stoned junkies, muggings, the deinstitutionalized mentally ill living in single-room occupancy hotels (SROs), art film aficionados at the Thalia, Cuban musicians, artists, actors, crooks, prostitutes, political activists, grape boycotters, alcoholics, eccentrics, graffiti, sidewalks carpeted with broken glass, dog shit, and litter….

If that doesn’t sound appealing, Baum also remembers playing with kids from a variety of backgrounds — middle-class and poor, Black and white, Jewish and Puerto Rican. Wary of appearing Pollyannaish, when she began researching the book she reached out to members of the Growing Up on the Old Upper West Side Facebook group. Sure enough, they too shared memories of a neighborhood where people got along across racial and class lines and, especially in the Mitchell-Lama houses, shared a sense of common purpose and cooperation that turned the city into a sort of village.

“I was living in Vancouver when a friend wanted me to go to some kind of racism workshop, and I said to her, ‘You know, my whole life has been a racism workshop,’” Baum recalled. “I feel very fortunate to have grown up just the way I did and I credit that to my parents.”

Her mother Judy, who would later become an advocate for New York City’s public schools, was from Brooklyn; her father Charles was from the Bronx. Her paternal grandmother was born on the Lower East Side and worked, like so many Jews at the time, in a garment factory. “She adored Eleanor Roosevelt,” recalled Baum, who relates how the president’s wife gave a speech in 1935 when the New York City Housing Authority built the first federally funded public housing project. “She spoke about how important it was for the government to take responsibility for people.”

Her parents weren’t radicals, but progressives who came of age in the 1950s and believed “in the dream of equality through architecture,” Baum writes. As “cooperators”at RNA House, she explains, they owned a share of the co-op, which they had to sell back for the same amount if they left. Family members could not inherit the property unless they lived there full time; when the cooperators sold or died, a new family would take over, plucked from a long waiting list. RNA House also included apartments with reduced maintenance charges for neighbors displaced by development.

“The idea was not to make a profit but to live an affordable,

safe, communal life in an integrated community in which everybody had a stake,” writes Baum.

Baum’s father, a professor turned mechanical engineer, died when she was 10 — shockingly, during a visit to her elementary school. Judy Baum would live at #14E until her death, at 77, in 2013. Her daughters’ grief was compounded by the reality of having to relinquish the apartment, which Baum describes in a chapter that plumbs the dilemmas of the subsidized co-op model.

“It was devastating and I still feel devastated by it,” Baum told me. “It wasn’t so much that I wanted to hold on to it because I wanted to turn a profit and make $3 million. It was that this apartment meant so much to me emotionally. I knew that it should remain public because it’s only fair. And I wanted to hold on to it because it had such emotional value to it. I still have a hard time walking by RNA.”

Writing about recent efforts to privatize RNA House, Baum describes how these tensions are magnified not just by greed but by rational human calculations. Residents seeing apartments in privatized buildings selling for seven figures are understandably chagrined to give up their own apartments in return for “equity accrued minus repairs” — in Baum’s case, $34,000 in 2014, when a typical three-bedroom in Manhattan was selling for $1.5 million. Black residents whose families had been subjected to redlining understandably resent having to forgo a profit from yet another property in which they have invested years of their lives.

Baum’s old friend Mondello Browner, who grew up in a massive Mitchell-Lama development in Central Harlem and now analyzes housing data for the city, described his own ambivalence to her:

I very much want Mitchell-Lamas to remain viable choices for middle-class residents. I do realize that many long-term residents would like to be rewarded for their patience and longevity with the ability to sell out, or I guess to get home equity loans, based upon market-rate values. But this ability is at the expense of the current crop of financially struggling, aspiring folks who have one less set of economic ladders to use.

So far, cooperators at RNA House have not voted to privatize, although, between 1989 and 2017, “nearly 20,000 of the city-supervised co-ops and rentals in Mitchell-Lama buildings have left the program,” according to the city.

Although Baum writes about other ethnic groups and the racial inequities built into some city housing programs, hers is also a strikingly Jewish story. Jews like her parents — “pink

diaper” progressives, as one of her interviewees described them — were particularly drawn to Mitchell-Lama co-ops, while others chased the American Dream to Long Island and Westchester County.

It’s a clash of values — political and economic — that Baum captures in a reference to “Marjorie Morningstar,” Herman Wouk’s mid-century novel about a striving Jewish family.

In the novel, Marjorie’s Jewish parents move to a ritzy building on Central Park West. “By moving to the El Dorado,” writes Wouk, “her parents had done much, Marjorie believed, to make up for their immigrant origin.” For Baum, these were the “opposite goals of my progressive parents, who strove for social justice, not social success.”

Jews are also overrepresented among the powerbrokers who shaped housing in New York in the 20th century. Baum writes of the Jewish-led unions that built cooperative housing and middle-income rentals. Her heroes include liberals like New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger; her villains include master planner Robert Moses and Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Baum blames Bloomberg and another former mayor, Rudy Giuliani, for putting the interests of private developers and the rich ahead of the “common good.”

I asked Baum if she empathized with those who are grateful to Giuliani and Bloomberg for making the city safer, cleaner and more financially solvent, even if gentrification came at the expense of a more vibrant street life and the kinds of momand-pop stores that she remembers so fondly.

“I feel it shouldn’t be a tradeoff. I don’t feel like it should be cleaner and more livable for the rich people. It’s just not fair,” she said. “We should be able to have clean livability for everybody. I used to think that the Mitchell-Lamas in the neighborhood paved the way for inevitable gentrification. It didn’t have to be that way: The government could have continued to build affordable housing even as the neighborhood became safer.

“It shouldn’t be an either/or situation.”

Andrew Silow-Carroll is editor at large of the New York Jewish Week and managing editor for Ideas for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NYJW or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

Our synagogue was graffitied with a swastika

Continued from page 12 themselves, the right of all citizens of Israel — Jews and Christians, Arab and Druze — who fight for a free and democratic Israel.

The symbol that they drew does not say what we also believe: that Palestinians should live freely and safely, that all people deserve a life of liberty and self-determination, that a bloody and horrible war should end with the return of those who were taken hostage, and peace should come to both peoples, neither of whom will go anywhere but deserve to live in peace side by side. This is what the majority of us want and hope for and if the sign were big enough, that’s what it should have said.

Abba wrote to our community, “A swastika is not a commentary on the policies of the State of Israel, nor is it a sign of solidarity with Palestinians. It is a symbol of hatred and division. We, the leadership of the synagogue, want everyone to know that we will not give in to fear or division.”

Abba does not want us to be afraid and he does not want us to be alone. When someone hurts our feelings, we teach them what they can do to repair and make it better. We do not give up on our friends, we believe in them, and we reach out to them, and we work together, so that we can all live

peacefully and safely side by side.

And today made us feel sad, I said, but we are not going to stop being proud of being Jewish. It’s some of the best parts of who we are.

By that point, I had completely lost my children’s attention; they went back to playing with their friends on the playground. And it was unclear how much of that they understood or how many lingering worries they will have about their safety and their place in this world. But I felt better having said it — safer, still sad, but more at peace — because I knew, as soon as the words left my mouth, that this is the complicated, real truth of what it means to be Jewish in America right now and for better or worse, being Jewish in America means days like this.

Erin Beser is an educator who teaches Jewish studies at the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy and is the founder and CEO of Adoughma Dough Play Events, an educational initiative working to bring dough and sensory play into Jewish educational and communal spaces. She lives with her family on Philadelphia’s Main line. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

RNA House, the subsidized, integrated cooperative where author Jennifer Baum was raised on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Credit: Jennifer Baum

Baum, second from left, with friends in the backyard of RNA House. There, in a “wide open area flanking the building, we cycled, roller-skated, played handball, tag, hopscotch, and double Dutch, and climbed on a space- age cement jungle gym.”

Baum writes. Credit: Erminio Gubert, courtesy Jennifer Baum

B’NAI ISRAEL

SYNAGOGUE

Synagogues

B’NAI ISRAEL

618 Mynster Street Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766

712.322.4705 www.cblhs.org

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

Monthly Speaker Series Service, Friday, April 12, 7:30 p.m. with our guest speaker, Scott Littky. Our service leader is Larry Blass. Everyone is always welcome at B’nai Israel!

For information about our historic synagogue, please visit our website at www.cblhs.org or contact any of our other board members: Renee Corcoran, Scott Friedman, Rick Katelman, Janie Kulakofsky, Howard Kutler, Carole and Wayne Lainof, Ann Moshman, MaryBeth Muskin, Debbie Salomon and Sissy Silber. Handicap Accessible.

BETH EL

Services conducted by Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman.

IN-PERSON AND ZOOM 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 Service 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Blessing for Matt & Yousef Hazimeh during services; Jr. Congregation (Grades K-12), 10 a.m.; Havdalah, 8:40 p.m. Zoom only.

SUNDAY: Passover Gift Shop Sale, 9:30 a.m.-noon & by appointment thru April 19; BESTT (Grades K7), 9:30 a.m.; Hebrew Reading for Adults, 10:30 a.m. with Hazzan Krausman; Adult B’nai Mitzvah, 11:15 a.m. with Hazzan Krausman; Cocktails & Karaoke, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY: Pirkei Avot, 10:30 a.m. with Rabbi Abraham; Board of Trustees Meeting, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Passover Gift Shop Sale, 4-6 p.m. & by appointment thru April 19; BESTT (Grades 3-7), 4 p.m.; Hebrew High (Grades 8-12), 6 p.m.

FRIDAY-Apr. 19: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY-Apr. 20: Shabbat Hagadol Zimra 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Jr. Congregation (Grades K-12), 10 a.m.; Havdalah, 8:45 p.m. Zoom only.

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

BETH ISRAEL

FRIDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, 7 p.m.; Candlelighting, 7:44 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:30 a.m.; Youth Class, 10:45 a.m.; Tehillim, 6:15 p.m. at the Uzi’s; Soulful Torah: Unpacking the Or HaChayim’s Teachings, 6:45 p.m.; Mincha 7:30 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity 8 p.m.; Havdalah, 8:47 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Kinyan HaMasechta, 9:40 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv 7:50 p.m.

MONDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Pre-Pesach Kids Program/Monday Mind Builders, 4 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:50 p.m.

TUESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Board of Directors Meeting, 6 p.m.; Kinyan HaMasechta before Mincha/Ma’ariv; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:40 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:50 p.m.

THURSDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7

a.m.; Character Development Class, 9:30 a.m.; Kinyan HaMasechta before Mincha/Ma’ariv.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:50 p.m.; Parsha Class, 8:10 p.m.

FRIDAY-Apr. 19: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Sale of Chametz Forms Due, noon; Mincha/ Kabbalat Shabbat, 7 p.m.; Candlelighting, 7:52 p.m.

SATURDAY-Apr. 20: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:30 a.m.; Youth Class 10:45 a.m.; Tehillim, 6:25 p.m. at the Uzi’s; Soulful Torah: Unpacking the Or HaChayim’s Teachings, 6:51 p.m.; Mincha, 7:40 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity 8:10 p.m.; Havdalah, 8:55 p.m. 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 and via Zoom (ochabad.com/academy). 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/ Lechayim; Candlelighting, 7:43 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 8:45 p.m.

SUNDAY: Sunday Morning Wraps: Shacharit, 99:30 a.m., Video Presentation, 9:30 a.m. and Breakfast, 9:45 a.m.; Torah and Tea, 10:30-11:15 a.m.; Advice for Life, noon-1 p.m. at Chabad (ochabad. com/AFL)

MONDAY: Shacharit 8 a.m.; Personal Parsha, 9:30 a.m.; Intermediate Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Advice for Life, noon-1 p.m. at Chabad (ochabad.com/AFL); Parsha Reading, 6 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

TUESDAY: Shacharit 8 a.m.; Intermediate Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 6 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Introductory Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 7 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

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

THURSDAY: Shacharit 8 a.m.; Introduction to Alphabet, Vowels & Reading Hebrew, 10 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Advanced Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 11 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Talmud Study (Sanhedrin 34), noon; Introduction to Alphabet, Vowels & Reading Hebrew, 6 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) Class, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY-Apr. 19: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 5:45 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: Ochaba d.com/Lechayim; Candlelighting, 7:51 p.m.

SATURDAY-Apr. 20: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 8:54 p.m.

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: B’NAI JESHURUN & TIFERETH ISRAEL

Services facilitated by Rabbi Alex Felch. All services offered in-person with live-stream or teleconferencing options.

FRIDAY: Erev Shabbat Service with Rabbi Alex, 6:30 p.m. at SST; Shabbat Candlelighting, 7:45 p.m.

Israeli president adds final letter to wartime Torah

MARCEL GASCÓN BARBERÁ

KYIV, Ukraine | JTA

More than two years after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky wrote its first letter, his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog has inked the final letters of a Torah scroll dedicated to peace in both of their countries.

The Torah was initiated in Ukraine shortly after Russia’s 2022 invasion and completed this week in Israel, now engaged in its own war in Gaza. Along the way, letters were written by Jews serving in the Ukrainian army, members of the Jewish community in Kyiv, families of Israeli fallen soldiers and relatives of Israelis kidnapped in Gaza, among others.

The writing of the Torah, which will be brought back to Ukraine in the coming months and placed in one of the synagogues in the country’s capital, was an initiative of the Kyiv chief rabbi, Yonatan Markowitz.

“Both Jewish presidents wrote a letter in the Sefer Torah, dedicated for the sake of peace and achdut (unity) in Am Yisrael, which will be placed in Kyiv’s Great Synagogue JCC, Beit Menachem,” the Chabad rabbi said in a statement referring to Zelensky and

Herzog, who are the world’s only Jewish heads of state.

The first letter of the Sefer Torah was written by Zelensky “in his office in the presidential bunker in Kyiv,” and Herzog wrote the final letter in a ceremony held at his official residence in Jerusalem, according to Markowitz.

“The integration of forces between the Jews of Israel and the Jewish community in Ukraine constitutes a powerful force multiplier for the survival and continuity of the Jewish people,” Herzog said during the event. “There is nothing more moving than being part of writing a Sefer Torah that symbolizes this special unity, especially now.”

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. at TI; Torah Study, noon on Parashat Tazria; Havdalah, 8:47 p.m.

SUNDAY: LJCS Classes, 9:30 a.m.; Men’s Bike/Coffee Group, 10:30 a.m. in the Conference Room at Rock 'n Joe (5025 Lindbergh St.). For more information or questions please email Al Weiss at albertw 801@gmail.com; Spring G ardening, 10:30 a.m. at SST. Email Ellin at ellin.siegel@gmail.com if you can help; Pickleball, 3-5 p.m. Anyone interested in playing or learning how to play can text Miriam at 402.470.2393. If there are enough interested people; we will play in the Social Hall at TI.

WEDNESDAY: LJCS Hebrew School, 4:30-6 p.m.; Jewish Themes Through Jewish Films, 6:30 p.m. at SST.

FRIDAY-Apr. 19: Erev Shabbat Service with Rabbi Alex, 6:30 p.m. at SST; Shabbat Candlelighting, 7:53 p.m.

SATURDAY-Apr. 20: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. at TI; Torah Study, noon on Parashat Metzora; Potluck Dinner and Family Game Night, 6 p.m. at SST. Adults and kids of all ages are welcome. Please bring a dish to share; Havdalah, 8:55 p.m.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE

FRIDAYS: 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 Benjamin Sharff, Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin, and Cantor Joanna Alexander

FRIDAY: Drop in Mah Jongg, 9-11 a.m. In-Person; Tot Shabbat: Wildlife Adventure, 5:45 p.m. In-Person; Shabbat B’yachad Service, 6 p.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SATURDAY: Torah Study 9:15 a.m. In-Person & Zoom; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SUNDAY: Grades PreK-7, 9:30 a.m. In-Person; Coffee and Conversation with Board Members, 10 a.m. In-Person; Rosh Chodesh: Watercolor Painting, 1 p.m. Please RSVP — In-Person

TUESDAY: Adult Prayer Hebrew: Level Aleph, 6 p.m. In-Person.

WEDNESDAY: Yarn It, 9-11 a.m. In-Person; Grades 3-6, 4:30 p.m. In-Person; Grades 8-12 Mitzvah Corps, 6 p.m. In-Person.

THURSDAY: Thursday Morning Class, 11 a.m. with Rabbi Sharff and Rabbi Azriel In-Person & Zoom.

FRIDAY-Apr. 19: Drop in Mah Jongg, 9-11 a.m. InPerson; Classic Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SATURDAY-Apr. 20: Torah Study 9:15 a.m. In-Person & Zoom; Shabbat Morning Service and Bar Mitzvah of Alexander Yale 10:30 a.m. In-Person & Zoom. Please visit templeisraelomaha.com for additional information and Zoom service links.

and resilience” shared by “the Jews of Israel and Ukraine” and thanked Jews from Israel and around the world for their assistance to Ukrainian Jews.

The ceremony was attended by relatives of Zina Beylin, a 60-year-old Israeli woman of Ukrainian origin who was murdered on Oct. 7 in Sderot together with a dozen other senior citizens while on a bus trip she had organized to the Dead Sea. Images of their bodies were some of the first to show the carnage from that bloody day.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog writes the final letter to in a Torah initiated by Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, April 2024 in Jerusalem. Credit: Israeli president’s office

Also present at the Israeli president’s residence, Markowitz spoke of “the story of Jewish heroism

“When we began writing the Sefer Torah, we did not think we would reach a situation where our brothers, the people of Israel in the Holy Land, would also be under the threat of a cruel war,” Markowitz said.

ALAN L. COHEN

Life cycles

Alan L. Cohen passed away on March 9, 2024, at age 79. Services were held on March 14, 2024, at Temple Israel 13111 Sterling Ridge Dr, Omaha, NE 68144.

He was preceded by death by parents, Dan and Ethel Cohen; and sister, Judy Cohen.

He is survived by his wife, Anne of 57 years; and son and daughter-in-law, Marty and Kathy; three grandsons: Jack, Sam and Will Cohen; and many loving cousins.

Alan was born in Omaha, Nebraska on Nov. 28, 1944 to Dan and Ethel Cohen. He was a 1963 graduate of Central High School and attended University of Oklahoma at Norman.

Alan worked for his father at the Fireside Restaurant from 1965-1975 and then as a licensed real estate agent from 19752024. He started at CBSHOME Real Estate and then Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Ambassador Real Estate.

He gave his time to many organizations including various car clubs, Friend of the Parks Committee, Central High School Class Reunion Committees.

His hobbies include collecting and working on antique cars; however his biggest passion in life, other than his wife Anne, child Marty and three grandsons, were his lifelong friendships.

Memorials may be made to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home 323 S 132nd St, Omaha, NE 68154.

STEVEN GARY SEGLIN

Steven Gary Seglin passed away peacefully on March 28, 2024 at age 82. Services were held on March 31 at Tifereth Israel Synagogue, 3219 Sheridan Blvd in Lincoln followed by graveside services at Beth El Cemetery, 4700 S. 84th St, Omaha.

He is survived by his loving family: wife of 62 years, Barbara Greenberg Seglin of Lincoln; daughter, Shannon Seglin of San Antonio, TX; sister, Susan Mogil of Omaha; brothers and sisters-in-

We want your stories

In a few weeks’ time, the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society and the Jewish Press will announce an ambitious new project focusing on Jewish food. We will be looking at old recipe books, add new ones, and tell the story of our community through food.

We are searching for recipes, anecdotes, memories; stories that may have been told at your family’s diningroom table but were never before written down. We are looking for stories that are funny, sentimental, meaningful, sad, comforting, and otherwise important.

If you have a special relationship with food, please consider talking to us and become part of the story.

More details will follow soon, so stay tuned!

law, Philip and Susan Greenberg of Denver, CO and Joseph and Karen Greenberg of Houston, TX; and five nephews and one niece. Steve will be missed very much by his family and the community. He was born on Oct. 14, 1941, to Nathan and Sylvia Seglin. Steve lived in Omaha with his sister Susan Mogil. His aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins lived on the same block and were a close family.

Steve graduated from Central High School in Omaha in 1959. While in high school he started dating Barbara Greenberg and the two married in 1961. In 1963 Steve graduated from UNL with a degree in Business Administration. While at UNL he joined the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity and made lifelong friends. In 1966 he graduated from the College of Law of the University of Nebraska with a Juris Doctorate Degree. Steve entered the U.S. Army after law school as a Staff Judge Advocate and was awarded a Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam.

Steve was an attorney for 54 years. His specialties were in regulatory Licensing, Environmental Law, and Condemnation. After serving in Vietnam, in 1970 he joined Crosby, Guenzel LLP, where he spent the majority of his career. In 2019 he joined the Johnson Flodman Guenzel & Widger LLP.

Steve was president of Nebraska State Bar Foundation and on its Board of Directors, was active in the Nebraska Bar Association, and also served on the Board of Directors of the Lincoln Bar Association. In addition to his law career, Steve was the past president of Tifereth Israel Synagogue and of the Jewish Federation in Lincoln, NE.

Memorials may be made to Tifereth Israel Synagogue. Condolences: www.bmlfh.com

BIRTH

MAEL ASPEN ECHEVARRIA LEWIS

Dr. Travis Lewis and Dr. Emily Echevarria of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, announce the Feb. 12, 2024, birth of their son, Mael Aspen Echevarria Lewis.

He has a sister, Sierra Rose Echevarria Lewis, age two. Grandparents are Lisa Lewis and the late Denny Lewis of Elkhorn, NE; Susan Feuerstein of Beacon, NY; and George Echevarria of Pleasantvile, NY.

His great-grandmother is Irene “Missy” Feuerstein of New York City, NY.

ORGANIZATIONS

B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS

The award-winning B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS speaker program currently meets Wednesdays via Zoom from noon to 1 p.m. Please watch our email for specific information concerning its thought-provoking, informative list of speakers. To be placed on the email list, contact Breadbreakers chair at gary.javitch@gmail.com

What stronger anti-drug message is there?

For more information call: 1-800-648-4444 http://www.prevlink.org

NEBRASKA STATEWIDE CLASSIFIEDS

ANNOUNCEMENT

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

HELLO NEBRASKA! Introducing www.nepublicnotices.com, a new public notice website presented as a public service by all Nebraska newspapers. Free access, fully searchable – because democracy depends upon open government and your right to know.

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PLAN TO attend Old West Days and the Nebraska Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Valentine on April 26 & 27, 2024.

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PREPARE FOR power outages today with a Generac Home Standby Generator. Act now to receive a FREE 5-Year warranty with qualifying purchase. Call 1-402-899-2584 today to schedule a free quote. It’s not just a generator. It’s a power move.

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DOES YOUR basement or crawl space need some attention? Call Thrasher Foundation Repair! A permanent solution for waterproofing, failing foundations, sinking concrete and nasty crawl spaces. FREE Inspection & Same Day Estimate. $250 off ANY project with code GET250. Call 1-844-958-3431.