April 28, 2023

The Jewish Press

Teen Leadership Award

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT

Jewish Press Editor

The Jewish Federation of Omaha is pleased to announce this year’s Teen Leadership honorees: they are Lauren Dolson, daughter of Racquel and Thomas Dolson and Alex Kugler, son of Lance and Traci Kugler.

The Robert and Ellen Gordman Jewish Teen Leadership Award annually honors Jewish teens who have demonstrated leadership ability in the Omaha Jewish community. Professionals and lay leadership of the Federation, its agencies, the JFO Foundation and synagogues can nominate high school students who have contributed to strengthening an organization or organizations and developing future leaders.

Among the criteria are the ability to develop future leadership among peers, a willingness to accept major responsibilities and see them through to conclusion, and the ability to be a positive role model. Every year, up to two teens are selected, and each receives a $1,000 stipend to participate in their choice of a convention, conclave, or summer camp under Jewish auspices or a recognized Israel experience.

Lauren was a Leon Fellman Emerging Leader Award recipient in 2019 and the See Teen Leadership Award page 3

Joan K. Marcus to receive Autism Center award

HOWARD K. MARCUS

The Autism Center of Nebraska has named Joan K. Marcus as the 2023 recipient of the John T. Clark Award –the organization’s highest honor. She will receive the Clark Award April 28 during ACN’s “Hats Off” gala. The award recognizes individuals who have supported the Nebraska disability community in extraordinary ways.

REGULARS

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Life cycles 11

Marcus, who for decades has been a tireless advocate for the rights and dignity of people with disabilities in Nebraska, is the mother of an adult with disabilities.

“When my daughter, Elaine, was diagnosed in 1966 with what was

then known as ‘mental retardation,’ my husband, Milton, and I vowed that she would never live in an institution,” she said.

That vow proved difficult to keep.

“It became obvious to me that it would take work to keep Elaine and other people with disabilities in our community,” Marcus said. “I was See Joan Marcus page 2

Remembering Bob Newman

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMPWRIGHT

Jewish Press Editor

Bob Newman was a man who led by example, his family remembers. He didn’t do his volunteer work at the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Federation of Omaha for recognition, he did it because it was important. He was religious about this work, and considered it his obligation to the community.

Edwin Robert “Bob” Newman, age 93, passed away peacefully on Feb. 3, 2023, surrounded by family. He was born Feb. 5, 1929, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Jule M. and Esther K. Newman. He graduated from Omaha Central High School in 1946. He earned a Bachelor of Civil Engineering at Stanford University in 1950.

Bob’s interests were varied: combining the intellectual and the artistic, where math and engineering coexisted with a love of music and museums. In his 80s he took up the piano again; he gave recitals well into his 90s.

After working as an engineer for a few years in California, in 1951 Bob enlisted in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. After his service, he returned to Omaha to work in the family business, Hinky Dinky grocery stores. Working alongside his father, uncles, and brothers, he helped lead See Bob Newman page 11

Lincoln Jewish Community celebrates Pesach Page 2

New to the Kripke-Veret Collection Page 4 the party is complicated. Page

Alex Kugler and Lauren Dolson

Joan K Marcus

Bob Newman

Lincoln Jewish Community celebrates Pesach

SARAH KELEN

On Thursday, April 6, members of Lincoln’s Tifereth Israel Synagogue and South Street Temple (Congregation B’nai Jeshurun), friends from the local community and UNL Hillel came together for a community second night seder. The evening was led by Rabbi Alex Felch, who serves as the spiritual leader for both of Lincoln’s congregations.

In previous years, the two congregations have had traditions of hosting separate congregational seders. In 2020, the pandemic prevented large groups from gathering, and in 2021 the two congregations decided to collaborate on a community-wide seder attended by about 80 people.

This year, over 100 participants filled the room – a great turnout for a small Jewish community.

Seder preparation involved members of both congregations in everything from preparing the kitchen to menu planning and purchasing groceries to cooking. Jessica Elsener lead the kitchen team and brought both her skills as a former professional chef and her love for the Lincoln Jewish community.

Throughout the seder, Rabbi Alex moved from table to table with the microphone, encouraging people to introduce themselves and creating warmth

and ruach even in a large setting. Hillel member Maggie Nielsen took photos thoughout the event to preserve the many happy smiles of families and friends gathered together.

Above: Over 100 members of the Lincoln Jewish Community, including members of Tifereth Israel Synagogue, the South Street Temple, and UNL Hillel, gathered for a community-wide second seder in the Tifereth Israel social hall.

Right: Rabbi Alex Felch (spiritual leader of Lincoln’s South Street Temple and Tifereth Israel Synagogue) leads the Lincoln Jewish community second seder on Thursday, April 6.

Continued from page 1 joined by other parents, and we became a ‘grass roots’ group. This is how I’ve spent the last 58 years of my life. Before his death in 2010, my late husband, Milton, was always supportive of my activities.”

Marcus is the current Autism Center president and has served in many other community leadership positions, including president of the Ollie Webb Center board. She also was president of the Arc of Nebraska – a statewide advocacy group – and chaired that organization’s Governmental Affairs Committee. She was vice chair of the Governor’s Developmental Disabilities Planning Council and served as a registered lobbyist for the Arc of Nebraska. For 25 years, she chaired the ENCOR Region VI Advisory Committee.

Marcus has volunteered in the Omaha Jewish community, always with an emphasis on social justice. At Temple Israel, she was a trustee, chaired the Social Justice Committee and is currently a docent. At Chabad, she served as a pantry worker. And for more than 20 years, she has coordinated monthly lunches for those helped by the Nebraska AIDS Project. That work began at Temple and is now supported by Beth El Synagogue.

A longtime journalist, she was a freelance writer with the Jewish Press for nearly 15 years, producing feature stories for special holiday editions and covering politics for regular editions.

In the wider community, she served on the Omaha Central High School Alumni Committee and chaired the bylaws committee for many years. She is a popular guest speaker at Creighton University on disabilities topics, and has volunteered with the American Red Cross on blood drives and as a disaster-relief worker.

“But my most important job was as a wife to Milton and as a mother to Elaine Susan Marcus and Howard K. Marcus,” she said. “Howard is an advocate for people with disabilities, and his wife, Lisa, joins my family as an advocate.”

Joan K. Marcus’s other honors have included the Caring Hands Award from Chabad in 2017, recognition as a Woman of Wisdom by the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2007, and the Social Justice Award from Temple Israel in 2004.

Teen Leadership Award

Continued from page 1

Omaha Council N’siah (President) from 2022-2023. Also from 2022-23, she was MZ Yoshanah BBG Chapter N’siah (President) and a Regional Coordinating Committee Member.

Alex was the Omaha Council Godol (President) from 20222023, as well as the Mother Chapter AZA Godol (President) and Regional Coordinating Committee Member during the same period. He, too, was a Leon Fellman Emerging Leader Award winner in 2019.

For both Lauren and Alex, that’s the tip of the iceberg.

“Lauren is one of the hardest working leaders I have seen in my time in BBYO,” Jacob Geltzer, BBYO/Teen Program Director, said. “When I first met Lauren, she was this quiet, shy girl looking to meet other Jewish teens in Omaha. As she continued her journey in BBYO, I have seen her grow into this vocal and passionate BBYO leader.”

After her first year as a member in BBYO, Lauren decided she wanted to help improve her chapter and decided to run for the board as VP of Communication. Even with the uncertainty of what BBYO would look like when in-person programming resumed during COVID, Lauren decided she still wanted to make an impact on the chapter and was excited to be elected to this role.

“Just like Lauren,” Jacob said, “Alex Kugler is a great candidate for this award because he is redefining what leadership looks like in BBYO. Since joining BBYO in 8th grade, Alex has understood and been impacted by the mission of BBYO. Because of this impact of BBYO in his life, he works to make sure that mission is fulfilled toward other Jewish teens in Omaha.”

In her role at BBYO, Lauren was able to show off her creativity and successfully promote programs throughout social media to members and prospects. Another method of promoting BBYO and her chapter was her initiative to create a monthly newsletter that was sent out to members, parents, and prospective families. The newsletter celebrated members from the chapter, promoted upcoming programs, and provided information to better explain BBYO from the teens perspective to prospective families. Not only did she make great promotional materials, but she also put in the work to collaborate with her board to set up a system of personally reaching out to teens inviting them to upcoming programs. This was a change from previous years where mass communication was the only method teens and parents had to learn about events. This undertaking, while it seems simple enough, takes a lot of responsibility to manage, continually update, and make changes based on the needs of the board and members. This ranged from one-on-one texts, phone calls, letters and even face to face conversations.

After working to get members to programs, Lauren decided to run for VP of Programming to continue the improvement of her chapter’s programming. During her year in this role, every program planned was intentional and showed our members what programming in BBYO can be. She worked collaboratively with her board to plan these programs and always received input from other members about programs they would like to see. Some of these programs included new member education, sisterhood bonding, and Israel education just to name a few. This collaborative style of leadership is why their chapter has seen such improvement. On the regional level, Lauren made an impact in her roles on steering committees by working to grow registration numbers at convention and planning exciting and impactful programs during these weekends.

Having held a variety of roles in the chapter/council, Lauren was ready to take on the role as president and putting her experiences serving on many different boards in a variety of positions to the test. Her style of leadership has set the bar of what it means to serve in a leadership role at BBYO. She inspires others to run for leadership positions, encourages girls to attend and lead meaningful and fun programs, and cultivates a friendly, inclusive and tightknit group of young women who will be friends for life.

“Lauren is the type of person that everyone wants to be friends with and who wants to be friends with you,” Jacob said. “She can motivate and inspire people to be their best self and always puts the needs of others before her own. She is a hardworking person and a great example of what it means to be a leader in BBYO. Lauren would be a deserving recipient of this award because of the impact she is having on her chapter and her passion to improve BBYO in Omaha.”

As VP of Communications, Alex Kugler was always eager to inform members and prospects about upcoming events and programs and made sure to help coordinate rides for members that couldn’t drive themselves to programs, even if he couldn’t drive them himself yet, he wanted to make sure that everyone in Omaha knew about the programming the chapter was offering and made sure no member or prospect was left out. One of his main accomplishments in this role was helping boost BBYO’s social media presence online and laying the groundwork of what it is today.

“As VP of Programming for two years,” Jacob added, “Alex was constantly improving and expanding our programming capabilities as a chapter and council. Planning Top Golf recruitment nights, creating goodie bags for staff at RBJH, and sports tournament programs, just to name a few. After the months of COVID lock-down, as soon as in-person programming returned, Alex wanted to make sure the programs that were planned were things you can’t just do over Zoom or didn’t include just sitting in a room and talking for an hour--which was a majority of what our weekly programs were. Because of this new effort in programing, attendance at weekly programs increased and the satisfaction of our members had never been higher. Alex always looked forward to planning more programs and was even more excited when he received ideas from the members. He believes programs should be planned based on what the members want, rather than what he wants. This type of selfless leadership is what makes Alex such a great leader and why he receives so much respect from his friends.”

As President this past year, Alex came into the role with a big challenge ahead of him. A majority of the membership in 2021-22 was our senior class and after they graduated, the chapter needed to focus on recruiting new members to fill the membership gap. He has worked closely with the rest of his board to set up a plan to recruit new members into BBYO. His plan involved consistent outreach, and intentional hosting when prospects attended events so that they felt comfortable and welcomed into the chapter.

“If you ask anyone in the chapter, council, or even region about Alex,” Jacob said, “they will say the same thing: he is a kind, thoughtful and passionate member and leader. He is always encouraging his fellow board members to do more and think big. He alway puts the interests of the members first. Alex wants to make sure the future of BBYO in Omaha is strong and is willing to put in the work and take on any role needed to ensure this happens.”

Trade scholarships available for the 2023-24 academic year

An anonymous donor in our community has created two trade school and/or cosmetology school scholarship opportunities, up to $5,000 each, to go towards the 2023-24 academic year.

Not every student who advances into higher education signs up for a four-year curriculum. Some high school graduates seek job training that lasts a year or two and then places them in the workforce. Such opportunities include,

but are not restricted to: Information Technology, Construction, Industrial, Transportation and Horticulture. It is not too late to apply for this upcoming school year!

Qualified students who have unmet needs regarding tuition for either a two-year trade school program or a trade certificate program can contact the Jewish Press at avande kamp@jewishomaha.org or jpress@jewishomaha.org for more information.

New to the Kripke-Veret Collection

CD Rates

SHIRLY BANNER

JFO Library Specialist

YOUNG ADULT:

The Dreyfus Affair by Galila RonFeder-Amit (The Time Tunnel series #2)

Join Dan and Sharon for a new adventure in faraway France through their magical time tunnel. This time, they’ve got a mysterious stranger along for the ride. See if YOU can figure out who’s following them... before they do.

ADULT:

Passover Haggadah by Jordan B. Gorfinkel

Koren Publishers is proud to announce the publication of the world’s first Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel, conceived and written by acclaimed Batman comics creator and Jewish cartoonist Jordan B. Gorfinkel, and illustrated in gorgeous color by Israeli artist Erez Zadok. The Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel integrates a brand-new, modern translation into sophisticated

and super-fun sequential art that brings the epic story to life. The result of extensive historical and linguistic research, every gorgeous panel imbues the classic narrative with renewed relevance and excitement. The graphic novel pages are presented alongside the unabridged, traditional Seder service text, in Hebrew and transliteration, and accompanied by how to instructional cartoons depicting all of the rituals, as celebrated every year for the last 4000 years in Jewish homes around the world. This historic publication will appeal to family members and guests of multiple generations and diverse backgrounds. After all, aspirational stories of heroes, liberation and hope are universal. And there s no more universal medium for telling heroic stories, one that bridges all cultures, faiths and languages, than the sequential art form of the graphic novel, itself a Jewish innovation!

Koren Tanakh Novel: Esther by Jordan B. Gorfinkel

Experience all the suspense, intrigue, redemption and humor that has captivated generations of Purim holiday celebrants as the classic tale comes to life in Esther, the Graphic Novel. The creative team of writer/producer Jordan B. Gorfinkel (Batman, Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel) and Israeli illustrator Yael Nathan (Star Wars) fully immerses you in the vivid world of Shushan, royal court of Ancient Persia. Witness the courage and cleverness of Esther, the piety and political acumen of Mordekhai, the megalomania and malice of Haman, the indulgence and impulsiveness of King Ahashverosh-all in a sumptuous visual presentation worthy of a Persian feast. Esther, the Graphic Novel contains the complete unabridged Hebrew text of Megillat Esther, and is suitable for use on Purim and for year-round study and enjoyment. Recommended for adults and older youth.

UK’s Liberal and Reform movements merge as Progressive Judaism

TOBY AXELROD

JTA

In a major development for British Jewry, the United Kingdom’s Liberal and Reform Jewish movements are joining to create a unified Progressive Judaism movement after working separately for more than 120 years.

The historic project, a culmination of decades of discussions and rapprochement, is to be led by the Reform movement’s newly-appointed CEO, Rabbi Josh Levy — who is leaving his role as principal rabbi of Alyth (or the North Western Reform Synagogue) in London — and Liberal Judaism CEO Rabbi Charley Baginsky.

The union was made possible in part by the decision of the U.K. Reform movement in 2015 to accept patrilineal Jews — or Jews with a Jewish father but not a Jewish mother — as full members of communities. That American model is embraced by the Liberal movement, but most European Reform organizations require patrilineal Jews to convert to become full members of their communities.

Today, the two British movements share their “welcome of mixed faith families and fully egalitarian services,” Baginsky wrote in a statement on Tuesday. “We are as one on everything from campaigning for same-sex marriage to training rabbis and educators, to offering provision for students and young people.”

“’What is the difference between Liberal and Reform Judaism has therefore become a question that our rabbis, cantors, lay leaders and even PR people

struggle to answer,” Baginsky and Levy wrote in an op-ed in the U.K. Jewish News on Tuesday.

with synagogues in the U.K. There are more than 80 Progressive communities reaching all parts of the country. Rabbis

Paul Langsford, co-chair of the Reform movement, assured members of both groups that “no one will be asked to change their synagogue name, their Reform identity, or change their prayerbook.” He added that input from members was welcome and would help shape future policies.

The London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research reported that, as of 2021, there were 271,327 self-identified Jews living in England and Wales, up from 265,073 in 2011 and 259,927 in 2001. They make up 0.46% of the total population of both countries.

According to today’s press statement, Progressive Jews will together make up around 30% of those who are affiliated

for both movements are trained at the London-based Leo Baeck College.

The Reform and Liberal movements held talks about unifying as far back as the 1970s and 1980s. They formed an alliance some ten years ago on such matters as student chaplaincy and social justice.

“Our lay leadership and clergy are clear that the future for Progressive Judaism is to have one shared movement to represent all of Britain’s Progressive Jews,” Langsford and Ruth Seager, chair of Liberal Judaism, said in a joint statement.

“Our movements have made a huge impact on the development of the Jewish and wider world, but there is much more to do, and we believe this can be better achieved together.”

Rabbis Charley Baginsky, left, and Josh Levy are the two leaders of the U.K.’s new Progressive Judaism movement. Credit: Liberal Judaism

Congratulations to Joe Kirshenbaum

On April 1, Joe Kirshenbaum, son of Adam and Nikki Kirshenbaum, was initiated into the Black Masque Chapter of the Mortar Board National College Senior Honor Society at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The honor is in recognition of distinguished ability and achievement in scholarship, leadership and service.

The Tenth Man

MURPHY SCOTT WULFGAR

From April 27 through May 7, the Brigit Saint Brigit Theatre Company presents Paddy Chayefsky’s play The Tenth Man at B’nai Israel Synagogue.

taining the audience, provoking thought, and illuminating the beauty inherent in Jewish culture.

Joe Kirshenbaum

Mortar Board’s Mission is to provide opportunities for continued leadership development, promote service to colleges and universities and encourage lifelong contributions to the global community. Its Motto: Pi Sigma Alpha, letters that correspond to three Greek words representing the Ideals of Mortar Board: scholarship, service and leadership. A mortarboard, an ancient symbol of honor and distinction, represents the organization. Many early scholars adopted the clerical or monastic robes as a symbol, illustrating their devotion to learning.

Mortar Board was established at UNL in 1920 and is the only national senior honor society on the campus. Each Spring, new members are tapped into the Black Masque chapter. Mazal tov to Joe Kirshenbaum!

TO SUBMIT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press at jpress@jewishomaha.org; or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154. Readers can also submit announcements -- births, b’nai mitzvahs, engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies or obituaries -- online at www.omahajew ishpress.com/site/forms/. Deadlines are normally nine days prior to publication, on Wednesdays, 9 a.m. Please check the Jewish Press, for notices of early deadlines.

A small group of Orthodox Jews in 1969 feverishly attempt to gather a minyan (quorum of ten) for their morning prayers. One member arrives with their granddaughter in tow, claiming she has been possessed by a dybbuk (malevolent spirit). Another desperately recruits a nonbelieving Jewish passerby with a profound hangover off the street. What ensues is a hysterically funny and quietly profound setting to have their faith—and skepticism—tested. The Tenth Man is adapted from The Dybbuk by S. Ansky

The show featurs Jeremy Earl, Harry Laack, Jason Levering, Steve Miller, Ben Pearson, Lucas Perez-Leahy, Chris Scott, David Sindelar, Katt Walsh, Murphy Scott Wulfgar, and Jack Zerbe.

In The Tenth Man, Paddy Chayefsky (Network, Altered States, Marty) achieves the remarkable task of being laugh-out-loud funny while pondering the nature of faith within a diverse community of beliefs—all without levying judgment. No small feat. He cloaks deeper themes in comedic naturalism, enter-

The play highlights poetic elements of mysticism that modern day Jews might find unfamiliar and offers non-Jewish patrons a delightful view into the vibrancy and banter alive within the “big tent” of synagogue life.

Another “immersive” BSB production, The Tenth Man will be performed at B’nai Israel Synagogue and Living History Museum in Council Bluffs, IA. The setting becomes another character — fully alive and realized — transporting (not encroaching upon) the audience, more deeply connecting them to the characters, emotions, and humor of the play.

B’nai Israel Living History Synagogue is located at 618 Mynster Street, Council Bluffs, IA.

Thursday and Saturday, showtimes are at 7:30 p.m., on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. and 2 p.m.

General Admission is $35, and $30 for students/65+/Military; there is a Pay-What-You-Can option available on Thursdays. For more information about the play or about Brigit St. Brigit Theatre, please visit www.bsbtheatre.com or contact Murphy Scott Wulfgar at mswulfgar@bsbtheatre.com

Omaha Community Playhouse presents Pretty Fire

A profound celebration of life and the Black experience.

Charlayne Woodard takes us on an intimate and powerful journey through five autobiographical vignettes, each capturing different moments of her life growing up as a rambunctious, imaginative child in the 50s and 60s. From her loving family home in upstate New York, to her first experience with racism at her grandmother’s house in Georgia, Pretty Fire is a beautiful one-woman celebration of life, love and family, even in the face of adversity.

This one-woman show is played by TammyRa’ who won the Fonda/ McGuire award for her role as Celie in The Color Purple at the Omaha Community Playhouse in 2022.

The production runs at OCP in the Howard Drew Theatre from April 28 –May 21, 2023. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the OCP Box office at 6915 Cass St., calling the OCP Box Office at 402.553.0800, or visiting omahaplayhouse.com

Disclaimer: Contains adult content and language.

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

IN THE NEWS

The Old Avoca Schoolhouse in Avoca, Nebraska will be streaming three online “Mozart Family Tunes Workshops” for soprano recorder players, alto recorder players, fiddlers, violists, cellists, bassist, and mandolinists.

The Workshops will be on Tuesday, June 6, 7 p.m., Central Time, Wednesday, June 7, 10 a.m., Central Time, and Friday, June 9, 7 p.m., Central Time. Different tunes will be played at each session.

During these workshops, we will play and discuss tunes composed by Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Franz Zaver Wolfgang Mozart.

We will read, play, and discuss various survival skills for these kinds of pieces. A treble clef version of the sheet music for the tunes being played will be displayed on the screen during the workshop.

Just as in all of the collections in the Tunes for Two series these books contain the same tunes in the same keys making it easy for you to play with a friend playing another instrument.

There is limited enrollment, and pre-registration is required. The cost for each workshop is $10. The cost of each optional book is $15 (includes shipping if ordered with workshop registration).

For more information, and to register: https://greenblatt andseay.com/workshops_mozart_family.shtml

INFORMATION

ANTISEMITIC/HATE INCIDENTS

If you encounter an antisemitic or other hate incident, you are not alone. Your first call should be to the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) in Omaha at 402.334.6572, or email JCRCreporting@ jewishomaha.org. If you perceive an imminent threat, call 911, and text Safety & Security Manager James Donahue at 402.213.1658.

Above and below: Who said chocolate isn’t good for you? During our annual chocolate Seder on April 10, the BBYO teens answered the ‘fifth’ question: Chocolate and Matzah indeed make a great combination.

SP O TLIGHT

PHOTOS FROM RECENT JEWISH COMMUNITY EVENTS

SUBMIT A PHOTO: Have a photo of a recent Jewish Community event you would like to submit? Email the image and a suggested caption to: avandekamp@jewishomaha.org

GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY

Above and right: The joy of furry friends. RBJH is a petfriendly place indeed. Two staff bring their pups almost daily – Christina Caniglia’s new pup, a Bernese Mountain Dog called Appa, and Shelley Tucker’s sweet Stewie, a Pug. These two cuties are the official mascots of RBJH. Also, we have several Pet Therapy organizations visiting throughout the month, plus other staff and family members will escort their pooch throughout the week.

learning about

Above: The Lincoln Hillel celebrated the first night’s Seder with Chabad on campus at UNL.

Fifty women participated in the Temple Israel Women’s retreat, April 1415. Above: Stephanie Shipper and Lourdes Secola; below: Mandie Mara and Tori Haussler with Rabbi Deana Berezin; Abby Kutler and Kris Faier; bottom: Mindi Marburg and Adrianna Benton.

Left and below: BESTT and Torah Tots enjoy

Passover!

Above: Ben and Nora, grandchildren of Mary Sue and Alex Grossman, enjoying their matza (Ben’s with corned beef!)

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.

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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 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.

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The Editor may edit letters for content and space restrictions. Letters may be published without giving an opposing view. Information shall be verified before printing. All letters must be signed by the writer. The Jewish Press will not publish letters that appear to be part of an organized campaign, nor letters copied from the Internet. No letters should be published from candidates running for office, but others may write on their behalf.

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The need for chaos

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT

Jewish Press Editor

There are specific reasons why I choose to spend my Sunday mornings in a synagogue classroom. For one, it keeps me humble. Our youngest congregants are honest, question almost everything I say and never fail to remind me I am not half as cool as I think I am. But, you know, in a nice way.

The second reason is the happy chaos they bring. This is a good thing: we do art projects in that room, and things get messy. No need to refrain from talking or singing your way through. Nobody has to stay in their seat for long, and it’s perfectly okay to spill just about anything, we’re not overly careful. In art class, you let your hair down and you only get corrected if you say something mean. As long as we treat each other nice, pretty much everything is allowed—it’s how we create the ambiance we need. Plus, I am a big believer that kids need at least one classroom in their life where they can relax and be noisy. A space where they can talk non-stop and make a mess.

As adults, we tend to be uncomfortable with messes. We like things clean, organized, buttoned up and labeled correctly. Everything has a place and a time, and if we break the rules, we feel instant guilt. We judge ourselves and each other, we remind our friends and family how quirky they are when they do something that’s unconventional. We live under the wrong assumption that to be grown up means not doing anything weird or crazy.

I am not promoting chaos across the board— don’t take this the wrong way. I do believe in a cer-

Playing the Shul

I’ve been doing theatre for 30 years. As it turns out, I’ve been Jewish a lot longer. Who knew?

tain level of order. However, from time to time we need to remember what it’s like to be a kid, and act accordingly. Embrace the mess, and allow some noise into our lives. Let your kids eat ice cream for dinner and join them while you’re at it. Stay up all night and really look at the stars. Watch something really atrocious on television and admit out loud you actually enjoyed it. Do not fold that laundry; it will still be there tomorrow. Don’t you ever get sick of all the rules?

The very first part of Genesis suggests that “the starting point of our world was chaos,” rabbi Marcelo Bronstein wrote. “And just as darkness anticipates light, chaos is both a necessary precursor to and a part of life. ( learning.com)

That chaos is a part of life, we know: these past years have taught us what it means to expect the unexpected, to really have no control, to be immersed in a chaos not of our own making. As a whole, we didn’t do too well. Frankly, many of us are still picking up the pieces.

Bronstein continued:

“Yes, we have void, and yes, we have chaos. Yes, we have emptiness, anxiety, confusion, etc. And at the same time we also have the winds of G-d hovering over us: winds of hope, resilience, courage, vision and creativity.”

I am not saying there is a specific divine purpose to COVID-19. I don’t buy that G-d sends us plagues just to teach us a lesson; those lessons have always been there to begin with.

But, I’m not a rabbi, so what do I know? I do believe that if we allow some chaos into our lives now and then, we can better learn to deal with unplanned, unprogrammed life. We can learn that chaos is not necessarily good or bad, sometimes it just is. It means we have to come up with solutions, we have to think on our feet, we have to roll with the tide and deal with what life throws at us the

It doesn’t mean we have to enjoy it. To be honest, some of us won’t, but we do need to remind ourselves that we can handle a lot more than we think we can.

I’m always a little late to the party. This is a recurring theme in my life. As the theatre I helped create and run celebrates three decades, I’ve had friends, colleagues, and the audience ask me why my work has focused, more and more, on Jewish material over the last ten years. And, until recently, I hadn’t really had a clear answer.

in the other, describing a powerful cultural identity. I see that while my loving parents attempted to keep religion out of our home, it was impossible to scrub it clean of culture or, more accurately, the influence of cultural identity.

MURPHY SCOTT WULFGAR Guest Editorial

I am directing and acting in Paddy Chayefsky’s little known The Tenth Man opening at the end of April, set in 1969 in a small orthodox community in New York—a part of the world I grew up in and spent the most formative years of my life. I have directed and acted in many Jewish-centered plays, but none are steeped in the culture as richly as this. And it has been a delight.

I wasn’t raised to see myself as Jewish—or anything, for that matter—but a convergence of events proved to be the catalyst for a personal and artistic re-alignment that began when my father was diagnosed as having Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB). He was heartbreakingly lost a good deal of the time, and more tragically, lost a great deal of himself to the desolation of that disease.

The one thing he never lost, however, was his identity as a Jew. As his memories of my childhood and the details of our immediate family’s journey faded, his life growing up a Jew in Brooklyn, NY became more vivid. They became his anchor to reality. This was a revelation to me because he and my lapsed-Catholic mother made a pact to raise all their children without a shred of religion in our home until we were old enough to understand and make those choices for ourselves. Theirs was a Romeo & Juliet story. Two families that didn’t get along or approve of their “mixed” romance in early 1960’s New Jersey.

In hindsight, I see how this effort to keep things from me in turn gave me the best seat in the house to understand the duality of that word: Jewish. In one hand prescribing a set of religious beliefs and

Never setting foot in church or temple, we became uninformed spectators to Easter and Passover or Christmas and Hanukkah. We had no context for any of this diversity. We merely acted as hungry beneficiaries of gifts and toys and treats. However, the language, humor, and sense of community seeped into me—like any budding artist— effortlessly, like water into a sponge.

The irony here, artistically, is that my taste in humor and art, cinema and storytelling, came via my lapsed-Catholic mother. Go figure. My dad and older brothers were busy watching the NY Mets, NY Giants, or NY Rangers while I was at my mother’s hip watching Steven Spielberg, Neil Simon, Mel Brooks, Carl (and Rob) Reiner, Billy Crystal, Rod Serling, and anything involving the incomparable Gene Wilder; or listening to Neil Diamond and Barry Manilow. These are the artists who shaped my world. Within their respective intellects emerged the humor and active interest in thought that my mother prized. I now recognize these themes as distinctly and delightfully Jewish. The irrepressible sparkle of subversion I see coursing through the veins of my own work.

Fast forward to the summer 2016, I hit the pause button on my acting career to help take care of my father. I am encouraged to apply for a job at the (now) JCRC office in the Jewish Community Center, to which I respond, “Well, I’m not really Jewish.” Still, I go, and much to my surprise, I get hired.

Then the world explodes. The 2016 election divides the country like nothing I’ve seen before, Charlottesville and “Jews will not replace us,” antisemitism surges, anti-immigrant violence resurfaces, and on and on. I also make new friends— and new family. For the first time, I allow who I am to not only influence my art but also begin to guide it. In 2018, I choose Arthur Miller’s Incident at Vichy not just because it is a Jewish story, but because the lessons of the Shoah seem so utterly relevant to what’s happening at the border with ICE raids and children detainees. In 2020, I choose Frank CottrellBoyce’s God on Trial, going deeper into the themes

of the Holocaust as the natural evolution of Miller’s work and the notion that faith seems intrinsically tied to political identity.

But the further I explore the ideas that matter to me, the more deeply I relate to myself as a Jewish person. Not what that means to other people (or even other Jews) but what that means to me. And this is the thesis (if you can find one here): the most refreshing aspect of Jewish culture, locally, is acceptance of diversity. The idea that what makes Jews beautiful is not conformity to a single doctrine or set of beliefs, but quite the opposite.

Here I am, an atheist Jew directing a comedy about a group of Orthodox Jews, in the sanctuary of an old conservative synagogue and I could not have more support and encouragement from the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews, who have been helping put this play together. For someone who never set foot in temple, I couldn’t be more at home here. I chose The Tenth Man because it is a celebration of Jewish culture and the humor that shaped me (and many others). I also hope to welcome non-Jews, as well, sharing in laughter and love, showing how much we all have in common.

In an effort to be authentic—the hallmark of any good comedy—we include more Yiddish expressions and Hebrew passages every night and I find myself, miraculously, the source of some of these suggestions. Every time another Yiddish expression surprisingly pops out of my mouth, I don’t know if it came from my bubbe or zayde, my father (or mother for that matter), the neighborhood I grew up in, or Gene Wilder in the The Frisco Kid. What’s more important is the perspective that it doesn’t much matter. It’s in there. As a dear friend recently told me, it’s in my DNA. Literally. And all those beautiful strands add up to... me.

Credit: Tia Monto, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

For theatergoers at Broadway’s Jewish shows, attendance is a form of witness

ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL

JTA

Jewish stories have had top billing on Broadway this season — and Jewish audiences have been flocking to the theater.

Audiences have lined up to see Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt, the multigenerational saga of a Jewish family in Vienna, and the devastating consequences of the Holocaust upon its ranks. They have packed the house for Parade, a musical retelling of the infamous antisemitic show trial and subsequent lynching of Leo Frank in Marietta, Georgia, in 1915. And just off Broadway, The Wanderers (which closed April 2) invited us into the slowly disintegrating marriage of two secular Jews born to mothers who dramatically left the Satmar sect of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, a show replete with intergenerational trauma and a pervasive sense of ennui.

None of these shows offers a particularly lighthearted evening at the theater. So why have they proven so popular?

Critics have penned countless reviews of the three plays, analyzing the quality of the productions, the scripts, scores, performances of principal actors, set and design. But for our new book exploring what audiences learn about Judaism from Jewish cultural arts, my colleague Sharon Avni and I have been interviewing audience members after seeing Leopoldstadt Parade and The Wanderers. We are interested in turning the spotlight away from the stage and onto the seats: What do audiences make of all this? What do they learn?

Take Leopoldstadt, for example, a drama so full of characters that when it left London for its Broadway run the production team added a family tree to the Playbill so that theatergoers could follow along. Leopoldstadt offers its audience a whistlestop introduction to modern European Jewish history. In somewhat pedantic fashion, the family debates issues of the day that include Zionism, art, philosophy, intermarriage and, in a searing final scene, the memory of the Holocaust.

For some of the theatergoers that we interviewed, Leopoldstadt was powerful precisely because it packed so much Jewish history into its two-hour run time. It offered a basic literacy course in European Judaism, one they thought everyone needed to learn. Others, however, thought that this primer of Jewish history was really written for novice audiences — perhaps nonJews, or assimilated Jews with half-remembered Jewish heritage, like Stoppard himself. “I don’t know who this play is for,” one in-

terviewee told us. “But it’s not me. I know all this already.” Other interviewees thought the power of Leopoldstadt lay not in its history lessons, but in its ability to use the past to illuminate contemporary realities. I spoke at length with a woman who had been struggling with antisemitism at work. Some of her colleagues had been sharing social media posts filled with lazy caricatures of Jews as avaricious capitalists. Upon seeing Leopoldstadt, she realized that these vile messages mirrored Nazi rhetoric in the 1930s, convincing her that antisemitism in contemporary America had reached just as dangerous a threshold as beheld European Jews on the eve of the Shoah.

What we ultimately discovered, however, was that audience perceptions of the Jewish themes and characters in these productions were as varied as audiences themselves. Inevitably, they tell us more about the individual than the performance. Yet the fact that American Jews have flocked to these three shows — a secular pilgrimage of sorts — also illustrates the power and the peril of public Jewish storytelling. For audience members at Leopoldstadt and Parade, especially, attending these performances was not merely an entertaining evening at the theater. It was a form of witnessing. There was very little to be surprised by in these plays, after all. The inevitable happens: The Holocaust destroys Jewish life in Europe, Leo Frank is convicted and lynched. Jewish audiences know to expect this. They know there will be no happy ending. In the secular cultural equivalent to saying Kaddish for the dead, Jewish audiences perform their respect to Jewish memory by showing up, and by paying hundreds of dollars for the good seats.

We heard similar sentiments about the prescience of history to alert us to the specter of antisemitism today from audiences who saw Parade. Recalling a scene where the cast members wave Confederate flags during the titular parade celebrating Confederate Memorial Day, Jewish audiences recalled feeling especially attuned to Jewish precarity when the theater burst into applause at the end of the musical number. “Why were we clapping Confederate flags?” one of our interviewees said. “I’ve lived in the South, and as a Jew I know that when you see Confederate flags it is not a safe space for us.”

Parade dramatizes the popular frenzy that surrounded the trial of Leo Frank, a Yankee as well as a Jew, who was scapegoated for the murder of a young Southern girl. Jewish audience members that we interviewed told us that the play powerfully illustrated how crowds could be manipulated into demonizing minorities, comparing the situation in early 20th century Marietta to the alt-right of today, and the rise of antisemitism in contemporary America.

The peril of these performances, however, is that audiences learn little about antisemitism in reality. The victims of the Nazis and the Southern Jews of Marietta would tell us that they could never have predicted what was to happen. Yet in Parade and Leopoldstadt audiences are asked to grapple with the naivete of characters who believe that everything will be all right, even as audiences themselves know that it will not. By learning Jewish history on Broadway, audiences are paradoxically able to distance themselves from it, simply by knowing too much.

In the final scene of Leopoldstadt, Leo, the character loosely based on Stoppard himself, is berated by a long-lost relative for his ignorance of his family’s story. “You live as if without history,” the relative tells Leo. “As if you throw no shadow behind you.” Audiences, at that moment, are invited to pat themselves on the back for coming to see the show, and for choosing to acknowledge the shadows of their own Jewish histories. The cold hard reality, however, is that a shadow can only ever be a fuzzy outline of the truth.

Laura Yares is an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Michigan State University. She is the author of Jewish Sunday Schools: Teaching Religion in Nineteenth Century America (NYU Press, 2023).

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.

Credit: ©Playbill Inc./JTA illustration by Mollie Suss

Synagogues

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

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

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: Renee Corcoran, Scott Friedman, Rick Katelman, Janie Kulakofsky, Howard Kutler, Carole and Wayne Lainof, Beth Moshman, Mary-Beth Muskin, Debbie Salomon and Sissy Silber. Handicap Accessible.

B’NAI ISRAEL BETH EL

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: Nebraska AIDS Project Lunch 11:30 a.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. at Beth El & Live Stream.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m. with guest speaker JFO CEO Bob Goldberg at Beth El & Live Stream; Jr. Congregation (Grades 3-7), 10 a.m.; Havdalah, 8:55 p.m. Zoom Only.

SUNDAY: BESTT (Grades 3-7), 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10 a.m.; Third Grade Siddur Celebration, 11 a.m.; Dinner at the Stephen Center, 5 p.m.; Trivia Night, 5:30 p.m. at St. Luke.

TUESDAY: Pirkei Avot, 11:30 a.m. with Rabbi Abraham.

WEDNESDAY: BESTT (Grades 3-7), 4 p.m.; Hebrew High (Grades 8-12), 6 p.m.

FRIDAY-May 5: Graduation & Teacher Appreciation Shabbat 5 p.m. Pre-Neg; Kabbalat Shabbat 6 p.m. at Beth El & Live Stream.

SATURDAY-May 6: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Jr. Congregation (Grades 3-7), 10 a.m.; Havdalah, 9:05 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, 7:30 p.m.; Candlelighting, 7:53 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:45 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:40 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity 8:10 p.m.; Havdalah, 8:56 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:10 p.m.

MONDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:10 p.m.

TUESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:10 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:10 p.m.

THURSDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Character Development 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi

Ari; Mincha/Ma’ariv 8:10 p.m.; Parsha Class 8:30 p.m.

FRIDAY-May 5: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:30 p.m.; Candlelighting, 8:08 p.m.

SATURDAY-May 6: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat 10:45 a.m.; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 8 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity, 8:30 p.m.; Havdalah, 9:13 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, 8 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 9:04 p.m.

SUNDAY: Sunday Morning Wraps: Video Presentation, 9-9:30 a.m. and Breakfast, 9:45 a.m.

MONDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Personal Parsha, 9:30 a.m.; Intermediate Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Parsha Reading, 6 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

TUESDAY: Shacharit 8 a.m.; Introductory Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 6 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.; 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-May 5: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 5:45 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ocha bad.com/Lechayim; Candlelighting, 8:07 p.m.

SATURDAY-May 6: Shacharit 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 9:12 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: Omer Day 22; Jacob Bowers Bar Mitzvah and Kabbalat Shabbat Service with Rabbi Alex and Jacob Bowers, 7 p.m. at TI; Oneg host: The Bowers Family; Shabbat Candlelighting, 8:01 p.m.

SATURDAY: Omer Day 23; Jacob Bowers Bar Mitzvah and Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex and Jacob Bowers at TI; Kiddush Lunch sponsored by The Bowers Famiy; No Torah Study; Havdalah, 9:05 p.m.

SUNDAY: Omer Day 24; LJCS Classes, 9:30 a.m.;

Joint Board Meeting, 10:15 a.m. at TI; Men’s Bike/ Coffee Group continues to meet during the winter months, 10:30 a.m. at Rock-N-Joe, just off of 84th and Glynoaks. For more information or questions please email Al Weiss at albertw801@gmail.com; Pickleball, 3-5 p.m. at TI.

MONDAY: Omer Day 25; Mutual Review Committee Meeting, 7 p.m. at SST.

TUESDAY: Omer Day 26

WEDNESDAY: Omer Day 27; LJCS Classes, 4:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: Omer Day 28; Mayor’s Interfaith Breakfast, 7 a.m. at DelRay 817 R Street Lincoln.

FRIDAY-May 5: Omer Day 29; Marin Weisser Bat Mitzvah and Kabbalat Shabbat Service with Rabbi Alex and Marin Weisser and music by the Star City Kochavim, 6:30 p.m. at SST; Oneg host: The Weisser Family; Shabbat Candlelighting, 8:09 p.m.

SATURDAY-May 6: Omer Day 30; Marin Weisser Bat Mitzvah and Shabbat Morning Service 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex and Marin Weisser at TI; Kiddush Lunch sponsored by The Weisser Famiy; No Torah Study; Havdalah 9:14 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 Batsheva Appel, Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin, and Cantor Joanna Alexander

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

SATURDAY: Torah Study 9:15 a.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SUNDAY: Grades PreK-6, 9:30 a.m. In-Person.

WEDNESDAY: Yarn It, 9 a.m. In-Person; Grades 36, 4 p.m.; Grades 9-12, 6 p.m.; Grades 7-8, 6:30 p.m.; Concert of Lights: Youth Education Concert with Scholar-in-Residence Maestro Francesco Lotoro, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY: Thursday Morning Class 10 a.m. with Rabbi Azriel; Concert of Lights with Scholar-in-Residence Maestro Francesco Lotoro, 7 p.m. featuring the Omaha Symphony Orchestra.

FRIDAY-May 5: Drop in Mah Jongg, 9-11 a.m. InPerson; Shabbat Shira Service, 6 p.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SATURDAY-May 6: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. In-Person & Zoom; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. InPerson & Zoom.

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

Barcelona synagogue defaced with anti-Israel graffiti

GABE FRIEDMAN JTA

The Great Synagogue of Barcelona was hit with anti-Israel graffiti ahead of Yom Hashoah, or Israel’s Holocaust remembrance day.

The graffiti found on Monday read: “Free Palestine from the river to the sea. Solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

Vandals also left letters nearby that said Israel commits “genocide against the Palestinian people” and criticized “Catalan elites” for supporting Israel.

Jewish groups around the world criticized the graffiti and said the fact that pro-Palestinian activists targeted a synagogue shows that anti-Zionism is antisemitic, a contention that is disputed.

“Outrageous! We utterly condemn the antisemitic graffiti on the facade of Barcelona’s synagogue,” the European Jewish Congress tweeted. “This graffiti is yet more evidence that anti-Zionism is anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”

Pinchas Goldschmidt, the head of the Conference of European Rabbis, connected the graffiti to Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau’s decision in February to give up its twin city designation with Tel Aviv —

an act he argued has “put the city’s Jewish community in real danger.”

“Every additional case of vandalism and bloodshed as a result of this unfortunate choice will be on her hands,” said Goldschmidt, the former chief rabbi of Moscow who fled Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, in a statement.

Colau had said that Israel is guilty of “apartheid,” as well as “flagrant and systematic violation of human rights.” The Barcelona-Tel Aviv twin city relationship had begun in 1998.

Madrid Mayor José Luís Martínez-Almeida offered to twin his city with Tel Aviv the day after Colau’s announcement.

Some see the phrase “from the river to the sea” as a call to violence for Palestinians. The slogan was coined by the Palestine Liberation Organization beginning with its founding in 1964, claiming a Palestinian state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea and rejecting control by Israel

of any land in the region, including areas controlled by Israel prior to 1967. It later became a popular political slogan used by Palestinians who reject compromise with Israel, including the terror group

Hamas, which calls for the destruction of Israel. Israel observed Yom Hashoah from Monday evening through Tuesday evening.

Anti-Israel graffiti seen on a synagogue in Barcelona, April 17, 2023.

Credit: Comunidad Judía de Barcelona

Life cycles

LINDA R. GORDMAN

Linda R. Gordman passed away on April 17, 2023, at age 82 in Omaha. A private family burial was held on April 18, 2023, at Mount Sinai Cemetery in Omaha, followed by a memorial service at Beth El Synagogue, 14506 California St.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 62 years, Jerry Gordman, and her parents, Reva and Myer Rosenbaum.

She is survived by her son and daugther-in-law, Jeff and Danielle Gordman; daughters and sons-in-law, Randi Gordman and Rand Monteleone and Lisa and Howard Marcus; grandchildren: Sam Lieb, Anna and Jamie Monteleone, and Harper and Zev Gordman; sister and brother-in-law, Carol and Steve Latz; brother and sister-in-law, Michael Rosenbaum and Julie Arnow.

Linda was born in Omaha in 1940, and she attended Omaha Central High School. At age 14 she met Jerry, then 16, who became the love of her life. Following her graduation from Central in 1958, Linda attended the University of Texas at Austin and was a member of Sigma Delta Tau Sorority. After marrying her high school sweetheart Jerry in 1960, the couple moved to Fort Lee, Virginia, where Jerry began his military service and Linda taught sixth grade.

They returned to Omaha the following year. In 1976, Linda and Jerry founded Kalico’s, a specialty clothing store for children and teen girls with locations in Omaha and Kansas City. She oversaw buying for the children’s clothing department and was involved in most other aspects of the business. She and Jerry traveled to New York City on buying trips several times per year, where Linda greatly enjoyed the city’s theater scene, restaurants and culture.

After Kalico’s closed in 1997, Linda completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where she earned a Bachelor of General Studies degree, graduating magna cum laude in 2001. In her later years, she served as a Joslyn Art Museum docent as well as a volunteer at Liberty Elementary School. In her leisure time, she enjoyed travel, playing bridge, attending Omaha arts events and spending time with family and friends.

Memorials may be made to Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, Friedel Jewish Academy, the Beth El Synagogue Education for the Future Fund, or the organization of your choice.

BOB NEWMAN

Continued from page 1

Hinky Dinky to much success. He began as manager in its store planning and construction department, but had numerous different roles during his 22 years with the company. Those roles included director of warehousing, director of maintenance and equipment purchasing, supervisor over non-food merchandising, and director of real estate and finance. He was Chairman of the Board for his final 12 years with the firm.

Bob was particularly passionate about the many innovations Hinky Dinky helped introduce, such as combining grocery stores and department stores. He was very proud of how Hinky Dinky and his family served the local communities beyond simply selling groceries. He felt strongly that Hinky Dinky was a loyal and fair employer. He loved telling stories of the many former employees who started there and went on to great success. At its peak, Hinky Dinky had 18 stores in Omaha, three in Lincoln, four in Des Moines and about 15 in smaller towns. After Hinky Dinky, he earned his law degree from Creighton University in 1979 and practiced patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret law, first as an associate, then as a partner in the law firm of Henderson and Sturm.

After he became a patent attorney, he traveled the country meeting with farmers and inventors about their ideas. Finally he slowed down, and only took the clients he wanted, but he continued to go to the office even during his last month.

Bob was devoted to the idea of Tzedakah, the Jewish moral obligation to justice and philanthropy. The Anti-Defamation League, The Jewish Federation of Omaha, Temple Israel of Omaha, and the Southern Poverty Law Center were close to Bob’s heart. He actively supported, advocated for, and held various leadership roles within these organizations, including president of the AntiDefamation League/Community Relations Committee. He also volunteered for the Mid-America Council of Boy Scouts, Bergan Mercy Hospital and the American Cancer Society, among others.

Bob always fought for the underdog, whether it was in sports or in social programs, and supported refugee work the Jewish community was involved with. He cared deeply about Israel and was impacted to make a difference around antisemitism with the work of the ADL.

Bob loved his hometown of Omaha, the Omaha Jewish community, Temple Israel of Omaha, the JCC of Omaha, Husker football,

golfing, skiing, fishing, playing piano, engaging in heated debates, and telling funny jokes. More than that, his love for family and lifelong friends defined him. He was driven by a huge heart to help the people around him and expressed his love through his genuine actions.

Bob was preceded in death by his mother, Esther K, and his father, Jule M; brother C.M. “Nick” Newman (Raquel); sisters-inlaw Judy Newman and Carolyn Kully Newman; William Kully; Thomas Kully; Louis Horan (Verda).

He is survived by his dear wife of 46 years, Phyllis (née Horan); his three children with ex-wife Barbara Long: Mark Jeffrey Newman, Jody Esther Newman, Betsy Lynn (Jay) Smith; and two children with Phyllis: Maxwell Calvin Newman (Nicole), and Louis Henry Newman; seven grandchildren: Margot, Robert, Emily (Martin), Ava, Oliver, Josephine, and Norah; two younger brothers, James Lloyd (Jane), Murray H (Sharee); step-brother, Robert Kully (Connie); Sandy Kully (Thomas) and Leslie Kully (William); brother-in-law, John Horan (Janice); and sisters-in-law: Anne Runyan (Jerry), Eva Horan, Laura Jacobson (Jack).

Bob truly lived his life to the fullest, and he will be missed. May his memory be for a blessing.

BAR MITZVAH

Jacob Bowers, son of Misty Murphy, and Aaron and Jaysa Bowers, will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah on Friday and Saturday, April 28-29, 2023 at Congregation Tifereth Israel in Lincoln.

Jacob is a seventh grade student at Moore Middle School.

He enjoys playing basketball competitively with the Lincoln East Supreme team. He is also part of the golf team and enjoys practicing karate. Jacob collects Sports and Pokémon cards and enjoys traveling, and spending time with his friends and family.

He has a sister, Morgan, age 21, and a step-sister, Adalyn. Grandparents are Lucy and Kirk Bowers of Lincoln, and Ethel Lamborn of Grand Island.

Great-grandparents are the late Celine “Sally” Abikzir Arenson and Stan Arenson.

MARRIAGE

SHERMAN/OKH

Lyndsi Rae Sherman and Nathan Okh were married on Jan. 21, 2023, at Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage, CA and was officiated by Rabbi Steven Rosenberg.

Lyndsi graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from San Diego State University and is a recruiting manager for the non-profit, Fast Forward. She is the daughter of Randi and Alan Jablin of Scottsdale and Lisa and Dave Sherman of Phoenix, and is the granddaughter of former Omahans, Phyllis and Leonard Friedel, and Barbara and Larry Sherman, all of blessed memory.

Nathan received his Bachelor of Science from UC Davis and is an IT software solutions developer and implementations specialist. He is the son of Stella and Roman Okh of Fremont, CA and the grandson of Mira and Joseph Okh, of blessed memory; and Mira and the late Shmuel Geller, of blessed memory.

The couple met through JDate, honeymooned in Costa Rica, Tulum, Mexico and went on a Caribbean cruise and live in Vista, CA.

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Israel is turning 75. Planning the party is complicated.

ANDREW LAPIN JTA

Like many synagogues have done over time, Congregation Kol Ami in Seattle is partnering with local Israelis to celebrate Israel’s birthday — a big one this year.

But Kol Ami won’t be holding a straightforward celebration for Israel’s 75th. Instead, it’s working with UnXeptable, a group of expat Israeli activists who have been protesting for months against the Israeli government’s plan to overhaul the country’s judiciary, for what they are calling a “family gathering honoring Israel’s democracy.” There, congregants will study Israel’s Declaration of Independence then sign a new copy to “rededicate” it.

“Most cities are just going to do a pareve 75th anniversary of Israel and not recognize the emotional reality of a lot of Israelis right now,” said Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg.

“We have all these people in our communities who are worried about their friends and family, and we’re just going to be folk dancing and eating falafel?” she asked.

Such is the dynamic at play as Israel celebrates a milestone birthday under the shadow of political and cultural turmoil that people on both sides of the judicial reform fight say could change the country’s character forever — and that has altered the relation-

ship between American Jews and Israel.

Long hesitant to weigh in on Israel’s domestic affairs, many American Jewish groups and leaders, including rabbis, spent the past several months openly criticizing the country’s

day feel? For Kinberg, the answer is clear: An uncomplicated party would be “sort of like celebrating the Fourth of July if we’re in the middle of a civil war.”

American Independence Day offers an instructive example for Rabbi Erez Sherman of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, too — but he has come to a different conclusion from Kinberg. He said his community celebrates Yom Haatzmaut the way most Americans mark the Fourth of July — without tailoring it to the current political headwinds.

“Are we going to spend it pointing at every challenge that Congress has?” he asked. “Or are we going to say, ‘This country is unique’?”

brella group for North America’s Jewish federations, which is holding its annual convention in Israel this week — a plan that was set even before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reelected and formed his right-wing government last fall.

right-wing government for its effort to sap the power of the Israeli Supreme Court.

Now, with the judicial legislation on pause, many of those groups turned their attention to Yom Haatzmaut, this year celebrated starting the evening of April 25, and the 75th secular anniversary of Israel’s independence on May 14. Jewish Federations of North America is supporting its 146 local federations in convening “Israel @ 75” programming, while synagogues of all denominations have planned an array of parties, study sessions and special events.

The question facing all of them: With even Israel’s president warning of possible political violence, just how festive can this year’s birth-

Sinai Temple is partnering with several local Jewish organizations, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Pico Union Project and the Jewish Journal, for its weeks-long series of “Israel @ 75” events. Another sponsor is StandWithUs, a pro-Israel advocacy group that is involved in Israel-at75 celebrations in several cities.

Together, the consortium will host concerts, history lectures, art exhibits and special Shabbat services — and even if the complicated present is expected to come up, it won’t be a focus.

“While we can understand challenges, there is also time for celebrations and birthdays,” said Sherman, who oversees Israel programming at his synagogue. “Israel is not perfect, but a world without Israel would be a lot less perfect than it is now.”

The balancing act has hit home for the um-

What’s clear is that American Jews interested in engaging with Israel on its 75th birthday will have no shortage of options, from food festivals, children’s carnivals and concerts to headier fare. Experts on Israel are in high demand, with packed schedules of live and Zoom events offering up seemingly unending choices for people with all levels of familiarity with Israel’s history and politics. For some American Jewish leaders, some of whom have expressed concern about Israel engagement in their communities, the very density and diversity of the offerings is itself a win.

“That’s great that we are in a Jewish community that has so many different forms of expression,” said Rachel Jacoby Rosenfield, executive vice president of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, a think tank that is organizing its own series of Israel-at-75 events that begins with a talk at New York City’s Central Synagogue titled Dispatches from an Anxious Nation

For some Jewish communal organizers, celebrating Israel and discussing its future as a democracy go hand in hand, a dynamic eased by the landmark year and its invitation to hold multiple events.

This article was edited for length. Read the full story at www.omahajewishpress.com.

Magen David Adom has been saving lives since 1930, some 18 years before Israel became a state. We take immense pride in being Israel’s national emergency medical service and in supplying the blood and medical care for the soldiers who have ensured Israel’s existence. Join us in celebrating Israel’s 75th year of independence on Yom HaAtzma’ut.

Support Magen David Adom by donating today at afmda.org/give. Or for further information about giving opportunities, contact 847-509-9802 or midwest@afmda.org.

Israel is celebrating 75 years. Magen David Adom has been there for all of them.

Posters advertise Israel at 75 events across the United States in April 2023. Collage credit: Grace Yagel