See National History Day

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New role for Jennifer Tompkins

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All-Stars Basketball Premiere Sports Camp

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Death and Mourning in Judaism: The role of the community

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JUNE 25, 2021 | 15 TAMMUZ 5781 | VOL. 101 | NO. 36 | CANDLELIGHTING | FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 8:43 P.M.

Remembering Cantor Leo Fettman

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT

Jewish Press Editor Cantor Leo Fettman passed away on April 22 at age 96. He is survived by his wife, Annette; children Jack, Aviva, Renana, and Rachel; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Cantor Fettman was born in Hungary in 1925. In 1944, when he was 19 years old, he and his family were taken to Auschwitz, where most of his family perished. After the end of the war, he immigrated to Canada where he studied at the Maor Hagolah Rabbinical Yeshiva. It was there he was ordained as rabbi and cantor. In 1960, he immigrated to the United States. He met his wife, Annette, in Gary, Indiana. They moved to Madison, Wisconsin where he was a cantor and educator from 1963 until 1975. He was then hired by Beth Israel synagogue, where he served as cantor and Director of Education. He also provided kashrut supervision. “I met Cantor Fettman in 1979 or 1980 at Beth Israel Synagogue after returning home to Omaha after college,” Don Gerber said. “At that time, Cantor Fettman was a vibrant young energetic man who was concerned with bringing “Yiddishkeit” to all that he knew. It did not matter what age you were. From very small children to the elderly, he tried to reach out to all with his warm smile, quick wit, and it goes

See Cantor Leo Fettman page 15

Cantor Leo Fettman

REGULARS

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Beth El returns to in-person programming

Beth El President Ari Riekes congratulates award winners Barry and Stephanie Grossman. LISA MARCUS

Over 100 congregants came together June 11 for Beth El’s Annual Meeting, the first congregation-wide gathering since the pandemic began. The festivities took place out back at Beth El, where the kids took over the playground and the adults enjoyed being together on one of the few evenings in recent memory where the temperature dipped below 90 degrees. “This evening, we celebrate how so many of our congregants chose to continue to be connected at a time when we all really needed one another,” said Beth El President Ari

See Beth El Annual Meeting page 3

National History Day

GABBY BLAIR

Jewish Press Staff Writer In 1974, the History Department at Case Western Reserve, a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, began a history contest based on the science fair model. Students gathered on campus to devote one day to history, presenting projects on a wide array of topics under the year’s announced theme. Over the next few years, the contest expanded into surrounding Midwestern states. The project was incorporated in 1978, and coined the name ‘National History Day.’ Over the years, this grant funded program was joined by state historical organizations nationwide. With the help of the National Endowment for the Humanities in the early 1980s, National History Day (NHD) earned designation as a nonprofit organization. By 1992, NHD

moved its headquarters from Cleveland to the Washington, D.C., area where it now runs multiple educational programs, the largest of which is the ‘National History Day Contest’ for students in grades 6-12. National finals take place each June during a week-long event held at the University of Maryland, College Park. From its humble beginnings in Ohio with just 129 local students, National History Day project Dr. Amy Forss, History Instruc- participation has tor, History Coordinator and Online Lead at Metropolitan Community College grown to well over half a million students hailing from all states and U.S. Territories, today. The annual theme usually includes a phrase ending with “in history. “The theme serves to help frame student’s research and is chosen for broad application to world, national, or state history and its relevance to ancient history or to the more recent past. The theme for

See National History Day page 2