July 23, 2021 by Jewish Press

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PJ Library brings Omaha families together IHE Third Thursday Lunch and Learn Series Page 2

MARK KIRCHHOFF Jewish Federation of Omaha arental intuition, experience, as well as behavioral studies all point to the many ways that reading to a child early will have lasting benefits. Whether it be supporting cognitive development, developing improved language skills, stimulating creativity, or perhaps most importantly, developing a bond with a child, the importance of reading is a shining light in the formative years. In recognizing the importance of reading, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, a North American Jewish non-profit organization based in West Springfield, Massachusetts, established the PJ Library pro- Jess & Shane Cohn’s son Sam stamps a tote bag with apple gram in 2005. prints for Rosh Hashanah program Sweet Art

The Kripke Library Collection Page 5

Kids’ mental health is suffering due to the pandemic Page 12

A record-breaking JFS Friends Campaign

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Spotlight Voices Synagogues

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KAREN GUSTAFSON JFS Executive Director It’s almost a must in every conversation nowadays to mention a preCOVID and post-COVID world. At Jewish Family Service, we had to mindfully stop and take a moment to look back at the year we’ve had before writing this article. It felt more like a decade of changes. In fact, even reviewing our normal operations guide-

lines as we reopen to the public makes us all chuckle... was it that simple? The only constant in our crazy year of pivoting and striving to continue to serve our clients in need was YOU. Our community stepped up when the COVID-19 Relief Fund was set up by the Jewish Federation of Omaha and the JFO Foundation, making a good portion of those funds available to cover requests coming our way. With our budgeted Financial Assistance dollars available, we were still able to meet the needs of our regular clients. However, thanks to the COVID-19 Relief Fund, we were able to serve every one of the 180 requests from community members in need due to the impact of the pandemic. Because of your generous support contributing to this fund, we decided

PJ Library is modeled after Dolly Parton’s “Imagination Library” program. The PJ Library program sends free Jewish children’s books and music to families “with Judaism as part of their lives.” Families with children up to eight years old can subscribe to the national program by visiting www.pjlibrary.org and completing a short form. Once subscribed, each child receives their own book every month in a package addressed directly to the child, a package that many children come to anticipate and ask about every month. Beyond the incredible gift of subscriptions – PJ Library is not just books! PJ Library in Omaha is the work of its local implementing partner, the Jewish Federation. Connected to a network of See PJ Library page 3

The BYCS is back!

2017 Backyard Concert Series crowd

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMPWRIGHT Jewish Press Editor Open to J members and nonmembers of all ages, the JCC Backyard Concert Series is back! We start on Sunday Aug. 8 by presenting the Grace Giebler Project. Grace is a singer/songwriter from Omaha. Her sound is a culmination of blues, jazz, Americana/folk and pop. Her shows are focused on honesty and vulnerability where she captivates and silences a room with her voice. Grace intertwines her young heart with an old soul. The

intimacy and connectivity she shares with her audience stem beyond a quick song and dance and into a transformative release of emotion and expression. Grace has performed at many venues, both large and small around the region and has opened for many international and national acts. She was an American Idol 2019 contestant and recipient of a Gold Ticket to Hollywood. Grace received two DownBeat Student Music Awards in 2019 for Vocal Jazz Soloist and for Blues/Pop/Rock See Backyard Concert page 5

2 | The Jewish Press | July 23, 2021

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IHE Third Thursday Lunch and Learn Series be. The purpose of this exhibition was to educate the public on how the Nazis saw modern art to be the result of genetic inferiority and society’s moral decline.” Patrice Weaver is an educator and historian. She holds degrees and specialist certifications in world history, historic Demographics (the study of statistical data relating to populations and their movements), and integrated educational technology. During her 30-plus year career she has been a classroom teacher, adjunct professor of history, and professional development Larry and Susy Raful Patrice Weaver teacher education specialist in the states of Washington and Georteaches as a remote adjunct professor. Due to the observance of Yom Kippur, there gia. In 2000 she left the classroom to become will be no Third Thursday event for Septem- the division director of education and new media at Georgia Public Broadcasting (the ber 2021. On Oct. 21, IHE is pleased to welcome nine station PBS network in Georgia). After Patrice Weaver of the Georgia Commission retiring from GPB, she became the director of on the Holocaust to present about the art ex- education programs with the Georgia Comhibit The Degenerate Art Exhibition of 1937. “In mission on the Holocaust where she creates 1937 the Nazi state mounted an art exhibition and conducts training classes for educators called ‘Degenerate Art [Entartete Kunst]’ in and programs for the public. For more information regarding the Third Munich. This show contained works that had been removed from state-owned museums as Thursday Series, or to register, please contact contrary to the Nazi ideal of what art should Scott Littky at slittky@ihene.org.

to be dean of the Touro Law School for 12 years. He spent eight additional years on the faculty teaching legal ethics, and most recently moved to Syracuse, NY, where he

EST.

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CHAR A I JA

It’s not just what they know. It’s who they become.

ARIEL O’DONNELL IHE Administrate Assistant The Institute for Holocaust Education is pleased to announce the upcoming lineup for our Third Thursday Lunch and Learn Series. The Lunch and Learn Series is an opportunity for community members to engage with pertinent topics regarding Holocaust education. On Aug. 15, IHE is excited to welcome Larry Raful to share his mother’s testimony of surviving the Holocaust. Susy Taubner Raful was born in 1925 in Budapest, Hungary. She had an older sister Mary and a twin sister Edit. Of his mother’s family, Raful says: “My grandparents and their three girls moved from the hills of Buda into the Jewish ghetto in Pest at the beginning of the war. The Nazis invaded Budapest in 1944 and started rounding up Jews. Mom and her older sister pushed sister Edit out of line, but they went to the train station and boarded a cattle car to the concentration camp in Ravensbruch. They were transferred to two other camps later and were on a death march when the war ended. Mom met Dad soon after in the most romantic story ever told! Two years later, she took a boat to New York, sailed up the Hudson River, got off in New York City and married Dad. They were married for 71 years.” Raful lived for sixteen years in Omaha, NE, and moved to New York with his wife Dinah

Continued from page 1 to suspend our annual Friends Campaign in 2020 and focus on serving those emerging needs as they arose. In addition to this, our staff was hard at work transitioning all operations to work from home, while still keeping up with a high demand for therapy sessions. As 2021 began and we noticed COVID-19 Assistance requests were going down, we started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our Counseling, Adoption and Yachad programs are also returning to normal and we are finally able to start planning community programming for the fiscal year 2021-2022. There are some exciting new projects in the making, thoughtfully designed to meet the JFO’s new strategic plan. Resuming our fundraising efforts this year was a tough decision to make, especially since we are more than familiar with the hardships our city and our community have endured. However, with demand for our services on the rise and as we plan for various programs coming up, we were happy to see our supporters excited to contribute again this year. But nothing could have prepared us for how well this campaign was going to be received! Running from April 6 to June 13 and helping us spread the word about Mental Health Awareness in the month of May, we can proudly say that our campaign was more than a success. Raising an unprecedented amount of $42,974 from 165 donors, you have helped us break every record in a time where we least expected it. We are proud to serve every client and meet every need by seeing how supportive our community is of See JFS Friends Campaign page 3

2021 G

F O U TI N

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PJ Library Details can be found on the Shalomaha Community Calendar: Continued from page 1 other PJ professionals nationally, our own Jennie Gates Beck- https://teamup.com/ksnj7sg9c1xubykcf4. man creates programming to gather local PJ families to meet Costs for PJ Library are covered through a partnership with one another and “do Jewish” together! “Folks always assume the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, members of the PJ Library the goal of PJ Library is literacy since we mail families books... but really, the books are just tools to tell stories of our people, traditions, and Jewish values. Our programs take this to the next level and focus on building community amongst families raising Jewish children.” Programs over the past year have varied quite a bit: from reading a PJ Library book at monthly Temple Tot services, to partnering with fellow Jewish educator Pictured left: Josh and Mandie Mara’s son Ezra enjoyed arranging plants as families listened to a Jamie SkogBurke to bring compost demonstration at the May 23 Park Green-Up event, and right: Hattie and Logan Lake spent 300 Omaha families Holi- hours playing through all the activities sent out in the Yom Ha’Atzmaut Holidays at Home bag. days at Home activity bags designed with a team of PJ parents Alliance and other sources of local support. PJ Library Omaha throughout the pandemic. An article in the July 9 Press shared is grateful for continued support from the Dorothy and Myer details about the programming with Friedel Jewish Academy S. Kripke Institute for Jewish Family Literacy and for current allowing the resources of our local Jewish day school to reach programming support from the Murray H. and Sharee C. Newfamilies whether or not their children choose to enroll. PJ Li- man Supporting Foundation, the Special Donor-Advised Fund brary has even been recognized nationally, with Jennie pre- of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation, and the Staensenting Omaha’s Personal Porch Visits in a session entitled, berg Family Foundation Anything Grant. Successful Efforts in Personally Connecting with Families. She PJ Library Omaha is always looking for new ways to engage and Omaha’s PJ Parent Connector Ariella Rohr visited PJ par- families with young children; for more information on anyents throughout lockdown bringing gifts of coffee, a few mo- thing covered in this article or to add your input as an interments of face-to-face connection and even small packages ested parent (or grandparent!), please reach out to JFO Director including a plush dinosaur as a creative invitation to a virtual of Community Engagement & Education Jennie Gates BeckTot Shabbat. man, 402.334.6445 or jbeckman@jewishomaha.org. Shifting to the year to come – there is so much to look forward to. Jennie said. “Now that families are beginning to feel comfortable coming together in person, we have a whole new Industrial Escape Rooms is a small locally/veteran owned list of initiatives for the coming year.” Abigail Kutler is leading business located in the Millard area of Omaha. Established a parent-driven series focused on grades K-3 bringing families in 2018, we are dedicated to providing a fun and familytogether from across the community for casual monthly meetfriendly entertainment option for the community. ups. Before that is a three-part summer series, PJ in the Park, Escape room games are a great option for families and focused on bringing families together at different splash pads friends and co-workers to spend quality time together. Playacross Omaha. The first meet-up was July 14; the next two ers are encouraged to play as a team, with everyone condates are Sunday, Aug. 1 and Monday, Aug. 2, since the tributing to the effort to “escape” the room. Pennie Z. Davis Early Learning Center is closed that day and Escape room games generally have a theme and a storyline to engage the players. Industrial Escape Rooms game families will be looking for fun ways to keep the kids engaged.

Industrial Escape Rooms

JFS Friends Campaign Continued from page 2 the work we do. We couldn’t do it without you! We would like to thank each and every donor who found it in their hearts to support us through the 2021 Friends campaign. We will be listing all of you on our annual Thank You ad in the Jewish Press as usual, coming up sometime in August. Your contributions are crucial in the mental health and human services programs that we run each year. JFS is just the medium, as you lend a hand up and help other community members grow every day. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

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themes include Moriarty’s Parlor, a Sherlock Holmes theme set in an 1890’s London England parlor room. Our second room is Blackbeard’s Treasure, a pirate themed game set in the captain’s cabin of Blackbeard’s flagship. Our third room is Sea Voyage, a nautical themed game set on the bridge of the sinking ship S.S. Sea Turtle. Each game features unique and fun puzzles that challenge the players to stretch their problem solving abilities. Escape room games are great for a wide age range of players. We have had family groups with young pre-school-age players that enjoy finding puzzle pieces to give to Mommy and Daddy to the grandparents that find that they enjoyed solving the puzzles as well. Each room has a wide variety of puzzles ranging from easy to challenging to keep a group engaged for the duration of each game. Industrial Escape Rooms are great for Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, birthdays and job parties. For more information about Industrial Escape Rooms, please contact Patrick Corbett at 402.934.2083 or info@Ind ustrialescaperooms.com. PAID ADVERTISEMENT

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4 | The Jewish Press | July 23, 2021 “In the Festival of Tabernacles, gather the men women and children, and read Yahuah’s sacred Torah, that you may hear, learn, and fear Yahuah your eloheem, and obey All the words of Yahuah’s Torah” (Deut. 31:10-12). Torah keepers are invited to attend Yahuah’s Annual Sacred Festival Sukkot (Tabernacles). Sept. 21-28. Meals/housing provided. 218-766-8176

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Kripke Collection of the Jewish Federation JENNIE GATES BECKMAN Jewish Federation of Omaha Director of Community Engagement & Education On Tuesday, June 29, Alan Potash and Jennifer Tompkins joined me for one of many conversations with UNO Libraries to discuss the future of a large portion of the Kripke Collection. While a curated collection of materials that “see the most action” from library patrons remains in rotation in the beautiful new Learning Commons, the bulk of the scholarly volumes, rare books,and art prints have been stored on the UNO campus during renovations. Due to the pandemic this is the first time in almost a year that we have physically “visited” the books, and let me tell you - they are in good hands! The Kripke Collection’s move to the Criss Library builds on a long-standing partnership between the Jewish Federation of Omaha and UNO and is a natural complement to UNO’s Judaic programs, including the Schwalb Center for Israel and Jewish Studies, the Sam and Frances Fried Holocaust and Genocide Academy, as well as the planned Samuel Bak Institute. It represents a commitment on behalf of UNO to preserve the collection in perpetuity while ensuring it stays in Omaha, useful and accessible to our local Jewish community. The proposed agreement will be brought to the JFO board in August for approval. Please reach out if you have any specific questions; and don’t forget to come in and check out a book! Clockwise from left: Future home of the Kripke Collection, Jennie in the archive at UNO, and The Kids Library in the Learning Commons

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Torah reading for health ROBBY ERLICH Beth El Synagogue Engagement Coordinator Reading Torah, for some, is a requirement for their Bar or Bat Mitzvah and nothing more. For others, reading Torah is a commitment or an obligation that one does every once in a while when asked, or when one feels like reading. For a select few, reading Torah is more than a task –it is a commitment that becomes a way of life. At a moment in her life when she needed spirituality, positivity and hope, Beth El Synagogue congregant Georgianne Oman found it by reading Torah. Reading Torah has become a way of life for Georgianne, and I had the privilege to hear her story and learn of her motivation. Georgianne started her Torah reading journey while living in the Chicago area. She worked in the IT field while earning her Master of Science in Jewish Education from Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership. Working on IT projects paired with her education prepped her to read Torah. Being coordinated, organized, and having a solid foundational Jewish education propelled her not only just to read Torah, but to feel Torah. Georgianne’s Torah Reading journey started at her previous synagogue in the Chicago area. One day, while attending a daily minyan, those in attendance found themselves desperate for someone to read Torah. Everyone in the room looked to Georgianne and off she went! Georgianne took the initiative to learn quickly the ins and outs of reading and chanting through a kind and patient mentor named Daryl from her synagogue. Not only did she learn what she needed to know, she also learned the history and the customs that aren’t normally taught when learning the art of reading Torah. The more she learned, the more she wanted to learn. Georgianne had

an adult Bat Mitzvah in 2000 and that, combined with being a student at Spertus, spring-boarded her desire to learn more in 2005. She increased her knowledge of Hebrew and how the language teaches us the Torah portion every week. She started to take on short Torah readings, then gradually longer readings as she became a more confident reader. Her defining moment was when, with no prior preparation, she read Torah on the spot due to an emergency. That day, she knew that reading Torah was destined to have special meaning for her. When Georgianne reads Torah, time stands still. She feels a true connection to her community and to her faith. She loves the fact that when she reads, Jews around the world are reading the same text and telling the same story. In addition to the connection that she feels, reading Torah has helped her tremendously personally. When she was going through chemotherapy treatments, reading Torah was a constant, encouraging activity that kept her and her mind moving forward. Even after her treatments ended, she found that reading Torah was a positive experience that enhanced her life in other ways. She learned that the combination of singing while reading a foreign language works wonders for brain strength and health! For Georgianne, reading Torah has certainly given her a sense of belonging and the ability to contribute in so many meaningful ways. It truly has enriched her life. When you watch and listen to someone reading Torah, take a moment to think beyond just what you see and hear -- think of the Torah reader and what they may be experiencing. Georgianne invites others to take on the challenge of becoming a Torah reader – it will enhance your life and it may surprise you! To learn more about reading Torah, contact Hazzan Krausman at Beth El, 402.492.8550.

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Backyard Concert

Continued from page 1 Soloist. The DownBeat Student Music Awards are considered to be the most prestigious awards in jazz education. She represented Nebraska twice at the International Blues Challenge Y o u t h Showcase and also had a feature performance at the 2018 Jazz Education Network (JEN) International Conference. Grace has been nominated for the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards (OEAAs) four times. Her original songs have been recognized as a finalist in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition, a semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition, and a three-year finalist in the Omaha Performing Arts Songwriting competition. Grace currently performs with her acoustic duo, with her band The Grace Giebler Project and with the University of Nebraska at Omaha Jazz I Big Band and the Boptet Jazz Combo. The Dante’s & Kona Ice food trucks will have food available for purchase, or you can bring your own. Bring your lawn chairs and blankets and enjoy a night of fabulous music. Concerts are held in the green space on the east side of campus (near the JCC pavilion) from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and are open to the entire community. Simply show up and enjoy. Keep an eye on the Jewish Press for more about the upcoming acts: the Personics on Aug. 15, Midwest Dilemma on Aug. 22 and on Aug. 29 we will welcome Domestic Blend. The Backyard Concert series is made possible through the generous support of the Frederick J. Simon Memorial Endowment Fund. Don’t miss the ‘Uncle’ Chuck fundraising drive kickoff ! Join us at the Backyard Concert on Sunday, Aug. 22 from 5– 7 p.m. to learn more about the new ‘Uncle’ Chuck fundraising drive. The aim is to raise $2M to build a pickleball complex and an additional basketball gymnasium. In addition to great music and food for purchase, we’ll have yard games and special activities.

Backyard concert series

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The Kripke Library Collection SHIRLY BANNER Library Specialist, Kripke Jewish Federation Library Juvenile The People’s Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice | Cynthia Levinson A lyrical, exquisitely illustrated biography of influential Jewish artist and activist Ben Shahn. “The first thing I can remember,” Ben said, “I drew.” As an observant child growing up in Lithuania, Ben Shahn yearns to draw everything he sees. After seeing his father banished by the Czar for demanding workers’ rights, he develops a keen sense of justice, too. So when Ben and the rest of his family make their way to America, Ben brings both his sharp artistic eye and his desire to fight for what’s right. As he grows, he speaks for justice through his art—by disarming classmates who bully him because he’s Jewish, by defying his teachers’ insistence that he paint beautiful landscapes rather than true stories, by urging the US government to pass Depression-era laws to help people find food and jobs. In this moving and timely portrait, award-winning author Cynthia Levinson and illustrator Evan Turk honor an artist, immigrant, and activist whose work still resonates today: a true painter for the people.

Adult Lilyville: Mother, Daughter, and Other Roles I’ve Played | Tovah Feldshuh This heartwarming and funny memoir from a beloved actress tells the story of a mother and daughter whose narrative reflects American cultural changes and the world’s shifting expectations of women. From Golda to Ginsburg, Yentl to Mama Rose and Tallulah to the Queen of Mean, Tovah Feldshuh has always played powerful women who aren’t afraid to sit at the table with the big boys and rule their world. But offstage, Tovah struggled to fulfill the one role she never auditioned for: Lily Feldshuh’s only daughter. In this insightful, compelling, often hilarious and always illuminating memoir, Tovah shares the highs and lows of a remarkable career that has spanned five decades and shares the lessons that she has learned, often the hard way, about how to live a life in the spotlight, strive for excellence, and still get along with your mother. Through their evolving relationship we see how expectations for women changed, with a daughter performing her heart out to gain her mother’s approval and a mother becoming liberated from her confining roles of wife and mother to become her full self. The Auschwitz Detective | Jonathan Dunsky The boy was murdered in Auschwitz. The See Kripke Library collection page 6

6 | The Jewish Press | July 23, 2021

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First Annual Omaha Jewish Alumni Association Charity Golf Outing JAY KATELMAN OJAA Coordinator The Omaha Jewish Alumni Association proudly presents our first ever fundraiser! On Aug. 15, 2021 OJAA will be holding a fundraiser at Topgolf in Omaha at 908 N. 102nd St, Omaha, NE 68114 from noon to 3 p.m. Tickets for the event are $54 per adult and $36 per child. This includes three hours of golf, lunch and a drink ticket. Bays are currently limited to six people per bay, so round up a group of friends, or sign up and meet some new ones. This event is a great way to get back out and see your friends. Not a golfer? No problem. Feel free to come out and eat, drink and enjoy the company of others again! You will be amazed at how much fun Topgolf is for the entire family.

All money raised from this OJAA fundraiser will be distributed by the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation to families who need financial assistance to enroll or keep their child or children enrolled at the Pennie Z. Davis Early Learning Center ( formerly known as the Child Development Center) at the JCC. If you unable to make it or are out of town, there will still be a donation option if you are so inclined. We are very excited to see as many of you as possible on Aug.15! Please use this link tinyurl.com/ ojaagolf to sign up, sponsor, or donate. Feel free to forward to all of your friends and family. Please contact me with any questions, Jay Katelman, OJAA Coordinator at 402.334.646 or via email at jkatelman@jew ishomaha.org.

Kripke Library Collection Continued from page 5 killer isn’t a Nazi. Poland, 1944: Adam Lapid used to be a police detective. Now he’s a Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz. Reduced to a slave after losing his family in the gas chambers, Adam struggles to find a reason to carry on living. But when a boy is found murdered inside the camp, Adam is given the chance to be a detective again.

New Myzone technology at JCC

The J is bringing Myzone technology to the Fitness Center and new JFit Functional Training Space. Myzone helps you track workouts, set goals and maximize your results. Myzone belts are now available for purchase from the Member Services Desk. Myzone is a wearable heart rate-based system that uses wireless technology to accurately monitor physical activity. It delivers an accurate, gamified and motivating experience with up to 99% accuracy. Participants use a small heart rate monitor, worn on an elastic strap around their upper torso. This device monitors the participant’s heart rate, calories and time spent exercising. The data is then converted into Myzone Effort Points (MEPs). MEPs focus on rewarding effort rather than fitness and can be displayed in real time on connected television monitors. Through this display, participants are able to compete with classmates in various data categories. Participants can also track their data privately if they wish. Wrist, arm and chest MyZone trackers are coming soon! Preorder yours today through Scott Parker for only $90! The chest strap is 99.4% accurate. The wrist and arm band is 95% accurate. These new trackers allow you to switch between wrist, arm and chest with ease, track your physical activity so you can earn MEPs in the gym, outdoors and when you swim (water resistance up to 10m). You can track your exercise in the water when worn on the wrist. It shows live workout stats that you can view via the app, on your smartwatch or on the screen in your gym. Connect with your cardio machines and see your heart rate! Contact any of our JCC Fitness Center staff to learn more.

ORGANIZATIONS B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Ordered to discover the identity of the killer, Adam must employ all his wits to solve the mystery while surviving the perils of Auschwitz. And he’d better catch the killer soon because the punishment for failure is death. The Auschwitz Detective is a gripping historical mystery that will thrill readers of murder mysteries and historical fiction. It is the sixth installment of Dunsky’s Adam Lapid Mystery series.

The Monsky Lodge of B’nai B’rith is pleased to announce the resumption of its award-winning speaker program via Zoom. Although the Home auditorium remains temporarily closed, we’ll continue presenting an outstanding lineup of thought-provoking keynoters. For specific speaker information and/or to be placed on the email list, please contact Breadbreakers chair Gary Javitch at breadbreakersomaha @gmail.com or leave a message at the B’nai B’rith JCC office 402.334.6443.

The Jewish Press Endowment The purpose of this endowment fund is to ensure the Omaha Jewish Press continues to serve the Omaha Jewish Community. Here’s how you can help: $36 pays for two weeks of office supplies $180 covers the monthly cost of our copier contract $360 helps pay for one month of freelance writing $1,800 will cover two weeks of printing the Jewish Press Fill out the information below and simply return it to the Jewish Press office, or visit us online at http://www.omahajewishpress.com.

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Aksarben announces Court of Honor inductees

DAWN GONZALES Since 1895, Aksarben has been honoring individuals who have excelled in one of 10 categories: agriculture, arts, business and industry, community service, education, philanthropy, professions, public service, sports or service to youth. The award, known as the Court of Honor, is one of Aksarben’s oldest and most prestigious awards. The Aksarben Ball Committee is proud to announce the 2021 Aksarben Court of Honor inductees. Being honored for his contributions to business and industry is Henry Davis, the CEO of Greater Omaha Packing Co. Davis is a member of the Economic Advisory Council for District 10 of the Federal Reserve Board. Henry Davis Greater Omaha Packing Co. has shared Henry’s business talent with the rest of the country. Henry represented Nebraska at the White House in the first “Made in America Showcase.” Henry’s leadership does not stop at the boardroom door. He has a passion for helping underserved youth in the greater Omaha community, having served on the boards of Partnership for Kids and Avenue Scholars. No other organization knows Henry’s passion for helping vulnerable youth better than Project Harmony, which serves over 6000 children a year who have been physically, sexually or mentally abused. With Henry’s support and leadership, Project Harmony opened the Henry Davis Campus, allowing over 200 professionals and eight supporting agencies to work together collaboratively under one roof. More recently, due to Henry’s generosity, the Henry Davis Bryan Middle School Boys & Girls Club was opened providing an onsite Boys & Girls Club at Bryan Middle School where students can enjoy quality athletic programming and a STEAM Innovation Center. In addition to his passion for serving the youth, Henry also supports the arts having served on the boards of the Joslyn Art Museum and Kaneko. He has also served on the boards of Bellevue University, the Omaha Community Foundation, the Jewish Federation of Omaha, Catholic Charities and the North American Meat Institute. Davis is also a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO). In the category of arts, father and daughter, David and Rachel Jacobson will be inducted. David was the former chairman of Kutak Rock LLP, and the founding Board Chair for Film Streams. Rachel is the President for the nonprofit Heritage Services. She is also the Founder of Film Streams and served as executive director of Film Streams from 2005-2020. David was an attorney at Kutak Rock for 41 years. Over half

of those years he served the firm as its Chairman. During his tenure as Chair, Kutak Rock grew from 230 lawyers in nine cities to more than 500 lawyers in 18 cities. He was also known to be a champion for diversity and inclusion. Under his leadership the firm earned a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.

Associated Counseling P ro f e s s i o n a l s G l e n F i n e m a n , L I C S W, L I M H P C l i n i c a l S o c i a l Wo r ke r

David Jacobson

Rachel Jacobson

The firm was consistently recognized as a “Ceiling Smasher” for women, with the second highest percentage of women equity partners in the country for law firms with over 300 lawyers. David graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Law and was an attorney for Legal Aid prior to joining Kutak Rock. David passed away on July 4, 2018. David’s legacy of community service lives through his daughter Rachel, who founded and was the first Executive Director of Film Streams. Founded in 2005, Film Streams is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to enhancing the cultural environment of the Metro Omaha area through the presentation and discussion of film as an art form. Under Rachel’s guidance, Film Streams opened the Ruth Sokolof Theater in 2007, and more recently the renovated Dundee Theater. Since its beginning, Film Streams has presented hundreds of first-run American independent, international and documentary films along with more than 1,000 classics through its repertory program. Film Streams has staged over 200 collaborative screenings with fellow nonprofits and community groups and provides a Daytime Education Program of film education-based field trips that before the pandemic served thousands of local students annually. “As our communities and lives begin to rebuild after the pandemic, now is the time to shine a light on exceptional volunteer efforts within the Heartland through Aksarben’s Court of Honor,” said Women’s Ball Committee Chairman, Laura Enenbach. “This year’s inductees have given significant contributions of their time and talent in raising awareness in the arts, providing service to our most vulnerable youth and keeping our local businesses strong.” The contributions of these honorees will be celebrated at the 126th Aksarben Ball on Oct. 23, 2021, at CHI Health Center.

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Above and below: July 4th was celebrated in style at Beth Israel. Right: Beth Israel’s annual July 4th soccer game! (Actually played on July 5th).

Above: Health care workers, including Amy Tipp and Danni Christensen, visit Israel; and below: Amy Tipp tests out new transportation.

SP O TLIGHT

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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.

Above: The weather was beautiful during the July 4th pool party at the J. Below: Steven Holcombe, left, Laura Wine and Mark Martin.

Above, left and below: More images from the ever-exciting J-Camp Color Wars.

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Margie Gutnik President Annette van de Kamp-Wright Editor Richard Busse Creative Director Susan Bernard Advertising Executive Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Editor Gabby Blair Staff Writer Mary Bachteler Accounting Jewish Press Board Margie Gutnik, President; Abigail Kutler, Ex-Officio; Danni Christensen; David Finkelstein; Bracha Goldsweig ; Mary Sue Grossman; Les Kay; Natasha Kraft; Chuck Lucoff; Joseph Pinson; Andy Shefsky and Amy Tipp. 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 Federation are: Community Relations Committee, Jewish Community Center, Center for Jewish Life, 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: wwwjewishomaha.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 Jewish Press is an agency of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Deadline for copy, ads and photos is: Thursday, 9 a.m., eight days prior to publication. E-mail editorial material and photos to: avandekamp@jewishomaha.org; send ads (in TIF or PDF format) to: rbusse@jewishomaha.org. Letters to the Editor Guidelines The Jewish Press welcomes Letters to the Editor. They may be sent via regular mail to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154; via fax: 1.402.334.5422 or via e-mail to the Editor at: avandekamp@jewishomaha. org. Letters should be no longer than 250 words and must be single-spaced typed, not hand-written. Published letters should be confined to opinions and comments on articles or events. News items should not be submitted and printed as a “Letter to the Editor.” 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. Letters of thanks should be confined to commending an institution for a program, project or event, rather than personally thanking paid staff, unless the writer chooses to turn the “Letter to the Editor” into a paid personal ad or a news article about the event, project or program which the professional staff supervised. For information, contact Annette van de KampWright, Jewish Press Editor, 402.334.6450. Postal The Jewish Press (USPS 275620) is published weekly (except for the first week of January and July) on Friday for $40 per calendar year U.S.; $80 foreign, by the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Phone: 402.334.6448; FAX: 402.334.5422. Periodical postage paid at Omaha, NE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154-2198 or email to: jpress@jewishomaha.org.

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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 right to exist

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor Sometimes I have to read news articles several times before they can sink in. Take this line, from an article Ron Kampeas wrote about a survey of Jewish American voters: “The poll found that 9% of voters agreed with the statement, “Israel doesn’t have a right to exist.” But among voters under 40, that proportion was 20%.” This 20% of Jewish American voters under 40, what made them answer this way? To not agree with certain policies, or not love the settlements, or dislike any or all Israeli politics, fine, but to deny the very fundamental right to exist? I can’t wrap my head around it. I can’t explain it away, I can’t understand it. I could tell myself they simply didn’t understand the question, but I know better. What I would like to ask these people is what they imagine should happen next. Should Israel cease to exist, where would everyone go? What would happen to the infrastructure? What about the IDF? The airports, the economy, the schools, the hospitals? What exactly does it mean when one thinks an entire country doesn’t have the right to exist? I mean, do they have a plan? I bet good money there are many in Surfside, Florida, who feel differently. A seven-person team from the Israel Defense Forces’ Home Front Command arrived in Surfside three days after Champlain Towers collapsed last month. Over the past 60 years, Israel has provided humanitarian assistance to developing countries in Asia, Africa, South America, Oceania and Central Europe through the activities of Mashav, the Israeli Center for International Cooperation, which was created in 1958. Mashav’s goal is to give developing countries the knowledge, tools and expertise that

Israel gained in its own development, and its ability to ‘make the desert flourish.’ Mashav trains course participants from approximately 140 countries on healthcare and emergency and disaster medicine. It has participated in dozens of projects worldwide in economic fields such as agriculture, education, development, employment and healthcare, as well as humanitarian fields such as disaster relief, re-

2011 Tsunami in Japan, Israel was among the first to arrive on the scene; its doctors treated more than 200 patients and before they left donated all their equipment. The University of Washington said this: “Israel has already been globally recognized as a leader in innovation and technology, and it is now leveraging its technological advances into methods which are helping to redefine how foreign aid is delivered. This technological expertise, combined with its culture and history, grants Israel a unique angle in providing development assistance and establishing relationships with other countries through ‘development diplomacy.’” “Israel was one of the first countries to send a team of disaster management experts, mental health experts and engineers to Houston after hurThe non-profit disaster relief organization Israeli Flying Aid pro- ricane Harvey hit last week,” the ICEJ vided assistance in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. website posted in 2017. construction and refugee absorption. After Katrina hit, Israel sent 80 tons of supplies, There are additional Israeli humanitarian and including ready-to-eat meals and other food, tents, emergency response groups that work with the Israel generators, baby formula, diapers and bedding. The government, including IsraAid, a joint program run IDF assembled a team of expert personnel, includby 14 Israeli organizations and North American Jew- ing search and rescue teams, medical staff, psycholish groups, Zaka, The Fast Israeli Rescue and Search ogists and experts in identifying bodies to assist. Team (FIRST), Israeli Flying Aid (IFA), Save a Child’s Of course, I’m preaching to the proverbial choir; Heart (SACH) and Latet, which provides for the we all know this already. We also know that to critbasic needs of populations living in poverty and food icize Israel for certain things has nothing to do with insecurity. The organization operates a national food whether Israel should exist or not; the question of bank and runs several aid and educational programs. its existence is an entirely different thing. Among its core activities, Latet distributes $30 milAnd so, I don’t know how to explain it. What I do lion worth of food annually to 60,000 families in need. know: that 20% number terrifies me. What terrifies After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Israel was the me even more is the possibility of that number first country to set up a field hospital. After the going up.

Banning critical race theory will gut the teaching of Jewish history HENRY ABRAMSON JTA Anyone teaching the past by skipping over the unpleasant parts isn’t teaching history. They are engaged in propaganda. Jewish tradition understands this: Refusing to sugarcoat their own people’s culpability, the Sages themselves teach that the destruction of the Temple by the Romans is a consequence of baseless hatred — among Jews. Yet in nearly two dozen states, the movement to impose restrictions on the teaching of history is gaining momentum. Incited by a national hysteria over “critical race theory,” advocates of these educational fatwas are borrowing a page from authoritarian governments like Vladimir Putin’s Russia in a clumsy effort to avoid discussing the messy, controversial and painful moments in America’s history. And as a professional historian, I can tell you that these bans will be terrible for anyone teaching or studying Jewish history. What exactly is critical race theory, and how is it apparently — in the words of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who is seen as a potential presidential candidate — teaching our kids “to hate each other” and “hate our country”? Critical race theory is a body of ideas associated not with the discipline of history but with the practice of law. Adherents believe that the legacy of slavery is baked into American society and culture to such a degree that African-Americans continue to suffer long-term, systemic economic harm. It suggests that discussing reparations should be on the national agenda (hence the origin of these ideas among legal scholars). The impact of systemic racism may be measured, for example, in things as diverse as the wealth gap between white and Black Americans with similar educations and the declining tree cover in neighborhoods with majority African-American populations. Critical race theorists look to the history of government policies from the 1930s like redlining, under which the Federal Housing Authority refused to un-

derwrite mortgages in African-American neighbor- tities like the “Presidential Commission of the Russhoods with the explicit goal of separating “incom- ian Federation to Counter Attempts to Falsify Hispatible racial groups.” Blacks were, like Jews, tory to the Detriment of Russia’s Interests.” forbidden to buy homes in newly developed suburbs, This brings us to the American versions of the while white Americans received help from the gov- memory laws. Tennessee, for example, recently ernment to purchase homes in these leafy neighborhoods and to build generational wealth. The CRT framework, decades old, gained popularity (or notoriety, depending on whom you ask) after the summer 2020 wave of protests that followed the murder of George Floyd. The bans on teaching with a critical race theory framework aren’t really against history per se, which is in the past and therefore stubbornly resists regulation. Rather, these decrees Teachers, students and school board members in the Milwaukee area fall more precisely within the cate- hold a news conference opposing new bills seeking to bar schools gory of what are called “memory from teaching ideas linked to critical race theory, June 12, 2021. laws.” Historian Timothy Snyder de- Credit: Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association/Flickr Commons scribed these laws as “government actions de- passed SB 623, which lists 14 directives all tied to signed to guide public interpretation of the past… state funding. The requirements oscillate between by asserting a mandatory view of historical events, the painfully obvious and the absurdly comic. On by forbidding the discussion of historical facts or the one hand, Tennessee “does not prohibit… the interpretations or by providing vague guidelines impartial discussion of controversial aspects of histhat lead to self-censorship.” tory,” or even “the impartial instruction on the opCompared to Americans, Europeans have less of pression of a particular group of people.” On the an allergy to limitations on free speech, and they other hand, it bans teaching that “an individual, by generally accepted these laws when they were de- virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently signed to protect victims of historical trauma, for privileged” ( forestalling, presumably, lessons in example, by banning noxious phenomena such as how the redlining in the 1930s led to white wealth Holocaust denial. accumulation today, or how men enjoyed privileges Putin, however, pioneered a new approach to over women — well, at just about any point in hismemory laws: Rather than protecting the weak, they tory). The prohibition sits within the same category also can be weaponized to strengthen the powerful. as “promoting or advocating the violent overthrow In the context of Russian history, the counterpart to of the United States government”! American slavery is the Holodomor, a terrible Editor’s note: This article was edited for length. famine that killed millions of Ukrainians from 1932- Please read the full article at our website: www.oma1933. Beginning in 2008, Russia’s Duma assembly hajewishpress.com. passed legislation that forbade the discussion of Henry Abramson is a specialist in Jewish hisRussian government policies that contributed to the tory and thought who currently serves as a dean genocidal nature of the famine, and established en- of Touro College in Brooklyn, New York.

10 | The Jewish Press | July 23, 2021

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

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TEMPLE ISRAEL

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

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: TIFERETH ISRAEL

Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Boulevard Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 402.423.8569 tiferethisraellincoln.org

B’NAI ISRAEL We will not being holding Shabbat services in July. Join us in-person on Friday, Aug. 13, 7:30 p.m. for evening services. Our service leader is Larry Blass. Everyone is always welcome at B’nai Israel! For information on our historic synagogue, please contact Howard Kutler at hkutler@hotmail.com or any of our other board members: Scott Friedman, Rick Katelman, Janie Kulakofsky, Carole and Wayne Lainof, Mary-Beth Muskin, Debbie Salomon and Sissy Silber. Handicap Accessible.

BETH EL Virtual services conducted by Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman. VIRTUAL AND IN-PERSON MINYAN SCHEDULE: Mornings on Sundays, 9 a.m. and Mondays and Thursdays, 7 a.m.; Evenings on Sunday-Thursday, 5:30 p.m. FRIDAY: Shabbat BBQ To Go Pickup, 10 a.m.-noon; Nebraska AIDS Coalition Lunch, 11:30 a.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. at Beth El & Live Stream. SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Havdalah, 9:30 p.m. on Zoom only. SUNDAY: Torah Study, 10 a.m. WEDNESDAY: Passport to Shabbat Book Discussion: The Lion Seeker, 7 p.m. on Zoom only. FRIDAY-July 30: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. at Beth El & Live Stream. SATURDAY-July 31: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Havdalah, 9:20 p.m. on Zoom only. Please visit bethel-omaha.org for additional information and service links.

BETH ISRAEL Virtual services conducted by Rabbi Ari Dembitzer. Classes, Kabbalat Shabbat and Havdalah on Zoom, WhatsApp or Facebook Live. On site services held outside in pergola, weather permitting. Physical distancing and masks required. FRIDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 am.; Deeping Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Laws of Shabbos, 8 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbos, 7:30 p.m.; Candlelighting, 8:32 p.m. SATURDAY: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m. with Rabbi Ari; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Kids Class, 10:30 a.m.; Daf Yomi, 8 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m.; Havdalah, 9:38 p.m. SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Daf Yomi, 8 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m. MONDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 am.; Deeping Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Laws of Shabbos, 8 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Daf Yomi, 8 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m. TUESDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 am.; Deeping Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Laws of Shabbos, 8 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Daf Yomi, 8 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m. WEDNESDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45

a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 am.; Deeping Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Laws of Shabbos, 8 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Daf Yomi, 8 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m. THURSDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 am.; Deeping Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Laws of Shabbos, 8 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Character Development, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Daf Yomi, 8 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m. FRIDAY-July 30: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 am.; Deeping Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Laws of Shabbos, 8 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbos, 7:30 p.m.; Candlelighting, 8:26 p.m. SATURDAY-July 31: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m. with Rabbi Ari; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Kids Class, 10:30 a.m.; Daf Yomi, 8 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m.; Havdalah, 9:30 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 online at Ochabad.com/classroom. For more information or to request help, please visit www. ochabad.com or call the office at 402.330.1800. FRIDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 6 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ochabad.com/Lecha yim; Light Candles, 8:31 p.m. SATURDAY: Shacharit, 10 a.m. followed by Red, White & Blue Kiddush; Shabbat Ends, 9:36 p.m. SUNDAY: Shacharit & Coffee Conversation, 9 a.m. MONDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Personal Parsha class, 9:30 a.m. with Shani Katzman; Advanced Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen. TUESDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Virtual Pirkei Avot Women’s Class, 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Mystical Thinking (Tanya), 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Katzman; Introductory Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Introduction to Hebrew Reading, 11:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen. THURSDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Advanced Hebrew Class, 11 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Talmud Study [Sanhedrin 17b], noon with Rabbi Katzman. FRIDAY-July 30: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 6 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ochabad. com/Lechayim; Light Candles, 8:24 p.m. SATURDAY-July 31: Shacharit, 10 a.m. followed by Red, White & Blue Kiddush; Shabbat Ends, 9:28 p.m.

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: B’NAI JESHURUN & TIFERETH ISRAEL Services facilitated by Rabbi Alex Felch. Note: Some of our services, but not all, are now being offered in person. FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat Service, service leaders/music: Rabbi Alex, Nathaniel and Steve Kaup, 6:30 p.m. at SST; Candlelighting, 8:32 p.m. SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.

with Rabbi Alex at TI; Torah Study on Parashat Vaetchanan, noon via Zoom; Havdalah, 9:37 p.m. SUNDAY: Men's Jewish Bike Group of Lincoln meets Sundays at 10 a.m. rain or shine to ride to one of The Mill locations from Hanson Ct. (except we drive if its too wet, cold, cloudy, windy, hot or humid) followed by coffee and spirited discussions. No fee to join, no dues, no president, no board or minutes taken. If Interested please email Al Weiss at albertw801@ gmail.com to find out where to meet each week; SST Board of Trustees Meeting, 1:30 p.m. via Zoom; Come learn and play Pickleball, 7-9 p.m. at Peterson Park. Everyone is welcome; just wear comfortable clothes and tennis or gym shoes. If you need a paddle to contact Miriam Wallick by email at Miriam57@aol.com or by text at 402.470.2393 before Sunday. TUESDAY: Tea & Coffee with Pals, 1:30 p.m. via Zoom. THURSDAY: Choir Rehearsal, 7 p.m. FRIDAY-July 30: Kabbalat Shabbat Service, service leaders/music: Rabbi Alex and Elaine Monnier, 6:30 p.m. at SST; Candlelighting, 8:26 p.m. SATURDAY-July 31: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex at TI; Torah Study on Parashat Eikev, noon via Zoom; Havdalah, 9:29 p.m.

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ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME

The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home is currently closed to visitors.

TEMPLE ISRAEL

In-person and virtual services conducted by Rabbi Brian Stoller, Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin and Cantor Joanna Alexander. DAILY VIRTUAL MINYAN: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. via Zoom. FRIDAY: Shabbat Service with guest speaker Ilene Arnold, 6 p.m. via Zoom or In-Person. SATURDAY: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. via Zoom or InPerson; Family Havdalah, 6 p.m. via Zoom or In-Person. SUNDAY: Rosh Hashanah Bibliodrama Rehearsal, 5 p.m. via Zoom or In-Person. MONDAY: Jewish Law & the Quest for Meaning, 11 a.m. via Zoom. TUESDAY: Kol Rina Rehearsal, 6 p.m. In-Person. FRIDAY-July 30: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. via Zoom or In-Person. SATURDAY-July 31: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. Join us via Zoom or In-Person; Teve Trail: Outdoor Shabbat Experience, 10:30 a.m. In-Person. Please visit templeisraelomaha.com for additional information and Zoom service links.

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Elie Kligman becomes second Orthodox baseball player drafted GABE FRIEDMAN JTA It has now become a doubly historic Major League Baseball draft. The Washington Nationals selected Elie Kligman with their final and 20th round pick on Tuesday, making him the second observant Orthodox Jewish player ever drafted into the league — and the second in two days. The Arizona Diamondbacks picked 17-year-old Long Island, New York, native Jacob Steinmetz 77th overall on Monday. According to MLB.com, Kligman, 18, has moved towards becoming a catcher but has also played shortstop and thrown the ball 90 miles an hour as a pitcher. (The pitcher Steinmetz has reportedly touched as high as 97 miles per hour.) Kligman switch-hits as well, meaning he can bat righty or lefty, a skill that boosts his future value. The Las Vegas native is also more observant than Steinmetz. While Steinmetz plays on the Jewish Sabbath — albeit in walking distance of his hotels on the road, so he does not have to use transporta-

tion — Kligman does not. “That day of Shabbas is for God. I’m not going to change that,” he told The New York Times in March.

Credit: Elie Kligman/Instagram

His father Marc is a lawyer and licensed baseball agent, and he represents his son. On Tuesday, Marc Kligman was traveling with Israel’s baseball team, currently on a pre-Olympics road trip full of exhibition games across the Northeast, when he heard the news. The Times reported that Kligman’s recent switch to playing catcher could be in service of his professional goals. Even the best at the sport’s most physically demanding position are often given at least one day a week off — opening up the possibility that Kligman could line up his days off to be during Shabbat, from Friday night through Saturday evening. Kligman will likely look to first play at a Division I college program before a professional career, his father said. “Here’s a kid who won’t put God second,” Marc Kligman told the Times. “But he believes that the two can coexist. He’s got six days of the week to do everything he can to be a baseball player, and if colleges and Major League Baseball aren’t inclined to make any changes, then we’ll take what we can get.”

News

The Jewish Press | July 23, 2021 | 11

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BET to air Black x Jewish these communities come toGABE FRIEDMAN gether and can achieve incredJTA The Black Entertainment ible things, and then the lows Television channel is airing a are when the hatred against special Thursday night on the both communities collectively relationship between Black comes out.” and Jewish communities, and The show goes on to highhow the roots of antisemitism light the historical relationship and racism are intertwined. between Blacks and Jews, inBlack x Jewish is the braincluding their cooperation durchild of Lacey Schwartz Deling the civil rights era. It gado, a filmmaker known for features interviews with Blackher award-winning 2014 film Jewish activist Yavilah McCoy, Little White Lies, which tells her Black-Jewish rapper Ebro Darunique story: She was brought den and Susannah Heschel, up in a white Jewish family, bethe daughter of civil rights lieving she was fully white, but Lacey Schwartz talks about her ﬁlm Little White Lies at an icon Rabbi Abraham Joshua learned in college that her bio- event in May 2015. Credit: Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/ Read- Heschel. logical father was a Black man ing Eagle via Getty Images Schwartz Delgado is marwith whom her mother had an affair. ried to a congressman, Rep. Antonio Delgado, a New York DeHer 30-minute BET show examines the “connection be- mocrat. She spoke to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2018 tween racism and antisemitism in the American context and about her family’s involvement in the Jewish community. how they come together,” she told the Forward. It begins with the framing of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, which brought together white supremacists and antisemites. That morning, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock claimed victory in their respective Senate races, becoming Georgia’s first Jewish and first Black senators. “I think that framework really sums that up the highs and lows,” Schwartz Delgado told Jewish Insider. “The high is when

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12 | The Jewish Press | July 23, 2021

News LOC AL | N AT I O N A L | WO R L D

Kids’ mental health is suffering due to the pandemic STEWART AIN When New York was caught in the midst of a brutal wave of COVID-19 last spring, the daily death toll reaching as high as 800, the stress for many Orthodox Jewish schoolchildren was overwhelming. They were catching the coronavirus in high numbers. And their parents or grandparents were frequently falling ill — many subsequently died or developed long-haul symptoms. Now, a year on, that trauma hasn’t subsided. “That was very hard for children to live with,” said psychologist Norman Blumenthal, director of the trauma, bereavement and crisis response team at Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services. Ohel, a nonprofit partner of UJA-Federation of New York, is one of four Jewish organizations participating in a program called Partners in Caring that brings mental health services to students and their families in Jewish day schools and yeshivas in New York City, Westchester County and Long Island. Those services had been in place before COVID-19 struck — UJA-Federation had created Partners in Caring in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 to support unmet mental health needs — making it easier to respond quickly when the pandemic arrived. When schools in New York state suspended in-person instruction in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, UJA-Federation began meeting weekly with the mental health professionals in schools to understand what was happening in the community, what the needs were and how to address them. “We were hearing about grief and loss,” said Meredith Zylberberg, who oversees UJA’s mental health portfolio. “Those agencies told us how overwhelming it was having to shift to virtual learning at their current level of funding. That was a determining factor in our decision to add more funding to

those agencies.” Mental health problems have soared during the pandemic, especially among the young. “We are seeing a dramatic increase in suicide among children and adolescents,” Blumenthal said. “Suicide is the third most common death for teenagers following accidents and cancer.”

Rivka Nissel, right, works with a client during a mental health counseling session at the Jewish Board’s Seymour Askin Clinic in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, N.Y. Credit: Kate Lord

The director of Ohel’s children’s services, Tzivia Reiter, helped create a COVID Resilience Workbook to help teachers understand children’s concerns, express those feelings through art or writing, and develop coping skills. One of the most common mental health challenges has been children dealing with the death of a parent or grandparent from COVID. Virtual schooling posed its own challenges for families, including heightened sibling rivalries, family tension and stress from parents losing their jobs. Many families struggled with financial problems, insufficient food and too few computers in the family. “The pandemic caused alarming rises in the rates of depression, grief and suicidal ideation in youth and adults,” said

Brenda Haas, a social worker with Westchester Jewish Community Services. One silver lining of the pandemic, Haas said, is there appears to be less stigma now about seeking help for mental health. “People are noticing and sharing more about their mental health challenges,” she said. Students are not the only ones in need of mental health. Educators and administrators also are asking for assistance, said Rivka Nissel, team director at the Jewish Board’s Seymour Askin Counseling Center in Brooklyn. “Working with adults in the schools has become more necessary due to COVID,” Nissel said. “If the teaching staff is stressed, overwhelmed or experiencing trauma, it is difficult for them to contain it and model emotional wellness to their students.” The Jewish Board has 15 mental health therapists providing more than 200 hours of service to about 2,000 students aged 5-18 in 13 Brooklyn yeshivas. Another 175 students receive ongoing psychotherapy in the board’s four satellite clinics. Because nine of the 13 ultra-Orthodox yeshivas in the Jewish Board’s network did not use Zoom for remote learning, classes were held by telephone, and mental health professionals “had to be flexible and creative” in offering counseling by phone, Nissel said. Now, as adults and teenagers are vaccinated, mental health professionals will continue to be on the case, helping people transition to the new normal. “We will go through a healing process as we come out of hibernation,” Haas said. This story was sponsored by and produced in partnership with UJA-Federation of New York, which cares for Jews everywhere and New Yorkers of all backgrounds, responds to crises close to home and far away, and shapes the Jewish future. This article was produced by JTA's native content team.