July 28, 2023

The Jewish Press

Welcome, Nancy Schlessinger

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT

Jewish Press Editor

The Jewish Federation of Omaha board and staff welcome Nancy Schlessinger as the new JFO President. Nancy is married to Dr. Joel Schlessinger, and if their names sound familiar, there are many reasons for that, including the fact that they chaired the 2023 Campaign.

Nancy grew up the youngest of four kids in St. Louis, where her parents belonged to a large, conservative synagogue, B’nai Amoona.

“I loved it,” she said, “and my dad would always take me to Shabbat services. Due to all the candy I was given at services at B’nai Amoona by the congregants, I ended up with more than a few cavities while a young girl. I became very involved in USY and also attended Camp Herzl in Wisconsin for six years as a camper and an additional three years as a teenager on staff. I was on the Board of our local USY and loved all aspects of the Jewish life and being surrounded by the very strong Jewish community in St. Louis, as well as the cities in our USY region (which incidentally were, Omaha, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Kansas City, Winnipeg and Denver). The St. Louis JCC also was an important part of my life growing up. In addition, my husband Joel and I met at a Jewish singles event at the Jewish Federation in St. Louis. We recently went back and visited the room where we met, which brought back good memories.”

She always feels best when she’s physically active, she added, “so I love working out, whether it is by swimming laps (I swim a mile, several days/week), or with the Peloton. I was recently in NYC and went to the Peloton studio, where I was able to sign up for a live, in-person class with a favorite instructor. It was a great deal of fun - and really tough! Any time I am able to spend with my family is extremely impor-

JCRC presents the next Community Conversation

Nancy Schlessinger

tant to me and fills my heart until the next time (my kids live out of town). I spend a lot of time with our pug dog, Leo, and he brings so much joy into my day. If there is ever a time I’m a bit down or need help figuring out what to do, I go find Leo and we play tug of war with a favorite toy and he gets me on a good path!”

See Nancy Schlessinger page 3

The Jewish holiday of Tu B’Av

PAM MONSKY

Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) Assistant Director

Please join the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) on Thursday, Aug.10 at 7 p.m., in the Alan Levine Theater at the Staenberg Omaha JCC, for the next in the JCRC’s series of Community Conversations about compelling, current topics See JCRC presents page 3

On Wednesday, Aug. 2 from 67:30 p.m., Jewish Family Service will host a Tu B’av celebration in the JCC Noshery. Light snacks and wine, both red and white, will be served, Kosher options are included.

“Since TuB’Av is considered the Jewish ‘Day of Love’, we’re inviting people to bring someone they love,” said JFS Interim Director Teresa Drelicharz. “It can be your spouse, another family member, a friend,

etc.” In addition, Dr. Hillary Rubesin will do an expressive arts project to recognize and celebrate loving relationships. Like the one between you and your best friend, you and your sister, or you and your neighbor, because there are many different kinds of love.

So, what is this holiday all about, really? Our sages proclaimed the 15th of Av as “one of the two greatest See Tu B’Av page 2

Meet the staff: Jay Katelman

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

Meet the staff: Jay Katelman

ASHTON KAY

Jewish Press Intern

Born and raised in Omaha, Jay Katelman is the Director of Community Development at the Jewish Federation of Omaha. He attended Westside High School, then UNO fand earned his master’s degree at Creighton. His wife is also from Omaha; they have a three-year-old daughter, Vivian, and a nine-month-old son, Parker.

Jay has been at the JFO for over threeand-a-half years, since he started in January of 2020. He works with corporate partners that help fund the Jewish Federation of Omaha and its agencies. Additionally, he has his hands on many of the JFO’s programs that involve building and sustaining our relations with Israel (Partnership and Israel & Overseas), welcoming newcomers to Omaha, supervising Omaha’s Shaliach, maintaining our Jewish Business Leaders Breakfast, and other duties as assigned!

As many people here will tell you, Jay loves that his job brings him something new every day.

“I could be working with corporate clients all day one day and the next day I could be working with Israel and Overseas,” he said. “I can attend something that they’re doing at the Early Learning Center the day after that. It’s totally different every day.”

One of Jay’s roles is as a chaperone of the high school Israel Teen Trip. Just like many of the high schoolers, last year was Jay’s first time in Israel too.

“I got really really lucky,” he said, “I actually thought it was a lot of fun. Anything they did, I did with them. If they played soccer with the kids, I played soccer with the kids. We had five chaperones with us. I wasn’t going to stand around and watch them, I wanted to get in and experience it with them. They were a fun group. They’re old enough

that they know what they are or aren’t supposed to do.”

However, Jay’s first Teen Trip experience was a little bit different from other years.

“The Israel trip last year was supposed to happen the year before, but was canceled due to the pandemic. Usually, we only allow our juniors and seniors to go before they graduate and go on to college, because we hope they’ll want to go on Birthright afterwards. We allowed some of our first-semester college students to come back and go with the group. Those that were going to go the year it was canceled would have been punished, and we wanted the same group to go together.”

Every trip has its hiccups, and especially considering the unique circumstances, you would expect this trip to have something go wrong. With this in mind, Jay learned to expect the unexpected.

“Sometimes you’ll get a bunch of rain and you’re expected to do this activity and we ended up going to the mall or something instead. When we had to have a side adventure, they were fine with it, we had a lot of fun. It wasn’t something we had control over.”

In the future, Jay wants to work more closely with the housing agencies to make sure that the students are the most comfortable, as home hospitality

See Jay Katelman page 4

Continued from page 1

festivals of the year,” according to Chabad.org. In spite of that, there is no specific way we are told to celebrate, and many of us aren’t very familiar with Tu B’Av.

The 15th of Av is a most mysterious day. A search of the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) reveals no observances or customs for this date, except for the instruction that the tachanun (confession of sins) and similar portions should be omitted from the daily prayers (as is the case with all festive dates), and that one should increase one’s study of Torah, since the nights are beginning to grow longer, and “the night was created for study.”

The day has been called “both an ancient and a modern holiday,” and is a post-biblical day of joy, but also used for matchmaking. The Talmud teaches that many years ago the “daughters of Jerusalem would go dance in the vineyards” on the 15th of Av, and “whoever did not have a wife would go there” to find himself a bride.

Tu B’Av, like several Jewish holidays (Passover, Sukkot, Tu Bishvat) begins on the night of the full moon. Linking that moonlit night with romance, love, and fertility is fairly common in ancient cultures (it’s actually still a thing in most romance movies). As the ‘full moon” of the month of Av, it is also the festival of the future Redemption, marking the end of the tragedy that marred the first part of the month. Until this day, we held siyumim and gave charity each day to mitigate our sadness and hasten the Redemption. But on the 15th of Av, this is no longer the case. Forty-five days before Rosh Hashanah , this is also the first day on which we begin to wish each other a ketivah vachatimah tovah, to be signed and sealed for a good year.

All the more reason to join Teresa and Hillary on Aug. 2 (which is actually Tu B’Av on the Hebrew calendar, but only until the sun goes down). Call Jewish Family Service at 402.330.2024 or email Teresa at tdrelicharz@jfsomaha. com or Hillary at hrubesin@jfsomaha.com to reserve your spot!

Sources: MyJewishLearning.com; Chabad.org.

Pistachio and Jay Katelman

IHE Lunch and Learn Series

SCOTT LITTKY Institute for Holocaust Education Executive Director

The Institute for Holocaust Education is pleased to announce the final installment of our Third Thursday Lunch and Learn Series speakers. The Third Thursday Lunch and Learn Series, presented by the Institute for Holocaust Education, is programming that seeks to educate, engage, and empower the community through discussion, presentations, and informative speakers about topics pertaining to the Holocaust. All Third Thursday presentations are offered via Zoom, from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on their respective days.

On Aug. 17 at 11:30 a.m. by Zoom, we will

Scott Littky

Continued from page 1

hear from Scott Littky, Executive Director of the Institute for Holocaust Education. His presentation is titled, Reflections on my second trip to Poland. This July, Scott Littky visited Auschwitz Birkenau again with Creighton Law School and their Nuremberg to the Hague program. Scott has had a year to process his first visit and will reflect upon what this second visit meant to him. Scott also visited Warsaw this time and will be sharing what he saw and learned there.

For more information regarding Third Thursday programming at IHE or to RSVP, please reach out to Scott Littky, Executive Director of IHE, at slittky@ihene.org

Nancy Schlessinger

She loves driving in her car while listening to the music she grew up with, such as Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, Sonny and Cher, The Carpenters and Barbra Streisand, to name a few.

In 2022, Nancy was presented with Chabad of Nebraska’s Lamplighter Award.

“The mitzvah of candle lighting is near and dear to Nancy’s heart,” Tippi Denenberg said. “She often uses her mother’s candle sticks, which have a lot of meaning to her. Nancy is a metaphorical lamplighter in our community. She works tirelessly to bring more light and joy wherever she goes: volunteering, recruiting, raising funds, and being involved in any way she can help. Her manner of openly embracing her Judaism shows people how joyous it is to be Jewish and how meaningful it can be to be involved in the Jewish community.”

Several years ago, she was approached about taking on the position of JFO president:

“While I wanted to help in any way I could,” she said. “I felt I needed to have more experience in order to fulfill my duties in the best manner. Mike Siegel was incredible in allowing me to ‘shadow’ him for the past year and Jan Goldstein was also a huge resource in her recent consulting role at the Federation.”

JFO CEO Bob Goldberg feels lucky to work closely with first Mike Siegel, and now with Nancy: “She brings enthusiasm and passion to the presidency,” he said. “Building and sustaining community, as all lay leaders know, takes up much time and energy. To know that Nancy cares enough to do the work means the world. The future is, indeed, bright. I cannot wait to see what’s in store, but whatever it is, it’s going to be great!”

Nancy, for her part, envisions a presidency that focuses on building bridges and making our community as cohesive as possible:

“The world we live in is one that thrives on drama and dissension,” she said. “While I understand that there aren’t always easy pathways and that some questions don’t have obvious answers, my goal is to guide the community to a positive and mutually respectful resolution if and when possible. We have to see everyone’s position and try to find com-

JCRC presents

Continued from page 1 impacting the Jewish community of Omaha. The title of this installment is Welcoming the Stranger: Refugee Resettlement in Nebraska.

Our Torah commands us to welcome the stranger into our midst 36 times (with the most frequently quoted mention in Leviticus 19:34)!

Immigrant Legal Services and Refugee Empowerment Center is working with the City of Omaha to provide refugee resettlement assistance to 40 families from war-torn countries including Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Syria, and Afghanistan, just to name a few.

We are honored and thrilled to launch “Welcoming the Stranger.” This initiative will focus on assisting two or more of the 40 refugee families arriving in Omaha from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Syria between now and October 1. The JCRC is coordinating a Jewish community volunteer effort to help sponsor families, provide furniture and household items and set up apartments.

We will begin by introducing the community to the 2020 documentary film A Home Called Nebraska.

In 2020, with America’s Refugee Resettlement Program hanging by a thread, A Home Called Nebraska is the story of midwestern welcome, acceptance, and unlikely friendships during a time of national anxiety and emboldened bigotry. In 2016, the conservative state of Nebraska resettled more refugees per capita than any other state.

A Home Called Nebraska spotlights people who escaped war,

mon-ground when we encounter issues that are challenging. Over the past several years, if not decades, members of our community may have left or become inactive due to the perception that their opinion didn’t matter or that they weren’t ‘heard’. I want to be a president that ‘hears’ everyone’s voice.”

Additionally, Nancy wants to engage with younger people who may not see value or understand what the JFO offers them. Creating community for these, and others, whether they are adults, seniors, disabled or disengaged is her mission.

“Immediate past-president Mike Siegel has been incredibly helpful with this transition,” Nancy said. “For the past several months or so, I’ve been engaged in leadership meetings with him. I also have been involved with Bob Goldberg and Phil Malcom and have been so grateful for the insights they have provided. I am so thankful for the team that is in place and all the remarkable knowledge and advice they have to share.”

Mike is leaving quite the legacy, she said.

“I don’t know where to even begin with describing all that Mike has and continues to do for our Jewish Community. He loves Omaha and his passion for this community is overflowing. Mike shows up for just about everything, runs a board meeting flawlessly and keeps track of the important issues. He also started his Presidency with the goal of the strategic plan and now has seen it through completion. If asked to do something, he always says yes and volunteers to do so many things, even before he’s asked. He is so positive and has been an incredible role model for me.”

The JFO Board of Directors recently welcomed four new members. Nancy is excited about each board member bringing their own unique experience within the Federation to the table:

“They will add to so much to the good conversations already happening at the Board meetings,” she said. “The current Board members are extremely engaged at our monthly Board meetings. We hear quite a bit of discussion and varying opinions on the topics at hand. What I take away from that is that our Board members are engaged, care deeply about our community and have strong feelings on many topics. That is the kind of Board we want and I’m honored to lead this amazing group.”

torture and persecution. It also introduces the generous Nebraskans who welcomed them, taught them, celebrated with them, and helped them find jobs and housing. Today, these refugees are succeeding, and are giving back to the communities that supported them.

After the film, JCRC board member Lacey Studnicka, Program Director at Habitat for Humanity, will lead a conversation about refugee resettlement and the many volunteer opportunities available to assist in this community-wide mitzvah project. “I’ve been welcoming refugees for seventeen years, and we must be mindful that people don’t choose to flee their homes and country and undertake highly perilous journeys unless they have been forced to do so. However, we do have a choice, and that choice is how we welcome our new neighbors.” said Lacey.

A reception with light refreshments will follow the program.

Lacey will lead the JCRC’s Welcoming the Stranger Committee, assisted by Carol Bloch, Ellie Batt, and Toba Cohen-Dunning.

This program will be in-person. Reservations can be made by contacting Pam Monsky, JCRC Assistant Director, pmon sky@jewishomaha.org, 402.334.6572.

The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) works to foster a just, democratic and pluralistic society through cooperation with other faith partners, racial, ethnic, and civic groups. Guided by Jewish values, the JCRC fights anti-Semitism, advocates, educates, collaborates, and mobilizes action on issues of importance to the Jewish community, and promotes the security of Israel and Jews everywhere.

Koko’s Story

ASHTON KAY

Jewish Press Intern

This paper is, more than anything, a place where we collect our story. It’s the story of community, of immigrants, of the way Judaism informs our lives and a story of identity. Of course, ours is not the only community that holds these types of stories. So when the Jewish Press welcomed Ashton Kay as the 2023 intern, I asked him to write about his own identity and what formed it. Everybody has a story—and if we are willing to listen, we all continue to learn.

I recently came across my grandma’s naturalization papers, and they show me someone whose life was paramount to my own existence. The photo of her bears an eerie resemblance to my little brother. Her handwriting is sloppy like my own, except she gets an excuse since English is not her first script. She has thick black curly hair like my older brother’s. At 28 years old, she became a citizen of the United States, just months after my dad was born. Twenty years later, at the age of 49, she died of breast cancer. I never got to meet my grandma Koko, and that’s something I’ll always be disappointed about. Maybe that’s not the right word to describe it, but it’s all I feel I can say.

Her timeless beauty is captured in every old photograph I’ve seen. It’s obvious where my dad got his good looks from.

Koko was born in Kamakura, Japan, in 1933. Her father died during the war, but it’s unknown how he died. After the war she met my grandfather, Don, who was stationed there in the Navy. He returned to Japan for their wedding in 1959. At the time, she spoke little to no English, and Don certainly didn’t know Japanese. While she was raising my uncle and my dad, she was taking English classes at Omaha Tech High School, which you may remember if you’ve been around long enough.

She made multiple appearances in Omaha newspapers, from Yakitori recipes to an Ikebana tea ceremony, and a big Japanese dinner arranged with other Omaha Japanese immigrants. One of them described her as ‘a young oriental housewife’ and another as ‘Mrs. Donald Kucirek’. They’re very clearly dated.

After World War II the United States initiated the Marshall plan in Western Europe, which sought to invest in reconstruction throughout the continent. The UK, France, and Germany were the largest recipients. Japan, however, received no such financial aid. The word 焼野原 (Yakinohara), meaning burnt

Jay Katelman

Continued from page 2 is vitally important to the experience. Additionally, he plans to have more meetings prior to the trip now that there’s more time. Jay’s favorite part about the trip was watching the students enjoy things for the first time.

“The look in their eyes when they were able to go to the Kotel (Western Wall) was great, and the Dead Sea was fantastic for everyone. It was a pleasure seeing the kids enjoy all these things with their friends. This was a close group. Many of them, even though they might go to different high schools, came up through the Early Learning Center and even Friedel Jewish Academy together. A lot of them knew each other already. If they didn’t, they formed deeper friendships.”

Because Jay also works with Israeli emissaries, he has to interview people who would be a good fit with the Omaha Jewish community.

That program has had fewer and fewer people apply,” he said. “It’s about finding the right fit without being super picky. Communities are going to try and compete for candidates, so we have to sell why our community is so special.”

Jay thinks that Omaha has an especially unique Jewish community within the country.

“We come together so well, and our Jewish community is very committed to making sure that we care for our own. I think a lot of people get the wrong opinion about Omaha. When they actually come and see Omaha, that is forever changed.”

field, was used to describe the state of the country. Entire cities were destroyed, and the country was devastated by famine and disease, given the destruction of hospitals, stores, and other vital infrastructure.

I can’t imagine what life must have been like for her for marrying a relative stranger to seem like the best option. She left everything behind to travel to a country she didn’t know the language of, and that still carried many anti-Japanese sentiments. Many people were never taught about Japanese internment during World War II. Japanese Americans, including citizens and those who were born in America, were removed from their homes and businesses and forcibly relocated. They lost multiple hundreds of millions of dollars in lost property and business revenue and were offered a fraction of it in reparations. This was all done under an executive order signed by Franklin Roosevelt. However, Americans’ prejudice towards the Japanese did not stop with the end of the war. Wartime propaganda permanently altered how some ‘patriotic’ Americans would view anyone of Japanese descent.

Koko wanted her kids, though half Japanese, to fit in in America. She never taught them Japanese, or all that much of her culture because she thought it would make their lives easier. At the time she may have been right to think that. I think she’d be happy to know that she succeeded, because my dad is the most American half-Japanese man I’ve ever seen. Well, except for his love of rice crackers, dried squid, seaweed, miso soup, and soy sauce. My dad only talks fondly of Koko: His favorite meals she would make, the way she would say もしもし(moshi-moshi) when she answered the phone and tell him ちょとまって (Choto-mate) when he would try to get her attention. Two years ago, when my dad needed open heart surgery, it was the most scared I’ve ever seen him in my life. Partially because they had to stop his heart, and put him on a bypass machine, and partially because he’d be getting his surgery in the same building where his mother died 40 years prior.

After she died, my father changed his last name from Kucirek to Kay for a number of reasons, including a complicated relationship with his father. I asked him why he didn’t change it to Koko’s maiden name, Takano. He said he never thought of it.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if she never died. I probably never would have been born. I imagine that an event See Koko’s Story page 5

Jay added that something unique about Omaha’s Jewish Community Center is that it’s a one-stop-shop for everything. In some bigger communities, the Federation can be one building, there are multiple community centers in different parts of town, and the Foundation will be in another location.

“I like that you can come here, you can go swimming with your family in the morning, dry off, and go to a ballet or play at night. You don’t have to go anywhere else if you don’t want to.”

Jay has seen a lot change in the short time he’s been here, starting with the renovation. He says that the reasoning behind it was to set up the building for future generations.

“Our younger generations want more events and engagement. They want the Judaism aspect but also the fun aspect.”

Jay’s two young children go to the Early Learning Center every day, and he says that this place has given him a sense of purpose and community. Not only has he seen the Jewish Community change, but it has changed him.

“I worked corporate for a long time before I came here. The thing I love most is that I’m judged by the job that I do and not by the stock price, because we don’t have one. I love the fact that you get to know the community better and more personally each and every day. It’s changed me; the way I do things is different now. I’m a lot happier.”

Ashton Kay is the 2023 Jewish Press intern. His position is made possible through the generous support of the Murray H. and Sharee C. Newman Supporting Foundation.

Don and Koko Kucirek

Life and Legacy Notes: Andrea and Robby Erlich

STACIE METZ

JFO Foundation Program and Stewardship Administrator

“Since we moved here in March of 2019, Beth El has been a huge part of our lives in so many ways. Beth El has a special place in both of our hearts. It was a no brainer for us to support the Life and Legacy program in a way that was financially comfortable for us. We feel that it is never too early to support organizations that mean a lot to us. Any financial contribution is an important one.”

Koko’s Story

Continued from page 4

like that affected a lot of decisions my dad made the next 16 years before meeting my mom. I doubt my parents would have met. That’s why I think at most I’m allowed to feel disappointed. I’m sure it’s possible that she regretted going to America with Don. There’s no way she could have foreseen the economic boom that Japan would have at the end of the 20th century. Maybe her life would have been better had she stayed there. But despite what she may have thought, she stuck it out for her kids, and tried to give them the best life that she could. I never met my grandma Koko, but I’m alive because of everything she did, and for that I’m grateful.

Ashton Kay is the 2023 Jewish Press intern. His position is made possible through the generous support of the Murray H. and Sharee C. Newman Supporting Foundation.

INFORMATION

To whom it may concern: I am looking to connect with any special needs parent who is supportive of using (part of) the land north of the JCC campus for an Assisted Living Facility for Special Needs adults in Omaha. I am looking for community members who want to get involved with a group of special needs parents to effectively present our position to the 132nd Task Force. If you are interested, please contact Melissa Schop at melschop@hotmail.com

New to the Kripke-Veret Collection

SHIRLY BANNER

JFO Library Specialist

CHILDREN:

The Museum of Lost Teeth by Elyssa Friedland

Toothy lives in Liam’s mouth next to his best friend Fang. He’s a good tooth—sparkly and strong, and he loves doing the floss.

One day, Toothy notices that he is loose and panics! Where will he go after he leaves his comfy spot next to Fang? After a crunchy apple seals the deal, Toothy is tucked under Liam’s pillow. When the Tooth Fairy appears, she takes Toothy to the Museum of Lost Teeth. It’s a more incredible place than Toothy could have ever imagined. It’s filled with new friends and fun activities like Tooth or Dare! Toothy finds a new home on the Firsts Floor, where first baby teeth are proudly displayed.

In the tradition of School’s First Day of School, The Museum of Lost Teeth answers the question “Where do all the lost teeth go?” in this unexpected and hilarious picture book.

ADULT:

Once We were Home by Jennifer Rosner

When your past is stolen, where do you belong?

Ana will never forget her mother’s face when she and her baby brother, Oskar, were sent out of their Polish ghetto and into the arms of a Christian friend. For Oskar, though, their new family is the only one he remembers. When a woman from a Jewish reclamation organization seizes them, believing she has their best interest at heart, Ana sees an opportunity to reconnect with her roots, while Oskar sees only the loss of the home he loves. Roger grows up in a monastery in France, inventing stories and trading riddles with his best friend in a life of quiet concealment. When a relative seeks to retrieve him, the Church steals him across the Pyrenees before relinquishing him to family in Jerusalem.

Renata, a post-graduate student in archaeology, has spent

her life unearthing secrets from the past-except for her own. After her mother’s death, Renata’s grief is entwined with all the questions her mother left unanswered, including why they fled Germany so quickly when Renata was a little girl.

Two decades later, they are each building lives for themselves, trying to move on from the trauma and loss that haunts them. But as their stories converge in Israel, in unexpected ways, they must each ask where and to whom they truly belong.

Beautifully evocative and tender, filled with both luminosity and anguish, Once We Were Home reveals a little-known history. Based on the true stories of children stolen during wartime, this heart-wrenching novel raises questions of complicity and responsibility, belonging and identity, good intentions and unforeseen consequences, as it confronts what it really means to find home.

Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew by Jeremy Dauber

Mel Brooks, born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn in 1926, is one of the great comic voices of the twentieth century. Having won almost every entertainment award there is, Brooks has straddled the line between outsider and insider, obedient and rebellious, throughout his career, making out-of-bounds comedy the American mainstream.

Jeremy Dauber argues that throughout Brooks’s extensive body of work—from Your Show of Shows to Blazing Saddles to Young Frankenstein to Spaceballs—the comedian has seen the most success when he found a balance between his unflagging, subversive, manic energy and the constraints imposed by comedic partners, the Hollywood system, and American cultural mores. Dauber also explores how Brooks’s American Jewish humor went from being solely for niche audiences to an essential part of the American mainstream, paving the way for generations of Jewish (and other) comedians to come.

JCC Sharks 2023 Swim & Dive Team

LOCAL | NATIONAL | WORLD

Backyard Concert Series

ASHTON KAY

Jewish Press Intern

The first concert of this month’s Backyard Concert Series is Sunday, Aug. 6. Before the concert, which will feature Omaha’s very own Wood Hoops, we have our Dog Party! Don’t forget to bring your furry friend between 4 and 5 p.m. for treats, toys and canine playdates. And... please don’t forget your poop bags.

Wood Hoops is a jazz and funk band that has a pleasant mix of recognizable song covers and original songs. They perform everything from pop to R&B, old songs to new. The music, and the performers, will encourage you to get on your feet and dance along. The band has experience performing at many Omaha and Lincoln venues, and has even released their own album.

The talented musicians have a diverse selection of instruments, using guitar, bass, keys, vocals, and drums, with the groovy addition of trombone, trumpet

INFORMATION

and saxophone. You will be sure to enjoy everything that this band has to offer. Everyone is welcome, and encouraged to attend this free concert. They are the first of four bands that will perform at the BYCS throughout the month of August. Be sure to come back and hear

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.

about the next band!

Ashton Kay is a journalism student at UNO and the 2023 Jewish Press intern. His position is made possible through the generous support of the Murray H. and Sharee C. Newman Supporting Foundation.

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

MARK MARTIN

JCC

Executive Director

In the old days, we were able to take a team photo in one shot on any morning during the summer. Those days are history as we have close to 200 kids on the team. This year we have 65 kids who are brand new to our swim team alone. Not all 200 team members were available to be photographed. However, all 200 team swimmers are JCC fullyear family members. We are in the ‘A’ Division of the Greater Omaha Swim League, and this year’s record in dual meets was 4 – 1. At the all-league finals, we came in second place among 16 swim teams.

In the fall of 2022, we started an all-year swim team that practices three nights a week with 55 participants. Last year, we created a new full-time swim manager position; technically she works part-time. This has helped to propel our success and member satisfaction.

The J Swim Team is a success and continues to focus on families, which has driven our membership retention.

Thank you, donors, for two incredible lap swimming pools. Go Sharks!

RBJH needs

We need your help! The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home’s mobile book case for Residents is running low.

If you have any books to donate (preferably large print and current authors) please contact Christina Caniglia at 402.334.6520 or send an email to ccaniglia@rbjh.com

Above and below: Jewish representation in the 2023 Omaha Pride Parade.

Below: Every Friday is dog day at the Staenberg Kooper Fellman JCC!

Rabbi Scharff’s first weekend at Temple Israel! Above: Rabbi Deana Berezin, Rabbi Benjamin Scharff, Cantor Joanna Alexander; below: The youngest congregants celebrated with a giant waterslide.

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: The bus leaves for Camp Sabra!

Above: I’m Hooked! RBJH Residents enjoyed another beautiful day by going fishing. Live Well. Go Fish. takes seniors, youth, veterans, people with disabilities, and hospice patients boating and fishing on a wheelchair-accessible pontoon boat at beautiful Lake Wanahoo.

Community members and volunteers enjoyed a taste test at Chabad. Above: Jim Fried and Rabbi Mendel Katzman; below: Terry Ann Joy, Cheryl Lerner, Shani Katzman, Tiffany Franklin and Cheryl Diamond.

Above: Ethan, Asher and Ari Finkelstein together at Camp Ramah; below: Asher Finkelstein in the role of Alladin’s Genie at Camp Ramah.

Above: Sam Kutler at Herzl Camp; below: Emily Kutler, Max Ruback and Sam Kutler at Herzl Camp.

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Margie Gutnik, President; Abigail Kutler, Ex-Officio; Helen Epstein; Seth Feldman; David Finkelstein; Ally Freeman; Mary Sue Grossman; Chuck Lucoff; Patricia Newman; Joseph Pinson and Larry Ring.

The mission of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to build and sustain a strong and vibrant Omaha Jewish Community and to support Jews in Israel and around the world. Agencies of the JFO are: Institute for Holocaust Education, Jewish Community Relations Council, Jewish Community Center, Jewish Social Services, Nebraska Jewish Historical Society and the Jewish Press Guidelines and highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: www.jewishomaha.org; click on ‘Jewish Press.’ Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole. The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment.

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Celebrate Everything

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor

A few weekends ago, a Partnership delegation from the Galilee Medical Center visited Omaha. During one presentation, Dr. Wafaa Bellan spent a little time talking about her own family and how they navigate having different backgrounds in one household.

“We celebrate everything,” she said. Three words, but they stood out. Because yes, she was talking about religious holidays specifically, but couldn’t the sentiment be applicable elsewhere? I may not have the need for a Christmas tree and a hanukkiah side-by-side, but I can embrace the idea, the feeling behind it of being inclusive and not unnecessarily closing any doors.

Just as I was contemplating how to apply Dr. Bellan’s words, I read this news story:

“Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the vaccine conspiracy theorist and Democratic presidential candidate, is drawing criticism after arguing that Covid had been “ethnically targeted” to have less of an effect on Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.

“The people who are most immune are Ashkenazic Jews and Chinese,” Kennedy said. “We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not, but there are papers out there that show the racial and ethnic differential of impact.” (JTA.org)

On the surface, these two experiences have nothing in common. However, it reminded me: in life, our outlook is everything. Whether we decide to be inclusive, welcoming, warm, or to draw lines and emphasize the differences between ‘us’ and ‘them’,

it’s a choice. And it’s a choice we make every day. I often wonder about the motivation behind choice #2. What’s the upside of marking one’s territory in this manner, how does Mr. Kennedy ben-

ogy-slash-denial.

As a Jewish reader, I am equally tempted to draw a line between him and me: he’s made an antisemitic remark and so he automatically ends up in my ‘other’ category.

Is it possible for any of us to unify without excluding certain groups? Are we more successful, happier, more fullfilled if we push others down?

We are not. We become better when we allow differences to be, when we don’t decide an entire category is somehow bad or wrong.

Whether the lines we draw are based on race, ethnicity, culture, religion, sexual orientation, gender, national origin—no matter how we separate ourselves from others, we lose in the end.

If we can, like Dr. Bellan, ‘celebrate everything,’ we open ourselves up to growth in ways we can’t even imagine. It doesn’t mean celebrating someone else’s religion, or becoming part of someone else’s culture, it means allowing others their own space. I don’t have to be Christian to wish you a happy Christmas. I don’t have to be gay to be an LGBTQ+ ally. I certainly don’t have to be Chinese to know that nobody is safe from Covid.

efit from believing the things he spouts? He’s neither Jewish nor Chinese, so it can’t be to feel more secure, and safe from this particular pandemic. And: he leaves himself just enough room to quickly follow things up with a half-hearted apol-

EVA FOGELMAN & MENACHEM Z. ROSENSAFT JTA

When the U.S. Supreme Court sided last month with a Colorado web designer who refuses to do work for same-sex couples because of her religious objection to same-sex marriage, it risked opening the floodgates to a host of discriminatory acts under the guise of First Amendment freedom of expression.

Most of us thought that we had made progress in eliminating government-sanctioned bigotry. Justice Neil Gorsuch’s 6-3 majority opinion in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, saying that her refusal to serve a same-sex couple is “protected speech,” reminds us, however, that discrimination endorsed by the high court remains a clear and present danger, first and foremost for the LGBTQIA+ community, but also for the rest of us.

As a daughter and son of Holocaust survivors, we tend to understand social and political events through the prism of the destruction of European Jewry. The Jews were deprived of their rights in Nazi Germany immediately after Hitler came to power in 1933. And we know that excluding Jews and others from commercial and civil life was one of the earliest stages before their eventual annihilation.

The 303 Creative case forces us to contemplate the possibility that white supremacists, antisemites, Islamaphobes and other hate-filled individuals and groups will now be allowed to recast their bigotry in First Amendment or religious freedom terms. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, the decision “threatens to balkanize the market and to allow the exclusion of other groups from many services.”

With this new ruling, what is to prevent a devout Christian who believes that Jews killed Jesus from selling wedding dresses only to brides who accept Jesus as their savior or from refusing to print bar mitzvah or Ramadan invitations? What about a white supremacist caterer who believes that interracial marriages violate his or her religious beliefs?

Will his lawyer use this SCOTUS decision to construct a clever First Amendment or Free Exercise defense that allows him to get away with not serv-

ing such couples?

We are reminded of Gregory Peck who, masquerading as a Jew in the 1947 film “Gentleman’s Agreement,” is turned away from a “restricted” resort, as so many Jews were in real life. Jackie Robinson, Louis Armstrong and other African-Americans were denied entry into hotels, restaurants and other central institutions of American society until the civil rights revolution of the 1950s and 1960s put what we thought was an end to such nefarious practices.

Every moment can be a teaching moment. Trying to be a little more inclusive when we speak and when we listen is a good idea, not just for those who run for President. It’s good for all of us. That means there’s work to be done, because as much as I would like to respect everyone’s opinion, I’m not quite there with the endless antisemitic Covid tropes. Maybe we can celebrate, while also still drawing lines.

ginia’s prohibition of interracial marriages to be unconstitutional.

Do we now have to worry that the Court in the future might validate some version of Judge Bazile’s bigotry under the guise of the First Amendment?

Americans are witnessing the legal legitimization of an “us vs. them” society. It comes at a point when the LGBTQ+ community was just beginning to gain legal ground. Now, the community is again legally seen by many as “the other.”

We don’t believe it is alarmist to say that such delegitimization may be the beginning of a process of dehumanization. History has taught us that when we no longer see others as equal to ourselves, we grant license to bigots to treat such individuals as less than human.

Why are we compelled to speak out and feel strongly that all of us have an obligation to speak out? Because of the warning for the ages that German pastor Martin Niemoller taught us, a warning which we, present-day Americans, ignore at our peril:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist.

A previous generation of jurists also thought that legally sanctioned discrimination was accommodating sincere religious beliefs. “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red,” wrote County Circuit Judge Leon M. Bazile of Caroline County, Virginia, in his now notorious Jan. 6, 1959, ruling sentencing Mildred Loving, a woman of African-American and Native-American descent, and Richard Loving, a white man, to one year in jail for violating Virginia’s miscegenation laws.

Judge Bazile continued by saying that God placed the races on separate continents. “And but for the interference with his arrangements there would be no cause for such [i.e., interracial] marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.”

It was not until June 12, 1967 — more than eight years later — that the Supreme Court overturned the Lovings’ criminal conviction and declared Vir-

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.

We are here to speak out for and stand with the LGBTQ+ community and for all who may eventually be adversely affected by this misguided ruling. For all we know, it could be us.

Eva Fogelman is a social psychologist and psychotherapist and the author of Conscience and Courage: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust.

Menachem Z. Rosensaft is a lawyer and human rights activist, Adjunct Professor of Law at Cornell Law School and the author of "Poems Born in Bergen-Belsen."

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.

The Supreme Court ruled that discrimination is protected speech. As the children of Holocaust survivors, we understand where this leads.

A sign posted outside Meadowbrook, a privately owned swimming club in Baltimore City, ca. 19421944. Credit: Jewish Museum of Maryland

Dr. Wafaa Bellan

A Sustainable Veil

ASHTON KAY

Jewish Press Intern

As I’ve learned more about Judaism while interning here, I’ve seen that many Jewish values go hand in hand with environmentalism. Respecting the earth and not destroying it, providing opportunities and futures for the young, and protecting the poor and vulnerable. These are all Jewish values that seem as important as ever, and especially relevant when you look at climate change. Recently the crisis has become more and more of a looming problem, with its effects starting to seep into everyday life. The results will, more than anyone else, affect the poor and the young.

Last week, we saw the hottest day ever recorded, sparking many conversations about the future of the planet. Global warming continues, because nothing of substance has been done to stop it. Climate change is rapidly approaching the point of no return. The ‘1.5 degree celsius’ warming that we are trying to avoid is a best case scenario, and will involve catastrophic changes to ensure the survival of humanity. It’s clear that if change does not happen soon, this catastrophe will only worsen, and yet those who actually possess the power to make these changes try to manipulate us that it’s our fault. If we all worked together to reduce our carbon footprints we could save the world. It’s no secret that carbon footprints were made by oil companies to make people blame themselves for climate change instead of the real, stupidly obvious culprit. If you didn’t know, these same companies provided oil to fuel the Nazis during World War II, and some even utilized slave labor during the Holocaust.

Another not so innocent industry has been manipulating you too, but they’re a little bit better at it. Good enough at it that not many people know how big of a contribution to global warming this industry is.

Agriculture accounts for just 10 percent of the United States’ total emissions. It is the smallest source of emissions from the

US, with the largest being transportation followed by energy. And yet these statistics can be deceiving. The largest pollutant emitted by the agriculture industry is methane. Uniquely, this is also the only one of the largest industries to primarily emit methane rather than the more well known CO2. Many of the global conversations around emissions are focused around CO2 and methane tends to be forgotten. The problem with methane is that it is 25 times more potent than CO2. When you consider that methane makes up 16% of global man-made emissions compared to CO2’s 76% this becomes more of an issue.

The largest source of methane production in the United States is from cattle, and the beef industry is largely controlled by just four corporations. Many multinational corporations, in any industry, nowadays like to maintain the appearance of transparency. Looking at their websites, you can find countless documents and reports about how sustainable they are and how they don’t violate human rights (legally). In the beef industry, these companies very conveniently boast about CO2 emissions and very rarely bring up methane, taking advantage of either the extent of an average person's knowledge of chemistry or their attention to detail.

For a short moment I would like to bring your attention to a study published 9 years ago, in January of 2014 (Machado L, Magnusson M, Paul NA, de Nys R, Tomkins N). This study found that a strand of red seaweed known as Asparagopsis Taxiformis has the potential to reduce the methane emissions of cattle by up to 98% when used in cattle feed. Since its publication, multiple followup studies using Asparagopsis Taxi-

formis as a feed supplement have validated these findings. The corporations in control of the beef industry have acknowledged the use of the seaweed in feed. Essentially, they said that despite the massive effect on methane emissions, it was just too early to know if it would work. Sure. Instead, in their ESG reports, they claim that they were experimenting with ‘wearable devices’ for the cattle to reduce methane emissions. These contraptions are definitively much less effective than seaweed supplements, and certainly no less experimental.

But what reason would the beef industry have to be jumping through all these hoops? Well a simple google search will tell you that while the cattle feed market is less consolidated than the meat industry, the same companies have the most market share. It suddenly all begins to make much more sense. The strategy is an economic term known as vertical integration.

This is where one company owns all of the steps in production of a product, making it more profitable. If it’s not apparent, the industry doesn’t want to go through the expensive endeavor of overhauling their production of cattle feed. That’s because, unsurprisingly, they don't actually care about climate change or sustainability, they care about profit. They care about profit and they’re just trying to play by the rules. Instead they can buy some cheap ineffective prototypes, say that they are doing something, and distract you with other prettier numbers.

Ashton Kay studies journalism at UNO and is the 2023 Jewish Press intern. His position is made possible through the generous support of the Murray H. and Sharee C. Newman Supporting Foundation.

Groff v. DeJoy is the rare Supreme Court decision that every Jew can celebrate

MICHAEL A. HELFAND

JTA

In one of its most anticipated cases of the year, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Groff v. DeJoy last month, significantly expanding the federal protections afforded religious employees in the workplace. The decision itself was unanimous, reflecting a broad consensus that employers should be doing more than previously required when it comes to accommodating religious employees.

Jewish organizations from across the ideological spectrum — from Agudath Israel and the Orthodox Union to the AntiDefamation League and the American Jewish Committee to the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism — applauded the ruling as providing long-elusive workplace protections. This new ruling will no longer allow employers to avoid providing accommodations simply because it comes at some minimal cost. Employers will now have to prove such costs are substantial when considered in the broader context of their business.

When Gerald Groff took his job at the U.S. Postal Service, he was not required to work on Sundays. However, after the Postal Service subsequently entered an agreement to deliver packages for Amazon on Sundays, Groff was informed that he could no longer take off on his Sunday Sabbath, as was his custom, which ultimately led to his termination.

The crux of the case revolved around two words in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: “undue hardship.” According to the text of Title VII, employers are required to accommodate the religious practices of their employees, but only if providing such an accommodation does not present an “undue hardship” to their business. In this way, federal law balances the religious needs of the employee against the business necessities of the employer. And the words “undue hardship,” at least on their face, imply that the employers are expected to endure some hardship in order to accommodate religious employees, but that obligation ends once the hardship to the employer’s business becomes “undue.”

While the text of the law appears to impose modest, but important obligations on employers, the Supreme Court — back in a 1977 case, TWA v. Hardison — provided a contorted interpretation of Title VII that required far less of employers. Somewhat counterintuitively, the Court appeared to hold that providing a religious accommodation imposed an “undue hardship” on the employer any time it required the employer to “bear more than a de minimis cost” — that is, a trivial or minor cost. As a result, if an employer could demonstrate a religious accommodation entailed even a trivial cost, she was off the hook. The court’s decision in Hardison rejected an employee’s claim to have his Sabbath accommodated.

Hardison’s stingy standard, and its significant consequences for American Jews in the workplace, is precisely why so many Jewish organizations with varying political outlooks – including the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs,

National Council of Young Israel, Orthodox Union (full disclosure: I co-authored the Orthodox Union’s amicus brief), and the Zionist Organization of America — all filed amicus briefs before the Court in Groff. As these briefs emphasized, the lack of meaningful protections for religious employees had, over the years, repeatedly forced American Jews to choose between their faith and their livelihood, most notably when it came to observing the Sabbath and Jewish holidays.

But in Groff, the Supreme Court overhauled the standard for employers: According to the decision, an employer must accommodate a religious employee unless doing so imposes “a burden [that] is substantial in the overall context of an employer’s business.” (Emphasis added.)

text. Costs that might be significant for a local grocery store may not be significant for a corporate behemoth like Amazon. Those differences will matter when deciding how much an employer will have to expend when accommodating a particular religious practice.

Finally, the court emphasized that accommodations that trigger deep dissatisfaction from employees — and thereby significantly affect the employer’s business — can qualify as a substantial cost and justify an employer’s decision to deny an accommodation. But the court was careful to constrain these sorts of considerations: An employer cannot claim that she can’t accommodate a religious employee because other employees have expressed dissatisfaction that is based upon their “animosity to a particular religion, to religion in general, or to the very notion of accommodating religious practice.” To countenance such bias or hostility would undermine the very purposes of the law — and, in the words of the court, put Title VII “at war with itself.”

To be sure, the significance of Groff is somewhat blunted given that many states have already adopted heightened standards for when religious employees must be accommodated.

Before Groff, many employees could still leverage state law protections to secure accommodations. An amicus brief filed by 22 states noted that states with broader protections had not faced significant challenges in administering such legal regimes.

So what does this all mean for the future of religious accommodation in the workplace?

As the solicitor general noted during oral arguments, there are three broad categories where employees typically seek religious accommodations: scheduling changes such as those required to facilitate Sabbath observance; dress and grooming policies such as kippahs and hijabs in the workplace; and religious expression in the workplace, which might include an employee’s desire to display (or avoid) some sort of religious symbol or message.

Under the new standard, employers who seek to reject such requests will have to demonstrate that granting these religious accommodations would impose substantial costs. Considerations like administrative costs and modest financial expenditures will be insufficient justification for denying such requests. This impact will likely be felt most directly when it comes to requests to accommodate Sabbath observances. The Court’s opinion indicates that employers will have to consider voluntary shift swaps and modest incentives — such as overtime payments — in order to accommodate a Sabbathobserving employee.

Importantly, this will vary significantly by occupation. For example, while a postal worker might reasonably request time off for the Sunday Sabbath, a coach in the NFL, where games are mostly played on Sundays, cannot.

Similarly, determining whether the financial burdens of accommodation are truly significant will also depend on con-

Still, the court’s decision will likely provide long overdue protections to religious employees — fulfilling the long-overdue promise of Title VII. Most notably, the decision likely ensures that religious minorities — whose observances are often out of step with the rhythm of the modern workplace — need not cast aside their religious commitments as the price of employment.

This new standard is mindful of context and careful not to require substantial costs that might undermine a business. At the same time, the court’s decision is clear that employers cannot hide behind minor inconveniences to ignore the requests of their religious employees.

In sum, the court’s decision in Groff — and unanimously so — asks employers and employees to find workable solutions to conflicts between business objectives and faith commitments. In that way, it may provide a useful blueprint for navigating a host of recurring social conflicts across the human condition.

Michael A. Helfand is the Brenden Mann Foundation Chair-in-Law and Religion and Co-Director of the Nootbaar Institute for Law and Religion at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law; Visiting Professor and Oscar M. Ruebhausen Distinguished Fellow at Yale Law School; Senior Legal Advisor to the Orthodox Union’s Teach Coalition; and Senior Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute.

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.

A carving of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on the facade of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. Credit: Steve Petteway/Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States

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

Class, 8 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m.

ing, 8:28 p.m.

Monthly Speaker Series Service, Friday, Aug. 11, 7:30 p.m. with our guest speaker. 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, Ann 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. Zoom Only; Mondays and Thursdays 7 a.m.; Evenings on SundayThursday 5:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: Nebraska AIDS Project Lunch, 11:30 a.m.; Family Pool Party, 1 p.m. at the JCC; Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. with guest speaker Rabbi Jonathan Rosenbaum, Ph.D on Core Values for the A.I. Era at Beth El & Live Stream.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m. with guest speaker Rabbi Jonathan Rosenbaum, Ph.D on Is Biblical History Real History and Why Should We Care? at Beth El & Live Stream; Lunch and Learn, noonish with Rabbi Jonathan Rosenbaum, Ph.D on Founding the Future: American Judaism in the 21st Century; Havdalah, 9:25 p.m. Zoom Only.

SUNDAY: Torah Study, 10 a.m. with Rabbi Jonathan Rosenbaum, Ph.D.; Dinner at Stephen Center, 5 p.m.

FRIDAY-Aug. 4: Kabbalat Shabbat 6 p.m. at Beth El & Live Stream.

SATURDAY-Aug. 5: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m.; Havdalah, 9:15 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.; Halacha Class with SEED, 7:45 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:30 p.m.; Candlelighting, 8:28 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:45 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:10 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity 8:40 p.m.; Havdalah, 9:32 p.m.

SUNDAY: Halacha Class with SEED 7:45 a.m.; Shacharit 9 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv 8:30 p.m.

MONDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m.

TUESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m.

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

FRIDAY-Aug. 4: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:30 p.m.; Candlelighting, 8:20 p.m.

SATURDAY-Aug. 5: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:45 a.m.; Mincha/ Ma’ariv 8:10 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity 8:40 p.m.; Havdalah, 9:23 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, 8:27 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 9:31 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; NEW CLASS: Introduction to Writing Hebrew Script and Vocabulary Practice, 5 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Parsha Reading, 6 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

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

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

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

FRIDAY-Aug. 4: Shacharit 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 5:45 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ocha bad.com/Lechayim; Candlelighting, 8:19 p.m.

SATURDAY-Aug. 5: Shacharit 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 9:22 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex at TI; Havdalah, 9:32 p.m.

SUNDAY: Temple Gardening, 8:30-10 am. Contact Ellin Siegel at ellin.siegel@gmail.com if you have any questions; Men’s Bike/Coffee Group meet, 10:45 a.m. at The Mill on the Innovation Campus. We sit outside, facing east. For more information or questions please email Al Weiss at albertw801@gmail.com; SST Board Meeting, 1 p.m.; Community Picnic, 3 p.m. at the Bleicher Residence in Eagle, NE. All food and beverages will be provided. Bring swim suits and towels for the slip & slide. RSVP to bob@eaglenurseries.com ; Pickleball, 3-5 p.m. at TI. Everyone is welcome.

MONDAY: Synagogue Offices Closed; LJCS Registration Begins.

WEDNESDAY: Ruach Committee Meeting, 1 p.m. via Zoom.

THURSDAY: High Holy Days Choir Rehearsal, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY-Aug. 4: Noah Levine Visit; LJCS Registration Ends; Kabbalat Shabbat Service with Rabbi Alex and music by Nathaniel and Steve Kaup, 6:30 p.m. at SST; Oneg Host: TBD; Shabbat Candlelighting, 8:21 p.m.

SATURDAY-Aug. 5: Noah Levine Visit; Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex at TI; Torah Study, noon on Parashat Eikev; Havdalah 9:23 p.m.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME

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.

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

TEMPLE ISRAEL

In-person and virtual services conducted by Rabbi Benjamin Sharff, Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin, and Cantor Joanna Alexander

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

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

WEDNESDAY: Yarn It, 9 a.m. In-Person.

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: Synagogue Offices Closed; Final Friday Shabbat Community Dinner, 6 p.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat Service with Rabbi Alex and music by Nathaniel and Steve Kaup, 7 p.m. at SST; Shabbat Candlelight-

Partnership2Gether Conference

JAY KATELMAN

JFO Director of Community Development

Together with Federation CEO Bob Goldberg, I attended the Partnership2Gether Council of Communities (COC) Conference From July 9 to July 14, in Fort Worth, Texas. Bob was the CEO of the Fort Worth Federation for seven-and-a-half years. Being able to go back was a special experience for him.

I recently rejoined the Federation on a full-time basis and one of my new responsibilities is Partnership. This was my first Partnership conference, and for most of the first day it all felt a bit overwhelming. However, as time went on, I started to feel comfortable and began to share my input as well.

Partnership2Gether connects 17 cities in the U.S., Israel’s Western Galilee and Budapest, Hungry. It is a program of The Jewish Agency and The Jewish Federations of North America combined, promoting people-to-people relationships through cultural, social, medical, educational, and economic programs. Made up of an inclusive and active network of people, the focus is on the exchange of ideas and programs with the goal of developing relationships. In the process, we strengthen our global Jewish identity.

The goal of COC was to see old friends, make new

ones, and engage with Partnership. Additionally, we were tasked with implementing the core part of P2G’s strategic plan process, tentatively approve the 2024 work plan and budget, review the 25th anniversary celebration plans in the Western Galilee and strengthen relationships between all partners.

The conference itinerary included a large variety of sessions, from a welcome by its leadership and acquaintance activities to the setting of the conference’s structure, participation and voting. We discussed the ethos of Partnership in the Jewish world, built relationships, talked about our mission and listened to perspectives from two CEO’s, including our own Bob Goldberg.

There were financial reports, discourse on strategy, survey results and social activities; sometimes we worked in small groups and we discussed the future. What are our next steps? What are our expectations? Finally, we reviewed the full plan and status wihin the context of Partnership’s 25th anniversary, while also receiving an education about the timeline.

THURSDAY: Thursday Morning Class 10 a.m. with Rabbi Azriel via Zoom

FRIDAY-Aug. 4: Drop in Mah Jongg, 9-11 a.m. InPerson; Shabbat Shira Service, 6 p.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SATURDAY-Aug. 5: Torah Study 9:15 a.m. In-Person & Zoom; Saturday Morning Shabbat Service, 10:30 a.m. In-Person & Zoom; Temple Tots Splash Pad Shabbat 4 p.m. (RSVP for location). Please visit templeisraelomaha.com for additional information and Zoom service links.

I cannot wait to immerse myself even deeper into Partnership2Gether and continue building relationships with all the wonderful people from the

represented. It’s not just a pro-

it is a family that I look forward to being a part of.

many communities

gram;

Bob Goldberg, left, and Jay Katelman

Life cycles

BEVERLY (BERNSTEIN) FRANK

Beverly (Bernstein) Frank passed away on July 14, 2023, in Omaha. Services were held on July 18, 2023, at Beth El Cemetery and were officiated by Hazzan Michael Krausman.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Sam and Sarah Bernstein; brothers, Louis and David Bernstein; and husband, Joseph Frank.

She is survived by son and daughter-in-law, Bruce and Teresa Frank and daughter and son-in-law, Shelly and Mike Johnson; grandchildren: Steven Frank and Tory Peak, Kelly and Sasha Lindow and Jessica and Daniel Weido.

Memorials may be made to the Rose Blumkin Home, Beth El Synagogue or the organization of your choice.

Netanyahu undergoes pacemaker placement

RON KAMPEAS

JTA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a pacemaker installed amid growing civil strife over his coalition’s effort to weaken the country’s judiciary.

The surgery came a week after Netanyahu, 73, was hospitalized for what he said was dehydration, and was given a heart monitor.0 Netanyahu intended to return to Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, Sunday afternoon for debate over the judicial overhaul legislation. Lawmakers are due to vote on the bill, which would bar the Supreme Court from striking down government decisions it deems “unreasonable.” The measure is the first piece of Netanyahu’s broader effort to sap the power and independence of Israel’s Supreme Court. Since it was announced at the beginning of the year, the proposed judicial overhaul has brought hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets.

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 avandekamp @jewishomaha.org or jpress@jewishomaha.org for more information.

someone offers you alcohol or other drugs, decide what you are going to say.

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Vegetable home delivery

It’s the middle of June as I am now writing, and in Omaha, June days are usually warm. Sometimes they’re even hot, but not as hot as they will be in another six or eight weeks when both our days and nights will be warmer than they are now. That warm weather, day and night, makes our corn grow. It also makes our veggies grow. That’s how we get those big, red, juicy tomatoes; our deep green peppers which turn to red; and those sweet short and long cucumbers everyone simply calls “cukes.” All they also need is enough rain.

Years ago, in the ‘80s and ‘90s I thought those warm and hot days and nights were wonderful. They were wonderful to me because I had a garden. It was small at first but eventually truly big, in our backyard next to our home on Leavenworth Street.

It began tiny, just three tomato plants on the west side of our house. Those three skinny little plants had bright sunshine for at least six hours every summer day and plenty of water because every night I checked to see how they were doing. It was my first garden. To my surprise it worked. Those three plants grew and grew, small yellow flowers blossomed and turned to little green fruits, and they in turn became great red tomatoes the size of baseballs.

From the beginning, I loved it. I moved the garden to a corner of our back yard where no trees blocked the summer sun.

And the garden continued to grow.

First five by five, then five by ten, then ten by ten, then ten by fifteen, then ten by twenty, and ultimately by a whopping ten by twenty-five. Fences to keep the bunnies out kept growing right with the garden. The number of tomato plants kept growing, from the original three to a mixture of twenty varieties, all planted next to peppers, cucumbers, green beans,

zucchinis, and potatoes. In mid-summer the potato plants were still mostly underground and all that one could see was a thin curved stem about 24 inches long bent in a circle with a charming purple flower at the far end. By Rosh Hashanah the potato plants were large and green. Underground I’d dig and find six or seven potatoes in each plant.

By the first of August the fruits of every plant, except the potatoes, were ready to harvest. Early Sunday mornings I went to the garden, always alone, and picked everything that was ripe. I took the garden hose and cleaned them all, asked Bev to select everything she wanted, and put the rest in individual bushel baskets in the back seat of our convertible with the top down and went on “my rounds.”

Stops took place at the homes of cousins, our rabbi, our cantor, and friends. The routine was the same at each stop. The car was parked in the driveway. I rang the doorbell, and out came the “lady of the house.” It was never a man. We spoke.

“I’ve got some fresh veggies in my car, and I want you to take some.”

I handed her a small sack, the size we used for lunches for our kids, and said “Go ahead, take what you want.”

Without exception each woman would take one tomato and one cuke. “Go ahead,” I’d always say, “take more. At the grocery store you don’t buy just one tomato, do you, you always take two or three or even four, and you often take two cukes, especially when they look as good as these do.”

That always did it. Each lady would then take the sack still almost empty, fill it with at least three tomatoes, or when they were really nice, a half dozen, and two cukes, and two peppers and ask me, ‘Dick, is this too much?’ and I’d always say ‘no, these are for you from me. Just like my grandfather did when he peddled veggies door to door with a horse and wagon back in the 1920s. Only mine aren’t for sale.”

Today that garden is gone. Large trees gave it too much shade. We moved. Our neighborhood association forbids vegetable gardens since they “distract golfers” in their carts. I’m down to five large and charming teal colored clay pots. My present inventory... one plant per pot, three tomatoes, each a different variety, one cuke and one pepper. Each plant in its pot on my deck gets personal attention every day, abundant water, and the prayer of every gardener.

The day I finish planting my garden is perfect.

I see before me beautiful red tomatoes.

But it’s downhill from there.

Please, God, help them and me.

I wish I could give my veggies away like I did so many years ago.

PERSONICS

OMAHA BEAT BRIGADE

OMAHA BIG BAND WOOD HOOPS

FEST

RICHARD FELLMAN