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J ULY 2 9, 2 02 2 | 1 AV 578 2 | VO L. 1 02 | NO. 4 0 | CANDLELIGHTING | FRIDAY, JU LY 29, 8: 26 P.M.
Mega Challah Bake and Boutique Temple Israel’s Annual Golf Outing Page 2
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SPONSORED BY THE BENJAMIN AND ANNA E. WIESMAN FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND
Beth El Scholar in Residence ROBBY ERLICH Beth El Engagement Coordinator Beth El Synagogue is very pleased to welcome Sharon Keller, PhD as Scholar-in-Residence for the weekend of Friday, Aug. 12, Saturday, Aug. 13 and Sunday, Aug. 14. During her visit to Omaha, Dr. Keller’s topics will be Theological Truth Beyond Historical Truth. The entire weekend is sponsored by the Henry and Dorothy Riekes Beth El Endowment Fund.
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Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) Survey results are in Page 5
TIPPI DENENBERG habad of Nebraska joyfully invites Omaha to an extra special, making-up-for-lost-time Mega Challah Bake & Boutique on Sept. 15, 2022 at the JCC at 7 p.m. Doors to the beautifully remodeled JCC lobby will open at 6:15 p.m. for shopping, noshing and wine. Vendors will be selling everything you might need for the
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Image of Victory, Netflix’s new Israeli war drama, revisits the capture of a kibbutz in 1948 Page 12
high holidays: candles, honey, table adornments, greeting cards, gifts, art, etc., and everything you might need afterwards for pampering yourself. Everyone will leave with two loaves of braided dough and a passel of party favors. If you haven’t been to an event in a long time, THIS is the one to attend. Top on the list of the evening will be a hefty serving of inspiration. With everything See Mega Challah Bake page 2
Learning timeless wisdom
REGULARS Spotlight Voices Synagogues Life cycles
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RABBI ELI TENENBAUM Chabad of Nebraska The Jewish people have the reputation of being “people of the book”. Throughout Jewish history, Jews have risked everything to secretly study Torah, whether in the caves in the Judean hills in the first century, or in the Warsaw Ghetto in the twentieth. Torah study has sustained our identity as a people, served as an escape from the daily tribulations faced by Jews throughout the ages, and served as a guide to Jewish religious observance since time immemorial. Although thankfully we do not face the same challenges as our ancestors,
Shani Katzman studies the weekly Parsha (Torah portion) with a group of women.
we can and should still carry on this rich tradition they sacrificed for to pass on to us, to study Torah regularly and live by its precepts. Aside from being a mitzvah, we can discover how the Torah’s wisdom can enhance and improve our lives, our relationships, mental and emotional health and
even our careers and business. But putting that into practice can be difficult. Living in the Information Age as we do, it is difficult for a beginner to know where to start. If you have an interest in broadening your Jewish knowledge and deepening See Timeless wisdom page 3
Sharon Keller, PhD
Dr. Keller will speak at a Friday night dinner following services; Sex With A Foreign Woman: Sexual Harassment?, during Shabbat services on Saturday morning; The 10 Commandments: Why Do We ‘Owe’ God?, and during Shabbat Lunch & Learn; Sex With A Foreign Woman: Building A Nation! She will also speak on Sunday morning at Beth El’s Torah Study at 9:30 a.m.; Shema: What Do We ‘Owe’ to God?. Because of limited capacity, Friday evening dinner is open only to Beth El members who RSVP by 4 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 4. All other presentations are open to the community. We are also requesting an RSVP to Sunday morning’s Torah Study presentation. Dr. Keller set her sights on a PhD in Bible and Egyptology when she was in the 6th grade and steadfastly worked toward that goal earning her Doctorate at NYU in the Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies in the areas of Bible and the Ancient Near East. Currently, Keller serves on the Classics faculty at Hofstra University where she teaches diverse courses such as Women in The Hebrew Bible, Magic, Miracle, and Medicine in the Ancient World, and Greco-Roman Comedy. She has been an Assistant Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages at The Jewish Theological Seminary and at Hebrew Union College, and has also held appointments at NYU, and New York City’s See Beth El Scholar page 3
2 | The Jewish Press | July 29, 2022
News
Mega Challah Bake Temple Israel’s Annual Golf Outing LOC AL | N AT I O N A L | WO R L D
CASSANDRA WEISENBURGER Temple Israel Director of Communications Summer is upon us and that means Temple Israel will be hosting its Annual Golf Outing at Shadow Ridge Country Club on Monday, Aug. 15. The afternoon includes 18 holes of golf with a cart, lunch, access to the driving range and a steak dinner. The day kicks off with lunch at noon and a shotgun start at 1 p.m. Cocktails will begin at 5:30 p.m. and dinner begins at 6 p.m. You can sign up as either a single or a foursome. Participant cost is $150 and if you signup as a single, we will assign you to a foursome. The cost for a foursome is $600. Interested in joining the festivities but don’t
want to golf ? Come enjoy a steak dinner for only $40. Hole sponsorships are available and include signage at the course and your name on all printed material the day of the event. Cost for members is $400 or $950 with a foursome. For non-members the cost is $600 or $1,150 with a foursome. All the money raised goes towards the operations of Temple Israel. Whether you shoot birdies or need to take a few mulligans, the golf outing is for everyone! If you would like more information or if you would like to donate a raffle prize, please contact Office Manager Misty Weidner, mweidner@templeisraelomaha.com or 402.556.6536.
Continued from page 1 going on these days, we all could use a dose of that light Shani Katzman is able to shine on everything she does and says. In addition to the nourishing mitzvah of challah making, we will come together as a community to remember the timeless values that sustain us as a community of Jewish women. We will also honor a few of our fellow women, both junior and senior, for their contributions to Omaha life. Stay tuned for future articles in which we feature them. The can-do committee of Jessica Cohn, Louri Sullivan, Andee Scioli, Mushka Tenenbaum, Shani Katzman, and Tippi Denenberg aims to weave together more than challah dough. We want to bring together both established Omaha and new Omaha, young and not-so-young, experienced bakers and total
newbies. Like a cooking show, ingredients will be pre-measured and friendly teachers will go from table to table to give hands-on assistance. If you have NEVER made a loaf of bread you will be in good hands. If you are a competent challah baker and want to learn a sneaky trick or two, we’ve got you too. There will be something for everyone. This one-stop shopping, socializing, swagbag giving, challah-braiding, mega bake party program promises to be the night out everyone needs. Get signed up ASAP and you will be all set for the High Holidays or just have some good Fall fun. To register go online at Ochabad.org/challahbake. You can also call 402.330.1800. Lastly, let’s get social, challah bakers! We want to see your challah on Instagram, so please send your pics to @MCBBomaha on Instagram.
IRA Rollover Gift!
As you make your philanthropic decisions throughout the year, please consider gifting part or all of your IRA’s required minimum distributions (RMD) to the Jewish Federation of Omaha (JFO) for the following:
• Donate to the Jewish Federation Annual Campaign • Donate and place a loved one’s name on an art tile in the Phil Sokolof Fitness Center The law allows those age 70 ½ and older to transfer up to $100,000 from IRA to charity -- TAX FREE. If married, each spouse can transfer up to $100,000 from his or her IRA.*
Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD)
A nontaxable distribution made directly by the trustee of your IRA (other than a SEP or SIMPLE IRA) to an organization eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Be at least age 70 ½ when the distribution was made. Also, you must have the same type of acknowledgment of your contributions that you would need to claim a deduction for a charitable contribution.*
*Refer to your financial advisor.
Contact Jenn Tompkins, Executive Director Philanthropy & Engagement at (402) 334-6435 or jtompkins@jewishomaha.org We are happy to provide meaningful giving opportunities.
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The Jewish Press | July 29, 2022 | 3
Timeless wisdom Continued from page 1 your understanding of some of the cornerstone texts of the Rabbinic sages, where can you turn for help? If this describes your predicament, consider exploring the many learning opportunities available through Omaha’s Chabad Center. In addition to introductory and advanced Hebrew language classes taught by Dr. David Cohen, there are Talmud (Mishnah and Gemara) classes led by Rabbi Mendel Shani Katzman clarifies a point to a class at the Chabad Center. Katzman and Rabbi Eli Tenenbaum where one can get a glimpse of the rigors of Talmudic logic, the depth of its reasoning and the unique moral lessons and stories therein. In the newly added class on the Kitzur Shulcan Aruch (Abridged Code of Jewish Law) taught by Rabbi Tenenbaum, the participants gain knowledge of the way Halacha informs the behavior of an observant Jew at every moment and the proper way to perform the basic daily Mitzvot such as Prayer, Tefillin Above left: Rabbi Eli Tenenbaum teaches Tanya and Jewish mysticism via zoom as daughter and Blessings. The Tanya Devorah listens in, above right: Rabbi Eli Tenenbaum lectures in Beth Israel synagogue. classes taught by Rabbi Katzman provide a window into the interactive, held at various times throughout the day and evening. Visit the Chabad Online Academy at www.ochabad.com/ fascinating world of Jewish mystical thought and psychology in the most important of Chassidic texts, a sort of spiritual academy for classes and times or call Rabbi Eli at self-help book. And the weekly Parshah classes-which explore 402.330.1800 extension 3 or email him at RabbiEli@ocha the portion of Torah read in synagogue that week- women bad.com for more information. To log straight into the zoom classroom go to ochabad. gather to discuss and explore the pertinence of the Torah’s ancom/classroom. cient wisdom to their daily lives, led by Shani Katzman. Go ahead, consider embarking upon a fascinating, inspiraThe classes are welcoming and open to all, regardless of your level of Jewish education. All classes are free of charge, may be at- tional and meaningful journey to explore and learn from the tended in person or online as often as you like and may be joined timeless wisdom contained in Jewish masterpieces that reat any time. Sessions are generally an hour long, very informal, mains relevant in modern times.
NORM’S DOOR SERVICE GARAGE DOOR SPECIALISTS SALES AND SERVICE
Beth El Scholar Continued from page 1 Hunter College, teaching biblical text courses and more general courses in biblical literature and history, as well as courses in art and archaeology of the lands of the Bible and the ancient Mediterranean world. Additionally, Keller has written and edited numerous scholarly articles and academic books mostly related to the interplay between biblical Israel and ancient Egypt. Her most popular book, Jews: A Treasury of Art and Literature was awarded the prestigious National Jewish Book Award. A native New Yorker, Dr. Keller is known for the enthusiasm and humor that she brings to all her talks that make otherwise esoteric subjects easily accessible.
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Rabbi Abraham is especially excited for the weekend. “Dr. Keller is a professor extraordinaire of the Hebrew Bible. I was blessed to have her as a teacher. She kept our class either in tears of laughter or stimulated in learning. We are grateful to the Riekes family for sponsoring the weekend. We are looking forward to, what I know will be, a fantastic weekend!” For those unable to attend in person, Dr. Keller’s Saturday morning presentation will also be broadcast on Beth El’s Livestream at www.bethel-omaha.org. For more information on the weekend, please contact Robby Erlich, Beth El’s Engagement Coordinator at rerlich @bethel-omaha.org or 402.492.8550.
Be a part of what’s next
ently but in close harmony and The Uncle Chuck Fundraisconnection with each other. ing Drive aims to raise $2 milDon’t wait... there is a limited lion to build an additional number of art tiles available! basketball gymnasium in Contact Jennifer Tompkins at memory of Chuck Arnold. Par402-334-6435 or jtompkins@ ticipate, and put your name on jewishomaha.org to learn the Fitness Center Recognition more. Wall! This is truly a communityWHO WAS CHUCK wide effort. Every gift matters ARNOLD? Among all of his roles, “Uncle” and is essential to complete Chuck Arnold was best known the transformation. Please for being the Athletic Director consider a donation in support at the Omaha JCC for 28 years. of this project. A colorfully artistic Donor $5,000+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Your name on a white art tile Whatever the task, he did it Recognition Wall will be $2,500 – $4,999 . . . . . . . . Your name on a yellow art tile with love, warmth, and dedicaplaced in the Fitness Center to $1,000 – $2,499 . . . . . . . . . . . Your name on a blue art tile tion. He considered his role recognize contributions to the $500 – $999 . . . . . . . . . . Your name on an orange art tile here much more than just a job. JCC Building Project of $500+. He treated everyone like family. All JCC members are invited to participate in the Uncle He was an individual who put the ‘community’ within the JCC. Chuck Fundraising Drive to transform our facilities for future Chuck’s world was a very inclusive place. He made sure to generations. provide a variety of programs for all ages and skill levels. He led Boris Bally, an internationally known artist whose artwork the way in bringing high-caliber programming to JCC Members. can be seen on the front exterior of the building, will be creToday, we strive to do the same. Part of the way we accomating the piece. Donor names will be placed on each individual plish this is by providing our community with top level facilimetal tile, color-coded by gift level. Similar to the members of ties and opportunities. a “community center”, each colorful tile will move independWith this project, we keep Chuck’s legacy alive.
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4 | The Jewish Press | July 29, 2022
Israel’s big ‘experiment’: Did a year of coalition partnership bring Jews and Arabs any closer? FOR A LIMITED TIME!
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NOGA TARNOPOLSKY JERUSALEM | JTA Mansour Abbas, the first leader of any majority-Arab party to join an Israeli government launched his reelection campaign earlier this month with a visit to the al-Aqsa mosque, genially posing for selfies with other Muslims and stopping in front of the iconic golden Dome of the Rock for a sunny campaign portrait. Abbas, 48, head of Ra’am-the United Arab List — the political wing of the Islamic movement in Israel — is perhaps the most intriguing figure to emerge in Israeli politics in recent years. His yearlong stint in the coalition of Naftali Bennett, who served as prime minister for just a year, and Yair Lapid, his successor for at least four months, was tumultuous — and may have changed the Israeli political landscape forever. After Ra’am refused to support a bill extending Israel’s administrative rule over the West Bank, in what turned out to be the final straw days before the formal unraveling of Bennett’s government, Nir Orbach, a member of Bennett’s party, yelled at a fellow legislator from Abbas’ party, “You don’t want to be partners! The experiment with you has failed!” Ironically, in the end it was Orbach and his rebel colleagues from Yamina, Bennett’s party — not anyone from Ra’am — who defected from the coalition, leading to its demise.
their first names due to privacy concerns. Yaakov, a haredi Orthodox man in his thirties, also said the inclusion of Abbas’ Ra’am party in the coalition was bound for failure, but he offered very different reasons. “Absolutely, the experiment failed,” he said, “because the Arabs are very, very nationalistic and they can’t get along with Israeli nationalism. They can’t give up on that issue, so it is impossible to come to an understanding with them.” Large portions of Israeli Jews increasingly engage with aspects of Arab culture, including music, food and even language. But a recently released survey revealed the deep ambivalence, and growing opposition, of Israeli Jews to the basic proposal that Arabs could take up an equal role in Israeli political life. The nonpartisan Israel Democracy Institute polled Israelis to assess their mood after one year of the Bennett-Lapid government, shortly before the coalition dissolved. It found that only 36% of Jews support an amendment enshrining the principle of full equality for non-Jewish Israeli citizens in the controversial 2018 Nation-State Law — down from 46% last year.
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Ayman Odeh, holding paper, and other members of the Joint List of Arab parties shown in the Knesset, or Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, Jan. 15, 2020. The Joint List has never joined a governing coalition. Credit: Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90
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Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, left, chats with Mansour Abbas, head of the conservative Islamic Ra’am party during a special session to vote on a new government, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, June 13, 2021. Credit: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images
But did Israel’s big political experiment really fail? The outcome of the upcoming elections could provide a read of Israeli voters’ pulse on this question. Thanks to Abbas and his party, many believe the door to the integration of Arabs in all realms of Israeli lives — including politics — has opened wider than ever before. Now, Jewish Israeli voters will make their choice between parties that view Arab Israelis as legitimate partners in Israel’s governing coalition, and those who at least in campaign puffery refuse to give them a seat at the table. “If you’re asking if the experiment was a failure, the answer is no. A precedent was set. History was made,” said Afif Abu Much, an Israeli political analyst and activist for the inclusion of Arab voices in Israel’s political sphere. “Arab-Israeli identity is very complicated to begin with, so imagine how complex it is being an Arab coalition member. Not everyone is a good fit for life in a coalition. It is the same for Arabs and for Jews. Not everyone is cut out for it.” Israelis are as divided on the future of political cooperation between Arab and Jewish parties in the Knesset as they are on any other salient issue. Some point to the collapse of Bennett’s coalition as proof that differences between both sides are too deep to reconcile and will doom any future attempt to join forces, while others believe the barrier that separated Jews and Arabs in politics has been breached, for good. An informal survey taken in Abu Tor, a rare mixed Jewish/Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem, where Jews and Arabs can be found together, showed a wide range of opinions regarding the status of Arabs in Israel’s political space. Supporters of the Joint List, the other majority-Arab party, which has stuck to its longtime refusal to join any coalition, were quick to state that the endeavor never had a chance. “The experiment simply doesn’t work. It will fail as long as the rules of the game do not point at real equality,” said Marah, a Jerusalem Arab in her twenties who has voted for the Joint List in the past. She was referring to the feeling shared by many Israeli Arabs of being treated as second-class citizens in a country that has passed a law defining Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. In a distant future, Marah added, “when there is no Jewish state, but a state for all its citizens,” majority Arab parties should form part of the government. Passers-by interviewed for this article are identified by only
The decline came after a year of Arab participation in a governing coalition — a year without war or the sort of violence that spread over Israel in May 2021 — but also a year of relentless accusations, from the opposition led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that it was a coalition of “terror supporters.” The poll’s author, political scientist Tamar Hermann, told JTA that there was a growing divergence between Jewish perceptions of Arab citizens in personal and professional settings, such as shared public spaces, or the prominent public role of Arab medical personnel during the pandemic, where “acceptance continues to rise,” versus “the question of political participation,” where Jewish respondents to the survey showed growing antagonism. Some of this trend can be explained by a vast shift underway among haredi or ultra-Orthodox Jews, she said, where previous indifference towards Arabs has been steadily hardening into active hostility against their integration into positions of leadership or power. “Likud spin is breaking through,” she said, alluding to Netanyahu’s party and his persistent references to Mansour Abbas — with whom he also attempted to negotiate a coalition government — and Ra’am as “enemies of Israel.” In Israel’s febrile parliamentary system, where a Knesset seat and a possible coalition can hang on dozens of votes, Arab citizens’ votes in the upcoming election could dictate who will become prime minister. In Abu Tor, two Arab residents expressed their intention to vote for drastically opposed mainstream, or Zionist, parties. Zaki, arriving at home after work, said he expected to vote for left-wing Meretz, which he believes has Arab interests at heart and is more politically savvy than the majority-Arab parties. On the other hand, Ahmad, in his fifties, said he’ll be voting for Netanyahu, “the only one who knows how to manage things around here.” But with roughly 80% of Arab citizens voting for majorityArab parties (either the Joint List or Ra’am) most will still face the question of whether their representatives will be welcomed into the next coalition government, whenever it is formed. “To call this experiment a failure is a bit much,” said Gil, a clean-cut Jewish Jerusalemite in his thirties who votes for Labor. “How can you say that on the basis of something that happened for the first time and lasted only a year?” Political commentator Abu Much sounded a similar note. “In Israel, 36 governments have come to an end,” he said. “Thirty-five fell and it was fine, but when it comes to the 36th ‘the experiment failed’? Come on.”
The Jewish Press | July 29, 2022 | 5
Reminder: OJAA Topgolf outing
News LOCA L | N ATION AL | WO RLD
Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) Survey results are in
JAY KATELMAN JFO Foundation Life & Legacy and OJAA Coordinator Due to the popularity of last year’s OJAA Charity Topgolf Outing, the Omaha Jewish Alumni Association is excited to bring this event back! On Aug. 14, 2022, OJAA will again be holding the fundraiser at Topgolf 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 3 hours of golf, lunch, and access to our silent auction. Bays are limited to 6 people per bay, so round up a group of friends, family, coworkers, or sign up and meet some new friends! Not a golfer? No problem. Feel free to come out and eat, drink, and enjoy the company of others. You will be amazed at how much fun Topgolf is for everyone. This event is also great for work outings. Sign up today. 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’re unable to make it or are out of town, there will still be a Sponsorship and donation option if you are so inclined. We are very excited to see as many of you as possible on Aug. 14! Please sign up, sponsor, or donate at https://app.mobilecause.com/e/MDW8OQ?vid=smysa. Feel free to forward to all of your friends and family. Please contact me with any questions at 402.334.6461 or email jkatelman@jewishomaha.org.
PAM MONSKY JCRC Assistant Director The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Omaha is a newly established agency of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Our goal is to be the public affairs voice of the JFO and to foster a just, democratic and pluralistic society through 65 87 66 cooperation with other faith 80 partners, racial, ethnic, and 77 civic groups. 104 In May of 2022, a survey was sent to the community via email asking for opinions 213 115 about which broad issues are relevant to the Jewish community. The survey results will guide our decision-making priorities and help us to create programming that resonates with the community. We had 209 responses from a wide range of ages, religious affiliations, and educational backgrounds. Here’s a snapshot of what we learned: The most important issues in terms of advocacy in order of rank are Antisemitism, reproductive rights, racial justice work, voting rights, and religious freedom. The top civil rights issues in order are reproductive rights, racial justice, hate crimes prevention, and voting rights and access. The top organizations with which we are developing partnerships are social justice organizations, religious institutions
and houses of worship, educational institutions, voting rights groups, and mental health advocates and providers The critical issues facing the Omaha Jewish community, according to the survey responses are Antisemitism, the sustainThe top areas of potential community partnership SOCIAL JUSTICE & VOTING RIGHTS GROUPS RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND HOUSES OF WORSHIP (SYNAGOGUES, CHURCHES, MOSQUES, ETC.) EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS MENTAL HEALTH GROUPS BLACK COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS LGBTQIA2+ GROUPS REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS GROUPS IMMIGRATION ORGANIZATIONS
ability of the Jewish community, and engaging younger generations of Jews. These items are at the core of the JFO’s strategic plan, are already being addressed, and yielding some positive outcomes. “We are working with peers representing Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) member communities and the Jewish Council on Public Affairs as well as ADL, NCJW, Hadassah, and many other established Jewish organizations and drawing from their experience,” said Sharon Brodkey, JCRC Executive Director. “We are very excited to build a JCRC that will address public policies, inequities, and challenges to our community and, in collaboration with others, be a positive influence and See JCRC Survey results page 6
FOOD Publishing date | 08.12.22 Space reservation | 08.02.22 Contact our advertising executive to promote your business in this very special edition.
Susan Bernard | 402.334.6559 | sbernard@jewishomaha.org
6 | The Jewish Press | July 29, 2022
News
JCRC Survey results
LOC AL | N AT I O N A L | WO R L D
NJHS’s upcoming “Archives Uncovered” program to highlight arts and culture
JILL KUSHNER BELMONT The Nebraska Jewish Historical Society will present its third “Archives Uncovered” program on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 7 p.m., at the Jewish Community Center. The evening’s theme, “Arts and Culture,” will feature memorabilia from NJHS collections that spotlight local Jewish community members who have participated in artistic, musical, and cultural endeavors over the years. Participants will also have an opportunity to tour the organization’s climate-controlled archives space. Archives Uncovered is free and open to the community. RSVPs are required and may be made by emailing njhs@ jewishomaha.org, or by calling the office at 402.334.6441.
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
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RACIAL JUSTICE HATE CRIMES PREVENTION VOTING RIGHTS AND ACCESS
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RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
102
ADVOCACY Top 5 issues
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ANTISEMITISM
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REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
79
RACIAL JUSTICE VOTING RIGHTS
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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 twoyear trade school program or a trade certificate program can contact the Jewish Press at avandekamp@jewishom aha.org or jpress@jewishomaha.org for more information.
Rosh Hashanah
GREETINGS
This year you can send your greetings through these very special ads that will run in our annual Rosh Hashanah issue. Each ad can be personalized with your name, the names of your children or your grandchildren. Just fill out the form below and send or bring it to the Jewish Press office. But hurry; these ads will only be accepted through August 9, 2022.
ROSH HASHANAH GREETINGS ADS
Name ________________________________________________________________________ Address _______________________________________________________________________ City _______________________________________________ State ______ Zip _____________ Check the size of ad you would like:
CIVIL RIGHTS Top 5 issues 95
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Trade scholarships available for the 2022-23 academic year
An anonymous donor in our community has created two trade school scholarship opportunities, up to $5,000 each, to go towards the 2022-23 academic year. Not every student who advances into higher education signs up for a four-year curriculum. Some high school graduates
Continued from page 5 voice for change and improvement for our Jewish community and the community at large. We are also engaging and listening to new voices from within our community — those who want and have something to contribute but have not yet been included or invited to the table.”
OA OB OC
Use the lines below to list your family members names you would like on your Passover ad.
A $52 B $65 C $81
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RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
We invite your comments and feedback about the survey results. If you have comments you’d like to share, please email us at JCRCinfo@jewishomaha.org. You can see all the survey results on our webpage at jewishomaha.org. If you have an incident to report, please email JCRCreport ing@jewishomaha.org or call 402.334.6572.
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 the Press 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.
ROSH HASHANAH
Greetings from Your names go here
Rosh Hashanah Greetings from Your names go here
Rosh Hashanah Greetings
_____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Please send a check for the amount listed along side the different sized ads with this form to the Jewish Press office in the JCC or mail to: The Jewish Press, 333 South 132 Street, Omaha, NE 68154
from Your names go here
The Jewish Press | July 29, 2022 | 7
Above and below: Beth El and Temple Israel participated in the Omaha Pride Parade, during the one day the sun wasn’t out.
SP O TLIGHT
GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY
Above: Every summer, Jewish Social Services partners with the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging with the Nebraska Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program. Residents of the Livingston Plaza Apartments will enjoy spending $48 worth of vouchers at area farmer's markets. The purposes of the program are to provide fresh, nutritious, unprepared, locally grown fruits, vegetables, herbs, and honey to seniors and increase the consumption of agricultural commodities by expanding or aiding in the development of new farmer's markets and roadside stands.
Below: New York District 43 Assembly member Brian Cunningham visited the JCC with Rabbi Mendel Katzman.
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.
Below: It is all fun and games until someone yells BINGO.
Above: Always room in our paper for babies: Mushka Tenenbaum with daughter Devorah.
Above: RBJH Residents will be going to Camp Chutzpah (the Residents voted on the name) later this month while participating in all things camping! To help gear up for the week of festivities, RBJH volunteer Dawna Robertson put her artistic talents to good use with a camp theme chalkboard. Thank you, Dawna!
8 | The Jewish Press | July 29, 2022
Voices The Jewish Press (Founded in 1920) 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 Sam Kricsfeld Digital support Mary Bachteler Accounting Jewish Press Board Margie Gutnik, President; Abigail Kutler, Ex-Officio; Seth Feldman; David Finkelstein; Ally Freeman; Mary Sue Grossman; Les Kay; Natasha Kraft; Chuck Lucoff; David Phillips; Joseph Pinson. The mission of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to build and sustain a strong and vibrant Omaha Jewish Community and to support Jews in Israel and around the world. Agencies of the JFO are: Institute for Holocaust Education, Jewish Community Relations Council, Jewish Community Center, Jewish Social Services and the Jewish Press. Guidelines and highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: www.jewishomaha.org; click on ‘Jewish Press.’ Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole. The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment. 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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Willing to grow don’t really know where to start. ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT It’s a missed opportunity to own up and get betJewish Press Editor Here’s the summarized story: Steve Dettelbach ter. As is often the case when someone says or was confirmed as the director of the Federal Bu- writes something problematic, more energy is reau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Then, a county Republican group in Kentucky in a social media post called Dettelbach part of a “Jewish junta” that “is getting stronger and more aggressive.” The county GOP group attacked the two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Rob Portman of Ohio, who voted for his appointment, and also attacked two Republican Senators, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and James Risich of Idaho, who were not present for the vote, saying, “It’s obvious they want to move on from having to defend rural gun owners.” The entire Facebook page in question was deleted, but the screen shots are of course easily available—the cat is very much out of Steve Dettelbach, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tothe bag. The county’s GOP chair, Karin Kirk- bacco, Firearms, and Explosives, being nominated for the endol, said that the Facebook page had been position with President Joe Biden in the White House “hacked” and said the party “would not and Rose Garden in Washington, D.C., April 11, 2022. Credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images did not publish anything antisemitic — as some of our very own members have Jewish her- spent on making excuses than on owning behavior itage,” according to Andrew Lapin, who covered the and apologizing. I’ve been guilty of it myself- the story for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. tendency to make excuses, over-explain why what Ha. happened, happened- rather than saying these simSo we’re going with the ‘we were hacked’ de- ple words: ‘I messed up. I’m sorry.’ fense? And then, to top it off, ‘some of our very own Why is it so difficult to admit it when we are members have Jewish heritage?’ Let’s focus on the wrong? We are all human, both as individuals and first part, because the ‘Jewish heritage’ comment, I as institutions and organizations. And so, mistakes
will happen. I would go even further: without mistakes, there is no growth. Oftentimes, when we are afraid to make a mistake, we are most at risk of stagnation. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote: “In Tabernacle and Temple times, Yom Kippur was the day when the holiest man in Israel, the High Priest, made atonement, first for his own sins, then for the sins of his “house,” then for the sins of all Israel. From the day the Temple was destroyed, we have had no High Priest nor the rites he performed, but we still have the day, and the ability to confess and pray for forgiveness. It is so much easier to admit your sins, failings and mistakes when other people are doing likewise. If a High Priest, or the other members of our congregation, can admit to sins, so can we.” Holding any politicians to the High Priest’s standards might be too much to ask. We’d definitely be setting ourselves up for disappointment. But how about this: rather than falling all over this one unfortunate and misguided social media post and pointing fingers, what will happen if we use it as an opportunity to take a look at ourselves? We, too, cannot live up to the High Priest, but we can still try. We can remind ourselves we are not perfect, we make mistakes, all the time. Sometimes our mistakes are even intentional. Will we recognize them when they happen, first privately, then publicly? Will we own up to them and apologize? I guess the ultimate question is not who made what mistake and whose fault it was, the ultimate question is: Are we willing to grow?
The James Webb Telescope looks at the universe through the eyes of God BENJAMIN RESNICK JTA Back in December, human beings, a weird variety of uniquely frail, lithe and hairless monkeys, launched into space a new, $10 billion dollar telescope, 21 feet in diameter and, like many great temples, covered with golden mirrors. The James Webb Space Telescope is 100 times more powerful than the Hubble telescope. It traveled a million miles from earth with a mission — the first fruits of which we saw last week with the photographs released by NASA — that is almost unfathomably grandiose: to peer out (that is, to look back) at the moment when the first stars turned on and cleared away limitless clouds of primordial gas, seen as light that has been traveling towards us for 13.6 billion years. Readers of Bereshit — Genesis — learn about a time when all was tohu vavohu — when all was formless and dark — and there is a strong chance that Webb will show us the very moment when something happened and then there was light. We will be able to see that moment of creation. The moment when the first stars began to burn, unfathomable vessels of brightness that would create the carbon, the nitrogen and the oxygen that make up 86.9% of our bodies, which would later shatter to create our heavier atoms, which would combine with the hydrogen created during the Big Bang. All of this means, by some alchemy of thermodynamics that is, for me, still shrouded in darkness — or perhaps by some act of primordial grace — we are mostly composed of starlight, our mass coming from some mysterious vibration of immortal and timeless energy, echoing through the universe from the beginning of time. This energy has existed from the moment when the very first lights went on and will exist after the very last lights wink out. When all returns to a formless nothingness, those little pieces of starlight that are me will still be there, perhaps joining in a cosmic dance with those that are you, forming something new, maybe something wonderful. These are and were and will be the very same atoms that now
make up my bones and blood, and which through the world through the eyes of God and, as the great whatever unfathomable, godly magic, fire electricity Christian mystic Meister Eckart famously said, that through my brain, so that one day, also out of dark- “the eye with which I see God is the same eye with ness, I look out on the world, see its lights and col- which God sees me.” ors, discover the taste and fragrance of milk, come I don’t know what to do with the knowledge that to smile and laugh and walk and speak and even- all the electrons in my body hum and create this ditually (not me but others like me) grow up to build vine illusion of being which is the same as the dimachines to look back in time. We are the universe coming to know itself. We are the eyes of God peering out into endless darkness, lighting fires of imagination and ingenuity that allow us to reach into our bodies to make them well, and to travel to the great orbs in the sky, and to look deep into the past, with a golden vessel like the altar of incense overlaid in gold, burning through time and thick with the fragrance of memory, hiding its illuminations somewhere beneath An image released by NASA on July 12, 2022, shows the edge of a the smoke. And we come to under- nearby, young, star-forming region in the Carina Nebula, captured stand what and where and when in infrared light by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: we are. And we will see the mo- NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI/Handout via Xinhua. ment that we’ve been reading out for all of Jewish vine majesty of nonbeing. history: “Vayomer elohim yehi or, vayehi or” — God But when I imagine myself one day returning to said, “Let there be light and there was light.” the stars and when I looked at the new images of the We cannot and perhaps will never be able to see universe released this week by NASA I am indeed further, into those 250 million years after the Big filled with a sense of wonder and humility and comBang but before the stars, when all was a dark, hot fort and gratitude. Maybe someday we will build a soup, unformed and void, tohu vavohu. telescope even more mighty. Maybe we’ll go back Like you, perhaps, like everyone in the world who farther and marvel at the dark work of creation, the has ever looked seriously into the thermodynamics of world before the letter “bet” in bereshit, the blank man, I don’t know what to make of all this. I don’t whiteness concealing and revealing all mysteries. know what to do with the knowledge that I was Until then, each year, we’ll roll back the scrolls, forged in starlight or that the space between my we’ll read the story again and, with our clumsy and atoms is empty, a vacuum, like the void into which, marvelous fingers, we’ll try to touch creation. according to the Kabbalists, the Unending poured Benjamin Resnick is rabbi of the Pelham Jewfirst light. I don’t know what to make of the fact that ish Center in Pelham, New York. He previously every piece of me has existed and will exist for all time. served as the Rav Beit HaSefer of Solomon It seems as though the fires of my imagination Schechter Day School of Metropolitan Chicago. are endless, that my capacities of love and hate, The views and opinions expressed in this article are laughter and tears, are endless and abiding and those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the real. And I believe that I am indeed looking out on views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.
The Jewish Press | July 29, 2022 | 9
How I learned to stop kvetching and love the Yiddish revival ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL AMHERST, Massachusetts | JTA Josh Dolgin, the Canadian rapper and klezmer musician who performs as Socalled, was nearing the end of a raucous, crowd-pleasing set last Sunday when he paused to introduce a Yiddish song about a frog, “Di Frosh.” “It’s a children’s song,” he explained. “But because it is a Jewish song it has a cruel twist.” I was reminded of the Passover ditty “Had Gadya” — perhaps the only kids’ song that includes a visit from the Angel of Death — but I was also thinking of my own conflicted relationship with Yiddish culture. Dolgin is part of a postwar generation that wants to remember and resuscitate the explosive creativity of an Eastern European culture that produced music, poetry, literature — in sum, a Jewish civilization. But the unimaginable losses of the Holocaust hang over the project, and a farbissener — a sourpuss — like me finds it hard to forget the cruel twists of Jewish history and, well, enjoy. Dolgin was performing at Yidstock, the festival of new Yiddish music held here at the Yiddish Book Center beginning in 2012. Some 400 people came to the center’s charming Yankeeshtetl campus over the four-day festival this year. The mood was celebratory, and why not: Returning in person after two years of pandemic, the (masked) audiences were primed for concerts, lectures and workshops remembering what Yiddish culture was, what it still is and what it could yet be. And, as it turns out, the pandemic was very good for Yiddish: Secular Yiddish institutions like the book center, YIVO and the Workers Circle clocked record attendance for their virtual Yiddish classes and lectures. Aaron Lansky, the Yiddish Book Center’s founder, noted wryly that a lecture on Yiddish poetry that might have attracted “a minyan” of 10 Jews in person drew more than 1,200 people on line. I was able to feel this quickening pulse even in the half-day I spent at Yidstock. Dolgin’s acoustic performance whiplashed from hilarious to poignant, from Leonard Cohen to Mordecai Gebirtig, the composer killed during the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto. Mostly gray-haired audience members clapped along while 20-something students taking part in the book center’s summer programs danced in the aisles. On the long line at the falafel truck, I chatted with Jake
Krakovsky, an Atlanta-based writer and actor who recently performed the puppetry for a trilingual film based on a Yiddish children’s story (itself drawn from a recent collection reclaiming Yiddish children’s literature). I also caught up with Aaron Bendich, not yet 30, who hosts an old-timey Jewish radio show and runs a record label, Borscht Beat, that promotes avant-garde Yiddish artists. Music from its latest release was performed at Yidstock by the duo Tsvey Brider and members of the Bay Area klezmer trio Baymele, and showed the possibilities of reinvention by setting Yiddish poetry to spiky chamber music arrangements.
A dance workshop at Yidstock, held at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, July 7-10, 2022. Credit: Ben Barnhart
Tsvey Brider singer Anthony Mordecai Zvi Russell is on the cutting edge of Yiddish reinvention, drawing on his Black and Jewish identities and opera background to make, as he once put it in an interview, “connections through time, space and history.” Lisa Newman, the director of publishing and public programs at the Yiddish Book Center, said Yidstock is very much in keeping with the spirit of the center, which grew out of Lansky’s monumental effort to retrieve Yiddish books that, as their readers died off, were otherwise headed for the dumpster. Today those 1.5 million books are the nucleus of a $50 million enterprise that includes public programs, exhibits, publications and training — beginning and advanced — for the next generation of Yiddishists. “The things that I’m watching our alumni do are fabulous,” she said. “They went on to academic careers. They’ve gone on
to become translators. We have a publishing venture. We’ve got a translation fellowship. We’ve mentored almost 80 translation fellows so that there will be a new generation. And we’ve got actors who are on Broadway and Yiddish theater.” Seth Rogovoy, artistic director of Yidstock, said that while this year’s 10th anniversary festival tended to look back on its “greatest hits,” the festival has always been about the future. “All the creative and innovative music that’s gone on, the best of it has been by people who have studied old stuff. And then they take it to all these different places: rock and funk and hip hop, all over the place,” he said. “We knew that we wanted to give a platform for creativity and people who are really not only perpetuating but moving the music forward.” But is he ever preoccupied, as I am, by the mourning that is implied in the recovery and reinvention? “There was always something inside of me that I didn’t know was there, and [Yiddish music] tied it all together,” said Rogovoy, whose mother’s father was a cantor. “So it’s celebratory more than mourning.” “Mourning is not a word I attach” to the work of the students, translators and musicians, said Newman, when I asked her the same question. “We work hard to make sure that they can do this because we recognize that we lost a generation of Yiddish speakers.” As I stepped out of the center into a brilliant New England summer afternoon, I thought of the session given by Eleanor Reissa, the best-known Yiddish singer and actress of this generation. She and Rogovoy discussed her new family memoir, “The Letters Project,” and although her parents suffered in Hitler’s Europe, she doesn’t refer to them as “survivors.” She prefers “fighters.” And perhaps that’s the way to think about the future of Yiddish: not in mourning, but in creative defiance. Andrew Silow-Carroll is editor in chief of the New York Jewish Week and senior editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He previously served as JTA’s editor in chief and as editor in chief and CEO of the New Jersey Jewish News. @SilowCarroll 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.
Google’s ‘sentient’ AI can’t count in a minyan, but it still raises ethical dilemmas MOIS NAVON JTA When a Google engineer told an interviewer that an artificial intelligence (AI) technology developed by the company had become “sentient,” it touched off a passionate debate about what it would mean for a machine to have human-like self-awareness. Why the hullabaloo? In part, the story feeds into current anxieties that AI itself will somehow threaten humankind, and that “thinking” machines will develop wills of their own. But there is also the deep concern that if a machine is sentient, it is no longer an inanimate object with no moral status or “rights” (e.g., we owe nothing to a rock) but rather an animate being with the status of a “moral patient” to whom we owe consideration. I am a rabbi and an engineer and am currently writing my doctoral thesis on the Moral Status of AI at Bar Ilan University. In Jewish terms, if machines become sentient, they become the object of the command “tzar baalei hayim” — which demands we not harm living creatures. Philosopher Jeremy Bentham similarly declared that entities become moral subjects when we answer the question “Can they suffer?” in the affirmative. This is what makes the Google engineer’s claim alarming, for he has shifted the status of the computer, with whom he had a conversation, from an object to a subject. That is, the computer (known as LaMDA) can no longer be thought of as a machine but as a being that “can suffer,” and hence a being with moral rights. “Sentience” is an enigmatic label used in philosophy and AI circles referring to the capacity to feel, to experience. It is a generic term referring to some level of consciousness, believed to exist in biological beings on a spectrum — from a relatively basic sensitivity in simple creatures (e.g., earthworms) to more robust experience in so-called “higher” organisms (e.g., dolphins, chimpanzees). Ultimately, however, there is a qualitative jump to humans who have second-order consciousness, what religious people refer to as “soul,” and what gives us the ability to think about our experiences — not simply experience them. The question then becomes: what is the basis of this claim of sentience? Here we enter the philosophical quagmire known as “other minds.” We human beings actually have no really good test to determine if anyone is sentient. We assume that our fellow biological creatures are sentient because we know we are. That, along with our shared biology and shared behavioral reactions to things like pain and pleasure, allow us
to assume we’re all sentient. So what about machines? Many a test has been proposed to determine sentience in machines, the most famous being The Turing Test, delineated by Alan Turing, father of modern computing, in his seminal 1950 article, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.” He proposed that when a human being can’t tell if he is talking to another human being or a machine, the machine can be said to have achieved human-like intelligence — i.e., accompanied with consciousness.
German actor and director Paul Wegener appears in The Golem, a 1920 silent movie adaptation of the mystical Jewish tale about an inanimate creature brought to life. Credit: Ullstein Bild via Getty Images
From a cursory reading of the interview that the Google engineer conducted with LaMDA, it seems relatively clear that the Turing Test has been passed. That said, numerous machines have passed the Turing Test over recent years — so many that most, if not all, researchers today do not believe passing the Turing Test demonstrates anything but sophisticated language processing, not consciousness. Furthermore, after tens of variations on the test have been developed to determine consciousness, philosopher Selmer Bringsjord declared, “Only God would know a priori, because his test would be direct and nonempirical.” Setting aside the current media frenzy over LaMDA, how are we to approach this question of sentient AI? That is, given that engineering teams around the world have been working on “machine consciousness” since the mid-1990s, what are we to do if they achieve it? Or more urgently, should they even be allowed to achieve it? Indeed, ethicists claim that this question is more intractable than the question to permit the cloning of animals. From a Jewish perspective, I believe a cogent answer to this moral dilemma can be gleaned from the following Talmudic vignette (Sanhedrin 65b), in which a rabbi appears to have cre-
ated a sentient humanoid, or “gavra”: Rava said: If the righteous desired it, they could create a world, for it is written, “But your iniquities have distinguished between you and God.” Rava created a humanoid (gavra) and sent him to R. Zeira. R. Zeira spoke to him but received no answer. Thereupon [R. Zeira] said to him: “You are a creature from my friend: Return to your dust.” For R. Zeira, similar to Turing, the power of the soul (i.e., second-order consciousness) is expressed in a being’s ability to articulate itself. R. Zeira, unlike those who apply Turing’s test today, was able to discern a lack of soul in Rava’s gavra. Despite R. Zeira’s rejection of the creature, some read in this story permission to create creatures with sentience — after all, Rava was a learned and holy sage, and would not have contravened Jewish law by creating his gavra. But in context, the story at best expresses deep ambivalence about humans seeking to play God. Recall that the story begins with Rava declaring, “If the righteous desired it, they could create a world” — that is, a sufficiently righteous person could create a real human ( also known as “a complete world”). Rava’s failed attempt to do so suggests that he was either wrong in his assertion, or that he was not righteous enough. Some argue that R. Zeira would have been willing to accept a human-level humanoid. But a mystical midrash, or commentary, denies such a claim. In that midrash, the prophet Jeremiah — an embodiment of righteousness — succeeds in creating a human-level humanoid. Yet that very humanoid, upon coming to life, rebukes Jeremiah for making him! Clearly the enterprise of making sentient humanoids is being rejected — a cautionary tendency we see in the vast literature about golems, the inanimate creatures brought to life by rabbinic magic, which invariably run amok. Space does not permit me to delineate all the moral difficulties entailed in the artificial creation of sentient beings. Suffice it to say that Jewish tradition sides with thought leaders like Joanna Bryson, who said, “Robot builders are ethically obliged to make robots to which robot owners have no ethical obligations.” Or, in the words of R. Zeira, “Return to your dust.” Mois Navon teaches “Ethics and AI” at Ben Gurion University and Yeshiva University. He is an ordained orthodox rabbi and one of the founding engineers of Mobileye who designed the chip powering the autonomous vehicle revolution. His writings can be found at www.divreinavon.com. 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.
Synagogues
10 | The Jewish Press | July 29, 2022
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 rbjh.com
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 Join us on Friday, Aug. 12, 7 p.m. for evening services. 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: Scott Friedman, Rick Katelman, Janie Kulakofsky, Carole and Wayne Lainof, Mary-Beth Muskin, Debbie Salomon and Sissy Silber. Handicap Accessible.
BETH EL Services conducted by Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman. VIRTUAL AND IN-PERSON MINYAN SCHEDULE: Mornings on Sundays, 9 a.m.; Mondays and Thursdays, 7 a.m.; Evenings on Sunday-Thursday, 5:30 p.m. FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. at Beth El & Live Stream. SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m. Beth El & Live Stream; Havdalah, 9:20 p.m. Zoom Only. SUNDAY: Torah Study, 10 a.m. THURSDAY: Registration Due for Dinner Dr. Sharon Keller, 5 p.m. FRIDAY-Aug. 5: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. at Beth El & Live Stream. SATURDAY-Aug. 6: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m. Beth El & Live Stream; Tisha B’Av Service and Eicha, 9 p.m. at Beth El & Zoom. Please visit bethel-omaha.org for additional information and service links.
BETH ISRAEL FRIDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:30 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 6:45 a.m.; Halacha Class, 7:45 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:30 p.m.; Candlelighting, 8:27 p.m. SATURDAY: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:45 a.m.; Tehillim for Kids, 5:30 p.m.; Kids Parsha Class, 6:50 p.m.; Mincha, 8:20 p.m.; Shalosh Seudos/Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity, 8:40 p.m.; Havdalah, 9:31 p.m. SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; The Nine Days with the Seed Guys, 9:45 a.m.; Daf Yomi, 7:50 p.m.; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m. MONDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Halacha Class with the Seed Guys, 7:45 a.m.; Daf Yomi, 7:50 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m. TUESDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Halacha Class with the Seed Guys, 7:45 a.m.; Daf Yomi, 7:50 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m. WEDNESDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Halacha Class with the Seed Guys, 7:45 a.m.; Daf Yomi, 7:50 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m.
THURSDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Halacha Class with the Seed Guys, 7:45 a.m.; Character Development, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Kids Parsha Class, 10 a.m.; Medical Ethics, noon at UNMC; Daf Yomi, 7:50 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m. FRIDAY-Aug. 5: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Halacha Class with the Seed Guys, 7:45 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:30 p.m.; Candlelighting, 8:19 p.m. SATURDAY-Aug. 6: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:45 a.m.; Tehillim for Kids, 5:30 p.m.; Kids Parsha Class, 6:50 p.m.; Mincha/Shalosh Seudos, 7:30 p.m.; Tisha B’Av Class/Kids Activity, 8:30 p.m.; Fast of Tisha B’Av Begins, 8:34 p.m.; Maariv/Eicha, 9:21 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/Zoom hybrid (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, 5:45 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ochabad.com/Le chayim; Candlelighting, 8:26 p.m. SATURDAY: Shacharit, 10 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 9:30 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 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. WEDNESDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Tanya, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Katzman; Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; 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 18 — No advance experience necessary), noon with Rabbi Katzman; Jewish Law Class, 7 p.m. FRIDAY-Aug. 5: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 5:45 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ochab ad.com/Lechayim; Candlelighting, 8:18 p.m. SATURDAY-Aug. 6: Shacharit, 10 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 9:21 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. Oneg host: TBD; Candlelighting,
8:27 p.m. SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex at TI; Torah Study, noon on Parashat Matot-Masei; Havdalah, 9:31 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 it’s too wet, cold, cloudy, windy, hot or humid) followed by coffee and spirited discussions. If interested, please email Al Weiss at albertw801@gmail.com to find out where to meet each week; Pickleball at Tifereth Israel is on hiatus until after Yom Kippur 5783. In the meantime, everyone is welcome to play at Peterson Park through the spring and summer; just wear comfortable clothes and tennis or gym shoes. For more information, contact Miriam Wallick by email at Miriam57@aol.com. TUESDAY: Tea & Coffee with Pals, 1:30 p.m. via Zoom. FRIDAY-Aug. 5: Kabbalat Shabbat Service, service leaders/music: Rabbi Alex, Nathaniel and Steve Kaup, 6:30 p.m. at SST. Oneg host: TBD; Candlelighting, 8:19 p.m. SATURDAY-Aug. 6: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex at TI; Torah Study, noon on Parashat Devarim; Fast Begins, 8:36 p.m.; Havdalah, 9:22 p.m.
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE
FRIDAYS: Virtual Shabbat Service, 7:30 p.m. every first and third of the month at Capehart Chapel. Contact TSgt Jason Rife at OAFBJSLL@icloud.com for more information.
ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home’s service is currently closed to visitors.
TEMPLE ISRAEL
In-person and virtual services conducted by Rabbi Batsheva Appel, Rabbi Deana Sussmam Berezin, and Cantor Joanna Alexander DAILY VIRTUAL MINYAN: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. via Zoom. FRIDAY: Drop-In Mah Jongg, 9-11 a.m.; Shabbat Service and Oneg, 6 p.m. via Zoom or In-Person. SATURDAY: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. via Zoom or InPerson. SUNDAY: Fifth Sunday Breakfast, 9 a.m. at Stephen Center. WEDNESDAY: Yarn It, 9 a.m. THURSDAY: Thursday Morning Class, 10 a.m. with Rabbi Azriel via Zoom or In-Person. FRIDAY-Aug. 5: Drop-In Mah Jongg, 9-11 a.m.; Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. via Zoom or In-Person. SATURDAY-Aug. 6: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. via Zoom or In-Person; Tisha B’Av Service, 7 p.m. Please visit templeisraelomaha.com for additional information and Zoom service links.
NBA star Joel Embiid goes viral for dancing the hora at Jewish friend’s wedding GABE FRIEDMAN JTA NBA star Joel Embiid is an enormous man — around 7 feet tall and 280 pounds, to give an idea. But that didn’t stop him from joining in a hora dance and getting lifted in a chair at a Jewish friend’s recent wedding. Embiid went viral over the weekend as videos of the Philadelphia 76ers center joining in the Jewish nuptial fun — with a huge smile, to boot — circulated around social media. The wedding took place in Napa, California, for Michael Ratner — a filmmaker who made a documentary about Embiid’s life, from his native Cameroon to the University of Kansas — and Lauren Rothberg, the head of brand for Rhode, Hailey Bieber’s new skincare line.
Both Ratner and Rothberg shared videos of Embiid in the action on their Instagram accounts, the New York Post reported. In one, he is seen joining in the hora circle; in others, he is shown holding a woman on a chair at the center of the circle. (Both parts of the folk dance are common tradition at Jewish weddings.) Embiid, a five-time All-Star by the age of 28 known for his sense of humor, is also close with Sixers owner, Josh Harris, who is Jewish. Embiid is a Cameroonian-French professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), who also holds French citizenship. He played college ball with the Kansas Jayhawks and was drafted by the NBA in 2014.
Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers looks on during the fourth quarter against the Toronto Raptors during a game at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, April 18, 2022. Credit: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images
TO SUBMIT ANNOUNCEMENTS Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press with attached photos in .jpg or .tif files to jpress@jewishomaha.org or online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.omahajewishpress.com. Go to Submission Forms; faxed to 402.334.5422, or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154 (with photos we will scan and return). Forms are available through Omaha and Lincoln synagogues, by contacting The Jewish Press at 402.334.6448, or by e-mailing: avande kamp@jewishomaha.org.
Life cycles IN MEMORIAM
The Jewish Press | July 29, 2022 | 11
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DR. RICHARD A. FREUND Dr. Richard A. Freund passed away peacefully on July 14, 2022, at age 67, in Charlottesville, Virginia. A graveside service was held on July 17, 2022, at the Jewish Cemetery of the Virginia Peninsula, in Hampton, Virginia. He was preceded in death by nephews, Josh and Glenn. He is survived his wife Eliane; his three children, Eli, Ethan, and Yoni; sisters and brothers-in-law, Andrea and Richard Eisen and Sharon and Jody Rockmaker and brother and sister-in-law, Charles and Renee Freund; brother-in-law and sister-in law, Arthur and Liz Goldgaber; father-in-law and mother-in law, Alberto and Berta Goldgaber; and nieces and nephews, Rebecca, Hannah, Clifford, and Sam. Born to the late Chester Freund and Beatrice Berkowitz in Long Island, NY, Richard lived in Franklin Square and graduated from Valley Stream North High School in 1972 at 17 years old. Determined to learn more about Jewish history and culture, he booked a one-way ticket to Israel where he studied, learned Israeli dancing, and practiced what he excelled at-running. He famously tells the story of trying out for the Israeli Olympic Track Team in 1972 but missing it by a split second. He met the love of his life, Eliane, a decade later, in Israel, on a post-doctoral grant, and they got married in 1983. For nearly 40 years, Richard worked as a professor in Jewish history and archaeology, starting at Oberlin College and traveling to the University of Denver, the University of California-San Diego, the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Hartford, and finally ended his career
at Christopher Newport University in Virginia. Through his time in academia, he mentored thousands of students and collaborated with countless other faculty members from across the country in pursuit of answers to some of our history’s greatest questions. For some, teaching and writing would have been enough, but Richard lived the equivalent of three lives-pursuing the field of biblical archaeology and trying to solve humanity’s greatest mysteries. He directed over a dozen archaeological projects at Bethsaida, Mary’s Well in Nazareth, and climbed the caves of Qumran in search of the Dead Sea Scrolls, all located in the State of Israel. Later in life, he traveled to Spain to discover the Lost City of Atlantis, which got him featured in a documentary produced by James Cameron. After that, he made key discoveries in the Ponar Burial Pits and the Great Synagogue of Vilna, Lithuania. In total, his work was featured in over 20 documentaries from National Geographic, Discovery, History Channel, and many others. His work was also chronicled in the New York Times, Time Magazine, BBC, MSNBC, and hundreds more news outlets. In one of the peak moments of his life, he presented St. Peter’s key, found at Bethsaida, to Pope John Paul II in 2000. Memorials may be made to Rodef Sholom Temple in Newport News, the Betram and Gladys Aaron Professorship of Jewish Studies at Christopher Newport University, or the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
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12 | The Jewish Press | July 29, 2022
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Image of Victory, Netflix’s new Israeli war drama, revisits the capture of a kibbutz in 1948 ANDREW LAPIN JTA The story of Israel’s 1948 war for independence is told through the eyes of one kibbutz in Image of Victory, a new Netflix film that’s being billed as the most expensive Israeli movie ever. Inspired by the real-life battle for control of Kibbutz Nitzanim, during which Egyptian forces overpowered the Israeli military, briefly captured the territory and took more than 100 prisoners of war, director Avi Nesher’s old-fashioned wartime melodrama is more interested in the human beings caught up in the fighting than it is in the fighting itself. It’s fitting, then, that one of the movie’s protagonists is a professed admirer of Frank Capra, Old Hollywood’s famed humanist. On one side, the film follows the Jewish kibbutz residents who have settled in Mandatory Palestine from all over the world and the small, strapped Israel Defense Forces battalion assigned to protect them. (We meet, among others, two Spanish-speaking cousins from South America, who are based on real-life figures.) On the other side, the film follows Hassanin (Amir Khoury), an Egyptian journalist assigned by the king to make a documentary film about the army unit tasked with capturing Nitzanim. Hassanin, who narrates the film in flashback, locks eyes with the enemy only once, at their moment of surrender. But the image he captures on camera in that moment resonates with him for decades: young kibbutznik Mira ( Joy Reiger) smiling as she futilely draws a pistol against the advancing Egyptian forces. The film is inspired by the real-life figure of Mira Ben-Ari, a Nitzanim radio operator who was killed during the battle after shooting an Egyptian officer; her surprising decision to stay and fight alongside the Israeli men, against
overwhelming odds, made her a martyr figure in Israel. Image of Victory itself, which is also making choices about how Scripted by Nesher, Liraz Brosh and Ehud Bleiberg (whose to frame history by choosing to dramatize one of the 1948 father was a dairy farmer in Nitzanim), much of the film details war’s few instances of Israeli surrender, in which the IDF come everyday life in the kibbutz. Characters tend to their dairy cows, across as uncharacteristically helpless and their opponents as eat communal meals, play music and train for war. Far from idealized postcards, these domestic sequences depict often harsh gender dynamics: The male soldiers regularly harass and belittle the women, who must resort to creative means (including, occasionally, sexual humiliation) to assert their own authority. The lush production design includes detailed period recreations of the kibbutz and the surrounding battlegrounds. Throughout, both the Israeli and Egyptian characters debate the war and the politics of the era — discussions that haven’t changed much in 75 years. One of the Nitzanim residents notes they had to push out Palestinians in order to build their kibbutz, and wonders if things might be easier if they simply returned the territory. She Actors playing Israeli soldiers guarding Kibbutz Nitzanim in the Israeli war is swiftly rebuffed by an Israeli general, who in- film Image of Victory. Credit: Netflix sists that the minute they give up an inch, they’ll be back on well-organized and heavily armored. Israeli filmmakers have the road to another Holocaust. And yet the fighting unsettles long been engaged in an often contentious dialogue with the everyone: the first death in the film, at the hands of the Israeli public about how to depict their own country’s past and pressoldiers, turns out to be that of an Arab child. ent; Tantura, a documentary from earlier this year, told a much Of course, framing is everything, as Hassanin knows well. harsher account of the founding of a different kibbutz in 1948. When the character attempts to capture small, intimate moImage of Victory isn’t looking to provoke its Israeli audience ments that will humanize his Arab fighters on film, he finds his in quite the same way. What Nesher wants is to present a efforts rebuffed by the king and the area commander, who only human-centric approach to war storytelling. The movie is dedwant heroic images of the Egyptian conquest and Israeli defeat. icated to the victims of the battle for Nitzanim, on both sides. This look at how stories are told is a meta-commentary on Image of Victory debuted July 15 on Netflix.
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