August 25, 2023

The Jewish Press

Racial Stamina

Meet the staff: Michelle Johnson

ASHTON KAY

For almost five years, Michelle Johnson has been the Jewish Federation of Omaha Campaign and Data Coordinator. She is responsible for specific management tasks of the Annual Campaign, such as keeping track of pledges. That means “a lot of spreadsheets and a lot of lists,” she said.

‘Persecution of Jews is educationally significant’ Page 12

CAT KING

Something happens when people sit around a table together and talk about difficult things with candor, curiosity, and compassion. Information is synthesized into meaning; feelings are identified and processed; hearts are opened; connections are made. Good food and laughter enhance the experience.

Last March, one such group concluded an

8-week course on Building Racial Stamina hosted by Temple Israel, and this October we will gather again with a new cohort. As one of the facilitators of this course, I’d like to tell you what it’s about and share with you some thoughts from those who gathered around the table with me last time.

The first thing we learn is that “racial stamina is the ability to engage in conversations and work that further racial justice, See Racial Stamina page 3

Brandeis memories

JAY KATELMAN

JFO Director of Community Development

On Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Jewish Business Leaders welcomed Ted Baer and Steve Seline. They delivered the Brandeis story, including nostalgic anecdotes, to a captivated audience. A short film gave some background about the Brandeis family and the business. Steve spoke about his years representing the family as their attorney and friend. Both speakers discussed the different stores, expansion, and the eventual sale of Brandeis in 1987. Steve told us some amazing stories about those people involved in the decision to sell.

Alex Epstein, EVP of OMNE Partners, said:

“The Brandeis story is iconic for many reasons. It was fascinating to learn about how the retail brand shifted from decade to decade. It was an honor to have Ted Baer and Steve Seline present, as they both --individually and as part of Brandeis-- have

impacted Greater Omaha for decades. Brandeis was a large conglomerate that morphed into many different family-led businesses after Younkers acquired them. Omaha may never see a business that transcended real estate and culture as much as Brandeis, as it was a one-stop shop for everything from travel, insurance, accessories, to jewelry, and clothes.”

See Brandeis memories page 3

It’s likely you already know plenty about what Michelle does here; you’ve probably seen it. I’m sure you want to know more about her than just her job.

“My husband, Chris, is a hotel manager,” Michelle said. “My oldest daughter is Andrea. She works for Sherwin Williams as an assistant manager. She has a son, Sawyer, who is almost seven. My other daughter Marissa, who lives in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is an ER nurse. She has a little girl who is almost five months old, named Bergen.”

Michelle’s family also includes ten-year-old wheaten terrier Calli.

“My daughters were extremely upset with my husband and me, because as soon as they both moved out of the house, we got a dog. They always wanted a dog but we were always so busy. Calli was born on my birthday, and is a bit of a terror.”

Michelle is from Omaha, and went to Omaha Central High School. She then attended the University of Nebraska Lincoln, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in music education, followed with a master’s in education. Michelle had a full career in music education at Omaha Public Schools, spent 16 years as an instrumental Music teacher and finished her career as Supervisor of Instrumental Music.

“I was with OPS for 32 years before retiring,” she said. “I don’t think most people knew that.”

Michelle has played both the piano and the flute since kindergarten and 5th grade respectively.

See Michelle Johnson page 3

Check out the Kripke-Veret Collection Page 2

Reminder: United We Walk Page 4

Ted Baer, left, Steve Seline, Jay Katelman and Alex Epstein

Clockwise from bottom left: Cindy Goldberg, Gail Kenkel, Joseph Pinson, Sally Kaplan, Nolan Bald, Jennifer Glazer, Charles Shapiro, Berta Ackerson, Ellen Platt, and Cat King. Credit Cat King

Michelle Johnson

Check out the Kripke-Veret Collection

SHIRLY BANNER JFO Library Specialist

YOUNG ADULT:

The Basketball Game by Hart Snider

Healing wounds and changing world views, all through a simple game of basketball.

Nine-year-old Hart is attending Jewish summer camp for the first time. As if that isn’t awkward enough, this summer the camp is going to play host to some very particular visitors, though the kids at camp don’t know that yet.

What everyone else knows is that in a nearby small town called Eckville, a teacher by the name of Jim Keegstra was fired for spreading anti-Semitic views in his classroom, where he told his students that the Holocaust was a hoax. To make matters worse, he’s also the nearby town’s mayor.

To help combat Keegstra’s lies the Eckville and Jewish communities decide that the best path forward is to invite the students taught by Keegstra to the summer camp for a day of fun and fellowship.

What transpires in this graphic memoir by filmmaker Hart Snider is a basketball game for all-time.

Adapted from the NFB’s short animation of the same name, The Basketball Game is a poignant tale of the power of community as a means to rise above hatred and bigotry. In the end, as is recognized by the kids playing the basketball game, we’re all in this together.

ADULT:

The Night Travelers: A novel by Armando Lucas Correa

Four generations of women experience love, loss, war, and hope from the rise of Nazism to the Cuban Revolution and finally, the fall of the Berlin Wall in this sweeping novel from the bestselling author of the “timely must-read” (People) The German Girl Berlin, 1931: Ally Keller, a talented young poet, is alone and

scared when she gives birth to a mixed-race daughter she names Lilith. As the Nazis rise to power, Ally knows she must keep her baby in the shadows to protect her against Hitler’s deadly ideology of Aryan purity. But as she grows, it becomes more and more difficult to keep Lilith hidden so Ally sets in motion a dangerous and desperate plan to send her daughter across the ocean to safety.

Havana, 1958: Now an adult, Lilith has few memories of her mother or her childhood in Germany. Besides, she’s too excited for her future with her beloved Martin, a Cuban pilot with strong ties to the Batista government. But as the flames of revolution ignite, Lilith and her newborn daughter, Nadine, find themselves at a terrifying crossroads.

Berlin, 1988: As a scientist in Berlin, Nadine is dedicated to ensuring the dignity of the remains of all those who were murdered by the Nazis. Yet she has spent her entire lifetime avoiding the truth about her own family’s history. It takes her daughter, Luna, to encourage Nadine to uncover the truth about the choices her mother and grandmother made to ensure the survival of their children. And it will fall to Luna to come to terms with a shocking betrayal that changes everything she thought she knew about her family’s past.

Separated by time but united by sacrifice, four women embark on journeys of self-discovery and find themselves to be living testaments to the power of motherly love.

Loyalty by Lisa Scottoline

Loyalty can save a soul—or destroy one.

Franco Fiorvanti is a handsome lemon grower toiling on the estate of a baron. He dreams of owning his own grove, but the rigid class system of Sicily thwarts his ambition. Determined to secure a better future, Franco will do anything to prove his loyalty to the baron. But when the baron asks him to kidnap a little boy named Dante, Franco makes a decision that will

change his life—and even the history of Sicily—forever.

Gaetano Catalano is an idealistic young lawyer whose devotion to justice is tantamount to a calling. He’s a member of the Beati Paoli, a real-life secret society of aristocrats who investigate crime in Palermo, a city riddled with graft. Gaetano sets out to find the boy and punish the kidnapper, but his mission leads him to a darker place than he had ever imagined.

Meanwhile, Mafalda Pancari is a new mother rejoicing at the birth of her daughter, Lucia, when disaster strikes. And Alfredo D’Antonio is a reclusive gathered under constant threat of being discovered as a Jew. How the lives of these unforgettable characters collide makes Loyalty an epic tale of good versus evil, as the story twists and turns to its monumental showdown.

Readers will be transported to the dramatic and ruggedly beautiful island of Sicily, the jewel of the Mediterranean, where lush lemon groves and mouth-watering cuisine contrast with a turbulent history of colonization and corruption. Scottoline brings her decades of thriller writing to historical fiction, creating in Loyalty a singular novel that no reader will be able to put down.

Racial Stamina

Continued from page 1 especially when the work causes discomfort.” Each week, we met at Sally Kaplan’s table and talked about identities, norms, and behaviors and learned how we can make changes in our own lives that impact the world around us in a positive way. And yes, there were snacks and laughter.

The Building Racial Stamina course was created by Deitra Reiser, PhD, a Jewish Woman of Color and founder of Transform for Equity. The idea came to her while working on an anti-racist committee at her own synagogue because she wanted her daughters to experience a sense of belonging in their Jewish community. She says, “For everyone to feel a sense of belonging, we all need to be aware of how race and racism impact our lives. What’s more, to live our Jewish values when working towards tzedek, we must understand how race and racism impact us and our society.”

After facilitating the first cohort, Dr. Reiser trained facilitators from our community so that we can carry on the work. Ellen Platt is one of three facilitators who will be hosting the next class at her table. The other two facilitators are Berta Ackerson and Cat King. When asked for her thoughts at the conclusion of the last class, Ellen said, “What an honor it was, to learn and grow with my Temple Israel contemporaries along the Race line. I feel like we built a community within a community, and I hope the future of BRS will be met with more folks who would like to participate, expand their awareness, and, in turn, their humanity.” Berta agrees, “It has been an honor to be part of the expanding BRS Temple Community!

I am looking forward to the next cohort.” Cat says, “Facilitating this course isn’t about teaching as much as learning together.

I am humbled by my own learning curve and grateful to those who are on the journey with me.”

Sally Kaplan not only helped organize and host the group, she was also a participant. She says, “The great benefit and joy for me personally, was the opportunity to deeply interact and deeply know other congregants that I wouldn’t otherwise know. We talked about very difficult things in a really safe, honest, and open-hearted way, and I learned so much from all of them.”

While the course does not prescribe specific actions, many ways to apply what we learned were discussed. The discussion-based format is intended to help us examine how we think and behave in the world. Gail Kenkel put it this way, “Words matter. What we say as a result of our ‘whiteness’ can hurt others and make them feel unwelcome in our synagogues, our workplaces, and our community. Through thoughtful discussions in our group, we have begun to understand what we need to do to change this.”

Joseph Pinson adds, “Despite our best intentions, the impact of our words and ac-

Michelle Johnson

Continued from page 1

Though, unfortunately for us, she never showcases her talents. Michelle and her husband love to travel. Recently, they used a week of vacation to help out after the birth of their granddaughter, so it’s been a while since they’ve been able to take a trip. They’re going to Chicago in October and California in November.

“We’ve been to Dubai,” Michelle said. “That was a trip that my husband won through his job. We like to go to the Caribbean. We’ve been on five cruises and we’ve been to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Key West. Our favorite location is Estes Park. It was so relaxing because we didn’t have a schedule. Our dream location is the Cayman Islands.”

Because of her young grandson, Michelle doesn’t have a lot of time for TV or books. However, she and her husband do watch sports. She specifically mentioned watching the

Brandeis memories

Continued from page 1

Ted Baer remembered how he used to run around the store as a kid, and how he started working at Brandeis. After Brandeis, Ted and his father continued in many different ventures. From buying (for $6,000) and turning around the Omaha Lancers hockey club, to unfortunately getting in the butterfly business in the Midwest during the winter. Ted explained they liked to try and have a little bit of everything in their portfolio. If you weren’t able to attend, or if you’d like to listen to Steve and Ted’s stories again (and who wouldn’t?), please use this link: https://youtu.be/ffNdjq8K0ao

Thank you to all those who attended another successful

tions can harm others. The class reminded me to be mindful of what I say and do, and to be more grateful for the privileges I take for granted.”

“Participating in the 2022-23 Building Racial Stamina winter cohort through Temple Israel helped me to grow more vigilant, accountable, and vulnerable to my own unrealized contributions on the ever-pervasive topic of racism. This class challenged my perceptions on my own past progressive contributions and showed me perspectives that were unique, informative, and tough to face head on. I specifically liked how the curriculum was unafraid to correct my assertions and provide incendiary yet true talking points that address how to be an anti-racist in a racist society,” says Nolan Bald.

Cindy Goldberg was also in the cohort, she described her experience by saying, “I learned so much, and now know that there is so much more to learn, but having the awareness is a big first step.”

Jennifer Glazer agrees, “The more awareness I have on this topic, the more I realize there is much to learn and just so much to do…Going through this learning process with this group and these facilitators in this manner did have an impact on who I am and how I interrupt racism in my relationships and community.”

Charles Shapiro explains, “Growing up in America means growing up in a society that has white supremacy built into its fabric. How are we to deal with this? It is not fun to examine how this culture has infected our behavior and thoughts, yet we must push ourselves to keep looking within. No one class will rebuild our foundation, but it will help us inspect the cracks and push us to look for other weak areas. Taking eight weeks to engage in self-examination of one’s past thinking and actions and imagine future change is a gift to yourself and society.”

Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin has championed this program from the start. On the importance of Racial Justice work from a Jewish lens, she says, “The work of antiracism will not be accomplished with one sermon, one book, one program, or one class. It will require a deep commitment to reexamining our words and our actions, our systems and our structures. It will require opening ourselves to the certainty that the way things have been is not necessarily the way they ought to be. It will require thoughtful and intentional and perhaps even difficult changes. And yet, this is what is demanded of us as Jews in the world today.”

The next cohort will meet Oct. 5, 19, 26, Nov. 2, 9, 16, 30, and Dec. 14 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The class size is limited, so if you are interested, sign up early. For more information, or to enroll in the next cohort, contact Mindi Marburg at mmar burg@templeisraelomaha.com

Stanley Cup and college volleyball. And when she does have time to read, Michelle likes to read a mystery series by Janet Evanovich. And of course, with her background in music, I had to ask her what her favorite songs were.

“I’m classically trained, so I like all the classical composers like Mozart and Bach. If I were going to the symphony, I love Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, especially Spring. I also like Aaron Copland. He has Fanfare for the Common Man and Rodeo.”

It’s not just classical music that Michelle loves.

“We also like a lot of classic rock,” she said. “We’re going to see Kansas when they’re here in August. Boston, Styx, Bob Seger, we like all those artists from the 1970s and 80s. That’s when we were young.”

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

breakfast! We want to extend a special thank you to our Platinum sponsors: Bridges Trust, OMNE Partners, and Valmont, and our Event Sponsors: Alex Epstein, The Baer Foundation, and McGill, Gotsdiner, Workman, and Lepp

Our next event will be held Oct. 13 from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. at Happy Hollow Club, located at 1701 S 105th St, Omaha, NE 68124. Our next speaker, Dr. Jeffrey Gold of UNMC, will be inducted into the Jewish Business Leader’s Hall of Fame. Dr. Gold is accepting this award on behalf of all staff at UNMC who have worked so hard the last three years to help keep us healthy. We look forward to seeing everyone in October!

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

B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS

Reminder: United We Walk

Don’t forget to sign up! Tri-Faith Initiative is thrilled to host the second annual United We Walk fundraiser — a 1-mile loop around the Tri-Faith Commons near 132nd and Pacific streets— on Sunday, Sept. 10 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Walkers have the option to register for free or pay $25 with their registration to receive a United We Walk t-shirt on the day of the event. Registration information can be found at trifaith.org/uww-2023 Donations made at time of registration and on the day of the event will directly benefit Tri-Faith's mission of cultivating inclusive environments that advance interfaith relationships and understanding.

The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) is a Harmony sponsor and the DEIA Committee of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is a sponsor of this year’s walk. “We are inviting the Jewish community to join us at Tri-Faith Commons for this unique and meaning-

ful event,” said Sharon Brodkey, JCRC Executive Director. “United We Walk so naturally aligns with JCRC’s mission of working together in common cause with other organizations. Building community doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and the Jewish community is not an island. United We Walk gives us

an opportunity to meet, learn, and celebrate the richness and strength in our diverse city,” she added.

Netflix’s Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro shows Bradley Cooper with an elongated nose

JACOB GURVIS

JTA

Soon after Netflix dropped the first official trailer for its upcoming Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro on Tuesday, one aspect of the film footage sparked a flurry of conversation online — and it wasn’t the preeminent Jewish conductor’s music, or star Bradley Cooper’s acting.

Instead, the prosthetic nose supposedly used by the Oscarnominated Cooper, who is not Jewish — and co-wrote, directed and stars as Bernstein in the film — infuriated many Jews who argued that the appendage plays into stereotypes about Jewish facial features.

portrayed Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the 2018 film On the Basis of Sex and when a planned Joan Rivers project that was set to star Kathryn Hahn was announced — before being scrapped.

“There’s this long tradition of non-Jews playing Jews, and not just playing people who happen to be Jewish, but people whose Jewishness is their whole being,” Silverman said on her podcast in 2021. She plays Bernstein’s sister in the film.

Silverman is not the only Jewish actor in Maestro. Miriam Shor, who has described herself as “half Jewish but not really religious,” plays actor Cynthia O’Neal. Alexa Swinton, who stars on HBO’s And Just Like That… — and who celebrated her bat mitzvah in Israel earlier this summer — plays Bernstein’s

Joel Swanson, a Jewish history PhD student at the University of Chicago, shared side-by-side images of Cooper’s character and the composer, writing: “This isn’t about making a nonJewish actor look more like Leonard Bernstein; it’s about making a non-Jewish actor look more like a Jewish stereotype.”

Daniel Sugarman, the director of public affairs for the Board of Deputies of British Jews, pointed out that Cooper had previously starred in The Elephant Man on Broadway, a play about a man with serious physical deformities. Cooper did not use prosthetics for that role.

Bernstein’s three children released a statement in response to the backlash, writing: “It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose. Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we’re perfectly fine with that. We’re also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well.”

The controversy is the latest episode in a now years-long conversation about “Jewface,” a term used to describe non-Jewish actors playing Jewish characters on screen. Comedian Sarah Silverman popularized the term and has been a vocal critic of the trend, which angered some Jewish fans when Felicity Jones

daughter Nina. And Jewish actor Gideon Glick, known for his work on Broadway and on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, plays musician Tommy Cothran.

Following the release of the Maestro trailer, some also resurfaced the backstory to the film itself, which Jewish actor Jake Gyllenhaal had wanted to star in.

In a 2021 interview with Deadline, Gyllenhaal highlighted Bernstein’s Jewishness as a key factor for his interest in the project, which Steven Spielberg, who was originally to direct, eventually handed over to Cooper.

“Sticking your neck out, hoping to get to tell the stories you love and that have been in your heart for a very long time is something to be proud of,” Gyllenhaal said. “And that story, that idea of playing one of the most preeminent Jewish artists in America and his struggle with his identity was in my heart for 20 some odd years, but sometimes those things don’t work out.”

One social media user wrote that Cooper “basically stole the rights for this film from a Jewish man who had been passionately trying to make it for years.”

Maestro will premiere at the Venice Film Festival in Sept., followed by a limited theatrical release on Nov. 22 before it lands on Netflix on Dec. 20.

Trade scholarships available for the 202324 academic year

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

Not every student who advances into higher education signs up for a four-year curriculum. Some high school graduates seek job training that lasts a year or two and then places them in the workforce. Such opportunities include, but are not restricted to: Information Technology, Construction, Industrial, Transportation and Horticulture. It is not too late to apply for this upcoming school year!

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

Greenblatt & Seay announce the 27th Annual Schoolhouse Fiddling Bee, which will take place on Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023 starting at 2:30 p.m. We will stream the winners online via Zoom from the Old Avoca, Nebraska Schoolhouse.

There are two Divisions: a Junior Division for musicians who have played less than three years and a Senior Division for musicians who have played three years or more.

Each Division will have three separate contests that contestants may enter. The Happy Contest includes one happy fiddle tune played on any acoustic bowed string instrument.

The Sad Contest consists of one sad fiddle tune played on any acoustic bowed string instrument. Finally, the Fee Fi Faux includes one fiddle tune played on an instrument that is not an acoustic bowed string instrument.

There is an entry fee of $10 per Contest submission. For more information, and to enter the contest (Sept. 17 deadline): https://www.greenblattandseay.com/schoolhouse_ fiddling_bee.shtml

INFORMATION

ANTISEMITIC/HATE INCIDENTS

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

Jewish security group tipped off FBI about neo-Nazi who wanted to kill Jews

JACKIE HAJDENBERG

JTA

A Jewish security agency is taking credit for tipping off the FBI about a man associated with a white supremacist group who had a stockpile of weapons and Nazi propaganda in his Los Angeles-area home.

Ryan Scott Bradford was charged last month with conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and being a felon in possession of ammunition. But the FBI and Los Angeles police found far more than drugs and bullets when it searched his house on July 27, according to the criminal complaint filed in federal court: They also uncovered five switches for converting semi-automatic weapons into automatic weapons; two 3D printers, one decorated with swastikas; posters of Adolf Hitler, Nazi flags, and a calendar with a handwritten note saying, “New Year’s Resolution: Take over the world –save Aryan race *Bake every single Jew.*”

When officers spotted a homemade bomb, they temporarily shut down the streets surrounding Bradford’s residence.

“As alleged, this convicted felon affiliated with a violent white supremacist group who espouses horrific acts of violence against Jews appears to be manufacturing firearms and possessing an improvised explosive device,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement announcing Bradford’s arrest. “The potential danger to the community cannot be overstated.”

The charging documents do not make clear when the FBI began monitoring Bradford. But according to the Community Security Initiative, a watchdog group at the Jewish Federation of Los

Angeles that monitors threats against the Jewish community and provides safety training to Jews and Jewish institutions, the agency knew to investigate him thanks to the Jewish group’s work.

A CSI analyst told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the group had identified Bradford as a possible threat because of his social media use. He used keywords that the organization monitors for and expressed “implicit threats toward the Jewish community,” said the analyst, who requested anonymity out of concerns about their safety.

“It’s one thing to post antisemitic content and imagery. It’s another to go into a little bit more detail of your own history and the fixation that one has on a certain community — that stood out right off the bat,” the analyst said. “It increased over time, I wouldn’t say dramatically, but it was on an escalatory basis where it continued to increase in duration and time.”

The FBI’s Los Angeles office declined to discuss the ongoing investigation or the role the Jewish security group played in its scrutiny of Bradford.

“The FBI relies on the community always as a source of intelligence,” a spokesperson wrote in an email to JTA. “In many cases, the community act as our eyes and ears and we take the information given to us very seriously. While I can’t get into the details about our continuing investigation in order to protect the rights of the accused, I can confirm that the FBI routinely relies on tips/intel from the public and, when corroborated, may act on that information.”

The case is at least the second in recent months where Jewish security groups have said their monitoring of threats against Jews online has resulted in arrests by law enforcement. In November, a tip from the Community Security Initiative’s New York outpost led See FBI tipped off page 6

The Community Security Initiative of Los Angeles monitors threats against the Jewish community and provides safety training to Jews and Jewish institutions. Credit: Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles

FBI tipped off

Continued from page 5 to the arrest of a man who allegedly claimed he wanted to “shoot up a synagogue.”

The Los Angeles federation’s security initiative is a decade old, but in recent years sweeping investments in Jewish security efforts have enabled similar monitoring in other places, as well as more intensive monitoring at the national level. The Secure Community Network, which coordinates security for Jewish institutions nationwide, opened a “command center” in Chicago in 2021. That same year, the Jewish Federations of North America launched its own security initiative, LiveSecure, with $130 million to fortify Jewish institutions. The initiatives followed antisemitic attacks on synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway, California, and came amid increases in white supremacist activity and reports of antisemitic incidents.

The CSI said between 2021 and 2023, Bradford posted multiple online messages and photographs under various iterations of the username “Peckerwood” — a reference to the San Fernando Valley Peckerwoods, a racially motivated violent extremist group based in Los Angeles County. He also documented his use of a 3D printer to manufacture firearms and calling for the mass murder of Jews.

Not all worrisome online activity causes the Jewish watchdog group to contact law enforcement. “The individual has to have the capability, intent and opportunity,” the analyst told JTA about CSI’s standards for reporting a threat to the FBI. CSI filed its first suspicious activity report to the FBI in March 2022, the organization said.

In July, according to the criminal complaint, Bradford posted on the secure communication platform Telegram, “Ready to kill some Jews with us? The white boys are gunna kick it off

we’ve had

enough of this kike bullshit what about you?”

In September, Bradford began posting links to instruction manuals for explosives on the encrypted cloud-based messaging app Telegram, according to the criminal complaint. That was enough for the Community Security Initiative to compile another suspicious activity report for law enforcement, according to the analyst.

The analyst compared the group’s work to that of private citizens, saying the online monitoring is like “being in a park and just watching the circus go by and jotting down information as it comes along.”

“We don’t surveil per se,” the analyst said. “We do what any private citizen has the right to do, which is look at open-source information and gather that information and submit it.”

Law enforcement agencies pick up the trail from there. In Bradford’s case, after agents found evidence of drug trafficking in his communications, the result was an arrest and prosecution.

“The defendant is a self-described anti-Semite associated with a white supremacist group which espouses the hatred of Jews and other minorities,” Donald Alway, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office said in a statement. “Hateful rhetoric that crosses the line into violence will get the attention of law enforcement and those who engage in such extremism will be held accountable should they act upon their violent rhetoric.”

Estrada, the U.S. attorney on the case, indicated in his statement that further charges could follow.

“We will continue to investigate this matter to ensure that this defendant is held accountable for his crimes, and to keep our community safe from acts of violence motivated by racist and hateful ideology,” he said.

Saudi Arabia appoints first Palestinian envoy

GABE FRIEDMAN

JTA

Saudi Arabia appointed its first-ever envoy to the Palestinian Authority Aug. 12, in the midst of ongoing negotiations with Israel and the United States about what would be a historic Saudi-Israeli diplomatic normalization agreement.

Nayef Al-Sudairi, the Saudi envoy to Jordan, will now also serve as a “nonresident ambassador to the State of Palestine,” the Saudi foreign ministry announced.

Saudi Arabia and Israel have been in U.S.-brokered discussions for months about the potential for Saudi Arabia to join some of its other Arab neighbors in formally recognizing Israel and establishing diplomatic relations with Jerusalem. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco have since 2020 signed agreements with Israel on trade, tourism, security and more under the Abraham Accords.

Saudi Arabia has made it clear that Israel would have to make concessions that could lead to a two-state solution. The oil-rich kingdom recognizes Palestinian statehood in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, and it has maintained that it would not establish diplomatic relations with Israel until conflict with the Palestinians is resolved.

Israel’s current right-wing government is opposed to Palestinian statehood. But the Wall Street Journal reported last week that the United States and Saudi Arabia had agreed on the “broad contours” of what a deal with Israel could look like, with a possible timeline of nine to 12 months. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would not agree to a deal as sweeping as the Israel-UAE agreement, which covers sectors from security to scientific cooperation, the report noted.

The Palestinian envoy appointment comes as Israeli leaders have downplayed the importance that Palestinian statehood holds in deal negotiations. “It’s sort of a check box,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Bloomberg News earlier this month. “You have to check it to say you’re doing it.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said that the envoy appointment shows “The Saudis want to convey a message to the Palestinians that they were not forgotten,” but added “the Palestinian issue is not the main issue within the talks.”

Above: The JCC volunteered their campers to help clean-up the area the City uses for the summer concert series at the lake. In appreciation, they were honored in City of Omaha’s monthly flyer as VIP volunteers.

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: After almost 4 years in Omaha Nebraska the Dreyer family are going back to Israel. “Wishing Beth Israel and entire Jewish Omaha all the best in the world! We will miss you.”

Above and below: Beth Israel supper and learning with the seed guys. We had a meaningful time learning about Tisha B’Av. Thank you to all those who prepared, cooked and helped with this event! Next year in Jerusalem!

Above, right and below: Temple Israel’s Temple Tots enjoyed a Splash Pad Havdalah in partnership with PJ Library, Saturday, Aug 5. The children played at Cimarron Splash Park in La Vista, before decorating and filling their own basamim (spice bags) for a short service with Temple’s new Senior Rabbi Benjamin Sharff.

Below: Temple Israel’s Youth Learning Program teachers are officially back in the classroom and getting ready for another year of religious school! See you soon!

Left and below: Temple Israel’s Rabbi Deana Berezin hanging out with college-aged congregants.

Voices

The Jewish Press

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The only Jew

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT

Jewish Press Editor

There’s this headline I can’t stop thinking about: The only Jew in remote Greenland sometimes feels like ‘the last person on earth.’

It’s a story Dan Fellner wrote for the JTA about someone named Paul Cohen who lives in Narsaq, a village in the southwestern coast of Greenland.

“Sheep outnumber the town’s population 20-1,” Fellner wrote, “and the only way to reach an airport is via helicopter or ship.” Greenland is the world’s largest island (three times the size of Texas) and has 56,000 inhabitants.

Lonely, maybe; but Paul Cohen and his wife Monika made a very deliberate choice to live where isolation is the norm and everyone goes with the flow. And they don’t sound like they have any regrets about moving to a place that is both idyllic and remote.

Yet, because he happens to be Jewish, he ended up in a story with that kind of headline. The message is clear: to be the ‘only Jew’ anywhere, under any circumstances, is considered a little tragic, a bit worrisome. I wonder: do we, in our emphasis on community, sometimes get too judgy when others don’t feel the same?

When I feel judgmental, it usually says more about me than them. That level of isolation might drive me a little mad, but Paul Cohen and his spouse should be perfectly happy and content. Feeling like ‘the last person on earth’ to him is a good thing. He is, after all, not me and I am not him. Why should my love of people have anything

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.

to do with a complete stranger’s life choices? It shouldn’t.

Still, there is value in these types of stories, when we look a little deeper. They can remind us how different we all are, and yet how similar.

“In the absence of definitive records,” Fellner wrote, “it’s highly likely that Cohen has made history as the Jewish person with the longest contin-

we surround ourselves with, how much of it is uniquely ours? What is it like to not constantly measure yourself by what others may say or do? It’s possible I interact with more people on any given day than Paul Cohen does in an entire month. It doesn’t necessarily make my life richer, it just makes it different. And different is okay.

uous tenure living in Greenland — 22 years and counting. He chuckled at the notion, saying it makes him feel like ‘some sort of rare orchid on the tundra.’

‘I like the idea,’ he said. ‘There are very few Americans living here. So I’m used to feeling like the oddball.’ While Cohen isn’t religious, he has a silver mezuzah hanging in his Narsaq home and enjoys late-night Hanukkah candle-lighting Zoom sessions with his family back in America.”

How much of our identity comes from the people

“(...) this focus on peoplehood is translated into an emphasis on the community as the primary organizing structure of Jewish life,” Rabbi Jill Jacobs wrote on MyJewishLearning.com “Wherever Jews have lived, they have built synagogues, established communal organizations and created systems of communal governance.” Sure, but ‘Community’ might be something more fluid than we’ve always thought. It doesn’t have to mean the same thing to him as to me. There is no set number value for what makes a community, or is there? Is Paul Cohen in Narsaq less Jewish because he can’t access any physical Jewish institutions? Is he less Jewish than someone who lives in the middle of Brooklyn but never sets foot inside a synagogue or Jewish Community Center?

I am not convinced I could live like that, and I don’t trust that my specific Jewish needs could be met. I need people, activities, a too-busy calendar to complain about. And yet, he and I still have a very fundamental thing in common.

Sometimes you have to leave home, before you can truly be home.

These women are transcending the divide

JESSICA RODA JTA via New York Jewish Week

As a child growing up in the Chabad Hasidic community of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Chana Raskin was immersed in a male soundscape. Her father brought her with him to synagogue on Shabbat and holidays, where men would sing the melodies, passed from generation to generation, known as nigunim. Those sonic memories tap into family tradition and a spiritual community beyond herself. Yet these sounds were missing from her adult experience of conventional Orthodoxy. Following a minor traumatic brain injury, Raskin began a personal healing journey and found comfort in these melodies.

During this process, she felt the need to share her knowledge with women who, like her, did not have access to the restorative communal potential of the nigun. The often wordless songs are traditionally sung exclusively by men, and are central to the synagogue experience — itself a primarily male domain in the Orthodox tradition.

“A few years into this journey, during a particularly dark week in December 2017, three different women reached out to me about bringing women together to sing,” Raskin recalls in an essay. “I remember thinking: Yes. (Pause, breath.) Yes, let’s do it.”

The result was the RAZA circle and the album “Kapelya,” the first recording of Hasidic nigunim performed exclusively by women. On Thursday, Aug. 10, Raskin and the RAZA ensemble will have their premiere in New York City at the JCC Manhattan to celebrate “Kapelya,” which was released in February.

Produced by Hadar’s Rising Song Records, “Kapelya” is a collaboration among Raskin, women artists from non-Orthodox Jewish backgrounds and the musician Joey Weisenberg, the founder and director of Hadar’s Rising Song Institute. With this project, Raskin proposes a new meaning and aesthetic for Hasidic nigunim. She breaks many barriers, exploding audience expectations of these traditional melodies and using them as a vehicle to transcend gender divisions, Jewish denominations and musical genres.

Although the album contains only women’s voices, contrary to convention, Raskin did not label it, nor her performances, as gender specific, con-

trary to the norm in the Orthodox female art scene I researched for my forthcoming book, “For Women and Girls Only” (NYU Press, 2024). She wanted the music to be available to anyone who wanted to connect with it.

The nigunim that the RAZA ensemble recorded and will perform belong to Chabad-Lubavitch’s sacred soundscape. While they can be sung, separately, by both genders, nigunim are associated with men because of their centrality to their collective spiritual practice. These old Jewish melodies have come to exemplify masculinity, tradition, mysticism and ecstasy, all elements of Hasidism’s roots.

Because of the religious injunctions of tzniut (modesty) and kol isha (prohibiting Orthodox men from hearing women singing), Hasidic women traditionally sing in still more strictly gender-segregated spaces, only for other women. They have developed a distinctive soundscape, different from that of their male counterparts, and one in which nigunim have not played a major spiritual role.

In this context, women performing and recording nigunim for a mixed audience is both an innovation and a provocation.

While the media coverage of the album’s release emphasized the innovation of “giving voice to women,” I argue that by celebrating the voice of women in the male tradition of nigunim, Raskin’s project transcends both gender boundaries and the divide between Orthodox and liberal Judaism. At the concert, even if women lead on-stage, all genders and denominations can participate in belonging to Jewishness through sound infused with spirituality, healing and tradition. To emphasize the spiritual aspect of the project, the album’s booklet offers a short description of the origin and meaning of each nigun, a dedication and transliterations and translations of the prayers. The project puts Hasidic music in the hands of women and bridges the divide between Orthodox and liberal Jews, who can meet in a shared domain of song, representing both rebellion and connection.

The album’s originality resides both in the new

meanings it gives to Hasidic music, and in the novel aesthetic it provides for nigunim. Listeners are treated to collective improvisation and refined vocal and instrumental arrangements, accompanied by instruments or sung a cappella. The album surprises in its vocal and instrumental colors, with percussion, guitar, flute, cello, shruti box, kaval, mandolin and octave mandolin. With these unusual instruments, the performers create unique relations with place, time and sound unprece-

dented in the nigun genre.

The success of RAZA Circle’s album (Thursday’s show is sold out) points to the growing number of North American Jews, both observant and secular, who are searching for new ways to connect with Jewish tradition, prayer and spirituality while transcending conventional norms, expectations, and processes in their very different circles. This project showcases not only women’s voices, but the yearning of both Jewish men and women for opportunities to satisfy their thirst for community, something that their respective religious authorities have failed to provide.

Jessica Roda an anthropologist and ethnomusicologist, is an assistant professor of Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NYJW or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

Chana Raskin is the founder and main facilitator of RAZA, whose album "Kapelya" is a collection of traditional Chabad nigunim sung by a group of 22 women. Credit: RAZA

Paul Cohen at his home in Narsaq, Greenland. Credit: Dan Fellner

Where conflict is news, stories of Israeli-Palestinian cooperation go missing

MICHAEL M. COHEN JTA

In January 2001, I was working at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, located on Kibbutz Ketura along the Israeli-Jordanian border. Since 1996, the institute has included Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, Moroccan, American and other college-age students from around the world. It also has several transboundary research centers, including our recently established Center for Climate Change Policy and Research, and our Center for Applied Environmental Diplomacy.

From Jan. 21-27, 2001, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators at Taba, Egypt, came as close as they ever have to reaching an agreement. I thought the work of the Arava Institute would make a perfect story — with the Institute modeling what the negotiators were trying to achieve some 45 miles south of us, just across the Egyptian border. I gathered materials in Arabic, Hebrew and English about the institute and headed there. The Israelis were very suspicious but let me through, while the Egyptians took my materials and put me in a room with a soldier and his machine gun outside the door. Eventually, a military official made a call to Cairo, and I was given permission to proceed.

In Taba, I found a group of reporters sitting at a round table. I made my pitch, inviting them to see the institute as an actualization of what the negotiators were working to achieve. Their response? I was told there is hard news, always to be covered, and soft news, if time permits and if it hasn’t been touched upon recently. My story was neither.

This past spring, I would once again be made aware of that lesson — I call it the “Asymmetry of the Sensational.”

In December 2020, Congress passed the Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Act (MEPPA). Created through strong bipartisan effort, this is one of the most significant and innovative pieces of congressional legislation addressing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. MEPPA authorizes up to $250 million over five years to promote economic cooperation and people-to-people programs; advance shared community building; and engender dialogue and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.

Within the legislation, Congress appointed a Partnership for Peace Fund Advisory Board. Senator Patrick Leahy named me to the board, based on my decades’ involvement with the Arava Institute. In February, over three days in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Nablus, the board experienced a universe of Palestinian-Israeli collaboration, described by a young Israeli woman at TechSeeds for Peace as “statements of defiance, and friendships as radical action.”

Another program we visited was at the Wolfson Medical

Center in Holon, which runs an Advanced Trauma Life Support curriculum for Israeli and Palestinian trauma surgeons. These activities optimize trauma care for local communities, creates shared experiences and builds deeper respect and lasting partnerships. Reflecting on such teamwork, Dr. Adam Goldstein told an interviewer, “In the coming days, years and decades, I hope the selflessness, the lack of ego, the teamwork and diversity and mutual respect — can be a model for our entire region.”

The goal is to bring these societies to a tipping point so they

responses. Violence and extremist voices play into and feed off that fear, creating a deadly spiral. That fear is real and leads to negative perceptions between people; the weekly headlines steer us in that direction. It is easy to see why there is so much distrust between Palestinians and Israelis.

The U.S. government over the years has invested millions of dollars, beyond MEPPA, in Palestinian-Israeli civil society. As large as $250 million is, it’s not enough. The International Fund for Ireland spent $40 per person in Northern Ireland on MEPPA-type projects. This relatively large expenditure was critical in paving the way for the Good Friday Agreement, which ended three decades of violence between Protestants and Catholics. At present, only $2 per person is spent on Palestinian-Israeli enterprises.

The international community needs to come together and coordinate vast increases in the support of these programs. That investment needs to be augmented by appointing someone whose sole task is to wake up every morning and focus on advancing peaceful co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians. Appointing a Liaison to Israeli-Palestinian Civil Society at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem would signal a greater integration of MEPPA, related U.S. funding and current policy.

In addition, Israelis and Palestinians need to grasp that peace is not the final destination. It is a means and not an end. Peace does not erase all disagreements. The Good Friday Agreement did not end tensions between the two communities in Northern Ireland, but it did take violence, death and extremism out of the equation so that a healthier reality could emerge.

can see one another in a different light. These projects produce effective, measurable results that shape strong, respectful relationships between Israelis and Palestinians. The unending violence between Israelis and Palestinians signals they are stuck — they need an off-ramp. Greater knowledge of these programs is one way to that off-ramp.

With such positive results, why don’t more Palestinians and Israelis know about these programs and initiatives? Blame the Asymmetry of the Sensational.

In his poem “The Diameter of the Bomb,” the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai explores how an individual act of violence expands from its “thirty centimeters” to “distant shores.” The multiplier effect of violence and extremist language far outweighs the affirmative consequences of MEPPA programs, as well as the work of more than 170 Israeli and Palestinian institutions in the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP). On our MEPPA visit this past spring, it was so clear that, with all the positive results from these programs, fanatics need to do far less to have greater impact.

Why is the Asymmetry of the Sensational so effective? A part of our brain responds to trauma with fear, fight and flight

MEPPA and ALLMEP create an essential step in that direction, with Palestinians and Israelis building mutual trust through their engagements with one another. Tareq Abu Hamed, the executive director of the Arava Institute, makes that point. “Water is not the scarcest resource in the Middle East, trust is,” he says. “We build trust between students and between researchers.”

Differences may remain, but trust creates the will to work together to overcome those gaps. Trust is fundamental to generating the conditions for Israelis and Palestinians to have the better future they deserve.

In the Asymmetry of the Sensational, one violent act or extremist statement quickly travels far and wide. We need to reverse that asymmetry and amplify quieter, transformative, positive actions between Palestinians and Israelis.

Michael M. Cohen is the rabbi emeritus of the Israel Congregation in Manchester Center, Vermont. He teaches at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura and at Bennington College.

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.

How the Bible anticipated Israel’s fight over the judiciary

ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL JTA

For those following the judicial reform crisis in Israel, this week’s Torah portion is almost too on the nose.

For months now, Israel has been convulsed by protests in response to a plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “reform” Israel’s Supreme Court by stripping it of much of its powers of oversight and shifting the balance of power heavily in favor of the legislature. Defenders of the reform call it a corrective measure meant to rein in a high court that too often flouts the will of the democratically elected Knesset. Critics see it as an assault on democracy — particularly in removing the checks and balances that are the hallmarks of Western democracy — and even on biblical principles.

Many of those principles are found in Parashat Shoftim, part of a long section of legal instructions given by Moses to the people of Israel. Among other things, it sets up three seats of power: a king, a judiciary and a sort of proto-legislature.

Here’s what Moses says about the judiciary in the first words of the portion: “You shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice.”

The executive branch comes next. The people are given permission to set a king over themselves, “one chosen by your God.” Not exactly a democracy, but there is at least a presumption that the people can decide if they want a king in the first place.

The portion doesn’t explicitly describe what we would call a legislature or elected body of lawmakers, but various commentators say it is implied by the creation of a priestly class. Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman notes that the priests were “a legislature of sorts,” who could interpret old laws to derive new ones, much as the rabbis of the Talmud would derive new laws based on biblical precedents.

This is the three-legged stool described in Shoftim: an in-

dependent judiciary, a divinely sanctioned king and a class of lawmakers. And because the portion is keenly aware of the potential for the abuse of power, it immediately puts limitations on all three.

“You shall not judge unfairly,” the magistrates and officials are told. “You shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just.”

The king can’t keep a stable of horses, a harem of wives or a trove of silver and gold, all marks of privilege that suggest a ruler is out of touch with his people. And perhaps most importantly, he can’t sit on his throne without a copy of the Torah close by — a reminder that a king’s authority derives from somewhere beyond and higher than himself. The Torah also is the moral and legal foundation of the society, and accessible to all. “It is this Torah which reminds him that, even though he is a king with tremendous power over others, underneath his robes he is just a human being who struggles like every human being to gain and maintain control over himself,” writes Hadar’s Dena Weiss.

The priests too are constrained. Their whole tribe, Levi, is the only one not given a territory within Israel, and is essentially supported by a system of tithes imposed on the other tribes. This has always reminded me of the decision to put the U.S. capital in its own district: The founders worried that, if placed in one of the states, the federal government “might be insulted and its proceedings interrupted with impunity,” as James Madison put it.

Judaism, wrote the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “is an argument for the limitation, secularization and transformation of power.” The genius of this week’s portion lies in a sort of pragmatic cynicism: It understands how power corrupts, how easily judges might be swayed, how kings might put self-interest

ahead of the will of the people, how lawmakers are vulnerable to special interests. It not only sets up a system of checks and balances, but reminds all of the stakeholders that they answer to a higher authority. The Torah calls it God. The American system invokes “the consent of the governed.” “Consequentialists” derive it from the “common good” or “moral values.”

You should probably be wary of relying on the Bible as a guide to contemporary politics. You can probably find evidence for any political idea or decision in its pages, and plenty of people have. And the fight over the judiciary is in part a fight to keep the state more secular and less religious.

But as a piece of political wisdom, Shoftim is hard to beat.

Andrew Silow-Carroll is editor at large of the New York Jewish Week and managing editor for Ideas for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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.

Members of USAID’s Partnership for Peace Fund Advisory Board, on a three-day visit to Israel and the West Bank in February 2023, visited the workshops of Making Peace, where Israelis and Palestinians create affordable solutions for the elderly and disabled. Credit: Fabian Koldorff/REUT

A stained-glass window at Beth Tikvah B’nai Jeshurun synagogue in Erdenheim, Pennsylvania includes motifs of justice found in the Torah.

Credit: Ascalon Sudios/Courtesy Beth Tikvah B’nai Jeshurun

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 Synagogues of Conservative Judaism

3219 Sheridan Boulevard Lincoln, NE 68502-5236

402.423.8569 tiferethisraellincoln.org

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.

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, 11:30 a.m.; PreNeg & Tot Shabbat, 5:30 p.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. at Beth El & Live Stream.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m.; Havdalah, 8:40 p.m. Zoom Only.

SUNDAY: Jo On The Go, 8:45 a.m.; BESTT (Grades 3-7), 9:30 a.m.; Produce Swap, 10 a.m.; Gesher Sky Zone (Grades 6-8), noon; Stop the Bleed, 1 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: BESTT (Grades 3-7), 4:15 p.m.; Hebrew High (Grades 8-12), 6 p.m.

FRIDAY-Sept. 1: Kabbalat Shabbat 6 p.m. at Beth El & Live Stream.

SATURDAY-Sept. 2: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m.; Havdalah, 8:30 p.m. Zoom Only. Please visit bethel-omaha.org for additional information and service links.

BETH ISRAEL

FRIDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:30 p.m.; Candlelighting, 7:51 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:45 a.m.; Teen Class, 7 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv 7:40 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity, 8:10 p.m.; Havdalah, 8:51 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit 9 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv 7:50 p.m.

MONDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:50 p.m.

TUESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:50 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:50 p.m.

THURSDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Character Development 9:30 a.m.; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 7:50 p.m.; Parsha Class, 8 p.m.

FRIDAY-Sept. 1: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:30 p.m.; Candlelighting, 7:40 p.m.

SATURDAY-Sept. 2: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:45 a.m.; Teen Class,

Wave of bomb threats

ANDREW LAPIN

JTA

At least two synagogues in California evacuated during Shabbat services over the weekend of August 11 and 12 as online trolls targeted Jewish congregations for the fourth straight week with fake bomb and other security threats.

At least 26 congregations in 12 states have received the threats, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which is raising alarms about the barrage. The organization believes the instigators are selecting their targets based on the availability of livestreamed services and other events, motivated by their desire to watch the congregations react to the threats in real time.

“This is what happens when individuals coalesce around their hatred of Jews and use technology to try to optimize that,” Oren Segal, vice president of the ADL’s Center on Extremism, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The two California synagogues that evacuated in response to the threats were Temple Beth Torah, a Reform congregation in Fremont, which emptied its building on Friday evening, and Temple Beth Tikvah, a Reform congregation in Fullerton, which did the same during Saturday services. Both had received anonymous phoned-in bomb threats.

Beth Tikvah’s Facebook livestream captures the

7 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv 7:30 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/ Kids Activity, 8 p.m.; Havdalah, 8:39 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, 7:50 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 8:49 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; 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-Sept. 1: Shacharit 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 5:45 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ocha bad.com/Lechayim; Candlelighting, 7:39 p.m.

SATURDAY-Sept. 2: Shacharit 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 8:37 p.m.

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: B’NAI JESHURUN & TIFERETH ISRAEL

Services facilitated by Rabbi Alex Felch. All services offered in-person with live-stream or teleconferencing options.

FRIDAY: Federation Pizza-in-the-Park Shabbat, 6 p.m. Antelope Park; Shabbat Candlelighting, 7:52 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex at TI; Torah Study, noon on Parashat Ki Teitzei; Havdalah, 8:51 p.m.

SUNDAY: LJCS Gan Simcha through Gesher, 9:30 am. and Hallah High, 10 a.m.;. Men’s Bike/Coffee Group meet, 10:45 a.m. at The Mill on the Innovation

moment that the threat made its way to the prayer leaders. “I am afraid that we need to stop and leave the building right now,” Rabbi Mati Kirschenbaum says after placing one hand on the shoulder of Cantor Shannon McGrady Bane, causing her to stop singing. She nods, removes her headset and exits the camera’s view as a message goes up for viewers: “Coverage will be stopping.”

Temple Beth Torah and Temple Beth Tikvah did not return requests for comment.

The wave of threats has also targeted two ADL offices and other religious congregations, including African-American churches. But the activity seems primarily motivated by antisemitism, Segal said, citing what he called “lowbrow and classic antisemitism” in the language used in the phone calls. The perpetrators do not seem to be connected to any larger antisemitic groups, he said.

Synagogues and other Jewish institutions have

Campus. We sit outside, facing east. For more information or questions please email Al Weiss at albert w801@gmail.com; Pickleball, 3-5 p.m. at TI. Everyone is welcome.

WEDNESDAY: LJCS Hebrew School (Grades 3-6), 4:30-6 p.m.

THURSDAY: High Holy Days Choir Rehearsal, 7 p.m. at SST. If you are interested in choir, please contact our music director, Steven Kaup, via email at: Mus icDirector@southstreettemple.org

FRIDAY-Sept. 1: Kabbalat Shabbat Service with Rabbi Alex and music by Nathaniel and Steve Kaup, 6:30 p.m. at SST; Oneg Host: TBD; Shabbat Candlelighting, 7:41 p.m.

SATURDAY-Sept. 2: Shabbat Morning Service 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex at TI; Torah Study, noon on Parashat Ki Tavo; Havdalah 8:39 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 Benjamin Sharff, Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin, and Cantor Joanna Alexander

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

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

SUNDAY: Grades PreK-7, 9:30 a.m.; Temple Tots Sunday 10 a.m.; Coffee and Conversation with Board Members, 10 a.m.

TUESDAY: Holy Smokes, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Yarn It, 9 a.m. In-Person.; Grades 36, 4:30 p.m.; Grades 8-12, 6 p.m.

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

FRIDAY-Sept. 1: Drop in Mah Jongg, 9-11 a.m. InPerson; Shabbat B’yachad Service, 6 p.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SATURDAY-Sept. 2: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. In-Person & Zoom

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

JEWISH PRESS NOTICES

The Jewish Press will be closed on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023 for Yom Kippur. The deadline for the Sept. 29, 2023 issue is Monday, Sept. 18, 9 a.m. Questions? Call 402.334.6448.

weathered previous waves of false threats, including a spate of bomb threats at day schools and Jewish community centers in 2017 that was later attributed to a Jewish teenager in Israel and, in

early 2020, emailed threats to Jewish community centers that were deemed not to be credible, but not before they caused disruptions in 23 states.

Segal said that even as antisemitic harassment has become a frequent problem for synagogues over the last few years, the sustained nature of this current campaign “is a level beyond what is normal.”

Read more at www.omahajewishpress.com.

Credit: Jose Luis Raota

Life cycles

NATHAN WOLDER LINTZMAN

Nathan Wolder Lintzman passed away on June 26, 2023 in Omaha. Services were held on June 28, 2023 at Beth El Cemetery and were officiated by Rabbi Steven Abraham.

He was preceded in death by father, Joseph; mother, Jeanette Lintzman; and brother, Steve Lintzman.

He is survived by wife, Julie; son, Aaron Lintzman; and sister, Sharon Lintzman, all of Omaha.

Nathan had a great love of sports including college football, baseball and basketball.

Memorials may be made to Crown Pointe Center, 2820 South 80th Street, Omaha, NE 68124 and please specify the activity fund in memory of Nathan Lintzman.

Antisemitism flares on X platform

PHILISSA CRAMER

JTA

A “community note” saying falsely that Leo Frank, the victim of an antisemitic lynching in 1915, was guilty of raping and murdering a young girl appeared and disappeared several times over the weekend on X, the platform known until recently as Twitter.

Community notes, which allow users to contribute additional context about tweets, were expanded in late 2022 as new owner Elon Musk’s favored tool for battling misinformation on the platform. But the community note about Frank offers the latest indication that the technology can be misused. The note was appended to tweets by the Anti-Defamation League and its CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, marking the anniversary of Frank’s lynching. The Jewish civil rights group was founded in the wake of the case.

Read more at www.omahajewishpress.com

Woman killed in West Bank shooting

PHILISSA CRAMER

JTA

An Israeli woman was killed and her driver injured in a shooting attack outside Hebron on August 21, the latest in a string of deadly attacks in the West Bank that included the killing on Saturday of a father and son in Huwara.

Shay Nigreker, 60, and his son Aviad Nir, 28, had traveled to the Palestinian town from their home in Ashdod to do errands when they were shot to death while at a gas station. The town was the site of riots by Jewish settlers in February after two Jewish brothers were shot to death there.

The victim of the latest shooting was identified as Batsheva Nigri, 40, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Beit Hagai. She was riding in a car on Route 60, the highway that runs the length of the West Bank. Her young daughter was in the car but was unharmed, according to local reports.

In both cases, according to Israeli media, Hamas and Palestinian Jihad praised the attacks but did not claim credit for them.

The attacks come amid a surge in violence in the West Bank and Israel. Since the beginning of the year, more than two dozen Israelis and more than 100 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in the violence.

Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, has reportedly called an emergency meeting focused on the violence on Monday. The Israeli government is divided over how to tackle the surging violence, with members of far-right parties, including Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, urging a harsher response including the demolition of homes belonging to the families of Palestinians identified as having committed attacks.

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‘Persecution of Jews is educationally significant’

ANDREW LAPIN

JTA

Even before Joanna Sargent had read The Fixer, she knew about it. A middle-school librarian in South Carolina, Sargent first heard of Bernard Malamud’s novel about antisemitism during her professional training. Budding librarians often study Island Trees School District v. Pico, the only U.S. Supreme Court case to address the holdings of school libraries. The 1982 case pitted a high school student against his school board, which had removed several books from the school library — among them The Fixer.

Last year, Sargent felt she was seeing history repeating itself when the book showed up on her own district’s list of challenged materials and was temporarily removed from library shelves. The Fixer was one of 96 books challenged by a local parent affiliated with the conservative activist group Moms For Liberty and a local business owner who doesn’t have a child in the district.

When the Beaufort County School District convened a committee to review the challenged books and appointed Sargent to join it, she finally got a chance to read The Fixer herself. The novel, based on the real-life case of Mendel Beilis, a Jewish day laborer in Kyiv accused of murdering Christian children to make matzah in 1913, reminded her of the Biblical story of Job.

Sargent and the six other members of the review committee got together to discuss the book and several others that had been challenged as inappropriate for students.

“We were all fascinated and captivated by the book,” Sargent said. “It was about a man who had so many things going on for him, and the antisemitism was just so heartbreaking to me. I think I was in tears reading that book. I was just like, ‘How can we not let this voice be heard?’”

Sargent’s experience, along with the notes recorded by her fellow committee members and obtained by JTA, sheds light on an oft-unseen battlefield of the culture war over books cur-

rently playing out in states and school districts around the country. Parents’ challenges against books tend to make headlines, and so do districts’ decisions to ban books in response — but there’s frequently a review process behind closed doors that does not. That process, which in many districts requires

from public access, despite not being contested according to the district’s regular process, only because of concerns about the safety of educators and officials in a heated environment. Over the course of the school year, the committee had returned all but four of the titles it reviewed to school library shelves. When it came time to review The Fixer, Sargent was tapped alongside three other district employees, including a middleschool language arts teacher; a parent; a member of a school improvement council and a “community member.” The committee is meant to represent different constituencies in the district community, according to the district’s own guidelines for dealing with book challenges.

None of the members, to Sargent’s knowledge, were Jewish; the district, which has relatively few Jewish students, said it does not always achieve representation from the groups whose stories are being contested.

staff and others to read books their own challengers may not have read, can be key to whether children continue to have access to contested literature.

In Beaufort County, the school district convened a rotating committee of seven people to review the challenged books, making their way through about seven a month starting with titles used in classroom instruction. For each book, committee members had to complete a checklist with their assessment of the book’s quality and content, its value in an educational setting, how thoroughly it avoids “pervasive vulgarity” and, in an echo of language frequently used by book challengers, its “appropriateness.”

The district signaled from early on that it was not very sympathetic to the charges leveled by a handful of parents that it was making explicit and inappropriate books available to children. A district spokeswoman said the books were removed

A review of the committee’s notes on the novel, obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, shows that every member endorsed keeping the book available in schools, with one participant specifying it should only be accessible at the high school level. The book had previously only been stocked in high schools, according to Sargent, who estimated it had been a part of the school library’s collection for more than 25 years without any controversy.

In their notes, the committee members said they thought The Fixer had the power to offer students a valuable perspective on bigotry — and on Judaism. “History of the time period and persecution of Jews is educationally significant,” one reviewer wrote. A few panelists took things a step further, declaring that the story, about the persecution of Yakov Bok by antisemitic Russians, had echoes in the book’s very placement on the banned list. The committee’s final decision was unanimous: The book should be returned to shelves.

Read more at www.omahajewishpress.com.

ROSH HASHANAH 5784

Celebrating 40 Years

Credit: Beaufort County School District