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Soul searching work to prepare for the High Holidays
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The IHE congratulates WWII liberator, Roy J. Long
Wendy GOldBerG “The Gates of Repentance is more relevant than those five minute self-help guides you find in bookstores today. Rabbi Yonah offers a roadmap on how to rid yourself of guilt. It is a system of selfimprovement derived from biblical and talmudic sources,” shared Rabbi Aryeh Azriel.
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dOnna Walter Education Coordinator, Institute for Holocaust Education n Aug. 12 Captain Roy Long received an Honorary Doctor of Education degree from his alma mater, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For many years Roy has shared with students in the Omaha area his WWII experience of lib-
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Credit: The University of Nebraska Lincoln erating Gunskirchen Lager, a concentration camp in Austria, and his guarding of the American judges at the Nuremberg War Trials. Roy witnessed the atrocities of a concentration camp. He stood in the same courtroom as Nazi war criminals Hermann Göring and Rudolf Hess. Roy is a graduate of UNL, a Husker football record holder, and a retired OPS See roy long page 2
36 hours in Grand-parenting
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Oliver B. POllak The headline above borrows from the travel genre of 36-hour whirlwind city guides. On Mother’s Day in May of this year, we took our four grandchildren, Zev, Shaina, Yael and Jaikob, 11,10, 8, and 8 years old, respectively, to the USS Red Oak Victory. The Red Oak Victory is the successor to the smaller Liberty Ship. While there, we had a pancake breakfast. The Victory Ship is anchored at Richmond as a museum, built 100 yards away in the Kaiser Shipyards. The kids explored the vessel, the boys especially liked the anti-aircraft guns. Fertile imaginations did not discover any torpedoes. The
cargo holds had been repurposed, one into a movie theatre featuring Popeye and the Chipmunks, midcentury (a term we resemble) animations, and another contained a wood dance floor, museum and gift shop. Crew quarters, officer’s country, the wheelhouse or conn, radio room, mess deck, were all preserved in thick coats of battleship grey. A few minutes from the ship is the Golden State Model Railroad Museum. Founded in 1933, it provides endless joy for hobbyists and specta-
tors as a giant layout of three rooms circling N-Scale, (1:160); O-Scale (1:48); and HO-Scale (1:87), traverse lowlands and tunnel-through mountains into stations and complex railroad yards. Think North Platte and Ogallala, and far more sophisticated than my mid-1950’s Lionel set. Across from the museum and hiking trails is the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline. We skirted the tinkling ice cream truck. There were several parties, some with live Mariachis, some with not so loud boom boxes. Spanish language permeated the air: the Bay area is deliciously diverse. No smoking visible other than barbeques. It was a most pleasant Mother’s Day in the park. Back at the house, we swept the refrigerator. Lemonade, crackers, cheese, dates, and lattes for the adults, the grandkids scooping the expresso and frothing the milk for their parents. Pretty soon they will ask for a tip, but that’s ok. Zev and Yael, in 5th and 2nd grade, stayed with us Monday following Mother’s Day. Their elementary school, Malcolm X in Berkeley, See Grand-parenting page 2
Rabbi Azriel will focus on classic ethical work, Shaarei Teshuvah Gates of Repentance, a famous classic of Mussar literature by Rabbi Yonah of Spain (1180 1263) on Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 6:30 p.m. at Temple Israel. The adult education offering is intended to help congregants prepare their hearts and minds for the high holidays. Rabbi Yonah was one of the most active participants in the controversy over Maimonides’ philosophical works. Years later, when 24 wagon loads of Talmud were burned by the Church at the same spot in Paris where Maimonides’ Moreh Nevuchim had been burned some nine years earlier, Rabbi Yonah regretted his previous actions against Maimonides’ works. Rabbi Yonah declared publicly that he had been wrong, and vowed to travel to Teveria to Rambam’s tomb, where he would beg the forgiveness of the deceased before a minyan of ten people. Preparing our Hearts for High Holidays is one of many opportunities during the season of awe to review our successes and failures from the past year. “Together we will compare the Hebrew and English text to learn from Rabbi Yonah’s example, how to deal with the issues of shame, forgiveness, seductions, anguish, and regret,” explained Rabbi Azriel. “Elul requires soul searching work to prepare for the high holidays” Azriel explains. Each year, we have the unique opportunity to ask for forgiveness and move forward to make this world a better place. “Together we will look back at the past year and find moments that we were diminished of our relationships. It is time to sweat. We will explore the Rabbi Yonah’s writings to get stronger and to be ready to walk out of the Yom Kippur concluding service, N’ilah, anew. It is Jewish therapy. It is brilliant.”