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The Jewish Press (Founded in 1920)

Abby Kutler

President

Annette van de Kamp-Wright

Editor

Richard Busse

Creative Director

Susan Bernard

Advertising Executive

Lori Kooper-Schwarz

Assistant Editor

Gabby Blair

Staff Writer

Michael Ivey

Accounting

Jewish Press Board

Abby Kutler, President; Eric Dunning, Ex-Officio; Danni Christensen, David Finkelstein, Candice Friedman, Bracha Goldsweig, Margie Gutnik, Natasha Kraft, Chuck Lucoff, Eric Shapiro, Andy Shefsky, Shoshy Susman and Amy Tipp. The mission of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to build and sustain a strong and vibrant Omaha Jewish Community and to support Jews in Israel and around the world. Agencies of the Federation are: Community Relations Committee, Jewish Community Center, Center for Jewish Life, Jewish Social Services, and the Jewish Press. Guidelines and highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: wwwjewishomaha. org; click on ‘Jewish Press.’ Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole. The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment.

Editorial

The Jewish Press is an agency of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Deadline for copy, ads and photos is: Thursday, 9 a.m., eight days prior to publication. E-mail editorial material and photos to: avandekamp@jewishomaha.org; send ads (in TIF or PDF format) to: rbusse@jewishomaha.org.

Letters to the Editor Guidelines

The Jewish Press welcomes Letters to the Editor. They may be sent via regular mail to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154; via fax: 1.402.334.5422 or via e-mail to the Editor at: avandekamp@jewishomaha. org. Letters should be no longer than 250 words and must be single-spaced typed, not hand-written. Published letters should be confined to opinions and comments on articles or events. News items should not be submitted and printed as a “Letter to the Editor.” The Editor may edit letters for content and space restrictions. Letters may be published without giving an opposing view. Information shall be verified before printing. All letters must be signed by the writer. The Jewish Press will not publish letters that appear to be part of an organized campaign, nor letters copied from the Internet. No letters should be published from candidates running for office, but others may write on their behalf. Letters of thanks should be confined to commending an institution for a program, project or event, rather than personally thanking paid staff, unless the writer chooses to turn the “Letter to the Editor” into a paid personal ad or a news article about the event, project or program which the professional staff supervised. For information, contact Annette van de KampWright, Jewish Press Editor, 402.334.6450.

Postal

The Jewish Press (USPS 275620) is published weekly (except for the first week of January and July) on Friday for $40 per calendar year U.S.; $80 foreign, by the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Phone: 402.334.6448; FAX: 402.334.5422. Periodical postage paid at Omaha, NE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154-2198 or email to: jpress@jewishomaha.org.

Thoughts before Yom Kippur

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT

Jewish Press Editor By the time you read this, Yom Kippur has come and gone, G-d willing. I’m writing from the other side of things, which always makes it a little weird. Today is Tuesday September 22, and according to JTA, “A hearing in the trial of alleged accomplices in the 2015 Hyper Cacher kosher store attack in Paris that left four people dead was set for Yom Kippur.” It happens every year: events are scheduled on the holiest day and we are reminded that “holiest” really means “holiest only for us.” Nobody else really cares. Maybe some have heard about it, have some vague understanding that at some point the Jews fast-or-something, but the notion that this is the most important one of all our holidays escapes most non-Jews. I never know whether I have the right to be irritated by that. Check the calendar, I want to say, only to realize that I might not actually have any reason to expect that of people. Does a holy day become more holy if everybody knows about it? Am I ruining my own holiday experience by choosing to fuss over whether nonJews are aware of what day it is? Shouldn’t I focus on my own responsibilities for this day instead? With COVID-19 making life just a little more depressing, it’s very tempting to become contemplative this season. “I can’t complain,” I say when people ask how I’m doing, but then I complain anyway. Because, after all, it’s Tishrei, and although my calendar does have all the holidays on it, it is otherwise emptier than it should be.

So what am I doing, fussing over the fact that lenging, especially for those who can’t hug their somewhere in Paris, a court refuses to cancel a family members right now, the reminders of how trial, if I can’t even figure out how to approach our lucky we still are stare us in the face. holidays with the gratitude they deserve? Does any So, does that mean we don’t have the right to one else feel this way? complain, get fed up, become irritated with the way

Turns out, the answer is yes. “[This is] a time for Jews to contemplate themes of repentance, reckoning and renewal,” Ruth Graham recently wrote in the New York Times. “This year, ‘renewal’ is not exactly the national mood. The coronavirus pandemic slogs forward, the West Coast is burning and racial and political conflicts rage on, with a contentious presidential election looming in November.” ‘Renewal’ may indeed not be the national mood, but has it been so easy to feel a sense of renewal in all the previous years? Or is it just that we now, finally, have a reason to try extra hard? How do we interpret renewal anyway? What does it mean, really? Renewal: “the replacing or repair of Credit: slgckgc, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribusomething that is worn out, run-down, or tion 2.0 Generic license broken.” things are? Not necessarily. What it does mean is Is that us? Are we worn-out, broken? that, when we address our challenges, we need to If I’m being completely honest, I don’t know. “renew” our faith and our gratitude in the same It seems that, no matter how bizarre this year has breath. Faith that we will come through this, faith in been, it has also never been easier to find someone our community and gratitude that we continue to who has it worse. Here in Omaha, we don’t have have a community. fires to flee from, or floods that destroy our homes. We have much to look forward to. There may be We continue to build a community that will be here days when we are showing some cracks, but we are long after we are gone, and although life is chaldefinitely not broken.

What Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg taught us about the gift of time

DANIEL SHAPIRO Tokef. It describes Rosh Hashanah as a day of judgShe spoke movingly of the Jewish values she was NEW YORK | JTA ment, when God decides who shall live and who raised with — the pursuit of justice, caring for those As Jews in the United States prepared to light shall die, who by fire and who by water, who by in need, setting right what is wrong in the world — candles to welcome Rosh Hashanah, they were hit plague (the word jumped off the page this year like as ideas that inspired her work. with the last terrible news of a terrible year: the never before), who in the fullness of their years and And what she did with her time! Her legal brildeath of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginswho before their time. liance, her extraordinary dedication and her legburg. At 87, and with a lifetime of accomplishments It is far too literal a recitation for some worshipendary fearlessness led her to establish legal that few can match, she has earned her rest. But pers. Is God really deciding today which of us will doctrines that shattered sky-high and deeply enthe exquisite, agonizing time of her passing undersurvive the coming year and which of us will not? trenched barriers to equality for women. scored one of the great lessons of her own life and But even so, it clarifies what is at stake as we pray And when, with her characteristic modesty, she of Rosh Hashanah: how we make use of the time for God, who gives and can take life, and in whom ascended to the Supreme Court, Ginsburg emGod grants us matters. braced the work with passion and a sense On the second day of Rosh Hashanah, of mission to extend rights and freedoms, while we attended a small, masked, soand to prevent their backsliding, whercially distanced outdoor minyan in the ever possible. So committed was she to spacious backyard of dear friends (we are this calling that not even near-death exliving in Israel), my daughter asked me periences could knock her off her stride. what the connection is between Rosh Four times she defeated cancer that Hashanah and the Akedah, the story of might have felled her. She worked the binding of Isaac, which we read from through it, reading briefs and composing the Torah in the morning service. opinions in her hospital bed. Ginsburg This disturbing episode is often desurvived the death of her beloved husscribed as a testament to Abraham’s band, Marty, as devoted a life partner as faith, so firm that he would not withhold there could ever be. Seemingly frail, she his son on God’s command. On a day took on tough daily workouts to sustain that we profess our own faith in God, her strength. Through it all, she never some see Abraham as an exemplar. But stopped making use of each moment to that description is troubling as well bepursue her ideals. cause of the egregious act his faith made And in the process, she became an inhim willing to commit. spiration to millions, especially to young I fumbled for a better answer, trying to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Temple Emanu-El Skirwomen and girls like my daughters, and interpret the story through Isaac’s eyes ball Center in New York City, Sept. 21, 2016. Credit: Michael Kovac/Getty the unlikeliest of pop culture icons: the rather than Abraham’s. Maybe, I sugImages Notorious RBG. gested, there is a connection between what Isaac we place our trust, to inscribe us for blessing in the Her untimely death leaves all of us bereft of a went through in the Akedah and what we pass Book of Life. woman of valor, wisdom, courage, humility, dethrough on Rosh Hashanah. But Unetaneh Tokef is far more than our simply cency and genius. The circumstances lay before us Bound to the altar, with a knife raised above him, beseeching God to keep us alive. The brush with a great political struggle to ensure fairness in how rescued at the last moment by the angel’s call, death it evokes helps lay bare our responsibilities. her successor is chosen. The stakes of this crucial Isaac survived a near-death experience brought It closes with the hope that teshuvah, prayer and election, already astronomical, just got even higher. upon by the person he trusted most. It must have acts of lovingkindness can soften the severity of the But her amazing life also serves as a guide for this shaken him to his core. But perhaps once he surdecree. The message is that we are obligated to use battle: be principled, do what is right, pursue jusvived it, the ordeal caused him to dedicate his reour time on this earth wisely, to fix what is broken, tice, empower others, protect the vulnerable and, maining time to carrying out his mission to build to care for others, to renew ourselves and to renew above all, make use of every moment. In the next a great nation. our world. six weeks, that lesson will resonate most of all. We pass through something similar, if less trau If anyone lived a life that could teach us the same There is not a moment to waste. matic, on Rosh Hashanah. The most haunting lesson, it was Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She underDaniel B. Shapiro served as U.S. Ambassador to Isprayer in the holiday’s liturgy is the Unetaneh stood the obligation to use her time to good effect. rael from 2011 to 2017.