October 8, 2021

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Klutznick Symposium returns

Beth El Building for the Future Benefit Page 6

LEONARD J GREENSPOON fter a year’s postponement, the Thirty-third Annual Symposium on Jewish Civilization— Jews and Urban Life— takes place this year on Sunday, Oct. 24, and Monday, Oct. 25.

Fourteen participants from throughout the United States and Israel will make in-person presentations at our three Omaha venues: UNO, the JCC and Creighton University. In order to attract large audiences, all of these will be available on Zoom as well.

Sunday morning presentations, from 9–11:30 a.m., will take place on the campus of the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Three presenters will offer insights on topics related to the Symposium theme at the College of Public Affairs and Community Service on the UNO campus.

After a short trip from the UNO campus to the Jewish Community Center, four additional papers, divided into two sessions, can be heard from 1 until 4:15 p.m. The presenters in these sessions come from Israel and a number of North American university campuses. The subject matter of their presentations is equally wide-ranging. A keynote address is scheduled for early Sunday evening.

An additional six papers are scheduled for Monday, Oct. 25, when the Symposium is reconvened in the ballroom of the Skutt Student Center on the campus of Creighton University.

See Klutznick Symposium page 2

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Opening Minds through Art Page 7

Keynote Speaker, Ori Z. Soltes, Georgetown University

The Auschwitz Report: Slovakian film follows real-life escapees who tried to warn the world Page 16

Out of the Darkness

Welcome Rabbi Eli and Mushka Tenenbaum

Participating in the Out of the Darkness walk were Billie Bankus, Teresa Drelicharz, Jay Durmaskin, Jeff Gustafson, Karen Gustafson, M’Lee Hasslinger, Marianne Nelson, David Kay, Helen Kay, Les Kay, Chris Kelly, Katelyn Kelly, Mariana Nieto, Patty Nogg, Jessi Taylor, Steven Tipp and Buey Tut.

REGULARS12

Spotlight Voices Synagogues

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KAREN M. GUSTAFSON, MS, NCC, LIMHP JFS Executive Director Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021 was a beautiful day for a walk! It was such an incredible commitment of all 3,010

participants (which included 286 Teams) all joining for one cause - to support Ssuicide prevention through the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), and during a Husker game no less!!!!

Participants could be identified by the different colors of honor bead(s) necklaces they were wearing (if they chose to disclose this information).

White honor beads signify the loss of a child, orange the loss of a sibling, green represents someone personally struggling or attempting suicide, red the loss of a spouse or partner, purple the loss of a relative or friend, teal was See Out of the Darkness page 3

Rabbi Eli, wife Mushka and 9 month old daughter Chana Tenenbaum

GABBY BLAIR Jewish Press Staff Writer Shortly after Passover 2021, Chabad of Nebraska’s Advisory Board began searching for a new assistant rabbi. After a lengthy process, they are pleased to announce the installation of Rabbi Eli Tenenbaum at Omaha Chabad.

Rabbi Eli, wife Mushka and nine-

month-old daughter Chana are no strangers to the Omaha community. Their one-year appointment was a homecoming of sorts, in fact, as Mushka was born and raised in Omaha and is the daughter of Rabbi Mendel and Shani Katzman.

“We went through the entire application and interview process See Rabbi Tenenbaum page 2

2 | The Jewish Press | October 8, 2021

Klutznick Symposium

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Continued from page 1 The first three presentations are scheduled from 9:30 a.m. until noon. The last three presentations at Creighton take place from 12:30 p.m. until 2:30 p.m.

This year’s keynote speaker is Ori Soltes from Georgetown University. His presentation is titled A Tale of Two Cities: Jewish Creativity in Venice and Prague. Many people in Omaha are familiar with Soltes through his numerous visits here over the years. All agree that he is knowledgeable, engaging and accessible.

Three of the other presenters are from Omaha: Joan Latchaw and David J. Peterson, University of Nebraska at Omaha, who will speak on Comicus the Cosmopolite: Diasporic Cosmopolitanism and the City in Mel Brook’s History of the World, Part I; and Marty Shukert, whose presentation is titled City in the Garden, Garden in the City: Clarence Stein, Moshe Safdie, and the Design of Urban Reform.

Two presenters are traveling from Israel: Menachem KerenKratz, Tel Aviv, Jewish Cultural Centers in Small Urban Communities: The Case of Cluj-Napoca, Romania; and Motti Zalkin, Ben-Gurion University, ‘My heart is in the shtetl while my head is in the department store’ – The Impact of Urbanization on the character of the ‘New Urban Jew’ in the Baltic Area.

Many participants, having enjoyed their first Symposium, are eager to return. Among second- or third-time presenters this year are Theodore Albrecht, Kent State University, Vienna’s Jewish Community, 1819-1826: Glimpses from Beethoven’s Conversation Books at the Dawn of a New Era; Mara W. Cohen Ioannides, Missouri State University, Jews Create Towns: An Examination of the Impact of Joseph Sondheimer on the Creation of Muskogee, Oklahoma; Steven Fine, Yeshiva University, Samaritan/Jewish Competition in the Cities of Roman Palestine; and Victoria Khiterer, Millersville University, Kiev as a Center of Soviet Jewish Culture in the 1920s-1930s.

We are happy to welcome the following individuals as firsttime symposium participants: Gary Gilbert, Claremont McKenna College, Jewish Engagement in the Urban Life of the Roman World; Alan Levenson, University of Oklahoma, The Cosmopolitan Jewish City: A Typology; Sean Martin, Western Reserve Historical Society, Die Yiddishe Velt: Yiddish and Cultural Assimilation in Cleveland’s Jewish World; Anthony Meyer, Grand Valley State University, Urbanizing Jews: Agriculture, Slave Codes, and the Byzantine Empire; and Barry L. Stiefel, College of Charleston, Preserving Jewish: The Contributions of Jews in the Historic Preservation Field.

The annual Symposium on Jewish Civilization has been a fixture of the community’s fall schedule for more than three decades. This fall’s symposium is the 33rd in a series that is among the best-known annual conferences on Jewish studies anywhere in the world. It is jointly organized and presented by the Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization (Creighton University), the Kripke Center for the Study of Religion and Society (Creighton University), the Harris Center for Judaic Studies (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), and the Schwalb Center for Israel and Jewish Studies (University of Nebraska at Omaha).

The symposium also benefits from the support of the Jewish Federation of Omaha, Creighton University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

In addition, the Ike and Roz Friedman Foundation, the Riekes Family, the Javitch Family, the Henry Monsky Lodge of B’nai B’rith, the Drs. Bernard H. and Bruce S. Bloom Memorial Endowment and other supporters provide generous funding.

A full schedule, along with Zoom links, will appear in a later edition of The Jewish Press. Further details are available at www.creighton.edu/klutznick or by contacting Leonard Greenspoon at 402.280.2304 or ljgrn@creighton. edu. Please note that we will closely follow masking, social distancing and vaccination protocols as determined by each of our venues.

Rabbi Tenenbaum Continued from page 1 with the board and are grateful to have been selected,” share the couple who were actively looking for such a position at the time of the board’s search. “We also want to express gratitude to all of our sponsors, including Phil and Nancy Wolf and Gary and Lisa Epstein, who are heading the project. We also thank Rabbi and Shani Katzman for their life’s work over 35 years in Omaha. We couldn’t have better role models. We will not let you down.”

Advisory Board member Joanie Jacobson shares, “Rabbi Eli and Mushka will add their own welcoming way, creative energy and good ideas to the work of Chabad. The Board was thrilled to learn this vibrant young couple wanted to come back to Omaha. After all, it’s the young men and women who can grow an organization and assure it remains relevant to their everyday life. We couldn’t be more excited about Rabbi Eli and Mushka Tenenbaum helping us all to find the joy in Judaism and to engage in the Jewish way of life.”

“It is a real blessing to come and work in a known place,” Mushka explains. “Instead of spending time learning to navigate a new city and community, we are ready to jump right in and make an impact. Eli and I are ready to start helping enhance and support the greater Jewish community in any way possible.... We want to see growth everywhere as we together, strengthen our city.”

Rabbi Eli shares that his family’s mission “will be split evenly between supporting currently established Chabad programming and creating new programming focused on new young families in the community.”

With a young child of their own, Mushka is eager to create opportunities for Jewish families of all backgrounds to come together in fun and natural ways through their children. “I would love to set up times for coffee and playdates with other young parents. Eli is quite the chef - to the point where I rarely cook at home- and we envision family friendly Shabbat dinners in a

relaxed atmosphere. We want to make friends and be friends!”

The Tenenbaum family arrived just two weeks before Rosh Hashanah and Rabbi Eli has already jumped into action, helping to lead High Holy Day services and Sukkot preparations.

“We have many upcoming events I want the community to not just know about - but to participate in as a guest or volunteer- such as our Bagel Menorah on the first night of Hanukkah (Nov. 28), our annual Menorah lighting and parade (Dec. 6) and a soon-to-be announced young professional Hanukkah party. As always, all are welcome at Chabad!”

The arrival and energy of the Tenenbaums are sure to help lighten Chabad’s load. “Growing up, we always helped our parents and understand the effort and work required to have successful and meaningful events for our community,” shares Mushka. Rabbi Eli adds, “There is real value in personal connections, through friendship and volunteering. No amount of time given is too little. Please help us help our community by getting involved!”

Rabbi Eli and Mushka can be reached at rabbieli@ocha bad.com and mushka@ochabad.com. Reach out to them today for more information on how to get involved, to set up a playdate or just to chat!

ORGANIZATIONS B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS The Monsky Lodge of B’nai B’rith is pleased to announce the resumption of its award-winning speaker program via ZOOM. Although the Home auditorium remains temporarily closed, we’ll continue presenting an outstanding lineup of thought-provoking keynoters. For specific speaker information and/or to be placed on the email list, please contact Breadbreakers chair Gary Javitch at breadbreakersomaha@ gmail.com or leave a message at the B’nai B’rith JCC office 402.334.6443.

Industrial Escape Rooms Industrial Escape Rooms is a small locally/veteran-owned business, located in the Millard area of Omaha. Established in 2018, we are dedicated to providing a fun and family-friendly entertainment option for the community.

Escape room games are a great option for families, friends and co-workers to spend quality time together. Players are encouraged to play as a team, with everyone contributing to the effort to “escape” the room.

Escape room games generally have a theme and a storyline to engage the players. Industrial Escape Rooms game themes include Moriarty’s Parlor, a Sherlock Holmes theme set in an 1890’s London England parlor room. Our second room is Blackbeard’s Treasure, a pirate-themed game set in the captain’s cabin of Blackbeard’s flagship. Our third room is Sea Voyage, a nautical-themed game set on the bridge of the

sinking ship S.S. Sea Turtle.

Each game features unique and fun puzzles that challenge the players to stretch their problem-solving abilities. Escape room games are great for a wide age range of players. We have had family groups with young pre-school-age players that enjoy finding puzzle pieces to give to Mom or Dad, to the grandparents that find that they enjoyed solving the puzzles as well. Each room has a wide variety of puzzles ranging from easy to challenging to keep a group engaged for the duration of each game.

Industrial Escape Rooms are great for Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, birthdays and job parties.

For more information about Industrial Escape Rooms, please contact Patrick Corbett at 402.934.2083 or info@Indu strialescaperooms.com.

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Out of the Darkness Continued from page 1 used to support someone who struggles with thoughts of suicide or who has attempted suicide in the past, gold the loss of a parent, silver the loss of a first responder or military and blue to support suicide prevention efforts. As you can see, suicide touches many people’s hearts for many reasons. The Out of the Darkness Experience is a journey of remembrance, hope and support.

JFS’ Team had 24 people signed up to walk — not all of them pictured here. This was our largest team to date! Big thanks to Les, Helen and David Kay and Patty Nogg, who all helped JFS recruit others to support the cause and to share the day for their own support.

This year, Jewish Family Service was one of at least 70 community sponsors for the ASFP sponsored walk; and JFS was in the Top 5 Fundraisers for the event - thanks to the help of Patty Nogg who spearheaded this effort, raising $5,960 individually with our team total of $6,570.

The AFSP fundraising goal was $235,000, which was exceeded by raising $281,064.

Thank you to all of the JFS Team members and those who donated to AFSP (which was not a requirement to walk with us). We definitely hope that our Team will grow each year. We look forward to having you support our community members and others who have experienced this unimaginable loss and to shed light on those who experience thoughts of suicide.

Suicide Prevention Programming has become a very important part of the mission of Jewish Family Service. “May we never lose another person when help is available.”

Note: The dollar amounts are accurate as of the writing of this article.

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100 Days of Impact: Cousins share destiny SAM KRICSFELD The Mateh Asher Center in Israel supports a project called Cousins Share Destiny. The project is just one of many benefitted by your support of the JFO Annual Campaign.

Cousins Share Destiny is aimed at bringing together youth from Kibbutz Gesher Haziv and the predominantly Arab community of Sheikh Danon. As part of the program, mentors lead sessions designed to help build a bridge between the two communities, teaching understanding and highlighting the similarities between participants’ lifestyles.

Currently, the teens meet once every two weeks for challenging outdoor activities. In the near future, they will run a community project of their own design.

As with most community projects, Cousins Share Destiny was hit hard by the pandemic.

“The disease made it difficult for us to work in an orderly manner to run the program,” said Ahmed Samniya, the project’s grant manager. Gatherings of over ten people were not allowed as per restrictions from the Israeli Ministry of Health.

One of the most important events that Cousins Share Destiny has hosted was a celebration of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan. The celebration consisted of a big meal split by the teens as an end to the Ramadan fasting.

The project encountered another hurdle when the most recent round of violence between Israel and Gaza erupted, and many

Mateh Asher Regional Council7 Credit: oyoyoy, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International, 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.

communities of Jews and Arabs became hostile towards each other. “After the month of Ramadan, the riots started; and it was difficult to bring the Jewish and Arab boys together,” Samniya said.

Cousins Share Destiny will hire a professional mentor to further connect the Jewish and Arab youth. A shuttle service will also be provided so teens from one community can attend events at the other. Remaining funds will go to

the participant-planned community project.

“Our mission is essential right at this time to create a common life and educate to the values of tolerance, understanding each other and living together,” Samniya said.

Your support in the JFO Annual Campaign makes a difference not only in local and national lives, but also in the lives of Israelis.

Thank you to the donors who have supported the campaign.

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News

Help us solve a mystery

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Medicare options

ish Home shared, “Too many times we have experienced inSHELLY FOX dividuals and/or their family being unaware that they enrolled RBJH Director of Admissions Jewish Senior Outreach It is that time of year again. Open Enrollment for Medicare in a Medicare Advantage plan when they thought they had coverage starts Oct. 15. This is when those 65 and older have original Medicare. Due to this they were not able to go to the the opportunity to make choices for their coverage for the provider of their choice. Another challenge with Medicare Adnext 12 months.

This is important and may also be complicated.

Enrollees face lots of choices, and making a deJEWISH FAMILY SERVICE | JEWISH SENIOR OUTREACH cision may be more complicated than you think.

THE ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME You will be inundated with TV commercials, newspaper ads, phone calls and advertising in the mail! The decision vantage plans we have faced is the decisions regarding conis not just financial; your choices for providers and specific tinued care is removed from the staff providing the actual care health care is determined by what coverage you choose. So, it and instead placed in the hands of insurance company repreis worth your time and effort to research your options and ask sentatives who have never met the Resident.”

A wonderful local resource for Medicare information is VAS questions prior to enrolling with a plan.

(Volunteers Assisting Seniors). www.vas.neb-org, There are two main ways to get your Medicare coverage— 402.444.6617.

A trained and certified Medicare Counselor will Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Original Medicare provide private, confidential, unbiased assistance to discuss most often requires the purchase of a supplemental plan and a your unique Medicare needs and review your Medicare options drug plan for optimal coverage. This could be more expensive including Medicare Supplements and Prescription Drug Plans, on a monthly basis, but does not have the unexpected and nonMedicare Advantage plans, or Medicare with other insurance budgeted costs that can occur with an Advantage plan. The Adoptions.

Your individual insurance agent is also able to assist. vantage plans often have all-in-one medical and drug coverage.

“The best candidate for Medicare Advantage is someone But make sure that you are aware of the restrictions on your who’s healthy” says Mary Ashkar, senior attorney for the Cenchoice of physicians and amount of care that Advantage plans ter for Medicare Advocacy.

“We see trouble when someone often include. There may also be out of pocket expenses that are important to know before signing up. Insurers have wide gets sick” Bottom Line: ask questions, read the fine print, research discretion in determining what they will cover, where they will the co-pays and out-of pocket costs and make sure your precover and when they will stop paying for services such as ferred physicians and care providers are on the plan you are skilled nursing care. looking at.

Erika Lucoff, Admissions Coordinator at Rose Blumkin Jew-

Jewish Social Services

ACG Artists Cooperative Gallery

MERILEE ATOS of Calgary, Alberta, Canada I am hoping that you, and The Jewish Press, might consider helping me solve a family tree mystery.

I have a lovely photograph of a bride that looks to have been taken in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s. The photographer’s stamp on the back of the photo indicates that it was taken by the Rinehart-Marsden studio, which operated in Omaha from 1886 to 1974. I am hoping to identify the bride. I think – though I can’t be sure – that the bride is also the young woman on the right in the second photo, in the dark coat. When I first saw this photo I thought that the group was on the front steps of the synagogue in St. Catharines, Ontario (where I’m originally from) but I can confirm that it’s not. If I’m right about the bride also being in the group photo, I thought it might have been taken in front of one of the older synagogues in Omaha, but that’s just a guess.

I believe that the Etus family of Omaha might be distant relatives; my surname is Atos.

Thank you in advance for your help in solving this mystery!

Contact Annette Van de Kamp at avandekamp@jewish omaha.org if you recognize the person in the photos.

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The Jewish Press | October 8, 2021 | 5

ADL-CRC Strong @ 70 Event recap Newcomers

Clockwise from top left: Todd Simon introduced David Gilinsky, recipient of the Spirit of Justice Award; David Gilinsky and Carol Bloch were honored with the first annual Spirit of Justice Award; Hanging No Place for Hate artwork from Buffett Middle School; a crowd of 125 people attended the event celebrating the ADL-CRC’s 70th anniversary; and ADL-CRC directors past and present: Bob Wolfson, Alan Potash, Mary-Beth Muskin, Gary Nachman. Credit: Deborah Kaplan

PAM MONSKY ADL Assistant Director, Plains States Region 125 community members gathered for an in-person event to recognize the critical work of the ADL-CRC in Omaha for the past 70 years. Oren Segal, ADL’s National VP for the Center on Extremism, addressed the crowd live via Zoom and gave an overview of the current state of extremism in the country and our region and described ADL’s role in identifying a number of the individuals who participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capital.

Carol Bloch and David Gilinsky were honored for their passionate dedication to the ADLCRC and presented with the first Spirit of Justice Award.

Our wonderful event committee, included Ellie Batt, Jill Belmont, Dana Gonzales, Geordi Gonzales and Zoë Riekes.

We would like to thank our generous sponsors: Rich and Fran Juro, Norman and Frances Batt Family Fund, Jerry and Olga Schneider, Bergman Incentives, Carol and Steve Bloch, Lance and Julie Fritz, Kutak Rock, Zoë and Carl Riekes, Gary and Lisa Epstein, Paul and Sandy Epstein, Fraser Stryker, Cookie and Jerry Hoberman, Howard and Gloria Kaslow, Koenig | Dunne, Bob and Phyllis Newman, Allan Noddle, Aaron Weiner and Therese Vaughn and Speedy & Debbi Zweiback. Special thanks to the Special Donor Advised Fund of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation and the Staenberg Family Anything Grant.

MAREN ANGUS JFO Philanthropy Coordinator Did you just move to Omaha? Do you know someone who just moved to or has returned to Omaha?

Well, we are planning an event just for them!

All new members, their families and returnees are invited to carve up some pumpkins, drink some warm beverages, eat some kosher food, play games and warm up by the tableside bonfire as we welcome in autumn on Oct. 26 outside at the JCC Pavilion at 6 p.m.

Moving to a new city is hard, especially if you don’t know anyone. Just by looking at our list of 36 new members, six of them have moved to town from the same region! This event is to introduce the newcomers to others who could be from their old neighborhood or better yet, their new neighborhood.

Attendees are encouraged to bring the whole family, as the JFO will provide a familyfriendly atmosphere for children who attend.

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RSVP to Maren Angus at mangus@jew ishomaha.org or 402.334.6485 if you have any questions.

Omaha Community Playhouse presents The Mystery of Irma Vep Kick off your fall with a campy horrorspoof comedy, served up live-theater style!

The Mystery of Irma Vep opens Oct. 8 at the Omaha Community Playhouse.

Vampires, werewolves and an ancient family curse: Two actors take on all of this and more—via dozens of warp-speed quick changes—in this wildly absurd comedy. A feverish spectacle from beginning to end and

dripping with satire, The Mystery of Irma Vep is a farce to be reckoned with.

Tickets start at $36 for the public and $26 for OCP season subscribers. Purchase online at OmahaPlayhouse.com or at the OCP Box Office at 402.553.0800 and 6915 Cass St. Reserve your tickets early for the best prices and seating options.

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6 | The Jewish Press | October 8, 2021

Beth El Building for the Future Benefit

ROBBY ERLICH Engagement Coordinator, Beth El On Monday Oct. 18 at 7 p.m., Beth El invites you to join us for an exclusive concert featuring famed singer-songwriter and guitarist Lazer Lloyd. Lloyd is one of the best-known blues musicians in Israel and has toured all over the world. The concert will benefit the “Building for the Future” Campaign at Beth El Synagogue. As the building approaches its 30-year benchmark, funds raised will be used to make improvements to the sanctuary, chapel, social hall, offices as well as the physical structure. This will offer the congregation a beautiful and meaningful environment that will enhance spiritually learning and community.

Lazer performed at Beth El last winter of 2021 direct from his home in Israel via Zoom. Lazer was such a hit last winter, he is coming back! The upcoming concert is sponsored by the Borden family.

Lloyd will bring his unique blend of roots rock, Americana, folk, blues and country to guests at this intimate show.

The concert will feature songs from Lazer’s acclaimed 2020 release Tomorrow Never Comes, plus his renowned guitar

jams, brand new songs, inspirational stories and more.

Praise for Lloyd’s singing, songwriting and playing has poured in via social media from fans who have found his music and livestream hangouts to be a lifeline during the pandemic. A selection of the moving comments has been collected on a community fan page. https:// tomorrownevercomes. carrd.co.

Lazer Lloyd Hazzan Michael Krausman shared his excitement about Lazer returning to Beth El: “Our community is still on cloud nine months after seeing Lazer Lloyd knock their socks off with his blending of the many different styles of American blues. His guitar playing is

phenomenal, his singing from the heart, his homegrown song lyrics still ring in my mind. Toes were tapping, hands were clapping, and smiles were on every face. His spirit for life stands out in his stories which were nothing less than inspirational.”

Lazer Lloyd was raised in Connecticut but makes his home in Israel and performs all over the world. His unique blend of folk, roots rock, country blues and soaring guitar was influenced by BB King, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Neil Young and many others.

Everyone is welcome to attend this evening of music, healing, and friendship, which is presented at no charge thanks to the Borden family. Donations are encouraged and appreciated to Beth El’s “Building for the Future” Campaign.

To RSVP and donate, please visit www.bethel-omaha.org or contact Beth El Engagement Coordinator Robby Erlich, at rerlich@bethel-omaha.org. To access Lazer Lloyd’s music, visit www.lazerlloyd.com. For additional information about the Beth El building campaign, contact Allison Newfeld, Executive Director at anewfeld@bethel-omaha.org.

Rosh Hashanah miracle at Chabad GABBY BLAIR Jewish Press Staff Writer Perhaps by now, some of you have heard about the true miracle that occurred at Chabad over Rosh Hashanah.

As it was told to me, services were underway in Chabad’s outdoor tent. Community members in attendance said that the atmosphere was lovely, the weather was perfect and that Chabad had ‘hit it out of the park’ this year providing an inspirational setting for the holiday.

Just before the beginning of Untanneh Tokef, the liturgy of the High Holy Days, a woman in attendance cried out “Mama!” as her mother suddenly slumped over.

An ambulance was called, but as Hashem would have it, numerous doctors and health professional were in attendance; Dr. Steven Denenberg, Drs. Michael and Karen Cohen and Susan Polack, PA-C hospitalist, sprang into action.

Dr. Cohen produced a stethoscope. Dr. Denenberg checked for vitals. The woman had no pulse. Susan Polack began CPR

compressions and miraculously, the woman’s pulse was restored to her body before the ambulance arrived. She was transported to the hospital and as of writing, is recuperating at home.

Services continued at Chabad, as prayer seemed to be most appropriate in a moment where a life hung in the balance. To have such an event occur at the point of services where Untanneh Tokef was about to be read gave me goosebumps and summoned tears of awe to my eyes. Even writing about it a week after first hearing the story, I have goosebumps and tears. Miracles do that to one’s soul, I suppose.

Untanneh Tokef is where Jews acknowledge that Judgement Day is coming and where we pray not just for ourselves and other Jews, but for all of humanity, as the Rebbe emphasized in 1988. That our inscription within the Books of Life or Death is being decided by Hashem alone, and when we pray for mercy and redemption through hopeful repentance. We are reminded that while we have little control over the future, we always have the power to change our own character. Untan-

neh Tokef plainly states that: ‘On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed. How many will pass and how many will be created. Who will live and who will die. Who in their time, and who not in their time.’

I wasn’t there that day and I do not personally know the woman whose heart stopped for that short time. It had to be shockingly frightening and stressful, but I am thankful that through the actions of community members and with G-d’s help, that day was not her time. I can’t think of a more spiritually and physically inspirational setting than a community davening together at that moment, pausing to save a life and then returning to prayer. What merit they should all have.

What mercy may they all be shown.

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The Jewish Press | October 8, 2021 | 7

The Arts LOCA L | NATIO NA L | WO RLD

Opening Minds through Art

Christina Caniglia and Rose Kaplan

MAGGIE CONTI RBJH Director of Activities and Volunteer Services Now in its third year, Opening Minds through Art (OMA) is back at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home for the fall semester an intergenerational art program for people living with cognitive loss. Unfortunately, the University of Nebraska at Omaha students could not join us due to the COVID restrictions. The Opening Minds through Art program was made available to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home through a grant from the Asso-

ciation of Jewish Aging Services and epitomized the mission of AJAS in honoring our fathers and mothers. In its third and final year, the OMA program has indeed been a blessing; and we hope to secure more funding to continue this worthy program in the future. We are grateful that Chris Ulven, Executive Director, appreciates the benefits of running OMA programming and buying into the underlying OMA philosophy that it is never too late to create beauty.

Elizabeth “Like” Lokon, PhD, created Opening Minds through Art in 2007 at Miami Uni-

versity in Ohio. “When I first started going to nursing homes, I saw that people with dementia were just bored,” Lokon says. “I thought there must be another way of engaging them that takes into account the fact that they have dementia, but at the same time makes them active, more autonomous.” Orig-

inally from Indonesia, Lokon chose the name OMA because it means grandmother in Dutch, which her parents and grandparents speak. Now conducted by Scripps Gerontology Center, an Ohio Center of Excellence at Miami University in collaboration with The See Opening Minds through Art page 8

Here are a few personal success stories and testaments of the success of OMA. “A unique and unusual project that encourages creativity and freedom of expression through art.”

SIVAN COHEN Jewish Federation of Omaha Community Shlicha

“It’s amazing, and I love to see the finished masterpiece—art for everyone, no matter the skill level.”

ANNETTE FETTMAN

said “yes.” I showed Rose and Myron her completed piece, and Myron pointed out all the different fruit he saw in his mom’s painting, which helped Rose develop a unique title. Rose was surprised how much she liked her painting, and she said: “Thanks,” when her son complimented how “cool” it turned out. This is why we do art!

As the Assistant Activities Director with an MA in Social Gerontology, I know how fortunate I am to work in the only facility in Nebraska offering this positive proven OMA experience. The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home has understood the importance of art for Residents (way before research and data). They have provided a top-notch ceramic program for over 35 years; it is one of my favorite activities with Residents maintained through generous donations. I am so very fortunate to be here in this community that takes pride in and care for in its elders for more reasons than one. My love for art and friendships with elders has led me to a place of happiness.”

CHRISTINA CANIGLIA Assistant Activities Director

“Rose Kaplan’s son Myron Kaplan visited when an Opening Minds through Art (OMA) session finished. He said, “it makes me happy to see my mom engaged in art.” He asked his mom if she was having fun, and she enthusiastically

“It’s amazing how different all the paintings turned out when we all did the same steps to complete the piece.”

STEVE CHASEN Artist

“OMA provides an opportunity for elders to receive one-on-one attention, which does not happen often enough in Long Term Care. It is rewarding to partner with our Residents to create beautiful, unique art projects that will be displayed in our facility and passed along as heirlooms to their family members.”

JILL OHLMANN Activities Coordinator

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8 | The Jewish Press | October 8, 2021

The Arts

Opening Minds through Art

LOC AL | N AT I O N A L | WO R L D

Partnership in Practice

treatment center in Israel. The trip sparked an ongoing conJAMIE SKOGBURKE nection, as both Gary and Ruth have been teaching virtual lesJFO Director of Community Outreach & sons to children at the Israeli conservatories throughout the Israel Engagement For nearly 25 years, the Jewish Community of Omaha has pandemic.

The ties continue to build as Ruth has invited Gary to been in partnership with 16 other cities worldwide with the Omaha to work with her stugoal of connecting individuals, dents at the Omaha Conservaorganizations and communitory of Music at the end of ties across the global Jewish October. As an added bonus to world. This partnership has this trip, the Jewish Federation taken many forms over the of Omaha is excited to host years, but most recently inGary Levinson on Wednesday, volved the Executive Director Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. for a concert of the Omaha Conservatory of that will highlight the amazing Music, Ruth Meints, taking ways in which the Partnership part in an international quar2Gether program strengthens tet that traveled together to our local Jewish community. the Western Galilee prior to “Music is a universal lanthe pandemic to play music for guage and creates lifelong condifferent communities within nections between teachers, our partnership region. students and people everyThe quartet linked musiwhere” according to Ruth cians from sister cities in the Meints. We invite you to join US and Budapest and included us to hear the reverberating Judit Rozsnyoi (Budapest, sounds of a world-renowned Hungary), Robert Hausmann violinist in our new Alan J (Buffalo, NY), Ruth Meints Gary Levinson Levine Theatre at the JCC. The (Omaha, NE), and Gary Levinson (Dallas, TX). Over the course of the trip, the musicians concert is free for community members who secure tickets in worked with students at the Akko and Matte Asher conserva- advance which can be done by visiting jewishomaha.org or tories and played concerts at various organizations through- emailing Jamie SkogBurke, Director of Community Outreach out the region, including music for patients in a cancer and Israel Engagement at jskogburke@jewishomaha.org.

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Continued from page 7 Knolls of Oxford, the program has spread to more than 150 locations in the United States and Canada. The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home is the first in the state of Nebraska to implement OMA. This past summer Christina Caniglia and Jill Ohlmann traveled to Ohio to be trained as OMA facilitators. This semester’s eight sessions will be led by two other staff members Faith Gatewood, activities coordinator, and Roinin Staunovo Polacco, activities assistant. As a bonus, Sivan Cohen, the new community Shlicha, will join us. The instructors understand how to utilize materials to succeed, and the Resident artists are empowered to create what they want while staff only assists in the process. So many skilled nursing home art and crafts programs can be elementary. OMA instead gives seniors sophisticated artwork that produces rich and complex abstract art.

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The Jewish Press | October 8, 2021 | 9

What happened to all the art that Nazis looted? This Jewish Museum exhibit tells the story of several masterworks.

CHLOE SARBIB This article originally appeared on Alma.

Great works of art often become so present in our everyday lives — the Mona Lisa on a mug, The Starry Night on a sweater, Basquiat in Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s Tiffany campaign — that it’s easy to forget how fragile the originals are. These images that populate our collective consciousness all started as a single destructible canvas. But most museums don’t highlight the life these artworks have had as physical objects often because that history is wrapped up in colonialism and theft.

At the new Jewish Museum exhibition Afterlives: Recovering the Lost Stories of Looted Art, which opened last month in New York, this overlooked aspect of a painting’s history becomes the focus.

“It is often difficult to understand the ‘biography’ of an artwork simply by looking at it, and even more difficult to uncover the lives and experiences of the people behind it,” reads the text on the first wall visitors encounter, displayed beside Franz Marc’s The Large Blue Horses.

The gallery is organized around how the artwork it features, including works by Chagall and Pissarro (both Jewish), Matisse, Picasso, Bonnard, Klee and more came to hang there. All the pieces displayed have one quality in common: They were either directly affected or inspired by the looting and destruction of the Nazis.

“The vast and systemic pillaging of artworks during World War II, and the eventual rescue and return of many, is one of the most dramatic stories of twentieth-century art... Artworks that withstood the immense tragedy of the war survived against extraordinary odds,” the text continues. “Many exist today as a result of great personal risk and ingenuity.”

One of the most striking instances of bravery the exhibit recounts is that of Rose Valland, a curator at the Jeu de Paume, which housed the work of the Impressionists. During the collaborationist Vichy regime, the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, or ERR, took

to photograph important documents, “she recorded incoming and outgoing shipments and made detailed maps of the extensive network of Nazi transportation and storage facil-

Henri Matisse, Girl in Yellow and Blue with Guitar Credit: Jewish Museum

Paul Cezanne, Bather and Rocks Credit: Jewish Museum

over the museum building. The ERR, “one of the largest Nazi art-looting task forces operating throughout occupied Europe,” used the space to store masterpieces it had taken.

Valland, who had worked at the Jeu de Paume before the war, stayed on during the Occupation and collaborated with the French Resistance to track what the Nazis did with the stolen paintings. “At great personal risk,” including sneaking into the Nazi office at night

ities.” Pieces by Jewish or modernist artists were often labeled “degenerate” and slated for destruction. Valland was unable to save many of them, and referred to the room where they were housed as the “Room of the Martyrs.”

In the exhibit, Valland’s story is overlaid on a 1942 photograph of this room. Some of the works in it by Andre Dérain and Claude Monet, among others are believed to have been destroyed. But three of the paintings

that survived are on the adjacent wall: Bather and Rocks by Paul Cezanne, Group of Characters by Pablo Picasso, and Composition by Fédor Löwenstein. They last hung together in the Room of the Martyrs, awaiting their fate like many of the Jews of Europe.

Some Impressionist paintings on display at the Jewish Museum, like Matisse’s Girl in Yellow and Blue with Guitar, spent the Holocaust in the personal collections of high-ranking Nazi officials — Hermann Goering in this case.

Others like Marc Chagall’s Purim, a study for a commissioned St. Petersburg mural he never painted were confiscated, labeled “degenerate” for their Jewish authors and content. But that didn’t stop the Nazis from selling them to fund the war effort. The exhibit calls out these financial incentives that spurred the Nazis to steal from Jewish collectors: It was as much about seizing Jewish wealth as about any ideological beliefs. Germany was in debt when the Nazis came to power, and even “degenerate” art was often sold on the international market “to raise funds for the Nazi war machine” if they thought it would fetch a good price. So the Nazis weren’t even principled in their anti-Jewishness; they were happy to profit off works by Jewish artists and were often motivated by simple greed.

Purim, painted in 1916-17, contains “folkloric imagery and vivid colors drawn from Chagall’s memories of his childhood in a Jewish enclave in the Russian empire.” Seeing a depiction of a holiday that celebrates Jews surviving persecution in this World War II context is poignant.

The exhibit includes documents from the collection points, in Munich and Offenbach, where the Allies traced the paths of stolen See What happend to all the art page 11

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Isaac Asimov’s epic Foundation series is now a TV show.

His Jewish life was complicated.

STEPHEN SILVER JTA On September 24, following a pandemic delay, Apple TV+ debuted Foundation, the first-ever screen adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s bestselling, award-winning science-fiction book series. First announced in 2018 and produced in association with Skydance Television, the TV show is one of the Apple streaming service’s most expensive and ambitious productions to date.

The series, which follows a mathematician struggling to convince a galactic federation that their society is on the brink of collapse, blends anxieties of the 1940s and ’50s, when the source material was originally written, with modern global concerns like climate change.

It was co-created by Josh Friedman and David S. Goyer.

Friedman identifies as Jewish, while showrunner Goyer, son of a Jewish mother, wrote and directed the dybbuk-themed 2009 horror movie The Unborn.

But what of Asimov himself, a biochemist at Boston University and one of the most influential sci-fi writers of all time?

That’s a much more complicated question.

Isaac Asimov was born in Russia in 1920, and his family emigrated to the United States when was 3 years old. He had Jewish parents who were themselves raised Orthodox, and they raised him in Brooklyn. However, Asimov gravitated to more humanist beliefs from an early age, and as an adult identified vocally with atheism until his death in 1992.

So on the one hand, Asimov became one of pop culture’s most prominent atheists; and on the other, he was open and prideful about his Jewish heritage.

The author addressed his beliefs and background in his posthumous 1994 memoir, I, Asimov, stating that his father, “for all his education as an Orthodox Jew, was not Orthodox in his heart.” While acknowledging that he and his father had never discussed such matters, he speculated that his father, having been “brought up under the Tsarist tyranny, under which Jews were frequently brutalized,” had “turned revolutionary in his heart.”

Asimov did not have a bar mitzvah, which he attributed to

his parents choosing to raise him without religion and not, as some suspected, “an act of rebellion against Orthodox parents.” However, he said, he “gained an interest” in the Bible as he got older, although he eventually realized that he preferred the type of fictional books that would one day make him famous: “Science fiction and science books had taught me their version of the universe and I was not ready to accept the Creation tale of Genesis or the various miracles described throughout the book.”

Lou Llobell in Foundation. Credit: Apple TV+

Having the first name “Isaac,” in the 21st century, isn’t necessarily a certain giveaway that a person is Jewish. But in Asimov’s time, it almost always was. And while Asimov sometimes faced pressure to change his name for professional reasons, he always stuck with his given name.

“I would not allow any story of mine to appear except under the name of Isaac Asimov,” he wrote. “I think I helped break down the convention of imposing salt-free, low-fat names on writers. In particular, I made it a little more possible for writers to be openly Jewish in the world of popular fiction.”

Asimov is one of the most prolific authors in history, having written or co-written more than 500 books in his lifetime. And he did explore Jewish liturgy in such books as Words in Genesis (1962) and Words from the Exodus (1963). The bulk of his literary work, however, did not touch on Judaism.

His memoir also takes issue with an academic critic who, in 1989, accused Asimov of using “more themes in his work that derive from Christianity than Judaism.”

“This is unfair,” Asimov wrote. “I have explained that I have not been brought up in the Jewish tradition. I know very little about the minutiae of Judaism... I am a free American and it is not required that because my grandparents were Orthodox I must write on Jewish themes.” He went on to write that Isaac Bashevis Singer “writes on Jewish themes because he wants to [while] I don’t write on them because I don’t want to.”

“I am tired of being told, periodically, by Jews, that I am not Jewish enough,” he wrote.

Asimov also devoted a chapter in the memoir to antisemitism. He noted that his family never suffered from pogroms or other overt antisemitic terror either back in Russia or in the U.S., nor did antisemitism ever impede his own personal success. But he did find it “difficult to endure... the feeling of insecurity, and even terror, because of what was happening in the world,” especially at the time of the Holocaust.

He also told the story of a public argument he once had with Elie Wiesel, in which Wiesel said he did not trust scientists and engineers, because of their role in the Holocaust.

As for Israel and Zionism, Asimov was something of a skeptic. In his final book Asimov Laughs Again, published around the time of his death, Asimov stated that he had never visited Israel and didn’t plan to, although he attributed that in part to his habit of not doing much traveling.

“I remember how it was in 1948 when Israel was being established and all my Jewish friends were ecstatic, I was not,” he wrote. “I said: what are we doing? We are establishing ourselves in a ghetto, in a small corner of a vast Muslim sea. The Muslims will never forget nor forgive, and Israel, as long as it exists, will be embattled. I was laughed at, but I was right.”

Isaac Asimov died in New York City in April of 1992, at age 72. His family revealed years later that he had contracted HIV from a blood transfusion following heart surgery nearly a decade prior, which led in part to his death.

Asimov did not have a Jewish funeral, or any funeral at all — he was cremated. But at a subsequent memorial service, fellow author Kurt Vonnegut stated that “Isaac is up in Heaven now,” later joking that “that was the funniest thing I could have said to an audience of humanists.”

The Jewish Press | October 8, 2021 | 11

The Arts LO CA L | N ATI ON A L | WOR LD

What happened to all the art

ing his valuable art, of course for the “Institute Continued from page 11 work, stored them when recovered, and even- of the Study on the Jewish Question,” an antitually tried to “reverse the flow” by sending semitic propaganda machine. I learned about them back where they belonged. Staring at a his son Alexander, who, while liberating a map of how far some confiscated Jewish literature had traveled is intimidating in the sheer scope of this staggering pre-internet task.

Afterlives also features art

by Jews who faced persecution directly. Pieces made at the camps themselves or while in hiding. The haunting, delicate drawings of Jacob Barosin, who made them while fleeing to Franz Marc, The Large Blue Horses Credit: Jewish Museum France and ultimately to the U.S., were moving. And the presence of train with the Free French Forces thought to Battle on a Bridge, a looted painting so revered be full of passengers, recovered some of his faby the Nazis that Hitler had earmarked it for ther’s art against all odds. I saw August his future personal Fuhrermuseum in Austria, Sander’s Persecuted Jews portrait series from was chilling. Its inventory number, 2207, is late-’30s Germany, and looked into the faces still visible on the back of the canvas. of people forced to leave their homes. And I But what was most captivating about the saw a huge collection of orphaned Judaica exhibit was how it helps the visitor imagine and ritual objects from Danzig (now Gdansk), what Jewish cultural life was like before the Poland, where the Jewish community shipped Nazis came to power. I often have the impres- two tons of their treasures to New York for sion that accounts of the Holocaust concen- safekeeping in 1939. If no safe free Jews retrate more on the horrors of the camps and mained in Danzig 15 years later, these items less and on the individual lives and commu- would be entrusted to the museum. None did. nities they destroyed. Here, I learned about The exhibit also includes the work of four Jewish gallerist Paul Rosenberg, whose im- contemporary artists grappling with the conpressive gallery the Nazis co-opted after seiz- tents of Afterlives and the era it evokes. Maria

Eichhorn pulls from the art restitution work of Hannah Arendt. Hadar Gad uses her painstaking process to paint the disassembly of Danzig’s Great Synagogue. Lisa Oppenheim

to his paternal grandparents, who escaped concentration camps in Nazi-occupied Tunisia. They previously ran a theater company, and a manuscript written by his grandfather in his Tunisian Judeo-Arabic dialect was damaged in transit. Guez blew up the unfamiliar handwriting and ink blots into abstracted prints that hang on the wall. In Guez’s words, “the words are engulfed in abstract spots, and Dor Guez, Letters from the Greater Maghreb and Belly of the Boat, these become a metaphor and collages by Lisa Oppenheim. Installation view by Steven for the harmonious conPaneccasio. Credit: Jewish Museum junction between two Semitic languages, between one mother tongue and another, and between homeland and a new country.”

I’ll let the exhibit’s curators sum up how I felt as I left: “Many of the artists, collectors and descendants who owned these items are gone, and as the war recedes in Johannes Felbermeyer, Artworks in storage at the Central Col- time it can become even lecting Point, Munich, [ca. 1945-1949]. Credit: Jewish Museum harder to grasp the traucollages the only existing archival photograph matic events they endured. Yet through these of a lost still-life painting with Google Maps works, and the histories that attend them, images of the clouds above the house where new connections to the past can be forged.” its Jewish owners lived. And Dor Guez, a Afterlives: Recovering the Lost Stories Palestinian North African artist from Israel, of Looted Art is on view at the Jewish Mucreated an installation from objects belonging seum in Manhattan through Jan. 9, 2022.

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Above and below: Pet Therapy with Cheryl Havekost and Harley.

Above, below and left: The weather was perfect for a meaningful gathering during Soup in the Sukkah at Chabad.

SP O TLIGHT

GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY

PHOTOS FROM RECENT JEWISH COMMUNITY EVENTS

Temple Israel hosted a Tri-Faith event for Sukkot. Above: Sarah and Imam Jamal Daoudi with Cantor Alexander. Below: Omaha Community Shlicha Sivan Cohen with Cantor Alexander.

SUBMIT A PHOTO: Have a photo of a recent Jewish Community event you would like to submit? Email the image and a suggested caption to: avandekamp@jewishomaha.org.

Below: An unexpected guest in Patricia Newman’s sukkah. A new kind of Ushpizin?

Above and below: Friedel Jewish Academy students celebrating Sukkot in the school sukkah.

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Our relationship

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor When Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke in Manhattan recently, he said this: “Israel and American Jewry should enter a new era. For decades, American Jews gave tens of millions of dollars to support Israel’s development.

Now, Bennett said, Israel is doing fine on its own and should move beyond acting just as a refuge for persecuted Jews. Since the inception of Israel, and actually it predates the inception of Israel, Israel has been the project of the Jewish people, but we’re doing OK,” he also said, citing Israel’s economy and tech sector. “Now, we have to redesign our relationship.” (JTA.com) How we as American Jews see Israel has long been a tricky question. At best, we see Israel as ‘our homeland,’ which we love and support no matter what, whether we had anything to do with its existence or not; at worst, we see it as an apartheid state where the Jews are the villains and everyone else is a victim. We draw lines in the proverbial sand and fight amongst each other, never solving a single thing. Bennett’s reminder that Israel is all grown up and does just fine is optimistic, ballsy and a sign that future conversations between the U.S. and Israel will strike a different tone.

Let’s be fair: those ‘tens of millions of dollars’ are still needed, not in the least in the form of military aid. In addition, countless grassroots initiatives in Israel rely on foreign aid. From schools to hospitals, organizations exist and do the necessary work partly because of those dollars.

However, the one thing we can take away: treatOne other thing, which Bennett didn’t mention ing Israel as a grown up rather than a willful child in his speech: how Israeli politicians treat not only who still needs a lot of handholding is probably a US Jews but diaspora Jews in general can use an good idea. That goes for both the right and the left overhaul as well. Just like Israel is a complex, hetof the U.S. political spectrum, as well as those in the erogenous society, so are Jews in the diaspora not middle. Because we coddle and adore, we apolo- one and the same. gize and defend and profess to love, while subconsciously treating the State of Israel as a country that is not fully matured. But is any country, ever? We all have our ups and downs, some of us more than others, but countries, regimes and nations ebb and flow as a matter of course.

Simultaneously, we argue and condemn and scold Israel when we think we see things we don’t like. How many politicians have spoken down to Israel, from the BDS crowd to those who choose to see only one side of the conflict? What’s more, those who only Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks to American Jewish leadsee that partial conflict and think ers in New York City on Sept. 27, 2021. Credit: The Jewish Federations of North America/Sara Naomi Lewkowicz it represents the whole?

Israel is not one thing, it’s not one issue. It is a We disagree among each other, all the time, and patchwork of different people and businesses and that needs to be okay. Oftentimes, we barely know universities and kibbutzim and industries and hos- each other and that also needs to be okay. Maybe, pitals. It’s music and the military, it’s art and shop- at the end of the day, one simple step to get better ping malls and athletics. It is anything and at this relationship stuff is to admit that we really everything—and will continue to be, no matter don’t know each other as well as we think. Admithow many Americans boycott the Israeli-made ting that might open the door to actually learning hummus. about each other.

Like America, Genesis has two creation stories. Simchat Torah renews our ability to tell them both RABBI RUTH ABUSCH-MAGDER NEW YORK JEWISH WEEK VIA JTA Everyone has at least a few creation stories: how they were born, how they came to the career they chose, how they met their loved one.

This week Jews around the world will return to our creation story, the one found in the first chapters of the Torah that are read on Simchat Torah (began Tuesday evening, Sept. 28) and again on the following Shabbat (Oct. 2). Each time we engage with these stories we uncover more of the mystery and discover a bit more of the truth. The story of Bereshit, Genesis reminds us that reexamining beginnings can help us find a deeper understanding of why and how we have arrived at this moment, and how we can use these insights to continue to uncover and understand other creation stories in our lives.

This year, with America’s creation story the subject of fierce ideological debate, I am thinking about what we can learn from Bereshit about American history.

The story of creation as presented in the Torah is really two versions of the story. The first story is found at the end of the first chapter of the book of Genesis. In this version, God creates a being in the divine image, both male and female. This being or beings (it is a bit unclear) share the same place in the broader hierarchy ruling over all the other living creatures. Male and female are equal, they have distinct names and personas. Neither one precedes the other. While this sets up a binary gender dynamic that creates its own problems, it also embeds male/female equality into the foundation of our culture and story. From this moment forward binary equality is part of Jewish life and tradition.

The second story of creation comes in the second chapter of the book of Genesis. In this version, God first creates a singular, male being. God brings all sorts of creatures into the world to be company for the man, but none of the animals truly completes him.

God decides it is not good for the man to be alone.

While the man sleeps, God removes a rib from Adam’s side and from this manly rib fashions a woman. She is derived from him and there to complement and complete him. Man is first, woman is secondary. From

here on men are at the center of Jewish life and tradition and women play a supporting, secondary role.

Scholars have tried to reconcile these two versions of the Jewish creation myth; it is not easily done. The contradictions reverberate throughout Jewish life: There are many ways in which man and woman are equal to each other within Jewish life and there are many ways in which they are not. While it would be easier to have a singular narrative to either celebrate or revile, we are forced to live with the contradictions.

The Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery includes the image of a woman protecting a shield emblazoned with the word "Constitution." Credit: Tim Evanson/Flickr Commons

From the start, our tradition has encouraged us to embrace complexity. We understand that complexity can coexist with wholeness. The contemporary fight over American history, as embodied by the “1619 Project” that seeks to anchor the country’s creation story in the year the first enslaved people were brought from Africa to North America, and efforts by conservatives to ensure it is not taught in schools, is a fight over complexity. And the lessons we learn from the biblical telling of creation enable us to better navigate our national creation story.

The United States was founded on a platform of freedom and equality for all. Our brave colonial forefathers broke with the British monarchy and its hierarchical structures and governance. The Constitution enshrines freedoms for all. Many have died fighting for this vision of society. Laws and policies have been shaped to bolster this ideal. With the Constitution as our guide, we have sought this equality in our schools, our elections and our social interactions.

This is the founding narrative that makes Americans proud of their country. For too long, it was the only narrative taught in our schools. It is easy to celebrate this version. It is a promise that draws immigrants to our shores, believing that they too can be part of this dream. It is hopeful. It is inclusive. And in many ways it is real.

We must also hold that this vision was intentionally created with limits. The founders enshrined this vision of equality within a system that sustained white supremacy over people cast as non-white. Unlike the Constitution, this principle was not originally written on paper but enacted by white people on the bodies of generations of enslaved Africans, displaced and murdered indigenous peoples and their descendants.

Many people have suffered and died because of this system of white supremacy. Beginning before the nation’s founding and continuing to this day, countless laws and policies perpetuated this vision of domination and inequality. We see the impact in our schools, our prisons our elections and our social interactions.

That both these foundational narratives could and do exist side by side is hard to reconcile, both in theory and in practice. The contradictions in these narratives haunt us daily in the United States. The fundamental mismatch between them is a source of ongoing friction. There are those who would like to ignore the discomfort of the narrative of oppression, or focus solely on the ravages of our original sin.

But that is not the Jewish way. As Jews, we know how to hold on to these types of complexity. We need to advocate for teaching both American stories in our schools. We will not be able to find our way forward as Americans until we recognize the tensions and imbalances that emerge from these two very different creation stories. Fortunately for us and for America the Torah cycle and the school year offer an annual opportunity to inhabit the complexity that results.

Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder is director of education and rabbi-in-residence of Be’chol Lashon (GlobalJews.org).

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

Synagogues

14 | The Jewish Press | October 8, 2021

B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

618 Mynster Street Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 712.322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE

Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California Street Omaha, NE 68154-1980 402.492.8550 bethel-omaha.org

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific Street Omaha, NE. 68154 402.556.6288 BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org

CHABAD HOUSE

An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 South 120 Street Omaha, NE 68144-1646 402.330.1800 OChabad.com email: chabad@aol.com

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: B’NAI JESHURUN

South Street Temple Union for Reform Judaism 2061 South 20th Street Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 402.435.8004 www.southstreettemple.org

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE

Capehart Chapel 2500 Capehart Road Offutt AFB, NE 68123 402.294.6244 email: oafbjsll@icloud.com

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME

323 South 132 Street Omaha, NE 68154 rbjh.com

TEMPLE ISRAEL

Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 13111 Sterling Ridge Drive Omaha, NE 68144-1206 402.556.6536 templeisraelomaha.com

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: TIFERETH ISRAEL

Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Boulevard Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 402.423.8569 tiferethisraellincoln.org

B’NAI ISRAEL Join us via Zoom on Friday, Oct. 8, 7:30 p.m. for evening services. Our service leader is Larry Blass.

Everyone is always welcome at B’nai Israel!

For information on our historic synagogue, please contact Howard Kutler at hkutler@hotmail.com or any of our other board members: Scott Friedman, Rick Katelman, Janie Kulakofsky, Carole and Wayne Lainof, Mary-Beth Muskin, Debbie Salomon and Sissy Silber.

Handicap Accessible.

BETH EL Virtual services conducted by Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman.

VIRTUAL AND IN-PERSON MINYAN SCHEDULE: Mornings on Sundays, 9:30 a.m. and Mondays and Thursdays, 7 a.m.; Evenings on Sunday-Thursday, 5:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. at Beth El & Live Stream.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Jr. Congregation (Grades 3-7), 10 a.m. followed by GaGa Shabbat; Havdalah, 7:25 p.m. Zoom only.

SUNDAY: BESTT (Grades K-7), 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10 a.m.

TUESDAY: Mussar, 11:30 a.m. with Rabbi Abraham.

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

THURSDAY: Revisiting the Classics, 7 p.m. with Hazzan Krausman.

FRIDAY-Oct. 15: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. at Beth El & Live Stream.

SATURDAY-Oct. 16: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Jr. Congregation (Grades 3-7), 10 a.m.; Havdalah, 7:15 p.m. Zoom only.

Please visit bethel-omaha.org for additional information and service links.

BETH ISRAEL Virtual services conducted by Rabbi Ari Dembitzer.

Classes, Kabbalat Shabbat and Havdalah on Zoom, WhatsApp or Facebook Live. On site services held outside in pergola, weather permitting. Physical distancing and masks required.

FRIDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Deeping Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat/Candlelighting, 6:37 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:45 a.m. with Shiran Dreyer; Daf Yomi, 5:30 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Youth Program, 6 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6:30 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos, 6:50 p.m. with Rabbi Ari; Havdalah, 7:35 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Daf Yomi, 5:50 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6:30 p.m.

MONDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Deeping Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Daf Yomi, 5:50 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv/ Candlelighting, 6:30 p.m.

TUESDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Deeping Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Daf Yomi, 5:50 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv/ Candlelighting, 6:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.;

Deeping Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Daf Yomi, 5:50 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv/Candlelighting, 6:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Deeping Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Character Development, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Daf Yomi, 5:50 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/Ma’ariv/Candlelighting, 6:30 p.m.

FRIDAY-Oct. 15: Nach Yomi — Daily Prophets, 6:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (WhatsApp); Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Deeping Our Prayer, 7:45 a.m. with Rabbi Ari (Zoom); Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbos/Candlelighting, 6:26 p.m.

SATURDAY-Oct. 16: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:45 a.m. with Shiran Dreyer; Daf Yomi, 5:40 p.m. with Rabbi Yoni; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 6:20 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos, 6:40 p.m.; Havdalah, 7:24 p.m.

Please visit orthodoxomaha.org for additional information and Zoom service links.

CHABAD HOUSE All services are in-person. All classes are being offered in-person/Zoom hybrid (Ochabad.com/classroom). For more information or to request help, please visit www.ochabad.com or call the office at 402.330.1800.

FRIDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 6 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ochabad.com/Lecha yim; Candlelighting, 6:35 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 10 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 7:33 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Parsha and Coffee, 9:45 a.m.

MONDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Personal Parsha Class, 9:30 a.m. with Shani Katzman; Advanced Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

TUESDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Virtual Pirkei Avot Women’s Class, 7 p.m.

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

THURSDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Advanced Hebrew Class, 11 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Talmud Study (Sanhedrin 18 — No advance experience necessary), noon with Rabbi Katzman.

FRIDAY-Oct. 15: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 6 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ochabad. com/Lechayim; Candlelighting, 6:24 p.m.

SATURDAY-Oct. 16: Shacharit, 10 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 7:22 p.m.

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: B’NAI JESHURUN & TIFERETH ISRAEL Services facilitated by Rabbi Alex Felch.

Note: Some of our services, but not all, are now being offered in person.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat Service, service leaders/music: Rabbi Alex, Leslie Delserone and Peter Mullin, 6:30 p.m. at SST; Candlelighting, 6:38 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex at TI; Havdalah, 7:36 p.m.

SUNDAY: LJCS Classes begin, 9:30 a.m.; Men's Jewish Bike Group of Lincoln meets Sundays at 10 a.m. rain or shine to ride to one of The Mill locations

from Hanson Ct. (except we drive if its too wet, cold, cloudy, windy, hot or humid) followed by coffee and spirited discussions. No fee to join, no dues, no president, no board or minutes taken. If Interested please email Al Weiss at albertw801@gmail.com to find out where to meet each week; Come learn and play Pickleball, 7-9 p.m. at Peterson Park. Everyone is welcome; just wear comfortable clothes and tennis or gym shoes. If you need a paddle, contact Miriam Wallick by email at Miriam57@aol.com or by text at 402.470.2393 before Sunday.

MONDAY: Synagogue Offices Closed.

TUESDAY: Tea & Coffee with Pals, 1:30 p.m. via Zoom.

WEDNESDAY: LJCS Classes, 4 p.m.

FRIDAY-Oct. 15: Kabbalat Shabbat Service, service leaders/music: Rabbi Alex, Nathaniel and Steve Kaup, 6:30 p.m. at SST; Candlelighting, 6:27 p.m.

SATURDAY-Oct. 16: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex at TI; Torah Study on Parashat Lech-Lecha, noon; Havdalah, 7:25 p.m.

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FRIDAY: 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 Brian Stoller, Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin and Cantor Joanna Alexander.

DAILY VIRTUAL MINYAN: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. via Zoom.

FRIDAY: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. via Zoom or InPerson.

SATURDAY: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. via Zoom or InPerson; Shabbat Service/Bar Mitzvah of Ayden Hollst, 10:30 a.m. via Zoom or In-Person; OTYG Event, 5-9 p.m. at Valas.

SUNDAY: Second Sunday Breakfast Service, 8:30 a.m. at the Stephen Center; Youth Learning Programs — Grades PreK-6, 9:30 a.m.

MONDAY: Jewish Law & the Quest for Meaning, 11 a.m. via Zoom.

TUESDAY: Holy Smokes, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Youth Learning Programs: Grades 36, 4-6 p.m.; Community Dinner, 6 p.m.; Grades 7-12, 6:30-8 p.m.

THURSDAY: Thursday Morning Class, 10 a.m. with Rabbi Azriel; Rosh Chodesh: Flying Timber, 7:15 p.m. hosted by Sharon Comisar-Langdon and Aliyah Ruf. FRIDAY-Oct. 15: Tot Shabbat, 5:30 p.m. via Zoom or In-Person; Shabbat Shira Service, 6 p.m. via Zoom or In-Person. Shabbat Shirah is a soulful musical service "in-the-round" with energetic and participatory singing in the style of modern Reform-Israeli, and post-denominational minyanim.; Grade 7 and 8 Lockin SATURDAY-Oct. 16: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. via Zoom or In-Person.

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

Iraq issues arrest warrant against activists who called for normalization of ties with Israel JTA Hundreds of Iraqi civic leaders and activists attended a conference calling for the country to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel.

But Iraq’s government rejected the call and is now seeking to arrest the leaders of the conference and may also try to arrest other attendees for the crime, under Iraqi law, of aiding and abetting ideas that support Zionism, according to Haaretz. Earlier, governmental leaders had said in a statement that the demand for normalization of ties with Israel “was not representative of the population’s [opinion] and that of residents in Iraqi cities,” according to AFP. The conference, held September 24 in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Erbil, featured speakers from groups across Iraqi society calling on Iraq to join the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements

signed last year between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The conference was sponsored by the Center for Peace Communications, an American organization that promotes ties between Israel and the Arab world.

In addition to the UAE and Bahrain, Israel is in the process of establishing full diplomatic relations with Morocco and Sudan.

Before last year, Israel had relations with only two of its neighbors — Egypt and Jordan. The majority of the region still does not have relations with Israel, though Israel has long maintained warm ties to Kurdish leaders in Iraq.

“We demand full diplomatic relations with the State of Israel,” said Wisam Al-Hardan, a leader of an American-allied Iraqi coalition of militias, according to the Times of Israel. He called for “a new

policy of normalization based on people-to-people relations with the citizens of that country.”

Al-Hardan, who is now one of the leaders facing arrest, also published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, calling for normalization of ties with Israel.

He also lamented the driving out of Iraq’s Jewish community after Israel was founded.

Iraq and Israel have fought multiple times throughout their history. Iraq was one of the nations that attacked Israel upon its founding in 1948, and sent troops to fight in later Arab-Israeli wars.

In 1981, Israel bombed a nuclear reactor in Iraq to eliminate its nuclear weapons program. In 1991, during the Gulf War, Iraq bombed Israel.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid praised the conference, calling it “a source of hope and optimism,” according to the Times of Israel.

News

The Jewish Press | October 8, 2021 | 15

Pulverente MONUMENT CO. Over 60 Years Experience With Jewish Lettering and Memorials

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A Brazilian-Lebanese-Jewish playwright explores the nostalgic Beirut of his family’s past ater, in books, in films,” Esses says. “They are beautiful, powerful, LONDON | JTA Growing up in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Victor Esses’ Jewish parents lived experiences that we don’t hear. They are so rich. It’s this told him stories about life in their native Lebanon, which they mix of cultures, even the idea of a Jewish person speaking Arafled before he was born. He was told that the Mediterranean bic which is so common for many but seems so alien to others.” smelled better than the South Atlantic. His father swore that While many Sephardic artists tell others’ stories, Esses is Lebanese nuts were better than the famed Brazilian ones. telling his own: his writing has been a way of negotiating a diffiLebanon “didn’t feel like a real place to me,” Esses said. “It was cult relationship with his family. Throughout the performance, like folklore.” the distance between him and Esses’ father left Beirut in his parents grows wider.

1967, as the climate soured “I” begins to outweigh “we” in against Lebanon’s Jewish comEsses’ monologue. “Part of it munity, following Arab defeat was to embrace all parts of me. in the Six Day War with Israel.

That’s a personal labor of this By the time his mother’s family work,” he said. “I was questionleft in 1975, Lebanon had caing those boundaries with my reened into civil war. Neither family and within myself. It’s a parent has ever returned. constant work isn’t it? What Sao Paulo was home to a sizdo I need for my life today so I able Lebanese Jewish populacan have a healthier, wholetion. But Esses, then 34, felt Victor Esses onstage for his one-man show, Where to Belong, some life – all those questions compelled to visit Beirut on his against a projected image of Beirut. Credit: Alex Brenner were there.” The performance’s own in 2017. confident tone is indicative of where he has ended up.

He had also just recently come out as gay to his parents, “It’s been a real healing process, and one of the points was who had brought him up in a firmly traditional Orthodox absolutely to affirm all of my identities- and to do it unapoloSephardic community, a move that put some distance be- getically,” he says. “It is about figuring out and learning that I tween them. have choices. I don’t have to follow anyone else’s path.”

That trip and Esses’ grappling with many facets of his idenEsses wrote the play before COVID-19 took hold; before tity - Brazilian, Lebanese, Jewish, gay - is the basis of his latest Lebanon’s massive financial crisis, or the explosion in Beirut play, Where to Belong, a one-man show playing throughout that killed hundreds and injured thousands of others; and only England, his new home country, through Oct. 14. just after Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, whom Set to the melodies of Lebanese divas and Brazilian classics Esses opposes, had been elected. and with a simple stage setup of a cassette player, projector, “At times there is a need for little adaptations and updates,” and laptop, Esses offers a vulnerable portrait of a man trying Esses admitted. But he hopes the pandemic might help him to find a space to be himself. further connect with his audience. “I think people will relate He tells a classically Sephardic story of migration, scattered more to the changing situations in our lives. In the past when families, and difficult relationships, overshadowed by a nos- I was performing and I was talking about migration, some talgia for the Lebanon his parents left behind. people could never see themselves forced to migrate,” he exAs Esses performs, images of his trip to Lebanon flash on plains. “I think now with COVID and everything that’s been the projector. He tells viewers of how he made a Jewish circuit: going on people can see how the world does change, and visiting empty synagogues, cemeteries, and streets of old fam- things can force us to move.” ily homes. There is a recording of a video call between him, his sister and his mother from her old home.

Yet, something feels empty... He tells the audience how his partner was stopped in the street by a member of Hezbollah.

How he saw antisemitic literature in Beirut bookstores. How The Nebraska the community he had been told of when he was young was Jewish Historical Society (NJHS) no longer there. His parent’s world no longer exists. requests help And for Esses, visiting Beirut was not just about tracing his from the commuparents’ past. It was also about finding out who he was. nity in identify“My body responded in such an emotional way to being in ing photographs Beirut,” he recalled. Even now, when he rehearses, “I fall into from the tears just thinking about it and feeling it inside of me.” archives. Please It feels fitting that Esses, who left home at 18 to pursue a thecontact Kathy ater career, ended up in London, a city that has become an unWeiner at likely hub for a new generation of Sephardic artists, such as 402.334.6441 or kweiner@jewish fellow playwright Josh Azouz and Ladino-language band Yja. omaha.org if you Together, this new generation has been trying to tell the stoare able to assist ries of communities that have vanished and scattered. in the effort to The scattering of the Sephardic diaspora becomes apparent preserve Jewish as Esses jumps in his play between places where he and his famOmaha history. ily haved live: Sao Paulo, Israel, London, Paris, Houston, Rome.

“I don’t think we usually have a lot of Sephardic stories in the-

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The Auschwitz Report: Slovakian film follows real-life escapees who tried to warn the world ANDREW LAPIN JTA Were it not for Rudolph Vrba and Alfréd Wexler, would the world today know the true extent of the mass murder the Nazis inflicted during the Holocaust?

The two men, both Slovak Jews who escaped from Auschwitz, secretly recorded fastidious notes about details of the death camp unknown to the outside world. These included schematics of the gas chambers, the Nazis’ use of the deadly chemical Zyklon-B, the number of prisoners being brought in to their deaths every day and the planned construction of a new rail line for deporting Hungarian Jews directly to the camp. The information the men smuggled out of Auschwitz formed the basis for the Vrba-Wetzler Report — the first time the international community had heard of much of these horrors.

The new Slovakian film The Auschwitz Report, directed by Peter Bebjak, somewhat clunkily dramatizes Vrba and Wexler’s 1944 escape and attempt to get their message to an outside world still largely ignorant of what was transpiring at the camps. This being a Holocaust film, Bebjak also spends considerable time (a full half of his 94 minutes) re-enacting the hell of the camp itself.

These early sequences — Nazis beating a man to death, shooting a father’s daughter in front of him, stacking naked dead bodies like meat — are stomach-churning in a familiar way, and serve as the film’s intent to align itself with more brutal siblings like Son of Saul rather than softer works like Life is Beautiful. Whether you find such scenes a necessary tool of the “never forget” philosophy will likely depend on how many Holocaust movies you’ve already seen, and how many more you feel like you can tolerate.

The escapees are referred to in the film as Freddy and Walter and played by Noel Czuczor and Peter Ondrejicka. In one of the movie’s bolder (or perhaps simply more economical) choices, there is nothing inherently heroic or special about these men.

We know just as much about their backstories as we do about any of the other prisoners, which is to say, none — we only meet them in Auschwitz. This helps Bebjak and his co-screenwriters, Tomás Bombik and Jozef Pastéka, avoid the ugly yet typical Holocaust-movie misstep of casting the survivors in a more favorable light than everyone else, as though they simply had more strength of will than the ones who didn’t make it.

But this approach also has a downside. None of the Jewish tage of modern-day world leaders (including, yes, some familprisoners in The Auschwitz Report come off as real people iar American voices) spouting hateful, nativist views. Some whose lives have value outside of their striped uniforms. In also traffic in Holocaust denial and Nazi appreciation. fact, the only prisoner who’s given a bit of individual backstory The Auschwitz Report is hardly the first film of our modern is pointedly referred to as a Franciscan. An early fake-out era to try to make these connections, and the unfortunate scene, in which one of the protagonists imagines himself truth is that some artists concerned about fascism and Nazis being hanged by the camp’s gates, is meant to shock our can draw that link more convincingly than others. By focusing senses; but the prisoners are so interchangeable that it has so much on the unimaginable nightmare of Auschwitz itself, the opposite effect.

A 10-minute, unbroken sequence at the very end of the film seems to finally get at the moral concerns the filmmakers are after: Namely, how do you convince people of something so shocking that it defies belief ? After they’ve fled the camp and spent several days trekking through the woods, Freddy and Walter finally reach the Polish-Slovak border (this being during the First Slovak Republic’s brief existence as a Nazi-aligned “free” state) and, with help from the burgeoning Slovak resistance, get themselves an audience with a Two Auschwitz prisoners escape in a scene from The Auschwitz Report. Credit: Samuel Goldwyn British member of the Interna- Films tional Red Cross. Only, he doesn’t believe their account. and very little on the actual work of the protagonists trying to The aid worker (John Hannah) notes that reports from his convince people those nightmares were real, the film comes colleagues who’ve visited the camps make no mention of up short in its plea for us to grapple with the facts of history. death squads, and that everything he’s seen indicates the The real-life Vrba became a significant figure in the postNazis are treating their prisoners humanely — a reflection of Holocaust Jewish landscape, appearing in Claude Lanzmann’s the real-life deception the Nazis played on the international “Shoah” and remaining intensely outspoken about what he aid community. He only snaps out of it when told that his col- saw as the moral failings of the international community that leagues, too, had been murdered by the Nazis. “It’s not just did not quickly act on his report. Though the report did help Jews!” the Jewish men tell him, in one of the only lines of dia- to save more than 100,000 Hungarian Jews from being delogue in the film that mentions Jews at all. ported to Auschwitz, many more perished at the camps before It’s here, at the intersection of desperate pleas and uncaring action was taken. The Auschwitz Report emphasizes this point, bureaucracy, where we begin to understand why the Holo- in its endless depictions of the camp’s horrors. And yet, it’s caust was allowed to continue for so long, while the world hard not to feel like this film’s real story — the psychological stood silent. The film’s provocative ending credits try to con- gap between those horrors and an uncaring outside world — tinue this theme; Bebjak underlays them with an audio mon- has yet to be told.

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