October 14, 2016

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Israeli film director Shimon Dotan comes to UNO

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this week Where do your Campaign dollars go: The Jewish Agency for Israel

CurtiS hutt UNO Religious Studies/Schwalb Center On Oct. 27, the Israeli film director Shimon Dotan will travel to Omaha for a showing of his recent provocative film The Settlers sponsored by the UNO Journal of Religion and Film and the

Beth El’s Kamp Kef means fun page 3

t

ozzie nogg he Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) is the world’s largest Jewish non-profit organization, serving as the overseas arm of North American Jewry. Established in 1929, JAFI was instrumental in the founding of the State of Israel and now works as the overseas arm of Federations to ensure the future of the Jewish people with a strong Israel at its center.

“Today, the Jewish Agency connects the global Jewish family, bringing Jews to Israel, and Israel to Jews,” said Steve Levinger, Jewish Federation of Omaha Chief Develop-

Reinterpreting Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedom Posters page 5

These Jerusalem sukkahs are nicer than yours page 8

ment Officer. “The JAFI provides meaningful Israel engagement, facilitates aliyah, reconnects Jews in the former Soviet Union to their roots, rescues Jews in distress, and energizes young Israelis and their peers worldwide to rediscover a collective sense of Jewish purpose and build a better society in Israel and beyond. The Jewish Federation of Omaha’s partnership with JAFI enables us to help fulfill the Agency’s mission: to inspire Jews throughout the world to connect with their people, heritage and homeland, and empower them to build a thriving Jewish future for generations to come.”

See Campaign dollars page 2

njhS presents ann ronell

inside Viewpoint Synagogues Life cycles

Credit: The Jewish Agency for Israel

12 14 15

renee CorCoran Executive Director, Nebraska Jewish Historical Society The Nebraska Jewish Historical Society is sponsoring a special musical tribute to renowned songwriter, lyricist and musical director of films by the late Ann (Rosenblatt) Ronell on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 2 p.m.

The event will be held in the JCC auditorium and is open to the entire community. Ronell was born in Omaha in 1905 into the Rosenblatt family and was a Central High School graduate. She was inducted into the Central High School Hall of Fame in 2011. She is best known for her hits Willow Weep for Me and See ann ronell page 3

ann ronell with ava gardner and olga San juan

Shimon dotan Credit: Tomer Appelbaum Schwalb Center for Israel and Jewish Studies. The film will start at 7 p.m. on the UNO North Campus in CPACS 130/132. Following the screening, the director Shimon Dotan will answer questions and take part in a panel discussion led

by Dr. Curtis Hutt (Religious Studies/Schwalb Center). Joining Shimon Dotan will be Dr. Bill Blizek (founder of the Journal of Religion and Film) and Rabbi Shlomo Abramovich (Visiting Scholar, Beth Israel Synagogue).

The topic of The Settlers is an issue that has split Israeli society for almost five decades and sparked a contentious dispute between the USA and Israel. Dotan’s documentary, which has been criticized from the left and right sides of the political spectrum, follows the history of the settlements and their growth on the West Bank. Archival footage is mixed with contemporary interviews with settlers who describe in their own words who they are and what they are doing in the face of international pressure from across the world.

Dr. William Blizek, who reviewed the film in the April 2016 edition of The Journal of Religion and Film, is effusive in his praise of the director Dotan. His filmmaking is “honest and unbiased” as he lets the settlers – from the past and present – speak for themselves. For Blizek, the film is about “religious fanaticism.”

While not all settlers in the past or present are religious or political See Shimon dotan page 3

2 | The Jewish Press | October 14, 2016

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Rabbi Darryl Crystal leads members of the Temple Israel community in Tashlich, where bread crumbs representing the sins of the past year are cast into the water as we begin the new Jewish year of 5777.

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Continued from page 1 The Jewish Agency for Israel’s focus on immigration and absorption has, in recent years, responded to new challenges. Examples: 1. In 2015, Ukraine was the second-largest source of aliyah, with some 7,000 immigrants, compared to 2,000 just two years prior. The average age of these olim is 17 1/2, and most new arrivals from Ukraine came from the embattled areas in the eastern part of that country. 2. Close to 1,000 Jews immigrate to Israel annually from various countries in South America. Today, approximately 70,000 Argentinians and 12,000 Uruguayans live in Israel, and JAFI leads them every step of the way to make their lives in Israel successful. 3. Nearly 10% of the French Jewish community has immigrated to Israel since the year 2000, almost 8,000 in the past year alone. Here is one of their stories: Finding a new home in Israel: Thibault felt like an outcast in his home city of Paris. He grew up in an assimilated French household with little connection to an organized Jewish community. But with a Jewish last name, Thibault became a target for anti-Semitism. The terror attack on a nearby kosher supermarket in January 2015 was the final straw for this grandson of Holocaust survivors.

“That was it,” Thibault recalls. “I knew I had to make a change and move to Israel.” Thousands of others felt the same: in 2014 and 2015, more Jews from France made aliyah than from any other country.

Federation partner The Jewish Agency for Israel was there to help Thibault through every step of the im-

migration process. Thanks to their assistance, he now lives at an absorption center near Tel Aviv, surrounded by fellow French olim eager to start new lives and build new homes in Israel.

Other programs operated by the JAFI address social needs among youth, the elderly, and other populations at risk. The beneficiaries of two such programs, The Fund for Victims of Terror and Choosing Tomorrow, are described in these narratives: Healing a family affected by terror in Jerusalem: Candy in Israel usually costs a few shekels. But when 13 year old Nadav was stabbed by terrorists as he left a Jerusalem sweet shop with

The Jewish Agency for Israel brings Jews to Israel, Israel to Jews and helps build a better society in Israel and beyond.

his younger brother, it nearly cost him his life. The attack tore into the teen’s family in more ways than one.

Money was scarce before, and the assault only made their financial and emotional struggles worse.

In the wake of the tragedy, Federation partner The Jewish Agency for Israel provided Nadav’s family with financial assistance through its Fund for Victims of Terror. When Nadav became a Bar Mitzvah only weeks later, his celebration was sponsored by local Israelis and The Jewish Agency’s Unit for Aliyah and Special Operations. “I get emotional when I think about all the help and prayers from Jews in Israel and around the world since Nadav was injured,” says his father Shimon. “It makes our family stronger.”

Enabling Tel Aviv youth to choose tomorrow: Growing up in a poor neigh-

borhood in south Tel Aviv, 23-yearold Shai Pinhasi worked hard to get to college. Now, as a participant in Federation partner, The Jewish Agency for Israel’s Choosing Tomorrow scholarship and service initiative, he has developed the Thinking Far program for fifth-graders. In this program, Shai and other mentors help vulnerable students take practical steps toward achieving their dreams, from graduating high school to choosing a career.

“I was inspired to create Thinking Far by members of my own family who have not realized their personal potential for success because of regional influences,” he said. “I think it’s very important that Choosing Tomorrow provides training and support for generating social change, and a chance for students to initiate their own projects in their own neighborhoods.”

While much of The Jewish Agency for Israel work happens far from Omaha, our Federation does enjoy a personal connection to JAFI. According to Levinger, “As a member of The Jewish Agency’s Partnership2gether Peoplehood Platform, Omaha is one of 14 Jewish Federation communities in the Central Area Consortium that partners directly with communities in the Western Galilee through an active network of cultural, educational, social, medical and economic programs.

Over the past 20 years, P2G has become the Jewish Agency for Israel’s and the Jewish Federations of North America’s most successful and effective model for developing meaningful relationships between Jewish communities outside and inside Israel. The dollars raised during our Annual Campaign support this central platform for the promotion, empowerment and development of Jewish identity.”

Shimon Dotan

Continued from page 1 extremists, many are, and Dotan’s film opens up a window into their world. Dr. Moshe Gershovich, Director of the Schwalb Center, is proud to be hosting a showing of the controversial film.

“If public universities aren’t the place to discuss hotly con- A still photo from the movie The Settlers. tested, difficult issues, then where is that place?”

For more information about the film or the Schwalb Center for Israel and Jewish Studies, contact Kasey Davis at 402.554.2788 or kaseydavis@unomaha.edu. For more information about the Journal of Religion and Film and the Religious Studies department at UNO, please contact Staci Geis at 402.554.2628 or sgeis@unomaha.edu.

Ann Ronell

Continued from page 1 Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? The program will feature many of her musical hits and an insight into her life in Omaha interpreted by Helen Waring Johnson.

Mrs. Johnson will present a power point presentation about Ann Ronell’s childhood in Omaha, schooling, interests and accomplishments throughout her life. Ann Ronell is a musical treasure to Omaha.

Also on the program will be a special tribute to Oliver Pollak, NJHS co-founder for his many years of support and dedication to preserving the history of our Jewish community.

A dessert reception in the JCC gallery will follow with the music of Ann Ronell and others of her era performed by Tuffy Epstein and Dan Cerveny.

The event is underwritten by the Special Donor Advised Fund of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation.

The Jewish Press | October 14, 2016 | 3

T

Beth El’s Kamp Kef means fun OzziE NOgg he Hebrew word KEF means fun, and that’s exactly what 31 of the community’s youngest children enjoyed this past August during their week at Beth El Synagogue’s Kamp Kef. “We wanted to create an opportunity for the community’s four-year olds and Kindergarteners to 3rd Graders to have a fun Jewish Day Camp experience,” said Eadie Tsabari, Beth El Director of Congregational Learning. “Beth El is all about sending kids to Jewish summer camp, and Kamp Kef is a great way to introduce our youngest children to this amazing experience.”

This summer marked Kamp Kef’s second season. The week used an informal approach to Jewish learning, with a focus on singing, arts and crafts, and making new friends. “We had great weather all week,” said Amy Dworin, Beth El Director of Youth Engagement and a former teacher at the JCC Child Development Center, “so we were able to do most of the programming outside, which the kids really loved.

They had lots of fun during ‘waterfront’ time on the Slip ‘N Slide, in the kiddie pool, running through the sprinklers, and doing sand art with Shiri Phillips. We made recycled craft projects and bird feeders. There were snacks and plenty of free time on the Beth El playground. On one day, we asked campers to bring their bikes, trikes, big wheels, scooters and helmets. With so much activity, the kids were always ready for a little afternoon rest.”

Each Kamp Kef day was built around a dif-

ferent Jewish theme and value. “The kids learned about Tikkun Olam - Repairing the World - when we collected trash from around the Shul,” Dworin said. “They learned about

a fun experience in a Jewish setting.” Other activities included kid yoga, planting a garden, a talent show, and making challah for Shabbat.

“And,” Dworin continued, “just like at big kid

Amy Dworin, Beth El Director of Youth Engagement, with camper Joshua Shapiro.

being kind to animals when we took a field trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo. Other themes were Yatziratiute - Creativity; B’Tzelem Elohim - In the Image of God; Shabbat V’Mishpacha Shabbat and Family. The themes allowed us to incorporate Jewish content in a way that didn’t distract from the main goal of camp - to create

camp, every day included a flag raising, Birkat Hamazon and Ruach at lunchtime, plus cleanup, flag lowering and circle time at the end of the day. On Friday, the campers wore white shirts for Kabbalat Shabbat. They looked and sounded adorable.”

See Kamp Kef page 4

October 30–31, 2016 Sunday, October 30 University of Nebraska at Omaha 6001 Dodge Street College of Public Affairs and Community Service, Room 132D 9 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. | Presentations Jewish Community Center 333 S. 132nd Street Noon – 5 p.m. | Presentations 7:30 p.m. | Keynote Lecture Dr. Lenn Goodman, Vanderbilt University “Torah and the Norms of Constitutional Democracy”

Monday, October 31 Creighton University 2500 California Plaza V.J. and Angela Skutt Student Center Mutual of Omaha Ballroom 8:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. | Presentations The Klutznick Chair, the Kripke Center, the Harris Center and the Schwalb Center present

The 29th Annual Symposium on Jewish Civilization

Is Judaism Democratic?

Reflections from Theory and Practice Throughout the Ages

Events are free and open to the public. For additional information,email colleenhastings@creighton.edu or call 402.280.2303.

creighton.edu/ccas/klutznick

4 | The Jewish Press | October 14, 2016

Responsible government

community Kamp Kef

Continued from page 3 Along with Beth El clergy, professional staff and parent volunteers, the Kamp Kef counselors were high school and college students and teen-age Madrechim who act as ‘guides’ in the synagogue’s Hebrew and Sunday School. “I was continually impressed with their passion, creativity, energy, work ethics and kindness,” Dworin said. “The kids loved being with the counselors and vice versa.” To which Tsabari added, “The counselors brought their own Jewish summer camp experiences with them to their work at Kamp Kef. They helped turn the week into a totally Jewish environment for the kids.”

Counselors - either in 2015, 2016 or both - were Raeyln Cherry, Alyssa Cohen, Lillian Cohen, Julia Edelstein, Lauren Kirk, Zach Krausman, Zev Krausman, Sam Lieb, Tomer Palmon, Jason Clignett enjoys some ‘waterfront’ time.

Brooke Schulewitz, Amanda Simon, Hannah aren’t with their moms and dads. I’ve loved Stein, Josh Stein, Zach Stein, Elissa Weiner and every day of Kamp and I did everything I could Jake Spivack. “I used my childcare experience for the kids. Also, I think the Jewish learning at Kamp Kef to qualify for Herzl Camp’s coun- the kids experienced is similar to what I’ve selor-in-training Ozo Program,” Spivack said. learned at Herzl. Not necessarily in a prayer “During my two summers at Kef, I learned the sense, but in the value of community.” During importance of coverage - the assurance that his time at Kamp Kef, Jake learned as well. “I campers are appropriately supervised at all learned how to leave my comfort zone and got times. The Kamp Kef counselors work under the more comfortable with things in life that were principle In Loco Parentis - in place of parents. new to me. It gave me confidence. This last It’s our job to be the parents when the kids summer, I’d have like seven campers hug me at

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the end of the day. When your campers do that, it tells you that you must be doing something right.”

Lori Kooper-Schwarz and her husband, Wayne, sent their twin daughters, Sabrina and Courtney, to Kamp Kef both last summer and in 2016.

“Shabbat was such a wonderful time,” Wayne said. “To see all the kids have so much pride in the challah they made was very special. Our girls got to know the older kids so much better, and they become friends, which carries over to the school year, so Kamp Kef helps the youngsters socially. And the twins built such a great relationship with the synagogue. Kef is another opportunity to view Beth El as a fun, warm place to be.”

For Eadie Tsabari, Kamp Kef is all about building community. “The best way to instill Jewish values into our children is by doing. Summer camp is a place to build memories, make best friends and have a wonderful time. We invite Beth El families and all Omaha Jewish families with young children to feel welcome, to come experience Kamp Kef and this great week of Jewish fun.”

For more details, please visit the Kamp Kef website: http://www.bethel-omaha.org/activities/youth/kamp-kef/. Photos from August 2016 are available here: https://picasaweb. google.com/106226451605509921665/62 90926335340550593.

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Tom mulligan Candidate, OPPD Board of Directors - District 5 As with many in our community, there is a strong desire to serve the public; many of you do, and many have in the past. We all know how difficult, yet rewarding, serving the public can be. Today, more than ever before, we need experienced individuals willing to devote their time and energy to serve the public. Our nation, our state, and our local communities are faced with many difficult and complex challenges and opportunities that need to be addressed.

That is why I am running for the Board of Directors of Omaha Public Power District. I am a retired executive from Union Pacific Railroad, and the former Omaha City Council president. I want to share the principles and lessons I’ve learned from private business and public office to help lead OPPD. My vision is threefold.

• Economic Development - our business transformation plan must focus on optimizing our usage while lowering our rates. We must do what is necessary to keep Nebraska competitive by attracting and maintaining businesses - new jobs for Nebraskans - my primary goal.

• Renewable Energy - finding ways to benefit from new technologies will play a pivotal role in expanding renewable energy sources. We need to embrace new ways to remain affordable, for the betterment of the public, the environment and to meet our goal of 40% renewable energy production.

• accountability - transparency and honesty are key responsibilities of being a board member. Necessary changes should be no surprise if information is shared and discussed with the public in a timely and open forum.

Changes, new regulations and new technologies are presenting themselves daily. Nebraska has “public power.” Electricity costs in Nebraska are well below the national average. Public power profits are reinvested into the system - to safely generate and deliver lowcost reliable electricity. The public receives the dividends. This is a unique opportunity we need to continue.

I have a strong desire to serve, and would appreciate this opportunity and your vote on Nov. 8th.

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The Jewish Press | October 14, 2016 | 5

thoughts on Democracy: Reinterpreting Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedom Posters

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Scott Littky Program Director, Temple Israel urrently on display in the Simon Community Court at Temple Israel is a temporary art exhibit titled Thoughts on Democracy: Reinterpreting Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedom Posters. The exhibit was made possible by the Wolfsonian-Florida International University in Miami, Florida. Thoughts on Democracy: Reinterpreting Norman Rockwell’s’ Four Freedom Posters is composed of graphic works that express ideals at the core of American democracy. Invited by The Wolfsonian, 60 leading contemporary artists and designers were asked to consider Norman Rockwell’s 1943 paintings, also reproduced as posters by the US Office of War Information, which conveyed the meaning of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech to Congress and the American people. Rallying the country to defend the democratic way of life in 1941 when Europe was at war, FDR envisioned a world “founded upon four essential human freedoms” -- Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear. Some of the participating artists involved in the project are Neville Brody, Seymour Chwast, Wim Crouwel, Elliott Earls, Richard Tuttle, Lawrence Weiner, Paula Scher, Francesco Vezzoli, Chip Kidd, and Italo Lupi, among others.

When writing about the exhibit, Steven Heller, an American art director, journalist, critic, author, and editor who specializes on topics related to graphic design, stated: “As the presidential election nears -- as one administration prepares to give way to the next -- it is more critical than ever before to reconsider Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms in light of national and global concerns. While Rockwell’s images have continued resonance, they also require re-examination.

Current threats to democracy have eroded many of these hard-fought freedoms. Art and design serve both reflective and cautionary functions, and the artists and designers of today, while not slavishly adhering to old methods and styles, echo

COMMUNITY

STUDY COUNT ME

OMAHA

Your Voice Matters, Because Our Community Counts!

Rockwell’s essential cautionary humanism.”

This past Yom Kippur afternoon, Dr. Zachary Smith, Resident Assistant Professor, Department of Theology at Creighton University conducted a walkthrough and discussion of the exhibit as part of our Yom Kippur afternoon study. On Sunday morning, Nov. 6 at 10:30 a.m., Dr. Ari Kohen, Schlesinger Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, will lead us in a discussion on how the exhibit relates to the American electoral system and the presidential election that will be concluding two days after his talk. Dr. Kohen’s discussion will be open to the public and all are invited to attend.

The exhibit is also a wonderful tool to teach about the First Amendment to the Constitution. In materials provided to us with the exhibit is a curriculum to use with teenagers. In the curriculum, it states: “The boundaries of self-expression are tested daily in the many spheres of our lives -- the news we read or watch, the faiths we adhere to, the laws we follow or challenge, the votes we cast, and the views we express at home, at work and in public. Freedom of expression is ingrained in who we are, so much so that we sometimes take it for granted. Teen Thoughts on Democracy is a curriculum designed to engage teens in exploring freedom of expression and the acts that often threaten it -- intolerance and intimidation, media manipulation and spin, censorship and disinformation, and the common strategies of persuasion used in propaganda.” With this in mind during the course of this exhibit at Temple Israel, we look forward to our confirmation students having an opportunity to be engaged with all that is presented on the four walls of the Simon Community Court.

The exhibit is open to the public and can be viewed when Temple Israel is open. If you would like more information on the exhibit or to set up a time for a group to come and view Thoughts on Democracy please contact Program Director Scott Littky at 402.556.6536.

In November, professional callers will contact thousands of households so we can learn what programs and services are most needed. Your answers will shape the future of our vibrant Jewish community.

So when you see “Count Me Omaha” * on your phone, please…

• Answer the call and stay on the line.

• Or ask to reschedule, and we will call back at your convenience.

All telephone numbers are randomly selected and answers will be treated anonymously. Interviewers will not know or ask your name or address. This is not a solicitation. *The caller id “Count Me Omaha” will only display on landlines.

Email your questions to communitystudy@jewishomaha.org.

JEWISH OMAHA

6 | The Jewish Press | October 14, 2016

NCJW Omaha Section news

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On Aug. 17, Shawn Graham, a science teacher at the Omaha Public Schools (OPS) Accelere Program, was formally recognized at the White House as a recipient of the 2015-2016 Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators. Graham is one of 18 teachers from across the country to receive this prestigious award. He was recognized for his innovative approach to environmental education and efforts in using the environment as a context for learning for students. Graham and his students were also nominated for the Points of Light Award, an award given to groups and individuals working to spark change and improve the world.

On Sept. 7, at an OPS board meeting, Graham and his students were recognized for their work to build more pollinator habitats and create food oases from vacant or unused land in Omaha and across the state.

As a PIAEE award winner, Graham receives a Presidential award plaque and an award of up to $2,500 to be used to further his professional development in environmental education. Omaha Public Schools will also receive an award of up to $2,500 to fund environmental educational activities and programs. In addition, Accelere’s Hydroponics Team were winners of the EPA’s Region 7 Good Earth Steward Award.

Omaha Section’s NCJW Mini-Grant project provides money to OPS teachers for creative and innovative classroom projects that are not funded by school budgets. Since 1987 we have awarded approximately $76,000.00 to grant recipients. Over the last three years, NCJW Mini-Grants has awarded Graham mini-grants to support his effort in the Accelere Program. Accelere is a program housed at Blackburn school that seeks to provide access to an “accelerated degree� format for students age 17-20 to work toward a high school diploma. One mini-grant provided money for studentneeded transportation to attend a job-shadowing program at the Henry Doorly Zoo where they worked behind the scenes to see real world applications of the sciences they were studying. Some of the students went on their own to do advanced coursework in physics, chemistry and science.

Graham engages his students about the circle of life through science classes, hydroponics lessons, and ways to give back to the environment and their community. One of Accelere’s projects was to increase the butterfly and honey bee habitat in Nebraska. In 2015 the NCJW Omaha Section was invited

to become a community partner with this project. Our section donated $50 to purchase seeds of native plants which the students grew to “green� vacant and unused properties. He and his students distributed an estimated $2,000 worth of pollinator and vegetable plants to gardeners to plant around the city. The $50 NCJW invested in seeds grew into an estimated $2,000 in plants!

Shawn Graham proudly shows the 2015-2016 Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators to Omaha Public Schools Superintendent Mark Evans Additionally, this year they supplied Black Locust trees, Comfrey, Blazing Star, and Gallardia worth $2,221 to assist their community partner, Omaha Permaculture.

Their work creates healthy ecosystems through urban agriculture-related economic development, while promoting the use of unused or unwanted vacant land to elevate the property’s utility and value for the surrounding neighborhood.

NCJW is very proud of their involvement with OPS through the Mini-Grant program.

Though we receive many applications, we are limited by our budget to how many we can award. There is hope that we will expand to other local districts and provide more grants. If you are interested in donating to our minigrants program, becoming a volunteer with the effort, or would like more information, please contact Kate Kirshenbaum, Mini-Grants Chair, at katekirsh@cox.net. For more information about NCJW Omaha Section and how you can get involved, please contact Alice Klein, Omaha Section President, at aklein547@ cox.net.

BRANCH presents HOMEGROWN 2016 The BRANCH Board (Building Revenue & Awareness for Nebraska Children’s Home) cordially invites you to HOMEGROWN 2016. The evening will feature beer, wine and appetizers, live music by Trees in the Woods and a new photo exhibit by Justin Barnes Photography featuring life size photos of children and family served by Nebraska Children’s Home Society. All proceeds benefit NCHS! Join us at the Nebraska Brewing Company Tap Room, 6950 S 108th Street in La Vista, from 5-9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14.

Your attendance at HOMEGROWN will ensure that NCHS services are available for many years to come. We help women and teens facing unplanned pregnancies; strive to build, strengthen and support adoptive, biological and foster families; provide early intervention programs; offer teen pregnancy prevention education; and ensure that children begin school

ready to learn.

NCHS has never charged fees for adoption services since 1893 and with 11 office locations across the state, is no more than two hours from anyone who may be in need of support. Our services focus on four core areas: Healthy Beginnings; Building and Strengthening Families; Pathways to the Future; and Engaging Communities.

NCHS is committed to the belief that a child’s needs come first and that all children deserve safe and loving care. We support parents across the state of Nebraska in overcoming barriers to nurture their children’s growth and development. Visit www. nchs.org to learn more!

So come join us for a fun night for a great cause.

Tickets are $30 in advance or $35 at the door. Get your ticket today at www.homegrownomaha. org. We can’t wait to see you there!

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The Jewish Press | October 14, 2016 | 7

community Israelis welcome lawmaker’s pregnancy, gay dad included Andrew ToBin TEL AVIV | JTA Israeli lawmaker Merav Ben-Ami is pregnant, and everyone knows it.

As Ben-Ami headed into an interview here with JTA on ursday, an Orthodox Jewish woman stopped her to offer congratulations. e woman said her 38-year-old sister was considering in-vitro fertilization, too. Speaking as though to an old friend, Ben-Ami said she hoped her story would encourage the sister.

Ben-Ami, 40, has had many such encounters since she revealed the story of her pregnancy in last weekend’s edition of the Israeli daily Yediot Acharonot. at story is: Ben-Ami, a Knesset member for the centrist Kulanu party, is having a baby with her gay friend.

“I don’t want to set off a rumor mill, with people wondering how a single woman at the Knesset is suddenly pregnant. So I’m saying it outright: I’m pregnant and everything’s alright,” Ben-Ari told Yediot. “I’m not the first MK to get pregnant, but I am the first single MK to get pregnant by a gay friend without getting married.”

Ben-Ami was nervous about announcing her unconventional pregnancy, but she said the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. e nation’s celebration of childbearing seems to have trumped, or at least tempered, any discomfort with Ben-Ami’s nontraditional choice of family, even among the Orthodox.

“It’s not easy here because most people know how a family is supposed to look: a mother, a father and children who live together,” Ben-Ami told JTA. “But that woman [who approached me] is not the first, even today. I got really, really good comments about the article, from politicians, from people I know, from people I don’t know.”

In Israel, the biblical exhortation to “Be fruitful and multiply” is amplified by a national emphasis on maintaining a Jewish majority, replacing Jews lost in the Holocaust and the general precariousness of life in the shadow of war and terrorism. Israel is the only country that pays for infertile couples to have two babies with IVF, and mothers are entitled to 14 weeks paid maternity leave. Fathers can take the time in

place of their wives, or take five paid days along with them.

Ben-Ami always planned to marry and have a baby, like a good Israeli. But she was busy.

She first came to the country’s attention in 2005 when she won the reality show “Needed: A Leader.” With the five million shekels ($1.3 million) in prize money, she set up a chain of centers for at-risk youth in the central cities of Netanya and Herzliya, which she ran until being elected to the Tel Aviv City Council in 2013. In 2015, she talked her way into a spot on the list for the new Kulanu party and was elected to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon posing with Merav Ben-Ami of his Kulanu party.

Credit: Facebook “Also, I wanted to see the world,” she said. “I went abroad every summer for one month, sometimes two. I went to the Philippines, to Vietnam. It was more interesting than to sit here and wait to maybe go on a date. I was more focused on myself, on my career, on my hobbies – I admit – on my life.

At 38, single and poised to enter national politics, BenAmi realized she might be running out of time to have a baby. A conversation with her mother helped convince her to move ahead with IVF. She and her close friend Ofir agreed in writing to try together and raise the baby as a team. Ofir, a 41-year-old finance manager, lives down the block from Ben-Ami in this city and is in a relationship with another man. Ben-Ami plans to continue looking for love.

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A few months ago, on her third round of IVF in two years, Ben-Ami learned she was finally pregnant. Aer consulting with people she trusted, including Kulanu head and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, she decided to go public with her story to “take control of the message,” as she put it.

Just before the Yediot interview was published, Ben-Ami had second thoughts, but reminded herself that she was in no position to hide her pregnancy. Although she still fits into her jeans and fitted black top, the lawmaker will be five months pregnant when the Knesset’s winter session starts at the end of this month.

Outgoing and direct, Ben-Ami said she believes public officials have an obligation to “let people know who you are” and wanted to set an example for Israeli women. Aer all, her work in the Knesset, where she is a member of seven committees and has sponsored six bills that became law, is focused on social welfare.

“When you are single in Israel aer 30, people start to wonder what is wrong with you. ey don’t understand,” she said. “I really want to inspire women not to be afraid of taking this step. I think Israel is already changing, especially here in Tel Aviv. I’m surrounded by single mothers.”

Alexandra Kalev, a sociology professor at Tel Aviv University, said that although Israelis are relatively conservative, they are not as wedded to the idea of the traditional family as countries like the United States. “ere’s way more tolerance of different types of families,” she told JTA. “What’s most important is that family serve the Zionist value of procreating.”

Still, Kalev said, Ben-Ami’s announcement sent a powerful message that women can define their own reality. It is even more significant coming from a woman of Middle Eastern origin, as Mizrahi Jews are seen as more traditional and have historically faced discrimination in Israel, she said. While Israel has a proud tradition of gender equality, dating back to the prestate militias and kibbutzim, women have historically been excluded from shaping the institutions of power.

“Merav’s story is a reminder that the kind of commitment See israelis welcome lawmaker’s pregnancy page 10

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8 | The Jewish Press | October 14, 2016

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These Jerusalem sukkahs are nicer than yours at the Waldorf Astoria, King David and MAAYAn JAffe-HoffMAn JERUSALEM | JTA Inbal hotels, as well as the president’s resimit Zakoon’s flower business dence and the Bible Lands Museum. Over started with a seed -- literally -the years, its sukkahs have ranged from but it quickly grew into one of Jerusalem’s premier purveyors of luxury sukkahs.

“We work for all the rich and famous,” Zakoon, the owner and CEO of Yarok Yarok Events Design, told JTA. Studio Ya Ya, as Zakoon’s clients call the business, is known for executing weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs and parties for Jerusalem’s A-list, including visiting U.S. presidents (from Bush to Obama) In 2015, this Studio Ya Ya-designed sukkah -- one of four at the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem -- found inspiration in the atrium’s exto big-time philanthropists isting flowers and water fountain. like the Bronfmans.

Credit: Yarok Yarok Events Design These kinds of upscale events may keep Zakoon and team busy “biblical” -- incorporating natural woods year-round, but Sukkot (which is Oct. 16-23 and fresh Jerusalem herbs into a design -- to this year) is Studio Ya Ya’s time to shine. The elegant, with a decor featuring strategically joyous festival, which commemorates both placed, plastic pomegranates painted in the harvest and the Exodus from Egypt, metallic shades. transforms Jerusalem: Thousands of pilgrims Such luxury doesn’t come cheap: Hotels pay make their way to the Western Wall, sukkahs $35,000 to $75,000 for their Ya Ya sukkahs, sprout on seemingly every balcony and celeZakoon said, while design services for private brations are widespread throughout the city. clients range from $3,000 to $25,000.

Studio Ya Ya designs many of Jerusalem’s “The sukkahs must be the most magnifilargest and finest sukkahs, including those cent,” he said. “All the rich and famous come

to the hotels, they come to their private second homes in Jerusalem and this holiday is one of the most important to them.”

For Zakoon and his team, that means the

natural ingredients, said Rabbi Morey Schwartz, director of education for the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning. The schach should provide more shade than sun, be open enough to see the stars -- or at least that you’d get wet if it started to rain.

While his clients may see rain as a blessing, for Zakoon it presents a challenge: He can’t use paper displays, paintings or any material that could be destroyed by the elements.

The length of the decorations is also a consideration.

Those up to 12 1/2 inches can be considered part of the schach, but anything longer The sukkah designed by Studio Ya Ya in 2010 for the Inbal is considered something sepJerusalem Hotel employed a massive, palm tree centerpiece arate, which could present a threaded with tiny red flowers. problem -- those in the Credit: Yarok Yarok Events Design sukkah must be sitting under the schach. Thus, longer decorations need pressure is on. In addition to creating a vito be very narrow. Ya Ya uses thin ribbons, sually stunning sukkah, the designers need for example, to add length but avoid conto understand both the philosophical background of the holiday, as well as the legal re- flict with Jewish law, and hangs larger decoquirements of building a kosher sukkah that rations or lights directly above the tables, will work for even the most religious guests. so visitors don’t risk sitting under them.

It’s not enough to get the details mostly “We can make an amazing design, but if right -- Ya Ya’s design manager, Noa Kirshit’s not kosher, it’s not worth one shekel,” berg, said at some hotels, a rabbi gets on a Zakoon said. ladder and takes exact measurements.

For example, the sukkah’s “roof,” or See Sukkahs page 9 “schach,” must be made of predominantly

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Exploring Judaism course

Mark kirchhoff as it is Practiced. “I introduced these cateCommunity Engagement and Education gories into last year’s classes. Participants The 2016-2017 Exploring Judaism class be- found it to be a beneficial way of grouping the gins on Monday, Oct. 31 and material,” Scott said. He adds a will continue on subsequent variety of supplemental mateMonday evenings through rial each year to the standard March 27, 2017 from 7 – 8:30 class fare and “I’m always on p.m. in the Kripke Jewish Fedthe alert to include current, eration Library. Classes will topical articles that fit with the not be held on Dec. 26 and Exploring Judaism classes.”

Jan. 2. The class is designed Tuition for Exploring Jufor those in the process of condaism is $180 per person. The version, those interested in reJewish Federation of Omaha freshing their knowledge of (JFO) presents the class free of Judaism, and those with a gencharge to current contributors eral interest in Judaism. to the Annual Campaign of Exploring Judaism is being the JFO and active congretaught by Scott Littky, a seagants of an Omaha synagogue. soned Jewish professional. He Materials for the class are probegan his career in Jewish edvided. Pre-registration is reScott Littky ucation in 1985 as a religious quired. You may do so by school teacher. From 1988 until 1996 he calling 402.334.6463 or emailing mkirch served the Bureau of Jewish Education of hoff@jewishomaha.org. Payment is due at Omaha as a Community Teacher. He taught the first class. Arrangements can be made for at Friedel Jewish Academy in addition to af- making installment payments. Checks are to ternoon religious school programs. Scott be made payable to the Jewish Federation of served 17 years as a Director of Education, be- Omaha. Payments prior to the first class may ginning at Beth El Synagogue in Omaha, fol- be sent to The Jewish Community Center, lowed by Beth Israel Synagogue in Ann Arbor, Attn: Mark Kirchhoff, 333 S. 132nd Street, MI, and Agudas Achim Congregation in Omaha, NE 68154. The deadline for registraAlexandria, VA. During the summer of 2014, tion is Oct. 21. For additional information, Scott returned to live in Omaha where he is follow this link to the Jewish Federation of now the Program Director at Temple Israel.

Omaha’s website, http://www.jewishomaha.

Scott has arranged the class into four cate- org/about/community-programs-andgories: Judaism as a Religion, Judaism as His- events/exploring-judaism/ tory, Judaism as a Way of Life, and Judaism

Sukkahs

continued from page 8 Fortunately, Jewish law doesn’t preclude stunning sukkahs -- Kirshberg shows a reporter an album filled with photos of scrambling grape vines that were used to accent the Waldorf ’s sukkah one year, to tables strewn with vases full of corn poppies and daffodils leveraged in a private home.

Studio Ya Ya starts planning for Sukkot as early as a a 2012 sukkah from Studio Ya Ya for the Bible Lands Museum year in advance. But when aims to take visitors back to ancient times, infusing temporary the holiday actually arrives, structure with natural woods and fresh herbs.

Credit: Yarok Yarok Events Design so does another challenge: While the structures can be erected ahead of time, the sukkahs cannot be decorated far in advance because the flowers will wilt.

Since Studio Ya Ya designs and maintains as many as 20 sukkahs -- ranging in size from nine to 4,900 square feet -- Zakoon hires up to 40 freelancers, who work round the clock in the days leading up to the holi- at the Jerusalem home of Sander ross Gerber, the cEo of hudday. Because flowers cannot son Bay capital Management, Studio Ya Ya created a sukkah in be maintained on yom tov - 2015 with a color palette of orange, mustard yellow and cream.

Credit: Yarok Yarok Events Design - the first one to two days of unique and match the hotel’s existing amthe holiday, with laws similar to those of Shabbat – the Ya Ya team rotates among its biance.

“The Waldorf is luxurious and the King sukkahs on the interim days to change out David is traditional,” she said. arrangements and freshen up anything Studio Ya Ya’s hard work doesn’t just enthat has shifted. hance the experience for hotel and muAnother consideration? Repeat cusseum guests, said Schwartz -- the tomers. Kirshberg noted that because hocompany is doing a mitzvah, too. tels tend to get the same visitors year after “Beautification is considered greater year, Ya Ya aims for a fresh design annually.

Also, each of the hotel’s sukkahs must be sanctification of God’s name,” he said.

10 | The Jewish Press | October 14, 2016

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Israelis welcome lawmaker’s pregnancy

Continued from page 7 that work requires too o�en comes at the expense of having a family, and that’s one reason we don’t see more women in leadership,� she said. “She is sending an important message that women have the right to a family however they want it, even if that means breaking the traditional categories.�

So far, Israelis have been supportive. Ben-Ami said she has been flooded with congratulatory messages and phone calls in the past week. Her Facebook post about the article has some 1,500 “likes� and hundreds of gushing comments.

Ben-Ami said her colleagues in the Knesset have privately congratulated her, including those from the haredi Orthodox and Arab parties. â€œî ˘ere are very liberal haredim. î ˘ere are dierent streams.

And there’s a lot of dierence of opinion there,� she said.

Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, a prominent moderate among religious Zionist, said most Orthodox rabbis would not support Ben-Ami’s decision to have a baby outside a Jewish marriage. If a woman is worried about not getting married in time to have a baby, the standard advice is to freeze your eggs, he said. î ˘at is the policy of the Puah Institute, a Jerusalem Center that advises infertile couples based on Jewish law, or halachah.

On the other hand, Judaism is very understanding of a woman’s need to have babies, Cherlow said. In the Torah, the Jewish matriarch Rachel tells her husband, Jacob, to give

B’nai Israel Speaker Series

Reminder: Our monthly shabbot service is generally the second Friday of the month. Because the second Friday was so soon after Yom Kippur, we moved the October service to the the third Friday in October, for this month only.

We have a very special presenter for Oct. 21 who will speak about his 72 years living in “The Bluffs�. To be closer to kids and grandkids, Maynard and Sally Telpner moved to Ashland, Oregon, fourteen years ago. We certainly would not divulge Maynard’s age, but he has vivid memories and will talk about his Bar Mitzvah at B’nai Israel in 1941. A graduate of Abraham Lincoln High School

her a baby or she will die. Rabbis draw on the Bible’s emphasis on fertility to cra� fairly liberal positions on assisted reproductive technology.

Cherlow said he is among a minority of Orthodox rabbis that recommend older single women try IVF -- partly because frozen eggs are known to not be a reliable option for them. From the perspective of Jewish law, he said, it is a positive that Ben-Ami’s baby will have a father. î ˘e Orthodox consider homosexuality incompatible with Judaism, although public attitudes were seen to shiî‚? aî‚?er a haredi Orthodox man stabbed a teenage girl to death at the 2014 Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade. But the fact that Ofir is gay is irrelevant to his being a father, according to Cherlow. “I would prefer, like every rabbi in the world, that babies would be part of a Jewish family according to halachah. But she made the decision not to miss being a mother, and the baby’s father is known and will be involved. î ˘ese are positive things,â€? Cherlow told JTA. Now that Ben-Ami has made her announcement, she is ready to get back to work. At the end of the day, she said, she is just another expecting Israeli mother.

"You look around and every third or fourth woman is pregnant. So you need to take it in proportion," she said.

"From a Jewish point of view, the baby is the important thing, even if it’s from a gay man, even if you’re 40. Of course we’d prefer this or that, but yalla, we can’t wait forever."

(ALHS), Maynard was later elected to the ALHS Hall of Fame. Maynard entered the Army at age 18 and then graduated from Creighton University and then its Law School in 1952. He practiced law in Council Bluffs for exactly 50 years prior to moving to Oregon, and the firm still carries his name, Telpner, Peterson... Maynard has great historical stories involving Meyer Lansky and the Dog Track, the Last Chance Cafe, a Jewish quarterback leading the ALHS football team, Bob Kubby. With Sally joining Maynard, we look forward to welcoming them “back home.�

127-year-old Colorado synagogue closes

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JTA NEWS STAFF î ˘e oldest continuously operating synagogue in Colorado has closed aî&#x201A;?er 127 years.

Temple Aaron in Trinidad, near the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s New Mexico border, closed the week before Rosh Hashanah, Colorado Public Radio reported. It was the first time in the synagogueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history that it did not host High Holiday services. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s terribly painful for me,â&#x20AC;?

Ron Rubin, whose family managed the synagogue for the past three decades, told the Denver Post. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just a horrible, horrible thing.â&#x20AC;?

Temple Aaron, a Reform congregation, only had a few dozen members for decades, and its revenue could not cover the annual $50,000 upkeep costs, according to the Post. Its historic Victorian-Moorish building, which has stained

glass windows, has been put up for sale for $395,000. î ˘e congregation was founded in 1883, and the synagogue building was built in 1889.

Trinidadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first mayor, Samuel JaďŹ&#x20AC;a, was one of the congregationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s founders. Jews over time leî&#x201A;? the small town of around 8,500, and many other towns in the Southwest, for better economic opportunity. â&#x20AC;&#x153;î ˘ese places had large amounts of communities to have synagogue structures, to have cemeteries, to have Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;nai Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;rith chapters,â&#x20AC;?

Rabbi John Feldman, who led Credit: Synagogues360 services at Temple Aaron, told the Post. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But it hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been like that in many, many decades.â&#x20AC;?

He added: â&#x20AC;&#x153;î ˘atâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, I think, another aspect of why the closing of these doors â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and why that loss â&#x20AC;&#x201D; feels like one more chapter that has ended in a book where there arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t too many more chapters.â&#x20AC;?

Murder Ballad at the Omaha Community Playhouse

Murder Ballad, running at the Omaha Community Playhouse Oct. 14 - Nov. 20 in the Howard Drew Theatre, is an intimate, sung-through indie-rock musical that tells the dramatic tale of a love triangle gone wrong. At the center of it all is Sara, a young mother and wife who seems to have it all but longs for her dangerous past and begins a love affair with her old boyfriend. As events unfold, the audience is along for the ride with every twist of the story. Murder Ballad is a steamy and fun thriller with a razorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s edge. Contains situations of infidelity, adult language and mild violence.

Murder Ballad is an original, sung-through musical conceived by Julia Jordan, who also wrote the book and some lyrics for the musical with noted indie singer/songwriter, Julia Nash. The title is taken from the phrase, â&#x20AC;&#x153;murder ballad,â&#x20AC;? a type of song that describes the details of a

crime, from the murderer to the motive and to the act itself. Jordan, initially a playwright, was interested in taking her idea of a murderous love triangle and turning it into a rock musical. She approached Nash, who had never written a musical before and was inspired by the dark narrative qualities of the music.

The majority of the story takes place in a bar setting, and there will be a working bar as part of the set from which patrons may purchase drinks beginning one hour prior to the start of the show.

Tickets available at the OCP Box Office, by calling 402.553.0800 or online at www.OmahaPlayhouse.com or www.TicketOmaha. com. Single tickets are $42 for adults and $25 for students. Tickets for groups of 12 or more are $30 for adults and $20 for students.

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The Jewish Press | October 14, 2016 | 11

community

I

Simchat Torah: Dancing as test

have long had a problem with the central rite of Simchat Torah: dancing.

I have nothing against the kind of dancing that requires learning certain steps—I then enjoy the challenge of TEDDY mastering the partic- WEINBERGER ular dance. e dancing on Simchat Torah, however, requires almost no skill and consists largely of trotting around (while singing spirited Hebrew songs), circling people who are carrying Torahs. In traditional synagogues (on the night of Simchat Torah and then again during the day), a minimum of one hour is devoted to this dancing, and in some synagogues, especially Hassidic ones, the dancing can extend to 3 hours and more. (I should mention that during the day, the other portions of the synagogue service can also extend to 3 hours and more.) In practice, I try to attend synagogues on Simchat Torah that feature energetic dancing but that don’t let this go on for hours and hours (criteria that are oen mutually exclusive).

Surprisingly, my friend and teacher Rabbi Lior Engelman points out that serious students of Torah also have a problem with the dancing on Simchat Torah. For some, the dancing seems like an improper use of their

time because it takes them away from their studies; for others, the dancing makes them appear as less than serious people. Rabbi Engleman writes: “If the Torah was a collection of intellectual facts, it would be proper, as one year of learning ends and another begins, to conduct a test of knowledge.

But our Torah is a Torah of Life. Dancing on Simchat Torah is not just a celebration, it’s also a powerful mirror that every Torah student places in front of their year of learning, a mirror that uncovers the content of the Torah that the person learned.

It’s true: it’s possible to experience Torah solely in its intellectual dimensions. It’s possible to acquire a cold and calculated Torah, precise and exact, but also frozen and ossified. A Torah that blocks feeling, that dismisses abilities that are not intellectual. A Torah that knows how to explain and elucidate, to question and answer--but does not know how to live and excite , that does not touch the deepest depths of life.

We are liable to become Torah scholars

who know how to teach wonderful classes about happiness, and who are able to skillfully explain the role of the heart in the worship of God, but whose Torah does not know how to dance. We are not able to dance because our natural and simple abilities have dissipated in the air of our learned

Credit: www.jewishidaho.com discussions. Vibrant, happy dancing expresses a living relationship with the Torah that passes through all the forces of the soul.

In Proverbs it is written that “the wise shall obtain honor” (3.35), and a Torah scholar needs to accept the fact that they are given honor because the Torah is honored, but sometimes the difference between the Torah’s honor and the scholar’s honor is blurred. Sometimes the trappings of honor turn into a way of life and do not remain in the realm of a necessity that the Torah scholar must accept. e truth is revealed

when the honor of the Torah “collides” with the personal honor of the Torah scholar. In dancing on Simchat Torah, one’s relationship with Torah becomes clear. If all a person’s learning was before God and in honor of God, it will be easy for them to go out and dance in honor of the name of God. e simple dancing of Simchat Torah, because of which a person sometimes appears not with their usual status, conveys true honor. e dancing shows that the person has not confused the honor that comes from their wisdom in Torah with the honor of heaven.”

Bottom Line: On Simchat Torah, everyone get out there and dance! Happy Holiday.

Teddy Weinberger made aliyah in 1997 with his wife, former Omahan Sarah Ross, and their five children. Their oldest four, Nathan, Rebecca, Ruthie and Ezra are veterans of the Israel Defense Forces; Weinberger can be reached at weinross@net vision.net.il.

Organizations

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Speaker to be announced for Wednesday, Oct. 19, noon. For more information or to be placed on the email list call 402.334.6443 or bnaibrith@jewishomaha.org.

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12 | The Jewish Press | October 14, 2016

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Careful speech

Annette vAn de KAMp-WrIgHt Editor of the Jewish Press ecently, I heard a speaker memorialize her grandfather. She mentioned how he enlisted during World War II, interrupting his career and family life, even though it was for him ‘an inconvenient time.’

I’m sure the Holocaust was ‘an inconvenient time’ for many people.

Were anyone to confront the speaker with her poor choice of words, she’d probably be horrified. It doesn’t make the statement any less jarring. It makes me wonder: how often do we say things that come across as insensitive and callous, when our intentions are anything but?

Then there are the times when we do mean exactly what we say, and it is only when others call us out that we grudgingly apologize. However, we’ve heard quite enough about that in the news lately, so let’s move on.

Words have power. Remember that old cliché about sticks and stones? It’s a lie. We have all said things we regretted, things that linger and leave a bad taste. We’ve also been on the receiving end of carelessly spoken words that hit us like a pile of bricks. You play them in your head for days on end, and if you’re not careful you will start to doubt yourself.

Maybe you did actually do something to deserve a tonguelashing.

And yet, we also use and hear words that are kind, encouraging and meant to build us up. We hear mazal tovs, words that are loving, spoken in friendship and empathy. So why is it that we tend to obsess so much more over the negative language we encounter? Why do we beat ourselves up

for the wrong we have said, intentional or not, but don’t acknowledge how powerful positive language can be?

It’s time for a change in attitude. It’s time to turn Loshon Hora on its head. Positive language can become an integrated part of our daily lives if we own it.

I remember when I was first married, and someone paid me a compliment. I dismissed it. My reaction came from a long-standing habit of being ‘modest,’ no doubt.

“Don’t do that,” my brand-new husband said. “It’s a nice compliment. Your should respond by saying ‘thank you.’”

Generally speaking, I’m not overly fond of being corrected by my husband-the-therapist.

In this case, however, he had a point, and the memory has had staying power (even though I cannot tell you what the compliment was or who gave it to me).

Acknowledging positive language is, like everything else, something that requires lots of practice. Saying ‘thank you’ instead of ‘this old thing?’ doesn’t just happen. Repeating someone else’s words, when they are nice words, is not yet firmly rooted in our DNA. That doesn’t mean we can’t get there, and there is no time like the present. It’s not enough to be shocked over some of the negative language that currently floats around the country; we have to actively work to counter it. It’s very simple: say nice things. Before you open your mouth, ask yourself: will what I have to say hurt, or will it heal?

Before you think I’m playing the holier-than-thou card; I fully admit I find this one of the hardest things in life.

My opening paragraph illustrates that very point. But, maybe, together we can someday get there. And when you

Credit: Kim Boek via wikimedia commons

say or hear something kind, let it play in your head for a few extra hours. Who knows? It might just have a ripple effect.

What Jewish students can, and should, learn from Israel’s critics

SteFAn KrIeger and CHArleS MAneKIn JTA As university professors, as committed Jews and as friends, we were puzzled by Arnold Eisen’s recent op-ed for JTA, “Jewish pride on campus is under siege. Here’s what your kids can do to fight back.”

It is not because we disagree with his positions on Zionism, on Israel and Palestine, or on the place of Israel in one’s Jewish identity. No doubt we do disagree with those positions, but that disagreement is “l’shem shamayim,” for the sake of heaven.

It is that Eisen’s advice to young Jews entering college seems so problematic to us.

Eisen, the chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, writes that “over 300,000” young Jewish college students are liable to have their “Jewish selves” shaken “to the core” on college campuses. One would think that college campuses across the country are hotbeds of antiSemitism and anti-Israelism.

Yet as has been reported in the media, fights over Israel/Palestine simply don’t exist at the vast majority of college campuses in the U.S., and most students, including Jewish students, are apathetic on Israel. Yes, there have been campuses where events have been reported, especially in the Jewish press. Both sides have cried foul. But exaggerating the extent of the phenomenon spreads alarmism in the Jewish community.

And yet, even if we concede that the problem is as great as Chancellor Eisen’s op-ed suggests, we would still disagree with his response to it. We agree that Jewish students should be proud of their heritage, that they should learn about Israel and Judaism. But we don’t agree that Jewish students should avoid faculty and students who, for example, refer to Israel as “colonialist” or worse. What if the faculty at their universities teach that Zionism is a settler-colonialist phenomenon? Should students seek to learn about Israel only at Hillel or by taking Birthright or federation-sponsored trips?

Our advice to all students interested in learning about Israel/Palestine is the same advice we give to students in exploring any area of inquiry: Read a lot of scholarship on the subject. Develop a critical and skeptical attitude toward tendentious, false and unsupported claims in books, on the web or social media, by teachers, and yes, by your

religious leaders, parents and friends. This intellectual process may make some students question, and even weaken, their attachment to the State of Israel, or draw them closer to the struggle for Palestinian rights. It may or may not strengthen their commitment to Israel. Whatever the outcome, students should engage in this process.

American students attending class at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Feb. 16, 2011.

Credit: Menahem Kahana/ AFP/ Getty Images Students should come to understand that terms of opprobrium such as “anti-Semitism,” “Islamophobia,” “genocide” and “apartheid” have different meanings in different contexts, and these meanings can change and be debated. We hope they will learn why Zionism can be seen both as a movement of national liberation and as a form of settler colonialism, as both or as neither. They should understand why a boycott movement in the name of human rights can be supportable, even where there are worse human rights abuses elsewhere, as, for example, the Montgomery bus boycott or the Jewish studentled boycott against the Soviet Union.

If we simply tell students what position to have, or provide them with the standard hasbara arguments, then when they meet a professor or read an article that presents contrary arguments, advice that they should “keep an open mind” will ring hollow. There are many Jewish students who support and even lead campus chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine because they empathize with the plight of the Palestinians, or because, as Jews, they wish to fight against violations of Palestinian rights. Many of those Jewish students see Palestinian civil rights as part of the prophetic mission, as Rabbi Abraham Joshua

Heschel saw the civil rights movement in this country. Many are “shaken to the core” because of the actions of the Israeli government and their supporters. What do we say to them? Do we label them as “captive children” or “inadvertent sinners”? Do we say to them, “Return, ye backsliding children!” Do we treat them, as some have suggested, as Jews for Jesus, and exclude their activities from Jewish spaces on campus?

We believe we should welcome these students into serious dialogue within Jewish spaces. And, most importantly, we strongly believe that the leaders in our community should not provide any student with misinformation or demonize those with whom we disagree. Contrary to Eisen’s op-ed, for example, the Palestinian BDS National Committee website does not stand against the very existence of Israel nor blame Israel for the failure of the peace process. In fact, the BDS movement website calls upon Israel to comply with international law, which Israel cannot do if it no longer exists.

We understand the positions of those who embrace the efforts to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel, as well as those who reject it. However, we cannot understand – and we believe thoughtful students do not understand -- those who would demonize the movement by imputing hidden motives to it. Such accusations do not foster the very kind of intellectual give-and-take that university faculty and administrators should value.

By all means, let us call on Jews and non-Jews to study Jewish civilization in all its varieties, and to be proud of those elements that rightly inspire pride. Let them study the history and context of Zionism, the rise of the State of Israel, the Palestinian Nakba and a host of other issues, critically and empathetically.

But let us not assume that the goal of this study is to produce better-informed supporters of the State of Israel. The purpose of education for Jewish students is not to know what answer to give the “Israel basher,” but rather to understand a deeply problematic situation and draw the conclusions they feel warranted to draw, whatever those may be.

Stefan Krieger is a professor of law and director of the Center for Applied Legal Reasoning at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. Charles Manekin is a professor of philosophy at the University of Maryland.

The Jewish Press | October 14, 2016 | 13

Fighting campus anti-Semitism is not just a good idea. It’s the law.

MortoN A. KleiN and SUSAN B. tUCHMAN NEW YORK | JTA Last week, the chancellor of The City University of New York released a report by CUNY-hired outside counsel investigating allegations of campus anti-Semitism. The investigation was triggered by a 14-page letter from the Zionist Organization of America to CUNY’s leadership, which noted, among other incidents, how during a rally last November held by Students for Justice in Palestine and allied groups at Hunter College, protesters were heard chanting “Long live the intifada!” and calling Jewish student onlookers “racists,” “Nazis” and “supporters of genocide.”

The report confirmed that anti-Semitism is a serious problem at CUNY, causing Jewish students to feel threatened and unsafe. But it disappointingly failed to recommend how to address the problem.

Four steps are crucial -- not only at CUNY, but also at the many other universities where Jewish students are being targeted.

In fact, remedial steps are required under federal law.

With bipartisan congressional support, the ZOA led a successful six-year battle to ensure that Jewish students would be protected from anti-Semitic harassment and intimidation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Title VI requires federally funded schools to provide Jewish students with a learning environment that is both physically and emotionally safe.

First, that means administrators must enforce their own rules of conduct and hold violators accountable. They don’t hesitate to do so when other groups are targeted, even when the wrongdoing is limited to hateful and offensive speech.

For example, at the University of Oklahoma, after members of a fraternity were caught on video chanting the “N word” and referring to lynching, the university president immediately expelled two fraternity leaders, disciplined over 20 other students and shut down the fraternity. At Yale, after fraternity members chanted “No means yes! Yes means anal!” the fraternity was suspended for five years and individual students were punished for violating university rules against harassment, intimidation and “imperiling the integrity and values of the University community.”

CUNY has similar rules. They affirm students’ right to advocate their pro-Israel views without fear of physical or verbal abuse from others who disagree. And they prohibit “any action or situation which recklessly or intentionally endangers mental or physical health.” The actions attributed

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to SJP in the report show that SJP violated these rules.

At the SJP-organized rally at Hunter College, for instance, protesters chanted “Jews out of CUNY” and “Death to Jews.” In recent years Jewish students at Brooklyn College have been harassed and threatened for disagreeing with SJP’s Israel-bashing views and for even refusing an SJP flier.

CUNY’s SJP chapter should be suspended for its conduct, or at least be placed on supervised probation, in the same way that Northeastern University’s SJP chapter was after the ZOA alerted the president to anti-Semitism on his campus.

A student waving a Palestinian flag at a demonstration at Hunter College, part of the City University of New York system, Nov. 12, 2015.

Credit: Cem Ozdel/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Second, university leaders must clearly and forcefully condemn anti-Semitism whenever it occurs on campus, and they must condemn the perpetrators by name and shame them as a disgrace to the university community. That includes anti-Semitism expressed as anti-Zionism.

The State Department provides excellent guidance on how to determine when criticism of Israel becomes antiSemitism. Demonizing Israel by comparing it to Nazi Germany and denying Israel’s right to exist are examples of contemporary anti-Semitism, according to the U.S. government guidelines. University leaders should be using the government’s definition to help students – and especially SJP, which denies that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism – understand that anti-Semitism is more than a swastika or an ethnic slur, and that every form of Jew-hatred is hurtful and dangerous.

Northeastern’s president took such steps. After the ZOA letter alerting him to the harassment and intimidation that Jewish students were facing both in and out of the class-

room, he made it crystal clear at his State of the University address before an audience of thousands that there would be “zero tolerance for anti-Semitism” on his campus. In addition, faculty were reminded in writing that students must be able to express their views without fear of reprisal.

Similarly, after the ZOA filed a Title VI action against Brooklyn College challenging how it responded when Jewish students were unjustifiably ejected by an SJP member from a 2013 anti-Israel event, the college president repaired some of the damage. She issued a public statement to the community, apologizing to the Jewish students by name, and acknowledging and explaining the wrongdoing by college employees and the SJP member, whom she also named.

Third, universities should have mandatory educational programs about anti-Semitism, using the State Department’s definition as guidance. These should not be just for students. Administrators, faculty and staff also need to appreciate what anti-Semitism is today and that on campus, it typically includes vicious attacks on Israel.

Finally, universities must investigate where student groups are getting their outside support and funding. In April, former U.S. Treasury Department terrorism analyst Jonathan Schanzer testified at a congressional briefing and documented that at least seven leaders and supporters of American Muslims for Palestine were officials of American “charities” that were implicated in funneling money to the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas. Schanzer described American Muslims for Palestine as “arguably the most important sponsor and organizer for SJP,” providing its chapters’ speakers, training and printed materials, including a so-called “Apartheid Wall” display that is the centerpiece of many SJP protests. It goes without saying that student groups must not have ties to terrorism.

CUNY’s investigative report confirmed numerous antiSemitic incidents and SJP’s responsibility for many of them.

It acknowledged that Jewish students feel threatened and are even afraid to identify openly as Jewish. Yet it made no recommendations, suggested no consequences and held no one accountable.

Let’s hope that CUNY’s recently appointed working group on these issues, and leaders at other universities, incorporate at least these four steps, which will help make them a safer and more tolerant place to learn.

Morton A. Klein is national president of the Zionist Organization of America. Susan B. Tuchman is the director of the ZOA’s Center for Law and Justice.

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14 | The Jewish Press | October 14, 2016

synagogues b’Nai israel syNagogue

618 Mynster Street Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 402.322.4705 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

coNgregatioN b’Nai jeshuruN

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

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Capehart Chapel 2500 Capehart Road Offutt AFB, NE 68123 402.294.6244

rose bluMkiN jewish hoMe

323 South 132 Street Omaha, NE 68154

teMple israel

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

tifereth israel

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

b’Nai israel syNagogue

Join us for our monthly Shabbat Speakers Series on oct.

21, at 7:30 p.m. with guest speaker Maynard Telpner on the 75 years he spent living in Council Bluffs. Our services are led by lay leader Larry Blass.

For information on our historic synagogue, please contact any of our board members: Rick Katelman, Carole Lainof, Marty Ricks, Sissy Silber, Nancy Wolf and Phil Wolf.

beth el syNagogue

Services conducted by Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman. friday: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. saturday: Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Shabbat’s Cool (Grades 3-7), 10 a.m.; Mini-Minyannaires, 10:45 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6:30 p.m. weekday serVices: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.; weekdays, 7 a.m. & 5:30 p.m. suNday: Sukkah Building, 8 a.m.; BESTT Classes, 9:45 a.m.; BESTT Kevah, 10 a.m.; Torah Study, 10 a.m.; Torah Tots, 10:30 a.m.; Rabbi Abraham’s Class, “The Bible Now,” 11 a.m.

MoNday: Synagogue office closed for Sukkot; Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 5:30 p.m. tuesday: Synagogue office closed for Sukkot; Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. Mincha following service -- No Ma’ariv. wedNesday: BESTT Classes, 4:15 p.m.; USY Sukkot Program, 5 p.m.; BESTT Hebrew High Classes, 6:45 p.m.

Our Shabbat Tables, friday, oct. 21 in congregants’ homes.

Kadimah Program, sunday, oct. 23, 12:15 p.m.

All classes and programs are open to everyone in the Jewish community.

beth israel syNagogue

Office hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and Friday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Ari Dembitzer. friday: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv & Kabbalat Shabbat, 6:26 p.m.; Candle Lighting, 6:26 p.m. saturday: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Torah Parade and Kids Classes, 9:45 a.m.; October Simcha Kiddush, 11:30 a.m. contact synagogue office to be a sponsor; Insights into the Weekly Portion, 5:20 p.m.; Mincha/Seudah Shlishit, 6:05 p.m.; Havdalah, 7:24 p.m. suNday-erev sukkot: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Bagels and Beit Medrash, 9:45 a.m.; Candle Lighting, 6:23 p.m. weekdays: Shacharit, 6:45 a.m.; Orot Hateshuva with Rabbi Ari, 7:45-8:15 a.m.

MoNday-sukkot: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Lunch in the Sukkah, 11:30 a.m. Contact office for reservations; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6:15 p.m.; Earliest Candle Lighting, 7:21 p.m. tuesday-sukkot: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6:15 p.m.; Sukkot Class with Rabbi Ari, 6:40 p.m.; Havdalah, 7:20 p.m. wedNesday-chol hamoed sukkot: Shacharit, 6:45 a.m. thursday-chol hamoed sukkot: Shacharit, 6:45 a.m.; Women’s Class, 9:30 a.m.; Lunch & Learn, Noon at UNMC; Scholars Club, 3:30 p.m. at JCC; Avot U-Banim, 7 p.m.; Talmud Learning, 8:30 p.m.

chabad house

Office hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and Friday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. friday: Shacharit, 7 a.m. followed by coffee, treats, study and shmoozing. saturday: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. followed by a festive kiddush luncheon. suNday: Shacharit, 8:30 a.m. followed by Sunday Secrets: Jewish Fun Facts class at 9:15 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6 p.m. weekdays: Shacharit, 7 a.m. followed by coffee, treats, study and shmoozing.

MoNday: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m. followed by a festive Holiday Kiddush; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6:40 p.m.; Light candles after 7:20 p.m. from a pre-existing flame. tuesday: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m. followed by a festive Holiday Kiddush. wedNesday: Shacharit, 7 a.m. followed by coffee, treats, study and shmoozing; New Tanya Series -- The Anatomy of Your Soul: Who Are You?, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Mendel Katzman. thursday: Advanced Talmud Class, Noon with Rabbi Mendel Katzman; Soup in the Sukkah, 7 p.m. Ladies’ Sukkot Celebration.

Kids Zone Hakafot, sunday, oct. 23, 6 p.m. Fun Hakafot Celebration for kids and adults too with Dinner and Dance.

All programs are open to the entire community.

coNgregatioN b’Nai jeshuruN

Services conducted by Rabbi Craig Lewis. friday: Pre-neg, 6 p.m. hosted by Michael Boekstal; Candlelighting, 6:28 p.m.; Shabbat Evening Service, 6:30 p.m.

Leah Hack-Curtis Bat Mitzvah. saturday: Shabbat Morning Service, 10 a.m. Leah HackCurtis Bat Mitzvah; Game Night & Potluck Dinner, 6 p.m.; Havdalah (72 minutes), 7:56 p.m. suNday: No LJCS Classes; Candlelighting, 6:25 p.m.; Pizza-in-th-Hut, 6:30 p.m. at Tifereth Israel.

MoNday: Synagogue office closed for Sukkot; Candlelighting, 7:53 p.m. tuesday: Synagogue office closed for Sukkot; Ladies Lunch, Noon at Asian Fusion, 2840 Jamie Lane; Havdalah, 7:52 p.m. wedNesday: LJCS Hebrew classes, 4 p.m. at Tifereth Israel; Harris Center for Judaic Studies Event, 7 p.m. at UNL City Campus: “Art of Suppression: Confronting the Nazi Past in Histories of the Visual and Performing Arts” with Professor Pamela Potter from Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison. adult educatioN tuesday: Intro to Judaism, Session #1, 6:30 p.m. led by Rabbi Lewis. wedNesday: Intro to Prayer Hebrew, Session #1, 6 p.m. thursday: Beginning Conversational Hebrew, Session #1, 6 p.m.

Sukkot Celebration/Potluck Dinner, sunday, oct. 23, 4– 6:30 p.m. at the home of Rabbi Craig and Jen Lewis, 6420 Blackstone Road. We will start with Sukkah decorating, with services and dinner to follow. Please RSVP to the Temple office at 402.435.8004 or office@southstreettemple.org by thursday, oct. 20.

WHAT’S THE SCOOP!: A PJLibrary Simchat Torah Celebration, Monday, oct. 24, 6:30 p.m. at Tifereth Israel, 3219 Sheridan Boulevard. Bring your families…Open to all Tifereth Israel and South Street Temple children ages 3-12.

It’s a mitzvah! The Temple is seeking volunteers willing to provide occasional transportation to services and events for members who are in need of a ride. Please contact the Temple office for details and to sign up by phone at 402.435.8004 or email at office@southstreettemple.org.

President’s Office Hours, sunday Mornings, 10 a.m.– noon at SST. If you have any Temple business you would like to bring before the Board of Trustees, potential programs, or new ideas, please let us know! Call for an appointment at the Temple or just to chat any time at 402.513.7697. Or if you prefer, email David Weisser at president@southstreettemple.org.

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friday: Services, 7:30 p.m. every first and third of the month.

teMple israel

friday: Shabbat Comes to You at the Heritage Sterling Ridge, 4 p.m.; Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. led by Rabbi Berezin and Cantor Shermet; TiYPE Moishe Without Walls Break the Fast, 7:30 p.m. at 9011 Burt St #411. Join the young Adult Jewish community (ages 21+) for breaking the fast. There will be lots of food and friends, with a mix of Shabbas spirit. RSVPs required. saturday: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m.; Shabbat Morning Services, 10:30 a.m. suNday: Sukkot Service, Dinner & Bonfire, 4:30 p.m. Join us in our family celebration of the festival of Sukkot. Services will begin our celebration, followed by dinner, a bonfire and s’mores!

MoNday: Sukkot Morning Breakfast, 9:30 a.m.; Sukkot Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. tuesday: Executive Committee Meeting, 6 p.m.; Board of Trustees, 7 p.m. wedNesday: Grades 3-6, 4 p.m.; School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Grades 7-12, 6:30 p.m.; Family School, 6:30 p.m.; The Lost Art of Jewish Cooking, 6:30 p.m. with Executive Director Dennis DePorte featuring chopped liver; The Art of Writing a Torah Scroll: Majesty and Meaing, 6:30 p.m. with Rabbi Crystal. thursday: What’s It All About God: An Introduction to Jewish Mysticism, 10 a.m. with Rabbi Crystal.

Simchat Torah Services and Consecration, sunday, oct.

23, 4:30 p.m. Join us as we celebrate our kindergarteners as they begin their Religious School education.

Simchat Torah Morning Service and Yizkor, Monday, oct.

24, 10:30 a.m. If you would like to have the names of your loved ones read at the Yizkor service, please contact the Temple

tifereth israel

Israel office, 402.556.6536, by wednesday, oct. 19.

Services conducted by lay leader Nancy Coren. Office hours: Monday-friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. friday: Services, 6:30 p.m. saturday: Shabbat Morning service, 10 a.m. followed by a Kiddish luncheon. suNday: No LJCS Classes; Pizza-in-th-Hut, 6:30 p.m. at Tifereth Israel. Cost is $5 and the meal includes pizza, salad, drink and a cookie.

MoNday: Synagogue office closed for Sukkot; Morning Service, 10 a.m. tuesday: Synagogue office closed for Sukkot; Mincha, 5:30 p.m. wedNesday: LJCS Hebrew classes, 4 p.m. at Tifereth Israel; Harris Center for Judaic Studies Event, 7 p.m. at UNL City Campus: “Art of Suppression: Confronting the Nazi Past in Histories of the Visual and Performing Arts” with Professor Pamela Potter from Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison.

WHAT’S THE SCOOP!: A PJLibrary Simchat Torah Celebration, Monday, oct. 24, 6:30 p.m. at Tifereth Israel, 3219 Sheridan Boulevard. Bring your families…Open to all Tifereth

jewish press Notices

saturday: Services, 9:15 a.m.

MoNday: Sukkot Services, 9:15 a.m.

Services will be held in the Chapel. Members of the community are invited to attend.

The Jewish Press will be closed on Monday and tuesday, oct. 17 and 18 for Sukkot, Monday and tuesday, oct. 24 and 25 for Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. The deadline for the Oct. 21 issue is Monday, oct. 10, Noon; for the Oct. 28 issue it is wednesday, oct. 19, Noon. Questions? Call 402.334.6448.

JTA NEWS STAFF e Jewish Federations of North America opened an emergency fund for Hurricane Matthew relief. As the Category 3 storm whipped Florida's Atlantic coast with 100-mile-per-hour winds, forecasters warned about a storm surge in parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina that could bring widespread destruction. e National Weather Service warned that some places hit by Matthew could be uninhabitable for "weeks or months," CNN reported.

Palm Beach and Broward counties in South Florida, home to a Jewish community that includes tens of thousands of retirees, was largely spared the worst of the storm.

Jewish federations are collecting money to mobilize humanitarian support and provide relief to the Jewish communities in the path of the

hurricane, according to JFNA. Jewish institutions in or near the storm's path closed down for the weekend, extending into Shabbat. Others are offering shelter to evacuees.

Chabad in Orlando, which stayed open for Shabbat, has set up a hotline and is assisting tourists and residents.

In the Toco Hills community of Atlanta, Congregation Beth Jacob and Young Israel of Toco Hills are offering home hospitality to Jewish evacuees from the Carolinas and Florida. Over 50 local families signed up to be hosts, according to the Orthodox Union. “e speed with which our community has responded to this call is a testament to the deep responsibility we feel to Jews throughout our region and across the world,” Rabbi Ilan Feldman of Congregation Beth Jacob said.

rose bluMkiN jewish hoMe

Federations raising funds for Hurricane Matthew relief

The Jewish Press | October 14, 2016 | 15

lifecycles BIrth

aVI Joseph estaVer

Melissa and David Estaver of Des Moines, IA, announce the Sept. 25 birth of their son, Avi Joseph.

He has a sister, Emma Rivka.

Grandparents are Hanna and Larry DeBruin of Omaha, and Sharon and Phil Estaver of Buffalo Grove, IL. Great-grandparents are Belle DeBruin of Amherst, NY and the late Cantor Gerald DeBruin, the late Tauba and Joe Szmerlak; the late Margaret and William Estaver; and the late Rose and Rolf Mayer.

Bat mItzVah

emma fIngold

Emma Fingold, daughter of Carrie and Steven Fingold, will become a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 22 at Temple Israel.

Emma is a seventh-grade Honor Roll student at Kiewit Middle School where she is a member of the cross country and track teams.

Her interests include golfing, baking, traveling and spending time with family and friends.

For her mitzvah project, Emma cooked and baked meals for families at the Rainbow House. She also created and sewed her own design of heating and cooling packs. These healing bags were donated to families with children in Children’s Hospital.

She has a brother, Michael, 10.

Grandparents are Marsha and Jule Dashefsky, and Linda and Martin Fingold, all of Winnipeg, Canada.

Great-grandfather is Nathan Fingold of Winnipeg, Canada.

In memorIam

JIm Keller

Jim Keller passed away Oct 3 at age 61 in Crete, NE. Services were held on Oct. 7 at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Lincoln with Nancy Coren officiating.

He was preceded in death by Ruthie and Leon Keller.

He is survived by his wife Linda; children, Rachel and TJ; five grandchildren; brothers, Mike and Joel Keller.

JIm trained hunting dogs for a living. He was a member of Tifereth Israel and his late mother Ruthie was a longtime secretary at Tifereth Israel.

Memorials may be made to Tifereth Israel, 3219 Sheridan Blvd, Lincoln, NE 68502.

Notice of Trade Name

Trade Name: ATIPPICAL Name of Applicant: Alan Tipp Address: 1417 N. 191st Ave. Elkhorn, NE 68022 Applicant is Individual Date of first use of name in Nebraska: 09/01/2016 General Nature of Business: Industrial Design and Development Services

CorreCtIon

The Sept. 30, 2016 edition of the Jewish Press, two Simchas were not included. Beth E. Shyken married Chad A. Rothbart on May 29 of this year.

Also in 2016, Gary and Liat Shyken welcomed daughter Hadassah Leba.

Visit us at jewishomaha.org

Ethiopian Jew killed in Gondar riots

JTA NEWS STAFF An Ethiopian Jewish man reportedly waiting to immigrate to Israel was killed in riots that have claimed dozens of lives in recent weeks, the Jewish community of Gondar said. e victim was identified as Weta Chekla, the Israelbased news site Little Ethiopia reported. e report said he was waiting to immigrate amid delays in the implementation of an Israeli government decision to bring in 9,000 members of his community to the Jewish state.

Demonstrations and similar protests recently in the city of Gondar occurred amid interethnic tensions involving the Welkait community.

In April, the Israeli government signed off on an agreement guaranteeing the immigration of 9,000 Falash Mura by 2020, partly with funding from the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. e agreement called for the absorption of 1,300 Falash Mura by June but, following delays, the first group of 78 Ethiopian immigrants only arrived last week. e article about Chekla’s death on Little Ethiopia, which represents the interests of Ethiopian Israelis, accused the Israeli government of dragging its feet. “e Government of the State of Israel continues to classify Jews according to color and race and completely ignores the community in Ethiopia,” the unsigned article read.

“Wherever White Jews are to be found, the government shows its attentiveness in every possible way, from sending delegates to calling for immediate aliyah. But it’s a different story in the case of the Beita Israel.”

Israeli officials and advocates of the policies applied to absorb approximately 120,000 Ethiopians into Israeli society since the 1980s have consistently rejected allegations of racism toward African Jews. Last week, two IsraeliEthiopian lawyers, Esther Tapeta Gradi and Adenko Sabhat Haimovich, were appointed as judges.

“Undeniably, mistakes were made in the absorption of aliyah from Ethiopia,” Uri Heitner, a senior researcher at the Shamir Institute for Research – a state-funded research and development center and think tank located in the Golan Heights – wrote last week in an op-ed about Ethiopian Jews in Israel. “ere are still difficulties demanding resolution. But overall, the Ethiopian Aliyah is an impressive Zionist success story.”

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16 | The Jewish Press | October 14, 2016

usnews

After the Veep debate: Who was right about the Iranian nuclear deal ROn KAMPeAs JTA Seven times during the vice presidential debate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said the deal his running mate, Hillary Clinton, worked on had helped “stop Iranian nuclear weapons.”

Seven times, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said no, it did not.

Twice, Kaine said Israel’s military “says it stopped.” Both times Pence, the running mate to Republican nominee Donald Trump, disagreed.

Who’s right? It's a mixed bag.

The jury is still out on whether the deal has stopped Iran's suspected nuclear weapons quest in the long term. As Kaine noted, Israel's military brass has assessed that the deal has stopped Iran from advancing toward a nuclear bomb -- but missing from his citations is the "for now."

What Hillary Clinton did Clinton, secretary of state in President Barack Obama’s first term, helped line up the international sanctions that brought Iran to the table. Pence pointed out that Congress in 2010 passed what may have been the toughest sanctions in U.S. history on Iran: “The goal was always that we would only lift the sanctions if Iran permanently renounced their nuclear ambitions,” Pence said during the debate.

That was the goal of some congressional sanctions backers, particularly among Republicans. The goal of the Obama administration, and some of its Democratic backers, was to put in place U.S. sanctions as a means of undergirding the architecture for international sanctions. The threat of not being able to do business with the United States was the stick used to bring in more reluctant partners. The carrot? U.S. willingness to moderate sanctions once the international community was on board.

Once the international sanctions were in place, their goal became more fluid and subject to the back and forth of diplomacy, and less susceptible to the harder line adopted by the Congress.

Clinton’s accomplishment was bringing into the sanctions regime major trading partners like India, China and Russia, which made the sanctions biting.

Including those nations, however, also guaranteed that the international sanctions regime would never hew to the restrictions that Congress had in place.

The international community as a collective was not ready for the absolute

Democrat Tim Kaine, left, and Republican Mike Pence facing off in the vice presidential debate at Longwood University in Virginia, Oct. 4, 2016.

Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

shutdown of uranium enrichment that Pence and others in Congress had sought and still seek. The more reluctant countries were ready to suspend trade with a major oil supplier for only a limited period. Other countries, including European partners, said that demanding a complete shutdown violated the letter of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which allows a civilian nuclear program, and to which Iran is a signatory.

What the nuclear deal did Iran insists that its nuclear program was never about weapons. Western powers, particularly the United States, Israel and France, are skeptical, saying that while weaponization may not have been achieved, the level and breadth of uranium enrichment underway before the nuclear deal, and Iran’s investment in delivery systems identified with nuclear attacks, strongly suggest that the program’s ultimate goal was weapons.

The deal applies a strict inspections regime that keeps Iranian enrichment to levels that cannot be weaponized for eight years. Those limits are lessened for another seven years, which is when – after 15 years in all -- the relatively unfettered access for international nuclear inspectors ends.

“You essentially guaranteed that Iran will someday become a nuclear power because there's no limitations once the period of time of the treaty comes off,” Pence said in the debate.

That’s not quite true. After the 15-year period, Iran will comply with the “additional protocol” to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which allows inspectors to return on short notice. A credible finding by a Western nation’s intelligence service, or by the International Atomic Energy Agency, could trigger such a return.

That provision underlies Kaine’s claim that the weapons program “has been stopped” – although, as The Times of Israel has pointed out, his running mate Clinton opts for less absolute language.

Israel and congressional opponents of the Iran deal cite the failure of inspections in North Korea to argue that less intrusive inspections don’t work.

Proponents of the deal say the additional protocol was instituted precisely as a means of redressing the gaps in the North Korea inspections regime and note that similar provisions – allowing the short-notice entry of inspectors – are believed to have kept Saddam Hussein’s Iraq from going nuclear.

On the third hand – there is no third hand! No wait, there is a counter argument by deal opponents to the counter argument by deal backers: Saddam's Iraq was weakened by sanctions and had little choice but to allow in the inspectors. Iran, with its economy strengthened by sanctions relief and with a more robust military in place, might not be so accommodating.

Does Israel believe the deal stopped Iran from going nuclear?

Kaine, making this claim, at first cited Israel’s military, and then specified a name: Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, the military chief of staff. Here’s how Kaine put it: “Even the Israeli military says it stopped.”

And then: “That's what the Israeli joint chiefs of staff is saying right now.

Gadi Eizenkot, you can go check it.”

It’s true that Eizenkot and others have said the deal is keeping Iran’s suspected weapons program stalled, but what’s missing from Kaine’s claim is the implied “for now” in statements by Israeli security brass, past and present.

Here’s Eizenkot, speaking in January, after the deal’s implementation was launched: “The deal has actually removed the most serious danger to Israel’s existence for the foreseeable future, and greatly reduced the threat over the longer term.”

Editor’s note: This article was edited for length.