October 27, 2023

A N AG E N C Y O F T H E J E W I S H F E D E R AT I O N O F O M A H A

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O C TO B E R 27, 2 02 3 | 1 2 CH E S H VA N 578 4 | VO L. 1 05 | NO. 2 | CANDLELIGHTING | FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 6: 07 P.M.

Spirit of Federation ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor ibrant, Energetic, Tzedakah. These are the words that come to Norm Sheldon’s mind when asked about Jewish Omaha. Ask Margie Gutnik that same question, and she says: (inter)connected, welcoming and closeknit. Those words are equally applicable to Margie and Norm themselves, which is why it was no surprise when they were announced as recipients of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Phil and Terri Shrager Spirit of Federation Award. They will accept their award Sunday, Oct. 29 at our Annual Campaign Community Event.

“I’m honored to be recognized for all the time and leadership I Margie Gutnik have endeavored to accomplish over the last 40-plus years,” Norm said, “and to know that maybe I did make a difference in the Jewish community.”

Margie currently serves on Beth El’s Board of Directors as its secretary, is on the Beth El Scholarship committee, the JFO Board, is the Jewish Press Board president and sits on the Friedel Jewish Academy Board of Directors. Before that, she served as president of the JCC, was on the JFO personnel committee, chaired the Jewish Cultural Arts Council as well as Omaha’s first Matza Bakery and sat on the JFO Film Com-

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Beth El Synagogue welcomes Joel Chasnoff Page 5

Recent additions to the Kripke-Veret Collection Page 7

Former soccer star and other Israeli athletes are among those killed in Israel-Hamas war Page 12

REGULARS Spotlight Voices Synagogues Life cycles

7 8 10 11

IHE November programs: Portraits of Survival SCOTT LITTKY Institute for Holocaust Education Executive Director During the month of November, we will again be displaying the Portraits of Survival exhibit created for the seventieth anniversary of Kristallnacht

by David Radler in the Eisenberg Art Gallery at the Jewish Community Center. There will also be three special programs during the month of November.

Portraits of Survival features modern day portraits of Holocaust survivors who found their way to Nebraska. Next to each photo is a card telling the survivor’s story and how they came to rebuild their life within our community.

The first program will be on Tuesday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. in the Alan J. Levine Performing Arts Theater at the Jewish Community Center. We will be showing the movie, The Death of Zygielbojm. The movie tells the story of Szmul Arthur Zygielbojm a Polish Jewish socialist politician and See Portraits of Survival page 2

mittee. The Spirit Award is not her first; she previously was the recipient of the President’s Award for dedication and service to the Congregation at Beth El Synagogue and the JFO Lois Jean Schrager Young Leadership Award. In the wider community, she was president of the Metro Omaha Medical Society Auxiliary and a member of the Junior League of Omaha. A St. Louis native, Margie has made Omaha her home by stepping up and putting in the work. Margie and husband Bruce raised three children, Julie Gutnik Levine and husband Michael Levine live in Kansas City with twin daughters Sofia and Noa, who are 16 and juniors at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy. Allison Gutnik Aryal and husband Ashish Aryal live in Dallas with their two daughters, Lola, who is 10 and in 5th grade, and Zoey, who is 9 and is in 3rd Norm Sheldon grade. Andi Gutnik Kaufman and husband Jason Kaufman live in Chicago. They also have twins: Ethan and Jonah Kaufman who are 7, and in 2nd grade.

“I love connecting people and building relationships,” she said. Professionally, she put those skills to use as Program Director at Beth El, Marketing Director at Discover Omaha.com (a division of Cox Communications) and as Marketing Manager and Education Coordinator at Cox Communications.

See Spirit of Federation page 3

Caring for human beings In the immediate aftermath of October 7, it seemed like the entire world spoke in one voice: “Israel has a right to de- TEDDY fend itself.” WEINBERGER The story had significantly changed, however,

by Oct. 9, just one day after the Israel Air Force extensively bombed Gaza. In many of the world’s newspapers, it seemed that for every story about the terror attacks on Israel, there was a story about the innocent civilians who were killed or made homeless by Israeli bombs. In Israel, too, one newspaper was as concerned with the human beings in Gaza as the human beings in Israel. This explains why, from the start, Haaretz has focused on the possibilities for a hostage exchange, with the implication being, as was made explicit in an Oct. 13 op-ed by Neta Helman: My mom’s a hostage.

Don’t raze Gaza. Gideon Levy,

Credit: Zachi Evenor

Haaretz’s senior columnist had put things a different way the day before at the start of his own op-ed: Human beings live in Gaza.

With the exception of certain leftists like Gideon Levy, the terror inflicted upon us by Hamas has made the following absolutely clear: it’s either our human beings or their human beings. Caring for our human beings means doing our best to destroy Hamas, and this will mean killing many Gazan human beings—since Hamas purposely bases its activities within civilian infrastructure (such as hospitals and kindergartens). It is now painfully evident that as long as Hamas is on See Teddy Weinberger page 4

2 | The Jewish Press | October 27, 2023

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Portraits of Survival

Continued from page 1 member of the Polish Government-in-Exile who died by suicide in May 1943 in London, in protest at the inaction of the Allies in the face of the German annihilation of European Jewry and in particular the defeat of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Dr. Arthur I. Zygielbaum, grandson of Szmul Arthur Zygielbojm will attend and introduce the film. The cost of the event is $5 and can be purchased at https://fundraise.gives mart.com/form/G7Z7mQ? vid=11jo98 or on Nov. 7.

The second program will be on Thursday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. in the Goldstein Community Engagement Venue at the Jewish Community Center. The Institute for Holocaust Education and the Omaha Jewish Press are partnering to bring Dr. Saskia Coenen Snyder, professor of modern Jewish history at the University of South Carolina, where she also serves as Director of the Jewish Studies Program on Nov. 7 as a speaker.

Her talk will focus on the responses of Amsterdam citizens to the Nazification of the urban environment. Dutch war diaries (including Anne Frank’s) offer insight into the sensory experiences of Jews and non-Jews during the war. They disclose not merely what people saw and heard, but also how they saw and heard, and how sounds affected their perceptions of war and occupation. Their diaries suggest that the Nazi authorities used the sights and sounds of the built environment to mediate and affirm new forms of hierarchy, control, and social structure, claiming the right to dominate Amsterdam’s visual and acoustic space.

Dr. Saskia Coenen Snyder

The third program will be on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. in the Goldstein Community Engagement Venue at the Jewish Community Center. We will welcome, Sandi Yoder the Director of the Iowa Jewish Historical Society and author Bill Friedricks who will be speaking about Celina Karp Biniaz, one of the last living survivors from Schindler’s List—and the only one who graduated from North High School and Grinnell College in Iowa.

The talk will be a unique look at one of the youngest Holocaust and Schindler survivors and how she and her family lived through the Holocaust and then went on to live a remarkable and brave life after.

For more information regarding any of these programs, please contact Scott Littky, Executive Director of the Institute for Holocaust Education at slittky@ihene.org.

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ORGANIZATIONS B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS The award-winning B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS speaker program currently meets Wednesdays via Zoom from noon to 1 p.m. Please watch our email for specific information concerning its thought-provoking, informative list of speakers. To be placed on the email list, contact Breadbreakers chair at gary.javitch@gmail.com.

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

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The Jewish Press | October 27, 2023 | 3

Hello everyone

Thank you for coming tonight.

I spare you the stories about what My name is Mika Mizrahi, and I am happened, about the horrors and the Omaha Community Shlicha. My war crimes that the terrorists comjob is to bring part of Israel to the mitted mercilessly, things that I can’t Omaha Jewish community. I didn’t imagine a human being could do. think for a moment that this is the I want to share with you that the Israel that I’d be bringing to you. people of Israel are strong people!

Israel is currently under attack.

The people of Israel rallied for There is a war in my homeland. their brothers, the whole country I cannot speak for my governcontributes and rallied to the effort ment. I cannot speak for the IDF, if it is to help families who have and I cannot speak for the police. I nothing, some of them can no can only speak for myself, to speak longer be said to be families because as a citizen. I can speak of my there is no longer a family left... friends that went to a party to phoIf people go to the reserves, people tograph everyone having fun and are just looking for a way because then suddenly hundreds of rockets these are my people, and it’s not just Mika Mizrahi flew overhead, and they were runmy people, it’s your people! The State ning to save their lives. I can speak of my friends who are going of Israel is not only mine, but it also belongs to all the children to the border and back to the IDF. in the world! We have no other country; this is the Jewish state!

I can only speak for myself that my neighbor has been missSo, let’s be strong together! ing for three days and no one knows where.

This is not the time to find fault, this is the time to unite I can speak on behalf of my best friend whose house is close and help. Anyone who asks me how to help, I have no way to to the border with Gaza, that for more than 24 hours I have help, I’m fine, but my people need help. been talking to her and they are locked in the house and the Enter the social networks and share the truth, share the alarms don’t stop. They are waiting for someone to come to pain that people are going through in the State of Israel, show evacuate them and in the meantime, they hear how all the the world what Israel has faced all these years and what it is settlements near them are being wiped out and entire families facing now, why we are fighting, this is our existential right to are no longer alive, and their friends are missing. defend ourselves.

I can’t describe to you the feeling that went through my Pray for everyone: the missing, the wounded, the soldiers, body the day it all started, and I decided to log into Instagram, the citizens, everyone!

I’ve seen many stories and the pictures of the missing people And of course, there is the option of donating money for didn’t stop, and each one is a different name, and from time those who have the ability. to time I also see a name I know.

Every Israeli you see knows someone who is no longer with us...

There are so many families and friends that I need to comThank you for all the support and love you have and confort, and it never ends. tinue to give me. Thank you for everything.

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Spirit of Federation Continued from page 1 In addition, she worked as a Hebrew School teacher at the United Talmud Torah of Omaha, the joint school between Beth El and Beth Israel.

Just like Margie, Norm and his wife Suzy Sheldon have volunteering in their DNA. The Sheldons have two daughters, Wendy and Lisa, sons-in-law, Adam Raffel and Chuck Lucoff, and four grandchildren, Ben, Jordan, Makayla and Kori. Native Californians, Norm and Suzy met as students at UCLA. Their upcoming wedding, combined with a lengthy in-state decision process for graduate school, convinced Norm to accept a spot in Creighton University’s dental school and they headed east (Suzy’s mom is from Iowa and she did have some family in the area).

In a 2014 Jewish Press article, Suzy said: “Norm graduated dental school on my birthday and the plan was to be in the car heading back west. It obviously didn’t work out that way.

Norm received a wonderful job offer and on May 12, 1973, the only move we made was to another Omaha apartment.”

Norm co-chaired the JFO Annual Campaign twice: in 2012, with Ellie Batt, and in 2014 with Suzy. He is a past president of the Jewish Community Center, a past President of the Jewish Federation of Omaha, a 2008 recipient of the Federation’s Volunteer of the Year award and recipient of the 1983 Young Leadership of the Year award. Currently, he is co-chairing the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home capital campaign with Jan Goldstein and Bruce Friedlander.

“Both Margie Gutnik and Norm Sheldon are very deserving recipients of the Spirit of Federation Award,” Bob Goldberg, JFO CEO, said. “They are both tireless and incredibly dedicated to a wide array of causes, but they also both have true joy when volunteering, and that is so important. They love what they do, and it shows.”

Margie said it was one of her mentors, Sarah Ann Gitnick, who put her on the JCC board; her other mentor, Mary Fellman, called her to run the first Matzah bakery, “and that’s where it all started. I was 30 years old, with three little kids,

and they put me to work! Together they taught me to do everything with a smile and stay on it.”

Norm is passionate about taking a leadership role in the JFO to further Jewish Omaha for future generations: “Being President of the Federation brought together all the things I have done with the different agencies over the years,” he said, “and taught me how to balance the various needs of our community into one cohesive unit to ensure that they were all fulfilling the mission of the JFO. Whether religious or cultural, Judaism has existed for 5784 years and is important for all of us to make sure it thrives and continues for another 5784 years.”

Norm mentioned Jan Goldstein as his number one mentor: “Jan has to stand out as the person who has brought me along, and kept me on track all these years,” he said.

Both Margie and Norm have high hopes for the future of our community.

“Let’s make sure Jewish Omaha has the resources, both financially and with the support of the Jewish population, to remain a vibrant community in the face of so much outside pressure. We have to contend with assimilation, antisemitism, and the disappearance of so many other plains states Jewish communities to larger urban areas with more Jews. But even though we are small in numbers, Omaha is such a great place to raise a Jewish family. My children and grandchildren were raised much more Jewish than I was in Los Angeles with many more Jews!”

“This community is awesome,” Margie added. “Everybody has a chance to be involved. Whether it is through a financial contribution, or by rolling up your sleeves, if you show an interest, there is a role for you. We build and sustain this community together.”

The Jewish Federation of Omaha Staff and Board wish Margie and Norm mazal tov on this well-deserved honor. For more information about how you can follow their example and get involved, please visit www.jewishomaha.org and click the ‘volunteer’ button.

Trade scholarships available for the 2023-24 academic year

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

Not every student who advances into higher education signs up for a four-year curriculum. Some high school graduates seek job training that lasts a year or two and then places them in the workforce. Such opportunities include, but are

not restricted to: Information Technology, Construction, Industrial, Transportation and Horticulture. It is not too late to apply for this upcoming school year!

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

SALES POSITION PART-TIME FLEXIBLE HOURS The Jewish Press is looking for a part-time sales person, with the following responsibilities: • Digital sales • Digital content development • Website development and management Requirements: • Previous experience in a sales-related role is • a plus • Great customer service skills • Excellent written and verbal communication • skills Interested?

Send your application to Avandekamp@jewish omaha.org today. We cannot wait to meet you!

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4 | The Jewish Press | October 27, 2023

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Central High School Hall of Fame The Central High School Alumni Association held the inaugural Hall of Fame induction ceremony on September 30, 1999. Since that time, a ceremony has been held annually and more than 200 individuals have been inducted.

The 24th Annual Central High School Hall of Fame Dinner and Ceremony was held Oct. 19 at the Holland Performing Arts Center. The Central High School Alumni Association is proud to induct 11 individuals whose paths from the halls of Central High School led them to the highest levels of achievement in business and community service. Inductees are selected by the Central High School Alumni Association and the program is presented Bruce Hoberman by the Central High School Foundation.

Bruce Hoberman cofounded Homer’s Record Stores at the age of 24. Twentytwo years later he sold Homer’s, spending the next 10 years working with non-profit organizations. Bruce and his wife became volunteers with USAID, spending over a year living in Sub-Saharan Africa helping deDavid Slosburg velop small and medium size businesses. In 1986, Bruce graduated from Harvard Business School’s OPM program for entrepreneurs. In 1988, he won the Business Excellence Achievement Award from the UNL Business School Alumni Association. In 1991, he was named SBA’s District II Business Person of the Year. In 2003, he co-founded Proxibid, serving as Chairman of the Board until the company was sold in 2020. Proxibid grew from a startup to become the largest online auction site in the world. Bruce also serves on the Board of Directors of the Buckle (BKE NYSE).

Dr. Richard Kaslow has directed ground-breaking federal and academic research into infectious diseases, including HIV. He graduated from Harvard Medical School and attained board certification in internal medicine, infectious disease, and preventive medicine. For 23 years with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, he conducted cohort studies of HIV and other epidemiologic investigations. Thereafter, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham for 17 years, his teams identified genetic determinants of HIV, hepatitis B vaccine response, and other conditions. As a senior executive at the Veterans Health Administration for the next five years, he oversaw work on epidemiologic issues ranging from pandemic preparedness to health effects of environmental exposure during deployment. He collaborated on more than 250

scholarly publications and continues to edit a widely used textbook on human viral diseases. Dr. Kaslow served as President of the American College of Epidemiology, and in 2009 the American Public Health Association recognized him with the John Snow Award for outstanding contributions to epidemiology.

After graduating from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, David Slosburg returned to Omaha to help expand the family real estate development company into one of the region’s largest, with multifamily and commercial developments in six states. Slosburg has been an active contributor and advocate for significant civic developments including the Holland, Do Space, Steel House and Dr. Richard Kaslow the new City Library. Slosburg currently serves on the boards of the Omaha Symphony (Chairman), Heritage Omaha, Omaha Performing Arts (Vice Chairman) and National Committee for the Performing Arts of the Kennedy Center. His extensive involvement with Central includes being both Principal initiator and Co-Chair of the committee that spearheaded Richard Zacharia fundraising for the Central library and arts addition. Slosburg also served as the Chairman of the Penn Alumni Committee in Omaha for 30 years.

Honorariums include Inclusive Communities Humanitarian of the Year, Mary and Richard Holland Leadership Award, induction into the College Squash Association Hall of Fame, and he received the National “2013 Star of Touring Broadway Award” from the Broadway League.

Richard Zacharia has been a prominent figure in Omaha accounting circles and a strong advocate for Central. After graduating from Penn’s Wharton School of Business, he returned to Omaha, and in 1969 joined the firm now called Frankel Zacharia. He served as managing partner for 25 years and grew it into one of Nebraska’s biggest independent firms.

While at Penn he was Head Cheerleader, elected to Phi Kappa Beta Junior Honor Society, and elected to the Sphinx Senior Society. He served for 10 years on the state board of public accountancy. After retiring in 2015, he received a distinguished service award from the state’s society of CPAs. Zacharia has served as an active member and officer in the Central Alumni Association. He also has served as a volunteer and officer for several community organizations, including the Jewish Community Center Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation Board of Directors and the Johnny Rodgers’ Jet Award Foundation.

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Teddy Weinberger Continued from page 1 our border, our human beings are not safe. As a sovereign state, Israel is allowed to say (and to act accordingly): we care more about our human beings than our enemy’s human beings.

What’s ironic in all of this is that in the weeks leading up to Oct. 7, Israel was undergoing yet another bout with a disease that has plagued the Jewish people since the Emancipation. That is, beginning with the granting of civil rights in many European countries in the 19th century, many Jews felt that in return, Jews should act less Jewish. From there it was not an unimaginable leap for Jews to take the lead in envisioning a world without cultural division, a world where people would just be human beings. (Think Ludwig Zemenhof, 1859-1917, the creator of Esperanto; and Karl Marx, 1818-1883, who thought that a perfected world would be one without religion.) The old hope instilled in us by the Emancipation, “why can’t we all just be human beings,” revived itself in the midst of the months-long protest against the judicial reform. It was given precise expression in Haaretz on Sept. 22, just a few days before Yom Kippur by none other than Aluf Benn, the Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper. Benn’s piece was titled: How a needless word in the Declaration of Independence serves the racist government. What could possibly be this word, a word that leads to racism? “Jewish.” Benn writes: “if Ben-Gurion had made do with declaring ‘a state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel,’ he would have laid an important cornerstone for the development of a civic identity that would be able to fulfill the promises of equality and liberty contained in the Declaration of Independence.”

It is hard not to be completely flabbergasted by Benn’s opinion piece. Remember that Benn was referring to an event that took place on May 14, 1948—just three years after the Holocaust. Benn criticizes David Ben Gurion for speaking of a “Jewish state” rather than just a “state.” After the

mass murder of European Jewry, Benn finds it reasonable to expect that the Jewish people, in setting up their own state, should rise above petty nationalism. Italians can have their state, the French can have their state, even the Germans can have their state, but the “state in Eretz-Israel,” should not be a “Jewish” state. There it was again, loud and clear in the pages of Haaretz by the Editor-in-Chief of Haaretz, that old hope: let’s have a state where we are all just human beings in a world of just human beings.

As far as Hamas goes, and perhaps as far as all who identify primarily as “Palestinian” goes, that hope was dashed completely on Oct. 7 (except perhaps in the offices of Haaretz).

We indeed all are human beings, including Hamas. But as President Biden, in his powerful speech on Oct. 10, said, Hamas is “a group whose stated purpose for being is to kill Jews.” It is incumbent upon us in Israel to make it impossible for Hamas to kill Jews. If this means that we will have to kill innocent civilians, then the blame lies with them, with their evil. Put a different way by Golda Meir (and one can only hope that our current Prime Minister will show the kind of responsibility that Meir did when she resigned in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War): “we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our children, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their children. Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”

May this war end with the complete destruction of Hamas, may it end as soon as possible, and may it end with as little loss of innocent lives as possible.

Teddy Weinberger, Ph.D., made aliyah with his wife, former Omahan Sarah Jane Ross, and their five children, Nathan, Rebecca, Ruthie, Ezra, and Elie, all of whom are veterans of the Israeli Defense Forces; Weinberger can be reached at weinross@gmail.com.

The Jewish Press | October 27, 2023 | 5

Expectations vs.

Reality

News LOCA L | N ATION AL | WO RLD

Beth El Synagogue welcomes Joel Chasnoff ALEXIS OCHSNER JCC Dance Training Company Member This trip was such an eye-opening experience for me and really changed our perspectives on how living in another country works. Going into this trip I had these ideas on exactly how Israel was going to be: fun classes, new friends, beautiful cities to see. My view changed so much the moment I stepped into the kibbutz. While we did travel to places like Jerusalem and Akko on our weekends, we spent the majority of the time on a kibbutz for dancers. I was expecting it to be like a neighborhood and that it was normal to go out to get things like groceries and other things. Instead, people in the kibbutz have everything they need there. My friends and I would go to buy ice cream at the local market or swim at the pool all on the kibbutz. It was so beautiful to walk everywhere through all the nature blooming around.

I came into these classes expecting everyone to be exactly like me, although I am not sure why. For most dancers, they all lived in Israel and their first language was Hebrew. Talking with them I got to learn about what their hobbies and lives are like. I learned that walking and buses were very common modes of transportation unlike here, where we all use cars.

Going to Israel changed all of our viewpoints of how life and culture works there. When we traveled outside of the kibbutz you could see all the different kinds of people and religions. Every now and then you could hear the songs calling Muslims to prayer. Our experience was so unique to be able to immerse ourselves in a new country changed all of our views on how their culture works.

Going on this trip truly opened my eyes. Thank you to the following funders that made this trip possible for all of us, the Albert and Eleanor Feldman Family Israel Foundation, the Staenberg Family Foundation, the Kiewit Companies Foundation, the Foundation Grants Committee, and the Special Donor-Advised Fund.

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pleasure of seeing Joel perform in Florida as well as, several HAZZAN MICHAEL KRAUSMAN For the past few years, we have dedicated a Shabbat to pro- years ago, right here at Beth El – I must say he never fails to viding an Israel Cultural Experience to our Beth El and greater engage and delight those in attendance. To see some of Joel’s Omaha community. This year I am very excited to let you know comedy, please visit his YouTube channel. https:// that we are bringing in a stand-up comewww.youtube.com/@joelchasnoff. dian, former IDF soldier, and author of Joel first came to Omaha in April 2013 multiple non-fiction books; Joel Chasnoff. when he was featured in our Youth ScholJoel Chasnoff made Aliya many years arship Concert: A Comedian, A Choir and ago and now lives in Israel with his wife A Cantor. When I asked Joel why he was and young family. Currently, Joel is tourexcited about coming to Beth El, he ing North America with Israel 75 Live, a replied, “I’m thrilled to return to Omaha. celebration of all things Israel that inI’ve always felt Omaha is one of the bestcludes comedy, text study, and meaningkept secrets in America -- good people, afful conversation about the biggest issues fordable, a medium-sized city with a facing Israel today. The catalyst for this small-town feel. And Jews who laugh at my tour is the release of his new book, Israel jokes, which, obviously, is most important.”

201. According to Joel’s website, “In Israel “My hope is that over the course of the 201 Joel and co-author Benji Lovitt pull weekend, people will gain a deeper appreback the curtain to show you a more ciation of just how miraculous and chaotic comprehensive portrait of Israeli society Israel is. I’d love it if people come away beyond the typical 101 basics.” Sarah Tutwith just as many questions as answers.” tle-Singer, author of Jerusalem Drawn and Our Israel Cultural Experience WeekJoel Chasnoff Quartered describes this book as “a end is made possible in part by a genercharming relatable and poignant take on the joys and ous grant from the Albert and Eleanor Feldman Family Israel mishegoss of life in Israel. Israel 201 is a must-read.” Besides Foundation. Other sponsors include Gary D. and Lisa Epstein, being an author and scholar of Israeli language and culture, Gary Javitch, and an anonymous, dedicated member of the Chasnoff is known as a hilarious comedian who deftly has his Beth El family. The Shabbat luncheon program is presented finger on the pulse of Jewish and Israeli culture. in kind collaboration with the Schwalb Center at UNO under This year’s Israel Cultural Experience will take place Nov. the directorship of Professor Jeannette Gabriel. Thanks to the 3-5. On Nov. 3, Joel will speak at our popular Six String Shab- generosity of these wonderful sponsors, the weekend is free bat Friday night services at 6 p.m., where his topic will be of charge to anyone who wishes to attend.

Being Jewish in a Jewish State. On Nov. 4, Joel will speak at KidAnyone who has a deep commitment and love for Israel, is dush lunch following our 10 a.m. Shabbat morning service. interested in Israeli society or just enjoys some fantastic comJoin us as Joel delves into another of his passions, the Hebrew edy, will benefit greatly by participating in any or all of the language, in a discussion entitled Hebrew is Magic. After Shab- components of what promises to be a unique and uplifting bat at 6:45 p.m., Joel will present Living in the Land of Milk experience. and Funny, an evening of delightful, family-appropriate comThis event was planned long before the crisis in Israel, edy. A teen leadership program for our synagogue youth is also which will undoubtedly impact the tone of each of Joel’s sesbeing planned for Sunday morning. sions throughout the weekend. Now more than ever, it is vital I first got to know Joel Chasnoff and his wonderful family at to strengthen our bonds with the people of Israel by becoming a family camp experience that took place at Camp Ramah more familiar with its language and culture. For more inforDarom in the mountains of Georgia. Joel was our scholar-in- mation about this exciting, meaningful and necessary Israel residence for this encampment. Not only did he share his hi- Cultural Experience, please visit our synagogue website, larious comedy, but Joel also revealed what a wonderful www.bethel-omaha.org. Visit Joel’s website at https:// teacher he is through his comedy workshops. I also had the www.joelchasnoff.com.

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6 | The Jewish Press | January 1, 2023

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

Recent additions to the Kripke-Veret Collection

SHIRLY BANNER JFO Library Specialist YOUNG ADULT: Camp QUILTBAG by Nicole Melleby and A.J. Sass Twelve-year-old Abigail (she/her/hers) is so excited to spend her summer at Camp QUILTBAG, an inclusive retreat for queer and trans kids. She can’t wait to find a community where she can be herself—and, she hopes, admit her crush on that one hot older actress to kids who will understand.

Thirteen-year-old Kai (e/em/eir) is not as excited. E just wants to hang out with eir best friend and eir parkour team. And e definitely does not want to think about the incident that left eir arm in a sling—the incident that also made Kai’s parents determined to send em somewhere e can feel like emself.

After a bit of a rocky start at camp, Abigail and Kai make a pact: If Kai helps Abigail make new friends, Abigail will help Kai’s cabin with the allcamp competition. But as they navigate a summer full of crushes, queer identity exploration, and more, they learn what’s really important.

Camp QUILTBAG is a heartfelt story full of the joy that comes from being and loving yourself.

ADULT: The Enemy Beside Me by Naomi Ragen Taking over from her father and grandfather as the head of the Survivor’s Campaign, an organization whose purpose is to bring Nazi war criminals to justice, Milia Gottstein has dedicated her life to making sure the voices of Holocaust victims will never be silenced. It is an overwhelming and heartbreaking mission that has often usurped her time and energy being a wife to busy surgeon Julius, and a mother and

grandmother. But now, just as she is finally ready to pass on her work to others, making time for her personal life, an unexpected phone call suddenly explodes all she thought she knew about her present and her future.

In the midst of this personal turmoil, Milia receives an invitation to be the keynote speaker at a Holocaust conference in Lithuania from Dr. Darius Vidas, the free spirited, rebellious conference head. Despite suspecting his motives―she is, after all, viewed as a ‘public enemy’ in that country for her efforts to have them try war criminals and admit their historic responsibility for annihilating almost their entire Jewish community, including her own family―she nevertheless accepts, having developed a secret agenda of her own. But as Milia and Darius begin their mission, shared experiences profoundly alter their relationship, replacing antagonism and suspicion with a growing intimacy. However, this only ramps up the hostile forces facing them, threatening their families, livelihoods,

HANUKKAH

Life and Legacy Notes: Janie Kulakofsky

and reputations, and forcing them into shocking choices that will betray all they have achieved and all that has grown between them.

Kissing Kosher: A Novel by Jean Meltzer Step 1: Get the secret recipe. Step 2: Don’t fall in love...

Avital Cohen isn’t wearing underpants—woefully, for unsexy reasons. Chronic pelvic pain has forced her to sideline her photography dreams and her love life. It’s all she can do to manage her family’s kosher bakery, Best Babka in Brooklyn, without collapsing.

She needs hired help.

And distractingly handsome Ethan Lippmann seems the perfect fit.

Except Ethan isn’t there to work—he’s undercover, at the behest of his ironfisted grandfather.

Though Lippmann’s is a household name when it comes to mass-produced kosher baked goods, they don’t have the charm of Avital’s bakery. Or her grandfather’s worldfamous pumpkin spice babka recipe.

As they bake side by side, Ethan soon finds himself more interested in Avital than in stealing family secrets, especially as he helps her find the chronic pain relief—and pleasure— she’s been missing.

But perfecting the recipe for romance calls for leaving out the lies... even if coming clean means risking everything.

EARLY BIRD PRICE

STACIE METZ JFO Foundation Program and Stewardship Administrator I come from a long line of Jewish immigrants who came to Omaha and Council Bluffs in the 1890’s. They set up businesses and founded synagogues. All my grandparents were very active in the Jewish community, holding offices on synagogue boards. I loved going to the old Beth El on 49th for Shabbat services. I give because it was instilled in me to participate in holding our community together.

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Winter’s Coming!

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DID YOU KNOW... that with a Heating and Cooling Service Agreement, you can save 15% on parts and receive 24-hour emergency service with never an overtime charge. Spring and Fall check-ups included for only $149 + tax for a whole year.

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SNOWBIRDS Publishing date | 11.24.23 Space reservation | 10.31.23 Contact our advertising executive to promote your business in this very special edition.

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The Jewish Press | October 27, 2023 | 7

Temple Israel Above: Congregants working on the annual Food Drive for Food Bank of the Heartland on Yom Kippur, right: The clergy team leading our Tot Service on Yom Kippur and below: Bring Your Own Lunch with the Clergy in the Sukkah on Oct. 5.

SP O TLIGHT

GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY

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

Top, above, below and bottom: RBJH Residents wanted to give back to the staff for all they do by making goody bags. The Residents highlighted the dietary staff for all their extra hours - Helen Sweet, Resident Council President, presented James Casper, Lead Chef, and Catering Coordinator, with a basket for the dietary staff. Other lucky staff enjoyed the treats as well.

Left, above and below: RBJH Residents and staff enthusiastically dressed for the Annual PINK OUT Day for breast cancer awareness.

Below and right: PJ Library’s Challah Tots gathered with their parents and grandparents at Friedel Jewish Academy for challah braiding on Thursday, Oct. 12. While the challah baked, the children listened to a story about kindness and manners.

The next Challah Tots with Friedel will be in the spring.

8 | The Jewish Press | October 27, 2023

Voices

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Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole.

Israel needs your help ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor There are multiple narratives fighting for our attention these days. There is the first and most overwhelming one: how we process, and stand up in the face of atrocities that are unimaginable, and yet very real. Second, what can we actually do? Living in the diaspora has never been this challenging.

When we find ourselves alone with our thoughts, we don’t know how to feel. In spite of what we tell ourselves, we do not have a playbook for this. Never Again, it’s now. And so we take it one crumbling, messy day at a time and stumble more than we care to admit.

There is the narrative that blames Israel and the Jews for everything, and does so gleefully. There is the narrative that co-opts G-d as a vengeful ruler, who will certainly wreak havoc on the enemies of Israel. Over the past weeks, I have seen more Christians vouch that Jesus will save us than I ever thought possible. Then, there are the surprises: non-Jews, who get it, Jews, who don’t.

Like many of you, I have been online non-stop. I know, there is a lot of well-meant advice about shutting off the endless news stream for our mental health, but I just can’t do it. I cannot only pay attention to the happy stories, only think of Israel as a beautiful place where I’ve gone on amazing trips, made lovely friends and eaten great food. Israel goes far beyond singing at the Kotel, attending lectures and celebrating Havdalah on the Aish building roof. It’s more than wandering around Tsfaad, fangirling over the street art in Tel Aviv, the hustle

and bustle of a post-Shabbat Saturday night party our emergency campaign goal because of the fluid in the streets of Jerusalem. Israel is all those things, nature of the situation, but the needs are huge and but that is not all it is. Right now, she is in pain, and growing. Our support is needed and we are asking we must pay attention and not look away. This is for our community to step up and support Israel at how we stay connected- we do not turn our heads. this important time.

That does not mean giving oxygen to those who Please know that 100% of donations made to the hate Israel and support terrorists. It means quite often not reading the comment section.

It means not watching videos of kidnapped Israelis, it means not being shy about blocking accounts that upset you. It means engaging with your friends, not your enemies. And those who spread false- People protest for the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza, hoods and cheer on outside the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv. Oct. 15, 2023. Credit: Yossi Zamir/Flash90 Hamas, are our enemies.

Jewish Federation’s Israel Emergency Needs Fund It is more important than ever that we stick to- goes to support immediate and short term needs, gether, and yes, we can do that first and foremost including immediate humanitarian needs, evacuby opening our wallets. ation, housing, respite, and support for frontline In Jewish Omaha, we began collecting 48 hours communities, trauma relief and psychosocial care, after the initial Hamas attacks on October 7. While emergency medical services and healthcare, and locally we have brought in $500,000, it is not targeted assistance to vulnerable populations. enough. The Jewish Federation of North America’s There are no administrative fees or other fees deoverall goal is $500 million, and we must do our ducted from the donations. To donate, please visit part. We realize there is perhaps lack of clarity on www.jewishomaha.org today.

The Hamas attack wasn’t the Holocaust. But it must be understood.

YEHUDA KURTZER JTA When unspeakable tragedy hits the Jewish people, we turn to memory — we ask not just, “what happened?” We also ask: “What does this remind us of?”

Maybe refusing to heal from the tragedies of the past is pathological; maybe we are holding on too tight. Maybe it is epigenetic. Mostly, however, I see it as a coping mechanism developed over time, an interpretive strategy we use both to preserve our past and to create continuity. It makes it possible for a persecuted people to promise themselves they will survive whatever they face in the moment.

“Never forget” is not merely a slogan to preserve the past; it is also a means of trying to ensure a future.

And, sometimes, I think that our insistence on seeing the past reawakened in the present is a right that we have earned in blood. We are entitled to use our suffering however we would like, and if we find it helpful to keep it close, to use it as a means of understanding and thus surviving the present, we can and should do so.

Throughout the last week, Jews have responded to the violent atrocities in Israel by analogizing Hamas’ horrific attacks to stories seared in our memories. I am sure you heard at least one version of the statistic that on Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas carried out the deadliest one-day attack on Jews since the Holocaust. The more liturgically oriented are reading from the biblical books of Lamentations and Job. Some have described the burned bodies strewn across southern Israel with the single word “pogrom,” evoking the sorrows of the Eastern European Jewish experience.

Throughout the week, I felt and I continue to feel that it is our right to see this story through the prism of our particularistic collective experience.

Gideon Hausner, the prosecutor at Adolf Eichmann’s trial, called this “a historical principle stretching from Pharaoh to Haman.”

Jewish tradition reserves the name “Amalek” for the worst of our enemies, suggesting that they share a lineage back to the biblical Amalekites whose unforgivable sin was to attack the Israelites from the rear, picking off the most vulnerable, refusing to spare the weakest and most weary. I do not need Hamas to be Amalek; our post-biblical sages tell us not to draw straight lines when it comes to connecting the

dots between the historical Amalekites and contemporary villains. But the callous murder of infants, the snatching of Holocaust survivors, the vicious murder of young people dancing, all of this is Amalekite behavior. This theological vocabulary allows us to name and understand the depths of the depravity we are facing, and then to marshal our resolve to face it for what it is. Our Jewish souls demand it.

Left: A woman mourns by coffins of the Jews who died in the Kielce pogrom, Poland, July 6, 1946.

Credit: US Holocaust Memorial Museum; right: Forensic staff at makeshift morgue in Ramla, Israel attend the bodies of Israeli citizens killed by Hamas terrorists, Oct. 13, 2023. Credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images

I know that this sort of rhetoric is loaded and risky.

I am writing this now precisely because I am seeing pushback online against it, suggestions that comparing this week’s events to the Holocaust distort the political realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or create permission for Israel to attack Gaza without constraint. My colleague, historian James Loeffler, cautions that constant analogies of present politics to history can become “willful weaponizations” to be used towards political ends. I’ve also written about these risks, which I worry about in particular when memory is marshaled for the sake of partisan politics. The greatest risk may be the temptation to weaponize our trauma by acting violently toward others. After all, after many of the tragedies of the Jewish past, the Jewish people had little of the power and military resources that Israel has today to respond in kind to our oppressors.

The vocabulary of the Jewish past is rich and evocative, and there is always risk that it will be misused, that it will be mapped inappropriately in light of the agency we now wield.

But sometimes, we need to take these risks.

Sometimes, being a Jew in the world requires sustaining a relationship between our past, our present and our future. We are bidden to live in the present and feel burdened by the past. I want us right now to forgive our imperfect analogies, to lean into the instinct. I refuse to let anyone deprive us of the few interpretive tools we must make sense of what has befallen us. The fact that there was more talk on X about the prospect of Israel committing “genocide” in a military campaign that hadn’t started, than about the actual atrocities committed by Hamas which started this war, is an example of antisemitic gaslighting. The bodies lie before us, and we are bereft; will our memory be taken from us, too?

And I also feel that it is entirely possible to turn to these stories and to assert our own humanity without also dehumanizing the other. There are safeguards in place to help us. The State of Israel holds itself to the moral standards of modern warfare and its rule of law, and it knows it must — as in the stunted career of Gen. Ofer Winter, passed over for promotion because he cast the fight against Hamas as a “holy war” constrain the application of theological paradigms to the practice of warcraft.

The IDF knows the difference between error and intent in the killing of civilians in wartime, and it abides to the principles of proportionality. We can trust ourselves to do this, more than we think.

More importantly, however, our victimhood has also been and can be a catalyst for our own self-reflection and growth. A small number of Jews have and always will turn outwards and turn their rage into fantasies for revenge. These people need to be stopped.

Most of us know, however, that the lachrymosity of our history has been material for the refinement of our moral sensibilities. The traumatic memories of our ancestors that we carry in our stories fuels our prayers and shapes our moral imagination.

As we mourn this week — a Jewish people missing their children and forced to send others into battle, a Jewish people whose clothes are rent and whose faces are wet with tears, a nation that cannot sleep, we must allow ourselves the right to comfort ourselves with the bitter salve that our people has seen pieces of this story before.

Yehuda Kurtzer is president of the Shalom Hartman Institute.

The Jewish Press | October 27, 2023 | 9

Time to choose I DON’T DO POLITICS...

I don’t write much about geo-political issues, even regarding Israel. Although I am both American and Israeli, I usually find these things too divisive to discuss. When I was a congregational rabbi, it made more sense to speak publicly. However, since I left that world and now am a logotherapist, guiding people of all faiths, nationali- BARUCH HALEVI ties, and political affiliations to discover Guest Editorial meaning and cultivate resilience, it usually isn’t wise or prudent to discuss these topics.

Today is different.

This is not about politics.

This is not about geo-political issues.

This is not about Israel, Palestine, or Middle East peace.

This is about morality.

This is about justice.

This is about right and wrong, good and evil, and truth.

Still, as big as all of these issues might be, it’s quite simple in the end. It’s about a boy draped in the Palestinian flag. And it’s about you, too.

THIS PAST WEEKEND...

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve heard what has transpired in Israel by now. The question isn’t whether you’ve heard of it but whether you’ve heard the truth or, for some, heard what you wanted to hear.

Why do I say that?

Suppose you were simply to gauge the “pro-Palestinian” rallies in cities like NYC, LA, Denver, and Chicago... over the weekend. In that case, you’d think this is “just another” of those Israeli-Palestinian back and forths.

If you were to read the Tweets of any of the “The Squad” – Democrat Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib in particular, you would have assumed the two sides were simply at it again. In the words of AOC, it’s the “cycle of violence,” or as Representative Bush wrote, “We must do our part to stop this violence and trauma by ending U.S. government support for Israeli military occupation and apartheid.” Just another day of Israeli “apartheid” and U.S.-sponsored “oppression,” and what happened this time is again on you Americans and Israeli Jews – it’s your fault!

Or if you went to Denver East High School the day after the attacks, like my daughter, and found yourself in her 10th-grade classroom, you would have been greeted by a student wearing a Palestinian flag. No, he’s not Palestinian. No, he doesn’t know what’s going on. He just saw what he wanted to see – the poor Palestinian people and their elected leaders, Hamas, are doing what they have to do to achieve peace. He wore that flag as you and I might wear a jersey, rooting for the “underdog,” cheering his team on.

THIS ISN’T THAT...

Yes, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is complicated, nuanced, and rarely black and white. Yes, there are two sides to the argument. No, historically, neither side is entirely to blame or blameless for that matter. Yes, the saga is too complex even for so-called experts to solve. You are not alone in feeling overwhelmed by the ongoing conflict or confused by the complexities of it all. Yes, under normal circumstances, as much as I disagree with it, the “two-side-ism” argument can be made, and there should be a discussion.

This, however, is not that time.

There is nothing “normal” about this event.

This one isn’t complicated.

This time, it is one-sided only.

This time, you can not straddle both sides, claim moral middle ground, or plead ignorance unless you mean “willful ignorance.” This time, the world has to make a choice, and you’ll have to make a choice. And make no mistake about it, as the Talmud teaches, “silence is consent.” Not to choose is a choice; before you make that choice, at least read some of the facts.

THE WORST DAY FOR JEWS SINCE THE HOLOCAUST...

In nearly every way imaginable, Hamas’s attack was indefensible, inhumane, and absolutely for one purpose and one purpose only: to exterminate Jews.

• Hamas, the appointed government of the Palestinian people, waged an unprovoked war on Israel.

• Hamas, also a terrorist organization, carried out attacks to strike terror in the hearts of Israelis, innocent Israeli citizens and some of the most vulnerable: the elderly, infirmed families, children, and infants.

• Hamas violated international law, military codes of conduct, religious morality, fundamental ethics, human rights, and decency.

• Hamas hunted down families in their homes, slaughtering men, women, and children in their beds, at their breakfast tables, or on their way to synagogue.

• Hamas stormed a music festival, throwing grenades into the crowd, opening fire, and mowing down teens and twentysomethings who, moments before, were rejoicing amidst the

celebration of Simchat Torah, supposedly the most joyous Jewish holy day of the year.

• Hamas dragged women by the hair, cut their throats, and carted their naked bodies off to be desecrated in the Gaza Strip.

• Hamas chased those who ran, running them down with vehicles or shooting them like Nazi death squads, stomping on their faces and chopping off their heads.

• Hamas murdered a pregnant woman, dismembered her body, and lay her fetus, still connected to its mother by the umbilical cord, next to her corpse.

• Hamas set fire to homes, either burning Jews alive, as they did to an elderly Holocaust survivor, or forcing them to flee, running out the front door into machine gun fire, images which are all too reminiscent of that Holocaust this victim survived.

• Hamas brutally murdered 40 babies at a Kibbutz and then decapitated them and desecrated their little bodies.

• Hamas raped wives in front of husbands, dismembered fathers in front of children, and ripped babies from their mother’s arms, kidnapping them and a hundred other babies, toddlers, children, the elderly, the handicapped, and everyone in between.

• As of writing this, hundreds of men, women, and children are being held captive in Gaza in cages, raped, tortured and humiliated. Let’s be honest. These aren’t concentration camps, as they’ve been called. They are death camps, as none of these victims will make it home alive.

To drive the barbarity of it all home, Palestinian parents passed out candy to their children, celebrating this victory by yelling “Hu Allah Akabar.” They surrounded a 10-year-old Jewish boy, not giving him candy, just cursing, kicking, and terrorizing him, probably before they dismember him. Hu Allah Akbar. Isn’t God great?

TIME TO CHOOSE SIDES...

This isn’t my opinion. This isn’t speculation. Everything above has been recorded, not by Israelis but by the perpetrators. They recorded their savagery. What kind of human being perpetuates such acts, let alone record them?

But that’s the point. Representatives Cortez, Omar, Bush, and all who voted for them hear this...

All you Times Square Hamas supporters, stop and take note...

And to the boy wearing that flag, sending a message loud and clear to the Jewish students sitting around him, ask yourself this...

Is this what you believe? Is this what you endorse? Is this what you support?

If it isn’t, then make a different choice. But if it is, then the rest of us need to stop equivocating and qualifying your intentions. It’s time for us to take you at your word. After all, Hamas may be many things, but they are not liars. They simply did what they said they would do: “The Day of Judgement will not come about,” says the Hamas founding charter, “until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew hides behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.”

They said they wanted dead Jews. They meant they wanted dead Jews. And now the world has roughly a thousand more dead Jews, thousands more wounded, and nearly a hundred and fifty Jewish elderly, women, and children being violated in the most heinous ways.

Those who perpetrated it, those who support it, those who condone it, those who qualified it, those who continue to justify it, or those who sit in silence, unwilling to make a stand and choose sides – then it’s time for us to believe you too.

In the words of my teacher and mentor, Dr. Viktor Frankl, “There are only two races of men in this world, but only these two — the “race” of the decent man and the “race” of the indecent man.”

It’s time to make a choice, and not to choose is a choice.

It’s time to pick a side.

It’s time to take a stand.

The moral lines have been drawn. The battle between good and evil, and right and wrong is at hand.

Do you stand with the decent or the indecent?

Today, before you walk out into the world, join a protest, make an online comment, or walk into a classroom, ask yourself: Which flag am I going to don?

And for the rest of us, it’s time to believe you when you choose to put it on. You want dead Jews and you want Israel, the one and only Jewish homeland, gone.

How do we sing psalms of praise when our hearts are breaking?

VANESSA OCHS This story was originally published on My Jewish Learning.| JTA On Saturday morning, most of the congregants who gathered in my synagogue in Charlottesville, Virginia, had already learned of the horrors unfolding in Israel. How few details we had at that point. I suspect I may not have been the only one clinging, as one does, to a desperate hope that we were in a collective dream from which we would all soon be awakened.

Rabbi Tom Gutherz was leading the morning services. He was the rabbi who had held our community together during and after the 2017 Unite the Right rally, when white supremacists carrying Nazi and Confederate flags chanted “Jewish will not replace us” as they streamed past the synagogue. Rabbi Tom once lived at Kibbutz Gezer in Israel. His daughter lives in Israel now. So we knew his heart was especially filled with concern, especially for those who were still not accounted for. His voice and his facial expression conveyed both distress and perplexity as he announced that, because it was not just Shabbat in Israel but the holiday of Shemini Atzeret (and Simchat Torah in Israel), the six psalms of Hallel would be recited.

On any other holiday, this is a joyous and celebratory segment of the liturgy. The psalms are set to upbeat sing-along tunes which invoke festivity, lavish praise on God and express gratitude for miraculous triumphs. Rabbi Tom suggested that we mostly recite the psalms, and those we did sing we would do so in a somber and reflective mode. He also encouraged us to allow any words or themes that had special resonance for us that morning to arise in our minds.

This was surely going to be an exercise in aggravated cognitive dissonance, I thought. After a lifetime of reciting Hallel, I was sure its words could provide neither consolation nor strength, neither hope nor courage. And if we were honest about our feelings at that particular moment, it would only be with irony that we could proclaim: “Praise the Eternal, for God is good! God’s love endures forever. Let Israel declare, ‘God’s love endures forever.’”

And then I looked down at the words. Really looked at them.

Or perhaps I did exactly what my rabbi suggested and allowed them to arise within me. And I realized, phrase by phrase, that while I understood exactly what the words meant, I had never really noticed what they were saying. After so many years of bouncily singing them, doing my part to contribute to the festive mood, these words had lost their meaning.

This is an experience many of us have had when a challenging experience leads us to see our sacred texts in a way

that makes them seem as if they had been written just for us, just for our deepest needs on this particular day. And that’s what happened to me last Shabbat, as Hallel seemed to have been written not just for us in Charlottesville, but for all of Israel, for the whole world.

Jumping out was this verse, my companion for all matters, from small to enormous, that worry me: Min ha-meitzar karati Yah: “In my distress I called out to you Yah/God. You answered me and brought me relief.” And this one, which panged at my heart: “Grievous in the sight of God is the death of God’s faithful.”

This past Shabbat was not the first time that the celebratory words of Hallel felt inconsistent with the mood of the moment. In recent days, as I have searched for prayers I could recite alone, I discovered a liturgy inspired by Hallel written specifically for a different moment of distress, one created to help navigate a complexity of emotions and reactions. It was created before Passover during the pandemic, when Hallel would be sung over Zoom or at socially distanced seders. The composer was the American-Israeli liturgist Alden Solovey, who was inspired to create a full alternative Hallel for a moment when it seemed impossible to recite joyful prayers with a full heart. Initially titled “Hallel in a Minor Key,” Solovy retitled it “Hallel In Peril” this past summer, when so many Israelis were gathering in weekly demonstrations to protest judicial reforms.

How readily Solovy’s Hallel speaks to this time, expressing our distress and our yearning to hang on to hope. I offer an excerpt here: Praise God from the heights of rejoicing Praise God from the depths of despair.

Praise God from the places between…

We sing praises in a minor key, The key of heartbreak, With tropes of lamentation, But still praises, For beauty has not been lost And hope has not been defeated, And love still shines, A beacon of tomorrow.

(Alden Solovy 2021) Vanessa Ochs is professor of Religious Studies at University of Virginia.

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

Synagogues

10 | The Jewish Press | October 27, 2023

B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

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BETH EL SYNAGOGUE

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BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

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

CHABAD HOUSE

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

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: B’NAI JESHURUN South Street Temple Union for Reform Judaism 2061 South 20th Street Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 402.435.8004 www.southstreettemple.org

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

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: TIFERETH ISRAEL Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Boulevard Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 402.423.8569 tiferethisraellincoln.org

B’NAI ISRAEL Monthly Speaker Series Service, Friday, Nov. 10, 7:30 p.m. with guest speaker. Our service leader is Larry Blass. Everyone is always welcome at B’nai Israel!

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

Handicap Accessible.

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

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

FRIDAY: Gesher Kinnus (Grades 6-8) at Beth El; Nebraska AIDS Project Lunch, 11:30 a.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Gesher Kinnus (Grades 6-8) at Beth El; Shabbat Morning Service, 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Havdalah, 7 p.m. Zoom Only.

SUNDAY: BESTT (Grades K-7), 9:30 a.m.; Hebrew Reading for Adults, 10:30 a.m. with Hazzan; Adult B’nai Mitzvah, 11:15 a.m. with Hazzan; Dinner at Stephen Center, 5 p.m.

TUESDAY: Pirkei Avot, 10:30 a.m. with Rabbi Abraham.

WEDNESDAY: BESTT (Grades 3-7), 4:15 p.m.; Hebrew High (Grades 8-12), 6 p.m.; Cantor’s Concert for Israel, 7 p.m. with Cantor Alexander and Hazzan Krausman at Beth El. THURSDAY: PJP Presents Dr. Yaniv Feller, 7:30 p.m.

Zoom Only.

FRIDAY-Nov. 3: Six String Shabbat with Scholar-inResidence Joel Chasnoff, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY-Nov. 4: Shabbat Morning Service, 10 a.m. followed by Lunch and Learn with Joel Chasnoff at Beth El & Live Stream; Junior Congregation (Grades K-12), 10 a.m.; Havdalah and Comedy Show with Joel Chasnoff, 6:45 p.m.

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

BETH ISRAEL FRIDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat/Candlelighting, 6:08 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Bar Mitzvah of Adam Stein; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:30 a.m.; Youth Class, 10:45 a.m.; Shtiegers, 4:06 p.m. at the Geigers; Tehillim Youth Class, 4:20 p.m. with Rabbi Tal; Soulful Torah: Unpacking the Or HaChayim’s Teachings, 5:05 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity, 6:30 p.m.; Havdalah, 7:08 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6:10 p.m.

MONDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Monday Mind Builders, 4 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6:10 p.m.

TUESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6:10 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 6:10 p.m.

THURSDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Character Development, 9:30 a.m.; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 6:10 p.m.; Parsha Class, 6:20 p.m.

FRIDAY-Nov. 3: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat/Candlelighting, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY-Nov. 4: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:30 a.m.; Youth Class, 10:45 a.m.; Shtiegers, 3:57 p.m. at the Geigers; Tehillim Youth Class, 4:11 p.m. with Rabbi Tal; Soulful Torah: Unpacking the Or HaChayim’s Teachings, 4:56 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 5:50 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/ Kids Activity, 6:20 p.m.; Havdalah, 7 p.m.

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

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

FRIDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 5:45 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ochabad.com/ Lechayim; Candlelighting, 6:08 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 7:06 p.m.

SUNDAY: Sunday Morning Wraps: Shacharit, 99:30 a.m., Video Presentation, 9:30 a.m. and Breakfast, 9:45 a.m.

MONDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Personal Parsha, 9:30 a.m.

TUESDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Mystical Thinking (Tanya), 9:30 a.m.

THURSDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Talmud Study (Sanhedrin 34), noon; Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) Class, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY-Nov. 3: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 5:45 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ocha bad.com/Lechayim; Candlelighting, 5:59 p.m.

SATURDAY-Nov. 4: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m. followed

by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 6:58 p.m.

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: B’NAI JESHURUN & TIFERETH ISRAEL

SST; Shabbat Candlelighting, 6:11 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. at TI; Torah Study, noon; Havdalah, 7:10 p.m.

SUNDAY: Garden Workday, 8:30-10 a.m.; LJCS Classes, 9:30 a.m.; Men’s Bike/Coffee Group meet, 10:45 a.m. at The Mill on the Innovation Campus. We sit outside, facing east. For more information or questions please email Al Weiss at albertw801@gmail. com; Pickleball, 3-5 p.m. Anyone interested in playing or learning how to play can text Miriam at 402.470.2393.

TUESDAY: Synaogue Offices Closed.

WEDNESDAY: LJCS Hebrew School, 4:30 p.m.; Adult Ed Movie Night: Live and Become, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at SST. FRIDAY-Nov. 3: Erev Shabbat Service, 6:30 p.m. at SST; Shabbat Candlelighting, 6:02 p.m.

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ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME

The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home’s service is currently closed to visitors.

TEMPLE ISRAEL

In-person and virtual services conducted by Rabbi Benjamin Sharff, Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin, and Cantor Joanna Alexander FRIDAY: Drop in Mah Jongg, 9-11 a.m. In-Person; Shabbat B’yachad Service, 6 p.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SATURDAY: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. In-Person & Zoom; Shabbat Morning Service and Bar Mitzvah of Taylor Tauber, 10:30 a.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SUNDAY: Grades PreK-7, 9:30 a.m.; Teen Program for Grades 8-12, 12:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Yarn It, 9 a.m. In-Person.; Grades 36, 4:30-6 p.m.; Grades 8-12, 6-8 p.m. at Beth El; Cantor’s Concert: Songs of Mourning, Healing and Solidarity for Israel, 7 p.m. at Beth El. THURSDAY: Conversations in Difficult Times, 10 a.m. with Rabbi Azriel via Zoom.

FRIDAY-Nov. 3: Drop in Mah Jongg, 9-11 a.m. InPerson; Shabbat Shira Service with Bar Mitzvah Blessing for Leo Poulos, 6 p.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SATURDAY-Nov. 4: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. In-Person & Zoom.

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

Services facilitated by Rabbi Alex Felch.

All services offered in-person with live-stream or teleconferencing options.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat Service, 6:30 p.m. at

Wilco singer Jeff Tweedy offers Jewish prayer for healing amid Israel-Hamas war SHIRA LI BARTOV JTA The Israel-Hamas war has elicited a chorus of celebrity responses, from Bono’s in-concert callout to Pete Davidson’s somber monologue on Saturday Night Live. Now one Grammy-winning songwriter and his wife have offered a Hebrew prayer for healing.

Susan Tweedy posted a video to Instagram on Oct. 10 of her husband Jeff Tweedy, frontman of the beloved rock band Wilco since 1994, strumming his guitar in his yard as his sons sing Mi Shebeirach.

The Jewish prayer for physical and spiritual healing was popularized as a folk tune by Jewish musician Debbie Friedman, who wrote her Hebrew-English version in 1987 as the AIDS crisis ravaged gay communities.

In the video, which Susan noted in a comment was recorded “a while ago,” 27-year-old Spencer Tweedy and 23-year-old Sammy Tweedy take vocals. The song asks for the blessing of r’fuah sh’leimah (complete healing) and the renewal of body, the renewal of spirit.

The most recent photo on Sammy’s Instagram page, posted Sept. 30, indicated that he was in Is-

rael. His Instagram bio suggests that he lives be- ceremony.

Tweedy has collaborated with his sons for years. tween Chicago and Tel Aviv.

Sammy has been vocal about the conflict on his In 2020, while the family quarantined together in account on X, the platform formerly known as Chicago, he released the solo album Love Is the King Twitter. On Oct. 14, he wrote: “Cutting anyone and everyone out of my life who supported or celebrated the attacks on Saturday, who mocks Jews in our time of pain. Your hatred deserves no place in our lives.”

Jeff Tweedy, whose wife is Jewish, converted to Judaism in 2013. At the time, Sammy was struggling to study for his bar mitzvah and begging to stay home from Hebrew school. So Jeff proposed a deal: They would attend temple every week together, and while Sammy worked on his Torah portion, his father would study to convert. “[I]t seemed to work. He ended up getting bar mitzvahed and I ended up converting,” Tweedy Jeff Tweedy plays Debbie Friedman’s Mi Shebeirach in told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2019. an undated video. Credit: Screenshot from Instagram The Wilco singer and guitarist, who has released over 20 studio albums through his various with contributions from Spencer and Sammy. The bands and projects, also sang at both of his sons’ trio also live-streamed their jam sessions at home bar mitzvahs. He even brought the legendary on Instagram, calling these evenings The Tweedy gospel singer Mavis Staples on stage for Sammy’s Show.

Life cycles

Empty strollers

PHILISSA CRAMER JTA Empty strollers in London and Shabbat tables with empty seats in at least half a dozen cities represent the latest efforts to bring attention to the hundreds of Israelis held hostage in Gaza since Oct. 7.

As of this writing, Hamas released two hostages, a mother and daughter who were American citizens, on Friday night.

Since then, the number known to be held hostage has risen, from 203 to 222. Dozens of the hostages are children, including several thought to be held alone after their families were murdered during Hamas’ attack on Israel.

Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, is flying with representatives of the families to New York City, where he is scheduled to speak at the United Nations on Tuesday. Among those traveling with him are Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, whose U.S.born son Hersh Goldberg-Polin was abducted from the site of the outdoor party where 260 people were killed.

Activists with the #BringThemHome movement — which aims to make sure the hostages are not forgotten as Israel strikes back against Hamas and leaders discuss humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza — have bought billboards in city centers and plastered public walls with “Kidnapped” posters showcasing the people known to be held hostage. In New York City, where the posters tend to be removed quickly, often by pro-Palestinian activists, a kosher barbecue company covered its food truck with them before a festival on the Upper West Side Sunday Oct. 22.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor, The media has frequently stated that there is nowhere for the Palestinians from Gaza to go to escape from the announced Israeli invasion. That is clearly wrong: They could go to Egypt if the Egyptians would open their border for true humanitarian reasons and provide these people with a safe haven as refugees. Let them take a lesson from Poland which has allowed over a million Ukrainian refugees into their country to escape the war there.

But this won’t happen as the Egyptians don’t want them. In fact, the Palestinians are not wanted by any of their Arab brethren as it is well recognized they would be a destabilizing source for any community.

So much for the concept of Arab pan-nationalism. The only glue that holds this concept together is the destruction of Israel and eradication of Jews from this part of the world.

Respectfully submitted, STEVEN J. WEES

BAR MITZVAH LEO POULOS Leo Poulos, son of Marti and George Poulos, celebrated his Bar Mitzvah on Thursday, June 15, 2023, in Jerusalem, Israel. He will be receiving a blessing on Friday, Nov. 3, 2023 at Temple Israel.

Leo is a seventh-grade student at Westside Middle School.

Leo enjoys playing drums, traveling, cars and spending time with friends and family.

For his mitzvah project, Leo volunteered at Jewish Family Services Food Pantry. He enjoyed conducting food drives to gather food and hygiene items to help anyone in need.

He has a brother, Evan Poulos.

Grandparents are Lois and Joel Finkel of Omaha, and Kathy and Dan Poulos of Council Bluffs, IA. TAYLOR TAUBER Taylor Tauber, son of Kari and Brandon Tauber, will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, at Temple Israel.

Taylor is a seventh-grade student at Westside Middle School.

Taylor enjoys playing tennis and basketball.

For his mitzvah project, Taylor cooked a complete dinner and baked desserts for residents of the Carolyn A Scott Rainbow House.

He has twin younger sisters, Tori and Halle Tauber.

Grandparents are Sandy and Paul Epstein of Omaha and Sue and Rhett Tauber of Highland, IN.

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12 | The Jewish Press | October 27, 2023

News LOC AL | N ATI O N A L | WO R L D

Former soccer star and other Israeli athletes are among those killed in Israel-Hamas war JACOB GURVIS JTA As Israel’s war with Hamas intensifies, all aspects of Israeli life have been affected — including sports. Games have been canceled in Israel’s professional basketball and soccer leagues.

International qualifying matches have been postponed.

But most tragically, the Israeli sports world is mourning the loss of a number of athletes who have died since the violence began on Saturday, Oct. 7.

Eden Nimri, a swimmer with international competition experience, was killed while fighting Hamas militants in the southern Israeli village of Nahal Oz. Nimri, who was 22, was a lieutenant in the Israeli Defense Forces and was commanding a drone unit.

Nimri represented Israel at the 2018 European Junior Open Water Swimming Championships, where she finished 30th. She also competed at the International School Sport Federation’s 2017 World Championships and at the 2014 Mediterranean Cup. “Eden was an amazing girl, a good friend, competitive, extremely hardworking, highly self-disciplined, worked hard, always aimed high, set goals and met them,” the Israel Swimming Association wrote on Instagram.

Former Israeli soccer star Lior Asulin was also among the more than 1,200 victims of the war. He was killed one day after his 43rd birthday while attending a music festival in southern Israel, where Hamas operatives gunned down 260 people and took many hostage.

Asulin played as a striker for numerous top Israeli teams during a professional career that spanned from 1997-2017, during which he tallied 176 goals. “The Hapoel Tel Aviv club bows its head and sends condolences and strength to Lior’s family at this difficult time,” one of his former clubs said in a statement.

The club announced that youth coach Alon Shamli was also

killed in the attacks.

In addition, the Israel Lacrosse Association announced that national team player Mor Cohen, 24, was found dead on Tuesday.

The organization and most of its players are based in Ashkelon, which is one of the Israeli cities closest to the Gaza Strip.

Cohen, who was one of the program’s first Israeli born players, had helped start a team in Tel Aviv and played for Israel’s under-19 team at the 2016 World Championship.

rael’s most successful soccer coaches, was also killed at the music festival near Kibbutz Reim. Naim, who was 22, had decided to attend the event at the last minute, according to her friends. As the violence broke out, Naim sought shelter in nearby Kibbutz Be’eri but was pursued and gunned down.

Sharaf coached Maccabi Haifa to three championships and

Mai Naim and her grandfather, Shlomo Sharaf. Courtesy Lior Asulin Credit: Via X

“A remarkable young man, Mor touched the lives of everyone he encountered,” Israel Lacrosse posted on Instagram. “He was a caring teammate and immensely committed to our lacrosse community. We extend our deepest condolences to his family during this difficult time and know that he will be dearly missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him.”

USA Lacrosse and the Premier Lacrosse League have each posted statements of support for Israel. “Our thoughts are with our friends at Israel Lacrosse during these difficult times,” read the USA Lacrosse statement, which mentioned Cohen by name.

Mai Naim, whose grandfather Shlomo Sharaf is one of Is-

was manager of Israel’s national soccer team from 1992-1999.

Israel’s national Football Association issued a statement: “In these sad, painful days, moments that the mind and soul find difficult to contain, we wish to offer our condolences to the families of those killed, wish the injured a speedy recovery and emphasize the commitment of the Football Association to take an active and central part in any assistance required and in any way possible to bring comfort to a wounded and pain-filled country.”

As the stories of Israel’s many victims and their families continue to emerge, athletes and teams in the United States and around the world have offered messages of support for Israel — including Israeli-American pitcher Dean Kremer and MLB star Alex Bregman.

HANUKKAH

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