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N OV E M B E R 3 , 2 02 3 | 1 9 CH E S H VA N 578 4 | VO L. 1 05 | NO. 3 | CANDLELIGHTING | FRIDAY, N OVEMBER 3, 5 : 5 8 P.M.
The morning of October 7
Eric Shapiro plans your Future GABBY BLAIR Jewish Press Staff Writer Eric Shapiro has been dedicated to helping others and to good planning all of his life. He grew up in Wayne, Nebraska, after moving there at age two. As a Boy Scout, he loved the idea that planning and preparedness could enable one to find success and fulfillment both in present moment tasks and in the future. “I remember one time I didn’t pack correctly for a multi-day hike. It rained, and my sleeping bag and clothes got soaked! It was miserable, and it was my fault for not planning ahead. Lesson learned!”
Three snapshots from the Home Front Page 3
Saying thanks Page 4 Nancy and Charlie Coren
NANCY COREN n the morning of Oct. 7th in Israel, I was in Maui, Hawaii, where it was the evening of Oct. 6th. The alarm on my phone for the red alert app sounded and it was at that moment I knew that Jerusalem, my home, was under attack from rockets sent by Hamas. It wasn’t until later that Shabbat that the news of the brutal massacre that took place in the South of Israel reached us. For the next several days, my phone pinged every time a rocket headed anywhere near places that my family members were living. This allowed me to call and check on my husband and grandson who frequented our safe room together
O Opportunity knocks: The Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation Page 6
waiting to re-emerge. Originally, I was to have a United Airlines flight home on the 15th but the flight out of Chicago to Tel Aviv was cancelled when United pulled its flights out of Israel. Fifteen airlines completely pulled their flights out of Tel Aviv. A neighbor in Jerusalem spoke to me and advised me to try to get an El Al flight if I hoped to get home. El Al was able to accommodate me with a flight leaving Newark on Oct. 19th. Other flights that El Al had been sponsoring between the eighth and 18th were full of combat soldiers, reservists, medical personnel, and security forces many of whom flew at no cost due to contributions made by See The morning of October 7 page 3
Carl Frohm Foundation: Thank you
REGULARS7 Spotlight Voices Synagogues
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DIANE WALKER JFO Foundation Fund & Scholarship Administrator You know, our mothers were right – it is important to mind our manners, to say excuse me, please, and thank you. Especially thank you. As The Foundation’s Fund and Scholarship Administrator, I have the opportunity to be on both sides of the thank you – I thank donors for establishing the endowment and grant funds that make scholarships possible, I thank the Financial Aid Committee for their time and efforts, I thank the families that trust the process and
The Essay Contest is one cause the Frohm Foundation has generously supported.
apply for support. I also receive thank yous from children, teens and families and from community members that see the process working. Rather than providing you with a list of funds that contribute to the Federation and The Foundation’s grant and scholarship efforts, I’m going to share some detail about one fund – just one of many, all uniquely special. Carl Frohm arrived in America in 1928 with little to his name. He and his brother came to Omaha from
Lithuania to join relatives. Carl started a business called Union Packing Company, Inc. Union Packing Company grew into the largest independently-held meat packing company in the United States. Frohm was a very religious man who lived conservatively. When he passed in 1976, he left in his will the Carl Frohm Foundation, a private foundation created to support Omaha Jewish causes such as our synagogues, the Federation, and its agencies. See Carl Frohm Foundation page 2
Eric Shapiro
Growing up in a small rural town instilled an inherent sense of community, and the importance of it, into Eric. “People knew and helped each other. People showed up to celebrate, mourn and support each other. It didn’t matter that we were the only Jewish family in town. We were part of the community and shared the same core values.” Additionally, the Shapiros belonged to a nearby Jewish community that helped to shape and strengthen Eric’s values and character through faith. “We would go to Sioux City for Shabbat and other Holidays; I spent a couple of summers at camp with my Jewish friends from all over the country. Growing up in two separate but strong communities really taught me that people are more alike than different and most have similar hopes, dreams and struggles. Character, integrity, and hard work matter; active involvement and proper planning are essential to success, whether for an individual, a family, a community or a town.” As a young adult, Eric was interested in people and what made them unique. He attended the University of Minnesota and was about to declare a major in anthropology when a chance college internship in sales broadened his interests and ultimately led to studying business and finance. “I had a kind of negative stereotypical judgment of See Eric Shapiro page 4