Sponsored by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Endowment Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA
Incredible experiences in Israel
November 21, 2014 28 Cheshvan 5775 Vol. 95 | No. 10
This I walked out of Auschwitz Week
Jewish Book Month event by MARK KIRCHHOFF The Center for Jewish Life Assaf Gavron will be the speaker at the second of three events presented by the Center for Jewish Life celebrating Jewish Book Month. The event will take place Thursday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. in the Kripke Jewish Federation Library. The event is free and open to the community.
NCJW 4th Annual Great Omaha Chocolate Festival Page 6
Assaf Gavron
AT G.A., Jewish federations see future in more collaboration Page 7
by SOPHIA BUDWIG or years, I’ve heard about Israel and how amazing a country it is, but I never got to see for myself until this past summer. I signed up for the NFTY L’Dor V’Dor trip and had no idea what to expect, but the trip definitely exceeded any expectations I could have had.
F
For Jews fighting Ebola, specialty is psychosocial therapy Page 12
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Auschwitz. I could not believe I was really there, somewhere where something so horrible had happened. It did not feel real. I was feeling numb until we came across a pond where bones and ashes had been dumped. Each person found a bone and held it while we said mourners kaddish. That was the moment it hit me, this Continued on page 2
Telethon format works
Inside Point of view Synagogues
My group was made up of kids from the east coast and a few from Washington. We all lived together for five weeks straight and became so close. After just our first week, which was spent traveling around Prague and Poland, it felt as if we had known each other for years. In Europe, the most memorable day was the day we went to
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by SHERRIE SAAG Communications, Jewish Federation of Omaha “Mini-telethons”, small groups of volunteers gatherings to phone community members on selected evenings, has proven to be a successful format for the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Rolled out during the 2013 Annual Campaign, this year’s plan calls for four such telethons, the first of which took place on Oct. 20. Volunteers that night included Patty Nogg and Dorothy Spizman, Jim Farber makes a call both veteran solicitors for the Federation’s Annual Campaign. The evening’s calls netted almost $30,000 towards Campaign goals. Community outreach is an important facet of the Federation’s work. “We want to meet and even increase our monetary goals, but just as important is our desire to reach out to
every member of our community. Being a donor is one of the ways everyone in our community belongs and feels connected,” said Marty Ricks, Chief Development Officer. The campaign’s goal of $3,250,000 represents a 3% increase over last year, and in keeping with prior Campaigns, hopes to add close to 100 new or re-engaged gifts. After two Campaign Kick-off events, the Campaign now stands at close to $1,000,000. “We are almost one third of the way to our Campaign goals, and so many of our community members are increasing their gifts. This is a great start! To those who have made their gift, thank you and know that we intend to reach out to everyone,” stated Campaign Chair Norm Sheldon. Campaign staff reported last month that Federation Board members had all made their pledges to the Annual Campaign. In response, Interim CEO Alan Potash said, “We Continued on page 2
Gavron, a well-known Israeli author, is the current Schusterman Scholar at the Natan & Hannah Schwalb Center for Jewish and Israeli Studies at UNO. He has published several novels: Ice, Moving, CrocAttack, Almost Dead, Hydromania and his most recent, The Hilltop. The Hilltop, already a bestseller in Israel, has recently been released in the United States. Gavron has also published a collection of short stories, Sex in the Cemetery, plus a non-fiction collection of Jerusalem falafel-joint reviews, Eating Standing Up. His fiction has been translated into German, Russian, Italian, French, English, Dutch, Swedish, Greek and Bulgarian. Jewish Book Month is promoted by the Jewish Book Council and is an annual event dedicated to the celebration of Jewish books. The roots of Jewish Book Month started in 1925 when Fanny Goldstein, a librarian at the West End Branch of the Boston Public Library, set up an exhibit of Judaic books and used it as a focus of what she called Jewish Book Week. The event was later adopted by communities around the country and expanded to a one-month celebration prior to Chanukah to promote books of Jewish content as gifts. For this year’s Dec. 4 event, Gavron will focus on The Hilltop: A Novel. He will provide some background on the settlements included in the novel and what drew him to write about the topic. Gavron will present photos showing his time in the settlements researching. He will discuss how the writing process proceeded while he was conducting research. Gavron will also discuss how the Continued on page 2
2 | The Jewish Press | November 21, 2014
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Incredible experiences in Israel
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by MARY SUE GROSSMAN Program Coordinator, The Center for Jewish Life Each year, many teens and young adults have the experience of a lifetime, traveling to Israel on a wide variety of programs. The Jewish Federation of Omaha is proud to support these experiences through the Israel Experience Grant program. The Israel Experience Grant is a one-time gift from the Federation for students in grades 9-12 or young adults ages 18 to 25 for an approved Israel experience. The grant is available to anyone in the Omaha Jewish community who meets the following requirements: 1. The applicant must be a resident of the Omaha metropolitan area 2. The applicant, or his/her family, is a donor in good standing to the Annual Campaign of the Jewish Federation of Omaha 3. The applicant agrees to provide an article and pictures of the experience within one month of return to Omaha for pub-
lication in the Jewish Press. 4. The applicant will participate in any required preparatory program Applying for an Israel Experience Grant is a simple one-page application. The applications are available on the Scholarships and Grants page of the Center for Jewish Life on the Jewish Federation of Omaha website at www.jewishomaha.org. Return completed applications to the Center for Jewish Life, 333 South 132nd Street, Omaha NE 68154. Those in need of additional financial assistance can also apply for financial need-based scholarships. Scholarship information, deadlines and applications are also found as explained above. The following article was written by a teen who participated in programs in the summer of 2014 and was a recipient of an Israel Experience Grant.
I walked out of Auschwitz
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Continued from page 1 tragedy happened here and it is part of my history and past. It is impossible to find words for how I felt while doing something millions of people never got the chance to do, walk out of Auschwitz. After Europe, we finally got to Israel. There were so many things that happened during the four weeks there that I will never forget -- but two days particularly stand out in my mind. We went into the Old City of Jerusalem and went to the City of David. This is a small area above tunnels that were once used to transport water in and out of the city. We had the chance to walk through these tunnels. My group walked up a long hill, then underground on a giant spiral staircase until we got to the tunnels. I was so nervous about being in the tunnels with no light and not having any idea of where I was going. My friends Louis, Ben, Mikaela and I grabbed hands and started walking. It was probably the scariest 30 minutes of my life. We had no sense of direction. Looking back, it was a really great experience to see how people used to have to get essentials to live like water and what a challenge it was. Another day that I will never forget is the day we climbed Mt. Solomon. We had to wake up at 3 a.m. to prepare for the long trek ahead. We stopped half way up to watch the sunrise over the Red Sea. Finally, after four hours, we made it to the peak of the mountain. At the top we stopped to eat breakfast and take in the view. From the summit we could see the Red Sea, Jordan, and even into Egypt. It was a view like no other, just miles and miles of mountains. Unfortunately, we had to go back down and move on to the next stop on the trip. It took about three hours to get back to the bus. After seven hours of climbing, sitting in the shade eating fresh fruit was the best feeling ever. Mt. Solomon and The City of David were just two of the
amazing things we did. We went through the entire country to learn and have fun. Some of these stops were cut short or cancelled altogether due to the conflict that broke out between Israel and Gaza. We were in Eilat at the beach when we got news that the first rocket had been shot from Gaza. This will be a day I will never forget. We knew nothing and didn’t know how to feel, but I was mostly scared. More and more news kept coming, and our counselors assured us we will be okay and our trip will continue as planned, with only a few minor changes. That is exactly what happened. I am pretty sure that by the end of the trip, my group had been to every mall in Israel. We were not allowed to go to any outdoor markets for safety reasons. During our first stay at Kibbutz Tzuba, in west Jerusalem, we heard the sirens for the first time. I don’t think I have ever been so scared in my life, running down the stairs to get to the bathroom on the lowest floor. This happened again when we came back to Tzuba after a couple weeks of traveling around. It was a crazy experience. We got a taste of what it was like to be living in a part of Israel that was being showered with rockets every day. People lived their lives waiting for the next siren, to run into the shelter until it was safe again. I really felt like I was a part of the country. Even though I was scared out of my mind, I never felt, even for a second, that I wasn’t safe. We were all there to protect each other and each Israeli is so loyal to their country so you know you are safe with them. Every summer I end up saying that it was the best summer of my life, but I didn’t know what I was talking about because now I can truly say that going on NFTY L’dor V’dor was the best decision I could have made and I had the most meaningful, educational and unforgettable experience. Since the trip, I have stayed in constant contact with my group through a Facebook group and texting almost every day. I have new friends for life and a good excuse to go to New York City.
Jewish Book Month features Assaf Gavron Continued from page 1 book was received in Israel and abroad. He also relates that he will talk about Tel Aviv Noir, the anthology he co-edited with Etgar Keret, which was also recently published in the US. Adam Kirsch reviewed The Hilltop in the Tablet, and he writes in part, “Gavron writes realistic fiction with a comic edge that aims to take the temperature of his whole society, to tell us how Israelis live now. ...The Hilltop is a cutting satire of the way Israeli government and society colludes with the settlers.” Gavron is the recipient of numerous awards. Among them, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Creative Award for Authors, the Israeli Bernstein Prize for the novel The Hilltop, the DAAD artists-in-Berlin fellowship in Germany, the Buch Fur Die Stadt award in Germany for the novel CrocAttack and the Prix Courrier International award in France for the same novel. He was the chief writer of the prize-winning computer game Peacemaker, and has contributed to numerous newspapers and magazines, writing on subjects ranging from sports to politics, and from music to food. As the captain of Israel’s national writers’ and poets’ soccer team, he led it in several international matches. The final event of the Jewish Book Month, PJ Library Gets Ready for Hanukkah, will take place Saturday evening, Dec. 13 from 6-9 p.m. at the Omaha Children’s Museum. The
program is free of charge and is open to families with children six months to eight years of age. Older siblings and grandparents are also welcome to attend. Omaha’s PJ Library program provides age-appropriate Jewish-content books on a monthly basis to Jewish children in Omaha. Event details will be included in an upcoming edition of the Jewish Press. Jewish Book Month events are sponsored by the Center for Jewish Life whose mission it is to maximize involvement of Omaha’s Jewish community in imaginative, compelling and meaningful Jewish experiences. For additional information, please call 402.334.6463 or email mkirchhoff@jewish omaha.org.
Telethon format works Continued from page 1 are grateful for the Board serving as an important example for us all. As the steward of community resources, the Board is fully aware of how important the Annual Campaign is in delivering programs and services throughout our community.” The Annual Campaign is where we, together as a community, meet our social service needs, support Jewish education, increase Jewish enrichment and engagement activities, and provide invaluable resources to Jews around the world. Every gift builds the community that all of us care so much about. “And, at the end of the day, it is up to us to ensure we preserve Jewish Omaha,” added Sheldon. The next mini-telethon is scheduled for Nov. 24. Volunteers, including Jim Farber and Debbie Josephson, and Federation staff are looking forward to a great conversation, so please answer the call!
November 21, 2014 | The Jewish Press | 3
PJ Library gets ready for Hanukkah at the Omaha Children’s Museum by MARK KIRCHHOFF Center for Jewish Life Omaha’s 41st annual celebration of Jewish Book Month will come to a close by celebrating the joy of reading and discovery with children. It will be an evening of fun with friends and family when PJ Library Gets Ready for Hanukkah on Saturday, Dec. 14 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Omaha’s Children’s Museum, 500 S. 20th Street. The program is open to Omaha’s Jewish families with children from six months to eight years of age. Older siblings and grandparents are also welcome. The evening will include a light dinner and all the fun learning experiences that the museum has to offer plus a presentation of the OCM’s science program, “The Amazing Bubble Show.” The event is free of charge thanks to the generosity of the Special Donor-Advised Fund and the Esther K. Newman Memorial Fund, both funds of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation. To register, call 402.334.6463 or email mkirchhoff@jeishomaha.org. PJ Library is a program through which Jewish children receive free age-appropriate Jewish-content books every month. The program is designed to strengthen the identities of Jewish families and their relationship to the Jewish community. Each month, more than 100,000 children in over 175 communities in the United States, Canada and Israel receive their treasured book through the program. If you’re a PJ Library family, make your plans now. If you are not yet participating, please plan to attend and enroll at the event. Nationally, the program
is supported by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation through partnerships with philanthropists and local Jewish organizations. Omaha's PJ Library program is generously supported by the Dorothy and Myer S. Kripke Institute for Jewish Family Literacy. The Omaha Children's Museum is a nonprofit learning and exploration space for young people with the mission to “engage
the imagination and create excitement about learning.” The museum was founded in 1976 by Karen Levin, Jane Ford Hawthorne, Betty Hiller, and a group of local educators. The museum has received a national “Leading Edge Award for Visitor Experience” from the Association of Science and Technology Museums. Jewish Book Month is promoted by the Jewish Book Council and is an annual event dedicated to the celebration of Jewish books. Jewish Book Month started in 1925 when Fanny Goldstein, a librarian at the West End Branch of the Boston Public Library set up a display of Judaic books. The evening at the Omaha Children’s will be a great opportunity to join with others
who are committed to providing their children with something special in their lives -the gift of reading wholesome, educational books with Jewish content and values. Call 402.334.6463 or email mkirchhoff@jewishomaha.org to register for a family night
It takes a village by SCOTT LITTKY Program Director, Temple Israel Much has been written on the idea of the need for a village to help strengthen the family. In the Jewish world this is definitely true. Twenty five years ago, the Berlin Wall fell and so did communism the way we knew it. Almost overnight, Jews from the east were exiting their oppressed life in search of a better way of living. Communities throughout the world were asked to absorb Jews from the former USSR. Omaha, of course, stepped right up and said “Yes we will help.” As a result, hundreds of Jews were brought to Omaha and the Jewish community acted as a village to welcome and adopt these people into our lives. As we move forward now 25 years, it is good for us to ask the question, “What are we doing now to strengthen our village?” As the Program Director at Temple Israel, I think that this is a very important part of my responsibilities. As an example, our Caring Committee, under the leadership of Amy Rabinovitz, recently met and asked this very question. With the help of the clergy of Temple Israel, the committee decided that they would like to assist in speaking regularly with members who are shut-ins or who do not have families in the Omaha area anymore. Further, our 8th grade religious school class contacts mem-
Senior Living
of fun. The PJ Library and Jewish Book Month events are presented by the Center for Jewish Life whose mission it is to maximize involvement of Omaha's Jewish community in imaginative, compelling and meaningful Jewish experiences.
bers in our community who are 80 years old and older twice a year to just say hello and to let them know that we care. According to their teacher, Joan Cooper, “It is amazing to have a student share this conversation with the rest of the class. I’m not sure who benefits more from the call, the student or the adult!” In the area of Social Justice, we have attempted in the last year to address issues that affect the people of Nebraska. We have a very loyal group involved in Habitat for Humanity, and the house that they have been involved in building in South Omaha is almost complete. At Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we were involved in collecting items for Project Harmony, the Omaha Food Bank and Jewish Family Service. Also, under the guidance of Lauren Cooper, a nursing student and member of Temple, we participated in the Swab for Life Program. Most recently, we began on Organ Donation Shabbat to educate our congregation on the Jewish Value of Pikuach Nefesh (Saving a Life). So yes, even today it is still relevant to say, “It takes a village.” At Temple Israel, we hope our village will keep growing and that we will go from strength to strength. For more information on how you can get involved, please contact Scott Littky, Program Director, 402.556.6536.
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4 | The Jewish Press | November 21, 2014
Newman Supporting Foundation awards grants by MARY BORT Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation The Jewish Federation of Omaha (JFO) Foundation announced that the Murray H. and Sharee C. Newman Supporting Foundation Board of Trustees, awarded nine grants to non-profit programs in the community. “The Newman Supporting Foundation accepted grant applications from Jewish Federation agencies as well as other charitable organizations whose programs are consistent with the mission of the Federation,” said Howard Epstein, JFO Foundation Executive Director. A grant was awarded to the AntiDefamation League/Community Relations Committee for the 29th Annual Prejudice Elimination Workshop, scheduled for November, 2015. Over 300 high school juniors from approximately 40 schools will be invited to attend. School counselors, teachers and staff will receive educator training. Participants will learn to take responsibility for combating discrimination and prejudice and become change agents in their schools and elsewhere. The B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO) received a grant to support Shiputznick 2015, the annual Teen Mitzvah Day for Omaha Jewish teens. During this day of service and mitzvot, the teens will spend the afternoon doing service projects around Omaha and then share a meal and stories about their day. This program promotes Tikun Olam. A grant went to the Center for Jewish Life’s 2015-16 Community Shaliach Program. The shaliach serves as an Israeli resource and collaborates with JFO agencies, synagogues and other Jewish organizations in the community to provide programs and education about Israel throughout the year. The Center for Jewish Life also received a grant for PJ Library programming during 2015-2016. PJ Library is a Jewish family engagement program that provides high quality Jewish children’s literature and music to families with young children. Kid-friendly programs feature unique activities with Jewish themes. The Newman Supporting Foundation will help cover costs for a May 2015 art exhibit and ceremony as part of the Institute for
Holocaust Education’s new program, Art & the Holocaust. Middle-school art teachers participated in a class about the role of art during the Holocaust, and those art teachers will offer at least one class period of Holocaust study to their art students. The teachers will also be invited to participate in a Holocaust-related art project. There will be an art exhibit and ceremony to culminate this project. The Jewish Community Center received a grant for the April 2015 Yom Ha’Atzmaut Community Celebration, featuring a Children’s Carnival, to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day. BBYO teens will help run the carnival that will include face painters, a balloon artist, entertainment and more. Jewish Family Service (JFS) was awarded a grant to help support the agency’s Tzedakah Project for Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Chanukah in 2015. The project feeds the hungry, offers celebratory food for holidays and reaches out to Jewish community members in need. Volunteers will deliver gifts, visit with recipients and let them know they are remembered during the holidays. The Jewish Press received a grant to hire a college or high school student, who is an active member of Omaha’s Jewish community, to serve on staff as a summer intern for six weeks in June and July 2015. The intern will learn about research, composition, editing, interviewing, and other skills associated with producing the newspaper. A grant went to Jewish Senior Outreach (JSO) for the Meals on Wheels (MOW) program, which delivers nutritious kosher meals to home-bound members of Omaha’s Jewish community. This program enables MOW recipients to maintain their religious observance and provides opportunities for JSO employees to stay in touch and offer assistance when needed. “These organizations offer worthwhile and necessary services to our community with the grants they receive from the Newman Supporting Foundation and other funds of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation,” noted Epstein. “We are grateful to the Newman Supporting Foundation for their generosity.” The Newman Supporting Foundation of the JFO Foundation was established in 1987
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with an initial gift of $100,000 from Sharee and Murray Newman. Since then, the Newman Supporting Foundation has awarded nearly $384,000 in grants. The Board of Trustees are Board President Jeff Kirshenbaum, Jamie Friedland, Danielle Gordman, Jay Lerner, Lisa Lewis, Murray Newman and Sharee Newman. A supporting foundation is a separate legal entity with its own board that is created by a donor or family and enters into a relationship with the JFO Foundation. “We
manage and invest the supporting foundation’s funds, administer operations and make disbursements as directed by the supporting foundation board,” explained Epstein. “The board focuses on reviewing annual grant applications and selecting the programs that will receive grants, and we take care of the rest.” To learn more about establishing a supporting foundation with the JFO Foundation, please contact Howard Epstein at 402.334.6466.
United Way Campaign by JUSTIN ZACHARY SPOONER Development Associate, Jewish Federation of Omaha On Thursday, Oct. 23, the Jewish Federation of Omaha and its agencies participated in the United Way of the Midlands Annual Campaign. Our goal for 2014 was $7,500, and with the help of our campus employees we are pleased to announce that goal was met— and then some. Total, the Jewish Federation of Omaha will present the United Way with $8,335 -- a 25% increase from the year before. For this year, we raffled off numerous prizes to our employees who generously contributed to the United Way Campaign. The Jewish Federation would like to give a big thank you to Todd Simon and Omaha Steaks, Irv Blumkin and the Nebraska Furniture Mart, Michael Gottschalk of Godfather’s Pizza, and Roxanne Kahn at Garbo’s Salon for providing some of the raffle prizes that were won. Another big thank you to Jerry Milder for donating Nebraska football tickets and Oliver Spooner for Creighton basketball tickets. Without the generosity from those above, this fundraiser would not have been the success it was. Each year, United Way of the Midlands hosts their Annual Campaign to help develop, build, and maintain the strength
of the Omaha community. The United Way believes that for a community to be strong, its people need to be strong. With the dollars raised through their Annual Campaign, the United Way hopes to help provide basic needs such as food, shelter, health and safety. The dollars will help to remove barriers that kids face in schools and make students ready for the classroom. Also, the dollars raised for the United Way will help them to collaborate with other community organizations to provide young people with the skills necessary to be workforce ready. As a recipient organization of United Way, the Jewish Federation is proud to partner with them to contribute to their Annual Campaign. As our focus is on strengthening our Jewish community, theirs is similar. The United Way says “Community is about great neighbors, strong organizations, and a willingness to champion those who want a better life -- for themselves, and for others. United Way of the Midlands is ready for the work ahead. With your contribution, we’ll turn the goals into reality.” We couldn’t agree more. With groups like United Way doing so much good for Omaha, it’s no surprise that we have such a great community.
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November 21, 2014 | The Jewish Press | 5
Dr. Greenspoon presents The Comics by MARK KIRCHHOFF from the University of Richmond and a PhD from Harvard The Center for Jewish Life University. His repertoire of course offerings at Creighton The Center for Jewish Life strives to find topics for its University include The Bible and the Ancient Near East, The Friday Learning Series that are educational and engaging Dead Sea Scrolls, The Bible in Translation, War and Peace in and whenever possible, also entertaining. What better per- the Hebrew Bible, The Works of Flavius Josephus: What They son to ask than Dr. Leonard Tell Us -- and Don’t Tell Us -- About Greenspoon, Klutznick Chair in Jews and Judaism Up Until the First Jewish Civilization and professor of Century CE. “My education required Classical and Near Eastern Studies that I read a few more works than the and of Theology at Creighton comics, but reading the comics never University? Dr. Greenspoon has hurt,” quipped Dr. Greenspoon. presented interesting topics on many Greenspoon is planning to share not occasions for CJL, and participants only the joy of reading the comics, love his teaching style. Don’t let his but the lessons that can be learned many titles intimidate you. Dr. from doing so. “We’ll look at dozens, Greenspoon has a warm personality if not hundreds, of strips. The educaand playful wit to match his intellect. tional part is that we will relate them His response to our request conto the Hebrew Bible with an eye and firmed that we had once again asked an ear toward the humor and inforLeonard Greenspoon “the right guy.” mation they provide,” he said. “In our “I know. Let’s do something that involves comic strips,” classes together, we will have a chance to explore how these Greenspoon offered. Now that’s intriguing. It certainly had- strips can enhance our engagement with the biblical text -n’t occurred to us. He went on to relate that most of us grew and give us at least a few laughs.” Once you attend classes up reading comic strips in the daily paper and that these with Dr. Greenspoon, you’ll appreciate how important strips can be related to the Hebrew Bible. Today, people laughs, learning, and Judaism are in his life. might be reading them in print or online, and they still Dr. Greenspoon’s class will be held Dec. 5, 12 and 19 from prove to be a source of entertainment and education. 11 am – noon in the Kripke Jewish Federation Library. The “According to my mother, I started reading comic strips cost is $26, discounted to $21 for those in good standing almost immediately after I was born. Taking into account with their contributions to the Annual Campaign of the Jewish maternal pride, I was probably a bit older when I Jewish Federation of Omaha. To register, or for additional began this ritual. Reading comics in print and now mostly information, please call 402.334-6463 or email mkirch on line is something I do every day.” And so the three-part hoff@jewishomaha.org. series, The Hebrew Bible in the Comic Strips: Mostly, but Not The Hebrew Bible in the Comic Strips: Mostly, but Not Always, a Laughing Matter, was formed. Sessions will meet Always, a Laughing Matter is part of the Friday Learning Dec. 5, 12, and 19 from 11 am – noon in the Kripke Jewish Series presented through the Center for Jewish Life whose Federation Library. mission it is to maximize involvement of Omaha’s Jewish Dr. Greenspoon’s early reading experiences proved inspi- community in imaginative, compelling and meaningful rational enough that he went on to earn his BA and MA Jewish experiences.
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100% American and 100% Jewish: Only in Israel
Journal entry from Israel TEDDY WEINBERGER When I lived in the United States, Thanksgiving was the one day of the year when I felt 100% American and 100% Jewish. On this day, I was able to follow the full letter of American cultural law without having to compromise on my traditional Jewish way of life. On the other 364 days of the year, I often felt conflicted. Thanks to my parents, my Jewish schools, my synagogues, and my various Jewish communities in America, I always felt 100% Jewish. The same was not the case with my relationship with my American identity. I had been led to believe that in America it is good and praiseworthy to be a religious person. But my life as a religious Jewish person constantly estranged me from my fellow Americans. There simply were too many touchstones of American culture that were off-limits to me as a traditional religious Jew (for starters, take bacon-and-eggs, Christmas, and the fact that Saturday is clearly not America’s day of rest). Paradoxically, when I made aliyah in 1997, I discovered something astounding: I was now living in a country, far though it is from the United States, where year-round I feel 100% American and 100% Jewish. What does it mean to feel 100% American? Well, it helps to be born in America and/or to have lived in America for many years, but more than that, it’s to feel intimately connected to one’s society, to feel like you and your neighbor are creating something great and noble, to feel that you have an integral part to play in a marvelous whole. Perhaps what I’m describing here is nothing more than nationalism? After all, I imagine that the French person feels
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one with the French people and the Spanish person feels one with the Spanish people in a way that I yearned to feel one with the American people. Aye, but there’s the rub -because only in America can the Jew assert that ab initio the condition of the Jew is one of equality. In Europe ab initio the Jew does not have citizenship rights and has to rely upon emancipation for the bestowal of these rights; and in Muslim countries, Jews are dhimmi -- effectively, secondclass citizens. In America, the Jew can point out that from the beginning, the very fabric of American society gave equal rights to people of all religions. And so, only in America can religious Jews imagine that they are part of the whole in an equal way. This is true from an official legal sense, but I’m afraid that from an experiential point of view, the religious American Jew sometimes feels like an outsider. The sense of oneness-with-country that, because of my birth and upbringing, I have come to think of as Americanness, I experience in Israel. The touchstones of Israeli culture all gel with the Jewish religion. Yes, there are Israelis who do not keep kosher and who do not observe the Sabbath, but shrimp is not a classic Israeli food (falafel is), nor is going to the movies on Friday night the typical Israeli activity for Shabbat eve (a family meal is). There is nothing that “real” Israelis experience that I cannot because I am a religious Jew. I am thankful for this every day of the year. 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 B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS There will not be a Breadbreakers session on Wednesday, Nov. 26, due to the Thanksgiving holiday. For more information or to be placed on the email list call 402.334.6443 or bnaibrith@jewishomaha.org.
Arts+Entertainment Elaine Jabenis will be featured as an entertainer at Canvas and Cabernet’s open house Sunday, Nov. 23 from 2-4 p.m. Elaine will also be doing a book signing of her new novel, Georgia’s Secret, which now has a five-star rating on amazon. The event will also include food, entertainment and an art sale. Everyone is welcome and admission is free. Canvas and Cabernet is located at 6457 Frances St. in Aksarben Village.
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6 | The Jewish Press | November 21, 2014
Chocolate marked the day at the NCJW 4th Annual Great Omaha Chocolate Festival by ANGELA FRIEDMAN NCJW Omaha Section Public Relations Correspondent and Corresponding Secretary On Sunday, October 12, 2014, the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) Omaha Section threw everybody’s favorite fundraiser: the Great Omaha Chocolate Festival! At least 50 vendors filled the La Vista Conference Center. The entrance fees gave every sweet tooth five sample tickets for an adult and three sample tickets for a child. Raffle tickets and extra sample tickets were also sold. Months in advance, the vendors were asking to be a part of this yearly sweet-fest. Most of the vendors were from Omaha area; however, several were from small towns in Nebraska and Iowa and from Lincoln. The students from the Culinary Arts: Baking and Pastry Arts Program at Iowa Western Community College were able to show off their sweet treats from the long hours they spend honing their craft. They also displayed an attractive and informative diorama explaining how chocolate is made. Pettit’s Pastry and Lithuanian Bakery seemed to be the most popular. Pettit’s Pastry had a steady line of guests eager to try their treats. Lithuanian Bakery was giving away whole slices of their delectable Lithuanian Torte for one sample ticket! What a bargain! Other vendors who shared their products included Nothing Bundt Cakes (who donated a Bundt for our raffle), Savory Spice Shop, Dove Chocolate, Sawdust Factory & Sauce Shoppe, Mockingbird Cupcakes, Edible Arrangements, and many more! Stories Coffeehouse brought samples from L Pastries, which is inside the coffeehouse. I spoke with the owners and they told me they have folk and jazz music on Thursday to Saturday nights from 11 pm along with wine and other drinks on their menu. Stories Coffeehouse is located on 1129 S. 180th Street. Northwoods Cheese Haus in Papillion offers Wisconsin cheeses and sausages and other Artisan cheeses discovered on their travels all over the world. They even have chocolate cheese wheels! Check them out and you can travel through your
taste buds. An amazing woman in the Omaha Jewish community is an entrepreneur as well! Mardee Brechwald has her own home-based business doing custom sewing for windows, pillows, and more! Check her out on Etsy at www.etsy.com/shop/smar deepants. Her business is called Smardee Pants/Custom Sewing and she has adorable products. Other community businesses that
came were Hiland Dairy, SMEJ’s Snacks & More, Garbo’s Salons and Spas, BeautiControl, Alotta Brownies, Just Pop’d, Jock & Jill’s Popcorn, Kona Ice, and many other vendors. A See’s Candies booth was staffed by NCJW member Julie Martin with her daughter Rachel and son David. As you can see, this event turned into a wonderful family affair. NCJW sold some cookbooks and showed off the charity work we have done in the past. Publicity for this event was wonderful: TV publicity on KETV 7, radio publicity on NRG Media stations, signs around town, e-mails, and word of mouth. Q98.5 produced their afternoon program with Jenny Olive from the Chocolate Festival for two hours to encourage people to come get their chocolate fix. The 4th Annual Great Omaha Chocolate Festival went very smoothly and was very organized thanks to the Chocolate Festival Chair, Roxanne Kahn, and her Committee: Tina Meyers, Debbie Friedman, Sonia Tipp, Jan Fischer, Beth Dworkin, Holly Weill, Alice Klein and Sarah Spooner. Thank you also to all the volunteers and those who recruited our vendors! Without you, we could not have pulled this off. Some of BBYO helped out as well as others in the community. Once again, the Chocolate Festival was a success. Next year’s will be even bigger!
Shabbat talks with world famous author and speaker Gila Manolson by RABBI YAAKOV JEFFREY WEISS Gila Manolson, an author and lecturer on the topic of relationships and selfimage, has spoken to audiences around the world. She will be visiting Omaha and sharing her experiences and observations at Beth Israel. Don’t miss the many opportunities to hear from and speak with Gila Manolson during Shabbat on Nov. 21, and on Saturday night on Nov. 22. The whole community is invited to the events that will be occurring through the weekend. The perfect way to start Shabbat is by coming to a fabulous Friday night dinner at Beth Israel, including fresh challah, matzah ball soup, chicken and veggies, and divine desserts. Dinner will begin at 6 p.m. following services at 4:42 p.m. Gila Manolson will address those attending on the topic of How to have a Relationship with God. The cost for dinner is $12 for adults and
$6 for children. There is no charge for the lecture. Shabbat morning the community will be able to listen to Gila Manolson as she speaks on the topic of Finding Yourself in the Crowd: Judaism and Individuality. Saturday afternoon presents a great time to get together during a special Women’s Shabbat afternoon Seudah Shlishit program at 4:45 p.m. with a Round Table Discussion with Gila Manolson and presentations from Beth Israel’s Youth. The weekend will conclude with one final program: Girls’ Night Out. Come for dessert and a lecture for all women and daughters at 7 p.m. Contact the synagogue office for the address. Gila Manolson will present a talk on Who am I?: SelfDefinition in Judaism. All of the events are open to the whole community. Please RSVP to the office at 402.556.6288.
November 21, 2014 | The Jewish Press | 7
At G.A., Jewish federations see future in more collaboration by URIEL HEILMAN OXON HILL, Md. (JTA) -- There were the vice president of the United States, two Supreme Court justices and an Academy Award-winning actress with a compelling Jewish story. There were Jewish professionals, lay leaders, clergy and recent college graduates. The West Point cadets’ Jewish choir performed. The Israeli prime minister appeared via satellite from Jerusalem. Part pep rally, part training and part family reunion, this week’s annual General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America drew some 3,000 people to a conference center outside Washington to cheer federations’ philanthropic work, listen to presentations ranging from European anti-Semitism to crowdfunding, and to schmooze. As usual, much of the talk at the General Assembly was how to bolster North America’s 153 Jewish federations. “We can go beyond exchanging ideas to actually exchanging services,” Jewish Federations CEO Jerry Silverman said in a speech at the closing plenary. “JFNA expanded the resources of our consulting and community development department, but what if we also leverage and share the resident expertise in this room and across our federations?” The federations face an uphill battle at a time when studies show younger American Jews are less affiliated than previous generations with Jewish institutional life and less likely to give to Jewish causes -- let alone clearinghouses like Jewish federations. Though federation annual campaigns are up by about 7 percent compared with this time last year, the number of federation donors has declined by about one-third since 2000, according to the sociologist Steven M. Cohen of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Meanwhile, last year’s Pew Research Center survey of U.S. Jews found that 43 percent of non-Orthodox Jews ages 3049 donate to Jewish causes -- in contrast to their counterparts ages 50-69, some 60 percent of whom give Jewishly. At the conference, the answer to these trends was twofold. One, organizers showcased dozens of federation programs that are piloting new models for programming and outreach. Billed by organizers as “fedovations” -- a mashup of the words “federation” and “innovation” -- they included case studies in reaching younger donors, providing services to the elderly, planning profitable events, and finding ways to engage and excite unaffiliated community members. Jewish Federations plans to share these success stories in a federation-wide online database to be deployed in the coming weeks. The second answer was for federation leaders -- and some of the plenary speakers from outside federation, including the actress Marlee Matlin -- to drive home the message of the importance of collective action in the Jewish world. “We do have the intellectual and financial potential to effectuate substantive change, but only if we work together,” Jewish Federations board chairman Michael Siegal said in a plenary address Monday. “Federations must lead this charge and convene the necessary organizations and thought leaders because, simply, we have the reach that others do not.” Barry Shrage, the president of Boston’s federation, called Combined Jewish Philanthropies, said that while many federations are doing terrific things, the challenge for the federation network as a whole is to identify priorities and then chart a course to address them collectively.
“At the end of the day, do we have an agenda or do we not have an agenda?” Shrage told JTA. “Where are we going?” He also dismissed concern about shrinking donor bases, saying the number of high-end donors is growing -- they contribute the bulk of federation dollars -- and that federations should not measure their successes by the checkbook. “The most important thing is not to count how much
Academy Award-winning actress and activist Marlee Matlin speaking about her Jewish heritage, career and experience overcoming disabilities at the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly in suburban Washington, Nov. Credit: Ron Sachs 10, 2014. money we’re raising,” Shrage said. “It’s to count how many good things we’re doing.” Vice President Joe Biden affirmed the Obama administration’s “ironclad” commitment to Israel’s security and talked about his experience taking each of his kids to the site of the Dachau concentration camp when they were 15 to teach them about the “incredible resilience and indomitable nature of the human spirit.” Biden also called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “really great friend” -- in contrast to the recent characterization of Netanyahu as “a chickenshit” by an anonymous Obama administration official in an interview with journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, who also spoke at the G.A. Seeking out Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, in the audience, Biden said, “Ron, you’d better damn well report to Bibi that we’re still buddies. You got it, right?” Netanyahu, speaking to the assembly on Tuesday by video link, focused on Iran. “Iran is not part of the solution, it’s a huge part of the problem,” Netanyahu said, referring to reports that the United States may be coordinating with Iran in their shared battle to crush the ISIS jihadist group in Iraq and Syria. “The Islamic state of Iran is not a partner of America, it is an enemy of America and it should be treated as an enemy.” Netanyahu said such treatment should extend to nuclear talks now underway between the major powers and Iran “by keeping tough sanctions on the regime, by making clear that the international community is determined to do whatever it takes to prevent Iran from breaking out or sneaking out to
get the bomb.” He said a deal that would allow Iran a limited uranium enrichment capacity would be a “disaster of historic proportions.” In another plenary, NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg got U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to discuss the Jewish values that drive his work (tzedakah) and Justice Elena Kagan, who grew up Jewish on the Upper West Side, to reveal that she has become a duck hunter since joining the nation’s highest court. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Britain’s former chief rabbi, gave a rousing plenary address about the importance of Jews’ commitment to each other despite their differences. “I don’t need you to agree with each other; I need you to care about one another,” he said. A late-night session featuring Goldberg and the editors of two Israeli papers, Aluf Benn of Haaretz and Steve Linde of The Jerusalem Post, was packed. Goldberg related that his conversations with Netanyahu and officials in his government left him with the impression that the Israelis plan to wait until the next U.S. president takes office before trying to rebuild ties with the White House. The conference’s theme was “the world is our backyard,” and it included a sprawling indoor space designed like a backyard replete with patio furniture, artificial turf panels and giant dandelions. The corners featured small stages where presenters -- the list included author Peter Beinart; Philip Gordon, the White House coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf region; and Matt Nosanchuk and Noam Neusner, the current White House Jewish liaison and a predecessor in the post -- held court during mealtimes. But many of the sessions were not listed in the conference booklet and had poor turnout. Deborah Covington, vice president for planning and allocations at the Chicago Jewish federation, Jewish United Fund, said she came to the G.A. to network with peers and hear about federation work outside of what she regularly encounters. On that count, she said, the G.A. was a success. “The breakout sessions felt relevant to me,” Covington said. “I thought it was a particularly good conference this year.
In the news Mike Sigmond, an Edward Jones financial advisor in Omaha for the past seven years, recently received a promotion to the position of principal responsible for solutions delivery for the firm. The promotion will require Sigmond to move to Edward Jones’ headquarters in St. Louis. “As is often the case with major life changes, this is a bittersweet time,” Sigmond said. “I have made Omaha my home as well as the place where I’ve established my business, and I will miss the people here very much. But I am honored to be named to this position, and I look forward to the new challenges that lie ahead.”
JEWISH PRESS NOTICES The Jewish Press office is closed Thursday, Nov. 27, for Thanksgiving; the deadline for the Dec. 5 issue is Monday, Nov. 24, 9 a.m. Questions? Call 402.334.6448.
8 | The Jewish Press | November 21, 2014
Point of view
American Jewish Press Association Award Winner
Nebraska Press National Newspaper Association Association Award winner 2008
A Double Header ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor Last week, I attended the American Jewish Press Association’s annual conference in Washington DC. Originally, we were supposed to meet in Cleveland, Ohio in June of this year. Unfortunately, that fell through: our dates conflicted with a conference in Israel that was scheduled last-minute; since all of us are on a shoestring budget, we didn’t think we could compete. To be honest, Israel offered to adopt our conference, but that just didn’t seem feasible. Especially for our West Coast colleagues, a plane ticket to Tel Aviv is a much different story than a ticket to Cleveland, and so we canceled our plans. Luckily, the Jewish Federation of North America came to the rescue, and we were invited to make our conference part of the General Assembly in November. Joining the GA was a risk. Would we be able to attract any sponsors, or would the GA draw them away? Would we feel like the ugly stepsister, shoved in a small room somewhere out of sight? Would we be taken seriously, considering there are fewer than 100 people attending our conference, while the GA draws thousands? Would we find any decent speakers? We needn’t have worried. The added value of being at the GA was enormous. The schedule accommodated us to the extent we were able to join certain events without sacrificing our own line-up. We saw Vice President Joe Biden, and a host of other speakers, and were able to attend our own conference segments without any problems. Those conference segments themselves benefited from better speakers, which we were able to draw because of where we were; someone like David Makovsky, Director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at The Washington Institute, would never have made it on our original itinerary, no offense to Cleveland. Being able to attend the Partnership2Gether launch with Zoë Riekes and Iris and Marty Ricks was a great bonus. Plus, I met Natan Sharansky up close. How cool is that? I’ll tell you: very, extremely, fantastically cool. So cool, I’m going to be bragging about it for a long time. THE AMERICAN JEWISH PRESS ASSOCIATION The AJPA currently has 141 members, up from the previous year’s number of 127. Approximately 84 people signed up for our conference; of those, 36 were people who actually have their hands in the Jewish newspaper business. As in: putting a real paper together, weekly or monthly, and serving a specific Jewish community. In other words, they are comparable to our own Jewish Press here in Omaha. Together, those 36 represent 21 Jewish newspapers. And while there are a few who were not there with us (Memphis comes to mind, and Kansas City), this represents the core of Jewish American papers who still exist, and who, in spite of the obvious challenges, continue to do their job. What comes to the surface when we’re in a room together is an inexplicable optimism coupled with stubbornness. Yes, we’ve all despaired about advertising, with our overall budget, with finding the right story at the right time and navigating deadlines. We all at times struggle with maintaining the balance between being a newspaper editor and a community member; often that line gets extremely fuzzy. But at the end of the day, giving up is never an option, because we all love this business. We love our papers, and the communities we serve. We’re up for any challenges, because we are having fun. As long as that passion is there, in Jewish communities large and small across this nation, we keep going. And a pox on those naysayers who say the printed word is on its way out. JEWISH ETHICS IN JOURNALISM One of the most interesting segments at this conference: Bringing Jewish Values to Jewish Journalism. What we, as Jewish editors and publishers, deem ethically sound may
(Founded in 1920) Andrew Ruback President Annette van de Kamp-Wright Editor Richard Busse Creative Director Jessie Wees Advertising Executive Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Editor Thierry Ndjike Bookkeeper
Jewish Press Board Eric Dunning, President-Elect; Scott Farkas, Sandy Friedman, Paul Gerber, Sarah Grossman-Lopez, Debbie Kricsfeld, David Kotok, Noah Priluck, Paul Rabinovitz, and Nancy Wolf. The mission of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to build and sustain a strong and vibrant Omaha Jewish Community and to support Jews in Israel and around the world. Agencies of the Federation are: Community Relations Committee, Jewish Community Center, Center for Jewish LIfe, Jewish Social Services, and the Jewish Press. Guidelines and highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: www jewishoma ha.org; click on ‘Jewish Press.’
differ, depending on our location. What I mean by that is, if a rabbi in New Jersey is accused of a criminal act, it’s not necessarily news here in Omaha. For his congregation, however, and any paper that writes specifically for that congregation, it is relevant information. The question to ask, often, is: is it relevant news, or is it gossip? And that question may very well be different depending on your outlet,
Natan Sharansky and Annette van de Kamp-Wright
Zoë Riekes, left, Bob Goldberg, Marty Ricks and Iris Ricks i.e., there may be different rules associated with the website than with the print edition. The tension between Loshon Hora and the commandment to speak the truth creates an interesting problem, and one that cannot be easily solved with a policy. In many cases it’s a gut-level decision, made by the few for the many. And sometimes we’ll get it wrong. Either we’ll publish something that some readers may feel we shouldn’t have, or we’ll ignore news we deem not appropriate, and people wonder why we didn’t share it. Having the chutzpah to make those decisions every day comes with the territory. An important aspect of our paper is: our content is, with a few exceptions, hyper local. That means we try to print stories about our community you won’t find in other papers. That also means stories like the ones about Rabbi Freundel and the voyeurism scandal don’t fit the bill, so we don’t print them. Were one of our local rabbis to call me and say: “I am interested in this topic, and I’d like to write about it,” I would welcome that. Were one of Freundel’s former congregants currently living in Nebraska, and that person wanted to write a letter to the editor, I would welcome that too. But unless there is that local connection, we stay away from those types of stories. Does that mean we would automatically print scandalous stories about community members? What if they are true, proven beyond any doubt? Not automatically, no. The ethical concept to tell the truth is more complicated than that. We’d still have a discussion, involving board members and colleagues, and they would be hard discussions, before printing one single word. Speech, in print or elsewhere, can Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole. The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment. Editorial The Jewish Press is an agency of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Deadline for copy, ads and photos is: Thursday, 9 a.m., eight days prior to publication. E-mail editorial material and photos to: avandekamp
@jewishomaha.org; send ads (in .TIF or .PDF format) to: rbusse@jew ishomaha.org. Letters to the Editor Guidelines The Jewish Press welcomes Letters to the Editor. They may be sent via regular mail to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154; via fax: 1.402.334.5422 or via e-mail to the Editor at: avandekamp@jew ishomaha.org. Letters should be no longer than 250 words and must be single-spaced typed, not hand-written. Published letters should be confined to opinions and comments on articles or events. News items should not be submitted and printed as a “Letter to the Editor.” The Editor may edit letters for content and space restrictions. Letters may be
cause great harm. And with so much of it on the web these days, the proverbial feathers fly a lot farther. One conference speaker put it best when he said: “The fact that it’s true does not make it right.” As Jewish journalists, we’ll undoubtedly continue this discussion, and you can expect more editorials about it. THE WEB Does anyone remember the hullabaloo about Chuck Hagel’s appointment as Secretary of Defense? It’s the only time our website ever went a little viral. The Forward picked up my editorial, and web traffic went berserk. Thank goodness I wrote a calm and balanced piece, because while such attention is flattering, it’s also extremely risky. Scary, even. On our website, we publish some of the headline stories we run in our paper. We’re conservative in that sense, we are not aiming for the stars, and we’re not looking to make a big national splash. We are Jewish Omaha’s family album, where our readers find themselves, their family and friends, and where they check what’s going on. We don’t need to trend, we need to inform. That doesn’t mean there is no room for improvement on our website. We can offer more national news in addition to the weekly local stories, we can post more often than once a week, and I think we should. We can take another look at our categories, and determine which get traffic and which don’t; add some new ones, and get rid of the ones nobody really cares about. CHANGES AND QUICK FIXES When I sit around with colleagues at the AJPA, there are always some comments that stick with me. Not in any earth shattering way (no one is reinventing the wheel here) but simply as an idea that I needed to hear. One that really hit home this year was: “Let’s get rid of very important and utterly boring editorials.” For years, we’ve had two editorial pages at the Jewish Press. Page 8 and 9, in a regular 12-page edition. Why? That is an interesting question, especially since, whenever we run out of space, the first thing we do is lose an editorial page. But if we give that second page up so easily, why do we have it in the first place? Because, to be honest, I do think some of the editorials we publish are, indeed, “utterly boring.” It’s something worth thinking about, and I’m putting it on the next board agenda. ADVERTISING Our favorite topic. You could almost feel the collective and exasperated sigh around the room when we discussed advertising, and yet there was a difference this year. It seemed that, for the first time since I began attending these conferences in 2010, we didn’t spend an entire session on “how to increase ad revenue.” It seems the reality has caught up with us, and more and more newspaper editors and publishers (not to mention the Federations who stand behind them) are coming to the realization that it’s simply not going to get better. Ad revenue is great when you can get it, but in order to get it, you must compromise. And even then, those dollars are not what they used to be. The real money, the money that is going to keep us in business, has to come from elsewhere. It has to come from donors (more and more papers are using some form of Press campaign like our Jewish Press Club), a higher allocation from the Federation if it’s possible and if the support is there, and endowments and grants. And while it is not surprising that many of us are coming to that same conclusion, and while we are certainly not giving up on chasing ad revenue, it is nice to have an honest room, where we can all admit to the changed landscape of Press funding. My attendance at the AJPA’s annual conference was made possible thanks to the Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Supporting Foundation, and the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation. I sincerly appreciate the generosity! published without giving an opposing view. Information shall be verified before printing. All letters must be signed by the writer, but the name can be withheld at the writer’s request. The Jewish Press will not publish letters that appear to be part of an organized campaign, nor letters copied from the Internet. No letters should be published from candidates running for office, but others may write on their behalf. Letters of thanks should be confined to commending an institution for a program, project or event, rather than personally thanking paid staff, unless the writer chooses to turn the “Letter to the Editor” into a paid personal ad or a news article about the event, project or program which the professional staff supervised. For infor-
mation, contact Annette van de KampWright, Jewish Press Editor, 402.334.6450. Postal The Jewish Press (USPS 275620) is published weekly (except for the first week of January and July) on Friday for $40 per calendar year U.S.; $80 foreign, by the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Phone: 402.334.6448; FAX: 402.334.5422. Periodical postage paid at Omaha, NE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154-2198 or email to: jpress@jewishomaha.org.
November 21, 2014 | The Jewish Press | 9
The shrinking Jewish Middle -- and how to expand it
Focus on issues STEVEN M. COHEN and JACK WERTHEIMER NEW YORK (JTA) -- As the Jewish Federations of North America holds its annual General Assembly this week, newly emerging evidence from the Pew Research Center’s 2013 “Portrait of American Jewry” points to enormous challenges facing federations, Jewish philanthropy and organized Jewish life, more generally. Virtually every Jewish institution is contending with a sharply diminishing base of people who give, join or even care. Though the Orthodox are expanding numerically and growing in strength, the number of non-Orthodox Jews who are actively engaged Jews -- no matter how engagement is defined -- is shrinking rapidly. As we compare nonOrthodox Jews between ages 50 and 69 with Jews of the next-younger generation (between 30 and 49), we find about half as many of the younger cohort who donate to any Jewish causes, belong to synagogues or join Jewish organizations. In addition, only half as many of the younger group feel very attached to Israel, agree that being Jewish is very important to them or have mostly Jewish close friends. Of particular note to federations and all who care about Jewish philanthropic giving: Just 43 percent of nonOrthodox Jews between 30 and 49 donate to any Jewish cause, sharply down from 60 percent among those just 20 years their senior. And only one quarter of the younger nonOrthodox Jews are members of a synagogue, even though they are in their peak child-raising years. Indeed, younger non-Orthodox Jews between ages 30 and 49 are substantially and consistently trailing their elders on virtually every measure of Jewish identification. Two separate processes are driving these declines. First, there simply are far fewer 30- to 49-year-old non-Orthodox Jews than 50-to 69-year-olds (about 1.2 million vs. 1.8 mil-
lion) because of low birthrates in recent decades. The current fertility rate of non-Orthodox Jews -- about 1.7 -- has now dropped considerably below replacement level. Second, compounding this population decline, high rates of intermarriage -- now running at about 80 percent among those raised Reform -- have resulted in disengagement from Jewish life on the part of most adult children of intermarried parents. In short, in the younger age cohort (30-49), there are both fewer Jews and, among them, lower rates of participation in Jewish life. Unless these patterns are reversed or at least ameliorated, they portend rough sailing for federations and other Jewish organizations in the years to come. Though federations have done an admirable job of growing their endowments and persuading affluent donors to increase the size of their annual gifts, the federation world already has experienced a precipitous drop in their total number of givers. Since the year 2000 alone, donors to federations have declined by nearly one-third. Other Jewish organizations have seen similar losses in membership, as have many Reform and Conservative congregations, along with the number of students in nonOrthodox day schools. If these patterns are to be reversed, the Jewish middle -Conservative and Reform Jews who are inmarried or intermarried but unambiguously attached to Jewish life -- must be nurtured and expanded. It may be gratifying that almost all Jews feel proud to be Jewish, as Pew reported, but it does little for the vitality of Jewish communal endeavors if they fail to participate actively in some form of collective Jewish life. How are we to counter these alarming trends? Research conducted in recent decades demonstrates that effective Jewish engagement endeavors share three critical features: 1, they expand Jewish social networks, linking Jews to one another; 2, they incorporate Jewish content, so as to demonstrate why rich Jewish engagement is so meaningful; and 3,
they bring together peers at the same life stage to address common challenges. To address the weak Jewish connections among younger Jews, our ideal communal agenda calls for investing massively in immersive forms of Jewish education for youth. Critical are day schools, summer camps (both day camps and overnight) with Jewish content, teen trips to Israel, youth movement activities, Hillels and other campus endeavors, Birthright trips and Masa (longer-term trips to Israel), as well as a variety of programs to involve Jews in their 20s and 30s in ongoing rather than merely episodic Jewish living. The overall goal is to ensure that young people participate in multiple Jewish venues so that synergies can develop among them. For this to happen, parents must be enlisted as partners in socializing their children into Jewish life. Notwithstanding the years of demographic losses, several movements each continue to reach hundreds of thousands of non-Orthodox Jews. In numerically descending order, we are thinking of Jewish community centers, the Reform movement, the Conservative movement and, yes, federations. Any reckoning with the shrinking Jewish middle must resolve to rebuild these legacy movements on a massive scale, even as it nurtures new modes of innovation and repairs relationships with the ever-growing Orthodox world. The task facing the American Jewish community is immense, requiring boldness, not Band-Aids. In the past, American Jewry has aided, if not rescued, endangered Jewish communities around the globe. Now the challenge is to marshal the imagination, courage, will and resources to rebuild the endangered Jewish middle at home. Steven M. Cohen is research professor at the Hebrew Union College-JIR in New York and Jack Wertheimer is professor of American Jewish history at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Their jointly written reanalysis of the Pew study is found at http://mosaicmagazine. com/essay/2014/11/the-pew-survey-reanalyzed/.
Kristallnacht’s lessons for today
Behind the headlines ABRAHAM H. FOXMAN, National Director of ADL NEW YORK (JTA) -- Each year on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, we recall the opening salvo of the violent assault on Jews that foreshadowed the Holocaust and ask ourselves what should have been done at that moment.
Kristallnacht shop damage in Magdeburg, Germany, November 1938 Credit: German Federal Archives via Wikimedia Commons In thinking about Kristallnacht, we should also consider the outpouring of violence against Jewish communities in Europe this summer and draw the right lessons for today. It is rightly said that the Holocaust began not with gas chambers but with words. The significance of Kristallnacht in the history of the Holocaust is the passage from anti-Jewish legislation and anti-Semitic rhetoric to violence against Jews. And therein lies the lesson for today. To be clear, in today’s democratic Europe, there is no risk of a new Holocaust. Invoking such a possibility obscures rather than illuminates the serious situation of European Jewry. Comparisons to Kristallnacht, however, are apt. This summer we saw in France, Germany and elsewhere in Europe, anti-Semitic rhetoric followed by assaults on Jews and attacks on synagogues, Jewish-owned shops and other Jewish institutions. The differences with Kristallnacht are stark and significant, but the similarities cannot be ignored. Not on this anniversary -- not at a time of great insecurity among Jewish communities in Europe. Two synagogues were attacked during anti-Israel demonstrations this summer in Paris. In one case, two hundred Jews were trapped inside, while a mob, armed with bats, tried to invade the synagogue. Roger Cukierman, the head
of the French Jewish community, made the connection explicit: “We’ve never seen anything like that. It resembled Kristallnacht in 1938 in Germany.” And in Germany, where people chanted “Jews to the gas” at anti-Israel rallies and where Molotov cocktails were thrown at synagogues, Dieter Graumann, the president of the Central Council of Jews of Germany said, “These are the worst times since the Nazi era.” The British Jewish community’s security agency, CST, said that July 2014 had the highest number of reported antiSemitic incidents in any one month since it began keeping records three decades ago. Highly esteemed and hardly alarmist former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote at Yom Kippur that the Jewish community suffers “a degree of apprehension I have not known in my lifetime. AntiSemitism has returned to Europe within living memory of the Holocaust.” European Jews were terrorized by Kristallnacht, and among elements of society in Europe today they are being terrorized once again by anti-Semitic hatred, especially, but not only, linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The terror is not from one night, but from an accumulation of incidents over the past years. During Operation Protective Edge this summer, and during Operation Cast Lead in 2009, ADL reported on antiSemitic incidents and rhetoric around the world, related to the Israel-Hamas wars. We saw incitement to violence, demonization of Jews and Israel, blood libels and other antiSemitic vitriol. Too often these words led to assaults and vandalism. And those attacks have caused vast numbers of European Jews to no longer feel free to live openly as Jews. The European Union’s human rights agency surveyed eight major Jewish communities in Europe in 2012 and found widespread insecurity. One in five Jews had been the victim of an anti-Semitic insult, harassment or assault, and one in three worried about being physically attacked over the next 12 months. Two out of five Jews always or frequently avoided wearing a kippah or Star of David in public. Anti-Semitism never left the continent, but its recent transformation from rhetoric to violence, including murders at a Jewish school in Toulouse and the Jewish museum in Brussels, has caused a sea change in the confidence of Jewish communities across Europe. Most European political leaders have condemned the anti-Semitic incidents in their countries, but the indifference among the public is shocking and dismaying. If the hatred espoused and acted out by the anti-Semites and the apathy of European citizens overtake the efforts of the well-intentioned political leaders, European Jewish communities will have a dim future: communal self-segregation, individual withdrawal from Jewish communal life or emigration.
“Never again” stands. There will not be another Holocaust. But Kristallnacht is another story. Let us learn its lessons, not to avoid another Holocaust but to avoid a different disaster, the slow terrorization of Europe’s Jews into permanent fear, faced with the awful choice of abandoning their identity or fleeing. Abraham H. Foxman is national director of the AntiDefamation League and a Holocaust survivor.
Letters TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor: Through a joint project of the Center for Jewish Life and MainStreeters, many members of the Jewish Community shared a powerful, chilling performance of The Whipping Man at the Omaha Community Playhouse on Sunday, Nov. 9. Sincere thanks to Maggi Conti, of MainStreeters, and to Mary Sue Grossman and Mark Kirchhoff, of the CJL, for organizing this important outing. Many thanks, also, to Iris and Marty Ricks for the financial support that enabled the CJL to offer tickets at a discounted price. I do not want the experience of this play to end with the performance. Are there others out there who would welcome a daytime group discussion of the historical background, the themes, and the characters of The Whipping Man? Is there anyone able to serve as discussion leader? If so, please let me hear from you, at hypelady@aol.com. Diane Axler Baum Omaha Dear Editor, For a book I am writing about my late husband, Rabbi Meir Kahane, I am seeking information about his unexpected visit to Omaha on Dec. 1, 1978. From a letter that Meir wrote to me in May 1979, I learned that he was on his way to a speaking engagement in Peoria when a snowstorm caused his plane to be diverted to Omaha. In that letter he wrote, “An odd result is that, thanks to the unexpected stop in Omaha, they [the Omaha community] asked me to come back again this time.” It seems that Meir spent that Shabbat in December 1978 at Congregation Beth Israel because half a year later your newspaper (the Jewish Press of Omaha) reported that Meir spoke at Congregation Beth Israel on June 10, 1979. I am left wondering how, stranded at the airport in Omaha, he found his way to Congregation Beth Israel. Who did he phone from the airport? My search for information led me to Rabbi Jonathan Gross, who served as rabbi of Beth Israel from 2004 to Continued on page 11
10 | The Jewish Press | November 21, 2014
Synagogues B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE 618 Mynster Street | Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 |712.322.4705 email: BnaiIsraelCouncilBluffs@gmail.com Join us for our monthly Shabbat Speakers Series on Dec. 12, 7:30 p.m. with guest speaker, Julianne Dunn Herzog on The Jewish Life of a Nice Catholic girl. For information on our historic synagogue, please contact any of our board members: Mark Eveloff, Rick Katelman, Carole Lainof, Marty Ricks, Sissy Katelman Silber, Nancy Wolf and Phil Wolf.
BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California | Omaha, NE 68154-1980 | 402.492.8550 www.bethel-omaha.org Services conducted by Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman. FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. SATURDAY: Shabbat Services, 9:30 a.m.; Shabbat’s Cool (for grades K-7), 10 a.m.; BESTT Shul-In (for grades 3-7), 10 a.m.; Mini Minyannaires, 10:45 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 4:45 p.m. WEEKDAY SERVICES: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.; weekdays, 7 a.m. & 5:30 p.m. SUNDAY: BESTT Classes (for K-2 only), 9:45 a.m.; Torah Study Group, 10 a.m.; Torah Tots, 10:15 a.m.; Adult B’nai Mitzvah Class, 11 a.m.; Sunday Scholar Series, 7 p.m., with Rabbi Peretz Rodman on Thanksgiving: A Jewish Perspective. TUESDAY: Wrestling with Rabbis of the Talmud, 10 a.m. with Rabbi Abraham. WEDNESDAY: USY Kinnus Lock-in Hype-Up, 8 p.m. at the home of Tomer Palmon. THURSDAY: Morning Service, 9 a.m. Lunch at NE AIDS Coalition, Friday, Nov. 28, 11:30 a.m. College Student Lunch, Friday, Nov. 28, noon at Bagel Bin. All classes and programs are open to everyone in the Jewish community.
Katzman, noon. RSVP by emailing Marlene Cohen at mzcohen@unmc.edu. All programs are open to the entire community.
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 Services conducted by Rabbi Craig Lewis. FRIDAY: FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE! Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m. with oneg following hosted by Sue Schreiber. SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. on Parashat Toldot. SUNDAY: LJCS Gan through Grade 7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; Hallah High Lite, 9:45 a.m.-noon at South Street Temple; Hallah High, 9:45 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; Interfaith Thanksgiving Service, 3 p.m. hosted by the South Street Temple, with dessert reception following. WEDNESDAY: No LJCS Classes THURSDAY: Thanksgiving Day -- Temple office closed Bakers Needed as part of the Temple’s celebration of its 130th anniversary as a congregation and the 90th anniversary of our beautiful building, we are having monthly events culminating in the anniversary gala in May. For many of these events, we would like to serve cookies or other easy to handle dessert items. We are looking to volunteers to supply home-baked goodies. If you are willing to contribute in this way, please let Alan Frank know at afrank2@unl.edu. We’ll have you bring your treats to the Temple and store them in the freezer.
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE Capehart Chapel 2500 Capehart Road | Offutt AFB, NE 68123 | 402.294.6244 FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m. every first and third of the month.
ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific Street | Omaha, NE. 68154 | 402.556.6288 www.orthodoxomaha.org Office hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and Friday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. FRIDAY: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, 4:42 p.m.; Friday Night Dinner, 6 p.m. with guest speaker Scholar-in-Residence Gila Manolson on How to have a relationship with God. Please contact the office to sign up. SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m. Gila Manolson will speak on Finding Yourself in the Crowd: Spirituality and Individuality; Mincha/Seudah Shlishit, 4:25 p.m.; Special Women’s Seudah Shlishit following Mincha, 4:25 p.m.; Havdalah, 5:45 p.m.; Girls Night Out -- Mother Daughter Melava Malka with Ms. Manolson, 7 p.m. on Who am I?: Self-Definition in Judaism. SUNDAY: Gemara Brachot, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Understanding Our Prayers, 9:45 a.m. WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m. MONDAY: Current Events with Jack Kozlen and Rabbi Ari, 7:45 a.m.; Scholar’s Club with Boys, 3:30 p.m.; Minyan followed by Teen Class with Rabbi Ari, 7 p.m. TUESDAY: Principles of Jewish Thought, 7:45 a.m.; Rabbi Weiss’s Weekly Class, 8 p.m. WEDNESDAY: Principles of Jewish Thought, 7:45 a.m. THURSDAY: Principles of Jewish Thought, 7:45 a.m.; Women’s Class: Deepening our connection with God, 9:30 a.m.; Med Center Chaburah, 1 p.m.; Scholar’s Club for girls, 3:30 p.m.
CHABAD HOUSE An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 South 120 Street | Omaha, NE 68144-1646 | 402.330.1800 www.OChabad.com | email: chabad@aol.com Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m. FRIDAY: Shacharit, 7 a.m. SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m. SUNDAY: Shacharit, 8:30 a.m. WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m. TUESDAY: Dynamic Discovery with Shani Katzman, 10:15 a.m. A class for women based on traditional texts with practical insights and application. RSVP by calling the office. WEDNESDAY: Personal Parsha class, 9:30 a.m. with Rochi Katzman. RSVP by calling the office; The Development of the Oral Tradition, 7 p.m. with Rabbi Katzman. RSVP by calling the office. In memory of Forrest Krutter -- Efrayim Menachem Ben Avraham Yitzchak. THURSDAY: Women’s Study at UNMC with Shani
323 South 132 Street | Omaha, NE 68154 FRIDAY: Chef ’s Demo, 1:30 p.m. led by Temple Israel. SATURDAY: Services, 9:15 a.m. led by Steve Riekes. Services will be held in the Chapel. Members of the community are invited to attend.
TEMPLE ISRAEL Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 13111 Sterling Ridge Drive | Omaha, NE 68144-1206 | 402.556.6536 http://templeisraelomaha.com FRIDAY: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. led by Rabbi Azriel, Rabbi Brown and Cantor Shermet along with the 6th Grade Class; 6th Grade Family Dinner, 7 p.m. following services, 6th grade families will enjoy a potluck Shabbat dinner.
Candlelighting Friday, November 21, 4:42 p.m. Contact Director of Lifelong Learning Debbie Massarano for more information. SATURDAY: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m.; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. Spencer Schneiderman, son of Heidi and Scott Schneiderman, and Tommy Sullivan, son of Louri Sullivan and Charlie Sullivan will celebrate their B’nai Mitzvah. SUNDAY: Teacher Meeting, 9 a.m.; Grades PreK-6, 10 a.m.; Beginning Prayer Study, 11 a.m.; Kol Rina Rehearsal, 3 p.m. at First Christian Church; Thanksgiving Interfaith Service, 5 p.m. at First Christian Church. TUESDAY: Mah Jongg Mavens are Back!, 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY: No Religious School THURSDAY: No Adult Study with the Clergy. Tot Shabbat, Saturday, Nov. 29, 9 a.m. Families with children ages five and under are invited to celebrate Shabbat in a child-friendly service on the last Saturday of the month at 9 a.m. We will begin with bagels, juice and coffee. We will conclude by 10:15 a.m. Tot Shabbat includes singing, dancing, blessings and a short story told by one of the clergy. Please contact the Temple Israel office, 402.556.6536, to let us know you are coming.
TIFERETH ISRAEL Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Boulevard | Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 | 402.423.8569 www.tiferethisraellincoln.org Services conducted by lay leader Nancy Coren. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. FRIDAY: Intergenerational Shabbat Year 3, 6 p.m. followed by a special celebratory Oneg. SATURDAY: Morning service, 10 a.m. followed by a Kiddush luncheon. SUNDAY: LJCS Gan through Grade 7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; Hallah High Lite, 9:45 a.m.-noon at South Street Temple; Hallah High, 9:45 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel. WEDNESDAY: No LJCS Classes THURSDAY: Thanksgiving Day -- Temple office closed LJCS Hat and Mitten Drive: Join with the JLCS as we collect hats and mittens for the children of the Foster Care Closet. Donations can be dropped at the Synagogue through Sunday, Nov. 23.
To submit B’nai Mitzvah announcements Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press with attached photos in .jpg or .tif files to jpress@jewish omaha.org; faxed to 402.334.5422, or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154 or online at: www.jewish omaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press.’
Mervyn Smith, South African Jewish leader, dies by JTA NEWS STAFF (JTA) -- Mervyn Smith, president of the African Jewish Congress and a major anti-apartheid activist in the Jewish community, has died. Smith died Saturday after a long illness. He was 77. “If there was a Jewish organization, I belonged to it – with my heart and soul,” Smith said frequently, according to the African Jewish Congress. Smith also was a vice president of the World Jewish Congress and an honorary life vice president of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. He served as the board’s national chairman. At the Board of Deputies’ national conference in 1985, Smith was the prime protagonist in the passing of the historic resolution condemning apartheid. Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, CEO of the African Jewish Congress, said in a statement that the South African Jewish community “has suffered a grievous loss.” “Mervyn, an attorney by profession, was a leader of stature, not only in many spheres of Jewish communal life but also as a respected representative of the community in South African national affairs,” Silberhaft wrote. “His pres-
ence, his wisdom and his experience will be sorely missed not only by his family, but by all his friends and colleagues.” Smith, a practicing attorney, received the Lexus Lifetime Achiever Award at the Jewish Achiever Awards ceremony for his contributions to reconciliation, change and empow-
erment in South Africa in the fields of business and/or art, science, sport or philanthropy. He was an expert on anti-Semitism and advised the board on legal matters, particularly regarding anti-Semitism. Active in Holocaust studies, Smith served as board chairman of the South African Holocaust Foundation. He also served as president of the Law Societies of South Africa, chairman of the Performing Arts Council of South Africa and Cape Performing Arts Board, as well as chairman of the Cape Town City Ballet. A cricket player for 25 years, he was life president of the Bellville Cricket Club.
Pulverente MONUMENT CO.
November 21, 2014 | The Jewish Press | 11
One of the greatest sporting events of all time: Hands vs. Racquet by MIKE SADOFSKY On Wednesday, Dec. 3, 1 p.m. at the JCC theater, there will be shown a video of the match between Paul Haber (the national handball champion) versus Bud Muehleisen (the national racquetball champion). In January 1972 in Memphis, TN, Bud Muehleisen played an infamous match against Paul Haber who was, at the time, the most successful handball player in America. This was a groundbreaking move for the sport of racquetball, proving how it had built a reputation professionally. Haber played as he would handball, with his hand, but Muehleisen played with a racquetball racket. They played using a handball to a packed house with standing room only. Both players claimed to have an advantage: Haber
due to the design of a handball being geared for being hit with the hand, and Muehleisen due to the power of the racquet. Muehleisen took the first game, subsequently lost the second, and then lost the tiebreaker by a thin margin. There is still video of the match with Haber’s audible commentary. Muehleisen played Haber again in September 1972, and the game took place in Long Beach, California with Muehleisen again representing racquetball and Haber representing handball. Again, Muehleisen took the first game and Haber won the second, but Muehleisen took the third game this time, and ultimately the win. For more information call Mike Sadofsy at 402.672.8171.
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David (the king and the rabbi) goes Hollywood by ANTHONY WEISS Rabbi David Wolpe has never been too far from show business, physically or metaphorically. He is one of the country’s most visible and celebrated rabbis, and his pulpit at Sinai Temple is only a couple of miles from Fox Studios in West Los Angeles. However, the distance just got a lot closer with the news that he has sold the rights to his new biography of King David, David: The Divided Heart, to Warner Brothers movie studio. The studio is developing the script in partnership with Gulfstream Pictures, which is co-headed by Mike Karz, a longtime member of Sinai. Wolpe has signed on as a consultant. If handled properly, the David story should be cinematic gold. It’s brimming with sex and violence, and filled with enough machinations, murders and double-crosses to rival The Godfather. If you’ve forgotten how dark it gets, remember that it features one of David’s children raping another, and that David’s deathbed speech is an injunction to Solomon to rub out David’s old capo, Joab. Wolpe’s book is a careful dissection of one of the Bible’s most complex and fascinating characters, and one hopes that the movie will follow suit. David is a figure of towering contradictions, both a stone-cold operator and a vessel for painfully raw emotion, a man loved by many but reluctant to love, a heavy-fisted ruler and a weak and bumbling father. But Wolpe’s David may not be the only version of the Israelite king making its way to the big screen. In July, 20th
Letters TO THE EDITOR Continued from page 9 March of this year. He told me that he heard that Seymour Steinberg, an outspoken supporter of Meir’s views, was the person who drove him from the airport. It is also possible that the person Meir phoned from the airport was Rabbi Isaac Nadoff, the rabbi of Beth Israel, because in 1976 he wrote about Rabbi Nadoff ’s efforts to combat intermarriage. If any reader has any knowledge of how Meir found his way to Congregation Beth Israel that Shabbat in December 1978, I would greatly appreciate an e-mail to mrslkahan@ yahoo.com. Libby Kahane P.S The first volume of my book, Rabbi Meir Kahane: His Life and Thought, 1932-1975 was published in 2008 and can be seen on Amazon.com. I am currently working on the second volume. Dear Editor, I just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know how much I enjoyed your Oct. 31 article about George Calloway. You provided so much background that you don’t get typically. Understanding the full story helps to understand it’s not really about us, it’s this guy’s brand of crazy and it extends to anything that will get him negative attention. As a somewhat younger reader, I don’t always have the benefit of historical context; thanks for bringing me up to speed! Anne Brower Ohio
Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment announced that they would be teaming with Ridley Scott to produce their own David film, likely focusing on his reign after slaying Goliath. Scott and Fox have already teamed up on another Bible movie, the forthcoming Exodus: Gods and Kings. Based on the trailer, the movie looks to be going for the fullbore epic treatment, and one suspects that Scott’s take on David would likely do the same. And there’s more. Director Tim Chey has already completed filming on David and Goliath, which Chey assured the Christian Post would be “biblically correct in every way.” The film has a reported $50 million budget and will not lack for spectacle -- it will reportedly feature the tallest man in Canada as Goliath. Let’s hope all improve on the last major King David -- a 1985 film starring Richard Gere. The New York Times’ Vincent Canby panned it, saying it “is not a good film” and “belongs in that category of stolid, almost-forgotten films that includes Henry King’s David and Bathsheba (1951), in which Gregory Peck played David as a sort of Lincolnesque sinner.” The review also noted that, despite the PG-13 rating, the film contained “an unusual amount of violence, including two decapitations, a couple of throat-slittings and a lot of more or less commonplace assaults by spear and arrow.” Speaking of unusual amounts of violence, no word yet on how any of the the new films plan to handle David’s gift to Saul of 200 Philistine foreskins.
ISIS beheads American aid worker, an Iraq war veteran by JTA NEWS STAFF (JTA) -- In a video posted online Sunday morning on jihadist and social networking sites, the group also known as ISIS and ISIL said it beheaded American aid worker Peter Kassig, who went by the name Abdul-Rahman Kassig after converting to Islam. Kassig, 26, of Indianapolis, was abducted in October 2013 in Syria. He founded a Turkey-based nonprofit group that assists refugees on both sides of the Syria-Turkey border. Kassig served in the U.S. Army during the Iraq war and was honorably discharged in 2007 over a medical ailment. President Obama confirmed that the video was authentic and said that Kassig was killed in “an act of pure evil by a terrorist group that the world rightly associates with inhumanity.” The video reportedly did not show the actual beheading but showed a black-masked man speaking with a British accent with a bloody decapitated head at his feet. For the first time, the video identified where the beheading took place. The video also reportedly showed the beheading of several men identified as Syrian military personnel, the French news agency AFP reported. Kassig founded SERA, or Special Emergency Response and Assistance, working from Turkey to provide food and medical supplies to refugee camps on both sides of the SyriaTurkey border while helping refugees flee the civil war in Syria, according to ABC News. Videos released since Aug. 19 have shown the beheading of Sotloff, American journalist James Foley, and British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning.
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12 | The Jewish Press | November 21, 2014
For Jews fighting Ebola, specialty is psychosocial therapy by URIEL HEILMAN (JTA) -- Even amid the unceasing horrors of Sierra Leone’s Ebola epidemic, it was a case that stood out. A 5-year-old boy had been found in his home in a remote village, the lone survivor in a house riddled with the corpses of family members. He needed to be extracted; the bodies needed to be buried. The operator who took the call at the Freetown hotline that coordinates the dispatch of ambulances, police and burial teams was shaken. Enter IsraAid. The lone Israeli or Jewish disaster relief organization on the ground in the Ebola zone, IsraAid is providing psychosocial counseling and training to service providers – health workers, social workers, teachers, police -- dealing with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone. The locals staffing Freetown’s Ebola hotline are among those receiving counseling. “Dealing with the psychosocial trauma is critical to addressing the Ebola outbreak,” Shachar Zahavi, IsraAid’s founding director, told JTA in an interview. “A major deterrent to treatment is that people don’t trust one another. If you don’t feel well, your family immediately hides you and you then infect your entire family. We’re trying to teach police, social workers, health workers and teachers how to deal with people who are afraid of them – and how to manage their own stress and anxiety.” Last month, IsraAid’s work earned the organization a letter of praise and thanks from Sierra Leone’s first lady, Sia Nyama Koroma. She also happens to be a psychiatric nurse, and when IsraAid held a two-day psychosocial counseling workshop last week in Freetown, Koroma cleared her schedule to attend the entire program, according to Zahavi. A 13-year-old organization funded in part by U.S. Jewish institutions and federations, and supported by the Israeli government, IsraAid honed its techniques in other disasters, such as the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the 2013 typhoon in the Philippines. But IsraAid staffers say Ebola is their most challenging crisis. “It’s more difficult than other disasters, mostly because it’s an ongoing disaster and it’s scary,” said Yotam Polizer, IsraAid’s regional director for Asia and now the person in charge of the Africa response. Polizer spent most of October in Sierra Leone and will head back there next week from his home base in Japan. IsraAid has brought four Israelis to Sierra Leone: two psychosocial trauma specialists and two logistics experts. Next
IsraAid psychosocial trauma specialists Hela Yaniv, left, and Sheri Oz leading a counseling and training session for service providers in Sierra Leone, Oct. 27, 2014. Credit: IsraAid week another six will arrive, and Polizer is working on hiring a team of locals. It’s hard to recruit Israelis to join the effort, organizational officials say, because they must be fit enough to work in grueling conditions required by Ebola protocols and be able to clear their schedule for at least six weeks: one week for training, three to four weeks in the field, and two to three weeks afterward to make sure they’re not infected. And then there’s the fear factor. “At least two to three times a day people start to freak out, worrying they have a fever, and they have to be calmed down,” Polizer said. “It’s very challenging.” When he returns to Sierra Leone next week, Polizer said he’ll have to reacquaint himself with the demanding strictures of life in the Ebola zone, including taking his temperature every few hours; washing his hands with chlorine 20-30 times a day; refraining from any physical contact, even handshakes, with other people; and eating only at three or four carefully vetted restaurants. Most difficult of all will be trying to make sure not to touch his own eyes. Relief workers say eyes are the most easily infected part of the body. IsraAid is the only official Israeli presence in the Ebola zone. But while Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon declined a U.S. request to send Israeli military staff to Africa, the Israeli Foreign Ministry is sending equipment for three mobile medical clinics in the affected region. IsraAid has been tasked with receiving the two shipments going to Sierra Leone and Liberia, and helping integrate the clinics into existing international aid
efforts run by such groups as International Medical Corps, Doctors Without Borders, and the U.S. and U.K. armies. In the United States, the New York-based American Jewish World Service has been leading the Jewish effort to send financial help to the hot zone, funding 10 groups in Liberia and one in Senegal that are working to contain the Ebola outbreak. These groups’ efforts include using radio stations and rural media organizations to carry out public education campaigns combating Ebola’s spread; training and equipping volunteers to deliver hygiene materials and information pamphlets to local households; providing psychosocial support and counseling to Ebola survivors and their families; renovating a clinic to act as an Ebola quarantine and triage center; and in one case, providing primary medical care services to locals in light of the collapse of local health care systems. “When the outbreak grew in intensity this summer, we consulted our existing grantees in Liberia to find out which resources they needed to respond to the epidemic in their communities,” said Ruth Messinger, the president of American Jewish World Service. “These local activist groups were well positioned to take this work on because they were already wellestablished and trusted members of their communities.” AJWS has disbursed about $142,000 to its recipient organizations and raised about $820,000 from donors. Most of that sum has come in over the last six weeks, since AJWS increased its fundraising goal to $1 million from $200,000. Despite all the challenges of working with Ebola, Polizer said there have been moments of satisfaction. In IsraAid’s stress management workshops for relief workers and Ebola survivors, leaders employ a variety of tactics. Role play exercises are designed to help Ebola survivors cope with people who stigmatize or reject them because they’ve had the disease. Health workers practice movement and dance therapy to help cheer them up, and breathing exercises to help them relax. The head nurse of one hospital outside Freetown came to one of IsraAid’s stress management sessions burnt out and afraid after having lost more than 35 colleagues to Ebola, Polizer recalled. Instructors helped the nurse with a relaxation technique in which participants close their eyes and imagine themselves in a safe place. The nurse fell asleep, and when she awoke she was smiling. It was the first time since the outbreak began, Polizer said she told him, that she had enjoyed a proper sleep.
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